Alumni Success

Tell us about your favorite memory of SCC.

It’s hard to pick one because I have many unforgettable memories here. Everyone on campus is friendly! I have felt that kindness even more since I began working here. My current favorite memory of working here has to be the day I helped out with the Dance program by running the box office for their high school matinee. One of the teachers invited was an SCC alumna, and she excitedly started showing her class some of the pictures hanging on the wall in the lobby and pointed out “I took those pictures!”

The students were in awe of the pictures and looked starry-eyed at their teacher. Angie, the head of the dance department, also watched this exchange and decided to surprise this alumna and her students by including a piece directed and videographed by this same teacher. When the video of the dance played, the kiddos went wild and cheered for their teacher and the dancers in the filmed piece. It was so exciting to watch the kids get so excited, and it was heart-warming to see that even after graduating, the faculty here at SCC care so much about all of their students, past, current, and future.

What made SCC the right fit for you?

A friend suggested that I look at SCC. I had gotten admitted to school in New York but it was financially out of reach. I knew I wanted to focus on theatre, but even the state universities were out of my price range. While in high school, my teacher was unsupportive of my theatre ambitions, given my status as a person with a light-sensitive seizure disorder. I wanted to prove her wrong and follow what I was passionate about, so I started researching and asking my friends in college questions about their experiences. I entered SCC with a plan. I was going to find an effective way to communicate with the theatre faculty, and my future co-workers, and actively discover solutions to the challenges my disability presented in my chosen field. I could do this successfully because of the care and dedication of the theatre faculty. They advocated for me when I didn’t know how, and taught me that my voice was powerful and worth listening to. I was worth working with, even if I had roadblocks.

At SCC, I learned to advocate for myself and I learned the value of self-care and time management. As they say in theatre, “the show must go on”, therefore it is essential to focus on caring for my ensemble and myself.

What would you say to convince someone to come to SCC?

Why wouldn’t you come to SCC? There are many opportunities here, not just in the Performing Arts fields. There are so many fun and engaging on-campus events. Our classes are cheaper than university classes, but the quality of education is the same and in some cases, even better than what the universities offer. It’s a great place to learn something new every day. Everyone is so supportive and interested in your success.

What value has SCC brought to your personal life and career?

SCC has helped me foster confidence in myself. When I first got to SCC, I believed my high school theatre teacher was right; that I had no place in the performing arts with my disability, that I was taking up space that could have gone to someone else more able-bodied. But Don, Mandy, Maren (former faculty), Bill, and Glen have all shown me ways to communicate effectively with others about my disability, and have given me a space to try things and fail and get back up and try again. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am. I would have never written a play or opened up our theatre company, Devil’s Dice Productions. But they were there, they stepped up for their students every single day, and I can only hope that one day I help someone out the way they all helped me.

Tell us about your journey after graduating from SCC.

When I started SCC, I was a frightened little kid. Today, I work in the department that raised me. I am the acting Performing Arts Coordinator for the Scottsdale School of Film + Theatre. On top of my day-to-day duties, my mentor, Don K Williams, has given me opportunities to assist him in co-teaching workshops and enrollment events to help encourage high school students to join our department after graduation. Some of my favorite experiences with our future students include these workshops and speaking with them at other enrollment events like College Fairs and Table Talks. I love the enthusiasm and excitement of these future students, and it is easy to convince them to consider us a viable option for higher education because we offer so many opportunities here at SCC.

My most exciting endeavor beyond my job at SCC is a play/project that I started as a student in Don K Williams’ Acting 2 course, The Death of the Swan, and our theatre company, Devil’s Dice Productions. I am a devised artist. Devised theatre is the practice of collective collaboration, wherein a group of like-minded artists work together to tell a story. They write or improvise the script, find compelling metaphors to interweave into design elements and workshop the play until it’s a finalized piece. I came to Don because I wanted to work on those artistic muscles, and he suggested that I take his Acting 2 course due to the final project, the solo show.

The assignment was to pick a famous or infamous person from history who has passed on and tell a wider story about the world using their life or influence as a starting point. He also suggested we look at the special skills section on our resumes and pick someone with the talents we shared. At first, I thought of using Carrie Fisher, but I needed help finding a simple and effective way of telling the story. Don told me to return to the drawing board and suggested I consider the other option I brought to class, the famed Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova.

