Back in October, I am summoned to Mert's room at the high school. He tells me that they are looking for someone to help run tech for Carnegie Elementary's talent show. Within the week, my brother and I are down at the elementary school trying to get details. we get nothing. Two weeks ago we hear from one of our former teachers, asking if the offer was still there.
So Matt and I spent the past week's worth of afternoons at our old Elementary school making the antiquated system run as if it has been running all along.
I was seriously worried that there would be something that was broken, since neither of us had seen the system in nearly two years. Luckily, the curtains were (mostly) in working condition, and most of the lights worked.
On that first day I took an inventory as light manager of the spots - 9 possibly working, only 5 actually working, house - 24 available, 10 on, and don't even get me started on the bars.
In order to control the lights and sound, you need to get up to what we've been calling the 'crow's nest' which is a platform atop a doorwell on stage right. It's 15 feet up, and the only way up is by a set of rickety wooden steps that are pretty fun to run up and down.
Then once you're at the controls, you need to switch individually each dimmer, and then you get to control everything (except for the blue bars and the spots that don't work) using perhaps the most steampunk-y lever system I've ever had the pleasure of operating. And the bloody thing squeaks like a 500 pound iron door that wasn't measured right. It reminded me of what the controls to a steam engine on a railroad engine would be like.
In order to control the lights and sound, you need to get up to what we've been calling the 'crow's nest' which is a platform atop a doorwell on stage right. It's 15 feet up, and the only way up is by a set of rickety wooden steps that are pretty fun to run up and down.
Then once you're at the controls, you need to switch individually each dimmer, and then you get to control everything (except for the blue bars and the spots that don't work) using perhaps the most steampunk-y lever system I've ever had the pleasure of operating. And the bloody thing squeaks like a 500 pound iron door that wasn't measured right. It reminded me of what the controls to a steam engine on a railroad engine would be like.
Basically, this auditorium had been neglected and used as pretty much an anything-goes storage ground. And honestly, I think this is extremely sad.
(From this point on, I want to address members of the district specifically)
So why am I bringing this up? Because though it needs work, I think we can still be able to use it and take advantage of the things we have. The district as a whole wants to move forward, but I think trying to fix what we already have is also nice.
The talent show went on for two nights, with a stage crew of 10 fifth and sixth graders, and throw us two high schoolers in also. Our ultimate aim was to make it look decent - and that's exactly what we did.
I will guess that no one from the district's higher-ups will read this, and even if they did, they couldn't do much. Though I want you to know this - we students care about the district. Some of us volunteer hours of our time to make the district look nice to the public, and never get as much as a photo credit.
The talent show went on for two nights, with a stage crew of 10 fifth and sixth graders, and throw us two high schoolers in also. Our ultimate aim was to make it look decent - and that's exactly what we did.
I will guess that no one from the district's higher-ups will read this, and even if they did, they couldn't do much. Though I want you to know this - we students care about the district. Some of us volunteer hours of our time to make the district look nice to the public, and never get as much as a photo credit.
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