If you read the impossible to miss title on the homepage, then I probably don’t have to re-introduce myself. But that’s only my name. The rest of the details I’m pretty sure you never knew about me…. until now of course. I am currently twenty-one years old attending college at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where I am studying the various forms of Digital Media, mostly within the video editing and audio mixing sections. I first got into the concept of digital media when I had gotten some very simple editing recording and editing software for Christmas from my parents. All of a sudden, my mind was opened up to the endless possibilities and creativity that are put into making films and videos. At first I only recorded and edited random videos just for fun, because it really was fun, but then I decided I wanted to take classes in digital film production, and experience the types of equipment that real professionals use.
Sure enough, I got my chance to do that during my sophomore year in high school! I enrolled in another school in Fredrick, Maryland called the Career and Technology Center, and I managed to get into a class called TV Video/Multimedia. There I started learning the basics in filming and editing video and film digitally with the use of cameras that used mini DV tapes, and the Final Cut 7 editing software. After about a year, I had started looking more into audio mixing, since I wanted my videos to have better sound. My instructor then gave me and my partner Bobby Staley a task to create a basketball audio comercial, using what I had taught myself about audio mixing. At first I thought this was just something for the school, but I later found out that this was for the regional Skills USA competition! And the radio comercial that we had produced placed first! I couldn't believe what had happened! I had no idea that I was participating in a competition in which high school students all across America were competing in! I didn't even think my skills were that good! But this incredible experience proved myself wrong. After that, I wanted to continue competing in the Skills USA competition, to improve my skills, and to see just how far I could go!
In the year 2011, Boby Staley and I placed 2nd place in the Local competition, and 2nd again in the state competition! We were competing in the audio and radio department, and we came out as one of the best! Unfortunately, we were not able to advance to the Nationals, as that was only for the people who placed first. I was fine with that at the time, because this gave me even more motivation to do better next year. And sure enough, in my senior year in 2012, my new partner and best friend Bryce Buckley and I managed to place first in the State competition and moved on to the Nationals in Kansas City, Missouri. We didn't place in the top three or in the top ten. We placed fourteenth in the audio and radio,but considering that we were competing against students from schools all over the entire nation, we did pretty well. Just making it to the Nationals was a feat in itself for us!
Afterwards, I graduated from Linganore High School with a GPA of almost 4.0, and attended Frederick Community College where I continued my studies in the Digital Media field. I went for two years, then transfered to Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg Virginia, where I am currently taking my second semester and furthering my studies in Digital Media, or VACA (Visual And Communication Arts) as they call it here.