The Excuse to Learn Podcast was established in my first quarter at the University of Oregon. With Joe Krasnowski, a fellow sportswriter, I hosted, filmed, edited, and produced episodes of the podcast featuring various guests — including the one who inspired us to start the show.
Our first guest was FOX Sports commentator (and Oregon alumni) John Strong, who told us that we were "A little bit terrible at this" — meanwhile providing excellent advice and yet another excuse to learn.
The name comes from our desire for a reason to make use of the opportunities around us, from the world-class facilities in Oregon's Allen Hall to the wealth of knowledge that inhabits it. It's all an excuse — one well worth using.
What's On Our List
When we pitched the show to several professors, fellow writers and classmates, we showed them a list of things — skills, bits of knowledge and areas of expertise — that we wanted to glean from this experience. Those included increased confidence in speaking on air, the ability to shoot and edit a full-length podcast, work on social media and simple networking.
So far, we've been able to explore several of those paths — and uncovered several more that we are excited to learn about. It's fascinating and enlightening to work on a project like this, and it allows us to learn through experience rather than solely in the classroom. We're able to apply skills, try ourselves, and (most importantly) fail — for without failure, there is no growth.
What's on our list is just a starting point, but it's one that will continue to guide us through the lifetime of this project. I can't wait to see where it goes.
What We've Done
Social Media » Follow on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ExcusePod, where we post links to episodes alongside short clips and featured content from ourselves and other writers.
Stream full episodes on Spotify and YouTube.