Artist of the Week: Will Boller

Warwick Valley High School senior Will Boller has spent much of high school behind a camera, turning a longtime interest in video production into both a creative outlet and a sizable online audience.

As a longtime YouTube viewer, Will now edits content for some of the gaming creators he’s watched growing up. He also manages his own YouTube channel with more than 150,000 subscribers.

“I mean, every single little kid wanted to do YouTube,” Will said with a laugh. “I feel like a lot of kids think that. But I guess I did accomplish younger me’s dream of doing big YouTube stuff.”

Will isn’t just making an impact online; he’s also one of the most dedicated members of Warwick Valley’s Video Production program. While he credits much of his journey to the people who supported him along the way, especially video production teacher Daniel Cecconie, it was Will’s mom who first encouraged him to get involved with the video production program as a freshman.

Today, Will is president of the school’s Remote Operations club and a core member of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Video Production program.

“I probably wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t tell me to join something,” Will said with a laugh. “It was either this or sports.”

Over the years, Will has accumulated more than 330 production hours through the program, helping film concerts, sporting events, plays, graduations, and other school functions. Along the way, he has worked in nearly every role imaginable, including camera operation, audio, and directing. As a director, Will helps coordinate live productions in real time, communicating with camera operators and production staff while keeping events running smoothly behind the scenes.

“You’re the one that everything goes through,” Will explained. “You’re telling the cameras what to get and telling the person switching the cameras which shots to use.”

The leadership role has also helped him grow outside of the technical side of production.

“I feel like I’m probably a more sociable person with new people because of it,” he said. “And being president of remote operations, I’ve learned to be more of a leader.”

Will takes particular pride in the time and dedication he’s poured into the program over the past four years. This school year alone, he said he has only missed one production despite balancing freelance editing work, school responsibilities, and his own creative projects.

“I enjoy doing it, so there’s no reason for me not to continue,” Will said. “It’s probably the thing that I’ve had the most fun with in high school.”

His commitment has helped him reach several personal milestones along the way. In addition to recording the highest number of production hours in the program, Will surpassed his initial goal of 100,000 YouTube subscribers this year, earning the platform’s Silver Creator Award while also running his own video editing agency. Through his freelance editing work, Will estimates he has helped creators generate tens of millions of views.

“I’ve probably gotten like 90 million views for people at this point,” he estimated.

Even with that success, Will said some of his proudest work has come through school competitions and collaborative productions at Warwick Valley. Last month, he and his partner, Lia Salmon, earned a silver medal at the SkillsUSA state competition for a 60-second video focused on phone addiction. The pair had just a few hours to complete the project. Read about this year’s SkillsUSA success here.

“I thought it came out really good for the time constraint we had,” Will said.

The year prior, Will made it to SkillsUSA Nationals in Atlanta, finishing in second place with partner Clyde Demke, and was awarded silver medals in front of a crowd of over 18,000 people. Read about last year’s SkillsUSA success here.

After graduation, Will plans to attend St. John's University to study television and film. Although he is still exploring exactly where he wants to take his career, editing remains a major interest. Looking back, Will said one of the biggest lessons he has learned is the value of consistency and improvement over perfection.

“For everything that you do, you want it to be like one or two percent better,” Will said. “You improve every single time.”