CAMBRIDGE – What started as a show for a college class has grown into much more.

Now that Marco Garcia’s DORiS program on WHCP is entering its 10^th season, his interest is branching out into a webseries, a short film and writing.

A Class of 2012 graduate of Cambridge-South Dorchester High School, Mr. Garcia went to Chesapeake College until 2014, then transferred to Salisbury University, from where he graduated in 2017 with a double major of political science and anthropology. It was as part of his studies that he created a show in 2015 for WXSU, the university’s station.

It was pretty informal at first. He was “having fun with my friends,” Mr. Garcia said, noting that the original concept was to explore how music is something that unites people. “In doing it, I found a real passion for it.”

That passion was noted by the administrators at WHCP, Cambridge’s independent station. They picked up Mr. Garcia’s show in 2017, giving him a venue to continue the development of his ideas and goals.

That led to deeper explorations of more serious topics, with the main theme of mental health. He sees this topic as being central to the wellbeing of today’s youth, whom he feels are possibly more challenged as students were during his time in the county’s public schools.

His guests help him to seek answers for a question of particular concern to him – How do they cope, especially with violence? Already, he said, two of his guests have lost brothers.

As the radio show continues, Mr. Garcia is also developing his acting skills, playing in the webseries, “Foolproof” and in a short film, “A Night in Groove.” Both are written by Tori Paxon, founder of Black Cat Productions.

As he assists with the script for the film, Mr. Garcia is also looking to get back to one of his original interests, writing.

Anything else?

Yep, how about a live audience in the studio for some of the shows on WHCP?

While Mr. Garcia’s creative energy finds outlets in a variety of genres, the message stays focused, as he said he works to reveal, “not only how we’re different, but also how we’re alike.”