ESCANABA — In a time of political polarization and fragmented public discourse, Bay College’s innovative Civics Corps program is in the national spotlight.

The latest episode of the podcast “Outrage Overload” features the work of Bay College Civics Corps students, highlighting their efforts to serve the community and to build skills for meaningful, respectful dialogue, particularly intergenerationally.

The episode, “Teaching Civics in the Age of Outrage,” features local community college educator and historian Dr. June Klees, who founded and advises the Bay College’s Civics Corps program in collaboration with Waging Dialogue and other volunteer professionals. Listeners will hear directly from students who took part in this unique initiative designed specifically for community college learners anchored in the basics of neuroscience and historical inquiry. The program intentionally pairs students with dialogue partners from diverse ages, backgrounds, and worldviews — fostering conversations that confront personal bias, encourage empathy and uncover unexpected common ground.

Civics Corps students’ work is front and center in the episode, including projects such as contacting state representatives to advocate for merchant marine veterans, developing the program “Veterans Speak” — where students engage with and amplify the voices of military and merchant marine veterans — and completing a Civic Diplomacy training that equips participants with skills to communicate across differences on the job.

Civics Corps student, Alissa O’Driscoll, spoke of her experiences with her dialogue partner, “I’ve had really bad experiences talking with someone over politics, and hearing what he had to say and how understanding he was … was really reassuring.”

The goal is for students, particularly those in the “people-facing” professions, such as criminal justice, business/customer service, education, health care, and social work, is to provide a jump start and empower them with job-ready skills.

“This is a program built for community college students’ lives,” Klees said. “It’s flexible, practical, and deeply impactful, giving students critical thinking practice, civic knowledge, and hands-on experience in dialogue.”

Criminal justice student Abigail Rich said the program helped her learn to develop a “thick skin,” saying “you can be 100% right, and be talking to someone who is 100% wrong and thinks they’re 100% right. … If you can’t handle someone thinking you’re wrong, don’t go into a legal profession, especially not law enforcement.”

The episode underscores the urgency of these efforts to better prepare students to enter the workforce in today’s climate of digital outrage, negative assumptions, and heightened emotions.

The episode is now available at https://outrageoverload.net/.