Northwest student the star of college planning video

EducationQuest officials would love nothing more than for Northwest High School sophomore Quinn Mendyk to be the star of a "viral video."

Sherma Jones, who produced the video, said that would help with EducationQuest's goal of getting more high school seniors to continue their education by enrolling in some type of college.

A viral video refers to any piece of video that becomes wildly popular through Internet sharing, especially through e-mail or instant messages.

Even Jones does not believe that the video she produced for EducationQuest is destined for viral status.

But she did say that she tried to leaven her video with humor so that students and their parents would be willing to watch the video together.

That's how she decided to cast Mendyk, whom she knows through their association with Abundant Life Christian Church in Grand Island.

"He's pretty outgoing," Jones said. "He's got a sense of humor, but a little sarcastic, so he can pull it off without being too cheesy."

Jones said she also liked the fact that Mendyk was not involved in drama. She thought that would make him appear more natural on the video.

Other performers included Regina Rathman, whom Jones has known for many years. Rathman plays Mendyk's mother, who goes through the scholarship hunt and college application process with a fair amount of serenity. She is a bit of a hovering mom, though.

Jay Warriner, Abundant Life youth pastor, portrays Mendyk's high school counselor, "Mr. Campos." Jones said Warriner also has an outgoing personality and noted that going from youth pastor to high school counselor was not a big stretch for him.

As for Mendyk's video father, he was played by his real life father, Mitch Mendyk.

The elder Mendyk comes across as a person who is very concerned that Quinn find scholarships and other financial aid.

Mitch's first line in the video after seeing the EducationQuest Web site is this: "And it says here that you can start applying for those scholarships during your junior year -- Yes!"

Mendyk said such a part was not a stretch for his dad.

"That's pretty much how he was with my older brother," claimed Mendyk, who said his brother is now attending Central Community College-Hastings.

As for the humor aspect, Mendyk walks into Mr. Campos' office as a high school junior. Campos advises Mendyk that as a junior, he should already be thinking about college. He should have looked into a couple of scholarships and made a couple of campus visits by this time.

To that pronouncement, Mendyk protests, "Are you serious? I haven't even been to my prom yet."

A cartoon thought bubble then appears above Mendyk's head. Inside the bubble, Quinn is dressed in a powder blue prom tuxedo.

Mendyk said powder blue tuxes aren't exactly the current style.

By the end of the first clip, Mendyk has twice declared himself "Mr. Organized." That declaration occurs despite the fact that the video version of Mendyk has a propensity for losing his car keys. That's illustrated by a pair of animated walking car keys.

By fall of his senior year, the video Mendyk has evolved into "Mr. Involved" because being in athletics, working on the school newspaper or being in fine arts can also be important when it comes to scholarship applications.

By winter of his senior year, the video version of Mendyk has evolved into "Mr. FAFSA," which stands for "free application for federal student aid."

After going through all those incarnations and getting financial aid, the video Mendyk confidently predicts that in a few months, people would be calling him "Mr. College."

The real-life Mendyk said he learned a lot about the job of making a video. He said it took a day and a half -- about 12 hours in all -- to shoot the video.

The final video, which is in four segments, ended up lasting 12 minutes.

The longest section is not even video. Jones said Section 5 is primarily a PowerPoint presentation with just a bit of video. It lasts 13.5 minutes and gives people a chance to pause, go back and skip to the next section.

Mendyk said the video scenes took several takes, sometimes because of mistakes by the amateur actors.

But other times, a camera had to be in one location and then changed to another location to switch between speaker and "reaction shot." Other times, there were delays while the lighting was set up.

"The lighting took forever," Mendyk exclaimed.

Jones noted that the video also was shot "on location," including the office of Doris Rempe, Grand Island Central Catholic guidance counselor; the Mendyks' home; and also the Kearney office for EducationQuest.

Mendyk said he was paid pretty good money for his video work and he noted the money proved to be a real motivator for him.

After being in a video, Mendyk said, he has no desire to try for a Hollywood career. The sophomore noted that he is taking Northwest's "Project Lead the Way" and would like some type of career in engineering.

That means Mendyk is college bound. He already plans to take his first ACT this summer. He believes his participation in the video will help his own college application process.

Jones, who was hired to produce the video by the Lincoln office of EducationQuest, said she benefited by making the video. She said she thought completing the FAFSA was fairly easy because of the tips she learned.



Video uses humor to get its points across

While the Sherma Jones-produced EducationQuest video used humor, it also had lots of serious points to make. They include:

-- EducationQuest is a private, nonprofit organization that provides free college planning services to students and parents on a statewide basis. It has offices in Kearney, Lincoln and Omaha, with its services also available through educationquest.org

-- EducationQuest provides college research, career exploration, scholarship searches and FAFSA (free application for federal student aid) assistance.

-- By fall of the junior year, students should already be researching college profiles, attending college fairs, talking to guidance counselors, attending area financial aid programs, looking for scholarships and perhaps taking the PSAT.

-- By spring of the junior year, students should begin making college visits, continue hunting for scholarships, start a scholarship file (complete with filing deadlines for each scholarship), start an activities résumé, ask for letters of recommendation from educators and community members, and take the ACT and/or SAT. Students should be prepared to fill out 30 to 40 scholarship applications to better their opportunities for getting free money for college.

-- Other types of financial aid are available in addition to scholarships, including a variety of grants, work study programs and loans. Eligibility for all three is determined by FAFSA. The video emphasized that students should never borrow more than necessary and to keep track of their total debt.

-- When it comes to FAFSA, parents and students should complete their tax return as early as possible after Jan. 1. They should be aware of college priority dates when it comes to completing the FAFSA. They also should realize that they never need to pay anyone to have a FAFSA completed. The FAFSA needs to be completed each year a student needs financial aid for college.

-- When it comes to college financial aid, EducationQuest is always there to help.