I have two words for you, Fort Bragg: As one of the 6,983 souls who inhabit the city limits of this town that practically dangles off the left edge of the continent…I’m proud! I think Fort Bragg has always had this kind of down-market reputation, but that hasn’t caused it to stall or develop an inferiority complex. Nope, Fort Bragg keeps on putting one foot in front of the other and moving along in its iconoclastic, down-to-earth, no-baloney way. Things are happening here. Just look at all the murals! The groovy restaurants, food trucks, and three—count ’em—three breweries. Look at all the art galleries. Look at the poetry community reciting away. Look at the volunteers in all the nonprofits looking out for each other. Look at the bulletin boards layered with announcements of music and fun stuff to do. Fort Bragg is cool. I’m going to leave off here and let my kid, Alicia Borcich Abuliak take over my column because this is the thing I am most exceedingly proud of at the moment. You will be proud, too.
In February of last semester, on top of five other classes, I took on the Sophomore English Honors Class at Fort Bragg High School because their teacher had a family emergency. The class and I didn’t have long together, but it was one of the most exceptional groups of students I have ever taught. We did a semester of engaging activities and we read amazing texts. I learned from them, and they learned from me. Along the way, with only a two-and-a-half-week timeline, we created some podcasts to enter in the NPR Student Podcast Challenge.
I run an inquiry-driven classroom, so each unit is driven by an essential question and the students’ own questions form a big part of our learning experiences. I am always stretching to find ways to connect what we are doing in class to the greater world, and the NPR Student Podcast Challenge offered a chance for students to lead with their passions, connect to the greater community, and ask important questions. We didn’t have much time to do the Challenge, but we went full force ahead anyway! Although I had never taught podcasting before, I love podcasts—and stories—so we did it! For inspiration, we spent one class on yoga mats listening to my best friend from high school tell the story called “Held Hostage” about her dad’s kidnapping in Colombia on the radio show, This American Life, along with several other examples of podcasts from past winners. The students brainstormed their topics based on idea prompts from the NPR website:
- Tell us a story about your school or community: about something that happened there—recently or in the past—that you want your audience to know about.
- What is a moment in history that all students should learn about?
- Show us both sides of a debate about an issue that’s important to you.
- What do you want to change about the world? What’s a big change that you want to make in the future?
- Explain something that kids understand, and grownups don’t.
Overall, the students were not very familiar with podcasts, but as we worked on huge pieces of paper posted around the room to define our driving questions, and commented on one another’s ideas, things started to take shape. Without any equipment other than our cell phone recorders, passion, and school-supplied Chromebooks, the entire class recorded and edited five- to eight-minute-long podcasts for this national competition. There was no budget to pay for the sound mixer app we used, so I subscribed to a thirty-day free trial, then canceled it when we were finished. Lots of kids stayed up late working feverishly on their projects against my ultra-tight deadline. I wanted to enter all of them.
Here were the poster-sized questions we worked on:
- What is my story’s driving question? What is the story not about?
- How will I ensure my story is fair to the people and ideas it represents?
- How will I engage my audience—and hold them?
- What are my dream ingredients?
- What will the audience remember when it’s over?
Throughout the mini unit we experimented with recording sounds, interview techniques, and music making. The contest requires that all the music must be original, nothing prerecorded, so students were recording themselves on their instruments, and clipping ambient sounds around the school to make accompanying background and music on their own.
Finally, at 11:59 on the deadline night, I entered all twenty-two students in the NPR Student Podcast Challenge! We did some peer feedback the next day, and listened to a handful of their pieces in class as we sat on the floor taking notes and giving shout outs to the students who had produced something that sounded like THE REAL THING!
Last Monday, NPR released the names of the number one winner and the rest of the winners, who are all called “Honorable Mentions.” I forgot to check. Out of forty-five states, including big cities like LA and New York, even fancy prep schools, and nearly two thousand entries, I knew our chances of winning any sort of accolades were slim. After an open house at Mendo High (where my son attends), the radio teacher asked me if I had checked the winners. I told him I hadn’t and asked if he had. At ten p.m. that night I got a text, “YO! YOU GOT TWO HONORABLE MENTIONS!” He was wrong: we had THREE honorable mentions! In the top thirty-six high school entries in the country, three of our twenty-two students’ names and podcasts were linked on the NPR website!
I was buzzing all night! What? MY GOODNESS! The students had made something great, and it was being recognized on the national stage. We were all shocked! One student said, “Imagine if I hadn’t done this from eight p.m. to three a.m.!”
This was an amazing and validating experience. We might live in Fort Bragg, far from almost everything, but we are thinking hard, feeling strongly, and making art. Our voices matter, too!
Julian Logan wrote a podcast called “The Greatest Instrument in the World.” (No spoilers on what that is—check it out on NPR honorable mentions!)
Rinah Garza-Hillman was selected for her story, “An Impactful Creation,” about her dad’s ultra-marathon running race on the Mendocino coast that has become a source of community building and inspiration for many.
And Emily Berna wrote a show called “Anxiety for Good,” about how anxiety might help us. My aunt called the other night and said she was taking notes while listening to Emily’s show.
This is what real world relevance looks like. We are in an age where global connections are available at the touch of a button, and our thoughts can spread quickly throughout the world!
I love teaching at Fort Bragg High and have a lot of fun projects in store this season, so look for us again soon, in the New York Times (hundred-word memoir project); creating local poetry readings open to the public; or simply reading in the grass.
