Campolindo’s Theater Tech Club, which runs the behind the scenes for almost all school productions including the musical and various choral performances, has experienced dramatic changes during the past few months.
Ross Wilson, co-director of Jazz Band and the club’s advisor in previous years, announced he was leaving a week before school started at the Tech boot camp. The abrupt transition left a lot of uncertainty, especially since “Ross had to take his equipment when he left because he funded [Tech] almost entirely on his own. That left [Tech] with not a lot of resources and made it hard to do what we usually do,” senior co-president of Tech Suraya Mathai-Jackson recalls.
Back when Wilson was the club’s advisor, “there wasn’t any funding,” Wilson said, and most equipment Tech used was owned by Wilson, totaling to around $25,000.
The effect of this has been prominent, given that “last year, [Tech] would handle almost every event in the CPAC, and this year, [Tech is] only handling Campo exclusive events,” said junior co-president Jessie Kelvin.
In the video department, they “only have one camera and no one to edit [their] videos. Because of that, [they] haven’t been able to film most school productions,” Mathai-Jackson said.
Even with the hardships, choir teacher Daniel Jones has stepped in as the new faculty advisor. “He’s put so much time and effort into helping us. I can’t stress enough how much worse everything would be if Mr. Jones hadn’t stepped in,” Mathai-Jackson stated.
Despite the uncertainties Tech currently faces, Mathai-Jackson hopes that “next year we’ll be able to preserve our club and keep everything that made Tech such a great program alive.”
