Behind the voices of the announcements that come over the PA system each morning, there is a tight-knit crew of Knights. Over their years  on the intercom, seniors Madi Briggs, Hannah Herrera, Olivia Hexsel and Jay Schlett have grown closer together and provide McCallum with daily updates, news and jokes. 

The crew began working together when they became student council members in their freshman year. They joined because they wanted to become more involved in the McCallum community.

“I joined the student council because I wanted to be more involved with the school,” Briggs said. “I wanted the opportunity to be a leader and share my leadership skills with the community.”

This year, these students took on the role of making the morning announcements to provide McCallum students and staff with information about the upcoming day.

“As a part of the student council, it’s always been a tradition for the student body president, vice president and the senior class officers to do the announcements, so we took on that role,” Hexsel said.

They put the announcements together with the help of student council sponsor Amy Brodbeck. Brodbeck writes the announcements and the students choose the order in which they read the information. Teachers are also able to fill out Google forms so that their messages can be read over the announcements for everyone to read. 

Brodbeck became the student council sponsor two years ago after the previous sponsor left McCallum. She volunteered to take the role due to her own student council experience when she was in high school. 

“I was in the student council when I was in high school,” Brodbeck said. “I didn’t play a major role in it, I was just a member, but I decided that I wanted to help out with the student body. [The sponsor role] was open, and I stepped up and decided to do it.”

In the future, Brodbeck has plans to turn the announcements into video format and broadcast them during advisory.

“I wish we could film the announcements and set it into our advisory time frame,” Brodbeck said. “I know not all the announcements get heard and that some kids are too busy in athletics and other classes. I think it would be cool if everyone saw their student leaders giving the announcements every day.”

The morning announcements are memorable to the McCallum community because of the beginning snippet of music and ending “Bad Joke of the Day” they hear over the intercom every day. When the crew doesn’t have any ideas for songs to broadcast, they turn to a playlist that they use to help pick a song of the day. 

“Usually we just pick a song that has been stuck in our head or a song that kinda represents our mood,” Herrera said. “[The tradition] has been around for a while, at least since I was a freshman.”

For the jokes that they end the announcements with every day, they use a joke book that has been passed down from past officers to add a bit of brightness to the day. But being on the announcements crew isn’t always smooth sailing. When reading the announcements live, many problems can arise. It is up to the crew to keep calm and to try and stay on track.

“We are all pretty lively people, and sometimes it’s hard to take certain announcements seriously,” Herrera said. “When we first started doing announcements, it was hard to keep calm, so there have been multiple times where one person laughs, and then it’s like a domino effect and we all end up laughing.”

A memorable moment for the crew was when math teacher Richard Cowles came in for the first time to play The Count from Sesame Street. The Count often appears on the morning announcements to give information about blood drives, coat drives and other upcoming events.

“Any time Mr. Cowles comes in, he is so funny,” Schlett said. “I remember the first time he came in we didn’t know how it would work with another teacher doing the announcements with us, but he came out with that booming voice and we were all trying to hold in our laughter.”

The time that these four seniors spend together every day has allowed them to grow close and create long-lasting memories for their senior year. 

“Walking to and from the front office every day, having conversations and helping each other with homework while we’re waiting for the announcements to start has brought us closer together,” Schlett said.

At the end of the year when these seniors graduate, they will leave the announcements in the hands of the student council members of the class of 2025.

“I’ve been looking at the junior class and the junior members of the student council, and I have a lot of trust in them,” Schlett said. “They put in a lot of work, and it seems to me that they love what they do.”

Doing the announcements is only one of the many important duties the student council officers perform, but they find it very rewarding and believe that it is necessary for students to hear daily news.

“The announcements are very important for students at McCallum,” Briggs said. “They give students details about what is going on within the school. It’s really helpful for students who don’t have social media access.”

Over the past year, these seniors have learned more about themselves, each other, and the McCallum community. 

“I’ve grown by being a better public speaker,” Hexsel said. “I think being in the student council and doing announcements has helped me be more confident in who I am.”