Myles Harris, a student entering his senior year at Grambling State University, is a mass communication major following a career path that is more creative and imaginative than some of the more rigid fields one could pursue.
Coming from Atlanta, Georgia, Fuller has been exposed to an epicenter of emerging media and thespianism that piqued his curiosity in this occupation.
“I’m interested in acting. I have been reading and studying scripts with a person I connected with back home… She writes and produces plays and it’s helping me to practice showing emotions in a more exaggerated way,” Harris said.
Here on campus, there are many talented students. Many mass communication students go on to find a wide range of careers, and the skills acquired help grow their early portfolios and ideas here. So Harris was asked if there are any opportunities for creative expression and building your skills here?
“My friend has been telling me about a trailer he wrote for a movie this semester that I would like to be a part of. It is a scary movie that he told me about last year and with the finished product we’re hoping to put together a team to put out about three minutes of his bigger idea,” Harris said.
The television center is a place for many mass communication students to learn how to correctly use a camcorder. When they have training, checking out cameras can be an option. Mass communication does not offer acting courses however, so when asked about collaborating with other departments Harris had this to say:
“It would probably take some sort of theatre majors to make everything look authentic and not forced, but mass communication majors can handle the filming and editing parts,” Harris said.
The television center’s opportunities at some times may seem limited to events that happen around campus, such as sporting events and messages coming from Grambling State officials. Some courses provide opportunities to learn and create content; nonetheless, productions such as films could take large amounts of time and would require more than a team of classmates to be successful.
“I remember in high school our AV department let us use the school cameras to make and edit our own videos. I would like something like that here in mass comm (communication), so we can make our own projects,” Harris said.
The trend for college students to move toward entrepreneurship and nontraditional careers is becoming increasingly popular. Many call for information about how to build their own brands marketing themselves, so it was important to get input on how administration could change the way it goes about making connections for students with hopes of following these career paths.
“I feel like we (students) show enough interest in entrepreneurship and entertainment careers, so it would be nice if we could have speakers from those fields for job fairs, and those events should be promoted more,” Harris said.
Job fairs are put on by the Career Center along with many other events to prepare students to be productive members of the workforce immediately following graduation.
Many students find internships and entry level positions that give them a chance to expand their skills beyond the scope of a classroom; however, this information is readily available to students who search for it or is provided by professors who would like to see their students participate in such events.
Taking advantage of these opportunities can give insight into the realm of possibilities students have in their respective fields, so diversity in success from employed to owners and operators would be appreciated by the student body at large.
Myles Harris