Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/96440
Ten Years Out . . . For Sadath Garcia ���00, what started as a fun Project Week trip to Hollywood turned into a path to his future. He spent the week exploring Los Angeles, meeting Latin alums and learning about the impact of film on culture. ���I didn���t have it so synthesized then,��� he says, ���but afterwards I knew I wanted to explore how movies can inspire social change.��� He also knew he wanted to get back to California. When looking at colleges, Sadath focused on schools with small, supportive communities like the one at Latin. The University of Redlands, in Redlands, California, seemed to fit the bill. And when he heard about the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies, a subdivision of the university, he was hooked. ���An admissions representative came to talk with us my senior year. ���Seeing as you���re all coming from Latin, a kind of classic curriculum, I doubt you���d be interested in the Johnston Center,������ Sadath recalls him saying. ���But as he went on I just thought, ���That���s me.������ ���At Johnston, you create your own major,��� Sadath explains. ���Students get written evaluations instead of traditional grades, and you negotiate all your coursework with your professors. Each student creates a unique, individualized course of study based on their interests.��� Sadath���s customized major focused on history and media studies with a minor in race, religion and ethnic studies. His program included study abroad opportunities and internships alongside regular coursework. It was during an internship at Paramount Pictures that Sadath fully articulated his passion. At Paramount, he says, ���I realized that working on romantic comedies in a traditional Hollywood environment didn���t fit me. I was interested in film as a vehicle of social change. I began asking, ���How do you leverage a story well-told into something with more impact?������ Soon after graduation, he joined fledgling production company Participant Media ��� maker of such films as Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth and Good Night, Good Luck ��� as part of its Social Action & Advocacy Department. ���Our team���s job was to have one foot in Hollywood and one in the social sector. We built action campaigns around the themes in each film so that viewers didn���t just watch a movie, they were given tools to make a difference.��� Sadath currently has his sights set on law school. ���I want to take my experiences in Hollywood and leverage them with the impact of the law to help shape high-impact, social, political and economic change.��� n ��� Tiana Pyer-Pereira ���03 ���I was interested in film as a vehicle of social change. I began asking, ���How do you leverage a story well-told into something with more impact?������ Latin School of Chicago 37