By Jessica Mangan
Young, dedicated, and ambitious.
These three adjectives accurately describe three very busy students here at Fitchburg State University, whose get up and go lifestyles are no short of implausible. Current Fitchburg State juniors Matt Doucette, Zach Levenson, and sophomore Grace Morrissey reveal to us their jam-packed lives as film and video majors, while reflecting upon how they go about doing it in college.
“I think it’s really cool how comm media isn’t an incredibly pursued major, so when you are explaining to people what you are going to school for, you have quite a bit of original things to talk about,” says Doucette.
Currently in his fifth semester in the Communications Media program, junior Matt Doucette is now helping out with a lot of camera work for his good friend Derek Goulet, a recent graduate from Fitchburg State.  Their documentary was shot the weekend of October 24th, down in Washington D.C. This trip to D.C. was Doucette’s first big gig of state filming experience.
The documentary is about a man by the name of Bill Small who has cerebral palsy and Derek wanted to take him to see his favorite artist, Gladys Knight.  To accomplish this, Derek started an indiegogo fundraiser and raised $3000.
During his spare time, Doucette plays an active role in the FSU Film Society and is a runner for the Cross Country and Track team, all while holding down a job at the Equipment department in Conlon. For next semester, Doucette plans to be working on his Advanced Film, which will essentially be his final grade. “It’s really important to care about your image (no pun intended) in the field.  If you create a good name for yourself from the get go, that you are reliable, and that you can be a potential asset to the community, word will get out.  It can be fair that way,” says Doucette.
Also in his fifth semester in the Communications Media program, junior Zach Levenson is taking the role of First Assistant Director, for an Indie movie in Boston. Similar to Doucette, Levenson is a student athlete, running for the Cross Country and track team, and enters into the annual Campus Movie Festival here at Fitchburg State.  In addition, both Levenson and Doucette are working together on a film every weekend up until January.
For next Semester, Levenson will also be creating his first Advanced Film, and as for the future, “Part of me wants to stay with the company I’m with now in Boston. They can’t pay me yet but if I stay with them I know I’ll start out in a higher position if they get big. But if they aren’t big by the time I graduate I see myself going to California and trying to work there. But if for some reason the Boston company gets big while I’m gone and they want me back, I could come back to Boston,” says Levenson.
This will be her third semester in the Communications Media program, and sophomore Grace Morrissey has already taken on quite the responsibility. Currently, Morrissey is enrolled in Intermediate Documentary, and her group is working on a documentary on an organization based out of Leominster called Kylee’s Kare Kits for Kids Inc.
When she is not behind the camera, Morrissey is holding the position as a captain for the Women’s Cross Country and Track team here at FSU. However, Morrissey does not put down the camera completely. She recently started creating mini team videos, and if she is not running, she is the team photographer. When asked if she ever felt overwhelmed while being in the film and video program, Morrissey replied that “I’ve never felt overwhelmed by the expectations of the program or the professors, but sometimes it can be overwhelming when you think of how talented everyone else is and wanting to measure up to the level of my peers.”