Preparing Students for Industry Careers or College -- panel discussion and demonstration

The Media Center for Art, Education and Technology, MCAET, invites the public, including industry professionals, community leaders, educators, and artists to a community presentation, panel, and facility tour on Wednesday, April 26, from 10 am  to 3 pm at 901 Blanco Circle, Salinas.

Learn how the Media Center for Art, Education and Technology is developing the arts, media, and entertainment industry’s future as a State designated Career Technical Education Demonstration Site.

Tom Torlakson, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, referred to MCAET studios as one of “The Best in the State." The Career Technical Education division has also named MCAET and the Millennium Charter High School one of eight statewide “Career Education Demonstration Sites."

At MCAET, students from throughout Monterey County are learning alongside Industry Professionals: • Radio, T.V., Film • Advertising • Promotions • Web Design • Broadcast Journalism • Sports Broadcast • Engineering • Animation • Game Design

Wednesday, April 26
10:00am to noon - Presentation & Panel Discussion
“Preparing Students for Industry Careers or College”
Noon - Complimentary LUNCH
1:00pm to 3:00pm - Open House Tours
MCAET Studios, Production Truck, Mobile Digital Media Studio

For more information or RSVP, contact Hamish Tyler, MCAET Director, htyler@montereycoe.org or 831-784-4192

Happy New Year!!!!! Send 'The Birds' flying to Hawaii!

Happy New Year! I hope you're recharged and ready to take on the world of education by the horns!

Me? I've resolved to try to be more dutiful in posting to my blog. And to try to be a better-rounded human ;)

How's that for resolutions?

So here's me, posting my first post of the year, and it's about "The Birds."

You may remember that I wrote about a co-production of the Aristophanes classic by Hartnell and Millennium Charter High School Students. If you need a refresher, visit the story here.

Well, it turns out, "The Birds" has been chosen to be featured in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Honolulu, Hawaii in February.

"It is a great honor for the college, and the theater department, in particular," said in an email Steve Ettinger, Hartnell's music instructor.

"All of our actors are young students who hope to share their talent and passion with others and inspire creativity," writes Hanne Tonder on the groups fundraising page. "But we need your help to reach our fundraising goals and bring our production to Honolulu."

If you're feeling generous, here's the link to the fundraising page. Go Birds!

Hartnell and Millennium students collaborate on "The Birds" production

Hamish Tyler, director of the Media Center for Arts Education and Technology at the Monterey County Office of Education, is excited about the new partnership they have with Hartnell.

The partnership is making possible a production of Aristophanes' The Birds, which will be performed both at Hartnell Studio Theatre and MCAET Black Box Theater.

"We're so proud of this achievement," Tyler said. "What we're doing is developing this articulated pathway" that will eventually include middle schools and summer programs in arts, media and entertainment.

"This is a sample of what we wat to see throughout the county," he said.

Check it out - here's a promo developed for it. The Birds also intends to raise awareness of Monterey County's threatened and endangered birds.

Shows:
Dec. 4 and  5, 7:30 PM, K116, Hartnell Studio Theatre, 411 Central Ave., Salinas.

Dec. 12, 7:30 PM and Dec. 13, 2 PM, MCOE/MCAET Black Box Theatre, 901 Blanco Circle, Salinas.

Millennium Charter High School gets five year extension

Millennium Charter High School, one of the newest charters in Monterey County, was re-authorized for another five years by the Monterey County Board of Education.

Millennium opened in August 2013, and the following year was named by the California Department of Education a "model demonstration site" for Career Technical Education (CTE) in the Arts, Media and Entertainment pathway. Located in two sites -- the Monterey County Office of Education and Sherwood Hall -- the school offers traditional academic preparation with an emphasis on visual and performing arts, digital media technology. The school currently serves students in grades 9-11 and will add a 12 grade in 2015-2016.

Unlike most charters that have been denied in recent years, Millennium began as an effort by educators and performing arts professionals.

Interested in attending Millennium Charter High School? Apply now

Millennium Charter High School is accepting applications for the 2015-16 school year. Deadline to apply is 5:00 pm on March 31st. Millennium officials anticipate that there will be more applicants than spaces available for next year’s ninth grade class, and under California Education Code, charter schools that have more applicants than spaces available must hold a public lottery.

The lottery will be held at 5:30 PM on Tuesday, April 7th, 2015 in the Black Box Theater at the Monterey County Office of Education, 901 Blanco Circle, Salinas.

Millennium will hold an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 21 at its facilities at the Sherwood Community Center, 940 N. Main St., Salinas.

For more information, call 758-7952 or click here.

Millennium: the little charter that's producing videos

Students with the Millennium Charter High, a school tasked with providing hands-on learning for students, it's debuting its very first documentary.

It's called "Del Monte Express, The Little Train That Did," and it's the first of a 10-part series titled “People and Places."

For the first episode, students and teachers together researched, wrote the script and with the help of the Monterey County Office of Education Media Center for Art, Education & Technology produced it.

A live screening will be held Friday at 7 p.m. in the Black Box Theater at the Millennium Charter High School at 901 Blanco Circle in Salinas. It will also be aired on Comcast 26, LPTV Channel 38, and Charter Channels 17, 19 and 21. The screening will be preceded by a refreshment hour at 6 p.m.

“This first episode of People and Places will not only entertain and inform, it will show our viewers the caliber of work Millennium Charter High School students produce. We are thrilled to have this premier and are looking forward to our next episode, “Old Man Rivers,” which is already in pre-production,” said Principal Peter Gray.

You can watch a one-minute promotional trailer of the documentary here.

