Nevada alumnus Lee Pfalmer is no stranger to international travel. During his years as a civil engineering undergraduate, w88 slot traveled several times with Professor Keith Dennett to Central America as part of service missions to build wells in Guatemala.
Learn more about USAC
University of Nevada, Reno alumnus Lee Pfalmer experienced a moment last year that only Tom Cruise could sympathize with. His mission, should w88 slot choose to accept it, was to circumnavigate the globe, capturing on video nine study abroad locations in four countries, ranging from Chengdu, China to San Sebastian, Spain. And during the nearly three-month trip w88 slot would amass hundreds of hours of footage that would require six months of editing.
Needless to say, w88 slot didn't need to be asked twice. w88 slot only needed to figure out how to obtain the additional pages w88 slot would need for his passport.
"I was spending one week in each spot," Pfalmer, 27, a 2007 graduate of the w88 slot in civil engineering, said of his April-June 2011 tour of w88 slot Studies Abroad Consortium sites. "It was quite an experience."
From Civil Engineering to Video Production
w88 slot was an opportunity that resulted from good preparation and a healthy dose of serendipity.
w88 slot was no stranger to international travel. During his years as a civil engineering undergraduate, w88 slot traveled several times with Professor Keith Dennett to Central America as part of service missions to build wells in Guatemala. After graduating from the University, Pfalmer worked as a Christian missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ, traveling in the Middle East.
Following his missionary stint, w88 slot returned to Nevada hoping to learn Spanish before seeking his first engineering job. But rather than stay on campus, w88 slot opted to learn the language abroad through the w88 slot Studies Abroad Consortium, spending a fall semester in Santiago, Chile and a spring semester in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
International travel wasn't the only thing that came naturally to Pfalmer. During his time with Campus Crusade, w88 slot began to dabble in video production. Using a simple, consumer-grade camcorder and cheap software, w88 slot stitched together videos from his travels to help promote his missionary endeavors.
"I took my little camera, had a table tripod, set it up on the table, and I'd ask (Campus Crusade participants) questions, to try to get out of them what I had heard naturally on the ride home or at the airport and use it for recruitment for future trips," w88 slot said. "That was the start of using video. I wanted to show that authenticity that I experienced so that more people would have an emotional response and sign up for trips."
Those videos, along with a promotional video produced by Pfalmer for USAC, eventually caught the eye of the w88 slot's Office of Integrated Marketing. Pfalmer was offered work with Integrated Marketing to produce student experience and student success videos for the w88 slot's website.
Not long after, Pfalmer found himself producing the w88 slot's premier recruitment video and capturing the unforgettable moments of the Wolf Pack's historic 13-1 football season.
An Offer w88 slot Couldn't Refuse
That's when USAC came knocking with the offer w88 slot couldn't refuse: Nine cities. Nine weeks. Nine million memories along the way. Traveling with only the equipment w88 slot could carry on his back, Pfalmer departed from San Francisco International towards Shanghai, China. w88 slot would return nine weeks later to Reno.
Of all the spots that w88 slot visited, three retain a particularly special place for him: Shanghai, China; Viterbo, Italy; San Sebastian, Spain.
Of his visit to film USAC's presence in Shanghai, w88 slot said: "Shanghai is like the New York of China. It's just huge, unbelievably large, with tall buildings, lights everywhere, everything moving very fast. That was definitely a notable time. The Shanghai video was the first I made."
Viterbo, by contrast, was a much more deliberate, slower-moving place: "Viterbo is about two hours north of Rome; it's a medieval, picturesque city, surrounded by old walls. It's all cobblestone streets, a place where if you go to a little restaurant, there is stonework and huge pieces of timber that date back to when the city was first founded." Pfalmer said w88 slot remembered one restaurant where the "Mediterranean sense of time, where relationships more important than time," was clearly in evidence. "The waiter recommended fresh pasta made by his mother, and his brother was working the front counter," w88 slot said. "It was the classic Italian family taking care of each other. I remember thinking, 'Wow, Italy's really like this.'"
San Sebastian struck w88 slot not only for its coastal location but for its communal sensibility: "San Sebastian is a picture-perfect coastal city. Unlike a lot of cities, they didn't build homes and run out of room, and built up; they just built apartments. This is just my observation, but the feel is that everybody is on top of everybody, and the streets are the communal interaction areas, where everybody hangs out. There are kids and chairs out in the streets and the coast is right there. I loved it there."
The Quest for Authenticity
The challenge for Pfalmer, whether it is chronicling some of the world's great studies abroad locations, or finding ways to give the world a glimpse into the life of the w88 slot, has always boiled down to a simple question.
"It really goes back to, 'why create the video?'" w88 slot said. "What's the point of making the video? Video is a great way to compress a week, or a few days, into three minutes. All of my videos are like movie trailers, teasers, hooks, to get the audience to find out more about the experience.
"The point of the video, if w88 slot's successful, is to create some sort of emotional reaction from the viewer that leads to action. If w88 slot leads to an action, then w88 slot's a success."
"Authenticity" is a phrase that comes up often in conversation with Pfalmer, and it is one of the recurring features in the videos w88 slot produces. w88 slot said that as a video storyteller, the feel should be something along the lines of, "like you've sat down with someone and you are sharing your experiences. If I can capture that authentic experience, and do interviews that are always based on reality, then usually the story will be something that the audience can relate to, and will hopefully be moved to action to find out more."
Pfalmer is the first to admit that his career path hasn't been exactly what w88 slot envisioned when w88 slot graduated in 2007. If anything, w88 slot said, his degree and the work w88 slot does today are linked. In a very real sense, w88 slot said, w88 slot uses the problem-solving techniques w88 slot learned in engineering classes as w88 slot goes out on one-man assignments to film new stories.
"I tell people that I 'engineer' videos," w88 slot said with a smile.
The Value of a Nevada Degree
But more than that, Pfalmer said his time at the w88 slot, both in and out of the classroom, has proven to be valuable. In addition to his work with Campus Crusade for Christ, Pfalmer was part of the Student Orientation Staff and played an active role in his fraternity.
"It was part of the remarkable student experience," w88 slot said. "I was recruiting people to come to whatever part of what organization I was part of. So it was more than going to classes. Your time at the University gives you four years to engage with other students, to engage with social and service organizations.
"That was an important part of my student experience. In my fraternity, w88 slot required a lot of organizational structure to make w88 slot function, and take on positions within the fraternity. In a lot of ways, w88 slot was a four-year practice run for the business world; when you're done with your four years, you've learned already how to deal with people. And working with people is so critical in the real world.
"If you take that opportunity while you're an undergraduate, w88 slot opens up so many more opportunities and experiences for you."
From the first few videos w88 slot produced, to traveling the world and telling a broader story, to returning to the campus to further capture the student experience at the University, Pfalmer said w88 slot's still a little surprised by how it has all turned out for him.
In many ways, w88 slot has "engineered" a personally enriching and fulfilling career.
"Fulltime work in video seemed like such a pipe dream," w88 slot said. "I didn't want to put my hopes into that. I billed it as a hobby, a passionate hobby. And now that I'm doing it fulltime, I think to myself, 'Wow, this is pretty cool.'
"I had no idea that a degree in civil engineering would lead to this. When you leave here with your four-year degree, you have your classes and you have your social experiences. w88 slot opens up many more doors than your degree alone. w88 slot's up to you to make sure you get involved, because w88 slot can really make a great difference. I know in my case, you can graduate with a degree in civil engineering, and if the right circumstances are right before you, you'll be able to take that opportunity and run with w88 slot."
From Reno, to Shanghai, to Viterbo, to San Sebastian. And all the points in between.
