Jim Durham, News Bureau Director

Video Challenge winners Jordan Burk, left, and Jordan Patrick during a December 14 trip into London

GC Communications & Marketing Director Jim Allison congratulates Student Video Challenge winners Cody Polzin, second from left, and Corey Hatfield; EKU freshman Kurtis King, who filmed the video, is at right.

The votes have been tallied and two pairs of clever, enterprising young men have been declared winners of the Georgetown College Student Video Challenge.

A GC Communications Committee chose juniors Cody Polzin and Corey Hatfield as its winning duo for “Georgetown: A Fun Atmosphere.” (Tell us the phrase “Catch, Cody!” won’t be popular Spring semester!) And, juniors Jordan Burk and Jordan Patrick took the students’ online-vote for “Love From Across the Pond.”

Contestants were asked to describe the Georgetown Experience – and answer the question: Why did you choose Georgetown College? The winners were rewarded with $500 of food at Applebee’s and $250 worth of Nike gear, respectively.

“One of the important things about this challenge was that all of the entrants had fun highlighting their favorite GC activities. In very different ways, the two winning videos showcase their pride in Georgetown and highlighted many different areas of campus life,” said Jessica Shields, the College’s webmaster and coordinator of the project.

Obviously, student voters were taken with the two Jordans’ caring, ingenuity, and international swagger – all the way from Great Britain. Both are taking business and health science classes at Kingston University, about 10 miles southwest of London.

“Our inspiration came from the fact that even though we are getting to experience the opportunity of a lifetime by studying abroad, there are still many things we miss about Georgetown and will be glad to return home to these things,” Patrick wrote in an e-mail. He’s a Business Administration major/Communication and Media Studies minor from Mount Sterling. Burk is a Business Administration major/Communication and Media Studies minor from Shelbyville.

“I think we saw this video contest as a way to be creative and to connect with Georgetown even while abroad,” Patrick added.

The writing of “Love From Across the Pond” was a collaboration. Burk provided the camera, Patrick did most of the editing and Marek (their Polish roommate) did the filming. Patrick said, “On most of the speaking scenes, we would develop a general plan and then improv the actual words.”

A lot of the Polzin-Hatfield video – “Georgetown: A Fun Atmosphere” – was improv, too. For instance, during a scene in the Ensor LRC, when Hatfield threw a book a book to Polzin, he needed something to say – hence “Catch, Cody!” – and it caught on. “We bounced ideas off each other a lot,” said Hatfield, a Psychology major/Youth Ministry minor from Falmouth.

Polzin, a Commerce, Language & Culture major and Theatre minor, was in charge of sound production – with the background music coming from “loops from different garage bands. I wanted it to sound like a PBS educational tune,” he said.

Hatfield did the editing on their video and a friend from his home county of Pendleton, Kurtis King, a Broadcasting & Electronic Media major at Eastern Kentucky University, handled the camera.

Of the four winners only Polzin said his work on the video piqued his interest about a career behind or in front of a camera. But, Polzin-Hatfield have 10 videos on their own YouTube channel with the profile – Man Cave Saints. The roomies call their room The Man Cave and their favorite movie is “The Boondock Saints.”

The hope is that the messages in these two videos will give others some idea of the Georgetown College Experience and possibly spawn an annual video project.

“We thought this was a great way for our students to have some fun and use their creativity to show Tiger pride,” said Jim Allison, Associate VP Institutional Advancement/Communications & Marketing. “Our plan is to share the videos with students who are in the process of picking a college as well as alumni and friends.”

Jim Durham, News Bureau Director

Last year’s competition winners Brittany Glancy and Shay McCleavy, performing the roles of Fiametta and Antonio in The Gondoliers as freshmen this fall 

’08 winner Meredith Rigby at the piano, studying with Mami Hayashida

Georgetown College’s Music Department is looking for some real “winners” – competitors whose scholarships will be nearly as big as their talents.

