By Layla Burke Hastings
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SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — In an effort to keep fellow students informed about school-related activities, two Springfield High School seniors are using the airwaves to transmit news on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming virtual spirit week.
Created by co-editors Lucy Coutermarsh and Ariel Day, the Spotify podcast Green Horn Live received 100 plays in its first episode posted on Wednesday alone.
Coutermarsh and Day are determined to get the school news out to the community even though the presses have been seized amid the virus.
In the first episode, the two students discussed senior year and its milestones amid the virus, as well as college acceptance letters, prom and the cancellation of the Apple Blossom Cotillion. The cancellations of the senior year traditions they face are the catalyst for the podcast.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘There goes my senior year,’” Coutermarsh, 18, said. “Because I had all these story ideas for the next Green Horn that I can’t put in print.”
Coutermarsh has been accepted to Ithaca College for journalism in the fall. For her, the airwaves are one way to stay occupied and contribute something positive in these times of uncertainty.
“I think the podcast is helping us stay sane. Because we are used to cranking out stories for the newspaper and now it’s not happening,” Coutermarsh said. “I like the idea of capturing a moment in time and documenting it and this is my outlet.
As seniors likely to miss out on some key events and experiences, it can be difficult to talk about that reality
“My most disappointing thoughts are about missing our senior class trip, graduation,” Day, who is going to Lyndon State College for education and volleyball, said about how senior year got cut short by social distancing.
“I was going to be a contestant for the next Apple Blossom, prom, graduation,” Coutermarsh said. “It’s hard to see it taken away all so fast.”
Green Horn Live is becoming popular among the school community and the hosts are starting to put their newest plan — interviewing classmates in a spotlight segment of the show — into action. The interviews are a way to inform listeners on the local impact that the virus is having on daily and social life.
“It’s important to connect with our classmates. We have a duty to keep the news out there. To stay connected to our schoolmates and bring them some news, cheer them up, make them laugh or just lighten the moments,” Day said.
The duo is working on a virtual Spirit Week and continuing the senior traditions remotely via the podcast.
“We are trying to replicate what we do in the Green Horn. We are just pulling our stories from our latest edition and going live,” Coutermarsh said. “We are doing a story about Tom Brady leaving the Patriots, trying to find regular news to report besides the coronavirus.”
“Basically we are just trying to build community in the face of ours being torn apart and give people a sense of stability, contact and something they can count on,” Day said. “It’s creating a normalcy for people in what we call life right now.”
The link is available here:
https://anchor.fm/lucia5757/episodes/Green-Horn-Live-the-Podcast
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