Jeff Sheets Archives - BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications

BYU’s AdLab Student Campaigns on Ghana, Immigration and Handimojis Garner National Recognition

Noelle Barrus — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 16:54:40 +0000

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Advertising Students Participate in a Study Abroad from Home

Noelle Barrus — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 18:42:23 +0000

After their original study abroad was canceled, Professor Jeff Sheets and advertising students participated in a Zoom version of a study abroad Communications students and professors within the advertising program planned to go to Europe on a study abroad during spring term, but the six-week trip was canceled this year due to COVID-19. Professor Jeff Sheets — the creative track professor in the advertising program — has taken students in past years to New York for The One Show, Paris for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and London for D&AD (Design and Art Direction). “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” said Liv Johnston, a senior in the advertising program. “Aside from missing the Cannes Festival and the opportunity to travel, I felt like I was missing out on getting to know my peers. Past groups have said the study abroad is what brought them together. I was scared that without it, our cohort wouldn’t be as successful or united as past groups.” Johnston wasn’t the only student disappointed by the news. Senior advertising student Jay Cook was in denial that the trip was cancelled — she even took her passport and raincoat home in anticipation for the trip to resume as planned. This year, Sheets adapted to the circumstances by inviting industry connections, friends and alums to spend time with the students on Zoom to share stories, ideas and advice. “One of the best ways for advertising students to network and be inspired is through attending industry events and awards ceremonies,” said Sheets. “I decided that if we couldn’t go to the industry to get all that immersion, experience, networking and inspiration, then as the faculty I had to do everything I could to bring the industry to us. The great thing about technology is you can do things like that, it just takes a lot of invitations and work.” “When Professor Sheets said that he wanted to do a virtual study abroad, it got everyone excited,” said Dallin Slavens, a senior studying advertising. “He pulled so many strings. It wasn’t the same as traveling to Europe, but it was a really good growing experience.” Senior advertising student Evelyn Harper knew she wanted to go on the study abroad for the experience of meeting professionals, but she didn’t think she would be able to afford it. “When they first started cancelling everything, I was interviewing for so many scholarships trying to get enough money for the study abroad,” said Harper. Because the study abroad was virtual, all 40 students within the creative track of the advertising program participated; this wouldn’t have been possible if the group had been traveling. The Zoom study abroad included visits from CEO’s, CCO’s, creative directors, copywriters, art directors, producers, film directors, directors of photography and many more professionals in the industry. “When the speakers talked about their first experiences working as a professional, that made my goals seem achievable because they humanized what it looks like to grow your skills and become a better creator,” said Harper. “My journey is going to be very individual as to how I get where I want to be.” The virtual study abroad included speakers who came from top ad agencies all across the globe, such as TBWA\Media Arts Lab in LA and Beijing, Wieden + Kennedy in New York, London, and Portland, and creative teams at brands like Facebook in Menlo Park and Lego in Denmark. The study abroad also featured a panel discussion with five female alumni, as well as a lesson on spirituality in creativity. “The primary emphasis of the spirituality in creativity portion of the study abroad was to show students how to use their God-given talents and gifts to help alleviate and lift. What cooler way is there to use creative talents than to promote the most important message the world has ever known — the Gospel of Jesus Christ?” said Sheets. Johnston shared her experience from the spirituality-creativity portion of the study abroad. “I’ve always viewed our Heavenly Parents as the master creators,” said Johnston. “I feel as though when I am creating for good, I am tapping into my divine characteristics that I got from my Heavenly Mother and Father.” Planning a study abroad normally takes at least a year of work, but Sheets planned this virtual study abroad within a few weeks. “Professor Sheets quickly reached out to people. It may not sound effective to have an online study abroad, but it helped us grow a lot,” said Slavens. “I’ve seen the best of the best now because of this experience, and it helped me be my most creative self in an industry where you have to be creative to create ads and messages that will really impact people.” After the six-week virtual study abroad, Cook felt more unified with her peers and inspired in her creativity; the experience exceeded her expectations. “Not only did the many Zoom meetings and chats make us closer as a creative track, but each professional gave us a distinct and new perspective on the industry and life as a creative,” said Cook. “By the end, I felt like I had grown as a copywriter more immensely than I would have thought possible. I wasn’t just sitting in front of a computer screen. I was given an all-access pass to the best in the world of advertising.”

