To all parties concerned:As I stood on the stage at the 52nd annual Chicago/Midwest EMMY Awards in Chicago Saturday night to receive recognition for excellence in the category of Student Production/Entertainment, I was suddenly overcome with the realization that a moment in history was taking place.

I stood beside my co-producer, Jonathan Bare, basking in the glory of the moment; however my mind drifted back to where it all began. On a cold Wednesday morning, in January of 2010, sixteen second-year TV students sat around in Studio B of MPTV trying to come up with a theme for our Student Ops project.

We wanted the theme to reflect the very essence of what we had collectively accrued during our education process over the past nearly two years. We also wanted to raise the bar and attempt something that had not been accomplished in years prior.

As we bickered back and forth, and threw balled-up paper at one another, we seemed to be getting nowhere with regard to reaching a compromise.

However, one item that we did agree on was that we wanted to include all of the Creative Departments in the project.

We particularly wanted to feature an entire half hour show of animation, instead of the occasional interstitials that had been offered during years prior. In order to achieve this we would need to involve the Music Department for musical scores and the Vicom Department for sound and special effects.

We would need to connect all these departments in order to render the type of production we were looking to do. Indeed, we needed to make “connections”.

The following Monday morning Jonathan Bare met me in the hallway of the Television Department and uttered one word- “CONNECTIONS”.

That single word has resonated and tin-tinabulated thoughout MATC ever since. We were attempting to connect these separate, individual departments and encourage them to work together toward a single objective – much like one connects the keyboard, monitor, printer and speakers together on a computer. “Connections” would be our theme.

We met with Tim Decker and Brian Mennenoh of Animation and expressed the idea. Immediately they started the students on a week long, 14 hour a day workshop devoted entirely to the “Connections” project.

Tony Garza of Vicom agreed to bring his students aboard to offer sound and effects. Robbie Heighway also pledged her support and provided musicians to work with the animators and score their projects.

I recall that there was something magical in the atmosphere as the “Connections” project rapidly took off from an idea and concept to its manifestation as a movement.

We even got assistance from Chefs Pat Whalen and John Reiss of the Culinary Department in the form of edible sustenance (soup and rolls) to feed the weary animators who had sacrificed many hours perfecting their offerings. They graciously provided catering for Student Operations Day.

This was the spirit of “Connections”, and it far exceeded our expectations.

Dean James McDonald had expressed his desire to combine all the departments so that they could work together more efficiently. Our “Connections” project proved that theory to be correct.

The recognition that we received on Saturday night was, in fact, the product of the combined efforts of all the creative departments.

More important than the award is the recognition of our contribution to the solidification of a single creative department called the School of Media and Creative Arts. Our achievement is a testament in itself that this concept can work.

Although we students didn’t get the opportunity to make a speech, this is the speech that rested on my mind as I stood on stage to receive our award:

“There is a story of a huge stone that had a diamond in the center. One man pounded on it with his hammer, but couldn’t break it. He called several more men to assist him. They pounded and pounded to no avail. Eventually, a hundred men pounded on the stone. Altogether they had hit the stone a million times without even cracking it.

Just as they were about to give up two little boys came along with wooden mallets and each gave a rap on the big rock. It shattered into tiny pieces and revealed the precious reward inside. It wasn’t their luck that shattered the stone, but the combination of all the efforts of all the other men that did the job. The boys just put the finishing touches on it.”

John and I are the two boys with the mallets. The real credit goes to the following people.

Thank you all for pounding on the stone. I hope that we can make “Connections” an on-going theme.

TELEVISION:

Instructors:

Kevin Pulz

Glenn Riley

Al Newsome

John Larscheid

Gary Wernette

Sarah Janiszewski

Students:

Scott Brewer

And 13 other second-year students who assisted in ways that cannot be articulated but their assistance is greatly appreciated.

Deans

Ellis Bromberg,

James McDonald

Television Staff:

Jason Pinkowski

Jeff Moorbeck

Thay Yang

Jayne Temper

Raul Galvan

Liddie Collins

Everett Marshburn

ANIMATION:

Instructors:

Tim Decker

Brian Mennenoh

Chris Berrett

Students:

Joe Ludwig

Dominic Serena

James Frame

Hanna Swenson

Adrielle Talley

AJ Shine

Joe Gondek

Bill Belongia

Dale Novak

Chris Petrie

Caroline Meyer

Jesse Acker

Justin Talbot

Leigh Thomas

Mike Sekye

Noah Keefe

Jose Rodriguez

Peter Zellner

Phil Bremer

Seth Bergman

Paul Rynkiewicz

Terry Spears

Evan Thompson

Robert Pardo

Spencer Logan

Michael Stanoz

Andy Repetowski

Peng Lor

MUSIC:

Instructors:

Robbie Heighway

Students:

Denise Burton

Kate Zylka

Bob Schaab

VICOM:

Instructors:

Tony Garza

Students: Keith Kamikawa