By Julia Cardi
For this month’s episode of HearSay, we went to two social studies classes at Thomas Jefferson High School to watch students participate in a mock judicial nominating commission process. The presentations were part of a series that teaches high schoolers about how judges in Colorado are picked. State Supreme Court Justice Richard Gabriel, one of the people spearheading the program, told us that students tend to really enjoy the activity and always want to know more about his career path to the bench.
The story combined some of the most fun parts of reporting: going out in the field, getting many different voices for a story and sound mixing. Talking to teenagers is always a hoot because they tend to not have much of a filter and they ask impressive, insightful questions.
The goal of the presentations is to give high schoolers a jump start on making educated decisions when they’re old enough to vote in a few years. In this new era of misinformation spreading so easily, reporting for this podcast has been an encouraging reminder that Gen Z really cares about being active on social and civic issues.
