In 2020 the United States around 700,000 podcasts were created, according to NeilSchaeffer.com. At Schuyler Central High School, the students have already started adding to that number. In order to improve their podcasts, Robbi McKenney, Media Production and Broadcasting teacher, asked University Of Nebraska Lincoln representatives to come and speak to her students. On February 29th, UNL Associate Professor Rick Alloway, Recruitment Coordinator Alex Fernando, and Student Ambassador Amber Rodriguez came and talked to students about how to improve their podcasts and careers as content creators. Student podcasts can be found on the WarriorNews.org website.

 Lucia Mendez, a Media Production student, wants to go into the media field and this experience is helping her achieve her goals. According to Mrs. McKenney, “It gave them confidence in what they’ve created so far.” Many of the projects that students are doing at SCHS’s Media Production class is what they would be doing at UNL. Mrs McKenney “feels more confident in her teaching skills knowing they are in line with the industry standards.” Topics that were discussed were; prompting, branding, natural sounds in podcasts, creating a portfolio online, and what is a content creator.

Mr. Fernando spoke about many of the advantages about going to UNL. The university has a new Experience Lab. The Experience Lab is where you can get digital badges, which show your skills, and create projects at the same time. There are many different lab options to choose from, to create content to add to your portfolio. According to Bls.gov, “employment in media and communication occupations is projected to grow 14 percent from 2020 to 2030, faster than the average for all occupations, and will result in about 151,500 new jobs.”