Photo courtesy: Benji Colegio
Name: Madison Wiser
Why I chose to attend TCU: I had two main reasons for attending TCU. The first was that I was born in Texas and most of my family lives in or near Texas. My parents and I moved all over the U.S. while I was growing up, so it was always our goal to return to Texas and be together as an extended family. By attending TCU, I was finally able to be close to my family in the Southwest, which was an incredible source of love and support during my time at college that I’m very grateful for. The second reason relates to my other major. At many other big Texas colleges, I would’ve been only an English major, not specifically a Writing major. For me, though, writing was my passion, and I wanted to specifically study that as opposed to English more broadly. I didn’t add FTDM until my second semester at TCU, so it was the Writing department that solidified my decision to attend here.
Involvement at TCU: My on-campus involvement that shaped me in a major way was my involvement with TCU’s Student Film Association. I was a member of this club for all four years and I loved every moment. I arrived on my first short film set not knowing anything about filmmaking, and I leave now having written and shot my own short film as the director of photography. I learned so much, not only about the technical and creative sides of filmmaking, but about collaborating with people who share my passion, people who became my close friends during my time here. We always devoted our weekends to creating these short films. This club truly instilled in me the meaning of hard work and devotion, when I would work on-set all weekend, squeeze my homework in at some point, and then go right back to class on Monday morning. I would never trade a single moment of it.
What I will miss most about TCU: What I’ll miss most about TCU is the many opportunities to combine both my majors, and both of my interests really, for the work that I do. I’m sure there are jobs out there where both writing and filmmaking can serve me, but I truly feel like every single day, especially during my senior year, I use the skills and knowledge I’ve gained from both degrees to do work that I’m proud of. That work ranges from writing a documentary, tutoring my peers in writing at my job, writing a novella, interviewing my fellow SFA seniors to help spotlight them, and writing TV shows alongside my peers. I really appreciate that all of my skills feel useful at TCU for the things I care about, and it’s something that I will miss when I likely have to focus on one area in my professional life.