Hands-On Experience Opportunities

Transcript

Now let’s hear from Ethan. This Waterloo, Iowa native loves all the hands on experience. He’s gaining as a digital media production major at UNI . Even though he’s only a sophomore, Ethan has already amassed a wealth of practical skills that will help him be future ready upon graduation. Talk to us Ethan.

Thanks, Alex. Hey, guys, up until my junior year of high school, I was convinced that I wasn’t going to college. And it wasn’t until I met with a National Guard recruiter that I realized that serving in the guard at the same time as attending UNI was the best option for me. One thing I love most about UNI is the hands-on experience that it offers. Digital media students are constantly being offered opportunities to go into the field and do work that is not only amazing practice but it looks great on a resume. I got to go with the UNI science team to the wind caves in South Dakota where I was able to take great shots of not only the caves but the students as they did the research. The footage I got is going to be made into four short documentaries so it’s not only great filming practice but it’ll help me sharpen my post-production skills. Other students have created content for stations like ESPN plus and KULT 94.5. I feel like UNI does a great job of preparing students for the field. I took a class called Digital Media Seminar my first semester and it really gave me a great feel of what a career can look like and because it’s so early in a student’s experience it helps ’em decide which digital media path they want to take so they can refine their skills to get the job that they really want. What I’ve learned from UNI is that the best way to get better at something is to just go out and do it. And UNI definitely provides all the opportunities for students to go out and create the best content that they’re capable of and that’s why I will undoubtedly be job ready by the time I graduate. Back to you, Alex.

Wow, Ethan filming a documentary about the wind caves in South Dakota sounds pretty cool to me, from what I know about my experience with digital media it sounds like you were off to a great start at the University of Northern Iowa. We can’t wait to see more of your work. Keep grinding, Ethan.