Alexis Oteng-Amponsah’s goal for Owl TV is to broaden the ideas that the organization has never done before. Focusing on the quality rather than the quantity, she aims to push out newer and original content for Owl TV. She felt that in so many ways they were thriving, but yet weren’t meeting the potential in certain areas that they hadn’t explored.

A senior double majoring in Multimedia Studies Film and New Media and Communication Studies, Oteng-Amponsah joined Owl TV to be part of an organization that has video production as well as making short films. With her studying video production, she wanted to gain more insight into the video production industry. 

“I was just looking to get involved with an organization that dealt with video production and making films, like short films, or video content. Because I was studying video production, and I had just started a podcast out of my dorm room, and I wanted a chance to bring it to video format, but also learn all the skills I would need to work in the industry within video production,” Oteng-Amponsah said. “I had a little bit of experience from high school, middle school, but I was rusty, so I just wanted some help and I wanted to make friends.” 

Oteng-Amponsah’s previous position as video production coordinator prepped her to become the station manager. That position allowed her to oversee and direct projects and produce content as well as be put in a role of what it means to be a director.

“We would have to come up with ideas for things we should shoot, what things we should create, and then we would have to organize a crew around it, make sure it gets filmed, edited, and posted in a timely manner,” she said. “So it kind of put me in the role of being a director or a technical director in a way, like overseeing a crew, knowing how to set up, and having to make decisions.” 

Oteng-Amponsah wanted to be station manager due to how much she liked the organization and how Owl TV is able to be a catalyst for students in learning new skills and gaining experience. 

“ And expand upon the things we had already been like doing here,” she said. “I felt like there were so many ways we were thriving, but there was so much untapped potential in certain venues that we hadn’t explored.” 

She says that when she was in Owl TV during her first year here, the organization centered around putting out original content as well as short films. Adding to that they did sports occasionally, and with news that they did for a short period of time before it started to lose interest. By the time she entered her junior year, no original content was produced. Overall, she feels that was an area that could be really beneficial for students who are majoring in the journalism field, to give them the opportunity to be in front or behind the camera as well as writing.

“When I was here we really focused on original content and short films with sports being our other. News was something that we dipped into for a little bit my first semester, but after that it kind of started losing ground, and by the time I was a junior we really didn’t do anything news,” Oteng-Amponsah said. “And I felt like that was an area where we could really benefit students in the Broadcast Journalism space, to give them a place to get in front of the camera, get behind the camera, start writing, and that was something I wanted to see. As well as just create an organization that was a home for me, for somebody else. This was the reason why I decided to stay at FAU, joining Owl TV and its been such a pleasure getting to meet so many people, and just build my resume, so I wanted to do that for other students.” 

As station manager, Oteng-Amponsah’s mission was to make changes throughout the station to create a new atmosphere for the volunteers and staff at Owl TV. With new and updated decorations and building a new set, she wanted to have Owl TV replicate a professional station.

“A lot of the stuff we had was a little outdated in terms of set, you know it wasn’t as I guess functional, and I kind of wanted to create Owl TV to mirror the professional workplace as much as we possibly can,” she said. “Which is why I talked with Allison about reaching out to Dr. Faerman about this proposal for building a new set, seeing if he would you know help us because I want students to come in and see a set, work on it, and when they go the real workplace in their careers, it’s not such a big difference.”

She adds on that the atmosphere of the station wasn’t something that didn’t reflect the professionalism of the workplace before. However, she felt that a lot of the time everyone was taking the easy way out within certain fields and not bringing in new content whether that fell onto the lack of equipment or an outdated set. That then transpired to Oteng-Amponsah asking herself what changes she had to make for Owl TV to improve. 

“Which is not that we didn’t have that before, I just felt like a lot of it was us kind of finessing in the areas where we didn’t have that quality. Whether it was in our set, or the equipment we had to pull from, and I just wanted to see well how can we improve? Where is it that we can improve the experience for volunteers, so that they feel equipped to go out to the professional workplace and do amazing?” Oteng-Amponsah said. 

Allison Haunss, Assistant Director for Student Media, and advisor for Owl TV, says that she’s happy to have Oteng-Amponsah as station manager this academic year. She says that Oteng-Amponsah is a leader and is amazing in getting ideas and projects completed. 

“I’m so happy that Alexis is leading this TV station this year. She has been a true leader, truly amazing in getting projects off the ground and delivering results,” Haunss said. 

Haunss also says that her and Oteng-Amponsah came together at the start of the semester and talked about the goals they wanted Owl TV to reach. 

“At the beginning of the semester, Alexis and I came together and discussed what we wanted to see Owl TV become. And it always came back to what are the deliverables? What are the results? How are we going to make it happen?” Haunss said. “And then we take the steps to make it happen. And I think that’s really defining, that’s what she’s been amazing about is helping to define a vision, and then following through.”  

Mj Leinheiser has been part of the student organization for the past three years, and currently serves as production coordinator. He says that having Oteng-Amponsah as station manager makes him very proud due to the fact that she climbed her way up within the positions here at Owl TV to become station manager making her stand-out and very qualified. 

“Having Alexis as the station manager makes me very proud because she took the same route that we suggest that all our new volunteers take: She started off as a volunteer, got staff, and then now she’s the leader, she’s the station manager. That’s exceptional to see her progression from volunteer all the way to now,”Leinheiser said. “I couldn’t really think of a more qualified person to be in that position than Alexis.” 

In just over a month, the organization has gone through many changes physically creating two new spaces for production with a new couch and table as well as a desk with a new greenscreen and backdrop. 

Leinheiser sees how much of the work Oteng-Amponsah is continuously doing to make the organization great. 

“Honestly, it’s inspiring,” Leinheifer said. “I’ve seen how much of herself she’s poured into Owl TV and it just inspires me and probably a lot of my co-workers and colleagues to do the same. To match her energy and enthusiasm within Owl TV: putting in the extra effort, putting in the extra time, putting in the extra thought.”

Pete Gordon, videographer and photographer of Student Affairs for Florida Atlantic University, took the same route like Oteng-Amponsah before he was elected station manager his senior year in 2023. He says he’s very proud of the continuous progression being made prior to him being station manager last year in how much Owl TV has evolved. 

“It’s very nice to see something develop past you. You never want to see it stuck in the same place because it kind of just means that it hasn’t been progressing, so it’s very nice to see the room be different, the content change as well in terms of what they’re posting. Because you want to be consistent, but you want to be evolved as well,” Gordon said. 

Oteng-Amponsah hopes that her time in Owl TV can encourage her in ways to go after new ideas. 

“I think in the past I was really afraid of failure and really afraid of doing stuff in it just not working out, but I think this is the place to try and fail, and then correct yourself and try again,” Oteng-Amponsah said. “There have been so many projects I’ve done that have not turned out the way I wanted them to, but I’ve learned so much from them, I’ve taken that into my other projects. And I feel like a lot of times, we get so scared that we just can’t attain something, we can’t create something the way we envision it, and I feel like if there is anything I want to leave behind at Owl TV is just go for it.”