With the full range of still photography, computer and video classes completed on his way to a Visual Journalism degree, Weissman is now a freelance editor/producer for TIME Inc. Studios. This division produces websites for People.com, Time.com, This Old House.com, People en Espanol and several others.

This relatively new position in New York City is Weissman’s second digital media job in the industry. He cut his Web teeth at Regional News Network, a division in the company owning the Journal-News newspaper in White Plains, New York in the upper Hudson Valley. Here Weissman used his skills as a video journalist for a TV station, a traditional newspaper and a Web-based newspaper.

For Weissman, his place today is clearly in the digital and electronic realm, even though he trained with all the photography, video and computer tools Brooks Institute has to offer. "My advice to students graduating from school is to identify what your strengths are, find out what jobs are available, and then match them up as soon as possible," says Weissman. "That will allow you to try one direction and love it or rule it out."

When he covered news stories upstate, Weissman acted much like a television photographer. Working with a reporter Weissman shot several interviews each day plus additional video. Back at the office he contributed to the script, polished the audio track and edited his video with Final Cut Pro software, a skill he learned in school. Depending on the editors’ needs, his stories might appear as a television news package or as a video piece with audio. On some occasions he helped edit video shot by other photographers.

"The most amazing thing is to learn how many assets come together to make the five o’clock news," says Weissman. And getting five different video shots --- when there is only time to shoot five shots period --- kept Weissman on his toes. "Learning how to be completely efficient was the key," he said.

In this first job, Weissman collected interesting tales from the front lines of news. He once covered one of presidential candidate John Edwards’ "A Day in Your Shoes" projects. For these projects, Edwards works someone’s job for a day. On the day Weissman was covering the event, Edwards spent the day caring for the elderly in a senior living facility. He washed and shaved the patients and generally did the work of one of the caregivers. "It was an amazing experience to see him do this," says Weissman, who was shoulder-to-shoulder with other media covering the event.

Although he works primarily with electronic media now, Weissman received a foundation in photojournalism from Brooks Institute, working with still cameras. When he graduated, Weissman had a photography show on the walls of the Ventura campus, displaying his images from the Miss Senior America beauty pageant in Las Vegas, a project he shared with another Brooks student, Jessica Wunderlich. "I had three days to shoot that photo essay," says Weissman, who enjoyed what felt like an extended period to make these pictures.

Weissman’s project skills were demonstrated to Brooks Institute’s parent company leaders during one of their annual meetings. With schoolmate Corey Wascinski and other Brooks student volunteers, Weissman and his associates created a video photomontage of San Francisco. This video postcard of the city where Career Education Corporation’s leaders met was the company’s record of the meeting. It was "visually appealing, kind of fun," said Weissman. The students even had a street person make up a song about CEC and sing it for the camera.

The resulting program wowed the corporate leaders. Above and beyond the original compensation agreement, the corporation came up with a significant award for Weissman and Wachinski to show their appreciation for the high level student work.

One of Weissman’s more challenging classes was Brooks Institute’s domestic documentary project in Appalachia. Besides shooting his own still photo story about a gospel church, Weissman shared video shooting and editing duties covering all the other students and their stories. This involved driving a rented RV through 15 states for two months. With Brooks student Rob Clement, Weissman shot and edit video coverage of all the other students. The resulting 30-minute AV project was shown on campus the first week of the following term.

And with Wascinski, Weissman continues to work on a long form documentary about the Minutemen, the sometimes controversial volunteer group who watch the flow of people across the U.S.-Mexico border. The two Brooks alums share producing duties. Weissman works as the lead editor on the project and Wascinski is the director.

"The Minutemen were excited to get so much media attention," Weissman said. "Their leader would talk to anybody." Wascinski’s people skills helped here too. "They trusted him, and that’s a good thing," says Weissman of his colleague. "He has a way about him. The footage and access we had was pretty incredible," says Weissman. "It’s much easier for students to get in (with the Minutemen) than a full production company."

And the guys finally have a way to end their movie. After three years their main character has decided to leave border and return home. It is a natural close to the project. Their film is now in post production. Wachinski has moved east, bringing new footage with him. The two filmmakers aim to complete the project before the end of the year. Details on the project are on the Web at www.theminutemenmovie.com and Weissman and Wascinski hope to enter the film in festivals and to market it on the Web.

In the meantime, Weissman continues to get on with the next step in his career. He tells students, "Don’t wait for the dream job, because it will take a while for you to figure out what that means." While he figures it out for himself, Weissman continues to build on what he learned through his training at Brooks Institute.