Latest Bluffs Podcast Episodes
On First with Kevin Belanger
On First - June 25, 2021 18:00 - 28 minutesIn this episode of On First, Brandon and Ashley talk with Kevin Belanger from Rails to Trails. Did you know the First Ave trail will be part of the Great American Rail Trail?
Illini Bluffs - Public vs Private Colleges/Universities: Pros and Cons
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - June 15, 2021 13:00 - 16 minutesThe differences between the actual degree earned at a public institution versus a private one are fairly inconsequential. But between the two formats, there are plenty of variances to consider: Cost, selectivity, culture, social vibe, and more. We explore the primary differences in this episode ...
On First with Haley Weber
On First - June 01, 2021 13:29 - 17 minutesHaley Weber is a Planner for the City of Council Bluffs Community Development Department. In this episode, Brandon and Ashley talk with Haley about the First Ave project.
Illini Bluffs - Leveraging Your Network For Post-secondary Success and For Life
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - May 26, 2021 03:00 - 13 minutesIn 1624, an Englishman by the name of John Donne wrote the words, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” What he meant was we are all connected, one-to-another. Not only connected, but dependent in ways we may not even entirely underst...
Illini Bluffs - The College Essay
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - May 20, 2021 01:00 - 14 minutesThe college essay is an essential piece to your college application. The common app calls it your personal statement. And, in many ways, this essay is as personal as it gets. But more people than you’d imagine consider a request to write something meaningful as a stressor on-par with skydiving o...
Illini Bluffs - College Choice, Near or Far: Considering the Distance Factor
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - May 12, 2021 16:00 - 10 minutesHeading off to college after high school is — let’s face it — a huge adventure in and of itself. But when a student leaves their family and the home they’ve lived in for 17 or 18 years to attend college in a completely different city, state, or even country, it is a genuine life-event. This we...
Mini Episode: Groundbreaking Ceremony
On First - May 06, 2021 20:41 - 5 minutesThis mini-episode takes place at the First Avenue Groundbreaking ceremony and features remarks from Brandon Garrett, Mayor Matt Walsh, and President and CEO of the Iowa West Foundation, Brenda Mainwaring.
Illini Bluffs - Navigating the Anxiety of the College Application Experience
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - May 05, 2021 04:00 - 16 minutesRamping-up for the college application process is part preparation, part inspiration, and part anxiety navigation. This week, we discuss the steps of a solid application, the keys to making the most of each of them, and the importance of keeping your eyes on your own work, of being somewhat circ...
Illini Bluffs - Seeking Programmatic Strength
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - April 28, 2021 03:00 - 11 minutesIn the world of things that matter to your academic outcomes, I cannot overemphasize the importance of understanding institutional programmatic strength. That’s just gotta be job one, if you’re primarily concerned with the strictly academic outcome. But here’s the thing, college is about more th...
Illini Bluffs - Plotting Your Trajectory and Choosing Your Major
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - April 21, 2021 03:00 - 16 minutesWe’ve come through infancy, toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Each and every one of us is made up of uniquely individual characteristics and experiences, which give shape to who we are, and hopefully each of us will plot a path forward that best aligns with our interests,...
Illini Bluffs - The College Roommate Dynamic
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - April 13, 2021 05:00 - 17 minutesRoommating is hard. And sometimes — more frequently than you might imagine — roommate situations erupt into really tough, super distracting outcomes. I spoke with a few current college students and several recent grads for this episode, and let me tell ya, this is one of those things your guidan...
Illini Bluffs - The Different Flavors of Public Universities
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - April 08, 2021 00:00 - 12 minutesWhen most students think of where they’ll go to college, many immediately consider the three schools with which they’re most familiar: their state flagship school, their regional university, and their community college. I’m going to talk about those first two today. We covered Community College ...
On First with Dr. Freudenburg
On First - April 02, 2021 17:00 - 20 minutesBrandon and Ashley take a trip to Thomas Jefferson High School to talk with Principal, Dr. Dania Freudenburg about First Ave.
Illini Bluffs - Behind the Admissions Curtain
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - March 31, 2021 03:00 - 11 minutesThe post-secondary path often takes a circuitous route through a series of dark tunnels, switchbacks, dead-ends, trial balloons, and unknowns but at the end of the day, those who remain true to the journey, approach it with an open mind, and retain a willingness to put their back into it, stand ...
Women of the Rails
Accidentally Historic - March 29, 2021 15:48 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsMen may have done the survey work and laid the track, but there's a lot more to a railroad than steel rails and flanged wheels. In this episode, author and western researcher Chris Enss and Union Pacific Railroad Museum curator Patricia LaBounty describe the role women have played in railroadin...
