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Transcript

S4 E11 - Alumni Tell All · Inside the OSD

• 0:00
  SPEAKER1: Today we are at Oregon High School for the annual Alumni Day, when former graduates of OHS come back to talk with our high school students
• 0:08
  about the experiences they've had since graduating.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:19
  Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER1: Welcome to Inside the OSD. This is one of our favorite days of the year where we get to hear from our alumni.
• 0:33
  Let's dive right in by hearing from the coordinator of Alumni Day, Mr.
• 0:37
  Brad Ashmore. Can you start by telling us a little bit about your role at OHS and the purpose of Alumni Day?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER3: Sure, absolutely. So this is my eighth year at Oregon High School as an associate principal at the school.
• 0:49
  Super proud of the work that I do each day.
• 0:51
  And then one of the things that I do within my roles is I lead and work with a great team of people who are very passionate about making sure our kids know
• 1:00
  what they want to do when they graduate from Oregon High School, which is called our academic and career planning team.
• 1:05
  And so that's one of my favorite things to do here in the alumni panel.
• 1:10
  I just talked to actually Mr. Pliner earlier today, our former head principal.
• 1:14
  This has been--I think this is the 11th year of the alumni panel, which started back with Mr.
• 1:18
  Rikli, who is a former associate principal, and Mr.
• 1:22
  Pliner. And then we've carried on the tradition, and we're so really lucky because every year we just have amazing alumni come
• 1:29
  back that want to talk to our students, our juniors and seniors about their post-secondary experiences.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER1: We are pretty lucky that that happens, aren't we?
• 1:37
  So why is this day so important and so enjoyable for OHS students?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER3: So from my perspective, what I just saw, I just facilitated with our seniors, with Miss Zywicki,
• 1:46
  our head principal, and just hearing the different stories that were told by our panel,
• 1:52
  we feel like it's one of the more impactful Panther Connections that we do for our seniors and our juniors for the year.
• 2:00
  We say our motto is is if you can take one thing away, one piece of advice or one story or one suggestion that's given.
• 2:08
  We feel really, really successful for that because one of our goals at Oregon High School is to be sure that 100% of our students are either college or career
• 2:16
  ready. And that's important that we feel like this experience is one of those things we do to promote that goal and to to see that through.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER1: Oh, I really appreciate this. And the next question you've really started to touch upon already,
• 2:29
  which is how does Alumni Day fit into the larger strategy of helping students explore and prepare for the future?
• 2:36
  And you really opened up that conversation a little bit already.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER3: Yeah, definitely. I mean, we have a saying here, are we who we say we are?
• 2:44
  And again, when our goal is at 100% of our students are prepared for their future.
• 2:48
  Um, we believe that. And it's something that we have an amazing academic and career planning team.
• 2:54
  Um, Angie Dunn, who is the administrative assistant that works on that team.
• 2:58
  Her coordination through this, and she's also a former alumni too.
• 3:02
  So she's so passionate about making sure that this is a great experience and really well organized and well run.
• 3:09
  And again, it's a highlight for us each and every year.
• 3:12
  We've had different people come back for multiple years, which means that they enjoy coming back too.
• 3:17
  And yeah, it's just it's part of our part of our action plan.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER1: You know, I respect and appreciate so much what you said.
• 3:23
  That question you ask yourselves, are we who we say we are?
• 3:27
  That's just a beautiful way to approach this important work.
• 3:31
  And finally, this one is a little more personal for you as your own daughter is here at Alumni Day and with us on the podcast.
• 3:39
  So tell us how that felt for you today.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER3: It was great. I thought Gracie did a good job.
• 3:43
  Cole was -- you know, I had my two Iowa four years in the PAC.
• 3:49
  Cole was helping coach along, but Gracie did a great job.
• 3:51
  And I think the most important part for me as a parent is this is my first child that's going to college or graduated last year.
