Media Academy students spent the bulk of semester 1 studying government and social organization.  We looked at the structure of the US government and how all the parts of our government work together.  We also looked at what happens to individuals in the absence of strong democratic values by studying 1984 by George Orwell, as well as other dystopian novels such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Blindness, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

As we began to ready ourselves for the culminating semester project–CAP–we moved beyond our understanding of government as an institution, and started looking at how individuals interact with our government, guide it, and leverage it to make change.  We studied methods and pathways for civic action around us, as well as examining the work of medical advocate Paul Farmer in the text Mountains Beyond Mountains.

During this time, students created a series of short video projects, and mastered the video production skills they would need to successfully navigate a larger scale production.  These skills include not only the mastery of equipment and software, but also the knowledge required for equitable distribution of work by a video production team.  A fundamental value of MAX is direct teaching around the communication and workplace skills necessary for collaboration and strong teams.  Looking back–we did a lot of work!

Finally, we moved into the CAP itself, and the demands of this project!  And now, we are wrapping up post-production!

Coming soon: a detailed description of CAP, as well as links to student work!