Michael Critz:
CLASS OF 1996
Andress High SchoolClass of 1996
El paso, TX
New Mexico State UniversityClass of 2001
Las cruces, NM
Michael's Story
Life
1996 - Started working at ABC-7 (KVIA-TV) in El Paso. First as a production assistant, and worked my way up to Art Director. I did graphic design and animation for all the news and promotional graphics.
1999 - Started my freelance design business. (A side project while working at KVIA.)
2001 - Graduated NMSU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with emphasis in Graphic Design.
2003 - Moved to Boston, MA. Work for CBS-4 (WBZ-TV) in Boston, MA doing graphic design and animation.
2006 - Worked at Turbine, Inc. to produce ingame videos for Lord of the Rings Online
2007 - Working at Xperience Design Studio on Newbury Street, Boston.
I've won a few awards, painted a few paintings, taken a few pictures, and spent a lot of time drawing.
I'm looking forward to hearing from my old friends. Particularly, Richard and Jay.
School
Andress High School. How to describe this time? I hardly have the words. Let's say I wasn't a pleasant person. The world wasn't pleasant, either. Not that I'm making excuses. I spent a lot of time wearing black. Many of my friends will remember me as the guy who wore the long, black, leather jacket.
Despite my irrational love of dark clothing, I was actually really good at high school. A+ student, top 5% of the class. Supurb SATs. I was ROTC Batallion Executive Officer. I was captain of the rifle team. I won the Gold for my part as "Leroy" in "The Bad Seed" at whatever competition it is that Drama has.
In short, I wasted a lot of time being discontent when I really had it pretty good. Though, I did have plenty of fun times.
I was tied with someone else for the "Most Stubborn" senior superlative. Thanks for voting for me. Though I had suggested to many of you that you should vote me for "Most Likely to Succeed" no one took me seriously.
At the time, I had assumed the many of you who wanted to see m...Expand for more
e accept an award for stubborness were having fun at my expense. If that was the case, you should know it backfired. I now realize that all the best people in the world were terribly stubborn (Winston Churchill, Rosa Parks, Muhatma Gahndi, et cetra). So, I quickly took the award as a complement. Being stubborn is probably the first step towards being truly successful for more people than accepting an award for "Mosly Likeliy to Succeed." (The winner of that award, Elias Jaquez, is a great guy, and I wish him the best of the world.)
Truth is, I used to keep the award on my desk and look at it every morning. "Never ever, ever give up!" I had a lot to overcome to become a fully functioning person, learn to design graphics for broadcast TV, learn to work with other people, make money, win awards, and move to the fith largest market in America. I didn't have a lot of the money, social skills or support network the rest of world takes for granted. To have come from where I was to where I am is a great success. I'm proud of being "stubborn" or perhaps just willing to fight for what's right.
Lastly, and most importantly: I'm very, very sorry to everyone I hurt. I realize now what a selfish jerk I was (and still can be from time-to-time). If you ever wanted to hear me say I'm sorry, please don't hesitate to write or call or whatever. In particular, I'd like to publicly appologize to Stephanie M., Monica, Susan (and the rest of the gang). You should know that since high school, I have eaten plenty of crow, learned that we're all going through life together, and be less of a drama queen. I do wear blue jeans and colorful shirts now. Though, I frequently wear black slacks with a black shirt... I'm still me. But me is a better person now. So, sincerly, "I'm sorry."
I still listen to way too much loud industrial music. Especially Nine Inch Nails.
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