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MCCTC seniors use high-tech tools, old-school creativity in video ads
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Calvin Neer, a senior from Jackson-Milton, shows off the Quick Response Code that links to a 30-second video ad about Mahoning County Career and Technical Center’s culinary arts program. Students in MCCTC’s interactive multimedia/visual art and design class completed marketing projects for the school’s programs.
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Seniors Zoella Camelli and Leah Yochman, both from Jackson-Milton, watch as team member Elizabeth Blythe from South Range puts finishing touches on the 30-second spot on the culinary arts program at Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.
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Leah Yochman, a senior from Jackson-Milton, works on part of her project at Mahoning County Career and Technical Center. Students in the school’s interactive multimedia/visual arts design class did marketing projects for MCCTC programs.
By Denise Dick
Canfield
Mahoning County Career and Technical Center seniors learned about the business world while expressing their creativity using technology.
Students in Melissa Hackett’s interactive multimedia/visual art and design class were broken into small groups, and each group assigned an MCCTC program. They then developed a campaign to market each program to students.
“It’s a student-to-student program,” Hackett said.
Prospective students are the target audience — and the theory is that other students will know best what appeals to them, the instructor said.
Hackett and Career Development Supervisor Jacqueline Kuffel developed the idea for the project as a way not only to involve students in marketing the school but to also provide them with an experience similar to what they’ll encounter in their careers.
The students interviewed the instructor of their assigned programs to determine what the “client” wanted to convey. They drew up story boards outlining their idea, shot video and still photographs of program participants, created posters and table tents.
They assembled their work into a video promoting the programs.
The posters and table tents include a Quick Response Code, that square code that when scanned with a smart phone or other device, directs you to online content. The QR codes direct the user to the video and poster on MCCTC’s YouTube channel.
Elizabeth Blythe, 17, of South Range, and Leah Yochman and Calvin Neer, both 17, and of Jackson-Milton, worked on marketing the culinary arts program. Their 30-second video spot features the instructor and students chopping and saut ing menu items, mixed with still photos of smiling students in chef hats — all set to Benny Goodman’s big band classic, “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing.)”
They call it a collaborative effort.
“We just took the best ideas from everyone,” Leah said.
Kuffel said that if the students’ projects didn’t include what she and Hackett expected, they were instructed where improvements were needed and asked to change them.
“That’s real world,” Hackett said.
If a client isn’t happy, the business person has to change the product to meet the client’s needs.
Erica Tascione, 18, and Malorie Niemczura, 17, both of Austintown Fitch, worked on a project marketing the interactive multimedia/visual art and design program. The project involved many steps.
“It was kind of challenging, but I like challenging, so it wasn’t too challenging for me,” Erica said.
Bob Santarelli, 17, and Brian Hambrick, 18, both of Boardman, and Marc Wem, 18, of Austintown Fitch, worked on the criminal- justice program. They talked to the instructor, filmed students performing practice traffic stops, fingerprinting and the proper way to handcuff a suspect.
“We showed the different areas the students work in,” Brian said.
Rikki Farina and Shanna Brown, both 18, from Austintown Fitch, picked the cosmetology program to feature. They enjoyed the project but ran into a problem along the way.
The day before the project was due, they discovered that someone had accidentally recorded over all of the video that they had shot. They had to rely on the still shots to create their 30-second spot.
“It actually turned out to be a good thing,” Rikki said.
They used the stills to form a kind of scrapbook of students cutting, setting, coloring and perming hair and manicuring nails. They chose Keri Hilson’s “Pretty Girl Rock,” as the music.
“We had a great time working together,” Rikki said.
The girls say they’re close friends and work well together, but the project helped them learn about their strengths and weaknesses.
“Shanna is a go-getter,” Rikki said. “She doesn’t give up.”
Rikki is someone who just knows what to do, Shanna said. “If she wants something, she’s going to get it,” she said. “And, she’s amazing at taking pictures.”