PRYDE is happy to announce the launch of a new podcast series called PRYDE Presents: Talking Youth Research that shares conversations between students, faculty, and practitioners engrossed in youth development work both on and off campus. Through this podcast, PRYDE’s undergraduate scholars will creatively disseminate relevant research content to the NYS youth development community and other interested students. 

The inaugural episode features a conversation between PRYDE scholar, Kyle Muña, and Human Development professor and PRYDE Director, Anthony Burrow. In this episode, Dr. Burrow shares his motivations for creating the PRYDE program and how it has influenced his own research on adolescents’ purpose in life. 

When talking about PRYDE’s inception, Dr. Burrow reflects that he “noticed a gap between the campus and community in understanding youth development.” He goes on to explain PRYDE’s mission to ensure that people involved in youth development work, both researchers and practitioners, become aware of each other and build sustainable collaborations over time. Dr. Burrow credits PRYDE as improving his research on purpose by allowing him to study contexts in which youth encounter and develop purpose in real life, such as 4-H youth programs. In the interview, Kyle also highlights this as the reason he applied to become a PRYDE scholar; namely, the chance to conduct translational research embedded in the communities where youth live and learn.

Listeners will also hear about Dr. Burrow’s Contribution Project, in which he used his award from Engaged Cornell to fund $400 to students’ ideas on how they can contribute to those around them. After successfully empowering 50 undergraduate Cornell students to make their contributions, Dr. Burrow is now thinking about how he can take this project further by envisioning it in the 4-H setting. He argues that “youth have ideas for things that they want to contribute. Even asking for their opinions and caring about what they have to say and demonstrating that you are taking their ideas seriously have great potential to instill a sense of confidence and belonging.”

To hear Dr. Burrow and Kyle’s conversation, find the first episode of the PRYDE Podcast here or search for “PRYDE Presents” on your podcast platform of choice (e.g., Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, RadioPublic). Stay tuned for new “PRYDE Presents” episodes that will continue the conversation on translational youth development research.