"It's common knowledge at Oakland School for the Arts that our bell isn’t exactly what some would consider normal. It is not, however, commonly known why this is the case."
--Joaquin Montes de Oca
It's common knowledge at Oakland School for the Arts that our bell isn’t exactly what some would consider normal. It is not, however, commonly known why this is the case.
“In 2012, I got a request saying, ‘can we put a musical tone instead of the usual tone?’” says David Smith, the Director of Technology. “I researched what it would take to do that and I found a device that let us attach an mp3.”
Just this year there has been quite the variety of sounds for the bell. “I have all the files that were made into bells,” says Smith. “We have Duke Ellington, Beethoven, “Out of Africa” was one suggestion. One was done in Garageband. We’ve had the Black History and Women’s History bells,”he continues, John Legend, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke, we had Selena and Aretha Franklin. We actually did do a Star Wars one for May Fourth but that was just the one day. This year we’ve had Latino Heritage Month, Rent, etcetera. We got a request to do one this month but we decided to do the tribute to Victor.”
This brings up another topic: if you weren’t already aware, the current bell (as of Thursday, April 25th) is a tribute to a former student who was killed in Los Angeles, Victor McElhaney, the son of Lynette McElhaney, a member of the Oakland City Council.
“I think it's nice that it is a tribute to the student,” says 11th grader Isabelle Ho.
“I think it’s a really cool school bell,” Ashley Gallagher says, “I think it’s a little long though. But, it’s a good bell, I like that it has a meaning behind it. We don’t have a normal school environment so I think that it’s cool that we have this bell. “
Smith feels similarly. “It’s a neat avenue to show how OSA is a unique school. I think it has a positive effect. It’s another way for students to feel like they’re not in a traditional environment, that they’re free to express themselves, especially if we change it a lot. Here it’s sort of the mindset of encouraging creativity.”
I asked the students if they prefered this bell or a normal one. “I prefer a normal bell,” Ho says, “It's more clear.”
“I think that students find normal bells jarring and this is a little softer,” Gallagher says in contrast.
And while students seem to agree that they appreciate the current bell, everyone has their least favorite bell from the former bunch.
“The last one,” Ho says, when asked about her least favorite bell so far, “All The Stars. They had it for a really long time and it was long.”
“The Rent bell.” Gallagher responds, when asked the same thing, “‘Cause everyone would sing along.”
Many students say that they wish they could choose the bell. And if you feel like students have no voice in what the bell is, you should know that if you love or hate our bells, you can email the Director Of Technology, David Smith at [email protected], and who knows, maybe you can recommend the next bell.
“In 2012, I got a request saying, ‘can we put a musical tone instead of the usual tone?’” says David Smith, the Director of Technology. “I researched what it would take to do that and I found a device that let us attach an mp3.”
Just this year there has been quite the variety of sounds for the bell. “I have all the files that were made into bells,” says Smith. “We have Duke Ellington, Beethoven, “Out of Africa” was one suggestion. One was done in Garageband. We’ve had the Black History and Women’s History bells,”he continues, John Legend, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke, we had Selena and Aretha Franklin. We actually did do a Star Wars one for May Fourth but that was just the one day. This year we’ve had Latino Heritage Month, Rent, etcetera. We got a request to do one this month but we decided to do the tribute to Victor.”
This brings up another topic: if you weren’t already aware, the current bell (as of Thursday, April 25th) is a tribute to a former student who was killed in Los Angeles, Victor McElhaney, the son of Lynette McElhaney, a member of the Oakland City Council.
“I think it's nice that it is a tribute to the student,” says 11th grader Isabelle Ho.
“I think it’s a really cool school bell,” Ashley Gallagher says, “I think it’s a little long though. But, it’s a good bell, I like that it has a meaning behind it. We don’t have a normal school environment so I think that it’s cool that we have this bell. “
Smith feels similarly. “It’s a neat avenue to show how OSA is a unique school. I think it has a positive effect. It’s another way for students to feel like they’re not in a traditional environment, that they’re free to express themselves, especially if we change it a lot. Here it’s sort of the mindset of encouraging creativity.”
I asked the students if they prefered this bell or a normal one. “I prefer a normal bell,” Ho says, “It's more clear.”
“I think that students find normal bells jarring and this is a little softer,” Gallagher says in contrast.
And while students seem to agree that they appreciate the current bell, everyone has their least favorite bell from the former bunch.
“The last one,” Ho says, when asked about her least favorite bell so far, “All The Stars. They had it for a really long time and it was long.”
“The Rent bell.” Gallagher responds, when asked the same thing, “‘Cause everyone would sing along.”
Many students say that they wish they could choose the bell. And if you feel like students have no voice in what the bell is, you should know that if you love or hate our bells, you can email the Director Of Technology, David Smith at [email protected], and who knows, maybe you can recommend the next bell.
