Juan Barajas: Student Success

Juan Barajas was raised in Klamath Falls, and after nearly a decade of work a return to school set his path towards an exciting new career in the arts armed with skills gained through Klamath Community College.

While not a high school dropout, Juan didn’t collect all of the credits needed to collect his diploma. He chose to start working rather than finish school, finding himself in the agriculture fields for nearly a decade. At the same time Juan began experimenting with music, finding a creative outlet, and began dabbling with film production for music videos by himself and friends.

A chance encounter led to Juan’s decision to collect his GED, which he achieved last year through the KCET program at KCC. Through encouragement from KCC staff and the HEP Department, Juan is now enrolled in KCC’s Digital Media Design program studying video editing for a future career in film production.

“I want to continue to learn more about film,” said Juan. “I started making music after high school. I make music for local artists, but they didn’t have someone to make their videos, so I just started and got real interested in it.”

He hopes to collect his Digital Media Design Associate Degree at KCC, and then will determine whether to pursue a career or continue with a film program at one of Oregon’s four-year university film programs.

“I wouldn’t be doing anything (without KCC), just sitting around waiting for work,” added Juan. “My time at KCC has given me an opportunity to do something with my life. I am learning new skills, and I like what I do.”

Juan is motivated by other people’s stories, seeing successful artists come from poor backgrounds. Using other’s stories and his newly acquired skills keeps Juan motivated to continue learning about film production, and is now in a position to help others through his creative skillset. He has also shared his experience with friends that are in similar circumstances to Juan before enrolling at KCC, and how it has positively impacted his life going forward and could change theirs too.

“Being here – it pushes me to become something bigger, being at KCC motivates me,” said Juan. “I know there are opportunities now, and I can get help to transition to something else.”