In this fourth(?) episode of season two, we invite our rhetoric (high school) prefects (student leaders) to join us and talk all things 9th-12th grade accessible pretension. We get insight into the hearts and minds of our leadership and the culture of our school. We also get to the bottom of a make-or-break Advent issue. It’s about to get real for some parents. 

It's Advent! The strangest in a while for sure. So, Nathan and Josh help Eric understand the protocols for a proper Advent season all the while situating Advent within the Apostle's Creed. There may be some measure of controversy about what counts as good Christmas music and Eric may or may not bring some good news. We're still not sure. 

It's been a minute but only because it's been a bit crazy around here. We talk through the crazy. We re-center in the Creeds. We feast on Thanksgiving. We give Eric more trouble. We give you, Listener, accessible pretension. Be Ye warned: we discuss a number of sophomoric topics with language that may cause a triggering event. 

Have thoughts on the show? Topics you want to see covered? Have nothing better to do? Email the show at [email protected].

The boys are back, Dear Listener. Season Two. Fully-caffeinated, no-ethanol, high octane action. A wandering, nay, meandering romp through 80's action flix (with a hot take or two for good measure) and, in a world gone mad with division, we talk the creeds that unify the Church. All in all, not a bad restart of your dose of accessible pretention. 

Hear directly from the tens of listeners of The Academy Podcast in this our second teaser for season 2. You will not be disappointed. Feel the excitement.

The first episode of the second season will premiere this Friday, so be on the lookout.

Email the show at [email protected] to suggest topics or tell us how great/awful we are. We'll accept both extremes and everything in between.

The Academy Podcast is coming back for season 2! If this teaser doesn't get you pumped up, then you're probably a normal person.

Email questions or topics to [email protected]

Oliver Twist

From the Novel by Charles Dickens
Copyright 1979, Pioneer Drama Service, Inc. 

"Produced by special arrangement with Pioneer Drama Service, Inc., Denver, Colorado"

Adapted by Joellen Bland 

For those who loved the classic Charles Dickens story, enjoy again all of the fascinating characters from this exciting story:  the Artful Dodger, Fagin, the menacing Bill Sikes and the kind-hearted Nancy. Travel with Oliver as he becomes involved in a plot containing mystery, robbery and revenge; until Oliver’s true identity is discovered and he finds a home and happiness with his benefactor, Mr. Brownlow. 

Dear Academy Family, 

On the first day of auditions, August 27, 2019, if you would have told me that our show would not go up onstage, but instead through a podcast due to a mass pandemic, I would have laughed in your face in disbelief. Yet, here we are, ten months later. Before I offer you a bit of light amidst darkness and chaos, I invite you to walk with me as I reflect upon this journey. 

Never have I seen a group of young students come together with such fervor, albeit over Zoom, and make the best of a hard situation. The day before Spring Break I met with four dads about building a set out of palettes that Tina Ray brought up to the school herself, and we were about to get into major crunch time for our show. As the next few days started to unravel, Abbie James and Darla Lynn helped me brainstorm ways to fulfill the time-old saying, "The show MUST go on." A few meetings and brainstorming sessions later, our South Dialectic Drama production of Oliver Twist: The Radio Show was born. 

Over the months of March through June, these incredible students got on video calls weekly, if not daily, to record each and every line. Students assisted in finding sound effects, and were always eager to share new lines to help adapt this piece from stage to sound. After gathering the lines, sounds and music, the wonderfully talented Eric Williams took everything and added his magic (I'm talking cutting every line and glued them next to each other and making sure each sound tone was up to par) to make this idea become a reality. To say we would never have this show without him is an understatement. 

So here we are! To twenty-one Students, forty-two parents and loved ones, countless faculty and staff... here is my deepest thank you, to each and every one of you, from the bottom of my heart. 

We hope you enjoy this production of Oliver Twist! 

God's Peace, 

Hannah Eppling 

In this, our final episode of season one, we long for re-runs, start a radio station and offer a meta-podcast reflection on starting a podcast. Look for various updates over the summer and we'll see you in the Fall.

Feel free to keep emailing us at [email protected] and let us know how you're doing. We love getting your emails and we will read any we receive when we start season 2 in August. Until then, may the force be with you.

In this, our final episode of The Bunker Tapes, we step outside of the bunker, blink at the sunlight and look to see the real world again. Sort of anyway. We talk about the need for good endings ('prolepsis' is the accessibly pretentious word we learned on the word of the day calendar), Josh talks Weird Al and Back to the Future 3 and we get into some solid email action. 

Dear listener, The Bunker Tapes may be ending, but we aren't going anywhere. Send us your thoughts, questions, musings, and any other nonsense you see fit.  [email protected].

Keep an eye out for The Academy Podcast season finale podcast in the next couple weeks. If Eric does his job, we will have an extravaganza of epic proportions. We’re counting on him.

It's a nostalgia hodge podge of nonsense. The guys talk first books, vhs rentals and a mustachioed mullet hero. 

We want to hear from you, Dear Listener. Email us all your questions, thoughts, and any other such nonsense as you see fit. We appreciate your support. [email protected]