Announcement Booth
The Greenfield High sports announcer’s booth this past Fall. Photographed by Alexis Lomeli.
Why a Shipping Container?
By Alexis Lomeli
Have you ever gone to any of the sporting events at Greenfield High? Looking around the field during the game, spectators wonder where the announcer's voice is coming from. Under all the commotion of the game, looking at how the players run the ball, suddenly a giant green container catches your eye. Yes, that shipping container across the field is our Greenfield High School’s announcer booth. Many Greenfield sports fans, athletes, and even alumni wonder, “Why exactly do we have a shipping container while other schools have buildings?” Good question.
A Sport’s Announcement Booth
Our announcer's booth is out of the ordinary compared to others at local high schools. A more typical announcement booth looks like the one at King City High: within the stands is a building popping up in the middle providing sports announcers with a clear view of the field. The average attendee of a high school football game likely thinks that every other school in California has an announcer booth building, but that is not the case at Greenfield High.
Across the field, lacking that helpful birds-eye view, our announcer booth sticks out like a sore thumb. Our shipping container booth creates a bad representation of our school. Typically shipping containers are covered with rust and filth. These containers are only made to carry cargo and other necessities. They go through the harsh conditions of the ocean and over time begin to look ugly. When one looks at a shipping container, what comes to mind is how dirty and rusty it is. This has the ability to create the bad mindset that our school is not good enough to provide common necessities, giving the school a bad look.
Other Greenfield High community members agree that the booth is not exactly a great or professional work environment. And unfortunately, our district school board has done little to improve it. Mrs. Radcliff, who frequently serves as a sports announcer for home football games, disclosed her honest opinion of the announcer’s booth. Radcliff elaborates that it “looks a lot nicer since they painted it, but to state the obvious, [Greenfield High] can use a better one.” The paint job, newly applied to the shipping container around 2021, does make the booth more pleasing to the eye, but that is its only improvement.
On the plus side, our announcer’s booth does have a good sound system where the sports commentator’s voice can be heard clearly across the stadium with little to no confusion. Our sound system is respectable and even other schools acknowledge that. Mrs. Radcliff elaborates further, “This year other schools have installed similar sound systems as us and [have] had the same [average] problems [as us].” The announcer’s booth is still a workable environment, but it lacks something vital to any sports announcer looking to do their job well: an elevated or bird’s eye view of the field. To make operations easier and more enjoyable for announcers and sports fans alike, Greenfield High needs a proper sports announcing building.
Other School Announcement Booths
Schools such as King City and Soledad have sports announcement booths with an elevated view of the track and field. This visual ease of access during gameplay allows the announcer greater mobility while covering a sports event. Keeping your eyes on the ball, amid all the commotion created by sports fans in the stands sitting near your eyeline makes sports announcing in real time exceedingly difficult. An announcer's job may seem easy, but there is more to it than one realizes. They must be well educated in the rules of the game, making sure they read the field correctly – and one part that confuses them – calling out the correct players. On the contrary, other schools do not seem to have that hard of a problem because of how high the building is. Allowing a clear view of the field makes it easier to keep track of the players' movements and the ball. Ours, even seeming to be high enough, can still use some more altitude.
When asked about any specific school’s announcer booth Mrs. Radcliff thinks highly of, she responded by saying, “Soledad's being at the top of the stadium has a better viewpoint.” Ours only gives our school a bad representation. However, this does not mean that we have the worst booth. Ours is still in good condition and provides all the necessities that every announcement booth has to offer. However, I think people would want to know exactly why we do not have a building for the announcer's booth.
Why a Shipping Container?
Some people can wonder why exactly we have a shipping container. The answer is sadly quite simple and obvious. According to a source who would only speak with our reporters off-the-record, Greenfield High simply does not have enough land to build a new booth. It is possible however to get a new booth, but it will be a long and tedious process. According to our Principal, Janet Matos, “We need the money to replace. It is very expensive because it needs to meet certain construction guidelines.” What makes this difficult is that some say that we simply might not even have any land to build one.
To get a new one, all we can do is be patient. For any reader wondering if the students can do any form of fundraiser or anything else to help, that question is shut down. When asked about this Ms. Matos said, “Nothing much students can do,” giving us the sad truth. All we can do now is enjoy and be grateful for our shipping container as a booth. Waiting for the opportunity to come and obtain an announcement booth in the future is our only option.