Senior Olivia Davolt
How an aspiring video producer sparked change.
Throughout the year, senior Olivia Davolt can be seen leading the broadcast team, playing soccer or dancing non-competitively. But one fact few people know about Davolt is she played a key role in KLHS getting its own daily time slot as well as the creation of Connect 30.
“What I noticed in a lot of my classes and through my peers, was that no one was really watching KLHS,” Davolt said. “Either their teacher didn’t put it on, or they didn’t have time to watch it”.
Video Production Specialist Darren Whitely also noticed a disconnect between the students and administration in recent years.
“The quarantine had a huge detriment and disconnected the students and the parents. It was like school but you didn’t have the joyous opportunities going to school had under normal circumstances,” Whitely said.
This inspired Davolt to present the importance of KLHS in a staff meeting last school year along with alum Connor Mclain.
“We talked to them in hopes they would start turning it on for their class, but I didn’t know that it would have such a big impact on the schedule,” Davolt said. “It made me really excited that they were working in time for us because we work really hard on the show every single day, and it can get pretty stressful back there, being recognized feels really good.”
Whitely recognized the impact that the changes to the schedule would have not only on the students but on the administration too.
“It made me really excited that they were working in time for us because we work really hard on the show every single day, and it can get pretty stressful back there, being recognized feels really good,” senior Olivia Davolt said.
“How you go about resolving a problem is really important because this is how you do it in the professional world, you don’t beat on the desk or pound on the walls, you go to your supervisor, discuss it and try to find a compromise, it’s not only empowering for the students, but it was probably empowering for the administration to hear student voices that were passionate about something,” Whitely said.
The members of KLHS had limited details about the proposed changes as alum Kymon Warman was unaware of the administration’s decision.
“I knew there was talk of it and I know they went to some meetings to get it done. I didn’t know that it had been followed through and actually completed,” Warman said.
Davolt’s drive to push for change in her school is not out of character as her sense of leadership was noticed early on in her broadcasting career.
“She’s unique in that she was pulled into a leadership position very early on in her time as a broadcasting student. Our first inclinations were that we hoped she’d carry on,” Whitely said.
When she was a kid, Davolt was introduced to video production through editing programs such as iMovie and Videostar. In eighth grade, she joined the broadcasting class at DMS and decided to continue with it in high school. These decisions have led Davolt on a path which has brought success in competitions.
“We won third in the nation overall for best news show. And at state, I won best in the state for a mini-documentary I made over a girl who was adopted and went to our high school. We won for a few of our shows at state as well,” Davolt said. “I started doing KLHS my freshman year and as we went on with the show I became passionate about putting on the show, editing videos for it and leading the class.”
Davolt is undecided about where she will attend college, but she is certain about wanting to pursue an education in video production and video editing.
