Who did I interview?

For my project on community connections, I tried to contact multiple people, all with a variety of jobs related to art, photography, and media that I think I could possibly be interested in. I tried contacting a popular photographer which I remember admiring a couple of years ago.  I connected with him, although he was not able to personally respond to the questions I had. (Which is understandable) Then, I decided who better to interview than someone in the community? I decided to interview Mr. Schoenhals, the teacher for media and photography at Riverside. 

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How does this relate to my interests? Why did I choose to interview Mr. Schoenhal?

I love photography and I  often do it for fun, when I’m out o a walk outside I love capturing different angles and perspectives of some scenery. I love taking something ordinary and making a really cool photo of it. I find filmmaking and photography really cool. I chose Mr. Schoenhal because even though his passion is slightly different than mine, I wanted to see what his job was like and what steps I would have to take if I were to pursue a job similar to his. I wanted to get a little information on how he decided to pursue a career in the field he was interested in.

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The Interview:

for the interview part, I asked Mr. Schoenhal these six questions:

1. Why are you passionate about your job?
2. What obstacles have you faced to get you where you are today? 
3. What advice would you pass onto someone interested in what you are doing?
4. Would you open to further contact from Riverside students and if so, how can someone contact you?
5. When did you know that you wanted to pursue photography/media?
6. What is your favorite part about your job?

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These were his responses:

1. He said that he had always enjoyed media ever since he was little, and he became a fan of it around star wars. He says that he remembers making short films with his brother about different things. He also said that he loves working with students and teaching them.
2. He mentioned that his biggest obstacle that he encountered was probably getting onto a teacher’s college; he applied twice for SFU.
3. He said that if you are interested in it you have to be really passionate about it. You have got to stick with it and you have got to try your best and really want it.
4. Since Mr. Schoenhal is from Riverside Secondary school, he will be open to further contact from students. He says that students can email him, or just go to his room and talk to him.
5. He wasn’t even sure that teaching media would be his job for a while! He studied to be a geologist but then one day a coworker helped him transfer to something he would be even more passionate about.
6. His favorite part of the job is sharing his passion with students who are also passionate. He loves inspiring and connecting with students interested in the profession so that they can grow and learn. 

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What did I learn from this interview? What opportunities have opened for me?

I learned more about the things included in learning about a passion and what goes on in a teaching job, what a type of job I could be interested looks like. I learned that if I want to do something and enjoy it, (this doesn’t even mean for this specific field), I need to be all in, I need to be very passionate. I think that this has helped me to understand more about a job like this for the future. It will help me decide what I will want to study and if I would be interested in a job similar to this. I also now have a new connection with an adult in our school which is always a good thing. Understanding the job better will give me an advantage in the future when I am applying for jobs. It will be easier to determine if that is what I want to do in the future.

 

bibliography:

all my photos are from:

https://www.pexels.com/search/learn%20opportunities/