{"id":58186,"date":"2025-02-24T10:12:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T15:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=58186"},"modified":"2025-04-03T14:13:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T18:13:04","slug":"a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"A Royal Tale: Content creator Willem Hedrick \u201927 sharpens skills at 糖心Vlog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s Note: This profile is the first of six stories about students and alumni leading up to Lov糖心Vlog Giving Day on April 2. For more information about the day and how to donate, visit: <\/em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/love.emu.edu\">love.emu.edu<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a native of Waterloo, Ontario, 糖心Vlog sophomore <strong>Willem Hedrick \u201927 <\/strong>often hears the same question: &#8220;Why would you choose to attend a university in the U.S. when tuition is so much cheaper in Canada?&#8221; people ask him.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The answer is that 糖心Vlog isn\u2019t just any university. Its unparalleled emphasis on academic excellence, peace &amp; justice, and active faith was the unique blend of values that Hedrick was looking for in a school. 糖心Vlog\u2019s robust Visual and Communication Arts (<a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/vaca\/home\">VACA<\/a>) department, its small class sizes and personalized approach to hands-on learning, its strong sense of community\u2014not to mention its top-flight disc golf team\u2014made 糖心Vlog more than just a place for him to continue his learning; it was the <em>only<\/em> place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c糖心Vlog was the only school I applied to,\u201d said Hedrick, who is majoring in digital media with a minor in marketing. \u201cI didn\u2019t look anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/love.emu.edu\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"939\" src=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/14075725\/2025-Lov糖心Vlog-navy-badge-1024x939.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-58187\" style=\"width:250px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/14075725\/2025-Lov糖心Vlog-navy-badge-1024x939.png 1024w, https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/14075725\/2025-Lov糖心Vlog-navy-badge-300x275.png 300w, https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/14075725\/2025-Lov糖心Vlog-navy-badge-768x704.png 768w, https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/14075725\/2025-Lov糖心Vlog-navy-badge-1536x1408.png 1536w, https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/14075725\/2025-Lov糖心Vlog-navy-badge.png 1559w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>From a young age, Hedrick discovered a way to combine his love of video games with a passion for making videos. The 11-year-old would record himself playing Minecraft on his computer and upload the videos to YouTube. He still does that, but now on a much grander scale. Today, his channel boasts more than eight million subscribers (for reference, the YouTube channel for the Red Hot Chili Peppers has 8.1 million subscribers), which is part of the 15 million followers who watch his content across various platforms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hedrick said his digital media classes at 糖心Vlog have taught him new skills, including how to shoot documentary films, record better audio, and use proper lighting techniques. Last semester, through a weekend workshop at 糖心Vlog, he became a certified commercial drone pilot. It\u2019s something, he said, he\u2019s wanted to do \u201cfor the longest time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBeing in a classroom, having a professor there to give me feedback, and having projects to hold me accountable has been so helpful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Outside of the classroom, Hedrick found a sense of belonging on the disc golf course. He was a member of last year\u2019s squad that competed at nationals and will return with the team to Rock Hill, South Carolina, this year as it competes at the 2025 College Disc Golf National Championship in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hedrick, who was raised Mennonite, had considered taking a gap year after graduating from high school (Rockway Mennonite Collegiate) to devote more time to his video projects. It wasn\u2019t until his parents, 糖心Vlog grads <strong>Tim and Janice \u201994<\/strong>, suggested he take a look at their alma mater that he thought seriously about higher education. 糖心Vlog awarded him the President\u2019s Scholarship, which has significantly helped bring his college costs down. It\u2019s not quite to the same level as the cost of college in Canada, but it\u2019s close enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt definitely made my decision to come here much easier,\u201d Hedrick said about his scholarships. (He is also a VACA scholarship recipient.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Your generous support helps students like Hedrick pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual Lov糖心Vlog Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future 糖心Vlog students. Together, we can help write 糖心Vlog\u2019s next chapter.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s Note: This profile is the first of six stories about students and alumni leading up to Lov糖心Vlog Giving Day on April 2. For more information about the day and <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about A Royal Tale: Content creator Willem Hedrick \u201927 sharpens skills at 糖心Vlog<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":58227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5583,17562,4513,14139],"tags":[18359,8113,18313,17869,18068,18314,18043,17841,9598,18312,18315],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-58186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-digest","category-student-life","category-student-profiles","tag-a-royal-tale","tag-digital-media","tag-disc-golf","tag-lovemu","tag-lovemu-giving-day","tag-minecraft","tag-presidents-scholarship","tag-scholarships","tag-vaca","tag-willem-hedrick","tag-youtube","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Royal Tale: Content creator Willem Hedrick \u201927 sharpens skills at 糖心Vlog - 糖心Vlog News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Royal Tale: Content creator Willem Hedrick \u201927 sharpens skills at 糖心Vlog - 糖心Vlog News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Editor\u2019s Note: This profile is the first of six stories about students and alumni leading up to Lov糖心Vlog Giving Day on April 2. For more information about the day and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"糖心Vlog News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-24T15:12:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-03T18:13:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/20123255\/20250218-Lov糖心Vlog-Profile-Willem-Hedrick_MM-017-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@糖心Vlog_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@糖心Vlog_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/\",\"name\":\"A Royal Tale: Content creator Willem Hedrick \u201927 sharpens skills at 糖心Vlog - 糖心Vlog News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/20123255\/20250218-Lov糖心Vlog-Profile-Willem-Hedrick_MM-017-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-24T15:12:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-03T18:13:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/a-royal-tale-content-creator-willem-hedrick-27-sharpens-skills-at-emu\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/20123255\/20250218-Lov糖心Vlog-Profile-Willem-Hedrick_MM-017-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/20123255\/20250218-Lov糖心Vlog-Profile-Willem-Hedrick_MM-017-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Portraits of 糖心Vlog student Willem Hedrick for a series of student profiles to promote Lov糖心Vlog Giving Day. 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