My Story
The Beginning
I believe we are where we are meant to be. I always thought I wanted to be an engineer until I got in front of a camera. Then it all clicked for me.
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Hi, my name is Anthony Hurst and my journey to where I am has twists and turns and realizations that I could have arrived at sooner. When I was a kid I always enjoyed being in front of people and having fun. I was good in math and science and I just knew engineering was for me, so that’s what I pursued. I went to Drexel University and yes, I could’ve worked harder but I realized I didn’t choose the right major for me. One day, after deciding I would transfer, a friend of mine said “You should try communications because you’re a people person.” I realized my personality would have led me down a different path sooner if I had paid attention.
The Middle
Once I transferred to Temple University and took an on camera class, I was absolutely hooked. I loved my new major and focus on broadcasting. I ended up taking an internship at NBC10 in Philadelphia and after becoming a production assistant after graduation, I found out I wanted to be a TV news reporter and began going out with reporters to work on my own demo reel. It didn’t matter if I was tired from my 2:30 am to 11:30 am shift, I knew what I wanted to do. I made my reel and sent it out to news stations and got no work back so I gave up and got a full time job as a case manager for a family service organization. I worked there for 8 months until I got a call from WBOC-TV in Salisbury , MD. The News Director said “Hey Anthony Hurst, do you still want to be on TV?” After interviewing in person I got the job and off to Maryland I went.
The Climax
For almost 3 years I was working as a reporter and towards the end of my contract I had a couple of offers at other stations, however I decided to leave the news business and get married and move up to New Jersey. After some odd jobs not remotely close to my major, I interviewed for a position at a school district and I was passed over. The superintendent told me in the interview “You need to be teaching someone’s kids” and while it hurt, that statement made me decide to try to get my teaching certification via Alternate Route. I took another job at the government I interviewed for at the same time as the school job. I got my certificate of eligibility in July of that year to begin the process of getting my teacher cert because I had a feeling I had found something I wanted to do. I wanted to let the superintendent that interviewed me know that he inspired me even though I didn’t get the job and I did.
The End...?
I continued to work for the government and several months later in October, I got a call from the Superintendent to come meet if I could and I agreed. When we met he told me the last person didn’t work out and they wanted to know if I was still interested. This was my start and now in my 9th year of teaching I’ve used the skills I learned to teach students and to produce videos of my own for weddings, bar mitzvahs and even my own social media.
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That’s a brief glance into my journey. Hope you enjoyed it!
I'm not done yet!
