WAIMEA — A DuPont Pioneer education grant will provide funding for the media production program at Waimea Canyon Middle School. Blaine Tsukayama, the WCMS media arts instructor, said the grant funding will enable the program to get media arts WCMS
WAIMEA — A DuPont Pioneer education grant will provide funding for the media production program at Waimea Canyon Middle School.
Blaine Tsukayama, the WCMS media arts instructor, said the grant funding will enable the program to get media arts WCMS students to learn media production skills such as photo composition, interviewing skills and scripting journalism pieces.
Judith Rivera, the DuPont Pioneer Waimea Center manager, was happy to present the grant to Tsukayama and WCMS principal Glenda Miyazaki.
“As a Westside Kaua‘i Pioneer manager, I am happy to see our grant dollars providing funding for local school programs, which allow students to learn about career opportunities and build skills for the future,” Rivera says in a release.
Pioneer Kekaha Parent Seed manager Jon Petersen also attended the grant presentation and reflected on the importance of supporting education programs in Kaua‘i schools.
“Pioneer feels it is important to support these types of programs,” Petersen said. “Students at Waimea Canyon Middle School are learning valuable team building and technical career skills, which will allow them to live and work right here on Kaua‘i.”
Tsukayama said the DuPont Pioneer grant will be combined with the Aloha ‘Ike education grant funding from the Kaua‘i Economic Development Board to purchase equipment for hands-on learning by the media arts students in developing public service announcements, creating and scripting digital storytelling and learning photo composition.
Previous student media projects have appeared as pieces on the PBS “Hawai‘i Hiki No” series.
Tsukayama said students will also learn other valuable lessons while gaining journalism, news casting and media production skills.
“Our Waimea Canyon Middle School students benefit in many ways while learning life skills through the media arts classes,” Tsukayama said.
“Planning for deadlines, learning to work with a diverse team and working with other team members to accomplish goals are incorporated into media production projects.”