Most people these days probably don’t recognize her name, but I grew up attending Nina Marlow’s Russian ballet school. Nina’s great-great-grandfather, Mikhail Fokine, was a constant collaborator of Anna Pavlova. Her family owned these large, elaborate pictures of this beautiful ballerina in a bright, feathery white costume. I knew her name but didn't know her story until I started researching her for my assignment. Once I did, I discovered that her artistic ideology matched well with my and my SCC mentors' teaching. I found similarities in our chosen story-telling styles and inspiration in her famous solo piece, La Morte de la Cygne (or, The Death of the Swan), which documented the final moments of a swan right before its demise. I started playing with the idea of what if instead of the Swan fighting off the cold grip of Death, it was Anna.

I found my subject, and the next part of the project was figuring out how to tell the story compellingly. We weren’t allowed to write our own words for the story. The expectation was to find direct sources and either quotes from them, from famous roles they played, or songs they sang. I was worried that writing a compelling script with such a strict limitation was impossible, but as Mandy Embry always says, “Limitation breeds creativity!”

My first stop was the SCC Library, and I was lucky enough to find quite a comprehensive autobiography on Pavlova, titled Pavlova: A Portrait of A Dancer. This overview of her life introduced me to a second text by Pavlova’s husband, Victor Deandre. Both sources of text and a collection of poems written in honor of Anna Pavlova created my script today. I then had to figure out where Death’s lines would come from, and here’s where the devised collaboration came into play. I asked my loved ones to give me a list of references of their favorite versions of personified Death, and I began to pick and choose some of my favorite iterations and character traits from them. After a long process of writing, editing, and designing a soundscape for the very first time, I finally finished the first draft of The Death of the Swan. This first round was 15 minutes by myself on stage. I played both Anna and Death, but luckily Death was a recording of my voice layered over itself to sound spooky and ethereal, so I didn’t have to memorize their lines. After this initial round, Don approached me and told me to keep going. He told me I should expand it, so I did, this time as a 30-minute version by myself onstage. After showing that round to the summer conservatory students, Don approached me again and said, okay, once more! Expand it just a little more. This time, I was determined to bring in another actor to play Death, which then turned into two actors playing Death. After months of practicing and refining, we were fortunate enough to be selected to attend the Tucson Fringe Fest, and we got to perform the piece for a larger audience. We received amazing feedback from the festival attendees and even won the Best Show With Dance (Physical Movement) award.

The next stage of the journey is the most exciting part; in June our small crew will be attending the Hollywood Fringe Festival for 6 performances of the piece. We performed The Death of the Swan for the community on the SCC as a benefit concert to raise funds for our trip to Hollywood. For more information about the performance, please visit The Death of the Swan or email me at [email protected].

What made SCC the right fit for you?

Over the years, I have attended a couple different colleges, and the Equine Science Program at SCC was by far the best fit for me! The professors made my experience what it was. At SCC, professors care so much about each individual’s success, learning, and well-being. I loved the small class sizes and the passion each professor shared through their teaching.

Tell us about your favorite memory of SCC.

My favorite memory while in the program at SCC is becoming a teaching assistant for the Equine Program. While taking classes and working on my degree I was given the opportunity to work as a teaching assistant alongside Jay Clements. I was so excited and honored to be a part of the program in that way.

What value has SCC brought to your personal life and or career?

The Equine Program at SCC has brought value to both my personal life as well as my career. Attending SCC, working as a teaching assistant, and completing my degree has added value to my personal life by boosting my confidence and self worth. Now having the opportunity to stay connected and make a difference by teaching in the Equine Program at SCC makes me feel humble and proud. I love to teach and my time at SCC highlighted that passion. I have also met many friends, mentors, and acquired connections within Scottsdale Community College that I am thankful for. The Equine Science Program at SCC looks out for one another, we are not just classmates or students. Adding to the value of my personal life is the knowledge I obtained while completing my degree. Through taking the various classes of the program and connecting with the teachers, I have been able to take better care of the horses that I own. Knowledge is power, and this degree and my time at SCC has given me the opportunity to use my knowledge for good and be a better horse person. My career in the equine industry has just begun. By obtaining my degree I am able to build on my knowledge and rise up through the equine industry. The Equine Science Program has given me a great knowledge base to build on as my career progresses. I can see that the opportunities of my career have been expanded exponentially by attending SCC and getting my degree.

What would you say to convince someone to come to SCC?

