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Schools spotlight young media moguls
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Lyman Hall media specialist Diana Anderson and Liberty BoE chairwoman Lily Baker stand behind rising sixth grader Alyssa Anderson and rising fifth grader Tanner Middleton, who are holding the signed certificates and trophies presented to each student or group who placed at the state media festival. - photo by Photo provided.
Elementary students got the celebrity treatment at a May 14 Board of Education event where they were honored for their performance at this year's Georgia Student Media Festival.
Students dressed to the nines became the evening's distinguished guests as they strutted down an improvised red carpet before entering the BoE atrium. Their video projects were showcased on a big screen in the dimly lit board room.
Family and teachers packed the room, snapping pictures and applauding after each displayed entry.
Magdalena Barcena enjoyed seeing the sequential still video project her daughter, Maelie, created from pictures of a family trip to Busch Gardens for the festival.
She also said this was one school project her daughter was "very excited about doing," Maelie recruited her mother to help gather pictures.
"She really liked it," Barcena said. "She sent it to her dad in Iraq. She wanted her daddy to be able to see it."
Maelie proudly clutched her trophy at the event's concluding reception.
"This is her first trophy," her mother explained.
Barcena also thought it was important for the school system to have these types of events in order to help students feel accomplished.
"It encourages them to keep going," she said.
Becky Busby, a first-grade teacher at Frank Long, also has seen how far a pat on the back goes in keeping students motivated.
She had five students from her class enter the state competition, which seemed to help students put fundamental skills into practical use.
"I think they learned just how to apply everything they've been learning all year," Busby said. "Like reading, writing, working in groups and a lot with the technology."
Jordye Bacon elementary student Adric Wallace was excited to share his own running list of newly acquired skills.
"I learned how to make the objects move ... and how to download the sound to where you can get it perfect," he explained.
"He also learned the importance of giving credit to where we got the pictures from," his mother, Linda Wallace, added.
She and her husband, Frank, have been hearing about the media festival project since their son entered last year. They said their son enjoyed being recognized by the BoE.
"I know it meant a lot to our son," Wallace said. "Ever since he got the note, he's been looking forward to this."
The project also allowed the Wallace family to spend quality time together.
"It was a lot of family time, too, because we did it together," Wallace explained. "The whole family got involved so it was a nice time to spend together ... He would ask questions and we would show him how to do it."
Adric's twin brother, Ridge, also submitted a media festival entry, but did not make it to the state level.
The boys have big hopes for the future.
"Next year, we're going to make a comic book," Ridge Wallace said. "Because I didn't make it, so I'm going to make something that will make it."
"Between us, we're learning all these skills because when we grow up, we're planning on building an amusement park," Adric Wallace said.
Media festival accepts live action video, sequential stills, interactive stills, photography, Web site design and animation submissions from students in kindergarten through grade 12.
State media festival winners will have their submissions entered into the International Student Media Festival this November in Orlando, Florida.

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