By KATY SAVAGE
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SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — River Valley Technical Center students are raising money to go to a national video-making competition in Kentucky in June.
Seniors Tanner Bishofberger and Kyle Monier, who won gold in the Vermont Leadership and Skills Conference hosted by SkillsUSA this month — have started a GoFundMe to raise $4,000 for travel, room and meal expenses to compete at the national SkillsUSA competition.
Bishofberger has competed in the SkillsUSA contest for the past three years. After winning first place in Vermont last year, he placed fourth among the top schools in the nation in Kentucky.
Bishofberger won second place in the audio and video portion of the Vermont competition the year before that.
“It’s a really cool feeling to be able to watch a commercial and look and say, ‘I made that,’” Bishofberger said. “I love photography and I love producing videos and doing just about anything with a camera — it’s an extension of myself in a way.”
This was technical center’s fifth consecutive year competing in SkillsUSA. SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit for high school, middle school and college students preparing for trade occupations.
About 18 River Valley students tested their skills in various trades in the Vermont SkillsUSA competition this year. There were about 1,000 students from 15 schools at the Vermont competition in total.
Monier and Bishofberger were given five hours to write a script, develop a shot list and then film, edit and fully produce a 60-second television commercial for the Hilton Doubletree hotel in Burlington.
Monier and Bishofberger’s videos are earning all kinds of spotlight. They were just named finalists for another competition, called the CareerSafe Online Youth Safety Video Contest, for their 30-second video called, “Let’s Work Distraction Free.”
Monier and Bishofberger are also finalists in the Vermont Highway Safety Alliance #802phonesdown!head
sup! video competition for creating a 25-second public service announcement for young drivers to avoid distracted driving.
Monier and Bishofberger will get $1,000 if they win the CareerSafe video contest and $750 if they win the Vermont Highway Safety contest.
They plan to put the winnings toward their trip to Kentucky.
Bishofberger said he and Monier excel at different areas of video production.
“He’s good with picking things while editing and has a perfect narration voice,” said Bishofberger.
Zachary McNaughton, the audio and video teacher at RVTC has also won awards for his video productions. McNaughton was recognized by the Vermont Association of Broadcasters for the “Most Creative Commercial” and “Best Copywriting” in the state in 2013.
McNaughton said his students practice television commercials throughout the year.
“Tanner and Kyle both have a great eye for videography,” McNaughton said. “Tanner films a lot of car shows and has a great eye for camera movement.”
McNaughton’s students have done well every year of SkillsUSA competition. Vermont students also have a history of doing well at the national competition. About 65 to 70 Vermont students go each year and half of them finish in the top 10, said SkillsUSA Vermont Executive Director Jane Davis.
“They are up against the best of the best from all 50 states,” said Davis.
Monier and Bishofberger had raised $200 toward their $4,000 goal as of Tuesday. Their GoFundMe is located at www.gofundme.com/AVPSKILLS2018
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