Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line 09-03-2026: Jim Grot on free soft skills training at SVCC

Transcript

Talk Line 09-03-2026: Jim Grot on free soft skills training at SVCC · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey there, waking crew. Welcome back to FM 95.1 AM
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: 1460 WIXN. I'm your host, Brandon Clark. It's 815 on
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: your Thursday, September 3rd morning, and we are kicking off
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: just in time for TalkLine, and I'm joined again once again.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Joined again once again. Yeah, it works. I'm rolling with it.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness. Jim Grote here from Sauk Valley Community College.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Good morning. Happy to be here. Well, it's because I
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: was gone for a month, so we're not in the
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: swing of things. Now we've got to get back into it.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, and on a hot and humid streak
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: as it is.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: We've had such beautiful weather for so long, and then
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: all of a sudden it's like, wait, back to this?
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: And I am not... Sorry, people, I'm not a summer person.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: I actually prefer, I would take 20 below over this
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: 95 degree heat. Seriously, I kind of like it when
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: it's freezing cold and you're walking outside and that just
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: hits you in the face versus this humidity. Like, whoa,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: I just... This heat and humidity, I do not like.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: No, I don't like that either.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I am more of a probably fall perfect golden in-between
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: that we get for like two weeks. We joke, my
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: wife calls me the Walmart goldfish. She's like, it's just
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: so hard to keep you at homeostasis, keeping you alive. Right.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Those things never lasted.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: That's great. No, so yeah, it's just, but it's, you know,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: we're going to get to that beautiful fall weather here
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: pretty soon, so. yeah it's going to be nice.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: But you know this time of year at least you
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: know uh it things are are kicking off again over
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: at sock yeah.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: It's been it was a great couple um you know
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: just we're at the beginning of the school i think
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: we're in our third week here and but you know
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: to start off um we we revamped our new student
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: orientation this year and so it was a blast it
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: was because before it was very kind of you know
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: students just walked in did their id stuff they they
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: sat down and heard a bunch of people talk where
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: this time we had it much more interactive and There's
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: just students everywhere. And so it's just so much fun
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: when the summer is kind of quiet around there.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: But and then when you get all these students on
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: campus and they were just everywhere and they're all talking
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: to each other and things like that. And we just
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: had our sock fest yesterday, which is just our little
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: kind of little fair that we do where all the
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: different departments come out and the clubs come out and
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: they just set up tables and students walk around. It
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: was absolutely packed. So it was just it's just so
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: good to have that energy. going around campus. So it's fun.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: So we're in our third week now or whatever, and
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: the students are having a great time. We're having a
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: great time. It's fun. It's fun to be around there.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I miss getting to stalk the halls. You know,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: once things calm down and kids are moved out, and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: we probably, my wife and I have discussed kind of
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: downsizing uh as it is because we're on a um
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: we're out in the country and it as busy as
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: we are it just takes a it there's always a
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: lot more work that goes into having some little bigger
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: we're like yeah i think as as we get older
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: i want to make it simpler i want to have
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: more time to do what i i want to do Um,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. I enjoy riding on a lawnmower
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: and cutting grass, but, uh, at this point now it's
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: just an inconvenience. Yeah.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Well, you do, you do a lot of things, your
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: wife and you, so it's, you're busy people.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: So we got to stay busy, but, uh, uh, you know,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: but you get that suck. It's that you guys are
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: always busy and we're.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Always got something going on.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: And that's in coming up. Um, you know, what I
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: want to mainly talk about today is, uh, Dana Chacon,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: who's our coordinator of workforce development. she's going to be
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: doing some free workshops for the public on like interviewing skills,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: like that kind of stuff, soft skills, that kind of thing.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: So she has her bachelor's and master's in organizational leadership
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: and she's been teaching these courses for eight years. She
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: often goes around to classes on campus and she'll talk
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: to different classes just to say, hey, I'm here. It's
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: a free service to students and these are all going
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: to be free workshops for the public. But she goes
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: around and just teaches them how to do resume writing,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: how to do a job interview, like all those kinds
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: of things. And that's her job is to just help
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: students be prepared for these kinds of things. And so
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: she's been doing this for eight years around campus, and
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: now she's going to be doing some for the public.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: And so three of them that she's offering, we have
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: her soft skills workshop, and this workshop will help you
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: understand soft skills and how to use them alongside your,
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: you know, existing skills. You know, those are those kinds
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: of things where it's, you know, shaking a hand and
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: saying good morning, good afternoon, like those kinds of things.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: And so, and they're so, they're just not used as
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: much anymore. And so, you know, she's kind of there
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: to be like, hey, this is what makes an impression
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: on a potential job. So that one's Monday, September 19th,
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: 545 to 645. So these are just a little bit,
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: you know, late afternoon, early evening classes. But again, Monday,
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: September 19th, 545 to 645, that is the soft skills workshop.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: And then on October 19th, from 530 to 630, there's
