After IV
I’m Gone to Carolina: Post-Graduation with the Greensboro Fellows
 
Podcast Intro – (Upbeat acoustic guitar music)

Jon Steele  0:09  
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 InterVarsity chapter doesn't shield you from the challenges of transition. As we hear stories from real alumni 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 Welcome to After IV the podcast for InterVarsity alumni. I'm Jon Steele. And here we are for another episode. So glad you made it today. Hey, before we get to our guests, if you haven't done it yet, would you take just a minute to subscribe to the podcast? And if you've already done that, thank you so much. I greatly appreciate it. But would you take another minute to leave us a rating and a review as well? That is such a huge help for us. Thanks so much for doing it. Okay, onto our episode for today. We said last week that we were going to have a little episode switcheroo. So for those of you who have been waiting for my conversation with Kate, your day has finally come today we're talking to James Madison University alumna Kate Harwood, Kate's a recent grad who's going to tell us about her post graduation experience thus far and how God's used something called the fellows initiative to continue his work of transformation in her life before going to grad school this fall. I'll also say that I'm fairly confident that Kate shared with me the most unique favorite IV memory that we've had on the podcast so far. So enjoy that. All right, here's Kate. And this one's for you, alumni. 
Musical Interlude

Interview

Jon Steele
Kate, welcome to the podcast!

Kate Harwood  1:50  
Thanks, Jon. Thank you so much for having me. This is just such a cool experience.

Jon Steele  1:55  
Oh, yes. I love it. I'm really excited that we get to do this together. Kate, would you take just a moment to tell us who you are. What do you do? What do you like? How do you spend your time? Where are you all the good stuff just help us get to know Kate?

Kate Harwood  2:09  
Yes, it's like the five senses of who is Kate Harwood? Exactly. Hi all. My name is Kate Harwood. I am a 2022 graduate from James Madison University. And this past year, I've had the pleasure of taking part in the Greensboro fellows. So I just wrapped up my fellows here. And I'm in a bit of a transition season because I'm actually going back to school at Elon University getting my master's, which I'm super excited about. I am working part time at a gift shop but also doing a marketing internship for a investment management firm, which is a lot of fun. So even a little bit of adulting before going back to school, I am living in the bright city of Greensboro, North Carolina. So I moved out my college town. And now I live in North Carolina, which is so fun.

Jon Steele  2:56  
That's awesome. So cool. And yes, so the Greensboro fellows, we're going to spend some time talking about that. But I love it. You're also going into grad school, you mentioned that you went to James Madison University, let's just spend some time reminiscing about the past here, these great days that you've only recently transitioned from into this new phase of life, but tell us what's a memory or an experience that you cherish most from your time as a student at JMU?

Kate Harwood  3:24  
So yeah, I heard about InterVarsity when I was a high school student, I think the Lord is really gracious about kind of dropping in little hints of what to do. And so that's kind of a theme in my story, but also in this episode. So I heard about InterVarsity, when I declared to go to JMU. And we put that post on Instagram, you're like I'm going to save you and I had a girl from a family friend from a town where I used to live a girl from my high school and a girl from my church say you should join in diversity. So like, pretty much day one of my college experience, I was like Jamie Ivey and went to the new student events and we and NSR and the new student retreat, I was part of inter versity at JMU, all four years of college, which was wonderful. I still keep in touch with the women for my small group. I was actually a bridesmaid in a wedding, like two weeks ago from a friend from my InterVarsity small group. And I think looking back, my favorite memory, and I love how not to expose you, Jon, but in our email of the list of questions of like, don't just play conferences or small group and I was like, yeah, no, he's right. I think my favorite memory is I was part of the hospitality team, my spring of my freshman year fall of my sophomore right before the pandemic hit. And we would host all the events for the chapter. And Jamie's chapter is huge. We have about 300 people. And so it was really awesome to be able to plan things but we also would do fun things ourselves. And I remember one night we did a dumpster dive at the low Bold Krispy Kreme plant. And so I was looking through my photos and I found a feature photo from all of us dressed in all black. And we like that night we ran into that Krispy Kreme plant and we like jumped into the dumpster and we came back with like, hundreds of doughnuts. I know, this is a podcast, maybe I'll have a picture of my Instagram. But it was truly like, I could not stop laughing that entire night thought it was the funniest thing ever. And it showed me how you can have Christian friends, but also still have just like a really fun time. Yeah, that's probably my favorite memory.

