Keeping the Book Open

For such a long part of my education, school and personal life were separate. My classes did not overlap with my hobbies and I let out a sigh of relief when I could put down the book or computer.

However, now that I am taking classes in digital media, something that I love, those lines are blurring. I no longer sigh with relief when I close my laptop. Sometimes, I’ll walk away from my laptop and just want to go back. My school and personal lives are integrating more than ever and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

For me, this is because my classes have taught me how to use editing tools such as the Adobe Creative Cloud and they have taught me how to become a better writer. I love to create, and that is what I am learning. I love editing and writing, and what used to be just hobbies have become major parts of my education and professional life.

For example, there are the videos I create on my family reunions. Every summer my family and I go to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for a weekend for a family reunion. The past two years, I have filmed the weekend and created a short video. I absolutely love doing this, and I would not be able to do this if it weren’t for the skills I’ve learned in my media classes.

For me, the process of creating this video starts with carrying my camera around. Throughout the weekend, I constantly have my camera in my hand and I film as much as I can. I try to capture the moments that truly represent who my family members are. After this, I watch some of the footage and come up with a story or idea for the video. This past summer, I decided to write a script about walking with family. Once written, I picked clips that I thought corresponded with the script. Once the clips were in order, I asked one of my cousins to narrate the video. Then, I used Adobe Premiere to edit and reorganize the video until I was happy with it. The filming and editing techniques are things I learned in school and they helped me create something I am proud of.

Although these skills and passions are intertwined in my personal and educational life, I hope they will extend beyond that. I want to use these skills and passions in my future career. I might not know exactly what I want my career to be, but I do know that I want this overlap to continue into that aspect of my life.

I am so glad that I no longer throw my school books on the shelf and let dust cover them. I am learning things in my classes that I can and want to translate into my personal life. I know it is different for every major and every person, but I hope that everyone has at least one class that they get excited about even when their laptop is closed.