On Wednesday, Sept. 10, five members of MVTV participated in the 2025 Kansas State Fair Scholastic Press Corps Competition.
MVTV has participated in this competition in the past, but this year was advisor Laurie Folsom’s first year bringing a group. Folsom felt the competition was a helpful learning experience for the four new staff members attending.
“This was a great experience to train them up really fast for what the expectations are in MVTV,” Folsom said. “They made mistakes, and they had to figure out how to fix them and come up with Plan B situations when Plan A fell through.”
The staff members worked on three separate video packages. One was assigned beforehand, the second was assigned at the competition and the third was a free choice package. Sophomore Effie Neiwohner felt the first package “Math on a Stick”, a package about a math opportunity for kids at the fair, was most challenging.
“It was hard because, I mean, nobody wants to go there and do math. Yeah, it was a little bit hard and not many people wanted to do it,” Neiwohner said.
According to sophomore Noah Lauer, one of the most difficult components at the event was the time constraints unique to this competition.
“Usually at MVTV, we don’t make this many packages. We made three packages in one day, which is a lot, usually [in MVTV] you make a package once a month,” Lauer said.
Although these constraints put more pressure on participants, they also helped the members to practice and improve their skills.
“I think time management was a big thing, and trying to find where we were supposed to go and what we were supposed to record, because we did it on the spot,” Neiwohner said. “At the very end we had like, three minutes to spare.”
Folsom noticed the challenges of the competition but felt confident in the abilities of the group and felt she could put her full trust in them.
“Our kids are really capable, and if I’m doing my job, they don’t need me,” Folsom said. “They might want help, and that’s a different thing than needing me to hold their hands. I don’t have to do that.”
Through hands-on work, the group members got to learn new skills quickly. MVTV staff member, sophomore Garrett Hansen, enhanced his broadcast skills in multiple areas while at the competition.
