December 8, 2017
Senior Wyatt Sarrazin is one of the most active students at the University of Montana Western. He’s a member of the student senate and five different clubs, along with working as a carpenter to build sets for the drama department.
Sarrazin believes that if it wasn’t for Experience One, the block scheduling program that allows students to focus on one course at a time, he would have never found his passion for the arts.
He started as a history and secondary education major, attending Montana Western to follow in the footsteps of his mother and sister; however, after his first introductory art class, he was hooked.
“I got more into art because of the one-on-one interactions with the professors,” Sarrazin said.
On his copious involvement at the university, he said, “the block schedule makes it easy to work on extracurricular activities.”
Sarrazin’s diverse interests and engagement on campus allow him to combine his experiences in intriguing ways. He writes poems about glass-blowing in creative writing classes to be submitted for publication in “Twisted Ink,” the yearly publication of the Creative Writing club at Montana Western. As the president of the Drama Club, he built sets for and directed last year’s production of “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.” This year he hopes to direct a short-film written and produced by club members.
Being vice-president of the Honors Club allowed him to take a trip to New York, N.Y. last year where he attended Broadway plays and visited the Museum of Modern Art. The trip was a seminal one for Sarrazin.
Sarrazin’s favorite quote, attributed to Marshall McLuhan, is “Art is anything you can get away with.”
For example, works by the artist Marcel Duchamp displayed at the MOMA, changed Sarrazin’s perspective on art.
“The Honors Club helps you be a better student because the trips make you want to do better. The MOMA made me redefine what art is,” Sarrazin said.
Currently, Sarrazin is working on ideas for his senior project. After graduation, he plans to attend graduate school to pursue his dream of working in animation, combining his love for creative writing, drama, and art.
