Published on April 11, 2022
Pictured left to right: Shelly Chmil, Christa Lowthert, Payton Gooding, Foster Shrom, Rafaelia Mirsaidova, Rya McKain, Austin Van Grouw, Slade Smoker, Seth Jerchau, Sebastian Pilarte, Jonathan Olshan.
Last Thursday, April 7th, our Middle School and High School students competed in the Regional PA Media and Design Competition (MadComm) tournament at the Lancaster/Lebanon IU13.
The PA Media and Design Competition is an annual event that highlights Pennsylvania students' application skills, creativity, and knowledge. Students are able to unleash their creativity, learn how to convey information more dynamically, and enhance the learning process. The competition is open to all middle school and high school students.
Mr. Jonathan Olshan, the Technology Integration Coach for the district, is the advisor for all Warwick MadCom participants. He feels great pride in getting to run this program because he feels it allows our Middle School and High School students to showcase their creativity and passion through a format that inspires them.
Each year, he introduces students to the PA Media and Design Competition in early February by speaking in some of their classrooms (Broadcasting, English, Engineering/Design, Computer Science) about the competition. Interested students are then able to join his Google Classroom and choose one of the six categories that they’d like to explore further (3D Design, Animation, Digital Movie, Graphic Design and Logo, Programming, and Web Page Design). After students register for a project, Mr. Olshan provides support through Google Classroom, Email, Google Meet, and 1:1 conferences.
The current Middle School and High School teams are made up of the following students:
High School
Christa Lowthert (11th Grade)
Foster Shrom (10th Grade)
Payton Gooding (10th Grade)
Rafaelia Mirsaidova (9th Grade)
Middle School
Austin Van Grouw (8th Grade)
Seth Jerchau (8th Grade)
Rya McKain (8th Grade)
Sebastian Pilarte (8th Grade)
Slade Smoker (8th Grade)
The bulk of the work actually occurs prior to the competition date. Students must upload their videos, images, etc. to the official MadCom portal. All participants are required to complete a "participation packet," which includes an essential narrative summary of the project which will be viewed by the judges. Students also must upload any storyboards, sketches, or design templates pertaining to their specific category. Finally, students must include a Works Cited.
When the team arrived at the competition, students had about an hour to set up their projects in the exhibit gallery. While the judges reviewed all projects, the IU13 had a few sessions for our students to attend. The team programmed Sphero's to navigate through obstacle courses, drew color codes for Ozobots to follow, participated in a technology trivia challenge, and listened to the team from Emerald Esports discuss career opportunities in the gaming industry. After lunch, the IU13 announced the Middle School and High School winners from each category. Our Middle School and High School teams placed in the following categories:
High School
First Place - Digital Movie - Rafaelia Mirsaidova
Second Place - Digital Movie - Christa Lowthert
Middle School
First Place - 3D Design - Seth Jerchau
First Place - Digital Movie - Austin Van Grouw
First Place - Logo Design - Slade Smoker & Rya McKain
Second Place - Logo Design - Sebastian Pilarte
The team works very hard and Mr. Olshan feels honored to get to work with such great students. He reflects on the event saying, “The day itself feels like a celebration of our students’ accomplishments even prior to the official judging. I know how hard many of these students worked to complete their projects, and it's just wonderful to see each of them share their work on the day of the competition with such a sense of pride. Many of the entries in this competition are passion projects for our students. Seeing a student get recognized for something they poured their heart and soul into is definitely a highlight!”
Up next for the teams are the State Competitions. The Middle School state competition will take place on May 24th and the High School state competition will take place on May 25th at Dickenson College in Carlisle.