429 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/acb0e82aea3a091433cb897d80c8f333.pdf 2532fd72a537f4ac44836d8c6564b17c PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incunabula Description An account of the resource The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1450/1500 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Incunabula Collection (DC-03) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a> Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource eng it la nl de Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Repertorium utriusque iuris [folium 10] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03_010Monte1480 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Monte, Petrus de Description An account of the resource One leaf of Repertorium utriusque iuris by Petrus de Monte and edited by Comes de Alvarotis. Illustrated with red rubricated initials. Printed in Padua by Johannes Herbort, de Seligenstadt in 1480. [GW M25372; ISTC im00844000] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Padua: Johannes Herbort Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Del Monte, Pietro, 1457-1509 Language A language of the resource la Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1480 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Alvarotis, Comes de (editor) Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c172a0d7ab595ab2dc050796a1c71bbe.pdf 3f36f03515174f82e0929d6c5aa1c1c5 PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incunabula Description An account of the resource The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1450/1500 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Incunabula Collection (DC-03) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a> Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource eng it la nl de Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Epistolae [folium 8] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03_008Hieronymus1497 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hieronymus Description An account of the resource One leaf of Epistolae by Hieronymus. Printed in Ferrara by Laurentius de Rubeis, de Valentia, in 1497. Illustrated with woodcuts. [GW 12437; ISTC ih00178000] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Ferrara: Laurentius de Rubeis, de Valentia Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Woodcuts 1490-1500 Hieronymus Language A language of the resource it Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1497 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6a3744bfcd90d7ebfb3226e788d823d1.pdf cba328ecf2901c7100b068f6f767a53d PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incunabula Description An account of the resource The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1450/1500 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Incunabula Collection (DC-03) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a> Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource eng it la nl de Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle) [folium 7] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03_007Schedel1497 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Schedel, Hartmann, 1440-1514 Description An account of the resource One leaf of Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle) by Hartmann Schedel. Printed in Augsburg by Johann Schönsperger on February 1, 1497. Illustrated. [GW M40786; ISTC is00308000] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Augsburg: Johann Schönsperger Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Woodcuts 1490-1500 Schedel, Hartmann, 1440-1514 Language A language of the resource la Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1497 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/abefb29e9d5b91174179feab212c3594.pdf a45937265b97578b36d70fa413d65060 PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incunabula Description An account of the resource The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1450/1500 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Incunabula Collection (DC-03) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a> Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource eng it la nl de Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle) [folium 6] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03_006Schedel1493 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Schedel, Hartmann, 1440-1514 Description An account of the resource One leaf of Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle) by Hartmann Schedel. Printed in Nuremberg by Anton Koberger for Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister in 1493. Illustrated by Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff with woodcuts and red rubricated initials. [GW M40784; ISTC is00307000] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Nuremberg: Anton Koberger Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Woodcuts 1490-1500 Schedel, Hartmann, 1440-1514 Language A language of the resource la Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1493 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wolgemut, Michael (illustrator); Pleydenwurff, Wilhelm (illustrator) Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fad0c798313d1d19ba3caecf7eed50db.pdf 01f7a20f9aa8557a7b912086447f8cde PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incunabula Description An account of the resource The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1450/1500 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Incunabula Collection (DC-03) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a> Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource eng it la nl de Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eposizione del Credo [folium 5] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03_005Calvalca1489 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cavalca, Domenico, -1342 Description An account of the resource One leaf of Eposizione del Credo by Domenico Cavalca. Printed in Venice by Peregrinus de Pasqualibus in 1489. [GW 6398; ISTC ic00330000] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Venice: Peregrinus de Pasqualbus Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Cavalca, Domenico, -1342 Language A language of the resource la Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1489 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/06283b58c662c2a88133ef40c80ae6e7.pdf d24f9b8658ee5e32fa59413a69627b59 PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incunabula Description An account of the resource The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1450/1500 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Incunabula Collection (DC-03) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a> Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource eng it la nl de Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Historia belli Peloponnesiaci [folium 4] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03_004Thucydides1483 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thucydides Description An account of the resource One leaf (last folium) of Historia belli Peloponnesiaci, Book Eight, by Thucydides. Translated by Laurentius Valla and edited by Bartholomaeus Parthenius. Printed in Treviso by Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis circa 1483. [GW M46964; ISTC it00359000] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Treviso: Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Thucydides Language A language of the resource it Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1483 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Valla, Laurentius (translator); Parthenius, Bartholomaeus (editor) Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/289defc5aa6619bc1298307bd1fdee57.pdf 64a59a5010e46a0db83f12c13cdca4ce PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incunabula Description An account of the resource The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1450/1500 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Incunabula Collection (DC-03) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a> Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource eng it la nl de Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Enarrationes in epistolas S. Pauli [folium 3] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03_003Theophylactus1477 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Theophylactus, of Ochrida, Archbishop of Orchida 1050-ca. 1108 Description An account of the resource One leaf of Enarrationes in epistolas S. Pauli by Theophylactus and translated by Christophorus de Persona. Printed in Rome by Ulrich Han (Udalricus Gallus) on January 25, 1477. Illustrated with red rubricated initials. [GW M45925; ISTC it00156000] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Rome: Ulrich Han (Udalricus Gallus) Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Theophylactus, of Ochrida, Archbisiop of Ochrida, 1050-ca. 1108 Language A language of the resource la Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1477 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Persona, Christophorus de (translator) Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a89dd6b819e6b8b148eb23f2c8c55c21.pdf f1dc026ad90ccd9489f0c97bc1fb7194 PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incunabula Description An account of the resource The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1450/1500 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Incunabula Collection (DC-03) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a> Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource eng it la nl de Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Epistolae [folium 2] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-03_002Saxoferrato1490 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ambrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan, -397 Description An account of the resource One leaf of Epistolae by S. Ambrosius, with additions by Georgius Cribellus. Printed in Milan by Leonardus Pachel on December 18, 1490. [GW 1600; ISTC ia00552000] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Milan : Leonardus Pachel Subject The topic of the resource Incunabula Printing 1450-1500 Ambrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan, -397 Language A language of the resource la Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1490 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cribellus, Georgius (additions) Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e35c3bda2fa9ee9ca566b72f11b7a73d.mp3 d6f2fb035cfdccdda4b725a639d81fe4 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0f649cdb184e65407f609246b7f505a8.pdf 7d6c043319e216cef561e6d43872790b PDF Text Text GV043-07 Connected Exhibit Interviews Interviewee: Elyse Wild Interviewers: Cara Cadena, Gayle Schaub Date: April 19, 2016 Elyse: 00:12 I started Grand Valley the fall of 2015, right before I turned 28. I started going to GRCC when I was 23. I actually dropped out of high school and spent a few years working at Spectrum Health, third shift for a while and I never thought that I would ever make it to college and on my shifts at the hospital, sometimes I would look at Grand Valley’s website or other college websites and kind of dream about getting an education, so when I finally started Grand Valley in the fall it was a pretty big deal for me. It was something I’d been thinking about for more than 10 years and to finally be here was pretty exciting. I work – I’ve always worked full-time – so I’m a part-time student, but I don’t think I would value my education as much if I had started right after high school when I was 18. I love every second that I’m in all of my classes. I try to take advantage of every opportunity that I have here. After spending so many years working in a field that I didn’t enjoy and just not thinking that I was…you know, when I was 15 or 16 years old I was told by a lot of the adults around me that if I didn’t, you know, get my act together, I wasn’t going be anything, or I wasn’t, certainly wasn’t going to get into college. So everything that I get to experience here at Grand Valley is a pretty big deal, and it’s pretty important to me. Cara: That’s great. So, you went to CC, did you say? Elyse: 1:56 Yeah. I went to GRCC for 2 ½ years. I went through the summer. I always took summer courses to get through a little faster. Gayle: Wow. What's your major? Did you say? Elyse: Journalism. Cara: Journalism, minoring in German Elyse: In German, yeah. Cara: and you started in fall of 2015, so when are you slated to graduate as a part-time…? Elyse: 2:16 Um, you know, I’m really, I think I’ve got 17 classes left to take. I usually do two at a time. Next year, I’ve added one more, so I’m going to do three. Cara: and working Elyse: 2:29 And working…see how that goes. So I’m a journalist. I’ve worked for Grand Rapids Magazine, Woman’s Lifestyle Magazine, and I run a biography writing business called Your Story that I just started this year. So the schedule – a journalist’s schedule – isn’t nine to five, like it’s kind of all over the place, which is nice, because it can be flexible as far as my classes, but it’s also, at the same time, you just never really know when stuff is going to happen or when people are going to be able to be interviewed �Cara: Right, and deadlines, and all the things that come along with journalism Elyse: Yeah, umhum. Gayle: Are you putting yourself through school, or were you able to get any…? Elyse: I’ve got financial aid Gayle: Ok. I didn’t know how that works – if you can apply for scholarships, or if that’s kind of more of the…unintelligible… that you have to do when you’re still in high school Elyse: 3:21 I think they do scholarships every year. The deadline is – I think it’s always March 1 for different scholarships – but I missed the deadline this year but I’m hoping to be able to get on top of it next year. Cara: Can you tell me a little about what you do with the CEI? Elyse: 3:25 Yeah, so we have a, in the past, CEI has put out an entrepreneurial magazine called Neu, just a print issue once a year and now we just do it all online on a blog, so I manage the blog. I do interviews, I try to stay in touch with the entrepreneurial community, the small business community, also, like, what students are doing as far as in the business school. And, I help with grant writing, just help with general content and copy for materials. Cara: Fun. And you like it? Elyse: 4:09 I love it. Sharouq is really wonderful to work for. Cara: Good. That’s good to hear. Do you have a favorite professor in journalism or at Grand Valley? Elyse: 4:18 My favorite professor in journalism actually left this…after…and I just started in the fall, so I don’t, I’m not familiar with the whole faculty. But he was my journalism history teacher and news and society teacher. And he was from South Korea and he had been a reporter there for a long time and he came here to get his doctorate, but I really enjoyed his classes because I...they were night classes they’re 6-9s which people can be kind of dead in 6-9s but he really challenged us to dive deeper and use critical thinking. Cara: That’s great Gayle: So, how was this transition coming back, starting school and…? Elyse: 5:04 It was exciting. Being that not finishing high school and not having that, like, line of, “well I’m done with this and now I’m moving onto this…” So, each class that I took each, and each semester felt like an accomplishment. Well, because, you know, it is, but it’s all, like, moving toward something that’s really exciting. I found out that it’s not enough to just be naturally, people can be naturally good at things, but you can be good at anything if you apply yourself to it. So that was really, figuring out how I learn things and how to study, and how to get to the point where I wanted to. It was… it seems really simple but it was something really profound to learn as an adult. Like, you really can do �anything if you apply yourself to it. And that’s not something I really had knowledge of before, but from my experience in high school Cara: Yeah, that’s a good point. Any other questions? Gayle: So, applying…I mean…what kind of…did you get advising or help from CC as to how to go through this process or did you just investigate it all on your own? Elyse: 6:13 I just investigated it all on my own Gayle: Really? Elyse: Yeah. Oh, you mean the process of getting back into school or the…? Gayle: Yeah Elyse: 6:19 Yeah. I just, you know, I don’t think I actually just, like, decided one day, like, “Oh I’m going to go back to school and I’m going to get my bachelor’s.” I kind of was just like, “oh, I’m just going to take a class here and there and then it just kind of started and it felt good and I just kept doing it. So, it was mostly just on my own accord Gayle: I assume you’re not living on campus? Elyse: No, no. Gayle: But are you getting involved with any…well you’re already really involved with… Cara: CEI, you work with… Elyse: Yeah Cara: And you take classes in Allendale Elyse: I take classes in Allendale Cara: So you’re on both campuses Elyse: 6:50 And I’m doing an independent study this summer which I’m looking forward to so I’ll be working with the journalism department more than I, you know I just started, so it’ll help me be more involved with that department. And it’s a journalism, it’s an independent study; it involves German and journalism, so I’ll be able to get a little bit more involved in both my major and my minor, so I’m looking forward to that. Let’s see… Gayle: Why German? I’m curious Elyse: 7:18 So, I have a personal interest in former East Germany and an interest in the role that journalism played during that time. So, for this, I’d like to go on to get my master’s and I’d like my master’s thesis to be…I don’t have it narrowed down yet, but I know I want it to take place within this time period. So this summer I’ll be doing a very small-scale study of…I’m going to take one newspaper from East Germany; I have to pick my time frame. It has to be within, like 1986-88 or something, and then one newspaper from �West Germany and compare their coverage of the exact same events. So it’ll help me narrow down…so I’ve been interested in this time period for a while and then I just figured, well, like, I’m going to have to take German. And then my minor was international relations and then I registered for, like, all the German classes for the next year and it just became obvious that I needed to change my minor to German. So, that’s it. It just comes from personal interest and kind of what I’d like to, what I’d like to do. If I choose to take an academic path, I’d really like an investigation of this time period to be my career, so… Cara: That’s awesome; you have a master’s thesis in mind Elyse: 8:30 If…also, being 28, you know, almost 30, I feel like I need to catch up to myself a little bit…of not, you know, being too afraid to - I don’t know if I was afraid to go to school or I thought that I just didn’t do it, but once I jumped in, it was just like, you know…it’s really important to me now. My parents didn’t go to college. My little brother graduated from Hope. He was the first person in our family to get his bachelor’s, and, so my parents didn’t go to school and they never really stressed it to us, and they’re very happy people, which is wonderful. They’re both blue collar and I learned a lot about how, you know, your daily expectations for life and how you really create your own happiness… but not having that, not having any voices saying, “you should really go to college…” where was I going with that? I don’t know where I was going with that but it’s… Cara: Well, you were a self-starter. And you didn’t have your parents influencing you to go, so it was a personal interest Elyse: 9:30 Yeah, yeah so, yeah, I guess I just needed to, I realize that there were all, a lot of things that I had dreamt of doing or I had wanted to when I was younger, I didn’t connect getting an education with doing those things. I didn’t connect traveling with doing those things. Or making a living, or being independent with getting an education, and once I did connect it with that, it’s like, this is so sort of powerful thing, so I guess that’s what college has made me feel like I have control of my life. Gayle: I think you, I mean it’s a really good story for others to hear, especially from the…the sense that this is still a very traditional campus Elyse: It is, yeah. Gayle: Mostly 18-year-olds, right out of high school, so…I think hearing the fact that if you don’t do it in the first four years, it still happens Elyse: Yeah Gayle: There’s no deadline, so…I think we’re kind of led to… Elyse: 10:20 And I’ve had to get comfortable with the fact of, like, I’m not going to be done in four years. I’m probably going to be done when I’m like, 31 or 32, and that’s totally fine. And another, like, in regards to - this is a very young campus and a lot of my classes are, I’m usually the oldest one in my classes. There’s a couple of people older than me here and there, but, I’m able, despite that environment, where maybe the people in my class �aren’t taking it as seriously or are just kind of going through the motions of going to class and going back to their dorm, I’m still able to choose to engage with the course and get a lot out of it just based on my own interest and it’s not necessarily the fact that I’m surrounded by 18-year-olds. It certainly doesn’t dictate the experience I have in class. Cara: That’s good to hear Elyse: 11:05 Yeah. And I find that all my professors, like, if you take interest, they will meet you more than halfway, and I really appreciate that. Cara: That’s good to hear, too. Elyse: Yeah. Cara: An engaged faculty Gayle: Well, you answered my next question about kind of feeling that, that if you’re bridging a difference, or not a difference, but not feeling like a “non-traditional” student. Elyse: 11:31 Yeah, yeah, I just really, I just try to stay very focused. And, again, like, I almost…I’m so grateful that I’m not 18 and in a classroom, because I would not have done very well and I don’t know how much…I’m sure that there are other students that are really engaged and are really getting there, but it would have been very difficult for me being 18 years old and I would imagine that it is for some people. So I’m grateful to have started a little later, after having some experience and realizing how important it really is. Cara; I’m sure you’re a good example, too, for your classmates. Not only are you “nontraditional,” but you’re taking it seriously and getting a lot out of it Elyse: 12:08 I hope so. I think a lot of them are like, “why is this…what are you still doing here?” Cara: You’re there to learn. I know. I remember the students. I went to school right after high school, college, and I remember having older students in my class and thinking that they were, like, taking it seriously, and they were there to do this and then they had to get back to work or they had to get back to their families and we were just hanging out on campus. Elyse: 12:32 Yeah, yeah. So it’s, I don’t relate to people in my classes, but I’m not there for social experience. Not really. (phone rings) I had someone in my, there’s a man in one of my journalism classes and he’s 40 and he and his wife paid off their mortgage and so he’s going back to school, finally, to finish his degree. I think, and actually, I don’t think he’s going back, I think he was just finally able to start. But it was nice having him in my classes, too, because we were both on the same page as being engaged and being in group projects together. Cara: Are there a lot of group projects in journalism? �Elyse: 13:04 We just, for my History of Journalism class and News and Society, we had some group research-based group projects. Gayle: Ok, the question I ask everyone, have you considered study abroad? Elyse: 13:18 Yeah, so I plan, I can’t take a full semester because I work, but I’m looking into the, there’s a German language school in Vienna that is college accredited and you can take a three-week course, a four-week course, a six-week course. It’s all based on, like, what you need, so I’m looking at doing three to four weeks in Vienna next July. Gayle: So, language study? Elyse: Yeah, language study, certainly. Gayle: Great Cara: Thank you for sharing your story Elyse: Yeah! Thank you. Thanks for asking Gayle: Just before we let you go, I mean, is there any, like, any just one (I think you haven’t been here very long) Elyse: That’s a good question…No, I haven’t Gayle: Any one memory that, from this first semester, that you look back and think, like, wow, that was really particularly something…particularly frustrating or empowering, or, or…” Elyse: 14:15 I had, my journalism teacher, his name was Dr. Hyung, H-Y-U-N-G, and he’s no longer with the school. But, he asked me to stay after class one day and asked me if I’d considered going to graduate school and I have always had an interest in this time period in Germany, but him saying that at the end of the semester after he had seen my work really just pushed me to go forward with it and made me I started communicating with the head of the communications department, just like, so that was just really, that was very, very encouraging. And that meant a lot. Cara: Yeah. He recognized something in you Elyse: 14:55 Yeah. So it also made me feel like it is worth showing up and it is worth engaging and asking questions and doing the work. Yeah, so, that was definitely a stand-out moment. Chatter – end-- � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Connected Exhibit Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource Collection of audio recordings and transcripts of Grand Valley State University students sharing their stories and experiences. The recordings were conducted as part of an exhibit created by the University Libraries in fall semester of 2016 titled "Connected" which featured short audio clips of students. The clips were combined with watercolor portraits of GVSU students by Ellie Lubbers and an interactive watercolor painting activity. Students were encouraged to paint 3" circles of paper to illustrate their current feelings about the college experience and attach them to the gallery wall. The aim of the exhibit was to inspire feelings of community, connectedness, and welcome to new and returning students. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cadena, Cara; Schaub, Gayle; Frigo, Emily; Lubbers, Ellie; Fisher, Erin Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wild, Elyse Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-04-19 Title A name given to the resource Elyse Wild interview (audio and transcript) Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Schaub, Gayle (interviewer) Cadena, Cara (interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07_WildE_2016-04-19 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Relation A related resource Grand Valley State University Libraries. Connected Exhibit, September 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Description An account of the resource Interview with Elyse Wild conducted by Gayle Schaub and Cara Cadena for the GVSU Libraries' Connected Exhibit, displayed in September 2016. Edited clips of interviews accompanied watercolor portraits of students and an interactive watercolor activity for exhibit visitors. Elyse, 28, just finished her first year at GVSU. A freelance writer in Grand Rapids, editor for The 3288 Review and owner of a personal biography service called Your Story, Elyse also works as the managing editor at the Richard M. And Helen DeVos Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) in the Seidman College of Business. She is majoring in journalism and minoring in German. After dropping out of high school and taking classes at GRCC in her early twenties, Elyse looks at education differently than she once did. She is a highly motivated, successful student who, after graduating, plans to pursue a master’s degree in journalism and someday, ride a motorbike through Vietnam. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4ae9f1e29b0113a3a6dd0967f0f7e173.mp3 15da504d4b3769c702d805f04cd593e3 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b005b797a646b8ca5e258e4225a2a64a.pdf e69e00e7322d6d569ad4adc974bef305 PDF Text Text GV043-07 Connected Exhibit Interviews Interviewee: Scott Thorbjornsen Interviewers: Gayle Schaub Date: April 26, 2016 Gayle: Scott: Ok, alright whatever you want to tell me about. So, anything. Like, what’s your major? I’ll ask you some questions. 00:09 My major is Allied Health Sciences with an emphasis in speech language pathology. I initially wanted to go into physical therapy, and then after my freshman year and seeing how competitive it was I didn’t have the drive I thought I did for it. So I asked some people around, thought I might do engineering for a little bit but that was I think a too much of a change. And a girl on the team, she was in the SLP program and she told me to do it. She said she was having a lot of fun in it, so I started taking classes for that and got into the undergrad program in my fourth year so now I’m in it and I’ll have a fifth year to finish the undergrad. Gayle: Scott: Speech Pathology 1:12 Gayle: Scott: So is that like, what are you leaning towards? School or? 1:19 Gayle: Scott: I’m not sure yet, I want to coach someday so I think a school would be like more fitting for that but, like right now I just took a course over the brain and the senses and all that stuff and like aphasias and dementia and that stuff was really interesting so I might go that way too, we’ll see. So how did you start rowing? What made you get interested or did somebody rope you into it? 1:53 Gayle: Scott: Yeah, yup. I was a part of sports ever since I was young, my dad coached, and my older sister played sports, my younger sister played sports. I just wanted to try something new and that’s kind of how I went, like when I went to Grand Valley I knew they had a lot of options. You can find anything you want here basically. So I didn’t want to play any sport that I played before, and some kid stopped me on the sidewalk and said “Hey come to this meeting, its rowing” like “Oh I just saw that in the Olympics this past. So.. So you were recruited. 2:40 Yeah, yeah. So yeah, that was 2012 so the summer Olympics had just ended and I was walking around campus and the guy was like, yeah. He said “come to the meeting” and I went to the meeting, it seemed fun. I got farther along, went to some practices and paid my first set of dues and I was like, “Well I guess I’m sticking around” so… �Gayle: Scott: What were your sports before this? 3:06 Gayle: Scott: Wow, but you haven’t done those here? 3:11 Gayle: Scott: I played football, I wrestled, and I played baseball. No. I’d like to get back into wrestling, somehow but… You don’t mind the weather extremes of rowing? 3:23 Sometimes it gets bad but- Gayle: How was the Lubbers regatta? Scott: Lubbers cup this year was cold. I think it was… Gayle: Worse than when there was ice on the river? Scott: 3:37 Gayle: Scott: [Exhales] Yeah, I think so. I Think Saturday morning when we raced it was hovering around thirty degrees, maybe a little bit lower. Yeah it was cold. And then we raced again that day, but later in the afternoon – in the evening – so it was a little warmer. We raced Sunday morning and it wasn’t too bad but Monday morning it started to snow so the rest of it got cancelled. Naturally as Lubbers cup goes. I remember my freshman year, that was really bad. It was a one-day regatta then, so now there’s two days of it, then it was just one day and it was like just down pouring rain, wind, like whitecaps on the lake. We raced, we won, which was awesome, because we beat Michigan which doesn’t happen very often. So, yeah we won, and I remember I was just like, shivering for at least thirty minutes after the race was over. It was cold, but it was a lot of fun too. What’s the best and worst thing about rowing? 5:00 The best thing about rowing…well I guess the first, best thing about rowing is just like the friendships you make. Like I’m close with a lot of people and even if I’m not close with them I’ve met a lot of people through rowing, whether they’ve rowed or not like friends of friends, you make a lot of connections. It’s kind of similar to a fraternity in that way, in like, you just meet a lot of people and you bond over rowing. But it’s not just a fraternity though. Like we’re all competing and we’re all working for a goal at the end of the year. And the second best thing I guess is the types of challenges you face, like keeping everything in perspective. Knowing that what you’re doing now, like the adversity you face is just building you into a better, more prepared person for your future. I know there’s a lot of kids who leave the team because they feel they’re not being productive enough in, like, building for their future, but rowing and there are other club sports where you put in just as much time or a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication like wrestling. And when people see that you’ve done that and dedicated four years to a sport that physically demanding, mentally demanding; it takes up a lot of time. They don’t brush that off, they look at that and they see that and are like “wow that’s impressive, I know that I can rely on you to be her.” And I think a lot of people see the day to day �things they’re missing out on. Or they see what other students are doing to get prepared and they keep comparing themselves and they just don’t look at the bigger picture or… Gayle: It’s difficult though isn’t it? Balancing and- Scott: Oh yeah, it’s really- Gayle: It’s a lot of work Scott: It is a lot of work. Yeah it’s tough. Gayle: So you started rowing though, right after you got here? Scott: Yeah. Gayle: Cause the season is in fall? Scott: Yeah. Gayle: It’s all year long Scott: 7:40 Gayle: Scott: Did you do the England one? 8:25 Gayle: Scott: Its fall, winter, spring, all year. Most people try to stay in shape over the summer, I failed at that. But I mean, it’s a lot of fun, I’ve had a lot of great experiences. But I guess the worst thing about rowing is…is all that stuff. A lot of traveling. I mean, it’s fun to travel, it’s fun to see all these cool places that we’ve been to but it’s a lot of weekends gone, and it’s a lot missed out, where you could have spent with friends or family, but you know, it’s a good time. That’s this summer actually. The last time they went was my freshman year, and this year we’re going again and I will be attending. What’s that called? 