Mr. Akins, commonly referred to as Mr. A, is closing in on his first year leading the audio and visual media productions classes. This year, he took the previous program, Six Leg Productions, and rebranded it to Six Leg Media. Mr. A said, “Productions is for video, my vision for the program is more than that. I wanted to include written journalism as well.” After working in Texarkana, he decided to come home. Being from Conway, he knew the type of kids here because he was one of them. “When I was in college, I didn’t start media classes until I was a junior so I wish I had opportunities before that,” he said. So, he is excited to bring what he did not have to the students here.
Six Leg Media has quickly taken popularity on campus. Their first major project was the homecoming pep rally video. However, Mr. A claims their influence on campus has come from their presence on social media, led by senior Cambrynn White. This year, a video posted during football season went viral. “The video has 160 thousand views and a thousand shares. When we started Instagram, we had around two hundred followers. Now, we have over a thousand,” he said. This semester, however, he contributes their continued success to the opportunities with Conway Corp, a popular broadcasting company in town. Together, they stream various things such as basketball games. Lately, 6 Leg Media has been busy with the prom pep rally video, streaming the teachers versus students basketball game, and broadcasting spring sports.
Not only has the program blossomed on campus, they have a national win under their belts. “That was always the goal[to win a national award]. We got a national award in year one. I had a three year plan, and winning a national award was in it, but I did not expect it in year one. I wanted to see where we would rank more than anything,” he said. The program won the Distinguished Merit Award, meaning they ranked in the top 30 programs in the nation. In the next few weeks, Six Leg Media will compete at Skills USA in attempts to bring back a state title.
The motto of 6 Leg Media is “By students, for students” which is important to Mr. A. Directors, mainly seniors, led various projects and managed other students. He said,”If I wanted to work in broadcasting, I would go work in broadcasting,” he adds, “I want to share the thing I love, I have seen it change lives and I have kids that go far.” Mr. A also believes that kids learn best by doing. In his classes, students are placed in groups and have projects periodically. It is their responsibility to film and edit their stories. “My goal is for seniors to look back and have work they are proud of, that they did,” he said.
