SECC is Committed to Excellence in Media Education
Through partnerships, SECC empowers educators not just with the equipment, but the expertise necessary to teach media today. Additionally, SECC reaches students directly to help train the next generation of media producers, instilling skills they can use regardless of the career path they take. Check back often to find out about exciting opportunities to network, learn and share! For individual resources, including SEVA category highlights, curriculum, and more, visit the SEVA Resources page.

Inspired by Sacramento Student Media Day, #SEVACON 2020 is a free, online convention for media students and teachers in the Sacramento area. Connect with fellow student producers, industry experts, and learn about media production through Zoom events. Learn more: secctv.org/seva/training/sevacon
#SEVACON: Home Studio
The kick-off event for #SEVACON was all about producing from home. Learn about simple equipment you can use to create a great video regardless of where you are. Go behind-the-scenes with KCRA morning anchor Deirdre Fitzpatrick as well as SEVA’s own Vanessa Gomez to learn about their home studio setup.
#SEVACON: Pitch-Fest
This event put great story ideas in the spotlight, and students brought their SEVA video project ideas to share! Participants learned about the process of pitching video ideas to others from Veronica Serrano-Padilla, KCRA Programming Director and Jessica Mathies, Executive Producer of Program Development for Hearst Television. Get the “Dev Template” from this session.
#SEVACON: Virtual Studio Tour
#SEVACON traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to go behind the scenes at ABC/NBC Dakota News Now with SEVA’s own Vanessa Gomez. Vanessa got her start in news by anchoring the Carnegie Connection at Andrew Carnegie Middle School. She went on to graduate from Casa Roble High School and USC. She gave participants a behind-the-scenes peek at her life as a morning news anchor, and let us know how she turned her early passion for media in to a successful career.
#SEVACON: Content Creator
#SEVACON welcomed Kenneth “KJ” Johnston, CEO of KJ2 Productions to give his pro tips on how to create content that is gripping and inspiring. As a writer and director, KJ and his team have produced film and TV projects in over sixty-three countries on six continents. KJ went through what it takes to tell a story in just 30 seconds and producing content during COVID. Use the Daily Production Report from this event.
#SEVACON: News Stories
#SEVACON shined a spotlight another SEVA success story from Andrew Carnegie Middle School’s media program. Olivia DeGennaro virtually joined students to give her experiences and tips as a current KTXL Fox40 reporter.
#SEVACON: Post Production
Editing combines all of the production elements into a final presentation. The post production team at PBS KVIE visited SEVACON to share their workflow, tips and techniques for a successful edit. Participants looked inside the edit of an actual show to see what it takes to go from script to your television.
#SEVACON: Camera Presence
#SEVACON connected with one of the most well-known voices in the Sacramento area. Sacramento Kings public address announcer, Sacramento Republic FC VP, and Fox40 host Scott Moak shared tips and tricks for developing your camera presence and how you can use your voice to share powerful stories in our community.
#SEVACON: CalOES
#SEVACON: Contest Kickoff
#SEVACON answered your questions about this year’s SEVA 2021 Contest! The event provided an overview of the categories, entry form, releases, copyright rules, music resources, the captioning process and how to shoot your official SEVA 2021 Producer interview. This was an interactive opportunity to make sure everyone is SEVA ready!
#SEVACON: Creativity & Pixar
#SEVACON connected with Bob Peterson to learn about his journey and experiences as an animator, screenwriter, director, voice actor and member of Pixar’s Senior Creative Team. Some of Bob’s credits include: writer and co-director of UP, voice actor (Roz in Monsters Inc.), co-writer on Finding Nemo, co-writer on Cars 3 and writer/director of Forky Asks a Question. Bob also shared how he embeds life experiences into the stories he creates.
SEVA Teacher Summer Workshop

SECC offers a SEVA Teacher Summer Workshop to help media teachers of all experience levels strengthen their media program or start one from the ground up.

