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Welcome to Unlocking College Life! Real talk about all things college -- the good, the bad, the messy, the complicated, all of it. And you get to participate! Our show incorporates what you have to say -- your questions and your feedback. We go beyond our experiences working in higher education and mental health with hundreds of students like you. We reflect on current and ever-present issues of college students, with you and our guests. We‘ll encourage you to try new things in order to connect differently with yourself and others. And we hope to help you shift your perspectives on the college experience, authoring your own path. Let‘s dive in.
Episodes
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Ilona and Joy welcome Dr. Makeda Turner to discuss the role of an academic advisor and mentor in the college environment. Students may not be aware of all of the types of helping professionals in their college or university. Makeda highlights how to find advisors and mentors who can help students thrive amidst challenges.
Key Takeaways:
- Impact of “gatekeeping” in high school
- There is not always a seamless transition from high school to college
- Students of color may feel set-up at a PWI
- Advisors are in a unique role to help students find their way
- What to do if you don’t connect with your academic advisor
- Why Dr. Turner showed up at one of her student’s math classes
- There are lots of helping professionals - how to find yours
- Broadening students’ ideas of how an academic advisor can help
- How to advocate for yourself if you want to switch advisors or mentors
- Finding a sense of belonging and community as a key to success
- Makeda specializes in coaching graduate-level and doctoral students through their educational journeys. Find her at Essence4success
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- Instagram: Unlocking College Life
Tuesday Feb 22, 2022
Tuesday Feb 22, 2022
Ilona and Joy are joined by Barrett Bongiorno, a sixth year senior who began his college career at Miami University and transferred to the University of Michigan. Barrett talks about getting denied from his dream school and eventually finding a way there through determination and a laser focus on his end goal.
Key Takeaways:
- Considering varied paths to your dream school
- The big school vs. small school experience
- Advantages of being a transfer student
- Imposter syndrome - the transfer version
- Building friendships one-on-one
- Using the challenges of a shared class as a way to connect
- Approaching fear instead of avoiding it
- “There is no course hard enough to deter me from my end goal”
- No shame in having to use the all of the resources
- Seeing college as a great place to fail
- Plans, regrets, and not giving up
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- Instagram: Unlocking College Life
Tuesday Feb 15, 2022
Tuesday Feb 15, 2022
Ilona and Joy welcome business school student, Eric Hopfenbeck, to discuss life in an MBA program. Eric shares his perspective on connecting the for-profit and nonprofit world and his thoughts on social impact. He also discusses leadership values of humility, empathy, compassion, and collaboration as keys to success in current the business world.
Key Takeaways:
- Top things to consider if you’re interested in business school
- Ups and downs of an MBA program: “Highs, Lows, and Buffalos”
- How imposter syndrome can impact MBA students
- Business school resources that help students prepare for recruiting
- Emotional intelligence as a critically important trait as a leader
- Which business students tend to succeed longer term
- How business and public policy can work together for the greater good
- How to have social impact using private-sector tools
- The intersection of business and democracy
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- Instagram: Unlocking College Life
Tuesday Feb 08, 2022
Tuesday Feb 08, 2022
Joy and Ilona talk with Ishi Shukla, a junior at the University of Michigan, who is one of the co-founding members of a non-profit called the Lunar Doula Collective and a current president of a reciprocal student organization - the Luna Doula Support Network (LDSN). Ishi refuses to wait until she graduates to put her passions into action. She is driven by her passion to make a difference in her community and discusses how to keep moving forward even when it’s hard.
