Students create mock entertainment series

Three students from Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus perform a spoof of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” every Sunday evening.

The trio of dance majors refers to the show as “Keeping Up With the Watermelons.”

“When you’re a dance major you get grouped into these ‘families’ of three or four people,” sophomore Margaret Schauwecker said. “There was a family a couple grades above us with the name Pizza, so we decided to be The Watermelons.”

The group has made six episodes since Sunday- Sept. 3.

The Watermelons hope to build a bigger fanbase by releasing one episode a week until the end of their first season during winter break.

“We never really have a plot,” sophomore Kaetlin Lamberson said. “We just come up with an idea and film it”

The group said they film some of their videos right in their own dorm through Snapchat, creating a montage of 10-second clips.

“It only takes about 15 minutes, but sometimes longer if we have to retake a video,” junior Hannah Misenheimer said.

The three girls said they don’t represent a specific Kardashian, but each embody iconic Kardashian characteristics. The episodes consist of the iconic “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” whistling theme song, Lamberson always being psychic and the infamous slow door shutting zoom.

“I think that students from River Campus find our videos funny, because they actually know us individually,” Schauwecker said. “We made our first video and then our other friends encouraged us to make more.”

The group’s main goal is to capture the essence of drama in their short time frame.

“We were watching their show one night and thought we could be more dramatic than them,” Schauwecker said.

Although creating the weekly videos is an enjoyable pastime, all group members have a clear career path in mind following their college years. Lamberson wants to eventually become a lobbyist of the arts. Misenheimer and Schauwecker both hope to work for professional dance companies.