8:38 It’s called the Henley Royal Regatta, and that’s on the Thames River, just outside of London Gayle: When? Scott: The women leave…late May or Early June, and they’re there for ten days. Then we leave on the 22nd and get back on July 5th, so it’s a good, about ten days there. So the women must be leaving the 12th. Gayle: Where do you stay, in a hotel? Scott: I think we have a host family, so we stay in someone’s house. Gayle: Cool. Scott: Yeah. Gayle: Where? �Scott: In Henley. Gayle: Oh. Scott: 9:35 Yeah, I couldn’t really tell you much on the location either. Yeah it’s going to be a lot of fun, I’m excited for it. Yeah, it’s a different style of racing too. Instead of a heat, a semi, and a final, and you advance each round, this is single elimination. So you race, it’s one boat, two boat race, and the one who wins moves on and the other is done for the rest. So, that’s… I don’t know… risky. Gayle: But you get to go to England. Scott: You get to go to England, which is going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, I’m excited for it. Gayle: So, if somebody asked you like what… is there… I don’t know… is there a time or something that you can think of in your four years… four years? This is your fourth year? Scott: Yeah, it’s my fourth year. Gayle: That stands out, because of for any reason, either the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. And not just sports, but anything. Like is there a time where you think “oh God, I’m glad that’s over” or “I wish that would happen again” or something? Do you have a memorable class or a frustrating class, or something that… Scott: 10:54 I mean my freshman year was a lot of fun, just cause everyone who was on the freshman team, guys on the boys side, none of them had rowed before. So we were all just learning this new sport together, and we were all a bunch of goofballs. And our coach, it was his first year being the novice first year coach. Gayle: Hugh? Scott: Yeah, that was Hugh. So yeah, we had a lot of fun just messing around, learning a new sport, and being dudes on the team. I don’t know. Gayle: Do you get nervous? Like for those… I don’t know what they call them. You know those erg (ergometer, or rowing machine) tests or whatever, the timings? Do you ever… does that ever effect you, like your head? Scott: 11:50 I get a little nervous. I do... for like when we have our practices in the winter it’s really, it’s the same thing week in and week out, routine. But then at the end of our winter training, our winter season, we have a 2,000 meter race on the erg, and that’s basically like our last big test before the spring season. So it’s like we build… where all the winter training is like, kind of leads up to this, and so that’s a little nerve-wracking because our coach makes it a big deal. So I think he wants us to get nervous for it. Because he wants us to have – feel that anxiety and get ready for the spring. But it's because alumni show up, some friends show up, and it’s you, and you’re lined up with seven other people, and there’s a screen in front of you that shows like where you’re at compared to the other people. So it’s basically just like a �race. So that’s a little nerve-wracking, but other than that one it’s not. I don’t really… Gayle: Scott: Gayle: Scott: Gayle: Scott: Have you ever like not done the way you wanted? Have you ever wanted something and not gotten it? Or are you one of the more successful physically? 13:17 No… yeah… I’m… As a rower I’m pretty small. Most guys are six foot or taller. I’m 5’10. I’ve put in – I had to work a little more than some guys I think. So height’s an advantage? 13:35 Yeah, yeah. But in… yeah, I don’t know there’s seat racing that we do. Last year when we seat raced I didn’t do so hot, and I was pretty disappointed, but I don’t know. You just got to keep on going I guess. Like you might get discouraged but keeping things in perspective and just knowing that if you keep going, keep working, it’s going to pay off eventually. Like it might not happen now. It could take a year for it to happen. I mean I know there’s… I mean not me personally, I’ve worked my way all four years, and I’ve gotten to this point. I’m in the varsity boat now. But there’s…I know other kids who… they rowed four years at Grand Valley too, but they didn’t get into the eight, or maybe they rowed a pair all four years. But, you know, they still showed up and they still put in the work. Because that’s just how it goes. Yeah. You’d make a lousy coach if you couldn’t do that. You’re a quitter. 14:55 Yeah, so… And there’s kids who put in, you know… They do our practice, and then they put in an extra 20 minutes a day, just on their own. And that’s just like they have a lot more passion for rowing than I do. I mean I like rowing but it’s not… I don’t have like that definite like “this is what I want to do” type thing for it, and I don’t know if that’s something I’m still looking for. I don’t know. I guess I’m competitive out of passion for competing. I don’t know. So I just go out there and do what I can. I guess but… Gayle: Is there wrestling at Grand Valley? Scott: Yeah there’s a club team. Gayle: And you choose not to do that? Scott: Gayle: Scott: 15:46 Yeah I didn’t….Yeah I just wanted to try something different. So I do want to get back into that, and we’ll see how that happens but… I don’t know. So what would be the best, like, recruiting technique? Or, not technique but what did somebody…well you wanted to do it, right? You wanted to do something. But if somebody were kind of like on the fence, “I’m not sure if I want to do a sport. I’m new here and I’m not sure if I want to do that.” What would make a good pitch? 16:24 Well for rowing, I think just selling them on the comradery and the amount of traveling you do. The traveling does get to be a lot, especially after four years of doing it. It’s a lot, and maybe for freshman too, they see that and maybe they’re �maybe a little intimidated. But it’s just a great experience to go see Washington D.C. or San Diego, or Florida… Gayle: Yeah. Scott: Or Philadelphia, Georgia. Gayle: Do you think people should do it if they only want to do it for a year? Scott: Gayle: Scott: Gayle: 16:57 Yeah, I think there’s a lot of kids who come out for their freshman year and don’t come back. Probably more than who stay. 17:08 Yeah, I mean there’s always sixty or seventy freshman in the fall and by the end of the spring season there’s twenty, maybe. And of those twenty, maybe ten come back for the next year. And I think those kids who did it their freshman year are glad they did it their freshman year. I mean I live with two of them… Oh you live with rowers too? Scott: 17:41 Yeah I live with two guys who were on my freshman rowing team, and they’re glad they did it that one year. They loved it but they’re ok with not coming and doing it again and that’s fine. It’s a hard sport, but it’s a lot of fun and you get a lot out of it. You learn a lot about yourself, you learn a lot about other people. You learn how to deal with adversity and… Gayle: There might be some academic programs that don’t mesh well with the demands of the sport though, do you think? Scott: 18:20 I mean there was a girl last year that was in the nursing program, and she would have clinicals and class, and she was able to work around it. And there’s two guys in the engineering program right now, maybe three. Gayle: Scott: That amazes me. 18:36 And they do what they got to do. There was one kid, he did his robot stuff last Saturday, and so I mean we just move practice for him. So he went and did that and he’s been doing a bunch of projects this semester. So it is doable, there’s kids on…there’s been kids who are in business fraternities… Gayle: But you can’t go home every weekend? Scott: No. No you can’t go home every weekend. Gayle: Where are you from? Scott: 19:14 I’m from Bangor, which is between Kalamazoo and South Haven. Gayle: Ok Scott: So like an hour south. �Gayle: Scott: But you don’t get home very often? 19:23 No. That’s just, I don’t know. I get caught up in…the going so I just…I forget sometimes. Just kind of going and going and going and I get a weekend off, and I just kind of don’t do anything and I think “Oh, I could have gone home”. Gayle: Was studying and stuff an adjustment for you when you got to college? Or not? Did you have a pretty grueling high school program? Scott: No, I would say getting… Gayle: Like managing your own time? Scott: Gayle: Scott: 19:59 Yeah, there’s definitely a learning curve to that. And in some programs it’s not very forgiving either. Depending on what you want to do to you got to come in and hit the ground running. Which is not what I did. But I managed fine I think. I haven’t done terrible in school… Any mistakes you learned from that you just say “oh well”? 20:27 Yeah, my freshman year second semester I just kind of, I don’t know, fluffed off on my classes and didn’t really, care as much as I should have… Gayle: What kind of classes? Scott: Writing 150, Bio 120, and… Gayle: You remember? Scott: Yeah, couple other classes, but yeah especially Writing 150. Did the bare minimum in that class and didn’t put enough effort into it. So I definitely was like… Gayle: Well so what did you learn? Like you got a bad grade and went on with it, or did you have to retake it or? Scott: No I didn’t have to retake it, like I didn’t fail it or get below, like I got the credit for it. I think I got a B-… Gayle: (laughs) Scott: (laughs) Yeah it’s not bad but… Gayle: But you could have done better. Scott: Gayle: Scott: 21:42 Yeah I could have definitely done better. Yeah if I just put forth ten percent more effort I could have been a B+ or something, I don’t know. But… Does your program have a secondary admit or something? Was there anything where grades could be an issue along the way or? 22:00 Yeah, I guess for…There’s an application process to get the emphasis in Speech Language Pathology so…I had to apply twice for it cause for the first time I went in, I had an interview and I wasn’t selected. So that was a little rough, like… �Gayle: Scott: Do they tell you why? 22:25 No, not really. I’m thinking though that it was just…they wanted like another year or whatever to get my GPA up but…I don’t know. So that kind of hurt my pride a little bit I think like “Oh yeah I’ll get in at this” and I didn’t and just “oh, that’s, alright…” But I got in the second time and it’s been going well. I like the classes and I’m in the same class, all my classes are with the same group of people. So I’m making some good friends in there, too, which is great. It’s a lot of fun, having more people to relate to in the classes. And to have the support when you’re struggling in the class like, “Hey, does anyone get this?” Gayle: Have you ever used any of the services, like the writing center or the knowledge market? Scott: 23:30 Yeah I’ve used the writing center a lot, but other than that… Well I guess when I had math classes I used the Math Center a few times but… So Math Center and Writing Center I’ve used but other than that. Gayle: Scott: But they were worth it? 23:55 Yeah, they have good feedback and…And sometimes it’s good going there because, they give you a little bit of guidance but they don’t just give you the answer. Gayle: Mhmm. Scott: It’s a little less frustrating. You know you figure it out and you learn it better, and you learn it for yourself and it’ll stick. Gayle: Do you have a favorite professor here? Do you have someone that really stands out? You don’t have to name them (laughs) like if there was like a disaster. Scott: Gayle: Scott: Gayle: 24:32 Yeah. In the course evaluations at the end of the year, one question is always like “did you learn something from this professor?” And I always put yes, no matter like how bad the course went because you can learn something that’s not related to the course. You can learn how a better way to teach something would be, or you can learn how to deal with a pushy person, or someone who doesn’t listen. Or just a personality that doesn’t work with yours. 25:14 Yeah. Or how to deal with a personality, yeah. So you can learn other skills in the course even though you might not have learned much in the class. Teachers that stick out, I don’t know, I’ve had some pretty good professors. I had a good philosophy professor, philosophy 101, Klaskow I think was his name. I enjoyed it. Right now my SLP professors are all really good. Rankinen, this is his first year and he knows his stuff so that’s good. I just did a Student Scholars Day poster with Dr. Macauley; she’s very passionate, very into what she does. Just loves teaching and loves being a part of...She still does some clinical so she just loves that stuff and it’s cool to see how passionate she is. Did you pursue that or did she suggest you do that? �Scott: Gayle: Scott: 26:32 Well my roommate is friends with her daughter, takes a few classes with her daughter. And she said “Hey you should do a Student Scholars Day poster” and he was like, “alright, I don’t know where to start” and she was like “ask my mom.” So her mom gave him a poster to do and figured out I was his roommate and was like “you should do it with him.” And I said “I will.” So that’s how that went. Does that make you think about going to grad school or anything? That process? 27:05 Yeah. For SLP grad school is a requirement so I have to go anyway but yeah. Research is pretty fun I think, maybe not fun but, doing studies and finding correlations is fun. But the actual research can be boring sometimes. *laughs* Gayle: (laughs) But finding out that you can do it. Scott: Yeah. Gayle: Were you thinking about grad school when you started college? Scott: Gayle: Scott: 27:47 Yeah, kind of… You kind of had a big picture in your head. 27:52 Yeah. I wish I didn’t have to go to grad school. I knew I was going towards the medical field, so I knew it was probably going to be a necessity to go, even though I don’t really want to go. But it’s alright, it will just be another stepping stone. Gayle: Two or three years. Scott: Yeah, that will be nice. Grand Valley’s is an accelerated course, so that’s a year and a half. Gayle: So you’re going to do it here? Scott: I’m going to try and get in here. Otherwise I’ll go somewhere else, no big deal. Gayle: Is that something like your family…I don’t want to say encouraged but…I didn’t come from a college-going family. I was the only one in my family to go to college. It wasn’t anything that I really knew that much about and they certainly weren’t saying “hey you should do this”. Scott: 29:01 Yeah I think it was expected to go. I have an older sister and a younger sister and I think for all three of us it was like “you should probably go to college.” I know I was also thinking about joining the military, and my dad who was in the Air Force was like, “go to college first and think about it there.” I was like “alright.” I mean, I still think about joining and getting some grad school money from that and just…but yeah. Going to college was expected. Gayle: I don’t know if I have any other questions. Have you ever done any of the social events? Have you ever done the President’s Ball or? Scott: Yeah I went to the President’s Ball for the first time this year actually. �Gayle: Did you like it? Scott: Yeah it was fun, different. Something different to do in the college. Gayle: I’ve never stayed for the actual music, it’s too much for me. Scott: Yeah, we didn’t go to the dinner either so, we just went to the dance. It was fun, I guess. Gayle: I don’t know what other things there are. Scott: There was a jazz band in the upstairs part of DeVos, some swing dancing. It was fun. Gayle: I mean throughout the year there are other things or do you? Scott: 30:42 Oh, well there’s always those concerts. I don’t think I’ve been to any of those. Gayle: Mostly dedicated to early morning rowing or not. Are there early morning practices? Scott: Sometimes, they’re usually during the evening though. Gayle: When it’s warmer. Scott: 31:08 Yeah. The morning practices are hard when we have them just because you’re half asleep still but that’s alright. Gayle: Ok. I don’t know, anything else? That you can think of. You don’t graduate this year though you graduate next year? Scott: Yeah I graduate next year. Gayle: Are you going to go through the ceremony? Are you going to walk across the stage? Scott: Probably. Yeah, I don’t have a reason not to. Gayle: Kind of exciting. Scott: Yeah. Yeah it’ll be good. I’m sure my parents will probably want me to. Gayle: I’ll be there. Walt’s going across. Scott: Oh yeah? Gayle: And my other son will probably be graduating at the same time. Scott: Henry? Gayle: Yeah. Scott: Cool. Gayle: I’ll be in the audience, weeping (laughs). Scott: (Laughs) Yeah. �Gayle: It’s exciting. Have you ever been to one? Scott: My sister’s. She graduated from Western. Gayle: Here it’s really exciting, and Van Andel. It’s really big. There’s thousands of people, it’s really loud. Scott: 32:16 Yeah I’m excited for it, when it comes. One thing that I’m thinking of, when your parents …Like when we were talking earlier about the weekends off and it’s not much time to go home. I think this year especially I’m finally realizing how much my parents mean to me and how much they’ve supported me and what they’ve done. This year has been eye opening in that how much they’re willing to do and what they do for me and my sisters. Gayle: Scott: Do you tell them this? (Laughs) 33:07 I do thank them a lot but…yeah. I know when I first came to college my freshman year I was like “I can finally go off on my own a little bit and figure out what I can do. Do things on my own and not have a parent over my shoulder every second.” Gayle: Where did you live when you first got here? Scott: I lived on campus, in Frey. Which is next to North C. Gayle: Is it like the suite kind or the dorm room kind? Scott: It was like a one room apartment. So it had a small kitchen and a bathroom. Me and my roommate shared, it was all just like one room with two beds and a small kitchen. Gayle: How was your adjustment? Was it smooth or did you kind of go “ahhh!”? Scott: 34:07 I was fine. I didn’t have any problems, just kind of jumped right into it. Gayle: Did you go through transitions and stuff? Scott: Yeah I went to all the transitions. While all my roommate slept through most of them, all of them. Gayle: Did they make a difference did you think? Were they helpful? Scott: 34:28 If anything it got you out there and talking to your floor mates. You know the people tried to get you pumped up for the year. Which is good I guess. Gayle: But you don’t know what to expect so. Scott: Yeah. Gayle: I think that’s where getting involved in a sport helps. Scott: Yeah. �Gayle: I know that was different for Walt to just getting involved right away and having an immediate, like you said, an immediate group of friends. Scott: Yeah. I mean there were kids who were only on the team for like three, four months. And I still recognize a few of them, say hi and talk to them. You meet a lot of people in any club sport. Gayle: You going to try and maintain these friendships you think? Although if you’re here at grad school you might. Scott: Yeah, there are definitely people here I would like to keep in touch with. Which is although like something I’m not good at. Gayle: Facebook. Scott: Yeah, true. Gayle: It helps a lot. I’ve rediscovered people from thirty years ago. Scott: Yeah so, I don’t know. It’s been, as far as rowing goes, it’s been a good four years. I’m glad it’s over, or it will be over in a couple months. Gayle: Just because of the time commitment or the physical commitment? Scott: Mostly just the time. I mean it’ll be good to just have a three hour chunk of time back in my day. I’ll be twiddling my thumbs for those three hours, but that’s ok. Gayle: You’ll fill them up. Scott: Yeah, I’m sure. Gayle: If anything else you can sleep. Scott: Yeah. End � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Connected Exhibit Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource Collection of audio recordings and transcripts of Grand Valley State University students sharing their stories and experiences. The recordings were conducted as part of an exhibit created by the University Libraries in fall semester of 2016 titled "Connected" which featured short audio clips of students. The clips were combined with watercolor portraits of GVSU students by Ellie Lubbers and an interactive watercolor painting activity. Students were encouraged to paint 3" circles of paper to illustrate their current feelings about the college experience and attach them to the gallery wall. The aim of the exhibit was to inspire feelings of community, connectedness, and welcome to new and returning students. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cadena, Cara; Schaub, Gayle; Frigo, Emily; Lubbers, Ellie; Fisher, Erin Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thorbjornsen, Scott Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-04-26 Title A name given to the resource Scott Thorbjornsen interview (audio and transcript) Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Schaub, Gayle (interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07_ThorbjornsenS_2016-04-26 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Relation A related resource Grand Valley State University Libraries. Connected Exhibit, September 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Description An account of the resource Interview with Scott Thorbjornsen conducted by Gayle Schaub for the GVSU Libraries' Connected Exhibit, displayed in September 2016. Edited clips of interviews accompanied watercolor portraits of students and an interactive watercolor activity for exhibit visitors. Scott is an allied health science major, emphasizing in speech language pathology. A multi-sport athlete in high school, Scott thought about physical therapy and engineering before deciding on his current major. He became involved in GVSU Crew as soon as he arrived on campus his freshman year. Scott acknowledges that rowing is a physically and mentally demanding, time-consuming sport, but he feels it has given him perspective and taught him the self discipline to face whatever adversity he may encounter. Through rowing, Scott has developed friendships that, hopefully, will continue long after graduation. Scott’s strong athletic ability and keen interest in coaching make working in a school an interesting possibility for him, so that he might combine his academic and personal interests in his profession Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8e982c969fdc741ffa4a0105aa0d9968.mp3 4ee66ea1f3f7edae954b69750216a541 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/60de7a01a99d3b99d034a99496602e64.pdf 8f31ca57e4a580ccafdeb6266e5f8b21 PDF Text Text GV043-07 Connected Exhibit Interviews Interviewee: Elizabeth (Liz) Ritchie Interviewers: Gayle Schaub Date: April 20, 2016 Gayle: Liz: Is there a specific time or place, well not place, but if you can think of a story that or a specific time and it might just bubble out that…that you felt particularly…something. Particularly happy, or sad, or elated, or excited, or frustrated. :22 Gayle: Liz: I think that you come to college and you have a lot of those core classes you have to take but there are the electives that Grand Valley offers that really bring out who you are and start to morph, maybe your liberal education would be the right term? And for me that was ballroom dancing, and that class for me was a turning point not only feeling comfortable meeting with students outside of class to work on these dances but also to feel joy going to a class and being excited to go, and get an experience that’s not just bookwork and course-related but one that starts to make you interested in different cultures of dance and things of that nature, and for me that class was a huge turning point for what Grand Valley has to offer as far as classwork and you can kinda branch out from your major. You tried it just for fun? 1:20 Yeah. Yeah, I had a couple extra credits in one of my semesters and needed to get to full-time student to get to the fifteen credits and so I didn’t want to take another three-course science class and signed up for two gym credits. I signed up for ballroom dancing that semester and another one called body sculpting to help keep me in shape cause as you progress in your college career you find you are at the gym less and less, and so, but ballroom dancing was the one I really was passionate about going to and really excited to go to. My science classes I’m very interested in and I’m excited about the field I’m going into but to have a class… Gayle: What’s your major? Liz: I’m a biology major, but to have a class that is completely different from your comfort zone where you just kinda just dive right into every week was just a really cool experience for me. Gayle How many people were in it? Liz: 2:11 It was, you signed up based on whether you’re a girl or boy and then the class was taught together, and there were I think twenty girls and twenty boys in the class and so you switched partners for every dance. So you got to meet someone new while you’re learning the dance together and you met outside of class to perform a dance and then every week you actually danced in front of the class, and your final was choreographed in your own two minute class which was, your own two minute dance which, was really cool. �Gayle: Liz: What kind of dances? 2:44 Gayle: Liz: Did anybody, like, hate it? 3:05 Gayle: Liz: We learned the foxtrot, the salsa, the cha cha, the swing, western and eastern, just a whole array of dances throughout the semester. So you spent about two weeks on each dance and then you performed and then you switched into a new genre. I don’t think so, no. You came into the class and everyone was uncomfortable with the fact that you: a.) had to dance with the opposite sex, and b.) you had to come up with your own choreographed dances and so you can see as the semester progresses on people are going past the 30-second choreographed time and they’re just so excited to be in front of everyone and you really see that towards the end of the semester when everyone’s really actually excited and genuinely comfortable performing in front of everyone. So it’s kind of a high school awkwardness to a, your full potential in college what you can do as your own individual choreographer per se. I wonder if there’s a club here, like a dance…there must be. 3:45 There’s a swing dance club, I’m not sure about ballroom dance. I know there’s a swing dance club; I was in it for a semester. Gayle: But no more? You don’t have time? Liz: It’s yeah, that’s exactly right. Yeah, time is always… Gayle: So what made you choose this major? Liz: 4:05 I am a pre-veterinary student and I had a really good biology professor in high school and it turns out the biology courses and the curriculum ties right into the prerequisites for veterinary medicine and so I chose to be a biology major for that reason, but I think that my classes have really honed in on my interests and I think that it’s nice to have a major that’s not just a stepping stone for what you want to do but also that has really good professors. Professors that I’ve become really close with on a personal basis and who I can go and talk about ecology, and sustainable agriculture because I grew up in a rural community and to be able to translate those into my other liberal education classes, my Honors classes and then also know that I’ll be prepared going to vet school which is just really great. So I’m doing biology, you can pick whatever major you want as long as you complete the prerequisites. Gayle: So when do you have to apply for vet school? Liz: I apply this summer. Gayle: Oh! Oh, you - already? Before your senior year? Liz: 5:07 Yeah, yup. It’s really nerve wracking but I’m also excited because you finally, you go through high school and you figure out what you want to do and then you come to undergrad and you start to take all these classes but then when you fill out the �application it becomes a reality and it’s just really exciting but a nerve-wracking feeling I guess. Gayle: When are you going to, I mean where are you going to apply? Liz: I’m going to apply to Michigan State and University of Wisconsin Madison. Gayle: Two? Liz: Just two, yup. It’s $250 for the first application and then an extra $125 after that so I’m only going to apply to the schools I’d be interested in going to. Gayle: So what does that process entail? Do you have to have recommendations from here? Liz: 5:50 Gayle: Liz: So you knew you wanted to be a vet before you came to Grand Valley? 6:53 Gayle: Liz: Gayle: Yup, so you can have up to six, they’re called eLORs which are electronic letters of recommendation. One has to be from a veterinarian and then the other ones that you choose can be either an academic advisor, or a professor you became close with, but what you really want to hone in on is I guess how you’ve taken a challenge and improved upon that. They want their eLORs to be very specific for veterinary school. You also have to take the GRE which is, you know, a fun test and a lot of it’s based off you GPA, so they usually have a preliminary round per se, based on your GPA and your GRE scores and then schools will send you supplementary applications from there and you’ll fill those out and usually they have interviews, which happen around February and then they send out offers around March/April, so, it’s kind of a long process. Yeah, when I was four years old I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian. I started showing animals at my community, my county fair when I was five. So when I was four I got my first set of pigs and it was kind of an interesting year. My pigs didn’t make weight and so that was the year my dad taught me where bacon came from which is kind of interesting (laughs). It’s fine. Are you a vegetarian now? 7:23 I am not a vegetarian, but I-we raise all our own meat so it’s very different from…When I came to college I went to the grocery store to buy hamburger and I had to call my mom cause I didn’t know what to buy cause we just don’t buy hamburger from the stores, and so that was a unique experience coming to college and really having to do things on your own for a change and try to figure things out on your own so that was one of those – buying meat – for me was one of those moments. Have you been involved at all with the farm? The sustainability group, or anything that’s going on here at Grand Valley? �Liz: 7:56 Gayle: Liz: I became involved with the Humane Society one year but I’m just now looking into the sustainable farming in my courses so that’s been really interesting but I haven’t been involved on campus per se with that. No. Okay. Just curious, because I know they have a lot of people doing a lot of things and growing stuff and selling it at the market. 8:21 The farmer’s market is really cool in the fall and they have that and I’m always really sad cause you get to school and it ends in October so you’re only here about a month and a half and then it goes away. Gayle: Yeah, we’re here the whole time so. Liz: Yeah. Gayle: So where are you from then? Liz: 8:36 Gayle: Liz: I’m from a rural town southwest of Kalamazoo called Decatur and most people think Decatur, Illinois but it’s really just a small town that I grew up in. So we had about 2,000 people in my town and I graduated with 74, which is one of the largest classes of my community in about ten years, so to come to Grand Valley and have 25,000 students, and to kind of have to create your own identity was really fun for me because I grew up with the same kids from kindergarten until I graduated so to get to come here and meet new people, and recreate your identity you didn’t have when you were in second grade and did something embarrassing was really nice. Did you change your name or anything? Or change the way you…? 9:24 I became Liz when I came to college. I didn’t go by Elizabeth anymore I went by Liz. Gayle: That’s what you go by now? Liz: That’s what I go by now. So kind of a unique thing to do, I didn’t change my name but I go by a different name. All my professors call me Liz too. Gayle: I mean I didn’t have a name that I could do that with but a lot of people I know can do that. Liz: Yeah. Gayle: When you first got here, you were in a dorm? Liz: Gayle: Liz: 9:49 Yeah, I actually lived in the Murray International house which was a unique experience. I grew up with exchange students from around the world and we had about fourteen before I came to college. That stayed in your house? 