PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, June 12, 2009

Eric Millham , Television/Video Production Teacher, 301-475-0242, ext. 143

Local Media Professionals Assist With MD SkillsUSA

Audio and Video Contests

Leonardtown, MD – Recently, students from the Dr. James A. Forrest Career & Technology Center’s Television/Video Production Program participated in four skill contests at the Maryland SkillsUSA State Championships.  The Forrest Center was the only school to have students in the state competing in the Video Product Development and Audio/Radio Production contests.  This forced the state competition for these contests to take place in St. Mary’s County and required Forrest Center staff to find local judges.

As Forrest Center staff reached out to local media professionals, they were overwhelmed with offers of judging help for both contests.  Those who helped judge these contests are:

-         Don and Carole Thieme, owners of Thieme Creative Media

-         Erik Sprowls, D.Sc., director of television broadcasting & associate professor for the Department of Languages and Literature at the College of Southern Maryland

-         Dave Ellsworth, associate professor of Theater, Film and Media Studies at St. Mary’s College of Maryland

-         Amy Carter, video producer for St. Mary’s County Government

-         David Taylor, owner of Phocus Video Communications

-         Mike Welding, public affairs officer for the V-22 Osprey

-         Billy Ray Brown, public affairs officer for the Aircraft Division

-         John Hunt, formerly of SOMAR Communications now with RadioSOMD.fm

The Forrest Center and MD SkillsUSA very much appreciate all their help making these contests happen for the students.

Teams in the Video Product Development contest were challenged to produce a 5-7 minute video to promote the positive aspects of an individual career & technology education program, a career & technology education school or SkillsUSA.  Contestant teams in the Audio/Radio Production contest were challenged to produce a 60 second radio commercial in a very limited amount of time that included elements such as natural sound, voiceovers, interviews, music and sound effects.

Results for the Video Product Development contest are:  1^st Place – Nate Atwell and Holden Boyles, 2^nd Place – Lane Parks and Jack Willette.  Results for the Audio/Radio Production contest are:  1^st Place – Joe Kwasniak and Taylor Sargent, 2^nd Place – Ryan Hall and Adam Sickle.  The first place teams are eligible to attend the SkillsUSA national competition in Kansas City June 22-26.

For more information about these contests, the results of other contests Forrest Center students participated in, or how you can help with fundraising for the trip to Kansas City , contact Stephanie Hampton or Bonnie Skinner at 301.475.0242 or go to the Forrest Center ’s website at http://schools.smcps.org/tech/.