Jon Steele  5:32  
I didn't even live it and that's my favorite memory. Wow, that sounds fantastic to have the joy of being that close to… did you, say a Krispy Kreme factory?

Kate Harwood  5:41  
Yeah, it was like a Krispy Kreme plant. I think it closed during COVID unfortunately. But yeah, it was a tradition, the age team would go dumpster diving.

Jon Steele  5:50  
That would be fantastic. 

Kate Harwood  5:53  
In my attempt to make friends, I offered the doughnuts on my floor and the girls were like, where did you get those events? And I was like, a dumpster? And they were like, some of them said no. Some of them said yes.

Jon Steele  6:04  
Oh, I would have 100% said yes.

Kate Harwood  6:09  
I thought that would be outside the box. I was like I could do like when we went through the book of Ruth, or women's conference though, like now let's think of something funny. So dumpster diving at Krispy Kreme it is!

Jon Steele  6:18  
Way to go. You win. That's awesome. On After IV, we also love to talk about the realities of life after graduation. So we have all of these fantastic transformational experiences with our chapter when we're on campus. And then we hit this big shift at some point, we graduate, we move into the next phase of life. And sometimes that can just hit us like a brick wall. And that's not to say that it's all like bad stuff. But it is a huge transition is so much is different. So in what you've gotten to experience so far, and recognizing that you also have had this like really unique year that a lot of people have not had what's been maybe one of the best and one of the most challenging experiences that you've had so far since graduating?

Kate Harwood  7:04  
I think one of the best experiences I've had is just it's that really cheesy Dr. Seuss quote, that's like, “Don't cry, because it's over. Smile, because it happened.” It's like, Okay, Lord, you have a distinct ending of this chapter. But I get to choose to be intentional with the friendships I have after Lord, I have the agency to choose how I'm going to take all the stuff I learned from InterVarsity in my time at JMU into my post grad life. So I think the best thing has been like keeping what I wanted to keep, but also letting go of what I wanted, like the immature tendencies I would have in college or mentalities I would have could go away and with the Lord's shaping and molding, in the best part of it is having that freedom of what you do after graduation. And that comes with a lot of responsibility of being wise about what you pick and wise about what you pursue. And I'm very aware that I was entering into another season of, okay, I'm gonna have organized Bible time and organize, shaping and reflecting which we will get more into in the episode. So that's definitely the best part. I think the worst part is lamenting of how much is going to change. Okay, things are not gonna look the same as they were before. I think that change was just so abrupt and quicker than I expected. I thought it was gonna be more gradual. And within the span of like two weeks, it looked different for all of us. And some of my closest friends live in different states. Some of them are living at home with their parents. I am renting a room from my host home while I'm going to grad school. So I think lamenting and just dare I say coping with the just complete different changes that is going on in all of us was definitely the worst.

Jon Steele  8:49  
Yeah, it's it's really interesting that it really wasn't until even after graduating from college that I realized that I've been sort of walking in step with people as time progressed on. And so we got to be a part of all of these things together, and I really missed out on so little, and then my post graduation life starts. And I start to realize that like, Oh, these places where I used to be these people I used to spend time with their life continues going, and so does mine. But there's stuff that like, you know, you show up, you go back somewhere, you go back home, or you go back to your college town, whatever it might be, and you realize that it's almost like you were frozen in your own time somewhere. And then time just kept going around you and then you are you know, thought out awakened, whatever it might be and you realize like, Well wait a second things aren't the way that I left them when I was here the last time and that can be super jarring to start coming to terms with Yeah, I'm I'm going through this part of my life. My friends are having birthdays, they're having wins. They're having losses. They're experiencing all of these things that I'm not there for, and I used to be there. And that is 100%. One of the hardest experiences that I've had as well, of just recognizing that like, oh, yeah, people's lives go on without me. And that's, that's a tough thing to come to terms with.

