The room is a dark yellow color and is decorated with piles of papers stacked on shelves and two small tables. Two laptops sit side by side on an old table on one side of the room, with a third computer on the other. When the two white doors of the room are shut, it seems stagnant and box-like. Escudero doesn’t seem to mind though. He says he likes what he does, it’s like playing.

He and his girlfriend, Kristin “Bella” Reeves, are trying to start a video production business together. They both graduated from Full Sail University with a degree in film, and have been striving ever since to give their business some legs.

 Escudero was born in New York and lived there until he was five. His father, Vicente (Escudero would have been the fourth Vicente in his family line, but his parents opted to use the English version of the name instead), had started a camera shop in 1980. That’s where Escudero believes he fell in love with film.

“I’ve always been interested in cameras, video cameras, photography, because my father…was a camera salesman in New York City,” he said. “As a kid I’d help out, clean the store, clean the cameras, all this stuff.”

He remembers all the cameras that his dad had, and how he use to bring them home and mess around with them – playing, recording special events, and just figuring out how they work.

Meanwhile Escudero’s mother, Ingrid Elues, made a living by running her own cleaning service. He remembers her working hard all of her life.

After New York, Escudero lived in New Orleans for about five years before heading down to South America to return to his family’s roots. For about the next ten years, from the age of ten until about twenty, he lived in Chile.

In Chile Escudero finished middle school and moved on to St. Peter High School. While he sums up his academic career with a shrug and the line, “You win some, you lose some,” Escudero fondly remembers dabbling around in a few different sports – specifically rugby. 

“I played soccer until I was ten. But you know after ten years I could barely kick the ball,” he said with a grin. “But rugby was definitely my favorite sport…it was great, a lot of fun, a rough sport, just a lot of fun. I played basically from seventh grade through high school.”

 At a little less than six feet tall with an average build, Escudero doesn’t seem like the rugby type. In speech he’s polite and friendly, always smiling and laughing. His Spanish accent leaks through slightly into his otherwise perfect English. His dark brown eyes and short black hair allude to his Chilean heritage, while the light freckles on his round cheeks quickly dismiss the image of the rugged rugby player and make it a little hard to guess his age at 25.

 Escudero finished high school in 2002 and began attending a Chilean college called Duoc UC. On August 28, 2005, Escudero was still in Chile, but his family was living in New Orleans when the devastating hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the United States.  In addition to the over 1,800 people who lost their lives and the $81 billion of damage, 90 percent of Louisiana residents were evacuated from their homes, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services website.

Escudero regrouped with his family in Florida after Katrina, where they lived for about a year. Escudero had a school called Full Sail University in the back of his mind as a possible college choice while in Chile. After the events of the hurricane and his family’s displacement, he thought it was an opportune time to take a closer look at the Orlando school.

“When Katrina hit, they moved to Florida and I met them there. That’s when I went to Full Sail,” he said. “I had Full Sail in mind a couple years back but at that particular moment it wasn’t the right time. But one thing led to another and I ended up going to school there.”

Full Sail is a year-round school that pumps out a four year Bachelor’s degree in two years instead. The work load at the school is often heavy, giving little room to students for down time. It’s a growing school that is gradually becoming known for its various media arts programs.

It was at this school that Escudero met his 4 foot 11 inch partner in crime, Kristin Reeves. Escudero had failed a semester of math, but he jokingly offers that, “everything happens for a reason,” because it landed him in Reeves’ math class in the next semester.

What Reeves, slightly younger than Escudero at 22, lacks in height, she makes up for in personality and energy. She always seems to be multi-tasking or busy with something while talking about something else. Reeves has brown eyes that match Escudero’s, though her hair his a lighter brown and sits slightly above her shoulders.

“It was the first day of class and I had lost all my classmates…I didn’t expect it to be so packed so I got there a couple of minutes late,” Escudero began.

“There were no more desks and we had to sit at a table in the front of the room,” Reeves takes over. “I didn’t like to sit next to anyone because I was the only girl and all of my classes were all boys.”

“And I just sat right next to her,” Escudero finishes with a chuckle.

The two then shared a laugh about how Reeves was bald at the time, the result of an impulsive head-shaving. But she figured if he could love her then, he could love her always.

