Toby Johnson Middle School Students Share Their Voices Through Technology
A visit to Toby Johnson Middle School’s (TJMS) Video Productions class is like stepping into a whirlwind of nonstop media activities. Throughout the classroom, students are teamed up and collaborating to meet a variety of production deadlines. Student groups may be working on public service announcements, commercials to promote school activities, movies to be used for instructional purposes by other teachers, news reports for the morning show, instructional videos, documentaries, music videos or digital story telling assignments.

In the center of all this is Dana La Chapelle “whose dedication, expertise and relentless energy provides students with access to a real-world video production education — the very skills that are so much in demand in today’s workforce,” says Gail Desler, 2009 Allan Hinderstein Award recipient. La Chapelle was honored as the 2010 recipient at SECC's SEVA Award Night on May 12 at Sacramento State University.

La Chapelle started transforming her vision for a student-run school TV program into a reality two summers ago. She remodeled what was originally an adjoining wood shop class into a state of the art — on a shoestring budget — production studio. Thanks to grant funding, equipment donations and help and technical guidance from SECC, La Chapelle’s students were able to go live with their first TJ TV show that first day of school. 

“My goal for the Video Productions class is to engage students in learning new technologies and production strategies that will prepare them for success both in school and in the future,” explains La Chapelle.

In addition to the TJ TV shows, students are involved in creating a range of public service announcements (PSAs) that will go out to the TJMS community and beyond. For the 2010 SEVA contest, La Chapelle’s students received two SEVA awards (How To Ride a Bike Safely; First Things First) and one honorable mention (Leadership: The Light is Shed).

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