Campus News

Great Falls College admissions team launches radio show, podcast about 'unanticipated adventures'

The Great Falls College admissions team of Laramie Smovir, left, Connor Frakes have launched a radio show and podcast titled "Learned Luck." It airs every other Wednesday beginning this week on KGPR and as a podcast.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – What makes a person successful?

The Great Falls College MSU admissions team of Laramie Smovir and Connor Frakes attempt to answer that question in a radio show/podcast titled "Learned Luck" that will air on KGPR public radio in Great Falls and on podcast platforms.

The first "Learned Luck" episode will air on KGPR on Wednesday, March 31, at 2 p.m. Future episodes will be every other Wednesday at 2 with the podcast released the same day as the radio show version.

"There are two scripted questions for each episode: What do you do for a living, and what did you want to do when you were growing up?" Smovir said.

And then Smovir added another.

"How did you get from there to here?"

It's the journey that makes it interesting, Frakes said, noting there is rarely a straight line from A to B.

"Nothing goes as planned," Frakes said. "(Successful people) take advantage of opportunities."

Smovir calls the unpredictability "unanticipated adventures."

For Stevens, their first guest, he was a vice president of a Texas bank, and now he is a history instructor at Great Falls College.

"And happier than ever," Smovir said.

Another guest who Smovir and Frakes will be featuring is Dugan Coburn, the director of Indian Education at Great Falls Public Schools.

"He had a very defined path from when he was young," Smovir said, "but that path brought him more into touch with his culture, and it took him on a new path. It was interesting to see how that path strengthened his connection to his culture and changed the course of his path."

Both Smovir and Frakes emphasized candid conversation as their chief desire for the program.

"We just want to have conversations with really smart, successful people," Frakes said.

In their roles as employees in Great Falls College's admissions department, Smovir and Frakes see a lot of people contemplating changing the course of their lives, and they want people to know that is typical and they should not beat themselves up just because they aren't where they thought they would be when they were young.

"We want people to know that life isn't a straight path, and it's OK to change the direction your life and career are taking," Smovir said.

It is also why they settled on the name and theme "Learned Luck" for their program.

"We decided that it was really about knowing when and how to take advantage or the opportunities that are presented to you," Smovir said.

Find "Learned Luck" on KGPR every other Wednesday at 2 p.m. beginning March 31 on 89.9 FM and KGPR.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.