ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Over the past three days, South Carolina State University students have had the opportunity to attend actor and singer Jason Weaver's Master Class, "From Dream to Screen."
It's an opportunity for students to network and understand the path to entering the entertainment industry.
Jason Weaver has been in movies and television for over 30 years, including films like "Drumline" and the Showtimes series "The Chi."
Weaver was joined by actor Orlando Jones, who's also had many acting credits over the years. It turns out Weaver spent time in Orangeburg as a child. That led to an emotional welcome home for Jones, whose father coached basketball at South Carolina State University.
Students piled in on Wednesday to continue with the third and final day of their master class with the actors. Weaver says it will help them on their journey to success.
"It's up to us to come back to our community and to come back to our institutes of higher learning and take the experiences that we've been able to have over the courses of our careers, good, bad and ugly, and share that with these kids so that when they now pursue their dreams, they won't make some of the same mistakes we made," Weaver said. "They won't bump into the same roadblocks that we've run into, and their journey will be a little bit easier to where they can ultimately surpass what we've done."
Tatiana Hugue is a business administration student at South Carolina State University. She says the lessons she learned during the master class will be used throughout life.
"In life, you have to persevere. You have to be able to push through," Hugue said. "Don't let mistakes hinder you from getting the job done. Being able to adapt to any environment that you're in, whether it's good or bad, there's always something to learn."
Orangeburg Mayor Michael Butler declared Wednesday Jason Weaver Day.