After IV
Finding Your Footing in a Cap and Gown
 
Podcast Intro – (Upbeat acoustic guitar music)

Jon Steele  0:10  
Hey everyone. I'm Jon Steele. And this is After IV, a podcast for InterVarsity alumni. Life after college is hard, and even a great experience with your University chapter doesn't shield you from the challenges of transition as we hear stories from real alumni and learning how to make it in their post InterVarsity reality. My hope is that this podcast will offer some encouragement, a few laughs and even some hope for the future. This is After IV and these are your stories. 

Welcome

What's up alumni, I’m Jon Steele and this is After IV, the podcast that's just for you. As always, it's great being together for another episode. If it's your first time joining us. Welcome. I'm so glad you made it and especially warm welcome to you 2023 grads who are joining us for the first time we're here to help in whatever way we can with your transition to life after graduation. We're on episode three of our new finding your footing series where we talk about skills and mental frameworks to help you navigate that post graduation transition. If you missed our first two episodes, where we tackle the concept of transition itself, check out the show notes for a couple of links to those episodes and get yourself caught up. On this episode we're having a first ever moment. In the past we've only ever talked to alumni who are already established in their life after graduation. Most of our guests are years past it. That's undergrad grad school, med school law school. A few have been freshly graduated and one has been in the middle of a grad program, but never before have we talked to someone who is about to graduate never before until today. That's right on this episode, we're hanging out with a current senior and learning all about what it's like to be entering into the season of life without having experienced any of it yet. Today we're talking to Nolan, senior and member of Greek IV at Purdue University. We're going to hear all about his experience as he's approaching graduation as he's making big decisions and wondering what's going to happen next. You will also get to hear a moment of genuine surprise for me as I learned something really exciting, at least to me about Nolan, but I'll let him tell that story. Here he is. This one's for you alumni. 

Musical Interlude
 
Interview

Jon Steele 2:26
Nolan, welcome to the podcast.

Nolan Groninger  2:28  
Thanks, John. It's good to be on the podcast. appreciate the invite.

Jon Steele  2:31  
Yeah, I'm excited to get to hear a little bit of your story. So we've got this is sort of a different take on a typical episode for us. A lot of the time we have people who have already graduated they've got some time kind of in their post graduation life and they're reflecting back and then talking about where things are at now you if I'm remembering correctly, our our first like somebody who is still a student that we're talking to to get your perspective on this trajectory. Out of graduation, and then hopefully down the road we can reconnect and get real time stories about what's it been like since graduating. So kind of a unique spin on our typical conversation here. How do you feel about being a little bit of a guinea pig?

Nolan Groninger  3:14  
I like that idea. I feel like I can provide maybe a unique perspective, so I'm excited for it.

Jon Steele  3:20  
That's awesome. Hey, well, before we jump in too far, Nolan, why don't you just introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about who you are.

Nolan Groninger  3:27  
My name is Nolan Groninger. I'm currently a senior at Purdue University originally raised and born in Warsaw, Indiana.

Jon Steele  3:34  
No way. That is my hometown. I'm from Warsaw, Indiana. That's insane. Sorry, keep going. But then we have to talk about Warsaw for just a minute.

Nolan Groninger  3:47  
I'd be happy to. So born and raised in Warsaw, my parents, grandparents and uncle all went to Purdue so I was kind of destined to go to pre engineering so I'm studying mechanical engineering and technology. But I've also adopted pre med at certain concentration courses, so actually have all my pre med requirements, potentially go to medical school in the future. So I'm your typical Purdue engineers. As from Warsaw, Indiana, which is also a big orthopedic industry. So I'm sure you're familiar with that.

Jon Steele  4:16  
Oh, yes, as we say, the orthopedic capital of the world. 

Nolan Groninger  4:20  
Exactly. So that's part of my story, too. I've had an internship in orthopedic industry for the last four years. So that's kind of what sparked my medical interest.

Jon Steele  4:28  
Are you potentially thinking to combine the two and go into like biomedical engineering?

Nolan Groninger  4:32  
Yeah, that's part of the decision making process I'm in right now as what do I do with my experiences to kind of gauge what the future looks like after post graduation? 