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School of Communications Faculty and Students Celebrate the Restoration through Collaborative Project on the First Vision

Brendan Gwynn — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 22:13:00 +0000

The project “If Any of You Lack Wisdom” explores the faith-based challenges that young adults experience As the 200th anniversary of Joseph’s Smith First Vision approached, BYU School of Communications journalism professor Kris Boyle saw an opportunity to do something special. After discovering that advertising professor Jeff Sheets had been contemplating similar ideas, the two initiated a collaborative project in September 2019 that would include faculty representatives from three of the school’s sequences — advertising, public relations and journalism — with public relations professors Chris Wilson and Pamela Brubaker joining the project. But the efforts would soon extend to communications students as well. “After a few meetings with just the faculty, we decided to bring in students,” Boyle said. “We each identified students we thought would be interested in the project, who were self-driven, dependable and able to work on a team.” Students from each sequence then joined the collaboration, and the group began considering exactly how the project would look. “The great thing about this project is that the focus and structure came from students, not faculty,” Boyle said. “We met for several weeks with the students and brainstormed ideas. The students also went out and conducted focus groups with their peers to better understand what kind of project would resonate best with them.” The students discovered a consistent theme: young adults have questions — sometimes very serious and significant ones — that they need answered. But just like Joseph Smith, we live in a time that can be very confusing. With the amount of information available through the internet, social media and other competing voices, it can be difficult to know where to go to find answers to questions. In addition, young adults sometimes struggle with both recognizing when they are receiving answers and how to deal with those answers when they may not be what they wanted or expected. These responses became the genesis of the project that students then proposed: interview young adults by asking them three main questions: 1) What questions do they struggle to find the answers to? 2) Where do they go to get their answers? and 3) How do they know when they get an answer? To tie this project to the anniversary of Joseph Smith’s First Vision, the four professor mentors traveled with teams of students to several Church history locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri and Nebraska. Students then conducted video interviews with as many young adults as possible for use as articles, video vignettes and other formats. In addition, two advertising students were sent to New York City to do street interviews and two students traveling abroad during the Winter 2020 semester also did interviews with young adults in London to provide an international perspective. “One of the questions that we hadn’t planned to ask when we first started doing interviews was something to the effect of, ‘How do your experiences in searching for answers help you relate to Joseph Smith?’” Boyle said. “This proved to be the best question we could ask because we got some amazing answers. This also provided those we talked to an opportunity to really think about what Joseph Smith and the First Vision means to them. It was remarkable.” Across the trips, students interviewed more than 30 young adults about the journey they take to find answers to their questions. Now, the students are working to get content published leading up to and following the Church’s April 2020 General Conference as part of the unfolding project “If Any of You Lack Wisdom,” the title of which comes from James 1:5 — the verse that led to Joseph Smith’s experience in the spring of 1820. Students and faculty hope that as they continue to roll out content, they will help get the message across that young adults — and all others — can find answers to sincere questions that they have, just like Joseph Smith did. In total, 13 students have assisted the four faculty mentors on the project. Boyle emphasized that working with capable, dedicated students has made this collaboration an especially memorable experience. “We have an amazing crop of students within the school — we’re very fortunate that way,” he said. “The challenge wasn’t as much finding students to participate as it was having to limit it in some aspects. But we couldn’t have a better team of students working on this project. They have taught me so much and I’m fortunate to get to work with them.” While the main focus of the project was to obtain information and resources to help young adults across the globe as they navigate through their experiences of faith, faculty also saw firsthand how experiential learning helps students expand their abilities. “Students have seen their skills as interviewers, videographers and writers increase,” Boyle said. “We have journalism and public relations students who had never really shot video before who now know how to frame, shoot and edit good interview pieces. These students have also developed a strong bond with each other in ways that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.” Sydnee Gonzalez, a journalism student who has assisted on “If Any of You Lack Wisdom,” echoed what Boyle said regarding the professional benefits. “This project is drastically different from what I have worked on up to this point in my college career,” Gonzalez said. “It helped open my eyes to the fact that my journalism background can be used to tell stories in a variety of ways; if working for a news media corporation doesn’t work out for me, I have other options.” Boyle was quick to point out, however, that participation wasn’t just professionally strengthening. The most important element of the project was the spiritual benefit for those who participated. “It’s been rewarding for me to hear how the students’ experiences as part of this project have strengthened their own testimonies of the gospel, of Joseph Smith and of our Heavenly Father,” Boyle said. “This project is a prime example of everything outlined in the aims of BYU education — spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, character building and leading to lifelong service and learning.” For more information about the project, and to read articles and view videos, visit universe.byu.edu/ifanyofyoulackwisdom.

