In early April, Kevin Myers, who is the creative director and producer for DHS Press, was selected to be a fellow for the 2020 Student Reporting Labs Summer Academy. Myers is one of thirty students who was selected nationwide to be a part of the experience. Unfortunately, the summer academy will be online this year due to COVID-19. 

Myers said, “It’s very exciting to get accepted into the program to finally have a chance to hone my craft with people in this field.” Despite the academy being moved online, Myers still has a positive attitude, “It is disappointing to not be able to attend in person, but I hope that the added length will allow us to go more in detail, and also keep me occupied and not bored just sitting around the house.” 

Being the third DHS Press student to attend the academy, Myers also expressed his goals for the academy, “I hope to be able to refine my storytelling skill to be able to convey a message in a more cohesive and effective manner. I hope to be able to tell important stories that accurately and powerfully convey what life is like for high schoolers in my community.” 

According to the acceptance letter, “Through virtual meetings with mentors over the course of 10 weeks, you will produce content comparable to what you would have done in Arizona. This year, assignments will be connected to how COVID-19 is affecting different facets of everyday life in your communities.” The Academy will run from April 21 through June 26. It would have been taking place over five days in Phoenix, Arizona.

“Kevin is an outstanding young talent and I am so excited for him to achieve this well-deserved honor,” DHS Press sponsor Mitch Schwartz said. “It will be great to see Kevin apply everything that he learns next year in class.” 

Myers has had a passion for video making since he was in middle school, “I first started playing with one of my parent’s old cameras making music videos.” Myers also shared his growing passion for news, “I really starting paying attention during the 2016 presidential election where I was shocked by the false statements and attacks made against the press by then candidate Donald Trump,” he added, “It was from this that I became passionate about holding those in power accountable correcting false or misleading statements.” 

Schwartz added, “Kevin has really come out of his shell this year in leading projects. When he started for DHS Press as a sophomore his passion and ability was evident from day one. Kevin is my resource for a lot of post-production work and it is great to see his producing talent recognized as well.”

Outside of his work for DHS Press, Myers also has a YouTube channel called Fountain Pictures, where he produces his own news show, short films, and DHS sports videos. Recently, he produced a 45 minute documentary about the Dominion Dance team and their trip to Nationals in Orlando, Florida called The Road to Nationals. He said of the project, “I had never traveled that far, covered an event of that size, or produced a piece of content of that length before, which made it very challenging, but also exciting and fun.”

Myers is the third student on the DHS Press staff to be selected for the PBS Student Reporting Labs Summer Academy following Morgan Fischer in 2018 and Karen Ramos in 2019.