3 Episode Descriptions and Sample Discussion Questions

Episode #1: Welcome to the Podcast (4.5 Minutes)

In this opening episode, we consider what college means in the 21st Century, we meet the student producers who will serve as our guides for this series, and we preview important college-related issues to be explored in later episodes.

Producer Narrators: Ana Leyva and Marko Milosevic

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Meet and identify with the series student producers/mentors
• Preview the issues that will be explored in the podcast series

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• This episode begins with a student comparing college to “crossing the whole Amazon river.”  What are your reactions to this way of describing college? Does it connect with your experience so far?
• Please name the six student producers and say one or two specific things you learned about each one.
• Create a brief (15-30) second introduction for yourself as a college student, similar to what the producers have done in Episode 1.  Please share something important about who you are and what brings you to college.
• Which of the college issues that are previewed in this episode seem most important to you at this point?  Why?
• What’s your reaction to the idea of an educational podcast?  Do you enjoy listening to this kind of audio storytelling, or would you rather watch or read an educational supplement?

Episode #2: Why Are You in College? (7.5 Minutes)

What in the world are you doing here in college? In our second episode, we explore the motivating factors that can push us into and pull us through college. We’ll also sit down with Dr. Brenda Flannery, Dean of the College of Business at Minnesota State University, Mankato, to learn more about what college means to those who have returned to campus and devote their life’s work to higher education.

Producer Narrators: Emily Albright and Monte Brown

Guest(s): Dr. Brenda Flannery, Dean of the College of Business at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Reflect on their motivations for attending college
• Expand their understanding of college (from a packaged set of classes to a place for life-long professional, civic and personal growth)

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• In what ways do you identify with the comments that Ana makes about college during her drive home?
• Ultimately Ana comes to see college as an exciting “center of knowledge.”  How does that view of college compare with your current view of college?
•  What one or two observations about college does Dr. Flannery make that you find meaningful or of value?
•  If your instructor or advisor hasn’t already done so, ask them to share something about their personal story about college: why they went, how it changed them, etc.
• Imagine you are recording yourself commuting home from college.  Let yourself freely reflect about why you are in college.
• Ana talks with Dr. Flannery about how college allows for older individuals and younger individuals to have meaningful connections and conversations. Why is this valuable?  What could you do to have more of these kinds of interactions?

Episode #3: Choosing a Major (9.5 minutes)

How are you supposed to decide what to do with the rest of your life? In this episode, we dive into one of the most confusing aspects of the college experience: choosing a major. To figure this out, we’ll spend some time with Gina Maahs-Zurbey, Academic Advisor and Student Relations Coordinator at Minnesota State University, Mankato. We’ll also follow producer Sonti Brandts in her multi-semester struggle to find the major that fit her skills … and her interests.

Producer Narrators: Ana Leyva and Marko Milosevic

Guest: Gina Maahs-Zurbey, Academic Advisor and Student Relations Coordinator at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Think critically about the process of selecting a major program/field of study
• Understand the complexity and common pitfalls of selecting a major

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• What have you been told by friends and family about selecting your major in college?
• How, if at all, do you identity with Sonti’s story about selecting her major?  What parts of her story are similar to yours? Different than yours?
• In her interview, Gina Maahs-Zurbey talks about the importance of focusing on what you like to do, rather than just trying to choose a major or please those around you.  What does this mean to you? Why might it be important?
• Related to Question 3, what kinds of things do you like to do?  How does this relate to your planned major or program of study?
• Describe two concerns or questions you have about your planned major (or a program or major field of study that you think may become your major)?  What will you do to get these questions answered?

Episode #4: Getting Help (11.5 minutes)

No one can survive college completely on their own, but what happens when we don’t ask for the help we need? In our fourth episode, we return to Gina Maahs-Zurbey, the MSU Mankato Academic Advisor we met back in Episode 3. Gina’s got an important story to tell about getting the help you need in college, and she recently performed this story at a Finding Your Place live storytelling event. As always, our producers provide some additional context and support along the way.

 Producer Narrators: Emily Albright and Monte Brown

Guest: Gina Maahs-Zurbey, Academic Advisor and Student Relations Coordinator at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Examine the choices students make when facing challenges to their success
• Consider the resources that are available for support, and the positive impact of those resources
• Build confidence in asking for help when help is needed

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• Gina’s story is quite complex and covers several different important moments and issues in her college journey. Describe at least three issues that Gina’s story seems to raise about college success.
• What one topic or theme in Gina’s story did you most identify with?  Why
• Getting to the overall theme of the episode, what does Gina’s story teach us about getting help in college?  What choices does she make, and what impact do these choices have on her outcomes?
• What specific action(s) might Gina’s story inspire you to take for your well-being and success in college?

