The Newsdesk at Cornerstone Christian College is the latest initiative of Mr David van-der Tang, who along with a group of secondary students have been busy spreading the word about College happenings.

The Friday afternoon option is all about students exploring the possibilities available to them in the fields of communication and journalism.  A newsletter and website have been produced, and students are responsible for every part of the project.  From cartoons and caricatures, interviews, photographs, editorials, website design and construction, through to the printing and editing – these budding journalists are putting their hand to it all.

The second edition of the newsletter has now been printed, and made available to students and teachers.  The humour and personality of the student writers is clear, and makes the articles they prepare, both interesting and entertaining.

The website, whilst still under construction, is showing great promise.  Kaleb Saw has labelled himself the ‘web-master’, and his efforts to date can be seen by selecting the  Newsdesk  link.   Currently the home page is the only completed item, but links are set up ready for further stories to be added.

Kaleb has used complex software to showcase his skills in website design, and his skills are impressive for one so young.

The latest newsletter edition they have produced has a great story on a recent Sydney-Canberra trip undertaken by some students, a feature on the new sports centre, cartoons and other interesting stories.  A sneak preview of interview notes (taken by one of the ‘reporters’), shows that a future story on exams is in the making.

Mr van der Tang is impressed by what they students are producing.

‘The students are doing a splendid job and I really look forward to seeing what they continue to produce as they gain confidence’, he said.

Who knows what budding future journalists or communication experts may have been un-earthed by this exciting option? 

Year 11 Websites

After many weeks of work, the Year 11 AIT class have completed their major production projects.  Students were required to create an html website with the design concept reflecting their interests.  The site also includes material documenting the process of production which is a Curriculum Council requirement.  One of the interesting features of each site is the photo viewer which was created in Adobe Flash.  Another noteworthy feature is an introductory foray into the world of online surveys – be sure to fill in the form when you visit a website! The level of competence that the completed projects display means that we can expect really exciting work from these students in 2010 when they take on the challenge of their final year.  Visit the AIT2 Student Work Page in order to view the websites.

Grace is a student with a bright future ahead of her.

Recently, the Cornerstone Christian College community were given the privilege of viewing a short-film she has made as part of her assessment in Media Production and Analysis (MPA).

Shot in black and white, with an enormous degree of clever lighting and artistic use of props, the film caught the attention of attendees at the College’s Learning Journey.  According to class teacher, Mr David van der Tang, Grace has shown great determination and creativity to complete the task and was impressed by her skill.

“In general, the project emerged out of a study of Film Noir and students had to construct their own film in this style.  The stimulus material was the opening sequence from a famous 1940s film, The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart.  Grace gave a subtle twist to the whole thing by drawing on Bugsy Malone, a more recent gangster movie parody with children as the actors.”

Mr van der Tang believes Grace has shown considerable talent in this project.

”Her understanding of camera work is mature and her ability to create clearly defined characters stands out.  She also has an eye for detail which is why her film had such an authentic 1940s feel - the costuming was particularly good,” he said.

Grace will commence her TEE exams along with other students at the College in coming weeks.  After her secondary education is complete, she plans to study journalism at university.  Her love for communication and her obvious talent in working with a variety of media bode well for her future dreams.

As for film-making in the future, Grace isn’t sure – but with a communications degree behind her it is entirely possible we may hear Grace’s name in the years ahead.  She clearly displays an understanding for telling a story through film.

Stealth Ship by Dylan

The 3D Animation Class has recently completed their second round of spaceship development.  Josh, WJ and Dylan have produced designs that show signs of significant design talent arising out of an emerging mastery of 3D techniques.  Visit the 3D Student Work page and take a look.  The next step will involve involve assemblying the fleets and creating an animated “fly-past” sequence – we’ll keep you posted!

Banner by Barbara

The AIT2 class is in the process of creating websites that will showcase their work.  A critical part in this process is designing banners to give their sites a distinctive look.  All the students in the class have completed this challenging task and their teacher Mr van der Tang, is very pleased with results.  If the students’ banners are any thing to go by, the completed websites are likely to be worth visiting.  See all the banners by visiting the AIT2 class website page.

The Business End by Jack

This semester’s 3D class is tackling a Sketchup project which requires students to generate a fly past of a fleet of spaceships.  This is an exciting and challenging project and we look forward to some impressive work.  Some students are demonstrating particular ability with 3D applications demonstrated by preliminary designs by Jack and Jason whose work already looks impressive after only one session.  Follow this link (click on the word link) to view their work so far.

Cornerstone Christian College students are achieving amazing results in their cutting edge 3D Graphics Class.

One student impressed his teacher and peers after he showed significant initiative to create a Virtual Reality game.  Using a program called Blender to create the shoot-and-point game, he used components from an ordinary mouse, a game controller, a water pistol and an old jogger to create the interface.

This student really appreciates the flexibility this class offers which allows him to explore the areas and programs that particularly interest him.

Mr David van der Tang, who runs this futuristic program, said that the students were impressing him with their creativity.   ‘’The College is encouraging students to explore 3D applications like Sketchup and Blender and they are beginning to produce results.’’

Another student who is excelling in David’s class has developed some highly original 3D games, some involving two players.  
 
‘’What is more remarkable is that this student has been able to master the relevant software with relative ease.  Very little teacher input was required – just some supervision and oversight’’, Mr van der Tang said. 

This student hopes to work with computers when he graduates in an engineering field.  He thoroughly enjoys the 3D Graphics class.  He says that it is the best thing that happens during his school week and he loves the exposure he gets to a variety of programs.  He then has the opportunity to use the ones he is interested in.

The College is pleased with the interest shown by students and the excellence exhibited.  It plans to continue with this subject over a number of year groups in the future.

The future is bright in the 3D graphics arena for students still in high-school producing this kind of product.

Rising Sun by Rosie (Year 11)

Rosie is a talented artist who is exploring the world of creating art on computer.  She created Rising Sun using graphic elements downloaded from the internet and then manipulated and combined them using a combination of Photoshop and the open source program Gimp.   We look further to additional inspiring contributions as Rosie explores and defines her own unique style.