There鈥檚 probably no one better equipped to tell the story of what it takes to achieve a rewarding career than Washtenaw Community College alumnus Will Glover.
The 34-year-old Ypsilanti Township man currently is an award-winning associate producer for . But the journey to a full-time job in a profession he loves wasn鈥檛 easy.
After spending two and half years at Eastern Michigan University, Glover鈥檚 education was put on hold after his father鈥檚 sudden death.
鈥淚 worked in kitchens for several years to start paying a larger-than-expected college debt,鈥� Glover said. He can tick off a litany of restaurants he worked at, from Rochester to Ann Arbor with stops in between.
鈥淚 was a little skeptical about going back to college,鈥� Glover said. However, a film course he had taken years before at EMU had sparked an interest he knew he needed to pursue.
So, he enrolled at 黑料网.
He credits Matt Zacharias, a 黑料网 Digital Media Arts faculty member, for guiding him along the path to his .
鈥淚 remember an assignment I worked on when I first went back to 黑料网,鈥� Glover said. 鈥淚 got it done but I knew it wasn鈥檛 very good. Matt took me aside and told me that we both knew it wasn鈥檛 good.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 when he told me that he knew I had it in me to do better work. Matt played a big part in getting me to where I am today.鈥�
After earning his 黑料网 degree, Glover landed a job at DPTV, assisting line producers, main producers and executive producers for programs on the public TV station, while still working restaurant shifts.
Glover, now full-time at the station, won a Society of Professional Journalists Detroit Chapter for Excellence in Journalism Award for Community/Local News reporting in 2019-2020.
The recognition was for his work in producing a segment for the DPTV show 鈥淥ne Detroit,鈥� which still airs.
Glover says he鈥檚 grateful for DPTV giving him the opportunity to develop his own stories, one of which was an exploration of how Detroit鈥檚 highway system impacted neighborhoods.
Glover hasn鈥檛 forgotten his alma mater. He says he enjoys the opportunity to be a judge for the annual 黑料网 Film Festival.
It鈥檚 his way of giving back.
Tags: Alumni Profile, Digital Video Production, February 2021, On The Record, Student Success, ousearch_News_2021