St. Louis U. High’s very own podcast host extraordinaire, Assistant Principal for Mission Jim Linhares, is back at it again with a new episode coming soon about Ignatian education and lifestyle. 

 Linhares is the mastermind behind St. Louis U. High’s Insignis podcast, which seeks to reflect the school’s mission through the experiences of members of the school community. 

 “Insignis means worthy of note, in Latin, and so that's the idea,” said Linhares. “It is a podcast about SLUH, but a little more broadly about Jesuit education, and maybe even more broadly than that about the whole project of forming young men”

The next episode of the podcast is called “Ignatius Cannonball.” This episode will use the journeys of Fr. Matthew Stewart, S.J., former Dean of Students Mr. Eric Clark, and SLUH parents Hap and Mary Burke, to exemplify the richness of Ignatian teaching and formation and celebrate the 500-year anniversary of Ignatius’s cannonball incident. Other content in the episode will feature student experiences including the balloon launch, Mass of the Holy Spirit, and Campus Ministry. 

“It’s a story about a year of conversion and finding vocation and I was able to share my vocation and how I ended up as a Jesuit priest,” said Stewart. “I think it’s important to expose ourselves to different ways of how vocation and conversion come to light, and mine is going to be different than anybody else’s but it’s just another perspective on it.”

The Ignatian Cannonball episode will be followed by two more episodes planned for this academic year. Linhares plans on making an episode in the winter about school athletics and how it relates to the formation of young men, and an episode in the spring which highlights alums who have been successful in entertainment and production in and beyond SLUH.

Linhares is always on the lookout for interesting topics for the podcast.

“The very first thing I do is pick a topic and a subject, and then I map out how to engage some voices that would be entertaining and educational to listen to,” said Linhares. “It's there for people who want to learn more about SLUH and celebrate SLUH, but also kind of wider Jesuit education and topics that are important to it.”

While Linhares is the host and head of the podcast, the production wouldn’t be possible without the help from his technical engineers. They are integral to the process and effectively handle the editing and engineering aspects of the production.

“Over the past few years, the job of editing has been passed to (Director of Information Technology) Jonathan Dickmann, (former ASC volunteer) Giuseppe Vitellaro, and finally this year 2010 alum Will Linhares, who runs his own company in video and audio editing has taken over the job,” said Linhares.

In addition to adults around SLUH spearheading the podcast, Linhares is seeking student involvement. He frequently uses music from past and present students to compliment his episodes and bring an authentic feel to his school-based podcast. There are a multitude of other opportunities to contribute, such as helping with the production side for those who are into radio, video, or technical production. 

Most importantly, Linhares wants to increase the popularity of his podcast for the purpose of inspiring and giving students and adults real opportunities to share their skills and ideas.

 “I'd like to raise the profile of this thing so that people know that it is out there,” said Linhares. “My ultimate vision here would be to get students that are interested in radio, or interested in audio to learn how to edit the show to take their own segments and be a part of producing Insignis and kind of taking it on.