Student Profiles

An Interview with Joy Fraychineaud

Where were you born?
Marrero, LA. I grew up in Harvey near New Orleans.

Why did you pick Gallaudet?
I wanted to be part of Gallaudet’s basketball team. Coach Cook recruited me and now I realize that Gallaudet gives me the best opportunities and excellent academics. I’m glad I made that decision.

What GSR class did you take recently?
Museum, Monuments and Memorials taught by Professors Joseph Kinner and Marina Dzougoutoz. I loved that class because I learned about American and African history from Professor Kinner and I learned about making films from Professor Dzougoutoz. She taught us a variety of techniques and we drew storyboards for our films prior to shooting.

What kind of activities did you participate in? Field trips? Guest lecturers?
At the beginning of the semester we went to the Museum of African Art. The art was interesting and later in the semester we had two of the artists featured in the museum give guest lecturers.

We also went to Capitol Hill. We wanted to go to the White House, but President Obama recently
moved in and it takes six months for him and his family to organize the house.

What type of projects did you do for class?
I made a documentary film on the Vietnam War. I visited the memorial more than 10 times to conduct research. I saw some older men in wheelchairs; they could have been veterans. Some family and friends put flowers there. It was very emotional. The research I conducted was used for the film and also a research paper.

What did you learn from the class?
I learned so much about history including the Vietnam War and memorial. I learned filmmaking techniques, drawing storyboards, and editing in iMovie. I learned how to better work in a group. It was difficult because we all had different schedules due to sports, and extra-curricular activities. But class was a priority so we were forced to communicate and make it happen.

What were some of your favorite experiences from the class?
First was our class debate. The topic was the Vietnam War. Teachers split us up in two groups: one for the War, one against. The issue made us think about which arguments to use in order to win.

The second was filmmaking. I didn’t realize its difficulty. We had to plan it all out before we started. At first I thought we could do it easily. We could see it in our mind clearly. It was also difficult because many people were in the area and we couldn’t get a clear shot for long. We filmed the memorial dozens of times before we had it perfect. Making the movie was my favorite experience because even though it was challenging, my group made it fun.