Learn On Podcast
Learn On Podcast delivers high-quality content on science and talks about discoveries and issues in the STEM world as well as their possible solutions. They have audiences all across The United States and in 50+ countries on six continents
The teen chapter focuses on featuring various teen startups, youth-led organizations, teen entrepreneurs and highlighting them and the work they do and the positive impact they create on our society. We are very glad to feature Learn On Podcast and we are looking forward to knowing more about your organization. What amuses us is that both of them, being so young, have come up with such a brilliant idea and how they continue expanding it on their own.
So let us begin!
Q1) Welcome Jaansi and Sunay. Tell us a bit about yourselves and your background.
Ans: Hello! We are honored to be here and are excited to be talking with you today. My name is Jaansi, I’m 13 and I’m in ninth grade at Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, USA. A little bit about me; I love science. But, specifically, I’m interested in biology and medicine and I also enjoy neurology, psychology, and learning about the human brain and how our minds impact our body, which also happens to be our topic in most of our podcasts. I love taking nature walks and playing the flute in my free time.
Sunay: Hello everyone! I’m Sunay and I am seven years old and in
third grade. Just like Jaansi, I love science, technology, engineering, and math. My two favorite parts of science are chemistry and technology. My hobbies are riding my bicycle, doing art and painting.
Q2) How did you come up with the idea of starting a podcast?
Ans: Our podcast is a little over a year old now. We started last summer when the pandemic was in full motion and we were stuck inside and doing
everything for our summer breaks virtually and so Sunay and I, in our free time, would read magazines and articles and watch videos about the topics that we were interested in and share the information. That’s when a thought hit our minds,” why not bring more people into our conversation and hence a podcast would be a great platform to do that” and that is how our podcast was born.
Q3) What kind of content do you make on your podcast?
Ans: Our slogan is “SCIENCE SHOW BY KIDS FOR KIDS ''. In our first season, we started with normal topics from science (basics), which I and Jaansi had discussed. Season 2 was all about MINDFULNESS and we are continuing that topic in season 3 as well, but it’s more on the anatomy of the body. This podcast is also partly an exploration for us to discover science on our own and then share it with others. Our general purpose is to inform people, especially the youth about different scientific topics and how not only can we learn about them but we can apply them in our everyday lives to MAKE OUR OWN LIFE AND ALSO THE WORLD BETTER PLACE.
Q3) What are the challenges you faced in the initial stages of your podcast?
Ans: First of all, starting a podcast took a lot of research, to find the right platform to do so, how to manage time and everything and also we are always updating our ways and methods to reach a wider audience, editing the podcasts, reaching out to guests and recording. It’s a never-changing and evolving process. It was a bit hectic at first but now, we are more organized and we have quite a bit of experience. I (Jaansi) recently started high school so time management is also a bit of a task. We have improved in terms of audio quality, confidence, etc.
SO A LOT OF CHALLENGES=A LOT OF GROWTH
Q4) What are your roles in the organization?
Ans: Sunay and I have both created it together so we have equal positions in it and we work together as a team. But I (Jaansi) mostly handle the editing of podcasts, maintaining our social media platform, and reaching out to guests.
Sunayin: I’m the head researcher for LearnOn Podcast. So I compile all the scripts that we make, manage our discord server and I also help Jaansi with some of the Instagram posts.
Q5) What kind of impact would you like to create on our society with your podcasts?
Ans: I think the biggest thing that we focus on is mindfulness, being aware of your mind and your body, and the world around you. Mindfulness itself is a very abstract topic and it’s also not talked about as much for kids. So we like to bring that into our discussions and how the STEM field can help to better understand mindfulness because understanding and being aware of yourself and the world around is vital. We talked about the world on a large scale with science, how to understand things happening around us better like climate, history, etc. To conclude, the general idea is to inspire the youth to learn more about science and mindfulness.
Q6) Would you like to tell us about how you created such a strong social media base?
Ans: Yeah sure! We post techniques on how to have a healthy lifestyle, self-love, and self-care. Every time we post a new podcast, we also post it on Instagram saying ‘’hey, check out our new episode’’. Instagram insights also help us to manage effectively. I think we really have a strong base because our posts are really strong in our way and also following other people in your tribe and them following us back creates a great impact. Creating social connections is also very important and it helps us to spread our message and grow.
Q7) What motivates you to run the organization and do such amazing work?
Ans: First of all, it makes us happy to realize that our episodes have helped people and I would like to mention that it takes a lot of effort and huge time commitment, but we both can agree to the fact that we love doing this. We can help students and even ourselves, meeting and interacting with new people makes us happy. And sometimes when we are working we don’t realize the amount of time we’ve been working on this and just enjoy the flow of our work.
Q8) What are some of the topics you would like to cover in the future?
Ans: For the rest of season 3 we have four episodes coming very soon and we are going to be talking about things like yoga, mindfulness in the classroom, sleep schedules, etc. And in season 4 we will be still focusing on human anatomy but some deeper interactions. We are going to be talking about the human brain and how our specific senses and functions in the mind work. We'll be launching that next month (October) and we are excited about it.
Q9) How are you able to get renowned speakers?
Ans: Mostly I (Jaansi) contact the guest speaker through the mail. A lot of our speakers are our mutuals on Instagram as we’ve already interacted with them before. Having those connections and knowledge is really helpful. Being yourself and being authentic about who you are is helpful in that process and we are grateful for everybody coming onto our show.
Q10) Would you like to give any advice to our viewers?
Ans: I (Sunay) would say be yourself, have high goals, remember don’t be overly productive or lazy, and be mindful.
Jaansi: Having a balance is helpful and important when you’re pursuing your career. Do what you love and enjoy.
Q11) Do you have any open positions on your team?
Ans: We don’t have any positions open specifically to be a part of the team as this was a passion project started by both of us and so we love to manage everything by ourselves. But we do accept suggestions for our podcast episode ideas from our listeners. So anyone can contact us from our website, our discord server, or Instagram. We might consider opening positions in the future but right now you can support us by listening to our episodes and interacting with us.
That is the end of the interaction with LearnOn Podcast!
THANK YOU
Teen Chapter
Written by: Dnyanada Sagare
Edited by: Manaswini Mantha