All In: Student Pathways Forward

Marc Goldberg

5.0 (12)
Education
Monthly

This podcast focuses on elevating community college student voices to shape inclusive higher education and workforce development policies, practice and partnerships that create economic mobility.

Oct 13

Underwriting the Future: How Harper College and Zurich Have Built and Scaled Apprenticeships

In this episode, host Marc Goldberg interviews former Harper College and Zurich apprentice Chrissy Krutz Walters, Harper College president Dr. Avis Proctor, and Sirena Arnaout, Business Execution Lead for the Office of Apprenticeships at Zurich. Chrissy describes the transformative impact of her apprenticeship with Zurich and Harper College. As a working professional, she enrolled in the program to shift careers into the insurance industry offering financial stability, benefits, and career advancement opportunities. Chrissy elaborates on how the apprenticeship program design and the supports offered by both organizations have shaped her career path, and shares valuable recommendations for employers and community colleges looking to build their own apprenticeship partnerships models. Dr. Proctor reflects on Chrissy's interview and outlines how Harper College has scaled apprenticeships to 24 programs in multiple industry sectors, working with more than 80 employers, including Zurich. She highlights the importance of institutionalizing apprenticeships across the college as a core academic and workforce strategy - committing resources to the work, integrating student services to meet apprentices' unique needs, and securing buy-in from executive leadership, faculty, and staff. Sirena offers insights from Zurich's employer perspective, explaining how apprenticeships serve as a key recruitment and retention strategy. She elaborates on how the company provides various supports to apprentices, their Zurich mentors, and corresponding supervisors and details the robust partnership with Harper College. Sirena also emphasizes the infrastructure Zurich has developed for apprenticeships with different tools and resources, which could help other companies and college partners build and scale similar apprenticeship programs. This season of the podcast comes to you through the support of Ascendium Education.
Aug 27

Cutting Edge Careers: Machining Apprenticeship Pathways with Machinists Institute, IAM Union, & Partner In Employment

In this episode, host Marc Goldberg interviews two dedicated apprentices with the Machinists Institute — Tristen Herbig and Kristin Mayer — along with Shana Peschek, Machinists Institute's founding Executive Director and current Training & Apprenticeships Director with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union (IAM), and Hien Kieu, Executive Director at Partner in Employment (PIE), a community-based organizational partner to Machinists Institute. Tristen and Kristin share their apprenticeship experiences with the Machinists Institute at their respective employers, MSHS Pacific Power Group in the Puget Sound area and Koontz Machine and Welding in Coos Bay, Oregon. They offer insights on how organizations can support and scale apprenticeship programs, and reflect on how this education and training experience has shaped their careers and lives. Shana builds on the conversation with Tristen and Kristin and elaborates on the Machinists Institute apprenticeship model, which includes critical support services for learners such as childcare to help ensure participants can address different needs to be able to complete their apprenticeship program. She emphasizes the important role of community partnerships in MI's scaling efforts with employers, community colleges, and community-based organizations like Partner in Employment. Hien describes how Partner in Employment offers pathways to good jobs for immigrant and refugee populations in the Seattle/Tacoma area, including a dynamic pre-apprenticeship program with Machinists Institute that has prepared many clients for registered apprenticeships and machining-related employment opportunities across the region. She shares valuable recommendations on effective partnerships and how to center learners in this collaborative work. This season of the podcast comes to you through the support of Ascendium Education.
Jul 9

Season 5 Intro Episode - Apprenticeships - John Colborn, Executive Director, Apprenticeships for America & Dr. Brittany Corde, Senior Program Officer, Ascendium Education