Jon Steele  4:42  
Well, I'm excited to hear some of the decision making that's going on for you, but we have to talk about Warsaw. Just a little bit more first. Are you a Warsaw high alum?

Nolan Groninger  4:51  
I am yeah. Warsaw Community High School Tiger.

Jon Steele  4:53  
Yes, a tiger. I went to Lakeland I don't know if you're familiar with the other schools in the area. I have to know what's your top Warsaw restaurant?

Nolan Groninger  5:01  
Warsaw restaurant. I love burgers. So Oak and Alley they go cheeseburgers and fries. I also like El Arierro. So our company would take lunch breaks and sit out on the patio right next to the lake to get spot.

Jon Steele  5:15  
Yeah, that's a classic joint. That place has been around since I was in like elementary school. I love pizza King fan myself a little more hole in the wall kind of dingy place if you walk in but oh man that's a family favorite. Every time we're back I gotta get some pizza king.

Nolan Groninger  5:29  
The pizza King owner they're in Warsaw actually helped coach basketball for the high school really go have all over Christmas parties. Pizza King, and we got some free pizza King. Yeah.

Jon Steele  5:41  
You're living the dream, man. That's awesome. Well, hey, this has been super fun, unexpected reminiscing here. This is gonna be a tough highlight of the interview to beat. So we'll see where things go next. But Nolan, my understanding is that you're a part of Greek Life at Purdue. How long have you been with your fraternity? 

Nolan Groninger  5:59  
Yeah, I rushed the first week of school freshman year. So I've been a group last for the last four years. Nice. And which fraternity are you with? Beta Theta Pi. We go by beta for short. 

Jon Steele  6:07  
Beta. Okay, nice. What's your favorite thing about being in a fraternity specifically, or about being involved with Greek life in general?

Nolan Groninger  6:17  
Yeah, my favorite thing is that there's always something going on. So I live in a house with 60 to 65 Guys, depending on the semester. And so when you have that many guys in a small area, there's always something going on at anytime a day, anytime at night. And so, if I'm looking to blow some steam after studying all day, in the library, there's always video games to be played or playing pool or whatever it is. So it's just fun to have activity going on all the time.

Jon Steele  6:43  
Is Greek life in general, a pretty strong community at Purdue.

Nolan Groninger  6:47  
Yeah, we have a pretty large egg system. I think there's close to 20 sororities and maybe 35 fraternities.

Jon Steele  6:54  
Is there a lot of friendly competition among different fraternities and sororities?

Nolan Groninger  6:58  
Yeah, there's friendly competition. intramurals are actually a lot of fun. We had a senior intramural basketball team playing in the beauty league recently, and then we had a freshman through junior intramural basketball team playing recently and we both went all the way through the tournament played in the championship game and Mackey Arena was produced like home arena and the fraternities both came on both sides of the arena. So that was pretty fun.

Jon Steele  7:23  
Wow, what a great experience to get to be a part of, I think this is true. Are you also a part of Greek IV

Nolan Groninger  7:29  
That is true. Yeah. Been part of Greek IV since sophomore year.

Jon Steele  7:34  
Tell me how you got connected to Greek IV in the beginning.

Nolan Groninger  7:36  
So I actually didn't come into college really pursuing my faith. And so freshman year was a little rocky and then COVID was a blessing for me because I was able to actually get away from the parties and build some discipline in my life and some spiritual disciplines and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. And so sophomore year I came back to school, ready to get involved with my face and the urgent was sharing the gospel. And so I was looking at searching for Christian ministries on campus. And Purdue actually has a student organization website that I scrolled through all 1300 organizations. University was the one that stood out to me and got connected that way. 

Jon Steele  8:19  
You said that COVID was actually a really important change of pace for you. What was it about that that kind of led you in the direction of being developed in your faith, but then brought you back to campus looking in a way that you weren't your freshman year?

Nolan Groninger  8:29  
I think going into freshman year, I knew that I needed to spend more time with it, but I needed to take on the whole college experience. I was had a party to go to every weekend and I didn't really have that time away from the distraction to build discipline. And so once COVID Here, I finally was able to just kind of sit in my room and think about what truly mattered and what truly brought life and purpose into what I was doing. And those parties were not that so I was finally able to flip it and say alright, God, you got all of it. give you everything.

