Walter Johnson Senior Built an Interview Platform and Found His Voice Along the Way

Ryan Aleman Reyes started high school hesitant to speak up. By his senior year at Walter Johnson High School, he had founded the school’s Communications Club and built his own interview platform, one that now includes conversations with Montgomery County Public Schools leaders.

Episode 8 of Moderately Mic’d features Aleman Reyes, a senior whose work on communication, leadership, and student voice has taken him from managing a stutter to preparing to interview the MCPS Superintendent.

The conversation covers how Aleman Reyes found the confidence to start creating content, why he launched the Communications Club, and what happened when the club nearly fell apart. He walked through the process of rebuilding it and what that taught him about leadership, failure, and the difference between building a résumé and building a community.

Aleman Reyes also discussed what he has learned from interviewing other students and MCPS leaders: how those conversations shifted his understanding of communication from speaking to listening, and why seeing the person behind the statistics matters more than he expected.

The episode touches on growing up between Peru and the United States, the tension between influence and impact, how social media shapes authenticity, and where artificial intelligence fits into finding your own voice. Aleman Reyes also talked about basketball, resilience, and why asking the right questions can sometimes matter more than having the right answers.

Aleman Reyes is still in high school, but his perspective on what communication and leadership actually require made for a substantive conversation about student voice, public speaking, and the work it takes to move past hesitation.

The episode was filmed July 25, 2026 in Rockville.

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Watch the full episode

Listen to Moderately Mic’d

Listen to this episode: Ryan Aleman Reyes on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (Moderately Mic’d Episode 8).

New episodes of Moderately Mic’d spotlight the people shaping what’s next in Montgomery County. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, watch the full episode playlist on YouTube, or see every episode on the show page.

Moderately Mic’d also airs on Montgomery Community Media (MCM) Channel 21, available on Comcast, Verizon Fios, and RCN.

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