BE1: Student voices, Student words

In the Burlington Experience (BE) class, like the Burlington City & Lake Semester program, we are interested in creating opportunities for young people to find their voice and contribute to community dialogue. In this spirit, we embarked on a final project in the BE class in which students worked in two groups to create original podcasts.

The Register, BHS’ student newspaper, decided to write a story about the project. Please read BHS senior Ayden Flanigan’s excellent article “Burlington Experience Students Have Their Voices Heard in New Podcasts” which describes the podcast project, how much students learned from the process, the fun they had with their interviews, and the struggles that they endured along the way.

Here’s where you can listen to BE students’ completed podcasts:

The Burlington Experience [ONLINE HERE] – which compares the experiences of high school students in five different cities named Burlington around the country.
Big John podcast [ONLINE HERE] – which digs into the mixed legacy of ‘Big John’ van Hazinga, the owner of Burlington’s “Ridin’ High” skate shop.

Here are a few of our own photographs of the process of making the podcasts:

*Diwas leading his podcast group before more interviews. He wrote, “At the beginning, we were all confused but as we worked and reflected we slowly came together as a group.”*

*Seth and Dahlia recording intros and outros*.

Cora and Anna B reviewing audio of interviews from other towns named Burlington. Anna wrote, “I liked working with my group to discover what life is like for high schoolers around the country.” Cora’s assessment: “I learned so much and stepped out of my comfort zone.”

*Elizabeth interviewing students from Burlington, Washington.*

*Ayden Flanigan of the BHS Register interviewing BE students.*

*Charlie McConnell, BHS Register photographer, capturing the “Big John” podcast group working on their script.*

*Rich Price answering questions from BE students about the podcast process.*

*Final celebration of a great semester!*

We’d like to offer our gratitude to Ayden for his article and Charlie for the photos.

We’d also like to thank the following people for their help with this podcast project and the whole, just-in-time Burlington Experience class:

Thanks to Rich Price, Clint Bierman and Jessica Ticktin for offering students advice and feedback on their podcasts. (We highly recommend you check out Rich and Clint’s podcast “The Age Old Question” and listen to Jessica’s contributions on VPR here, including a story she produced about BCL – “City & Lake Semester Integrates Learning With Community for Burlington Students”.)

Thanks also to our Burlington School District and Burlington High School administrators for supporting this work.

Thank you to Shelburne Farms for allowing Courtney Mulcahy to join our teaching team this winter.

Finally, a shout out to the BE students and their families for joining us during these challenging times – and allowing us to continue the Burlington City & Lake mission of empowering students and engaging them in our city.

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