Jon Steele  9:00  
That's really awesome. A way that I would interpret that you can tell me if you feel differently about this, but the way that I would interpret that as almost like in the solitude being drawn away, and in this place that many of us felt just like wow, I feel really disconnected and alone. I mean, it sounds like God met you in that space and like really just shifted your thinking and your priorities about what do I need to actually be thriving in my life and oh, it's, it's Jesus. I need more of Jesus in my life and how can I do that? When I get back? That's exactly what happens. I love that. So then you come back to campus reintegrating your sophomore year, you look through this huge list and come across Greek InterVarsity. Tell me what's one memory that just lives you know, rent free in your head about Greek InterVarsity over the last few years.

Nolan Groninger  9:42  
So sophomore year, fall semester, I actually got a Bible study planted in beta. And our first meeting we had both guys show up. Oh my gosh, there's no huge persistent story of oh, it took so long to get guys to show up. Everybody was willing on that first meeting. So that was fun. So we had a Bible study consistent throughout my sophomore year. And then junior year, I was actually lucky enough to join Greek IV leadership team. And we have this thing called an all Greek gathering. So our big gatherings are for both fraternities and sororities to meet once a month and share about what God's doing in our chapters in our lives and go through a little Bible study. We kind of got the feeling that it wasn't as much fun and academic building since we were in those buildings all day. So our staff worker suggested that we should have this all great gathering in a fraternity or sorority house. So beta actually got to host an OB gathering in our chapter room. It was close to 8090 people in the room was just packed and that was the first event that I actually got to emcee and kind of initiate and lead. So that was super special for me to see over a span of a year of Bible study get planted. And then the hosts and all great gathering was Christians from all over campus come join and in that one spot, and the feedback I got from the betas in the house was that Nolan can throw a good party and it was more impressive than any other parties that had been there at that house this semester. So wow, it was pretty special to be a part of.

Jon Steele  11:07  
yeah, that's amazing to go from the guy that's, you know, partying on campus, and then have this life changing experience with God. Come back sophomore year playing a Bible study, and that that just grows into this experience of being the guy who's throwing a party for other Christians on campus and that it beats out any other party that's been hosted. They're like, Yeah, what a cool story. What an amazing turnaround. So then, as you think about all of those things in the time that followed, you're in your senior year. Are you in your last semester right now?

Nolan Groninger  11:37  
Yes, that's correct. Yeah, six more weeks,

Jon Steele  11:39  
six weeks, you're not even in double digit weeks anymore. Oh my gosh, man. So six weeks to go. As a senior who's approaching graduation, you are taxiing down the runway here about ready to take off and move into the into this next phase. What are some of the big things that you're preparing for? Like what are some of the you you alluded to a couple of these things I think but what are some of the big decisions that you're kind of working through in preparation for this next season?

Nolan Groninger  12:05  
So I'm still trying to decide what my life looks after graduation. That's a little nerve wracking because that is six weeks away, but I'm lucky to have some options right now. One option is to go on staff with Greek University has been available to me and something that I've really been considering. Another option I have is to go back to Warsaw and keep working in medical device development using my degree as an engineer. And then I've also been accepted into IU grad school to do a master's in public health. Wow. So I've got three options that I'm trying to decide between. And that's kind of the big decision that I have to decide over the next week or two. 

Jon Steele  12:44  
Okay, a week or two. That's where you feel like you're needing to make these decisions and even shorter timeline than just the six weeks until graduation that's crazy. Okay, so then, I mean, just break those down for me a little bit, what feels like the draw for you in in those different directions.

Nolan Groninger  13:02  
So I'm a mechanical engineer, so makes sense to go to use my degree and develop medical devices like I have been doing in that internship. I've been in for the last four years. So there's a draw for that. But in that internship experience, part of me was like, I really use these devices and sit at a computer and design them. So I had initially in my sophomore year decided I want to go to medical school. So that's kind of the crossroad around that is I couldn't go to the Masters of Public Health and use that as a bridge to get to medical school or work more in the healthcare industry, like I have passions for. So that's a cool option. And then Greek IVs just really blessed me and influenced my face and provided an opportunity for me to to grow into serve Jesus and to love others. And so I have an opportunity to maybe give back and be a part of that so that other students in college have that experience then it's something worth considering for my future. 

