Isabella Krob and Sarah Gonzales work the control panel at an event. Michaela Estruth | Collegian

When the men of Simpson Residence are anxiously waiting to perform their meticulously rehearsed Mock Rock routine at the end of Homecoming week, two essential elements of the performance may not ever cross their minds: lights and sound.

But up in the crow’s nest, high above the basketball court in the George Roche Sports Complex, audio visual student workers, such as senior Joshua Burnett and junior Isabella Krob, ensure everything runs smoothly.

“Mock Rock is our most sophisticated lighting event of the year,” Krob said. “I’m always sad when it’s over, even if it’s also one of our longest days. I think this year it was 11 hours.”

Krob, who specializes in lighting with the AV team, said she plans, programs, and directs light production for mock rock each year.

Burnett, the camera operator, said this past year he shot video of Mock Rock to play live on screens for alumni sitting far from the court.

The AV team includes five adult and 10 student workers, according to Manager of AV Services Katie Blonde.

“The main responsibility of the AV department would be servicing live Hillsdale College events,” Blonde said. “This can range from small events put on by various student groups to something as large as Commencement — along with everything else in between.”

In addition to large speaker events, many of the students work the Student Activities Board’s events, Blonde said. AV includes everything from set up to tear down.

Krob said she has been involved in technical lighting and sound work since middle school. She began working for AV her freshman year.

“When I got to Hillsdale, I knew I wanted an on-campus job, and seeing the ‘event assistant’ position on Handshake was a dream come true,” Krob said. “I’d been doing this stuff for years without realizing I could be paid for it.”

Krob, who assisted at the recent Curate Summit, sat behind a large tech board with red, green, and yellow buttons and various key levels.

Krub said she enjoys working the SAB events because each year pairs new opportunities with familiarity.

“No two events are exactly alike,” Krob said. “It provides a refreshing challenge to a comfortable problem. ‘Will we be inside or outside?’ ‘How much power will we have?’ ‘How much creative influence do we have?’ These are questions we have to ask for each event, and depending on the answers, it drastically changes our approach.”

Krob said one of the most difficult events to work is President’s Ball.

“It’s dark and crowded,” she said. “We have to watch the floor lights and everyone knocks them over.”

Krob told a story about her co-worker, junior Bella Welch, who was stepped on, pushed against a wall, and had a drink spilled on her at last year’s President’s Ball.

Besides these hectic moments, Krob said she can enjoy events or choose to do other class work while working behind the scenes.

“You can tune in or tune out because you’re behind the curtain,” Krob said in reference to the Curate lecture she was operating. “You’re still there, and in some ways more involved by being on AV.”

Besides working events, Burnett said AV workers also help with media archives. Donors often request CCA lectures or sports games from years ago, Burnett said.

“We have a football game from 1949, which is a very dusty film reel,” he said. “There’s a lot of older formats that we convert to newer media.”

Recently, Burnett filmed College President Larry Arnn for a Fox News broadcast.

“Cameras are my favorite thing to do,” he said.

The average person likely never thinks about AV production, until something goes wrong, according to Burnett. He said these moments are high stress and high adrenaline.

“I was working for the K-12 Classical Education conference, and this laptop did not want to talk to the projectors,” Burnett said. “So, we’re scrambling trying to figure out what exactly is the technical problem. You plan everything out. But when things go wrong, you’re panicking, sitting there for 15 minutes frantically trying to figure out a solution while the entire audience is looking around. There’s definitely a level of high stress sometimes.”

Junior Sarah Gonzalez said she experienced a similar technical issue during her first solo event.

“I was super nervous. The podium mic was broken, and they couldn’t get the projector to work with the PowerPoint,” Gonzalez said. “Everyone else on AV was working an event, and my boss Katie couldn’t answer her phone. So she’s texting me. ‘Did you unplug it?’ I’m like “Yes!’ It finally started working about three minutes before the event started and all the people were in there.”

Burnett said working live events brings both the adrenaline of real-time results and the risk of unanticipated hiccups.

“I love trying to make sure everything is as smooth as possible,” Burnett said. “I don’t mind working on the fly, but I don’t enjoy it when a bunch of people are breathing down my neck watching.”

Krob said she enjoys bringing any speaker, presentation, or event to life.

“It’s nice to build a final product with such a great group of people, without the stress of homework or exams,” Krob said. “I frequently joke that AV is my favorite class.”