Come to SCC! No matter who you are, SCC will help you be successful with your education. The teachers are wonderful, the students are friendly, and the classes are so much fun. I always felt welcome and comfortable in classes and on campus.

What are you doing now and for whom?

My career in the equine industry has just begun. By obtaining my degree, I am able to build on my knowledge and rise up through the equine industry. The Equine Science Program has given me a great knowledge base to build on as my career progresses. I can see that the opportunities of my career have been expanded exponentially by attending SCC and getting my degree.

Tell us about your journey after graduating from SCC.

Upon graduating summa cum laude with an Associate of Arts degree from SCC, I moved on to ASU. I graduated summa cum laude again with a degree in Innovation in Society and earned a certificate in Applied Business Data Analytics. The certificate landed me a job in the finance industry. I was a Branch Service Manager at a wealth management company before taking a role geared more toward servicing clients and learning about financial planning. I passed my Series 7 and 66 Exams and became registered, which enables me to place securities trades. I have also recently obtained my Life, Accident, and Health insurance license. This year I plan to participate in a program through my employer that will expose me to the Financial Advisement aspect of the industry.

Tell us the ways that SCC prepared you for additional education and/or your career.

SCC offered excellent resources and diverse programs, but on a smaller scale. I essentially learned to be a student prior to becoming part of the mammoth institution that is ASU. The SCC tutors and instructors were always incredibly helpful. I came to trust that I would do well as long as I put forth the effort and utilized their resources. SCC taught me that I was not going to be shouldering everything on my own as a student because support and encouragement are part of the academic package.

Tell us about your involvement at SCC.

I didn’t have any time for extracurriculars because I had to work. My only extracurricular activity occurred at the tutoring center when I needed help with math.

What advice would you give others embarking on their college journey?

Make school your priority. Take it seriously. You can still make friends and have fun, but stay focused on your education. Do not give up when it gets hard. It’s ok to change majors, but never quit. And please steer clear of unsafe activities and relationships.

I was looking for an affordable film school in the valley where I could get a hands-on education and access the equipment immediately. Many film schools don't give you that opportunity. They focus more on theory, but I wanted to make movies.

Tell us about your time at SCC. 

I attended SCC twice. The first was in the late 90's for three years, right out of high school. In 2007-2008, I returned to continue my education and add fresh energy to my skills. The second time at SCC, I found many long-time collaborators that I continue to work with today.

Tell us about your favorite memory of SCC. 

My favorite memories at SCC are meeting like-minded students in the film department. It was an exciting time, there was always something going on such as a film shoot to be a part of. It was a time of collaboration; we were able to help each other with our movies.

What value has SCC brought to your personal life and career? 

SCC gave me access to the tools I needed to advance in my career.

Tell us what degrees or certificates you earned or what types of classes you completed at SCC. 

I attended SCC for five years and earned a certification in AVID editing.

List any scholarship(s) you received while attending SCC. 

Artist of Promise (Live Performace/Multi-Media)

Tell us about your journey after graduating from SCC. Where did you start and where are you now?

After leaving SCC I started my own production company, Squishy Studios. I continued to make short films and web series with several collaborators I met at SCC. I also pursued work in freelance video production as a director and editor on corporate and commercial video.

But my heart has always been with narrative storytelling, particularly genre comedy. I love weird stories, with sci-fi or magical elements and are also comedic. That's why we're proud of our biggest project to date, a feature film entitled "The Last Movie Ever Made", which has been five years in the making. We won Best Arizona Feature Film at the Phoenix Film Festival in 2023, and the movie was just released on Amazon and Apple TV.

The story, which is set and filmed in Arizona, is about a man in his forties who, when he finds out the world is about to end at the end of the month, tries to finish one big project to give his life some meaning ... his abandoned sci-fi movie from high school. He has to convince old friends and strangers to help him before everyone's time is up.

I met the star of the film, Adam Rini, and one of our producers, Josh Kasselman, at SCC in 2008 and we continue to work together today.

The experience I had at SCC is very important to me. Now I teach a film course at Glendale Community College's film program and I consistently draw on the experiences I had at SCC with my students.

What advice would you give others embarking on their college journey? What would you say to convince someone to come to SCC?

Right now is the time to say yes to everything. Get on as many student film shoots as possible. If you want to be a director, work in the sound or art department for a few shoots to learn more about how those other roles work. And you need to make a lot of stuff. This is the time to crash through walls, stumble around, and fall on your face. You’ll always learn the most from making your own mistakes.