When I entered college, I didn’t give so much as a passing thought to studying abroad. I was far too frightened by the idea of flying and living in a foreign country for an extended period of time. When I discovered that Fitchburg State offered a summer program in Italy, the one place in the world I wanted to visit the most, I came up with a variety of fears and excuses in my head as to why I shouldn’t go. However, the only reason I needed to make my decision was that I really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. 

Brig. Gen. Frederick A. Henry’s long and storied military career has taken him across the U.S. and Europe, but he’s never forgotten the lessons he learned as an undergraduate at Fitchburg State. 

He grew up in an inner city environment in Cambridge, where by his own admission he wasn’t a strong student. 

“I constantly went off the reservation,” Gen. Henry recalled. “I would always go on another path.” 

As a teen, Gen. Henry was a part of the Upward Bound program, where he was encouraged to try attending Fitchburg State; if the experience didn’t work out, he was told, he could consider joining the Navy. 

Fitchburg State would prove a transformative experience.

For Ben DeTour ‘13, college was about taking full advantage of each and every opportunity. 

The Fitchburg State senior was just wrapping up his final semester of an internship at National Geographic Television in Washington, D.C. last spring when he had the chance to meet an alumnus whom he had been hoping to connect with for months. The two hit it off and a short time later, DeTour, originally from Belchertown, had a full-time job. 

Sound design is a very important aspect of filmmaking. Without sound design, a film can sound terrible. Unfortunately this is often overlooked, especially with student films. I, like many other film professionals, know how important sound design is. So, I made sure to take a sound-related class while at Fitchburg State.

Sound design was very simple at first and has evolved throughout the years. "Gravity"—my favorite movie of 2013—won an Oscar for sound, and rightfully so! Sound design isn't just making everything sound good, it's also about layering the sounds perfectly and making something sound real or the way the audience should hear it.

Although this week included two days off from classes it has been academically grueling for some. Monday was a day off due to Patriot's Day, a Massachusetts holiday that includes the Boston Marathon, the Red Sox at Fenway, and a whole lot of patriotism.

The second day we had off was Thursday, and that was due to the Undergraduate Research Conference. To learn a little more about it, keep reading. 

Alternative Spring Break was an incredibly humbling experience. I was able to help an 83-year old woman keep warm. Her house had no insulation, air conditioning or heat. Her name is Miss Mary Hudson and she was nothing but stunning.

On top of this, I was able to spend the week with amazing people doing amazing things in an amazing place. I cannot recommend doing this program enough.

Well, it's the final countdown.

High school students from around the U.S. have applied to colleges and they're beginnig to find out whether they've been accepted or not. Now it's up to the student which college is best fit for them. I figured since people are making their decision now, this is the best time to write, "Why I Chose Fitchburg State University."

Art drawing is one of the courses I am enrolled in this semester. Throughout the class we have done many different types of drawing. Coming into this class, I had barely any experience, but I can honestly say I'm getting to be pretty good at this drawing thing. I think I found my inner artist. 

This is one of the first drawings we did. I used pencil to draw the cube objects and then shaded it. Being able to come up with this drawing was difficult because I didn't know where to start. When I finally got started, I kept messing up so I found myself erasing a lot and fixing my mistakes. This type of drawing is called cubes in linear perspective and I'm quite happy with it. 

With spring break impending on the Fitchburg State community, I hear about everyone's plans. People going on vacations, seeing friends from home and reconnecting with a sense of peace from schoolwork for a week. I, on the other hand, have other plans.

Way back in September/October, I was selected to be a participant in Fitchburg State's Alternative Spring Break program. It is a program that is coordinated through Habitat For Humanity. This year, we are lucky enough to be traveling to Lucedale, MS. Where exactly is Lucedale? Right here!

The title says it all—Writing Screenplays is Hard!

For the spring semester of my sophomore year, I decided to take a writing for film and video course. In the course description it says that you work throughout the semester on a feature-length script, which is 120 pages. I figured it would be a challenge, but this has been one of the hardest things I've done in filmmaking.

I give a lot of credit to anyone who writes screenplays professionally. This is the first time that I've ever attempted to write a feature-length script. You need to come up with a conflict and characters that people will actually care about and that can sustain for two hours. I've come up with a treatment, character bios, and now I'm starting to write the actual script, which I'll be working on until the end of the semester.