Makai Yllanes is a third-year Documentary Studies and Production student with minors in Environmental Studies and Animation. During the Spring and Fall 2024, Makai was a Video Editor for The Ithacan and helped to reach a number of milestones for the video section of the paper, such as reaching 1,000 subscribers, publishing over 100 videos, and attending the National College Media Convention hosted by the College Media Association and the Associated Collegiate Press in New Orleans in which the paper won several awards. In addition to his work as a video editor, Makai has created a few short film documentaries, one of which was picked up by Syracuse's PBS affiliate station, WCNY. In Fall 2024, Makai served as the teaching assistant for Professor John Scott’s (Director of the Doc Studies Program) senior thesis class, Documentary Workshop. In Fall 2025, Makai is again serving as the teaching assistant for the Documentary Workshop class, this time with Professor Bradley Rappa. Since his first year, Makai and a small group of Park Scholars have volunteered with Finger Lakes ReUse at the Ithaca ReUse Center. The group helped organize and clean used materials and worked with the marketing and social media manager to create advertisements and videos for funding. The group is continuing to work with ReUse in Fall 2025. During Spring 2025, Makai spent 5 months in New Zealand, studying at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. While there, he continued to explore his love for the outdoors and documented his travels through his photography. On campus, Makai is currently the Vice-President for two organizations: IC Mixed and the Ithaca College Outing Club.
WCNY Documentary - The Cherry Picker: https://youtu.be/tWOYgqnrtvw
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/makai-yllanes/
Professional Instagram https://www.instagram.com/makaiyllanes/