News Student-Led “Wick Cast” Delivers Impactful, Career-Related Stories

A Hawks in Flight Feature

In “The Wick Cast” studios, guests enter as strangers, but always leave as friends.

On the most recent episode of this student-run podcast, hosts Ben Hulbert ’24, Markhus Dammar ’23, and Paul “King” Konye ’23 interviewed President Darren Reisberg on his vision for the college.

“He was so easy to talk to,” said Konye. “First thing he did was ask us about who we were, and then he talked to us like we were old friends.”

“The Wick Cast” is a FlightPath initiative created by the Office of Career Development. It was created to “deliver impactful real-life stories on career-related topics in a fun and engaging way,” according to Career Coach Stephanie Hollander, the project’s brainchild. “We found that students were really motivated by listening to podcasts,” she said.

Last Spring, Hollander collaborated with the WRHO Radio Club and Artist-in-Residence Evan Jagels, who helped recruit Hulbert and also made the podcast an on-campus internship option for those involved.

Hulbert, a music and global studies double major with a music business minor, connected with Jagels, his faculty mentor, and took up the internship opportunity. “Initially I thought I could do the music for it,” he said. “But after talking to Stephanie, I thought it was also a great opportunity for students to become involved with the radio station.”

Hulbert serves as the podcast’s main host, editor and audio engineer, with Dammar and Konya as co-hosts. “Stephanie wanted a place where people could learn what the Hartwick community is really like,” he says. “Having a student-run podcast shows that students really do have a voice here.”

Konye initially joined as a guest on the second episode (with Claire Richardson ’22), then became the show’s third co-host. Senior Katharine Marchese ’23 handles the behind-the-scenes work, from planning and setting up the interviews to producing promotional videos for each episode.

“We don’t pre-plan our questions,” said Dammar. “We want it to be a casual conversation, so we pitch a general topic and talk like we’re old friends.”

The group tries to create three to four episodes a semester. So far, they’ve spoken with former Director of Career Development Peter Bennett and Cierra Barkley ’23 about the benefits of networking, and Success Coaches Elissa Donovan and Tori Locke about life after graduation. They also plan to interview Assistant Professor of Sociology Ryan Ceresola on the importance of travel.

And Reisberg has an open invitation to come back any time he would like. “We learned so much about him,” said Hulbert. “He has so many awesome ideas, and we’d love to hear more of them.”

For more information on “The Wick Cast,” or if you have program or guest suggestions, contact Hollander at Hollanders@hartwick.edu or x-4889.

You can check out all the episodes of “The Wick Cast” at the program’s Spotify page.