Giving Youth a Voice

For the Bucks County Community College Bucks Collegiate Recovery Program Event in March of 2025, our podcasters prepared questions for the guest speaker and author Brandon Novak, a skateboarder known for the Jackass films, about what it means to recover. We also spoke to the event coordinator, Emily Sexton, on the purpose of the BCCC Bucks Collegiate Recovery Program, and with Demita Harvey from No Longer Bound and the Bristol Cares Coalition about helping youth with mental health.

Our podcasters interview Reporter June Portnoy, managing Editor of O'Rourke Media Group, about what it's like to become a writer and journalist.

Meet the teens who created the new sound of our podcast. Neshaminy High School music production students took the challenge to compose a variety of intros and outros for the Giving Youth a Voice podcast. Along the way, they learned a lot about their own talents, creativity and technical skills. Listen as they share their experiences and sense of accomplishment.

This episode focuses on the difficult topic of loss through the lens of kids and how to cope while growing up. Our podcasters discuss grief and loss with social worker and thanatologist Amy Keiper-Shaw, the founder and president of Hands Holding Hearts in Newtown, Pennsylvania. Hands Holding Hearts is a non-profit that supports all ages going through grief, with camps, therapy horses and dogs, therapy resources and other events. For more information, check out handsholdinghearts.org.

Coping with grief and loss is different for every individual. Our podcasters interview social worker and thanatologist Amy Keiper-Shaw, founder and president of Hands Holding Hearts in Newtown, PA. This episode discusses the difficult topic of loss as an adult as well as how to see a child through their grief. Hands Holding Hearts is a non-profit that supports all ages going through grief, with camps, therapy horses and dogs, therapy resources and other events. For more information, check out handsholdinghearts.org.

In this interview, Sterlen Barr, motivational health educator and rap artist with RAP (Rapping About Prevention), says hopes people will encourage their friends and family members to not smoke or vape, and never to use these deadly substances. He also calls for legislation to restrict youth access to tobacco. The episode was recorded at Day at The Capitol, hosted by the American Lung Association and the Tobacco Resistance Unit PA, on May 6, 2025.

Tobacco Resistance Unit (TRU) Ambassador Amira Moumeny-Snyder, a student at Dauphin County Technical School, talks about what it means to be a TRU Ambassador, how she helped set up Day at the Capitol, and how adding vaping to the Clean Indoor Air Act would lead to huge changes in prevention and protect lives. This Giving Youth a Voice interview was recorded on May 6, 2025 during Day at the Capitol in Harrisburg, PA, hosted by TRU and the American Lung Association.

Our hosts discuss the realities of going from Middle School to High School, and chat with a new ninth grader about what she has to look forward to in High School.

Our hosts discuss their questions with a first year college student and a college graduate about what arriving to college entails and what resources are available, and chat about what high school graduates have to look forward to in college.

“I want young people to know what a difference they can make,” says Deb Brown, Chief Mission Officer of the national American Lung Association. In an interview with Giving Youth a Voice podcasters, she praises young people for taking action to help close loopholes in the Clean Indoor Air Law and encourages teens to continue to talk with legislators about issues because their voices can really make a difference. This interview was recorded on May 6, 2025 during Day at the Capitol in Harrisburg, PA, hosted by the American Lung Association and the Tobacco Resistance Unit.

Students from Neshaminy interview Dr. Debbie Van Aken, a psychologist from New Hope, Pennsylvania, about how to navigate social media when addressing mental health.

Students from Neshaminy interview Dr. Debbie Van Aken, a psychologist from New Hope, Pennsylvania, about how to cope with their mental health in this day and age.

Students from Neshaminy interview Dr. Debbie Van Aken, a psychologist from New Hope, Pennsylvania, about how to talk to their loved ones about their mental health.

This episode features information about the Sunset Challenge, a 2K and 5K race held in Neshaminy every year by Stand Up Neshaminy. There are interviews with the Sunset Challenge's organizers and attendees, and how they feel about Stand Up Neshaminy's mission.

In this episode, our podcasters interview Angie Nagel, Executive Director of Bucks County Parks and Recreation, about the installation of Young Lungs at Play signs around Core Creek Park's playground. These signs are a reminder that cigarette smoke and vape clouds are dangerous to groups with sensitive lungs, which include children and the elderly. Our community hopes to keep the air around parks and playgrounds clean.

The Commonwealth Prevention Alliance's Youth Summit day featured Neshaminy's Giving Youth A Voice podcast and Adam's county Kids With Coffee podcast to shine a light on Pennsylvania's youth leaders. Kids from across the state visited the state capital in Harrisburg to converse with their state representatives about the youth perspective of mental health and substance misuse prevention in their communities. We listen to CPA's executive director and interview the youth leaders as they champion coalition advocacy at the state level.

An interview of the superstars behind the Neshaminy Summer Stock program, which is an intensive theater program open to Bucks County students, grades 2-12. Learn from main stage Director, Josh Tull, Summer Fine Arts Coordinator, Jan King, and actress and podcast host, Brianna, about interest in summer theater. Registration will be available in November.

What would you do when you are put into a pressured situation? Questions about peer pressure posed by youth in Neshaminy are answered by adults with diverse backgrounds.