High School Hamster Wheel

Is college worth it? In this episode, I sat down with Amber Gilsdorf, an Independent Educational Consultant at Estrella Consulting, to unpack this complex and timely question. We explore how families can evaluate the true return on investment (ROI) of college, what metrics matter most, and why personal values and readiness play a major role in long-term success. We also talk about the importance of looking beyond rankings and sticker prices to focus on outcomes, both tangible and intangible. Am

Welcome to the High School Hamster Wheel podcast! I’m Betsy Jewell. It’s been a while—okay, a long while—since I last released an episode. Life has been busy with some exciting new projects, and I can’t wait to share one of them with you soon! But today, I have some bittersweet news. This episode marks the beginning of the final three episodes of the High School Hamster Wheel podcast. I can hardly believe it’s been over five years since I started this journey. What began as a passion project ha

In this episode of the High School Hamster Wheel podcast, I am joined by Jared Chung, executive director of CareerVillage.org, a nonprofit that provides online career advising to help young people prepare for their future careers. Jared discusses the organization's flagship career Q&A platform where young people can ask any career-related question and receive answers from over 150,000 volunteer professionals. He also introduces their new AI Career Coach, which offers mock interviews, resume feed

In this episode, I am thrilled to welcome Nat Greene to the podcast. Nat has accelerated the careers of hundreds of professionals of all ages as a consultant, coach, and business leader. Today, we'll be diving into some thought-provoking topics around education, including why the current system is broken, the misconceptions about the college application process, and innovative solutions like Nat's new venture, Futures Forge. This conversation is going to challenge some of the long-held beliefs a

Today we are diving deep into the essential conversations about finding career success in today’s job market. In this episode, I am thrilled to welcome Jeanetta Warren, founder and CEO of JW Professional Writing Services, and the president-elect of the New Jersey Career Development Association. Jeanetta brings a wealth of knowledge in resume writing, LinkedIn profiles, and career branding. During our conversation, we will explore the intricacies of the current job market, discuss strategies for

I am super excited to bring you part two of my conversation with Dr. Emily Edlynn. Emily is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in pediatric health psychology who works in private practice with children, teens, and adults. She is also the author of her first book titled “Autonomy-Supportive Parenting = Reduce Parental Burnout and Raise Competent, Confident Children.” In episode 140, Emily and I talked about autonomy-supportive parenting - what it means, why parents should choose to do