Local company lets students develop technical skills

Lisa Baird has found a way to help students preserve the past while drawing them into the future.

Yo DvD Inc., which stands for Yearbook on DVD, is more than a keepsake for high school students.

The student-produced yearbook provides students technological skills for the future.

The idea of a DVD yearbook came to Baird, owner of computer dealer Datebase Systems and president of Yo DVD, while she was watching her first DVD movie on her home computer.

"While I was watching I was flipping through one of the kids' yearbooks. Seeing how interactive DVD was I thought how great it would be if you could have a picture of a student on your TV screen, click on that picture and have it come alive with an interview?" Baird said. " In doing our research we found that (DVD) was a huge leap over CD in terms of quality and how much video it can hold."

Innovation

Having developed an innovative product to market, Baird worked to create a similarly innovative company around it.

"A Yo DvD is two hours of full-screen color video and still photographs of students and events," Baird said. "We take care of the authoring, music rights, replication and packaging, and provide training, technological support and equipment to the students often at little or no cost to the school."

The DVD is a high-end product, created to professional standards, Baird said. "They're the same type of product you would go and buy in any video store. We felt compatibility, longevity and durability were very important for this product."

Yo DvD branched off from Database Systems and incorporated in February 2001, and in less than two year's time has grown to encompass 25 schools throughout the Midwest, including Kickapoo High School in Springfield.

"Database Systems has been involved in the education market for 19 years, we really want people to know that we didn't just come out of the woodwork," Baird said.

Michelle Wahlquist, director of yearbook, newspaper, and Yo DvD at Kickapoo High School, said Yo Dvd has been a hit.

"Everyone who has seen this has been really excited about it, we've had good feedback. They say it's nice for them to be able to put the DVD in and see homecoming again," Wahlquist said. "It's just a great visual thing for them."

Student education

While much research and labor have been poured into Yo DvD's end product, Baird is equally proud of the curriculum her company has created for students.

"Something we really want people to understand is that we are not only selling a product we are selling a service," Baird said. "We have a two-day training for the students and the first thing they have to do is organize where every minute of the footage they will shoot will go. Then we teach them how to shoot and edit video, how to drop in music, add or take out sounds.

"I cannot believe some of the great film clips these kids have shot and edited and how quickly they learn. We also teach them marketing and sales, so these kids get something out of this besides a lifelong keepsake, we are providing a form of broadcast journalism curriculum."

The program is easy for students to learn, Wahlquist said.

"They do it themselves and really take pride and ownership in it ," Wahlquist said. "It's really a good thing for their rsums. Technology is becoming more and more a part of their lives. Anytime we can give an advanced product that involves that technology, it gets them excited and gives them a great portfolio to show at college. There are so many professions opening up that require videography skills and these kids can just go in with this and show what they've done."

Baird cited an example of the program directly benefiting one student.

"In one of our first 13 schools we had a student who was a senior and was very involved with the program. He used the Yo DvD as his rsum and was offered a full ride to" the University of Missouri, Baird said.

Baird considers this measure of success to be just as important as that of the end product.

"I think that one of the biggest problems we have is that people don't understand what it is and what is involved," Baird said. "They think that this is just a disk when really the training and support that we provide is just as important."

Despite this difficulty, Baird continues to promote her company and watch it grow.

"We are in the very beginning stages of trying to take this national," Baird said. "Currently, we are seeking out more schools in the Midwest and exploring the Dallas metroplex as a possible market."

The first few years have been hectic but well worth the effort, Baird said.

"I really believe in this and so does my staff," Baird said. "Taking this idea and really working at it, it's been a great feeling giving something like this to the students."