7/24/24

HAYS, Kan. - Every year, custom harvesters travel the country to cut wheat and other crops for farmers who don’t have the equipment or manpower to do it themselves, a service that is vital to agriculture in America.

The new Tiger Media Network documentary, “Life On The Harvest Run,” explores the lives of two custom harvesting families from Kansas and what their summers on the harvest run are like. TMN’s latest crop of paid summer interns — Ryan Schuckman, Raegan Neufeld, and John Billinger — interviewed the Befort family from Hays and the Froese family from Inman. 

“Life On The Harvest Run” will premiere at 4 p.m. on July 25 on the TMN YouTube page. Additional videos and information can be found here.

“I think that the interviews went well,” Schuckman said. “We were able to get a really interesting perspective from everyone. I am very proud of how we made the story, took what everyone said in the interviews and made a really interesting documentary.”

The Fort Hays State University students interviewed active and retired custom harvesters to get a mix of present and past perspectives. Interviewees ranged from 20 to 91 years old. 

“Not only are we learning how to work as a team, but we’re also learning about events and history we wouldn't have known otherwise,” Billinger said. “It helps preserve their stories and experiences for generations to come.”

By participating in the internship, the students received a real-world experience of what their prospective careers in the media industry might be like. 

“This is something that I think I knew beforehand, but this experience has kind of reinforced that working with other people is very beneficial,” Neufeld said. “We each have our own strengths, and it would’ve been difficult without any one of us.”

Schuckman, Neufeld and Billinger each had prior experience with creating a documentary, but this was the first time they worked with others.

“I learned a lot more about what working in a production is like, where you have multiple people and multiple cameras — working together as a team rather than working by myself,” Schuckman said.

This is the second documentary produced by TMN summer interns, following the success of last year’s “45x: A Dirt Dream.”

“One goal of Tiger Media Network is to give students a look into what the real-world working environment might be,” said Nick Schwien, director of TMN. “We want our FHSU students to stand out to potential employers when they apply for jobs post-graduation. Experiences like this fit perfectly into the Department of Informatics approach to preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s workforce.”

TMN News and Sports Director Russell Heitmann said he hopes future summer interns can continue to build on the success of prior projects.

“Our first set of interns set the bar high with a quality product and gave our current students a goal of what to reach for,” he said. “Next summer’s interns should be able to look at the finished product and see something to try and emulate and learn from, just like this year’s interns did with the prior internship group.” 

Ryan Schuckman is a junior from Hays studying Information Networking and Telecommunications: Digital Media Production and Journalism. 

Raegan Neufeld is a senior from Inman studying Information Networking and Telecommunications: Digital Media Production and Journalism. 

John Billinger is a senior from Ellinwood studying Information Networking and Telecommunications: Digital Media Production and Journalism.