SOUTH LOS ANGELES — After earning a digital media certification from a leading computer company, a group of students from Crenshaw High School put their newly learned skills to the test last month when they wrote and produced a theme song and recorded video letters to President Barack Obama in hopes of scoring an invitation to the White House.

“I love working with computers and I like media so it was perfect for me,” said Donovan Arrington, 16, one of the students who worked on Apple’s iLife application. “I was kind of upset the first time I failed the test but I don’t like failing things.”

In his video letter to the president, Arrington tells him that he “should never give up and keep trying.”

Mia Henry, 15, who did an interview with NBC about their efforts, also has a fascination with computers as does she love working with autistic children. She took the class because “I thought I could learn something new and go home and teach my mom about it.”

If she gets the chance to meet Obama, “I want to ask questions like, ‘How does he feel about where he is now?”’ she said. “What is he going through? Is he nervous about what he’s doing?”

Prior to recording her video letter, Henry gave the Wave insight a preview of what it would say: “Dear President Obama, I would like to visit the White House because it is a historic place and the home of our first Black president and his family. I would like to see the Oval Office, where deals are made and deals are signed into law. I would like to run across the lawn and run through the long hallway. Most of all, I would like to speak to the first family and talk to President Obama. I would ask him how does he stay focused on helping the economy in spite of all that is said to discourage him. I would like to ask Michelle Obama how she stays so down to earth even though she is under a magnifying glass all the time. It would be my honor to visit the White House and become a part of our history. One of the things I have gotten out of [his] speech is take responsibility for your education and stay committed even though you may feel like giving up … that you appreciate things that you work hard for rather than if they were just given to you. And an education earned is an education learned.”
Dondre Pierce, 14, on the other hand was not initially into media and technology. In fact, he was not even supposed to be in the class. “It was a mistake, I wasn’t supposed to come to this class,” he said. “But it was the best mistake I ever made. I signed a paper [for the class] and I thought I lost it … but I guess I had put it in already. It just made everything a lot better.”

His goal for going to the White House is to get additional inspiration that he says he first got when Obama became president.

A total of seven students were certificated for the program that lasted from February until June. A second session took place over the summer. According to Daphne Bradford an Apple Distinguished Educator and founder of Mother of Many, a non-profit focused on higher learning, it usually takes about a year to master the applications.

But they excelled much faster, she said. “They are the first group of students to earn their certification in a new media software program called iLife by Apple Computer and they got their certification in iPhoto, iMovie [and] Garageband. … They are setting a new standard for ninth graders here at Crenshaw High School,” she said. “Every single one of my students can produce their own video letter, whether they use photos in iPhoto or they want to make a beat on Garageband; but with this jazz section we have we don’t need Garageband because it’s all about Crenshaw’s band.”

Krystal Smith, a senior with Crenshaw’s jazz band who used the drum set to lay down instruments for which the other students spoke on, is “just glad I have this opportunity,” she said. “I want to make a musical change to show that female drummers can do it, too. Jazz band is more than jazz, it keeps me alive. It helps me meet new friends and I’m just glad that I have to opportunity to play with my friends … I can’t wait to lay this track and take it to Obama.”

“To be invited to the White House would be awesome,” she added. “As a female drummer that would be on my resume, that would be the first thing. … It would just be awesome because Obama is a great man. He’s showed me that anything [is] possible, it doesn’t hurt to make a change, it doesn’t hurt to try, just keep going even if people push you down.”

For Phylania Julius, also a senior and member of the band, it would be her second time to Washington D.C. “I hope to accomplish my musical goal of laying down the tracks how they should be, how they should and get our music out there to the highest power — [Barack Obama],” she said before she played the trumpet. “It’s important for me because it will be my second time down there. The first time I went to the inauguration and that was life changing just being a part of history and I’d like to see how Obama gets his responsibilities done because I can see that he’s been doing a great job as it is. … He’s inspired me because coming from the bottom to the top he shows that anything is possible and you have to stick to your guns.”

But because Crenshaw High School does not have its own media room, everything was made possible through the John Lennon Education Tour Bus, a non-profit mobile recording studio with a video, audio, isolation and green screen room, that temporarily visited the campus.

According to Doug Larsen, a producer on board the bus, “It’s a little different than normal because normally what we do is get a group of students on the bus and they write an original song, record it, shoot a music video, edit and at the end of the day they leave with Maxell CDs and DVDs for them to have their song and DVD that they leave with,” he said. “So this is actually cool for them to switch it up and instead of a music video, they’re actually taking something that they are going to send to the White House.”

One girl on the bus, he noted, told him she wants to give Obama an iPhoto lesson and teach him about the different applications she learned in the class.

Crenshaw’s newly assigned Principal Carrie Allen was astonished to see what her students had accomplished and hopes that they will leave the same impression on the president.

“Crenshaw is the only predominantly Black school in the district [LAUSD],” she said. “And I think to have that connection with the first African-American president is something that not only will be a learning experience for them but a life-changing experience for kids that ordinarily wouldn’t get that opportunity. The one thing that stands out to me is that the students are very determined and connected to the school, culture and heritage across the board — both Black and Brown students — and to be able to expand that would be phenomenal for them.”

Moreover, Bradford believes that her students deserve this chance.

“Before the president did his back-to-school speech regarding students I was using him in the classroom all semester long,” she said. “In my opinion he won the campaign through digital media. … And I used him as an example … and it worked because if the president [could] do it, so can [they].”

“We need to be an example to everybody else that his agenda worked,” she added. “It’s not just about them, it’s the impact that it will have on everyone here. … It would be major, it would be massive.”