Bruno from Brazil - M.S. in photojournalism and video journalism

My name is Bruno Maestrini, I'm from Brazil.

I am a student in the M.S. program and my emphasis is in photojournalism and video journalism.

What I really like to research is cultural and historical aspects.

My thesis topic is the traditional way that the South American Gaucho cooks barbecue, through an anthropological, historical and cultural lens.

My favorite class at SIU was actually a workshop. It was the Weekend at Murphysboro workshop organized by Mark Dolan.

All the photojournalism and video students, grad and undergrad went there, and spent a whole weekend, from Friday night until Monday morning--all night, all day with professionals from all around the country.

A whole bunch of people from CNN, the Pulitzer Foundation, National Geographic were all there to coach us.

I was a part also of the Shawnee Forest project book.

Here at SIU, they published a book about the Shawnee Forest and I volunteered as a photographer and I have in a publication, a hardcover book, that sounds really cool.

I was a TA for a year and a half and I had the classroom almost for myself.

That was a great learning experience because I learned how to teach.

I had 80 students, teaching Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign and it's a great experience for learning how to deal with students if you want to go out and be a professor or just learning how to deal with people.

Here, you have a chance to meet people from all around the world: from Spain, from China, from Bangladesh, from Brazil, from America--different parts of America.

All these people have different ways of seeing their own work and different ideas of the world.

So you end up learning how to work in so many different ways.

I have two options basically after I graduate.

One is to apply for an OPT, that means get a job here in the U.S. in the three months after I graduate, or go back home.

Either way, I think that I have been well prepared for the market, to work in the industry.

You come out with a great portfolio, you have that opportunity, you just have to know how to use it.

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