Madeira Junior Reports for PBS

At Madeira, students are encouraged to hone their beliefs and use their voices, be that in community in the dorms, in the classroom as they develop their views, on the field building resilience and camaraderie, or on Capitol Hill and beyond, advocating for personally meaningful causes. In the case of Michelle Liu ’26, her voice took her all the way to National Public Radio (NPR), where she was able to share a story she had recorded for PBS’s On Our Minds podcast. Hear more about the experience from Michelle herself.

Briefly introduce yourself.

Hi! My name is Michelle, and I am a 3-year junior Day student from McLean, VA. At Madeira, I serve as co-head of Community Service and am a part of the Model UN and tennis teams.

How did you learn about the On Our Minds program? What drew you to participate? Tell us a bit about the application process.

I learned about the On Our Minds podcast through the PBS News Student Reporting Labs (SRL), which is a year-round, hands-on journalism training program for youth across the nation. Through exploring their different programs, I found the On Our Minds podcast and instantly loved its structure and stories. Everything is student produced and shared, including the hosts and all of the stories on the podcast, which I found super special to be a part of.

How does the program work? What sorts of stories do you report on or create?

On Our Minds Season 5 is an eight-episode season produced by PBS News Student Reporting Labs, exploring the theme, “Who inspires you?” Episodes feature student journalists from across the country in conversation with individuals they look up to — in their communities and in the national conversation. I started the process in January of this year, pitching my story and providing an outline of what I hoped to share on the podcast. After my pitch, one of the producers reached out to me and we were able to start working on a rough draft of the script. Eventually, I recorded the audio segment and went through editing to polish my audio story to be ready to share!

(Listen to Michelle’s reporting on Season 5 of On Our Minds.)

Can you give us a teaser of what your radio story was about?

On the episode, I focused on one of my longtime friendships with a family friend, Sue. We met in Texas when I was three and she was a friend of my parents, and we’ve been pen pals for almost a decade. Sue has impacted my life and inspired me in so many ways. It was quite special to pursue this project because I almost never talk to Sue on the phone as we solely communicate through letters; so, the FaceTime interview was kind of out of the ordinary for us, but I loved interviewing her!

After the episode was launched, WAMU & NPR's 1A podcast reached out and I was able to do a live interview with host Jenn White in the WAMU 88.5 studio in DC at end of April along with other high schoolers who also participated in the podcast this season. During the hour, we talked about the program, our stories, and our big takeaways from working on this project.

(Listen to Michelle on NPR’s 1A, starting at around 29:30.)

What's one piece of advice you'd give to fellow students who are interested in connecting with an older person as a mentor, like you did with Sue?

Don’t let distance be a barrier for connection. My family moved from Texas over seven years ago and I would have lost contact with Sue a long time ago if not for being pen pals. Be curious and creative. Being connected doesn’t always have to be through a screen and for those who do have a relationship with an older family friend, keep in touch. You never know how much they can impact you.

Anything else you'd like to share?

If you want to explore the On Our Minds podcast further, you can listen at www.studentreportinglabs.org/on-our-minds or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

_{#MadeiraThrives #MadeiraInspired #MadeiraCompassion #MadeiraGrade11}