Mr. Michael Ondash has been teaching at Hudson High School over the past 27 years, and he has shaped and improved Hudson’s computer arts program since then. Ondash did not envision being the tech genius he is today because he went to college and studied math, with hopes to teach engineering. “Graphic Arts is not what I thought I’d be teaching when I was in college – I had hoped to teach engineering.” He received his shop degree and got his masters in instructional design. Ondash studied at the University of Akron and Kent State University, both great local programs that most of us at Hudson are familiar with.
As technology has grown immensely since he started at Hudson, so has the program. Ondash teaches Graphic Arts, Video Production 1 and 2 and a video broadcasting class for the Six District program. Mr. Ondash knows the Adobe Creative Cloud like the back of his hand, which includes things like photoshop, video editing, graphic arts and more. While it is his job, his skills are nothing short of amazing. Something that looks like a foreign language to some is second nature for someone like him.
To no one’s surprise, Ondash said his favorite part about his job is educating students and working with them in an environment where they can be productive and social. “I really enjoy working with all my students and teaching them these valuable skills. Demand for technologically educated people is only going up in the world, and I am fortunate to not only have the skills, but to be able to teach others about these arts.” Ondash is a favorite teacher among many students at HHS. He is helpful and attentive with his students in each of his classes, and he goes above and beyond to make sure we have announcements. He comes in early and stays after school several days a week to make the announcements possible. Being new to computer arts can be challenging and intimidating, but Ondash is great at rationalizing the complex art and making it possible for everyone to learn. He makes complicated computer quests look effortless, and he teaches people how to create art in a way they had never imagined. He seems to know just about everything that one could ponder. He will take any potential story or outlandish idea for the announcements, and he simply replies, “Sure, we could do that!”
Ondash has been in charge of the school’s morning announcements for 10 years. “I have been running the announcements for 10 years so far, and it has changed and become more video based than journalistic.” Before Ondash took over, the announcements were aired live and were run by the English department. “The Video Production Club did them, and they were more of a broadcast journalism thing.” Today’s announcements are pre-recorded, and there is quite a bit of preparation, editing and post-production involved in making them look how they do when they’re displayed for the whole school. Ondash’s tech genius has made the announcements not only better quality, but more creative and more modern. The anchors and crew are given lots of freedom to do what they please and make it their own. Without seeing behind the scenes of the announcements, it’s hard to understand how much work goes into them. Ondash has been only supportive and full of guidance since the new groups have started this year’s announcements. “The great thing about doing the morning announcements is that it’s a club, so it follows no curriculum. It gives us a great chance to be creative and experimental with them.”
The arts are fascinating to just about everyone, especially computer arts, a new and developing field. Ondash said there are many ways to deep-dive into the computer arts, and the demand is rising. “A great place to start is right here at the high school. Hudson offers a great selection of programs and classes in this field, certainly more than when I was in high school. Classes like graphics, video production, photography and more are great places to start, each with teachers who are more than willing to teach you about the art.” Mr. Ondash has had several students inspired by his classes go on to pursue graphic arts for their careers, and he will have many more for the future. He has been a great teacher and mentor for students at Hudson and we are lucky to have him.
