The Coming Conference

Imagine a Conference Room, filled with nearly 5000 of the most brilliant high school students from around the state. I see myself up on a stage with so many pairs of eyes staring at me, waiting from me to start my presentation, to open my mouth, to "impress" them with my technology skills. I see my friends on the front row, my peers, rooting for me, but nervous at the same time. I see myself nervous. I feel the pressure closing in from around the room, making the air thick and my skin crawl. I notice the beads of sweat on my palms, shaking just like my hands. I fear the silence of me, of the crowd, of my presentation. I know it is time to go out and show it all. 

But I am not scared. I am prepared. I have rehearsed my presentation. I am truly passionate about technology and know what to say, what not to say, and how to convince my audience that LNC inspires its students. I am not scared, NO. I am excited! I get to show off, to prove to the world, and possible future employers that I have what it takes. I know my stuff. I have be diligent for years with my school work. I have the record to show it. I am not scared of this platform. I am not scared of this Conference. I am excited. 

Yesterday, I applied to be a representative of my Dig Cit class for a Technology Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. It will be held on March 2nd - 4th, and I will be presenting about my passion project and how the Dig Cit class has shaped me into a model online presence for the school and my peers. I cannot wait for this leadership opportunity. It will be an eye opening experience, one I will not be able to just breeze through. I am prepared to put in the time and create a presentation that will knock the socks off any educational Admin at the conference. I will update you all further if I get the position as the student spokesperson. 

Video Advice

This past week, my Dig Cit class interviewed a graduate of our school, Kevin Beaty, who is out in the work force and battling real world problems involving jobs and internships out of college. He was a real go getter and I saw a lot of my qualities and characteristics in him. He works in the film industry, an area I am not very interested in, but I did relate to his video journalism. Although he originally majored in Photography, Kevin recognized the importance of being multifaceted, and he explored the career opportunities of video production. 

I related to this because in my passion project, I am creating videos that will guide students through iPad repair. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time for Kevin to answer all my questions about video production. However, I did get a good sense of the time and effort that is required to put together videos. I also found a new respect for professionalism, and now understand the necessity for the videos to be appealing and interesting to my target audience, my peers and faculty. 

To speak further on my passion project, I am excited to work on my Quarter 2 deliverables. My soccer season is over, freeing up a lot of after school to work one on one with my mentor. I will come back next week with more updates!

The Big Pitch

Yesterday after school, my Dig Cit class had our community pitch, where we present our Passion Project to members of the community and school in order to receive feedback. It was an amazing turnout, as there were at least 50 people who attended! Every student in the class set up a both that community members could walk right up to and learn the ins and outs of that person's passion project. Thank you so much to those of you who did come out to support me and my classmates. 

My presentation consisted of about a 2 minutes explanation of my passion and how I planned on creating my website. My poster board was very detailed, highlighting both my website as well as my blog. Further, I talked about my involvement in the tech II class that really spurred on my passion. I enjoyed answering question from community members and seeing the smile on their face when they realized how helpful my project soon would be. 

My mentor, "Mr. Brian" also made an appearance! I actually used him in my presentation and he looked very happy to be involved in my project. Overall, the night was a complete success with everyone very happy about the ambitions of the Dig Cit class. Thank you all again if you came out to support me and my peers.