Episode I: NJROTC and Link Crew Concert
One of the many wonderful organizations to be found within Quabbin is the NJROTC program. Students are introduced into a military-style program, awarded medals for good behavior and trained to become responsible citizens and leaders in their communities. Many students have misconceptions that the program focuses entirely on recruitment; that is false - recruitment is against ROTC's rules.
I had a chance to sit down with Captain Daniel Brennock for an interview about the program's objectives as well as the activities students participate in.
To get a student's perspective about life as a ROTC cadet, I also spoke to Cadet Jessica LaBelle. Both of these interviews are interesting and provide a glimpse into the life of a ROTC student. Hopefully this will instill interest in younger students or current students to join the program.
The second item found in this show is an overview of a concert held in the School Auditorium on October 9, 2009. The Link Crew Program is an organization which focuses on making high-school easy for freshmen. A support group comprised of juniors and seniors, the program has been running at Quabbin for a year. Providing comfort as well as tutorage for freshmen, it is regarded as a success. Nearly 60 Link Leaders aid the freshmen with the transition from Middle School to High School, tutor them when they require an extra boost to get them through classes, and try to show them that older classmen can be friendly. High School is not meant to be a scary place, and the program does an excellent job of integrating freshmen into the student body.
A concert, comprised of three student bands (Audio, As Fate May Have It and Nick's Band) was held for freshmen in the auditorium. Tickets were sold at lunches, and there was quite a good turn-out. The bands were made up of a mix of students from each class, demonstrating to the freshmen the importance of harmony between classes - something that has vanished from Quabbin in recent years. Link Crew hopes to have future concerts in which all students are welcome to attend and participate.
Link Crew president Corina Walker shares a little about the program - what its goals are, how to join and the reception of their good will by the general student body. Also included is a review of the concert and clips from a recording made at the event.
For those interested in the technical side of this podcast, it was recorded using a ZoomH2 digital recorder. Concert audio was taken from a videotape, recorded by Mr. DuBois's media class.
This wraps up our first episode of The PantherPod, the podcast designed for the students of Quabbin by the students of Quabbin.
If you have any comments or suggestions, I'd love to hear from you. Whatever you'd like to hear on the Podcast, I'll try to get on. If you'd like to become a part of the Podcast Team, contact Joshua Pearson for further details.
Enjoy the show.