Your 2021 SPC Winners

Kentucky middle schoolers and a Chicago teen won this year's contest

View this email online Your 2021 SPC Winners "How many people do you think take care of our campus?" A chorus of young voices shout guesses from the Sayre School's playground in Lexington, Ky. "15? 50? 20?" The independent, pre-K-12 school has 10 buildings and about 500 students, so those guesses, albeit high, are understandable. The truth: The school has a maintenance staff of five. And now, the unsung heroes who make up that staff are the subject of a podcast that's won the middle school top prize in NPR's Student Podcast Challenge. A six hour drive down the road in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, a high school sophomore made a podcast in her cramped bedroom closet among the storage bins and extra sheets. Kriti Sarav is our high school winner this year and her podcast: My Very Own Bully discussed Indian-American identity and her struggle to come to terms with it. Kriti identifies as Indian-American and says the hyphen is important: Her podcast is all about growing up between cultures and how, at times she resented the parts of herself that didn't seem to fit the mold she saw around her. "My honey-brown skin contrasted greatly with the peachy whites and olives of my friends," Kriti says, early in the episode. "My parents called me raja and beta, not munchkin or cutie-pie. When I opened up my lunchbox, I had a thermos full of daal and rice and chapati and roti — not mac n' cheese or PB&J." Listen to Kriti’s story here and the Sayre School’s podcast here. Read More Here Newsletter continues after sponsor message With graduation approaching and the school year winding down, it’s time to bid you farewell from the Student Podcast Challenge. We’ll be back and better than ever this fall!  Thank you to all the students and teachers who participated in this year’s contest. In total we listened to almost three thousand podcasts this cycle. We heard stories from all over the country in a year where we really missed connecting with people, so THANK YOU!  Hopefully next year we can see some of you in person! Have a great summer,  NPR’s Education Team  See you next week. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from Vermont Public Radio (edit station). What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: studentpodcastchallenge@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Education, Health, Code Switch and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Student Podcast Challenge emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy