WATERVILLE — Kylee Hamm couldn’t imagine herself making a video for public viewing, or speaking in public, before she started attending a mass media communications class at Mid-Maine Technical Center.
The 17-year-old Waterville Senior High School junior wasn’t sure what she wanted to do in life, but thought she’d like to learn about photography, so that’s why she enrolled.
Now, she is not only shooting videos, but also producing and editing them, and on Thursday night, she and her instructor, Dave Boardman, gave a presentation to city councilors and members of the Waterville Board of Education.
Hamm, who said she is loving the work, edited and produced a video about the arts in downtown Waterville. The video details how arts advocates are making creative arts accessible to youth. For the video, which she and Boardman aired Thursday in his classroom, she interviewed Serena Sanborn, education and outreach coordinator for Waterville Creates!, Mike Perreault, executive director of the Maine Film Center and Maine International Film Festival, and Brian Clark, vice president of planning for Colby College. The video features the three while highlighting prominent places in downtown, including the historic Two-Cent Bridge over the Kennebec River.
“I think it’s really great that they’re doing all these things,” Hamm said.
Boardman said Hamm sent an earlier version of the video, “Creativity in Waterville,” to producers at Public Broadcasting System who gave her feedback. What she learned changed her approach and she went back to the drawing board.
The video will be shown on Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s website, as part of “Raise Your Voice.”
Students in Boardman’s classes take part in the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Lab program, which is a plus for them when they develop professional portfolios.
As part of their work with the program, students offer their perspectives on issues through video that is aired on PBS.
“We’ve had two pieces on national news this past year which, for high school students, is just huge,” Boardman said.
He said more than 100 high schools in the country take part in the program.
Hamm produced another video that will be featured on MPBN as part of “Maine Spring Live.” The video is about “citizens science,” and focuses on work by Waterville High and other students in Maine and New Hampshire who test ground water for arsenic. It will be aired at 8:30 p.m. April 25 and 5 p.m. April 28, according to Boardman.
Boardman’s program offers students up to 21 college credits over two years through Husson University and Southern Maine Community College, according to Boardman.
About 85 of the program’s graduates attend college, he said, and many work in the fields of audio and video production.
His students also make music videos and public service announcements. They use professional cameras, broadcast gear and software to create video and audio, garnering hands-on experience.
Boardman, a former journalist himself who works as a producer for MPBN, holds a doctorate in education, with a focus in literature, from University of Maine, Orono, is national board certified and has earned two Emmy nominations in production.
Students who have attended his program have gone on to colleges including Wheaton, University of Massachusetts, Pittsburgh State, Arizona State and UMO to study film, journalism and other subjects. Some have gone into editing at television stations, marketing at L.L. Bean, or work in independent film and art.
His students also do internships at area businesses and do promotional, marketing and informational videos. Next week, they will start working on a video about EMT and First Responder Week, which will be shown in Maine.
On March 30, MMTC will host the Maine Student Film & Video Conference, which Boardman founded. This year, $27,000 was raised for the event and one of the teachers is a National Geographic cinematographer.
“We bring in 30 professionals — people who do this all over the place for a living and they run workshops here,” Boardman said.
School board members and councilors applauded Hamm and Boardman Thursday. Waterville Schools Superintendent Eric Haley thanked them for their presentation.
“It’s amazing what goes on in this building every day,” Haley said.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.