CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — ABC 10News went to Mater Dei Catholic High School in Chula Vista on Wednesday, where staff uses technology to prepare students for the future.
10News reporter Marie Coronel spoke to the principal and the school's theatre director about how they're doing this in classrooms and on stage.
"We're preparing these kids for the real world — real life — and everything we do is surrounded by technology. So not only is this career prep, it's life prep," says principal Aaron Gonzalez. "It's the classrooms and the extracurriculars. We've been here for 17 years. You're only new once, so there's a constant reinvestment. Whether it's the latest 3D printers you have to bring in, you look at the engineering curriculum, what's required there, and you have to think five to 10 years from now, since that's when these students are going to go on to those careers."
"There's a lot of technology that we use here, as far as iPads, to lighting, special effects, how we incorporate it is based on the needs of the script" says Joseph Advento, the theatre director. "So our stage management use iPads for scripts. We use headsets, eight communication sets... We use pixel mapping to map out and etch out the castle, so we don't project the image on the castle, but behind the castle."
Advento went on to say these experiences will benefit his students greatly because when they graduate they'll have the technical skills needed for jobs in the theatre industry.
Watch the video in the player at the top of this page to see Coronel's interviews with Gonzalez and Advento. Below, you'll find her speaking to students who shared how they plan to use their experiences after high school.
If you want to see the technology live on stage, Mater Dei High's fall production of "Beauty and the Beast" runs through Nov. 24.
