Lights turn on, mic’s on, the audio recording turned on. Tony Klaer, Host of Swole is the Goal, takes a deep breath in, slowly releases, then begins the episode with the word of the day. 

Klaer is a student athlete who plays football and runs a podcast named “Swole is the Goal.” Klaer is currently on season 2, episode 7. “Swole is the Goal” is a yearly podcast recorded throughout the school year, each season ends when the school year ends. He created the podcast to entertain and teach his listeners. The podcast is accessible to listen to at https://lnestudios.podbean.com/.

 “I started the podcast to help better myself,” Klaer said. “It was a way to hold myself accountable, so I can do things that I want to be doing for myself. After a while the podcast wasn’t about me – it was about helping others and inspiring them to better themselves.”

Junior year, Tony had a vision for himself. He wanted to start a podcast. He asked for help from the visual audio teacher, Mr. Dirkes. He helped Tony understand the technology and how everything worked. Once Tony knew how to do everything, he was ready to start recording.

“Last year, I didn’t really know how to record or do much of the tech part,” Klaer said. “Mr. Dirkes was a big help. I knew I was good at talking but once I understood how [the technical side] worked, over time [both the episodes and I] got better.”

Klear said he’s happy with how well his podcast is doing and what the podcast has done for him, and his listeners.

“I practice what I preach.” Klaer said, “getting out of bed in the morning, going to the gym, I want to focus on all aspects of my life. Not just the bare minimum of working out and getting good grades, I want people to do other things, try something new.”

Klaer said the podcast helped him gain a new perspective.

“That’s really why I do this podcast,” Klaer said. “To get other people’s views and how they decide to get better. The podcast has helped broaden my views and helped improve myself as a person.”