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: developing a powerful resume. So, you know, if you've never
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: written a resume before, or it's been a long time
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: since you've done one like me, I think I've only
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: had to do like one in the last 30 years.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: I would not know how to write a resume anymore.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: And so that's her job is to walk you through
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: those things. She's helped out my kids do their resumes. Um,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: she looks, you know, scours through it and says, Hey,
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: this is what people are looking for. This is what,
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: you know, don't put this in there like that kind
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: of thing. Um, you know, whether it may be too long,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: too short, all that kind of stuff. So she just
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: goes over those things, helps you out, um, with that
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: resume building. But again, that's Monday, October 19th, um, five
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: 30 to six 30. And these are all on campus.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: These are all at SOC at our Riverview, our home, like, um,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Riverview conference room. Um, and then the last one is
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: interviews do's and don'ts. Um, that one's November 16th. 5.30
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: to 6.30 and obviously that kind of explains itself. Don't
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: do these things. Do these things during the interview. And it's,
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: you know, it's we're looking for a social media marketing
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: coordinator and, you know, as resumes are coming in and
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: things like that and you can just you can see
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: some of these resumes that are coming in partially from
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: they're coming from all around the country which also means
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: that they're just probably having some bot fill out these things,
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: you know, like that kind of thing. And it's coming
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: from someone who has to look at all these things,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: you know, you got to stand out because there's so
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: many just flooding in because it just auto fills all
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: this kind of stuff. And so, um, and there's these
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: do's and don'ts and, you know, really making connections anymore
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: because when you're flooded with resumes from just all over
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: the place, um, we, you know, we're trying to find
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: the right person and, and you got to be able
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: to have some of those soft skills and those do's
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: and don'ts and that kind of thing that make you
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: stand out amongst all these other ones. So, So these
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: are all free to the public. They're all held at SOC.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: You have to be just 15 years and older. And
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: that's the other thing is this is also good for
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: high school students who are trying for their first job.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: I was going to say that, yeah.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: I love that the minimum age requirement is set at
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: 15 because that's a perfect time.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's when you start learning how to do these things.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: And if you're in high school, this is just a
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: good time to learn some of these basic things. whether
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: you're going to use it right now and that kind
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: of stuff, but learn those soft skills and learn those
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: do's and don'ts.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: You know, sometimes I talk with some of my kids
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: as friends, and this is absolutely true because some of
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: the things I hear them say about what's gotten done
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: at an interview or it's like, oh, so you're going
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: to go home and get ready for the interview?
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: No, man, I'm ready, and I'm like.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Right yeah sweatpants and brushed hair you look ready my mistake.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah and that's and they gotta learn you know that's
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: kids need to learn these things you need to know
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: because i get it they you know you're around this
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: kind of look and feel all the time and that
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: kind of thing but when you're going for a job
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: i mean it's they're saying it's hard for even young
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: kids to get jobs just because there just aren't as
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: many as there used to be um for a lot
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: of those just summer jobs and that kind of thing
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: so you have to stand out. You have to be yourself. Um,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: and you, you know, you don't want to be something
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: that you're not, but you also have to make sure
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: that you know that you're at a job and you're
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: ready and you're prepared and you know how to show
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: up and you know how you, you know, that you're
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: going to show up on time early, those kinds of things. Um,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: so it's important to know those skills and not just
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: kind of be, you know, lackadaisical about it and that
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: kind of thing. So, um, so it's good. This would
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: be good for high school students and obviously anybody. Um, That,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: you know, you just need to have that polish because,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: like myself, you know, if it's been a long time
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: since you've had to do a resume or had to
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: do a job interview, yeah, I mean, it's kind of
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: intimidating when you haven't done it for a long time.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: So take these classes. Skill Soft Skills Workshop, September 19th, Powerful,
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Developing a Powerful Resume, October 19th, and Interview Do's and Don'ts,
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: November 16th.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: And then the other thing we have coming up is
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: a trip preview for the Alpine area to Switzerland, Austria,
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: and Bavaria. But this is just a trip preview. So
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: this is a free trip preview for you to just come,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: listen to what the trip's all about. These trips are
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: very popular. The college puts on, I think, usually two
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: a year. They go all over the place. But this
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: one is to the Alpine area. Again, Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: And just go to svcc.edu slash trips to find out
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: more information. But that's coming up Tuesday, September 15th from
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: 6 to 7. And, again, that's in the Helmick Riverview
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: Conference Center. And this is a free event. So you
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: don't have to– there's nothing to pay. You're not going
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: to get forced to sign up for anything. And this
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: is strictly just, hey, this is what the trip's all about.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: And this is what we do. We stay here for
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: three nights, here for four nights, that kind of thing.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: So just learn about this trip. September 15th from 6
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: to 7. Go to svcc.edu slash trips. And then we're closed.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Campus is closed on Labor Day, Monday Labor Day. So
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: yeah i'm excited about that this is it's been it's
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: been a great you know past month or so with
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: just again all the students showing up and all that
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: kind of stuff but it's It's going to be nice
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: to have a little break, have a little day off.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: A long weekend.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, a long weekend. I'm excited about it.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Everybody should celebrate the joy that is the long weekend
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: that we get sparsely put before us here until we
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: adopt more of a.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: For work day week attitude here in this country. And
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: getting paid for the fifth day. I mind you. But
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: I'll not hold my breath.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and then we just had Impact wrap up, which
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: was nice. Impact wrapped up yesterday? Two days ago. Two
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: days ago. The sign up wrapped up two days ago.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: We had 695 students sign up for Impact. So that
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: was the cut off. And the cool thing that I
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: like too is that we had 60 of those were
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: sophomore through seniors. Meaning, because It's mainly designed to have,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: you know, incoming freshmen, high school freshmen sign up for it.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: So they can get, you know, they volunteer all four years.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: But if you sign up as a sophomore, you get
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: 75% of your tuition covered. You sign up as a junior,
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: you get 50%. So it's all, especially for, you know,
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: students who maybe just moved in from out of town
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: or whatever, like they still have that opportunity to sign
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: up for it. So it was cool to see that
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: 60 of that 695 were sophomore through senior signing up. So,
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: and we have, we have 250. I think 35 impact
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: students this year that are freshmen at the college. So
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: it's just fun. It's exciting. And that's, I don't know,
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: there's a new vibe at the college this year. It's
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: just there's a lot more energy, and it's awesome. It's
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: so much fun being there.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Well, you guys are always expanding, adding something new, whether
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: it's staff, programs, you know, the building itself.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Or, you know, the revamp space inside.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: And I love seeing the impact program grow. I would
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: love to just see this model explode all over the
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: country and then we could solve the problem of, you know,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: making sure everybody can kickstart off their college education. And
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: it's increasing volunteerism. Yeah. which has been, you know, in
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: everywhere across the board at all time lows. But I mean, here,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: if you really look at it from just the scale
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: of our area, volunteerism is on the rise to me,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: I believe in part, mostly to impact because any event
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I've been at impact students are there and they're part
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: of it.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's, it's a win, win, win. It's, we
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: had a panel of impact students who are, um, you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: this incoming freshman class that were on our, um, Our
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: first day on campus where all the professors came in
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: and that kind of stuff, and we just had like
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: a kickoff day. And we had, oh, maybe eight or
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: so of them that just talked to us about what
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: it was like for their four years and now that
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: they're at SOC and doing their classes. And what was
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: interesting was that the majority of them, if not all
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: of them, their number one thing when we just kind
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: of asked them like what was, you know, kind of
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: the biggest thing about the impact program was and it
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: didn't have anything to do with the, you know, the
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: free tuition and things like that. They all said that
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: it was, it was great volunteering. They're like, and half
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: of them wouldn't have volunteered. Some of them were like,
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: you know, I was kind of volunteering anyways and that
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: kind of thing. And it just helped me, you know,
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: give me a little bit of a purpose to the
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: volunteering that I got this, you know, credit to be
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: able to go to the college. But then there was
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: a good chunk of them too, that were like, there's
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: no way I would have ever volunteered if it wasn't
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: for this program. And they're like, one student in particular
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: was like, it changed my life. He goes, if it,
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: If it wasn't for this impact program and I did
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: not do this volunteering, he goes, I was a very
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: quiet kid, didn't go out and talk to anybody. He goes,
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: this broke me out of my shell. And he just
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: talked and talked and talked and talked. And it was wonderful.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: And to have this program that, you know, here he's
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: going to SOC for.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Free.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: But to have this program be... change his you know
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: just outlook on social you know social skills and things
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: like that it's just great to hear those stories but
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: they all kind of talked more about volunteering than they
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: did about the free tuition and that kind of thing
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: so it was really cool it was really cool to see.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: That I think it's really helping this generation that you
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: know I'm sure there's many things that go into it
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: I really wholeheartedly believe you know COVID and kids having
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: to be pulled out of a school during times when
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: they were learning to socialize with their peers and now
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: you have so many of them saying I'd I don't
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: know how to be around people or.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: I don't like being around people.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: And we're social creatures. So it's like at heart, that's
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: not true, but because of what's happened, you have that belief.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: So I think a lot of these kids are being
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: surprised at just how, like, just how wrong they find that. Like,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Oh no, like not only can I, but I enjoy it. Like,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Oh my God, like, what is this doing for me?
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Oh, cool. Free college. But like, You know, I don't know.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: What is it? Someone just said, talk to me yesterday.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: We were at sock fest and the students are everywhere.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: And it was just, it was noisy and like a
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: good noisy. Like you just heard everybody talking and they're like,
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: this is, does this feel weird to you? Like, like
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: they were just kind of like this. It was a
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: little bit of a shock of like, all these kids
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: are just, they're all talking to each other and they're
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: all mingling. And it's like, it has not been that
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: way for the last few years. Now I've only been
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: at the college for four years. So it was just
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: after COVID time. And so I didn't know what it
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: was like before that. But it was it's just a
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: different feel. And and I think part of it might
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: be because of this, you know, decent sized impact class
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: who has been out there and volunteering and that kind
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: of stuff. And they're out and about. But I think
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: they're also finally kind of getting out of that COVID,
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: you know. caged that they were in or whatever. And
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: now they're kind of breaking out of their shell and
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: realizing that it's like, it's fun to be on campus
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: and it's fun to hang out and it's fun to
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: do all that kind of stuff. So yeah, it just
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: had a different energy and it was great.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: And it's only going to keep growing. So I love
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: anytime I hear these kind of updates. I love preaching
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: the gospel of impact. You know, it helps so many things.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: And again, so I hope it's something that other cities,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: you know, wide hearing about this um you inquire about
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: it and i even urge you to take a step
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: further and see how you could start something similar and
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: the best way to do that would i think be
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: to reach out to sock and have a conversation.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah we'd love yeah we've i know laurie cortez
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: who's who kind of helped kick this program off and
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: that kind of thing is she has talked to other
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: schools and things like that and try to help them
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: kind of kick off the same thing so yeah we're
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: trying to spread because it is it's it's a kind
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: of a no-brainer it's yeah it's a lot of work
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: on our end you know, with the fundraising and the
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: coordinating of everything. And you're kind of, you know, we're
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: learning bits and pieces as we're kind of getting through
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: this whole thing. Cause now that we have our first
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: full class and, you know, you kind of, you learn
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: along the way because this is not something that, you know,
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: just was handed to us and said, Hey, this is
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: the program that you follow. We're going to build it
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: from scratch. So, you know, you make some mistakes along
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: the way and you figure like, Ooh, wait, we got
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: to fix that. We got to do this. We got
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: to do that. And so, but yeah, anybody absolutely wants
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: to do this kind of thing. It's, it's a great
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: program and, you know, it's, We love to spread the word.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and once one school picks it up, the others
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: start breaking off. What I love since this has started
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: going is, like, every other week I'm getting a press
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: release about another school that's like, we've got it funded
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: through perpetuity, or we're, like, halfway there. And I'm like,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: y'all were just starting only a couple weeks ago. And
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: it starts catching on like wildfire because they see, like, oh,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: they've got this for all their students, and it starts
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: catching on, and it just radiates in circles. So anyways,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I could talk about that all day. Unfortunately, we're out
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: of time. But Jim, if anybody wants any more information
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: on anything we've talked about today or anything SOC-related, what's
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: the best.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Way to do it? Always go to svcc.edu.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: There you go. Or give him a call. Ask for Jim.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll help you. I'll get you to the right person.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: He will get you to the right person. But, no, seriously, Jim,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on the show, the updates.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: Always love it.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: And all the fine work at SOC.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: As a SOC alumni, I'm always going to praise what
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: you guys are doing over there.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: We appreciate that.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: And looking forward to it.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: So thank you, sir.