Our History

Begun in 1997 as the Video Educators of New England, the Scholastic Media Association continues to deliver on the mission of promoting and supporting collaboration among media educators, students and industry professionals. The importance of pursuing this mission was clear when our first conference was held in October 1998, and is even more relevant today as our field expands. Technology has changed, but storytelling in a thoughtful and compelling way has not. The excitement of meeting and sharing best practices with peers is crucial to professional development and fulfillment. In 2014 the Media Education Certificate Program for professional development was instituted in conjunction with Mount Wachusett Community College. The certificate program fulfills the needs of high school teachers’ professional development hours and is a compelling addition to an access professional’s resume. Our educational programming format has evolved to include a convention in the fall that welcomes students, a spring conference with in-depth longer duration sessions and all day programming for even more detailed instruction. Our future goals include developing a speaker’s bureau, foraging bridges between our high school and post-secondary members, and focusing on 21st century skills across disciplines.

Students have always been welcome to attend conferences featuring media educators, motivational speakers, and industry professionals from around the globe. We provide students a venue to test their media skills in competitions with their peers, explore new skills, and learn alongside their teachers.

SMA Workshops For Teachers in Media Arts

As the scope of media education and media literacy education expands, the mission of the Scholastic Media Association is to continue sharing knowledge, training and networking with our members and with the community.