JASPER — It took Austin Hoffman and Logan Schroering only six seconds to win $5,000 each for college.
The two 2013 Jasper High School graduates turned a longtime hobby into an important message to win a prize in the Vine division of the Indiana Department of Labor’s Drive Now TXT L8TR competition.
The friends now room together as Hoffman studies marketing at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville and Schroering studies business administration at USI and Ivy Tech. In their spare time, they often entertain their friends and Internet fans with short, six-second videos posted on the social media platform Vine. Schroering’s mother, Kathy, saw a posting for the contest cautioning drivers against texting behind the wheel and convinced her son and his pal to try it. Another friend, Mark Belcher of Tell City, attempted to enter the contest as part of the team but missed the deadline to submit all required information.
They filmed their snippet inside a car in a parking lot with Hoffman in the driver’s seat operating the camera. The clip shows he, Schroering and Belcher chatting and texting when suddenly, the scene cuts to show all three slumped in their seats.
“We were sitting in our apartment and we were brainstorming ideas, and we got the idea, ‘Why don’t we just fake a crash?’” Hoffman said. “As soon as the word started to go around, I got I think over 500 likes in the first day.”
With so much experience making Internet videos, the friends finished their project quickly and posted it with the hashtag TXTL8TRIN on the first day of competition in April. They then waited excitedly until late June to hear the results.
“It probably took about three or four tries until we liked (how the video looked),” Schroering said.
Vine videos are created using an application or smartphone program. “It really only took about 25 minutes to make the video, but after that, Austin edited it. We didn’t get any news until we got a letter in the mail.”
The boys were on track to win the prize for most “likes,” but were eventually overtaken by another entry. Instead, their video was chosen as “most creative.” The boys don’t know how many entries they competed against, but Schroering estimates there were at least 2,000 videos.
The message of texting and driving also hit home for Hoffman and Schroering, who know how prevalent the problem is among their peers.
“Anybody who has a smartphone realizes the struggle of driving without your phone in your hand,” Hoffman explained. “It’s just so easy to answer it, so you do.”
Schroering was once in a minor fender bender as a result of distracted driving, which has taught him the dangers of taking his eyes off the road.
“I dropped my phone and reached down to get it. No one got hurt, but it could have been a lot worse,” he said. “We think (the message against texting and driving) is really important because (texting and driving) has messed up a lot of people’s lives.”
Some of the boys’ Vine account followers have even left messages saying their video “changed their perspective on texting and driving,” Hoffman added. “It kind of makes you feel good.”
The friends both say they would readily enter another Vine video contest in the future if the opportunity arose. For now, they will continue to make their funny clips together and amass fans on the web.
In addition to the $5,000 to be deposited in College Choice 529 accounts for both young men, they also received an award this morning at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis. Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann addressed the winners in the three competition categories: Vine, Instagram and Twitter.
Hoffman is the son of Marty and Jill of Jasper, and Schroering is the son of Phil and Kathy of Jasper.
The Indiana Department of Labor, Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Indiana State Police Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and Indiana Department of Transportation were the contest sponsors.