Anthony Truong-Nguyen ’15

Yearbook and SJET members spent time this summer at the Strake Jesuit Retreat and Leadership Center for a newly introduced Media Retreat from July 30 to August 1. The students made their way to the RLC in the afternoon, excited to work on various things in their respective extracurriculars. Yearbook members started with the basics of how to properly use a DSLR camera as well as how to take various types of pictures on manual settings. SJET members began by learning different skills and techniques to improve filming.

“I think overall it went well,” said The Crusader’s editor-in-chief Ray Che ‘15. “We learned a lot about photography and we took some awesome pictures…We had a pretty fun time.”

“We had good topics,” said Mrs. Marilyn Othon, yearbook moderator. “We stayed engaged without any lag time and we still had fun.”

As the students continued their stay, yearbook focused on their cameras by going out to take some night time photography and spent time creating spreads for the 2014-2015 SJ yearbook. SJET, on the other hand, concentrated on applying what they had learned by creating and editing videos.

“We learned different film making and interviewing techniques that we wouldn’t have had time to learn during the school year,” Chris Breuer ‘15 explained. “We spent a little time learning a new editing system. We also worked on how to improve lighting during interviews.”

Many, if not all, who went on this retreat would agree that they have learned something new, whether it would be about photography or video editing. This is the first time that there has ever been a retreat for yearbook and SJET.

“I would like to evolve the retreat with more professionals involved,” Mrs. Othon suggests. “We should have people in various fields come to speak to the students and get them ready to make something that people will truly enjoy looking through.”

With yearbook and SJET both combining efforts in having a retreat together, there are certainly ways that our school’s media outlets can provide better products for the students and teachers. After all, the goal of the Media Retreat was to allow yearbook and SJET students to improve upon what they know and create something better for the entire school.

“I really want the media areas to work together and create a consistent amount of information across the campus,” Mrs. Othon explains. “If we all work together, it will only make things better for the students.”