Kate Harwood  10:16  
For those of you who can't see or Zoom call, I'm nodding vigorously. Because I think I would show up to a wedding, or we would catch up. And I'd be like, Oh, we have to, like, go back a couple of months and be like, Oh, this is what happened to me this month. And it's becoming kind of quickly a highlight reel. And that that is just definitely hard. Because it would be like, if I just had one off day, I would have a small group the next day and could tell them about it.

Jon Steele  10:42  
Yes, absolutely. One of the best things is this mindfulness, this intentionality that you get to take with you into these next steps of life. And one of those places that you said, you were mindfully like you were aware of you're preparing for is like, I get to step into another sort of faith community rhythm, and that that sounded like a huge blessing to you. So let's start talking about your experience at Greensboro. I want to know because this is I'm guessing that most of our listeners right now, are not yet familiar with with this program. So tell us what is the Greensborough fellows? What is its purpose? Give us a little introduction to it.

Kate Harwood  11:24  
Sure. Yeah. I was a little surprised this past year of how little people know about this opportunity. So I'm really fired up to talk about it. So the Greensboro Fellows is part of the fellows initiative, which is a nationwide nine month Christian leadership development program for recent college grads. They have a chapter in Colorado, they have a chapter in California. We have like six different ones in Virginia, Pittsburgh, Orlando, a bunch in North Carolina, Chattanooga, Nashville, like many of the major cities in America, which is great. And so the Greensboro Fellows is located in Greensboro, North Carolina, we're a nine month Christian Leadership Development Program. And I would say the Greensboro Fellows is really highly focused on spiritual formation and development, which is awesome. So the Greensboro fellows you live and work in community, you are thrown together with a bunch of recent college graduates. And you learn what it means to grow as a spiritual adult, but also alongside other people, which is such a blessing, and I think is a skill we can all learn. We are given a mentor. This is where you have the agency of how often you see your mentor and what your mentor does. Whether you walk along together doing a Bible study, or just living life together shattered to my mentor, Laurie, I love her dearly. She and I just kind of did life together. And that was what I needed. And she showed up and just show me Jesus and so many caring ways. We do two seminary level classes every semester. And so in the fall, we did Old Testament survey, and then we also did creation, theology and new heavens and new earth. Wow, fascinating stuff. And then in the spring semester, we did New Testament survey, as well as church history. We did a two day leadership development class at the Center for Creative Leadership, which is the number two leadership development program in the world. We did a mountain retreat where we learned silence and solitude. In November, we went on the fellows initiative national conference. So no matter what fellows chapter you do, you'll be at that conference, January, we did a life map retreat, which we got to reflect on our life story and the way the Lord played a part of it. That was insanely life giving because it was really beautiful for me to reflect on what the Lord has been doing in my life. And then this could be a podcast episode in and of itself. But we went to get Heaney, Rwanda for two weeks. And so it was two of our first times out of the country period. And I think for many of the fellows, it was our first time in Africa, but we have a partnership with a sister church, part of the Anglican Church in Africa. And so Rwanda was just incredible, beautiful experience. And then yeah, may we had a little closing retreat, and then we graduated. Everyone works a job in their field three days a week. Weekends would be when we would do workshops or community development or leave for retreat. In the spring semester, we would do weekly roundtables. So every Friday we would meet at JDS house, and I think environment is a huge part of how we learn and so our seminary classes would be at the church office, so I could have a little passing conversation with Reverend Dan or father Jared or talking to Alan Hawkins off on the side. But when we would do roundtables, we would talk at JDS house, he's married he has two kids, and we would have snacks and coffee and we would sit and we would talk about dating and marriage and relationships and sexuality and family life and transition from fellows and what does it look like to embody transition well, around tables were really safe areas to grow and like, Okay, what does a biblical marriage look like? How do I date? Well, how do I approach modern day issues of sexuality. And so it also gave me a really safe place to ask those really big questions. And then we all took part in worshiping and being part of the congregation at church of the Redeemer, and that church, I love her so much that I'm staying there. It is just a really awesome church with really intelligent, but also really loving people that we have a park and a farm on it. We have a loving nonprofits that come out of church of the Redeemer. So being a young college graduate, seeing the importance of the local church was awesome as well. Yeah, that is the Greensboro fellows. To sum it up.

