Drama students inspired by Senior Broadcast Engineer Kath Gray (Squires, 2010)

On Friday 5 February our Year 8s and Year 12 Drama students were treated to a talk from alumna Kath Gray (Squires, 2010), who is a Senior Broadcast Engineer for NEP UK.

Kath left Ashford School after her A Levels in 2010 and went on to study Live and Studio Sound at Southampton Solent University. Kath now works as a Senior Broadcast Engineer for NEP UK Broadcast Services. In 2017 she won the prestigious RTS Young Technologist Award, has travelled around the world with her job, and has worked on a wide variety of events including BBC Proms and Bestival, as well as TV shows such as Love Island, to sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games, Wimbledon, and Premier League Football matches.

Kath spoke to our students about her journey from working behind the scenes for School concerts and productions assisting staff with sound and lighting, to her degree at Southampton Solent University, to her role as it is today. She talked about the importance of work experience, explained the variety of jobs within Live Engineering and how outside broadcasts work, and gave students a backstage look at broadcasting Wimbledon.

Kath’s talk was followed by a Q&A session, led by our Drama Teacher Mrs Banner & Head of Creative & Performing Arts Mr Barnett. Questions from our students included:

• How did you overcome your fear of public speaking to take all the opportunities offered to you on your University course?
• What is the most challenging part of your job?
• With working on live events and live TV, how do you manage being nervous about live moments and the potential for things to go wrong?
• What was your favourite location?
• Thinking about Love Island, how do you get around wet events and rain with all the technical equipment
• What is the best way to mic up a Steinway piano?
• What piece of advice would you give to yourself in Year 9?

Thank you Kath for a thought provoking talk, and helping our students to see how the skills and knowledge they learn in their technical drama lessons can operate outside of the classroom, and lead to a variety of future careers.

You can watch the whole of Kath’s talk on YouTube, and you can find out more about Kath in our Inspiring Minds blog.