Annual Media Day Gives Local High School Students Chance to Experience Possible Careers in Many Communication Fields

MAYS LANDING — More than 100 students from five local high schools attended the Atlantic Cape Community College Early College Program’s Annual Media Day at the Mays Landing campus on October 25 where they learned about the latest technological media and communication innovations, trends, educational programs and the many exciting career opportunities that are available in an ever-changing technological world.

CISM Professor Dr. Bojan Zilovic spoke about the benefits of an Atlantic Cape media studies education to the students from Absegami, Atlantic City, Atlantic County Institute of Technology (ACIT), Cedar Creek and Oakcrest High Schools in attendance.

“You have the opportunity to learn about digital video production, digital audio production, web design, web technologies and many other useful skills that you can apply in the profession of digital media, telecommunications, communications and web communications, as well as social media,” said Dr. Zilovic. “So, not only can you get a Media Studies degree here at the Atlantic Cape, we are going to teach you cutting edge production skills, which is a great thing to have in our community.”

Media Day began with a panel discussion featuring four local media professionals - Rob Schwartz, co-founder, ACX1 Studios; Ernie Isgro, photojournalist, NBC Philadelphia; Dr. Susan Adelizzi-Schmidt, ceo, Suasion Communications Group; and Martin Fiedler, Just RightTV. Each answered detailed questions, such as “Did you think, when you were young, that you would have a career in media?” “How has it changed over the years?” “What is it like working on a movie lot?” and “What part of the job do you dread?” from the students in Walter E. Edge Theater.

From the mixture of answers provided, one poignant message to the students resonated amongst them all: “If you love it, do it.”

Following the panel discussion, the 100+ high school students dispersed into separate groups for two sessions of workshops. Isgro provided a tour of his news van’s equipment, which features a satellite transmission system that sends video signals to his NBC Philadelphia studio, audio equipment, cameras for recording interviews and news video footage. The students had the opportunity to experience being on camera while conducting an interview.

Atlantic Cape Teaching Assistant Dennis Amedzo demonstrated the flying capabilities of several of the College’s drones. Several students manned the controls and took the drones for a buzzing and whirring flight nearly 400 feet high above the campus Quad.

ACIT junior Isaiah Soucir was excited to get the chance to fly a drone for the first time.

“They are very high tech and I did like flying them, especially with the camera function when we went all the way up to 400 feet. We got to see really far, some of which you obviously can’t see just standing here,” said Soucir. “It was a really fun time and he showed us all the features of the drones.”

Fellow ACIT junior classmate Jacob Levari was equally impressed.

“I think it’s really cool just to see the view and to take a few pictures. Hopefully I can go back and look at them. It’s just really cool that we get to see this and get the opportunity to do it,” said Levari, who particularly enjoyed the digital media production tour as well. “I really like learning about editing video and editing movies, TV shows and the post production process that goes into it.”

Other workshops included news writing with Assistant English and Communications Professor Dr. Jennifer Field; Esports demonstration in the College’s Innovation Center Esports Lab with Esports and Media Club President Joseph Woodruff; digital media production tour with Teaching Assistant Alex Breve and Adjunct Professor Fiedler; creative writing and Zine workshop with Associate Professor of English Richard Russell; and radio production demonstration with Assistant Professor Dr. Frank Toriello, who gave students an overview of the College’s radio station, and allowed students to pick their favorite music and present them live on air.

Atlantic Cape’s Early College Program partners with local high schools to provide students with the opportunity to earn college credit while enrolled in high school through options including dual credit, concurrent courses, articulated credit and associate pathways, which allow the student to earn college credits while shortening the time and cost it takes to earn an associate’s degree. Visit atlanticcape.edu/earlycollege to learn more.

Visit atlanticcape.edu/pathways to learn more about these and many other academic programs available at Atlantic Cape.

View a photo gallery of Media Day on Flickr here.

About Atlantic Cape Community College

Atlantic Cape Community College is a Middle States accredited, 2022 Achieving the Dream Leader College and Hispanic Serving Institution proudly serving the residents of Atlantic and Cape May counties. As a comprehensive, two-year community college, Atlantic Cape offers 47 undergraduate degree programs, and 33 certificate and professional series programs at its Mays Landing, Atlantic City and Cape May campuses. Atlantic Cape is home to the renowned Academy of Culinary Arts, rated the top culinary school in New Jersey, and for more than 50 years, our highly-acclaimed Nursing program. Atlantic Cape also partners with more than 30 colleges and four-year universities to offer students the opportunity to seamlessly earn a bachelor’s degree upon graduation.