Oxford High School recently hosted fall media day in the new career pathway building for OHS sports teams. OHS had its first media day last summer led by senior Anderson Shows.
“I saw so many other high schools around the country have some kind of a media day for their sports,” Shows said. “I said that I wanted to do that for Oxford, but better.”
OHS media day included taking pictures and videos for soccer, golf, basketball, cheer, dance, volleyball, football, swim, cross country and wrestling. Not only do the teams enjoy this opportunity, but getting this content helps promote the sports teams.
“Media day helps our team because it gets everyone super excited for our season,” junior soccer player Caroline Love said. “It makes us feel more like family when we all get to take fun pictures and videos together.”
The group created and set up multiple sets. They then worked all week long to get content for each team. The new CTE building made it more organized.
“I think the school was very generous in lending us a space to have our production room this year,” OSD Activities Media Specialist Jared Redding said. “This really helped recognize the hard work that our students put in and really showed their creative skills.”
Media day was not only rewarding for the athletes but for the students involved as well.
“I want to give all our athletes the opportunity to have pictures that look professional and help promote our school,” Shows said. “Another thing I love is seeing people from all over the country seeing our work and putting OHS on the map.”
Sports including soccer, football, volleyball and basketball filmed content at media day for the new Jumbotrons as well as the content everyone else did.
“We have amazing social media managers, so they will use our pictures to create cool graphics for our events and games,” Love said. “The videos they recorded of us will be turned into hype videos for our starting line up.”
Students put in hard work throughout the week for media day. It took a lot of time and preparation, and the student staff ensured everything looked the best it could. Taking inspiration from other school’s media days was very helpful.
“From previously working at Ole Miss I think it was really cool not just to see them, but everyone around just really showing their creativity,” Redding said. “I feel like in this day and age you have to have a good eye for what looks good and what does not and these students clearly possess that. It was really nice to see.”
Shows did some work alone but had a lot of help along the way. The student staff included juniors Liza O’Reilly and Chloe Anderson who helped to create and paint the hallway set. A group of around 10 other students helped to set up for many hours.
“A lot of the planning I did by myself, but I was very grateful for the staff that stepped up to help me throughout the week and in the time beforehand,” Shows said. “I could not have done it without our staff and the OSD employees that helped us along the way as well.”
With Redding’s career in journalism he has much advice to offer to the students who are also hoping to pursue a career in media.
“I say take every opportunity,” Redding said. “I always tell other people that hard work beats talent any day of the week. Take Anderson for example. If you see something that inspires you you’re going to want to pursue it. Even if it means you are not getting paid it is a long-term investment.”