• 4:00
  Very proud of her. But also it helps me with the perspective of, you know, I ask her all the time,
• 4:05
  like, "what should we be telling our kids now?" And it's giving me that real world experience that I feel like it's helping me to become a better principal
• 4:13
  for the rest of my students, because I'm able to share some specific stories that she's sharing with me about how her year is going at Iowa State University.
• 4:21
  And yeah, it's just--it was--it was a proud dad moment.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER4: I bet it was.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER1: That's really awesome. So now we're going to move to our alumni.
• 4:29
  And first, thank you all so much for sharing your time and staying a little longer to speak with us.
• 4:35
  We really, really appreciate that. So I'll start by asking you to introduce yourself,
• 4:41
  tell us when you graduated and what you're doing now.
• 4:44
  We'll start over here.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER5: Hi. So I'm Genevieve Babler. I graduated in 2025, and I at first was in the trades,
• 4:52
  and then I got accepted to UW Madison. So now I'm a full time student at UW Madison.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER6: Thank you.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER7: My name is Brynn D'Amelio-Will. I graduated also in 2025, and I am currently at Madison Area Technical College in the Medical Laboratory
• 5:06
  Tech program. I am also working at UW Health University Hospital in the Cytopathology laboratory.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER6: Thank you.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER8: My name is Gracie Ashmore. I graduated class of 2025.
• 5:18
  I'm attending Iowa State University, majoring in human development and family studies.
• 5:22
  I'm on the child life specialty track and my minor is dance.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER6: Thank you. My name is Haylee Vejvoda. I graduated in 2024.
• 5:32
  Um, I started out at the University of Minnesota Duluth, um, going for political science.
• 5:37
  Um, and then I ended up transferring into Madison Area Technical College, and I'm now transferring again into UW Madison.
• 5:44
  Thanks.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER9: My name is Ryan Schuette. Um, I graduated in 2021.
• 5:50
  And what I'm doing now, I'm a plumber at Dave Jones in Madison.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER1: Wonderful.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER10: My name is Cole Krueger. I graduated back in 2024.
• 5:59
  I am a current journalism and mass communications student at the University of Iowa,
• 6:03
  and also minoring in sports media.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER11: Thank you.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER12: Brock Buskager. I currently work at the Fitchburg Fire Department. I graduated in 2024 and I also attended Madison College.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. I really appreciate how many of you have, um, different stories that you're going to tell about what your post-high school
• 6:19
  journey has looked like. There's a lot of, um, diversity of experience, and that's going to make it really good for our
• 6:25
  listeners. So, um, was there a specific class or co-curricular activity in high school or after that you consider sort of a lightbulb moment,
• 6:35
  something that pointed you toward your current path?
• 6:38
  And if so, what was it? And we can start with whomever would like to start.
• 6:42
  And then we'll just go around the table. Go ahead, Cole.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER10: Um, so I would say it started even before high school.
• 6:49
  I would say back in sixth grade, I remember we wrote a letter to ourselves, and then I got it when I graduated and said that I wanted to work in sports
• 6:56
  media, and I wanted to, like, write about sports.
• 7:00
  So I didn't really say journalism, but I had the right idea.
• 7:03
  And then what solidified it was Miss Greiner's journalism class I took junior and senior year.
• 7:08
  I got involved in Panther Vision, Panther Radio my last two years here, and that really solidified it for me.
• 7:14
  And then I've always been a sports guy because my dad coached varsity sports here at Oregon.
• 7:18
  My brother played a year of college football, so I've always been kind of in the sports world.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER1: A letter to yourself in sixth grade. That is really--that's something that you've kept a passion for,
• 7:32
  something that long. Brock?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER12: I would say when I took the--I took a class through MATC my senior year of high school,
• 7:41
  it was kind of like a try and see if you like it, like basic EMS class.
• 7:45
  Okay, um, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it.
• 7:48
  I thought about pulling out of it before I even started.
