District Choir Club is for students in and out of choir who want to participate in the District Choir, a three-day event. Students use the club to start practicing early for auditions on Nov. 1 at Louisa County High School. This year’s song is “Nature’s Song.”

Michelle Dowling ‘25, Eliza Vesga ‘25, and Rae DeMott ‘26 do breathing warmups prior to singing. “Warm-ups are so important for singing, especially ones for breathing, because there are a lot of notes that need to be held for a long time in the song we’re working on,” said DeMott.

Choir teacher Sara Harkrader leads warm-ups for the group. “Warming up to sing is just like warming up and stretching before you exercise or participate in a sport. Your singing voice uses muscles in your whole body and you need to get them warm before you sing, especially songs that are more complex and require a more advanced singing technique,” she said.

Alto 2 and Bass 1 students run through the song with the accompaniment track. “Having an accompaniment track is really helpful when learning a song, especially when the time signature is different from songs we usually sing for choir. The one for this song includes a click track as the song is in ¾ time,” said senior Jennifer Wyant.

Harkrader shows the group the sight-reading examples. Sight reading is a big part of the auditions, as even if the song is sung well, the score received on sight reading can make or break if someone makes it to District Choir.

Juniors Owen Stewart and Dylan Spillman use class as an opportunity to talk, making the job go by faster. “I like hands-on classes because once you know what you’re doing, you get to just have a fun time with your friends,” said Stewart. Active electives can be challenging, but helping one another out makes the job faster, and more amusing.

Junior Robert Bunch puts up caution tape to protect the new plants. “It’s important to make sure we bring attention to protecting the seeds, we don’t want students knocking them off the table by accident,” said Bunch. The tape brings attention and caution to the plant beds, providing a barrier between the activity and the plants.

Not only do students help the plants, but they also pitch in for the more laborious duties. Senior Cole Weisenburger is pictured hanging a potted plant. “The class isn’t always just watering gardens, there’s a lot of work that goes into it. I usually try to help with the heavy lifting as much as I can,” said Weisenburger.

Sophomore Kaiya Wrigley smells the fresh flowers. “I love going to the greenhouse because it makes it feel like Summer. It smells so good, it’s colorful, and overall has a good vibe to it,” she said. The greenhouse is open to students, and many like the appeal of the colorful atmosphere.

Junior Dylan Spillman helps set out the actively growing plants in the greenhouse. The class focused on laying out the new plants today. “I set out all of the new tomatoes we got. The way I see it, plants are mother nature’s love,” said Spillman.

While building a Pergola, in carpentry two, next to the greenhouse; junior Oscar RiveraDeJesus uses the resources around him to carefully hit the wood panel into its designated slot. Doing this because he couldn’t find any tools that were near him and was determined to get this project done. RiveraDeJesus said, “I like this class because it helps me with my frustrations while also advancing my skills in carpentry.”

Nine feet in the air, junior Thomas Custer balances on the scaffolding while dropping another beam onto the structure. This is challenging because of the height and potential instability of the scaffolding, as well as the heaviness of the beam. Custer said, “These boys are really focused and reliable. Therefore, we can successfully complete this building in a timely manner.”

Senior Samuel Stoltz holds tightly onto the rope that holds onto an A-frame with the help of senior Talan Botkin and junior Mitch Boyer. This A-frame is a pulley system in which is held by a rope and people holding that rope; this pulley system is what makes it easy to get a wooden beam into the air. “Leadership and teamwork is important. You have to work as a team or something will fall or get injured, so being that person to take on the leadership role makes people listen more and make the work space safer,” Stoltz said.

Scaffolding is an important part of the project, so senior Talan Botkin carries pieces of it over to the building site with speed. Scaffolding is needed to get into the high spots of the building to make sure everything is properly in place. “It’s very cool to see all our hard work come together; scaffolding is essential for building plus it’s also easy to build,” Botkin said.

Junior Jackson Fields ties the rope that is attached to the A-frame which then makes it easier to put the beam on top of their built structure. Fields said, “This project is a lot more interactive while having fun and being up in the air with tools.” He ensures it won’t be going anywhere so that his classmates can safely put the beam on top of the pergola safely.

