Meet Some of Our Creative Media Students

I love that I don't have to be stuck doing one thing. In Creative Media, you declare a primary specialization—mine is Sonic Arts—and two complementary specializations; mine are Creative Writing and Moving Image. I switched from the Broadcast Media Production major, so the Moving Image specialization let me keep those credits, and I was already doing a lot of writing for fun, so I also chose Creative Writing. Ever since I declared my Sonic Arts specialization, I have been doing music production and voice-overs, and I've been on the radio, which is crazy to think about. There's really an endless realm of possibilities to explore.

I realized that working with the video camera wasn't for me, but I still loved editing, and I loved working with audio. So I talked to my Broadcast Faculty Advisor and the Creative Media Faculty Advisor, and based on their guidance, I decided to try Creative Media. It ended up being a perfect fit.

I studied abroad in Dublin, Ireland, and it was my best semester at Champlain. If you had asked me a year beforehand, I did not want to study abroad at all. I was petrified to leave Connecticut for college, so leaving the country was a huge jump for me. But my cousin convinced me, so I went. I did an internship with a podcast called The Igniter Series, where we talked to entrepreneurs about turning an idea into a business. I also learned a lot about Irish literature, Irish art, and Irish writing, which helped me get a global perspective I wouldn't have gotten, if I'd let my fears keep me from going abroad.

I like the flexibility of Creative Media. With a focus and two complementary sections, I really get a taste for every possible artistic class offered on campus. My creative writing classes have been my favorite, since creative writing is what I enjoy the most. Jim Ellefson is my favorite professor, and I would recommend taking Jim's classes for anyone who likes creative writing. He helped so much with the process of editing and publications and even pushed me to submit my work and eventually get published my second year.

Core has opened my eyes to a number of things about myself, the community, and the world. My favorite experience was when my second year scientific revelations class, focused on the X-Files, created a research project focused on paranormal activity around Vermont. My group got the opportunity to travel to Norwich University and interview the Paranormal Society. We listened to audio, video, and picture files from their investigations around the northeast.

I ski, play on the CCE Esports team for Rainbow 6, and am involved with Willard & Maple, Champlain's student-run literary magazine.

I love the range of courses I have been able to take within the scope of the Creative Media major. From classes in Intermediate Creative Nonfiction to Film Scoring and the Advanced Digital Image, I've been able to try my hand at all sorts of practices that have fostered growth and the expansion of my creative capabilities. Through all of these courses, I have researched artists from modern times and times long past, and have used those influences to inform myself about what my voice is and what I want to communicate with my own art.

I love that the Creative Media major encompasses so many different types of artists because all of those perspectives allow me to see the breadth of art, and the value that learning about so many mediums can have on one's own understanding of the world and of the self.

I've been a part of Champlain's literary and fine arts magazine, Willard & Maple, since the start of my second year. Each week the group of associate editors goes through submissions from the college's students, ranging from poetry to prose and photography to digital painting, to select our favorites and compile them into a magazine yearly. I've been able to design the covers, choose fonts, and more for the last two years, and next year I will be a Co-Editor-in-Chief for my senior year. I enjoy Willard & Maple because I love reading through our submissions and experiencing the unique voices of Champlain's students, engaging in their stories, along with providing them a vessel through which to become published. As an artist, I know how important it can feel to be recognized for your work, and I think that Willard & Maple serves as a very inclusive and creative channel for that outcome to be obtained.

The Upside-Down Curriculum, combined with the wealth of knowledge from my professors, has provided me with the capabilities and confidence to pursue a professional career as an artist. A seemingly intimidating career path, becoming an artist in today's world, feels much more accessible with the experience my classes have given me. I've learned the business side of the music industry and how to predict trends and stand out from the crowd, how to create photographs that capture audiences through composition, content, and creativity, and how to craft meaningful and relatable writing that connects with readers. These tools, along with many others, have prepared me for the various positions in the professional world I could find myself in, given the creative world's desire for multi-talented employees.

I'm really appreciative of the Upside-Down Curriculum because it got me right to work immediately. My first year, I was already in the darkroom, developing my own film and printing my own photos for class critique—I couldn't have gotten that almost anywhere else. I got my hands dirty right away, and I think that's only strengthened my practice.

Champlain has helped me build my portfolio and a greater understanding of my brand as an artist and creator. Especially as you move further into the freelance market, building a brand is so important to your discoverability and what people reach out to you for. I think I've settled on something that's not only true to me, but that is representative of the work I aim to focus on and calls out to the right people.

To incoming students—I know change is scary, but I promise you that it'll be okay. You'll be nervous and make mistakes, maybe you'll trip or say something wrong, but we're all here to learn and grow and help each other do the same. Making mistakes is part of the gig. Don't be afraid to take that leap, because even if something doesn't work out, you'll still learn about yourself and what makes you tick.