Southold School District

The Work We Do: Eric Kehl, Southold School District

My name is Eric Kehl and I work for the Southold School District as the audio/visual specialist here. I started here about 11 years ago.

I was a graduate of Southold High School in 2007 and then I came back about a year and half later when the previous person who held this position retired, and I was his protégé too. I was his student helping him out and now the roles have changed so I have students helping me.

My daily routine changes every day. It’s a lot of work in the classroom with teachers saying ‘my smart board doesn’t work, my phone doesn’t work.’ It depends on the season. Right now we’re gearing up for some holiday concerts.

We go from graduations to concerts, to outdoor events like sports or homecoming. I always get to see the kids perform and really shine at their moments. I get to see them out of the classroom a lot, which is a unique part of my job.

We started SOHO TV about five years ago. It became this huge program. I’ll be wearing my SOHO TV jacket out in public and people will come up to me and say that they love it and I’m like ‘wow!’

It’s a lot of fun. The kids do a weekly broadcast. I had a huge helping hand in getting that started. From iPads to editing on small, little computers and now we have a full Mac lab and Final Cut Pro for everybody. It’s a lot of fun to see what the kids put together.

I also run an A/V club for running the plays and concerts. Students learn lights and sound with me, they operate the cameras, they do video directing in the master control room. They really get first hand experience of what it’s like working on the tech end and behind the scenes.

Every day feels like a new day. My coworkers are great here. When you fix something in the classroom they’re having a problem with, they’re always like, ‘Thank you for coming. Thank you for fixing that.’

That part’s always good. There’s always a rewarding experience at the end of each day. I’m like, OK, I got this, this and this done. So it’s kind of fun that way.

“The Work We Do” is a Suffolk Times multimedia project profiling workers on the North Fork. It is made possible by Peconic Landing in Greenport. See photos on Instagram @thesuffolktimes.