One of the key missions of Striv is to help educate students about video and digital streaming.
While many of his classmates put on their cleats, pads and jerseys for the Friday night football game at Fillmore Central High School in Geneva, Neb., Jacob Bespalec whips out his laptop.
After the camera is set and the software running Bespalec, a Fillmore Central junior, becomes a sportscaster, sending live footage of the game to hundreds of viewers across the country.
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Thanks to Striv—a Henderson, Neb.-based startup—Bespalec is able to start his broadcasting career. Striv allows schools to broadcast live events complete with lower thirds, logos and anything else the student want to add.
“It’s just been a great learning opportunity,” Bespalec said. Now he’s considering studying broadcasting in college.
For Taylor Siebert, creator and CEO of Striv, this was exactly what he set out to do: provide an effective streaming service and educational opportunities to smaller schools.
After founding the company in February 2012, Siebert (right) reached out to six schools near Henderson—located about an hour west of Lincoln—after he set up the live streaming platform. The schools jumped on to the idea, and once opponents saw that their games were being broadcasted, they wanted in on the action as well. The number of subscribers quickly jumped to 27. According to Striv’s data, in their first year more than 30,000 people visited the website to watch the more than 250 events broadcasted by subscribing schools. Now schools from across Nebraska use Striv.
Siebert, a self-described “local guy,” says he really enjoys seeing small schools connect to larger audiences. Through the application spectators who couldn’t normally make it to various school activities are able to participate.
And the service isn’t limited to just sports either—Striv’s platform could be used to broadcast plays, speech tournaments and pep rallies. Subscribing schools pay between $1,000-$3,000 an academic year and users are only required to have basic equipment: a capable laptop and a camera.
Striv provides the framework for a completely student-run broadcast, and runs on Wirecast, software that offers like a mini television studio. Students can do everything from adding lower thirds to running local commercials during breaks, and Striv only needs two students to operate the system.
Beyond providing a service to fans, the service also provides students a way to learn about broadcasting. Michael Forsman—a freshman information technology major studying at Central Community College in Hastings, Neb.—used Striv back when he attended high school in Aurora, Neb.
“I was asked if I wanted to help with live streaming home athletic events with a small company out of Henderson,” Forsman said of Striv. “I had always sort of wanted to start my own company, so I thought maybe I could learn from Taylor. Since then I have learned a lot about streaming, but mostly I have learned a lot about startups from Taylor and now I plan to start my own.”
The chance for students to get hands-on experience has excited school districts as well. Chris Ericson, technology manager at York Public Schools, said Striv has grown significantly.
“Now I get text messages when the sound doesn’t work or when we have other issues,” he said. “It really makes me laugh that people depend on this like they do their cable service.”
Ericson said he doesn’t feel Striv has cut down on attendance to games. Instead the participation from family members and alumni has boosted York’s sense of community.
“It is amazing how many comments we get from grandparents, relations and other alumni who are out of state and want to follow,” Ericson said.
As Striv is still relatively new, Ericson communicates with Siebert regularly on development and maintenance of the service.
“York Public Schools has been nothing but happy with our experience with Striv,” Ericson said. “And I highly encourage districts to look into what it can offer schools and patrons.”
Striv also provides online courses for its subscribers called Striv U. The focus is on a variety of web skills that smaller schools might not have the resources to teach: video editing, social media skills and broadcasting. Siebert said he has held web calls with several classes to teach high school students about new media.
The York Public School district has even started integrating StrivU into its own curriculum with some eighth grade classes using its video tutorials.
Looking forward, Siebert says he wants Striv to help prepare students for jobs in new media. Siebert also says he’s concerned about “brain drain,” hoping that providing new media training and could be a remedy.
“Rather than going to the coasts, you can do something new right here in Nebraska,” he said.
Credits: Photos courtesy of Taylor Siebert. Video from Vimeo.
