{"id":20714,"date":"2024-05-09T09:35:32","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T14:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/?p=20714"},"modified":"2024-05-10T10:38:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T15:38:19","slug":"graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Willis Froetschel was intrigued by making art as a child. The El Paso native said he was \u201cinfamous\u201d in kindergarten for creating sculptures out of construction paper and tape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also was influenced by his brother\u2019s interest in computers, and he took a 3D animation course in high school. When he learned that Texas A&M\u2019s Visualization program was one of the best in the nation, it solidified his interest in pursuing animation in college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Froetschel is set to graduate Friday with a Bachelor of Science degree in Visualization<\/a>. He will also be honored as a distinguished student in the School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts<\/a>\u2019 Graduation Recognition Ceremony earlier in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know so many other students in my class that are equally as involved as I am, and with incredible artistic talent that I admire,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, to be selected for this award is indescribable. I am extremely thankful for the faculty and staff that selected me for this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his time in the program, Froetschel said he was most proud of the animated short \u201cCluck’d Up<\/a>,\u201d which is about a fox making a visit to a chicken coop. Froetschel and his team created the short during the program\u2019s Summer Industry Course, and it won Best in Show honors at Viz-a-GoGo 31 on May 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis short was special, because I worked with some of the best artists in Visualization, and we all put in long hours for 10 weeks straight,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were mentored by DreamWorks and Meta employees, and I learned how to have an industry level \u2018critical eye\u2019 to all of the work we were creating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following graduation, Froetschel is moving to Dallas to work as a motion graphics designer for design firm Populous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe people I met at Populous through the interview process seemed amazing and I can’t wait to work alongside them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Froetschel credits Caleb Kicklighter<\/a>, instructional associate professor, and Dmitri Koustov<\/a>, senior lecturer, as influential instructors who provided helpful feedback that encouraged him to further his craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCaleb provides extremely fair and honest critiques, but he does so as he truly cares about pushing each student to become professionals,\u201d Froetschel said. \u201cI can attribute a good portion of the skills and programs I learned to Caleb’s critiques, and he has influenced my work more than any other professor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEntering college and Visualization specifically, I was not a confident person or artist. Dmitri was the first professor to pull the confidence out of me, and through critique he gave me honest advice that pushed me to create work I was proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Photo by Autumn Fairchild<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Willis Froetschel was intrigued by making art as a child. The El Paso native said he was \u201cinfamous\u201d in kindergarten for creating sculptures out of construction paper and tape. He also was influenced by his brother\u2019s interest in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"featured_media":20718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[58,90],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGraduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization - Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Froetschel will be honored as a distinguished student in the School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts\u2019 Graduation Recognition Ceremony.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Graduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Froetschel will be honored as a distinguished student in the School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts\u2019 Graduation Recognition Ceremony.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tamupvfa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-09T14:35:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-10T15:38:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Willis.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"robclark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@tamupvfa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@tamupvfa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"robclark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"robclark\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/9f6f92d18d5bc0deccbeb90ae781afb8\"},\"headline\":\"Graduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-09T14:35:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-10T15:38:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/\"},\"wordCount\":445,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Visualization\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/\",\"name\":\"Graduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization - Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-09T14:35:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-10T15:38:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"Froetschel will be honored as a distinguished student in the School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts\u2019 Graduation Recognition Ceremony.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Graduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/\",\"name\":\"Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts\",\"description\":\"The College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts is for those who understand the magic that can happen when technology and beauty merge.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Texas A&M School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/PVFA-logo-Maroon-Stacked-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/PVFA-logo-Maroon-Stacked-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2560,\"caption\":\"Texas A&M School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tamupvfa\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tamupvfa\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tamupvfa\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCGPxfHZwJY59O-gj_Z44oZg\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/9f6f92d18d5bc0deccbeb90ae781afb8\",\"name\":\"robclark\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/author\/robclark\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Graduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization - Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts","description":"Froetschel will be honored as a distinguished student in the School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts\u2019 Graduation Recognition Ceremony.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Graduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization","og_description":"Froetschel will be honored as a distinguished student in the School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts\u2019 Graduation Recognition Ceremony.","og_url":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/","og_site_name":"Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tamupvfa","article_published_time":"2024-05-09T14:35:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-10T15:38:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Willis.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"robclark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@tamupvfa","twitter_site":"@tamupvfa","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"robclark","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/"},"author":{"name":"robclark","@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/9f6f92d18d5bc0deccbeb90ae781afb8"},"headline":"Graduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization","datePublished":"2024-05-09T14:35:32+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-10T15:38:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/"},"wordCount":445,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#organization"},"articleSection":["News","Visualization"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/","url":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/","name":"Graduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization - Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-05-09T14:35:32+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-10T15:38:19+00:00","description":"Froetschel will be honored as a distinguished student in the School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts\u2019 Graduation Recognition Ceremony.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/09\/graduation-spotlight-willis-froetschel-visualization\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Graduation Spotlight: Willis Froetschel, Visualization"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/","name":"Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts","description":"The College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts is for those who understand the magic that can happen when technology and beauty merge.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#organization","name":"Texas A&M School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts","url":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/PVFA-logo-Maroon-Stacked-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/PVFA-logo-Maroon-Stacked-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":2560,"caption":"Texas A&M School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tamupvfa","https:\/\/twitter.com\/tamupvfa","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tamupvfa","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCGPxfHZwJY59O-gj_Z44oZg"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/9f6f92d18d5bc0deccbeb90ae781afb8","name":"robclark","url":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/author\/robclark\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20714"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20719,"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20714\/revisions\/20719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}