Hilltop Happenings

SALISBURY GENTLEMAN GRAham turner '15 SHARES HIS STORY with the salisbury community 

I grew up in a small town an hour south of Salisbury. I didn’t attend the local school and spent most of my time in Waterbury on the Chase Collegiate campus until I left for Salisbury in 2011.  When it came time for high school the idea of leaving Chase was foreign. My Grandfather, Tony Hoag ’57, suggested a tour and I stepped into a world to which I had never been exposed. I remember the great sense of pride, excitement, and anxiety that came with my acceptance.

Going into my junior year I discovered an interest in film. I made a documentary on the hockey team in the winter of 2014 and followed their journey to the New England Championship. At that point, the School had no established outlet for film work. So, I fought to pursue my documentary in place of a winter sport and eventually used that first outing into filmmaking to gain acceptance at Syracuse University's Visual Arts School. I used the skills I developed at Salisbury as a base on which I could develop and grow my craft. Four years later, a short film I wrote and directed in Prague, Czech Republic has screened at several festivals around the country and overseas.

The curriculum at Salisbury forced me to write.  Looking back on the hours and hours spent reading texts and writing reports, I can confidently say that the greatest skill Salisbury gave me was the ability and desire to write. Those essays fostered in me a love for writing that greatly supported my endeavors in college. As a filmmaker, I accredit my love for screenwriting and fiction writing to my exposures in Salisbury classrooms.

There were many faculty members who guided and supported me through my time at Salisbury, and I remember them all very fondly. There was one teacher in particular who I can confidently say had the greatest effect on me over my four years. Latin Faculty Jon Gottsegen undoubtedly knew I was no Latin scholar after three years of incremental progress, but I don’t think that mattered to him. He was hard on me when I didn’t give my all, but empathetic when I was struggling. Knowing a teacher is truly invested in you and your endeavors is the greatest gift they can give you, and I always felt Mr. Gottsegen had out some stock in me.

Outside of the classroom, the four members of the community who did the most for me during my time at school were the nurses in the health center, to whom I will forever be indebted.     

I think my last time on campus was three years ago when I was visiting my classmate Ryan Phelps. As far as my favorite places, I spent a lot of time in the visual arts center and when I come back, I think that will be my first stop. 

In May, I graduated from Syracuse University with a B.F.A in Film Production and a minor in English and Textual Studies. I am interning for a film finance firm in Los Angeles, CA while pursuing my projects. My film education was primarily based on production and theory, so experiencing the financial side of the industry this past summer has been an invaluable experience. When I am back in New York I will join some close friends in developing a production company we founded in our sophomore year of college.

I was fortunate enough to write and direct a short film, “I Remember Ashes”, in Prague, which has screened around the world and will screen this fall at the 20th annual Woodstock Film Festival—a beloved event of independent film. 

I was very sorry to hear that D.A. Pennebaker ’43, a champion of documentary film and alumnus of Salisbury, passed away over the summer.  He was honored at the first inaugural Woodstock Film Festival, and I was fortunate enough to see one of his most famous works, a documentary on the Monterey Pop Festival, restored in the Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, Italy in 2017.  I believe he said "I discovered how to write fiction and particularly how to write poetry, which has been the guiding spirit of my life. For that, I will always thank Salisbury School." When I was at School, I and other creatively inclined students sometimes felt in the minority. To know a man I revered was shaped, as I was, at Salisbury School was deeply moving.

Find what you love and work at it. If Salisbury doesn’t have an avenue for you to explore something you’re interested in, make one.