After Full Sail, Escudero returned to his family in New Orleans briefly before going to live with Reeves in New Jersey. Since then the duo have been working endlessly to build up their business through various projects, taking on any work they get their hands on, and networking.

Escudero traveled to Connecticut to work as a production photographer on independent film. He’s also done some talent work as a background person in some movies, one being the film “Final Destination 4.” Escudero admits that he only really does this work in order to network.

“It’s a good way to just get in,” he said.

“Just to get in there, to get on the set,” added Reeves.

Escudero explained how once on the set, he could hand out cards and information to promote their business and productions.

The two also attended the Winter Music Conference, which Reeves describes as “a five day party,” where they did various types of photography work for different parties.

“Imagine being awake for like 36 hours straight,” said Reeves. “…because it’s literally nonstop parties that we were trying to cover. We had to follow the parties and they just don’t stop.”

More recently, Escudero traveled back to New Orleans for a three day cover of the Voodoo Music Festival. The massive lineup at the festival ranged from acts such as the Stone Temple Pilots, to Lil Wayne, and Panic at the Disco. Escudero took video footage and created a demo reel of the event in order to show off his skills to potential clients and demonstrate a little of what his business could do.

“There’s always something coming up,” said Escudero. “Either a gig, or freelancing here and there, or if there’s something else we can work on just to promote ourselves. If there’s nothing to work on, then we’re out looking for jobs.”

The couple admits to being zombie-like in their constant focus on creating the business. They estimate that they spend at least one hundred hours a week working on projects to establish themselves as an efficient and reliable production business.

Much of this work currently focuses on creating photo albums and video for weddings, leading them to toy around with the idea of calling part of the business, “Honey Productions.”

“You can always find us here,” Reeves said with a laugh as she looked around the yellow basement room. “And if not, we’re here by the end of the night.”

There will be one final, feature-length profile for my blog. The profile will focus on Vincent Escudero, a young man who has lived in Chilie, New Orleans, and Florida, and is currently living in New Jersey as he attempts to start a business. Escudero is a graduate in film and is trying to start a video production business along with a former profile subject, Kristin “Bella” Reeves (See previous posts). This profile will be unlike any of the previous posts. It will be long and rich with detail, video footage of Escudero’s projects, photos, and anything else that will help to enhance the story.

Why it matters

Vince Escudero is fresh out of college, full of real-world experience, and struggling to make a business of his own. He is currently going through the process that many future college graduates will be facing. In a tanking economy where jobs and opportunities are scarce, Escudero and Reeves work nearly around he clock trying to make a name for themselves, while still doing what they love. Escudero’s story in particular is interesting because he spent ten years living in Chile and his family was living in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina.

Check out the full details of his story and what he plans to due with his business in my final upcoming profile due out on Monday, December 8th.

The article begins by saying that, “Higher college costs and steep losses in college savings plans are forcing students and their parents to borrow more to earn bachelor’s degrees.”

It continues on to say that, “Last year’s seniors, facing increasing costs through their college years, graduated with an average debt load that was 6 percent higher than the previous year’s grads accumulated.”

It’s not really new news to current students that tuition is on the rise, but the article continues to explain how our current state of economic turbulence is affecting the ease with which students can borrow money and availablity of loans. In turn, it seems, it’s getting harder and harder to pay for college.

“The nonprofit College Board, which operates assessment tests, said tuition and fees rose 6.4 percent at public universities in 2007-08, compared with the previous school year,” states the article. ”Room and board were up 5.2 percent.”

The article concludes by saying that the government reassures us that federal student loans are still available to eligible students, even in times of credit crisis.

But still some, like myself, can’t help but feel that proverbial squeeze on the wallet as tuition bills climb and financial/economic confidence dwindles. The loans may still be there, but will the jobs that are going to provide the money to pay off the loans?

This site is helpful to those looking to buy a new home. While your parents’ basement may satisfy you until you find a job, this site could help you find “the best home for the least amount of money” once your ready to move on. [Home Buying Tips]

Once your ready to upgrade your car from the hand-me-down junker that’s older than you are, check out this site for tips on buying your first car. [DMV]

What good’s a college degree if you can’t find a job? Here’s an article that’s all about finding your first big job. [About.com]

1) What do you look forward to most after finally graduating?

