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Just a year into a new job as a photojournalist with Univision news affiliate 19 KUVS in Sacramento, Jose Villareal ’19 suddenly found himself on the other side of the camera, posing for photographs with an Emmy statue in his hands.

Villareal was a recipient of two Northern California Area Emmy Awards last summer for his camera work on two Spanish language news features: Aztecas en California, chronicling a community’s efforts to maintain Aztec culture in the United States, and Rostros de la Indigencia, an up- close look at the realities of living unhoused.

“It was so unbelievable to be there and hear your name being called,” he recalled. “I didn’t know if the work I put into it was worthy of being recognized. It’s not until people from the industry and from the field start telling you they like the different aspects of your work—the editing, the visuals, the journalistic part of it—that you realize it is.”

Villareal, who studied digital cinema and English at Dominican University, credits his English professor, Dr. Maggie Anderson, for planting a seed that has defined how he approaches his work.

“In creative writing, she would always mention the concept of including a specific, unusual detail and that always stayed with me,” Villareal said. “Even when I’m recording, I focus on details that are super-specific to the story—like, a close-up of a mug, or a shot of a building. It’s made a huge difference in my work.” With a love of filmmaking and storytelling, Villareal hopes to venture into moviemaking in the future.

“I’m at a good place where I feel like I’m still learning, so I’m not rushing into anything, but there’s going to be a moment when I’ll want to make that jump and try other things in that field,” he said.