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by SEPP JANNOTTA - Ravalli Republic
With summer approaching and kids everywhere suffering spring-itis, believe it or not returning high school students are beginning to plan out their academic pursuits for the next school year.
And the folks at the MAPS Media Institute are hoping more than just a few Ravalli County students will be signing on to learn the finer points of commercial, non-fiction and fiction visual arts.
MAPS, which was born in 2004 with the mission “to educate, create jobs and change lives for Montana youth,” has been on a two-year hiatus during which Rosten pursued other interests.
Now, he is ready to take it up a notch, going from working with two school districts to five.
The model will remain the same - teach students how to do professional work, and get them paid for it. In 2006 it won a contract with the Montana Student Assistance Foundation, and MAPS students produced a video “Hungry For Knowledge, Go To College,” which was broadcast statewide. MAPS was paid $12,500 for that work.
“It turns out that getting paid is highly stimulating to high school students,” Rosten said.
But, in addition to professional skills and the potential for pay, an academic benefit is the other side of the MAPS coin, Rosten said. The students who participate in the program - Rosten will lead an interview process for entrance into MAPS - should see some boost in their language skills.
Also, Rosten pointed out that, out of 200 students who have completed MAPS, only one failed to finish high school.
Continued participation in the program requires students meet academic and disciplinary benchmarks, like those required of student athletes, Rosten said. In any case, the instructors at MAPS will be there to help.
“We’ve had several students who were on the bubble [of failing a class], and we were able to convince, cajole and otherwise pressure them into staying with it,” Rosten said. “In the end, we just had to say, ‘Hey dude pass math,’ because they wanted to stay with us.”
If all goes to plan, the other folks Rosten has slated to teach should have no trouble effecting a similar impact: former KPAX-TV newsman Ian Marquand will teach journalism; Steve Slocomb will teach documentary film making; and Mike Henderson will teach graphic design and web-based communications; while Rosten himself would lead students in fiction film and television production classes.
The program will be housed in Hamilton’s Westview School, a building that is owned by the Hamilton School District and also houses the Hamilton Alternative High School, the Keystone to Discovery after-school program and Bitterroot Ecological Awareness Resources.
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Reporter Sepp Jannotta can be reached at 363-3300 or
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