A cruise ship performer, a Moscow-based diplomat and a Cyclocross champion walk into a… podcast? No, it’s not a joke. It’s Season Two of the Day After Graduation podcast, which launched this week.

Produced by Longwood’s Office of Alumni and Career Services, the podcast is aimed at giving recent graduates and alumni a window into the transition from college to career, as well as bringing to life different aspects of the professional world.

Our goal is to tell the unique experiences and surprising life happenings of Longwood alumni and friends who are out in the real world, working hard, finding great success and also learning from their mistakes.

Ryan Catherwood, assistant vice president for alumni and career services. Tweet This

“Our goal is to tell the unique experiences and surprising life happenings of Longwood alumni and friends who are out in the real world, working hard, finding great success and also learning from their mistakes,” said Ryan Catherwood, assistant vice president for alumni and career services.

Each 20- to 35-minute episode is modeled after popular podcasts like NPR’s This American Life and usually focuses on two stories linked by a common theme. New episodes will be released each Thursday, beginning this week and running through graduation in May.

The first episode, titled “Toxic Teachers,” explores what happens when workplace environments go bad and an employee faces a situation that is beyond his or her control.

Future episodes will include the stories of Longwood alumni who have experienced the triumphs and pitfalls of professional life, one as a member of the foreign service working in Moscow, another as a lead performer on a Carnival cruise ship and a third as a 2017 U.S. Cyclocross national champion.

The majority of stories focus on Longwood alumni, but some highlight nonalumni, such as the story of how an Olympic gold medalist rose to the pinnacle of her sport and is now going back to college. Another podcast episode will revisit the case of Longwood alumna Amy Bradley, whose disappearance while vacationing on a cruise ship remains unsolved 20 years later.

“We want to inform graduates as they transition to the workplace, but do so with great storytelling that appeals to a much wider audience,” Catherwood said.

The podcast co-hosts for this season are Longwood Director of Career Services Bryan Rose ’11 and The Rotunda Editor-in-Chief Halle Parker ’18, who help draw out the stories of the featured guests.

The podcast is free and available through iTunes, Soundcloud and Stitcher Radio, as well as online. hyperlink: http://www.longwood.edu/alumni/day-after-graduation-podcast/

The first season ran for 10 episodes; the second season is expected to include up to 12 episodes.

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