SPRINGFIELD — The latest episode of the Hillcrests’ “Bay 11” podcast discusses a rumored threat at the school. 
 
Students in Springfield are speaking out about recent school threats in the wake of the Florida attack. 
    
Hillcrest High School’s media program tells the story of a recent rumored threat against its school.

Until this year, HTV was based around video and print publication, but they have made a splash with the rise of their “Bay 11” podcast. The most recent episode described the feeling at school after a rumored threat at Hillcrest.  

In his near 30 years of leading the HTV program at Hillcrest High School, Dave Davis says this is the sad reality we face in today’s society. The most recent episode titled “Wildfire” has a deeper meaning. 

“That’s a story we would never even think about when we started HTV,” Davis says. “That podcast is not just about attacks on schools, it is about social media getting out of hand and spreading like wildfire. It is hard to put the genie back in the bottle once all these things start floating around on Snapchat and twitter.” 

When rumors began to swirl about a threat made against the school, the district conducted a swift and thorough investigation, suspending the student as a precaution, deeming no credible threat. The students were able to tell the story from within. 

Senior Emily Peebles is the host of Bay 11, and says that as a student, she takes pride in being able to have a voice. 

“Our motto is kind of by teens, for teens,” Peebles says. “Most people think they can’t have a voice especially when you’re younger. It’s just hard to really put yourself out there for people. Especially people older than you, your elders.” 

Davis says student broadcasts have an advantage over the pros. 

“One thing that high school broadcast classes can do better than professionals quite honestly is they can access teenagers and get them talking, get them to be real,” Davis says.   

Senior Reporter Ellen Fountain says the ability to be relatable was a strength they played to for this recent episode.

“A lot of people weren’t sure with all the rumors, and they could come to us and hear,” Fountain says. “We obviously didn’t bias it or anything, we just told them the facts and what happened. You could hear voices from kids at Hillcrest and teachers.” 

Davis says the students got the ball rolling on this project, and credits them for the hard work. 

“The kids really had an investment in doing this and I said ‘Okay let’s see what we can do’, and we pulled it off,” Davis says.  

If you want to take a listen to this 17 minute episode, and more episodes by Bay 11, you can find them here.