Sacred Heart Greenwich student podcast wins first place in diversity contest

Sophomores Jhonni Dixon '23 and Advika Dushyanth '23 won first place in the Multimedia category for the Alma Rutgers Defining Diversity for their podcast, "Let's Face It."

The event was sponsored by the YWCA Greenwich, The First Selectman’s Diversity Advisory Committee, and The Greenwich Youth Services Bureau.

They were awarded $400 in prize money by The Resource Foundation, Inc.

Advika and Jhonni presented at the award ceremony on June 17.

They said, "Our submission was a podcast about the experiences of students of color in predominantly white private schools. We first had this idea when reflecting on our own experiences and decided to reach out to other people with similar backgrounds to see if they could relate. While interviewing the other students, we found a lot of similarities between their stories and ours. Ultimately, we wanted to shed light on these shared experiences and help people feel supported and heard when they feel uncomfortable or unseen in their school environments. This podcast is just the start and everything we got out of it has shown us that there is still work to be done, and imparting real change requires continuing the dialogue and frequently having conversations like this."

The students learned how to create podcasts in their Real World Filmmaking at Sacred Heart Greenwich. 

"For me, this contest was an opportunity to bring awareness to all the silenced voices at predominately white schools...This podcast allowed me to connect with other people of color and let them know they are not alone in their experiences; we have the power to change things for ourselves and others and that starts with bringing awareness," said Jhonni.

Congratulations, Advika and Jhonni!