Season 5 of the podcast is focused on apprenticeships - the original “earn-and-learn” model with proven outcomes that integrates work experience with related instruction, a stepped paycheck and a job from day one that can expand access to quality jobs and careers and provide a broader pool of skilled talent for employers. While apprenticeships are a long standing effective workforce training model, over the past number of years there have been numerous efforts to develop and scale apprenticeships programs, particularly in non-traditional or new industries. In this introductory episode for season 5, host Marc Goldberg interviews two national leaders actively advancing the growth and scaling of apprenticeships across the country. The first conversation is with John Colborn the Executive Director of Apprenticeships for America, a national organization that brings together various stakeholders to expand apprenticeships and advance related policy and programming efforts. The second conversation is with Dr. Brittany Corde, Senior Program Officer at Ascendium Education, a philanthropic organization whose grantmaking expands postsecondary and workforce opportunities for learners from low income backgrounds. Both interviews really set the stage on the topic of apprenticeships for the podcast season which will feature interviews with current and past apprentices from innovative programs across the country in upcoming episodes along with executives from key apprenticeship organizations including program sponsors, intermediaries, related training entities, employers and other apprenticeship advocates and champions. John and Brittany both describe how their organizations are supporting the advancement of apprenticeships in traditional and nontraditional industries as a workforce solution, elaborate on the value proposition of apprenticeships, highlight different current funding streams that are supporting apprenticeship expansion efforts, including Ascendium Education, and how they both see this work evolving in the next few years. Both guests discuss the importance of telling the story of apprenticeships with hard data and the transformative impact on individuals, families, employers and communities overall. The conversations are very informative and really ground the theme of apprenticeships for the year ahead on the podcast. This season of the podcast comes to you through the support of Ascendium Education.
Jul 6

Season 4 Finale - Panel Discussion with Bakr Alkarawi, Mt. Hood Community College/Portland State University grad, Lynne Hamblin, Rogue Community College grad/Oregon State University student & Erin Vobornik, Executive Director, NAFTAE

In this Season 4 finale, host Marc Goldberg brings together three passionate adult education advocates and champions who know adult ed from the inside out — as former students, faculty, and staff. The panel includes Bakr Alkarawi, a past Mt. Hood Community College student and recent Portland State University graduate, Lynne Hamblin, a graduate and former adult education staff member at Rogue Community College and current student at Oregon State University, and Erin Vobornik, the executive director for the National Association For the Transformation of Adult Education and past initiatives director at COABE. The panel discussion is rich and wide-ranging. Bakr and Lynne — both Season 1 All In podcast guests — return with inspiring updates on where their education and career paths have taken them a few years later. Erin sheds light on the staggering scale of need for adult education across the country, populations with limited access to quality jobs without adult education coursework, resources and supports, and clear educational pathways. Together, the three panelists offer candid recommendations to higher education leaders, workforce professionals, policymakers and students — making a compelling case for stronger investment in and commitment to adult education. Above all, they emphasized that adult education students themselves must be active voices, with their expertise honored, at the heart of every decision, policy, program, and partnership that affects them. This was a fantastic way to culminate the All In podcast season that concentrated on amplifying the voices of current and past community college students who accessed adult education courses, resources, and support along their higher education journey. The All In: Student Pathways Forward podcast is a part of Oregon’s participation in the National Skills Coalition SkillSPAN network.
Jun 17

Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) past ESOL student/current employee Tea Demetrashvili, QCC president Dr. Luis G. Pedraja, Jeff Moineau, Process and Estimating Manager at WireFab Inc. & Andre Green, Executive Director at SkillWorks

In this episode, All In podcast host Marc Goldberg interviews past ESOL student and current Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) employee Tea Demetrashvili, president of Quinsigamond Community College, Dr. Luis G Pedraja, Jeff Moineau, Process and Estimating Manager at WireFab Inc., an employer partner to the college, and Andre Green, the Executive Director at SkillWorks, a funder collaborative in Boston, Massachusetts that brings together philanthropy, government, community organizations and employers to improve workforce development across the state. Tea describes how her experience taking ESOL classes in the Adult Community Learning Center at QCC helped her personally and professionally as a newcomer to the community. She elaborates on the care and support provided by faculty and staff and the services offered for students, which she is now able to reciprocate working in the ACLC department supporting other students. Dr. Pedraja and Jeff both reflect on Tea’s interview and discuss the critical role that multilingual learners and workers play in the Worcester region to address workforce talent needs from different perspectives - as a college president and a business leader. Dr. Pedraja further discusses the college’s development of a strategic action plan for multilingual learners and why it has been a priority. Jeff highlights the company’s valuable partnership with QCC who provides workplace ESOL courses for WireFab multilingual workers. Andre offers insights at the state level describing how immigrants and refugees can broaden the talent pool of skilled workers but need additional English language coursework. He shares how a broad coalition of organizations across Massachusetts were effectively able to advocate for legislation to increase state funding for vocational ESOL courses as an innovative workforce strategy.
May 18

Southwestern Oregon Community College student Candra Adolphson, Vice President of Instruction & Student Services Dr. Ali Mageehon & ECMC Foundation Program Officer Amber Angel

