The school’s broadcasting class has been losing traction for the last couple of years. Seeing how small the WolfByte program was, senior Laura Darwish wanted to rebuild. She said she has had a passion for filming and editing since middle school.
“I was like, ‘all right, I’m going to fix this.’ Because I know there are kids out there like me that are also interested in this,” Darwish said. “So, I took it on myself and did that.”
Darwish is the executive producer of the program with lots of responsibility, working with her peers to build a foundation. Darwish works in her role alongside broadcasting teacher Gabriel Van Wyhe. Before his move to the school, Van Wyhe had no knowledge of what WolfByte would be like, but he has found it to be exactly what he enjoys. The students have been working really hard to grow the program.
“We are trying things, and failing, and succeeding, everything we’re doing is new, and the students this year are picking up that responsibility,” Van Wyhe said. “We’re constantly overwhelmed with what we need to get done, and it’s the students choosing to be leaders.”
Van Wyhe works with a large group of students who he is constantly impressed by. Darwish was not used to working with such a large group and had been able to make it her style. Because of that, she said this year has been harder.
“I’ve had to learn to step back, trust other people with cameras [and] trust other people with editing equipment. At first, it was kind of difficult because I was nervous that the quality wouldn’t be what I was used to,” Darwish said. “But then, as I learned to do that, I realized giving my peers the space to grow was honestly more rewarding than me doing it by myself.”
With the long-term goals for WolfByte, Darwish has been working on an editing curriculum for future students to learn from. She works with one of the lead videographers in WolfByte, junior Meyer Purmort. Purmort said he has always had a passion for social media and editing, so this program was a perfect fit.
“We have a lot of ambitious goals,” Purmort said. “We want to achieve eventually doing live stuff and doing more with the new video boards for the football games and pretty much every other event.”
One of the big projects WolfByte started doing this year is media days. They set up multiple rooms with different backdrops to prepare, making sure everyone has the gear they need. WolfByte has leaders at each station to make sure everything gets done. Before the day comes, they will clear out the classroom and run the day as if it were media day to make sure everything is smooth.
“There’s a lot of planning [with] things you don’t think about, like, all the students come in, and we have them do poses,” Van Wyhe said. “Well, a lot of times they don’t know what to do. So, I have students researching online and actually making a list of pose ideas.”
Then, on media day, it goes very quick and they run the varsity athletes through. It is non-stop for all of the WolfByte members. Darwish said she has enjoyed the experiences she has gained from Wolfbyte.
“I get to look at so many little details I’ve never noticed before. Whether I’m filming an assembly or a basketball game, I get to see like small things in the audience that I would have never picked up on if I was just attending the event,” Darwish said. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot about my peers because sometimes you catch things that you didn’t know people were going through unless you were recording that video or watching it back.”
