Creative Guild: From Start to Finish
The potential for students in the Creative Guild endures from a young age through graduation day. Recently, two class of 2024 grads were nominated at the NATAS National Student Production Awards. Samridhi Sharma is representing Troy High with her entry “Footloose Trailer” in the commercial category, and Brianna Johnson is representing Athens with her PSA titled “Clean Water Starts With You”. Both projects previously won their category in the NATAS Michigan Chapter earlier this year, and we’ll learn the results of the national competition later in November.
Samridhi Sharma, 2024 Troy High Graduate
Brianna Johnson, 2024 Athens Graduate
But these were hardly the first projects that these students produced. In fact, both traveled their own paths with varying triumphs and failures for many years. Passion and dedication are necessities for any student to gain valuable experiences. Along with celebrating these alumnae and their past contributions, we also recognize younger students who are taking the first steps in their journey.
Meera Iyer, Troy High Freshman
Meera Iyer, freshman at Troy High, has been pursuing her passion for podcasting since the 7th grade. Her very first podcast involved interviewing 10 different students and teachers about the instrumental music program in Troy School District. This resulted in over 2 hours of recordings which she edited down to a less than 30-minute crafted story. Her follow-up was a discussion with TSD Security Director Todd Gilevich and SRO Brian Jones about safety in our schools. You can find both episodes on TSD World Class Podcasts. Meera is currently in production on an episode about the positive impacts that travel has on learning in our community.
Podcasting continues to prove popular with younger students, and some from Smith Middle School regularly visit the Creative Guild studio. Azra and Seowoo, now in 7th grade, first expressed their podcast interest as 5th grade students, and since then have already won an award from the Michigan Student Film Festival. Their plans involve continuing digital media production through high school, meaning they have many years to look forward to. Listeners can find their show “Tween Talks” on Spotify.
At Athens, freshman Anna Holt has expressed an interest in potentially pursuing a filmmaking career in some way, and recently completed her first video at the annual rivalry football game. Also at Athens, sophomore Annabelle Beaubien is focusing in on photography, expanding her skillset through layering techniques in Adobe Photoshop. Achieving high-quality work at a young age isn’t a requirement for everyone to find success later on, but establishing that potential early is certainly exciting.
Annabelle Beaubien, Athens Sophomore
Sample of Annabelle’s Photo Editing
Each student mentioned is charting their own path forward. Whenever we see the result of their photography, videos, or podcasts, what we don’t see are the countless hours of their learning process. In the Creative Guild, these incredible students are contributing to our community while investing in themselves. We look forward to celebrating the success of each student from the beginning and until the end.