• 7:51
  Thankfully, I didn't do that and now that's what my job is.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER1: So you took a risk? Nice.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER11: Genevieve?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER5: Um, I kind of did something similar, but it was more like I used the youth apprentice program that was offered here,
• 8:05
  and it was when I first started getting into the trades.
• 8:07
  So I spent about a year in the trades, and it actually kind of helped me realize that,
• 8:11
  like, maybe this is not something that I want to do, like right this moment. And that's something I want to like, dive into right
• 8:17
  away. And it kind of helped me make that decision of that. I wanted to go to college first before fully committing to, like just going to work.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER1: So you explored a little?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER5: Yeah.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER1: Okay, I like it.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER7: Brynn? I kind of fell in love with my career path.
• 8:30
  Um, towards the end of freshman year, I was kind of reflecting on my biology class that almost everyone at OHS takes at some point.
• 8:38
  Um, there's ways to get around it, but you pretty much have to take it.
• 8:43
  Um, and I just really enjoyed that and decided to do the biotechnology course the following year.
• 8:49
  And, um, that was just a lot of fun. It was a lot of hands on.
• 8:53
  We got to use actual equipment and reagents that were used in the Promega labs.
• 9:00
  Um, so it kind of gave me a glimpse at what I would be doing in this career path.
• 9:07
  Um, and since then, I took some classes at Madison College that kind of solidified that again.
• 9:15
  And I did some summer camps at Promega as well.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER4: Oh. All right.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER1: So yours--It was really a series of learning experiences, one building on another.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER7: Yeah.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER1: Nice. How about you, Gracie?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER8: So for me, it's kind of a long winded story.
• 9:28
  I also took biotech sophomore year and I totally fell in love with it.
• 9:32
  Um, and when I applied to Iowa State, that was my intended major, but I kind of figured out I'm not fantastic at math,
• 9:38
  so maybe not the best pathway for me genetics-wise.
• 9:42
  So, um, I thought maybe education got a lot of teachers in the family, so.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER4: You sure do.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER8: Be my path. Um. And then my senior year, I ended up doing the school to work pathway,
• 9:51
  where I taught swim lessons. And I really, really loved it.
• 9:55
  But I was like, maybe fully education classroom isn't for me.
• 9:59
  Um, and then I took Miss Weinert's child development class my second semester, senior year and I totally fell in love with it.
• 10:05
  And I was like, "this is what I want to do." So that way I found HDFS at Iowa State,
• 10:09
  and it kind of combines everything. So yeah.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER4: Wow.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER1: That's great. Thank you. Yeah. Haylee?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER6: So I kind of accidentally fell into, um, what I'm passionate about now, but, um,
• 10:19
  I had known that I wanted to do law, so I was planning on graduating from OHS a year early,
• 10:24
  which I did. Um, but. So I needed to double up on an English credit and I ended up being in Miss Greiner's journalism class,
• 10:33
  and that allowed me to gain a lot of skills.
• 10:37
  But also, I fell in love with journalism, and I was able to do a lot of environmental journalism,
• 10:42
  um, which ultimately is I want to go into environmental law now.
• 10:46
  So, um, I was able to figure out that I wanted to minor in journalism, and then I'm doing an environmental certificate at Madison also.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER1: Fantastic. All right, here's one more question for the group.
• 11:00
  What is one skill you learned in high school that could be academic or social or practical,
• 11:06
  that you use almost every day in your current work or life?
• 11:10
  Whomever would like to go first?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER5: I can go first.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER1: Please do.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER5: Um. High school definitely. Like, gives you that, like baseline that you definitely need.
• 11:20
  I mean, like, if you high school really helps with, like, if you go like, I went to college and those like the academic stuff,
• 11:27
  like, I did a lot of AP classes in high school and those were very, very beneficial.
• 11:31
  Not just academic but also financial, but it really teaches you how to take tests.
• 11:35
  It teaches you that there are a lot like stricter rules and like because college is definitely not like easy.
• 11:41
  Um, socially, obviously high school like allows you to like, work with people.
