By the time Sedona Zander and her friends started filming the ghost story, the original idea had already changed shape.
The assignment was supposed to be a documentary. But the class was small, and that closeness made it easier for Zander to ask a different question: Could she make a short film instead?
Her professor of digital arts Chris Lanier said yes.
So Zander turned the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe campus into the setting for “The Mystery of the Shadow Watcher,” a three-minute silent film about ghost hunting on campus. She filmed it over two days with friends, using the trees, buildings and natural surroundings as part of the story.
“They're trying to catch a ghost, and then it turns out there wasn’t a ghost at all,” Zander said, laughing at the spoiler. “But it’s three minutes.”
What might have been a standard class project became something more personal: a chance to try an idea, bring friends into the process and make something from beginning to end.
“It’s been fantastic. It has been one of the best things in my whole life.”
For Zander, that kind of experience is what made her time at the Lake Tahoe campus so meaningful.
“It’s been fantastic,” Zander said. “It has been one of the best things in my whole life.”
Zander is going into her senior year at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is an English writing major with a minor in journalism, which she plans to turn into a journalism major with an emphasis in film, along with another minor in film.
She came to the Lake Tahoe campus because she wanted something different from a traditional college routine: a hands-on educational experience where she could work closely with professors, know the people around her and be part of a smaller campus community.
Students in the Semester at Tahoe program having a picnic. “I came to the Lake Tahoe campus because I wanted a more one-on-one, hands-on education," Zander said. "Being part of a smaller group where you really get to know people seemed like a really cool experience."
She was also inspired by a film.
Zander said she had been “really into Dead Poets Society for a moment in time” and connected with the phrase "carpe diem." The Lake Tahoe campus felt like a real way to follow that idea.
“I really liked the phrase carpe diem,” she said. "To just kind of go out there into the unknown and see what that was about.”
What she found was not one single life-changing moment. It was the small class where she could ask to change an assignment, the camera in her hands while she filmed campus events, the friends who helped her make a short film, the creek, the library, the lake, the classes and the people who made the campus feel personal.
At the Lake Tahoe campus, Zander completed her English capstone, worked on her journalism internship and learned more about videography and video editing. The campus gave her room to practice what she was learning in real time.
With its trees, open spaces, older buildings and natural surroundings, the campus also became a visual setting for her work.
“The landscape is perfect for videography,” Zander said.
Sedona Zander on a walk on the Lake Tahoe campus. Working with the Lake Tahoe campus's marketing team gave her another way to develop skills outside the classroom. Zander filmed campus events and student life stories happening around her, which helped her understand what it means to tell stories visually.
Faculty and staff shaped that experience. Lanier, in particular, she said, helped her develop her creative and technical skills.
“I learned so, so much about videography and video editing,” Zander said.
Those connections mattered because the campus created opportunities for meaningful collaboration. Students were more than faces in a classroom. They tested ideas, refined projects and built relationships with faculty and classmates that extended beyond the course itself.
That closeness also shaped life outside the classroom.
Zander made some of her closest friends at the Lake Tahoe campus. She spent time with them at the lake, visited nearby beaches and hiked part of Mount Tallac. During her first semester, she made it about halfway up the mountain, then spent hours sitting on the side before heading back down.
Sedona Zander and fellow Semester at Tahoe student pose on the beach at Lake Tahoe.“I just hung out on the side of the mountain for like three hours and then went back down,” she said. “And that was really, really cool.”
Campus life had its own rhythm. Students joined movie nights and game nights, played outside and even played hide and seek. For Zander, those moments were not separate from the educational experience.
One of her favorite memories happened in the library.
One evening, Sam allowed her and a group of friends to stay after hours to watch "The Polar Express." Armed with hot chocolate and brownies, they settled in for a movie night that quickly became one of their favorite campus memories. The library became one of Zander's favorite places on campus, but if she had to choose just one, it would be the creek.
“I really learned so much here, not just in academics, but also in my personal life."
Near the water, there was a small circle of trees that stood out to her. It felt quiet and enclosed, almost like a tiny room.
“I really love the creek. There’s this one part next to the creek that is like a circle of trees, and it’s kind of like a tiny room, and it’s the best part ever.”
That place became part of how she remembers the campus because it gave her space to pause. At Lake Tahoe, Zander was constantly learning, filming, creating and spending time with people. The creek offered another kind of experience, one that helped her slow down and take in where she was.
When asked how the experience changed her life, Zander did not point to one moment. She pointed to the way the campus helped her grow across two semesters, academically and personally.
“I really learned so much here, not just in academics, but also in my personal life,” Zander said. “I feel like I’ve really, really grown in every social skill that you could have. Well, maybe not every social skill, but I’ve grown a lot as a person.”
She credits that growth to the people around her.
"If you have the time and the opportunity, it's really one of the best experiences you could have."
“I do credit that a lot to the other students and the staff here, and my classes both first and second semester,” she said. “I don’t think I could be the same person again because I’ve learned so much about the world and I’ve learned so much about myself, and I have so many great friends now."
The change did not happen all at once. It came through trying things she had not done before, saying yes to new experiences and being surrounded by people who encouraged her to keep going.
Students in the Semester at Tahoe program carry a banner during an event on main campus. For future students, her advice is simple: Go if you can.
"I would say you should definitely go," Zander said. "If you have the time and the opportunity, it's really one of the best experiences you could have."
Zander also encourages students to consider earning the sustainability certificate, which she said helped her better understand the world and the systems that shape it.
She knows students often hear they'll make friends in college. But for her, at Lake Tahoe, that promise became a reality.
"You make so many friends, and I know everybody says that, but it really is true," she said
