The COVID-19 pandemic has led many to develop new hobbies. While some have kneaded their way through dehydrated loaves of homemade sourdough or spent painstaking hours chipping away at a puzzle, others have dabbled in content creation.  

Chapman’s Student Government Association (SGA) is the latest to ride that wave, creating a podcast titled “Hey, SGA!” Hosted by president Philip Goodrich and vice president Erin Mason, bi-weekly episodes focus on discussions of issues ranging across higher education. 

“It really stemmed from being in this remote environment and wanting to connect with the students and broader campus community,” Goodrich said of the podcast’s creation. “We figured that with everything going on … a podcast would be beneficial for the community and for SGA to digest and talk about everything that we’re doing, experiencing and going through.”

In three released episodes thus far since their first episode Jan. 4, Goodrich and Mason have focused on topics that directly affect Chapman students, such as remote learning and diversity and equity and inclusion initiatives. In the future, they plan to discuss financial aid, career development, climate change and free speech. 

“Throughout my time here at Chapman ... I've been exposed to a lot of the different topics that we’re talking about,” Mason said. “I'm hoping that it will be thought-provoking and students can dive deeper into higher education topics.”

The idea of an SGA podcast has been in the works since last semester, when Goodrich and Mason were first elected to their respective positions. Goodrich in particular has been a strong advocate for the podcast, but never expected he’d be the one serving as co-host.

“I’ve always had an interest in hosting a podcast; I just didn’t think it would come in a college student government role,” Goodrich said. “It’s a nice change of pace from emails and Zoom meetings. We get to talk about important issues.”

Goodrich believes the medium of a podcast is a strong method of communication, given that students can listen on their own time as opposed to showing up to a scheduled event while only needing to pay attention to an auditory element without strain on the eyes.

“I do think Zoom fatigue is a thing,” Mason said. “We figured doing a podcast would be easier because you can listen to it in the car, while doing laundry, or doing whatever you’re doing.”

Episodes are scripted in pre-production and edited in post-production by Sofia Fernandez, SGA’s director of public relations, and Cecilia Nguyen, SGA’s public relations assistant. Before collaborating with the public relations team, Goodrich and Mason educate themselves on the episode’s topic with some research of their own. 

“Sometimes we need to do some digging and look into (COVID-19) numbers and reopening guidelines,” Goodrich said. “Other times we speak from the heart and talk about whatever issues our guests want to talk about.” 

The podcast recently hosted Black Student Union (BSU) president Ramya Sinha to discuss BSU’s 12-point action plan and how students can get more involved on campus. In future podcasts, “Hey, SGA!” plans to host Chapman administration members as guests to offer their viewpoints on critical topics. Overall, Goodrich hopes to keep the podcast going for years to come in order to educate students on crucial topics.

“A broad desire is for people to have a better understanding — not just of the issues we're facing, but of what SGA is doing, what the university is doing about it and how we can all play a role in these issues,” Goodrich said. “I hope it ignites conversation around Chapman in a civilized way.”

“Hey, SGA!” is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.