Don’t remember much about the school other than I enjoyed it. It is where you can say my first aspirations for getting into entertainment started. Met my first best friend, believe his name was Michael Getts, there also.
I can't remember the name of this school. Was only there for half a year if I'm not correct, and then finished off the rest of second grade at---
Same thing—this was a blur to me also. I remember the school being ok. Was in class with the sister of who-would-be my best friend for a couple years in my neighborhood, Dan Cross. I don’t remember liking my experience there much. Can’t say it was the school as it might have been the fact it was not my home or my original friends.
The funny thing about being at this school is that I remember for the first 2-3 years there, I was always under the impression my family was going to move again (was hoping it was back to Columbus, OH), so every year, I remember reminding my classmates that I was not going to be there the next year. Folks would be like 'oh no, don't go, we'd miss you,' and I would just say well we have to go, that's how it is. By 6th grade though...it got old, lol. So while I'm still up there saying, 'yeah, well I won't be here next year...' I think my classmates knew the truth more so than I did because the 'oh no's' were replaced with shoulder shrugs. Sure enough, I didn't leave the Buffalo area until I was 18 for college.
A lot of growing up took place at this school. I still visit whenever I can to say hi to my former principal and math teacher (Sister Diane and Priscilla respectively). Also met some of my closest friends (Tom and Pat Emmerling, Aaron Delmonte) to this day at this school-- hard to believe we've known each other for 20 years now-- never saw that coming in 3rd grade, lol.
One of the most monumental memories I can say occurred at this school is when we went to New York City for our senior class trip. That was when I first saw, for my own eyes, everything that I felt was missing in my life in terms of activity and things to do. From that point on, I was bent on moving to NYC for college and felt that high school needed to hurry up and finish before it even started.
I chose to go to CHS for a few reasons. The first and foremost was because it got me as far as I had ever been from my home in Orchard Park. I was thirsting for that freedom, even if it came with some restrictions. Second, I wanted to get in the city- the suburbs just weren't clicking with my soul at the time. Third reason-- more African Americans. Loved the schools I was at before, but as I got older, the reality that I was the only individual of color in my classes, and in some years in my school, really did start to eat at me by the time I hit middle school. Being in the city, I figured there was a better chance of more people of my ethnicity that would attend (of course I learned of other private schools that had even more than mine did, but that was after I started attending CHS). And the final, and ultimate deciding reason--- a wrestling team. I always had wanted to wrestle, and when I found out that this school had a wrestling team, along with all of the other components, that was it.
I did some growing up during this time period-- but not enough if you ask me. Was still too new to things. But-- it was at CHS, where I first (and only) experienced love at first sight-- or something like that. And let me clarify this now because CHS was an all guy school-- it was a female-- have to make sure folks don't have room for jokes in case those reading this know anything about the school. That was a story that would take me through all of high school. I was too shy to say anything to her. Everytime I was around her, I would literally lose my voice or freeze up-- I can laugh about it now because it was so innocent.
So there's a story behind this that I won't get into because it’s too long, but the overview: by the time I hit 12th grade and was looking for colleges, going back to Ohio was the least of my priorities. My eyes were set on NYC. I always wanted to get into the entertainment industry, and when I decided upon the film industry and started to research internships, I saw the majority of them in the film and television industry were based in Los Angeles, and the other group in New York City. It just seemed like fate that I needed to move there, so when it was time to choose colleges, while I had a couple HBCU's like Howard University listed, my top 8 were all in New York City. I had none in Buffalo, and Ohio State was way down on my list. I was already trying to get started on my career, and also live a faster life. True, all my known-of family at the time resided in Ohio mostly, but when it came to this decision, I knew where I wanted it to reside at. Well a lot of things happened between when I initially made my list of schools, and when I finally applied, that ultimately made Ohio State my #1 choice, the biggest being parental intervention and the reality of finances.
