Tennyson High School
Multi-phase classroom, culinary, and gym AV installation work at Tennyson High School, including repetitive room-system deployment, speaker installation, ALS support, and follow-on change-order scope.
This project came in multiple phases, but it makes more sense to treat it as one body of work because the scope repeated across the campus and the later additions built on the same installation patterns. Overall, it was a straightforward school project, but it was a good example of how prior field experience can significantly accelerate execution when the room layouts and systems are familiar.
Phase One
The initial phase was led by Dan and consisted largely of repetitive classroom systems. I had already completed nearly identical room layouts at a previous company, so I was able to move quickly when it came to laying out the rooms, getting device boxes set, installing the touch panels, and organizing the supporting equipment behind the TVs.
Each room followed a similar pattern. The systems included roughly four TeachLogic speakers per room, rough-in at the table, cable runs back to the amplifier behind the display, device installation in the wall box, and the source-switching hardware needed to complete the room system. Because the layout repeated, the work became less about figuring out what to do and more about executing the same scope cleanly, accurately, and at speed across multiple rooms.
That repetition was a strength on this project. Since I had already seen these systems in practice elsewhere, I could recognize the layout quickly, anticipate the order of operations, and keep the work moving without wasting time rediscovering the same installation logic in each room.
Phase Two
The second phase was led by a different technician and included some scope that was a little less repetitive than the initial classroom rollout. There was a culinary room that required additional coordination, a gym where speakers had to be installed, and an ALS system in the gym that added another layer of work beyond a standard classroom deployment.
Even so, none of it was especially difficult. By that point, I had already worked on a much more involved gym speaker installation at Burlingame High School, so when we had to turn around and do a similar type of work again, it was much easier to execute. I also handled soldering for XLR connectors associated with the gym scope.
There were also a number of change orders that extended the work into additional parts of the school, but the underlying pattern stayed consistent. In practice, it was the same type of room and support work repeated across more spaces, which made the job less about complexity and more about staying organized, moving efficiently, and maintaining consistency as the scope expanded.
Classroom Rough-In
Phase two still included classroom-related work, and that side of the project followed the same general device-box, display, touch-panel, and support pattern established in the earlier rooms. The work was familiar enough that the main challenge was not figuring out the layout, but keeping the repeated installations organized and moving cleanly as additional spaces were added through change orders.
Gym Structure And Cable Rough-In
The gym portion of phase two required more coordination around access, speaker layout, and the supporting cable paths for the larger space. Even so, it was manageable because I had already worked on a more involved gym speaker installation at Burlingame High School, so the sequencing and access work here felt familiar instead of new.
This part of the project included lift work, layout verification, and the broader rough in required to support the finished gym system.
ALS Soldering And Testing
The ALS portion of the gym scope added another layer of technical detail beyond the basic speaker installation. This included soldering XLR connectors under the bleachers, terminating and testing the related connections, and verifying that the supporting rack equipment and wall-plate connections were landed correctly.
This part of the project was straightforward, but it shows the smaller technical tasks that sit underneath a finished system and still have to be done cleanly for everything to work properly.
Completed Gym System
Once the rough-in, speaker work, ALS connections, and testing were complete, the finished gym system came together cleanly. These final images are there mainly to show the completed result rather than document a specific step in the process.
