“Good morning, North Stars,” echoes out of the intercom loud and clear as the bell rings to signify the start of second hour. Andrew Suto and Ben Swanson, both seniors, have been greeting students every morning on the announcements. Both of them are new to the job this year and have been enjoying it so far.

Suto did the announcements every day for the first month of school. However, when he was not able to do the announcements one day, Swanson stepped in. The new plan is for Swanson to do the announcements on even calendar days and Suto to do them on odd calendar days.

Both Suto and Swanson auditioned for the job their sophomore year before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down school. 

“In [my] sophomore year, there was this event where they got a bunch of kids together and we basically just did auditions. We read the paper they gave us, we read lines, and I did the announcements a few times,” said Suto.

Due to the many schedules that North went through last year, there were no morning announcements. This meant that Suto and Swanson, who were chosen to do them last year, were unable.

“I was supposed to be the announcer [my] junior year, but we ended up closing everything down. So I couldn’t do that. And this year now I got the opportunity to do it now that people are actually back in school,” said Suto.

While the announcements have come with some challenges, they have also been rewarding.

“It has been nerve-wracking, but it always gives me a sense of joy in my day. It’s personally an experience that I like because I get to communicate with the whole school. I like to believe I’m an active participant in our school,” said Swanson.

However, there are some challenges that come with doing the announcements everyday.

“Names. I think everyone struggles with this. Names are the hardest part,” said Swanson.

They also have been able to add in some improvisation to end the announcements allowing the announcer’s personality to shine through.

“A lot of the times I come up with some way to end them or some way to open that’s unique because I don’t like saying the same thing every time,” said Suto.

There is also some prep that has had to go into reading the announcements.

“Usually I do proofread for mistakes and see if there’s any names because names are the hardest part,” said Suto.

A gratifying part of the job is being recognized for the work they put in on the announcements.

“It’s nice to get compliments and it’s cool to be recognized for doing something cool by friends and people in the

hallway,” said Suto.

Currently, the announcements are looking for new people to read them. If interested, reach out to Melinda Roberts, Swanson or Suto.

“I think that this is a really cool experience to get to do. If you’re interested, please reach out; it’s definitely something I will not regret doing,” said Swanson.