GOA's New Podcast Studio Brings Student and Faculty Voices to the Community

Get ready for a new generation of GOA voices from our Upper School’s brand-new podcast studio and club! After months of design and research, the GOA podcast studio has been launched in the first floor Robotics lab and will offer a creative outlet for students and faculty members to gain hands-on experience with audio production while sharing their own insights and perspectives with our community. 

The concept for the podcast was initiated by Bill Ruhl, Upper School Science Faculty; Mike Stern, Upper School Social Studies Faculty; and Hadas Toren, Upper School Hebrew Faculty who are currently participating in a year-long fellowship through the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest Day School Initiative funded by a generous grant from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. (Additional faculty members participating in the fellowship include Nina Bilmes, Upper School Math Department Chair; Suzanne Epstein, Lower School 5th Grade Team Lead and Math Faculty; and Jamie Himmelstein, Middle School Director.) All six faculty members attended a three-day Deep Listening Institute over the summer led by a team of psychologists from the Stanley H. King Institute in Cambridge, MA, and were then tasked with creating a culminating project or new initiative for their school to support the mental health and well being of faculty and students. 

The GOA Upper School team created a “Get Well Soon” podcast series as an outlet to promote mental and physical well being to the school community. In the first episode, “Move Your Mind,” now on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/3MEsHfO7PdtwH3NNRKbN8m or www.goldaochacademy.org/podcast), Mr. Stern interviewed Upper School PE/Health Faculty Member Joe Candela about how exercise and social interactions can improve overall wellness. Additional episodes scheduled include an interview by Hadas Toren with Nurse Ilena Kasdan about healthy habits for a strong body and mind and an interview by Mr. Ruhl with Director of Student Services Lori Jaffe about anxiety and social emotional learning. 

Getting the podcast studio off the ground was a true collaborative effort. Upper School Arts Faculty Member Michael Yeshion helped design the studio with lighting and graphics, Podcast Club president Theo B. ’28 worked on assembling and organizing the studio and Maya S. ’26 helped create the theme music along with Music Faculty member and Choir Director Kristin Roney. “I'm really excited about the new podcast studio and the opportunities it brings to our school,” said Theo B. “We plan to create fun and engaging podcasts that show students' voices and creativity.” 

Both Mr. Ruhl and Mr. Yeshion will serve as advisors for the club, which will be a tremendous communication outlet for the student body and faculty. “Podcasts have become part of the social media fabric,” added Mr. Ruhl. “In envisioning and creating the GOA podcast studio and student club, we wanted to give GOA students the skills and experience necessary to effectively use this ubiquitous communication medium and to encourage and empower our students to meld the creativity of content creation with the technical skills of delivering that content to the community.”