Actually, they have plenty of announcements to make — and they’ve been making them each morning this week in front of the green screen in the video production studio located inside the school’s library.
“It’s definitely a different type of feeling,” Webber said Friday soon after the broadcast team filmed its fifth installment of live morning announcements. “I’ve never been shy in front of people, so I didn’t think it would be an issue, but it’s weird to know that 350-plus people are seeing my face in the morning, and if I mess up, it’s out there.”
While the two onscreen talents are part of a larger crew made up of students participating in Cochranton’s STEM Academy, much of the early attention has fallen on them.
“It’s definitely scary, especially being the face of it,” Sliker said. “Because we’re the face of it, we definitely get most of the feedback.”
At the beginning of the week, as the team worked out glitches with the TelePrompter app and other production issues, that feedback included friends and even one teacher who joked, “Bring back Ms. Onderko,” a reference to the teacher who previously delivered the morning announcements.
After just one week, however, the stars have grown more comfortable, the routine has grown smoother and the production has grown noticeably more professional. Teachers and administrators email information for the announcements over the course of each day, Webber and Sliker develop a script in the evening, the crew arrives early to school the next morning for a 7:46 a.m. airtime, teacher Evan Andrae reviews the script and then — they fire up the lights, camera and the green screen.
“I think it’s important to have something like that involved in a school,” Webber said. “It’s not just like an informational show in the morning — it involves students, what’s going on in the community and also what’s going on in their day-to-day lives at school.”
Launching the student-produced morning announcements is also serving as part of an announcement of sorts from school leaders regarding the future of education in Cochranton. At the center of that future will be an expansion of the STEM Academy launched seven years ago, one that integrates successful approaches into as many classes as possible and offers students consistent opportunities at hands-on learning experiences designed to develop their problem-solving skills and prepare them for a variety of post-high school paths.
It’s a vision that Principal Don Wigton described as his “last hurrah” as he approaches retirement at the end of the school year following more than 35 years at the school and more than 25 as principal.
“I kinda wanted to skate my last year,” Wigton joked inside the school library this week, surrounded by the staff members who have helped to shape the STEM Academy, “and they were like, ‘No, before you leave, we’ve got to accomplish this, this and this.’”
When it started, the STEM Academy — the acronym refers to the subjects of science, technology, engineering and math — was an out-of-class option aimed at top-performing students. As the program expands, all students will be able to earn a STEM certificate in addition to their diploma. To do so, they’ll have to earn a B or better in eight courses in advanced math, science, applied engineering and digital media classes, or related classes at Crawford Tech. The requirements extend outside of class too — students need relevant work experience in the form of job shadowing, internships or part-time jobs, as well as contributions to STEM-related extracurricular activities at the school. Finally, each participant must create a portfolio of their work, offer a senior presentation and take on leadership roles in STEM events.
Wigton’s support for the program grew out of a disillusionment with Advanced Placement courses and concern that dual enrollment opportunities weren’t practical for all students.
“This was a program that could affect a lot of kids and provide a lot of different avenues,” he said. “That was what drove me.”
As Wigton and the team behind the STEM Academy led a tour through classrooms devoted to digital media, computer programming, robotics, drafting and more, it became clear that their vision had more to do with an approach to education than any particular subject.
As sixth period began In the digital media classroom, students settled in behind their individual desktop setups. Two large flat screens at the front of the room displayed The Nest Network, a YouTube channel devoted to “Everything Cochranton Cardinals.” Behind a two-screen setup in the back, teacher Evan Andrae pulled out a pair of 3D movie glasses to show how his students had used sophisticated editing software to transform run-of-the-mill 2D photographs into images that jump off the screen.
“This has almost become student-led,” Assistant Principal Jared Morrison said, describing how students shoot photos and video, manipulate it with software such as Photoshop and Adobe AfterEffects, add audio tracks and more. “Mr. Andrae is really just the facilitator of it all, making sure kids are doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”
“It’s a good way to trick them into learning basic computer skills,” library media specialist Rob Cierniakoski added, “because you have to do file management and navigate all kinds of different software.”
Last year, students in Andrae’s digital media students began streaming home sporting events using skills they had honed in class. Less than a year later, all of the schools home games are being streamed online, with students controlling the cameras and scorebug while also providing play-by-play commentary.
Down the hall, past a narrow raised race track that seems to stretch toward the horizon — every middle schooler will race a CO2-powered dragster down the track over the course of their time at the school — is April Terrill’s STEM classroom. Inside, students are introduced to engineering basics in nine — week electives. As seventh graders, they build bridges out of dry spaghetti and glue, then test the strength of their creations. The next year, they move on to balsa wood, but they also add budget restrictions: Each bit of material they use in the construction comes with a cost. They design the structures in SolidWorks, the 3D computer-aided design software package used by engineers across the globe. When they test the finished products, they are gauging not only the bridge’s sturdiness but its cost-effectiveness.
Much of the inspiration behind the expansion of the STEM Academy can be traced back to a well-earned point of pride at the school: the RoboBOTS program. Down the hall from Andrae’s classroom, Chris Yost, the long-time RoboBOTS coach, leads visitors through the two classrooms where he teaches drafting and engineering classes.
In one room, in-progress RoboBOTS are spread over multiple work tables as students work to address what they identified as the key design flaw behind an unexpectedly early exit last year.
Next door, a robotic arm like those used by advanced manufacturers in the region sits at the front of the classroom, and Yost’s eyes light up like a youngster who can’t quite believe that the Christmas gift he’s opening is real. At the back of the room, the school’s newest 3D printer churns prototypes for the latest combat robot being designed and fabricated by students.
“It’s kind of crazy to think about — I never thought I’d be there, but we’re 3D printing carbon fiber- embedded nylons in high schools now. We’re 3D printing flexible materials and glass-embedded materials,” Yost said. “With all these advancements, what I’m finding is, is it’s a lot easier to teach the students.”
At each stop around the school, teachers echo Morrison’s language, framing their role as that of facilitator for students engaged in a process of learning by doing and making.
Back in the library, two small offices have been converted into audio production booths next to the video studio. Inside one, senior Braelyn Fulmer, who played a key role in the RoboBOTS redesign and plans to study electrical engineering in college, recounts her STEM Academy experience, which has included machining parts on CNC machines, troubleshooting computer equipment as part of the school’s student-staffed Tech Crew, and multiple years as a RoboBOTS competition driver.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Fulmer said, “being able to see something you create and put it in the competitions and see it do well.”
Nearby, Wigton and the STEM teachers recount the excitement earlier this semester when they introduced the STEM Academy expansion plan to the rest of the staff. Now, the clock is ticking as they prepare for a May 6 open house event designed to sell the community on the plan as well.
“We want people to come and see what we do,” Yost said, “and say, ‘Wow! I didn’t realize that this is what we have here.”
© 2025 The Meadville Tribune (Meadville, Pa.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
