‘The Golden Playbook’: Russellville Middle School students create podcast to highlight community
RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Russellville Middle School students will be competing against other Alabama schools with a podcast they have created by themselves.
The class where they created that podcast is called Introduction to Innovation and it is connected through a program called Ed Farm Spaces.
Each semester brings a new group of students and a brand new challenge to take on, given to them by the Ed Farm Spaces initiative.
This semester, students were tasked with creating a podcast to share stories that are impactful to their community. The students named their podcast “The Golden Playbook.”
Which co-teachers of the class, Alana Parker and Lauren Archer, said highlights life lessons that Russellville students still follow today, were taught to them by different community members.
“The kids did,” Parker said. “They named it. They voted and they chose to name it the Golden Playbook because they wanted to highlight the people who wrote the playbook that we’re still following today for the Golden Tigers.”
In the next few months, the students will be traveling to compete against other schools in Alabama and will have to present their podcast. Parker said there are team leaders for every aspect you can think of for a podcast: talent, marketing, writing and more.
They are entering their first episode into the competition.
The episode highlights Russellville native Chucky Mullins.
Mullins went on to play football at Ole Miss and eventually got a spinal cord injury from playing.
Students Porter Bragwell and Karen Sopdiaz both work on the podcast. They said they wanted to highlight him because of his motto to never quit.
They said it has been very interesting finding details about a life they only knew the surface of. Bragwell said he never knew all of what Chucky Mullins went through. Both of the students agree that the class gives them life lessons and real-world knowledge of a few job fields.
The teachers want to thank the community for their endless support of education and the students in Russellville.
“Especially at this age, to know that their work is important and that what they’re doing is important to a lot of people,” Parker said. “That’s the most meaningful part, so thank you to our community for supporting our kids.”
Archer and Parker said that to help boost the students in the competition, you can listen to the Golden Playbook on any streaming app.
They are also selling keychains at the school for $2 each. Parker said that you can stop by the school if you are interested in buying one. They support the podcast.
Archer and Parker said they will be putting more podcasts out in the future and are excited for episode two.
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