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What Makes a "Good School?"

CCBC Students Investigate and Share on New Podcast

By CCBC Stories

February 15^th, 2023

In spring 2020, a dozen CCBC students gathered virtually to discuss topics for a new podcast series project. The project was the brainchild of Beth Baunoch, associate professor of Media Studies, who wanted to give her students a broader platform to create new media and learn new skills in the process. To make it happen, she’d applied for and received a $40,000 Mellon/ACLS Community College Faculty Fellowship stipend.

Choosing one topic to investigate for the podcast series was challenging, but Baunoch wanted her students to come up with a topic on their own. In the end, they settled on a subject that had brought them together in the first place – school.

When one of the students mentioned a friend who attended a “good school,” the question then became, “What makes a good school?” They realized they had all felt the stigma associated with being community college students, but would they be getting a better education at a four-year university? To tackle these questions head on, the “Good School” podcast was born.

“While my friends had decided to go to different four-year schools … I found myself having to constantly advocate for my choice to go to CCBC,” said student Katlyn Drescher. “I wanted to be something bigger but was convinced since day one I couldn’t do it without some kind of prestigious degree under my arm. I refused to accept that.”

“GOOD SCHOOL” PODCAST HITS THE AIRWAYS

Over nearly two years – slowed at times due to the COVID pandemic – the “Good School” podcast crew dove deep into producing an audio documentary to investigate the complexities of higher education. To date, 25 students have worked on the podcast project, creating story lines, conducting research, interviewing people, editing audio, developing a marketing plan and even designing a logo.

Their journalism work has now hit the airways. The “Good School” podcast launched on February 15, 2023, with an episode about the role of faculty in higher education. Four more episodes will air each week thereafter, covering the history of higher education, how colleges are ranked, how students make their college decisions and the ins and outs of the admissions process. The podcast can be heard on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio and Stitcher.

Student Attia Robinson hopes the podcast will help people think harder about where they choose to go to school and why they make their decision.

“When people listen to the podcast, I hope they leave with the ability to analyze their feelings towards higher education and the reasons behind those feelings,” said Robinson, who is working toward an associate degree in Biology. “It involves posing questions – ‘Who taught me the things I know about higher education? Why do I think a school is a good school?’ And, ‘How do all these factors affect how I feel while attending the school?’”

Olivia Yates wants the podcast to convey the value of a community college education.

“Many people I know went to a community college, and I have seen its remarkable effect on each of their lives,” said Yates, who graduated from CCBC in May 2022 with an associate degree in General Studies and is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Policy, Politics and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore. “Although there is a stigma surrounding community colleges, attending one is an affordable way of getting a great education.”

What the students uncovered

The students interviewed an impressive line-up of subjects for the podcast episodes, including Sandra Kurtinitis, CCBC president, William “Brit” Kirwan, chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland, Richard Freeland, president of Northeastern University, Jeongeun Kim, associate professor of Higher Education at Arizona State University, as well as an admissions counselor at Goucher College, a Baltimore City high school guidance counselor and faculty at CCBC.

What the students uncovered in the first five episodes of “Good School,” Baunoch said, was that higher education is essentially a game that comes down to money and marketing.

“We all buy into this idea of prestige. It is a self-perpetuating problem that you have to get into Yale, but yet if Yale won’t let you in then students’ identities are shredded,” she said. “It’s a very excluding process.”

The student podcast crew doesn’t seem discouraged by what they uncovered. If anything, producing the podcast reinforced for them that a “good school” comes down to the individual student and what fits his or her needs.

“I might like certain things in a college that someone else despises,” said Yates. “If larger class sizes, a large student body, and dorm rooms are what a student likes, then that school is good for them. If another student likes a school with small class sizes and more online classes, then that school is also good. For me, a good school is one that presents a lot of internship and career opportunities, has small class sizes, puts students first, and takes into account a student's personal life and the work they have to do outside of the classroom.”

Robinson agrees.

“I’m not sure if I could say CCBC is a good school for everyone. You might not get as much out of it if you don’t share my interests and values. But I can say that I enjoy it here, and if you’re like me, you would too,” she said, noting that CCBC’s professors, low tuition, abundance of activities and diverse student body make CCBC a good school for her.

Bringing inclusivity to podcasting

The students’ hard work on the “Good School” podcast has already received national recognition. The College Media Association awarded the “Faculty” episode a third-place prize in the audio documentary category at its Film and Audio Festival in October 2022.

One of Baunoch’s goals for the podcast project is to bring more inclusivity to podcasting. The “Good School” podcast crew has so far met that goal by adding “really new, fresh voices” to the podcasting world and to the topic of higher education, she said, where the perspectives of community college students can be hard to find. In addition to serving on CCBC’s faculty, Baunoch is also executive producer of ForReal Media, a podcast production house that is producing “Good School.”

Baunoch said the students have “only just begun to scratch the surface” on the topic of higher education, and a season two for “Good School” is in the works.