Up First from NPR - The Sunday Story: The kids have something to say

Episode Date: July 16, 2023

What can middle and high school students teach us? What do they care about? And how do they observe their communities and themselves? NPR's Student Podcast Challenge results are in. It's time to hear what the kids have to say.Today on The Sunday Story, Ayesha Rascoe sits down with producers Janet Woojeong Lee and Lauren Migaki, who run the contest, to discuss the 2023 edition. We hear from Dylan McDonald of Massachusetts who's in the midst of a gender transition and from Jiah Hwang on the heartbreaking moment that reinvigorated her relationship with her sister. Amelia Hankinson brings us an ode to growing taller, and undocumented students talk about the way they see their lives now. Visit our episode page for links to more podcasts featured in this episode.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We talk a lot about what's going on with young people these days, but kids rarely have a chance to step in front of the microphone themselves to tell their own stories in whatever way they want. What zombie scares you the most? How on earth could a hot dog qualify as a sandwich? I mean, look at the thing. I live on a farm, so those sounds are my background music. Every year, NPR's Education Desk gives kids the chance to be heard through the Student Podcast Challenge.

Middle schoolers and high schoolers from around the country take part, and their stories can teach us a lot about what it's like to be a kid today. I had a long journey that changed my life forever. It started when the Taliban came back to power in August 2021, and we had to leave our schools in the middle of the final exam. I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is The Sunday Story. Today, I'm joined by NPR's Janet Ujung Lee. She heads up the contest with help from producer Lauren McGaughy.

They comb through all the entries and are here to share the highlights. Welcome to you both. Hello. Hello, hello. Okay, well, you know, so Janet, start us off by telling us, what do these podcasts tell us about what's going on in the lives of young people? Well, Aisha, we got more than 3,300 podcasts this year and so many of them focusing on identity. The kids are figuring out who they are on mic, whether it's the struggles of being a student or an immigrant or little sister, talking about body image, gun violence.

And we heard from students from 48 states and Puerto Rico. Oh my gosh. So how do you sift through all of that? It feels like that'd be tough. So everyone on my team on the education desk, we had to listen to a couple hundred. I personally listened to more than like 880 of them. But when we were still deep in the judging process, there is one podcast that jumped out at me. And this one in particular stood out because it starts with a student describing my dad's favorite food. Sausage, spam, a packet of instant noodles, all cooked in a spicy broth topped with American cheese and chopped scallions. Pudae jjigae is a popular South Korean dish created in the 50s in the midst of the war. This is Grace Goh. She's a high school junior at Mercer Island High School in Seattle.

Sometimes students enter our contest because they have to make a podcast for class, but Grace really just made this for herself and you can really hear it. And she does a beautiful job of introducing herself with her favorite food, which then leads into conversations on bigger topics like body image and mental health. I'm home. No, I'm not hungry. Many of us who grew up in an immigrant household know that our parents especially value food. Food is their love language.

But paradoxically, another aspect of our culture contradicts this idea and prevents many Asian Americans from having a healthy relationship with food. Grace, I think you gained weight. Stop eating. Stop eating. You need to eat less. Eunhye, I think you're weight. Stop eating. Stop eating. You need to eat less. Eunhye, I think you're getting fat. Then finally, in November of 2021, I was diagnosed with an eating disorder. But that sounds really deep for a high schooler, right? Like this is, you know, these are some deep concepts between our relationships to food and the unhealthiness and all of that. That's

that's a lot. I know. And every time I listen to it, I'm like, could I even say something like that now about how I feel about my body? I'm like, probably not. Yeah. And probably not on mic. So as I'm listening to these entries, I especially this podcast from Grace shared with a couple of my friends saying, like, can you also imagine this doing this as a high schooler? And Grace touches on this sort of universal sentiment in her podcast. The same dish that initially provided me with comfort, then a lot of discomfort, is now a dish that I can enjoy. As I share my story, my hope is that more resources will be provided to my community and mental health will become less stigmatized

so that one day others who have experienced a similar journey to mine will be able to enjoy their discomfort and find comfort within. Every year we get a lot of podcasts like Grace's that touch on identity and mental health and when I say this we have range like one student interviewed their father, who was Mormon. There's an entry from Missouri that we found really powerful with multiple interviews with trans high schoolers. And to be clear, when we say podcasts on identity, we aren't just talking about these serious, heavier conversations on race, gender, or intergenerational trauma. There's really more than that.

