High school students from around the area got ‘MAD’ at Bemidji State University today. The first ever Media, Art and Design Day gave hands on experience for over 100 talented students.

Bemidji State reached out to area educators, within about 100 miles of the campus, asking for their best and brightest students who might want to go this field.

The high schoolers attended three of the 13 available sessions, such as judging some of the potential movies for the Headwaters Film Festival.

Taught by faculty members of the School of Integrated Media and the School of Technology, Art and Design, workshops like ‘Create a Magazine Cover’ provided a crash course introduction.

Madi Pfleger says she was looking for a new experience and found it in this class.

The workshops are incredibly helpful for many students who are considering what’s next after high school.

Sydney Rentz has never used this kind of editing software before. While she has a while before choosing a post grad pursuit, now is the perfect time to get her hooked.

Josie Hahn says she’s considering going to the University of Minnesota Duluth for psychology and pre-med with a minor in visual arts.

BSU staff hope that this will help convince some that this field has job growth and opportunities.

Other workshops featured during the day included a virtual reality experience, logo-casting and video game design.