A York Showcase?

Talented and expressive as our Yorkies are, we often don't get a chance to see the fruits of their labor. For a while, I've wanted to see us post some of our students' artistry online. So, as a means to that end, we now have a "Student Showcase" area on the www1 website.

Our inaugural feature: the 9th grade TIL class photo editing project. Click here to go see more very cool nature images that have been transformed using Photoshop. You'll be impressed by the creativity! Keep in mind as you scroll through the pages that these students had only 40 minutes to complete this particular project.

The 9th graders would appreciate your feedback. I encourage you to pick out one or two photos that you think deserve special commendation, jot down the titles, come back here and write a comment. They'll check in every now and again and see what you thought. Who knows? One day you might see one of these budding artist's illustrations hanging in a museum...

More on Photos

Inside York can't have too many photos. That's my philosophy, anyway. New images keep people coming back to the site and (with any luck) convey more about the positive things happening on campus than words ever could.

In the last blog, I included a commerical ad to encourage people to contribute photos. Most of the images I posted this fall in Inside York were, in fact, ones I had taken. I'm content with them, but I'd love to see more variety in both style and content. We need shots of basketball, art classes, dances, jazz band, science labs, etc.... and I won't be attending every event. So, yes, if you have some photos worth sharing, send them to ctorg@york.org and I'll be happy to post them. If you remind me, I'll even include a tag crediting you with the shot.

On the other hand, if there is an image of yourself on the site that you don't really appreciate, know that I'm certainly willing to remove it. I try to publish photos that are reasonably complimentary, but (as someone who doesn't much like my face plastered anywhere) I would hate to offend or embarrass anyone. Obviously, I won't publish anything I consider tasteless, but it's possible that your tastes differ from mine. If that's the case, please send me a note. I'll remove the objectionable image as quickly as possible.

2005 Awards

2006 is likely to see significant changes in technology at York. As you might guess, there are almost too many things to work on. My question is just where to start. So let's avoid the tough questions by going back to 2005 and handing out awards to the deserving.

2005 Inside York Top Honors go to Steve Peters, Tom Murray and Pete Campbell for updating web content on a frequent basis. Many people appreciated Mr. Peter's keeping the athletics pages' schedules current and posting scores promptly after competitions. Mr. Murray's juniors made consistent use of his myriad (don't overuse the word) English IV resources. Double bonus points go to Dr. C. for keeping seniors informed of college counseling events/deadlines and for hosting/posting info for AP English students.

Carol White and Nick Hart earn Honorable Mention for being willing to experiment with Contribute and for providing useful links for students. Mr. Byrd, as you might expect, receives the Grand Master award for making everything run smoothly and backing up the servers, even if that means coming in during vacations. I suppose I have garnered some accolades too, but it's sooo awkward to toot one's own horn.

On the student side, the 2005 Inside York Eye on Campus award goes to the duo of Adrienne Rowell and Christopher Riddle...he for taking many of the athletic photos and she for conveying those and some of her own shots to me for publication. I appreciated their participation immensely. In fact,...

[Commercial Break] Handy with a camera? Interested in seeing your friends' and teachers' faces on the web? Looking for a reason to go to special events and games? Have to be there anyway and don't know what to do with yourself? Here's an opportunity JUST FOR YOU! Although CTorg likes her camera and enjoys taking pix around campus, she can't be everywhere all the time. Consider becoming a web photographer for Inside York. Or, if that sounds like too much of a commitment, think about sending CTorg a couple of your best photos of happenings on campus every now and again for inclusion on the site. (Hmmm... If CTorg were wise, she'd arrange a drop box on the student server. Hey, that's a great idea. Someone should tell her...).

The 2005 Inside York Special Achievement award goes to the entire Psychology Class for posting pages on recent studies in Sensation and Perception. Interested in Phantom Limbs, Cochlear Implants, Synesthesia, Hallucinations, LASIK surgery? You can learn much about these topics and many others by surfing from http://www.yorkschool.org/classacts/psych/.

In terms of 2006, Gary Byrd and I are planning to replace some campus computers, to revisit the technology plan, and to make Inside York Web better serve our community's needs. One of my challenges is to make sure the site stays current and relevant. More on this in later blog postings. I'll start with today's ad for photos and see where we go from here.