Andrew Jenks

Hero- n; a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. This is the definition of hero that I found in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. I have to disagree, although that certainly is one way to define the word. I believe that a hero is anyone that you can look up to, any person with qualities that you admire; whether those be bravery, or the ability to slay dragons, and save the world, or simply a stranger holding the door for an old lady and smiling. Qualities that I admire in people are compassion, humor, most of all though are people who can take those qualities and make them into a passion. People who can take compassion and humor and do something with them, and show the world what it really means to have those qualities. People like Andrew Jenks.

Jenks and friends from film, Room 335 (http://bit.ly/g6Byw8)

Andrew Jenks was born March 5th, 1986, in a town not too far from New York City. At age sixteen, he founded the Hendrick Hudson Film Festival, which is a film festival in its eighth year put on by his former high school. It is one of the largest and most famous high school film festivals in the United States, the top award has in fact just been renamed “The Andrew Jenks Award.” He attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts where in his sophomore year he produced the film Andrew Jenks, Room 335. This documentary was a look at the generation of Americas living in nursing homes, as Jenks himself put it; he wanted to “learn the meaning of life from a generation nearing the end of its journey.” This film was shown in film festivals all around the world, and received many awards the most prominent award given was, “Best Film” in the Phoenix film festival in 2006. This was really the launch of his career and since this film Jenks has produced, The Zen of Bobby V in addition to having a popular show on MTV, The World of Jenks. This was also the beginning of his work trying to understand people and their labels.

From all of this we see that Jenks knew what he wanted to do from a young age, in fact, he began to work on his dream when he was sixteen, my age. This really put in prospective what a person can accomplish no matter what their age is. In addition to already being an award winning director at nineteen, he was also already inspiring people in taking just a single glance at a generation. In a review by Variety it was said that Jenks is best known for his ability to capture, “a lovely and genuine account of generational understanding.” This is displayed in both, Andrew Jenks, Room 335 and The World of Jenks. In both of these documentaries, he uncovers truths about people and buries the lies and false impressions people have.

Jenks with young man with autism on World of Jenks (http://bit.ly/eZi9EM)

Andrew Jenks' work in The World of Jenks makes it arguably one of the best shows on television. In every single one of his shows, he tears down another stereotype. He goes through rappers, dancers, surfers, a man with autism, a women living on the streets, people that we see every day; and judge. I hear stories from people, I read about things in books, but I have never had first hand experiences. Jenks has taught me a whole other type of compassion that I have never seen before from what I see in his first hand experiences. That is why he is my hero. A hero is more than just a person made of abilities that you admire; it’s a person who you aspire to be like. Personally, I believe that if the world had more people like Andrew Jenks, we would be a whole lot better off.