Gen Z, Activism, and Burnout: How One Student Is Redefining Leadership and Home

In this special Season 3 episode of The North Star, JeffriAnne Wilder PhD welcomes third-year student and Changemakers Fellow Chloe Caldwell, the first student guest and future host of the new Gen Z Edit, to share how Oberlin College has become her “second home” 2,000 miles from Montana. Chloe reflects on choosing Oberlin College for its conservatory and history of progress, the community she found through music, friendship, and leadership, and how the Changemakers Fellowship reshaped her understanding of leadership from status to service. She also discusses her investigative podcast work on town–gown dynamics, why empathy and genuine dialogue are the most pressing needs in both Oberlin and the broader U.S., and how Gen Z’s political coming-of-age amid social media, polarization, and COVID has fueled both urgency for change and a deep insistence on well-being and balance.

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Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group

Transcript

Welcome And Why Student Voices

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the North Star, Space for Candid Conversations on leadership, equity, and justice. This season we highlight the people and practices shaping Oberlin's 200-year legacy of inclusion, justice, and excellence. And today I am so very excited to have one of my favorite people on Oberlin's campus, third-year student Chloe Caldwell, who is joining us today for the conversation. And Chloe is so many things. A multi-hyphenant. I'm gonna do her bio here in a second. But Chloe is the first student to join us here on the North Star. Welcome, Chloe. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. All right. So we decided that we were going to do something a little bit different, and actually not even really different, but something that was very much needed. And that is to include the voices of Oberlin students because you all are the reason why we are here. And it is so important to have the Gen Z perspective as a part of this conversation. So before we jump into our conversation, let me tell you all about why Chloe Caldwell is so very fabulous. So Chloe Caldwell is a third-year student at Oberlin with a double major in writing and communication and psychology. And at Oberlin, she has been very active in sustainability initiatives such as the Eco Olympics competition. Chloe also founded Music in the Zoo, which is a program providing free music lessons to youth in her hometown of Missoula, Montana. She has held leadership roles in hospitality management, where she has worked to develop new systems to improve efficiency and guest experience with a strong commitment to community engagement and social impact. Chloe is also one of the members of our inaugural cohort of changemaker fellows. And Chloe is actually leaving shortly to do some study abroad, which I know she is very excited to tell us a little bit more about. And truly, Chloe is just exceptional. And really, all Oberlin students are exceptional. Chloe, let's just start by again welcoming you to the North

Choosing Oberlin Through Music

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Star. And if you could just tell us a little bit more about why you chose Oberlin and what makes you what is it about Oberlin that you think is so very special?

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Yeah, absolutely. So I chose Oberlin initially. I think most people will be pretty surprised. I'm from Montana, Ohio is a really far departure from my hometown. But initially I chose Oberlin because of the conservatory. I was really looking for a school that highlighted music as one of its core values, as someone who also highlighted music as one of my core values throughout my entire life. I've been playing the violin for 15, 16 years now. And it's always been one of the most important things to me. And I wanted that to be a pillar of the institution that I chose as well. I think Oberlin also drew me to this idea of an institution of progress, always being an institution that was a step in front of all other institutions like it for the entire history that it's been around. And I think that's such an incredible thing. And it's something that I've discovered more and more as I've been here at Oberlin is that Oberlin is just filled with people that drive progress. Every single person that I've met here at Oberlin is someone that drives progress, someone that's involved in everything that they can possibly be involved in. No one is just single faceted. Everyone has multiple interests. And it's my favorite saying at Oberlin, and that's that one person can change the world. And I really truly believe that the institution believes that about its students, and that the students believe that about themselves. And those are the kind of people that I want to surround myself with. And I think it's such an incredible place for me to be. So that's why I love Oberlin.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Yeah. I mean, Montana really is so very far away. I don't know how many thousands of miles, right? Two thousand, three thousand? Two thousand miles away.

