OPB's Class Of 2025 project has been documenting the growth of 27 students who started school together in Southeast Portland for 8 years.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
OPB has followed a group of students for eight years, charting their journey toward high school graduation in 2025.
In spring 2020, the students were in 7th grade — the middle child of middle school. As academics are getting more difficult, students are going through other things too.
Then COVID-19 shut down school buildings, creating a whole new challenge to middle school: what happens when school — and students — move from learning in a classroom to learning at home?
‘Class Of 2025’ is a six-episode podcast from Oregon Public Broadcasting, with new episodes dropping weekly, hosted and produced by OPB’s Elizabeth Miller, edited and produced by Rob Manning and Elyssa Dudley. Episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR One app, and at opb.org.
The Class Of 2025 podcast was made possible with support from the Education Writers’ Association Reporting Fellowship.