So now looking back, I can say that there were a lot of good things that came out of me going there. One of the biggest was getting to know my family. The second was the adoration I now have for southern rap. Wasn't into it like that before I moved to Columbus for undergrad. Was more an east coast child-- I mean that's what I grew into hip hop with. Master P and No Limit-- where I was at during high school-- was known, but he and that entire movement was not a big deal to us. WuTang Clan, Jay Z, Big Punisher, DMX, Notorious BIG and the whole Bad Boy family-- that's who we followed and listened to mostly. So the movement that was the south caught me off guard my first year of undergrad. Your talking No Limit, Cash Money, Eightball & MJG, Scarface, Devin the Dude-- all those kats-- it was like who are they?? Mystikal?? Huh? By the time I finished that first year, much thanks to the Neon, I was converted. To this day, I prefer southern rap in a club/party scene over east coast and have yet to go to a club as good as some of the experiences I had down there-- particularly the Neon.
So yes, OSU did have its benefits.
There was the educational factor of course. If anything, it really showed how much I wanted to get into the entertainment industry. I had to fight for it. OSU didn't have a film degree or anything of that sort by the time I got there. The closest I could get was some film courses offered in the theater department. I learned everything I could about the industry of film/video, attained an appreciation for theater, while studying computer science and english during my 4 years. And in terms of growing up-- it happened here the most, particularly my last 2 years of attendance. By the time I hit senior year, I felt I had out-grown the school and was ready to move on with my life. Yes, there are reasons-- but I'm not writing them in here. As most people can/will attest, when attending school, the real education is what happens outside the classroom more so than inside it-- and I'll leave it at that-- to a degree (more explanation on other pages).
Attending this school was something in the making for years back as you can tell. I had finally made it to nyc, that was the first thing I remember thinking the day my plane landed and I was picked up by my cousins. I did not learn that I had a nice amount of family that resided in NYC until after I started attending OSU. Then pieces started coming together here and there, and before you knew it, it was time for graduate school.
Brooklyn College, like OSU, was interesting. I remember the first time I walked onto the campus and saw a flyer for an internship that was available for a local radio station-- I was so elated I called my mom to tell her. Now living in nyc, it seems like something small because there are opportunities like that all over the place there, but you have to remember where I came from-- I was searching for things like this for longer than I can remember. Me seeing that-- for me it was a sign that I had made the right decision in coming because by that point in my life, I did have my doubts.
Again, that drive showed itself again. I got into the school only to find out it didn't have a graduate film degree, so I went for TV and Radio instead. The catch to it was that I didn't know that the degree I went for-- a MS, not an MFA-- barred me from taking production classes. Mind you this is me walking into a world I thought I was prepared for, but really was not in terms of film and etc. All I knew about was production. The business of distribution, networks, advertising-- I only knew about the creative side. And even to that degree, I did not understand it all. I use to think the role of a producer was that of a director. Why? Because, that's what you always heard about. You would read 'a Spike Lee Joint,' or 'a Steven Spielberg film' -- never the names of the producers, so I just assumed that the director ran stuff. I already had my plans mapped out when I got in the program-- was going to intern every quarter for college credit and take as many classes as I could per quarter-- use to get angry when the class times would clash-- I felt like I had a lot of time to make up for and no time to lose. The goal was to learn the business from a production standpoint, and then use the writing as a way to get my foot in the door. Well, I found out after doing my first college credit intern that you could only do a college credit intern for one quarter, and that I couldn't take any-- and I mean ANY-- production courses because of my degree being a MS and not MFA.
So in situations like that, you have 3 choices-- 1) accept your options 2) back down from everything and just give up 3) say screw that and work around them. You know I didn't work all of those years to get to that point and not find a way around it. So I did. It's what got me into freelancing. It also forced me to find ways to creatively work around that internship problem. Let's put it like this, though my department didn't know about it until now (if any of them read this), I did end up doing 3 interns off of one quarter of college credit, and by the time I left, I had at least one internship (paid or non-paid) every quarter I was attending grad school, along with networking in the industry and freelancing. I attended conferences, networking events, and seminars regularly outside my course work too. As I said, I had no intention of wasting any time now that I had the opportunity.
