Fort Hays State University is committed to providing its students with the best learning opportunities it can in real-world environments.
This summer, Tiger Media Network – the convergent media hub of FHSU students – offered two paid internships during an eight-week period to film, edit and produce a documentary video of their choice.
The two students, Tim Schoepflin and Corbin Ingrim, decided to follow a native of northwest Kansas around a dirt-track racing tour and document the driver’s experiences.
Schoepflin and Ingrim titled the documentary “45x: A Dirt Dream.”
Kyler Johnson of Quinter is a driver in his second year of racing a sprint car on the ASCS National Tour, which features numerous races across multiple states in the Midwest.
“I really enjoyed this internship opportunity. It has given me the real-world experience of making a 45-minute documentary,” Schoepflin said. “Corbin and I had creative control of every aspect of this documentary and filmed, scraped and edited everything ourselves, giving us the opportunity to sharpen our skills and utilize our talent”
The students documented Johnson’s journey through multiple sit-down interviews, and followed along to tracks in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma during the summer to capture first-hand what being a racer is like.
“I enjoyed that this internship challenged Tim and I, helping us learn new skills while also allowing us to fine-tune pre-existing skills,” Ingrim said. “Tim and I were able to form this documentary into our own true vision. We were able to be in control of any and everything creatively, as well as create our own workflow to get this project polished. This internship was a great tool to help Tim and I use our skills as well as learn new ones.”
After filming interviews, races and family interactions, the two students edited the footage into a nearly 45-minute final project.
It was the sort of real-world experience Tiger Media Network provides for FHSU students. It also provided the interns with a project that will help them build a solid portfolio for post-graduation employment.
“We are excited to be able to help FHSU students learn and grow in a real-world environment that will benefit them after their time at the university concludes,” said Nick Schwien, director of Tiger Media Network. “Opportunities like these provide great avenues for TMN and FHSU to educate and prepare globally engaged citizen leaders, which is important to the mission of our university. Projects like these also help our students stand out above others when they journey into the job market and industry.”
Schwien and Russell Heitmann, the news and sports director for TMN, served as mentors for the students during the eight weeks.
“It has been great to see how Tim and Corbin have applied the skills from their Digital Media Production classes and time with Tiger Media Network to make this documentary,” Heitmann said. “Their growth from the time they began in the department to where they are now is a testament to both Tim and Corbin, and I have no doubt they will continue to shine as future media professionals.”