Prism Spotlight has always been about highlighting the people behind the scholarship and sharing their stories with the higher education technology community. For this latest iteration of the series, we’re taking a longer view of the Prism experience by connecting with scholars at the beginning of their journey and revisiting them after they’ve completed the program. By capturing both perspectives, we hope to highlight not only where these scholars end up, but also the goals, challenges, lessons learned, and growth that happen along the way.
Our first spotlight in this new format features Noel Cerda, an Educational Technologist and AV Specialist at Ivy Tech Community College Fort Wayne. As he begins his Prism journey, Noel shares how he found his way into higher education AV, what motivates him professionally, and what he hopes to gain from the experience.
Tell us who you are, what you do, and where you work. How did your path lead into higher education AV?
I am an Educational Technologist at Ivy Tech Community College – Fort Wayne. Typically, across the state, Ed Techs are involved with assisting our ecosystems with any issues with our LMS platform (Canvas), as well as generally finding ways of improving lives on the digital front.
What’s unique about Fort Wayne’s campus is that we’re one of maybe a couple of Ed Tech teams across the state that include AV specialists (myself and Jon Youse). In addition to the responsibilities of assisting with our LMS, our duties include the procurement, installation, troubleshooting, maintenance, and sometimes system design of AV installations in classrooms and event spaces across multiple buildings situated on the Fort Wayne and Kosciusko County campuses.
Working directly in AV was a big interest for me when I was interviewing for the position. I had a little previous experience with live sound through my band, but I had always wanted to learn more.
What does a typical day in your role look like?
I’m not sure, for a lot of us in this line of work, if there is a ‘typical day’ per se. I think there are seasonal cadences each semester where we get slammed in the fall, things die down in the spring, and summer provides ample opportunity for projects. I think it’s easier to think of my role in a binary way, with reactive and proactive parts.
The reactive part of my role involves solving issues that come in either via tickets or directly from students and faculty who contact us. This can also involve AV issues of varying degrees of complexity… the Gremlins always give me something new to deal with!
The proactive part of my role involves installing improvements to AV systems, communicating with staff and faculty about needs and training opportunities for current systems, and conducting research for room equipment needs.
Outside of work, what are some of the things you enjoy doing?
I play a variety of instruments, including guitar, bass, drums, and noodling on keys and vocals. I am also classically trained on the violin. I enjoy playing video games when I have time. I am a big fan of management sims, city builders, and survival games (might be a control freak thing). Along with writing music and discovering new albums, I also love worldbuilding, chipping away at a narrative story, playing D&D with friends, board games, petting my cats (when they’re in the right mood), and I especially enjoy doing nothing.
How did you first learn about the Prism Scholarship?
My direct supervisor, Jon Youse, forwarded the opportunity to apply for it to my team.
What motivated you to apply?
While I’ve learned a great deal while working under Jon, I think I was just hungry to learn more. Throughout my career, while I’ve always been given opportunities for personal development, I often leave with maybe one or two more tools in my toolbox—maybe one or two networking connections that are short-lived or surface-level.
I have always been a jack-of-all-trades, master of none, and this is the first opportunity where it not only directly involves something that I actively do in my line of work, but it’s also something I am genuinely passionate about and want to become more involved in. It’s the first time I’ve said to myself, “I could see myself becoming an expert in this, rather than just a jack of all trades.”
Was there a specific person, experience, or goal that encouraged you to take this step?
I think my direct supervisor, Jon Youse, forwarded the chance to apply for the scholarship knowing that I was looking for opportunities to grow in my position and become more of an AV expert. Generally, as part of a four-man team, I’m usually the first to sign up for anything AV-related. I want to grow in this area and become a resource for anyone who needs guidance in this field.
Also, personally, I see AV work as being adjacent to working in the music industry. No, Ivy Tech is far from being a music school of any kind, and we rarely have musicians playing, but even still, I love being able to curate and build a sound system that allows people to embrace the full experience of whatever they might be attending. Whether it’s a simple Zoom conference, a presentation, or an AV setup for a musical performance, I love seeing the fruits of Jon and my labor when everything is running smoothly and there are no hiccups… or even when there are hiccups!
I love being the one on the job. I love being told people can relax when they see that I’m on the floor and there to assist because they know I can deliver. That’s the type of reassurance I want to provide more of, and I know I can do that with the knowledge gained through this opportunity.
What made this feel like the right time in your career?
This is the first occupation I’ve worked in where I really am knee-deep in the AV trenches, and it feels like, for the first time in my career, a step in the right direction. I want to keep opening doors that lead to more opportunities related to AV. The fact that I get to work in this position doing AV specialist tasks while learning and growing in that specialty is something I could not see happening in any other part of my career journey.
What are your current professional goals?
