Who am I?

My name is Maximus S. I’m a student at Bettye Davis East High School and a TA for the podcast course. I specialize on the tech side of things and help with editing and filming. I’m a Samoan and I was raised in Anchorage, Alaska. I went to Tudor Elementary, Wendler Middle School, and Bettye Davis East High School. I take classes like percussion, photography, japanese, etc. When I have free time I play many types of games, and take walks around my neighborhood. I listen to a lot of music, I don’t have a specific genre of music I like but I’ll listen to anything besides country. In the summer I go camping with my family over at Kinik and hangout with my cousins and ride our four-wheelers side by side.

Facts about me:

• My name Maximus came from the movie gladiator.

• My birthday is on thanksgiving day sometimes.

• I’m great in academics, but not so much in life skills.

• My birthday is a combination of my Grandparents birthdays.

• All my names were given to me for a different reason (Maximus, Tufi, Samoa, Seanoa)

What’s it like to be a TA?

At first I didn’t expect to be in this position. I was just a kid who did editing for fun and went around helping others in need. Near the end of the first semester of podcast I was offered a position to become a TA and I accepted because I would be bored at home. So far being a TA is fun. I got to bond with the students and learn some new things.

Why did you choose Podcasting/Film making?

When I was younger my dream was to be a youtuber, but I never got through with it. So as a hobby I would edit videos for fun, mostly for memories and to make plain videos more funny or interesting. My friends and I would stay up some nights and when it’s one of THOSE nights we would have a very deep conversation about anything having fun and having laughs the whole night. A bonus was that my friends were also into filming as well, so we would have fun messing up and making skits and acting out a scene.

Why is Podcasting/Film Making important to me?

I would say that these two things are important to me because these are the two things that I feel that I’m good at. I think I enjoy film making more because I get to make boring memories into funny or interesting scenes. I enjoy podcasting a lot because I feel when I’m in a room with my friends and we have a topic our opinions and responses are really interesting or funny (it is ironic though since I don’t listen to podcasts at all).

Extra things.

Will I go back to making youtube videos?

Maybe not, because after hearing how my friends tried becoming youtubers it’s kind of stressful. Maybe when I’m older and bored I’ll do it.

How do I edit videos?

I use just easy apps like capcut, but I recommend using anything you’re comfortable with or can afford.

How do I get my ideas for videos?

Sometimes I do some videos similar to some trends on TikTok. When I make most are just about my life or like a vlog. Some videos like the one I’m currently working is a recap video with songs that represents parts of my life into one video.

What are you taking away from helping with this workshop?

I’m grateful that I got to be apart of this course one more time. It was fun learning the new equipment, and getting to learn about others. This was a good club to join to talk about anything or to have something to do. I’m happy that I joined this club in the beginning of the school year and later become a TA. Since I like making videos I’ll most likely use these new skills I’ve learned and new ideas into making future projects.

Maximus is one of our Spring interns and a former participant for the podcasting at Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School after school workshop, led by Mrs. Kim Liland. You can find out more about this workshop here and catch up on all our interns takeover posts on our Instagram page and on Facebook. Thanks to the National Endowment for the arts for funding the Cultures, Careers, and Communities Podcasting Workshop at East and West Anchorage High School. Thank you to all of our interns for this workshop for you hard work and dedication!