Jon Steele  15:44  
Five Star Review. That's, it sounds like such a rich time from beginning to end. And one of the things that stands out to me, as I hear you say that and I assume you would agree with this, let me know if you don't, this sounds like almost the best you could hope for kind of transitional experience. You get that experience of stepping into the unknown with people that you don't know, and all of these brand new experiences. But it is at the same time, like this kind of safety net of go ahead and try brand new experience fall on your face with us. And we will help you work through and prepare for this next phase of life. And you know, one of the things that you talk about in particular, is this, like growing in love for the local congregation and love for your community. Those are skills and values that are just invaluable for new grads to be experiencing. And it just sounds like such a great place to practice transition with some guardrails for you along the way.

Kate Harwood  16:50  
Oh, yeah, I love the way you said the guardrails and it's not like my hand was being held. I want to emphasize that at all with anyone who's looking into a Fellows Program. It's not like they hold your hand. It's not like you are being babied. Like you choose how seriously you take the seminary classes you choose how you perceive work, and the mentor and the multigenerational community and the local church. Yeah, everyone in my group was really enthusiastic about all those things, because that's why they chose to do the Fellows is because they saw the gift it was and as it was, yeah, going off that yeah, it was definitely training wheels. But I feel like I'm now riding a mountain bike because of my fellows program. I couldn't have been more grateful for the mentorship I received this past year and just in learning what it means to be part of a church body.

Jon Steele  17:36  
We talk a lot about being developed as World Changers as students with InterVarsity… Lives transformed. Campuses renewed. World changers developed. In what ways are you seeing God inviting you into his world changing work as a result of the experiences that you've been sharing?

Kate Harwood  17:53  
I love that when you email that question. I was like, That's a good question. How is the Lord inviting me? So ironically, I am all for like being wheelchair like I so totally support the mission statement and being a world changer. My practical everyday advice of how I'm being a world changer, is actually really dedicating myself to where I physically am where my two feet are right now in Bern, North Carolina. It is meaning being an active member of church of the Redeemer. It is working hard at this temporary job at a gift shop and at an investment management firm. And what does it look like to work hard and seek Shalom because even something as simple as I'm going to quote, Tish, Harrison Warren, but brushing your teeth is pushing back the darkness. And so I think learning that it doesn't have to be the big moments on stage or I love missions as well, Church of the Redeemer host shout out to the new wineskins missionary network, like we literally do send out people but we also call people to come back and cultivate as well. So I think the way I'm seeing the Lord, inspire me, Kate Harwood to be a world changer is just being faithful to where I'm at and letting the Lord the way he is pounding down my door of the healing he's wanting to do, but also within the career I'm choosing, I'm choosing to go into the media industry. So when I was a senior, and I heard about the program at Elan, and I was like, Well, I can always go back to grad school, but I can only do this fellow's thing as a recent college grad, let me do this dive deeper with the Lord understanding his theology of work, homeless love skills of work at Elon, getting my degree and then going out and being sent. And that doesn't even mean being sent physically somewhere, but it is being sent to where I'm at right now. And I think it's also learning I'm sure there's a Bible verse somewhere. I'm totally blanking on it now. But it's just the day in and day out labor of what it means to reap what you sow and what it means to be faithful to the work the Lord is putting you at so I think that's how I'm honestly the more gentle and lowly I go is the more world changer I am if that man makes sense?

