Kicking off the first week back from spring break, writers, actors, and performers come to Antioch Community High School to inspire students during Writers Week.

On day one, for the theme of “Unconventional Storytellers”, actor and writer Jim Kozyra, came in to discuss his journey in the writing industry. He’s most well known for his short series, “The Jamz”, and appearances on “Chicago PD” and “Josh and Angie go to Counseling”.

Kozyra had a handful of experiences of success and failure in pursuing dreams. He openly recalled his feelings of defeat during the time of auditioning for SNL and ultimately getting cut, but he used the failure to fuel motivation in creating new projects. He helped create, write, and produce the short series “The Jamz” on YouTube, which ultimately won a competition in New York, giving him the resources to create a large scale version of his show.

Although he has had many successes in his field, his advice to students was, “Pick something else to do. Not instead, but as well.”

Students who attended took his words to heart.

“I liked how he didn’t sugar coat getting into the field of writing and acting,” senior Rachel Rodgers stated, “he was super open about his experiences. I learned a lot about how to grow from my failures.”

Kozyra certainly provided real-world examples and experiences in a presentation not soon forgotten.