by Abigail Hall

Broadcasting teacher David Callan waves his hands animatedly as he explains the basics of editing.

“Drag and drop your video onto the timeline.”

While he appears normal or a generic teacher to a passerby, he has quite a history. Very few people know that he was a producer and executive director at WDRB before he came to Jeffersonville. 

“I did audio, graphics, technical directing, directing, and eventually became the boss. So I did every job you can do in production,” he recalled.

However, he started out as a courier. 

“I started off as the station runner. So back then, they had people who went to different TV stations, radio stations,” Callan said. “I went to the movie houses to get what they called movie trailers.”

He tells his students about his time in the production world very fondly, but everyone around him is grateful he made the switch to high school teaching.

Senior broadcasting student Alyssa Jendrick said that Callan has positively impacted her school experience in many ways.

“I’d describe him as a great guide to help others,” she began. “After understanding what you need, it’s nice to help others and even inspire them if they’re willing to dream big and open their minds.” 

Other students often speak highly of Callan, stating how great a teacher and mentor he is. However, it’s not just students; his colleagues also admire him.

Colleague and fellow broadcasting teacher Fred Cowgill said, “He is a great broadcaster, enormously talented, but he’s a better man. He spews integrity, he works hard, he has incredible standards and none higher than for himself.” 

Callan and Cowgill work hard together to make the class a fun and educational place for students to be. In the future, they hope to improve the quality of the program in many ways.

“I’m hoping I’ll have some time and I can get into Adobe certification,” Callan stated. “I’m going to put myself through it, so I understand what you need to do as a student.”

Besides editing, broadcasting students work on many other things. They are involved with producing livestreams of sports games that go on here at the high school. 

“We’re trying to elevate the production level of the game,” he added. “I don’t expect you guys to be at the level that I had when I was working at DRB early on. These people, these were professionals who knew how to do the jobs. But what we want to do is we want to get in a learning step.”

Regardless of what he decides to teach, students know that they will enjoy it, just as much as they enjoy his mentorship and presence. He continues to help others in their learning and life experiences, always putting them first.

“Our goal, Mr. Cowgill’s and I, and our goal is to make you better people, to get you more informed as a citizen.”