CANARYVILLE — Emily McManus has a pretty good idea what she wants to be when she grows up.
After using her iPad to record video, interview fellow student and edit together a promotional clip showing why St. Gabriel is a good school, the 14-year-old eighth-grader thinks she wants to be a photographer or commercial director.
"I think I want to make a career out of this," McManus said in an interview with DNAinfo Chicago Monday, not longer after St. Gabe's principal Christina Stefanec sent out this video to all school parents in an email newsletter:
Inspired by a similar video made at her cousin's school, McManus hopped on Google and searched around for moviemaking apps. She found two — iMovie and a Trim & Cut — and was on her way.
She brought her iPad everywhere she went — class, church, football games and music class — and captured clips of her friends taking part in extracurricular activities and talking about why they love St. Gabriel Catholic School.
Spent spent a month splicing the video together and brought a first draft to Principal Stefanec, who saw an opportunity to use the video as a marketing tool.
"We wanted to showcase everything St. Gabriel has to offer," she said.
Stefanec saw McManus' technical talent and let her handle the second draft of the video on her own.
"She planned everything," Stefanec said. "She filmed it, edited it. I added some comments. But she did 98 percent of it."
As the school year beats on, McManus plans to add more to the video — a project that made her parents proud, she said.
"I feel really confident," said McManus, who shared some advice with students interested in pursuing an art: "Don’t be afraid to show you can do something that you admire. Try to do your best at it.
"Someone will help you find a way."
