by Lilly Bowman/Staff Writer

Photo Caption: Mr Jonathan Hudson is in the radio station talking into the mic and adjusting sound.

GC broadcasting teacher, Mr. Jonathan Hudson didn’t originally plan on being a teacher. So how/why is he one now? According to Mr. Hudson, “No, I did not originally want to become a teacher because I did not like school at all. They didn’t have Radio/TV. We had a newspaper but I was very censored in what I was able to write because I felt like I was doing real journalism talking about real world issues.”

Mr. Hudson stated of his time at the Christian school he attended, “Within a Christian school they don’t really want you to discuss things that are controversial. So nothing that I ever did really went out. I eventually made my own newspaper and printed it, but I got in trouble for it. So no, I never really wanted to be a teacher because I didn’t feel like I had the school experience. I didn’t have a me or a Mr. Holtzclaw or Mrs. Bernard. Or someone that kinda inspired or expected creativity. Everyone was very ‘by the book’.”

Mr. Hudson then pursued his own dreams. “So you know, I just wanted to work in this industry. I knew that and that’s what I did before becoming a teacher as a video editor and still do to this day. I’m doing freelance projects with a company named Precise take. I’m an assistant director. So I am getting the best of both worlds.”

He knew he wanted to be in the editing industry so when GC had an opening in the Radio/TV department, Mr. Hudson thought to give it a try. According to Mr. Hudson, “I feel very good about where I ended up being at department head and being fortunate enough to be on the leadership team of the school. It’s really really great. There are a lot of older teachers I feel like should be on it but I was asked to be on it to provide a different viewpoint. So I’m really honored to be doing that stuff.” 

Mr. Hudson also said, “I’ve run into some of my former teachers from Heritage Christian just here and there. Because I still live very close to Heritage, so I’ve run into them at restaurants and just that kinda thing. And I don’t have a bad kind of relationship with anyone. But I tell them I am a teacher and they actually think I’m lying or making a joke. They are like ‘what? You’re a teacher? That’s hilarious’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m actually teaching.’ They are like ‘You hated school,’  and yeah I kinda did. But I always said if I ever became a teacher I would be different. I would think differently, I know I don’t come from an educational background, I didn’t study in college to be a teacher, I just teach what I know and sometimes that comes across as I can be very tough. I can be very demanding but I am an authentic person. And I think kids kinda see that, that ‘hey I know he may be on us about certain things but at the same time he’s done it before he does it now to this day’ and I think a lot of kids respect that. And they like the projects and the environment here. So I think I would just say ‘Hey go with the flow, you know everything isn’t always as it appears to be’ 

Hudson continued, “I always wanted to be a video editor and that’s what I did for like four years; that was my full time job was just editing videos. And it gets really boring because you are just by yourself at a computer screen. So I just really wanted to be interacting with people. I think by nature I’m kind of a social person and I just enjoy meeting people and working with people.”

Everybody has a favorite topic they teach. Mr. Hudson stated, “My favorite thing is film making because I love storytelling. And you guys are doing some of that now, with your 15 shots and you know we are gonna watch your projects (Broadcast class) tomorrow. Just seeing how those turn out and how you guys are starting to think about angles. But ultimately I like telling stories, that’s the thing, I like taking an idea you have in your head and putting it on paper and then being able to tell it visually. I think it is a multi-step process but when you, you know, have your finished project. And I always tell you kids, ‘Save everything you’ve ever done’ because you are going to look back at some of your freshman projects and be like ‘God, that was terrible’  but then when you’re a senior you’ll be able to see how good you’ve become over the years. And so, I think here it’s very easy to quantify ‘Hey, this is where I was and this is where I’m at’ just by literally looking at your earliest projects and looking at some of your work when you are a senior.”

