I am a senior in the Communication, Culture and Media program, with a media concentration. An Upper Peninsula native, I grew up in Calumet and have a deeply rooted love for the area. For that last two years I have had the opportunity to work for director Suzanne Jurva on Yoopera!, a documentary about creative growth around cultural heritage in the Upper Peninsula. The film specifically looks at the Pine Mountain Music Festival and the commissioning of an opera based on the story of a mining tragedy from the early 1900’s in the town of Rockland Michigan. The film also tells the story of a joint project by community artist Mary Wright and the impact her Storyline project has had on local residents and their sense of collective self, young and old alike.
As a sophomore I had the opportunity to first try my hand at film making in Erin Smith’s documentary course, producing a short film about PANK Magazine with three of my fellow students (see the video below). Being involved in the Cin/Optic Communication and Media Enterprise since my freshman year, I have worked on various video productions across campus as well as a book cover for the Keweenew Research Center and a shirt for the CCM major. I currently work as a media lab consultant at the HDMZ in Walker and as a graphic designer for University Marketing and Communications.
Sharing an affinity for the hat they call the Stormy Kromer, Andrew Benda and myself have been a tremendous team in the past year or so. Our short film “Ouroborus” was a winner for story (ten total) and top ten finalist in the Hint Fiction Film Competition at the Vail Film Festival. Winner will be announced at the end of March during the festival. We have collaborated on both video production and design – the trailer for NLFF is a good example (we did all the filming and music). We are also currently collaborating on a brochure for our major and a hodgepodge of other creative endeavors.
