Written by webmaster Marc
It’s been almost three years since I started working on the Berea Academy website. In that time a lot has changed in the world around us, and even more has changed for our community, school, and family. Nothing is more indicative of this change than when my daughter was asking me to get my homework done and write a promised blog post about what I do here. She’s grown, Berea has grown, and our community of parents, students, and dedicated staff are all so much more than what we ever envisioned.
When I took over from the Webly site and moved to WordPress, I assumed it would eventually enable other people to do the content management and leave me to the technical stuff. I’m amazed at how it has actually worked out just like that. We’ve got students writing blog posts and running social media accounts. We’ve got teachers writing their own bios and course descriptions. We’ve got family and friends creating course listings and maintaining the lending library.
So my tasks here are really quite simple, if technical in nature. I keep the domain registration and DNS setup so that when you type bereaacdemystl.org into your browser (or click that handy link) the computer knows where that site is hosted. I manage the web hosting at BlueHost to keep the content (images and articles) available, keep the WordPress software (and dozens of plug-ins) current, and manage the database that catalogs it all. This means that I regularly do updates of the software, nightly backups, and tuning of images so it serves it up as fast as possible. To keep it all fast, I manage the content-delivery-network CDN using CloudFlare‘s generous free service.
When we first transitioned, I searched through all kinds of WordPress themes to find one that suited our style and then customized it to suit our colors and iconography. Then we embarked on finding images that would dress it all up, mostly from Unsplash‘s free public domain collection. These days, other people are contributing images that I have to optimize for speed (and remove personal information from).
The site’s calendar is driven by a google calendar that others manage, as are the complete course catalog and various forms and policies, all I have to do is embed them into the site as need using some really nice WordPress plug-ins.
Besides the website, I also occasionally fix printers or purchase/evaluate/setup hardware for Berea, which is always fun.
In truth, my work is mostly about keeping things going, tweaking the performance, changing the oil, etc. Just the other day I was asked what I should be paid for a particular bit of computer maintenance. I answered the way I always do (and how I truly feel). I have been gifted with a particular set of skills, I’ve nurtured and grown them SO I can use them to help other people. I don’t want to be paid for this, it’s my calling and I’m grateful to be able to use this ability to help.
I hope in the coming years to keep the website fresh, the technology working, and the clocks all wound. Thanks for letting me.