By combining her interest in videography with her passion for tennis, senior Pati Vedia Sanchez has forged a new path
Some of the first courses that senior Pati Vedia Sanchez took as part of her Communication Arts and Design major were painting classes.
“[With painting] I’m probably the same. I didn’t improve at all. But with photography and videography I learned a lot from Michael Iauch,” she said.
Iauch is the program coordinator for Communication Arts and Design. Sanchez is also earning a minor in Athletic Coaching and is an athlete on the college’s tennis team. Throughout her time at Lees-McRae she has narrowed in on a passion that combines both her love of tennis and her skills in videography. Her senior project will feature a collection of videos she has shot and edited about the sport she has loved since she was five years old.
“I want to show with my videos what is tennis outside of the sport. There are also a lot of emotions and things inside of a match,” Sanchez said. “Everything that you go through, all the people around you that are cheering, the pressure; I want to show that in my videos.”
Sanchez was awarded Best in Show at this year’s Juried Student Exhibition for her video titled, “Play With Purpose.”
Sanchez has also had the opportunity to put these skills to the test on social media, where she runs the Instagram account for the college’s tennis team. After taking the reins from a former tennis player and fellow Communication Arts and Design major, she was able to use her work on the account to fulfill a professional internship requirement for the major.
With small class sizes, Sanchez said she has been able to receive invaluable feedback from her professors and peers that has helped her grow and improve her work, while projects that reflect professional expectations have enabled her to build a robust portfolio that will help the transition to her career following graduation.
As an international student from Spain, Sanchez is unsure if she will be able to continue working in the United States long-term, but she has already cemented plans for the summer following graduation where she will utilize her Optional Practical Training, a temporary work authorization available to students with F-1 visas. Over the summer she will work at a tennis coaching academy, where, in addition to coaching, she plans to pitch herself as an asset to the academy’s digital strategy by creating social media content throughout her tenure.
“I don’t want to leave completely the tennis world, because at the end of the day I had this opportunity to come to the States because of tennis. I came here with a scholarship, so I don’t want to leave that because it’s something that I really enjoy,” she said. “If I can mix the sport of tennis—not even just tennis, I would enjoy recording any sport—with social media I think that would be my big goal.”
Sanchez competes against King University at home. She was named the Conference Carolinas Women’s Tennis Player of the Week on April 15.
