The Voice of the Brentwood Regatta

4 May 2015Sarah P, Mackenzie ‘15

A significant number of guests who attended Brentwood’s 45th Annual International Rowing Regatta would have been very surprised to find out that the calm and godlike voices descending upon them from the loudspeakers atop the Ross Building actually belonged to a small group of sleep-deprived Brentwood students. Despite our humble status outside the announcer’s tent, inside, we became the Supreme Voices of Brentwood and were given all the powers that role entailed: free beaver tails and sometimes juice boxes. I’m sure all present on the campus in the early mornings had the privilege of hearing our dulcet tones howling out a ‘Good Morning’ before immediately launching into the Circle of Life at top volume. I can guarantee that everyone heard at least one horribly dull rowing schedule announcement for crews to hurry up and get in their boats, followed by a very long list of names. While that’s all very fun, announcing definitely isn’t an easy job. It meant we got up as early as 6 am to stumble blearily out to the announcers’ tent and try to make some sense out of the pages and pages of times, names, and races. Armed with fistfuls of multi-coloured highlighters to make some sense of the chaos, our announcements would run all day and we’d have to stay calm and civil throughout all of it. We, the brave Voices of Brentwood, endured angry team members, despairing music lovers, screaming hordes of moms right outside the tent (we’re looking at you, Mount Baker Crew), faulty heaters, horrible microphone feedback, and volume complaints. We also dauntlessly battled the Rock Band for dominance of the music speakers (and ultimately lost, but that’s not what counts). In the end, we made it through three days of seamless announcing without a single cancelled race or terrible mistake. Thank you to Mrs. Quinton, Ms. Steele-MacInnis, and Mr. Ayre for keeping us on track and supplying us with infinite snacks. A simple reminder to students for next year: your announcing crew is only human, and, in fact, they’re not even humans who have graduated from high school yet. They’re likely very tired and although they’d love to play all your songs and make all your shout-outs, it just can’t be done. Sarah P, Mackenzie ‘15

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