Episode #5: Managing Fear in College (11 minutes)

Fear is such a common and powerful emotion in college, and if you’re feeling anxious, you’re certainly not alone. In this episode, Producers Tanita Cronk and Ana Leyva walk us through their social and personal anxieties in college, examining the ways they’ve been able to build relationships as well as get the counseling/advising support they’ve needed to feel more comfortable at college and to keep their fears to manageable proportions.

Producer Narrator: Tanita Cronk

Guest: Frank Schultz, Counselor at Century College

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Understand that fear is an entirely normal, common and natural emotion that students routinely experience in their college journey
• Describe the positive impact that personal counseling resources on campus can have
• Locate and consider using those counseling resources as needed

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• This episode features a sequence in which students on campus talk about their fears as they started college.  Which of these fears did you have, or do you also have currently? What other fears or concerns do you have about college that weren’t mentioned?
• Can you share a story about a time when you experienced a fear, and then overcame that fear in an educational setting (college or high school)?
• Visit the webpage for the Counseling/Advising Center at this college/university.  How do the services provided there match up with what Tanita and Frank discussed in their conversation?
• How did this episode make you feel or think about fear in college?
• What would you like to see done on campus to help you and/or other students better manage severe anxiety or excessive fear while in college?

Episode #6: Seeking Financial Aid (10 minutes)

Money is always a challenge, but college expenses make earning, borrowing and managing money even that much more challenging. In this episode, Faculty Producer Dave Engen joins a first-year student on campus as the student meets with a financial aid expert for the first time.  After that, Producer Tanita Cronk seeks out wisdom from a resources advocate who has experienced college while living in the crisis of poverty.

Producer Narrators: Emily Albright and Monte Brown

Guests: Mareese Brown, MSU Mankato student, Rachel Tanquist, Financial Aid Advisor at Minnesota State University, Mankato and An Garagiola-Bernier, graduate student at Hamline University and public policy advocate.

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Define the various types of tuition support that are considered a part of “financial aid”
• Locate and consider using financial aid support resources as questions arise
• Understand the additional challenges that students living in the crisis of poverty face as they pursue their degrees, and consider mindset strategies for continued persistence and resilience

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• What questions do you have about financial aid?
• According to the financial aid advisor, what types of tuition support are included in the definition of “financial aid”?
• In Tanita’s interview, An Garagiola-Bernier mentions that it’s sometimes hard for marginalized to approach a person in authority in college. Why do you think this can this be hard, and what advice does she offer to overcome this barrier?
• Tanita and An also talk about the way that individuals who are living in poverty sometimes feel stigmatized or out-of-place in college.  What’s your reaction to this part of their discussion?

Episode #7: Exploring the Value of Gen Eds (11.5 minutes)

In this episode, we dare to ask a question that many of you are wondering about: why do you have to take all of these general education courses?  Our producer team sits down for a roundtable discussion about the give and take of their gen ed experiences, and then Producer Monte Brown looks back on a general education course that ended up having a powerful impact on the way he saw himself as an African-American man and a scholar.

Producer Narrators: Ana Leyva and Marko Milosevic

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Understand the purpose and potential long-term educational value of general ed courses
• Consider the ways that general education curriculum can deepen our sense of self and cultural identity.

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• Why do you think general education classes are required for most college programs and degrees?
• Several of the student producers talk about unexpected things they gained for general education courses. Can you talk about a class you’ve taken in college or high school that surprised you, maybe one you didn’t necessarily want to take but that positively impacted you in some way?
• What is your reaction to Monte’s story about his African-American literature course?
• What one specific action related to general education courses might this episode help you take?
• Visit the college’s/university’s webpage and explore the general education curriculum (transfer goals, common graduation objectives, etc.).  Come back to class and be able to explain the main categories and the college’s rationale for their general education curriculum.

Episode #8: Going Back Home (12.5 minutes)

College changes who you are, and that can mean that “going home” can take on a different meaning after you’ve started college. In the eighth episode, our FYP producers take their audio recorders home, giving us a few of the sights and sounds of the places and people in their lives. But the focus of this episode is a story told by Faculty Producer Dave Engen. Engen reflects on the tensions of being caught between two worlds in college: the world of the professional middle class that college was preparing him to join and the working-class community in which he was raised.

Producer Narrator: Tanita Cronk

Guest(s): Dave Engen, Minnesota State University Mankato faculty, Communication Studies

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Reflect on the potential challenges to family and community life caused by the college experience
• Describe the experience of cultural disjunction, in which the culture of college for some students is potentially in conflict with religious, ethnic and socioeconomic/class cultural practices and beliefs

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• The producers recorded sounds of loved ones and family routines at home.  Describe one of your favorite sounds from the place you call home.
• How has your decision to attend college impacted the relationships you have with your friends and family back home?
• Dave Engen’s story relates directly to being a first-generation college student from a working-class community.  If you’re the first in your family to attend college, reflect on some of the positive aspects of being first as well as some of the challenges you’ve experienced in college that you believe connect to being first-generation.
• As stated in the conclusion of this episode, Engen’s story is about a white male who went to college in the late 1980s.  His story is likely different than yours, but try to identify 1-2 ways that his story possibly connects to your experiences.

