Life Through a Lens: West Broward High school alumni, Sebastion Ibarra starts his own Company by editing photos and videos

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Sunshine Smiles: Coralys Garcia smiles in a picture of when she graduated from UCF in the
summer of 2024. Ibarra takes these pictures and edits them. Photo courtesy of Sebastion Ibarra

By: Adrian Baez and Andreas Lattas

Learning from electives and clubs can help you identify what you want to do in college.
Having some background knowledge of a field you are passionate about can be an invaluable
asset in college. Sebastian Ibarra, a former West Broward Bobcat, has been dedicated to Film
and Photography for many years. After his success at West Broward and in college, he started an
entrepreneurial venture. Ibarra started out learning from the West Broward TV Production
program, which inspired him to start his own company.

Ibarra started out in filmography in his freshman year when he joined the TV Production class
at West Broward. There, he learned how to film, edit, and produce video packages. He was the
class broadcast coordinator, meaning he directed students during the morning broadcast. By
graduation in 2020, he was the top student, earning over 100 awards during his time in the class.
In fact, he was a legacy award winner, which is the highest award given on TV. This award
inspires others to do better. Vidal Rivera, TV Production teacher at West Broward recalls the
numerous awards Ibarra won.

“When he was a senior, he ended up winning multiple awards, hundreds of awards, actually.
His most notable is that he won the All-American High School Film Festival for Broadcast. He
also won an Emmy Award, and he also won a national Emmy,” said Vidal Rivera.

After graduation from West Broward, Ibarra attended the University of Central Florida (UCF).
He majored in Media Production Management and graduated early in 2023. Ibarra believes
strongly that his experiences at West Broward was the school that catapulted him into creating
his own company the foundation knowledge and experience to excel in college.

“He keeps on continuing doing great things. He was an excellent student. He’s always been an
excellent student. It’s probably why he graduated early. 10 years since he was here, so when he
started as a freshman. So it’s been a long time. I was trying to figure out exactly what year it
was.” Rivera said.

In 2023, upon college graduation, Ibarra identified as an entrepreneur and started his own
company, “SIBAGO Productions”. The company edits and produces video packages, Ibarra
contracts specific jobs. For example, he has worked on the production of two seasons of Shark

Tank. His company has been successful in providing Ibarra with a good work life balance. He
has employed his younger brother, Mateo, to work for him, he is able to make his own decisions,
and is financially profitable. More importantly, he is doing something every day that he loves.
“He’s doing exactly what he was doing here. He’s editing, filming, and producing packages and
that’s what he does for a living now. I think it’s made a big deal and his certification, national
certifications made a big deal of what he did here in West Broward.” Rivera said.

A piece of advice worth mentioning that Ibarra wanted to give was to just go for it. To be
interested in what you want to do in life. Ibarra explains how to use your resources and to keep
trying to eventually meet your goal.

“I mean, the biggest thing would, if this is something you’re serious about, go for it.
Just hard work, you know, curiosity, anything I didn’t know, I’d either ask or if somebody
else didn’t know, you just have to figure it out on your own, whether it be YouTube or
just keep on messing up until you get it right,” remarked Ibarra. “And the biggest help
with that, honestly, is Mr. Rivera.”

One last piece of advice worth mentioning was the importance of finding a mentor who
inspires and challenges you. At West Broward, both Mr. Rivera and Ms. Tesser were identified
as being influential in Ibarra’s life and career path. Mr. Rivera’s teaching philosophy helped
shape his learning experientially, which involved struggling through practicing elements until he
figured out the process.

“Mr. Rivera his teaching style. He’s easily the best teacher I’ve ever had in my life. Like he
really changed my life forever. Tesser too. We grew a relationship, but Rivera was always my
TV teacher. And the way Rivera taught was he would just say to your face, I don’t know, go
figure it out. Go figure it out. Because he always told us he believed that the second somebody
tells you exactly how to do it, your drive to keep on learning will just drop. And it’s true,” Ibarra
said.