James Clemens High School has founded the Arts/Audio-Visual Academy. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – James Clemens High School has founded the Arts/Audio-Visual Academy to promote creation of professional digital content.

“We’re one of very few schools in Alabama that offer this career tech category as an academy,” Daniel Whitt said. Whitt instructs JetsPress digital communications students and works as media specialist. The academy will “help students discover and hone their individual voices.”

By creating online content as video, photography, design or text-based communications, students can “create meaningful correspondence with the world, improve their digital footprints and refine their voice in preparation for the real world,” Whitt said.

Currently, the academy has a four-course sequence:

* “Introduction to TV Production” — For beginning video creation.

* “Advanced TV Production” — For more involved creation and design of video.

* “Photography and Editing” — Including the medium, PhotoShop and design.

* “Senior Pathways Internship” — Placing senior interns internally or externally.

“Almost all content created by students will be shareable and discoverable online under the brand of ‘Jets Press’ (#JETSpress),” Whitt said. “As social media and online communication continues to become paramount in society, James Clemens wishes to be on the forefront of innovation.”

Whitt will teach TV and internship classes. “James Clemens is lucky to Mason Overcash for ‘Photography and Editing,’ as his expertise in the field of photography is unmatched in the school system,” Whitt said.

An academy’s structure focuses on a field, revealing the interconnection of courses. Furthermore, an academy is “a statement to the community” about dedication and passion for this career path, Whitt said.

In the academy’s first year, Whitt and Overcash will “discover scaffolding opportunities for the curriculum … (for) better pacing and a more comprehensive learning environment for all digital content.” One example is The Johnnys awards gala.

Long-range, the academy “is a destination for students … a brand as a production company more than a class,” Whitt said. The academy will support all content areas at James Clemens.

“We are therefore the primary storytellers of the James Clemens experience,” Whitt said.