Education Archives - Jason's Blog

College Hunt, Final Edition: Our SCAD Bee

After a one week delay, classes are underway at SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design. We are so proud of Allison for being accepted to this college! Tina and I attended family orientation sessions on Sunday where we were incredibly impressed by the staff and faculty, facilities, and overall planning and coordination of the school.

We were able to keep in contact with representatives at the college during Hurricane Irma by using a variety of online/social media outlets. The parent Facebook page, SCAD’s twitter account, and of course the school website at scad.edu were all valuable resources during the week of uncertainty. Even upon arriving at the school, with all the chaos of registration and getting kids moved in over a shortened weekend — the staff did a fantastic job.

For those not familiar with SCAD (me, a couple of years ago!) here is a video shown during parent orientation that provides a glimpse into the school:

You can see more SCAD videos on their YouTube channel and at SCAD TV.

When we arrived at check in, there was a large presence of SCAD personnel ready to assist and answer any questions we had. There was a party-like atmosphere setting everyone at ease in this new environment. We had some time to explore Savannah and visit the on-campus bookstore, Ex Libris. Shortly after that we arrived at Allison’s new dorm to move her in. There was a long line of vehicles going in and going out, but the security and staff at SCAD had the line moving efficiently. By the time we got to Allison’s building we were the only car unloading at that location. SCAD had organized move-in teams with students volunteering to help move freshmen in. With assistance, we had Allison moved into her new room in no time.

Thanks to SCAD for the wonderful experience! And here’s to four successful years at Allison’s new home!

Pics:

Children, Education, Music Monday, September 12, 2016, 7:32am

The 2016 Lincoln High School Marching Band

by: Jason McIntyre

Add Comment

The Lincoln High School Marching Band performs this past Saturday evening at the Fairmont Senior High School Band Spectacular. The band performs their “Flashback Friday” field show that features songs from the 80s, including Mr. Roboto, Call Me, and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

The band will also be performing at the Liberty High School Band Spectacular in Clarksburg on September 24 and of course various Lincoln High School football games throughout the remainder of the season.

The Art of Politics

by: Jason McIntyre

Add Comment

Allison McIntyre – Life Will Stretch You

This past week my daughter Allison had the honor of being recognized at the United States Capitol for winning first place in her district at the 2014 Congressional Art Competition. Her work, along with several others from all over the nation, is on display in the hallways of the US Capitol Building. On June 26 we attended a presentation and reception where Allison met Congressman David McKinley, representative of West Virginia’s first district.

On behalf of my family, I would like to thank Representative McKinley for taking the time to talk to us and converse with Allison about her work and passion for the arts, and for taking a genunie interest in our visit. We often picture congressman and senators as distant suits who are too busy to speak with constituants, but his conversation was genuine and included statements like “What do you think?” and “What would you do?” It felt sincere and I was pleasantly surprised. I would like to thank members of Representative McKinley’s office, including his staff and interns for their assistance in guiding us around the Capitol and for pointing out some places to visit (and eat) while in Washington. I’d also like to thank the competition’s sponsers, Southwest Airlines, the Savannah College of Art and Design, and Adobe along with the Adobe Education Team, who can be followed on twitter as well. Join Adobe’s conversation on twitter about keeping the arts in education and turning STEM to STEAM with #CreateEdu

For more information about the Congressional Art Competition, visit the House website or the Congressional Institute’s website. The House website currently displays artwork from 2013 competition, but the Congressional Institute’s website has been updated with the 2014 artwork.

Children, Computing, Education, Featured, Video Games Thursday, January 2, 2014, 11:09am

College Hunt — Full Sail University

by: Jason McIntyre

Add Comment

So, we just returned from a trip to central Florida over Christmas break that included a trip to Full Sail University in Winter Park. Allison will be off to college in no time at all, and with her artistic talents we’re looking for a media-rich school for her to attend. Full Sail certainly delivers on all counts.

This video provides a quick tour of the campus. Many of these places we visited during our tour.

Our tour guide, Jim, was very knowledgeable and full of information about the course offerings. There were a few grade school children along for this tour and Jim handled them all amicably. I had felt a little odd about taking Allison as she is just a freshman in high school, but after seeing the younger kids there on the tour, those worries quickly disappeared.

This would have been a top choice school of my own had I known about it in the early 1990s. I was interested at that time in attending Virginia Tech, as they were using Commodore-Amiga computers. I would have leaned toward television and movie post production, I think. I ended up staying local, and getting a well-rounded education here in West Virginia.

The education from Full Sail is very specific to digital media arts, and upon completion, 72% of students wind up working in their field of study. That’s a real-world education. I was impressed by Full Sail’s list of graduates who went on to work for film studios, audio engineering companies, gaming studios, musicians, etc. There are a few awards (Grammy, Emmy) on site that backs up the quality work their grads are capable of.

As I said, Allison still has a couple of years to get things sorted out, but hopefully we can keep Full Sail at the top of a short list.

Pics are below.