Major: Television Production
Anthony Guerrero was fascinated with video content from an early age.
“I used to queue up a dozen YouTube videos on my family’s old computer—with an incredibly slow internet connection—each morning before school so that I could watch them when I got home,” he said. “I was infatuated with the idea of creating something that thousands or even millions of people could watch and enjoy. I began to make my own YouTube videos when I was 11 years old and continue to create online video content as a hobby today.”
He did not look at this interest as a potential career. Instead, Guerrero planned to pursue civil engineering and wanted to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. But from a financial standpoint, College of DuPage made more sense, allowing him to earn transferrable credit at an affordable price.
COD also offered an array of elective courses that allowed Guerrero to explore his interests.
“I took courses in creative fields such as graphic design and video editing, and I realized that I wanted to pursue my passion rather than the path that I was told to follow,” he said. “I’m grateful that I decided to attend COD before committing to an engineering program because it allowed me to realize that I wasn’t happy with that path I was on before having invested too much into it. I was also able to take a chance at doing what I had always loved to do—video production. I learned more about the television and film industry and honed my skills while at COD under the guidance of my wonderful teachers, including Jennifer Piehl and Tony Venezia.”
I was lucky enough to have chosen COD as I actually had the freedom to explore my options and land on the one that felt right, which is a luxury that doesn’t come cheap at large universities.
Anthony Guerrero
Guerrero earned his Associate in Applied Science degree in Television Production just after the pandemic began. He continued working his part-time job and found several freelance assignments through Piehl and friends made at COD. While he transferred to Columbia College Chicago, the pandemic and nature of online courses drained his motivation.
Instead, he decided to pursue a full-time career and began working at Swagger Marketing as the main video editor and secondary videographer. His projects include e-commerce video content, branded narrative content and global ad campaigns.
“I am constantly expanding my skills and improving upon them,” he said. “I like what I do. Video editing is something that I’ve learned through trial and error and I can only keep getting better. There is no end to learning and I don’t plan to stagnate in my skills. I would love to continue to work with global brands and help them convey their visions to the world, but I would also like to work on more narrative-focused content in the future. Whether it be through film, television or online content, I have always had the desire to inspire others to get out there and create, much like the videos from the early days of YouTube inspired me.”
Guerrero is glad that his choice of COD led to his current career.
“I was one of those kids in high school who was told I would ‘figure it out’ because I was ‘one of the smart ones,’ so I did what was expected of me and went into engineering,” he said. “I was following a path that was loosely set before me but had no idea how to proceed. I was lucky enough to have chosen COD as I actually had the freedom to explore my options and land on the one that felt right, which is a luxury that doesn’t come cheap at large universities. I met a lot of great people through the Motion Picture/Television program that helped shape my skills and my career into what they are today.”
Learn more about the Motion Picture/Televison program at College of DuPage