CTE Career Clusters: Arts, A/V Technology & Communications
Jake Ronza
Adobe Digital Media Specialist, Carahsoft Technology Corp., Reston, VA
- Massaponax High School, Spotsylvania Career and Technical Center, Spotsylvania County Public Schools
- CTE studies: Television and Media Production I and II
- Additional studies: Bachelor of Science in Media, Arts, and Design, James Madison University
Training Adobe users
by Jessica Sabbath
Jake Ronza grew up with a love for moviemaking. “I would create basic movies in middle and high school and then edit them,” he says.
When he got to high school, it seemed natural to take Television and Media Production classes offered at Spotsylvania Career and Technical Center. Those classes gave him a foundation in a variety of Adobe software products, which he now uses every day in his career.
Jake is an Adobe Digital Media Specialist for Carahsoft Technology, which sells Adobe products to government agencies and provides product training and sup- port. Jake is charged with training users on Adobe products, including Photoshop. “Those high school classes laid a frame- work for my passion, and we were able to apply our skills directly to a career,” says Jake. “It made the acclimation process to the professional position that much easier.”
In his job, Jake conducts sales demonstrations, webinars, licensing overviews, and on-site training sessions for government employees. He also provides technical support for users.
His favorite part of the job is helping employees who are using the software to enhance critical government work. “For example, there are government employees in forensics who use Adobe products on a regular basis,” Jake says, “They might need to take footage from a body camera and optimize it, manipulate it, blur faces, or enhance different aspects. You feel like you’re actually making a difference.”
Jake travels a lot for his job, some- times to Adobe conferences in places like Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and other times for on-site training in places like Dallas or Ottawa, Canada.
Helping beginners use the technology is a difficult, but a rewarding part of Jake’s job. “When you have a mastery of software, it can be difficult to explain it to beginners,” says Jake. “But you can get them up to speed and see their progress along the way. That’s one of the most rewarding parts.”
Carlie McGuire
Reporter, WJCL, Savannah, GA
- T.C. Williams High School, Alexandria City Public Schools
- CTE studies: Television and Media Production I, II, and III
- Additional studies: Bachelor of Journalism, University of Missouri
Cheston McGuire
Vice President of Media Relations, Farr, Miller & Washington, Washington, D.C.
- T.C. Williams High School, Alexandria City Public Schools
- CTE studies: Television and Media Production I, II, and III
- Additional studies: Bachelor of Journalism, University of Missouri
Finding a passion
by Jessica Sabbath
Although they have different career paths, siblings Cheston and Carlie McGuire both found their passions in their Television and Media Production classes at T.C. Williams High School.
“In every full-time job I’ve had since college, I’ve used those skills I learned in high school creating product videos, print ads, online ads, and shooting commercials,” says Cheston.
As vice president of media relations for the investment group Farr, Miller and Washington in Washington, D.C., he helps shape the firm’s public image.
Since joining the firm, he has recreated its marketing materials, rebuilt the firm’s Web site, produced a commercial for the firm, and launched quarterly videos for clients, which have become popular among the firm’s investors.
Carlie also took Television and Media Production classes after seeing her older brother find his passion.
As a TV reporter, the ebbs and flows of the news cycle dictate Carlie’s day. “I go into work most days not knowing what I’m going to do,” says Carlie.
For example, one day this summer she walked into the newsroom and discovered she’d be flying in a private plane that was looking up and down the South Carolina and Georgia coasts for two Florida boys who were missing.
As a reporter for WJCL in Savannah, Georgia, Carlie is under constant deadline pressure to produce broadcast packages for the local news station. That means she must contribute to, report and shoot, and repack age stories for evening broadcasts. “As exciting as it is some days, it’s equally stressful others,” says Carlie.
Carlie’s classes at the University of Missouri and internships at NBC’s London Bureau, KOMU-TV in Missouri, and especially NBC4 in Washington solidified her love of journalism. “That really showed me that local news was what I really wanted to do,” Carlie says. “I was just really inspired by a lot of the people that work there.”
Haley Harrington
Imaging Technician, National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.
- T.C. Williams High School, Alexandria City Public Schools
- CTE studies: Commercial Photography
- Fine arts studies: Editor-in-chief, Arts and Literature magazine
- Additional studies: Pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Visual Technology, George Mason University
Creating the perfect image
by Veronica Garabelli
Haley Harrington is only 20 years old, but she already works for one of the most well-known organizations in the world, the National Geographic Society in Washington D.C. The 126-year-old nonprofit organization aims to inspire people to care about the planet through its publications, museum, sites, and television channel, among other avenues.
As an imaging technician at the National Geographic Society, Haley color matches, scans, and edits images for other departments at the society, as well as surrounding museums, businesses, and individual clients. Haley’s department also recently reprinted images for an artist who was exhibiting art in Germany but didn’t want to transport the original artwork to Europe. She also prints orders for consumers when they order personalized books, maps, and magazines from the National Geographic Web site. If it sounds like Haley handles many different tasks, it’s because she does, but that’s also one of the things she enjoys the most about her job.
“It’s really cool to be able to learn so many different things and continue doing anything that’s put on your plate,” she says.
Haley began working at the Society through her high school’s Senior Experience, a three-week unpaid internship program that allows students to gain experience in the workplace. She was then hired as a part-time contract worker for the imaging department. After two summers as a contractor, she applied for her current position, opting to transfer from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond to George Mason University in Fairfax to be closer to her new gig. She’s currently juggling a fulltime job at the National Geographic Society and studying at GMU part time. She expects to graduate in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Visual Technology with a concentration in photography. Eventually, she would like to own her own photography business.
Besides participating in the Senior Experience program in high school, Haley also took commercial photography and was editor-in-chief of her school’s art and literature magazine. In those classes, she learned how to use Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, software programs she uses in her job today. She recommends that students who are interested in photography take advantage of the programs their high school offers. “I did that, and it helped me considerably,” she says.
The Career Clusters logo and its extensions are the property of the National Career Technical Foundation, as managed by NASDCTEc. Some content on this page is from the publication, R U College & Career Ready? - 2017 Edition; and is used here with permission from the Virginia Business Publications LLC and Trailblazers in the Demographics and Workforce Section of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.