Illini Bluffs - Community Leadership and its Impact on Local Education: An Interview with Norma Lansing
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - March 23, 2021 05:00 - 21 minutesEducators tell me all the time that it takes a village to successfully build a robust, energized school community with positive outcomes. And that’s not something that happens automatically. The state can’t do it. The school board can’t do it. The best faculty in the world can’t do it. And it ca...
Illini Bluffs - Social Media & Our Post-Secondary Hopes
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - March 16, 2021 05:00 - 9 minutesWe live in an extraordinarily interconnected society. But that’s really not new. Truth is, we always have. And those of us who grew up in small towns understand that reality, perhaps, better than most. Seems like having the inside scoop on the goings-on of my hometown, population 3,372, was almo...
Illini Bluffs - The Golden Keys: Passion, Intellectual Curiosity, and Perseverance
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - March 10, 2021 02:00 - 21 minutesToday, I want to explore these three important attributes of successful people. What they are, how we can acquire them, and how we can leverage them to accomplish remarkable things in our lives beyond the high school tassel. Not coincidentally, these are also the three things most often sought b...
On First with Brenda Mainwaring
On First - March 09, 2021 16:31 - 26 minutesBrenda Mainwaring, President, and CEO of Iowa West Foundation talks with Brandon and Ashley about First Ave and some history behind the railroad.
On First with Brenda Mainwaring
On First - March 09, 2021 16:31 - 26 minutesBrenda Mainwaring, President, and CEO of Iowa West Foundation talks with Brandon and Ashley about First Ave and some history behind the railroad.
Illini Bluffs - Dual Credit
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - March 03, 2021 05:00 - 15 minutesFirst of all, can we all just accept that learning new things, along with the practical insights and strategic advantages they bring, is really one of THE most remarkable things about being human? I mean, sure, you could argue that all our fellow phyla in the animal kingdom do their share of le...
Council Bluffs and Omaha's First Artist- George Simons
Accidentally Historic - February 26, 2021 21:54 - 16 minutes ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsThe West intrigued many artists. The challenge for those seeking to use their work as a historical record 150 years later is differentiating between what was artistic license versus reality. Thanks to the cook hired for the railroad surveying party of Grenville Dodge, Council Bluffs and Omaha ...
Illini Bluffs - Leveraging Local Resources
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - February 24, 2021 05:00 - 19 minutesThis week, I’d like to do something a little different than usual. I’d like you to meet two students with rural roots but very different personal stories. Jackeline Garcia is a senior at Effingham High School in Effingham, Illinois, a county with a population of just 34,000. She is the first gen...
On First with Adam Wood
On First - February 17, 2021 21:24 - 30 minutesAdam Wood, a Senior Planner at Toole Design, talks with Brandon and Ashley about the Transit Alternative Analysis for First Ave.
Illini Bluffs - Major Undertakings, Pin Action, and Bowling Metaphors
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - February 16, 2021 06:00 - 9 minutesI think hustle, exploration, and throwing a 15 pound ball down 60 feet of hardwood is entirely underrated, vastly under appreciated but it plays a huge role in so many of the success stories we hear about. And not just the success stories that we hear about, but the quieter ones too. The ones th...
Candy From Council Bluffs- Woodward's
Accidentally Historic - February 03, 2021 15:07 - 16 minutes ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsSeeking a safer occupation following an rail yard accident that cost him the tip of a finger, John G. Woodward began work at a Council Bluffs candy store. He eventually bought it, and grew the company into the largest candy manufacturing operation in the West. In this podcast, Richard Warner of...
On First with Chad Hannan
On First - January 28, 2021 20:52 - 22 minutesCity Council Member Chad Hannan joins us to talk about First Ave.
Illini Bluffs - The ACT and/or the SAT
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - January 20, 2021 04:00 - 12 minutesIt is January 19, 2021, and at this moment, nearly 2 million high school juniors are beginning to ramp up to take the ACT and/or the SAT this spring. By the time Halloween rolls around, more than 50% of the class of 2022 will have taken one or both of these standardized tests. Even though many t...
Illini Bluffs Why Would a Top College Want ME?
Illini Bluffs Beyond the Tassel - January 12, 2021 06:00 - 12 minutesAs I talk to students and their parents from around the country living in rural communities, I’m always impressed with the commitment to hard work and a willingness to make the most of resources. But there is this tendency toward ‘not-good-enough-ism’ that rears its head far too often. I see kid...
On First with Vincent Martorello
On First - January 08, 2021 21:23 - 22 minutesVincent Martorello, Parks and Recreation Director, talks with us about the trail and what First Ave means to the CB Parks Department.
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