10:04 Mhmm, yup. So my parents got our first exchange student when I was a baby and we had one every year until I graduated high school, some year two students and so I became involved in the Murray International House on their community council �and ran sustainability events for our community but also general volunteering and programming for Homecoming and Relay-for-Life. Then the next year, my sophomore year, I became involved with being a peer mentor and actually being more involved with the international community here on campus and working with their transitioning, and giving tours on campus and downtown Grand Rapids, and also doing programming specific for international students. For instance we had a lot of students that had never gone sledding before so we packed up a van and took everyone sledding and it was a great experience for them and we also had days that would highlight different cultures like Day of the Dead and different things of that nature to kind of make the international students feel more at home here in America. And also it was just nice to talk with them and their experiences about what’s different here on our campus, how their lectures are different and, I guess, to see them kind of flourish throughout the year. They become more comfortable with American customs and how classes are run and professors, and even just the language barriers in the beginning. That was just a really cool experience for me and from there I applied to be an RA and tried to become an RA in the Murray International Center but was placed instead in the Women in Science and Engineering building which I have no regrets from, it was a great experience working there with those girls. Gayle: Oh, so that wasn’t like you didn’t join that it kind of happened to you? Liz: Mhmm. Yeah, yup. Gayle: Did you ever want to study abroad? Liz: Gayle: Liz: Gayle: 11:51 I still want to study abroad, I’d like to do a veterinary-based program in Belize which is a kind of a hands-on program for undergraduate students it’s run by Michigan State. So I would like to do that over winter break this coming school year, but as far as a semester-long…excursion I guess, it would set me back a year for veterinary school just because of the basis of my nature and the classes I have to take. Still want to study abroad, still want to get in the undergraduate experience but not going to do it in maybe a traditional manner. Well that’s good. Have you studied language? 12:29 I studied language in high school and then this summer my friend and I are going to take up Spanish. One of my friends is a Spanish major that I graduated with, and she’s going to help me with that process. She’s fluent and she did a semester in Argentina which was really exciting to hear about how different things are there. Let’s see what else can I ask you about, if I can think of some things because you’ve had such a jam-packed experience already. Did you experience any moments of, like, “oh, what have I done?” No? As soon as you got here it sounds like you hit the ground running but did you ever feel like this was maybe a little vague or a little scary? �Liz: 13:13 No. My main challenge was in the beginning with how different academics were at the collegiate level versus the one I had in high school. High school came very easy for me, I didn’t have to study a lot. I did study but I didn’t have to study near as much as I did here, or read as much as I did here, nor were the books that I read at this level and so coming into the Honor’s College you kind of…the Honor’s College specifically, you kind of hit a brick wall in the beginning because you have to relearn how to study and how to be effective about it and how to manage your time. In a high school a lot of it is managed for you with your six class hours that your counselor makes for you and you go to lunch at this time, and go to practice at this time, and you go home and your mom makes dinner, you do homework and you go to bed. But here you might have only one class a day and you might have this freedom that is just unknown to you and what to do with that time and if you’re going to be productive or not that day, if you’re going to go hang out with friends what you’re going to do. If you’re going to visit the Writing Center all the time like I did to help with my Honor’s papers and my grammar because I wrote with commas when I thought it was okay to pause not where the commas actually belong which my Honor’s professor dinged me on right away. And so I don’t know, you have this new self-autonomy that you have to deal with when you get to college and how you deal with that kind of sets the foundation for how successful you’re gonna be and the resources that you in that process are really important and I think it’s really great, Gayle: Did you have any? Liz: And Grand Valley offers all those, Gayle: Did you have any “oh crap” moments where you thought “I should’ve managed my time better”? Liz: 14:50 Yes. Yeah, it happened when I started double-booking my time and not realizing it and having to use a calendar and my phone calendar and all of those things, and so the time where I had to tell someone “yeah, sorry I can’t meet. I’m meeting with my professor now.” And to kind of drop the ball was really a moment of “okay, I gotta get things together” but I learned quickly I think. You kind of have to learn quickly especially when you’re involved in everything I’ve been involved in. But I didn’t have a moment of…I guess you have the…breaking up with your high school sweetheart and that was a rough transition that first semester for me. I know a lot of people come to college with past relationships from their hometowns and everybody’s going to work out and you know for sure your relationship’s going to work out and then you get here and you realize it’s really not working out and so to have to deal with that long-distance breakup and that transition and feeling hopeless for a while but still having to kind of keep it together and keep your grades up I think that was my roughest semester probably dealing with that and then being away from home already, so you kind of become a little homesick and then not having that person that you had for support back at home because you just ended that relationship and that was probably… �Gayle: Liz: Now was that relationship with somebody who was also in school or? 16:17 It was a relationship with someone who was still in high school and so that’s why, ultimately it was the distance kind of that…made that a thing but, I don’t know you learn to adapt and move on. Gayle: Yeah, it sounds like you’ve got it together. Liz: Yup. I think you always try to have it together with boys but they always throw you one (laughs). Throw you for a loophole. Gayle: So, I mean it’s unusual to meet someone who had this plan and has stuck to this plan, and will probably stick to this plan. Liz: Gayle: Liz: 16:57 Yeah, I’ve never really gone through not knowing what I want to do and I know that’s a huge struggle for some people coming into college because they don’t know what they want to do, but I’ve had friends that have gone through that and ultimately they come to college the first year and they just try everything they can get their hands on and they take all of their electives that first year, usually though in one of their electives though they’ll have this spark and they’ll realize “ok, I really enjoyed this class let’s take another one” and then they take another one and meet with the professor, make that relationship and ultimately decide that that’s what they want to do. And for one of my friends that was political science. She loved doing the debates, she loved talking about the hot topics, she loved doing the research and for her political science is where she came of it and that’s what she’s graduating in in this upcoming semester so. I never experienced that but I know it’s a huge, huge problem for some students. Have you had any professors that really stand out that you just say “yeah, I wish everyone could take this professor” even though not everybody wants to do biology. Or have you had the opposite? Have you had like these, kind of, “well that was a disaster I’m glad it’s behind me” kind of thing? 18:15 I can honestly say that I’ve only had one professor I disliked at Grand Valley and I think that it was a teaching style because I know many students that really enjoyed his class, and learned a lot from his class. But I think that the a professor who’s really had the most impact on me was Dr. Matthew Hart, he teaches organic chemistry here and he was the first professor that really challenged me to step outside my boundaries in studying and how to learn from a different perspective. And organic chemistry is an extremely difficult class and it’s generally a class that pre-professional schools look at to see if students can make it through because it is so challenging and it may not be completely relevant to what they’re going into but it definitely shows how strong willed that student is, and how motivated that student is to succeed and get past it and for me that was that class. And that was the class that I struggled in in the beginning and got my first bad grade on my exam but I, I don’t know, you learn to persevere and I was in office hours all the time and so from then on I ended up first semester getting an A- in the and then the next �semester going in and kind of knowing Professor Hart and how his exams are and ended up getting an outstanding organic chemistry award at the end of it all and so it was just a really great experience and him and I are still fairly close and I think he’s the professor that I’ll probably look back on as being kind of that pivotal moment in my undergrad where I kind of got things together and just learned so much from. Gayle: So you’re doing Student Scholars? Liz: Mhmm, yeah. Gayle: What’re you doing? Liz: Gayle: Liz: Gayle: Liz: 19:57 I am doing a biology-based research project with parasitology and specifically racoon roundworms which is a zoonotic disease that a lot of children will get if a dog came into contact with a raccoon or something of that nature and got roundworms. And so it’s a very prevalent disease in western Michigan for raccoons from what our research has told and so we’re trying to see if the level of infection in a raccoon or how many adult worms are present can kind of give us an idea as to how many eggs that raccoon is putting into the environment. And so it’s very hands-on microscope work and being able to identify the roundworms and we’re doing Student Scholars Day and we’ve got our preliminary research done but it’s not significant per se. We’re going to do some tweaking of our methods which is what you do in research in real life. You do something and you realize it could’ve worked better this way and so we’re in that process of improving it and we will hopefully be publishing, or seeking publishment at the end of the summer which is really exciting to be a part of and it’s nice to see that - With a professor? 21:18 Yeah, with Professor Jacquot. It’s nice to see that in labs they’re all set up and the professor knows the outcomes and what’s going to happen but in the real world of research you don’t know what’s going to happen and you don’t know the challenges that are going to come with that and so actually going through the process and seeing all those bumps in the road and modifying your hypothesis, it’s kinda nice cause it’s…it’s what happens in real world research. So you guys, are you involved in writing it all, writing it up? Not just the methodology and the results but also the review and the, whatever, the background to the study? 21:54 Yeah, Professor Jacquot has had these samples in the freezer for about four or five years now and has just now put together a team of students to help him actually conduct the research, but as a part of my Honor’s senior project I wrote the rough draft of our paper and so, and he’s helping me revise it and things of that nature but we’ll be redoing all of our data collection in a way that we think will be better for the overall study and we’re going to include some more components that we hadn’t thought of before to try to improve the correlations but, yeah, I’ll be a writer of the paper…which is really cool. �Gayle: So what happens to kids if they get this? Liz: So it’s dependent upon how many eggs they ingest and where it travels in the body. So what happens is the kids…the raccoon is the dominant host, Gayle: Wait a minute, human kids? Liz: 22:27 Yeah, yeah kids can get it. It’s not super common but, it’s when dogs go out and they’re scavenging through dirt where there’s feces or and come back with that it’s the fecal/oral contact. If the child picks up a toy the dog licked and there happened to be, the dog maybe happened to run into the woods and come in contact with the raccoon or things of that nature it’s very easily transmitted at that point and so…it’s not super common but it can happen. Most of the time it’s not super serious you can do some level of like de-wormer or something kinda like you would do with your dog which sounds kinda really gross and things but it can be serious because as the eggs mature they travel through the liver and into different tissues in the body and so they can migrate into the central nervous system and that’s when you have super serious problems. So it’s not super prevalent but is a zoonotic disease and people can get it and so that kind of warrants research. Because if we, if you can predict based on the level of infection how many eggs you think were transmitted that can alter the doctor’s diagnosis as whether or not he’s going to do this or this depending on how many he thinks that the child ingested and it’s kind of the, the prevalence increases as the raccoons become closer to fragmentation which is either human development or farming because raccoons can get into trash and things of that nature and it’s easier for them to bring it into, like, human environments if they’re infected because we leave trash bins out and kind of like food and things of that nature so they kind of like to hang out around us. Gayle: Well I know a dog I was babysitting for and it was like rolling in raccoon poop and in the city we have raccoons all the time, you know? Like right in our backyard. Liz: Yeah, and it’s common for dogs to get it. Very common for dogs to get it cause dogs- Gayle: But adults can’t be infected? As much? Liz: They can but it’s just the nature of kids playing in dirt and soil. Like kids going out outside and playing in sandpits and things of that nature. Gayle: So they’re directly getting into it. Liz: They’re directly getting it, yeah. Gayle: Got ya. Liz: Gayle: 25:00 And the eggs are extremely dormant so they are extremely viable, excuse me, they can live in the environment up to five years of freezing cycles and they’re resistant to disinfectants and I think it was they could survive in temperatures up to like negative fifteen degrees and get like way down into the…yeah… So what about us gardeners? �Liz: I mean… Gayle: Don’t touch your mouth? Liz: It’s not super, yeah it’s not super common but yeah I wouldn’t touch your mouth if you’re digging around in the soil. Gayle: Yeah I wouldn’t. But I mean I have friends who let their dogs lick their faces. Liz: 25:42 Yeah I mean if they go out into the woods. Raccoon ecology they have these things they call, well they defecate in the woods into these latrines and so it’s basically like this community center where they’ll all, they’ll all like kind of defi- like all kind of in the same area so it’s…but usually there’re like seeds and things there too so small mammals will like pick up seeds from the area and become infected and then maybe a dog will get a squirrel that was infected and the dog then becomes infected and gets it. So it’s a lot more common in dogs just because they have a higher contact with raccoons and like small critters so, Gayle: Yeah rabbits do that community poop thing too. I see that in my backyard. Liz: Yeah so that’s why a lot of people always have their dogs on some sort of dewormer. Gayle: Interesting how much I’ve learned today! Liz: Yeah so if like you take good veterinary care of your dog and have them on a dewormer you should be good! I mean cause it’ll just automatically get rid of it. Gayle: Oh so like if they’re on a de-wormer they can’t transfer it to a kid anyway. Liz: I don’t think…well no because the de-wormer is gonna get rid of ‘em. Gayle: Alright. Liz: Right. Gayle: Interesting… Liz: Yeah…not to say that it couldn’t but it probably is significantly lower. Significantly lower…I haven’t really researched it… Gayle: So why, why…quick change of subject! Why did you pick Grand Valley? Did you apply to other schools too? Liz: 27:04 So I decided that if I was going to be a veterinarian and I was gonna go to Michigan State for four years I didn’t want to go there for eight years. Because I thought I would get bored, I would get sick of it cause it’s the same thing over and over and so I decided I didn’t want to do that. And so my mom is family friends with Joe Godwin who is a provost here and so he said “You should come visit Grand Valley!” and I was so against it in the beginning because I had my heart set on Michigan State but then I just decided I didn’t want to go to Michigan State but was still a little negative �on the idea of visiting other schools but I still came here and everyone was super nice and the tour of campus was just beautiful which is why I think they keep campus so nice because it is the number one thing people look for when they come to campuses is the appeal and I ended up staying with a girl from my high school that came here a weekend and I didn’t go with her to classes but I went with her to the library and walked around campus with her and she gave me more of the insider look that the tour guides maybe don’t tell you about Grand Valley and things, and I just fell in love even more. Then I just wanted to come here even more and so I only Gayle: Liz: Gayle: Liz: Like what? 28:13 Like I guess just talking about the professors here she had become close with and the organizations. She’s a special education teacher and so she volunteered in a school where she provided books for the students and became really close to these students on a personal level so it was her experiences with the extracurricular here that really caught my attention. And how much she loved the Honors program and I applied to be in the Honors program and was accepted so that was a huge part of me coming here. And so I guess her experiences, and her taking me into buildings I hadn’t seen before like they don’t show you the Honors college when you’re on tours which I think is a shame because I think that the, that that would be really cool to get to see the inside of that building and I think it’s just cause it’s so far on South Campus that it’s a lot to walk there so. I guess on…on my tour they didn’t take me there, and I’ve given a couple tours and it wasn’t on my tour thing and so yeah. I think it was the Honors College appeal that really… Was this library already here when you visited? 29:11 When I was here the steel beams were out for this library which was really exciting for me because I kind of got to see the transition and them my, my junior- my freshman year the library opened up and it was so cool to come in here and just try out all the chairs and I think that was the highlight of my roommates and myself to just come and try all the chairs because there’re so many different ones, and then to see the science building going up which was really exciting for me because I knew I would be in it my junior year cause that’s where the biology department was moving so to get to go into that new building…it was just…I guess the campus appeal was the big one and then the Honors college was my second one. I visited Ferris State University and I met with their biology advisor there who would’ve been the chair of the biology department at the time and he asked why I wanted to be a veterinarian and I told him and he told me “well why would you become a veterinarian when you could become a doctor and make more money?” And so for me after visiting Grand Valley and seeing the hospitality here and how nice everyone was and someone from the college—Libby Bonnell – who was just a sweetheart and was so nice to all the transferring students. To go from that to someone who would, was discrediting my field of choice which, veterinarians don’t even make bad money, so I was really put off by that and just to, I just wanted to be �passionate about what I do and so for him to be just so discouraging right off the bat I decided “I’m not going to go to Ferris” and we actually didn’t even finish the tour and we just left because I was so upset about it and so I decided that after that Grand Valley was my number one choice and kind of didn’t…I don’t think I even applied to Ferris, I don’t think, after that. Gayle: I wonder if they know that. Liz: I don’t know! I don’t even know who the guy was I was just so upset, and so discouraged by that. Gayle: That’s amazing. Liz: Yeah, and especially when you figure that you’re trying to get people to come to your school so… Gayle: Exactly. Liz: 31:05 I know some people don’t appreciate the arts and things of that nature, I do, but it it’s— that would be like him saying “You’re going to be an art major? Why?” you know? And so for me I think that’s really rude and condescending and I would never do that but for me that was like the analogy that I describe it as, he just didn’t appreciate my interests I guess…I don’t know. Gayle: Yeah well…bad move. Liz: That is a bad move…I hope he doesn’t do that to everybody! Can you imagine? Ugh! But a lot of people go to Ferris so they must not all meet with him, I don’t’ know... Gayle: Well…anything else you want to talk about? Liz: I don’t think so… Gayle: I mean you’re busy. Liz: I’m very busy yeah, but like a good amount of busy. End � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Connected Exhibit Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource Collection of audio recordings and transcripts of Grand Valley State University students sharing their stories and experiences. The recordings were conducted as part of an exhibit created by the University Libraries in fall semester of 2016 titled "Connected" which featured short audio clips of students. The clips were combined with watercolor portraits of GVSU students by Ellie Lubbers and an interactive watercolor painting activity. Students were encouraged to paint 3" circles of paper to illustrate their current feelings about the college experience and attach them to the gallery wall. The aim of the exhibit was to inspire feelings of community, connectedness, and welcome to new and returning students. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cadena, Cara; Schaub, Gayle; Frigo, Emily; Lubbers, Ellie; Fisher, Erin Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ritchie, Elizabeth (Liz) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-04-20 Title A name given to the resource Liz Ritchie interview (audio and transcript) Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Schaub, Gayle (interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07_RitchieL_2016-04-20 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Relation A related resource Grand Valley State University Libraries. Connected Exhibit, September 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Description An account of the resource Interview with Liz Ritchie conducted by Gayle Schaub for the GVSU Libraries' Connected Exhibit, displayed in September 2016. Edited clips of interviews accompanied watercolor portraits of students and an interactive watercolor activity for exhibit visitors. Liz is a biology major, currently applying to graduate veterinary programs. A student in the Honors College, Liz comes from a rural, farm community and has known what she wanted to study since she got her first set of pigs to show at the county fair when she was only 4 years old. Liz is a driven, talented student who admits having had to learn new study and time management skills to succeed at GVSU in her very challenging field of study. In spite of her demanding schedule, Liz has found the time to be a program volunteer, a Murray International House peer mentor, and a Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) resident assistant. She credits a lot of her success to her involvement with campus activities. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e3ff50ae1dfa124b6cc4868f60ec43bc.mp3 2abafdeae2a3ec2fc47f2b10ff84682d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/78dc814216571c6d79bf558e00bfbb2c.pdf 1fee1028110f9cf021697ff908a05222 PDF Text Text GV043-07 Connected Exhibit Interviews Interviewee: Jesenia Rincones Interviewers: Gayle Schaub Date: May 5, 2016 Gayle: Okay so don’t worry about what it’s– because we’re going to edit it all. Cause I don’t want my voice in the back. Jesenia: So we’re just talking. Gayle: We’re just talking. Jesenia: Ok. Gayle: Where are you from in Grand Rapids? Jesenia: 00:09 I from Wyoming. So it’s like right out of Grand Rapids. When I was younger, I grew up in Grand Rapids on Coate St., off Grandville and Hall. It’s like a little Hispanic area. Gayle: Jesenia: Okay. Where’d you go to school? 00:22 I went to school… I went to a few schools. In high school, I went to Wyoming High School, but then our community doesn’t have that much money so our rival schools combined, so then I went to just Wyoming High School. Gayle: Jesenia: That happened in Grand Rapids too. Like Creston closed. 00:39 Yeah. I was there for that whole thing. Gayle: Jesenia: Oh, in Grand Rapids? But, you didn’t go to any GRPS schools, did you? 00:47 No, I went—it happened in Wyoming like our school… when the middle schools first combined and then I was part of that year—the first year and then the high schools, so yeah. Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: So, tell me about like coming to Grand Rap— Grand Valley. What year are you? What’s your major? You can just… anywhere you want to start. 1:10 I’ll be a junior next year. My major is nursing. So, hopefully, next year I plan on applying. I’m taking it slow at my own pace. Because it is competitive. Coming to Grand Valley was a big step. I was one of 14 grandchildren who is, like, going to college. A lot of people in my family get their diplomas and they just get a job, and I was the only one who was expected to go to college because I talked about it. So, it was like a really big thing and a lot of pressure. So, I was excited but I was very, like, nervous…because I didn’t want to…ruin it I guess, or not just like ruin it for myself but like my family. And nobody probably had a lot of guidance or advice to give you. �Jesenia: 1:59 No, not many. So, like it was hard cause I lost my confidence definitely when I got here. Because my school wasn’t, like, super small, and everyone around me like had parents who were still married or parents who were alumni somewhere. They went—they just knew all these things that I never knew or that my family never even thought of, because we didn’t grow up like that. So, knowing that I was already a— in a competitive field and knowing like I’m usually the only Hispanic in the room, and I’m a girl in the room and just all these different labels on me that could set me back was… It was hard because I never felt like a minority until I got to this campus. Yeah, so… Gayle: But you knew you wanted to do nursing even..? Jesenia: Yeah. Gayle: Okay. Jesenia: 2:47 Gayle: Jesenia: And you weren’t scared off by some people want to do this and then they realize some of the classes you have to take are…? 3:43 Gayle: Jesenia: My mom was a medical assistant. So, she was like a single mother. My dad went to prison, but he’s… I mean my dad’s still a great dad now, but things happen. He went to prison, and then my mom was like a single mom with two kids, me and my older brother. This is when they didn’t always have a lot of after school programs back then. So, like getting off—her boss of the clinic used to let her bring us to work. So, we used to like… we didn’t always listen, and we used to run around, and I always saw like doctors and new like… residents or like interns and stuff like that, and I thought it was so cool. So, I always knew I wanted to be in the medical field, just because I got to have a playground in it, when I was little. Well, I was. I—first I wanted to be a pediatrician, and I… my senior year I did the Health Science Early College Academy through KCTC. It’s like a skills tech center in Grand Rapids, and one of our jobs was to do a portfolio, and then we had to interview with either head of the nursing department I think at Davenport and then human resources, like the guy who basically hires you if you’re at Metro Health, and tell him like what we want to do, what our major was, and I saw like all the classes I had to take to be a pediatrician, and like all the chemistry classes if I was a BMS major, and I was like “oh my goodness, this is intense.” Like it was my dream, but I guess I just modified it in a way that’d work for me. I can be a nurse. I can then go and be a nurse practitioner, just specialize in peds, and it won’t be a pediatrician, but I can still do a job that I love. Cool. 4:49 Yeah, it was… I don’t know. It was different. It kind of made me sad because you’re like, you know, everyone has a dream that they want to do, but then when you like realize maybe I like can’t do it then I guess I just made a plan B. If that makes sense? Yeah. �Gayle: Jesenia: You’re not necessarily, though. Like you’re not deciding this for the rest of your life. I mean you can always… 5:16 Gayle: Jesenia: Make changes. Yeah, but I’m determined I guess. I had like my freshman year I was… had a lot of doubts I guess, cause I was like the honor roll student in high school. My parents didn’t have to worry about my grades, and then I did like… I remember I cried when I got a C+ in my Bio class. That was my first science class here, and I was like telling my mom like ‘I’m not going to be competitive’ and all these things it just felt like everything was coming downhill, but then this year I took it as like ‘I can’t focus on what everyone else is doing around me’, ‘I can’t keep thinking about how competitive it is’. I guess I have to compete with myself, and stop letting the little voice in my head bring me down. And this year I made Dean’s list both semesters, so I was pretty excited about that. Wow. Those tough classes, yeah. 6:10 Yeah, so I was pretty happy. Gayle: So how do you balance your academic schedule with…Do you have a social schedule? Jesenia: My social life has definitely declined I would say. Right now I work thirty two hours a week, Gayle: Oh my god. Jesenia: 6:29 Gayle: Jesenia: No kidding. 6:42 Gayle: Jesenia: Between two jobs. I work on Saturdays and Sundays from 6am to 3pm, and then I work in the financial aid office, and I’m a full time student this semester. So I don’t know how I got the grades I got. I just kind of lived in the Library. It was worth it in the end for me. When I was in high school it was easy to go out on the weekends with your friends and get an A on your test because the curriculum wasn’t that hard. I just realized maybe I can put that on a hold for now and do what I have to do to get my career, because there’s always going to be a time to go out. That was hard for me too, when I stopped talking to my friends that always wanted to go out and do these things that we used to do in high school. I was like “I can’t go out on a Thursday night and have a 10am class on Friday morning.” That just doesn’t work for me. Are they friends here on campus, or are you kind of straddling two worlds? 7:32 One was a friend her on campus and one was like back and forth. She went to Western but then she didn’t want to go anymore and things like that. So it was hard because I grew up with these people since I was like 11. So you think “oh we’re going to go to college, it’s going to be great, we’re going to be friends” blah blah blah. Like friends for so long and then it gets kind of hard to realize maybe it wasn’t �the best friendship at the time. I enjoyed and I cherish the moments that we did have, but I realize it is ok to grow out of people. Gayle: Jesenia: Yeah, I think it’s just part of the whole process. 8:10 Gayle: Jesenia: So where do you work on the weekends? 