This podcast began over the summer of 2020 as a result of the pandemic. Over the summers we usually spend much of our time volunteering at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden (we are not affiliated nor sponsored by them), but in 2020 that wasn't possible. Instead, we found other ways to connect with each other. The supervisors of the program held hangouts every Tuesday and Thursday on Zoom over the summer - the Thursday hangouts were for education and socializing, and the Tuesday hangouts were for the "ZooTeen creative space." On these days, teens would give presentations on their own projects or topics of interest. There were hangouts on types of dyes, bird identification, and arts and crafts. In late July, Margaret Sprigg-Dudley held one on podcasting, and the participants set to work on creating our first episode: aiding the rainforest.

 

Since then our team and platform has grown and we've learned more about podcast creation and marketing. The pandemic made this project possible: not only was it created because of the pandemic, we've also been able to hold weekly meetings. So while the pandemic brought hardship for everyone, we got a little good out of it too.

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