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CFAC Students Spend Summer Term Working and Serving Around the World

Morgan Reis — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 21:10:16 +0000

Students from the College of Fine Arts and Communications travel internationally to gain real-world experience and share their talents while studying abroad, competing, performing and interning Each year, students in the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications take the knowledge and skills they have learned in the classroom and make their mark on their local and global communities. From New York to Europe, these students are having inspiring learning opportunities all over the globe. Read more about how students from the College of Fine Arts and Communications answered President Kevin J. Worthen’s call for inspired learning during June: Contemporary Dance in Europe Study Abroad (Courtesy of Kiersten Robertson, @byu.dance.abroad and McCall McClellan) BYU dance students traveled to Europe on the Contemporary Dance in Europe study abroad to attend several large dance festivals, take masterclasses and learn more about the history of contemporary dance, which originated in Europe. Additionally, the Contemporary Dance Theatre (CDT) company will compete for the Grand Prix title in Prague. CDT previously won the Grand Prix title in 2015. They will be showcasing choreography from guests, faculty and students for the European judges and other festival participants from over 14 countries. In addition to increasing their technical and historical understanding of the genre of dance, students toured cities, visited museums and experienced much of what European culture has to offer. China Spectacular Digital Media Team (Courtesy of Adam Durfee and Megan Adamson) Behind the group of dedicated performers in the China Spectacular were four communications students and two communications professors, Adam Durfee and Steve Fidel. This digital media team shot video footage, captured photos of the action and helped run the social media campaign of the 40th anniversary tour — BYU’s biggest tour to date. “My favorite part about covering the BYU Spectacular was seeing how much effort performers put in. There were seven performances and they gave their all to each of their audiences,” said Rachel Keeler, a member of the China Spectacular digital media team. “You could see how much the Chinese people loved the performers for it. It was truly an incredible experience!” Keeler felt that the hands-on experience she had in China pushed her to use all the skills she had previously learned in the communications program, but also helped her develop abilities that could never come from sitting at a desk. “It’s something that can’t be learned within the walls of a classroom — only through going out and doing it with the help of a mentor,” said Keeler. “That is why internships are required in this major and study abroads are encouraged — they push you to reach limits you couldn’t have reached through standardized learning.” International Advertising and Awards Study Abroad (Courtesy of Jeff Sheets) School of Communications professor Jeff Sheets and 26 advertising students traveled to France, England, Monaco, Germany and Scotland on the International Advertising and Awards Shows study abroad to attend some of the most prestigious advertising award shows in the world. Students also learned more about global and diverse cultural ideas addressed in international advertising through various field projects and events. Part of the trip included attending a significant industry event, which had a section dedicated to play and its critical role in developing creativity. Students slid down a hippo slide into a ball bit; featured next to the ball pit was a quote taken from research done by fellow BYU students from the Marriott School of Business. Internship with Lionsgate (Courtesy of Rollins Wimber) BYU film student Rollins Wimber was accepted for a summer internship at Lionsgate, a highly respected entertainment company. While looking for summer internships, Wimber turned to a friend and BYU alum to get his foot in the door at Lionsgate. “Leverage your BYU alumni connections,” said Wimber. “Filling out online applications likely means your resume gets dropped in the pile, but knowing someone in the company makes all the difference. I applied to a lot of film internships and got nothing until I started reaching out individually to BYU alumni.” This internship has stretched him, allowed him to grow in technical skills and helped him see that with hard work and dedication he can succeed as a filmmaker. “I’ve realized it’s possible,” Wimber says. “It’s not like all the other people have some gift you don’t — you’re just as good. Don’t underestimate your BYU education.” Internship with Radio America Network (Courtesy of Jennifer Borden) BYU news media student Jennifer Borden is interning for the Radio America Network in Washington D.C. this summer. As an intern, she storyboards, engineers, edits and publishes various episodes and podcasts. Borden also helps develop, edit and publish videos for YouTube and Facebook Live. “I put a lot of the skills I have learned in class to work,” said Borden. “Now I have a good number of finished projects that prove I can deliver on the skills I’ve learned at BYU.” Borden will have researched and assembled a video project about interest rates by the end of her internship. In addition to the opportunity this internship has given her to strengthen her portfolio, Borden has been able to interact with the American Veterans Center, which shares an office with the Radio America Network. “I was able to interact with some very cool veterans — that made me very proud to be the daughter of a veteran,” said Borden. “Living in Washington D.C. placed me in an environment where I constantly met really amazing people.” Field Study Documenting More2Life Foundation (Courtesy of Kris Boyle) BYU communications professor Kris Boyle and students Jenae Hyde and Lindsey Peterson headed to New York to document the BYU Football team’s annual More2Life Foundation trip. BYU head coach Kalani Sitake created the More2Life foundation with the intention of helping disadvantaged youth through mentoring, education and athletic opportunities. Boyle and his students were able to witness and document firsthand the mutually beneficial experience for all involved. The team spent two days with BYU football players and coaches in Harlem filming and photographing the interactions and events. The content shot and edited by Hyde and Peterson will be published on the website for the new sports media journalism sequence that will launch this fall. National Association for Media Literacy Education’s Biennial Conference (Courtesy of TMA Newsletter) Department of Theatre and Media Arts [...]