8:22 Gayle: Jesenia: Yeah and that’s something that hurt at first because then you’re like “What do I do now when it’s summer?” But you just keep moving I guess. On the weekends I work at a factory, it’s called Vention Medical. It’s a factory but not really, we make tubes for heart surgeries. How’d you get that job? 8:33 I had a friend that was in my dorm my freshman year. She lived with my roommate because I can’t afford to live in off campus apartments, but my freshman roommate did. Then one of the girls in her house worked there and she told me about the job and I was like “sure.” Because I needed extra cash just to save and pay for school this next year. Gayle: Do you live on campus now? Jesenia: No. Gayle: You commute? Jesenia: Yeah I commute from home. Gayle: Ok. Jesenia: 9:05 Gayle: Jesenia: I did the first year and I loved the experience I had, but I knew when everyone was going to sign applications and things like that I knew financially that I couldn’t do it and I didn’t have parents that could do it either. So I wasn’t going to stress myself out about it and I wasn’t going to stress them out about it either. Yeah, but I mean I guess that’s the benefit of having a friend that does live off campus, because I can see what it’s like. Yeah, but your mom is pretty lucky to have a strong capable… 9:38 Well, I don’t know, my family situation is totally different. My mom lives in Puerto Rico now. And my dad, I live with him and my step mom. We have this huge blended family. I have a half-sister named Jade, and my brother and me, those are my dad’s kids. Then my step mom has Frankie and Jack, and those are my step brothers. Now I have my niece, Sariyah, who’s my brother’s daughter. She’s one. I think she’s going to be one and a half soon, which is crazy. And then my nephew was just born in February. Yeah, I’m my dad’s last kid, his baby. He’s like “please just graduate college, no kids” and I’m like “I got your back.” (laughs) Yeah, but it’s fun, I guess. My baby fever goes away. I guess the best babies you can have are the ones you can give back. �Gayle: Yeah I was the youngest of a big family so I had a lot of nieces and nephews. Jesenia: Yeah, it’s fun though, there’s always something new happening when you’re in a big family. Gayle: But you’re all living in the same place? Jesenia: 10:47 My brother is probably going to move I think with my niece’s mom. Now he’s like growing up with his family. My sister, she lives with her mom in Cedar Springs. So it’s complicated but we all make time for each other on the weekends. Or we try, because there’s so many things going on. Gayle: So one more year and then? Jesenia: Well I’ll be a junior this year. Gayle: Oh you’re just going to be a junior this year, ok. Jesenia: Yes. Gayle: So you just finished your sophomore year. Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: 11:17 Yeah, so I might be an extra year. But I mean, for me, I know a lot of people who are like “I need to get out of here in four years, and I need to do this” and all these expectations but I just kind of look at is as, I didn’t do the nursing program by the book and it’s working for me now. So why rush it? And I’m paying for my education so if that’s what works for meHave you been able to get any scholarship money or financial aid? 11: 46 I get financial aid and I just won a scholarship through the TriO program for $500, so it was nice. So I think that’s what made me stay at Grand Valley is TriO. That’s actually how I got contacted with you. My advisor Marnie, I wasn’t even supposed to be in the program, I met her at my first job and Papa John’s so it was like so weird how it happened. I was just giving her pizza and we started talking about Grand Valley and I was like “Oh yeah, I’ll be a student there”. She gave me her card and I don’t know if it wasn’t for Marnie I think I would be lost on this campus. Like, how you said, I said I’m a first generation college student, I don’t have many people to talk to. Finding guidance is hard, and I would have to say that’s what that program is for me. Making me feel like when I’m at my lowest, they’ll build me up. Or when I’m nervous or scared to take a hard class, Marnie pushes me. So I definitely appreciate her and the relationship we have as my advisor. Gayle: So is that what the program does for you is provides you with an advisor? Jesenia: Yeah. Gayle: How do you keep your contact with this organization? Jesenia: 13:06 You’re supposed to meet, I think, once a month. I think the older you get each year the less you have to meet, but I meet with Marnie all the time. Like it can be �random like “Oh can we meet up and just talk?” Or things like that. She’s my advisor, a friend, a counselor. She’s all things in one but they’re pretty helpful. Like the have a final study break and a place for you to relax, and if you need help financially with like…I know they have like a laptop or a graphing calculator program and stuff to help students who can’t afford it. Unfortunately I wasn’t in it my first semester of my freshman year but it definitely made a difference my second semester and now. It’s helped me build my confidence academically and let me know that there is a place here at Grand Valley, because the Latino community is so small and it’s hard for me to feel like I’m one with the campus. But TriO has definitely helped. Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: I forgot what I was going to ask you. I don’t remember. Oh I was going to ask you, did you go through transitions? 14:24 Yeah, I did. I was with my roommate a lot of the time. We didn’t even know each other, it was weird. We never knew each other, we never met, and we went in blind. But actually one of her cousins was my cousin’s cousin. That’s weird, I know but we never met each other in all the times we grew up and we ended up being college roommates. Are you still in touch? 14:49 Yeah, we’re still best friends. We talk every now and the cause we both work and go to school so we understand when we have time to meet up we will. We don’t bug each other about it or get mad about it, it’s like a mutual understanding. So it’s definitely a friendship I appreciate because losing friends over not going out and this and that is something I would never do to Kaitlyn, or she would never do to me. Where’d you live when you first moved on campus? 15:18 I lived in Frey Living Center on North campus. The apartment, I know, was more expensive than traditional, but I did it so I could buy groceries and cook food. But a part of me did wish, once freshmen year ended, I could live in traditional because I felt like so many people that lived in traditional were meeting new people and doing new things and I was a little bit of a home body in my apartment living. So if I could change anything I would do that but I’d still want Kaitlyn to be my roommate. Gayle: The fact that you have this really demanding schedule though, and that you’re working, and you’re studying, and you’re doing all this. I guess that in a way… Jesenia: Mhmm. Gayle: If you lived on campus do you think it would be as…could you potentially have distractions, did you ever worry about that? Jesenia: Yeah. Gayle: Wanting to be too… Jesenia: Wanting to be like, social. �Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Yeah. Making it harder to keep your eye on the prize. 16:27 Yeah, now like being at home, it’s definitely hard because you do have your distractions, not everybody in the house is going to school. You have family events and you have other things to go do. Or when I just want to play with my niece, or just hang out with my dad, or even my boyfriend at that. That’s hard but I have to tell myself “you have to get out of bed.” My time was really vital this semester. It was my first time working two jobs so it was hard but yeah I just slept at the Library. And everyone understood that, like my boyfriend would be like “oh what are you doing?” and I’d be like “I have to go to the Library” and he’d be like “Ok!” I think the best part about it is having people who understand my schedule and don’t push me to do something that they know isn’t going to be beneficial to me. My family is very supportive. That’s good. 17:25 They understand that if I have a final…Like I felt so bad because it was the first time I missed one of my cousin’s birthday parties, and I have plenty of cousins and they’re having babies and I try to make it to everything. Our family is huge and I felt terrible because I couldn’t go to her, I think it was her fifth or fourth birthday. I was like “I can’t, I have to study and I have work tomorrow” and my dad was like “It’s fine, we understand. It’s ok. You can make it to the next one. There’s gonna be plenty to come.” That made me feel terrible, but I was like as long as I do what I have to do now I can be there for all the other birthdays, so, I guess, that’s what really counted. Then I did, I got the grade that I wanted so that felt good. What class was that? 18:13 Chemistry, and chemistry was so brutal for me in high school. Which chemistry? 18:19 Just intro to chemistry and chem 109. I hated chemistry in high school. It was so hard for me and it was like the only science class I didn’t understand and the fact that I could grasp it this semester I was like “yes!” Like when I took my final I thought it was going to be the death of me, but then I was taking it and I was like “oh my God this is the best feeling ever, I know everything on here,” so it was good. Did you ever reach out to tutoring center or anything like that? 18:51 Yeah, definitely that was the help with Marnie as well. She hooked me up with tutors and then my winter semester when I first got in TriO. So that way I knew then the Tutoring Center opened I knew to set up tutors and things like that. So I instantly, I think it was the first week of classes you could sign up for a tutor, I signed up. Before she could even ask me I told her “Yeah I got a chem tutor, I got an anatomy tutor” and she was like, “Oh, ok!” I used to work with a Spanish tutor cause its 100- and 200-level courses you can have a tutor for free. �Jesenia: Yeah, so it definitely helped. Gayle: Yeah. Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: 19:35 Yeah I would have to appreciate or say thank you to Marnie or else I wouldn’t…I guess I knew there was tutoring on campus I just didn’t know how to go about it. Yeah there’s a lot of stuff there and it’s confusing to figure it all out. 19:46 Yeah, especially your freshman year, everything is just all thrown at you at once. Also all these organizations like “oh I want to do this and I want to get good grades, but I want to have a social life, but I also just want to sleep.” So it was really hard to learn time management really quick. I would say it was worth it in the end. A lot of people ask me…I see people that went to high school that were a grade younger than me and now they are hanging out with some of the people I used to hang out with like “Oh why don’t you ever go out any more? We don’t see you that often” and I was like “I really just can’t right now.” I think a lot of people I went to high school with think I have my nose in the air or things like that but I mean I wish the best to all the people I was friends with but I just know I can’t afford to do that anymore in my free time. At this point I would rather just take a nap after work on a Friday than get ready to go out cause I’m only 19 about to be 20 but I get so tired that just having a day to just lie in bed is the greatest thing ever. I mean yeah, it’s a huge transition, coming from high school to college and figuring all of that out and realizing that you have to make these tradeoffs. I remember how tough it was. 21:17 Especially in Grand Rapids and school’s just starting and you have ArtPrize and all these things going on in the community and you want to say yes because a lot of people in my dorm weren’t from Grand Rapids and were like “let’s go here and let’s go there.” So I said yes then but it ended up messing me up later on, so now I know it’s ok to say no and make time for myself. That’s something I definitely appreciate is just alone time with me. I used to always want to be with my friends and do things and now I’m like I just need time to, I guess, release my own emotions for me, and just relax for me and not always look for somebody or look to do something. I remember my dad always used to tell me “just relax, just stay home” and I would say no, no, no, and we would argue about it but now I’m like “oh my god my dad’s always right”. It’s like the worst thing to say but it’s like, he’s right. It’s ok to acknowledge that (laughs). So, you’ve finished pretty much your Gen Ed courses? 22:24 I have a few more to go, I’m thinking about applying next winter. So I might be here a whole extra year. So hopefully all together it’s just five to get my bachelor’s. I think I just have anatomy and physiology II, chem 230 which is Intro to organic and biochemistry, and microbiology. I was going to try to spread that out. I was going to do Micro in the winter and anatomy and chem in the next fall because I heard how brutal it was to do all three in one semester. I actually had a friend who did it �and I don’t want to do that, and I work two jobs so I just can’t do that right now. I did anatomy and physiology I this semester and into to chem and a gen ed and another gen ed this semester, this last semester. It was tough but…I really don’t know how I did it. Thinking back like thank God I got the grade I did because I was like “what the heck?” Because it was a lot of stress but I have to say now I remember my last final like “I don’t even have to go to class. I just have work, I have nothing but work.” I never thought I would be happy to say all I have to do is work for the summer. I never thought I would say that, like as a teenager but I’m so excited to just work and not do school. Having the grades that I did makes me feel more confident taking the classes next fall. I’m excited, but I don’t even want to think about school starting right now. Gayle: I keep forgetting the questions I’m going to ask you while listening to you talk. Jesenia: Sorry (laughs) Gayle: No, no, (laughs) that’s ok. That’s a good thing. I don’t remember. How about classes, are there any that stand out? Like what was your favorite class you’ve taken at Grand Valley so far and why? Jesenia: Gayle: 24:34 One of my favorite classes I’ve taken at Grand Valley was I think world civilizations, it was history 101. It was a gen ed course I took last fall, and it was so awesome because my professor Steven Houser was the best professor I’ve ever had. It was a lot of reading and things like that but I like that he was a teacher, we didn’t just write and take notes like we did do that every other class but he was more, like, engaged. Like let’s hear you talk and let’s hear you’re thinking, and he didn’t have this biased point of view. He’d always try and make us see both perspectives. I thought it was the coolest thing ever because I remember we were in class taking notes on the Freedom Riders, then his dad was just like the last Freedom Rider alive. We were wondering why we didn’t have class last Friday before and he told us “the reason why we didn’t have class was that my father just passed.” When he said the guy that we were taking notes on was his father we were like “What?!” And how his dad knew Nelson Mandela and if Nelson Mandela had an award in the United States his dad would get it for him. He was like “Yeah I didn’t know it but when I was little Martin Luther King Jr. was at my house for dinner”. And I was like this is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Like it was the coolest thing and I thought it was so awesome how his dad was a part of history and his son became a history professor and is like talking about it. It was the coolest thing ever. He was just the coolest teacher, he was just a really cool guy the way he presented the information and make us talk about it. He wasn’t like here’s all this information. Store it in your brain. It was like let’s use it and we even did debates and things like that. It was pretty cool, I liked it. If I could take the class again I would take the class again just for enjoyment because I just liked talking with him about information and, I don’t know. I think he made me think way beyond the boundaries of any history class. Did you get the sense that others loved it too? �Jesenia: 25:53 Yeah. Everyone was always engaged. If you would have been there in the room when he said that everyone’s mouth just dropped. You’re taking notes and you’re listening and then you’re like, “oh my God!” Did he really just say that was his dad?” I know we live in America and I’m not saying America is a bad place, but he always tried to make us see not only the good things about our society but the wrongs. He didn’t belittle other religions and things like that. He always made us try to learn about them and why they are the way they are and the good, the bad, and everything. So that’s what I really appreciated, because you see a lot of things right now with the Middle East and why they are the way they are and everyone’s playing like the blame game but he was like, ”here’s the information and this is why it’s like this.” It was just very eye opening. I was just like “oh my goodness, this is crazy.” We actually had a student who was in the military at the time when everything first happened so he was able to talk about things and it was just a really awesome class. He was just a really cool professor. 28:11 Jarek Kozal is a very great professor for anatomy and physiology, I just took him. He was very visual which totally helped me with my tests because I did retake that class from last winter, and I took it this winter. The way he presented the information as well was very helpful. Like you can’t have a lot of debates with anatomy but he literally built this structure of a muscle fiber just so we could see it visually and break it down. He was always giving study tips and I even told him…I met with him the first week of classes, the first and second week, I told him “I took this class and I need to get a better grade. I’m in the Nursing program, I want to get an A, but I know it’s hard, and I know even if you put 85% in you probably won’t get an 85%.” I told him my work schedule and everything and he gave me this study plan and I totally followed it. It definitely helped me because I got an A this last semester. So I think some people see him as kind of stand-offish in class but he’s a teacher who’s willing to help you if you’re willing to ask for it. Gayle: Jesenia: Well, right there. 29:34 So I appreciated it a lot, and I was like really happy that I got an A and I would have to say it was because of his help. Once again it wasn’t just note taking but he took us through each process step by step and showed us pictures and I think that’s what really helped, because if you can visualize something, at least for me- Gayle: And me, too. Jesenia: Yeah, I can memorize it way better. Gayle: You understand it better. Jesenia: Gayle: 29:56 Yeah, I can explain it to you and not just say I don’t really know what’s going on here, and that’s how I used to feel so, he was just a great professor. I hope he’s teaching A&P II because…yeah I’m nervous for that class. Well I mean if you remember, the large part of what you said was you asked for that help. �Jesenia: Mhmm. Gayle: If you hadn’t asked… Jesenia: I probably would be… Gayle: You might have been struggling the same way. Jesenia: Exactly. Gayle: So…I’m not saying that he wasn’t a great professor. I’m saying it was great of you to take that step and say look here’s my thing. Jesenia: End 30:40 And I was always nervous about that coming here because you always here like stories about professors. I mean, you even have the website Rate My Professor and the things that people say and you’re like, this person has this whole…I think it’s a thing like, you’re in college, you already are, there’s so many students. You’re like, is he really going to care what I have to say. You just have all these things come in your head so I was always nervous to ask for help, because in high school I didn’t have to ask for help. So it took a lot of courage for me to just go and say, “This is what I need, tell me what I need to do because I want to get a good grade,” and he did that, just that. He told me “I know how you feel, I worked two jobs when I was a student and it was really hard for me to do time management. It is going to be hard for you. Your time is vital. You’re working this much time and you’re trying to take chemistry and Anatomy at once, that’s a lot. But if you can-“ � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Connected Exhibit Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource Collection of audio recordings and transcripts of Grand Valley State University students sharing their stories and experiences. The recordings were conducted as part of an exhibit created by the University Libraries in fall semester of 2016 titled "Connected" which featured short audio clips of students. The clips were combined with watercolor portraits of GVSU students by Ellie Lubbers and an interactive watercolor painting activity. Students were encouraged to paint 3" circles of paper to illustrate their current feelings about the college experience and attach them to the gallery wall. The aim of the exhibit was to inspire feelings of community, connectedness, and welcome to new and returning students. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cadena, Cara; Schaub, Gayle; Frigo, Emily; Lubbers, Ellie; Fisher, Erin Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rincones, Jesenia Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-05-05 Title A name given to the resource Jesenia Rincones interview (audio and transcript) Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Schaub, Gayle (interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07_RinconesJ_2016-05-05 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Relation A related resource Grand Valley State University Libraries. Connected Exhibit, September 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Description An account of the resource Interview with Jesenia Rincones conducted by Gayle Schaub for the GVSU Libraries' Connected Exhibit, displayed in September 2016. Edited clips of interviews accompanied watercolor portraits of students and an interactive watercolor activity for exhibit visitors. Jesenia graduated from Wyoming High School. She is a junior, majoring in nursing. She is a first-generation student from a big family and has made the Dean’s List the past two semesters, earning top grades in tough classes while working two jobs. One of her jobs is on campus, in the Financial Aid office. She is also involved with TRiO Student Support Services, a program for first-generation and limited-income students. She feels that this program has helped build her confidence academically and helped her, as a Latina student, find her place at GVSU and feel truly a part of the campus community. Balancing the demands of her work and school schedules sometimes leaves Jesenia little time for her super-supportive family and friends, but she handles her load with grace, ability, and perseverance. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1b29379ea74d2095d2cc7d7af06c7309.mp3 2e632b242405923e42b5b0aeff00bd68 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7611515d667db0fe9a836a367c191d13.pdf 36fcbe2a44e0e7082fcc342df7e19306 PDF Text Text GV043-07 Connected Exhibit Interviews Interviewee: Vanessa Ramirez Interviewers: Gayle Schaub Date: April 21, 2016 Vanessa: 00:07 My name’s Vanessa Ramirez. I am studying allied health science and minoring in criminal justice. The goal is to graduate in the summer and then go on to pursue a master’s in public health, so I’m super excited. Gayle: Vanessa: Is that a decision you made since being here? 00:28 Yeah, Well I, when I first came into the university, I had no idea, really, what I wanted to do. My - originally I wanted to do communications and broadcasting, because I figured ok, I’m bilingual. I can make it through here in Grand Rapids and do some bilingual things because we don’t really have a Spanish local network with a television network. So I was, like, “oh, my gosh, that’d be so cool!” but, when it came down to taking communications classes, I just did not feel comfortable. I did not feel – I don’t know – it just didn’t sync with me. I feel like when you make a career choice, it should just sync with you. And it didn’t. It was just like, I just wanted to do it because it sounded good. And it looked, it felt good but it just didn’t feel right. So, I was, like, you know what? In high school, I loved science. I loved physics, I loved chemistry, biology so I was, like, let me, where can I collaborate with all this and then do it more hands on? So I looked at medical lab science and I just didn’t do so well in a lot of those courses as I had hoped. I think a lot of it had to do with, you know, my high school wasn’t exactly like, in one of the richest of neighborhoods. Gayle: Vanessa: Where are you from? 1:49 I lived in Fennville. Fennville, Michigan. It’s a very little, small town. It’s…, I mean, most of what we have is, what, cranes? (laughs) It’s really pretty. It’s really pretty in the summer. I do love the town. But our high school just didn’t have as many resources as I really thought when I listened to other people when I got into these courses and I heard other kids talk, I don’t know… you know, so I was a little insecure and my grades, I feel like, reflected that. And I didn’t get into the program. I didn’t get into the Medical Lab Science program. Which at first, I was like, I was upset. I was really upset, because, you know, I’ve never done bad at anything, or got rejected from something. So, I did a little bit more soul searching that year. I also went to Mexico so, and that was my first time going with my mom. She was born there and she was raised there. It had been a long time since she had gone back, too…so going back and then going with her with her, it was just really an opening experience for me. Just to not only to get out of the country, but also to see my roots and be there with my mom and my godmother. It was a beautiful, beautiful feeling. Then I came back here and I had more of a, a worldly experience. And I thought, I am so grateful to have that I have. To be where I’m at. And everything happens for a reason. I get emotional (laughs). So…everything happens for a reason and I just thought, “How did I end up here? How did I get this far? (Chokes up) Sorry. �Gayle: Vanessa: You’re going to make me… 3:34 Gayle: Vanessa: Did this come up from a class, or did you… 4:35 Gayle: Vanessa: 4:55 Alicia Davis taught that course. And I love her too, she’s one of my favorite professors, whether she knows it or not. I think I should tell her more often! I’ve taken three of her courses, so I should probably tell her, “You’re my favorite.” And then, even now, I had just - this semester I took sociology of health care. And that course also I was just, I was like this the whole time (mimics paying rapt attention), because these are topics that I’m passionate about and these are topics that I feel matter, that I don’t think everybody does feel that they matter. You found your thing. 5:28 Gayle: Vanessa: That too. That too. I also took global health after I came back from Mexico I took global health that following semester. And I just love that class. I loved it for, you know, sharing, sharing and going over all the different things that influence our health. Who taught that? Gayle: Vanessa: There’s so many things that could have derailed me (chokes up). But, you know, there’s so many things that could have derailed me from being where I’m at, and I just…before I would think of all the bad things and I would think, ok, I’m not, I’m not as intellectual as I thought I was, I’m not as academic as I thought I was. But I realize, I am so educated compared to other people, and I am so, I’m so blessed to have what I have and to be where I’m at. So, there’s so many other people who are not educated in health and they’re not health literate, so I want to be one of those people to share what I have learned and share all that I have been able to experience so that way you can live a healthy life and you can be a fulfilled person. So that’s why public health just, it’s in my heart. I found my thing! Because I just think about, you know, all these influences on our health and influences on our daily lives and our futures, and even with our children and I just, I love it because I just, I want to be there to help people, either help them understand their health insurance or help them understand their illness in a way that maybe a physician won’t. And even when you see how people, a lot of health departments now are handing out more and more condoms because of how many STDs are out there. So even studying, like, traits, I mean not traits, trends and stuff…I just love it. What else…? So, coming to college…what was that, what was your decision based on and what did you go through and…? 6:28 Ok. So, in high school my high school, again, it just…we talked about college, but not too much about what happens in college or I just remember going over, like, when due dates are for applications, when due dates are for FAFSA, and when you should �take the ACT. That’s basically it. I mean, it was good, it was good information but I wanted to know, I didn’t have anybody to talk to and I didn’t have anybody to ask about it. My high school counselor always had her own thing going on. I’d try to go to her office and sometimes she wasn’t even there, but, I won’t trash on her. So I was really scared. I was scared because this was always something that I wanted. I just knew I wanted to go to college. That was it. And I’m a first gen, so my parents didn’t go. I had a college who took a few courses but he just didn’t go anymore. It wasn’t his thing. And he wasn’t all that good to talk to and ask about because he had his own theory of “the man” and things like that. He’s kind of radical like that. So I decided to talk to my counselor and I told her that I needed to know more about college. And she was, like, “well why don’t you try a duel-enroll course?” and I was, like, “what’s that?” you know, so I duel-enrolled in Lake Michigan College and it was so funny because I think about it, I’m like, “wow, I did that!” Because I went Monday through Friday with my regular courses, you know, I had senior English, astronomy, psychology, and what was it? I think I took a math class for fun. And then, on Saturdays, Saturday mornings I had, I had an English course and a math course at Lake Michigan College. Gayle: Vanessa: Where’s that? 8:13 Gayle: Vanessa: And you did ok? 8:55 Gayle: Vanessa: It’s in South Haven, Michigan. Or is it Lake Michigan Community College? I don’t know, I was only there on Saturday mornings. So went there to get an idea of what college felt like and what, you know, what’s the difference between a professor and a teacher, and, you know, how, where do I get books? and things like that. It was so funny because I tried to buy books from Barnes and Noble and, like, “no, you need to buy them on campus.” It was like, good thing I’m learning this now! So I got exposure to there and it was great because I didn’t have to pay for it. And, you know, the high school paid for it, or I don’t’ know how that got waived or how that works, but all I know is I didn’t pay for it. And I got some credit so that was… I did pretty good. I got As and Bs so I was like…well, you know what? They were both As. Never mind, they were both As, so I was like, “I got this! I got this.” I was so excited. And then I decided to come here to Grand Valley… Why? 9:10 I decided because it was close enough to home where I didn’t have to, like, leave my parents and my brothers. In my culture, family is a major, major component and I just didn’t know if I could do it, really, because they’re my rock. So I was just…it was close enough to home, it was affordable. Until I got that bill. Until I looked at that bill and I saw...I remember freaking out. I was crying, crying to my mom because I’m like, “how are we going to pay for this? How am I going to do this? I don’t want loans. You don’t want me to get loans.” I was like, “How am I going to do it?” and I just remember crying and crying and crying with her. Cause I was like, “How?” I was like, I was in, we were talking back and forth in Spanish and ¡pinche probresa! And I was like, “oh my gosh, this is…” I was like, “lo odio,” I was like, “I hate it!” “I hate it!” �and I was just freaking out. And she was consoling me. She was like, “we’ll figure it out. You’ll do well.” She was like, “don’t worry about the money.” And I got grants, I got scholarships and I’m four years in and I’m pretty much I have like the most minimum loans that I didn’t have to get out till like, this year. Gayle: Vanessa: Gayle: Vanessa: So, how did you navigate the grant and scholarship process? 10:28 I navigated it through just research - Google… By yourself? 10:32 Yeah, Google was amazing. I got a few local scholarships in Allegan County that really helped me out because they were, they were set up so that way I would get $500 and I would just pick up the check and I could use it towards tuition or books and I got it for my first two semesters, so that was great. And then I was also was able to get a Pell grant and I also got a GV grant (that they didn’t give me last year laughs). You can take that out! (laughs) I’m not sour, but they just said I was above some guidelines, so I was just like, ok. GV, I’m fine, I’m fine (laughs). And then, I also got that scholarship and then I work two jobs throughout college. I‘ve always worked two jobs. I’ve worked at TriO Student Support Services, which I loved. I love them. They are my work family. They are my GV work family for real. And then, I also, my other jobs were always in between: wedding planning with this wedding coordinator, yeah (laughs), I do it all! At this wedding venue in Fennville. With Kathy, she owns Apple Blossom Wedding Chapel and Garden and I love her and, you know, she helped me out with giving me that job, so I help with weddings on the weekends. And then, that’s more seasonal, and then right now I’m working at Grand Valley here at TRiO Student Support Services. And then I also work on the weekends at this manufacturing company in Holland. So, yeah… And that has, I feel like it, sometimes it gets hard, but when I’m there at work and I’m like “oh why am I working? I’m so tired” and then I’m like, it’s all worth it. It’s all very, very worth it. Gayle: Vanessa: Have you…so TriO has been a big part of…here…? 