Shooting Comic Con

On November 11th and 12th, DATA Digital Imaging worked through the weekend at the Hard Rock Hotel running a green screen gif booth with their new community partner Palm Springs Comic Con.  Students were tasked to devise a way to capture and process images in Photoshop to create basic animations that went out to attendees to the recently established event. A DATA photo and video crew were also on site to shoot the goings on.

View the gallery here!

Warning: Viewers may be exposed to Geek Culture

@PSIAF Design Winner

Congratulations to Digital Arts Technology Academy Senior Angela Inprom whose image was selected for the 1st Annual Palm Springs International Animation Festival poster design contest, beating out 30+ entrees from other high schools and College of the Desert. As part of this honor, Angela will receive $500, a VIP welcome with the mayor of Palm Springs, a poster signing on Saturday, Nov. 11th, a mention in Palm Springs Life magazine, and a showing of the 20 best submissions at the Richards Center of the Arts.

- Check out our other submissions -

Visit @PSIAF Here!

Joel Madrigal: Graffitti, Graphics and Game Design

On October 30th, graphic artist Joel Madrigal spoke to DI juniors and seniors about his story and 10+ years working in the print and design industry. Joel's unique perspective began as a self-prescribed "knuckle-head" who was fascinated with tagging and graffiti. After serving some time in corrections, Joel's creativity was re-focused on obtaining a university degree and seeing his work spread across the city in a more professional way. He shared his logo designs, architectural renderings, and broke down artwork for the mobile video game, Stick Ninja Challenge. While speaking to the two advanced classes, he emphasized the importance of paying attention to the details and that learning Adobe design tools can earn you a living and support a  family.

Joel currently works at Valley Reprographics and donates his time to DATA for mock interviews.

Dia de Los Muertos 2017

Congratulations to DI senior Karla Lopez for her digital illustration receiving 3rd place and $50 at the annual Die de Los Muertos celebration sponsored by Well in the Desert and the Palm Springs Cemetery District. The work was hand drawn on a graphics tablet using Adobe Photoshop CC.

Ryan Campbell: Street to Studio

On Wednesday, October 18th, DATA juniors and seniors were treated to a special presentation by local artist Ryan Campbell. Ryan shared his experience of transitioning from graffiti artist to studio owner, and pursuing your passion to "make." In between sessions he interviewed students for a studio intern position and even shared a sandwich with DATA CTE teachers.

Check out Ryan's website here!

Desert Glo Fest 2017

DATA Digital Imaging is proud to, once again, be the official photographers of the Desert Glo Fest for the Foundation for the Palm Springs Unified School District.

Check out the photo here!

Assisting PSUSD STEMCon

On October 14th, DATA DI seniors Karen Meza-Morales, Shan Vo, and Morgan Wash assisted the PSUSD Family Engagement Center with their very first STEMCon for families at Nellie Coffman Middle School. As part of the makerspace, they ran a green screen photo booth tethered to Adobe Lightroom and swapped in new backgrounds with Photoshop.

Check out the Photos Here!

2017 Teen Docents

Congratulations to DATA seniors Rhianna Torres and Erik Inzunza for being selected as Teen Docents at the Palm Springs Art Museum!

Students were required to apply and interview during the spring for this unique annual experience. After being selected from art student applicants from across the Coachella Valley, they attended summer training on the Museum's fine art collection and public speaking in preparation for leading school tours for the 2017-18 academic year.

Learn more about the 

Teen Docent program here!

Ranking at SkillsUSA Nationals

The 2017 SkillsUSA National Skill and Leadership Conference proved to be the best yet for the DATA program! Three DATA Digital Imaging sophomores represented California and Cathedral City in Pin Design and Interactive Application and Video Game Development competitions and had fun spending time in beautiful Louisville, Kentucky.