Millennium High Charter School to host orientation

Even if you're not enrolled at Millennium Charter, but are curious about the school, the student/parent orientation to take place at 6:30 p.m. Friday Aug. 8 should be a good opportunity to find out all about the school The orientation will take place at Sherwood Hall, the school's new digs. Sherwood Hall's at 940 N. Main St., Salinas.

The grand opening for the Sherwood Hall portion of the school will take place at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15.

At the Monterey County Office of Education Campus, Millennium students will still have access to a digital media lab with laptop computers, editing software, a black box theater, a high-definition television studio with professional control rooms, and a radio station designed for broadcast as well as podcast production.

Millennium Charter High School earns WASC accreditation

Millennium Charter High School is on a roll. Weeks after being named a Model Demonstration Site for Career Technical Education in the Arts, Media, and Entertainment, school administrators have just learned the school has just earned accreditation for grades 9 and 10.

Accreditation for Grade 11 will be completed in the fall of 2014, followed by Grade 12 in the fall of 2015, Principal Peter Gray said. WASC Accreditation certifies that the school is a trustworthy institution of learning and validates the integrity of the school’s program and student transcripts.

"I feel very proud that WASC has validated the hard work of the students and staff and the support of our parents," Gray said in an email. "Because there won't be a 12th grade program to be accredited until the 2015-16 school year, WASC will send a team out for a site visit and then we will be fully accredited for grades 9-12."

The school will be moving some operations to Sherwood Park starting the 2014-15 school year. An opening ceremony's scheduled for Aug. 1. 

Millenium Charter is expanding

Hamish Tyler, director of the Media Center for Arts Education and Technology at the Monterey County Office of Education says the Millennium Charter School is not moving out of MCOE. It's just expanding into Sherwood Hall near the Salinas Sports Complex.

"There will always be 58 students here," at MCOE, Tyler said.

But with an incoming class of another 58 students, the freshmen and sophomores already housed at the MCOE campus of Millennium were feeling the squeeze. That's already 100 some students at MCOE, and capacity was becoming an issue.

Millennium's much touted studios will remain where they are, and Millennium students will use them as needed. By expanding capacity, the studios will also be available to students of the home charter program and other programs managed by MCOE, Tyler said.

"It really is a win-win," Tyler said.

Did you ever ride The Del Monte Express?

The Media Center for Art, Education, and Technology is producing a documentary about The Del Monte Express, a train that had service into Pacific Grove from 1890 until 1971.

MCAET Television Production is looking for movie footage, still photos and memories from people (or their relatives) who took a ride on The Del Monte Express. The show will investigate the current conditions of our public transportation systems and motivate the public to value sustainable transportation. Share your story with MCAET so they can paint a full and accurate picture of the train's history.

The 60 minute television special will be produced with the help of eight students from the Millennium Charter High School in Salinas, and will be used for educational purposes.

Submissions are requested immediately through March 31, 2014 to be emailed to the production team at Brittney@houseof8media.com

Tom Torlakson will pay a visit to Millennium Charter this week

Hamish Tyler, director of the Media Center for Education, Arts and Technology at MCOE, said California's top education official will tour the Millennium Charter High School sometime this week.

Tom Torlakson is a big promoter of career education, and since Millennium's built as a career technical school, I can see why he'd want to highlight its model.

The school's growing so rapidly it needs more space, Tyler told me last week. He's still in talks with the city of Salinas for the possibility to lease Sherwood Hall in North Main to house some of the students there. No decisions have been made yet, but these things have a tendency to move quickly.

Millennium Charter High School finally receives start up grant

After waiting and waiting for their grant to come through, folks at the Millennium Charter High School are thrilled about finally having received their start up grant.

The $375,000 did not come through in time for them to begin the 2012-13 school year, so they had to delay the opening until this year.

But they're happy for the money, as you can tell by the photo!

Millennium charter's looking for a new home?

The paint hasn't probably dried in the new, state of the art studios of the Millennium High School Charter, but administrators could be looking for another site for the brand new high school.

According to the Salinas City Council minutes, Salinas administrators are in discussion with Millennium officials to rent Sherwood Hall, the gathering place in North Salinas. Sherwood Hall has meeting rooms and a theater, and until recently was being administered by the Steinbeck Center.

From the get go, it looked like the 93 or so students in Millennium's inaugural class were under really tight quarters at the school, which is on the same campus as the Monterey County Office of Education. And next year, the charter's expected to receive at least another freshman class of about 50 students.

Stay tuned.

A week-long party wraps up at MCOE's, Millennium Charter begins classes next week

The Media Center for Arts, Education & Technology, housed at the Monterey County Office of Education, is celebrating this week the unveiling of its state-of-the-art facility that will also be home to the Millennium Charter School.

They place's been happening all week, with dancers, poetry readings, plays and all sorts of artistic presentations in a taste of what's to be expected from this new venture.

Tonight, yours truly and my amazing boss Dave Kellogg will be guest speakers to talk about journalism in the digital age.

The performances are free and open to the public. They may also be viewed on Charter Channel 17 and Comcast Channel 26.

The grand opening ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday, with music by Red Beans and Rice and tours of the studios. Then on Monday Aug. 26 there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony before the bell rings for the inaugural class of the Millennium Charter High School.

Come check out the studios, or watch Dave and me on TV. It's going to be fun!

The Media Center is at 901 Blanco Circle, Salinas, at the office of the Monterey County Office of Education.

Attention Monterey County 8th graders

The Millennium Charter high school, which will have an emphasis on media production and the arts, will open up this fall, and now is the time to sign up.

As with every charter school, only the lucky ones will get in if there's more demand than space, so sign up early. Only 50 9th graders will be accepted in its inaugural year. For more information, click here. Or watch their video!