Budding filmmaker wins co-op competition

As part of a co-op with Reebok last fall, Northeastern University student Scott Keenan produced promotional videos featuring athletes and celebrities, such as New England Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocino. One video was even played for more than 1,000 global sales managers at a Reebok marketing meeting.

The third-year business major, with a dual concentration in marketing and management, attributed his success on co-op to the lessons he learned in class at Northeastern. An organizational behavior course on how businesses function and how people act made a particularly strong impression.

“There are many planning and logistical elements associated with video production and Northeastern has provided me with the techniques to approach them from a business perspective,” Keenan said. “It’s smart to have the business mindset going into these video projects.”

Keenan’s thrilling experiential-learning opportunity at Reebok inspired him to enter Northeastern’s Coolest Co-op video competition. The contest — sponsored by the Office of Student Affairs — asked undergraduates to make a short video showcasing why their job was cooler than any other experiential learning opportunity in Northeastern co-op history.

Keenan won. Gwen Kidera took second place and Nicole Georgallas and Nicole St. Germain tied for third place.

“This co-op was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had,” Keenan said.

The Palo Alto, Calif., native’s interest in filmmaking began at a young age. At 3, he was captivated by the movie “Star Wars.” Shorty thereafter, he began collecting books about movie moguls and film production. In his teens, he and his friends made short films about war.

His co-op responsibilities — which also included handling the logistics for Reebok’s audio/visual needs throughout the company’s entire Canton, Mass., campus — gave Keenan a chance to revisit his passion and develop and fine tune his production skills.

One more benefit to his co-op? He might apply to film school after graduation. “The Reebok experience was the one moment where I felt like I was going in the direction I want to go,” Keenan said.

To find out more about the contest and view the winners’ videos visit northeastern.edu/studentlife/coop/index.html.