Congratulations to the following students

Crystal Martinez

Pin Design

Ranked 7th out of 35 in the Nation

Conner Robles and Daniel Manaloto

Interactive Application and Video Game Development

Ranked 9th out of 19 in the Nation

View the video game trailer 

Exquisite Quantum Showdown 

Designing for Mental Awareness

Congratulations to DI Junior Morgan Wash for her design being selected as the winner of the 2017 Dare to be Aware art contest. Her work will be reproduced on t-shirts, posters, and brochures for the upcoming Dare to be Aware Youth Conference for Riverside County.

The full-day conference will be held for about 1000 Riverside County middle and high school students in order to increase awareness and reduce the stigma related to mental illness.

4th Annual DATA Awards

On Thursday, May 25th, the Cathedral City Public Arts Commission hosted the 4th Annual DATA Awards at the Mary Pickford Theater. Student's work was recognized for both photography and filmmaking and shared on the silver screen.

Congratulations to the following students

Tatianna - 1st Place Photography $350

by Pamela Montenegro 

Frida Karla - 2nd Place Photography $200

Paola Granillo

Lucha sin fin - 3rd Place Photography $100

Joe Jimenez

Phillip K. Smith - 1st Place Film $350

Sedona Cruz

Ask Me - 2nd Place Film $200

Jose Aguirre and Marcos Correa

Live Fully Now - 3rd Place Film $100

Eddie Galan

A huge thank you to Alan Carvalho and Tim Parrott of the Cathedral City Public Arts Commission and Ted Hane at the Mary Pickford Theater for their ongoing contribution to the DATA Program!

Addiction Awarded

On May 11th, PSUSD CTE held its first career academy showcase. The event was organized by student leaders from each district high school and held at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Career pathways and academies were invited to share their integrated and special projects for four hours to the community and judges ranging from public safety to culinary arts. During the process and event, CTE students were also asked to contribute based on the professional skills they are learning in their respective programs.

DATA is pleased to announce that their multi-grade integrated project, Addiction: Control What is Controlling You,  geared towards teens dealing with addiction, was awarded 1st Place by judges from across the Coachella Valley community.

Congratulations to the following DATA students 

for all their hard work and collaboration

Presenters: Manny Aramburo and Blanca Granados

Web Master: Sadrac Camacho

Logo and Brochure Design: Angela Inprom

Senior Executive Team: Tatianna Miles, River Gibbs, Rosalina Rogel, Pamela Montenegro, Celeste Medina, Juan Martinez, Rebecca Wenger, and Danielle Ramirez.

Social Media: Hillary Rivera and Julia de la Torre

Photography and Video: DATA juniors and seniors

Research: DATA Sophomores

Statistics: DATA Juniors

A very special thank you also goes out to the DATA teacher team, Jamie Steinberg from Leap Online Marketing, as well as Helene Photias and Chanise Walker from the Betty Ford Center. 

Visit ControlAddiction.org

Read more about the event on

TheDesertSun.com

An Interstellar Design Collaboration

On May 6th, Interstellar Comic Books and Collectibles hosted Free Comic Book Day. As part of the national event, DATA alumni and store owner, Adrian Cuevas, sold t-shirts designed by DATA junior Morgan Wash. To add another factor to the #DATAcademy equation, the shirts were printed by DATA screen printing competitors preparing for SkillsUSA California under the mentorship of Windmill City Screen Printing and DATA community partner/CCHS Alum, Glen Coy.

Thanks to all for this community design collaboration!

A Fresh Perspective

Congratulations to Sophomore Joe Jimenez for her photograph receiving the Museum Photography Council award during the 2017 Fine Arts Creativity Awards at the Palm Springs Art Museum!

"From the perspective of a farmer's daughter. These are my people and this is their struggle. For most, this is all they have ever known, it's a way of life. A harsh way to live, everyday requires hours of back-breaking work under the heat of the Coachella sun. My people put their blood, sweat and tears into those fields, and although they contribute to bring a large quantity of food to our society, they are left with nothing for themselves. At the end of the day they are still struggling, yet they wake up before dawn to do it all over again. There's a saying on the field, “lucha sin fin”, which translates to “struggle without an end”. I want the public to simply grasp the idea of the hard work put into their meals because of my people."

