Technological Studies
EVENTS
Q107 Morning Show host Ryan Parker Visits
Q107 Morning Show Host Ryan Parker visited Mr. Stark's Communications Technology class at Acton District School May 22nd.
Mr. Parker shared his life experiences with the class; including his outlook on the Radio Industry, the importance of networking, and how he managed to secure a job at Q107.
Mr. Parker had the class in stiches with his stories, including a story about meeting Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and showed a hilarious youtube video he made with Q107 to promote the Toronto Police Canine Unit.
Thank you Ryan.
Former Acton District School student Joe Frechette came to the Communications Technology class room at ADHS to talk about his experiences in college and the Toronto Film Industry. Joe graduated from Acton and attended Confederation College in Thunderbay for Film Studies. When he finished college he started working as a Craft Service Person for I.A.T.S.E. (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) After working On set for a year at this job, he was given the opportunity to join the Technicians Union where he was paid to train to become a Second Camera Assistant. Joe over the last 8 years has worked on numerous Film and Television shows and shared these experiences with the class.
Thank you Joe.
Order of Canada recepient Brian Robertson meets with an ADHS ICT SHSM Student
Dylan had the opportunity to meet Order of Canada recepient Brian Robertson, former president of the Music Recording Industry of Canada, founder of CARAS (Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) and executive producer for the JUNO Awards just to name a few of his life achievements. They discussed Brian`s life and he gave words of wisdom to follow as Dylan chooses his post secondary school and begin his future careers. Dylan found it encouraging and inspiring to meet and talk to Brian.
Thank you Brian.
Escarpment Sound Recording Studio
Comm Tech and ICT SHSM students took a day trip to Escarpment Sound Studios in Bellwood ON to learn about audio production. Students learned first-hand from Brian Hewson about the acoustic dynamics of rooms, microphone placement, multi-track recording, and mixing.
Students also recorded 4 songs within the 6 hrs they were at the studio. Including an original song which incorporated the musical talents of many of the ICT SHSM students.
Thank you Brian.
CBC Fieldtrip
Students were allowed to go into studio 40 to see the Air Farce New Year's Eve Show sets, and the crew preparing for a pre-recorded sketch. Director Wayne Moss made time for Acton students to explain the production process on a television show.
At the end of the tour students were allowed to sit in "The Current" studio and test out the microphones with students at the audio console in the control room.
Many people at CBC Toronto were responsible for the success of this trip. Special thanks to Joe Mahoney at CBC radio for making this trip a possibility.
METAL WORKS INSTITUTE
Alex Andronache visits class to talk about the music business course offerings at Metal Work Institute and Metal Works recording studios.
The interactive presentation Alex gave to Mr. Stark's ICT SHSM students and Ms. Dugas' Music class was very entertaining. Alex explained the course offerings at Metal Works Institute, famous projects Alumni from MWI are now working on, and his own experiences in the Entertainment Industry. Alex mentioned that one of Acton District High School's graduates that also graduated from Metal Works is currently working at Spotify in L.A.
Thank you for coming in Alex.
PHOTOGRAPHER Nik Milner in to discuss life as a Rock and Roll photographer, and show a few Photoshop tips and tricks
Students in Mr, Stark's period 5 class had a chance to ask questions of Acton's Nik Milner regarding best practices as a freelancer, and how life was as a Rock n Roll photographer. Always a great visit.
Thank you for talking to the class Nik.
Special guest PIXAR/SHERIDAN
Stephen Barnes Visits and discusses working on Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, and Monster's Inc.
Acton students were taken on the first ever student tour of the extensive facilities at Christie Digital (an Audio Visual Manufacturer). Students saw first hand, research and development in action.
One of the highlights included the multi-projector car display, in which a grey model of a car had details projected on it. The amazing part is when the turntable the car was on was rotated the image flawlessly stayed on the shape.
Student also experienced the “silent “room where researchers measure the amount of noise a projector makes to insure it conforms to CSA and International standards.
Finally students donned lab coats, safety glasses, hair nets, and shoe covers to enter the assembly area for Video Tiles, Projectors, and Audio systems. Here students had a chance to see products being prototyped, assembled and tested.
Students were impressed with by the touch sensitive video tile wall that the staff used to keep tabs of the progress of their project completion.
When this part of the tour was over, students returned to the conference room. Here they were shown various examples of Christie Digital products in action; including the display used at center ice at the Air Canada Center in Toronto. This was an amazing experience for Acton students. Thank you to Christina at C.M.E., for arranging the tour. Thank you to Chris at Christie Digital, for allowing us to be the first group of students to experience their facilities.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Toronto Broadcast Centre
On June 15 James and Ryan met with members of CBC's Metro Morning staff and toured the Radio and Television facilities experiencing various stages of Radio and Television production. They watched the Metro Morning Crew as they broadcast their show, sat in on pre-production meetings for the next day, talked with Radio Sportscaster Joe Cummings and TV Sports on air personality Signa Butler in the editing room as she prepped a segment for a show with her editor.
Special thank you to Bridget O'Toole and Joe Mahoney at CBC Radio for making this happen for our students.
Below is a photograph of our bearcats with Metro Morning Sportscaster Joe Cummings.
The 16th Annual "Eddie Awards" Craig Kielburger
The 16th annual Eddies Gala Awards evening – a popular festival celebrating student filmmaking – was held at Craig Kielburger Secondary School .
Students from Acton District School received 3 awards at this celebration:
Best Production Design James for "Finding Winnie"
Animation Silver Medal Angel for her Paper Animation
Animation Bronze Medal Sophia for her Flash Animation "Chickens"
Transportation Technology
Mr. Zimmerman zimmermanm@hdsb.ca
Ontario Skills Competition
2017 has been an outstanding year for our Technical students at Acton High School.
Gold medal winner of the Acton High School Technical skills Luke Vuyk went on to represent Acton High School at the Halton Skills competition March 28th at White Oaks High School. He worked very hard and earned himself and Acton the first Gold Medal in the Automotive Technician competition! Luke then represented our school at the Ontario Skills Competition in Toronto on May 2nd. Luke earned a Silver at the Ontario's! Congratulations on your outstanding effort.
Halton Technical Skills Competition
On March 28 the Gold medal winners of the Acton Technical skills competition went on to compete at the Halton Skills. Luke Vuyk (on the left) won Gold for Automotive technician. Jacob Dolimont won Silver in the Small power equipment competition. They both will continue on to represent Acton High School and the Halton School board at Skills Ontario on May 2nd in Toronto. Excellent results Guys!
Manufacturing Technology
Mr. Zimmerman zimmermanm@hdsb.ca
Manufacting grade 10 students have just completed designing and fabricating a metal tool box. The following pictures are an excellent example of a tool box fabricated by James Walsh.
Construction Technology
Design Technology
