"So many kinds of jobs are project-based. These (computer-based) classes are a really good foundation for learning how to collaborate," said Jeff Key, director of the art program.

The students, many from low-income families, are selected by teachers and principals at their public schools. They attend Heads Up classes five days a week for six weeks in the summer. There's no cost.

In the morning, students work on composition and math. In the afternoon, they attend elective classes -- music, dance, drama, athletics, digital photography and videography.

Key is excited about giving public school students the chance to jump into the digital age.

"One of the parents at back-to-school night (for the summer program) was ecstatic because his eighth-grade son discovered video and became passionate about it." Key said. "He'd never had an opportunity to touch a camera before, let alone learn how to use one. It transformed him."

Next summer, Key hopes to introduce a project like one he works on during the school year -- creating a five-minute video for a nonprofit organization.

"But that takes an entire school year," Key said. "We've only got six weeks." Still, Key hopes to launch a summer video project on a smaller scale, he said.

"One of the goals of the program is teaching social interaction," Key said, just as a group of young videographers struggled to agree on their video's background music -- one of the final steps in their creative process.

And Heads Up students aren't forgotten at summer's end. They return one Saturday each month to meet with Heads Up teachers at Head Royce.

Once they've completed grades six through nine at Heads Up, the students are eligible to apply for Heads Up's paid internship program. As interns, students work as aides to the program's teachers and administrators.

Heads Up operating expenses, $1,200 per student, are funded by individuals, corporations and foundations, including The McKesson Foundation, The Banks Family Foundation, Five Bridges Foundation, Koret Foundation, The Fremont Group; and Head-Royce School.