Emily Ashcraft is a rising senior pursuing a degree in the Media Arts and Design school at James Madison University with a concentration in Digital Video and Cinema (DVC) originally from Virginia Beach, VA. The smaller scaled projects and opportunities that she was able to work on through the DVC program inspired her to come on the trip in order to better grasp what a career in this field would look like and also explore new cultures and lifestyles outside of Virginia. The whole idea behind SMAD is becoming a successful storyteller and that was Emily’s favorite part of the trip. As an avid people watcher, the ability to go out into the world with the awareness that everyone has their own remarkable story and have the opportunity to try and tell that story inspired Emily more than anything else during this trip. Continuing to explore how to use a camera, both still images and videos, to capture people’s emotions and convey their stories is something Emily hopes to do for the rest of her life.