• 11:45
  That's a really good skill if you can't communicate. Like life is very, very difficult. So I feel like high school kind of gives you that very baseline,
• 11:51
  especially if you go out and try and do things and it's your time to make mistakes, and then you can go to college with all this skill set, but you still
• 11:57
  do learn a lot. That first semester at college where you're like, oh my God, this is not high school.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER1: Yes, yes. Go ahead,
• 12:04
  SPEAKER11: Brynn.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER7: Um, I think time management was a big one.
• 12:08
  Um, in high school, you have a crutch to fall back on with the late work policy,
• 12:16
  at least how it was when I was in school.
• 12:18
  Um, being that you could turn something in a week late and still get all the points,
• 12:23
  um, but that, again, was something that as you transition into college or university,
• 12:31
  you really have to learn for yourself, because most of my classes had a policy of if you turn it in a minute late,
• 12:39
  you're getting a zero. And that--
• 12:41
  SPEAKER11: Wow. That.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER7: I mean, can make or break your grade in that class.
• 12:46
  Um, just because you were procrastinating something.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER11: Thank you.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER8: Um. For sure, work ethic. Like in high school, I was super busy.
• 12:55
  I had a lot of extracurriculars. Um, like, I worked on the yearbook, and I was dancing,
• 13:01
  like, a lot, so, um, I was just, like, never home.
• 13:04
  And in college, that work ethic of, like, kind of go, go, go and finish your work on time is really like followed through,
• 13:11
  like in college. It's been kind of an adjustment because in college I'm not very busy at all like other than classes.
• 13:17
  Um, but still having the work ethic to like get things done on time and do my like put my best foot forward is definitely like helped me out.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER1: So all the things you did in high school helped you learn how to do the--Do that.
• 13:27
  Okay. That's interesting. Haylee?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER6: Um, I would definitely go off of that and say work ethic.
• 13:32
  Um, like, uh, they've stated, um, obviously it's a lot different experience transitioning from high school to college.
• 13:41
  Um, with the amount of, um, workload I think you have, and especially being in the classroom all day and not necessarily having time
• 13:50
  during the day to work on stuff. Um, so it definitely.
• 13:54
  And on top of because I was, um, taking extra classes to graduate early and working like I was just a lot busier,
• 14:02
  um, in high school than I was in college.
• 14:04
  And so having those skills translating to like, harder assignments in college, um,
• 14:09
  definitely helped me.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER11: Thank you.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER1: What are you thinking?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER9: Uh, one skill that I learned was, um -- actually two -- algebra and geometry.
• 14:16
  I did not think that I would use those as much as I do in my daily life.
• 14:20
  And it's every day I'm pulling out a calculator and doing some kind of math, so I'm glad I paid attention.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER1: That is something that makes so many math teachers, uh, very, very happy to hear you say.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER9: I'm sure it does.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER1: Yeah, because they say that it's important, right?
• 14:34
  You're living it.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER9: I used to roll my eyes whenever someone would say that.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER7: Yeah.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER9: I'm glad I paid a little bit of attention. Otherwise I would be in a different place.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER1: That's terrific.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER10: So just kind of echoing what other people said, I'd say communication and work ethic.
• 14:48
  Um, I felt like senioritis never really hit me my senior year.
• 14:53
  Like, I felt like I worked my hardest all the way till the last day of school.
• 14:58
  You know, here we graduate in middle of June, and then I my first day of class at the University of Iowa in the middle of
• 15:04
  August. So we had a quick turnaround. I only had like a two month break really, and I just really picked up where I left off and I didn't get involved right
• 15:12
  away. But now that I'm involved with the TV station, the radio station, and there's a lot of days where I'm up from 9:00 and I don't
• 15:18
  get home till around 10:00.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER11: Wow.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER10: So depending on if I'm calling a game, if I'm working a game for Iowa athletics.
• 15:25
  So just the work ethic, I just, you know, give my all, give it 100% at at everything I do.
