After decades of sharing his curiosity about the world on television screens across the country, a Central College graduate is finding a way to open that door for 25 students this fall on campus.
Emmy-nominated broadcast journalist Harry Smith has been an executive-in-residence on campus, teaching a course based on exploring the world. Smith first told KNIA/KRLS about this class shortly after announcing his retirement from broadcast journalism — and while he’s had months to plan the mid-semester program, it’s a class that has taken its own twists and turns.
“You end up doing a lot of preparation when you really have to create a framework for the course, and say, ‘these are the readings, these are the lectures you have to watch — this is the stuff you have to absorb while in the classroom,'” he says. “So there’s that part, but I think the other thing even after that first week is, I thought why I’m going to teach this stuff and it’s going to be so great, but they want more than that. I’m working harder week by week because their expectations are high, so, in that way it’s been good for me and it’s unbelievably stimulating. But at the same time as I hear them speak and respond to the material ,it’s all the big learning curve for me too. So yeah, I’m living my best life right now.”
Whether it’s been guests such as TV host Andy Cohen or U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, to climbing an apple tree in Pella, Smith has tried to make this experience valuable in a way beyond traditional learning for the students he’s interacted with.
Among those local students involved are Pella High School graduates Anna Childerston and Gage Huyser. While the two Central College juniors weren’t all that aware of Smith and his career on TV, both were encouraged to participate in the course they say has had a profound impact this fall semester.
“I didn’t honestly know Harry until I started taking this class, so it’s been really interesting to learn about him and his life,” Childerston says. “I think it’s just really interesting to learn about all the little things in his life, stemming back from when he was in high school to even at Central and how that’s played a role in shaping his career and his life. I think it’s just important to kind of take in what we have now and we’re learning in college, and apply to the future. I feel like a lot of times college kids are just trying to zoom through and get through to the next test, and so I think this class is really allowed me to kind of take a step back and reflect on what I’m learning and the experiences I’m gathering.”
“It’s really inspiring to see somebody come from Central College and have the amount of success that Harry’s had. I had a general knowledge of who Harry was prior to it, but maybe not as great as some of my peers or family members would have, and so kind of going through class, we learn more-and-more about Harry,” Huyser says.
Smith is unsure if a future class will happen, but he remains open to the idea or the possibility of exploring different avenues in the future at Central.
“I can see myself here next fall, but this brand new and a brand new chapter of my life, and how that plays out exactly, I don’t have control over that at this moment. But can see myself here next fall? Easily. Would I do the exact same thing? Close, but as you go and do these things, you’re revising as you go.”
Hear more about the class on curiosity at Central College on today’s Let’s Talk Pella.