Building Home Far From Montana

SPEAKER_00 4:10

That's crazy. What do you do when you get homesick? And I do know that you have the chance to go home during break time, so that's great. But what sort of how have you managed to find or create home away from home that's pretty far away from Montana?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

That's a really good question. I think for me, while you could say that home has a lot to do with the location that you're at, like in Montana, we have mountains and we spend a lot of time outside and it's a very rural space. I think that home is also the people that you surround yourself with. And I think that something that I really love about being here is that I have the opportunity to surround myself with my favorite people in the whole world, my best friends in the whole world. And that's what makes me feel so at home at Oberlin. I also find a lot of time to play music with my friends and do things with the community around me. And that is also something that makes me really feel like I'm at home here at Oberlin. I always find myself when I'm on the phone with people, my friends, like when we're over break, and I'm like, so when are you coming home? And when I say home, I'm referring to Oberlin, like when we're coming home to our dorm room, to the place that we all share together. So that's really incredible to be able to refer to this place as my second home.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

And you have done just that. One thing that has struck me about you, and the one thing I didn't mention in our open is that you work in our center for DEI Innovation and Leadership as one of our fellows. So you work in the center as well. And a few months ago, you and I had a working meeting, and I love to get my steps in, and we had a walking meeting around campus, and we were walking around campus talking about whatever it is that we had on the agenda that afternoon. And we walked for about what 30, 35 minutes. And in that 35 minutes, Chloe, probably 30 to 40 people said hi to you, right? Everybody knows you on campus, so you have managed to do just that. Absolutely create your second home on campus by really just making as many connections with people as possible.

Diversity Of Thought And Humility

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Has there been anything about being a student at Oberlin or even just being away from home that has surprised you the most?

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Is there something that you hadn't really considered or thought about that has surprised you about being a college student and being away from so something that I that I always say that surprises other people, but also surprised myself, is I come from Montana and there's no diversity in Montana. There's not really very much diversity of thought, there's not very much diversity of race. And I know that a lot of people don't consider Oberlin to be a very racially or thought-provokingly diverse place. But for me, this is the most diverse place I've ever lived in my life. And I think that is really surprising to me because I find myself coming across new perspectives and new ideas that I've never heard before and new people that I've never heard before. And it's really made me do a lot of thinking about my worldview and where I come from and how to expand that worldview and how to exist in an educational environment in a way that really does stimulate my own education. So I think being here has made me sit and be really intentional about opening my mind and sitting back and listening and letting other perspectives really influence me and other ideas really influence me, because otherwise I know that I'm never gonna learn in the way that I need to be learning when I'm in school or for the rest of my life. I also think that conversely, there's a lot of similarity of thought here at Oberlin. Like there's a lot of universal ideas and universal perspectives that I think a lot of my peers find it really hard to break out of. And I think that's where diverse perspectives also really come in handy. And I think that sometimes we need a little bit more of that on our campus. Like we're here and we all believe so vehemently that we can change the world and that we have so much power and that we are such incredible people. But I think sometimes it takes a lot of humility and you need to be able to humble yourself to a level that is able to take in criticism and other perspectives from other people around you. And that's something that I think is difficult when you surround yourself with passionate people that believe so much in themselves, is the downside of that is that sometimes it's difficult to penetrate that and to allow productive dialogue and to be able to come to a new conclusion about a perspective that you've never had before. So those are the things that really surprised me about Oberlin.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

That's really interesting because I think from the outside, a lot of people think wrongly that Oberlin is a monolith, that there is no diversity of thought, that there is no diversity of perspective, and that the one thing that I try to demystify from people on the outside is that couldn't be any further from the truth. That yes, there really is this really great, amazing community of people who really are makers, but there's also this great diversity of people who don't necessarily agree on all the things and don't necessarily think the same. And I'm so glad that you brought that to bear in your response

