We define media by what is currently active in our society right now. Television, Film, Facebook, Twitter, Social Networking, Game Development, YouTube are all concepts that define us, inform us, shape us and change or perish because of us. The study of the means of communication that we live in is as a relevant media of study. As Marshal McLuhan stated, the media is the message. For us it is more than the message, it is a vehicle for self-expression, self-discovery and ultimately, the manner in which we measure ourselves against our peers by our ability to create and express ourselves. We have a vision for our academy that is real and heartfelt.

Imagination, creation, critical thinking and productivity are what define us as members of the Media Academy. The vehicles that we choose to create are varied, and will be explored in depth by our students, but our aim is always to strive for quality above all else. When a student creates a project that is well-constructed, well planned, edited and appraised by peers and teachers, they are directly involved in a learning paradigm that will pay multiple rewards in their future. Our academy takes the noble premise that students will learn in a setting that encourages discovery when their interests are shared. While the essential elements of grammar, syntax, composition, logic and style are important in the development of a story, they are much more relevant when shared and perfected in the context of a project that will be shared with a larger group.

The context of learning has shifted to embrace a culture that shares concepts amongst a wide-reaching audience. The same qualities that we all appreciate in literature, poetry, composition and essay are still alive, but they are becoming transformed by the  media that surrounds us. The Media Academy strives to produce students that are fully grounded in the fundamentals of Math, Science, English and Social Studies, yet are prepared to express themselves using the means that are shaping our new society. Email, blogging, video production, programming for small devices and for game consoles are all a part of our new world. We plan to stay on the cutting edge and teach students how to incorporate their creations into projects that can be viewed and appraised by a larger audience. Our students will develop skills that will make them productive members of the Huntington Park community. They will work together with other students to produce work that will allow them to learn outside the physical classroom.

Students involved in the Media Academy of Huntington Park High School will work with students in our feeder school, Gage Middle School and will support their younger siblings and colleagues at elementary schools in the area. Implicit in all activities at our school is a spirit that defines us as helping individuals who give to community. We believe in the Karma of good will. Our students will produce for the benefit of others first and in this spirit of altruism, will learn to give of themselves first before expecting reward. Seniors will have real projects that will embrace the community by linking themselves to freshmen. We will utilize the positive experiences we have gained in our work with our older students, by teaming them with younger students. We find that this approach takes the stigma and fear out of being a young students and provides a model of leadership that stays with our younger charges and instills in them a desire to return the favor when they are older.

As teachers, we expect the most from our students. We expect them to come to school on a regular basis and to work hard. We expect them to learn responsibility by being responsible to each other. We believe in team work and believe that our students will learn best when they are committed to projects bigger than themselves. This is our challenge. We strive to have our students create projects involving original writing, research, persuasion, technical knowledge, Math and a variety of skills. Each discipline they will be learning is not seen as a separate entity, but as a piece of the greater puzzle that defines our students as individuals and members of society that have a real skills that will enable them to be constructive in a variety of settings.

After all, we live in one of the greatest cosmopolitan environments in the world. Hollywood is just a few miles away from us. Television studios are all around us. The internet is everywhere, and our students for better or worse, are already communicating with more people than we did at their age, and do not see the same geographical and social boundaries that we saw as children. Our goal is to mold them into caring, ambitious, hard-working and productive individuals who can develop their promise and share it with the world after they leave our campus.