DPHS Speaks – a new podcasting program – has taken off at Deer Park High School. Guided by adviser and school librarian Evan DeNaro, the club provides students with a fresh and exciting way to communicate with their peers and invaluable debating, public speaking and production experience.
“I was inspired by Robert Frost Middle School library media specialist Anne Lotito-Schuh’s use of her podcast setup, which she received with funds from New York State's Unplugged Summer Program,” DeNaro said. “I was very interested in what a podcasting club might look like at the high school level, so I requested the same setup from our tech director, Jay Murphy, who was more than happy to oblige. After having an Unplugged program of my own, I discussed starting a podcast with two students who were immediately interested in becoming podcast hosts.”
The group began as the Newsroom Podcast Club, meeting weekly and featuring different themed episodes on topics that the hosts knew were relevant to teens (such as “What They Don’t Tell You About High School,” “True Crime,” “New Year’s Resolutions” and “Spotify Wrapped”) before branching out into themed episodes with community members (such as Deer Park Public Library teen librarian Julia Sukhu), teachers (Black Student Union adviser Aleisha Forbes) and club officers (Muslim Student Association President Alishba Syed). The club later rebranded to DPHS Speaks to avoid confusion with the high school’s Newspaper Club and Robert Frost Middle School’s Newsroom Club. Senior Parleen Kaur and junior Anabella Lindsay serve as co-presidents of the club, which currently boasts 15 members and records episodes every Friday.
“It’s important to have new topics every meeting, and to pick good topics, which keeps the conversations engaging and allows the participants to feel comfortable and express how they feel about the topic,” said Lindsay, who gained valuable experience while serving as the club’s outreach manager last year.
“During every episode, not only are we talking, but we make sure to engage the audience as well,” Kaur said. “We’ll pass around the mic to make sure everybody is talking and engaging in conversation with us. I think this club builds great public speaking skills as well as leadership skills. It’s a really good confidence boost as long as everyone is comfortable with each other. We never make fun of anyone and make sure to keep the language positive and school-friendly, and we like to have fun.”
The building of The Roost, the library’s new modular classroom and makerspace, has provided the podcasters and other communications students with the space and flexibility needed to transform the high school newsroom into a true multimedia production hub. Mobile, rearrangeable furniture, a new smartboard and upgraded electrical access has given the podcast equipment and fledgling podcasters a place to call home.
The DPHS podcast studio is also available to teachers for their classes to record. For example, Lauren Madden’s and Kiera Carter’s FACS classes recorded podcast episodes after researching nutrition topics and writing scripts that discuss their research.
The high school isn’t the only place in Deer Park’s schools where podcasting is powerful. At Robert Frost, the Library Leaders Club has been producing its “Out Loud in the Library!" podcast since 2023, guided by Lotito-Schuh. This burgeoning middle school club currently has about 25 members. All “Out Loud in the Library!” episodes, which feature students reviewing books and promoting the library's resources and fun programming, are published on Spotify, and the most current episode is featured in the library’s Google Classroom.
Click here to view the New Podcasting Program Takes to the Airways slideshow.
Date Added: 1/15/2026