Changemakers Fellowship And Service Leadership

SPEAKER_00 9:26

there. I'd love to shift gears a little bit and talk about your experience in our sort of inaugural cohort of the Changemakers Fellows. For our audience, one of our signature initiatives for our center is a Changemakers Fellowship where third-year students have the opportunity to embark upon a fellowship experience that really is rooted in leadership from a racial equity lens. And you are part of that inaugural cohort. And in the fall, all of the fellows took a course with me, Leadership and Social Change. And if you could share your thoughts about what that experience was in the class and just your overall kind of thoughts about what it's been like so far to be a part of that fellowship experience.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Absolutely. I think that I have a really unique perspective on this as well. I was a late addition to the Changemakers Cohort this year. I was actually looking through courses to add to my list at the very beginning of fall semester of 2025, so this past semester. And I came across Dr. Wilder's course in the course catalog, and I was really struck by the course description. And I had never taken a sociology class before. Also, I think it's important to note one of the things that I challenged myself to do in the year 2025 is to really put myself in spaces and do things that challenged me or that scared me. And for me, this was a really intentional choice. I was taking a course in a field of study that I had never taken a course in before. It was a higher-level course. And I reached out to you, Dr. Wilder. I'm sure you remember this. I emailed you and I was like, would you be willing? This is, I've never taken a sociology course before, but I would really be interested in taking your class if you'd be willing to have me. And I had never heard of the Changemaker Fellowship when I showed up on that first day of class. And that's when I learned about it for the first time. And in addition to the course striking me, that fellowship also struck me as something that I felt really resonated with what I was doing at Oberlin and what I believe in. And so I also emailed you and I said, would you be willing to consider me as a part of the fellowship, as a late addition to the fellows? And it's just been such a wonderful experience since you were willing to have me. And thank you so much for that experience, also, because that opportunity would not have been possible without you adding me to the cohort so late. It's just been so wonderful. The people that I've met and that I've surrounded myself with have been so unique and so important to teaching me so much about success and about being at Oberlin. And that's so wonderful. I think I've learned a lot about how to work in these professional settings in different settings and a lot about leadership and what that looks like. I talked a little bit about this in some of my coursework, but I think my perspective shifted from thinking of leadership as something that was directly associated with power or with success to something that's directly associated with service and serving the community around you. It's not something that should be sought after as a token of your power or your status, but rather your ability to serve those around you and to dedicate your life to serving the people that need to be served in that way. And that's been such a meaningful perspective shift that I've really gathered from the material that we've covered in this course and from my experience being a Changemaker fellow. I also think that the opportunities that I've had to go meet with President Ambar and go get to work with you simply by being a part of this course have been completely unmatched. Just being in those spaces have been so wonderful and meeting those people, meeting Jerry, meeting all of these people at the CED. It's just been so wonderful. I'm really looking forward to what's to come for me in this fellowship.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

It's been amazing for me. And Chloe, I have to say, I can't imagine our fellowship community without you in it. So it's been, it's just been so great for me. It truly has been, it's been transformative for me. I know that the students have talked about how great it has been for them. I've been teaching for a really long time. And it just continues to get better. And it's been such a pleasure for me to be able to be in service to you all. So it's been really

Study Abroad In Colombia Through Sustainability

SPEAKER_00 13:40

great. I'm gonna miss y'all this semester, right? The majority of the fellows are going to literally be around the globe. Some folks are already gone. You're leaving in a few days. By the time this reaches the interweb, well, you'll probably be back. But where are you headed off to? This is a really cool thing about Oberlin, is that Oberlin encourages folks to think about their learning experience, not just within the confines of this sort of um community here in the college, but literally all over the globe. So where are you going? What are you gonna learn? Where are you headed off to in a few days?

