Imagine a Seattle Prep musical, without the background music, a lively assembly with no MCs, or Olympic week with no karaoke! Thanks to Agnes Davila 21’and Nate Hancock 20’ of the OSL tech team, the sound is taken care of. Davila took over the responsibility as a Freshman to learn how to operate the sound board for musicals, plays, assemblies and liturgies. Now as a Sophomore, she knows how to fix issues to make sure every event runs smoothly. “Things break all the time, but they always get fixed.” Agnes Davila ’21.

Both Agnes and Nate were introduced by alumni, Liam 18’ and Sam 18’, who had the previous job. Agnes was introduced to this field at her previous school working with the musical program while simultaneously being introduced to the Prep sound crew specifically by Campbell who was helping out with her middle school production. Once at Prep, Liam and Sam taught Agnes and Nate by limiting them to only watching how the process worked for a couple months, after that they were gradually able to contribute, and currently two major assets to Prep events. While they both had a foundation in the field of sound, Mr. Othman has also been good at helping to provide interesting light and sound combinations. With all this help from other Prep alums and faculty, they have learned to handle it on their own. Agnes knew all about Prep’s program and liked what she heard, “So as soon as I got to Prep I signed up” Davila’21.

With two years of experience under each of their belts, and 1-2 more left at Prep, the question they both need to consider is will their talent follow them into college and a career or is this just a hobby they plan on enjoying.

Agnes and Nate have thought about how this experience will be useful in their future careers. Agnes has thought up two career choices so far, one of them being music production. She has developed a love for creating the perfect sound to incorporate into a song and seriously considers this as a future career. Everyone better keep their eyes open in the future for some amazing songs, produced by Prep’s one and only Agnes Davila. Nate is pretty sure he wants to go into the field of engineering which may not exactly be the same as what he has done at Prep, but the skills he has learned from it can contribute to his career’s success, such as troubleshooting. Nate ’20 shares, “Though I enjoy doing sound here at Prep, I find that doing it is more technical experience than a gateway to a job.”

As of the past week or so, Agnes and Nate have begun to prep for this year’s musical, Newsies. They are trying to become familiar with the songs and sound responsibilities that they are taking on. With the help of Mr. Othman and the other behind the scenes crew, Agnes and Nate will be ready for show time. You can see Agnes and Nate in action as Newsies runs from February 22 to March 3.