Jon Steele  14:01  
This maybe feels like a loaded question, isn't it but it might feel that way. Do you have any struggle with the new of like, This feels like the spiritually correct decision to make versus this feels like something that feels like it makes sense based on the things I've been studying or that I enjoy but might be a decision in the more like secular direction. Do you feel a tension between making decisions even just in that way?

Nolan Groninger  14:25  
You know, there's definitely a tension there, especially with the financial means. Having a job offered to go make money out of college is definitely appealing. And so the other two options of Greek IV were enough to raise money and fundraise my own salary or grad school, which is just money gone. There's no return on that for the next few years. That's definitely attention I'm feeling but I feel like God provides and God will provide a way for whatever path I choose. And so I have to try and push that aside and not get distracted by other things in the world and just keep my eyes focused.

Jon Steele  14:59  
Yeah, I think we really easily get distracted by a decision that almost doesn't even need to be made a spiritually correct decision over what feels like a secular decision. Maybe that's a weird way to say it, but it feels like we can divide things into those camps. And I don't know that they even need to be you talk about if you join Greek staff, if that's where God's called you to be then he's going to provide funding for you for sure. Money's not going to be an issue. Well, I shouldn't say it that way. There will be challenges for sure, but that the Lord is going to provide if you go into the medical community in some way you have the Lord's going to provide for your needs and that space as well. Maybe the concerns of medical community or even back to Warsaw is like how does my faith play a role in this? You know what, the Lord is gonna provide opportunities for you to live out your faith in very obvious ways as well if that's the thing that you're wondering, like, where's the proficient for that, that God's gonna be at the end of all of those roads, whichever decision you choose, and not just waiting for you to get there, like he's gonna walk with you, no matter which one of those paths you choose to take. But yeah, it can feel like we have to make what's the spiritually correct decision here and that that can sort of overwhelm our thinking sometimes.

Nolan Groninger  16:04  
And I think there's the stigma that you have to figure out your calling, or what exactly you're supposed to do. And I don't necessarily like that because I think as Christians, we're called to love God and to love others. And I can do that in any of these three pathways. So absolutely. Not kind of caught up on making the right decision. I think they're all good options, but trusting that the Lord is going to provide like you said, and being obedient is going to pan out well for me.

Jon Steele  16:29  
Absolutely. Those are wise words for sure. I went on and got my master's degree in clinical psychology and I'm on staff with InterVarsity I was a campus staff for a number of years and now I'm, you know, hosting a podcast. I didn't end up doing psychology professionally, but sometimes you pursue a path because that's the way God wants you to go but not to do the thing that you think you might do. You might choose any one of these things and ends up just taking you in a totally different direction anyways, so who knows? Are there any things coming down the pipeline that you feel particularly excited for particularly nervous about as you think about new phase new season of life?

Nolan Groninger  17:05  
I think what I'm most excited about, it's just being challenged again, kind of like the unknown. As senior in my last semester, I'm taking 12 credit hours and it's been the easiest semester I've had all four years. So that's like I've kind of figured out the undergrad college years. I have a good GPA and involved with student organizations. So I'm kind of just coasting right now. And so I'm excited to have something new that's going to challenge me and develop me more. And so that's what I'm most excited about. What's the next path? With that being said, I'm nervous about being distracted and I think you brought that up earlier. Like what are the things that might be swaying that decision? And that's kind of my biggest fear is that I'm not getting distracted by that. And I'm not making decisions based on the world but I'm making decisions that will benefit the kingdom ultimately. So been praying a lot into that and asking God to give me wisdom and not rely on my own understanding.

Jon Steele  18:00  
Yeah, because not only are you battling senioritis because that's a very real thing. But then on top of that, you do have decisions to make that a very prominent piece of them are financial in nature, and we just live in a space where financial decisions they can have a particular power to them a particular draw or sort of make us feel resistance to them in one way or another. And then in the midst of that continuing on in ministry that you're a part of on campus. How do you finish well, that feels like a huge thing to be wondering about is like, Okay, how do I tie a bow on things here, nicely hand off the things that need to be handed off, and the things that need to be ended and be able to help all of us transition well here at the end of my college career.

