I began my film related pursuits in fourth grade. At the time, I was attending a public elementary school. Whenever I got home from school, I would walk into the house to find my older brother watching YouTube videos. There was one group in particular, a comedy sketch team, that really excited me. I wanted to be a star on YouTube like them more than anything, I grabbed my mp4 player and made a video in my backyard the first chance I got. It was horrible, but it was mine. I never edited it and, to this day, I have no idea where it is, but I remember it beat for beat.

After this, my mother bought me a small, cheap video camera and introduced me to iMovie. I quickly began making as many short "comedic" sketches as I could, constantly trying more and more to make them look, sound, and feel exactly like that YouTube group's. Of course, it was through trial and error, experimenting, and hundreds of YouTube tutorials that I taught myself how to shoot and edit. When I moved to a private school, I quickly made a few friends who were inevitably dragged into the process.

In seventh grade, my mother bought me a slightly better video camera along with Premiere Elements. I devoted myself to learning how to use both as best as I could, feeling that I was in the big leagues now. My videos on YouTube became only slightly better, but they were better nonetheless.

This continued into high school, but my drive for making videos had slowed down immensely. I was not sure that I wanted to go into film as a career and I stopped making so many videos. It was merely a hobby to me until my junior year. I experienced an immense heartbreak and loss like I never had before. I felt broken in a way I did not think possible and I had no idea how to express myself, so I wrote a script for a short film titled "Journey." Through the year-long process of making this short film, I came to multiple realizations about myself, my life, how I relate to others, and what I believed my purpose was. When I finished the film, I could look back on the experience as extremely therapeutic, and for that reason, I took up film as a major and haven't looked back since.

The high school I attended was a small one and had a core curriculum that focused on classical education. My education revolved around big ideas such as Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. I read many great authors and classical works, took numerous classes that forced me to reevaluate my perception of life, had instructors and professors that taught me about virtue, and I learned how to operate and engage with those around me in a fruitful way.

My high school experience is probably the second greatest thing that influenced me as a filmmaker. After "Journey," I realized that I wanted to continue my pursuit for Truth, Goodness, and Beauty throughout my entire life. I wanted to challenge myself in new and different ways philosophically while still managing to create works of art that I, along with those who watch my films, can engage with emotionally.

I began attending a college in Siloam Springs, AR, called John Brown University in 2020, where I met a film professor who would come to be one of my most valued mentors. It was difficult to be a freshman and take numerous introductory courses when I had already taught myself those things in fifth and sixth grade. However, I began to appreciate the opportunity to go back to the basics before things got too hot for me to handle.

I am currently a junior at John Brown University. I made a commitment to make at least one short film per semester, and I am sticking to that commitment.