Thursday, February 24, 2022
Gabe Vargas's passion is communications. "I've always been a talker and a people-person," says the senior from Chippewa Falls Sr. High School. "I love to connect with people."
Last summer, when he signed up for the new media production class, it ended up being a turning point for him. "I thought it was going to be just another class and that it might be fun," he says.
It was much more. Scott Sikkink, the marketing and business education teacher who runs the class, could see that Gabe had a real interest as soon as they met to talk about it. "He asked a lot of great questions. When the time came to register, he was all about it," says Sikkink.
Two weeks before school started this year, Gabe got trained on how to operate the equipment. "I started live-streaming events and calling sporting events. I didn't expect it to be a career interest," says Gabe. "I loved it!"
Sikkink's media production class is "kind of a capstone for digital media and publications." He recruits students interested in marketing, video, and communications. "Everything we do is student-created," he says. "They're doing real-life work. It's like a visual arts agency."
The class creates print, digital media, and branding work. They promote school events and provide content for the school's media outlets, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and emails.
"With COVID, we've evolved a streaming service," says Sikkink. The YouTube channel got off the ground a couple years ago, and Gabe started asking about it.
As the Student Livestream Specialist, Gabe had an opportunity to take on some projects and get paid. Plus, says Gabe, "I learned how to assemble a team, how to add graphics, learned announcing with help from another announcer, and learned photography from a professional."
"He's been doing so many unique things to prepare for this career," says Sikkink. "He's not afraid to put himself out there."
Gabe and his team have taken the YouTube channel to new heights. "According to our analytics, YouTube subscriptions have tripled," says Sikkink. "Giving students the hands-on experience of running a YouTube channel is a win-win for everybody."
Gabe sees his work as connecting the community to the school. "They can see the connection with athletics," he says. "But they can't come into the school and see all the amazing things students are doing." That's where media production comes in.
"He really cares about the school," says Sikkink. "When I think of a student who is the face of the school, it's him."