VANTAGE DJ Projects Update

Over the past semester, our class has been working on semester projects with our groups. Groups are made of 3-5 Digital Journalism students and almost all groups are partnered with a Global Business or Business Analytics group. Each group is assigned a company to make a video or digital product for.

Take a look at what each project was asked to do:

Fairview: [Annie, Suzie, Tanner] We are working with Fairview Clinic in their journey to create the product, the Bridge. As the video team, we have been asked to create a promotional/informational video about the product showing people using it and the benefits to it. The video will be used to show potential patients.

Park Nicollet: [Sarah, Aly, Nikki] We are working on updating five videos for total hip and knee replacement. These videos are informational videos on how to deal with your surgery and the exercises you will be performing post-surgery. These videos will be used in their total hip and knee replacement class.

Children's Workshop: [Paige, Madison. F, Caelyn, Ari] Children's Workshop is a Montessori school. We were asked to create a promotional/marketing video for them advertising what Montessori is and how their Montessori school differs from others.

Stillman: [Kari, Christian, Lydia] David Stillman is a generational expert. We were asked to create a video showing a VANTAGE project from start to finish and what VANTAGE students are responsible for during a project. We are following the Business Analytics VANTAGE strand on their project with David Stillman. 

Car Workshop: [Harry, Roy, Zeke, Chris] We are working to create a promotional slideshow to broaden the audience of the 10,000 Lakes Concours, a celebration of antique cars. We hope to expand to the younger audience and get them interested in this event with our slideshow.

Habitat for Humanity: [Max, Sophie, Madison. G, Mia] We were asked to prepare two videos. One video will be used to target people that are dropping off donations and another for volunteers that are volunteering for the first time. These videos will take the viewer through each step, making it easier for them to help Habitat for Humanity. 

Pique Travel: [Brady, Mimi, Elle, Cece] We are working on filming and editing two videos for Pique Travel Design. One will focus on a marketing video to capture the nature of Pique. The other will be focusing on a potential program where Pique will donate a certain percentage of profits back to Pique.

As we begin the end of the year, we are continuing to film and edit our projects with the final presentation deadlines approach. Stay tuned for the final products coming soon!

For more Minnetonka and Digital Journalism updates, click here to follow us on Twitter!


By Annie Tomsche

Introduction to the New and Improved Blog

Hello and welcome to the Minnetonka VANTAGE Digital Journalism blog. We are a group of 25 high school students studying media, news broadcasting, and journalism in a professionally-based environment off-campus. If you haven't been following us already, this blog is used to update viewers on what the DJ class does. The top stories will be divided into the following categories: Sports, Variety, News, VANTAGE and Spotlight. There are also tags that you can filter to see certain blog posts (ex. Videos, News, Guest Instructors). For each category, we have a small team that works together weekly to write their story.

Here's what you can expect from each category:

Sports: Local updates about Minnetonka team games, interviews with players and coaches, and fundraisers/events

Variety: Minnetonka events, theatre, academics, reviews on local shops/restaurants/activities

News: Coverage from a student's perspective on local/national/international events

VANTAGE: Updates on any big events happening in any of the VANTAGE courses

Spotlight: Showcases anything of interest that's happening in and around Minnetonka


We invite everyone to explore the blog and experience what the DJ team has worked on thus far, enjoy!

Andy Smith Visit

Andy Smith visits with the Digital Journalism class and shares his experiences from years of working in the industry filming and editing for top local news outlets in Minnesota and other states around the country.


VANTAGE Digital Journalism by Andy Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pd_HiK3jxg


What is VANTAGE?  by Andy Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2vM31_ExeM

VANTAGE Students Visit Iowa Caucuses

February 1, 2016

David Stillman Video- Gen Z

David Stillman Video- Gen Z

KARE 11 Site Visit Day 2

The second group of Digital Journalism students made the trip over to Kare 11 to learn about journalism and television broadcasting. Starting in the control booth, we watched the show director and producer put together and organize the show. Next, we traveled down to the studio to see Kim Insley and Alicia Lewis give the morning show. Finally, we got the opportunity to have a conversation with several Kare 11 reporters on their experiences with reporting and how we can apply their knowledge to our own projects.

KARE 11 site visit

The Digital Journalism course at VANTAGE got the opportunity to explore the Kare 11 studios. The class was able to observe and interact with the morning news crew. This site visit helped give us insight into how a news station works. We met with editors, anchors, directors, and producers. It was really interesting to see how the whole crew worked together to bring viewers their morning news.  

VANTAGE students present to the Minnetonka School Board

With the first semester projects coming to a close, the General Mills VANTAGE group presented to the Minnetonka school board. This group consisted of both the Digital Journalism and Global Business class. This project was a research-based project, focusing on the morning eating trends of teens. With the research that the Global Business group conducted, the Digital Journalism team made an intriguing video on this research and the trends found. 

Hubbard Broadcasting

February 17

We visited Hubbard Broadcasting. Dan Seeman and Derek Wetmore talked to us about the history of broadcasting and the future in the industry. We took a tour of the KSTP newsroom, 1500 AM, and KS95 radio studios.  Derek Wetmore spoke to us about Podcasting and the opportunities it can bring to anyone who has a voice.

Listen Carefully Video Contest

http://www.listencarefully.org/video-contest/

Take a look at the 3 VANTAGE videos entered.  Please take some time to view these videos and sign in and vote.  (You will need to search for them under Mn)

Business Projects 2015

General Mills VANTAGE group give final presentation

Habitat for Humanity

Medtronic

                                          

Aspire

                                          

Loaves and Fishes

                                           

Teacher Frontiers

                                           

General Mills

John Milea from the MSHSL

John Milea from the Minnesota State High School League - December 10

John brought his wealth of journalism knowledge and experience to the Digital Journalism class and talked about what tools he uses to find the story behind the story and his opinion of good journalism.