By Caleb Dehning

It’s a rare sight to see college students willingly engaging with course material.

Sometimes it’s a challenge to keep the $100+ textbook closed for as long as possible as a semester progresses. However, sometimes students are given the opportunity to directly interact with their own coursework. As was the case with professor Todd Hauser’s topics class on Journalistic Interviewing this semester. The small class of six students recently set up and conducted a phone interview with Jesse Thorn, the host of the podcast that outlined the course.

These students would listen and respond to hour-long podcasts of Thorn’s show called “The Turnaround”, where he would sit down with professional interviewers (such as Ira Glass, Larry King, and even Jerry Springer). So on October 26, 2018, these students gathered in professor Hauser’s office and spend a little over an hour asking questions to Thorn.

    “I really liked how comfortable we could converse with him,” says J.R. Bussard, a Communication minor, enrolled in the course. “He seemed like a really down-to-earth guy and he had some extremely relatable stories.”

    The topics covered by the student’s questions ranged from Thorn’s experience with the various interviewers, from the podcast shows discussed in class, to advice on obtaining dream careers.

    “My favorite piece of advice he gave was how we shouldn’t be concerned about money when it comes to doing what we love,” reflects Karina Kosmala. “He was very adamant that while we should be concerned with making ends meet, money alone should never hinder us from getting or creating the types of jobs that would make us happy in life.”

    “The Turnaround” with Jesse Thorn is a “Maximum Fun” studios podcast and can be subscribed to on any podcast streaming app, or downloaded from iTunes.