Scott Le Duc developed his passion for digital storytelling at Evergreen, now he teaches it at Capital High School

Scott Le Duc ‘94 has been inspiring future film makers, animators, and game designers through his media studies classes at Capital High School for more than 20 years.

“The power is in storytelling,” Le Duc says. “When you get a good message out and you know how to do it effectively through storytelling through various media, that is powerful.”

Le Duc’s teaching style reflects that of his alma mater. He allows his students to speak their minds and develop their individual interests. Inspired by his Evergreen experience, Le Duc established his own teaching philosophy. He calls it “learning mastery.” This multi-stage philosophy allows his students to learn the basics of film, animation, or game design in their first year, develop and master a skill during their second year, and help teach beginning learners in their third year.

“I get to hang out with inspired people who are creative, and I can share what I know about how to use the language of whatever media we’re using,” Le Duc explains.

Capital students have access to an abundance of resources such as a dark room, recording studio, and green room. They also can check out film or photography equipment to take home. These resources and Le Duc’s hands-on teaching have allowed his students to not only enjoy his classes, but thrive in them.

“He is very efficient and organized,” says one Capital student. “He allows us to take the reins and design our own projects.”

During his time at Evergreen, Le Duc took numerous media studies courses and worked in the photography lab, photo services, and the library. His final two years as a Greener were spent working with faculty sponsors on independent learning contracts, a unique program option at Evergreen which allowed him to spend countless hours in college’s electronic media studios honing his skills as a photographer, videographer, and audio engineer.

“I was fascinated with storytelling through visual and audio media,” Le Duc remembers. “I just kind of delved into those two worlds. That material helps me at Capital, so that I can now teach what I call ‘digital storytelling.’”

Le Duc says that he “came in the back door of education.” He moved back to Wisconsin after graduating and got a job managing a small media business. However, after a visit back to Washington, he decided Olympia was his home. He was hired as a member of the tech support team at Capital until a teaching position opened up a year later. Le Duc’s 6,000 plus hours of experience working with electronic media made him eligible to be hired as a teacher and enroll in a teaching certification program offered to qualified technology professionals. He then spent the next two years taking classes to earn an official teaching license.

Two decades after graduating from Evergreen, Le Duc remains an enthusiastic Greener, and thankful for his undergraduate learning experience. “Evergreen got me a teaching job by giving me the core skills in media,” he says. “If I hadn’t of had that access and experience I wouldn’t be a teacher right now.”