Visual Literacy Festival Equips Students with Leadership Skills

On Thursday, high school students from Kent School District in Washington hosted the ninth-annual visual literacy festival.

Teams of elementary, middle and high school students created 3-minute films based on this year's theme, Once Upon a Time. They also designed video games.

At the 2011 VisFest Oscar Night, attendees screened 30 student films, played 23 student video games, and sat in on the award ceremony. But high school students in the district's Student Technology Educational Partnerships (STEP) program did all the planning.

By working on VisFest and other technology projects, these students learn the skills they need for future careers.

The skills

Five of the leaders in the STEP program intern with the district and coordinate technology projects including VisFest, Bridging the Gap, TechYES, a high school internship program and student technology training. Student volunteers help them in each of the projects.

When they work on projects like VisFest, they're using tech tools to exercise their skills. And they're also learning to research, collaborate, innovate, lead, communicate well, think critically and solve problems, said Jeff Thungc, who manages STEP for the district.

He enjoys watching them mature as they take on more responsibility.

"For me it's really fun seeing students grow above and beyond their potential, and I think most of the time we don't give students the opportunity to go above and beyond their potential," he said. "I think that's important for me. I like to see students reach their untapped potential."

Collaboration

Over the last week, the leadership team juggled many different tasks as they prepared for VisFest. For the awards ceremony, they wrote a script, rehearsed the ceremony and coordinated the film screening and video game expo.

They also judged the video games, created the videos that would play during the ceremony and finalized the trophies. And they couldn't have done it without everyone working together, said senior Cameron Halversen from Kentridge High School. 

"One of the biggest things that we get out of VisFest is learning about the importance of collaboration, because this is a time when the entire STEP team has to rely on each other."

Due to the venue schedule, they had to move the VisFest date up by 3 weeks, which squeezed their schedule, Halversen said.

But sophomore Reidar Riveland says he just has a gung-ho attitude and deals with the challenges as they come. 

"We're all really excited, and I think we know it's going to be a truly great experience that we're going to put on, not just for us, but for the whole Kent School District."

Leadership

Over the past few months, the student leaders came up with a theme for next year's festival. And then they created a video to announce the theme and give students an example of what they're looking for.

Each of the team members had a role to play in the video, whether it was writing the script, filming, editing, doing animations or posting it online. The video played at the ceremony on Thursday.

Thungc assigns different students to lead specific projects like the theme video and gives them opportunities to come up with great ideas. 

"It's not an adult-led team," said senior Catherine Nguyen from Kent-Meridian High School. "It's literally like a student leadership team, so we don't look to Jeff necessarily for our ideas. We each have to take initiative." 

Last year, Reidar entered a film for the contest with a group from his high school, and they won an award. Now that he's on the leadership side, he sees how much effort goes into putting VisFest on.

"It's tons more work than I thought it would be."

He lead the theme video project this year and said that he couldn't have done it without the other four students. 

Problem-solving

Along with working together and leading, these students also have to make decisions together. When they judge the films and video games, they do use a rubric, but they don't always agree. 

"We all have different opinions," Nguyen said, "and coming to a consensus can be difficult sometimes in a large group." 

When they judged the videos two weeks ago, the students debated about the Best of VisFest award for high school. The debate centered around two videos.

Ultimately they went back to the rubric to make their decision because that's what contestants expect, said senior Michayla Tompson from Kentridge High School.

The career preparation

Through interning with STEP, Tompson discovered that she wants to pursue a career in communication. 

"It's just kind of leading me into the right direction for my future." 

And STEP has done the same for freshman Michael Schabbing. He works on animation for the group and joined the team this year.

"I thought it would be interesting and it would be a great experience for me and a good start on getting a good job." 

Through STEP, he's improved his communication skills and learned more about organizing projects. He said by getting involved with these projects, he's learned more than he probably would have learned otherwise.
 

The advice

If you're thinking about starting a student-led program like STEP, Thungc has some advice for you. 

• Be willing to compromise and collaborate with other departments to get the equipment and facilities you need. 
   
• Don't be afraid to let students lead. This is the key to any student program. 
  
  "They have great ideas, and I think my advantage is that I don't know so much, I don't know too much. I rely on them more." 
   
• Don't be afraid to let the students know that you don't know things. Thungc goes to students for answers sometimes because they're leading the future, and the future is already here. 
  
  "If you want to look into the future, look at what the kids are doing now."
   

The lessons

Through leading technology projects, these students learn to collaborate, lead and solve problems together. And those skills will prepare them for future careers.

Everyone on the team has great ideas, and together, they're putting them into action," Halversen said.

"It always reminds you that working with other people is a fantastic experience, and that's something I'm learning all the time."

Resources

The STEP program

VisFest