Westford Academy Broadcasting Club (WABC) has been learning to adjust to the absence of their longtime adviser Mark Miller, who retired last spring. As a result, the new school year has come with its own set of challenges including broken technology, getting new advisors up to speed, and functioning without someone who was a pivotal part of the club for 22 years.
During the first two weeks of school this year, students may have noticed the absence of the daily morning announcements that are broadcasted on the television screens in the morning.
Miller founded WABC in 2003 and advised the program until his retirement, helping to write the script and often filling in additional roles when they were low on members. Additionally, he also assisted in training new members on how to use the technology, fixed faulty equipment, and had a large part in directing the announcements.
On top of transferring Miller’s prior jobs to others, WABC’s DVR has been broken, preventing them from being able to create their usual videos. As an audio-visual professional, Miller would have been able to assist in fixing this in the past, but now the job has had to be passed onto other technicians. These are just two of the many hurdles WABC has had to navigate throughout the first few weeks of school.
“It’s been off to a bumpy start, but so far it’s looking good,” junior WABC president Nina Morawiak said. “Some of our biggest challenges have been figuring out how to run the club since Mr. Miller left and making sure the technology is ready to go.”
One of the biggest adjustments WABC had to make involved recruiting a new adviser. They were able to recruit Jamie Milne and Samuel Feldman, WA’s Management Information Systems Techs. However, as the founder of WABC, Miller knew all the inner workings to a degree that is very difficult for a new adviser to learn on the fly.
“Even though we’re sad to see Mr. Miller go, we are also very excited to work with our new advisers,” Morawiak said.
According to Morawiak, members were not involved in finding their new club advisers. Instead, the process was left to Miller as well as Dean Betsy Murphy due to their knowledge of the available faculty members.
However, despite the new advisers not being familiar with the club and their organized morning schedule, they did receive training from Miller alongside senior club members during the prior school year to learn the foundations. Club members hope that this will make the transition more seamless.
One of the largest parts of Miller’s role in the club was writing the daily script. As WABC puts out announcements every morning, they are constantly hard at work to produce scripts. Additionally, they must fit all announcements about sports, clubs, and more into a condensed five minute video. Miller’s departure will change this process, as it is currently fully left to club members.
“[Miller] usually started the script before we got [to school], so now [the most important thing] is just figuring out how to time things,” Morawiak said. “We’ll definitely have to crank out the script faster now.”
Despite the delay in announcements, WABC officially released their first morning broadcast of the year on Monday, Sept 8. They have utilized a multitude of problem-solving tactics, such as using a DVD player in order to get audio and visual announcements while waiting for their DVR to be fixed.
Although the adviser of the club has changed, WABC’s meeting time and location has not. With the help of experienced club members and Murphy, they have been able to keep club members updated on the new plans for this upcoming school year.
“It will be a very different experience this year, but it is one that we are all really excited for,” Morawiak said.
