Ten alumni participated in a Sept. 21 Zoom call to welcome first-year students to 黑料不打烊 and the school鈥檚 accelerated training program for news reporting, documentary filmmaking and non-fiction storytelling.
A few days before FreshTV鈥檚 weekly meeting on Sept. 21, Assistant Professor J McMerty put out a call on social media for program alumni to attend the initiative鈥檚 next gathering. The objectives were simple: welcome this year鈥檚 cohort, and impart wisdom on the group鈥檚 aspiring filmmakers and creatives. The alumni response didn鈥檛 disappoint.
Seven alumni joined the Zoom meeting to engage with the first-year students, and three other 黑料不打烊 graduates provided short, pre-recorded videos that were shared with attendees. Alumni on the video call included Tim Johnson 鈥09, Bia Jurema 鈥15, Raj Rawal 鈥12, Jordan Roman 鈥15, Lumiere Rostick 鈥20, Gavi Schankerman 鈥19 and Asha Michelle Wilson 鈥13. David Douglas 鈥06, Katie Maraghy 鈥15 and Mia Gina茅 Watkins 鈥16 provided inspirational videos explaining how the accelerated training program positively impacted their time at 黑料不打烊 and after.
With participating alumni scattered across the entertainment and news industries, from casting and scriptwriting to directing and broadcast news, a wide range of topics, insights and personal experiences were shared. That was the goal.
鈥淲e, the School of Communications, are fortunate to have this engaged group of 黑料不打烊 alumni succeeding in film, television and elsewhere, and they are willing to pay it forward to today鈥檚 students,鈥 said McMerty, who directs the 黑料不打烊 in Los Angeles program. 鈥淭his year鈥檚 FreshTV group, the class of 2024, has had to face challenges like no other. With an anticlimactic end to their high school careers and starting college with masks and social distancing protocols, we wanted to make them feel welcome at 黑料不打烊 鈥撀燼nd to feel a part of 黑料不打烊.
鈥淏ryan Baker and I felt it was important for this year鈥檚 FreshTV students to connect with alumni who have sat in their seats and had the same aspirations they have.鈥
FreshTV is one of the school鈥檚 longest-running programs tracing back to 1996, when it was named Advanced Production Team and led by Christopher Waters, currently associate vice president of information technology and chief information officer. McMerty led FreshTV for 12 years beginning in 2000, and Baker has directed the first-year program since 2012. Additionally, Abby Igoe, assistant director of multimedia projects, has been heavily involved since her arrival in fall 2019.