Norah Weiner (L) and Erika Young (R), the grand-prize winners in grades 5-8 of NPR’s Trainee Podcast Difficulty, at Presidio Intermediate School in San Francisco.
Talia Herman for NPR.
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Talia Herman for NPR.
Norah Weiner (L) and Erika Young (R), the grand-prize winners in grades 5-8 of NPR’s Trainee Podcast Difficulty, at Presidio Intermediate School in San Francisco.
Talia Herman for NPR.
School shootings, social networks, charm requirements and fast-changing style patterns– state that 5 times quickly.
Teenage years has actually constantly been difficult, however the velocity of modern-day forces makes it more demanding than ever. In the words of 2 San Francisco buddies– the intermediate school winners of this year’s NPR Trainee Podcast Difficulty— welcome to Intermediate School Now
In a class at Presidio Intermediate school, not far from the Golden Gate Bridge, 13-year-olds Erika Young and Norah Weiner took a seat to inform us about their podcast. It is among 2 Grand Reward winners picked by our judges from more than 3,300 submissions from 48 states, in addition to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
The 2 good friends simply completed the seventh grade, however have not been separated yet– they have actually seen each other every day given that school blurted. Norah appears to our interview using boots that she obtained from Erika for the unique celebration. Their giddy laughter fills the empty school, their energy sustained by the understanding that, in simply a couple of days, they’re off to summer season camp together.
While our high school winner this year took on a huge regional newspaper article, with reporting from trainees and teachers, Erika and Norah handled a more universal experience– the ups and downs of being a middle-schooler today.
” Weapon violence, social networks and psychological health are actually forming intermediate school,” Erika states in their podcast.
They stroll listeners through their everyday lives– whatever from school lockdowns to TikTok dances in the restroom– and how life in intermediate school today is various from when their English instructor, Jenny Chio, was a trainee.
” I went through it, and you people are going through it,” states Chio (noticable CHEW), comparing her youth with the experience these days’s trainees. “I believe it’s the exact same quantity of pressure, however simply magnified.”
Something our judges liked about this podcast is the method the trainees wove in nationwide patterns with what’s occurring in their own school and neighborhood. They interviewed their schoolmates and instructors about heavy subjects that are, sadly, likewise a part of their every day lives.
Like lockdown drills.
A grim truth for intermediate school trainees and instructors
Norah Weiner.
Talia Herman for NPR.
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Talia Herman for NPR.
Erika and Norah state they have actually had actually lockdown drills given that early primary school, however just recently, their intermediate school had one that wasn’t simply a drill– triggered by an unidentified occasion close by. Although everybody was great, the experience still made the women believe in a different way about their relationship to school shootings.
” I can guarantee you that every kid in our 6th- through eighth-grade school has actually pictured who they ‘d remain in a shooting,” Norah states in the podcast. “Would they run? Would they conceal?”
In interviews, their schoolmates share what they believe they ‘d carry out in a school shooting: “I would run house and call the authorities”; “Discover someplace to conceal and after that simply remain there”; “I ‘d attempt to text my moms and dads and inform them, if anything bad occurred, I like them.”
Erika Young.
Talia Herman for NPR.
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Talia Herman for NPR.
Erika Young
Talia Herman for NPR.
Chio, on the other hand, can’t keep in mind ever having an active shooter drill when she remained in middle or high school. The only emergency situation drills at that time focused on natural catastrophes: earthquakes or cyclones. However she’s all too knowledgeable about lockdowns nowadays.
The trainee reporters asked her to reveal them the emergency situation package in her class, which to name a few products, has one unexpected active ingredient: feline litter. Chio states that if a lockdown lasted for numerous hours, she might utilize it, in addition to other toiletries, to develop a do it yourself restroom.
TikTok as middle-school trend-setter
Thankfully, there is more to intermediate school than lockdowns. One force that controls both their virtual and in-person world? TikTok.
” Nowadays, when strolling to school, you’ll see women actually surrounding the structure who are dancing,” Norah states in the podcast. “The dances look type of odd since they have actually most likely originated from TikTok.”
Erika includes, “You can’t hear the music. Therefore you simply see kids, like, moving their arms over their heads and like simply dancing around. They appear like jellyfish, and it’s truly amusing.”
Winners of NPR’s Trainee Podcast Difficulty, Norah Weiner and Erika Young, with their instructor Jenny Chio, at Presidio Intermediate School in San Francisco.
Talia Herman for NPR.
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Talia Herman for NPR.
Winners of NPR’s Trainee Podcast Difficulty, Norah Weiner and Erika Young, with their instructor Jenny Chio, at Presidio Intermediate School in San Francisco.
Talia Herman for NPR.
However TikTok’s impact exceeds their viral dances. “Patterns like saggy trousers, crop bodice tops, drape bangs, ripped denims are all initiated from this app,” Erika states in their podcast.
These quickly moving, and significant patterns are an inescapable part of the intermediate school experience, particularly given that the go back to the class after the pandemic.
” I have actually been to various states, and individuals there dress precisely the like they do here, kids my age and it’s truly odd,” Erika states. “Due to the fact that I believed various locations had various things that were popular.”
Chio keeps in mind well that sensation of attempting to stay up to date with the most recent patterns, and stopping working. She and her trainees bonded over that losing fight to be “cool” in intermediate school.
” It resembles I’m going to be uncool no matter what,” Norah chuckles, “so perhaps I ought to simply stick to what I’m doing today.”
However fortunately, the good friends have each other to make it through. And what they are doing today, making a podcast and enhancing their schoolmates’ voices, is still quite cool.
To listen to Erika and Norah’s podcast, click here
Visual style and advancement by: LA Johnson
Audio story produced by: Janet Woojeong Lee & & Lauren Migaki
Audio and digital story modified by: Steve Drummond