The Hosts
Who We Are
Jered Cooper
Jered Cooper is from Fort Washington, Maryland and currently attends the University of Virginia as a rising fourth year. He is a government major with a deep passion for understanding the inner workings of politics and public policy. His love for American history has been a driving force throughout his academic journey, as he finds inspiration in exploring the narratives of the past. Jered is a writer for the Virginia Undergraduate Law Review and a member of Middle Grounds, a discussion based group that seeks to build consensus and understanding in regards to political issues. His future professional goals include attending law school to study constitutional theory.
Kristin O'Donoghue
Kristin O’Donoghue is a rising fourth-year from NYC, double-majoring in History and Political & Social Thought. Kristin is excited to bring her thinking skills to the Bipodisan project, and also plans to use some of her historical reasoning to debate her co-host effectively. Aside from Bipodisan, Kristin co-founded and helps to lead SERV (Students for Equity and Reform), a policy advocacy group on Grounds. She serves on the board of Cville-NOW (National Organization for Women) and interns for Resilience Education, a nonprofit which brings business education to incarcerated individuals. Kristin is a freelance writer and interned for the speechwriting firm Washington Writers Network. When expressing her qualms on the podcast is not enough, Kristin loves to run far away from problems and politics, exploring Charlottesville by foot.
Alex Frielander
Alex Friedlander is a rising third year from New Orleans, Louisiana studying Economics and Spanish. This summer, he studied abroad in Valencia, Spain, and fully intends to make it his entire personality when he returns to Grounds. Outside the classroom, Alex writes for the Virginia Undergraduate Law Review, is on the executive board for UVA’s only non-partisan political club Middle Grounds (go join it), and is currently training for a marathon. Don’t ask him his speed, that’s not important.
Juliana Paine
Juliana Paine is a third year student from Dublin, Virginia in the McIntire School of Commerce. Alongside Bipodisan, she is the vice-president and cofounder of Middle Grounds, a contracted independent organization whose mission is to aid in healing America’s splintering political divide (you can probably notice a theme.) Juliana is also a co-president and cofounder of Hoos Writing at UVA, a volunteer at the LGBTQ Center, and an intern at the Karsh Institute of Democracy. She believes that, even though the apparent end of the world is approaching and nihilism is on the rise, these conversations between differing perspectives do, indeed, matter.
