When Dr Nick Hirshon, a professor at William Paterson University in New Jersey, started an intro to podcasting class, it was more than just to offer a new, interesting class for students.
The William Paterson Society of Professional Journalists (WPSPJ) Podcast, led by founder and president Rochelle Estrada, all started with an idea in September 2022. Estrada developed the first several episodes of the podcast, which surrounds interviews regarding journalism advice and experiences from people within the industry, all on her own.
Eventually, Estrada wanted to expand and get more students involved. While she was able to get a few on board to help, such as students Tommy Sherwood, executive producer and treasurer Terri Cappolla, adding extra assistance was more difficult to acquire. But they wanted to be the example for students, and encourage them to be a part of this journey as well.
“We come here to lead, but we also come here to learn because we’re still students at the end of the day. We’re still aspiring reporters, and we’re still in an institution to receive experience,” Estrada said. “That’s what we’re here for. So we wanted to be able to not only set an example, but also learn from the process.”
So from there, the intro to podcasting class was largely used as a way to give students a set time to contribute to the podcast. In fact, Coppola herself learned about the podcast from Hirshon’s class.
“When I joined Dr. Hirshon’s Intro to Podcasting class. When I found out about the podcast for WPSBJ, I knew that I needed to step up and help out because it was just a better way to kind of hone [in on] my skills with editing and all of that,” Coppola said.
The student body, which is 60% students of color, many of which are working class citizens, struggle to find time outside of class, work, and helping to take care of their families, for any extracurricular activities.
Because of this, the creation of the class was vital to get students involved, which led to the addition of six more students onto the team.
In just the first season of episodes, the team was able to interview several members within the journalism field, including PIX11 Morning News anchor Hazel Sanchez, Bergen Record columnist Mary Chao, and Emmy winning investigative reporter Ti-Hua Chang.
In the future, they plan to add a video aspect of the podcast, as the feature has become more popular with most well-known podcasts today, and will continue to strive to spread knowledge and wisdom from journalism experts to their listeners.
Sherwood, who is in line to be the next president of WPSPJ, understands that learning the podcasting world takes time, but encourages other students to get involved.
“You’re not gonna get the skills overnight. But honestly, with passion, that’s half the battle. You just gotta have the passion for it. Once you have the passion for it, the rest will come.”
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