Having a job and a home life can be very difficult to most people, but to Mr. Hudson, he said, “It’s been a little bit tougher since I have had a daughter because you wanna be there for all the moments, you do. And that’s kinda the first thing I do when I get home. I try to do it, I change clothes so I don’t bring germs home and I wash my hands and my face and all that because babies grab everything. I go home and I pick up my daughter and I play with her and tell her I love her. And she is always happy to see me, so it’s like I feel like deep down even though she is a baby, I think she knows that I have to leave for work and I have to go make a living and provide. But then when I come home it’s like ‘Thank you, Dad, for doing what you do’. And that is not gonna last long, when she is your age she’s gonna be like ‘What’s up? Where is my money? Money I need for this and that.’ So I am just trying to enjoy this time while she is just happy to see me. It’s the most basic level of love and affection I feel like you get from a baby.”

 While he is happy at his job and at home, he is not alone on this journey in either place. One of Mr. Hudson’s former senior students, Mr. Max Holtzclaw, is now helping side by side with Mr. Hudson in this class. How does it work with two teachers in one classroom? Mr. Holtzclaw stated, “Mr. Hudson is a blast. I got to experience him as a teacher for my senior year of high school, and now I am working with him. It is a different transition but still fun, he is just the down-to-earth kind of guy. So I enjoy that aspect and he is a good mentor as well.” Mr. Holtzclaw also said, “I didn’t originally train to become a teacher, so a lot of things that I am learning now are things that he has kinda guided me along the way to do. So for example, when I was here we didn’t have the iPads especially so working with those have become a bit more of an experience for me. And so if I have any questions Mr. Hudson is always there to give me some guidance with it. So it’s really nice he is always there working side by side helps both of us too. It kinda splits the workload so we are both able to not be overwhelmed by it too.”

Hudson and Holtzclaw work together very well. Mr. Hudson has stated, “I mean, we have small classes and I think when there’s two of us, I know in the upcoming weeks I’ll be a lot more behind the scenes. I think a lot of that is by design, I don’t wanna get in his way, I don’t want him to feel like he has to teach the way I do, I want him to do things his own way. And that’s what our past teacher, (Mr. Bill McKenna) who was here before Mr. Holtzclaw, and I kinda decided ‘Hey, we think we want him to be the replacement.’ We don’t want him to be another version of what we do so I want him to be his own teacher and do his own thing. So I think to do that I need to step  out of the way.”

Hudson continued, “Now for example, it does help to have two of us  because I know that I can work with any student individually that’s struggling or just you know, helps to have two people look at projects because we look for different things. Given our background, yeah, I think it’s a class where two people are definitely needed, two people are definitely helpful. And with our after school responsibilities, we have so much we have to do that if one person had to try to do all the Nine Star productions and all the WRGF video stuff and all of our legal things we have to do would be a whole lot of work. That’s why we have two of us.”

The first day of school is difficult when you’re a student. But what about being a teacher? What’s the difference between the two? Mr. Hudson discussed his first day of teaching. “(It went) smoothly, I am not going to lie. I was confident that I could be a good teacher going into it. Alot of first year teachers doubt themselves, I feel like. And I feel like a lot of that comes from the stresses of being an education major and you hear these horror stories. I feel like when I started, I didn’t start here, I started at a different school. I was just kind of a blank slate, like no one really told me about teaching or how to teach or what to do. So I just did it the way that I wanted to so there was kind of a peace that I didn’t have to be like this robot teacher, I could just kind of come in and just do the things that I saw fit. So I think it went really well. My dad is a pastor and before I was a teacher I would spend a lot of time working with the youth group so I was always comfortable around teenagers. So it was actually a fairly easy transition for me.”

Mr. Hudson is known as big hearted and very friendly and outgoing. Students say they really enjoy the class not just by the extra help but from what they learn. Dugan Rowe, 10, stated, “Personally, I like when there is more than one person to help around. I enjoy mainly learning how to film and the new friends I made in the class make it better. I have learned many things but mainly to be more comfortable with being in front of the camera and how to film.”