The NDA Triton News morning announcements show has undergone its greatest transformation yet. 

In addition to having a vastly superior studio, the show has evolved from an extracurricular activity for those interested to an actual class that junior and senior students are able to take during their first hour. 

The new studio will allow for more possibilities for the show, such as widescreen videos/images, management of audio levels, shots from outside the studio and more. 

During the class students learn about every aspect of creating a production, from script writing to presentation creation to audio management to on-air talent.

The class is taught by Frau Laaksonen, German teacher, and Jake Gerlikovski, who has been the school’s technical director (manages lights and audio for school events) for some time and is now teaching for the first time in his career. 

Gerlikovski, despite its being a very new experience, has been enjoying teaching thus far, saying, “I now have more time to explain and teach about the production field. We are able to cover more topics other than just the auditorium tech.” 

Being able to teach students about the tech world is an exciting prospect for the novice teacher. 

“In my opinion, working in the technical field for live events is fun and exciting. Most days do not feel like work,” he explained. “ I believe this industry is not often thought about for a career path. Having this class gives NDA the chance to introduce many career options.”

Being able to see students operate the studio has already proved to be rewarding for Gerlikovski, who said, “Watching students operate the TV studio solely by themselves is a satisfying feeling. We are using gear that is on national concert tours, in venues across the world, and NDA has students learning the same equipment.” 

The students involved in the class consist of both those who have worked on the morning show in the year prior and those who are running the show for the first time.  

Elijah Bieker, who belongs to the former, decided to sign up for the class because, as he said, “I really enjoyed working on the morning show last year. It was a fun project to do throughout the year. I got really excited when I heard it would be a class.” 

The senior has so far been enjoying the class, and he is looking forward to being able to bring more charm to the morning show, create higher quality content and learn more about the technical side of the show. 

This same sentiment is held by senior Beckett Chambers, who has also been part of the original morning show crew. 

 “I am loving the class so far, and having built in time to work on scripts and content as well as major equipment upgrades is like a dream come true,” he said. “It’s honestly so much fun that it doesn’t even feel like work even though it is.” 

Viewers have already seen two new faces make an appearance on the morning show as recurring on-air talents, those two being Emily Hoeppner and Tate Milton.

Milton, who has replaced Joey Bonnadonna as sportscaster, registered for the class with the intention of taking a sports focus.

The senior decided to register for the class because he saw it as a chance to explore what he wants to do in college—his intended major being Sports Management with a Minor in Business/Communications.

“It was awesome to be able to get on air and have my classmates in the halls telling me ‘good job,’” said Milton. “I am excited to be able to work with fellow students and put out great content.” 

Hoeppner, also a senior, has also found that the class may be helpful for her future, explaining, “At first I joined because I needed to fill the class spot, but then I realized that this would broaden my horizons on technology which can help me in the future.” 

She has so far enjoyed the laid-back, yet constructive, atmosphere of the class.

Working behind the scenes thus far, Jack Stefl registered for the class because of his prior interest in audio.

Stefl has been trying to teach himself about audio, and the class will only help him accomplish his goal. 

It is clear that the AV productions class has potential to help students reach their desired career.