12:28 Yeah. Because I, after going over and talking with my parents we decided I didn’t live that far from campus so I’d commute. So I commuted from Fennville for a little bit. Now I commute from Holland to here. And sometimes it would get rough. Sometimes it’d be like I just go to class and go home, go to class and go to work. And then winter semester my freshman year I got the job at Trio and it really gave me a rooting to campus. A lot of commuter students have a hard time getting a connection to campus because we just want to go to class and we want to go to work and you know sometimes after being here for so long you’re like, “I don’t want to wait till 9:00 to go these group meetings or stuff like that. And working at TriO, it’s connecting me to campus where I’m able now to explore – I was able to explore resources and stuff but sometimes I would just not really look into so much because I just wanted to home, you know. So it really rooted me to campus and I feel like if I didn’t, if I didn’t work at TRiO, if I didn’t work on campus my first year, I probably �would have left. I think I would have, because it’s easy to just flow right through and just be like, ok, well I don’t feel so connected. I’m just here for class. I’m just, you know, either I would have moved or I would have just left, you know…I think it really did help me just, even working on campus, I was able to learn about, you know, the career center and, you know, SASC and tutoring being free, I probably would not have looked at that stuff on my own if I didn’t have that connection to TriO. It really, it really helped me out. And even being involved in that, because I’m not, I don’t only work for them, I’m also a student in that program. Gayle: Vanessa: Gayle: Vanessa: Gayle: Vanessa: Gayle: Vanessa: So, early when you first started talking, you talked about the fact that you were bilingual. Has that played any role in your college experience at all? 14:30 A little. A little, because sometimes in, I have, sometimes Spanish can just address a situation better than an English word can. I don’t know, so sometimes I’d find myself, if I got really nervous, I got really nervous one time in my speech class and I started in Spanish (laughs). It was so embarrassing for a minute because I was like, “ok English. I’m not at home. I’m nervous, but, ok, let me be cool.” And there were just some times where I couldn’t say certain English words right. That they just came out funny. So I felt that kind you get a little look, like, “what?” And I’m like, “ok. Let me try to say it again.” Like I couldn’t, the other day I couldn’t say a last name. It was, I can’t even say it now, it was McClinton, McClinton and I was like, Mc Clonton, I just had a hard time. And you know, some other words that I see that are, you know, like Spanish that…like we were watching La Cosecha and when I said “La Cosecha,” how it is, I felt like the other students in the class were just like, “what did she just say?” It was a terrible film! You said…it was just interesting, so… Have you taken any classes? 15:49 No. No I haven’t. I should have. I should have, now that I think about it. I just, to me it’s just natural that I use at home. And with, I feel like now very Spanglish, very Spanglish. I go back and forth, you know at home and sometimes I feel like I’ve lost a little bit of my Spanish, so I feel like maybe I should take a Spanish course just to, I don’t know, refresh it and articulate my Spanish, especially… Or even a Spanish literature course where you can just discuss other things 16:23 Yeah, yeah, even just to discuss other things Spanish for health professions 16:26 Yes, yes, I was, well I tried to test out of Spanish 202 so that way I could take Spanish for health professions, because that was a pre-rec. But I ended up lower, so I’m like, well let me brush up on… Gayle: Really? Vanessa: Yeah. I was like, huh? Well because some – �Gayle: Vanessa: Gayle: Vanessa: It’s probably, the way we struggle with English grammar, so…I’ve worked with, I used to be the Spanish dept. liaison, and so I’ve worked with Spanish for heritage speakers, so it’s people who’ve just…you know, how we, native speakers can’t explain their own grammar. They can’t explain to people why we don’t say “ain’t” or whatever. 17:03 Yeah, so I was just like, uhhh, (unintelligible) So, there are a few words, maybe because of the Spanish Spanish, and maybe I’m more slang, so there were some things on the test that I was just like, “uhhh,” but I think I probably will. That’s interesting 17:20 Yeah, yeah. I had a little bit of a hard time. Maybe because my Spanish is not as strong as it used to be. So I, I do want to take Spanish for health professions, just so I could articulate my Spanish and later on I could, it could be more beneficial if I’m learning to help educate other people or wanting to help explain Obamacare to somebody, you know. I feel like if I, if I strengthen up my Spanish, and, especially in the health professions, it’d be great. There was a, it was a funny story because, one time I went to my grandma’s house and she cooked, right? And she’s like, “aye, pues, aye riñones,” and I’m like, “¿qué, qué es un riñon?” She’s like, oh, un riñon.” I’m like, “what?” So – renal – it was a kidney. She had cooked kidney! And I’m like, “what?” After I was looking, I was like, “this looks familiar.” That summer I had taken, what was it? My anatomy lab at GRCC so we dissected a pig kidney or like a sheep kidney and I was like, “that looks the same,” I was like, “no.” It was gross! (laughs) I was like, “Grandma, ew! I don’t want this!” But if I had had, like, really brushed up my Spanish and realized that riñon was kidney, I could have avoided eating it (laughs). Gayle: Well, do you speak Spanish at home? Vanessa: Occasionally, yeah Gayle: But not all the time? Vanessa: 18:49 Not all the time. Yeah, because we’re, my mom speaks Spanish. She speaks Spanish and English. So, it’s just sometimes it’s…I’m just Spanglish. She’ll talk to me in full Spanish and I’ll just be like back and forth. And sometimes she gets mad too, she’s like, “you should strengthen up your Spanish.” I’m like, well… Gayle: And maybe in the work world, you will. Vanessa: Yeah, maybe in the work world I might be able to. Gayle: So, you want to use a career that utilizes your bilingualism. It would make sense, right? Vanessa: 19:22 Yeah, yeah. At least a little bit, you know. I just want to help out and then, you know, address that we are living in a time where, you know, America’s very diverse, �and we have a large Latino and Hispanic, Latino and Hispanic community and we don’t want to block them out of resources just because of a language barrier. Gayle: Vanessa: And in Grand Rapids, there’s even a large non-Spanish-speaking Latino community. 19:47 Yes, yes, a lot of dialects. My grandma on my dad’s side, is actually a Zapoteco, native to Oaxaca, and you know, sometimes she would talk to me in her Zapoteca, and I’m just like, I don’t even know what her dialect is actually called, to be honest. But I’m just like, “I don’t know, Grandma.” (laughs) “Oh my good- no te entiendo.” I’m just like (laughs). And she’d get upset, too. She would try to show me. And I’ve had a few friends from Oaxaca that have a dialect, and I just try to listen because it sounds so interesting. It’s just very, very interesting. And we all have to also understand that there are other Spanish that, like a Puerto Rican’s kind of Spanish and a Cuban’s Spanish that’s very different. There are different words. I was in Florida and I was speaking to a Cuban lady and I had a hard time because she said a word that I did not, that I had never heard of, so I was, like, “huh?” and she may have seen it as rude, but I was like, “I don’t mean to be rude, I just don’t know.” And then, we also have a lot of…we have a huge Asian population in West Michigan that’s growing. So, I wish I could be universal and just… Gayle: Vanessa: Well… 21:08 I wish I really could – to help out. Gayle: Well, you’re ahead of most people. Vanessa: Gayle: Yeah. I try. So, when you started here, you’re a senior? Vanessa: Yeah. Gayle: When you started as a freshman, you started as a commuter. Did you go through any, like, transitions, or is that only for people moving on campus? Did you go through any orientation program? Vanessa: 21:30 I did do orientation. But when I heard transitions was optional, I was like, yeah, I don’t want to drive up here. So, which was kind of bad. Gayle: Vanessa: Gayle: Do you regret that? 21:39 A little bit, yeah, I really do. I feel like part of transitions, it helps you make connections with students on campus – other freshmen especially. So imagine if you meet a few people during (what’s it called?) …transitions, maybe you’ll have a familiar face in a class that could help you out. Especially if you miss notes or anything, or if you have a few questions. So I feel like maybe I should have gone just to set up more connections on campus. How did you connect to TriO? Or did they connect with you? �Vanessa: Gayle: Vanessa: Gayle: Vanessa: 22: 12 I got a letter from them. I got an invite letter from them. Before you started at Grand Valley? 22:18 Before my first day, yeah. So I sent in my application right away because I was already familiar with TriO. So I did that and I was accepted. What do you have to do to apply to the program? 22:32 Just an application. There are, you just have to be first gen[eration], or limited income, so I was both. So I was able to get in. It’s just a quick little application. Our application’s also now online. Gayle: Any…I don’t know…I don’t know what else to ask you because I’m starting to (unintelligible) questions I may have asked someone else. Vanessa: No, you’re fine Gayle: Do you have a happiest memory? A most frustrated memory? A most…either way – either end of the spectrum. Vanessa: Gayle: Vanessa: 23:07 My most frustrating memory was when I was failing a course. I was just, well I considered it failing because I was doing so poorly, especially my first two exams. And it was one of those courses where you have four exams. So I was freaking out. I was just like, “Oh my God. I’ve never struggled this bad. What do I do? What do I do?” I’m literally having an anxiety attack because I’ve never failed a course. What year were you? 23:35 It was my freshman year. And then I was connected to tutoring so that, at first I was a little too proud because I was always the tutor, not the tutee. I was like, “oh no. But I have no reason to be, to have too much pride because I’m failing this course. Let me go and get help.” So I go get help. I do walk-in tutoring, I had scheduled tutoring sessions. And it really helped me improve my grade to at least be passing. I think I ended up with a C. Gayle: Vanessa: What class was it? 24:08 I think it was organic chemistry. So that’s, I like to say that’s when me and chemistry broke up (laughs). Because I loved chemistry up until then and I was like, “oh my gosh.” But, I think that’s important, for especially us first-gen students going in – to be aware of the free resources. Well, you’re already paying for them so utilize these resources on campus. Utilize the Career Center, the Tutoring Center, the Writing Center. Oh I love the Writing Center. They helped me out so much during my Writing 150 course. And then, utilizing faculty and staff. They love to answer your �questions. I don’t think there’s ever been a time when I was just pushed off or anything like that. I had questions and they got answered and it helped me out a lot. Gayle: Vanessa: Librarians, too. 24:57 Yeah. Librarians, too! (laughs) I actually did get help – I forgot her name – during one of my research courses. I took research of health care. It’s AHS 301. But she helped me out understanding how to use the databases with the quotations and everything. Gayle: Val? Vanessa: I don’t remember. But she was nice. Gayle: It could have been someone who’s gone now. It may have been Judy. Vanessa: That sounds familiar. Did she work with the health professions? Gayle: Yeah, Val and Judy, and Betsy does now. But if it was a while back, it was probably… Vanessa: Yeah it was before last year…I’m trying to think of any other good stories. Gayle: Are you grad- Oh, no, you’re graduating December. Are you going to go to the ceremony? Are you going to walk? Vanessa: No. Because I feel weird if I go walk and then I have to come back and do other things. I’d rather just walk in December. Then I’ll feel more accomplished. Gayle: Oh, but you are going to walk in December? Oh, that’s what I meant. Vanessa: Gayle: Vanessa: 26:05 Yeah. Yeah, I’ll walk in December, because, with a lot of my family, I’ll share this (gets her phone). I am really blessed to have a really great support network. I have aunts and uncles and cousins who just been so supportive. And, you know, half the time they don’t understand college, especially, you know, like, none of them have gradu- some of them haven’t even graduated from high school but they still, they just still get so excited for me and I just – I love it. You might even get some gifts out of this (laughs). 26:45 Oh yeah. They have – there’s been times where I remember, especially my godfather, I was like, “oh I have to go…” I was staying with him and my godmother for a couple of days during winter break a few years ago. I was like “oh I have to go buy my books.” I was like, “oh my gosh I can’t…” I was like “oh crap I totally forgot, I have to buy my books.” And he bought my books. He was just like, “well, what courses are you taking?” He said, “well, look them up.” And I had them looked up, and he bought them for me. So, and he’s always been great with support. Him and a lot of my close family members. So they were kind of confused as to why I wasn’t graduating this year. So I had a few questions and then they were asking my mom �and she was like, “well I don’t know, she’s doing her own thing. I don’t understand” and everything like that, so I wrote a Facebook post, and I said (reads from post): "For my amazingly supportive family and friends who have been asking, I graduate with my bachelor’s in December! So not quite yet, but we’re so close the finish line! And I say we because I wouldn’t be this far without all your love, support, and guidance. You are truly appreciated [and I said] Y pa mi gente, y’all already know my mom is scandalous and we’ll celebrate!" (laughs) My mom is always just, she’s always so excited about these things. So I get a lot of congratulations and, you know, one of my uncles, he says, (reads from post): "I always knew you would because you are the Champ/Champie. I can’t wait to celebrate this great achievement." And my other tia, she’s like (reads from post): "Proud of you sweetie. And yes, we’re ready to celebrate." 28:19 So, and a lot of my family live in Chicago, so they’re like, “road trip to Michigan in December!” and, you know, they’re just so great to support me even if they don’t understand, you know, what I’m really going through. So they…where did I hear this? I think it was during a Ted Talk, but I don’t remember the title. Or it might have been a documentary where he says, where one of the speakers says, you know, Latino students don’t go to college. Latino families go to college. So I was like, they truly have been with me this whole journey, and I think we have to remember that. Especially when we’re first-gen, we have people back home and we have people here who are rooting for us and really want us to do well. So I really appreciate it. Gayle: So you think you’ll stay around the area? Vanessa: I might. Yeah, I probably will. I love Grand Rapids. I love West Michigan. Gayle: But you’re open to other ideas as well? Vanessa: 29:28 Yes. I would not close out other ideas. Because I just love exploring, especially to see, you know, what other communities are out there, what it’s like living in other places. But West Michigan has always just been so sweet. I don’t know how else to call it. I remember, because I grew up in Chicago for a long time. I was there till I was about 10-12. Then we moved out here to West Michigan and I remember going back, not that long ago and I held the door open and, like, “why didn’t she say thank you?” (laughs). I get so used to it, people here do it. I’m not bashing my other people, I love them, but… �Gayle: I had that experience in Montreal. I held the door open and a woman walked right through, and I went (makes confused face) Vanessa: Yeah (laughs) Gayle: There was no acknowledgment Vanessa: Gayle: 30:14 Yeah, it was like, whoa. I’ll still do it, but…(laughs) that was mean. Well, this was great! I have a form for you to fill out. Ok. Cool. I hope I didn’t get too per- End � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Connected Exhibit Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource Collection of audio recordings and transcripts of Grand Valley State University students sharing their stories and experiences. The recordings were conducted as part of an exhibit created by the University Libraries in fall semester of 2016 titled "Connected" which featured short audio clips of students. The clips were combined with watercolor portraits of GVSU students by Ellie Lubbers and an interactive watercolor painting activity. Students were encouraged to paint 3" circles of paper to illustrate their current feelings about the college experience and attach them to the gallery wall. The aim of the exhibit was to inspire feelings of community, connectedness, and welcome to new and returning students. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cadena, Cara; Schaub, Gayle; Frigo, Emily; Lubbers, Ellie; Fisher, Erin Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ramirez, Vanessa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-04-21 Title A name given to the resource Vanessa Ramirez interview (audio and transcript) Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Schaub, Gayle (interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07_RamirezV_2016-04-21 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Relation A related resource Grand Valley State University Libraries. Connected Exhibit, September 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Description An account of the resource Interview with Vanessa Ramirez conducted by Gayle Schaub for the GVSU Libraries' Connected Exhibit, displayed in September 2016. Edited clips of interviews accompanied watercolor portraits of students and an interactive watercolor activity for exhibit visitors. Vanessa will graduate in 2017 with a degree in allied health science and a minor in criminal justice. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in public health. Growing up bilingual in a small town made Vanessa’s transition to GVSU a bit of a challenge at first. Seeking out (and receiving) grants, getting involved with TRiO Student Support Services, and being her own strongest advocate, Vanessa has become an amazing example for others on how to succeed at college, no matter what your background. Vanessa has worked hard to get where she is, holding down two jobs throughout her time at GVSU, both in TRiO and off campus. She plans to advocate for those without a voice when she graduates, using her Spanish to help others navigate the complex healthcare landscape. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a39dfad485ed92700c047161e7b9c0e2.mp3 de225e3cb115bf318920e7aa93879642 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1e9cc2cd64118f0077e8df7218ca059c.pdf 092dd82edaf40c71d55ea6f26fe50195 PDF Text Text GV043-07 Connected Exhibit Interviews Interviewee: Samm Martin Interviewers: Gayle Schaub, Cara Cadena Date: May 18, 2016 Gayle: Ok, so now we're ready. Now we're recording, I think. We'll see. Samm: Ok. Gayle: So you can tell us anything you want to tell us…you can start with your name, what you majored in maybe? Whatever. Samm: 00:17 Well, my name is Samm Martin and I majored in political science and I minored in Spanish at Grand Valley. I just graduated, in April and I will be returning in the fall for my graduate program which is higher education and I’ll be majoring in college student affairs leadership. Like…when I think about like a story I would want to tell people I have to start by saying that I’m not from Michigan. I’m from a town in Maryland on the East coast called Laurel and it’s a pretty small city, but it’s got a lot. There’s a lot of different people, a lot of diverse people there. And you know, originally thinking about where Grand Valley was I wasn’t really thinking about it when I was in high school and trying to figure out where I wanted to go to college because I wanted to play. And I wanted to play lacrosse and you know, I wanted to be a student athlete and have all the great stuff that comes with that, too, so when I got an email from the coach saying to come out I was like ‘what?!’ like Michigan? Like that’s so far away. I don’t want to go there because I heard the winter’s terrible. But I got up here and it was everything that I wanted; small school feel but it was a big student body from what I understood. It was a place where I could make an impact if I wanted to. And I think I would be remiss if I didn’t say anything about how Grand Valley has the opportunities to be able to do whatever you want to do, and to be able to have the resources that we have here to be able to be successful and feel like you know that you have a place here and to feel like there’s a sense of belonging. Cause especially being from, you know, 600 miles away I don’t have any family out here it was pretty important that I find a group of people that I felt comfortable with, and I did, and that helped me get through my four years and my eventual two that I’ll have here as well. I just think that if I had to talk to a freshman about, you know, getting through college and getting through Grand Valley I would just tell them to find people that they trust and find people that they care about and that care about them because college is not something that you can get through by yourself and a lot of us know that but a lot of us don’t really understand that until we’re put in that situation and until we are actually confronted with the fact that we can’t you know pull a 3.0 GPA, or make it through rough nights without our families, by ourselves. And that can make all the difference when it comes to being successful in college or not wanting to be around anymore. And I think that finding people who…whoever it may be, a �wide range of people can make all the difference in the college experience and I’m glad that I found mine here at Grand Valley so. Gayle: Were your first group, your “people,” that you found was it first the team? Samm: Yeah. Gayle: Is it still? Samm: 3:34 Gayle: Samm: It’s a little bit of all over the place cause it’s still…when you come in you know who your teammates are, and you meet them right away, but then I had my freshman year dorm people – we all lived in the same building. We’re still all very close, we still talk to each other a lot. What dorm was that? 3:49 North- it’s called Weed now but it was North A Living Center. And it was, you know that was not necessarily traditional so you didn’t meet with so many people but we had a lot of camaraderie on our floor and we hung out a lot together. And as the years went by I met people in my classes who introduced me to other people and I eventually found kind of like a home in the Women’s Center and the LGBT Center. They were people who really taught be about like community and what solidarity was and just having the sort of navigational skills that I needed to get through college. I found them late, my junior year, but it still helped. Especially with trying to navigate the next phase of life, like grad school and eventual job hunting and things like that. And they set me up with a lot of good opportunities too. Cara: So they were a big part in you going to grad school? Samm: Yes. Cara: Okay. Samm: 4:54 Cara: Samm: Yes, and just helping me like find that I could do it. Yeah. 4:58 Cause like my GPA like wasn’t all the way where it wanted it to be, where it should’ve been, but I did some work, did a lot of work this past year, and it brought it up a lot, and they were just always encouraging. You know, giving me the tools I needed to success, to find success, but you know, pushing me to do that for myself, and they were my biggest cheerleaders. And especially my teammates and my coach, like, they’ve always been there for me, and just helping me out. Gayle: So I have two more questions now. Samm: Okay. Gayle: Number one. When you say you found them late, like I want to know how you found them. Like how you…okay, that’s the first question. I hope I remember the other one. �Samm: 5:42 Okay so, when I say I found them late, I went…well…I’m out, queer, LGBT person, but when I first started at Grand Valley, I wasn’t, and I, just on a whim, I saw that the LGBT center was having an event, and I just went. I was by myself, and then I met this person, and he said “well come into the center tomorrow, like I’ll be in there, you’ll meet a few cool people.” And I was nervous as all get out like not knowing what to expect because it’s a new space with new people, but I just went in and everybody was like “how are you.” Like asking me all of these question about my life story and stuff, and they introduced me to more people. So I guess finding it just means that I just went in one day. Gayle: Okay. I just wanted to know how you connected. Samm: Yeah. Gayle: Because I’m curious about how people make these initial connections. Samm: Yeah. Gayle: And if it’s something you sought out or you… or it sought you out. Samm: No. I would definitely say that it sought me out, and I just kind of like followed it. Gayle: So as for grades, do you think being a student athlete is tough to maintain. Is that part of it? Samm: 6:50 Oh, yeah! Definitely, because when you’re a student athlete you give so much of your time, and it’s like nobody jokes when they say it’s a fulltime job, because it is. Like, you have to eat right, keep your body like a well-oiled machine, like keep going, and you also have a huge time commitment. Lacrosse did teach me about time management in that regard. But there are a lot of different types of stressors that student athletes have over just your normal students. I think, you know, it took me a while to kind of like get that under control and like not feeling overwhelmed all the time. But it is possible, and I had to really reach out to, you know tutors and my academic advisor and my coach, and just like, “hey I need help with this.” Like…and that’s a big thing too. Like I was…I never had to study in high school. So getting to college and having to study and having to ask for help was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do. But then once I did, I had a lot of success in that regard, when it came to my grades. Gayle: We’re hearing that, over and over. Cara: Did you go visit home a lot? Samm: 8:05 No, I went home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, the two big holidays. Spring break was with the team. I went home for my freshman year summer, and then sophomore and junior year I stayed and I worked over the summer. And this summer I’m going home for maybe six weeks, but that’s because like, I’m about to be in grad school. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to go home ever again, like, that type of thing. And just being able to see my parents, and my brother’s going to �college this year too, so…for the first time. So I want to be able to set him up and make sure that he has everything that he needs before he leaves so… Gayle: Samm: So if we were to… if you were to kind of think about any stand out moments that might… if you had like a range of emotions that you could pick one from happy to angry, to sad, to frustrated, to proud, to…did I say frustrated? Anything. Could you think of anything like, “there was a time that I felt…when that was awesome,” or “that time was awful,” or “I can’t believe I made it through that.” 9:17 Gayle: Samm: Cara: Yeah, well one moment sticks out to me in particular. I just remember it was my winter semester of my freshman year, and the first semester grades came back and they were terrible. And I told my dad, but I didn’t tell my mom, and I was sitting in my apartment just on the phone with my mom and she was like upset about my grades because they weren’t good. Like you want your child to be successful in all ways possible, but I was just feeling so defeated. Just because my… like I went into finals with a good GPA and It came out and it was awful, and just… I didn’t feel like I could continue. And then I started getting into some destructive behavior, and that wasn’t good either. But, I’m here. Like that’s one of the things that I didn’t think that I would ever make it through. Cause I’m here now. I’m clean. Sober. I don’t… I didn’t really use drugs or anything, but I consumed very large amounts of alcohol. Which is something that students do… in college they do that. Like we know that they do that, but not to the extent that I was. And I think that getting through that and finding other ways of coping was something that I thought that I was pretty proud of, and especially sitting down at commencement and like looking around, seeing my name in the book, that I graduated and I made it. Like I didn’t graduate with honors or anything, but I did it, you know? Just having that sense of accomplishment is something that I’m super proud of. And especially looking from that moment to where I am now, going to grad school, and having a career out of that, is something that I never thought I would get to, but I am so… Okay, so not knowing all like these stories are coming out that I didn’t… so do you think that it was… is there… how did you… I don’t want to… you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to tell me, but getting through that was it reaching out to some of these services or you just made it through on your own? 11:30 Oh, I definitely had help. I used the counseling center. I had a tutor to help me get my grades up. My coach was incredible with helping me. Just because, you know, she has done a lot of work with students like that, a lot of work with… I wouldn’t necessarily say crisis students, but student who need help, and who need guidance through things, and she was just incredible. Like she understood. Like she still pushed me to do the best that I could, but she really just was amazing. And then some of my teammates knew too. Like I couldn’t have been able to do… I wouldn’t been able to do this by myself. Like at all. They saw something that you couldn’t see at the time. �Samm: 12:27 Cara: Samm: Yeah, and they still do. They still see things that I don’t see in myself, and it takes… they try to show me that every day. And I was sitting in my coach’s office once, and cause… like they tell me… they would tell me things that I wouldn’t necessarily believe. And she said “you know, sometimes you need people to tell you things that you might not necessarily believe about yourself so you do.” Because if someone just says like ‘hey, you’re so awesome’ all the time it’s just like ‘yeah’, you know, whatever. But like having you have an impact with your teammates and with the people that surround you and seeing that manifest itself can make it be of a difference of how I see myself. If that makes sense. It does. 13:15 So, it’s definitely not something that I would’ve been able to do by myself. And I didn’t tell my parents this until, like retroactively, because I didn’t-I don’t want my parents to worry about me having an alcohol problem. Gayle: Oh, so they didn’t know you were going through all this? Samm: No. Gayle: Ugh, and you were so far from home. Samm: 13:32 Mhmm, and I think that’s one of the things that made it easier for me because I know if I would’ve told my mom I was going through that stuff she would’ve been like, “You’re coming home” like “you’re not going to handle this” like “you don’t ever have to worry about being alone and vulnerable” and that’s not what I would’ve wanted, because I’m not the type of kid who needs to be under their parents all the time and I think that that probably would’ve done more harm than good. Gayle: As a mom I would’ve wanted you to come home. Samm: Yeah… Cara: Me too. Samm: 14:03 And that’s understandable. That’s completely understandable because you don’t want your child to be out where you can’t get to them and just be hurting. Cara: Right…but as a child I wouldn’t have told my mom either. Gayle: Do you think some of it was because you were so far away? Do you think if you went to school in Maryland this… Cara: Yeah that’s a good question… Gayle: Like this, like your situation would’ve been different? Or do you think…was it the stress of being an athlete or…? I mean we don’t have t-you don’t have to diagnose all the problems.] Samm: Well…I don’t know… �Cara: Samm: It’s kinda hard to say, isn’t it? 14:35 Gayle: Samm: Well what you said about high school being-coming early that seems to be a very common theme of hitting that wall of “oh, this isn’t high school anymore” and then how you cope with all that is the real, the real story. 