What’s New with the Jackson Polar Bears

In 2015, the Jackson High School polar bears in Massillon, Ohio installed a video scoreboard at Robert Fife Stadium. We interviewed Linda Sutherland, a Jackson High teacher who spearheaded the learning curve of operating the school’s new display, shortly after installation. Now that 2 years have passed, we caught up with Linda to see how […]

9/20/2017

Categories: High School Sports

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In 2015, the Jackson High School polar bears in Massillon, Ohio installed a video scoreboard at Robert Fife Stadium. We interviewed Linda Sutherland, a Jackson High teacher who spearheaded the learning curve of operating the school’s new display, shortly after installation. Now that 2 years have passed, we caught up with Linda to see how they’re doing.

Q: What would you say has been the most helpful resource for you?
A: The training. Although, repairs have always been taken of very quickly. That’s important when you have events coming.

Q: What type of content are you running?
A: We do still images, video, commercials…we use Content Creator to make mini-slideshow PowerPoints, and use Google Docs to put statistics on the board.

Q: Anything you anticipate trying in the future?
A: We want to do more with our own video backgrounds and cheers. While we’ve created 1 or 2 cheers of our own, we’ve primarily used the content Daktronics provided for cheers.

Q: What would you say has been the biggest change since we last talked?
A: We now have students doing instant replays! The first two years, school personnel handled it, but we now feel our students have a good grasp of the process and are participating in it.

Q: What else are students doing for production?
A: They’re tackling camera operations and using the tricaster.

PERKS OF THE VIDEO SCOREBOARD

Q: Have you seen any additional benefits from the board besides fan engagement?
A: It’s really been a good way to bring together the community, the school’s booster club, the school administration, the students, fans, parents — it’s united our cause.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: We had a fun event, kind of a show and tell with our scoreboard once, with local surrounding schools. It was a chance for them to come look at it and ask us questions. It was helpful information for those who don’t have displays and a chance for us to feature our display’s capabilities and show the results of our investment.

See their board in action 

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