From a nervous first year to a confident higher class, and from mini-micros to a real podcast studio, Radio-Senior Jenna O’Dell has created a legacy of Lehigh that she hopes to last beyond the river.
During the 2024 season, O’Dell rowed in the first boat of eight lehigh academics, which received the honors of the Patriot League boat of the week. Inspired by sporting talent around her, last fall, she also started her own podcast, “The Mountain Hawk Talk”, which highlights athlete students from all Lehigh sports. She continues these things in addition to serving as a chief editor of Multimedia to Brown and white.
O’Dell said that she was initially intimidated by extended work as an athlete of division I, but she did an act of faith when she engaged in Lehigh.
“Coming to Lehigh, I had an idea of what an athlete would mean, but I did not make the impact that it would have on me as a person,” said O’Dell. “I came to see, with every error that I made, it makes you better. Failure is not something (to) be afraid. ”
Junior Mina Petrovic, teammate and roommate of O’Dell, echoed this feeling. She said that she had watched O’Dell grow when he saw her learning to accept certain results not as a bad thing, but as something to work.
“When I came to school for the first time, she was literally the first person I met, and she was so kind and made me feel so well received,” said Petrovic. “It’s an incredible athlete.”
Apart from rowing, O’Dell said that starting his own podcast has been one of his goals for a long time.
The last semester, she met Kelly Rohrer, associate director of communications for multimedia services, and made this dream a reality.
O’Dell built her podcast – what she calls her “little baby” – from zero. Rohrer credited the elder from all the work she put in it, before, during and after production.
The podcast presents conversations with the athlete students of Lehigh in various sports, offering an overview of their personal experiences.
Rohrer said that the nature of the podcast – a student interviewing an athlete student – is distinct and makes each guest feel welcome.
“She was able to make the guest comfortable and open and tell their story,” said Rohrer. “(She is) really sparkling, really happy and always enters a smile.”
Since the first episode made its debut on October 9, 2024, “The Mountain Hawk Talk” has gone from five to 36 listeners – an O’Dell milestone said represents the growth of the Podcast Beyond Numbers alone.
“The fact that we did this in a year, and we went from recording with mini microphones to a real podcast studio in a small closet is so revealing of the dedication to the cause,” said O’dell.
Now, 17 episodes later, Rohrer said she saw O’dell grow with the podcast.
She said that she had given a lot of notes after the first episodes, but when the spring semester arrived, her modifications began to decrease as a result of settle in the process and find her groove.
O’Dell said that another significant part of the Podcast met with different people from each of the 24 university teams in Lehigh.
“It’s super cool to find out more about people, as a senior, with whom I graduated,” she said.
Looking at graduation, O’Dell attributes his experience with “The Mountain Hawk Talk” as the jumping of a career in multimedia and sports journalism after Lehigh.
By reflecting in the past four years, O’Dell has said that it now included at what speed the university is taking place.
“In the big scheme of things, four years, it’s like a blip,” said O’Dell. “I guess I didn’t really realize it, and now that I got to this point, I just feel like I could do more.”
She said that former Professor Jack Lule, who retired from the Department of Journalism The Last Semester after a 34 -year career in Lehigh, was the most influential person for her throughout her stay in Lehigh.
“It was such a light in my life,” said O’Dell. “He supported me so much to become a journalist. He was just an incredible mentor for me. ”
She also said that she was grateful for her teammates to be a constant in her life, respecting her thick and thin. She said they had it in particular during her second year, when there was a change of coach in the rowing team and that she had trouble adapting.
While Petrovic is entering Lehigh in her last year, she said she would fail to see O’Dell and the friendship they built.
“His departure will be really emotional for me,” said Petrovic. “She has always been there to support me and help me. He is always someone I would go and talk if I had problems. ”