2003 Member Profiles

(some names have been changed)

Dakota age 13   In just a few months, Dakota has become the Bryce resident composing animations that require up to 1 week rendering.   He is the first member to export Bryce scenes into Photoshop in order to manipulate the images with filters and other tools. Through his request of having more 3D objects at his disposal, the Clubhouse coordinator studied up on 3D compatible files and how to augment the objects library.  Dakota also enjoyed helping younger members and teaching then tricks on Bryce. After an infraction involving disrespectful language and school administrators, he chose to do his community service hours at the Clubhouse as a junior mentor. A recent bicycle crash resulting in a broken arm has since reduced his involvement at the Clubhouse - but we expect him back soon.

Janay age 16: When the Clubhouse opened in November 2001, Janay was one of the few girls who regularly visited the Clubhouse. She mainly accompanied her younger brothers. Being keen to help them as well as other younger members, she quickly mastered a couple of entry-level programs such as “Kidpix”. This involvement led her to volunteering for the Sorenson Center’s Summer Program where she helped with a wide range of activities from arts and crafts to swimming. She also mentored 4^th graders at the Clubhouse during the architecture/design and music week. Witnessing her enthusiasm as she was introduced to 3D Architect and advanced sound editing options in Acid Pro, Clubhouse staff realized she was starving to tackle more complex tasks.  She was so involved in helping other members and doing homework that she never had the opportunity to explore on her own.  As she was looking for a job at the beginning of the school year, the HOV coordinator registered her for the Teen Mentor program. Janay showed great responsibility and dependability over the course of her 3 months mentoring position. Janay had previously researched some financial aid and /resources specifically designed to African-American students interested into going to college. She was not really sure what she wanted to study though and was thinking about teacher certification. Her experiences at the Clubhouse perhaps have given her a different perspective -- she has expressed interested in going to law school with a special emphasis on divorce cases and children issues in the legal system. 

Mason and Tevita age 10: Friday afternoons tend to be very busy with many younger members staying long hours at the Clubhouse. All show a propensity to morphing images in Photoshop with the liquefy tool, so the “Best Messed Up Picture Showcase” was set up. Members were enthralled at the project; especially the close friends Mason and Tevita, who chose to mess each other up. Twelve pieces of artwork were selected for the finals and members voted on them. Tevita eventually took 1^st place with a rather horrible depiction of Mason as a cross between a frog and a Star War creature. His creation was displayed in the “Artwork of the Week” panel.  The friendly competition continued with both Tevita and Mason returning to the Clubhouse separately or together (carefully stationed in different areas) to delve deeper into morphing.  They would conspire with Clubhouse coordinator to have their new creation displayed at a given time and ask for a full report on the other’s reaction.  After many “horrors” using the whole array of Photoshop tools, Mason and Tevita also agreed to move on but still laugh recalling the experience. 

Nate age 19: Nate first came to the Clubhouse in 2002 with friends to compose and record a music album.  After the completion of his 1^st album: “It is just the way”, he was turned on to Photoshop and graphic design in order to create a cover.  In his earlier works, he would paste a photo of himself in a JPEG downloaded from the Internet but after a few attempts, he didn’t feel satisfied with the results. So he created backgrounds using various Photoshop gradients.  Because of his interest in scanning and posting old pictures of his family on the web, Nate also developed a deep knowledge of the way to retouch and fix damaged photographs in Photoshop.  He is known too for the original wavy edges or border effects he applied to the same pictures. He recently signed up as a volunteer and mentors younger members in the music room every Tuesday.  He is now working on a second CD and younger members have used many of his songs as soundtracks for Poser or Flash animations.  Nate graduated from high school in May 2003 and has expressed some interest college, staff work regularly with him on his projects as well as exploring ideas and opportunities in college admission guidelines and preparation skills.