Bear Creek is already familiar with computers, enhanced stereo systems and the Internet, but it will reach new heights with the addition of a new audio-visual room. What was once Community Resource Officer Glen Spitzer's personal office is now in the process of becoming Bear Creek's first audio-visual room. This new room is located in the Bear Creek library next to the Circulation Desk and will be used to help students and staff create multimedia productions. Art teacher Marilyn Eger and librarian Linda Allen are the two leading supporters of the audio-visual room and have contributed to the project. For example, Eger helped fund the audio-visual room with her mentor money which offered other teachers training with multimedia software. The San Joaquin County Office of Education provided both Eger and Allen with multimedia software training. Eger and Allen feel the new room will benefit the students and allow them to be involved in the new technology. "I think it will give students access to technology they formerly did not have access to," Allen said. "Seniors will also be able to create presentations for their senior projects." "We felt there was a lot of interest in it," Eger said. "Kids can enter video competitions and get into the film-making business." The room is currently equipped with a G3 All-in-One computer which is capable of using camcorders and digital cameras to create multimedia productions. Avid Cinema, a multimedia software, will be used in the new audio-visual room. Computer graphics and music can be combined with pictures and movies to produce computerized images which can be transferred onto video cassettes. Junior Evee Fernandez, who had an audio-visual program at her previous high school, suggested various ways of using the new audio-visual facility and thinks the innovation could lead to other firsts. "We could use it for student bulletins and for the foreign language department," Fernandez said. "Drama and choir performances could also be recorded. I hope that I will be able to use it." Senior Chris Gomez is also excited about the multimedia facility and wants to use it for his senior project on Internet servers. "I can demonstrate the different commands and functions and show the results through the screens," Gomez said. "I think it'll be a fun thing to use." Allen hopes that the room and the equipment will be fully ready for use this quarter. Both Allen and Eger welcome any interested students to use the facility to design their own multimedia productions.