The TidePod

In the tenth episode of season two of the TidePod, senior contributor Ella Koenig and her friends came up with a list of 50 fun activities to do during COVID-19 school closures. Right now, students find themselves with a lot of time on their hands, as all Maryland schools are currently closed from March 16-27. Recently, Maryland has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases, and nearby states such as Virginia have shut down all schools for the rest of the year. This has caused shock and uncertainty for everyone in the state, as well as students wondering when they'll go back to school. Social distancing, while important, can be hard to practice, so these fun projects and ideas are here to help you flatten the curve and hopefully beat the pandemic blues! 

In this episode, RM sophomores Samadhi JQ, Ella Koenig, Elianna Hart, Laurel Dexter, and Reese West hosted five different segments with ten activities each: arts and crafts, activities with friends, chill activities, family activities, and self-care activities for anyone to do during the break. These activities range from making origami to using Netflix Party with friends to learning how to do yoga, and will certainly provide a fun way to spend time for anyone who needs "coronacation" inspiration. Need help managing your time? These activities will help you be productive and creative with friends and family, even while staying inside.

Featured guests: Reese West, Elianna Hart, Samadhi JQ, and Laurel Dexter.

This episode was hosted by Ella Koenig. The script was written by Ella Koenig, Emma Hubbard, Genevieve Cowl and Christina D’Albora. Publicity and outreach were done by Ella Koenig.

Graphic by Valerie Wang. Music courtesy of Corrigan Peters.

Edited by Ella Koenig. Produced by Grace Burwell.

In the ninth episode of the second season of the TidePod, we hosted a trivia game between candidates for this year's Mr. RM.

Mr. RM is an annual tradition in Richard Montgomery where senior boys compete head to head in various contests and performances to see who will ultimately be crowned Mr. RM. This is also a charity event sponsored by RM's Student Government Association, where the money candidates collect and ticket sales are donated to Pennies for Patients, to support cancer patients across the country. This year, Mr. RM was held in the auditorium on Friday, March 6 at 7 p.m. The various competitions include a group performance, talent show, formal wear competition, and a swimwear competition. Then, audience members voted on who they'd like to elect Mr. RM, following in the candidates being narrowed down to the final five. The final five then answered questions, and the winner, Tudor Postolache, was crowned after a judging period. 

In this episode, we held a friendly competition to test the candidates on their knowledge of Richard Montgomery High School history, pop culture, and general knowledge trivia. In this episode, candidates Christian Rivera, Michael Thomas, Justin Hall, Logan Turner-Mannix, and Matthew Giantelli competed on the gold team, and Rob Kearns, Eddie Rizkallah, Ethan Kwun, Pranav Tadikonda, and Freddy Martinez competed on the black team. Candidates Kevin Hrozencik, Tudor Postolache, and Camber Vincent were not present.

Featured guests: Mr. RM 2020 candidates Christian Rivera, Michael Thomas, Justin Tang, Logan Turner, Matthew Giantelli, Rob Kearns,  Eddie Rizkallah, Freddie Martinez, Eric Hall, Ethan Kwun, and Pranav Tadikonda. Candidates Kevin Hrozencik, Tudor Postolache, and Camber Vincent was not able to make it.

This episode was hosted by Ella Koenig, the script was written by Nikki Shah and Mirula Prasad, and publicity and outreach were done by Ella Koenig.

Graphic by Valerie Wang. Music by Corrigan Peters.

Edited by Savva Brown. Produced by Grace Burwell.

You can listen to the rest of the TidePod podcast here. 

 In the second episode of the brand new TidePod SGA segment, hosts Sabrena Carver-Tchagna and Lucy Meyer speak to junior Nick Asante, who is RM's very own Student Member of the Board of Education (or SMOB) candidate for the 2020-21 school year. Asante, who announced his run for SMOB in early 2020, has made it to the final two and is competing against Magruder HS junior Victoria Kidder. The SMOB election will take place on April 22. Montgomery County is one of two counties in Maryland to give its SMOB full Board of Education voting rights. To learn more about Asante and why he is running for SMOB, listen to "SGA Segment #2: RM's SMOB Candidate."
The featured guest for this episode is Nick Asante.

Hosted and narrated by Sabrena Carver-Tchagna and Lucy Meyer. Script, publicity, outreach, and editing by Sabrena Carver-Tchagna and Lucy Meyer.

Graphic by Valerie Wang. Music courtesy of Corrigan Peters. Produced by Grace Burwell.

You can listen to the rest of the TidePod podcast here.

In the eighth episode of the second season of the TidePod, we interviewed leadership members of RM's Black Student Union, or BSU, about Black History Month, which takes place during the month of February. At RM, the BSU is one of the school’s most active and popular clubs. From February 10th- 14th, the club planned a spirit week consisting of spirit days such as Motherland Monday and Flag Day Friday to celebrate their heritage and share their pride, leading up to the second annual Black Student Union’s African Diaspora Night event. We talked to incoming BSU leaders Lydia Daniel and Janna Stewartson about what Black History Month means to them, as well as what the club is like. In addition to interviewing BSU leaders, the hosts for this episode conducted research on the history of Black History Month to familiarize audiences on the topic.

Featured guests: Lydia Daniel and Janna Stewartson

Hosted by Alyssa Lee and Rachel Wang.

The script was written by Victoria Koretsky and Rediet Ghebrehiwet. Publicity and outreach by Brennan Rose. 

Graphic by Valerie Wang. Music courtesy of Corrigan Peters. 