15:30 Gayle: Samm: Yeah. Yeah, I was at the top of my class in high school and I got here and it was like nope, just kidding! You know? I hit a brick wall, but I also dug myself into a hole because I was taking 200 and 300 level classes my first semester cause I came in with credits, I was in the Honors College, and I didn’t want to be in the Honors College anymore because it was too stressful and it was just…the first semester was a huge, huge reality check. Huge reality check. So what have been some outstanding classes? What would be the ones that you would say ‘yep, that one really’ either good or bad that kind of stand out for having an impact of some sort. 16:15 Gayle: Samm: Yeah. I think that you know I still would’ve had my-I would’ve been, I wouldn’t have been an athlete if I went home. If I had gone to College Park, I wouldn’t have been. I mean I would’ve had a different set of obstacles and I think that the problems would not have necessarily gone away they just would’ve been different. I wouldn’t be living at home cause dad doesn’t want us to live at home, so I would’ve been on campus and I would’ve been able to go home whenever I wanted to but…I mean it’s really hard to say to try to think about where I’d be if I didn’t pick Grand Valley and I can’t so, I don’t know. Well…I took black feminist thought fall semester of my senior year and that class was just like…oh my God, like oh my god incredible! Like you learn—and I regret…ugh I shouldn’t say I regret taking political science as a major because I don’t. It taught me so many things about the world and it taught me how to write incredibly like it taught me how to be disciplined and be purposeful with my writing, but if I would’ve been able take women and gender studies classes and make that a bigger forefront into my education I feel like I would’ve been just like so much happier. Like I took black feminist thought, intro to LGB—no…yeah I took intro to gender studies and I took women and gender studies classes and I was just like “why didn’t I take these sooner?!” Like I feel like everybody should be required to take a class like that cause it teachesWho taught it? The black feminist thought class? 17:13 Dr. Weekley, and she let us, she gave us readings that we thought were impossible. Some of the most academic writings about, you know, things that we knew already like we understand what institutionalized oppression means, okay so say it in ways that we understand and we just struggled with readings and we would be in the same room for ten hours trying to figure things out, but at the end of the class like, I…just felt great about it and knowing that there is a world that we live in that isn’t the greatest for women, it isn’t the greatest for people of color, but in �understanding what the problem is and how it works we can try and find a way to fix it. And I learned that with Dr. Weekly and Dr. Keegan too. Cause those were the two…the professors that really stuck with me the most. And just learning—I learned so much about my black and female identity and also my queer identity through those classes so I think those stuck with me a lot more too cause having texts that I can relate too even though these people are far more advanced in their education than I am, or have a lot more life experience than I am, like we go through the same things. And having that relatability is something that I thought was needed and something that I thought was awesome that I could relate to those things and I still kept all my stuff and I just like reading through them and seeing how I process through that type of theory. Cara: It’s motivating too, to be able to identify with somebody like that. Samm: Mhmm Cara: So, in grad school do you get to have any involvement with the team at all or is lacrosse over? Samm: As far as the player side it’s over… Cara: Yeah Samm: 19:08 And I’m like…I still can’t believe it. We had that last game and I was just sobbing just because something that I have done for over half my life is over. But I talked with my co- I’m in conversation with my coach right now to see if there’s other things I can too like I’m trying to commentate on the live streams of the game or something like that. That would be so cool and especially since I know the game, I know our players and stuff like that and I’m pretty cool with people in the athletic department I guess. But I still do want to stay involved cause this program has given me so much. And…understanding the, our program is very young we’re only six years old and we made it to the national tournament like that’s unheard of. And like understanding that it’s not for us right now, it’s for the people who come after. And I’m just excited to see like this program just take off cause there’s so much potential in the classes coming up and just seeing what we can really do with something that I want to be a apart of whether it’s behind the scenes or in the forefront, and I’m generally a behind the scenes kind of person. Gayle: So the graduate program, I mean it seems a natural fit for you, to turn around now and do for others what Samm: Mhmm. Gayle: And I use everything you’ve learned Samm: Yeah. Gayle: How did you connect with this program? Well- �Gayle: Samm: Someone suggested it or did you just…? 20:36 Well I met some people when I first started coming to the LGBT center. Like I met people who wanted to do student affairs. And they wanted to work with college students and they wanted to, do that whole thing. In the fall of me senior year I had to step up as a student leader in the LGBT center, and kind of like I’ve had to, serve students and be a liaison for students and administration, and things like that. And I met some people like Tekeelia Garrett the Student Ombuds, I met her, I had gotten more in touch with Title IX and I&E (Inclusion and Equity) and I was just thinking to myself like, “where were these people when I was a freshman?” Like where are all these people like who just have your back like unconditionally no matter what like, where were they when I was a freshman? And I was like “Oh, I can do that” like I can be that person that I needed when I was a freshman, and it just clicked. And I started applying for fellowships and going to conferences and I was like, like, I feel like I just wouldn’t be happy anywhere else. And I told my mom I didn’t want to do political science anymore or go to law school anymore and she goes “whatever you do, do not change your major” like “you are not staying there for three more years, like, I’m not paying for that.” And I was like no I’m not doing that but I’m just going to go to grad school for something different. And it just makes sense. Like the type of person that I am it just makes all types of sense. Gayle: So you said “I had to step up” that’s in itself a self-imposed “I had to step up.” Samm: Yeah. Gayle: There was no requirement that to- Samm: 22:10 No. We had a problem, and I can’t speak too much on it but we had a problem, and there was a lack of trust in the whole dynamics of, between students, between administrators, between, you know, the higher, higher-ups. And I took it upon myself along with another student to really like I had to be tough with the administrators because, you know, that’s how we get our voices heard as students. We have to kind of be in your face like, you have to understand what happens and, you know, be the type of person who is not going to stop until we get justice and we get what we need. I felt that I had to do that because I wasn’t just going to sit idly by and watch student be discontent and have people leave the center and things like that. So… Gayle: Well when you say “where were these people when I was a freshman?” I mean I realize the Ombudsman position is relatively new, but the other roles, you didn’t know about them or just, you mean that some of them just weren’t in existence yet? Samm: Well I just didn’t know. Gayle: Okay. �Samm: 24:00 Like, I met Marla this semester, not this semester but this year. She’s the new (Assistant Director) of the LGBT center and I, like, she has been incredible. Like, I wish I would have known her when I was a freshman. Like, not where were you when I was a freshman but I wish I would have known you- Gayle: Yeah. Samm: When I was a freshman. Gayle: I wanted to see what you had meant by that. Samm: Yeah. Gayle: Because I’m always wondering how, if there is a way with students who feel like there’s so much to know when you get here so it’s impossible to know it all. It’s impossible to know what you need. Samm: Right. Gayle: Until you know you need it. Samm: Right. Gayle: But I am always curious if there’s any way these kinds of support services can make themselves more visible that aren’t, like, fair tables. Samm: Yeah. Gayle: So, I guess it is a point of need kind of thing. When student needs something they realize there are these programs. This kind of thing is what we’re hoping will help. People will go ‘Oh I didn’t know that was there. Cara: Or if there RA’s would be educated on all these services. Samm: Yeah, and I’m just glad because I accepted a grad assistantship in housing. So I’ll be in there and depending on where I am I’ll be able to help students with that to. Cara: That makes so much sense that they put you in housing. Samm: Cause so many people got through that. Gayle: Yeah, and you could just be there listening and watching. Cara: You could just be there to answer questions. Samm: Mhmm. Gayle: So lacrosse is varsity? Samm: Mhmm. There’s a club team to but I was on the varsity one. Gayle: But you could be involved in the club team couldn’t you? Or there’s no more eligibility or? �Samm: Yeah, I don’t have eligibility anymore. Gayle: You could coach couldn’t you? Samm: Yeah I could. Cara: Or recruit. Samm: Yeah, that’ll take time. I just need to figure that out. Cara: How exiting. Samm: Yeah. I’m really pumped to see where these next two years will take me. [Off the record chatting removed] Gayle: Samm: Is there anything else you want to tell me? 25:25 I mean not that I can think of. Gayle: You’ve always lived on campus? Samm: I, um, for the first two years I did and then my third year I live in Campus View. So that’s basically on campus, it’s not like far away. Gayle: But then as an RA? Samm: I will be on campus, yeah. Gayle: You don’t know where? Samm: No. Gayle: So wherever they put you. Samm: Yup. Gayle: Ok. Samm: I got requested to go to the South Apartments, like in the back so maybe I’ll be there but I’m not sure. I either wanna be back there or up North with freshman. Gayle: And there’s a new freshman situation. Samm: Mhmm. Gayle: I don’t know. The HHLLC or something. Samm: Yeah, it’s a living and learning center. Gayle: But it’s formed now like the way I lived in a dorm. Which is room with beds, and then room beds, and then a common bathroom. Because they are finding that the suite situation is not as helpful to students because they cluster off and they stay in their own little apartments. Whereas, you know when you have to share a �bathroom you have a common space it’s better for community building and working through all that stuff. Samm: Yeah, but they’re tearing down the Ravines which I’m not happy about but that’s another story for another time. (laughter) Cara: Another exhibit. End � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Connected Exhibit Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource Collection of audio recordings and transcripts of Grand Valley State University students sharing their stories and experiences. The recordings were conducted as part of an exhibit created by the University Libraries in fall semester of 2016 titled "Connected" which featured short audio clips of students. The clips were combined with watercolor portraits of GVSU students by Ellie Lubbers and an interactive watercolor painting activity. Students were encouraged to paint 3" circles of paper to illustrate their current feelings about the college experience and attach them to the gallery wall. The aim of the exhibit was to inspire feelings of community, connectedness, and welcome to new and returning students. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cadena, Cara; Schaub, Gayle; Frigo, Emily; Lubbers, Ellie; Fisher, Erin Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Martin, Samm Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-05-18 Title A name given to the resource Samm Martin interview (audio and transcript) Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Schaub, Gayle (interviewer) Cadena, Cara (interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07_MartinS_2016-05-18 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Relation A related resource Grand Valley State University Libraries. Connected Exhibit, September 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Description An account of the resource Interview with Samm Martin conducted by Gayle Schaub and Cara Cadena for the GVSU Libraries' Connected Exhibit, displayed in September 2016. Edited clips of interviews accompanied watercolor portraits of students and an interactive watercolor activity for exhibit visitors. Samm graduated in April with a degree in political science. She will be entering the Master’s program in College Student Affairs Leadership (CSAL) in fall. Samm was a 4-year varsity lacrosse player who came to GVSU from Maryland. Samm has worked in the Milton E. Ford LGBT Resource Center and is involved the Women’s Center. As an undergrad, she was a leading advocate for inclusion and equity for students on campus. Samm struggled with and overcame some self-destructive behavior in her freshman year. The support she received from campus support services inspired her future career path. As graduate student, Samm also works as an Assistant Living Center Director and hopes to be to other new students what so many here were to her. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/282d9b9c75e20927c1274c30117c15a2.mp3 900ea39730111dd2e22988ea9522bba8 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/daefc470a1e1648f835bb14d87bf5411.pdf ef295a322d0c140022eabaff06d7e163 PDF Text Text GV043-07 Connected Exhibit Interviews Interviewee: Kayla Clarke Interviewers: Gayle Schaub, Cara Cadena Date: May 23, 2016 Gayle: Kayla: We can start anywhere you want, if you want to talk about the experience of transitioning to Grand Valley? How you came, why you came to Grand Valley? Whatever. 00:11 Okay, so I actually came here, my husband’s still active duty in the military, he’s in the Marine Corps still, and we actually kind of were just thrown in Michigan. So, we got, he’s in the Wyoming area, that’s where he’s working out of and I just knew after I got out of that military I’m going to go straight to college somewhere and Grand Valley was just kind of there, you know? And it just happened to be the one I picked, it wasn’t like…I didn’t really have any preference because I didn’t know I was going to Michigan, so we thought we were going to Florida so I had had another idea in my mind of where I was going so, but I was really happy cause I didn’t realize how welcoming they were with the veterans and stuff. However, I didn’t really discover the veteran resources until I, I think I ran into Troy who works…he works with Steve I can’t remember his last name, but anyways he just like mentioned something like “oh yeah, the Veteran’s Office” so, then I kind of ran into Steven and that’s how I really got involved with the Veteran Network. But, I realized there’s a lot of helpful resources for us. So, I came here and I was originally going to be a social…or no a sociology -- actually it was, I was doing exercise science then I turned to sociology pretty quickly, then I realized “no, I don’t like sociology” so now I’m in the liberal art program which I actually like, and I’ll be done Gayle: Lib studies? Kayla: Yeah. Gayle: Okay. Kayla: 2:01 So I’ll actually be finishing this summer, and I’ll have three courses after. Cara: Oh, nice. Kayla: So, I’m almost done, kind of, but…I don’t really know where to go from here now… Gayle: When you say you got involved with the veteran’s program what are you, I don’t know, what are you involved in? Kayla: 2:23 Ah yes, I’m actually interning with Steven Lipnicki. I’m basically just trying to get the resources out there, trying to get more veterans at Grand Valley where the community, and the resources that are offered at Grand Valley and outside of Grand Valley, and just even trying to help them find jobs, and maybe even living arrangements. �Gayle: Kayla: Is that the kind of resources you’re talking about? Are you talking about academic resources, or financial, or all? 3:00 Yeah, like all of it. The academic resources, you know, would be pretty much like any student but we would be able to personally direct them, and have them involved because Marq, who works with Steven, that’s his main job; to work with veterans, specifically. And he’s a veteran also so there’s this sense of, like community there, and you know “oh yeah, you’re a part, like, you understand” and you know it’s easier for veterans, some veterans it’s easier for them to talk to other veterans because there’s… Cara: a bond Gayle: A shared history Kayla: 3:41 Cara: Kayla: (agrees) Were you in the Marine Corps too? 3:58 Cara: Kayla: Yeah, I was in the Marine Corps and for me personally the transition wasn’t nearly as, I don’t feel like it was too bad. I mean, I feel like this was a little bit more challenging, considering I hadn’t been in college for probably five years, and I was at a really small southern community college which is way different. So, my transition was a little challenging in the aspect of I didn’t feel like I was academically prepared, it was more challenging for me, but I figured out “ok, what do I need to do?” and I just worked hard. Where is the Veteran’s Office? 4:51 Gayle: Kayla: Yeah, a shared…so, a lot of students don’t know that so we’re trying to get that out there and trying to like figure out ways - “how can we get students aware of..?” Especially transitioning out of the military, I guess I could talk about that? It’s like, actually well the Career Center here, at this downtown campus. So it’s here. I think they even have, well when you first come here you have to go to the Admissions Building there’s the veteran representative side, and I’m hoping that we can maybe get where they, since they’re they first people they go to that they can give them like a welcome package so then they kind of know where to go. We’ve been working on a checklist so then they at least know “oh, these are the things we need to do.” Because in the military we are used to being kind of directive like “this is what you need to do” and when you come out it’s kind of like getting, being an adult in the civilian world, okay you’re free; go be a grown up. Huh? Sorry. 5:57 Oh no, I was just going to say that I think the most challenging position is getting used to doing everything without being babysat, and having somebody tell you “Ok, this is what you’re going to do and what you need to do.” And you kind of really have to find stuff, and as easy as it seems, I think it might be challenging for new students coming in that are veterans, finding those resources. �Gayle: Kayla: Well, and adjusting to a new set of expectations, because the expectations in the military are that you’ll follow directions. 6:28 Gayle: Kayla: So you entered the military not right out of high school then? 7:09 Cara: Kayla: 7:52 Yeah, we deployed together so we actually met when we were in Thailand so that’s kind of how everything happened. I got out, he stayed in and he’s doing the recruiting up here. So, I don’t really know where else to go from here. So you were on duty in Thailand? 8:16 Gayle: Kayla: No, I was, I went in around twenty-two, so I was almost twenty-three. But yeah, so I had gone to junior college for two years, I finished my associates degree and then I kind of did this little soul searching for a couple, like a year or two and then I got on track and I was like “Ok, I’m going to join the military.” And I needed a challenge because I felt like I was not, I didn’t have direction and it really put me where I want to be now. Now I’m married and have a kid. So you met your husband in the Marine Corps? Gayle: Kayla: Yeah. So, for me though, I’ve always been like very outgoing and open minded so I didn’t have a problem approaching people and I know that’s not probably how a lot of people are. Maybe especially veterans cause a lot of them I’ve run into are males and males are quite as, typically males aren’t quite as open as females are. So, that’s kind of probably been a really challenging part of it. Well no, we were doing a training op., I was in Okinawa, Japan and I was stationed in Okinawa and after we deployed in Okinawa we did some training ops. Like in Korea and, where else did we go? We went to Thailand, Korea, Twenty-Nine Palms in California and I feel like there was another place, I can’t remember right now. But we did travel a lot, and then I went State-side and I was at North Carolina for the end of my enlistment, so after I got out my husband still stayed in and I had a little one and we moved here. So you did four years? 9:03 I did four years, yes. So, yeah I didn’t really know I was going up here. We don’t have family, friends, nothing. So I kind of had to find resources and just like really look out because even up here we have limited military resources. We don’t have any military institutions up here, so it’s not like we can go on base and be like “hey, help us out.” So, we have to really search for everything, and I was kind of prepared for that because I had been a civilian before I went in-- kind of an adult for a while--so I knew that it was challenging and I had always warned a lot of my friends that were in that went from high school like “hey, you know it is a lot different and you complain right now but I promise you it’s going to be a lot more difficult” because they pretty much give everything to you when you’re in there. And that was the difference, we had everything given to us; we had housing, we had health insurance, you know, dental, eating, like you could go to the chow hall, you know? You didn’t �have to worry about all these things that you do when you get out. Your paycheck was what you wanted to do with it. So, luckily if you’re going to college when you get out, you do have that GI bill which will give you a housing, a monthly allowance but it’s not enough to live off of. I mean it’s a good little chunk but you definitely, if you’re living on your own, you’re going to need a little bit more money than that. Cara: You got to figure it out. Kayla: Yeah. Gayle: And well some, some might be dealing with some rough experiences as well. If they’ve seen combat. Kayla: Cara: Kayla: Cara: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Cara: Kayla: 10:49 Yeah, and I mean luckily with me, even when I deployed I just, I really handle…I try to handle a situation in a more positive aspect. So, I know how to cope. I can talk about it, for me that’s my way of coping. I can go to the gym. I can go and release my stress that way. That’s how I do it, even now because we’re in an extremely stressful situation with not having anyone and my husband works ninety to a hundred hours a week. Oh my gosh. 11:20 Yeah, he works from 7 in the morning till 10:30 at night, Monday through Friday. Then Saturdays are usually 8 am to 8 pm. So, either way, and then, even yesterday, on some Sundays he has to go in because he’ll have kids that are shipping to go to boot camp. He was there for like three hours, so, I mean, and he has to go get his haircuts on Sundays. So either way there’s always something, like going on with his work and so I think that’s been the most challenging for me, is having to do -- feeling like a single mother. And then not have family up here, it’s like…I’m already upset because… Yeah I know. I know the feeling. We were out in Montana for years and we had kids and there was no one out there, so we came all the way to Michigan for some support. 12:20 Yeah, no it’s horrible. I mean like it’s just not having those resources…and I’m trying not to get sensitive now, but so yeah. But I don’t know that’s part of our most challenging part. So how long have you been here, then? 12:40 About a year and a half now. And we have another year and a half so we’re like halfway there. And you’ll have gotten a college degree by the time you… 12:48 Yeah, like we always, I mean I feel bad for him because he never, I mean he’s seen he gets to see our son like, once a week. I try to keep them up late but, you know. Yeah, so I think just trying to adjust to… �Gayle: And he’s too busy to even feel bad about it. Kayla: Yeah. Gayle: I mean, reality; when we first moved here it was really hard because we had lived overseas for seven years so when we came here, you know, we don’t have family here either, so we didn’t know anybody and I was like “this is so lonely.” And I was a stay-at-home mom, so I feel like I felt it a lot more than Mark did because Mark had this new job, and he was busy, and he was having to prepare for classes so… Kayla: 13:33 Yeah and well luckily I’m staying busy too now. If I weren’t, because when I first moved here, probably February through May, because I wasn’t in school, because I couldn’t, cause we got here whenever the semester, I was like dying on the inside because I’m like “What do I…?” and there was snow, so I was like “oh my gosh, I need to do something” And when I started school I was like “oh, this is too much!” but no, so it’s just like finding a balance is so hard. But, I don’t know, I always think “whenever we’re done it’ll be awesome.” We’re probably going to be, this is probably one of the most challenging things we’re going to experience, so… Gayle: And this crazy schedule is temporary. Kayla: Yeah, it’s three years so yeah, I mean. Cara: And you’re in year two. Kayla: Yes, so… Gayle: Ok, that’s good. Kayla: Gayle: Kayla Cara: Kayla: 14:30 And he already got through the hard part because like you know the first year of doing, cause like this isn’t his job typically. This is temporary. It’s, he has to do it though, it’s part of like it’s, it’s a career enhancer. Ok. 14:48 If you want to stay in you have to do, it’s called a B-billet. That’s what it is. And it’s a hardship duty job, and it is extremely demanding and they don’t care about your family. They really don’t. I mean, we were moving all weekend and his boss knows we don’t have anyone and I’m pregnant and like he was supposed to help us and he was like “oh, sorry, my son has a baseball game.” And I’m like, “his game’s not all day,” but it’s like, “really?” We don’t have like those resources. So then of course they knew he had to go in yesterday and he was filling in for the other guy because that guy’s like, “oh sorry, I was hungover” and it’s like, “really?” Like, “we’re moving!” Yeah, you have kids and you’re pregnant. You can’t lift anything. 15:48 Yeah, so, well I, I work out so I can, I do lift stuff. I just don’t overdo it. I might have probably lifted more than I should’ve but what am I supposed to do? Like we had a guy help on Saturday but then on Sunday we were like okay, we gotta finish up. �Cara: Kayla: Cara: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: So you’re in the new..? 16:07 Yeah we’re done we’re in the other house and we’re…I think this is just a really challenging time for us cause we’re like transitioning again. Because we had to move cause I had a crazy neighbor. A sex offender. Oh no! 16:22 I know, it was weird and I guess he was watching. I don’t know; it was the weirdest thing. It’s so weird. I know! I was like ‘What is going on in Michigan?’ Oh I Know, I’m like, not here. I just feel like I’m like you know I’m like ‘What is going on? Why am I like going through all this?’ No, but it’s fine because typically like none of this stuff ever happens. We’re good though but… Yeah okay, let’s, let’s switch focus and say think of a class or experience you’ve had at Grand Valley that you could say… or let’s just say what was one of the best experiences you’ve had at Grand Valley so far? 17:05 Well I would think that my internship has been a good experience because I’ve been able to network and meet a lot of new people. [door closes] I’ve been able to just get out there and actually meet a lot of other veterans and I got to do a lot of, like I said, networking so that’s been really nice because my job’s not just been sitting at a desk. And I think that’s been the best thing is getting involved with the Veteran’s Network. And how did that internship come about? You came and talked and…? 17:45 Well I went over to, like I said I had accidentally bumped into Troy (Farley) somehow, when I was like walking somewhere and I don’t know how we got on the conversation of military and veterans but he was like “oh yeah,” so I had spoken with Steven and I had kind of gotten in touch with him like “hey,” you know, and I think Brian Jabara, so he was saying, we were talking about internships, and he was like “Yeah one of the guys works over there with Steven Lipnicki,” so I got in touch with him. And I kind of bugged him, not in like a bad way, but I was always like “hey,” and then he was just like “you know, I want to hire you,” So I worked as a student working with him and then it turned into my internship but it’s kind of been able to put me out there and has just given me the opportunity to meet new people. I think that’s been the best experience. And you don’t feel like having been a female in the military? You sound like very, I don’t know, that your social skills are such that you were strong regardless of whatever the situation was. Where you think sometimes males might have a little bit more… 19:05 Well I mean when I first had got in of course, and I got to the fleet, it was really challenging. I had a lot of, you know, it was almost like going to high school and being accepted into a community, and being rejected, like, so I had to kind of build a reputation. Like you had to work to get in the group it felt like, so… �Gayle: The mostly male group? Kayla: Yeah, even the females were really tough on you, like when you first, yeah, I thought it would be like “hey, c’mon you’re part of us, like we’re the seven percent, c’mon!” No. It wasn’t like that. I mean, I don’t know if that’s everywhere, but for me personally and I’ve seen it with other females coming in. It’s not always welcoming. So that was definitely challenging and I think I just learned how to, like, it helped me build my character and make me stronger in that sense like “you know what I got to be a little tougher and just show them, like, I can do this.” So I just worked hard to get where I needed to be and I think that’s always helped, that part of the military, just always pushing through challenges and stuff. That has helped me really a lot in college too because I don’t know if I would be able to do this if I hadn’t had that experience. Because our situation now, I can’t even imagine doing this before because I would give up on things sometimes. Like I would do it but I never would try that hard. So, I always just push through everything with school and even though it’s been…I guess another good experience is all the challenges I’ve been through and like conquered with school and just trying and saying “oh, I’m going to fail” and then I end up really doing well. So, I mean I always doubt myself but in the end I still do fine. So, I think just knowing that I’m like constantly getting to that next step has, like, really made me feel like ‘oh yes, I’m doing this I’m going to get to where I need to be someday’. So I just take it a day at a time. Gayle: What do you think it was about lib studies that was…what drew you to that? Kayla: 21:30 Well I really wanted to do social work and the program was, it’s very specific. Like, in the fall you would start a portion so I wouldn’t have been able to start the program until I think actually this fall would’ve been when I could’ve actually really started, and I wouldn’t have been done until the following spring after we leave. So I didn’t, I was like I don’t want to do that. Gayle: Kayla: The timing, it was wrong? 22:04 Yeah, so I was like what can I…? Because I was, like, I eventually want to get my masters in social work. I mean that’s a long-term goal, we’ll see, but I had talked to some advisors that I had just called Gr- you know just different advisors, I think - just the advising department and I was like “so, this is what I want to do. I’m on this timeframe. What’s a good degree, like an undergraduate degree, like a gateway degree to social work?” and they were like “Oh, you could do sociology, psychology, or lib studies.” And I didn’t know what lib studies really was so I was like “oh, sociology” cause that sounds cool and I just realized that I didn’t really like that was so set on a certain way and it wasn’t for me, and then liberal studies was more open-minded, trying to get different perspectives and I was like, “ok, I kind of like that.” It’s a little challenging but it’s not just the one way like “oh we’re taking statistical data and this is how things are because based off of this, it’s more like, “well it could be this, and this, and this.” So it attracted me and they were saying, like I said, it’s a good degree that could, you can use towards going into social work. So, I was like “ok I’ll do this” and I can mold it into what I want so I can put an �emphasis on like I’m doing mine on social issues for veterans, cause I want to work with veterans or even active-duty military and families. So knowing that I have a specific degree, like geared towards something and I’m doing like, my internship is with the Veteran’s Network I’m hoping it’ll just build my resume. Cara: Kayla: Cara: Kayla: That’s great. It sounds like you’re creating a healthy resume and on the right path. 23:58 I hope so cause it seems good right now but you know once you get out there it’s not always that easy so I’m preparing myself for more challenges so it’ll be fine now, so… Where do you guys go now after Michigan? 