SLAM History
The San Leandro Academy for Multimedia was created in 2001 by teachers: Phil Hargrave, Tony Farley, Cheryl Farley, Leo Ocón, and Jeff Kunz, with additional assistance from Connie Davidson. Of those teachers Tony Farley and Cheryl Farley still teach in the academy to this day. The first class of SLAM students graduated in 2004.
In 2002, Sean Tobin came into SLAM as the new social studies teacher (to replace Leo Ocón, who now teaches in the Business Academy) and the four teachers built the program as it exists today. In 2013, Jill Synnott was added to teach SLAM English 4 (previously taught by Mrs. Farley). Unfortunately, in 2016, Phil Hargrave retired, moved to back to his home state of Connecticut and expanded his art business, creating amazing sculptures for his customers. Then in 2019 we added Amanda Myrdal (Ms. M) to our team as our new Video Production teacher. She is a SLAM almuna, class of 2009. She has a degree in film and teaching credential in art.
SLAM classes existed in what is today rooms 501 and 502 (in the CTE building) for nine years. In 2010, SLAM opened in the back of the Arts Education Center that was constructed with funds from San Leandro's Measure B. SLAM received a grant of $1.6 million to supply four classrooms, a green screen studio, two sound studios, a podcasting studio, and an equipment room with all the equipment and technology students would need for virtually any multimedia project.
9th Grade Orientation to SLAM
View the below presentation (in pdf format) normally used during the informational meeting for 9th graders. It explains what SLAM does, how it works, and the requirements for applying.
Be sure to scroll through the whole document; there will be several blank slides, including the first one.
