Sunday, July 22, 2007

Hello, Goodbye

Close readers (and viewers of the Danny Boyle interview) of this page will have noticed some changes of late. Gone from the about me section is a reference to Columbia College in Chicago and in its place is a description of my new role at Flashpoint Academy.

Yes, after nearly 12 years teaching in the Columbia College film department, I have left to be "the film guy" at Flashpoint. I told the Columbia administration at the end of May I was leaving and I have been on the Flashpoint payroll since June 1. Due to student commitments, I just recently broke the news to my Columbia classes. By far the most difficult part of leaving was saying goodbye to my current, former and future students.

At the end of each semester I tell students, " Like it or not, once you are my student you are always my student." They can, forever, ask me to screen cuts, read scripts or just chat. Of course the big secret is that I learn way more from them than they will ever learn from me.

Classes start September 17 at Flashpoint and there is a lot of work left to do. In the weeks to come you will read more about our progress and I will provide details. For starters click on those links to the right and you can see the Flashpoint website and the blogs of Simeon Peebler, chairman of the Gaming Department and Perry Harovas, chair of Visual FX and Animation.

PeterH

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is sad to see you go. I'm scared to think of what will happen now to independent projects at CCC. But after looking at Flashpoint's impressive website I'm just excited for you and curious about what possibilities a new media school might bring to the Chicago film community.

elliot

cubedude89 said...

Sounds like a very hard decision. I hope you find that you made the right choice.

I have 1 last year of High School. Then its Flashpoint time. yay!

PeterH said...

Dennis G. Thanks for being a loyal reader and coming to FP next year. It was a hard decision. I had a bunch of good, hard working students such as Elliot. They will be just fine without me and I will always be here to help them. For me, I look forward to the challenge of starting a film school.

See you around campus.

PeterH