Episode #9: Getting Involved Outside the Classroom (11 minutes)

In our ninth episode, we explore the important learning experiences that happen when we leave the college classroom and get involved with student life. Producer Emily Albright reflects on her first shaky steps into on-campus clubs and activities, and then later playfully crashes a celebration for a student-run newspaper, getting the staff members’ thoughts on what getting involved on campus means to their college education.

Producer Narrators: Emily Albright and Monte Brown

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Identify the common barriers to on-campus involvement in student life activities
• Describe the likely positive outcomes of getting involved on campus
• Locate centers for student life activities and consider getting involved

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• What advice have you already been given about getting involved on campus?  How has that advice maybe been hard to follow?
• What, if anything, has prevented you from getting involved in outside the classroom activities—either in college or high school?
• What parts of Emily’s story connected most with your own experiences with getting involved in college?
• If you had to create a metaphor for what seems to be happening to the students featured in this episode who are involved with the newspaper, what metaphor would you create?
• What benefits have you already received or do you believe you will receive from getting involved in outside-of-the-classroom activities?
• What kinds of out-of-class activities seem most interesting to you?  How can you find out if your college/university offers these activities?

Episode #10: Creating Your Place on Campus (10.5 minutes)

How do you turn college space into your space? In this episode, we bring the title of our series into focus. Producers Ana, Marko and Monte share sounds from their favorite places on campus, while Producer Marko sits down with Maxwell Poessnecker, Associate Director of Student Life and the Director of the first U.S. community college LGBTQ Center. Together, they examine the specific challenges that LGBTQ+ students can face as they try to find security and visibility, as well as the general challenges that all students face as they seek a space where they truly belong.

Producer Narrators: Emily Albright and Monte Brown

Guest: Maxwell Poessnecker, Associate Director of Student Life and the Director at Century College

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Shift perceptions of campus: from an impersonal institution to a community of belonging
• Identify and locate spaces on campus that inspire a sense of belonging
• Understand the challenges that LGBTQ+ students can face as they enter college

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• Have you found a place on campus where you feel like you can be yourself, where you feel at home?  If so, please talk about where and why.
• Imagine that you were required to spend an hour in a place on campus where you don’t normally go, but feel like you would probably benefit if you went there.  Where would you go first, and why?
• As Marko and Maxwell discuss, part of finding your place on campus is about feeling welcome, safe and included.  Do you feel welcome, safe and included here? And what can you do to help others feel this way?

Episode #11: Connecting with Mentors (10.5 minutes)

We’ve said it before, but no one really succeeds in college on their own. In this episode, our FYP producers get together to share their thoughts on being mentored in college and how it can make all the difference in achieving your goals. Producer Monte Brown then goes back to interview a vitally important mentor he met on his journey to becoming an education major and teacher.

Producer Narrators: Ana Leyva and Marko Milosevic

Guest: Dr. Mymique Baxter, Student Relations Coordinator at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Highlight the importance of mentors in college success and persistence
• Identify possible personal mentors and consider ways to signal a desire for being mentored

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• In your own words, what is a mentor?  Do you currently have a mentor like Mymique to support your college experience?
• What comments from the student producer roundtable discussion on mentoring stuck out to you the most?  Why?
• What do you believe are the barriers to finding a mentor on this college/university campus?  How could those barriers be overcome?
• Imagine that you’re going to set up an appointment for a conversation with a faculty or staff member on campus that you respect.  You tell them you’re trying to learn more about mentoring and would like to ask them about their lives and their approach to mentoring.  Share at least five questions you would ask this person.

Episode #12: Communicating with Your Professors (9.5 minutes)

Depending on how you’re raised, interacting with people in authority can be frightening, frustrating and something you’d rather avoid. In our final core episode, Producer Tanita Cronk bravely seeks out one of her professors during office hours to learn more about office visits, while other college and university faculty offer their advice for making the most out of your in-class and out-of-class interactions with your professors.

Producer Narrators: Ana Leyva and Marko Milosevic

Guest: Dr. Amanda Olson, Communication Faculty at Century College

Listener Outcomes for this Episode:

• Describe the importance of communication with instructors/professors
• Identify possible strategies for successful and mutually-beneficial interactions with instructors/professors

Potential Questions for Discussion:

• Generally speaking, why is it difficult for you or other students you know to communicate with a professor or teacher?
• But what are the benefits to communicating with professors or teachers?  List and discuss as many benefits as you can.
• Can you tell a story about an interaction with a professor that went well, maybe even surprisingly well?
• Based on what you heard in this episode, what are 2-3 things you could do to build or strengthen supportive relationships with your professors/instructors?
• Put yourself in the shoes of a professor/instructor who really wants their students to succeed.  How would you want your students to interact with you? How could you get them to visit your office hours more often?