Over the past month, a group of Joliet West students and their English teacher have started the Tiger Talk podcast. The new podcast discusses multiple topics that relate to the Joliet West community.

So far, there have been three episodes of Tiger Talk. The first two episodes were released on November 2. These episodes discussed the infamous “Devious Licks” that dominated schools across the country earlier this school year, as well as Marvel, new school tardy policies, and the investigation of Brian Laundry. The latest episode, released mid-November, discusses Astroworld, questionable clothing attire, and student mental health.

There are multiple students featured each week, providing commentary on these topics. The podcast hosts include seniors Vin Vasquez, Mikaya Marshall, Wally Nowacki, and Mayra Arias as well as their English teacher, Mr. Chad Mirus, who sponsors the podcast.

Mr. Mirus decided to start Tiger Talk because he believes, “I think it’s a different way to learn material, to interact with issues, and to discuss. I wanted students to have an opportunity to talk about issues in a safe environment, but also to bring back conversations.” He continued, “We live in a world full of character counts, quick responses, and memes. I wanted to reintroduce conversation and long form discussion.”

Senior Vin Vasquez, who has been featured in all three of the Tiger Talk episodes so far, mentions that he wanted to get involved in the podcast because he enjoys listening to podcasts while doing homework and has noticed its growing popularity. But Vasquez was most excited about joining the podcast to have impactful discussions with his friends and peers. “Tiger Talk is a good opportunity to talk with friends about topics relevant to today,” said the senior.

Tiger Talk is bringing a new way of communicating and starting conversations about what is happening in our world amongst the Joliet West. Vasquez hopes the podcast can benefit Joliet West by creating “a more close, tightly-knit community.”

Reception to the podcast from both students and staff has been positive so far, according to Mr. Mirus. And luckily, Tiger Talk’s audience is continuing to grow as well. Mr. Mirus is hopeful for the podcast to reach the same level of popularity as other Joliet West multimedia outlets such as school news network TNN.

The podcast has big plans for the upcoming semester. In order to get more voices involved, Mr. Mirus stated that they plan to interview more student leaders of clubs, organizations, teams, as well as staff members including administration and counselors. “It’s important to remember that we have experts in so many different areas in our school—and this will provide a podium for them to speak and get their message across.”

Tiger Talk is planning to release one more episode by the end of the semester. Listeners can currently only access the episodes on Spotify, however the podcast is currently testing out Apple Podcast so people can soon also stream there.