Thanks to his volunteerism and innate talent, Daniel Sammons, Jr., a second-year student in the Electronic Media Technology program at RWC, was given the opportunity to work as a media production mentor for Clark Montessori High School as they prepared their video contest entry in the “Get Schooled” campaign conducted by the Obama White House.Six high schools across the country were selected as finalists in the “Get Schooled” video contest. The winner will receive an unforgettable graduation ceremony, with President Obama delivering the commencement speech. Obama’s 2020 goal is to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. The entry videos will make the case for how each school is helping prepare students to graduate college and be career-ready.
The project was monitored and partially edited by MTV News. A college filmmaker/producer was also provided to work with the high school students and serve as an intermediary between the students and the MTV News producers. When eMedia Communications Department director H. Michael Sanders was contacted by a colleague at MTV for a student recommendation, Danny’s volunteerism in the recent College Movie Festival and professional performance earned him the spot as the high school mentor.
Danny helped the students of Clark Montessori stay on schedule to meet their deadlines and contributed to the editorial process. He also shot some behind the scenes footage for a future MTV or mtvU documentary.
Danny said the experience gave him more confidence in his abilities and is happy that his vision for the project matched that of the MTV director.
“It doesn’t take a $50K camera and expensive equipment to tell a story. My artistic direction, and my goal, is to tell stories about real people and I’m more confident now in my ability to tell those stories.”
Commenting on his recommendation of Danny to the MTV producer, Professor Sanders said, “We always have our eyes on the students and try to push those ready into the next level of professional accomplishment. Danny was ready to work with MTV!”
Asked for his reaction to being selected and reflecting on the experience, Danny said, “I felt honored and knew I had to step up to the responsibility and prove myself. I work hard on every project and it paid off. I feel that this helped push me into the next chapter of my career.