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Absolutely. I am I get the opportunity to go to Columbia specifically to study regenerative living and community in a city that has been historically plagued with conflict. And I think that is such a beautiful experience for me to be able to go learn from people from a different country with vastly different experiences, what it looks like to rebuild through a sustainability lens, but also through a cultural lens and what that looks like for them. With my with both of my majors, I was unfortunately not able to do a full semester abroad through the study abroad program here, just due to the credits that I had to incur. But I think that this, I'm doing this as a winter term project during the month of January. And it's just a perfect balance for me. I get to go for two weeks and study in this very intentional program where we're collaborating with the university there, but we're also doing things. We're going to stay at a sustainability co-op in the rainforest, and we're going to do work with a community of people who serve women who've suffered from domestic violence in their lives. We're doing all of this incredible work within two weeks and all of this incredible learning and community building in just two weeks of being there. And I'm really excited for that experience.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

I'm excited for you. I think this is going to be just transformative. It's going to be so amazing. And I think, again, this is part of what makes Wilberlin so special is the opportunity to have this foundational learning that takes place in the classroom. Learning is experiential, right? The real learning happens, the ability to take what you learn in the classroom, right? The things that you learn in the textbooks and the conversations that you have in the classroom and to apply that outside the classroom. That's where the learning resides, as it were, right? That's what really, that's what it really all is all about. We're really excited for you, and I can't wait to hear about how it

Creating A Local Journalism Podcast

SPEAKER_00 16:12

goes. So there's another hat that you wear that I want you to talk about, and that is as a podcast host, producer, director, all the things. So tell me about your podcast, what it's about, and uh let's hear more about that.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Absolutely. In the spring of 2025, I took a course called Community News Reporting that centered the idea that Oberlin, the community, the city of Oberlin, didn't have a sustainable news source, like a newspaper or a central news source. And we were going about trying to solve that problem. And so through that course, I was able to create my first podcast episode, which centered around summarizing the dynamics between the college and the community surrounding it and really diving into the nitty-gritty details about what caused it, what it looks like currently, and what efforts are in place to improve that dynamic in the future. And so from there on out, I was really struck by the idea of being able to do investigative journalism and reporting about things that are happening in our community and issues that are happening in our world. And so since then, I've been creating podcast ideas, like all of these ideas that surround what I perceive to be issues that we face in our world and in our community and how we can go around, go about interviewing people and speaking to people and educating ourselves about how to solve that. So it's been a really amazing process. And I'm planning on recording these episodes and then putting them on potentially a radio station here at Oberlin and potentially having my own radio show on that radio station and airing them to the public. And that is a really cool project that I foresee in the next semester. So far, it's been a really cool experience trying to find the people that I need to find to speak to and interview about these issues that I perceive. And this is just it's been such a great learning experience for me.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Love that. Okay.

