If you regularly stay after school for your studies, clubs, or to socialize with friends, you might have seen something a bit strange happening in Room 112 on Thursday, January 14. AVHS greeted a cast of filmmakers–as well as some students involved with STEM–to shoot a commercial for Best Buy.

Best Buy for Education not only helps schools get the technologies they need, but also helps them find new techniques to creatively help their students learn. They provide webinars on their website to show these new techniques and exactly how they work. For example, they have a webinar on how educational games are revolutionizing how kids learn. The tablets come with an app called Google Play, which includes educational games and ways to get involved in the classroom.

Best Buy for Education has worked closely in the past with AVHS as part of the STEM program and already had a contact in Mr. Lynch here at Apple Valley, so when looking for a school to shoot a marketing commercial, AVHS was a perfect match.

Mr. Lynch works closely with all of the technology we receive, so when I asked him about our new technology, he had a big list: “We built the Fab Lab that has nine 3D printers, six small monitors, vinyl cutters, laser engravers, along with eighteen new LCD displays that replaced the big monitors around the hallways, and many more devices.” With all of the new technology we have gotten at AVHS, Best Buy wanted to incorporate that in their marketing video.

The actual filming of the video happened in Mr.Martin’s room, the Media Center, and the Fab Lab.  Junior Tom Crippes, one of the students involved in the filming, explained, “We were in the Fab Lab and they asked us to recreate a classroom with technology.  I flew a drone and also used a remote controlled ball.  I found it really cool to see AVHS and its students featured in a commercial.”

So will this commercial air on TV??  Unfortunately, no.  Chris Holzschuh, who works for Yellow Tag productions (the internal marketing company for Best Buy) explained, “It’s actually not a commercial to appear on TV, but is really an external industrial film.” That means the video will likely be used during Best Buy corporate meetings, with the potential to also be aired as a marketing video in actual Best Buy stores.

By providing advice, new technologies, and the services the schools need, Best Buy for Education will help transform how schools teach as well as how students learn. Although this video may not be aired to the public, AVHS is still part of an important project to help schools get the tools they need to further educate their students.