"I didn't even know there was a radio station over here." That sentence — or some version of it — came up so many times on this episode that it became the unofficial theme. On a special episode of The Valley Today recorded on the first day of the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber's Arising Leadership Program, host Janet Michael sits down in the studio with 16 high-school participants and program director Missy Spielman to talk about what brought them to the program, what surprised them about radio in particular, and where they think their futures might be headed — from anesthesiology to architecture inspired by Minecraft.

You'll meet rising juniors and seniors from John Handley, Millbrook, Sherando, Clarke County, and James Wood, hear what each one is hoping to get from the week-and-a-half-long career exploration program, and find out which of them might be the next architect, anesthesiologist, attorney, dentist, sports broadcaster, business analyst, or — Janet's lobbying hard — radio station part-timer. Missy closes out with what she saw from the very first orientation: a group that walked in quiet and reserved, and within ten minutes were swapping numbers, ignoring school rivalries, and learning to network in the most authentic way possible.

THE ARISING LEADERSHIP CLASS

The 16 students featured on this episode, in interview order:

• Owen Parker — Millbrook High School, rising senior

• Lucy Gluszak — John Handley High School, 12th grade (returning as an intern after participating last year — now interning at the Winchester Regional Airport)

• Sam Donohue — Clarke County High School, rising junior — interested in law

• Emily Ramirez — Sherando High School, rising senior — interested in healthcare and agriculture

• Cole Stockli — Millbrook High School, rising senior — interested in medical and culinary

• Kimberly Andrade — John Handley High School, rising 11th grader

• Hudson Slaughter — John Handley High School, rising 11th grader (older brother went through the program two years ago)

• Jack Bruns — Sherando High School, junior — interested in business analytics

• Tiffany Yau — Millbrook High School, rising senior — interested in engineering and medical sciences

• Nyomi Coates — Sherando High School, rising senior — wants to be an architect (credit: Minecraft)

• Amoni Hill — James Wood High School, rising senior — wants to be an anesthesiologist

• Brennan Carter — Millbrook High School, rising senior — interested in engineering

• Sierra Chastain — Clarke County High School, rising junior — wants to be a dentist (Janet lobbied for "DJ")

• Noah Mandel — Sherando High School, rising junior — interested in physical therapy and sports medicine

• Christiana Ekoue — John Handley High School, rising senior

• Andrea Rojas — John Handley High School, rising senior

IN THIS EPISODE

(00:00) What the Arising Leadership Program is — and how Day 1 unfolded at The River 95.3

(00:30) How the station team split up the group: Sports Director Ryan Rutherford, Operations Manager Lonnie Hill, Business Manager Kathy Willis, and Janet

(01:00) Meet the 16 students — short interviews about what drew them to the program and what they're hoping to learn (timestamps for each student are approximate, running consecutively from 01:00 to 19:00)

(19:00) A sit-down with program director Missy Spielman

(19:30) What Missy saw on orientation night — a quiet group that opened up in ten minutes flat

(20:30) Why cross-school networking matters more than ever (and why school rivalries don't show up here the way they used to)

(21:00) "You can't be it if you can't see it" — the program's mission in one sentence

(21:30) Why so many former students are now the people Missy coordinates host visits with

WHAT THE STUDENTS LEARNED AT THE STATION (in their own words)

• Working on the elevator pitch was something they wouldn't have thought to do on their own • Communication is the foundation of everything — without it, projects "crash and burn" • Radio is much bigger than people think — multiple studios, not a closet with a microphone • The music you hear comes via satellite, often from Texas • Doing a weather blurb under a tight time limit is genuinely hard • Listeners tune out when they hear the same voice too long — voice variety keeps attention • Sports broadcasting takes far more planning than people realize

ABOUT THE ARISING LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

A career exploration program for rising high-school juniors and seniors across the Top of Virginia region. Over a week and a half, students rotate through industries in their own backyard — radio, aviation, law, healthcare, hospitality, culinary, criminal justice, agriculture, and more — to discover careers they may not have considered or even known existed. Coordinated by Missy Spielman through the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber.

LINKS & RESOURCES

• Top of Virginia Regional Chamber: regionalchamber.biz

• The River 95.3 — and yes, they're hiring part-timers and interns (ask Janet)

THE VALLEY TODAY with Janet Michael — A decade of conversations.

New podcast episodes drop weekdays at 11 AM. Catch the show on The River 95.3 and Fox Sports 1450 AM weekdays just after noon.

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