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Vocational Principles Essay
Vocational Principles Essay
Alex Kollar
10 February 2017
494 COMM
being absolutely overjoyed. Out of all of the schools I applied to, Wheaton had the best
credentials and the highest applicant requirements. Even though I had solid
recommendation letters and had been highly involved in high school, the deferred letter I
Wheatons standards. But there I was, in March, holding the blue Welcome packet,
running into my driveway, crying tears of joy. Its funny looking back on that moment
two years later, remembering how I thought going to Wheaton would solve everything.
After visiting the campus and interacting with some of the students here, I figured that
my spiritual life as well as my professional and academic life would somehow take care
my spiritual life would become the strongest it has ever been, and with a Wheaton
College degree I would be able to go anywhere and be ready for anything. At least, thats
Looking back on it, these desires and expectations stemmed from a deep
insecurity about my choice of college. Besides a few larger Florida state universities, the
only other schools I applied to were primarily art schools. I had always been a creative
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person; my Wheaton application essays even focused on my love for sequential art and
how art is a central part of my spiritual life. For the longest time, I was sure I would
attend an art school. Yet, after visiting Wheaton, I felt called down a different path
instead. Even though I was sure Wheaton was Gods plan for me, there was always a
voice of doubt deep within me: the big, what if, question that all new college students
face. This voice of doubt still continues to haunt me to this day. Although I have worked
hard, overcome academic and emotional challenges, although I have laughed, and cried,
and accomplished amazing things here at Wheaton, the what if question has never gone
away. I dont for a second regret my time here, but my experience has been nothing like I
The first class that I took at Wheaton was COMM 201 with Dr. Theon Hill. There,
I was introduced to a study called rhetoric. I remember my high school teachers briefly
mentioning rhetoric in an English class here or there, but I never knew how dynamic this
but for freshman Alex, rhetoric was groundbreaking. That same semester, I was also
requirement at a local college back home, the importance of writing college-level, quality
papers was deeply instilled in me from my well educated mother, so I registered. One
might think that the title, rhetorical writing, would cause me to instantly connect the
course to the discussions taking place in my communication course, but it took a while
for freshman Alex to connect the dots. Once the connection was made however, I began
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to realize rhetoric and communication transcended formal speeches and papers to how we
In that rhetorical writing class, our final project was a narrative paper and
event of change in our life, and provide a set of visuals to assist in telling that story to the
class. I wrote about my grandmothers Alzheimers and how the diagnosis continues to
affect my family. It was an emotional piece, and reading today, as she continues to
decline, touches me in ways I couldnt begin to articulate. The paper specifically talks
about a game that my grandmother and I would play together; we called it the earring
game. It was a kind of matching game where we would use her beautiful collection of
earrings. After writing the paper, I used my digital drawing tablet to illustrate a number of
comic-like panels that reflected certain passages in my essay. As I drew each panel, I felt
myself reconnecting with the person I had written about in my application essays. At that
point in the year, I found myself so buys that I didnt have much time to draw so being
able to incorporate a passion that I love so dearly into my school work felt so right to me.
In sharing my narrative with the class and seeing the reaction of my professor and my
peers to my work, I knew that there was something powerful in what I had created.
me, I think you have something here. Though not profound, this statement solidified
the foundation that would shape the rest of my Wheaton education: the study of visual
rhetoric.
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In her article, Branded: The Sister Arts of Rhetoric and Design, a piece I would
read about a year and a half later, Dr. Susanna Kelly Engbers claims, rhetoric and design
may be understood and embraced enthusiastically as sister arts, and are by their very
natures interdisciplinary (157). I realize now that this explains why visual rhetoric
clicked so easily in my mind. Curious, and fueled with this newfound direction in my
academic life, I signed up for media production in the spring semester. After meeting Dr.
Park and attending one or two class sessions, I knew I had once again found something
special. Never did I ever imagine that picking up a camera and learning editing software
could feel as natural as holding a pencil or lifting a paintbrush. With the minimal camera
skills I gained through the class, guidance from my professor, and the support of my
my professor mentioned the BestSemester program in Los Angeles. At the time, it was
only a distant dream, an off-handed comment about a future that I had no clue if I wanted
When I went back home to Florida that summer, I was introduced to a man from
on a job his company had been contracted for. The next thing I knew, I was on the set of a
national commercial for Cobra Puma Golf featuring Rickie Fowler and Greg Norman for
the PGA World Tour. As my first PA job, it wasnt a bad gig. That summer, I continued
interning with the production company, learning the ins and outs of production. I worked
alongside professionals, gaining hands-on experience in PAing, grip work, editing, and
production; I cant watch a movie anymore without analyzing or theorizing how a shot
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was set up, what kind of equipment the grips might have used, or how many panic attacks
the PAs had while on set. I knew I found something in production work. The energy,
stress, and excitement that comes from working on a set crew was unlike anything I had
Armed with a camera and tripod, I spent the last two years at Wheaton marketing
organizations and artists on campus to create personal, academic, and commercial pieces.
