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on 13 March 2013, and ended 2 weeks later at Victoria
Falls on 28 March. Overall, the trip covered 6 countries in
Southern Africa, namely: South Africa, Swaziland, Mozam-
bique, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. She participated
in an awareness campaign called ALERT. This campaign was
established to protect the endangered species of African
lion by interacting with humans in order to release them
back into the wild.There was also a visit to a local primary
school, where all the students in each grade had prepared
poems, songs and plays.Thereafter the children were
given some stationery supplies. Coming from a school like
Parklands (where we have everything at our fingertips) and
seeing children smiling from ear to ear for a pencil - was
really humbling.
The highlight of the year was definitely the exclusive
interviews we held with many South African celebrities vis-
iting the College.They included Mark Haze, Jason Hartman
and Evelyn Hart, amongst others. Our talented editors also
created outstanding profiles for each contestant perform-
ing Park Idols, which were displayed on the night in front of
a live audience and the celebrity judges.
I’d like to thank every reporter for the dedication they
have to the club and the hard work they’ve put in, whether
it was in front of the camera, behind the camera, or behind
the MacBook. Many of our reporters give up their week-
ends to complete certain tasks and some of our reporters
are required to do projects at the last minute. Despite this,
our reporters remain committed and always perform to
the best of their abilities.
In the following year, we plan to maintain our high qual-
ity of service to the school and continue to make history
whilst recording the events of the college.We plan to
start new exciting projects and do more training to hone
our skills, which will assist with further development and
improvement within the club.
Today, with the available technology and the easy access
to subject material, sound engineering has been embraced
by the masses and the bedroom studio has become a real-
ity.The problem lies in the application of all this informa-
tion.A lot of what is on the net assumes a certain level of
competency and can be confusing. Some of it is just wrong!
At Parklands College we give a solid grounding in the
basic principles of sound, from how sound waves behave in
air, conversion to analogue (which is having a resurgence in
US and UK) and of course the digital domain which rules
the world.
Using this platform, projects are instituted to demon-
strate these principles.We have been busy with both music
and voice production, utilising the talented Parklands learn-
ers to great effect and will soon have enough songs for an
internet album release.
The music industry is reshaping itself to deal with the
challenges of the digital age and a realisation that “point of
performance” is going to play a major role in the future is
becoming clear.This involves the disciplines of live sound
and also lighting all of which form an integral part of this
creative engineering process.The students have the oppor-
tunity to get involved in College productions, and thus gain
practical experience in these fields.
Within the bounds of the time available, I believe great
strides have been made and, with an eye on the future of
the industry, prospective sound engineers will have a good
idea of what to expect should they wish to continue their
studies in the tertiary domain.
sound engineering
