Assignment/Activity Title — Student Podcast

Year — 2020-2021

Portfolio Competency — Social Awareness

Skill(s) — Writing, Media, Group Dynamics

During the second semester, we spent around a month in journalism completing a podcast project for submission
to NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge. Our objective was to create a podcast between three and eight minutes addressing a
topic of interest. I worked alongside Samantha Jaffe and Eliana Finberg to create a podcast about youth activism, entitled
“Generation Change.” My group went through scripting, interviewing, and recording phases during the production of our
podcast.
Creating a podcast about advocacy allowed me to gain a better understanding of how young people can be
engaged global citizens. The first step of our project was conducting student and teacher interviews to gain both a youth
perspective as well as an educator’s perspective on the ways in which youth can effectively contribute to change. We
asked interviewees to share their thoughts about four main topics: the reason behind the rise in youth involvement, what
makes Generation Z different from its predecessors, the most effective ways for youth to participate in activism, and the
ways education can be reformed to make advocacy opportunities more accessible. By talking to our peers, we gained a
better understanding of our generation’s social and political culture. We discussed Gen Z’s unique access to social media
platforms as a way of raising awareness on important issues and the factors that drive our generation to engage in
advocacy. I also interviewed Mr. Rahman Culver, the diversity and inclusion instructional coordinator at Blair. As a
teacher, he provided us with insight on the ways in which education can be reformed to promote youth advocacy and open
up opportunities for all young people. After conducting our interviews, we moved onto the writing stage. We crafted a
“script” with narration and soundbites from our interviews. This step required group dynamics skills as we worked
together to establish the structure of our podcast and divided the work so that we were spending our time most effectively.
At the end of production, I gained the valuable experience of working with a team on a long-term media project. Creating
the podcast taught me so much about the importance and impact of youth advocacy as well as strategies and tools that my
peers and I can use to become involved in our communities. I will use the knowledge I have gained throughout this project
to become more politically active, contribute to social justice efforts, and encourage others to do the same.
The insight I gained from this project has changed my perspective on youth advocacy in several ways.
Interviewing my peers allowed me to learn more about the different methods of becoming politically active and socially
aware. The young people we interviewed are participants in climate change clubs, political advocacy initiatives,
internships with politicians, and many more projects. Learning about others’ involvement opened my eyes to the variety
and prevalence of opportunities in our communities. Our interviewees also provided us with what motivates each of them
to be changemakers. Their reasons for being involved included having a voice at the table, being able to set the agenda for
policymaking and action, and fighting for equality across the nation. Hearing their motivations was inspiring to me and
my partners. I hope that we can spread this motivation and raise awareness for political and social advocacy through our
podcast.

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Student Signature (Print here: Sophia Stein ) Date: 6-13-21

Sarah Forman
Teacher Signature Date: 6-14-21