An interdisciplinary group at York College of Pennsylvania is turning everyday dollars-and-cents questions into meaningful conversations.
How do taxes actually work? What exactly is a credit score, and why does it even matter? Questions about money don’t come with easy answers for many college students.
Instead of leaving those questions unanswered, a group of students at York College of Pennsylvania, led by Accounting major Alexander Jolakian ’27, launched the “Y Money Talks” podcast, which aims to break down complex financial topics into clear, relatable conversations that make sense to students. The first two episodes focus on taxes and credit scores, subjects that many students encounter but might not fully understand.
A Graham Fellow initiative
While Alexander, who is a Graham Collaborative Innovation Fellow (Graham Fellow), serves as the podcast host, “Y Money Talks” is far from a solo project. The podcast reflects the goals of the Graham Fellows program, which is designed to bring together students from various majors to work on projects that have a meaningful impact in their communities and beyond.
“Building a podcast is not really within my discipline,” Alexander says. “I’ve been able to collaborate with a Political Science major, someone who does audio and visual and recording, and a Graphic Design major to make this really cool thing that students can engage with.”
To get this project started, Alexander and his Fellow collaborators worked with a mentor, Renae Wolter, Founder and CEO of Clout Podcasting in Atlanta, GA. Throughout the semester, Renae met with them a couple of times a week to provide feedback and guidance on content, recordings, editing, and building an audience. The actual production, however, was completely in the students’ hands.
An interdisciplinary effort
Graphic Design major Cecelia Cox ’27, also a Graham Fellow, developed the podcast’s visual and brand identity, including its logo and cover art.
“As a Graphic Design major, all the knowledge and skills I’ve learned in my classes helped me with creating the branding materials for the podcast,” she says.
Behind the camera and audio setup, Mass Communication major Seth Laning ’26 recorded and edited the first two episodes. Seth has worked as both the producer and sound editor for the GCCI, At the Center podcast, and enjoyed the greater level of collaboration with peers that came with this venture.
“This was the first time I worked on a podcast with a dedicated team,” he says. “It was rewarding not to have to be in charge of everything. It was rewarding to know I could rely on other people to put it together.”
Political Science major and Graham Fellow Rosy Shrestha ’29 played a key role in shaping content for the first two episodes. She worked to ensure the information was accurate and accessible.
“In order to keep students engaged, we can’t flood them with information they might not have a background knowledge on,” she says.
Connecting students with experts
The first two episodes feature conversations with professionals who bring expertise and local relevance. The first is an interview with Graham School of Business Instructor Richard Butler, a Certified Public Accountant with more than two decades of experience in tax matters. The second features Nicole Whitehead, a Housing Counselor certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, who works at Community Progress Council, speaking about credit scores.
“The idea is that these experts are local so that students know that these people are within our community and are resources for them,” Alexander says.
The first two episodes aired this spring and are available online, and more episodes are planned for next semester.
“I hope they can feel at ease,” Alexander says of students who listen to the podcast. “I hope they’re able to walk away and think, ‘You just made my life a little bit easier because you informed me about these things.’”
