Local journalism students explore podcasts

D. Asmi– Mustangs Ahead

(LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL) - Students in Lakewood Ranch High School (LRHS) journalism 1 classes are creating their own podcasts.

The project includes interviewing other students and/or staff at LRHS. Students must record and edit their podcasts using audio software.

Students were able to choose their topic and who they wanted to work with.

“I asked questions that gave me something that Mustangs could use to get a vision of different schedule types and how it could benefit them” junior Grace Sorenson said.

She did her podcast on whether students find it more beneficial to have a block schedule or the traditional schedule we have every day.

She asked questions such as “Do you think the block schedule would be more beneficial here at LRHS, or do you think the 7 period-system is better?” When a respondent would answer, she would ask them to explain why they feel that way.

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“It was beneficial to me because I got to explore different mediums of journalism and found a way that I was comfortable with and I got to express myself properly,” she said.

Junior Thomas Zimmerman, asked questions about what high school students do in the gym.

He asked questions such as “What is your motivation for going to the gym?” and “What was the main reason you started going to the gym

He also asked them what goals they had in the future with it as well.

This project is mandatory for all Journalism 1 students.

Journalism teacher Thomas Honsa said the project gives students hands-on experience with modern journalism.

“Podcasts are a popular and important part of the modern journalism landscape,” he said. “Our school’s journalism program wants to keep all our students as current as we can. All our news school goes online and we have a regularly scheduled bi-weekly school podcast.”

Honsa gave students advice on how they should do develop their podcast projects. He offered pointers such as letting their interview subjects know the topic they’ll be talking about in advance and developing a list of questions for them.

He also told them to double check the volume and make sure there were no odd, distracting background sounds before they recorded.