Business partnership forged between the Messenger and Meade County High School
By SANDRA STONE When the 2006-2007 school year began, a partnership between the Meade County Messenger and the business department at Meade County High School also began. The Messenger was looking for someone to design and print window clings to distribute to its Newspaper in Education sponsors as a way of acknowledging their support of a valuable program. And the business department was looking for ways to bring real-world experience into the classroom. It was a match made in educational heaven. After a few software challenges were addressed during the first few weeks of school, Kelly Holley’s computer applications students began working on their designs. They followed suggested guidelines but were encouraged to add their own touches and creativity. All of the designs were then submitted to the Messenger for review, and the finalists were chosen. “The students really enjoyed the project,” said Holley. “They were all excited about doing it and couldn’t wait to hear when I announced the winner.” Following another round of review, the winning design was chosen from the finalists. Jenny Hazelwood was the winning designer. Her prize? A windshield. Jenny’s parents bought her a Cadillac destroyed when a telephone pole fell on it, and she and her father have been working on fixing it up. They’ve trolled through salvage yards for the parts they needed. Those parts weren’t free, however. They were bought with Jenny’s hard work and academic achievement. The windshield was the final piece required to make the car drivable, and her good work on this assignment was the payment. “Jenny’s a very creative young woman,” said Holley. “She does good work and is very detail oriented.” Holley sees in Jenny a drive and determination to do good work. “She doesn’t stop until she gets the job done.” “I needed it to be simple. I don’t like things being busy,” said Jenny of her design process. “And I put stars around it because I like stars.” The students used Microsoft Publisher to create their designs. There was some tweaking for the finalists, including Jenny’s design. Then that design was tweaked some more, reversed so the image would be readable when it was placed on the inside of a window or glass door to be readable from the outside. Then the design was transferred onto rubberized paper with thermal ink using a standard HP Desk Jet. The heat transfer is the key to the process. This allows the image to adhere to the flexible, transparent paper which can then be peeled from its backing and affixed to a window or glass door.
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