From 7:50 to 7:55 each morning, roughly 1,500 Solon High School (SHS) students hear the school’s morning announcements. They tune in to hear about the latest club news, sports victories, school functions, the joke of the day and more. Seniors Mira Atwah,

Bhardwaj, Melanie Mauldin, Jacob Platko, and Robertson Walker — who give the daily announcements — are proud of their job.

Anshika Bhardwaj, one of the five members of the announcements crew, described doing the announcements as a “lifelong dream,” especially after hearing Isaac Mauldin doing the morning announcements three years ago.

“I remember… freshman year, hearing Isaac saying ‘gooood morning,” Bhardwaj said. “I knew right then and there that I wanted to be the voice of the morning announcements.”

Bhardwaj also noted that being in show choir is one of the reasons she’s part of the team,

“Usually announcements are done by people in [Music in Motion (MIM)],” Bhardwaj said.

Bhardwaj described the steps taken by the group to report school news on the PA every morning.

“We walk down at 7:45, and there’s normally a pile of announcements,” Bhardwaj said. “[Then], we go through who’s going to read what. There’s a little microphone that we can press start and stop on.”

One role of Bhardwaj is keeping a list on her phone of possible students for the senior student of the day. The group discusses who it will be right before starting the announcements.

Robertson Walker, another member of the morning announcements team, has felt proud of the improvements made since the beginning of the school year.

“Generally, we’ve kind of gotten into the swing of it now,” Walker said. “It’s gotten a lot smoother than it [was] the first week.”

Walker is known for giving the joke of the day every morning. He said that he gets the jokes from many different places, including from fellow morning announcer Mira Atwah, who has a joke book.

“It comes from a conglomeration of areas,” Walker said. “Sometimes I’ll [use] jokes people have given to me, asking me to do them. Sometimes I just look them up. Sometimes I’ll have just thought of something really funny, and [we’ll] decide to do that.”

Mira Atwah, who recruited Walker to the announcements crew, is also happy to be a part of the group.

“It’s just a great way to start off my school day with friends,” Atwah said.

Melanie Mauldin listened to her brother Isaac do the announcements freshman year three years before she got the opportunity. Mauldin, like Bhardwaj, Walker and Atwah, is in MIM.

“I think we work really well together,” Mauldin said right after getting off the PA.

One memorable part of the morning announcements are the cameos of the school’s spirit boys and girls.

“[The spirit boys and girls] always add such life and humor to their sports announcements,” Bhardwaj said. “We truly would not be able to deliver sports news without them.”

Another tradition of the morning announcements is to acknowledge the birthdays of the school’s seniors. Jacob Platko reads off these birthdays, always wishing those seniors “a fantastic day.” After finishing the announcements, the team members head to their first period class with a feeling of pride.

“It’s a really good feeling knowing that the entire school is informed,” Bhardwaj said.

Walker also noted the excitement doing the announcements brings him.

“If you are interested in doing the announcements… look into it,” Walker said. “It’s very fun. I’ve enjoyed it so far. It’s definitely a fun way to start off your day.”