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BYU Students Set Record at One Club for Creativity Competition in New York

Morgan Reis — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 17:35:42 +0000

Students from the BYU School of Communications and the Department of Design competed in an event hosted by one of the most prestigious graphic design and advertising organizations in the world BYU design and advertising students dominated at The One Club for Creativity competition held each year in New York City — considered to be one of the top international award competitions for advertising and graphic design students. While the categories for these awards are vast, recognition in even one category showcases excellence in creativity and is a high honor. Collectively, BYU took home a new school record of awards during this year’s One Club for Creativity competition. Six advertising students and one graphic design student received gold for their portfolio submissions — more than any other university. To win a portfolio award, students must submit their best pieces in a portfolio as a single unit, which the judges — approximately 10 industry leaders from various artistic specialities — will look at collectively. This year, The One Club for Creativity reported that there were 8,751 portfolios submitted from designers in 45 different countries. From these submissions, the judges chose 14 gold winners from diverse disciplines, half of which were BYU students. “The portfolio competition in particular is held in such high esteem because they are not just recognizing one piece in your portfolio, but your entire body of work,” said Alexa Spiroff, an advertising student. “To be a portfolio winner means the judges are acknowledging that every piece of work in your book is award-winning.” Cam Tribe and Sara McLaws won for advertising. Connor Dean, Jedediah Thunell, Bentley Rawle and Alexa Spiroff won for film and TV commercials. Laura McNeill won for graphic design. In addition to the seven golds won by BYU students for portfolios, four individual advertising projects won gold, three won silver and one won bronze. They also won five gold cubes, two silver cubes and one bronze cube in the ADC Awards category. In the One Show category, BYU advertising students won one gold pencil, one silver pencil and three merit awards. McCall Keller, another BYU graphic design student, won a bronze cube for his redesign of King Kong Magazine. Nineteen advertising and graphic design projects were merit winners — all contributing to the competition’s ultimate ranking of BYU as the #2 program in the world. BYU advertising professor Jeff Sheets, who is a board member and judge for the One Club for Creativity, was asked to present the portfolio awards and give students their awards on stage. “It was a very fulfilling moment for me personally to be able to present so many awards to our very own BYU students,” said Sheets. “I had witnessed first-hand all of their hard work and creative determination.” Winning such a prestigious award can help students put their names out there and launch their professional careers after they leave BYU. “The One Club is really well known across the graphic design and advertising communities, so to be able to have that on my resume would really help with validating my work,” said McNeill. “I think even the networking that can happen from it is valuable.”

