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As mentioned in my last post, here is an outline of the speech that I was honored to deliver at the dedication ceremony for the “Martin Center for Digital Media Arts.”

Good morning! As Dr. Dowden said, I am Andrew Martin and I am very glad to be here with you today! I am also grateful that the first Digital Media space is being named after me! Ok, so perhaps it is not named after me, but I guess I can still say that my name is on the space. In all seriousness, I do want to extend a big thank-you to Jerry and Elsie Martin for supporting the Digital Media Arts program here at Huntington University, a program that I was blessed to have participated in during my four years as a student here.
For those of you who do not know me, I was a Digital Media Arts Animation major with a double major in Computer Science. My experiences here prepared me for my current position at an award-winning animation studio in California. I am currently a Render Wrangler, and while I will not go into the details of what a Render Wrangler does at the moment, please feel free to ask me more about it afterward. But I do have to say that my experiences here in the DMA program prepared me perfectly for my role. Through independent studies and classroom projects, I was able to research and develop systems while I was in school that I am working directly with in my current position. What started out here in the classroom as what I envisioned as merely a “pet project” has become the exact focus of my first full time job. Without the experience I procured at Huntington University, my resume would not have been noticed in the hundreds of applications that are received daily.
Just as my research project at Huntington served to launch my career in animation, I hope too that my senior project experience will guide my future endeavors in the animation industry. During my senior year in the animation program I served as the producer of a short-film called “What Remains.” This project has encouraged me to pursue production management as I move forward with my career. Even now, I am beginning to take training classes in production management at the studio I work at with the hope of expanding upon the skills I discovered during my time here at Huntington.
Huntington’s Digital Media program enables young people to explore media within the constructive framework of a Christ-centered education. It provides students with access to resources with which to create meaningful art that pushes us to be lightbringers to our world. And the beauty of the education I received at Huntington is that I was able to explore this artform of Digital Media in conjunction with an innovative toolset, Computer Science. Without this unique hybrid, I would be just another artist applying for a job at the giant, faceless animation studios of Hollywood. But with it, I was a prime candidate for a studio that embraces artists who stretch beyond the basic framework of their specialties.
I wish to thank each of you who are here today for your continued interest in and support of Digital Media Arts. I look forward to seeing the talent that this department produces in the years to come. As the program continues to grow and mature, I hope to see many more HU alumni here and at the other animation and film studios in Hollywood. And while Hollywood is not the gold standard for students from this department, telling impactful stories is. What remains to be seen is the extent of the impact that these students can provide when going out from this program. While this great school and its Digital Media program cannot in itself make the talented people in this program successful, it does provide the valuable opportunities for the students to get a solid start. And once we get started, it is hard telling where these modest beginnings will take us.

*Photo from Huntington University PR