SkillsUSA California 2017

DATA is pleased to announce that, in addition to being recognized as a Silver Chapter of Distinction, students earned 14 medals out of 24 events at the 50th Annual SkillsUSA California State Skill and Leadership conference in San Diego this spring break. Despite the increase in competitors state-wide, DATA students worked hard, had fun, and four gold medalists earned a spot at the National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Kentucky later this June. 

Congratulations to the following students!

Gold 

Interactive Game Design - Conner Robles & Daniel Monaloto

Pin Design - Crystal Martinez

Graphic Communications - Sadrac Camacho 

20 Second Elevator - Karen Meza-Morales 

Silver 

Digital Cinema - Jebari Wooten & Manuel Aramburo
Interactive Game Design - Redmyn Lee & Erick Inzunza

Chapter Business Procedure - Disneiruby Parra, Jennifer Duran, Gina Milanovich, Mariah Vega, Trinity Walker & Eduardo Gomez
Extemporaneous Speaking - Mikie Bowman
Creed - Bonnie Cortez

Bronze 

Audio/Radio Production - Karen Meza-Morales & Sebastian Garcia

Photography - Reece Dupont
Screen Printing Technology - Jeanette Gonzalez
Intro to Ad Design - Andrea Rojas

Prepared Speech - Andrea Rojas 

Post-Secondary State Officer Elect 

Guadalupe Cortez 

Region 6 Officer Elect 

Sadrac Camacho

Statesman Awards 

Disneiruby Parra, Erick Inzunza & Sadrac Camacho

Courtesy Core Volunteers

Melissa Diaz, Michelle Velasquez, Juvan Hackett & Crystal Martinez

- VIEW PHOTOS HERE - 

Find Food Bank Designs

As part of the new partnership with local tech firm, Pocial, DATA Digital Imaging students were tasked with the opportunity to design poster work that represented what the Find Food Bank meant to them. What is unique about this opportunity is that the project was orchestrated by DATA senior Cynthia Bonaparte as part of her internship with the company and that the design work was put into Pocial's social polling platform and shared online to determine the winner of the best design and spread awareness for the cause. The student designers were also invited to be on KESQ during the April 7th telethon to  share a little about their work and efforts.

Catch the interview w/KESQ

View the Designs Here!

Where Art Keeps Happening

For the 7th year in a row, DATA Digital Imaging is proud to have partnered with Dianne Funk Enterprises and Hot Purple Energy to be a part of the 2017 Indian Wells Arts Festival. Once again, students shot both photography and video and operated a mobile studio run on solar energy in the center of the event.

This is an amazing opportunity each year for students to interact with the public in a professional manner and gives them a chance to apply the technical skills learned in class to a community-based event.  

View Student Work Here!

Fashion Week Year 8

For the 8th year in a row, DATA students have earned a spot next to the pros shooting photography and video at Fashion Week El Paseo. 14 students shot over the 8 nights to gain experience and develop their portfolios at the stylish event that has been running since 2005.   

View Best Shots Here!

2017 Ad Fed Winners

On Saturday, March 11th at the Ace Hotel and Swim Club in Palm Springs, three DATA Digital Imaging students were awarded as part of the Desert Ad Fed's 2017 WOW Advertising Scholarship competition. DI students swept the valley-wide competition earning a total of $7,600 for students and the classroom. All entries were required to produce a single ad campaign that included both electronic and print media surrounding the theme of addiction.

Congratulations to the following students

$2,000 1st Place

Rebecca Wenger

$1,500 2nd Place

Pamela Montenegro

$1,250 3rd Place

Luis Rodriguez

See other DI entries on our Behance!

Another very special thank you to

Desert Ad Fed!

DATA Awarded Distinguished Academy

On Monday, March 6th at the 2017 Educating for Careers conference in Sacramento, The Digital Arts Technology Academy was recognized as a Distinguished Academy by the California Department of Education. DATA now sits as one of 18 in California to receive this honor and Cathedral City is now one of three high schools in the entire state to be the home of two programs with this award.