The 3^rd Annual Georgetown College High School Voice & Piano Competition, February 5, 2011, in John L. Hill Chapel is the place for high school seniors to vie for some great scholarships and the experience of working closely with some very talented Music faculty in the fall and over the next four years. Entry deadline is Feb. 1.

“This is an exciting opportunity for high-schoolers to show off their talent and hard work AND finance their education at the same time,” said Heather Hunnicutt, Coordinator of Vocal Studies and Chair of Georgetown College’s Music department. She and fellow assistant professor of music Mami Hayashida (piano) are co-coordinators of the competition.

Entrants must be planning to major in vocal or keyboard music at Georgetown College to claim the prizes in the two categories. Each scholarship for the first three places is annual for four years at Georgetown, as long as certain standards are met. They are:

• 1^st Place: minimum of $10,000 per year ($40,000 total)
• 2^nd Place: minimum of $7,000 per year ($28,000 total)
• 3^rd Place (Voice Only): minimum of $5,000 per year, ($20,000)
• Honorable Mention Awards: Vary at the judges’ discretion
  (Every competitor will receive $250 per year for four years at Georgetown College.)

Hunnicutt loves the competition because the event is special in itself, and she knows the Music department and the entire campus community will get to enjoy these talented young people for the next four years. “It’s wonderful to hear such exuberant, talented performers…and then to actually get them here!,” Hunnicutt exclaimed.

All of the winners from the previous two competitions are having incredible, varied experiences at Georgetown College. Freshmen Shay McCleavy (1^st place) of Brandenburg and Brittany Glancy (2^nd place) of Cincinnati were both in our Lyric Theatre Society’s fall production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers and will be in the April 14 “Op Shop” (Opera and Musical Theatre Workshop) performances in Hill Chapel. They also sing in the College’s Chorale, and McCleavy had a role in the College Maskrafters fall production of “The Doctor in Spite of Himself.”

As if her Georgetown experience wasn’t already full enough, Glancy loves that she can be involved in so many different activities and plans on rushing a sorority next semester. And, although she hasn’t been a cheerleader since middle school, she’s thinking of trying out for the Tiger squad.

Earlier this week, the day before her “juries” (final singing exam in front of three Music professors), Glancy had Dr. Hunnicutt practically tearing up as she spoke about being judged. “Brittany said the only time she hasn’t been nervous was last year at the Voice Competition – because everyone was so nice and friendly that made her more at ease,” said Hunnicutt, who includes campus tours as part of the welcoming atmosphere.

Glancy, who attended the School for Creative & Performing Arts in Cincinnati and graduated from Oak Hills High School, said the treatment she received during this competition last February “was what sold me on Georgetown College. The teachers talked to me and drank coffee with me and treated me like an adult,” she recalled warmly. “This was more like them seeing how I’d fit in here than a competition.”

Of the vocal winners from two years ago, Nathan Van Til (3^rd place) of Georgetown is the most involved sophomore. He’s in Chorale and been a lead in every Lyric Theatre production, including “The Gondoliers;” and, he took first place in Underclass Musical Theatre at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) regional last spring. Lauren Siegel (1^st place) of Shelbyville, who’s in Chorale and was in The Gondoliers chorus, remains a Voice minor but has decided her major calling is Elementary Education. Rebeccah Bowery of Covington will be in “Op Shop.”

Dr. Hayashida hopes the competition will produce more piano stars like 2008 winner Meredith Rigby, an Oxford Honors Scholar. This year, the sophomore from Richmond was the first place winner in the highest category (Preludes and Fugues) of the Lexington Bach Contest in February and one four students chosen in August to participate in the UBS Chamber Music Festival of Lexington Piano Masterclass taught by Alessio Bax, the 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient.

“We will all be very happy if more students like Meredith apply to Georgetown College,” Hayashida said. “She will be one those students everyone will be watching in a couple of years.”