Jeremy Crouch

In just a few years, Jeremy Crouch went from a Pathways Danbury mentee to an intern on set of films by the Kendrick Brothers, creators of Christian-themed feature films “Fireproof” and “Courageous.”

During those six teenaged years in the mentoring program, “I basically learned how to conduct myself as a Christian, how to walk with Christ in a respectable manner,” Jeremy said. “I learned life skills, how to be respectful, how to act appropriately,” he said.

He’s taken his grounded faith into the larger world, tackling the lower rungs of what he plans to be a career in the film industry. “It’s something I’m passionate about,” he said. “I want to be well-rounded, to learn to do pretty much everything. But I would like to edit film or direct in the future.”

As in intern, Jeremy worked as a grip on a film, helping around the site, setting up lights and the scene the way the directors desires. The six-week internship came about when Jeremy was working on one of the feature films produced at Liberty University in VA, where Jeremy attended school.

“One of the professionals I worked with on the film got interested in me, liked my work ethic and called me down to North Carolina” for the internship, Jeremy said. “I had a blast,” he said of the internship. “I’m learning my craft with some of the best people.”

“Jeremy knows he has to pay his dues,” said his former mentor, Don Lewis. Don and Jeremy were a mentor-mentee team between 2006 and 2010, when Jeremy graduated from Bethel High School. In high school, “he had different visions of what he wanted to do with his life,” Don said. “First he wanted to become a Marine officer and serve on the front lines in Afghanistan. He spent four years in ROTC, and the discipline fit him.”

But he also was drawn to motion pictures, especially their creation. “We’d go and see a show and he’d always enjoy them,” Don said. “He had an eye for them.” During two years at Valley Force Military College, however, the idea of a life in the military dimmed and was replaced by filmmaking. Jeremy still comports himself with a military bearing, coupled with what Don describes as a very humble faith. “I wouldn’t say he wears his faith on his sleeve, but he wears it in who he is. He always does the right thing.”