On Nov. 7, I presented on my experience in the Entrepreneurship Pathway at the first-ever All-College Symposium at Connecticut College. Sharing my academic journey at the symposium brought back memories of my sophomore year when I decided to enroll in the Pathway. As a sophomore, I was interested in combining my major in film studies and my minor in economics. By attending information sessions I learned about the Entrepreneurship Pathway. The Pathway combined my interests in film and economics through the field of corporate video and allowed me to study the value that films bring to businesses when used as a marketing tool.

Being part of the Entrepreneurship Pathway was important for me because corporate video is not something I would have been able to learn about through any of my other classes. The business side of film is rarely incorporated into film classes and marketing techniques like film are rarely incorporated into economics classes. Promotional filmmaking is something I was interested in as a potential career path, so it was exciting for me to have a designated space to learn about the field.

Learning about promotional filmmaking is what led me to intern the summer after my junior year at Ecast Productions, a promotional filmmaking company in Boston. The biggest highlight of the Pathway was spending my summer on set operating film equipment, working with clients and learning about how to budget film projects. The experience taught me a lot about taking ownership for my learning. My supervisor encouraged me to ask questions, sit in on meetings and spend time in the equipment room to better understand the tools. Getting first-hand experience in the production of corporate videos allowed me to share a lot of the techniques I learned, such as the focus on narrative storytelling, at the symposium.

During my presentation, I was able to reflect on my journey and see it in a new light. I hadn’t realized how many of the courses at Conn informed my studies over the last four years. My Pathway courses have taught me valuable skills that I can continue utilizing outside of the classroom. They allowed me to think beyond the classroom and get a better sense of how my studies can translate to real-world experience.