Student gets early career exposure with HCEC-TV

A John Hardin High School student has turned a hobby into a potential career with the help of the television production program at Hardin County Schools.

Neal Cardin

John Hardin High School student Darius Sessions works on a video project recently in an office in the school's library.

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Neal Cardin

John Hardin student Darius Sessions is working with Hardin County Educatinal and Community Television through an independent study course.

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Neal Cardin

Sessions wears red high top Converse 'Chuck Taylor' shoes as he works on his project.

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Neal Cardin

After filming his project, Sessions edits and produces the video on a Mac computer.

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Darius Sessions is working with Hardin County Educational and Community Television through an independent study course. Sessions is a senior and is using the class to learn more about television production. The course has allowed Sessions to hone his skills in that area and has guided his plans post-graduation.

“Video production is kind of a hobby of mine,” Sessions said. He enjoys making movies in his own time, and so was interested in a summer class with HCEC-TV. Through that opportunity, he began the independent study course this year.

Sessions works with creating the school announcements by producing interview segments with students and staff.

Sessions said the work involves a lot of critical thinking to solve problems quickly and get the assignments accomplished, something he didn’t expect but enjoys.

“I began to get a liking for that,” he said.

The biggest challenge with the work is to “make the next video better than the last video.” He wants to push the creative aspects and not allow the segments to become repetitive.

Gina Ryan, the director of HCEC-TV, said she sees how driven Sessions is and his desire to continually improve.

“I know for certain that whatever path Darius chooses, he will be so successful,” she said in an email. “He will be one of the HCEC-TV students that I will be talking about for a very long time.”

Sessions recently won the top prize for a 30-second PSA in the “Keep It Real” underage drinking prevention video competition. It’s sponsored by the Bluegrass Prevention Center and the contest received 91 entries this year.

Sessions said the class has led him on a path toward a future career. He would like to study film production after graduation and eventually own a film production company.

Ryan said the experience will benefit Sessions in any career, because he’s learned to meet deadlines, focus on his work and analyze it to improve.

Kelly Cantrall can be reached at (270) 505-1747 or kcantrall@thenewsenterprise.com.