2020 SEVA Summer Workshop – Reimagined: A Virtual Experience
The annual summer training was modified to meet the new standards of health and wellness while providing an opportunity for local media teachers to gather virtually to learn new skills and share best practices. With a new virtual platform, teachers had the ability to participate in sessions that best fit their needs including round-table discussions about best practices and ideas for the future. Visit the Google Drive for a collection of shared resources.
Basic Shooting Tools
Presenters: Thuy Pham – CCAA & Nick Conklin – SECC
Looking for DIY solutions for shooting at home? During this session inexpensive tools, techniques and workflows to help your students produce content from home will be shared. Anyone can become a video producer with these simple tips and tricks.
Resource Links:
Resources from this video via Google Drive
How to Engage New Students and Teach Media in a Virtual Setting
Presenters: Jeff Darrow – Barrett MS & Trevor Harding – Sunrise ES
A new teaching platform and new students you may have never met? Come learn some tips and techniques to connect with new students via the distance learning module while finding ways to continue your media program on this new platform. A panel of teachers will present what has worked for them and suggest ideas for various program sizes and formats.
Resource Links:
Resources from this video via Google Drive
How to Shoot & Edit a Story on Your iPhone
Presenter: Tim Herrera – SCOE
COVID has limited access to comprehensive camera systems for many students. But good news is you can still shoot and edit a complete story on your iPhone! Learn tips from a reporter/public information officer on how you can leverage your iPhone to the best of it’s ability and share stories you come across no matter where and when.
Resource Links:
Resources from this video via Google Drive
SEVA Summer Training: Lessons Learned & Helpful Hints from KCRA 3 News
Presenters: Jim Stimson & Kristie Gong – KCRA
Jim Stimson, KCRA3 Assistant News Director & Kristie Gong, KCRA Research Director discuss with teachers the lessons they’ve learned and some helpful hints in covering the news during COVID.
WeVideo Basics
Presenter: Erica Swift – Herman Leimbach ES
WeVideo is a great tool to empower students to edit videos from home. Learn the basic workflow to get students off and running on their projects with WeVideo’s cloud-based editing platform.
Resource Links:
Read the educator’s guide to WeVideo
WeVideo Advanced
Presenter: Dana La Chapelle – Toby Johnson MS
Learn more advanced techniques you and your students can utilize in WeVideo including collaboration among students within the editing platform. This is a great way to further develop your knowledge of WeVideo and learn how it can be better utilized during distance learning. Sample projects for your students will also be discussed in more detail.
Resource Links:
Resources from this video via Google Drive
Writing for Broadcast
Presenters: Keristen Holmes – ABC10 & Melissa May – Inderkum HS
Teaching students how to write for broadcast is a great skill that exercises their language arts skills to create better videos. ABC10’s Keristen Holmes joins to discuss how she writes for broadcast on a daily basis. A discussion follows with Melissa May about the different tools and methods for writing narration, intros and outros.
Resource Links:
Resources from this video via Google Drive
2019 SEVA Summer Workshop
In support of our region’s media teachers and the SEVA Studio Lab Grant project (funded by the Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission), SECC held a one week intensive video journalism training in June 2019. Over 30 SEVA teachers attended this event at Center High School, including first-time broadcast teachers and veteran teachers looking to refresh and recharge. The workshop provided inspiring sessions in the morning and challenging, hands-on assignments in the afternoons. Instructors Dave Davis, Brandon Goodwin, and Mehleena Maigi from The Academy of Scholastic Broadcasting group in Springfield, MO led teachers through the week with the support of SECC staff. Attendees utilized only the video equipment that their students are able to use at school.

The SEVA Training Series is a resource brought to you by Sacramento media teachers, in collaboration with SECC, on how to use media production tools. The videos can be used to advance your skills and are also a great asset for your students. Two Special Editions have been released so far. Read on to learn more.
Special Edition: SEVA Home Studio Equipment
In this edition, featuring SEVA’s Nebaiot and SECC’s Nick, learn about the three different home kits suggested by SECC as well as the microphone. For more information on equipment, view the SEVA Home Studio Equipment PDF.
Home Reporter Setup
Learn how to use equipment in the Home Reporter Setup, including LED ring-light, smartphone holder, mini-tripod and more.
Home Host Setup
Learn how to use equipment in the Home Host Setup, including LED light stand with camera mount and wired lavaliere microphone.
Field Kit Fundamentals
Learn how to use the equipment in the Field Kit Fundamentals Setup, including Canon camcorder, mini-tripod, and more.
Wired Lavaliere Microphone
Learn how to use the wired lavaliere microphone that is featured in each of the kits.
Special Edition: Original SEVA Field Kit
This edition, featuring SEVA Teacher Trevor Harding, provides videos ranging from 2 to 7 minutes long about how to best use your SEVA Studio Field Kit including basic camera functions, how to use a tripod, cable management and more.
Field Kit Unboxing
Congratulations on getting to work with your SEVA Studio Field Kit! Inside are a few key pieces of gear to help you create awesome videos. In this edition, you will learn what to expect when first unboxing your SEVA Studio Field Kit.
Basic Camera Functions
The camera is obviously the most important part to creating your video. Therefore, it is important to know how to operate correctly and safely. In this edition, you will learn the basic functions of your video camera.
Tripod Setup
A tripod is an essential part to any video production as tripods are very useful for obtaining steady and quality shots. In this edition, you will learn how to set up and use a tripod.
Cable Management
Cable management may seem to be an easy task at first, but there are many misconceptions about how to store your cables. In this edition, you will learn some common mistakes when putting away cables and see best practices for storing and managing cables.
Wired Microphones
Having a microphone to capture good audio for your video is essential. While there are many different type of microphones out there, in this edition you will learn how to use simple XLR wired microphones.
Sony Wireless Microphone
A wireless microphone can be super useful to have on set for audio capture. That being said, many people have trouble with setup and operating these more advanced microphones. This edition explains how to setup and use Sony Bluetooth wireless microphones.
Audio Monitoring
Audio is just as important in your finished project as the video itself. However, many people forget to check their sound on set while recording. In this edition you will learn how and why to monitor your audio while recording.
Sacramento Student Media Day

Sacramento Student Media Day is a joint project of the Center Unified School District, Center High School Media Communications Academy, Sacramento Alliance for Women in Media, and SECC. Since the first #SacStudentMediaDay in 2017, nearly a thousand students have gained valuable knowledge and skills from Sacramento area media professionals. Watch some of the sessions from past years below.
The 2020 Sacramento Student Media Day was re-imagined into the virtual #SEVACON! Visit secctv.org/sevacon for more.

2019

2018

2017

CapCUE is a community of educators striving to improve their teaching for all learners through professional development and technology. Sessions are led by dynamic teachers who are at the leading edge of technology education. Learn more about CapCUE: capcue.org. For more videos on Education Technology, check out the YouTube Playlist.
SEVA Training Classics

SECC has always focused on providing professional development for teachers and media training for students. Take a look at some great past SEVA training events.