For the Bucks County Community College Bucks Collegiate Recovery Program Event in March of 2025, our podcasters prepared questions for the guest speaker and author Brandon Novak, a skateboarder known for the Jackass films, about what it means to recover. We also spoke to the event coordinator, Emily Sexton, on the purpose of the BCCC Bucks Collegiate Recovery Program, and with Demita Harvey from No Longer Bound and the Bristol Cares Coalition about helping youth with mental health.


 

 

Our podcasters interview Reporter June Portnoy, managing Editor of O'Rourke Media Group, about what it's like to become a writer and journalist.

Meet the teens who created the new sound of our podcast. Neshaminy High School music production students took the challenge to compose a variety of intros and outros for the Giving Youth a Voice podcast. Along the way, they learned a lot about their own talents, creativity and technical skills. Listen as they share their experiences and sense of accomplishment.

Coping with grief and loss is different for every individual. Our podcasters interview social worker and thanatologist Amy Keiper-Shaw, founder and president of Hands Holding Hearts in Newtown, PA. This episode discusses the difficult topic of loss as an adult as well as how to see a child through their grief.

Hands Holding Hearts is a non-profit that supports all ages going through grief, with camps, therapy horses and dogs, therapy resources and other events. For more information, check out handsholdinghearts.org. 

This episode focuses on the difficult topic of loss through the lens of kids and how to cope while growing up. Our podcasters discuss grief and loss with social worker and thanatologist Amy Keiper-Shaw, the founder and president of Hands Holding Hearts in Newtown, Pennsylvania. 

Hands Holding Hearts is a non-profit that supports all ages going through grief, with camps, therapy horses and dogs, therapy resources and other events. For more information, check out handsholdinghearts.org. 

In this interview, Sterlen Barr, motivational health educator and rap artist with RAP (Rapping About Prevention), says hopes people will encourage their friends and family members to not smoke or vape, and never to use these deadly substances. He also calls for legislation to restrict youth access to tobacco. This Giving Youth a Voice episode was recorded at Day at The Capitol, hosted by the American Lung Association and the Tobacco Resistance Unit PA, on May 6, 2025. 

Tobacco Resistance Unit (TRU) Ambassador Amyrah Moumouni-Snyder, a student at Dauphin County Technical School, talks about what it means to be a TRU Ambassador, how she helped set up Day at the Capitol, and how adding vaping to the Clean Indoor Air Act would lead to huge changes in prevention and protect lives. This Giving Youth a Voice interview was recorded on May 6, 2025 during Day at the Capitol in Harrisburg, PA, hosted by TRU and the American Lung Association.

Our Giving Youth a Voice hosts discuss their questions with a first year college student and a college graduate about what arriving to college entails, what resources are available, and chat about what high school graduates have to look forward to in college. 

Our hosts discuss the realities of going from middle school to high school, and chat with a new ninth grader about what she has to look forward to in high school. 

“I want young people to know what a difference they can make,” says Deb Brown, Chief Mission Officer of the national American Lung Association. In an interview with Giving Youth a Voice podcasters, she praises young people for taking action to help close loopholes in the Clean Indoor Air Law and encourages teens to continue to talk with legislators about issues because their voices can really make a difference. This interview was recorded on May 6, 2025 during Day at the Capitol in Harrisburg, PA, hosted by the American Lung Association and the Tobacco Resistance Unit.