Heather Swan Has Video Arts Thriving at HHS

Huntington High School’s video arts program continues to thrive with student filmmakers routinely earning honors and its top alums moving on to some of the best film schools in the country.

Art teacher Heather Swan heads the video program, exhibiting a remarkable degree of energy, creativity and motivational abilities. She is currently leading two Media Arts classes, two Creative Video I classes and a Video 2/3 combined class.  

Last year, five Huntington students were recognized by MSG Varsity Network for their short films, appearing on television. The number of awards exceeded that of any other Long Island high school.

Huntington notched four Best in Show Awards at the 2013 Long Island Media Arts show, more than any other year. “We also had three student videos selected for the 2013 First Exposure Film Festival out of the 12 that we entered,” Mrs. Swan said. “Our students are excelling in the video arts and standing out from the crowd. As our first projects are wrapped up, I am so proud of what they have done.”

Class of 2013 members Daniel Moya and Melissa Rosenberg were the recipients of last year’s Video Arts Award. The two teenagers are now studying film in college, with Mr. Moya at the University of Southern California and Ms. Rosenberg at Emerson College.

Last spring’s Huntington High School Film Fest at the Cinema Arts Centre drew a packed house. It featured many outstanding works and thoroughly entertained a crowd consisting of folks of all ages.

Mrs. Swan studied fine art at the University of Southern California and in London before graduating from Long Island University–C.W. Post College. “My love of technology and the arts began as a freshman in college when I received my first computer with Photoshop installed on it,” she said.

After receiving a master’s degree in communication arts from New York Institute of Technology, Mrs. Swan went to work as the creative director at a Manhattan-based web firm. She eventually found her way to the Vancouver Film School and later pursued a career in computer animation.

After several years in the graphics design and animation industry, a desire to teach stirred within Mrs. Swan. She earned a second master’s degree, this time in art education at Hofstra University. “When a position as a computer arts teacher was presented to me, I was thrilled to be able to utilize all of my previous skills,” she said.

Mrs. Swan kicked-off her career as a Huntington High School faculty member in September 2006. Since then she has taught three levels of video, cartooning and animation and media arts classes, developed an after-school video club and for many years coordinated production of the school’s newscast.