TOWAMENCIN – Working as a North Penn School District bus washer in 1986, Mr. Bob Gillmer never imagined he would come back seven years later to work in the district, especially as the communications coordinator.

Gillmer was not expecting to work in the media field at all when he started school at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Entering college as a music major, he became interested in audio engineering, so he joined the radio station. It wasn’t until someone asked for his help in the school’s television studio that Gillmer considered a career in media.

“I joined the radio station, and then magically one day early in the fall of my freshman year, someone said ‘Hey we need help in the TV studio. Can you help?’ I jumped [to the TV studio] and kind of didn’t look back at that point. It was a magical place that I jumped into because I found my thing.”

From that point on, Gillmer was no longer a musician, for he effectively transitioned into the media world.

Not long after, Gillmer found himself back in the North Penn School District applying for a newly created position, Coordinator of Communications Media, that would create North Penn Television (NPTV) based out of the high school. Gillmer was fascinated by the idea of creating a news station, but he was hesitant about working with students.

“I had no interest in actual education or teaching. When North Penn opened up the position to create North Penn Television, I was interested in creating a television station…of which I knew my workers would be students,” explained Gillmer. Even with his doubts, Gillmer still interviewed and earned the new position.

Gillmer became more comfortable in a school setting when NPTV began running stories on happenings within classrooms. He “had no idea what it took to be an educator or what an educator did”, but once Gillmer saw first-hand what happened every single day in the classroom, it transformed him into the educator he is today.

While Gillmer did take some time away from North Penn in the late ’90s when he moved to Atlanta to work for CNN, it has been within the NPSD that Gillmer has really carved out an impactful career. Over the years, Gillmer has realized that media should have a prominent place within the school system because of its importance to members of the surrounding communities.

“I think it’s important to share what’s happening in our school system every day. It affects a large majority of our community. It’s important for all of us to know what’s happening on a daily basis,” Gillmer said “You can critique education and what’s wrong with the world. That’s easy to do from 1,000 feet, but when we’re able to get into the classroom and tell the stories and show what students are doing, those types of stories really help inform our community, and even our teachers and students.”

As Gillmer adapted as an educator, he witnessed the growth and expansion of NPTV itself. He’s seen NPTV switch over from channel 16 to 28/29, support its own website, and create an image on social media.

“[NPTV] is everywhere,” Gillmer stated. “There was a time when we were doing the station where the program schedule was very important for people to see our content, [but now] I believe that many people now see our content via our Facebook page or Twitter feed or our YouTube channel.”

Despite NPTV adjusting to the ever-changing media world, there’s one important aspect that Gillmer said has never changed: the students’ drive. Year after year, Gillmer has seen motivated groups of students come together to work hard, write news stories, and successfully produce NPTV.

Because Gillmer knew the students’ capability of success, he held them to high standards, “We are not just a high school television station. We are a television station that covers high school. I have expectations for our crew to act and work like professionals.”

These standards do in fact create a stressful environment, but Gillmer described it as more of a fun stressful. There are always a lot of various projects to be done, and everyone always has something to finish, but that’s what makes it all so exciting.

“Every single day is unique. There are multiple levels of what I’m working with on any given day. Frankly, that’s why I like working here as opposed to a news station where my job might be just to direct. Here, it is far beyond all that. It’s teaching, it’s directing, it’s shooting, it’s editing, it’s writing, it’s coming up with ideas for events. It’s anything on any given day, and that’s what makes this job a lot of fun.”