Key Takeaways:
- Engaging and impacting change (even) as a freshman
- Putting theories learned in the classroom into real-world practice
- Addressing stigmatized sexual health & reproductive loss
- Support for reproductive health, choice, and abortion
- Paying attention to current times & needs – how to adapt your vision
- Expecting change as part of growth
- Holding onto hope and leaning on the strength of community
- Taking student leadership to the next level, advocating for change
- Choosing mentors who will fuel your flame
- Lunar Doula Collective
- All Options Hotline
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- Instagram: Unlocking College Life
Tuesday Feb 01, 2022
Tuesday Feb 01, 2022
Joy and Ilona talk with Carina Burgher, a social work student who discusses her experience growing up as a disabled person. Carina is passionate about advocating for others who may not understand their mental health or physical health diagnoses. She believes in living a life as a disabled person that is full of joy.
Key Takeaways:
- Questioning and second-guessing persistent symptoms
- Being gaslit by health providers
- The exhaustion that comes with having to be resilient all the time
- Learning self-advocacy from college mentors
- The importance of support groups and social support through social media
- How participating in college sports helped with connection
- Exploring services for students with disabilities and adaptive fitness in college
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- Instagram: Unlocking College Life
Tuesday Jan 25, 2022
Tuesday Jan 25, 2022
Joy and Ilona talk with Morgan Brown, a freshman at the University of Michigan, who shares her experiences with anxiety and social anxiety in college. Morgan is passionate about destigmatizing mental health and being open about her story of childhood trauma and the path that brought her to where she is today.
Key Takeaways:
- Navigating a college campus and life with anxiety
- Making friends in spite of self-doubt
- Fear of failure/fear of the unknown
- Control the controllables
- Do the things that make you nervous
- Find out what happens with Morgan’s social media experiment
- Importance of asking for and accepting help
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- Instagram: Unlocking College Life
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
Ilona and Joy talk with Taylor Gayle White, a nontraditional undergraduate student at UNC Greensboro who is a mental health first aid instructor and also a recovery program assistant. Taylor has a powerful life journey that is informed by the tenet: “how can I be the best version of myself’ every single day.
Key Takeaways:
- Reframe on what it means to be in recovery
- The power of education about mental illness and addiction
- Cultivating a community of friends who support you no matter what
- Navigating reentry from prison back into the free world
- Reaching out before a crisis sets in and having coping skills at the ready
- What to do without access to phone or social media
- Continual reflection on self-worth and self-compassion
- “I’m worth it if I work it.”
- Collegiate Recovery: https://collegiaterecovery.org/
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- Instagram: Unlocking College Life
Tuesday Jan 11, 2022
Tuesday Jan 11, 2022
This episode tackles the concept of New Year’s resolutions, and the pros and cons of focusing on them. Joy and Ilona encourage students to broaden the concept of setting goals, and to start with values first. Resolutions and goals are not end points to be achieved or accomplished. What matters is what each student learns along the way.
Key Takeaways:
- Why resolutions don’t always stick
- How your values are connected to your goals
- Before you abandon a goal or resolution, try this idea instead
- How to utilize a vision board or a journal to stay on track
- Refining goals around friendship and connection
- What to do when things start to get in the way of a resolution
- The power of re-evaluating goals
Tuesday Jan 04, 2022
Tuesday Jan 04, 2022
Joy and Ilona talk with Alyxandria Ransom, a student majoring in chemistry and sociology at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Alyx discusses her experience of finding belonging and purpose as a disconnected transfer student.
Key Takeaways:
- What to do when you feel like “just a number” on campus
- The realities of needing to work two jobs on top of getting a college education
- Alyx’s advice for unconventional college students
- How do you find the people who say YES?
- It is not a failure to take a semester off
- Finding purpose isn’t always a linear process
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- Instagram: Unlocking College Life
Tuesday Dec 28, 2021
Tuesday Dec 28, 2021
Joy and Ilona talk with Sami Alves, a senior studying physics and computer science at Yale University who doubles as a flying trapeze gymnast.
Key Takeaways:
- Learning the skill of saying “no”
- Finding communities of women in the sciences
- Real friends who challenge you when you’re spread too thin
- Reframing unrealistic expectations of oneself
- The importance of hearing others’ struggles
- The group Sami joined that made a difference
Connect With Us
- Instagram: Unlocking College Life