Q & A with Alumnus Joseph Stunzi

Q&A : Alumnus Joseph Stunzi

By Dalace Thomas Photos courtesy of Joseph Stunzi

ODYSSEY Alumnus Joseph Stunzi reflects on his time on staff and what he has learned.

Alumni Relations Coordinator Dalace Thomas: What years were you on ODYSSEY? Joseph Stunzi: My relationship with the ODYSSEY is kind of interesting. I discovered the ODYSSEY my freshman year. I graduated in 2008. I was involved with the ODYSSEY from freshman to junior year. I was officially on staff sophomore and junior year. I was super interested in Photoshop. Back then we didn’t use InDesign, it was all Quark. I came in freshman year and was kind of hanging out with everybody and making friends with some of the staff members and started helping out a lot.

Photo courtesy of ODYSSEY archives

DT: During your time on staff, what was your ODYSSEY experience like?

WORKLOAD

JS: It

was a lot for hard work. We were really focused on the magazine back then. We didn’t have as nice of a lab or broadcast resources, video stuff, that was all still in the works. It wasn’t as accessible to us.

FRIENDSHIPS AND COOPERATION I would say there was definitely some really rich friendships. I remember Connelly Crow and Amy (Freeman) working on some really cool articles.

The hallmark thing I remember was an article on homeless people in Athens. People actually went and spent the night Downtown late at night and seeing kind of what happens when the hustle and bustle of Athens and the (University of Georgia) die down. That was a really cool article. There were some really cool interviews and photos combined into that. Photography really started to gain an interest to me.

Below: THE HALLMARK THING: This is Volume Three, Issue Four from the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine. The cover story on the homeless people in downtown Athens. Stunzi was apart of the article.

Photos courtesy of ODYSSEY archives

FRIENDSHIPS AND COOPERATION

Moreover, I think the group of people that we were working with were people that wanted to really put a good effort into school and into doing cool things and into being creative.

CHANGES IN THE COUNTY

Back in the day, the county was in a lot of transition. I think Clarke Central has gone through some big changes in the last few years that I can see as an alumnus. I know that Clarke County itself is winning awards and is really working hard to grow and to make it a better environment for the students, but when we were going through the ODYSSEY, I remember it was so cool because we got to leave campus and stuff like that.

DT: When was a time where you felt your first sense of accomplishment?

Below: MAKING A SPLASH: Joseph Stunzi designed the cover for Issue Two of Volume Three of the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine.

Photo courtesy of ODYSSEY archives

JS: In high school I was really involved in extracurriculars. I didn’t do sports, but I did a lot of lab research. I came into Clarke Central and I had won the National Science the year before, so that was a big deal. I spent a lot of time outside of school in labs, like three or four hours a day in the morning. To me, ODYSSEY was the only non-academic thing I really did. It was the one creative thing where I could really express myself, however I wanted. I remember the first cover I designed and how cool that was to me to see something that I worked on go to print. (Making) a magazine layout or taking a photo was not nearly as cool as seeing a graphic that I designed hit the cover.

That’s probably my biggest moment for me.

DT: What do you do now?

JS: I am a commercial film director. I do a lot of documentary storytelling for clients. The last two years, my biggest client was Facebook. I was the creative director behind a campaign called Facebook Stories where I traveled around the world interviewing people about how they used social media to make a positive impact on their community.

Photo courtesy of Joseph Stunzi

MAKING CONNECTIONS I like to say that I had a really awesome opportunity to connect with these people. Some of these skills that you gain in ODYSSEY can really carry over to that. As a filmmaker, you have to be able to connect with people quickly. You have to be able to get into an intimate and an emotional relationship with them. You can’t just take everything at surface level. I have seen how technology connects the world whether that’s a blind mom that made a Facebook group to raise her daughter because she needed people around her if she needed to go the doctor or if she needed someone that she could reach out to or a girl that was in the hospital dying of spinal muscular atrophy.

DT: Do you think your life would have been different without ODYSSEY? I think my life would be different if I had not met (English department chair and ODYSSEY Media Group adviser David Ragsdale.) He is definitely someone that knows how to challenge and push people and that can be polarizing. He doesn't spoonfeed, he doesn't hold your hand. I was coming from Catholic school. I was coming from having a helicopter mom and really being so academically focused. Coming to the ODYSSEY helped me find my voice. At times I was really down. It’s a lot of stress, a lot of pressure and it’s honestly like should you be focused on AP courses and your SAT scores or ODYSSEY? Sometimes I chose not to focus on the ODYSSEY and that was difficult but, that’s life. You're going to be really pressed to find someone like Ragsdale, who despite all of the challenges of being at Clarke Central and all the changes, are willing to push through that.

DT: If you could give any advice to an ODYSSEY student what would it be?

I think communication is really key, and it’s something you can learn (through ODYSSEY). It’s really easy to get behind on a deadline or to push things like, “Oh! I don’t need to deal with this. It’s not due until next week,” but why not get it done? Why not just knock it out and then work on something else that’s cool. You have the opportunity to create really cool stuff and share that. Your time and the team that you are working with is your most valuable asset.

It’s not about making money, it’s about being happy and making an impact. Everyone has to work together so in order for that to work you have to communicate and that also means that if you're behind on a deadline, not being afraid to ask for help. That’s the one thing I see young people not doing well enough.

Photo by Dalace Thomas