DIGITAL MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION CONCENTRATION WILL PREPARE STUDENTS FOR EVOLVING CAREER PATHS

By Sam Donnellon

When La Salle’s Innovation and Design Department Chair Robert Johnson attended high school 25 years ago, most everything was siloed in terms of preparing students for careers in media and mass communications.

“If you wanted to be a journalist, you just took writing classes,” says Johnson, La Salle’s director of digital strategy. “If you wanted to be a media guy, you just took video editing courses.”

Today, the skill sets of those in media, public relations, marketing, and other communications careers are evolving. “This media landscape is so connected now where if you are going write, they expect you to write and know how to tweet and know how to take photos and produce video content,” he says.

To meet those challenges, La Salle’s curriculum is adapting, too. In 2023, La Salle College High School will launch a Digital Media and Communication Concentration Program that will expose students to an assortment of careers that are constantly evolving. Students will use the WEXPtv Media Program’s state-of-the-art studio to jumpstart themselves on paths towards careers in journalism, video production, social media, marketing, public relations, and various other iterations of content creation.

“It’s opening their eyes to all the various avenues that are out there and gives our young men an opportunity to tap into to their creative potential” Johnson says.

Owen Kunko’s eyes are already wide open. A junior, he greatly expanded on the skills he developed at home during the pandemic once he got to La Salle’s expansive media labs.

“The seniors took me under their wings, and they taught me what I know today,” he says. “And then along with that, came Mr. Johnson’s guidance, experience, and expertise in the industry. He laid his knowledge upon me.”

“I’ve always loved basketball and I wanted to stay connected to that in some way,’’ says Kunko, who is targeting a career making documentaries. “So, I started producing basketball content for La Salle and outside of school. And then through that, I built my brand, ALK Studios. We partner with local high schools doing content for their varsity level teams, just providing video content for their social media pages and things of that nature.”

The breadth of La Salle’s media concentration will provide multiple avenues for students, from web design for businesses to creative writing to graphic design to multimedia journalism and storytelling.

All students will be required to complete an independent study project their senior year and to gain leadership experience through one of the school’s many media avenues, including WEXPtv, the school’s online media network; the Sports Information Club; the Esports program; and The Wisterian (school newspaper).

An Emmy-nominated television producer at Comcast Sportsnet in Philadelphia for 10 years before bringing his industry-knowledge to teaching, Johnson has experienced first-hand the dynamic nature of media and is acutely aware that a program like this must be able to pivot and adjust quickly.

“There’s going to be multiple tracks, tailored to what that student is interested in,’’ he says. “Some students may want to pursue a video production track where they are doing more shooting and editing. Some students might do more journalism and storytelling, whether you want to write or do that digitally. Some might want to take photography and graphic design and showcase their skills that way.”

“All these creative skills are skills that are in demand in the workforce. They’re in demand in different career paths, even if it’s not in communications.”

Kunko is already an example of that. He began by making montages for a video game. That morphed into an eight-month stint in Esports, where he self-taught himself 3D animation. And that led to his current passion –live content, focused mostly on sports.

Next year? With the opportunities presented through the concentration, the media world is his oyster, as are his opportunities in choosing what college or university is best to pursue his passion.

Four of last year’s graduates went on to media majors at The University of Connecticut, James Madison University, Fairfield University and Duquesne University. “And they’re all off the bat as freshmen, helping with their sports information departments and their marketing departments.” Those four young men also won the program’s first Mid-Atlantic High School Emmy for Sports Production last year.

Global research from Adobe –the industry-leader in creative production tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro – shows that tomorrow’s jobs will demand creative problem-solving skills.

All students at La Salle have access to Adobe Creative Cloud, and students in the concentration will harness the power of these creative tools daily to showcase their digital creativity – and have the opportunity to achieve professional-level certifications through the school’s on-site partnership with Certiport.

“The goal of this concentration program is to find more of those students like Owen,” says Johnson. “To give them more opportunities to get experience here at La Salle and some outside of school as well to help build their professional portfolio in high school.”

Learn more about the WEXPtv Media Program at www.lschs.org/WEXPtv.

Michael

O’Toole ’68