Yes, there was a lot more than that. Right, because I understand, Lauren, that you have brought us a lighthearted podcast about identity. I think here's a little clip. I am the shortest person in my class this year. That means I always have to sit in the front row right under the teacher's nose. And I am always the last chosen for basketball. I definitely can't relate to this because I am the shortest person like everywhere I go. I know. I hear you, Aisha. Me too. So this is Amelia Hankinson and she just finished the fifth grade in Ohio.

She submitted the story about wishing to be taller after being cast as an elf in the school play. An elf? Oh, I wish I could just grow taller. Oh, that's so sweet. I know. I just fell in love with Amelia. I was always going to love this one as a short person, but I should also point out this is a fictional story, or if you will, a tall tale. Yeah, I like that. I see what you did. I see what you did. So Amelia's story takes a turn into some sort of magical realism when her next-door neighbor gives her some witchy things to do that will help her grow.

It includes eating raw garlic at midnight and doing a bunch of toe touches on the playground at recess. One, I really do believe I say to myself. One, I really do believe I say to myself. Two, I really do believe I say. I'm really feeling strange now. She's a great actress. She is incredible. I actually called her up and asked her if she'd done any acting, and she says that she was cast as a marshmallow in the school play once.

Although I should note, she's never been cast as the elf. I also spoke to her teacher never been cast as the elf. I also spoke to her teacher, Rodney West Estelle. He says that Amelia really is the smallest in her class, but that her story was actually the result of something called a story starter. And the prompt that she had was, imagine you're the shortest person in class. After that, Amelia let her imagination fill in the rest. I'm going to give you a little spoiler alert here. This is where the story takes us. I cannot believe my eyes. I grew bigger than my friends, and my shirt became a crop top,

and my pants became long shorts, and good thing I was wearing open-toed wedges because my toenails grew and my fingernails grew, and so did my hair. Then the school sent me home because all the kids were scared of me. So here's the thing I love the most when I talk to Amelia. She says that the key to her creative success was talking to other people. She said she talked to her friends, her mom, and her teacher for this story, and they all gave her different suggestions. I think the clothes suggestion was from her mom. And I think what I love about this is we think of school as this like really

academic place. We're learning math. We're learning, you know, multiplication tables. But this assignment is so important because there's this value in collaboration and in teamwork, in creativity and play. It's something that we grownups would do well to remember, I think. And then these sorts of writing exercises, it lets kids explore their own identity and also put themselves into the big or small shoes of others. I absolutely love that. And yeah, the big or small shoes. I caught that, too. The wedges.

We'll be back with more stories from the Student Podcast Challenge in a moment. Now Our Change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to Our Change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. We're back with the Sunday story.

We're talking about NPR's student podcast challenge with Janet Ujung Lee and producer Lauren McGotkey. So Janet, I understand one of your finalists did a podcast all about embarrassment. Yes, we receive a good amount of entries each year that are just silly, fun, that make us smile. And those are honestly some of our favorite entries. And one fifth grader from Chicago talks about an experience that's still so relatable to many of us. Why was I embarrassed? What made this so embarrassing? Why do I still think about this today? Do other people feel this way too?

I don't know exactly what is going on, but I have been there where you feel embarrassed and you're thinking about it long after it happened. So Janet, what is going on here? So it begins one day at Maisie Marshall's after school program. Maisie has a favorite stick. Yes, a stick. Its name is Flint. And as one does in middle school, her friend snatches Flint and smashes it in front of Maisie's eyes. Here's what happened next. I was stunned, shocked, flabbergasted. I screamed at my friend so loud that my counselor came into the room. He tried to calm me down and figure out what was going on. Instead of listening, I stormed into the room. He tried to calm me down and figure out what was going on.

