Starting at 6:30 p.m. today,Silver Creek HIgh School's Leadership Academy, or SCLA, is holding a Student Capstone Project Virtual Expo. One of the people behind the online effort is Trent Hoshiko, founder and CEO of Longmont-based Modern Icon Media and a graduate of SCLA’s first cohort in 2013.
Hoshiko’s work on the project speaks to his company’s strength, the value of virtual events, and how the Longmont community benefits from preparing students for their future. However, rather than talking about these things, he prefers to talk about how the current SCLA cohort affected him.
“It’s amazing to be able to work with these kids. They’re really great students, incredibly inspiring young almost-adults. They seem to see things they want to change, and people that they want to help, and they’re working toward that,” he said.
If it wasn’t for the coronavirus pandemic, Hoshiko might not have had the chance to return to his roots. Like many other business owners, he found he had to pivot if his company was going to survive.
“Our time demand has significantly increased but in a different direction with the booming of virtual events. We are stronger in a way we didn’t know existed on Jan. 1,” he said.
In 2020, Hoshiko refocused from corporate and advertising agency projects to virtual projects and remote post-production work. As part of his shift, he helped organizations like Silver Creek High School with their online communications.
“Schools have events they typically do every year, which they’re suddenly not able to do anymore in a safe manner. Some of the contacts I had at Silver Creek reached out to me last spring with a request to help them do some projects to help get the kids excited,” he said. “I was able to put together a senior night event in a digital format, and since then, we’ve expanded our work together.”
As his work has shifted this year, Hoshiko said he has seen an upside to using video to engage groups online that can’t meet in person: It makes information more accessible to people of varying abilities. Remote content is easier for people with mobility issues to access and subtitles help include members of the hard of hearing and deaf communities.
“Equitability is important to me,” he said. “Making sure that all people have access to media in various ways is something that I’m passionate about. These types of events make it so that almost anyone, regardless of their specific access needs can still interact, still participate, and still feel welcomed in the community.”
He said he hopes when the pandemic is over, people will continue to think about how to create more opportunities for all members of the community to engage.
“Videos could even shift to being community events and community centers in their own way,” Hoshiko said.
SCLA faculty mentor Carrie Adams said Hoshiko’s contribution to the virtual capstone expo allowed the event to go on despite restrictions on in-person gatherings.
“Normally we have the event at the school with displays where the kids can practice public speaking and presenting skills,” she said. “We aren’t able to do that this year, and we talked about canceling, but we thought it was important to give the kids some way to still interact with the community. That’s where Trenton enters in. He came up with ideas for how to create and film the expo.”
The programs captured in the expo video represent the final work in a four-year period of leadership classes and volunteer work. The 22 projects from this year’s cohort focused on issues as wide-ranging as finding positivity, creating a virtual kids’ night out, advocating for female athletes, and fostering communication across generations.
The expo film includes both “commercials” the students created with Hoshiko’s help, and interviews with the students by Gloria Neal, a former news anchor and current communications director for Denver Mayor Michael Hancock. Adams said all interviews and production work were conducted remotely without parties needing to meet in person.
Hoshiko said he appreciated the chance to help both teachers and students.
“Being able to support the educator as well as making something that the kids can actually be excited for when there’s a lot that’s been canceled on them this year — that’s a truly special experience for me,” he said.
