New Center Highlights Media and Communications Program
With the infusion of a generous 50th Reunion gift from the Upper School Classes of 1965 and 1966 and the input of two experienced industry professionals, Principia students are poised to reap multiple benefits from our revitalized Media and Communications Center and program.
The Center is now centrally located in the Academic Building, underscoring the central role that media and digital communication skills and technology play in education—and life—today. Infrastructure changes involved skillfully combining and augmenting elements of the former “Mac Lab” and audiovisual recording and studio facilities (previously in the basement) into a light, bright, high-tech classroom and studio space on the main level of the Upper School.
But the changes run far deeper than updated facilities and a new look. The media courses and content have also been rejuvenated under the guidance of newly hired Media and Communications Center Coordinator and teacher Brooke Robbins and alum David Lovegren (US’73, C’77). Robbins (pictured above) brings years of experience as a television news anchor and video producer to her teaching role; and Hollywood movie producer Lovegren gave generously of his time at the start of the school year to help re-conceptualize the courses and the setup of the studio and editing facilities.
“It’s critical that our students not only acquire media and information production skills but also learn how to be critical consumers of media content,” Robbins says. “We will be helping them raise the bar—on what they’re taking in and on what they’re putting out through the media.”
The skills of communication and critical consumption or analysis of information apply across disciplines—evidenced by the way other teachers and classes are incorporating the Center’s resources into their lesson plans. As Lovegren notes, “Media is the most collaborative of art forms. There isn’t any subject area—music, speech, writing, history, foreign language—that couldn’t become a collaborator with what’s going on in this room here.”
Hear directly from Robbins and Lovegren about the vision for student-led learning and engagement in Principia School’s new Media and Communications Center.