March 9, 2000 - Expression’s first class of graduates goes to work

EMERYVILLE, Calif. - At a time when finding talented, highly skilled professionals is the biggest job any business faces, and “time to market” is often measured in gold, the Expression College for Digital Arts has just turned out its first class of graduates. After 14 months of intense “total immersion” education, 19 men and women are now reporting to great jobs with good pay.

“But don’t go for the money,” advised Eckart Wintzen, the Dutch investor who put up more than $20 million of his personal fortune to start the high-tech career training center.

Wintzen addressed the graduates at a commencement ceremony at the school on Friday, March 3. “My advice would be, go for the fun! Go for your own passion! If you’re good, you’ll make the money anyway.” Wintzen pointed to Expression President Gary Platt and CEO Peter Laanen as two personal examples of professionals who have succeeded in their in pursuit of passion. They brought Expression to life in just over a year, from an idea that was literally outlined in tape on the floor of a cavernous industrial building when these students first saw it. Today those same spaces are occupied by about 200 students non-stop using the school’s computer-filled classrooms, recording studios and animation laboratories.

Expression calls itself a “boot camp” where students attend scheduled classes for an average of nine hours a day for 14 months of “total immersion” in one of just two intensive courses of study – digital visual media or sound arts. It’s not a program for just anybody.

“We started this class with 52 people,” Platt reminded the graduates. “Today, there are 19 of you here, ready to pick up your diplomas.”

Another dozen from that first class are still enrolled in the program, but fell back to retake a course or two and will likely graduate with a later class. Others left along the way for a variety of personal, financial or academic reasons.

“This is tough. Nobody ever said it would be easy,” said Platt. “But you made it. Congratulations.”

A few of the students planned to take a week or so off before reporting to their new jobs. Some had already started.

Dan Jenkins, 22, had attended some liberal arts classes at Santa Barbara City College and was working as a special education counselor in 1998 when a friend told him about the Expression Web site, www.expression.edu. Jenkins worked his way through Expression, helping to wire portions of the facility that were still under construction. Jenkins will start next week as a sound system installer at Cietronics Communications Systems Integration in San Jose, earning more than $40,000 a year, helping to put sound systems into major venues like the company’s recent jobs at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and San Francisco City Hall.

Karen Wallace, a mother of three from Orinda, had been working as an artist in traditional media when she decided to make the commitment to study animation at Expression. She has already begun pre-production work on an animated video for Children’s Hospital in Oakland with Tree House Productions.

Roy Miles, a graduate of Skyline High School in Oakland, was working as a manager in the security department at Sybase in Emeryville, when he was assigned to show the surplus building at the back of the campus to a couple of prospective buyers who turned out to be Platt and Laanen. Expression bought the building for its new school and Miles arranged to switch jobs to become a janitor at night so he could attend the new school during the day.

Miles is one of six Expression students headed to Amsterdam, where Wintzen’s investment company, Ex’tent, is based. Miles will be working for Dedato Designers and Architects, a full-service, multi-disciplinary and international design agency. He’ll be helping to create CD-rom content for corporate clients. When he returns, Miles would like to be involved in creating film animation and effects for a major movie studio.

Other employers who have hired graduates for internships or permanent jobs include: Disney, in Los Angeles; Ultra Sound / Pro Media in San Rafael; Tarpan Studios in San Rafael; Voyager Productions in Logan, Utah; TML Studios in Castro Valley; Beatnik in San Mateo; Silent Planet in Orlando, Fla.; and Happy Point, Gamegate.com and The Van Studios, all in Amsterdam.

Wintzen told the graduates that by going into the wide variety of high-tech jobs they have won, they each are helping him to achieve his own chief passion.

“You see, I think we need another system in our world. Unless we change to a substantially less material society, this world is facing ruin,” Wintzen repeated to the class, to whom this “lecture” has now become familiar. Wintzen foresees a world where far fewer natural resources are consumed because society will be able to use digital media instead. “We must create a virtual world – and we need guys and gals who can do that. That’s you, my friends.”

About Expression College for Digital Arts
Founded in 1999, Expression is a unique, fully licensed digital arts college. Expression College for Digital Arts teaches and grants Bachelor degrees in three programs: Sound Arts; Digital Visual Media (comprising 3DAnimation and Visual Effects); and Digital Graphic Design (emphasizing Broadcast Design and Motion Graphics.) Expression utilizes a professional accelerated program and students live and learn in the culture of digital arts for approximately 2.5 years. Each class is limited to a small number of students to insure excellent and hands-on learning and the student to computer ratio is one-to-one. Students are taught by and work with the best practitioners and equipment that the industry can offer. Expression’s close ties to top industry professionals provide students with real-world client projects, mentorship and internship opportunities and a top-rated career development track that has resulted in a 80+% placement rate for graduates. When graduates leave their Expression family behind, they are prepared to assume sought-after jobs in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and other art and high technology centers around the world. Expression College is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, (ACCSCT).

Expression College for Digital Arts’ campus is located in an imagination-inspiring 85,000-square-foot building, at 6601 Shellmound St. in Emeryville, Calif., just across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. For more information, please visit Expression’s Website at: www.expression.edu.

Contact:
Karen Wertman, Director of Marketing
Expression College for Digital Arts

Expression College for Digital Arts Website
www.expression.edu