Rebecca Farr
Equinox Staff
Senior at Keene State College Jaime Del Pizzo pushes through what some may call a disability. Not to be fooled, however, Del Pizzo is not in the slightest bit discouraged by her bilateral hearing loss. If anything, it is simply a different world for her—not a disabled one.
“She marches to the beat of her own drum and she does it in a way that nobody else can,” Del Pizzo’s sister, Becki said.
The 22-year-old film production major from Montgomeryville, Penn. took an interest in being behind the camera at a very young age. Watching her father’s habit and hobby as a videographer and photographer in the family, Del Pizzo “always wanted to play with the camera.”
Portrait by: Emily Fedorko / Photo Editor
Senior Jaime Del Pizzo finds a way to combine her two passions, snowboarding and film. Del Pizzo, along with Plymouth State University student, Kelly Wren created a company called Thumbs Up Birds that promotes up-and-coming female snowboarders with the help of film.
Living through the visuals of the world, Del Pizzo is able to participate in her film [and other classes] with the help of teacher’s assistants, handy note takers and her amazing capability to lip-read. She said one of the biggest challenges in school is group work. “I rely on lip-reading so when I try to lip-read everyone at the same time it can be really hard,” Del Pizzo said. But, “some movies are so focused on cinematography that makes it really straight forward.”
It’s not always that easy, though. Another challenge Del Pizzo faces is the many movies shown in her film classes that do not have subtitles. “It can be difficult at times,” Del Pizzo said. “I have to try to make up for that [lack of subtitles] and focus on the visuals and learn from that.”
Del Pizzo said there are many film professors and enthusiasts who advise to watch a movie at least once without sound. She chuckled and said, “I automatically do that, so it’s a different perspective.” While some classmates may close their eyes and take a catnap, Del Pizzo’s eyes are focused on the film. When it comes to editing her film productions and projects, “I put my headphones on and turn the music up so loud that I can feel the beat,” Del Pizzo said. “If I’m watching a movie and I can feel it too, that helps even more so I can associate the visuals with what I’m hearing.”
Del Pizzo cites “Art of Flight” as cinematic inspiration; it depicts the extreme intensities of snowboarding from just about any perspective one can think of. “That movie is crazy. They have so much equipment—the helicopters—the way the shots come out … it’s beautiful and that’s what I want to do,” Del Pizzo said. “I want to make stuff that blows your mind.”
“Jaime [Del Pizzo] is tenacious,” her father, John Del Pizzo said. “It sounds very cliché, but if you really want to do something there is really no obstacle to keep you from doing it.”
Del Pizzo is nowhere near short of her goal. Although still learning the ropes both in and out of college, while Del Pizzo participates in an internship at Mt. Snow, she and her best friend, Plymouth State University student Kelly Wren, simultaneously run their own business. Beginning in summer 2011, Thumbs Up Birds came alive.
The company is a collaboration of Del Pizzo’s two true loves—snowboarding and film. “The fact that I can combine my two passions is awesome,” she said. “We want our website to be the website. Eventually, anyone who is looking for anything on girl [snowboard] riders will be able to find it on our site.”
Del Pizzo said she does not want the nine-to-five kind of job. “I want to be active,” she said. Fortunately her aspiring business can intertwine with her internship at Vermont’s Mt. Snow.
While the mission of Thumbs Up Birds, according to the website, is “to create a revolution for female snowboarders. TUB is promoting the up-and-coming, as well as professional girl shredders around the country. Join us in our cause to break the gender gap.” Del Pizzo is working to create five short movie projects for Mt. Snow, and she said she is “getting a taste for what she wants to do with film.”
To spread knowledge of her and Wren’s company, Mt. Snow allows her to put their TUB logo at the beginning and end of each video snippet. Del Pizzo’s determination and enthusiasm to do what she loves has brought her to where she is today. As her sister described her, her fun-loving personality has produced confidence and capabilities. “She was always the funny one, she wasn’t too sensitive,” Becki said.
“I don’t like calling it a disability, but for someone who has something working against her, she has never been one to let anyone tell her what to do or what she can’t do,” Becki said.
Both Del Pizzo’s father and sister express immense pride, anticipation and optimism for her future.
Del Pizzo said, “We [she and Wren] have a lot of ideas and dreams so we’re still building it up and getting money for it. For now, I feel like I can go forward and do what I want to do.”
Rebecca Farr can be contacted at
rfarr@keene-equinox.com