PrintingNews.com

How long would it take you to design a Web site? Or create a print ad promoting "Harlem Week" in New York City? Or take a great photograph with a digital camera you have never seen before? Or print a job on an offset press you used for the first time this morning? For New York City high school students competing in the City-Wide Graphic Arts Competition in April, the answer is two hours. Eleventh and twelfth graders from 16 high schools competed for trophies, prizes, and cash in an intense graphics exercise that proved they could design, scan, code, manipulate, proof, and produce professional-quality graphics on a tight deadline.

The competition, now in its fifth year, is hosted by City University of New York's (CUNY) CityTech, and sponsored by the all-volunteer Graphic Arts Education Advisory Commission, a group of business executives, entrepreneurs, vendors, advocates, academics, and analysts who support graphics education in New York, as well as the New York City Department of Education.

Established more than 25 years ago as part of the state-mandated Career and Technical Education Advisory Council, the commission aims to help teachers and students learn about technology and careers in the fast-changing graphic arts field.

Part of the group's work involves advising schools on up-to-date curriculum and facilities. The state still has classes on typesetting, paste-up, and film stripping, while the industry has moved on to electronic manuscripts, desktop publishing, and computer-to-plate impositioning.

The commission helps principals get the proper computer hardware and software for graphics programs, and has supported initiatives in high-speed digital printing, electronic color, digital photography, and desktop video production to keep the city's schools ahead of the technology curve. Members also advocate career and technical education programs in the midst of reform, which sometimes emphasizes college and academic preparation at the expense of more practical school-to-work approaches.

"Professionals who have been in the graphic arts business all their lives are challenged by the digital revolution," said Annette Wolf Bensen, chairperson of the Graphic Arts Education Advisory Commission. "Imagine what a graphics teacher—an academic in a New York City classroom—must feel when confronted by the changes in technology, in process, in job opportunities affecting their students. We try to help them tune their classes to the needs of the real world so kids can get what they need to build careers in graphics."

Teaching the Teachers

In addition to the competition, which focuses on students, the commission runs two Graphics Teachers Technology Conferences (GTTC) each year to keep educators current on business and technology issues. At the spring GTTC, executives from Xerox, Apple, Pantone, and Tanaseybert discussed topics such as data-driven digital printing, electronic color management, podcasting, and developments in operating systems.

At the events, teachers are also able to network, share tips and tricks for running their labs, navigating the school funding and procurement systems, and developing mentoring and externship programs for their students.