As Washtenaw Community College prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary, we recognize the thousands of alumni who turned opportunity into achievement. For six decades, WCC has opened doors to education, careers and brighter futures — and these 60 Stories that will be compiled over the year reflect that enduring mission.
When Patrice Scott transferred from Washtenaw Community College to Grand Valley State University in 2021, he took with him the Student Production Award trophy he won as a WCC student in 2020.
Then, he needed to make room for another trophy on his dorm room shelf.
Scott — who is now working as a videographer for Grand Rapids-based SeyferthPR — was one of three WCC digital video students to win first-place trophies from the Michigan chapter of the National Association of Television Arts & Sciences during its 2021 Student Production Awards.
Scott won in the Non-Fiction Short-Form category for “To All the Songs I’ll Never Finish” after winning the Director category in 2020 for his music video, “Distorted.”
There’s no coincidence that both winning projects combined music and video. Ever since he created a music video for his senior project at Arbor Preparatory High School in Ypsilanti, he’s been hooked.
“It was then that I decided I needed to keep combining the two,” Scott says. “It’s what provides the most fulfillment for me.”
His 2021 award-winning production was created for a Fall 2020 Documentary Video Production class with Digital Media Arts faculty member Matthew Zacharias. Creating an autobiographical storyline was ideal for taking that class during a pandemic, when in-person learning was limited.
“The first big project for that class is a project about yourself. In quarantine, all we had was ourselves,” Scott explained. “So during one of the times we did meet on campus, Matt put us in a chair for interviews and we had to take that footage home, add our own b-roll and make it a film.”
Zachararias calls the resulting 8 minute, 18 second project — the award-winning “To All the Songs I’ll Never Finish” — a “story of total transparency.”
“His story poured out his truth about being a music composer and allowing that passion to become an obsession that took over his life,” Zacharias said. “He realized that he was losing touch with his school, his family and himself. The story celebrates ‘failure’ and shortcomings and, in the end, turns into a triumphant work of art, film and documentary.”
Scott transferred from WCC to Grand Valley, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Film & Video Production, although music remains an equally important aspect of his life.
He’s not sure exactly how his two passions will evolve throughout his career, but he knows his career will involve both.
“I have the goal of making videos and making music, those things that bring me fulfillment and hopefully an income at the same time,” he said. “How I do that is sort of up in the air. I like the idea of being the content creator, but also enjoy working with other people.”
Tags: 60 Stories, Alumni Profile, Student Production Awards, Video Production