In Mrs. Whorley’s class students learn skills they can market
Imagine a course where the final exams are fun. Eva Whorley teaches a few of them at Cornwall Central High School.
For her animation class, the students prepare a two-minute feature using the characters they’ve created.
The students invent the story line and provide the audio.
For the web design class, the students have a unique end-of-year project. Each of them is designing a new web site for the Highland Falls Rotarians after doing research on the organization. It’s not a competition, but the Rotary members will get to choose the designs they like best.
The teens in her digital photography and editing course are working on a banner to be displayed in the corridor as the semester comes to a close. The message is “Flash into the future” The graphic shows record-breaking sprinter Jiles Addison about to take off with a long orange flame behind him.
It helps that Jiles is in the class. It’s one of two Whorley electives that he’s taking in his senior year.
The classes are full and have an equal amount of boys and girls. There’s also a mixture of grade level. Most of the courses are available to 10th through 12th-graders, and some are open to freshmen.
Besides the three classes mentioned already, students can also enroll in graphic arts or architecture.
“I get to play every day,” Mrs. Whorley admits. “The students are so creative. Any student can at any minute give you inspiration and excitement. When you see the light go on, it’s really beautiful.”
So both the students and the teacher enjoy what they’re doing, but what’s more important is that the kids are learning skills that are needed by employers.
“They’re marketable right out of high school,” Mrs. Whorley acknowledged. For example, they could command a high hourly wage for restoring photos.
Or they could go to college and use their skills to help cover the expense. One Whorley alumnus is getting paid to do Photo Shop for his school newspaper. Some older graduates have already distinguished themselves. Jennifer Pepe won a J.P. Morgan-Chase Architectural Competition while she was still in college. Brendan Davis has developed a reputation as an environmental photographer. He recently produced a video of a journey down the Hudson.
Eva Whorley became a photographer when she was 13. She has all the relevant programs at home and has brought them to school for her students. But she shares the credit for her courses’ success. “The support has been phenomenal,” she reveals. The technology team and the administration have helped her get the equipment she needs. This year, for example, she has all new Macs, because the old ones couldn’t support the software.
Of course, there is always a need for more. You can’t use hand-me-downs with technology because the equipment is soon out of date. Mrs. Whorley is exploring grants to get new cameras as well as monitors to display animated features in the halls.
Meanwhile, “the kids are creating and they’re proud of what they do. They work like a design team. They grow together and share together.” For example, when one student needed help, another responded, “I just did that” and showed him what had to be done.
As for the fun final exams, they may someday be replaced by Adobe certification tests. The change would enable students to be certified as soon as they finish a course.