Congratulations to the DATA team, students, CCHS administration, community partners, and PSUSD Career and Technical Education for their collective efforts in making this happen!

Learn more about 

California Partnership Academies!

Shooting Desert X w/PKS3

On February 10th and 14th, DATA junior photographer Daniela Gonzalez had the rare opportunity to be a part of the student media team to shoot artist Phillip K. Smith in the field and in his studio as he prepared for Desert X 2017.

Desert X is a collection of site-specific installations by emerging artists from the Coachella Valley. It will run for 1 month bridging Modernism Week Palm Springs and the first weekend of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival.

View Daniela's photos here!

Also visit Desert X

An Interstellar Alumni

In 2011 when Adrian Cuevas graduated from the Digital Arts Technology Academy, he had no idea he would become a Palm Springs business owner. After several years of working for others, this DATA alum decided to open Interstellar Comic Books and Collectibles. 

On Feb. 13th, Adrian returned to share his career path with DATA DI, interview kids for an internship, AND offer up a t-shirt design contest for interested students. We thank Adrian for giving back to the Academy and wish his business venture well. 

The selected intern will begin by building and launching a website, managing inventory, and assisting community event planning. 

Check out his 

Palm Springs Comicon article!

A Taste of Jalisco

On February 11th, the DATA Digital Imaging crew photographed the 2nd Annual Taste of Jalisco festival. The festival celebrates the 20th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Cathedral City and Tequila, Jalisco (Mexico).  The event offered excellent professional practice for event photography and supplied the City of Cathedral City with a wonderful collection of promotional images.

View the photography here!

Also visit TasteofJalisco.com

Social Media Marketing Workshop

On Friday, Feb. 10th, digital marketing manager, CCHS alumni, and DATA mentor Jamie Steinberg presented an amazing workshop on social media marketing to a special group of Academy students.

Jaime shared her college and career path, her role at Leap Online, and  ways students can work together to support the upcoming DATA-wide integrated project.

2017 Region 6 Leadership

After two full Saturdays competing as part of SkillsUSA Region 6, 76 DATA students earned a spot at the SkillsUSA California 50th Annual State Leadership and Skill Conference taking place during Spring Break in San Diego!

Congratulations to the following leadership students who qualified on Feb. 4th at Granite Hills High School!

Community Service

Gold Evelyn Rivera, Maria Villalba & Staphany Valenzuela

Silver Samuel Ramirez, Rosalina Rogel & Stephany Valenzuela

Creed

Gold Bunnie Cortez

Bronze Ulises Lopez-Perez

Pin Design

Gold Jeanette Gonzalez

Bronze Crystal Martinez

T-shirt Design

Bronze Blanca Granados

Job Skill Demonstration A

Advance to State Emily Garcia

Job Skill Demonstration Open

Silver Sedona Cruz

Bronze Nathan Scarantino

20 Second Elevator

Gold Karen Meza-Morales

Bronze Citlali Vaquez

Extemporaneous Speaking

Silver Sadrac Camacho

Bronze Mikie Bowman

Prepared Speech

Gold Autumn Rodriguez

Silver Andrea Rojas

Quiz Bowl

Gold Miguel Lopez, Alejandro Rojas, Giovanny Hoyos, Javel Villagrana and Jocelyn Chicas

Advance to State Jorman Saucedo, Brodi Fourier, Roberto Tapia, Mark Torres & Richard Cardiel and Manny Aramburo, Sebastian Miller, Kevin Lopez, Karen Meza & Mikie Bowman

Promotional Bulletin Board

Bronze Valeria Vazquez, Luis Moyotl & Natalia Medina

Chapter Business Procedure

Silver Disneiruby Parra, Daniel Alvarado, Gina Milonovich, Mariah Vega, Trinity Walker 

& Eduardo Gomez

2017 Region 6 Skills

On Saturday, January 28th, 80 DATA students competed once again at SkillsUSA California Region 6 skills events. This launched our seventh season bringing CCHS arts, media, and design talent to the southern California event.