Town Gown Tensions And National Division

SPEAKER_00 18:09

So you mentioned two things that I want to follow up on. What do you think is the most pressing issue in the Oberlin city, Oberlin college community? So like town gown community. And then what do you think is the most pressing issue? This might be a tough one, but I'm gonna ask anyway. What do you think is the one of the most pressing issues in our nation, right? So one Oberlin sort of city, city college, sort of town gown issue, and then let's broaden out to our nation.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Absolutely. I think interesting enough, the answers to both of these questions are really similar for me. So if we start on a really small scope and just talk about the issues between the town and the gown relationship here in Oberlin, I think our biggest problem is empathy, communication, and understanding. We see a real lack of that from both fronts. I think that there's this push from both sides that there's a desire for a better relationship. There's a desire to overcome these pressing politics that are really engaging the community in the college at this time, but it doesn't translate directly into a capacity to sit and hear and understand and hold empathy in space for the people that are expressing their concerns and their problems. I think that's a really big problem here because it just drives us further apart. Oberlin has a really interesting history as being a city and a township that was founded with three primary pillars, that of the church, the central government, and then also education. So it was this town that was founded with the government, Oberlin College, and the first church of Oberlin all on the same at the exact same time in 1833, and was meant to grow together as three balanced pillars of this perfect idea of a town, of a government, of a utopia society, essentially. I think we've really lost that in the last couple of years. The college holds a very unique role in Oberlin. Oberlin is a very small town, and the college is the largest economic driver in the town, which makes it really difficult for the college to hold political space because it means that the college holds an overpowering amount of political space if there's any political space that's attempted to be held at all. And I think that's really hard for the citizens of Oberlin that are unaffiliated with the college to be able to grapple with because there's absolutely no separation between the economic power of the college and the rest of the city at large. It's a very difficult dynamic to be able to manage. And I really admire there's a committee that's come forth in the last year. It's called the Community Connections Committee, I believe. And it's headed by some members of Oberlin College as well as some members of Oberlin community in an effort to be able to have these open conversations and grow the space around having these conversations about things that are difficult or things that might need to be improved in order to improve this overall relationship between the town and the gown. And that, I think, is the first step that needs to be taken in order to solve this issue that we're facing. When we broaden this to a wider scale, I think the same thing applies. We live in a society in a nation that's extremely divided, and that goes without saying. I think to anyone who lives in the United States right now, it's very easy to perceive that. And that means that having intentional conversations and solving intentional problems is really difficult without conflict really arising and those emotions lying in front of our abilities to solve these conflicts. And intentional conversations that lie from an initial stance of empathy. That is so key to being able to solve these problems. I feel, like I said earlier in this episode, I find it sometimes really hard to engage in a conflict with students that go to Oberlin or with people that align themselves similarly with my political stance. Because I feel like when conflict presents itself, there is no room for conflict solution without defensiveness, without one person. Like there is no, there's no flexibility. There's no ability to really perceive yourself as being wrong. And I think that is really, it's really important to be able to have the talent or the skill, which is a really hard thing to develop. I'm not even close to being able to admit when I'm wrong all of the time. But it's really important to be able to sit there and think intentionally and say, oh, I might be wrong about this, or go into a conversation and say, I'm sitting in this conversation intentionally to criticize my own thought process, to criticize my own belief system. And if you're constantly criticizing yourself, I feel like that is the best way to come to a conclusion. I think that so many people across this nation are looking for the same solution. But I just don't think that we're able to really realize that without the conflict and being split and divided in half being the foremost presence. To be able to sit down at a dinner table and have a conversation with anyone is what really needs to happen. It sounds really cheesy, but I really think it's like the most meaningful thing that I can do is to sit down and have a really intentional conversation with anyone. That's what really makes a difference.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Chloe, you're onto something, right? So part of what we spent a lot of time talking about in the fall semester was what the legacy project would be for the changemakers fellows. I love this idea of hosting some dinner table conversations around discourse and reflection. I think that's a great idea, this notion of having civil discourse at the dinner table. So I'd love to explore that a little bit more. I mean, that's a great thought. So putting that together makes tons of sense. I also think this is an important question

What Defines Gen Z Today

SPEAKER_00 24:10

here. I think, at least from some of the older generations like myself, Gen Z gets a really bad rap. And let's spend some time just let's throw that out the window because I've spent a lot of time over the years with college students and young people and Gen Z, especially. Y'all are brilliant and y'all have a lot of stuff to say. Y'all don't take no crap off nobody. And so, what do you think is the most defining characteristics, the most distinguishing characteristics of your generation and why y'all are so different compared to millennials or Gen Xers or other generations?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Absolutely. I think that there's so many things that make Generation Z so unique. We're the first generation to grow up with really a huge presence of social media and technology in a way that the world has never really seen it before. And it's a really defining part of our lives. I was in sixth grade when Trump was elected in 2016, and that was my first initiation into political consciousness. And I think US politics have really changed since 2016. That is a really huge defining part of my generation and the core of our generation is that the level of political divide has been our normal for our whole lives. We don't have a concept of what it used to look like or what it looks like in a world where that political divide doesn't exist. And I think that's super meaningful. I think we get a really bad rap for perpetuating that. But I think what's hard to understand is that we don't know what the world looks like outside of that political divide. And that's super complicated. I also think that we are filled with a lot of frustration and anger at the problems that are so visible to us. With the presence of social media and our access to technology, we are able to really see vividly the problems that face us in our world across the globe: wars, conflict, the environment, whatever it might be, like all of that is presented to us in mass. And it always feels like the world is ending. And I think it really lights a fire under a lot of us that if we don't do something about it, then nothing is going to be done about it at all. And that's super key. I think a lot of us have that drive and that confidence and that self-confidence and that belief in ourselves that we are able to take those steps to change the world and to make a difference. I also think that we are a part of a generation where we're being taught to really take care of ourselves and prioritize ourselves and live our lives to prioritize ourselves and being healthy, happy, and safe. I think for better or for worse, it's creating a new generation of people that really do prioritize well-being. And that is super beneficial in a lot of cases. I think one of the biggest stereotypes about Gen Z is that we're not hard workers and that we are not willing to work super hard in the workforce or work hard hours or try really hard to get a job. And I think that part of that is that we are people that recognize that work-life balance is really important and that if we're living in this world where it feels like the world is ending all of the time, we might as well have a little bit of fun and enjoy the last little time that we have.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