Instead of listening, I stormed out the room as he was talking to me, only to find that my dad had witnessed the whole thing. Oh, no. See, when emotions are running high, and it's like if you had time to take a breath, you might have reacted differently, but in the moment, it's rough. I know. but in the moment it's rough i know and to make things worse the next day maisie's dad made her apologize to her counselor in front of everyone and this mixed bag of feelings embarrassment confusion frustration we've all been there but maisie doesn't stop here she goes on to interview other friends and her teacher about

their own embarrassing experiences to learn what she could have done differently in the situation. I talked to Ms. Garcia, a parent at our school, to hear her most embarrassing story too. My dad would hug me in front of my friends and bless me in front of my friends. And I was like, please stop. Please don't do this right now. Well, yeah, now looking back, that just meant that he loves me. He, you know, he was just blessing me and telling me have a great day. Wow. Ms. Garcia's story shows that with time and looking at a different perspective, you can learn how to move on from an embarrassing situation like that.

So they learn from this situation because that's the key. But everyone gets embarrassed. I think that helped me too as I got older. If you acknowledge the embarrassment, then it's better. As someone who was very socially awkward as a child, and it's still pretty socially awkward now. So we've heard students talking about their experiences as immigrants, grappling with body image, with embarrassment. Can you talk about some of the other experiences these middle school and high school students are dealing with? This next podcast is another one I've been looking forward to sharing with you. Hi, my name is Jia Huang and I am for people.

Jia is a student at the Stanford Online High School, and her podcast is all about her relationship with family, and specifically her older sister. As the youngest of my entire family, I am accumulation of the personalities and experiences of the people closest to me. But above all, I reflect my sister's hardships and learned from her perseverance. So tell me like what really stood out about this podcast in particular. What is Gia's story?

So Gia and her family moved from South Korea to the United States when Gia was still really little. And one person in her life that she really looked up to was her older sister. You know, family is a really personal topic. And when it comes to sibling relationships in an immigrant family, it's like your older siblings figuring out school, language differences, cultural differences, any new racial dynamics all before you do, right? And Gia's podcast focuses on one day and one experience that changes their relationship in a way that brings them closer together. We pick up the story after Gia's sister has what was supposed to be a big night, her first prom with her first boyfriend. And just a heads up for listeners, Gia's story deals with the aftermath of sexual assault. I heard her come home past midnight when my parents were sleeping. And when I went out to greet her, I was shocked to see her crying on the floor of her room.

I kept asking what was wrong to no response but sobbing. I sat down next to her and hugged her until she finally told me the earth-shattering news that he had sexually assaulted her. I have a hard time writing that word out and saying it out loud even now, so imagine the horror and anger I felt when that word was turned into reality for my own sister. All I could do was hold her hand in the rare moment of weakness and vulnerability she was showing me. And for the moment, I was proud to be the representative of her support system. As the night went on, she started to confide in me about how she had closeted herself away from me and our parents when we first moved because she had been ashamed of her lack of adapting to America. Prom night was the angriest and happiest

I'd ever been, both due to my sister. It's just like, and I'll just pop in here and just say, like, everyone that we played this podcast for ended up in tears at the end. It's so powerful. And not just because there's like a tragedy in it. It's so emotional. You know, sometimes we're all experiencing things that like we're hiding whole worlds from our family that other people don't know about. And I just, as a big sister, this hurt me. And like I just, my heart went out to both Gia and her sister. Yeah. And another small thing that I just love about our student podcast is that sometimes kids will tell you exactly what they're thinking and process things out loud on the mic. And this one really felt like we were invited to follow Gia's personal experience of sort of what she was reflecting on and learn from making this and in terms of her and her sister all of that you know just from what

you guys have played for me here there's such a a wide um range of emotions um from like the funny to the very serious uh to the heartwarming um you know the the past few things that we've been hearing have been like really strong personal narratives. But we also heard like that students explored the history and like current events in their own communities. Like, tell me about that. Yeah, yeah, we had a lot of student journalists take on some really big topics. The winner of our high school contest reported on how Jackson, Mississippi's water crisis affected students. Everything from like what lunch was being served that day to like the wait for the bathroom. In North Carolina, Leah Chowdhury also explored her own backyard in a different way. She explored a place that she lives just two blocks from, but didn't know anything

about. This is a story of Oberlin Village, the longest surviving and most intact Reconstruction era freedman's colony in North Carolina. This is a story about the rise of remarkable community of freed black people. It's about their fall because of annexation, gentrification, and racist state laws. And now, it's about the rise again. about a community that's rediscovered the old history, rejected it, and reaffirmed the rise of it again and again. So our host, Leah Chowdhury, then tells us this story and weaves in these interview clips from former and current residents of Oberlin Village. She talks to historians. It's fascinating. And the thing I really love in these sort of depressing times is that she ends the story on a hopeful note and focuses really on the story of the community's resilience.