While on top of the scaffolding the carpentry class setup, junior Jordan Heatwole guided the wooden beam to fit into its precise spot. For the wood to fit they had to measure accurately and double check everything before starting. “It makes my morning so much better coming out and working. Cherico has to be one of my favorite teachers,” Heatwole said.

Junior Julian McGee and sophomore Gabe Allen appear on the broadcast reference monitor during an “In The Know” broadcast. This monitor is used as a reference point for what each camera and computer involved in the broadcast is displaying.

Sports Anchor and junior Townes Mullinex as seen on an in class monitor. This monitor is on the “floor” (the studio part of the TV studio) meaning it is seen by the anchors and crew members manning cameras. It is set up to display exclusively what is currently streaming to the public.

Station manager and junior Camryn Ngov holds her hand up in the “Stand By” signal. When used in a broadcast context “Stand By” means something is about to air. It can be used to let crew and bystanders know to be quiet on set, that a particular graphic is about to appear on screen, or in this instance, letting the anchors know they will be on air shortly.

Junior Christian Henson monitors the stream of an In The Know Broadcast. This crew position is incredibly important to the show, as the Stream Manager is responsible for monitoring what visuals and audio are airing to the public, as well as alerting the director of any issues that may occur during the show.

Junior McKinley Thomas runs the teleprompter from inside the control room. The teleprompter is a screen that lays perpendicular to the bottom of each camera, it runs a mirrored image of each show’s script at a steady speed. The script bounces off of a tilted piece of one way glass in front of the lens of each camera. This makes it so that the anchors can read the script while also making eye contact with the camera.

Senior Kyrone King annotes a script for a narrative project written by senior Zoie Schreve. This action is typically done by the crew as a way to make sure they remember the small details of each shoot in the moment. “I always annotate my scripts. When I’m in the middle of filming I kinda get lost, and this helps me make sure my shots match my idea for the final edit,” said Schreve.

A group of Television Production II students watch over senior Lane Harris’ project. “I always have people watch over my projects. The constructive criticism helps me master my craft,” said Harris.

Teacher David Small assists senior Tyler Degregory and junior Camryn Ngov in editing a documentary. “It is nice to have a teacher that’s willing to answer every question,” said Ngov.

Television Production III student and senior Jamie Rodriguez edits a segment of the Class of 2024’s Senior Video. Each year at least two students are tasked with making a 15-20 minute video highlighting the entire school year through the lens of that year’s graduating class. This video is then sold to students and their families at that year’s graduation ceremony. This video is typically a long term project, starting usually in November.

Senior Matthew Gresham operates the audio board. This is what controls the sound for In The Know. The microphones, video, and titles all have audio that run through the board. It is up to the audio operator to make sure that the right microphone is used at the right time.

Junior Jayden Bryant works the job of technical director. The technical director, known as TD by the crew of In The Know, manages what shots appear during the show. When the director says for the technical director to take a camera, the technical director uses the switchboard to take the shot.

“Universal Music is good for smaller projects, but when you want to get more professional stuff out, it gets a little cheesy,” said senior Lane Harris. The TV Production class uses Universal Music, a website that the students use to get the music that is used in projects.

Senior Zoie Shreve turns on the On Air sign. This sign shows people outside the classroom that filming is happening within the studio, such as when In The Know is being aired.

Senior Trevor Morris sets up the boom mic. This microphone sits above the In the Know anchors and picks up what they say. The boom mic has a cable that connects it to the audio board. It’s up to the person running audio to make sure that the audio is not too loud. They also need to use the right audio when needed.

Senior Jalen Johnson records for his final project. The final project started in early April. Students were required to make a schedule for their final project. With this being the final project, students have to decide what they are doing for their project. After that, they have to draft up a script if necessary, then they have to film and edit all of it together, and submit it on May 10. “Students are given creative freedom in their final projects, but we’re also to create our own schedule that adheres to the deadlines.” said junior Camryn Ngov.

Senior Matthew Gresham looks out into the studio. As the director, he needs to make sure that In The Know goes as smooth as possible. Directing isn’t just done on the fly. The director is given a copy of the script to where he can see what will happen during the show.