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The tale of how I ended up at the Chicago Emmys goes all the way back to the first week of my first semester when I met with Norma Green, the head of the Journalism Department, to plan my schedule for the semester.

I told her I had an interest in broadcast, even though I had very little experience behind or in front of the camera. She said I should go ahead and take Broadcast 1 as one of my electives.

Best advice ever.

There were three (count them) three grad students total in the class. Lillian Williams was the professor who laid out the fundamentals for us, and Dartise Johnson was our brilliant editor who taught us the ropes on Avid.

That’s two teachers for three students. Pretty darn good ratio.

The small class size and the intensity of the class made it a great learning experience. I produced my first packages, wrote my first broadcast scripts, and learned my first lesson in what happens when you completely ruin one of your tapes by leaving it in your backpack.

You shoot everything on that tape over again.

But you learn a heck of a lot more.

The next semester, I was a producer for Metro Minutes, Columbia’s student-produced news show. I came up with several ideas for the show, including a segment called “Close-Up Chicago,” which started with a tight shot on a famous Chicago landmark and panned back to reveal the full picture. The audience had to guess, and the answer was revealed after a commercial break.

Metro Minutes was basically another great experience. I produced, wrote, edited, ran the teleprompter, and was on camera at one point or another throughout that semester.

So, you ask, where are the Emmys in all this?

A couple weeks ago, I got an email saying that a Metro Minutes show I helped produce was nominated for a student Emmy. The email also said that if I would like to attend, Columbia would front the bill for my ticket.

I found it hard to say no.

In the end, going to the Chicago Emmys was an experience and a half. While our show didn’t end up winning, Wendy Wohlfeill, a former Columbia College Chicago journalism grad student, won for her piece about Felony Franks, a hot-dog place that employs ex-convicts.

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And I realized that the talented, hard-working, zany people at the Chicago Emmys are just the kind of people I’d like to work with for the rest of my life.

As illustrated by this video here:

http://vimeo.com/31762013