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BYU AdLab Wins Multiple Awards at 2018 Advertising Competitions

Amanda Shrum — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 21:42:49 +0000

The BYU AdLab team has been recognized by the One Club for Creativity, the 2018 Telly Awards and the American Advertising (ADDY) Awards. “The AdLab has won an unprecedented number of awards and continues to represent the best of BYU’s advertising program,” said Jeff Sheets, faculty advisor for the AdLab. The One Club for Creativity is a non-profit organization that promotes excellence in advertising. The One Club holds an annual conference called the Young Ones, which judges submissions from art and design schools and programs from around the world. The four categories are the Art Directors Club (ADC), One Show, Young Ones Portfolio and Client Pitch Competition. BYU won three gold, three silver and five bronze Young Ones Cubes as well as two merits from the Art Directors Club, which judges open briefs for Best Creative Work in Advertising. BYU won one silver and one bronze Young Ones Pencils and five merits for brief-based assignments for a client and social cause. BYU also won First Place in the Client Brief competition. BYU performed especially well in the Young Ones Portfolio competition, winning three Advertising portfolio awards and one Film/Television/Video portfolio award. The BYU AdLab was the only school awarded in each of these two categories and was ranked as the number one school for portfolio work. Overall, BYU was ranked as the second best program in the world. To see BYU’s award-winning work, visit the One Club website. The BYU AdLab also did well at the 2018 Telly Awards, which honors the best in commercial advertising for television and web. The AdLab won two Gold and one Bronze awards in the General-Student category for Online Commercials. The winning commercials were “Ooh La La” for La Croix, “One More Giant Leap” for GE and “Earth Day” Vivint Solar, all of which can be seen on the Telly Award website. Most recently, the American Advertising Federation recognized the BYU AdLab’s work at the American Advertising Awards, often called the ADDY Awards. The ADDY Awards are the largest advertising competition in the U.S. and aim to recognize the creative spirit of excellence in advertising. “One More Giant Leap” won Best of Show for Cinematography. The BYU AdLab also won five Student Gold and two Student Silver Awards. The full list of winners can be found here.

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Professor Sheets Demonstrates the Connection between Faith and Advertising

maddynf — Thu, 25 May 2017 09:34:32 +0000

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BYU professors, students team up to develop game to teach young students STEM subjects