Jon Steele  20:00  
Yes, absolutely. I love that. That's the picture that's coming together for you. Because I think that's the case for most of us is that when God invites us into his world changing work, He's inviting us to be faithful in our ordinary context. And ordinary faithfulness is extraordinary faithfulness to God, because so rarely, at least by our limited perspective, so rarely is there anything that seems like this huge, something fantastic just happened because of the thing that I was doing with God, that most of the time, we have a conversation. And we like weave in and out of each other's lives, and we just don't really even know the impact that is happening. But to be faithful to that over and over and over and over like that is to me actually way more extraordinary than going into these places where you're like, and we saw healings and we had these huge prayer sessions and 1000s of people came and said, yes to Jesus, Please, God, let those things happen. But for most of us, we are just kind of banging our heads against the wall day in and day out, having the same kinds of conversations, not knowing if they're having an impact, but saying, God, this is where you put me and so I will be faithful here. And that is extraordinary faithfulness, and being a part of God's world changing work.

Kate Harwood  21:22  
Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah. God's world changing work is just the ordinary, the extraordinary in the ordinary. Yes, yes. Yeah. Taking part in your city. It is choosing to be a member at a church. It is seeking reconciliation. It is all those wonderful things.

Jon Steele  21:40  
That's fantastic. Now, Kate, this feels like a silly question to ask because I already know the answer to it. But I mean, would you recommend that other alumni apply to be a part of a Fellows program somewhere?

Kate Harwood  21:51  
I would 100% recommended. I'm so biased, you should do the Greensboro fellows. But if the Lord like it really was the Lord telling me you should go to Greensboro I looked at like nine different cities shout out to all the other directors I talked to you. And having those really great conversations with the let the Spirit lead for me choosing Greensboro was because of I cared about the city and I cared about the church that they were part of. And it was great to be part of an Anglican congregation in a city that wasn't huge, but had enough to feel like a city. So yeah, I couldn't recommend this more. It will not feel like training wheels, your hand will not be held. This is the experience that you choose to make of it and what the Lord wants to do in it. This program is not for people who will it is scratch that the Fellows Program is for any young Christian recent college graduate, because when I was a freshman, I thought it was only for people in ministry. So when my friend did tell me you should do a fillip program I'm like, but I don't want to be a pastor, I don't want to do I don't want to be an InterVarsity staff member, no love them to death. I was like, I'm not called to ministry Fellows is for either is if you are discerning your call for ministry, if you want to dive deeper into the workplace and how to show up, because like Billy Graham said, the next big revival we're praying is in the workforce.

Jon Steele  23:07  
Okay, so then, Kate, really my last thing that I want to know from you is, and this is a question that I asked all of our guests at the end. And this can be based on the conversation that we've had right now, or just based on your broader experience. However you want to take this question, it is totally up to you. But if you could sit down with an InterVarsity alum, who's in their first year of life after graduation, or who is graduation is just within reach. If you could sit down with them, what advice would you give them for that season of life?