As of right now, I want to grow as an AV specialist as much as I can. I love working with students and faculty and assisting with problems with our LMS, but where my heart is is AV issues, setups, and installations. Being able to build and brainstorm systems that are utilized years down the road and leave a legacy behind is something I strive for. Because of this, I want to evolve as an AV specialist, maybe someday doing AV work full-time or becoming a statewide resource for anything AV-related across Ivy Tech’s network of campuses. Working in events and live AV has also awakened a part of me that enjoys coordinating events, organizing them, and ensuring everything is running smoothly.
I’ve always loved doing backstage work so that the frontliners can enter a flow state and deliver the audience to their intended destination.
What skills or knowledge are you hoping to gain through the Prism experience?
I hope to learn more about AV aspects in the music sphere, especially live performances and how someone might design an AV installation for a recording environment. Otherwise, I want to get to a point where aspects of the AV world are second nature so that, someday, I can pass along knowledge and professional expertise to folks in need within my network.
In terms of specifics, I’d love to learn more about network routing, how acoustic variables play into room design, and becoming more familiar with rack equipment. How does one conduct research for a system design? What variables do I need to consider when designing systems?
Coming into this, I’ll admit that I’m still green in the AV world. I know a bit more now about classroom installations and rigging live rock performances here and there, but there’s still so much that I don’t know. The more I learn, the more I realize there is left to learn.
What excites you most about this opportunity?
I am excited about the obvious things: professional visibility, a chance to attend a conference in Orlando, and the worthy goal of attaining a CTS. But in all of this, I am also very excited to network and meet other AV professionals who might have been in my position at one point—or maybe are currently in my position! I look forward to finding mentors and learning under their wing… and maybe someday becoming a mentor myself!
In anything I do, I want to become a pillar for people to refer to. I want to be the guy folks mention when they say, “Oh yeah, you want to get with Noel about that.” When it comes to AV knowledge, I want to be able to walk the walk and be perceived as someone with evergreen knowledge on a professional level. I want to know about opportunities and resources that will help me continuously learn and stay up to date in the AV world.
Why do programs like Prism matter to the AV industry?
Prism is unique in that the program not only paves the way for members to learn more, but it also gives folks a platform for greater visibility in the professional AV field. Typically, personal development opportunities come with the promise of expanding professional knowledge or networking internally, but rarely on an external level to such a large audience.
On top of this, I love that the nature of the Prism Scholarship program is self-guided, self-motivated, and that you get out of it as much as you put into it. Members of the program have a rich network to tap into for guidance, both during and after the program, and even just the aspect of having a long-term goal while studying and preparing for the CTS exam helps sharpen each member above the usual cut of their company!
Have there been moments in your career when representation, mentorship, or community made a difference for you?
In everyday interactions with the folks we help, I try and make my team’s job easier by teaching them not only what the cause of an issue is, but also how to prevent it in the future. In the process of making students’ lives easier, I sometimes see that ‘aha!’ moment spark in their expression, and they usually walk away feeling empowered or more confident that they will be able to achieve what they came to achieve as students at Ivy Tech. It’s one of my favorite aspects of the job.
We build a stronger community by empowering and enabling the people we help, and they come from all walks of life. Sometimes, it’s a student fresh out of high school, and this is the first personal PC they’ve owned, so they don’t quite understand how to navigate a course they’re trying to find. Sometimes, we assist someone who has worked in their field for 20 years and never needed a computer for their career. Regardless of their background, we help anyone and everyone.
What does being selected as a Prism Scholar mean to you personally?
It means being enabled and equipped with the means to become an expert in a field that I have a passion for and love helping people in. It is an opportunity to connect with a wider network of AV professionals that I can learn from while participating in the exchange of new ideas.
What part of the program are you most looking forward to?
I recently had our first meeting with Lisle and a few other members of the program, and it made me excited to meet others in the cohort. I also felt empowered by Lisle in that, despite my relatively new experience in the field, there is plenty of support and guidance available to us while also giving us opportunities to be proactive and learn at our own pace. I love that he holds us responsible for how much we commit to the program.
On top of networking, I am also excited to learn more about the AV world, some of the key players in it, and what other higher education teams are doing in their corners.
If you could fast-forward to the end of the experience, what would you hope to have accomplished?
It is my hope that:
- I attain my CTS and begin laying the groundwork for another certification, whether it’s CTS-D or CTS-I.
- I make some new friends and connect with members of HETMA.
- I grow professionally and maybe even help develop a new role within the Ivy Tech ecosystem that involves AV support as a full-time specialty.
- I become an expert in the AV field to the point that I am a source of knowledge and expertise and a pivotal member of my campus, helping further our mission of providing state-of-the-art service in higher education.
What message would you share with others who may be considering applying in the future?
Don’t write yourself off. Everyone has a part to play and a story to tell, and it might be important to someone else down the line. It is so easy to succumb to imposter syndrome and quit before you begin, but it never hurts to try! Keep yourself open to genuinely pursuing opportunities that are bigger than yourself, opportunities that are daunting and seem outside of your skillset. You would be surprised by what you can accomplish and how much support you might receive along the way!
Connect with Noel on LinkedIn.