In retrospect, my attendance in this program, aside from really showing to me how hard I could grind, also changed my perception of the industry and ultimately had a major impact as to where and how I see things now. Where before, I thought everything started and ended with production, I now saw just how that was just a piece of the puzzle, and suddenly my interest extended beyond just understanding the production end. On top of that, I met one of my closest friends-- and employers-- Krystol Cameron. The significance is that at the time I met him, I was just learning about the television industry and reading the trade papers, often hearing about the efforts being placed into taking advantage of video streaming abilities the internet was providing. However, I never fully understood or could even see the potential, and ultimate impact IP technologies could present-- until I met him. And he basically just spelled it out for me, and next thing I knew, I was walking into class feeling very enlightened and was able to connect the dots between what he stated and what I was learning. The industry suddenly seemed to offer more opportunity than I imagined for those who were abreast as to what was about to happen. And it's funny because now, 6 years later, those impacts are really starting to take shape, and I know it’s just the beginning.
Funny thing about it is that I did not originally plan to go here at all. I came back to Buffalo that summer to help my mom out with her business and my dad as well because he had just been laid off. At the same time, my mom had just received her doctorate and was trying to get a job at a university and needed someone to watch over her business. By then, I was pretty confident with my contacts in the freelance industry, so I told them I could afford to come back to help them out-- watch my sister and the business while they got themselves resituated. I had no intention of going back to school, but my mom suggested it, and I agreed with her to an extent because despite not being in nyc, I did not want to slack on my knowledge attainment and experience in the entertainment industry. So I enrolled for a New Media certificate. The main purpose was to learn how to do videostreaming because I became interested in learning how it worked. What was meant to be just a 6 month stay, and ended up being a full year. And in that year, I learned not only videostreaming, but web design, graphic design, nonlinear editing, videogame design, and 2D (and a little 3D) animation. I fell in love with technology again, as well as my field. Over the years after graduation from grad school, the constant day in/out of just trying to survive as a freelancer really tarnished my understanding as to why I had chosen the path I had. After awhile, I was just doing it to survive-- the love was gone. Going to the UB program reminded me why I was doing it and just brought that drive back like it had never left. It was also, out of the 3 experiences I had on campus universities, the best despite its ups and downs. I never thought I would say that. It even made me appreciate Buffalo, even miss it by the time my program was over and it was time for me to go back to nyc,. I would say in a ratio of how many 'real' people I met in my time at that university in comparison to the others, I would say UB far outweighed the previous. I think a lot of that had to do with how much I had grown because I know had I attended UB as an undergrad, I wouldn't be able to say the same thing-- it would have been a nightmare just because of where I was mentally.
HAP-- Buffalo, NY-- Canisius High School-- Summer 1993
BEAM-- Buffalo, NY-- University at Buffalo SUNY-- Summer 1997
Art Institute of Pittsburgh Summer Program-- Pittsburgh, PA-- Arts Institue of Pittsburgh-- Summer 1997
C-Step-- Buffalo, NY-- University at Buffalo SUNY-- 1997--1998
AMS-- Long Island, NY-- University at Stony Brook SUNY-- Summer of 1998 and 1999
EMBL- West Liberty, WV-- 2006
EBLS at WEMED-- Washington DC-- 2006
Business Finance Certificate Program-- Buffalo, NY-- 2006
BERC-- Buffalo, NY-- 2006
Definitely done with school, lol. These days I am self teaching myself. Most recent lessons have been in accounting, statistics, investing, banking, php, mysql, film distribution, and business management. There's enough books, tutorials, and now I know about enough programs that can assist in all of this without having to cash in for another college loan thankfully. Let's hope it pays off...
Before I started college, when I was still deciding, I remember telling my family I wanted to major in film and minor in both english and computer science, or double major in film and computer science with a minor in english. That was always the goal-- I wanted all 3. I loved to write, I saw that as my basis, but getting into film was my ultimate goal. Computer science came into the foray because I wanted to learn how to create videogames. The reason-- because I saw all of the those industries merging even back then. I saw the trend of how comics and books were being made into films, then videogames, or vice versa, and my thing was, hey, I wanted to make sure that whatever it happened to my projects I had say in and was not casted out of the development process because of lack of knowledge in one particular area. Who knew I would actually attain all 3 as originally planned, but have to go around instead of through the door for that to happen. And who knew how much all of these industries in this digital age actually rely on each other now. I also realized through all of this the need to understand business and the importance of understanding politics. And then, it was like my mom said, you hit this poitn where you're like, ok, now I'm ready, and you just have to go for broke-- but wisely. There's only so much you can learn before learning becomes an excuse to evade progress. I hit that point in the summer of 2006. So, this is where I am today...