Nolan Groninger  18:45  
Yeah, Katie and Ross Haymond, our staff workers for university and they're actually leading a senior send off program over the next few weeks. And we're reading that book called after college, and they're kind of walking us through that. And that's been the most recent topic is how do you finish well, and how do you steward what we're in right now? And so that's definitely something that's relevant for me finishing up Greek IB leadership in my classes and just some friendships here. On campus, that probably won't be as easy to continue moving on.

Jon Steele  19:15  
That's awesome. I'm glad that you've got some guidance in sorting through those things, because a lot of us can just kind of power through to the end of a season and then we end up on the other side like oh, wow, I did not mentally or emotionally prepare for being in this space. I've been thinking about being here, but I didn't do the saying goodbye that I needed to do to be well prepared for this. So I'm glad that you have the senior programming at your fingertips there. As you think about next phases. What are some of the things that you're looking to take with you after graduation as far as like spiritual disciplines? And why are those the things that you intend to continue investing in? 

Nolan Groninger  19:53  
The biggest thing for me is finding Christian community I think that's one reason I struggled. The first year of college was I didn't have those people that are pouring into me and wanting the best for me and my faith. And so when I was able to seek that out sophomore year with Greek IV, I found people who were going through the same challenges going to the same temptations and trying to live a life worthy of their calling. So I think that's really critical for me is to find that community in whatever location on that after college, this past few year my roommate decided to start house church. On Thursday nights, we open up our apartment to do some praise and worship, read Scripture and pray for each other. And it's basically been our senior friends that have been connected for the last few years, just not with Jesus at the center. So we've been able to develop our friendships around Jesus, and it's just been really special to have that this year. So finding that community is gonna be important. And on the flip side, silence and solitude is kind of what brought me to my face. And so that's something I've tried to implement daily and weekly, just spending that one time with God so that I can be recharged and realigned going back into whatever the day has in store.

Jon Steele  21:02  
I love even just the side by side comparison of those two things of recognizing I need people I need community and I also need to continue taking time alone. Those two things are important practices to have side by side. You've touched on a couple of these already, I think but in what ways do you feel like being part of Greek IV has prepared you for the next season for life after graduation?

Nolan Groninger  21:24  
Greek IV ultimately has taught me how to be Greek and Christian, as a Christian in Greek life is very hard as a lot of temptations and distractions. And so it's basically taught me how to care not so much what others think but what God thinks. And that's huge for me because I can be bold and I can sit down and read my Bible at the breakfast table in front of others and not really care that they're gonna judge me or think that I'm less than or not a value and so having that boldness to share my face and be outward in a fraternity that's gonna carry into the workplace or grad school or wherever I'm going. So I think just my time and experience in Greek Life has taught me to live with an audience of one and live with God telling me who I am and what I'm doing rather than others. And I think that's important for the next phase of life.

Jon Steele  22:12  
InterVarsity does a lot of training and developing on how to just live your faith out openly. But it does feel like you have a unique context that you get to do that in that many of us ended up in our workplace and we're like, okay, now how do I translate this from my campus experiences into my workplace experiences, because it's a totally different social setting. But for you, you have rubbed shoulders with these people that see very differently than you on issues of the world and faith that that you've already got lots of training under your belt as far as like, well, this is what it looks like for me to just live this out in an open but humble way and how to invite people into that process with me. And I think that's gonna serve you really well going into med school or into the workplace or teaching other people how to do that well with Greek IV staff.

Nolan Groninger  22:59  
Yeah, I think so. I think it'll translate really well with whatever challenge or whatever pathway and then

Jon Steele  23:05  
is there a piece of parting advice that you would want to leave for the people that you know and love on campus as you look towards graduation?