I'm laughing so hard because I think about the stereotypes are true, right? Y'all are late. Y'all are, you know, you want tons of money for little and it's it's a stereotype for a reason. It's not true across the board. But the things that you bring up are very true and it is very sobering because I think about your 20, right? I think about what my life was like when I was 20 years old, and all of the things that today's 20-year-old has to think about. The worries, the concerns, were not my worries, and they were not my concerns as a 20-year-old. There was no social media. Systemic inequalities were there. That was a thing, right? But the things that folks your age have to worry about today were not part of my day-to-day reality in the way that they were. And let's not forget COVID, right? So COVID, we're coming up on the six-year anniversary of COVID. It really started on mass. I mean, it was really starting to mount in January of 2020, March 2020. Were you a uh an eighth grader or freshman in high school? Freshman in high school. Gosh, I cannot imagine starting high school, being a freshman in high school when COVID hits. That is that's I can't imagine that. That's exactly my point, right? So Gen Z does get a bad rap, but to your point, your generation has had to live with and live through and battle back and through some very challenging things publicly, like you said, one battle after another. I just want to say that, like I said, I I I I could not have done it. And so it is awe-inspiring to work alongside you all because you all really don't take crap off of anyone, and it is truly inspiring. It really is. I tip my hat to y'all. I know you guys could have done it too. I mean, we were doing it, but nobody saw it. That's the difference. We were doing it. I was just telling a friend of mine, gosh, we were doing things quietly in the background, and it's the courage and the resilience definitely was there, right? It's the talking back loudly that is different. We were talking back, we were fighting back, we were being resilient, we were battling back, but it's the loud piece and the demanding, like, hey, it's the talking back and the sort of just being no nonsense about it that is definitely not part of who we were. That's not part of who I was as a 20-year-old. It took me some time to get there. So it is truly inspiring to see your generation already there at your age. So it is nice.

The Gen Z Edit And Closing

SPEAKER_00 30:29

The one thing I will say as we close is that part of the reason I'm so excited to have had the conversation with you is that the North Star podcast is going to be highlighting something new called the Gen Z Edit, which is the opportunity to hear from other awe-inspiring Gen Zers like yourself, Chloe. And you will have the opportunity to interview your peers, to hear from the folks who are a part of today's Gen Z generation. And you won't have to hear from old fogies like me. I know y'all like me. It's important to hear from you all on the ground to hear about the things that matter to you all the most. And so as we continue on into season three, we'll hear from Chloe as she interviews other change makers and other Oberlin students about what it's like to be a part of Gen Z and what it's like to be a member of the Oberlin College community. So we're super, super excited about that. And we look forward to conversations from Gen Z on the ground. As we close, we want to thank you, Chloe, so much for being here today. And thank you for the conversation. And I will give you the last word since you are going to be closing us out, and I'll give it to you so you can uh hand us off in true Gen Z fashion.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Thank you so much, Dr. Wilder. It's been a pleasure to be on this podcast today. I am looking forward to being a host in future episodes and future seasons and speaking to all of my peers at Oberlin and potentially other people. If I ever get the opportunity to interview you, Dr. Wilder, I would love to take it. This has been such a wonderful experience, and I look forward to being on here again. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. We'll see you all next time on your stuff.