Edited by Amna Shamim. Produced by Grace Burwell.

You can listen to the rest of the TidePod podcast here. 

 In the first episode of the brand new TidePod SGA segment, hosts Sabrena Carver-Tchagna and Lucy Meyer discuss an upcoming act that could impact Montgomery County schools, the Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2019. At RM, the SGA is working with the Girl Up club to campaign for menstrual equity. This campaign by Girl Up will include donating menstrual products to be used in the restrooms at RM until the bill is passed, signing a petition to express support for the bill, and writing letters to representatives in Congress in support of the bill. Ita Teta, a member of Girl Up, joins Carver-Tchagna and Meyer on today's episode to discuss this act, how RM students are advocating for it, and why it is important for schools to implement. 

The featured guest for this episode is Ita Teta.

Hosted and narrated by Sabrena Carver-Tchagna and Lucy Meyer. Script, publicity, outreach, and editing by Sabrena Carver-Tchagna and Lucy Meyer.

Graphic by Valerie Wang. Music courtesy of Corrigan Peters. Produced by Grace Burwell.

You can listen to the rest of the TidePod podcast here.

 This Valentine's Day, the TidePod interviewed both a student and teacher couple about their thoughts on Valentine's Day. Is Valentine's Day only for couples or a way for friends and family to celebrate their love too? Is it over-commercialized, or sweet? Hear two students and a teacher discuss their opinions on the holiday in the seventh episode of the second season of the TidePod. 

Featured guests: juniors Xochi Atienza and Caleb Hart, and science teacher Bessy Albaugh.

Hosted by Emily Huang, and narrated by Mirula Prasad.

Script by Mirula Prasad and Ella Koenig. Publicity and outreach by Savva Brown, Brennan Rose, Ella Koenig, Emily Huang, and Mirula Prasad. Graphic by Valerie Wang.

Music courtesy of Corrigan Peters.

Edited by Amna Shamim. Produced by Grace Burwell.

You can listen to the rest of the TidePod podcast here.

 This year, the TidePod is partnering with Richard Montgomery's Student Government Association (the SGA) to publish a podcast segment that will update the RM community on all of the relevant events and information about RM that students, teachers, and staff want to be in the know about. Written, hosted, and edited by SGA student advocacy coordinators Sabrena Carver-Tchagna and Lucy Meyer, the TidePod SGA segment will air once to twice a month and aims to be a shorter version of the TidePod aimed specifically at educating the RM community about what's going on at school. Tune in to find out more about everything Rocket Nation! The SGA segment will be available to listen to on Spotify and Buzzsprout alongside TidePod episodes. 

In the sixth episode of the second season of the TidePod, we interviewed the student producers of Richard Montgomery's own One Acts festival, an entirely student-run show comprised of four one-act plays that are often student-written and directed. Listen to "A Look Into the Making of One Acts" to find out more about RM's favorite winter show, and to hear from some of the students in charge of creating it!

The producers for One Acts this year are Ciara Culligan and Lilah Katz, and the assistant producers are Anand Chitnis and Rediet Ghebrehiwet. The technical directors are Rina Levy and Alisa Leung, and the assistant technical directors are Erin Sanders and Elsa Vincent. The assistant producers and technical directors will take over for the current producers and technical directors for next year's show.

The shows in this year's One Acts Festival are: Check Please, directed by Becca Howlett and Jordyn Gershoni, No Signal, written and directed by Tudor Postolache and Adam Winchenbach, Morally Grey, written and directed by Ali Saffel, and What's In a Name?, written and directed by JJ Kusnetsov, Ethan Hankins, and Julian St. Denis. The 2020 One Acts Festival will take place on Friday, January 31st at 7 pm.

Featured guests: One Acts assistant technical directors Erin Sanders and Elsa Vincent, assistant producer Anand Chitnis, and producer Lilah Katz.

Hosted and narrated by Victoria Koretsky and Ruth Taddesse. 

Script by Rediet Ghebrehiwet and Victoria Koretsky. Publicity and outreach by Brennan Rose. Graphic by Valerie Wang. 

Music courtesy of Corrigan Peters. 

Edited by Amna Shamim. Produced by Grace Burwell.

The TidePod is back for 2020! The fifth episode of season 2 was originally comprised of an interview with four students of different ideologies about their political beliefs. These four students were contacted based on a political demographics survey put out by the Tide in the fall of 2019 as well as their interest in being interviewed. This survey was meant to gather a representative glimpse of Richard Montgomery students’ political beliefs and involvement, however, we only had 348 responses. Unfortunately, the TidePod had issues with the original audio of this episode that resulted in the intended recording being unpublishable. 

Instead, the TidePod interviewed three Tide editors and Advanced Journalism students to give audiences an inside look into the making of the political survey and an analysis of the results. These editors have a unique perspective on the survey as they contributed to making and sending it out to RM students. In this episode, you will hear from these editors about the questions, results, and demographics of this survey.

Featured guests: Mary Ma, Shevani Tewari, and Christine Zhu.

Hosted by Brennan Rose, and narrated by Grace Burwell

Script by Grace Burwell, Mirula Prasad, and Brennan Rose. Publicity and outreach Grace Burwell, Mirula Prasad, Brennan Rose, and Ella Koenig. Cover art by Valerie Wang.

Music courtesy of Corrigan Peters. 

Edited by Savva Brown. Produced by Grace Burwell.

You can listen to the rest of the TidePod podcast here.