for young people. We ask them why young people should vote for them, and what they want to say to New Zealand youth. These are big personality politicians and we are trying to be very professional.” As well as David Seymour, the Christchurch team spoke to Samanatha Hayes and Guy Williams in Auckland. “We were at the NZMe offices, right by the TVNZ studios, and we saw Jeremy Wells, Jono Prior, Ben Boyce, Jack Tame, Katie Bradford, Valerie Adams, Hilary Barry, Bella Pownall, Simon Dallow, and Dan the weatherman,” says Ben Pownall. Some of them already knew about the podcasts made by The Project, and others were keen to help the boys in the future. “We had a couple of offers – Jessica Mutch-McKay offered potential work experience opportunities in the future.” All four boys say they have all grown in confidence since starting The College Project. “We’ve learnt so much, and the quality of our interviewing has improved a lot. We’re a little bit more combative than we were. You have to earn some more respect sometimes,” they say. “And we’ve tapped into the accessibility of New Zealand. That has been amazing,” says Angad. Handing over the podcast project to another group will be tough for the four originals.
At the Beehive where their Wellington podcasts were made, they had access to the theatrette where One News’ political commentaries are filmed, and were ushered around for the morning by a designated Parliamentary guide. “We spotted people like Marama Davidson and Grant Robertson,” says Ben Davis, who is on The Project’s sound board. “Being in Parliament was incredibly stimulating,” Ethan observed. “It was really exciting
because Todd Muller was Leader of the Opposition at the time, and we were the first to get a statement from David Seymour on Muller’s resignation that day,” says Angad. Benedict Pownall was tasked with posing a really tricky question to each of the interviewees, and the boys say their favourite part of the trip was in Auckland when David Seymour and Benedict were “absolutely going in on each other.” “Our whole focus is on what these politicians are going to do
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