by Ella Smith, Student Public Relations Writer
Building community is the goal of Cedarville University freshman Will Woods, and he is using a new podcast to reach his objective.
Woods, who is majoring in marketing, is the creator and host of a new podcast, dawoodz2, that can be listened to on all podcast providers. The New Florence, Pennsylvania student uses his own curiosity to create questions for guests that he hopes will help future college students be prepared for their own college experience.
As a high school graduate preparing for college, Woods realized there were many things he needed to know about his upcoming experience. As he looked for answers, he decided to begin the podcast and share the answers he found with other future college students.
“The reason I started the podcast was because I had questions about college, and I thought other prospective college students might benefit from my search for the answers,” said Woods. “The goal of the podcast is to entertain and inform the listeners, while also helping future college students transition from high school to college.”
The podcast has continued throughout his first year at Cedarville University, although the focus has shifted toward hearing stories of current college students and professors. Woods’ end goal is to give listeners a comprehensive understanding of what it’s like to be a college student —especially at Cedarville University.
"My goal is to interview a student from every major, a professor from every department and one person from each varsity sport to give listeners all the information I can about what it’s like to be a Cedarville student,” added Woods.
With a background working at his father’s marketing firm, Woods used his experience in videography to shoot his podcasts. He utilized information from his marketing classes to improve his messaging, identify his audience and develop his branding. All these tools gave him the ability to grow his podcast and expand his reach.
“I hope listeners find community in the podcast. It’s important to know our questions are not unique and to hear from the experiences of others,” said Woods. “I want listeners to feel informed so they can avoid common college mistakes, and I hope to show them what they could do with the many majors available at CU.”
With the conclusion of the current academic year, Woods is also setting his sights on rebranding the podcast. Woods, who is the soon-to-be vice president of the sophomore class, hopes to invite more students to work with him on the podcast and find new ways to bring the campus together.