From crossfires in Speech and Debate to being a delegate in Model United Nations (MUN), Bellevue High School freshmen, Vansh Chopra and Ben Koh, developed fondness for the world of diplomacy and public policy. With a desire for something more professional, they reached out to their Speech and Debate president, Jiadong Gu, about opportunities pertaining to international relations due to Gu’s extensive knowledge in the field. Despite being two years above the two others, Gu saw this as the perfect opening to collaborate with other passionate students on a podcast.

“Initially this project started out as something I was planning to do on my own, but Ben and Vansh both approached me about opportunities in the field of international relations and political science,” Gu commented. Gu remarks that he started the podcast “mainly just for fun” and because of his past experience working on a larger-scale podcast. He shares that it was “insightful to talk to experts about their predictions on certain affairs.”

Strait Talk, their podcast, focuses on geopolitics and aims to educate students and peers about international relations through interviews with industry professionals in a shorter format. “There are an awful lot of podcasts surrounding the area we target, but most of them are long or academic, so I saw an opening where I could condense it,” Gu stated. In recent episodes they have interviewed Nor Coquillard and Marc A. Ross, two experts who both have a large role in Indo-Pacific politics. Their mission for the podcast is to “simplify the misunderstood region of the Indo-Pacific and help other curious students understand geopolitics through their simplified layout. Moreover, for Chopra and Koh, not only does the podcast provide a landscape to educate themselves through the experiences of these professionals, but it also gives them a push into the industry of political science.

“I am grateful to work with Jiadong despite him being a junior because he has more experience in politics and policy, so he is helping me a lot,” Koh said. “The three of us always make sure to work as a team and get the work done together, which means the work is pretty evenly distributed,” Chopra said. It is rare for high schoolers to have a platform and enough authority to interview politicians, but Gu, with his large network and experience in congressional debate, creates this space for his peers.

Having both come to Bellevue High from the Advanced Learning path at Odle Middle School, Chopra and Koh are no strangers to the cutthroat nature of academic competition and success. They remark that the podcast is a good change of pace and a way to bond with other students instead of being in constant competition. “We work well together, and it is nice being on a team

with likeminded people, especially because we were friends beforehand,” Chopra and Ben both stated.

Creating an episode, according to them, is simple. They look through the news and forums to find experts that interest them. They use the method of “cold e-mailing” to invite them on the podcast. If they accept, they create a Zoom meeting link and set a date for the meeting. The day of, they e-mail the interviewee a packet of questions so they can prepare for the meeting and preform mic checks five minutes before going live. However, it can be a process of trial and error as, often times, they do not receive a response. The high schoolers ensure the process is streamlined from invitation to conference and that everything goes smoothly. “We try to make it as simple as possible for the interviewee, so most of the setup is on our end,” Gu said.

Gu, Chopra, and Koh plan to continue on their current track, but would like to expand, depending on the circumstances. “As long as we keep releasing episodes here and there, I'm satisfied,” Gu said. “But it is truly up to the audience and their thoughts.”

The current audience for the podcast is fellow Bellevue High classmates, specifically those on their Speech and Debate team. They hope that, if anything, their audience takes away at least one piece of new information about geopolitics. “But absolutely, being able to gain more monthly listeners and more likes on our episodes would be great,” Gu jokes.

Check out their episodes on Spotify and their website at https://strait-talk.us/. If you are interested in working with Strait Talk on an episode or know anyone who might be, please contact them @straittalk.us on Instagram or through LinkedIn.