The new Prosper ISD stadium officially opened its doors – and field – Aug 17 at Meet the Eagles. Complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and fireworks, the night introduced the 2019-2020 athletes. There’s a group of students behind the scenes who made this all possible.

The stadium crew consists of students who are in either advanced and practicum broadcast or film classes. I’m currently in Advanced Video Production, so this is the first year I am able to work AV. We control everything from cameras, audio, and graphics. All the graphics for the games are designed by students, mostly from scratch. Typically, there are around five to six cameras filming games and events. One robo-cam, which is controlled by someone in the control room, two cameras on the film deck, and two on the field. On top of everyone manning cameras, there’s a bunch of people up in the control room making everything run as smoothly as possible. Students also control audio and music, as well as design graphics as the game is going on if needed.

Since starting my job at the stadium, it’s really made me appreciate how much work goes into making a game day go smoothly. Doing the stadium AV is so much fun, and I’ve already learned so much from Meet the Eagles. It’s a fast-paced environment; you have to learn as things happen. Knowing your camera work is being broadcasted to a stadium with a capacity of 12,000 people is an adrenaline rush. Despite so much pressure for the night to be perfect, it’s exciting.

We all have headsets so we can communicate with each other, which is honestly one of my favorite parts of the night. Although it’s a professional environment, it’s nice to crack a joke now and then if something goes wrong, and also know there are classmates who are there to support you. At the end of the day, everyone working AV has the same end goal: making the game memorable – and as perfect as possible.