To stay connected with his classmates after Penn Law School suspended in-person classes amid the coronavirus pandemic, one student decided to start a podcast.
Jeremiah Oteh, a 2020 Penn Law graduate, created Penn Law Perspectives in April, and has since hosted five guests with whom he has discussed the impact of the coronavirus on the life of Penn Law students.
The podcast hopes to provide students' perspective, Oteh said, since most information the Penn community is receiving has come from University administration after on-campus operations were shut down in mid-March.
Oteh said his goal is for the podcast, also known as Carey Conversations, to serve as a place for students and alumni to reconnect and hear new perspectives.
Penn Law Perspectives is centered around three core questions — how did the guest react to the news of virtual learning, what were their plans for after graduation and how were they affected, and what is one beneficial aspect of sheltering in place. The podcast is independently produced from Penn Law school.
Oteh’s guests have included second- and third-year Penn Law students, as well as 2020 graduates.
He said his main focus is to have an informal conversation so that his guests feel like they are talking without a recording.
“[The podcast] seems like a very comfortable area where they are able to be themselves, be honest, and just share the things that are sometimes intimate,” 2020 Penn Law graduate and podcast guest Alexander Dawson said.
One Carey Conversations guest, 2020 Penn Law graduate Roland Templeman, spoke about how his parents' careers as actors created uncertainty in their own lives, which led him to pursue a steady career as an attorney. After graduating from law school, he is still facing uncertainty about his future as a lawyer, since his job start date may be postponed due to the coronavirus.
“By Jeremiah doing this podcast, I think it really gave people the chance to really connect despite the fact that we are far away from each other,” Templeman said.
Oteh said he plans to continue the podcast even after graduation and once he begins practicing law.
Carey Conversations is available on Spotify, iTunes, and SoundCloud.
“I wanted to just use the community that I attached myself to, which is the law school for the past three years, and the incredible people that I have met there, to build a narrative and gather perspectives, ” Oteh said.
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