Eight local high school students got special access at Musikfest, one of the largest free music festivals in the country, during a brand new summer video camp hosted by Penn State Lehigh Valley in partnership with ArtsQuest.

Penn State Lehigh Valley was the only university in the area with this behind the scenes access, which allowed campers to gain hands-on video production experience at Musikfest. The goal of the camp was to give students real world experience and provide them with the tools for future success in the media and film industry.

The two-week camp, held Aug. 3-14, was led by veteran television journalist Liz Keptner, who is director of Penn State Lehigh Valley’s Multimedia Innovation Center (MIC) and Amber Campbell, videographer and editor for the MIC.

During the first week, camp was held at the Lehigh Valley campus. Keptner and Colson instructed the campers on how to use HD cameras and Adobe Premiere editing software. Then for the second week, the campers were given media credentials and spent the week on the grounds of Musikfest shooting footage of the performances and interviewing ArtsQuest staff, volunteers and one of the musical acts, Craig Thatcher of the Craig Thatcher Band. Campers then wrote, produced and edited packages about Musikfest.

“It was neat to see young people who have an interest in this, but no real experience, learn so much during the camp and be so successful with their video pieces, which featured the many different aspects of Musikfest,” said Keptner.

The camp culminated with a special viewing showcase of the students’ video packages for their family and the broader campus community on Aug. 14. The videos detailed their unique experiences and highlighted their newly learned skills.