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In November of 2001, at GHS, in Mr. Gouker's 4th Mod class, there were many artistic talented people in his class.
One day, a group of guys were watching a clip of Beverly Hillbillies on the computer. They wanted to parody
the ending of the hand waving and have this parody to be a closure for an upcoming premier of Go-Flex. At the end of the real
clip, the shows production team called "Filmways Presentations" was shown. In that second, an idea was pitched. The five
guys, Ben Corbran, Ryan Conklin, Adam Ritter, Chad Heidel, and Ben Sipkoff, became the birth of a legend. They called themselves
"Filmways Productions" and the first production team at GHS was invented. The next day, they realized they couldn't use something
that already is, and they needed to come up with something original. Ideas were pitched, but no definate resolution was reached.
The class did have a class motto, since it was such a great class. "We raise the bar, one notch at a time." Light bulbs went
on in everyones heads. But the deliberation continued.
In early November, Ryan Conklin and Ben Corbran finished a production entitled "Ryan Conklin's Chat Corner"
with hopes of its debut on an upcoming show. Corbran would refer to it as topnotch material, but still, no one put two and
two together. The day after Thanksgiving, Sipkoff, Conklin, Corbran, Heidel, Ritter, and Tony James, filmed something that
changed the face of Go-Flex. They filmed a movie about four hunters being hunted by a turkey. Soon, this was edited and quickly,
other productions were finished by the 4th period class, and a show was on the brink, and still no production team name. Again,
Corbran would utter the words topnotch, and soon, someone pitched the phrase "Topnotch Productions" and no one disagreed,
and the birth of the greatest team, assembled under a name now.
The TopNotch Productions roster for the 2001-2002 year consisted of the guys in the 4th period class. Ben Corbran,
Ryan Conklin, Ben Sipkoff, Chad Heidel, Adam Ritter, Dave Miller, Garrett Greenlee, and Tony James. Together through the year,
the team produced such great hits such as "Ryan Conklin's Chat Corner", "The Turkey Video", "Just Because
I'm Asian Slideshow", "Junior Interviews", "Cows on Christmas","Interviews with Kat &
Heidi", "Teletubbie's Intermission", "Love's Awkward Moments", "Smile Slideshow", and "Ryan
Conklin's Chat Corner 2" and many great Go-Flex and Morning Announcement shows.
Tragedy soon struck TopNotch Productions' hearts during their reign on top of the world. The change of the semester took
severe damage on the bond of the guys. The team was somewhat prepared at first, having products in line for an episode to
show even though they didn't have the class anymore. The show aired, again with the dynamic duo of Conklin and Ritter as the
hosts of the show. Little did anyone in TopNotch know that would be their last show. The show went off with great success
as usuall. The next task at hand was to make productions without having the class. This would be a mission impossible by the
budding heroes.
TopNotch was handed their direct hit on the extinction of the legend of the first production team ever. Corbran, one
of the founding members, quit TopNotch Productions. Things were looking grim. Soon, in June of 2002, Tony James, another founder
of the group, graduated from high school. This thrusted the remaining members to collect themselves and brace themselves for
the on coming year.
The start of the 2002-2003 school year began. Mr. Gouker was then again equipped with a star studded 4th Mod class. Consisting
of two TopNotch members, Ritter and Miller. The class also contains two shining stars from last years successful "Orange
Drink" segment from Craig Witushinsky and Peter Sorensen of Pokie Productions. Conklin was struggeling to drop his photo
class to get into that 4th period. Through several deliberated hours, he was accepted into the class, and TopNotch began its
return to graceland. Sipkoff and Heidel were stuck with the unfortunate test of not having the class this semester, but they
have it next semester. Again, a true test to TopNotch's existence. Conklin and Ritter soon searched in their 4th mod class
for talent to fill the gaps of missing and graduate members spots. The first recruit to fill a position was Derrick Steinour.
He fit the mold fine. Next, Miller found a partner, Ben Thompson. The two all star orange drinking kids, Witashinsky and Sorensen,
were soon accepted by TopNotch and now were accredited for the revival of TopNotch Productions. The year was looking
up. The boys were ready to raise the bar, another notch.
The first official production of the year by TopNotch was a public service announcement about littering. This brought
back the reunion of Ritter and Conklin as a duo.
The productions of the crew were quickly poring in, and the assembly of a show was in sight. In late November, almost
near the one year anniversary of the filming of the "Turkey Video" which lauched their career, TopNotch aired their
first Go-Flex show of the year. They brought down the house by airing the first FULL length feature film "A Small Town
Horror". More productions began pouring in, left and right, to the point where they start showing some on Morning Announcements,
and again, they live to their motto of "We top ourselves. One notch at a time."
The roster of the 2002-2003 year started off with Ryan A. Conklin, Adam Ritter, Dave Miller, Chad Heidel, Ben Sipkoff,
Peter Sorensen, Craig Witishinsky, Ben Thompson, and Derrick Steinour. Mid cycle they recruited two other members to join
the ranks of TopNotch. This came at the pivotal turning point for TopNotch for they were about to embark of the greatest craze
in GHS history. "Gettysburg Idol" proved to be the most successful productions ever! It topped the high point for
the entire school year also. This production set DOZENS of records that will prolly never be reached again. The two members
that finished out the year were Megan Shaffer and J.C. Lewis. The team finished the year out litterally to the last minute
with a BANG, a school assembly, never before attempted. At the end of the 2003 year, most of the members graduated and ended
the high notch of the group. The remaining members did return the following year with some new material and sequel to last
year's success "Gettysburg Idol 2" but the last surviving members of TopNotch have graduated now, thus ending the
greatest saga of GHS history.
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