Students from 15 states and Puerto Rico are reporting stories and collaborating to produce a special seven-episode season of On Our Minds, Student Reporting Labs’ teen life and wellbeing podcast. On Our Minds: Election 2024 will launch August 21 and explore the perspectives of young people about election issues that impact them.
Last fall, high school students from PBS News Student Reporting Labs’ Student Advisory Team pitched the idea of an election-focused podcast, reported and produced by young people for young people. As a journalism training organization, staff of Student Reporting Labs know that students are uniquely positioned to report on the election issues through this lens, especially as millions of Gen Z adults become eligible to vote in this November’s election.
Five of the 24 students contributing to On Our Minds: Election 2024 described their experiences, and why they feel stories reported by youth are essential for news coverage of what this election means for the future.
Here’s what they had to say.
Nico Fischer
Santa Clara High School in Santa Clara, Calif.
On the reporting process
For those of us working on this project, On Our Minds: Election 2024 is about more than the election: it’s about what makes us and what brings us together as Americans.
We’re working with students across the country about the issues in their home regions. For example, in Illinois, Maggie LeBeau is working on a piece about how young Republicans feel like they do not have a voice in a state heavily gerrymandered in favor of Chicagoland Democrats. In Florida, Orion Boone is reporting on how young queer Americans feel like their right to be themselves is at stake. In Puerto Rico, Adelaida Siaca and Miranda Jatib are grappling with whether Puerto Ricans consider themselves American or not.
One thing that’s special about this podcast is the way teens across the country have come together to create it. We’ve collaborated on episode topics, edits and production, and learned from each other along the way. We’ve learned how to manage an ambitious project, assign roles and define our goals.
While it feels like everyone has something to gain — or to lose — in this election, I see student journalism as one solution to traditional media’s election reporting, which rarely focuses on youth. Student journalism makes space for students like me to feel engaged in something bigger, to report on local issues in my community, and develop our own narratives about “the youth” — something that adult journalists aren’t able to do in the same way.
Aidan Booker
Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
On story choices that reflect the impact of young people
Young people are some of the most outspoken and passionate individuals on many key issues in this election, especially on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. We use our voices to speak out on the many issues affecting our nation, but our impact can be much deeper than that. Students are able to provide a unique, first-hand account of our experiences on various issues, and relate to the young people we are interviewing in a different way.
My On Our Minds: Election 2024 episode highlights some of the youngest candidates and elected officials in America. One of those people is America’s youngest mayor, Jaylen Smith of Earle, Ark. Only a couple of months after graduating high school, Smith embarked on a journey unordinary for most students — he became the mayor of his city at the age of 18.
My interview with Smith covered many different topics, like his proudest accomplishments as mayor, such as bringing the town a much-needed grocery store, and his future plans for Earle. The main thing that stood out to me was how relatable he was. It truly felt like I was speaking with someone with a fresh set of ideas who citizens were able to put their faith and trust in. His ideas led him to become the youngest African-American mayor in history.
Maggie LeBeau
University of Missouri
On representing young people in election coverage
Including youth perspectives in political reporting can help young people tune in to the ways that we are impacted by political decisions. When I see my peers report on politics, ask important questions and be taken seriously, I’m more motivated to read, listen to or watch those stories.
In my story for the podcast, I asked two young conservatives from rural Illinois if they felt motivated to vote in such a strongly blue state. They explained that even if they don’t feel as represented in a state where Chicago’s Democratic voters are so dominant, they still pay attention to what is going on around them and understand the importance of civic participation, especially locally.
There are young people across the country eager to make their voices heard no matter what the popular consensus around them is, which is why I think it’s important for the media to amplify their perspectives.
I encourage media outlets to increase their youth representation by commissioning young freelancers, producing stories with young people in the forefront, creating a youth advisory board, sharing stories from Student Reporting Labs or interviewing student reporters about their experiences.
Khadeejah Khan
University of California, Davis
On how campus censorship influenced student advocacy
Elections signify an opportunity for change. Many voters, especially students, have taken it upon themselves to advocate for the change they want to see using their First Amendment rights to speech, protest, and assembly. Students from over 130 colleges and universities across the nation protested the occupation in Palestine, with many calling for a ceasefire and return of the Israeli hostages.
In the podcast episode about free speech and censorship, I talked with students who have participated in campus protests and do not feel represented in media coverage or on the ballot. They faced forms of censorship from their universities, and those experiences gave them another cause to fight for: protecting their free speech.
This weighs heavily on many of our minds, as do the issues of education, mental health care, climate change and gun violence. The ways that all of these issues impact youth is often quite different from how they impact adults. Including young people in reporting about political issues and election coverage can ensure that a broader range of perspectives are included, and more complete stories are told.
Poojasai Kona
Frisco High School in Frisco, Texas
On what it means to be an American
This project exists to give the youth perspective of the 2024 elections and American politics, something that is often missing from media coverage, and also to give the youth perspective on what it means to be an American. I hope it can be the start of a discussion of something we don’t really talk about as young people — that the ideal concept of America often doesn’t line up with realities we see and experience, and we learn more about this as we grow up.
We explore this idea in the first episode, where student reporter Natalie Erzal talks with students from Rouse High School in Leander, Texas. They share how their understanding of America has changed and become more complicated than the simple history they learned in elementary school. They talk about their frustrations that schools are censoring conversations about the issues in America.
America has a different definition for everyone, just like On Our Minds: Elections 2024 will have a different meaning to every contributor and listener. For me, this podcast is a tribute to my parents, immigrants from India who’ve left their country, their family, their friends — everything they’ve ever known — to live here.
We are excited to share this podcast, and hope that it encourages youth to start conversations with their friends and families, seek out and support solutions to the issues they care about, and when old enough: vote.
All student-reported stories from On Our Minds: Election 2024, including audio episodes and social content, will be available to public media stations and nonprofit local media for broadcast and republication. If your station is interested in sharing the coverage with local audiences, connecting with student reporters in your area or accessing resources for outreach, email [email protected].