admin — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 21:45:50 +0000

The College of Fine Arts and Communications and the College of Engineering teamed up to develop an alternate reality game. Tessera: Light in the Dark will be released in January after over a year of development by professors and students at BYU. Tessera: Light in the Dark is an interactive game about a mysterious collective of historically significant innovators, known as “The Tessera,” hunted by an even more unknown character who goes by “S.” Players navigate real-world and online computational thinking puzzles with the help of the ghosts of these famous men and women who are trying to save everything their think-tank stands for from S’s destructive tendencies. “The normal claim from educators is that the devices that we use, like a cellphone or a computer, is distracting from students’ learning,” said Jeff Sheets, Associate Professor of Communications. “An alternate reality game is a great vehicle to use for teachers because it actually reverses those relationships. Students can play this game while learning and having fun by trying to solve the mystery.” A replayable version of the game that can be condensed into a concise teaching unit will become available for classroom and home use after the live release. Teachers and students will have access to the game, both in and out of the classroom, for no cost. The Tessera players will learn principles of computational thinking (CT), which prepares them to better understand problems in computer science and technology fields. This is not a “learn-to-code” game but students who practice CT can become more confident and interested in studying computer programming. “This makes teachers the heroes because they have helped make learning interesting for students,” said Sheets. “The same tools and techniques that are used to distract students are being used to engage them, and this is the winning formula for teaching kids STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Math) subjects in the future. Students will be able to solve a puzzle while learning how to computer program. And we are bringing a little bit of the Arts to teaching STEM, they even call it STEAM now.” The game targets students ages 13-16, but aims to get more girls and minorities interested in STEM subjects. This game could potentially encourage more minorities and girls to become involved in STEM classes and careers in the future by showing them the basics of computational thinking. This game will show students that they already have the skills for computational thinking, including coding, and can encourage them to pursue STEM subjects in the future. The game developers designed a trading card game to go along with the online game because they wanted students to have an all-immersive experience. Players can use famous scientists, engineers, artists and mathematicians to claim innovations and gain higher points to win with the trading cards. Each card has a code that can be used in the online game to play against online opponents around the world. This game is designed to be both educational and fun. BYU faculty members have been working with students over the last year to develop this game. Over 30 students from various programs such as illustration, design, advertising, public relations, animation and film have worked together to create the content and to design the game. “The design of the game is two fold,” said Connor King, BFA Graphic Design student. “There is the puzzle and level design, as well as the art design and player experience, both of which are linked together.” Jeff Parkin, a BYU Theatre and Media Arts professor, and Jared Cardon, owner of partner group Tinder Transmedia developed the overall story arc of the game. Students involved created the levels, puzzles, gameplay and a majority of the art included. “After the levels were built, it was tested to see if things broke, and of course, if it was fun! If our game isn’t fun, there is no purpose to making it,” said King. “It might look beautiful, and run without any errors, but if it isn’t fun, we missed the mark.” Utah locals have the opportunity to attend a launch party for the game on Tuesday, January 17 from 5-7 pm in the Amber Room at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. There will also be a concurrent launch with program partner Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley. The Computer History Museum will host a real-life version of the game in conjunction with the virtual game. To learn more and to receive updates on the game, register on http://thetessera.org.

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BYU AdLab Helps Hospital-Bound Kids Play Pokémon GO

