When Brendan Davis stepped up to the microphone on graduation night, he wasn’t just talking to his classmates and the audience. His uncle was listening in Qatar, and his cousins were watching in Ireland. Brendan’s mother had sent them the link so they could follow the live stream of the ceremony.
She spoke to them afterwards, and they were impressed — not only with their relative’s remarks but with the quality of the broadcast. It’s nothing new for Cornwall Central High School. It’s been going on for a few years.
Assistant Superintendent Mike Brooks says it started when the school moved from Main Street to Dragon Drive. The new structure had built-in video links from room to room.
There was a need for them on the very first graduation night. As the band played the opening notes of “Pomp and Circumstances,” and a few members of the Class of 2004 stepped out of the building, the spectators were drenched by an unexpected downpour.
The musicians stopped, the students retreated, and the Buildings and Grounds Department quickly put up chairs in the gymnasium. There were more spectators than the gym could hold, but there was room for the overflow in the auditorium, where guests watched the ceremony on a large screen and stayed cooler than the people seeing it in person.
“We thought we were high tech at the time,” Mr. Brooks recalled. A few years later, the district went wireless. Families were able to stay home and enjoy the proceedings in their living room. It was a convenience for people who lived far away (like Brendan’s relatives) or for older people who might have trouble dealing with the heat.
A district employee, Jeremy Wood, has done the videotaping, and has used the microphone on his camera to capture the sound. The district has purchased a small band on the Internet. “It’s relatively inexpensive,” Mr. Brooks maintains, “and it allows us to make the event accessible to as many people as possible.”
There have been times when 500 people have used the link. And at each site, there may be several viewers. “We haven’t had many complaints,” Mr. Brooks acknowledged. Then he thought for a second and corrected himself. “We haven’t had any complaints,” he said.
