Girton Tech Team

The Girton Technicians Team, formerly known as Theatre Technicians, is one of the school's oldest independent co-curricular's, founded over 25 years ago by John McMillan. Today the Team has over 30 students, across both the Senior and Junior School Campuses. The core mission of the Team is to provide technical support during school events that occur throughout the year and foster a welcoming environment for students who want to contribute service to the school. 

Students learn how to set up and operate audio-visual equipment such as audio mixers, recording equipment (audio and film), lights and lighting consoles, vision switchers, projection, and presentation software.

"I love how welcoming and friendly everyone is, I enjoy learning techy things, the ensembles night was really fun working as a team like we always do. I just love the atmosphere in tech" - Gemma Graham, Tech Team Member

As new co-curricular for the Junior School Students, it offers students the opportunity to assist with technical operations on their own weekly Junior School Assembly. Students are in roles such as Camera Operators, PowerPoint, Vision Switching for the Zoom livestream and audio operators. It is overseen by AV Staff Members and is offered to students in years 4-6 by application and invitation. 

In the past few weeks, the Senior Team has had the exciting opportunity of assisting on many events across both campuses, as well as offsite to the Ulumbarra Theatre for the Ensembles evenings. 

Last week seven students got the opportunity to go back to the theatre (post-senior school production), to assist with the stage operations of the Junior and Senior Ensemble Spectaculars. The team worked with ensemble directors to ensure each act had the right number of chairs and stands needed, that they were positioned properly and to ensure a smooth run of the event. They also got to learn about the theatre's fly systems - the ropes that lower the curtains up and down and the safety management around them. Essentially making sure no one got clocked by a curtain, and no one did! “It was a good opportunity to push our skills to the limits” - James Trotter, Tech Vice-Captain Elect. Students also got to enjoy downtime between rehearsals and shows by having a group meal, and also some team-building exercises such as an origami challenge and an obstacle course race.

Recently the senior team have also started up their own weekly event called Fun Music Friday, an initiative to try and bring music and culture back to the community, after two years of isolation. For more information, there is a supplementary article in this edition of eLink. The team is currently working on One Act Play Festival, Junior School's Grandparent's and Special Friends Day and preparing for House Dinners in the coming weeks.

The senior techs also operate events over in Junior School such as International Day and the recent Book Week Parade. They had a team costume - dressed up as minions, although the parent's all thought they were Mr Thompson's bees to accompany his bee suit costume. It's a great opportunity for students from both campuses to see how the other side operates, and also to come together as a whole. 

As the team has grown exponentially over the past year, and with our current year 12's counting down the weeks until their last day, we have opened up positions for the 2023 Captain and Vice-Captain roles. This is so that the current Tech Captain doesn't leave the team rudderless when he finishes up year 12 in early Term 4. We have many events in term 4 and the show must go on!

At the beginning of this term, we opened up nominations for the captain roles. It is my pleasure to announce, as voted in by their peers, Ethan Collins (10 Jones) as Tech Captain Elect, and James Trotter (9 Jenkin) as Tech Vice-Captain Elect for 2023. They will be taking over the leadership position from Oliver Davison when he graduates year 12. The Two Captain Elects will be officially sworn in on Speech Night along with the other 2023 co-curricular captains. 

Students joining the Senior Technicians Team are expected to be reliable, trustworthy and to work well in a team environment. Membership of the Technicians Team is by application. Students may approach Mr Hodda or Miss Ford if they wish to be considered for membership. The application process includes coming to a session of Tech Team on Tuesdays, a trial event, and a meeting with the MiCs for approval.

Miss Jess Ford

AV & IT Technician