Early adulthood was supposed to feel like launch—but for many seniors, it feels more like freefall. That unsettling mix of possibility and pressure has a name, and understanding it is the first step toward feeling less alone.

Corey Alderdice, a national voice on talent and transformation, explores the concept of the quarterlife crisis as a powerful framework for high school and college seniors beginning to wonder who they are, where they’re going, and why the next chapter feels so uncertain. Drawing on insights from The Atlantic, Mark Waid’s Superman: Birthright, and the novels of Nick Hornby, this episode reframes the crisis as a natural part of emerging adulthood—less a breakdown than a crossroads, where identity, meaning, and agency begin to take shape.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

You can also follow him on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.

Winter break offers juniors something they rarely get during the school year: breathing room. Amid the quiet, students can take their first meaningful steps toward understanding who they are and what they want from the college journey ahead.

Corey Alderdice, a national voice on talent and transformation, explores how reflection, early exploration, and intentional rest can help juniors align their interests with future opportunities. He discusses how taking stock of extracurriculars, surveying potential colleges, imagining new ways to deepen or expand involvement, reviewing academic footing, and beginning to uncover personal narrative threads can set the stage for a strong senior year. This episode offers a calm, grounded roadmap for students—and the adults who support them—who want to use winter break not as a pressure point, but as a chance to reset, rediscover clarity, and move forward with purpose.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

You can also follow him on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.

Some conversations age well because the need behind them never really goes away. As students and schools end the fall semester gear up for a new semester in 2026, this encore episode arrives at exactly the right moment.

ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice explores the deeper dynamics of student well-being, academic pressure, and school culture in this revisit from Season One. This timely rebroadcast examines the forces that shape how students experience rigor, rest, identity, and expectations—and why leaders must think intentionally about the environments they create. Whether you caught it the first time or are tuning in fresh, this conversation offers perspective worth carrying into the months ahead.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

You can also follow him on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.

Gifted students don’t disengage because they don’t care—they disengage because they’re ready for more than their environment is offering. When we learn to interpret dissatisfaction as a signal instead of a problem, everything about how we see gifted learners begins to shift.

In this bonus episode, Corey Alderdice explores the full arc of the Catalytic Agency Model of Talent Development—from the satisfaction gap and the intentionalities of Eclipse, Evolve, and Escape to the student paradigms, the levers of practice, and the central idea of Catalytic Agency. This winter-break reflection offers a concise and narrative overview of the framework for those who want the highlights, while inviting listeners to revisit the six-part series, explore the student screener and educator rubric, and consider how specialized and residential schools uniquely support the students whose dissatisfaction signals their greatest potential.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

You can also follow him on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.

The smell of bacon has a way of pulling people out of their rooms and into the same shared space, no invitation required. In this special, Christmas-themed episode, a glitter-covered strip of bacon hanging on a tree becomes a surprisingly fitting symbol for what the season is really about.

ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice explores how a family joke about ribbon-candy ornaments evolved into the “Christmas bacon,” the final ornament placed on the tree each year, and why bacon itself makes sense as a metaphor for the holiday spirit. Drawing on memories of large Christmas Eve breakfasts filled with Southern staples and extended family gathered shoulder to shoulder, the episode reflects on how food, scent, and shared rituals create anticipation, togetherness, and belonging. Along the way, Alderdice considers how traditions are rarely planned but instead accumulate meaning over time, carrying memory, laughter, and connection from one generation to the next.

The result is a playful yet reflective reminder that Christmas is built less from perfection and polish, and more from warmth, community, and the small traditions that quietly anchor us to one another.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

You can also follow him on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.

Some stories don’t end; they simply turn the page. And sometimes the chapters that shape us most are the ones we never expected to write.

For the last time this season, ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice explores the winding path that led him into gifted education, the challenges and triumphs of thirteen and a half years at the helm of one of the nation’s top STEM schools, and the lessons learned along the way. This reflective episode traces his journey from an accidental summer job that changed everything to the statewide impact of ASMSA’s transformation—from campus rebuilding to expanded opportunities in computer science, global learning, and accelerated pathways for Arkansas students.

With a focus on storytelling, intentional leadership, and the quiet work that sustains institutions long after any one person steps aside, this season finale looks back with gratitude and forward with curiosity. While the podcast continues, this chapter closes with a deep appreciation for the students, colleagues, and communities that made the work meaningful—and a thoughtful look at what comes next.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

You can also follow him on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.

Some days it only takes one email, one phone call, or one weird surprise to knock your whole mood off track—but what if the real power lies in how you respond, not what you face? What if the difference between burnout and balance is just a tiny shift in your default setting?

ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice explores how school leaders—and really anyone—can redirect their automatic reactions from irritation to curiosity, trading energy drain for emotional sustainability. Drawing on metaphors from firefighting, the concept of eustress, and the idea of “microwins” in leadership, this episode reframes the everyday frustrations of school life and offers a simple but powerful invitation: shift one notch from annoyed to amused, and the entire day might change.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

You can also follow him on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.

Generative AI isn’t on the horizon anymore—it’s already reshaping the academic landscape. The challenge now isn’t avoiding it, but deciding how we respond with purpose and integrity.

ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice explores the school’s recent survey findings, the community’s wide-ranging concerns, and how ASMSA’s partnership with Challenge Success positions the institution to lead in developing ethical, mission-aligned approaches to AI. He reframes the conversation away from fear and fatigue, focusing instead on curiosity, clarity, and the values that have defined ASMSA for more than three decades.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

You can also follow him on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.