Shooting clay pigeons helped get Wyatt McCaghren to college, but shooting video is where his future lies.
The senior All-American clay target shooter from Mayflower, Ark., will graduate in May with a major in media production. He already has a head start on his future plans, having started a fledgling outdoor videography and apparel business venture called The Flight Shops as an Ozarks student.
鈥淚f it wasn鈥檛 for shooting sports, I probably wouldn鈥檛 be in college,鈥� McCaghren said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what got me here to Ozarks, and I love doing it, but through my classes I鈥檝e found a passion for outdoor filming and videography that I want to pursue. I鈥檓 extremely excited about the future.鈥�
McCaghren said the first time he picked up a video camera in Associate Professor of Practice in Communication Susan Edens鈥� Media I class as a freshman, he was hooked.
鈥淚鈥檝e been hunting for as long as I can remember and I grew up watching hunting and outdoor shows,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen I took the class under Professor Edens, I just fell in love with doing the videos. She helped me realize that someone with no background in media production could actually be good at it.鈥�
McCaghren said he vividly remembers checking out his first video camera as a freshman to take along on a duck hunt to nearby Spadra.
鈥淚 just loved everything about it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 knew nothing about filming or editing and I had no idea what I was doing, but by the time I came back I was hooked. Ever since then I鈥檝e been working to figure out how I can sustain a living doing just that. Professor Edens really helped open up a lot of possibilities to me.鈥�
Ironically, it was the LENS curriculum that opened up other possibilities for McCaghren. Since he had to find a minor in another field other than his media production major and biology minor, he hesitantly chose art.
鈥淎t the beginning, I really didn鈥檛 like LENS because I wanted to major in media productions and minor in marketing, but I had to drop marketing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f someone would have told me I was going to be an art minor in college, I would not have believed them in a million years. But my art classes have been an incredible blessing to me.鈥�
Through his art classes, McCaghren was able to create and design his logo for his business.
鈥淚 designed the shirts and logo myself,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 took the advanced art class last semester and that鈥檚 where we came up with my logo and my design. My logo is actually my dog, that I took the photo of, so my digital photography classes really helped also.鈥�
Despite some good-natured kidding from his teammates, McCaghren said he鈥檚 proud to be an art minor.
鈥淚鈥檓 living proof that if you have a good enough art professor, anyone can draw,鈥� McCaghren said. 鈥淧rofessor Tammy Harrington really taught me a lot about the design aspect of art and I was really able to bring a lot of that into my business. I wouldn鈥檛 change a thing. 鈥�
McCaghren said he started his website, theflightshops.com, as a way to help support his YouTube outdoor channel.
鈥淚 built the website to sell hats and shirts and then added outdoor merchandise, and I use the proceeds to help fund my videos,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he website allows me to make my videos, which is what I really want to do. My ultimate goal one day is to have my own outdoor hunting show. That鈥檚 what I鈥檓 working toward.鈥�
McCaghren called it 鈥渟urreal鈥� that he is in his final semester of collegiate shooting after helping the clay target program win numerous national championships during his time at Ozarks. He was named an All-American shooter by ACUI/SCTP at the end of his junior season.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been blessed to have a group of guys that just enjoyed competing and having fun around each other,鈥� he said. 鈥淐oach [Lance] Brown has been a wonderful coach and mentor to me. It’s also been great to be a part of a program that has had so much success and knowing I had a small role in that. We鈥檝e had a team chemistry that鈥檚 been pretty special. I just hope I can find something similar to it after college because I鈥檓 definitely going to miss it.鈥�
Topics: Art, Athletics, Media Production