Cameron Stewart

What made you want to come to Lewis & Clark?

My older brother went to school here, and I remember how beautiful the campus was every time I’d come up to one of his basketball games. By the time I was looking at colleges, I had already met the football coaches, so it was a pretty easy transition for me to come here.

What have you been doing since graduation?

Since graduating, I have been working full-time as a freelance videographer and photographer. I do a wide range of work, from music videos and short form documentaries, to portrait shoots. I just recently started my own production company, BOA Films. I still do work with the school all the time, for which I am grateful for.

How did Lewis & Clark prepare you for your job?

Lewis & Clark prepared me for this work through teaching me how to expand my creativity, enrich my understanding of the world, and how to endure the often overwhelming nature of the business side of my job.

What would you say is the most important thing you learned at Lewis & Clark

The most important thing I learned at Lewis & Clark would be the knowledge I gained from my rhetorical criticism class with Professor Kundai Chirindo. I’d say it was one of the most important classes I took during my four years in school.

How do you stay connected to Lewis & Clark as an alum?

I try my best to attend any alumni events that I can, and keep in touch with everyone as much as possible. I also enjoy working with other alumni who are starting their own endeavors, be that creative, culinary, small businesses etc. Providing my creative services to their projects is a great way to stay connected and make sure we all benefit.

Have you been to Alumni Weekend or other programming, like Homecoming, etc.? What did you enjoy about the events?

I’ve been to a few alumni weekends and homecomings since graduating. I enjoyed connecting with older alumni and reconnecting with friends from college, and getting to see what everyone’s been up to since graduating. I feel like everyone’s doing such cool work, it’s very inspiring to see.

How do you encourage other alumni to give back to the college?

I encourage other alumni to give their time and expertise. I think with how times are changing, many of us can’t give in the traditional monetary sense, but what we can do is be mentors for current students who are interested in pursuing the careers we are in. I like to help current students with their creative endeavors when I can.

What did you like or find most interesting about your major?

My major tends to get a lot of flak from other majors, often being labeled the easy major for athletes. I felt this way too until I took the higher level theory classes and realized how deep the well actually is. I think that with the rise of Artificial Intelligence and the rampant misinformation being spread on the internet, having an in-depth understanding of rhetoric is one of the most important things you can have in the modern world.

What did you like or find most interesting about your minor?

I think that Winterim is perhaps a flagship of not only the entrepreneurship minor, but of the school itself. The sheer amount of industry professionals who come in to teach the students and provide their expertise is incredible. Not to mention the possibilities for future employment that comes with it.

What was your favorite class? How did it expand your knowledge?

I have two classes at this spot. The first was Photography 101 with Dru Donovan, a class I took as a senior who was already doing commercial photography at that point. Since I had been in the commercial field already, I was certain the class would be an easy A. I was very wrong. I spent the entire semester being humbled. It wasn’t until my final project that I’d say I really “got it”, and since that point my photography has become so much more than I ever thought possible. Dru’s class taught me how to capture with emotion, and make my photos more than just capturing what I saw in front of me.

The second class is Rhetorical Criticism with Kundai Chirindo. I can easily say that this was the most challenging class I took at LC. It showed me just how complex and nuanced rhetoric and media can really be, and most importantly, how it applies to so much of our lives. In the end, despite being the hardest class I took, it was also the most important.

Where did you find your community on campus?

I came into college on the football team, so I basically had 80+ people I could rely on from day one. After I had to stop playing for health reasons, I still felt I could lean on and depend on my teammates, and eventually went on to work on creative projects with several of them after graduating.

Who was your mentor on campus? Why do you consider this person your mentor?

I’d consider Chrys Hutchings and Catarina Hunter at the Bates Center for Entrepreneurship to be mentors during my time at LC. The two of them helped me endure the business side of my career, which was a point of particular struggle for me when starting out. The artistic side was far easier for me to understand than things like writing invoices and business proposals. I thank them both for not only helping me with these kinds of tasks, but for also believing in me and supporting me in my creative endeavors since the moment I stepped foot on campus.

Rhetoric and Media Studies Entrepreneurship