At CGS, Elevate with Spark podcast becoming a robust channel for student voices

By Ben Bockmann ‘21

From teaching during a pandemic to student run non-profit Babies with Books, the Elevate with Spark @ Catlin Gabel (Elevate) Podcast has shared a myriad of topics and projects with the Catlin Gabel School (CGS) community.

CGS Educational Technology Specialist Rob van Nood started the podcast nearly three years ago, and since then his listenership has steadily grown to a few hundred people per episode. 

“[The podcast] highlights projects that might not have been known about, like work that teachers are doing, projects kids are doing, and stuff that is happening within the school,” said van Nood. 

Matt Woodard, CGS Upper School Digital Arts Teacher, has only been working on the podcast for about a year. With a background in music and digital arts, podcasting fell naturally into his realm of expertise. 

“There are already many official avenues for grownup communication [at CGS], so I really like hearing the stories of what students are doing in the school,” added Woodard.

On the Elevate Podcast, listeners can expect to hear relevant stories from countless facets of the CGS community. According to van Nood, however, one of the most important stories to share is the student experience.

“The different projects that students have done have always been really interesting to me, and I’d love to do a lot more student [podcasts],” said van Nood.  

As technology improves and becomes more accessible, van Nood and Woodard encourage anyone who has a story that they want to share to create a podcast. That being said, you don’t have to have high quality equipment to make a great story. 

“The biggest thing is finding a story that you want to tell, listening to similar stories, and finding the most effective way to convey that story,” said Woodard.

Listeners can access the podcast on a variety of listening services, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify. For easy access on a web browser, go to Anchor.fm to listen to all of Elevate's latest episodes.