CSI - Able to capture creative talent in a single project!
For most elementary students, high school students can be seen as superheroes.
Students at the Utica Center for Science and Industry literally took on the role in a project that brought together their different career pathways to pitch superhero concepts to elementary students.
The students created a special “Comic Con” where elementary students were invited to evaluate nearly 20 new superhero concepts, including:
- Overcast, who uses her power to control the weather to fight against environmental injustice
- The Mechanic, who uses tools from the trade to fight crime
- Solarbeam, who got her powers from an experimental bottle of sun screen in her parent’s lab
And then there is Sugarrush- also known as 10th grader Samantha Kromei – who is saving a town from decay with a concept that was sure to appeal to elementary students.
“We knew we would have to draw their attention and a lot of third graders love candy,” she said during a break from fighting crime and pitching their concept to Plumbrook Elementary students.
CSI teacher Stacey King said students from each of the pathways – mechatronics, multi-media and engineering technology - were required to work collaboratively on a superhero concept that they could “sell” to an actual audience at a comic convention.
"This is a way to bring 10th graders from different pathways together to collaborate and create something for an authentic audience,” she said.
Mechatronics students created displays with lights to capture attention, the engineering students create a companion video game and multi-media students created trailers that were shown to students before the event.
What brought the project home even more was that a CSI graduate - Griffin Sheridan – spoke to the students about his experiences as a new comic writer for Image Comics.
“The outcome is amazing,” she said. “It was exactly what we thought it would be and even a little more sparkle than that.”
One of the customers, third grader Eden Gearhart, could not wait to visit the booths to play the games.
“I like how everyone is dressed up,” she said. “I am probably going to like the superheros in red best – because that is my favorite color.”
Below are the trailers of each superhero created by CSI multi media students.
CSI Superhero Reel 2024 from Mr. Allore on Vimeo.
