news-record.com

Early College at Guilford students may be known for their academic strengths, but many of them also have a desire to express themselves though the arts.

In spring 2007, three students decided to form a club for those students, called Dynamic Visual Productions.

ECG had robotics and model congress clubs, but “what we really saw was an artistic niche to fill,” said Francis Wong, club president and a junior.

The club began as a handful of students, including founders Suraj Shah and Ally Stewart, and really began to flourish this year.

The members entered the 2009 national poster-design contest for the Magnet Schools of America organization and won second place in the high school category. The poster, which was designed around the theme that magnet schools promote multicultural understanding, features photographs of the faces of a dozen ECG students.

The $75 award the club received will help to pay for its current project — displaying framed photographs by students in several locations on Guilford College’s campus.

ECG has commissioned the club to film a senior graduation video and create a promotional video for the school. Also, the PTA had the club members design a new ECG shirt, which students have bought up quickly.

The club has grown to about 15 to 20 regular members.

“We’ve got a good enough base now to really branch out and get more creative with our projects,” Wong said.

Club members’ interests include photography, video, graphic design, painting and drawing.

The club keeps its meetings low-key, Wong said.

“We really wanted a laid-back atmosphere,” he said. “Art really isn’t meant to be rigorous and structured.”

Contact Jamie Kennedy Jones at 449-4610 or jamie.kennedy@news-record.com