24:10 I don’t know, actually we’ll know probably…at least in another year probably like in the summer of next year or the fall. And it would be between North Carolina, Hawaii, or Okinawa again so, or California, but we’re not putting that on our list, but it could happen. But there is four choices so that would be the places we’re going so I’ve kind of had ideas of where we go next, what I can do so, because if I got to Okinawa I’m not going to be able to do social work. I wouldn’t be able to do, they don’t have those programs because it’s a small island and yeah. But Hawaii does and I know North Carolina does so. But I’m still okay with whatever we do. Gayle: But you’re informing yourself and figuring out… Kayla: Yeah just so Gayle: Keep moving forward Kayla: Yeah cause, I mean Cara: What else are you going to do? Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: 25:09 Well we don’t have really a choice we have to, I mean for me I have to plan ahead anyways because I, I can’t really depend on anyone else anyway. I mean as much as my husband would love to be there, he can’t. Unfortunately his career comes first, it seems like, especially when you’re in the military it’s, your career is over everything and he has no choice because his contract so. So in your classes have you met, or have you interacted with other kind of, not in your situation because yours is pretty unique, but other parents, other nontraditional students who are… 25:49 I have ran into parents and, just a few, I’ve ran into veterans too, quite a few actually. In your classes? 26:03 Yeah I, actually usually every semester I at least have once class with a, like in the Marine Corps veteran that’s usually who I connect the most with. But I have met some females that were mothers too that I’ve really connected with but typically, like a traditional student, I – nothing against them – I’m just in a different part of life �so it’s hard for me to be on that same page and really have a good connection. So. But, yeah I’ve ran into, I think that’s definitely where I end up like, like levitating to is the nontraditional students cause they’re typically on the same page. I’ve been in their shoes so. I loved that experience like I loved that fun, being-young college traditional experience but I just, I can’t do it anymore. Gayle: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Are the veterans in your classes that you’ve even interacted with, are they aware of all the services or is this an opportunity for you? 27:04 I typically try to be like “hey!” you know? I try to let them know but not always, a lot of them aren’t really familiar that they can apply for FAFSA and actually get that, the financial aid assistance and that Pell grant and a lot of them think “oh, well we’re already getting money” but it’s like, yeah but if you don’t, if you don’t have the right income, you can...and typically most of them are living on their own so they don’t have a lot of income, so they get the Pell grant, most of them. But a lot of them…there’s at least a third I think that don’t know about it or don’t apply for it. So that’s something we’re trying to really let them know like, “hey!” Cause we know, you know it is a struggle even as a college student in general it’s just doing things…especially if you’re on your own, like out of the military you’ve been on your own, kind of, without your family for four years minimum, and you don’t really want to move back home unless you like absolutely have to, so a lot of them want to be on their own. So I always try to be like, “hey, did you apply for this?” or…some would say yeah, but actually a lot don’t, you know? How do you know that they are? It just comes up in class? Do they just identify? When there’s another veteran in the class? 28:22 Typically, I feel like a lot of times when I’m going into class there’s an introduction, you know? And a lot of...almost every single person that’s been, especially in the Marine Corps, they always say it. Okay 28:35 I don’t know what it is. There is something about them. I guess because it’s such an elite community and small. I don’t know. I just always notice. You know when there’s a marine because they always have stickers. You always see… Cara: There’s something that tells… Kayla: Yeah. They always are proud of that so… Gayle: It becomes part of your identity, and also I think, yeah, if you’ve done something so intense, you want to share it with others. Kayla: 29:02 Yeah, and it’s good whenever you meet someone, you know? Especially in the military, it’s just like “Oh! Hey!” But yeah, so that’s usually how. It’s always the introductions. Then I’m always like, “hey! Let’s hang out! I’m going to come sit by you!” So yeah, that’s usually how it always happens. Or eventually in class somehow �it gets brought up, if we’re doing something…”oh yeah, when I was in…” It’s like “ok.” So it always gets brought up some time or another, yeah. Gayle: I’m trying to think of some more questions. Kayla: I know I totally went off track a lot. Gayle: There’s no track. It’s fine. Kayla: Gayle: 29:47 I know but I was like “I don’t even know where I’m going with some of this.” I’m like, I feel like I’m talking to a psychologist on some parts. I’m like “yeah, my problems!” No, it’s great, I think just being able to say some things, and every time you say things, believe it or not, we’ve heard some of these things in different forms, in different contexts. We’ve heard them over and over. Like not finding out about these resources until a little bit later. A lot of people said “I’d wish I’d known that earlier,” or… Kayla: 30:20 Yeah, I mean the Veterans Network, I didn’t even find out really until the first summer I was here. But, in the summer it’s not quite as, like… I came here in the summer semester, so it’s not really as much people and not as many…you know, you don’t have all those resources put out there. It’s a lot smaller. I love the summer though, personally. But, I don’t think I would’ve known a lot about it unless I had ran into somebody by accident almost, you know. Gayle: But the other part that I really, really love that other students will hear is something you said, that other students have also said, which is “I bugged Steve, I went back, I did this.” So I love the fact that students are going to hear, sometimes the person that’s going to make things happen for you is you. Kayla: 31:14 Yeah, and that’s what you know, it’s…I think that’s the biggest challenge for the veteran community. If we’re going to be, like, a specific community. It’s because that’s not quite as easy and I’ve ran into a lot of people that just…it’s not easy for them to do that on their own because they never had to really do that. Unless they’ve been in for a long time, but if you’ve done just four years, which is most of the people that are coming from the military, they were given direction most of that. Gayle: Well it’s counterintuitive to what you’ve been trained. You’ve not been trained to go off on your own and assert your will. Kayla: 31:53 Yeah. Well I mean I was lucky my last year I had picked up that rank where I was more in charge. But, at the same time, a lot of them don’t get that opportunity to do that. Just because depending on their job and… Gayle: Kayla: Personality? 31:14 Yeah…I don’t really…I mean because usually with jobs that open, there’s only like the ranks. There’s only so many spots open for that next promotion, and I just…I �think I went in at a good time because my jobs were opening up and rank was opening up a lot earlier. Gayle: Kayla: Cara: Kayla: So when were your actual dates of service? 32:33 2010. September 2010 to September 2014. So, I got out about a year…almost two years now. But, yeah, so… Yeah, I like that students will hear that, too. Because a lot of what we’ve heard too is like “nobody told me” or “I didn’t know,” and sometimes you won’t be told. 32:56 Yeah. I mean and that’s what I say like how is somebody supposed to know what you need unless you tell them and you can’t just expect someone to, like, read your mind, and I’m not…I don’t ever put it that way because that’s too blunt and that kind of sounds mean. But, you know, you do kind of have to know that you can’t always expect things to be given to you, and I think as you get further into your career in college, if you stay in, I think that’s when people start really seeing like “oh, I should just go out there and see what’s out there.” You know, like get more comfortable. That’s kind of what I had to do. I would bug Sharon to the one that was my VA rep for my benefits. Because I thought, “oh I’ll call her for a resource.” So I’d be calling Sharon up like, “hey Sharon, so I need…””Oh, you need to talk to…” and she had directed me to the veteran’s network, kind of. I kind of got it through her, too. I was like, “oh, thought you were my Veteran’s Network.” But there is an actual, like, representative that does it, and that’s kind of what we’re working on now with Steven. We’re trying to figure out how can we get Marq’s face, the one that is our actual, like that is his job job, is working with veterans, to get his face out there so veterans know “hey I need to call this guy if I have a question.” Gayle: Who? Mark who? Kayla: Marq Hicks. Yeah. Gayle: When you say Veterans Network, is that a formal…is that just sort of a name you’re using for this? The formal word is network? Kayla: 34:32 Yeah, it is the Veterans…I mean even if you…there’s even a website on Grand Valley that it’s the normal website slash veterans. Gayle: Yeah, I apologize I just don’t know much about it. Kayla: No, it’s okay because there’s a lot of communities I probably don’t know about in Grand Valley so… Gayle: There’s a lot of resources out there. There’s a lot to know. Kayla: Yeah, Google does wonders. Gayle: Yes. We know that we’re librarians! (laughs) Kayla: I know right. Yeah, I just say, if I ever need anything, I’m just like “GVSU where is…” Yeah. �Gayle: Yeah. Show me the money. Kayla: Show me the money. Gayle: So are you taking a full load every semester or are you taking a couple of courses? Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Gayle: Kayla: Cara: 35:11 I am because with daycare, the program...military program we’re in you have to be full time to get the assistance. So, I like forced to, which is extremely overwhelming at times. But, I’m just like, whatever, I’m getting it done with. How old is your son? 33:33 He’s almost 2. He’s a year and 10 months. I’m like “can you just hurry up and be potty-trained and do your own thing?” How does the timing work out then with the new baby? When will that be? 35:45 I will be due in October. So, I’m taking the fall off. Oh, ok. 35:50 So I was like ‘I’ll go heavy in the summer’. I took everything I could though this summer because that was all that’s offered, and then in the spring, luckily with lib studies, there is an accelerated program that you can do a course at a time for five weeks, and it’s only one day a week that I have to go to class. It’s at 6 to, like, 9 pm on Tuesdays. I’m like “perfect, I don’t need a babysitter for long, especially with two kids.” So I’m doing three, five-week courses and then I’ll be done so…but, it’s really intense, you know. So you should take one at a time and that’s all you should be taking, because you’re going to spend, they said, like 18-20 hours per week on that. Which I’m like “ok, I’m doing one subject so, bring it on.” Like, one day a week of taking my kid somewhere. Like, you’re saving me money. I like that. So that’s a good thing too. I always say if you’re a non-traditional student and you don’t really know where you’re going, I think the lib studies program is a great choice, because of the fact they do have that accelerated program. That allows you to have a very flexible schedule, because you only obligated to one night a week. And its interdisciplinary nature allows you a lot of possibilities 37:11 Yeah. It does. And you kind of get to make your choices with it. You know, nowadays with an undergraduate degree, it seems like you can’t do too, too much. Unless it kind of like a degree that needs to go forward to another one. Any faculty really stand out? Have you had like a really…? 37:36 Oh, Brain Jabara was amazing, but he moved on. Which is sad, but I’m so happy for him, but he was amazing. And, actually I did have two professors, a couple, Dr. Elizabeth Kilbourne and John Kilbourne. Their son’s in the Marine Corps, too. So, somehow we just had a really great connection and the way they teach is just amazing, like they have a very different style. I’ve heard that about them. �Kayla: Oh, you’ve heard? Cara: Yeah. Kayla: Cara: Kayla: Cara: Kayla: End 38:12 Okay good. They’re amazing, like they really make you do activities. They make you do a lot of movement. You remember things, they use a lot of creativity. I mean his wife does LIB310 which is creativity. I always tell people because you do a lot of the perspective courses you need to fill, it’s one of those world…I can’t remember which one it is. Issues or world, I can’t remember, but it fills that. It’s an awesome course. It kind of is a relief in some way because it’s not your typical “you’re going to read a book.” I mean you do all that, but it’s more open-minded and you’re… Low-tech? I heard he’s really low-tech. Like doesn’t use PowerPoint slides. 38:59 Not really. I mean he’ll use them, but all of the stuff he does is related to his life too, a lot. So, it’s interesting to see, like, he can put his story into his teaching. That makes an impact when you can humanize your professor. 39:17 Yeah. It makes… he’s being open with his students too and it’s really interesting. It’s kind of really motivating because, hearing his story, and his wife too. They teach really similarly, but his wife’s more… well they’re both very, like, empathetic people. So like they’re really easy to approach and that’s what makes their classes so great is they make all of the students come together and really form a community. They want you to know all of the students in the class and typically I don’t feel like most classes you get the opportunity to really get to know everyone. We did a lot of group projects, but they would alternate our groups. And if we were talking to someone, they wanted us to use their name so we would remember them, but it was great. We did things that pushed us out of our comfort zone. And I think that’s great, and it’s just being like… doing stuff that you’re not typically going do like dancing. We did some like weird stuff. But it was cool, because we would stretch and do thing and everyone was like…but afterwards everyone was…and they did it just to boost our morale and make us excited to kind of be there. Like “oh I feel better now.” So it’s always refreshing doing something that’s just not like sitting there like “ok, when is it going to be 11?” So I really like that about their class. So I always try to do any courses, if I need them, I’m always like looking to see if they have anything. They’re awesome. And we keep in touch really well, so yeah…but yeah, those are probably the most faculty that stood out. I think what stands out the most about the faculty that I’m talking about is the fact that I can really tell they really care about my wellbeing. And I know, maybe it’s just their personalities, because I know that most faculty here does try to be like “hey, I’m approachable.” But some people it’s just the way their personality is. It just really stands out. But yeah I’m just blabbing on and on. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Connected Exhibit Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource Collection of audio recordings and transcripts of Grand Valley State University students sharing their stories and experiences. The recordings were conducted as part of an exhibit created by the University Libraries in fall semester of 2016 titled "Connected" which featured short audio clips of students. The clips were combined with watercolor portraits of GVSU students by Ellie Lubbers and an interactive watercolor painting activity. Students were encouraged to paint 3" circles of paper to illustrate their current feelings about the college experience and attach them to the gallery wall. The aim of the exhibit was to inspire feelings of community, connectedness, and welcome to new and returning students. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cadena, Cara; Schaub, Gayle; Frigo, Emily; Lubbers, Ellie; Fisher, Erin Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Clarke, Kayla Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-05-23 Title A name given to the resource Kayla Clarke interview (audio and transcript) Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Schaub, Gayle (interviewer) Cadena, Cara (interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07_ClarkeK_2016-05-23 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Relation A related resource Grand Valley State University Libraries. Connected Exhibit, September 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Description An account of the resource Interview with Kayla Clarke conducted by Gayle Schaub and Cara Cadena for the GVSU Libraries' Connected Exhibit, displayed in September 2016. Edited clips of interviews accompanied watercolor portraits of students and an interactive watercolor activity for exhibit visitors. Kayla is a liberal studies major, a Marine Corps veteran, a wife, a mother, and a transplant to West Michigan. She is a full-time student whose husband works an 80-100-hour active-duty job in the Marines. Kayla is determined to finish the accelerated program in lib studies in order to begin a master’s in social work wherever she and her family are posted next. Serving in the military gave Kayla a confidence and determination to succeed in her education that she didn’t have earlier as a community college student. She now wants to make sure that other veterans know about the resources available to them as they transition from military life to college life. She is an intern with the GVSU Veterans Network. She actively seeks out other veterans in classes and on campus to help them find what they need, academically, financially, and socially. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fad650b272318fee55255de984710d8e.mp3 fee504ce3d90034500781df0a2da72f6 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/df6721a84db782119235a8e64a147a8d.pdf 8ec90d9cfd90413b57cc62a97d32ae6d PDF Text Text GV043-07 Connected Exhibit Interviews Interviewee: Ja-Queshia Allen Interviewers: Gayle Schaub Date: April 21, 2016 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: If you just want to tell me a little bit about yourself to begin with… 0:06 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: This campus? 0:45 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: 0:57 I lived in North B and I know the name changed. I don’t know what the named changed to, but it was North B. Yeah, they, yeah a whole bunch of them are changing. 1:08 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Yeah, so the downtown campus and then I just wanted to stay in Allendale because I was afraid and I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t want to get lost. Where did you live when you first got here? Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Okay, so my name is Ja-Queshia Allen and I am from Flint, Michigan and I am also a first-generation college student. So coming into college was like really different for me and I felt a wide array of emotions. So when I first got on campus I was nervous. I was afraid. I was scared. I didn’t know anyone at all, so in my mind I’m like “I’m in this new city. The campus is really big.” Now I’m a senior and I’m like “This campus isn’t that big,” but when I was a freshman I was like scared because there’s two campuses and I was like “I don’t know about the other campus, but I’m just going to stay on this campus.” Yeah, so all of the names are changing. But I was just really scared because I didn’t know anyone and I was just, I felt very alone, too. So I had… You didn’t know anybody from Flint coming? You didn’t connect – 1:20 No, I didn’t know anyone, so it was really scary. So I had to meet people and I met my RA and she was a sophomore, so she introduced me to people and then – sophomore or junior, it was one of the two – but she introduced me to people, I met people on the floor, and after I met people, I felt not so alone. My homesickness went away. Because I used to go home all the time when I was like just feeling sad and feeling like I didn’t know anyone. But she introduced me to people around campus, and that made that feeling go away. So then I start feeling more positive about being on campus, and not feeling so afraid and nervous to meet new people. And then my sophomore year I ended up getting involved in a co-ed business fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi, and so I got really involved in that and met a lot of people. And started attending more campus events and now, being a senior, I wish I would have done that my first semester �as a freshman instead of my second semester going into my sophomore year. Because the difference was just, and emotions, like I felt really depressed freshman year and then now I’m just like really happy and I can go to people and I can call people and I have friends. And even though I still really don’t know anyone from Flint, I just know people from everywhere now because I just put myself out there to meet new people and not stay, I guess, in that box. Gayle: Ja-Queshia: So when you say at the beginning, you went home a lot, for – like, you went home every weekend? 2:59 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: For how long, would you say? Would you say like weeks, months, the whole year? 3:07 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: That repeated cycle of going home? It was probably the whole semester. Ok. Like until Christmas? 3:13 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: It was probably like every other weekend. Yeah, until Christmas. And then when I got back I was just like “I need to meet new people.” And I took that step because it’s kind of a hard step when you just don’t know anyone and you’re nervous about it. So I took that step to just put myself out there and meet people and I think that’s advice that I would give someone coming in, to meet people and even though you’re going to be nervous and afraid, still take that step because you don’t want to be sitting in your room, sitting there depressed and sad like I was the whole semester. So do you remember like a specific, I mean outside of your RA, do you remember a specific, like, event you went to for the first time that kind of made a difference? I mean, besides the business fraternity, was there something else? 3:59 Umm, I have went to a couple – what was that event called? – it was put on by the Black Student Union, because she was black, so she took me to events that I would probably like. And that’s when I met more people. That was, I would say, similar to me, and was also some were first generation college students, too. So just finding those people who you relate to, also, and yeah, and after that I just kept attending, like, those events. And then, I had attended, it was, I can’t even remember all of the events I’ve attended because I just kept going. I had started looking on the GV page and looking at the different events that were taking place. And I went to an event that was put on by the LGBT resource center and they had a speaker there, so just still getting out and meeting new people at the different events that I probably thought that I wouldn’t even attend. Because, coming from a small city like Flint, there’s not really events �that go on. So coming to campus and seeing that “Oh my god, there’s so many events.” Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Too many sometimes. 5:12 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Yeah, there were Sunday night ones at the Connection. Where they do the food of a country. 5:40 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: 5:50 Gayle: Social work. So did you declare that right away, or did it take you some time to figure out? 5:55 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Really? Yeah, and so just even just that small little event, just tasting food, you’re meeting people who are different from you, but you can learn so much from them. So what’s your major? Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Yeah, and there’s so many events and then I wanted to meet different people, like from myself, so I would go to any type of event honestly. There was one event that I went to and I was just tasting food, I can’t remember the event, but it was tasting food of a different culture. And I met people through that, and I was like “Oh my god, college is awesome now.” So I was thinking about criminal justice when I first came to college because I knew I wanted to go into a helping profession, but when I like really talked to someone about social work and how a wide array of like different jobs you can get from it, I was just like “This is for me.” Because I don’t want to be a police officer, because I don’t have the heart to you know, arrest someone, shoot someone, tackle someone, but social work I can go and I can help older adults, I can help children, I can help teenagers, I can help anyone. So I declared social work, I would say, my first semester. So yeah, a few months into the first semester I declared social work. And never wavered? 6:40 No, I didn’t. And then I was also afraid to deter, and that’s probably bad, but I knew social work was for me, but I didn’t want to deter from my declared major because I had talked to someone who had been here for about six years because they changed their major. So I wanted my declared major to be the only major and I wanted to really like it and I love it now. And now I’m going to get my masters in social work. So I feel like I’m a social worker at heart now. Have you always lived on campus, or do you live in some of the – where do you live right now? �Ja-Queshia: 7:12 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Because all of your classes are downtown? 7:16 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: 7:48 No, not so much with activities. I do have an internship with the Grand Rapids Housing Commission right now. My last day is Monday because I’m graduating, but I’ve been at the internship for my whole senior year. So I’ve really been able to get experience from working in housing. So now I want to move on to work in a different area of social work. So with the master’s program I’m hoping to get an internship in hospice because I really want to do that because I went through things with my grandmother, and end of life, and the social worker was there like along the way. So I want to be that social worker for another family. So I really want to get an internship in that field so I can know for sure if I would want to have my career in that area. So how’d you get this job? Student and Academic Success Center? 8:43 Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Yeah, I moved downtown last year, so my junior year. And my first trip downtown was, I believe, my sophomore year was my first trip downtown to the downtown campus, and I didn’t get lost. So I was surprised and then after that I was like “Oh yeah I want to stay downtown and that’s going to be really different for me.” So I moved downtown and I love staying down there now. Have you gotten involved in anything like beyond campus, with activities just going on in Grand Rapids, or any kind of? Gayle: Ja-Queshia: I stay downtown now. I got it my freshman year actually. So Marnie Parris-Bingle, she is my advisor for TRiO Student Support Services. And so when I first met with her, she could tell that I was really nervous and everything. And she was talking to me about jobs and I had told her I have been working since I was 15 and I’m not used to just not working at all. And I was asking her about any job openings she may know of. And a few weeks later she emailed me and said “We have a job opening here and I would really like if you would work for us.” And so I came in and I talked to her about it and I was hired. So I just think that was like a godsend job because I was really stressing out about trying to find employment, especially not knowing Grand Rapids or the campus. I didn’t know how to get a job. But I knew I needed one because, yeah tuition is pretty expensive. And buying books and supplies and everything else. So how did you get involved with TRiO, then? 9:49 They sent me a letter over the summer like before I came to start my freshman year. They sent me a letter and asked me if I wanted to be in the program. And I had known about TRiO previously because in high school there was a program �called Gear Up and I was really involved in Gear Up all of my high school years and they always told me about TRiO. So when I saw the word TRiO I was like “Of course I want to be with TRiO.” It’s for first generation college students and I’m that. And I got a lot of help from being involved in Gear Up, so I want to be in TRiO. So that’s really how I got involved with TRiO. They sent me a letter and I signed it and then when I got to campus I had to meet with an advisor. So I met with Marnie and I felt at home with the program I would say. And I actually met people from being in the program, too. Some of my friends, my best friends, are actually in the program also. So TRiO has been a really big part of like my education here, because so many resources that they have connected me with. And just being that support system along the way, or like that family away from home. Because the advisors there, they build a relationship with you, they don’t just like, oh, this is all school related. No, they want to know about your emotional state of mind and everything that’s going on in your life. Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: So do you think that help comes to those who ask for it, more? I mean if you were to kind of talk to a new student, would you say, “Ask for help if you need it?” 11:21 Yes, I would definitely say that because I know I used to didn’t want to go to the writing center because I thought “I don’t know, I don’t need the writing center.” But when I went I got so much help and I didn’t even, like, they would tell me to go in a different perspective, different route with my paper that I never knew I could even go in. So help is, if it’s free on campus, utilize all of the resources. I’ve utilized the Speech Lab, the Writing Center, the library, checking out books. Yeah, just in general the Knowledge Market. I’ve utilized all free resources. The printing labs. Some people don’t go up to the computer labs, and I tell them you can print for free, you can do your work in the computer labs. There are so many computer labs around campus. So utilize those free resources and also, there are like the counseling center, career center, and then you got the student academic success center and the tutoring center. I’ve had tutoring plenty of times. And I think it’s a pride thing sometimes with tutoring because I know before I first signed up I was like “I don’t need a tutor. I’m smart. I can do this.” And then I just finally gave in and that tutor really helped me. So just all of those free resources. What specific classes? 12:37 It was economics. Microeconomics. Yeah, that class like killed me. And I believe it was another math class. But if I didn’t have my tutors, I probably wouldn’t have got through the class. So getting over that pride and just using all those free resources. I never thought I would use the career center or the counseling center, but I did my freshman year. So… �Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: So give me like, if you can, give me either a really, a stand out memory. Either because it was so great or because it was so frustrating or because it was so, so something. Like your best day, your worst day. 13:16 I can say my worst time I was, just being, was when I couldn’t pay the rest of my tuition fees. That was like a really scary and bad feeling. So I had to reach out to different family members, friends, and reach out to everyone to get donations. So I vowed that I never wanted to be in that position again. So I applied for as many scholarships as I could last year for my senior year. And my senior year is literally paid off with no loans at all because I filled out so many scholarships, like I was really dedicated because just that, that feeling of “Oh my gosh, I’m not going to be able to complete school if I don’t pay this tuition. I’m going to be a failure.” Just all of those negative thoughts running through your head and then you’re just, you’re sad and you’re feeling so bad. You’re just depressed. And I never wanted to feel like that again. So that was my motivation to reach out to scholarships and even if they need a few essays, I will write those essays. How’d you find them? How’d you find the scholarships? 