admin — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 14:08:08 +0000

Students create experiential technology to help patients explore outside hospital walls When Pokémon GO exploded in mid-July, news articles and social media posts appeared encouraging players to drop “lure modules” that attract pokémon at local hospitals. By dropping these modules, children confined to the building could have a chance at catching something. Cameron Talbot directs proxy players Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo Though well-intentioned, these good deeds resulted in problems for hospitals nationwide as the lures attracted outside players who would trespass onto helipads, invade the privacy of recovering patients, or otherwise impede the hospital’s ability to function. Many hospital systems have since outlawed Pokémon GO on their campuses. For 9-year-old Cameron Talbot, Pokémon GO was just one more thing he couldn’t participate in. Cameron is a cancer patient at Primary Children’s Hospital and leaving the hospital in search of elusive pokémon isn’t an option. But students from the BYU AdLab have developed a solution to the ban on Pokémon GO–they have designed an experiential platform that enables sick or disadvantaged children to play Pokémon GO with the help of a volunteer who acts as the child’s feet. They’ve named the platform “Go for Good” and partnered with Primary Children’s Hospital to bring the game to the bedside of hospital-bound kids. Here’s how it works: Using screen-sharing technology, Go for Good puts the experience of exploring the city or neighborhood while looking for Pokémon in the lap of kids who can’t chase them on their own. Patients simply log on to the Go For Good site on a laptop, schedule a proxy player and interact with that player through voice and video commands to play the game. The volunteer player can travel to Pokémon GO hotspots that would otherwise be inaccessible for hospitalized kids. The player and the volunteer don’t even have to be in the same city. “So many of our patients want nothing more than to get outside, be active and do the things other kids their age are doing,” says Katy Welkie, CEO of Primary Children’s Hospital. “This partnership with the BYU AdLab and Go for Good will allow our patients to feel normal again, to interact with something fun and exciting and to spend some time doing something that’s not related to their health or medical condition.” For Cameron, it means working with his older brother Dillon and sending him out to “catch ‘em all.” By the numbers, Pokémon GO has soared to the top of popular mobile media lists. Following its initial release, Forbes magazine reported the augmented reality gamesurpassed Twitter in daily active users and claimed the top app spot on the Google Play store, toppling social media giants like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. Additionally,Survey Monkey published data claiming that the game had 21 million daily active users, making it the biggest mobile game in U.S. history. It was this surge of cultural relevance that spurred the AdLab into action. Jeff Sheets, faculty advisor to the AdLab, said he aims to teach students to creatively solve problems in advertising. “As this took off, I wanted to help the students look at what was happening right now and leverage the moment to communicate something important and meaningful,” Sheets said. “We started to think about the most deserving children who should be able to play this game but aren’t able to because of some kind of health challenge. It resulted in this public service to vicariously play the game with those who wouldn’t be able to otherwise.” Ad students and Dillon Talbot catch pokemon as directed by Cameron Talbot Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo The AdLab is currently working to make Go For Good available to additional hospitals. For more information, visit http://igoforgood.com/

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INTERDISCIPLINARY CFAC PROJECT CONTINUES TO WIN AWARDS

Beau Jones — Fri, 22 May 2015 19:28:50 +0000

Breaking the Class Ceiling, a College of Fine Arts and Communications interdisciplinary project, has continued on its award-winning run by receiving a gold recognition in the 45th Creativity Student Media & Interactive Design Awards. Across the world, economic and social disadvantages continue to hinder the advancement of hard-working men and women, a concept known as a “glass ceiling,” or the “class ceiling.” A group of BYU students would argue that for Chile, one of the biggest obstacles is free, quality public education. Motivated by personal connections to the people and a sense for the gravity of the situation, an interdisciplinary team of students and faculty from BYU’s College of Fine Arts and Communications, in conjunction with the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration in the Arts, traveled to the country for two weeks and gathered information about the reform of higher education from students at Universidad Mayor, a Chilean private university. “Being from Chile, this was a great opportunity for me to cover something that I have personally been involved in,” said Ricardo Quintana, one of the students who participated in the project. “This is an important issue and society should be involved in its improvement.” Since compiling and presenting the gathered information, the project has won numerous awards and highlights the learning opportunities available to students at BYU’s College of Fine Arts and Communications. Quintana added, “Our work is significant because it shows how coveted education is outside the U.S., where it typically is not nearly as accessible. Kids and young adults are raising their voices against the government through different forms of protest because they feel they have a right to free education.” This project explicitly asks: should a college education be an implicit right for everyone? No doubt due in part for the hard questions that it asks, Breaking the Class Ceiling has recently been announced as a national finalist of The Society of Professional Journalists 2014 Mark of Excellence Awards and a gold winner in the 45th Creativity Student Media & Interactive Design Awards. “It is great to see that our work is being recognized,” said Shelbi Anderson, another student participant. “I was gratified to hear these stories firsthand, but getting recognized a year after we actually went to Chile makes it feel like we have had an impact after the fact.” These awards were given based on excellence in challenging criteria. For the Creativity International Award alone, entries came from 16 countries, 2 Canadian Provinces and 20 U.S. States. Student participants included: Shelbi Anderson (Journalist) Ricardo Quintana (Cinemaphotographer) Jared Jakins (Cinemaphotographer) Jeff Wade (Graphic Designer/Web Support/AV Support) Faculty advisors included: Brent Barson Jeff Sheets Ed Carter

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