11.7.24

Elliott School alum applies WSU experience at Take 36 film competition

When Jacob Workentine ’23 signed up for Tallgrass Film Festival’s Take 36 competition, he wasn’t expecting that he and his friends from Wichita State, Payton Steiner and Luke Arrasmith, would take first place and leave the weekend with a check for $1,000.

“I feel like I’m still in shock from our win, especially seeing the other creators who participated,” Workentine, director of K-9: The Car Chaser, said. “Being in this competition with them was such an honor.”

Take 36, an annual competition hosted by Tallgrass Film Festival, challenges creatives like Workentine and his teammates to write, shoot and edit a short film in just 36 hours. But this kind of creative crunch is what the director loves most.

He remembers how his passion for filmmaking developed. “In high school, my teachers would let us either write an essay or create a video,” Workentine said. “And I would only ever pick the latter option.” His first video project involved a rap battle between anthropomorphic personas of the U.S. and Canada, competing for the title of most impressive geographic features.

At Wichita State, that passion for filmmaking only continued to develop. He took up positions in the Dean’s Office for the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the office of Counseling and Prevention Services and the Black Fox Crew video team, under the direction of his professor, Kevin Hager.

It was this diversity of opportunity that made Workentine’s time at WSU so invaluable.  “As a student in the Elliott School of Communication, I took as many opportunities as were presented to me,” he said. “I am so grateful to the faculty members that created a safe place for me to not just try new things, but try a bit of everything.”

Now a marketing director at INTRUST Bank Arena, Workentine’s applied learning opportunities serve both his personal creative pursuits and his career.

“The number of skills I was able to confidently list on my resume based on my experience at Wichita State set me apart from other candidates,” Workentine said. “But, more importantly, employers value a team member that can learn, and those applied learning experiences show that I care to learn.”