What do a mountain top observatory in Hawaii, the financial district of Philadephia, an orphanage in Antigua, and a rehabilitation clinic on South Hill have in common? They are all locations where students at Ithaca College are honing their skills. This year Park Productions was there, too, documenting students and faculty as they performed, inspired, and excelled.

An interdisciplinary team of students, freshmen thru seniors, are working together with alumnus Jason Longo to create a high definition (HD) video and interactive DVD that will be used by the Office of Institutional Advancement in the college's fundraising campaign.

In January, Television-Radio senior Peter Busa traveled with Jason to the Antiguan capital of St. John's. There they videotaped Cinema & Photography professor Janice Levy who was teaching a workshop in photojournalism. Levy designed the class to give her students an immersion experience in culture and communication. One day Janice assigned student John Barduhn to shoot photographs at an orphanage for children affected by birth defects. At first, John found it hard to look at the children, let alone take pictures. Janice helps him understand his role. Moving outside your comfort zone is difficult business, Janice explains, and students need exposure to challenging situations to learn about aesthetic judgement and ethical responsibility.

Busa along with Cinema & Photography senior Peter Tatara are supervising post production on the video and interactive DVD. A team of five freshmen are editing segments. Katie Brillhart is working on the business segment which features an alumnus who's COO of a wealth management firm in Philadelphia. Sally Lok is working on the Park segment. Claire Tam is working on the H&S segment which features physics Professor Luke Keller and his student David Whelan. (When Luke and David needed a bigger and better telescope for their astronomy research, they went to the largest observatory in the world--on top of Mauna Kea mountain in Hawaii. Park Productions was there!) OCLD major Rob Hileman is working on the HSHP segment which features Therapeutic Recreation students who are helping rehabilitate clients who suffered strokes. Tara Liu is working on the music segment which culminates with a performance of the Carmina Burana at Lincoln Center.

The video and interactive DVD will go through an approval process with the marketing department and trustees before the final cut is distributed later this year.