Schedule is never just about time. Assessment is never just about grades. If belonging truly predicts thriving, then the real question is whether our systems are aligned to produce it.

Corey Alderdice, a national voice in talent and transformation, explores how the S.P.A.C.E. framework from Stanford’s Challenge Success initiative (Schedule, Purpose, Assessment, Culture, and Engagement) provides a structural blueprint for designing schools where students are known, challenged deeply, and connected to purpose.

Belonging is not accidental. It is operational.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

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Belonging isn’t a soft idea. It’s a structural one.

What if the strongest predictors of long-term success in college — and life — have less to do with prestige and more to do with experience?

Corey Alderdice, a national voice in talent and transformation, explores the 2015 Gallup–Purdue research identifying six undergraduate experiences that directly correlate with graduating on time and thriving beyond college. Rather than focusing on rankings or selectivity, the findings point to relational depth, sustained intellectual challenge, applied learning, and meaningful engagement as the true drivers of success.

If success is built through belonging, then belonging isn’t accidental — it’s designed.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

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

Masculinity is being optimized, marketed, and polarized in real time. But what if the real work is slower and more integrated?

Corey Alderdice, a national voice in talent and transformation, explores the modern crisis among young men through the lens of fatherhood, literature, and cultural commentary. Drawing on contemporary conversations about male drift and revisiting high school texts like The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms, this episode examines the tension between surface-level “looksmaxxing” and the mythic endurance often associated with Ernest Hemingway.

Rather than romanticizing or rejecting traditional masculine codes, Corey considers what adolescent boys truly need today: courage without isolation, resilience without emotional withdrawal, and strength that connects rather than calcifies. This episode offers a thoughtful reflection for parents, educators, and anyone invested in helping young men find balance in a noisy cultural landscape.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

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

A ringing phone. A Saturday school. A moment that opens up a much bigger conversation about rules, responsibility, and what schools are really trying to protect.

Corey Alderdice, a national voice in talent and transformation, explores how the growing movement to restrict cell phone use in schools—both in Arkansas and across the country—reflects deeper questions about school culture, student trust, and the balance between consistency and grace. Drawing from a personal parenting moment, current legislation, and insights from The Anxious Generation, this episode examines why phone-free classrooms have gained momentum, how parents and educators are responding, and whether the consequences attached to these policies are shaping compliance—or something more meaningful.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

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

What if one of the most powerful skills a teenager could develop didn’t come from textbooks or test prep, but from the ability to quietly read the room? In Korean culture, this skill is called nunchi—a subtle kind of social radar that helps people sense, adapt, and connect more deeply with others.

Corey Alderdice, national voice on talent and transformation, explores how nunchi, often described as the art of timing and awareness, can be a superpower for today’s high school students. From navigating friendships to leading with empathy, nunchi offers teens a practical way to strengthen relationships, avoid drama, and build trust. Drawing inspiration from pop culture and everyday school life, this episode makes the case for why cultivating nunchi might be just as important as any grade on a transcript.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

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

Creativity isn’t enrichment. It’s infrastructure. And if we misunderstand that, we misunderstand the future of our economy.

Corey Alderdice, a national voice in talent and transformation, explores why arts education must be reframed as workforce education — not as a defense of the arts, but as a recognition of their economic power. In light of receiving the Governor’s Arts Award for Arts in Education, this episode pivots from personal reflection to a broader argument: arts education builds creative capital, and creative capital drives economic growth.

Drawing from research on Arkansas’s creative economy and lessons from leading a public residential STEM-and-arts high school, Corey challenges narrow definitions of workforce preparation and argues that ambiguity tolerance, iteration, aesthetic judgment, collaboration, and narrative construction are not “soft skills” — they are survival skills in a volatile, innovation-driven economy.

If Arkansas wants to compete in the decades ahead, it must invest not only in technical training, but in the cultivation of imagination. This episode invites educators, policymakers, and business leaders to rethink how we speak about — and fund — the arts.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

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

Why does belonging matter so much for student success?

In this teaser, Corey Alderdice introduces a three-part series exploring the role of belonging in education, beginning with research from Gallup and Purdue showing its connection to college completion and long-term success.

The series will examine how those insights translate to high school environments, how the S.P.A.C.E. framework from Stanford’s Challenge Success initiative highlights the systems that shape belonging, and why creating schools where students feel known, connected, and engaged should be a priority across all educational models.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

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

The word abundance surged into the spotlight in 2025, not because schools suddenly had more time, energy, or flexibility—but because educators sensed that something in our systems was no longer keeping pace with human potential. Now, abundance becomes less of a buzzword and more of a leadership challenge worth examining.

Corey Alderdice, a national voice on talent and transformation, explores why abundance has gained traction in education, how scarcity thinking quietly shapes school culture and leadership behavior, and what it would mean to redesign schools so opportunity is cultivated rather than rationed. The episode reflects on the difference between pressure and possibility, the role of leaders as system designers rather than gatekeepers, and the shift from identifying talent to intentionally developing it—offering a thoughtful lens on how schools can make room for more learning, more growth, and more sustainable excellence in the years ahead.

For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.

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