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The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

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New York native and SBCC president of the Student Senate J. J. Englert hopes to move to Los Angeles for filmmaking career

New York native and SBCC president of the Student Senate J. J. Englert hopes to move to Los Angeles for filmmaking career

Between balancing 14 units, meetings during the day, and 20-hour workweeks, the president of the Student Senate has a hard time squeezing in his passion for film.

This semester has been a busy one and with graduation getting close and film production major JJ Englert and has struggled with applying to five schools, eight internships for the summer and seven independent scholarships, not including the scholarships he has applied for at City College.

“I almost failed out of college applying to college,” Englert said. “It’s not that my grades got bad or anything. But it took everything out of me by applying.“

Englert has applied to UCLA, USC, NYU, Loyola-Marymount and Chapman. USC is his first choice. Even though he didn’t get into his second pick, UCLA, he has high hopes for USC.

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“I want to stay on the West Coast,” he said.

Englert packed up all his things in his car and drove from Rochester, New York to California after a year at Monroe Community College, in hopes of following his dreams of becoming a Hollywood movie producer.

“Before I moved here, I literally didn’t know anyone in this entire state,” he said. “But I’m excited to go to film school. I want to work my way up, starting off with the process of being a screenwriter, editor and all that stuff.”

Englert has been on the Student Senate at City College for two years has been president for one.

“I got involved in the student government because I wanted to be active on campus, and have a say in what’s going on,” Englert said. “I ended up going to the meeting and talking to everyone and I was like, ‘Wow this is really cool,’ and it ended up as a hobby that I just really like to do.

Looking back at his first senate meeting, Englert remembers observing the president at the time, Ruby Limón.

“There is no way I could ever do that, and then a year later I was sitting at the head of that table,” Englert said. “I was pretty proud of that.”

While still waiting to make the choice of where to move on, Englert remains optimistic.

“I can see myself in Los Angeles in 10 years,” he said. “I’m excited to go to film school because SBCC has taught me a lot. Mostly it has taught me how to use the resources that I have and use that to my disposal.”

Between balancing 14 units, meetings during the day, and 20-hour workweeks, the president of the Student Senate has a hard time squeezing in his passion for film.

This semester has been a busy one and with graduation getting close and film production major JJ Englert and has struggled with applying to five schools, eight internships for the summer and seven independent scholarships, not including the scholarships he has applied for at City College.

“I almost failed out of college applying to college,” Englert said. “It’s not that my grades got bad or anything. But it took everything out of me by applying.“

Englert has applied to UCLA, USC, NYU, Loyola-Marymount and Chapman. USC is his first choice. Even though he didn’t get into his second pick, UCLA, he has high hopes for USC.

“I want to stay on the West Coast,” he said.

Englert packed up all his things in his car and drove from Rochester, New York to California after a year at Monroe Community College, in hopes of following his dreams of becoming a Hollywood movie producer.

“Before I moved here, I literally didn’t know anyone in this entire state,” he said. “But I’m excited to go to film school. I want to work my way up, starting off with the process of being a screenwriter, editor and all that stuff.”

Englert has been on the Student Senate at City College for two years has been president for one.

“I got involved in the student government because I wanted to be active on campus, and have a say in what’s going on,” Englert said. “I ended up going to the meeting and talking to everyone and I was like, ‘Wow this is really cool,’ and it ended up as a hobby that I just really like to do.”

Looking back at his first senate meeting, Englert remembers observing the president at the time, Ruby Limón.

“There is no way I could ever do that, and then a year later I was sitting at the head of that table,” Englert said. “I was pretty proud of that.”

While still waiting to make the choice of where to move on, Englert remains optimistic.

“I can see myself in Los Angeles in 10 years,” he said. “I’m excited to go to film school because SBCC has taught me a lot. Mostly it has taught me how to use the resources that I have and use that to my disposal.”

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published May 9, 2012.

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