From those works I created a portfolio that I used to launch on my own website,
made in Florida, I also met and began working with a Key Grip from Product
Productions, a company based in Chicago. Ive worked on a few jobs with his crew as a
Even though Wheaton is nothing remotely close to a film school, this whole new
world of production was opened up all because of an obscure media production class I
took freshmen year. It felt like a direct intervention from God, and finding this new
perfect. Even after encountering this newfound art form, there were still times that I
I remember being on the phone with my mom (it must have been during a
midterms or finals week) and saying, Mom, I dont think this was the right place for me.
I just want to create but Im being pulled in so many directions. How can I focus on
becoming an artist who creates meaningful and passionate work while I constantly have
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to hand in philosophy papers and math assignments? These were the questions that
plagued my mind from day one of my Wheaton journey. Even though I truly did find
merit in the conversations we had in my BITH classes about the importance and
versatility of a Christian liberal arts education, it never abated the frustrating reality that I
would find myself having to write a mathematic report in the place of editing together
stellar footage for a project or working on set for a commercial or music video.
Even when I did find time to pursue my passions, videography, body art, flow
arts, photography, or actual production work, I found myself having to defend them.
Though my friends and family have always been quite supportive of my passions, I
realized more and more that I was in a place, academically, that didnt focus on catering
drifting from gen ed to gen ed, longing for the relief of an art class, I found myself
In an article entitled, Words the Most Like Things: Iconicity and the Rhetorical
Text, authors Leff and Sachs state, We are reaching the point where the manner of
expression, the generation and use of symbols, has become the substance of our study
[the] basic modes of articulating a worldview (253). This passage led me to question
why I wasnt focusing my time into studying visual communication all the time. Yes, I
know Spanish is a beautiful language, but Id still rather be out in the production work
Even so, through my BITH classes Ive come to appreciate the orthodox of
Scripture, and my art and communication classes challenged me, as a creator, to further
engage those concepts. God even used classes such and math, foreign language, and
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science to teach me patience and challenge me to cultivate a strong work ethic. But in
reality, my Wheaton experience has been shaped by my constant struggling against Gods
plan. Though it may seem like I completely resent this school for not cultivating practical
production skills, I never actually expected Wheaton to do so. I could never regret
coming to this school. To regret coming to Wheaton would mean turning my back on the
amazing friendships Ive cultivated, the hard lessons Ive learned, and the difficult
I would like to say that Wheaton's liberal arts program has completely equipped
me for my field of interest. I want to say that I am completely well rounded and can find
the relevance of theology in every aspect of life. I want to say that I can hold an insightful
missionary work, also bringing social justice into the discussion, all the while, speaking
in fluent Spanish, like a proper liberal arts student. If that were the kind of person
Wheaton meant to turn me into, unfortunately, I wouldn't pass the test. I can say,
however, that the terrified, insecure freshmen sitting in BITH 111 seminar has indeed in
In his lifeboat game illustration, Miller would claim that Jesus would want me
to take every opportunity to fail in the lifeboat game, not for the sake of failing, but
because there wasnt anything to win in the first place (120), meaning, this life isnt
about who I am or what I can bring to the table, but rather, what Christ can accomplish
through me. So it doesnt really matter that I may not be the perfect, liberal arts,
Renaissance woman.
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As I prepare to move on to the next stage in my life, to a place where I can truly
dive into the world of media production, I will not go unprepared. My Wheaton
experience has taught me more about life than I ever thought it would: what it means to
be a good friend, a sister in Christ, a roommate, and a servant of the Kingdom. In our
reading, C.S Lewis comments, I believe our cause to be, as human causes go, very
righteous, and I therefore believe it to be duty to participate in this war (47), for me
translates into a charge to engage with fields, including the world of production, to spread
the Truth and light of Christ. That is what I am prepared to do, that is the banner I am
prepared to wave.
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Works Cited
Engbers, Susanna Kelly. Branded: The Sister Arts of Rhetoric and Design, Art, Design
& Communication in Higher Education, vol. 12, no. 2, 2013, pp. 149-158.
Leff, Micheal and Andrew Sachs. Words the Most Like Things: Iconicity and the
Rhetorical Text. Western Journal of Speech Communication, vol. 54, 1990, pp.
252-273.
Lewis, C.S. The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, The Macmillan Company, New