It was an ultimatum that convinced Andrew Wilcox to attend Middlesex Community College. Under the advice of his parents, it was either go to college, get a full-time job, or move out. He hadn’t given much thought about attending any school upon hearing that ultimatum. After deciding to follow the narrowest letter of the law, Andrew decided to go to school and went to the nearest college, MxCC for one class a semester. After repeating the same ritual for a few years, he noticed he had a handful of credits stacking up, and decided to go ahead and get an Associate’s degree. Seeing as he just generally studied, the General Studies track seemed the perfect fit for him.
As Andrew approached the end of his grand tour through the various different departments of MxCC, he noticed that none had grabbed his interest for very long. However, Andrew left his last semester with a cherry on top, and only enrolled in the classes he thought he would find most interesting. The first class was Creative Writing, which gave him an audience to read his work, and the confidence to pursue creative avenues. Another class was Intro to Digital Arts, which sparked his interest into video editing. The last class was the most influential, that being Theatre 101, in which he was elevated along with a handful of other students into assisting with that year’s Acting II final production. It was this production, where Andrew finally found what he was missing all along; a purpose. He was given responsibility and was free to set his own expectations as high as he wanted. Andrew no longer felt constrained by the classroom. He was placed in an environment where people wanted to excel, not just folks who wanted to do just well enough to get a passing grade. It was a transformative experience for Andrew. After completing these classes, Andrew had the opportunity to receive his degree. Although he decided right then and there to continue at MxCC and enrolled in the Broadcast-Cinema program at the Center for New Media.
While taking these types of classes, Andrew became very fond of his new learning concentration. One in particular that quickly became his favorite class was Advanced Editing Workshop with Dan Nocera. It was in this class that Andrew honed his particular creative voice, and found himself having a lot of fun with it. His assignments seemed to get some laughs from his classmates, and it gave him the tools to potentially create a whole new skill set for the future. He also recalls having a lot of fun learning all the necessary technical skills in his TV Production Class, again with Dan Nocera as the instructor. He costarred in a bizarre improv comedy talk show inspired by The Eric Andre Show. Andrew found a lot of inspiration from Dan Nocera when he said, “You aren’t a real cameraman until you’ve dropped your first camera.” Upon hearing this, it gave him the confidence to try new things without hesitation. Andrew became aware that if he made a mistake, it would never be the end of the world. Equipment breaks, crew ditches, and locations close; it’s just how life goes. “You reschedule and move on.” Explains Andrew.
Presently, Andrew is in his last semester and is scheduled to obtain his Associate’s degree in Broadcast Cinema this May. He is currently producing and directing his final project for Advanced Media Production, a romantic comedy short film called Serenderpity. Andrew has high hopes that this project will be selected for viewing at the 14th Annual Arts and Media Festival. He is also producing commercials for the college through the MxCC Filmmaking Club, where he is the Treasurer. In addition to this, Andrew works as a Level 2 Communications Intern, tutoring in video production for the Center for New Media here at MxCC.
Along his journey at MxCC, he received an Academic Award for English in 2016 despite not having taken any English classes in years. He has received High Honors for his hard work while earning a 3.87 GPA. “Who can truly say I have not lived?” Andrew mentions enthusiastically.
After graduation, Andrew is looking to network and connect with more productions in whatever capacities will allow him to expand his technical and creative skills. He wants to be creatively fulfilled and content. Specifics don’t matter much to him.
To check out his collected works, you can go to his website: www.authormanproductions.com
