This project is the result of years of discussion by groups within the Saint Joseph Catholic Church community in St Johns, Michigan. Many active leaders within these groups expressed interest in new approaches to promote evangelizing and sharing faith-based experiences with others.

In the spring of 2024, a team of adult leaders was assembled to explore the options to transform ideas into action.

This volunteer team met frequently to organize a suitable approach and create a draft plan. The plan included the purpose, goals, a timeline and a review of resources.  The approach included plans to create faith-based videos that spotlighted people living a faith-based life.

This original after school enrichment program was called the Vocations Video Project. The idea was to involve 5^th and 6^th grade students in the creation of video segments. This phase one of the project selected two cohosts and five production assistants to assist in the recording of two interviews. The recordings took place in the school music room converted to a temporary television studio. The final two videos posted on the church YouTube channel.

The success of phase one motivated the leadership team to plan phase two, which launched in the fall of 2024. This phase of the project needed to pivot due to studio equipment limitations. However, the team saw this as an opportunity to focus on recordings outside of a studio environment. The title of the project changed to Creative Video Production in the Classroom. Students were introduced to creativity tools, took part in story writing exercises and learned about video production on location.

Four teams of students produced four videos with adult assistance. Students received a hands on introduction to the roles of producer, host, camera operator and production assistant. In addition, four of the students were selected to share their gift or talent on camera to provide the teams with guest content.

You will see the result of the student teamwork on the site.

In addition, the workshop team will be launching the next phase of this project soon. Look for updates on this site.

We wish to thank all of the students and the volunteer adult leaders who contributed to this project.

Adult Leadership Team

Father Michael Williams

Chris Wells

Sara Hintz

Amber Carn

Eric Elstro

Darryl Schmitz

Tom Wenzlick

Maria Palmo

Dave Collins

Workshop questions? Want to be involved? Contact Dave Collins at collinsvirtual@gmail.com