My Story.
The Start
The origin of my story lies with my birthplace, on the eastern part of Puerto Rico, Juncos. For me, my culture is a valuable asset to my life, and how I live, and is why my life has grown to be quite monumental. From growing up in what we like to call Barrios all I was taught is that what keeps you alive is all you need.
Rough mornings, rough nights, I've always found a way to keep myself happy and active and especially at a very young age. Which makes a lot of connections to how I act today, and how I like to conduct my life. From being a little kid growing up, you don't tend to notice a lot, except for the cartoons you get to watch, from warm mornings you get woken up to, and to the cold nights you get tucked into bed. But for me, I've always seemed to recall tons of memories from my childhood, and how amazing and joyful my days were. From the family constantly visiting, to the crazy parties for my birthday, and all the cool stuff that I wanted to be as a kid.
But you wanted to be like a kid, doesn't always seem to end up becoming the full truth. I grew up always wanting to be like Bob the Builder. I had tons of construction toys, lots of building blocks, and crazy ambitions even when I was just a little kid, and even when I annoyed my mom a lot... But when I was a kid, that was my goal: to be as cool as Bob, and make cool things, even with the help of talking construction vehicles. To me, making cool stuff has always been a dream, but finding out what "cool stuff" I wanted to make is something I needed to find out later down the path of life.
Finding the passion
At the age of 5, I moved from Puerto Rico, not knowing a lot of English, a very little kid, and not even going to kindergarten, out of all things. I didn't know what to expect, but when I arrived in Lawrence, Massachusetts, my surroundings opened my eyes. To the cool air, the "Tall" buildings, the busy roads. It seemed like I was in a whole new world, and a new world was going to show me what my passion really was.
Most of my childhood I spent being a kid. Playing sports, playing outside with my friends, not having a care in the world, and crying at the dinner table at homework (My Hispanics get this one 😅 ). My childhood was filled with even more fun than I can remember, and it brought tons from me to hold on to. To my first girlfriend, and breakup... To my lifelong friends whom I can confidently say are my second family to me, and to a new growing passion that I had yet to fully unseal. But with all these fun, crazy, silly things going on. Deep down, a lot of what I was witnessing and experiencing throughout my childhood was just fueling the fire of creativity.
While my childhood was filled with lots of outside. The times when I was inside, I was playing video games as most kids would do, but also watching random stuff on the internet. Whether it be YouTube videos of random channels, Gaming videos of some of my favorite creators, or even montages and cool edits from talented creators. Those cool edits that I watch on a blue moon started off as rare as 1 per 3 months, to 3 per month, to 5 per 3 weeks, to 10 every week. Those cool edits are that all the popular creators were doing is the key that started turning the lock, and to finish opening the lock, I needed a way to get started.
Moment of truth
What I needed to get started on this was an actual way to edit and make these videos. While recording small videos of random Gameplay on my tablet was fine for the time being, I knew I wasn't going to last long with this if I kept doing it the same way. So I decided to have my own training arc, and train I did. Going through 8th grade to high school, I did all the watching, all the gathering, and the tips and tricks guides I could get at the time, and with high school being a new beginning, in a new location, and new scenery, I knew that it was finally time to actually get started on this dream. What really launched this for me was my ITV program in my high school, at first it was basic edits in final cut pro, but little by little we started to advance in this program, and by the time I knew it I was in sophomore year with a certifications in both Premier, and Photoshop, and a first class ticket to the advanced class of my ITV program and a spot in the state team.
For me, it all came at me as quickly as I was getting into it. It felt like I joined this months ago, but at that time, already a year had passed, and I was going to be competing in state championships. Sophomore to Junior was absolute craziness, not only getting to compete in two state-wide championships and winning multiple awards, and 1 championship in our category. I was beyond ecstatic, but with all this excitement, I had a lingering feeling as well. The feeling of burnout... and feeling it was just the least of my worries, Senior year and graduation coming at lightspeed to me.
The feeling of burnout is something as easily described as being on a sinking ship. You don't notice it until it's too late. I was a couple of months into my senior year when I realized I hadn't even touched any Adobe products in months, and with that, I keep telling myself I'll pick it back up one day. But that day never came... The graduation came, while I should be happy, and trust me I was there was still that feeling that I never really accomplished what I wanted to in those 4 years, and with "Real" Life starting to come into my view, I felt that I would never get to actually get to do what I always wanted to do. That was my true revelation happening in real time as I was walking down those steps with my degree in hand. But It would soon turn out to be that it wasn't all in vain.
The Real "Start"
At first, looking for colleges was a difficult task for me, I never really took this opportunity earlier in my high school days, which I still regret to this day. But when I did take my late start to this journey, I found Keiser. At first I only looked for what I wanted easiest, but when I saw graphic design and art. I had a small spark start to fizzle inside of me. When going through the trials and tribulation that are financial aid, and getting fully started at Keiser, I was nervous. Nervous of what was to come, of the people I would meet, of the work that I would see, and the standard that I would be held up to. But entering that classroom was the biggest breath of fresh air since the day that I moved to Massachusetts. To the kind faces all around me, and the big smile of Mr. Williams. I would never forget the smile on my face at the end of my first day. I finally got my snowball up the mountain, now it was time to see if I could get it to roll.
And roll it did, this past year I have done some of, and I truly mean some of the greatest work and best work that I have ever created. From Photography to Photoshop. From illustrator to Dreamweaver. All of the projects, all of the class discussions, all of the late nights just doing what I've always seen myself doing, have finally come to fruition.
But with everything that has passed, where do we land now? And this is where I get real from now on. You guys reading, and to Mr.Williams for giving us and myself the chance to make ourselves the best version of ourselves is something that I can never forget, and is something that I will never regret. Y'all have really given me a new light to look at all of this done, and we go our separate ways. I will forever keep the kind words and the great amount of feedback from everyone reading and from Mr. Williams. For me, this is only the actual beginning to my story, but not to completion. Is up to me, and I will write my story so my kids' grandkids have something to look after too. A whole album full of photos to look after, and a wall of designs that changed our families' lives.
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