Episode #5: Navigating the Game of College Artwork

The Rural College Student Experience

The Rural College Student Experience is the only podcast dedicated exclusively to centering rural college student voices in broader conversations about higher education access and equity. Hosted by Dr. Matt Newlin (www.mattnewlin.com), each episode will feature a co-host who is a currently enrolled student from a rural community. Co-hosts will share their perspectives on higher education and the needs of students from rural backgrounds. Each episode will also feature a guest who will bring additional insight and perspectives to the rural college student experience. Guests are researchers, scholars, practitioners, or counselors whose work focuses primarily on rural students in college. Follow RCSE on Twitter at @rcsepod. The Rural College Student Experience is presented in partnership with Believe in Students (www.believeinstudents.org). Believe in Students is the nation’s only non-profit organization focused exclusively on helping college students to meet their basic needs.

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The Rural College Student Experience

Episode #5: Navigating the Game of College

November 23, 2021 • Season 1 • Episode 5

"[Colleges] can have as much resources as [they] want, but if you're not making sure rural students know they exist then those resource are pointless."

Bryson Henriott joins Dr. Matt Newlin as co-host of Episode 5 to discuss how rural students navigate the "game" of college. For many rural students - especially those who are the first in their families to attend a postsecondary institution - college can really feel like a game where everyone knows the rules except you. Unfamiliar and burdensome policies can make college feel like a maze that is too daunting to begin.

Co-host Bryson Henriott is a third year student at the University of Georgia. Bryson grew up in Vidalia, Georgia and is now double majoring in Political Science and Public Relations with certificates in Applied Politics and Organizational and Personal Leadership. He is also the president of a student organization called RISE, Rural Students Igniting Success in Education. He also serves in the Student Government Association and was an Orientation Leader.

Our guest today is Dr. Tricia Seifert, a professor in the Adult & Higher Education program at Montana State University who also maintains a faculty appointment at the University of Toronto. Her research broadly investigates the relationship between college student experiences and postsecondary learning and success. Dr. Seifert has begun examining how to support students in the college transition and has launched Success Prints Crash Course® for use in conjunction with college readiness curricula in high schools and first-year experience programs in colleges and universities. Dr. Siefert was named Most Valuable Professor at Montana State University in 2018 and received the Award of Honour from the Canadian Association for College and University Student Services in 2015.

We are greatly appreciative of our partners Believe in Students and their mission to elevate students' voices in order to meet the basic needs of today's college students. Please check out the #RealCollege blog for student stories and perspectives.