In this episode, host Marc Goldberg interviews Candra Adolphson, a parenting student from Southwestern Oregon Community College, Dr. Ali Mageehon, Vice President of Instruction and Student Services, at Southwestern Oregon Community College and Amber Angel, Program Officer, at ECMC Foundation. Candra shares more about her college journey which began taking adult education courses working towards her GED before enrolling in the nursing program. She describes how valuable the student supports, coaching and financial assistance were through the STEP and TRIO programs, and as a Ford Scholar with the The Ford Family Foundation. Dr. Mageehon reflects on Candra’s interview and elaborates on how the college has been focusing enrollment, retention, completion and workforce strategies on adult learners in the college’s district and what that looks like in a rural setting. Amber talks about ECMC Foundation’s investments in Parenting Student Success and shares her own personal experience as a parenting student and how that shapes the work she leads. The All In: Student Pathways Forward podcast is a part of Oregon’s participation in the National Skills Coalition SkillSPAN network.
Apr 29

Chemeketa Community College Prison Education past student Cameron Hayes, Chemeketa Community College President Dr. Jessica Howard and Dr. Lucretia Murphy, Vice President, Center for Justice and Economic Advancement, Jobs for the Future

In this episode host Marc Goldberg interviews Chemeketa Community College Prison Education and Community Reentry past student Cameron Hayes, Chemeketa Community College president Dr. Jessica Howard, and Dr. Lucretia Murphy, Vice President for the Center for Justice & Economic Advancement at Jobs for the Future. Cameron describes his experience accessing community college coursework through the Prison Education program at Chemeketa Community College after enrolling in a similar program at Blue Mountain Community Colleges where he prepared for and passed his GED. He elaborates on the transformative impact of postsecondary education opportunities behind the walls for him and many other adults in custody. Dr. Howard reflects on Cameron’s interview and highlights the college’s work focused on serving adult returning learners through various academic pathways including important starting and access points via adult education, prison education and workforce training programs. Dr. Murphy shares insights on the various ways the Center for Justice & Economic Advancement promotes opportunities towards fair chance employment for justice-impacted individuals. She elaborates on the Fair Chance to Advance State Action Network, which Oregon was one of four states selected to be in the inaugural cohort. The All In: Student Pathways Forward podcast is a part of Oregon’s participation in the National Skills Coalition SkillSPAN network.
Jan 28

Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC) graduate Kolton Wolfe, LBCC president Dr. Lisa Avery, National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3) Executive Director Roger Tadajewski and Sama Shagaga, Partnerships and Government Relations at NW Natural

In this episode host Marc Goldberg interviews Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC) Machine Tool Technology program graduate and past NC3 Linn-Benton National Signing Day participant, Kolton Wolfe, Linn-Benton Community College president Dr Lisa Avery, and then both Roger Tadajewski, the Executive Director of NC3, the National Coalition of Certification Centers, and Sama Shagaga in Partnerships and Government Relations from NW Natural - both strong partner organization to the college. Kolton describes his entry into Linn-Benton Community College via the NC3 National Signing Day annual event where he and other new students were celebrated for choosing an LBCC Career Technical Education path for the future through the Machine Tool Technology program. Kolton elaborates on the tremendous support he received from his high school, Sweet Home High School, along with Linn-Benton Community College, as part of National Signing Day -- registering for college classes and in his case receiving a significant college scholarship from NW Natural. Dr. Avery reflects on Kolton’s interview and highlights the importance of both comprehensive student supports offered to students and clear and accelerated pathways to good jobs and careers through workforce, CTE and transfer programs. Roger and Sama both share more about their organizations’ partnerships with Linn-Benton Community College for NC3 National Signing Day and the overall power of strong college and industry partnerships needed to create a skilled current and future workforce in key industry sectors. The All In: Student Pathways Forward podcast is a part of Oregon’s participation in the National Skills Coalition SkillSPAN network.

Trailer

All In: Student Pathways Forward Podcast Trailer

Hope you'll listen in to this new podcast focused on Oregon community college students. Please subscribe now and stay tuned for future episodes.

5

out of 5

12 Ratings

All In

10/20/2022

Buffy!

The best podcast if you want to hear what students say. Excellent.

This podcast focuses on elevating community college student voices to shape inclusive higher education and workforce development policies, practice and partnerships that create economic mobility.

Creator

Marc Goldberg
Years Active

2021 - 2026
Episodes

49
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 All In: Student Pathways Forward
Show Website

All In: Student Pathways Forward