This Spring Semester Latinitas launched a new media program, a virtual Podcast Workshop, in partnership with the University of Houston Downtown and in collaboration with Latinitas’ very own podcast, Conversando! Throughout four sessions, high school aged students learned how to create their own podcast by coming up with a concept and using different resources to edit and upload onto streaming platforms like Spotify. The entire thing was run by Latinitas Digital Content Coordinator Frankie Alaniz and the University of Houston Downtown’s very own Dr. Anthony Ramirez, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies.
One of the workshop participants, 17-year-old Aolani Garza, decided to go the conversational route with her podcast titled Pop Talk! Pop Talk was born out of her own interests, as Garza wanted a space where she and her friends could, “talk about pop culture and social media trends”. Her first episode “Slime Renaissance: How This Fun Craze Is Making A Comeback” takes us through a conversation between her and her friends as they dissect the slime craze of the mid-2010s, the nostalgia of it, and overall feelings. It’s a really silly episode that makes you feel like you’re one of the teens, and throughout it, she executes her concept and title perfectly.
Another participant, 15-year-old Maddi Martinez, is still posting episodes of her show Maddi’s K-pop World consistently. Similar to NPR-style pieces, in each episode Martinez chooses a different K-pop group or soloist to do a short deep dive on. She plays clips of the music and offers insight on how they came to be, mentioning silly stories or fun facts along the way. My personal favorite episode is the one she did on the K-pop group New Jeans, the transitional music really had me jammin’.
It’s so exciting seeing students go from having an interest, to actually being able to create a podcast. Both of these students had incredible ideas, and seeing them so well executed is nothing short of inspiring. Be on the lookout for the next Podcast Workshop, and go check out our student’s pods on Spotify!
