Senior Margot Amouyal created a three-part mini-series celebrating both the 100-year history of Beaver and the 28-year tenure of Head of School Peter Hutton. Below Margot—who is attending Northwestern University in the fall—talks about how she was able to develop her audio journalism skills during her time at Beaver.
The first time I ever created a podcast I was in a Beaver 10th grade history class. The R+D Center was just built, and Beaver students now had access to audio recording studios. I loved NPR, so I thought ‘Why not create a podcast for my final history project?’. So, I recorded a 15-minute history podcast segment. At the time, I thought it was a genius idea to place the entire Serial podcast theme song in the background … on repeat. Looking back, I find this hilarious. Luckily, I now don’t use copyrighted music in my podcast episodes!
However, that afternoon, I was hooked: I wanted to create another podcast episode, maybe even an entire series! I proposed the idea to a Beaver faculty member, and they loved the idea! With the steadfast support of the Beaver faculty and community, I launched a series about Beaver history. I got the chance to interview teachers, alumni, faculty, and search the school’s basement archival collection. Through creating this series, I have enjoyed learning about Beaver’s distinct history, and its reflection of broader, societal issues.
And, eventually, after hours in the recording studio, my audio journalism skills progressed. Now, I feel confident conducting interviews, thinking on my feet, and developing thought-provoking questions.
I love podcasts because I can not only have interesting conversations with people but also share them with the world.
This Spring, I created a three-part mini-series celebrating both 100-years of Beaver history and Peter Hutton’s 28-year legacy. I interviewed Peter Hutton himself, his wife, Cissy Hutton, and his three daughters, Colleen, Hannah, and Bridgit. The conversations were nostalgic, humorous, and insightful. I hope I created a podcast mini-series the Beaver community can enjoy, laugh at, and learn from.
I also learned surprising bits of information— like how snow days are called. To my shock, Snow Day Calculator is heavily consulted! I also learned how Beaver developed its educational pedagogy, spearheaded massive construction projects, and what it is like to attend school when your dad is head of school! The podcast talks about everything from in-school suspensions to middle school musicals to Sage Dining cauliflower. I hope to share all of these anecdotes with you in the Centennial Mini Series.
Thanks for listening!