Formative

“You may have a plan, but you have to be nimble because life will take you on a different journey.” That’s just one piece of advice Marilu Galvez, an Emmy-award-winning journalist and President & General Manager of WABC-TV, gives Kureem, a basketball-loving middle schooler from the Bronx. In this episode we talk about the importance of communication, diversity, persistence, and ending up somewhere good you never thought you’d be.

In this season 2 premiere, engineer-turned-television-host Emily Calandrelli sits down with 6th grader Chelsea to dish about the joys of being a woman in STEM with a scientific mind and creative heart. We also go a bit astral and take a ride on the Vomit Comet!

Most of us will spend our whole lives in pursuit of ourselves: our passions, our identities, our voices. How is that experience changed by economic hardship, by physical displacement, by the languages we hear and speak? In this episode of Formative, celebrated Haitian-American novelist Edwidge Danticat talks with young artist Alyson about resilience through community, story, and documenting our inner worlds.

Over his long career as an artist and writer, Pops Peterson has explored many forms of self-expression—but his most impactful effort has been the re-expression of another artist’s work. His series “Rockwell Revisited,” in which Peterson reimagines Norman Rockwell’s work for the modern age, is the longest-running solo exhibition in the history of the Norman Rockwell Museum. On this episode of Formative, Pops joins student co-host Lili in a wide-ranging conversation about art, civil rights, show business, and always being true to yourself.

If all the world’s a stage, what would it be like to be the understudy in your own life? To watch the play unfold from the wings? Award-winning playwright Emily Mann has no idea—when she was told women couldn’t write or direct theater, she boldly took back the narrative, shining a spotlight on the stories of women and people of color. On this episode of Formative, young Kevin—a student of history—asks about how her illustrious career was shaped by feminism, family, and the struggle for civil rights in America.

It’s tough to be a physician, and tougher still to be a physician for people who make a career out of testing their bodies: athletes. So how tough is it to be the physician to nearly half a million student athletes? Ambitious young student co-host Jake talks to Dr. Brain Hainline, Chief Medical Officer of the NCAA, about writing books, work-life balance, understanding traumatic injury, and how being a doctor is (kind of) like being Indiana Jones.

Before he joined the Jamaican bobsled team whose 1988 Winter Olympics bid inspired the Disney film “Cool Runnings,” Devon Harris was a track and field runner and an officer in the Jamaican army. In his conversation with Josh, a fellow Jamaican, Devon shares some lessons from a dynamic lifetime as an athlete, a soldier, a public speaker, a dad, and a guy who had a movie made about him once.

At first blush, commercial real estate might not be the easiest or most compelling concept for an 11-year-old. But precocious sixth-grader Lili has plenty of questions for Matt Petrula, Senior Group Manager at M&T Bank, who explains why his job lets him draw on their shared interests in math, science, and—most importantly—community.

Being a children’s book author may not be quite as exciting as being a Ninja Turtle, but it still lets you have as many adventures as you can imagine! And the more experiences you have, the better you get at thinking up adventures. Writer Jesse Byrd collaborated with a group of New York Edge students to write and publish their very own book, and now he has advice for young Orlando about the value—and the fun!—of trying everything.

There’s perspective, and then there’s *perspective*. Future game developer Jake gets the 220-mile view from Dr. Charles Camarda, a retired NASA astronaut who flew the first Space Shuttle mission after the Columbia explosion. Dr. Camarda offers some valuable advice about failure, perseverance, and finding the slope of a line.