Now Streaming Worldwide: 8th Grade Podcast Explores Immigration Stories
8th graders in History Department Chair Daniel Kearney’s American Studies class have launched a podcast to celebrate and share our community members’ stories of immigrating to the United States with listeners worldwide. The podcast stemmed from a unit in which students studied immigration, with a goal of empowering them to demonstrate their learning in a creative, student-centered way. After conducting practice interviews with teachers about their immigration stories and working out the technological logistics, students then put the call out to family and friends. The response has been amazing, with enough interviews to create 37 episodes on subjects ranging from great-grandparents moving to the United States after surviving the Nazi regime in Germany to a parent’s move to the US from Mexico to advance a music production career to relocating to America as a child following Japan’s Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Jagcast is a hit with audiences and podcast producers alike. James Jadon says, "I really liked researching, learning about my family's history, and going deeper. I also really enjoyed the editing." Neema Hamilton loved learning about the podcast platform: "Doing the podcast project was really fun. I was always adding more to the script, figuring out a way to make it better by adding music, sound effects or more enthusiasm in my voice."
Jagcast is a permanent addition to the Middle School curriculum and is available on podcasting platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music.
Pictured: Jagcast logo, designed by Gardy Ewen; Felix Daly interviewing Viggo Magunna
New Roads School is a college preparatory K-12 private independent school in Santa Monica, CA, serving over 514 elementary school, middle school and high school children from the greater Los Angeles area. New Roads School provides an inspired educational program from which an authentically diverse student population, mirroring the rich diversity of Los Angeles, develops a personal dedication to learning, a respect for independent thinking, and an expanding curiosity about the world and its people.
NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS New Roads School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.