Kate Harwood  23:43  
I love this question. The advice I would give a recent college graduate or someone who's like lit, their heart is pounding seeing the graduation on the calendar. So I would totally do all the practical advice we read after college in our senior seminar like yes, find a mentor, be part of a local church be ethical, like yes, brick and mortar advice. It's strong, its faithful. It's true, big supporter of it. However, the advice I would tell them is something we learned as a part of the Greensboro Fellows is you live in a host house, and which was a huge blessing for me of just seeing what it looks like to be faithful in the home and what does it look like to be part of just what the Lord is doing in a house home and getting to have my community expand by that anywho our training for our hosts home was to be curious and not judgmental, do not judge the family on their traditions or the way they discipline their children, but be curious. And so if you're a recent college graduate and you're getting really sad, be curious, not judgmental with yourself. If you are feeling stressed out or anxious about your upcoming new work, I would be curious and not judgmental with yourself. And I do apologize if this sounds kind of crass over audio, but oldest They plural also told me Don't should yourself either. Don't be like, well, I should have friends I should be plugged in my truth by now I should be doing this. That is I should be dating this guy by now. No. Like that just Yes, that is just the enemy that is lying that is comparison. Instead, I want you to shed yourself on where you should be be curious, not judgmental with yourself but also with others. And be curious, the Lord loves our questions. He can handle the beating against his chest, he can handle everything we throw at him. So ask him Okay, Lord, why this city? Why this Fellows Program? Why this job? Why this host home, ask him it all. Like he can take it. He's not afraid of the unknown. Even though I am still a little afraid of the unknown. And also practical advice. If you're doing a Fellows Program, you do not have to have your life figured out by graduation of college and undergrad, but also by your fellows graduation, the Lord is so much more than a practical set time of a calendar, he is continuing to mold and shape you after you do the little ceremony in your church. And after you do the tassel thing with your cap. Jesus lived life in transition. And so I want you to know any college kid out there and kind of talking myself as well as I'm about to be a grad student, Jesus lives Brees is part of the transition, he was always on the move. He was going from one meal to the next, meeting people and healing people on the way. And so I crave steadiness, I crave it is an idol for me, I just can't wait to have the white picket fence married, and live in a house for 40 something years until I go home to have it. But I'm also realizing the blessing of what it means to be in transition, experiencing radical hospitality in kahini, Rwanda, in Greensboro, North Carolina, I'm literally still renting for my host home which they are a blessing. And so yeah, just embodying of what Jesus is in the transition literally and spiritually as well with you. So yeah, that's my that's my advice.

Jon Steele  27:03  
And this is why I always, at the end of an episode, ask a guest to give advice because you all have some of the best experiences to translate to other young alumni that I would just never be able to come up with. I love that. Be curious and not judgmental. And that's a fantastic word of advice, Kate, Hey, Kate, this has been an absolute joy to get to sit and talk to you. And again, thank you so much for your enthusiasm, your excitement to share about your Greensboro fellow experience, and to share about the fellows initiative more broadly. And to make this a warm invitation for people to consider as a next step. And not as a holding pattern, either like this is a next step of development and preparing for the ways that God is calling you to step into everyday life with him. And this is such a cool thing that I'm glad that our alumni can know about and look into. So thanks a lot for sharing that.

Kate Harwood  28:02  
You're welcome. Thank you so much for the opportunity to share. Go Greensboro! Go Dukes!

Musical Interlude

Wrap up

Jon Steele  28:09  
We've said it 100 times on the podcast making the transition to life after graduation is a challenge. And so often things like finding community engaging with the local church and seeing your typical nine to five rhythms as an opportunity to partner with God can be really tough to figure out, Kate found the fellows initiative and receive some incredibly helpful discipleship around these and even more areas before taking next steps into grad school. But who's helping you make progress in these areas? Who's discipling you in this new post graduation season? I mean, I hope you see this podcast is something that's helping with that. But where else are you experiencing it, especially face to face with people you trust? If you're having trouble answering that, I hope you'll start looking for someone who can play that role in your life. Maybe you should consider a local fellowship initiative. You can find a link to get started with that in the show notes. If that sounds like something you'd like to investigate. You can also find a few other episodes of the podcast there that are designed to help you continue to pursue Jesus in this new season of life. Give those a look. Kate, thanks so much for sharing about your post graduation experience. I am so thankful to hear about the ways that God has continued to do His work of transformation through things like the Greensboro fellows in the local church and blessings as you start this new grad school program in the fall. So excited for you, Kate. And thanks to all of you for tuning in. Be sure to come back next week as we kick off the first of a few episodes around mental health. We'll be joined by Dr. Barry Reese, a professor in the psych department at Minnesota State University here in Mankato. His background is in anxiety research and education and therapy and he's going to help clarify our understanding of anxiety, identify healthy approaches for managing it and give us some thoughtful insights on where our faith in Jesus intersects with the challenges related to our mental health. I really think you'll be encouraged by Dr. Rees and by the guests that follow. I'm really excited for us to get to learn together from them. So come on back next week, and I'll see you in the after alumni.

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, would 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 like 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