And I mean, that's what we can can really use that right now. So a community and identity seem to be like the big topics this year. We got another entry from Chicago where students focused on immigration. Yeah, it's called Undocumented, and it's actually a series of podcasts. It's done by three middle schoolers from the south side of Chicago. Their names are Carlos Morales, Gabriel Mendez, and Anian Andrade. They're all from Mexican immigrant families, and they said they decided to interview students who are undocumented. So here's a clip from their podcast where they're talking to a high schooler named Edwin, and he's reflecting on his first impressions of Chicago. As soon as we

got in Chicago, we saw snow, and I've never seen snow in my life. When I first got here, I couldn't really go outside. My parents would just not let me. And over there in Mexico, we were outside all the time. That was my fun time. It was outside. So Edwin goes on to talk about the challenges of being undocumented as a student, how hard school was during the pandemic due to lack of resources and lack of financial aid for college and lack of financial and work opportunities. And the students really addressed this with a lot of empathy and they're really respectful of his story. And, you know, I guess the thing that I think about is we hear about these issues in the news a lot, but it really has a different meaning when we hear a student

talking to their peers about it and really putting a voice to, you know, folks who don't often get to be on the microphone. We've gone on this journey now, and I think we're, I'm going to ask you maybe as the DJs here, sort of, to just play us one more thing to just bring us on out of here. All right, Aisha. This last podcast is one of many we've gotten this year from trans youths. It's a topic that's been in the news a lot lately. And the stories vary, especially due to the different state laws restricting gender-affirming care where the students are coming from. I wanted to end with a podcast that's a great example of young people taking a stand for what they believe in, something we see repeatedly in this year's entries. Dylan McDonald is a student

at Marblehead High School in Massachusetts, a state that does provide resources for trans minors. He shares a personal story of a lengthy and at times tough journey that is transitioning. As someone who's gone through it himself, he says there are lots of misconceptions around the transition process for minors. Politicians and influencers paint a picture of Frankenstein-esque clinics for gender appropriate care. Free testosterone, walk-in breast augmentation, and estrogen for two-year-olds. Well, in reality, it's way more complicated and difficult than that. And like many other students through for our contest, Dylan interviewed his family, his mom, who he introduces as someone who was right by his side through this entire process. It's a really open and honest chat that covers every step of Dylan's experience with him and his mom reaching out to clinics, getting on the seven to eight month long wait list, all to get his first appointment.

And at the end of his podcast, Dylan shifts gears. He insists on action and protection for transgender youth. I live in one of the most progressive states for trans youth. And yet, even here, it's taken me a lot of time and effort to get to this point. Kids like me are why we need to fight these anti-trans bills. Nobody should be stripped of their health care and bodily autonomy. Well, thanks so much to the both of you for bringing us these beautiful stories and voices. Thank you. Thank you, Aisha. If you want to listen to the student podcast you heard on today's episodes, as well as this year's winning entries, visit npr.org forward slash student podcast challenge 2023. Thanks again

to the team behind NPR student Podcast Challenge, Janet Ujung Lee, Lauren Magaki, and Steve Drummond. This episode of The Sunday Story was produced by Justine Yan and Henry Hottie. It was edited by Jenny Schmidt. James Willits was our engineer. The Sunday Story team includes Andrew Mambo and Emily Silver. Our supervising producer is Liana Simstrom. And our executive producer is Irene Noguchi. We'd love to hear from you. So please send us an email at thesundaystoryatnpr.org. I'm Aisha Roscoe.

Up first, we'll be back tomorrow with all the news you need to start your week. Until then, have a great rest of your weekend. Thank you.