In 2021, a fresh face walked into the educational world of Gulf Coast State College, nervous and uncertain about how her freshman year and beyond would work in her favor… until nowadays, where she is able to thrive in her digital media courses in order to achieve her dreams — and still wants to do the same thing she wanted when she was a kid: to get rich doing what she loves. And her name is Natalie Zimmerman.
Photo provided by Natalie Zimmerman.
When Natalie first stepped into Gulf Coast in 2021, graduated from high school at the age of 18, she was feeling almost nothing but nervous.
“I first stepped into Gulf Coast when I was 18 and just graduated high school, back in 2021,” she said. “I remember being very nervous and intimidated.” Four years later, she dives deeper in the world of digital media with the help of her courses, further developing her skills that she never knew she had before.
Finding Her Digital Path
Natalie may not exactly know what career she wants to get into yet, but she does have a clear goal.
“I don’t know exactly what specific thing I want to do career wise, but I do want to do something in the field of digital media that will make me rich.”
That motivation gets her going every day in each class she goes to throughout her journey. Though, if there was one toughest class that she had to overcome, it’s graphic design.
“The most challenging class I had in Gulf Coast State College so far is my Graphic Design class,” she admitted. “I have been overcoming challenges I have run into by asking the professor for help and making sure I am reading the directions step but step more carefully.”
Despite those obstacles in her path, there is one class that feels made for her.
“My current class that perfectly suits my skills is the Social Media Marketing class, because I am very skilled with social media.”
Her Life Beyond Campus
When she’s not working in the computer lab, working on her assignments, exams and projects, Natalie unwinds and spends her time doing her two favorite hobbies at the comfort of her own home.
“My personal favorite hobbies are watching anime in my free time and painting,” she said, “but since those are just hobbies. What I hope to achieve with them is just to have the chance to continue to do those hobbies as I get older.”
Even her childhood dream hasn’t changed one bit, it seems like.
“When I was a kid, I wished to be rich, and nothing about that has changed about the way I am now if anything I hope to be even more rich.”
Fun Humor and Favorite Projects
Being new to the digital media field brought some wins even she didn’t expect.
“With me being new to digital media, there were quite a few surprises in my semesters because there were some skills I never realized I had before.”
If you ask her what are one of her best memories in the college, she would tell you that it’s simply goofing off with her friends in a computer lab.
“There are some funny memories at Gulf Coast I made with my classmates Kylie Astorga, and Amaya Kotarba. We normally do our assignments in the Mac lab and goof off at times, because we all are just funny people and the vibes are so good.”
Her favorite assignment of all time?
“My favorite project I have submitted is the Camera Shots project for Digital Video Fundamentals.”
Advice to Her Past Self and to Future Gulf Coast Students
If Natalie could talk to any freshman student who first walked into Gulf Coast campus, she would have to say this:
“The advice I would give my past self would be that everything will be okay and everything will work out!”
And lastly, Natalie gives every future student a way to become successful and determined through their journey at Gulf Coast, provided in this 55-second audio clip:
And that concludes Natalie’s life at Gulf Coast State College from then to now. Here’s to hoping Natalie proceeds further in the college and becomes successful in the future.
Tyler Martin is a Gulf Coast State College student with an ever-growing passion for video games and various fictional media. Catch more of his stories on gaming and entertainment here on Commodore Waves.