14:25 On the GVSU website. The My Scholarships page. I literally went through all of the scholarships and wrote down which ones applied to me and which ones I would be able to apply for. And it was really surprisingly a lot of scholarships that applied to me. It was minority scholarships, first-generation, social work, just freshman or sophomore, like it’s literally so many categories of scholarships. And I didn’t know any of those scholarships even existed. So I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t reached out to the career center or financial aid or the TRiO. I reached out to MarcQus Wright and he gave me an entire list of scholarships and I literally spent weekends just going through scholarships and writing essays and sending them out. So I would say even though that was the worst feeling I’ve ever felt being on this campus, it really motivated me to get money from – Gayle: The letters must have been the best part. Ja-Queshia: Yeah! Gayle: Congratulations! Ja-Queshia: 15:28 Thank you. It just motivated me to get that free money that’s out there because a lot of times there’s a lot of scholarships that go, you know, unfulfilled, like people don’t apply. And even now, the School of Social Work are sending out emails saying “We don’t have enough applicants,” and I’m like “I applied for that scholarship, so I’m in there.” But that money is just going to, and then people �could lose grants from not giving away money, too. I found that out. Yeah I would definitely tell someone, you know, even though you feeling like “Scholarships, ugh, that’s extra work.” I would say “Do that work because not being able to pay for your books or tuition is the worst feeling ever.” Especially when you have so many goals to be successful. Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Is anybody coming to – are you going to walk? 16:22 Yes, I’m gonna walk. Yes I, like, my family is already emotional. Like, my mother is already crying because I took Grad Fest photos and sent them to them, put them on Facebook and everything. So all my family is already emotional. So next week is going to be very emotional. And then you move? Or are you staying where you’re living? 16:43 I’ll stay where I’m living – downtown campus. Because your classes will be downtown? 16:52 Mmmhmm. And you’ll start right away in May? 16: 54 Yup, I start right away. Nope, I get a week, a week to get ready for graduate school. But I’m still in the mindset of schoolwork, so I believe that’s the best bet. Not taking any breaks, just going straight through. It will be quite a change. It’s interesting. The grad school experience is different. 17:15 Yeah, I’m kind of nervous about it, but I’m excited at the same time, because I’m like “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I’m getting a bachelor’s degree, first, and now I’m going on to get my master’s degree.” And I’m first in my family and I feel like I’m just creating this new pathway for people that, people in my family who thought that they couldn’t do it. Like, my little brother looks up to me. Like when I go home now he’s just like “You know I’ve been applying to colleges.” And I’m like “Really?” He’s like “Yeah, I see you, you’re graduating.” How old is he? 17:50 He’s, I don’t even remember, I’m sorry. He’s going to be a senior next year. So he’s already like getting his goals together for college. So I’m really proud of myself for creating that positive image for him. Because I don’t even know if he was thinking about college before. Because I feel like boys more so focus on sports and so he was focused on sports, but now he’s focused on college and �getting that career. He also wants to go into criminal justice. So I feel like our fields are kind of connected, too. Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: So when you were in high school, what made you think “Oh, where should I go to school?” 18:29 It was really interesting because – Did you have student advisors, and things? 18:33 Yeah, I did have, they were called counselors. It was really weird transitioning from counselors to advisors. Yeah, I just sort of looked up colleges and applied and then with Gear Up we went to college visits. So I have visited almost all the schools in Michigan, well not almost all of them, but it was a really good amount of colleges that I visited. So CMU, Oakland, Ferris, Eastern, like all of those – Western? 19:06 Yeah, Western, then Grand Valley. So U of M. I visited so many colleges. So I just narrowed it down to which ones I guess I felt more at home with. And I felt more at home at Grand Valley’s campus. Why? 19:20 I don’t know. Honestly it was just that feeling of “I need to be here.” And then the campus was beautiful. Oh my God, it was – I think it was the most prettiest campus I have seen. It was just so beautiful. And I was like “Yeah, I can see myself here.” And then they had my program, criminal justice, even though I didn’t know I wanted to go into social work. I’m glad they had social work. And then I, this is really weird, I looked up the criminal rates, like not criminal, but – The crime rates in the city? 19:51 The crime rates. And so when I was telling some of my peers that I looked up crime rates, they were like “Why did you look up crime rates?” and I’m like “Because I want to know where I’m going to be going.” And coming from Flint, there’s crime everywhere. I don’t want to be going to college where there’s crime everywhere. And Grand Valley had the lowest crime rates out of the schools that I was applying to. So that was another factor. Wow. 20:17 Yeah, and I was just always on the Grand Valley page looking at all the resources and things that was available to students. So I just figured this was the place to be. And I’m glad I chose this school because I don’t regret it at all. And we have �two campuses, I feel like that’s a big thing. Because I can go downtown and come here. And both campuses have different stuff, I feel like. Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: You like living downtown? 20:43 Yeah, I like living downtown. Do you live near the campus, or do you live – 20:46 Yeah I live on campus downtown. So I live in Winter Hall. Oh, ok. 20:50 Yeah. So I, my classes are right there, and then if you ever want to go like get something to eat, you can just walk down the street. I feel like in Allendale you need a car in order to get places and I don’t like that feeling of, I feel like I was in a box, kind of, on the Allendale campus. So downtown campus is like you can just walk everywhere and walk anywhere you need to. And you can go – Have you gotten to know downtown? Like, do you hang out downtown? Do you – 21:19 I’ve went to like the Rosa Parks Circle and I walked around downtown, but I haven’t really like, I feel like I haven’t really been downtown and just walked around the whole downtown area. But I’m pretty familiar with the areas that I do go to. So like Division and Fulton and then Rosa Parks Circle. I really love that yogurt place that’s over there. It’s kind of expensive. 21:48 Yeah, but it’s so good! Yeah, it is pretty expensive. It is just so good. And I just give in every time. I’m like “I’m just going to give in.” We have a librarian downtown who I work with who always wants Froyo for lunch, like that’s her lunch that’s what she eats. 22:05 Yogurt? Yeah. 22:06 Oh my gosh. Really? It like, it gets you so full, but it’s so good! It’s probably unhealthy, too, because you load up on the sugar and toppings. Well I live close to downtown, well more on the west side. If you take Stocking, do you know where Stocking is? 22:21 Uhhh, probably. �Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Stocking is like, it’s called Lexington, but then if you head north it turns into Stocking and, like, kind of angles off and leads over to the west side. Like there’s Stocking School. 22:37 A lot of the streets do that, they like do this little – And they change names? 22:43 Yeah, it’s kind of confusing. You’ll get there. 22:48 Yeah, but being in college has been awesome. Yeah I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. Even though I’ve had a variety of emotions, it’s okay. Does your family ever come and visit you? 23:00 No. Or do you not want family to come and visit you? 23:05 They can come, I don’t mind. But my mother, she is a caregiver, she’s a caregiver for my grandparents, so, yeah she’s very limited into how much she can travel. But she really wants to travel, but she has, like, that responsibility. So my dad – Speaking of travel, did you ever consider traveling abroad? Doing study abroad? 23:29 I wanted to. I wanted to do it with the master’s program. But I just didn’t want to extend, like, the year, because I know study abroad will probably be a few weeks or a semester, and I really didn’t want to extend the, I guess I’m graduating. Have you checked it out though? Have you talked to anybody? Because they can sometimes work with you and tell you what credits you can get abroad. 23:52 Yeah I didn’t even think about that because I was always looking on the website and then it would say “Oh, this is a certain amount of weeks,” and I’m like “Oh my gosh, this is going to put me back.” So – Well sometimes if you take a semester, you actually take your classes there and you get credit. 24:05 Oh really? Yeah, you should definitely talk to somebody. �Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: 24:11 Because I wanted to study abroad, so bad, because I feel like that would be an awesome experience. I actually just did a service learning trip in Mississippi. Biloxi, Mississippi. For a week. With Anne London and Quincy Williams. So that was really great. And that, that made me want to travel more. For what class? 24:31 It was public and nonprofit. PA 380. Who taught that? 24:36 Anne London and Quincy Williams. Oh you just said that… 24:41 Yeah so that was a really great experience and now it makes me want to travel more. Yeah, study abroad, I’m going to have to check into that, because study abroad would be awesome. But I know that the program is advanced and so I don’t know if I can wiggle things in there. But they can answer your questions. 25:04 Yeah. So any faculty really stand out to you? Anybody that you had that was like – who was your favorite professor in 4 years? 25:13 My favorite professor? The social work professors are so good. I couldn’t chose one. I would say Sally Pelon because I had her class actually three times because, when I had her the first time, she was amazing. So I had, registered for her other classes that I knew I needed to take and she was an instructor. I’m like “She’s an awesome professor.” And no matter what the topic she was still an awesome professor. And she was really open to like office hours and she would work with you around like if you couldn’t make it to office hours. And she also just would talk to you in general about how you were doing and if you needed help with anything else, not just pertaining to the class, but just anything in general. And she, she wrote letters of recommendation for me for grad school, too. And she was just awesome. I would just say, she’s awesome. She’s awesome. She was just – she’s so helpful. She’s all around great. She’s a really great professor. But honestly, I would say all of my social work professors have been great. Because they’re, I feel like they are social workers at heart. Like, they’re just there to help you get that knowledge so you can be a great social worker. And all of them have been helpful and supportive and they work with you. Yeah. And I know some people say some of their professors haven’t been good, but the social work professors are awesome. �Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: So how has your experience been just taking sort of the liberal arts classes? Sort of the gen eds? I mean are you glad that you – 26:53 I’m glad I don’t have to take them anymore. No, it was – different professors made the classes harder than they should have been, I would say. Just, I guess, because my class is a gen ed, so it’s not going to be easy. But the class like, they just made it harder than what it was sometimes. So like I had a geography class and that class was maybe harder than what it should have been. It was harder than classes that I really needed to take, like psychology and social work and everything. And that class was just harder than any other class. And I kind of feel like it shouldn’t be that way because it’s a geography class. I don’t know if I’m explaining that right, but I feel like, the difference in professors can be a hit or miss. That’s true. Yeah, that’s true. 27:51 And so I’ve had my share of good professors and bad professors I would say. Well not bad, but not so well, I guess. But you just kind of, you got to work with it. You just got to keep going because you know you need that class and you know if you drop that class you’re probably going to have to retake that class with a different professor, so just stick it out and don’t waste your money or credits. Kind of like with bosses. You’re going to have good bosses and bad bosses. 28:18 Yeah, you kind of just got to go with it. And attend to their rules and regulations and do all of the work, no matter how unnecessary you think it is. Do you have roommates? 28:30 No, I had roommates freshman and sophomore year, but junior and senior year I’ve been in the one-bedroom. So, yeah. My roommate freshman year was really great, but my roommate sophomore year, it was a crazy experience. Kind of like the professor thing. Were they assigned? Or did you – 28:54 It was random assigned. Yeah, random assigned. Yeah, just different personalities, different backgrounds, experience and everything. It was just really, really different for me. So I didn’t want to be random assigned again. So I kind of just – I need a single. I don’t need any more roommates. Well you made it through, you dealt with it. 29:17 Yeah, I just stuck with it and made the best out of it that I could. Yeah. We’ve all been there. �Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: 29:29 Yeah, I just like make the best of it. I try. I had a roommate who had a bird. I hated having that bird in the room. 29:37 Really? Is it allowed to even have – This was years ago… It was then! 29:44 Yeah, it was just miserable. I made it through. Looks like it. And then some. 29:50 Yeah. So I don’t know what else to ask you. I don’t know. You seem like you are quite successful. You made the most of these four years. 30:00 Yeah and it’s from help from different people too. Because you always need support, you always need help. You can’t figure out everything, you don’t know everything, so reach out to people, get help from people, learn from people. Do you think you’ve had a chance to be a mentor for somebody? Maybe even if you didn’t intend to be? Do you think there’s someone out there who could say “Oh she really helped me.”? 30:25 I hope so. I have helped people, like, by working at TRiO, I’ve helped people, I talked to people, I’ve given advice to people, and shared like my experiences and my story. So I would hope there’s people that have been impacted from my help and my experiences. But I can’t give you a name right off the – Well you didn’t do any formal mentoring? 30:50 No, not formally. That’s okay. I’m sure you did, I’m sure there are people – 30:57 Yeah, I hope so. And then this. 31:01 Yeah, I hope I can inspire some people. No that’s great. I don’t know if there’s anything you want to add, but this is, I love hearing these stories. 31:11 I would just say keep pushing through all of the trials and tribulations, your challenges. And get help when you need help, use resources, and connect with people. Because people around campus know things that you don’t know. So �using those connections. And not just with students, but with faculty and staff. Because they have other connections that they can direct you to, also. So utilize everything on this campus, including everyone. Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: Gayle: Ja-Queshia: End Are you going to maintain any friendships, do you think? 31:40 Yeah, I think I am. Because I feel like you make friendships in college and it’s like for a lifetime. And – But you’re staying. And some are moving on? 31:52 Yeah, so I’m going to make an effort to keep in touch with people who are moving and traveling. Because those relationships are like what makes your experience better. I have to admit, things like Facebook help a lot. I didn’t have that, you know, when I graduated 30 years ago. 32:17 Yeah it does, because then you – You had to write letters. 32:20 Really? Yeah, Facebook is going to come in handy especially with everyone graduating. It’s definitely going to come in handy, so I guess that’s a good thing about technology. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Connected Exhibit Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource Collection of audio recordings and transcripts of Grand Valley State University students sharing their stories and experiences. The recordings were conducted as part of an exhibit created by the University Libraries in fall semester of 2016 titled "Connected" which featured short audio clips of students. The clips were combined with watercolor portraits of GVSU students by Ellie Lubbers and an interactive watercolor painting activity. Students were encouraged to paint 3" circles of paper to illustrate their current feelings about the college experience and attach them to the gallery wall. The aim of the exhibit was to inspire feelings of community, connectedness, and welcome to new and returning students. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cadena, Cara; Schaub, Gayle; Frigo, Emily; Lubbers, Ellie; Fisher, Erin Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Allen, JaQueshia Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-04-21 Title A name given to the resource JaQueshia Allen interview (audio and transcript) Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Schaub, Gayle (interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07_AllenJ_2016-04-21 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Relation A related resource Grand Valley State University Libraries. Connected Exhibit, September 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Description An account of the resource Interview with JaQueshia Allen conducted by Gayle Schaub for the GVSU Libraries' Connected Exhibit, displayed in September 2016. Edited clips of interviews accompanied watercolor portraits of students and an interactive watercolor activity for exhibit visitors. Ja-Queshia is an April graduate now enrolled in the Advanced Standing Master of Social Work program. A first-generation college student from Flint, Michigan, Ja-Queshia decided early on at GVSU to step outside of her comfort zone and get involved on campus. She got a job with TRiO Student Support Services in her freshman year, joined Alpha Kappa Psi, a co-ed business fraternity, and actively sought out events and opportunities to connect with other students. Interested in working in a helping profession, Ja-Queshia took advantage of a service-learning experience in Mississippi, interned with the Grand Rapids Housing Commission, and intends to use her degrees to eventually work in hospice care. She wants to encourage other students to keep moving forward and accomplishing their goals, no matter what they may face, and not let anything stop them from being successful. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2a50a28e1fe5cc22f9a10619d1e436db.mp4 727f25e1ca030cac4e10a3581b6aaa5e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley Media Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Collection of digitized audio and video from the Grand Valley State University Archives. The collection includes ceremonies, speeches, sports, promotional, and instructional media. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan Rites and ceremonies Speeches Sports Promotional films Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image; Sound Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2017 Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Thomas J. Haas Address to Faculty and Staff, 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Thomas J. Haas Address to Faculty and Staff, 2008. This video is in color with sound. Thomas J. Haas gives an address to faculty and staff on August 22, 2008 as a welcome back for the new academic year. Haas begins with a few stories about students and families who found Grand Valley to be a great choice. He then welcomes Board of Trustees members and a few other individuals in the audience. Haas discusses goals the Board of Trustees set the previous year, mentioning the highlights from these goals and achievements thus far. Haas then goes through strategic planning and goals for different themes, including leadership, fiscal responsibility, and community development. There is a lot of focus on the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation, the completed self-study, and next steps in the accreditation process and the university’s goals going forward. Haas then discusses a few changes looking forward, including the Board of Trustee’s new policy on household benefits, and adaptations for budget and tuition costs in order to be accessible to students despite the economic situation. Haas then takes questions from the audience on the campus smoking policy, success in becoming an environmentally friendly campus, and keeping graduates in the state of Michigan. He finishes up with talking about plans moving forward, including the new library. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College publicity Speeches Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04_PS_GVSU_2008_Haas Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-08-22 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fc2fbca27692ae787de647391102c79a.mp4 922893a1bfe744accaff55ead0e3235a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5ce02c22f966279c9b138d969178236e.srt 2701f5c4c946dfd882587bafd818bd47 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley Media Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Collection of digitized audio and video from the Grand Valley State University Archives. The collection includes ceremonies, speeches, sports, promotional, and instructional media. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan Rites and ceremonies Speeches Sports Promotional films Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image; Sound Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2017 Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource President Arend D. Lubbers’ Inauguration, 1969 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource President Arend D. Lubbers’ Inauguration. This is a video in color from dedication of the library and fieldhouse buildings and the inauguration of President Lubbers. The first 38 seconds have no sound, showing shots of the audience, including President James Zumberge, and a procession of faculty and administration. President Arend D. Lubbers takes the podium and speaks about ideology and the academy. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College publicity Rites and ceremonies Speeches Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04_PS_GVSU_1969-10-12_Lubbers-Inauguration Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1969-10-12 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/20261f04405327808bf28fafcce88496.mp4 afec6c7445a37ade0ceeb2ba27cc2749 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4bb4d75eb7434c85ceb908c5e826047b.srt 547a6ce30286ca348d1fb312bc512e07 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley Media Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Collection of digitized audio and video from the Grand Valley State University Archives. The collection includes ceremonies, speeches, sports, promotional, and instructional media. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan Rites and ceremonies Speeches Sports Promotional films Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image; Sound Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2017 Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Financial Aid Fact Frames – Paying for College, 1988 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource GVSC Financial Aid Fact Frames. This is a video in color. The first three and a half minutes consist of still images and text effects with a voiceover describing who is eligible for financial aid, how financial aid packages are put together, where to look for grants and scholarships, and when to start looking into financial aid. After this is a series of “fact frames” that viewers can pause to read. Each frame begins with a question related to financial aid followed by the answer. These consist of just text on the screen with no voiceover. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College publicity Educational films Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04_PR_GVSU_1988-06-10_Financial-aid-fact-frames Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-06-10 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8a7b26e7da02c1937f1cc21169491fef.mp4 212872dcfe6dd796b1b29e19d92f0470 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3159fcb661e4cb04cb3a8389677157ca.srt 9bfee6cab8ad2ae804c4b0fb37a54e85 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley Media Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Collection of digitized audio and video from the Grand Valley State University Archives. The collection includes ceremonies, speeches, sports, promotional, and instructional media. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan Rites and ceremonies Speeches Sports Promotional films Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image; Sound Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2017 Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State College Fact Frames, 1988 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource GVSC Fact Frames. The first part of the video consists of a promotional video in color about Grand Valley State College. It shows clips of students, faculty, and the campus, as well as a maps and text describing the school. The video points out different strengths of academic and pre-professional programs, and student life. The second part of the video is a series of “fact frames” that viewers can pause to read. These frames include facts about how to get more information about Grand Valley, how to apply, financial aid, academic and professional programs, career planning, academic support and resources, student life and housing, and athletics. These consist of just text on the screen with no voiceover. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College publicity Educational films Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04_PR_GVSU_1988-06-10_Fact-frames Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-06-10 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/51182bc1c50791aa001c5d1a629b85e5.mp4 f5876af085230165a87454b915acafb6 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f9d42d527e84f4c20dd39dcc66949fdf.srt a267eb0fb3b7477394c1b178cce47f4b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley Media Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Collection of digitized audio and video from the Grand Valley State University Archives. The collection includes ceremonies, speeches, sports, promotional, and instructional media. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan Rites and ceremonies Speeches Sports Promotional films Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image; Sound Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2017 Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Promotional Video - Parent, circa 1975 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Promotional Video – Parent. This is a promotional video in color with audio. A man sits and talks to the camera about how as a parent, you want the best for your child without meddling and interfering. He suggests calling Grand Valley State to talk to an advisor to learn more about programs and financial aid. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College publicity Promotional films Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04_PR_GVSU_1975_Parent Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/116f474e1a60a37bae3d2efac8e48427.mp4 afb71e15024a8257c7eb944102a7696c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/85f2e2ebb0984fc664e20b93e109a0b1.srt 8a46cebb5ba4e1308b3d45f0d8ef1db6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley Media Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Collection of digitized audio and video from the Grand Valley State University Archives. The collection includes ceremonies, speeches, sports, promotional, and instructional media. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan Rites and ceremonies Speeches Sports Promotional films Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image; Sound Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2017 Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Promotional Film, 1968 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Promotional Film, 1968. This is a promotional video in color with audio. It begins with a group of faculty talking to each other about their classes and clips of campus. The narrator, David Compton, describes the collegiate system, the curriculum at Grand Valley State College and the degrees offered. There are clips from different classroom experiences: a lecture, a discussion session with President Zumberge, a science lab, and a tutorial. The video describes Zumberge Library’s amenities, including the audio-visual collection. There is a brief discussion of financial aid, followed by an explanation of the strengths of a liberal education, and potential job prospects for graduates. Finally, the narrator describes the arts on campus, athletics, and student housing. There are credits at the end of the video. A later edition of this promotional video, Getting to Know Grand Valley, uses much of the same footage and narration. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College publicity Promotional films Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04_PR_GVSU_1968_Promo-film Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1968 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/acc27dd7384598ca3ac5e5c4b38abebd.mp4 e3515b743bf5f5dd786350d00e0123fd Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley Media Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Collection of digitized audio and video from the Grand Valley State University Archives. The collection includes ceremonies, speeches, sports, promotional, and instructional media. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan Rites and ceremonies Speeches Sports Promotional films Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image; Sound Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2017 Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Muskegon/Grand Rapids/Allendale Footage (Part 2), 1979 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Muskegon/Grand Rapids/Allendale Footage Part 2. This is a video in color without audio. There are issues with color balance throughout the video, and some clips come from damaged film and are speckly or distorted. It is a compilation of various clips of footage. It begins with footage of the Muskegon County Wastewater Management System, farms, crops, and general landscape shots. There is a portion of the landscape footage that has footage from another video (Russel H. Kirkhof donation) overlaid upside down, so the image is dark and confusing. The majority of the video is from the Festival ’79 in downtown Grand Rapids. There are clips from musical performances from different groups, children painting and playing, shots of the crowd, tents and food cooking, and runners finishing a race. The end of the video is footage of a forest, creek, and a cabin, and more race footage. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College publicity Stock footage Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04_PR_GVSU_1979_Muskegon-GR-Allendale-footage_2 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1979 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4c12f280cda71fe52f7a9f7ea8b64de3.mp4 f412935988882237d246b591a1459c14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley Media Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Collection of digitized audio and video from the Grand Valley State University Archives. The collection includes ceremonies, speeches, sports, promotional, and instructional media. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan Rites and ceremonies Speeches Sports Promotional films Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image; Sound Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2017 Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley Gives You a Choice, circa 1975 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Grand Valley Gives You a Choice. This is a promotional video in color without audio, titled “Grand Valley Gives You a Choice.” Some of the footage is dark. It begins with footage from the College of Arts and Sciences, depicting science labs and arts classes. There is footage from classrooms, athletics, and a football game. Next, the video covers William James College, with text describing core features of the College interspersed with video of a geographic survey, the radio station, and art projects. College IV is depicted next, followed by Thomas Jefferson College and video clips of theatre and dance. It finishes with a series of images of historic figures after a text slide for the College of Arts and Science history department, saying “they made it happen.” Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/637">Grand Valley State audiovisual media collection, (GV000-04)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College publicity Promotional films Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV000-04_PR_GVSU_1975_GV-gives-you-a-choice-film Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975 Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives