The Erie Tiger Network (ETN), is a broadcasting platform that records games, and other events at Erie High School. This is a team of students, working together, behind the scenes, to get these videos out to the community. Within this team, there is Madison Gambon, Danay Schara, and TJ Barksdale. 

Junior, Madison Gambon, took Intro Mass Media her sophomore year, which is what sparked her interest in taking ETN. “I thought that going to the games was super fun and I liked being able to produce them,” Gambon mentions. 

Gambon is the Live Broadcast Director, helping set up who will be there and directing everyone, as well as other details that make the broadcast run smoothly, such as running the scoreboard and doing replays. With COVID-19, fans haven’t been able to attend games like they have in the past, making their role this year much more meaningful. 

Gambon says, “Being able to provide videos for families because they can’t be there most of the time, to provide those so parents can see their kids play, is super cool.”  Learning to work as a team to produce, not just a school project, but something for an audience is one of the most important things being a part of ETN has taught her. 

Another important member of the ETN team is Danay Schara. The sophomore took the class freshman year and just enjoyed it so much it was easy to make the choice to take it again. “Going out and interviewing different people with different opinions, sides and viewpoints is my favorite part,” Schara says. 

Schara’s role in ETN is the news director, she is in charge of assigning jobs for the news, putting the information together, and getting it out to the community. “ETN has put me in a leadership position, so you get to learn different people’s learning styles and what they do best,” Schara adds. Coming together to create something that many people are going to watch or see is one of the things that makes ETN special.

TJ Barksdale had some trial and error before he found his place in ETN. “I was really interested in broadcasting the games themselves and commentating. But then I found out I wasn’t really good at commentating,” the senior says. Barksdale joined the class freshman year and although he did not get to do what he originally wanted, he still enjoyed the class enough to take it the following years.

With some people in the class still being online, a lot of members have had to shift roles to accommodate all the things that need to be done. Barksdale helps make a lot of the graphics and is just an overall leader in the class, making sure everyone is playing a part. “My favorite part about the class,” Barksdale says, “is how creative I get to be.” Working with people who you are not face-to-face with can be challenging, but this year Barksdale has learned how to keep everyone involved.

The Erie Tiger Network is filled with amazing students, all working together to produce something, whether it is a Student Government Debate, a sporting event, or a concert, each one contributing to the final product

Another hardworking team behind the scenes at Erie High School is the yearbook staff. 

Yearbook is a class within the school day that students must apply to get into. Mostly composed of sophomores, juniors, and seniors, this team of students works hard every week to make sure the school receives a well-put-together collection of memories by the end of the year. 

Some members of the yearbook committee are Mikayla Dotson, Neidine Carrasco, Grace Wagner, and Fiona Davia. 

Mikayla Dotson is a senior this year and is currently an editor of the yearbook. She helps create page layouts for her team to work on, assign

where people are going to take pictures, what stories they would write, and more. One of the biggest lessons Dotson has learned from yearbook is determination, “I’ve learned about determination, especially because the yearbook has been almost impossible to do during COVID-19, so it has taught me to push through and be able to put out a final product.”

Senior Neidine Carrasco, another editor of the yearbook, was in yearbook in middle school and is happy to be back after a break during her first few years of high school. Working as a team has been proven to be a valuable lesson in Carrasco’s book, “You can create more things because there are more minds and more ideas. Having teamwork is one of the best things that I have learned.”  Working with peers can be difficult for many people, but being able to push through for the greater good is always worth it.  

Yearbook staff member, Grace Wagner, is also a senior this year and loves being able to take photos for the yearbook, “It’s really fun to go to the different sporting events and see all the kids while they’re out playing, go to singing events for choir, theatre events, and clubs. We also have had lots of people send in photos from home this year because of COVID-19, so seeing what everyone is doing from home was really fun.” Outside of yearbook, Wagner is part of CR5, National Honor Society, Link Crew, and has been on the girls’ tennis team in the past. 

Fiona Davia is a sophomore member of yearbook and joined because she has always been told that she is good at expressing things through writing and she thought yearbook would be a good outlet for that. Something Davia enjoys about yearbook is discovering things about Erie High that she did not know before. “It has helped me to start paying attention to things that I normally would not have noticed before like sports and how they affect the players and the coaches.” Davia has learned that it never hurts to help out others when they are struggling to get something completed. 

Both the Erie Tiger Network and Yearbook staff put in work every week to provide our school with high-quality products that we can all enjoy and look back on for years to come.