Dana: “I will love not coming to campus and class anymore, and I look forward to having a full time job.”

Jen: “I look forward to finding a job and buying a home.”

2) What worries you most about graduating?

Dana: “I worry about not getting the job I want, not getting a job at all, and not getting paid enough.”

Jen: “I’m worried that I won’t find a job, be kicked off my parents insurance and still living at home.”

3) What would be your “ideal job?”

Dana: “Teacher, K through 5…because I really like children.”

Jen: “Elementary teacher because I love teaching kids and being able to help teach children what they need to know for life.”

4) How long do you expect it will take to pay off your student loans?

Dana: “Ten years I guess? Maybe forever once I’m done grad. school.”

Jen: “I hope in about two to three years I will be done paying off my loans.”

This is an article about Michigan’s graduation levels and how the state needs to step it up in a time of economic crisis. [Freep.com]

For those graduating college, this is an interesting read. This article asserts that the economy is NOT expected to impact the hiring of college graduates. [AccountingWeb]

This article explores the idea that the economy could be affecting what subjects students will study. [WALB News]

Higher tuition fees, the greater need for financial aid, and their link to the economy. [Daily Press]

“Proposes scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location. Advocates schools dedicated to enabling “teachers to learn from expert practitioners in the field.” Says he would provide $1 billion in funding to create mentoring programs for teachers.”

Obama’s own website describes his plans for creating The American Opportunity Tax Credit and how he plans to simplify the application process for financial aid.

For those graduating and entering the work force, check out his plan to fix the economy.

As for the questions of “What will work?” and “What won’t?”, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Today, Tom works for Lockheed Martin as a software engineer for a flight training application designed to train pilots for the new F-35 fighter plane. The plane will likely be used in the near future by the Marines, Air-force, and Navy. The company was drawn to Tom’s experience in game development and programming.

“The pilots that will fly this plane are still in high school today,” he said. “They’re from an age where visual stimulation is found to be the best method of learning.”

Meaning that an instructional application that has the feel of a video game is the perfect way to teach budding new pilots all about the F-35.

Tom says that he is still interested in video games and has some regret about not working for a true game developer. “Video game companies are more casual and relaxed,” he said, which is suiting to his personality. “But Lockheed Martin is a steady job that I know I’ll have for awhile…Plus, if I want to work on my own projects, I know I’m not competing with my employer. So it’s kind of a trade-off.”

Overall, Tom says that the process of searching for a job was the hardest thing he’s faced in his post-graduation career. Simply finding a place that hired for the type of position he wanted proved challenging.

“It was really hard finding a place and then just dealing with rejection after rejection,” he said.

But through trial and error, the will to persevere, and a bit of luck, the hunt ended successfully for Tom.

“It was tough for me,” he said, remembering the start of his search for a job. “Their weren’t a lot of positions available at the time…Most companies look for two years experience.” Unfortunately for Tom, he had attended an accelerated college with rigorous hours. He hadn’t the time for internships while in school and once he was out, he couldn’t afford an unpaid internship. He needed a real job paying decent money.

Tom started his job hunt by pasting his resume to websites like Monster and Career Builder just to begin getting himself out there. He planned to bombard employers with his resume, sit back, and hope for a good hit. It didn’t work.

“I had to start working the small jobs [doing labor] and I worked for Drug Store.com in a factory line just to start paying off my school loans. In January I finally got a break, but that was seven or eight months later.”

His break was landing a job with Siemens Medical Solutions doing IT type of work (setting up databases, de-bugging software). Unfortunately, this wasn’t the type of work that Tom had intended to do with his degree in Video game Development. He wasn’t happy at Siemens and hoped something else would turn up.

Tom’s uncle works for a NJ branch of a company called Lockheed Martin. His uncle mentioned that they may be looking for computer programmers for another branch back in Orlando. He passed along Tom’s resume with a personal recommendation. Lockheed flew Tom down for interview in March 2007, and he found himself back in Orlando in May to begin working for the company.