Two students from Williamsport and two from Hughesville placed at the Pennsylvania High School Computer Fair at Dickenson College in May and one student was the sole winner of a Harrisburg University of Science and Technology scholarship.
These four projects represented the BLaST Intermediate Unit 17 (Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan and Tioga) in the competition. IU 17 had the most winners at the state competition among 22 of the state's intermediate units for the second year in a row.
Cameron Perry, of Williamsport, won first-place in animation; Jay and Eric Hiller, of Hughesville, were first in digital movie; Crystal Vance, of Williamsport, was second in web design; and Sarah Hnatin, of Hughesville, was third in graphics.
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A 3-D hologram created with the software After Effects by Jay and Eric Hiller is shown. This is from their first-place project at the Pennsylvania High School Computer Fair titled “Cosmic Collision.” Their first-place movie can be viewed on YouTube with a search term of “Jay Hiller.”
The computer fair starts at the high school level where the best computer projects are selected to go to regional competitions at each of the IUs with students submitting projects in six categories: animation, graphics, programming, digital movie and web design. The first-place winners advance to the state level where the top three in each category are given cash prizes.
Perry, a senior, won first place with his animation "Scissorman: Episode 3," a creative Flash project that took four months to complete and was supervised by his art teacher Carrie Bosch.
Perry described his project as, "Scissorman and Paper Pal try to make some eggs!" He intends to follow animation as a possible career path.
Jay and Eric Hiller, juniors, placed first in digital movie with "Cosmic Collisions," a humorous look at space aliens combating a nerd completed in the applications Premiere and After Effects, which took hundreds of hours in learning and completion time.
As Jay Hiller stated, "It takes forever to do a 5-minute video with all of the special effects. It was worth it, definitely. It was fun and we sure were nervous after looking at some of the other projects. It made the awards ceremony that much better. "
The Hillers' movie "Cosmic Collisions" can be viewed at YouTube and a search term of "Jay Hiller" along with other projects they have completed.
Vance placed second in web design with "Playin' with Clay," a Dreamweaver project about her passion of working with polymer clay.
Her technology teacher, Debra Bair, said, "I am so happy for Crystal and proud of her achievements this year. Crystal worked extremely hard. Her motivation to continually take her project to the next level and increase her skills is inspiring."
Vance also was surprised to win a one-year scholarship to the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology that was awarded to an outstanding high school junior. When she attends college, she plans to study web development.
Hnatin, a ninth grader, placed third in graphics with a menu, brochure and gift certificate design for the restaurant "The Dragon's Lair" that was completed in a variety of programs including Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator.
Bill Frazier, her computer teacher at Hughesville, said, "Sarah is the best art student I have had through my program. Having been to the state fair the past 10 years, I have seen that it is very rare for a ninth grader to go to states let alone placing among the best. I can't wait to see what she does next year."
"Our region computer fair is so competitive that I know we have some regional projects that did not make the trip that would have done well at the state competition," said Scott Moll, the BLaST manager of information systems and head of the regional computer fair. "I want to thank all the teachers and advisors that assist these students throughout the year. It is a big task for them, too."