With the increase in CTE funding state-wide, this year's competition brought more schools then ever before. There were tears, disappointment, and cheers for many, but we are proud to say that DATA held their own and actually increased in medals compared to 2016! We'll see what next Saturday brings at Leadership events. 

Congratulations to the following 57 students

3D Visualization

Gold Luis Galindo and Sebastian Gonzalez

Silver Armando Perez and Javier Pardo

Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)

Advancing to State Javel Villagrana & Giovanny Hoyas

Advertising Design

Silver Morgan Wash

Advancing to State Daniel Alvarado

Audio/Radio Production

Gold David Lopez & Leonardo Rincon

Silver Citlally Alvarez & Elsa De La Cruz

Bronze Karen Meza & Sebastian Garcia

Advancing to State Trinity Walker & Mariah Vega

Broadcast News Production

Bronze Valerie Vazquez, Natalia Medina, Luis Moyotl & Rosalina Rogel

Digital Cinema

Silver Manuel Aramburo & Jebari Wooten

Bronze Jose Aguirre & Marcos Correa

Entrepreneurism

Silver Autumn Rodriguez, Crystal Martinez, An-Avy Bautista & Maya Jimenez

Graphic Communications

Gold Sadrac Camacho

Graphic Imaging Sublimation

Gold Damian Jimenez

Silver Daniel Rodriguez

Interactive Application and Game Development

Gold Conner Robles and Daniel Manaloto

Silver Randy Avina and Jaylinn Rivas

Bronze AJ Burke and Leon Peña

Advancing to State Redmyn Lee & Erick Inzunza and Eduardo Rojas & Long Vay

Intro to Advertising Design

Gold Andrea Rojas

Silver Anjo Coloma

Advancing to State Paola Granillo and Daniela Gonzalez

Nail Care

Gold Kimberly Vu

Photography

Silver Kevin Lopez

Bronze Reece Dupont

Screen Printing Technology

Gold Roberto Tapia

Silver Jeanette Gonzalez

Bronze Brodi Fournier

Advancing to State Christian Suarez, Jorman Saucedo, and Josue Rangel

TV Video Production

Advancing to State Sedona Cruz & Alexandra Magnusson

View the gallery here

Expanding Youth Town Hall

On Monday, January 16th, the Town Hall Speaker Series 2017 launched it's first of four lectures with NASA Astronaut Scott Kelley at the Renaissance Indian Wells Resort and Spa.

As part of this special event in the desert, the Youth Town Hall component, provides students from 22 Coachella Valley high schools an opportunity to attend a lecture or become one of 8 Youth Ambassadors in the program.

For many years,  DATA has had an Ambassador selected and been right there to capture each night's event with a dedicated video team. For 2017, DATA was fortunate to have been awarded two Youth Ambassadors who will introduce the notable presenters and has added a team of photographers who will capture student participation and provide social media assets directly to the series' Executive Director.

Stay tuned for more to come this spring!

#PSIFF Student Screening Day 2017

 

On January 9th, 200 DATA students joined about 700 other PSUSD high school and UC Riverside students at another amazing year of the Palm Springs International Film Society's Student Screening Day. This year students viewed

A Man Called Ove (Available on Netflix)
An irresistible adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s best-seller is a touching, comic crowd-pleaser. Through flashbacks, it chronicles the life and times of a stubborn, short-tempered man with steadfast beliefs, strict routines and the sense that everyone around him is an idiot. Bring tissues.

and The Eagle Huntress
An enchanting and empowering non-fiction film shot and edited with the virtuosity of a big studio feature, Bell’s soaring debut is the story of 13-year-old Aisholpan, destined to teach her clan’s elders that yes, a girl can hunt with a golden eagle just like a boy, only better.

The special treat came from Director Hannes Holm and Cinematographer Göran Hallberg as they shared their filmmaking process and provided motivation for students in the audience. 

Another huge thank you goes out to the Palm Springs International Film Society as well as VAPA Coordinator Louisa Castrodale for making this annual event so special!