Nolan Groninger  23:14  
I definitely want to encourage them to put in the time. A lot of the speeches I've heard is that our studying don't really matter. Like you're gonna get your job you're gonna move on with life. So just enjoy it and have fun. And I think that's wrong because I did that high school and I did that freshman year college was like, oh, things will be fine. It'll all go smoothly. And it wasn't until my sophomore year of college until I really focused on my studies and tried to put time into helping others and bettering myself and I can really see the return on that investment. I think college is a time not just to get a degree but to learn how to think and so we can learn how to think and we can learn how to problem solve, and that'll be useful and whatever job or career path that we have out of graduation, and some parting advice for Greek Ivy, I think is just to increase our fear of God. That's been a consistent theme this past year is how do we increase our fear of God and what does that mean? It's not like a fearful Oh, I'm afraid of God. It's that we submit to God. And so to have an audience of one to live with the Holy Spirit that gives us power, love and sound mind and to know that our treasures stored up in heaven on earth kind of falls under that concept of fearing God and believing that He is the ultimate authority. He's the ultimate reigning king and having that increase will ultimately make us bolder and give us an urgency to be more outward with their face to be more bold with their friends and other sororities and fraternities on campus. Living like Jesus calling back tomorrow, and I just want to challenge everybody to not get complacent not get content with how things are but to want to make a difference in want to share the good news.

Jon Steele  24:50  
Yeah, what priority would you give to the instructions and the invitations that God has given to you? If Jesus was coming back tomorrow? How would you live those things out? If that was the case, you would probably feel very motivated. Jesus coming back tomorrow. Now's the time. Now's the time to get this figured out. Take a risk and be bold and be obedient and do the things that God's invited me to do. That sounds like great advice. Nolan. This has been a lot of fun. I was not expecting to get to talk to a fellow Warsaw person reminisce about a place that I love very much, but especially to get to hear more of your story and thinking about trajectory and next stages for you. Can we try to touch base in six or eight months and just see what's become of some of these decisions that you've been trying to make and the things that you've been learning in those first few months postgraduation?

Nolan Groninger  25:39  
Yeah, I'm super excited for what is ahead of me and I'm super excited to share so happy to get back on and talk with you again, John is really fun. I appreciate you having me on.

Musical Interlude
 
Wrap up

Jon Steele  25:52  
Such a great story from Nolan's transformation between his first and second year on campus to his attitude as he prepares to make his next big move from campus. It's clear that God is at work in Nolan's life and there's a lot of his story to go, who knows what bumps and unexpected turns his path might take. Which of those three decisions will he pursue for his next steps and professional development? Or could there be a totally different opportunity that comes along in the meantime? What will it take to find the community that he needs while continuing to regularly lean into silence and solitude? With God? I imagine that many of you are asking similar questions for yourselves. So much of the future feels like a mystery, and even the things that seem certain that could change. Thankfully, Nolan has some advice that we can all take to the bank in this area. He says as Christians we're called to love God and love others. And I can do that in any of these pathways. Alumni, no matter where this new season takes you. These foundational truths remain the same at the core of our calling. And what God has invited each of us to do is to love Him and love others. We can do those things. Whether we're working our dream job and know exactly where our lives are going. Or if we're struggling just to find a job and have no clue what the future holds. invest yourself in those two things in loving God and loving others and you will live a fulfilled meaningful life of purpose. Nolan, thanks so much for joining us this week. Good luck in your first few weeks and months post graduation. I really look forward to connecting again in the fall to see where you've ended up and to hear how reality is compared to expectation for the rest of you come back next week. As we continue to dig into the idea of purpose. We'll be joined by April Peters founder of landing on purpose as she helps us understand what it means to clarify our purpose, why it matters to pursue that clarity and also offers some helpful tools to get us started. 

Podcast Outro – (Upbeat acoustic guitar music)

Hey, thanks so much for joining us today. Alumni. If there was anything that you learned really enjoyed or that encouraged you from today's episode, when you send us a DM or tag us in a story. We'd love to hear about it. You can find us @afterivpod on Instagram and Facebook. And if you haven't already, take just a second to unlock your phone and subscribe to the podcast. If your platform lets you leave us a rating and a review. And if you've liked what we're doing here, share us with your InterVarsity or other post graduation friends. Thanks again for listening and I will see you in the after alumni

Transcribed by https://otter.ai