• 15:30
  And yeah, it can be tiring at times. For the first time in my life, felt like I had a lot of stress in my life,
• 15:36
  kind of had some mental health stuff for the first time in my life, but my hard work,
• 15:40
  I was able to back that and it really helped me in the end, especially like during finals week and stuff like that.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER11: Yeah, yeah. How about you, Brock?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER12: I would say the biggest thing for me was building relationships with people that were older than me through sports.
• 15:54
  Like when you're a freshman, you play with people who are all older than you. And now when I go to work,
• 15:58
  it's obviously a little bit different than a three year age gap, but most of the people I work with are 40 years older than me.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER11: Yeah.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER12: So you have to learn how to deal with people from different generations and how they think compared to how we think.
• 16:12
  Like, the main thing is a lot of people I work with suck with technology, but I'm younger.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER9: Right.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER12: Then with technology. So and that's where the whole team thing comes from in the fire service too,
• 16:22
  is you have four people for a reason. Yeah.
• 16:25
  If it was a one person job, you'd have one person.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER1: Everybody has different strengths that they bring to the team. Oh that's great.
• 16:31
  So that's from athletics. You pulled a lot of that.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER12: Exactly.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER1: Oh that's thank you for that. So here's a new one.
• 16:39
  Can you share a specific challenge you face in high school?
• 16:42
  Academic, personal, social, and how overcoming that challenge prepared you for your path today?
• 16:49
  Go ahead, Haylee.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER6: Um, I struggled a lot with personal motivation in high school.
• 16:54
  Um, especially because I perceived, like, a lot of things I was doing to maybe be easier or not necessarily like a
• 17:00
  challenge to me. Like, I felt like I didn't need to put the same level of work in.
• 17:04
  And that really reflected sometimes in my grades and also just how I was doing in high school.
• 17:09
  Um, and I really turned it around by my senior year, and I really think I finished strong.
• 17:14
  But, um, in college, you have to hold yourself accountable and you have to be motivated and you're just doing a lot.
• 17:22
  And I feel like I really have succeeded now in college because I saw the repercussions that happened in high school of me not being motivated and not
• 17:32
  holding myself accountable. Um, and so now I'm doing really good.
• 17:36
  But it was a hard lesson to learn.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER1: Self-discipline is what you're talking about, right?
• 17:40
  Okay. Thanks for that. Anybody else want to jump in on that one?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER9: Yeah I can. Thanks. The biggest challenge for me was probably my last two years of high school was all online because of COVID.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER11: Oh, yeah.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER9: And, um, I lost a lot of socialization with my friends and stuff.
• 17:56
  And, you know, I was worried that, you know, going into this new job and working around all these people,
• 18:01
  I was going to have no idea how to talk to anybody anymore because I just didn't see anyone.
• 18:06
  Um, luckily, I was still in sports so I could see people that way.
• 18:11
  That was a big challenge. I overcame it.
• 18:13
  Um, the other thing that I got from COVID was, um, Zoom.
• 18:17
  We have a lot of meetings on Zoom at my company.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER11: And, yeah.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER9: I just learned how to use. That was helpful, too.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER1: Well, once people start doing online meetings, they usually end up having more of them.
• 18:27
  There's a convenience factor, right?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER9: Definitely.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER1: Okay. Thank you.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER9: Even all of our interviews are over Zoom now.
• 18:33
  Oh, really? To start.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER1: Okay. They use it as a screening tool in hiring.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER9: Yes.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER1: Anybody else have something they want to add?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER5: I can go. Um, I did a lot in high school as well.
• 18:45
  Like, I definitely I think sometimes when overfill, like my bucket, like, it was just like,
• 18:50
  you know, you go to high school, you start at like 7:30, 7:0, whatever it is.
• 18:54
  And then I did sports. I did clubs like I was sometimes I wasn't even home until like 10:00 or 11:00 at night.
• 19:00
  And I think for me like that, what was challenging about that is like I felt like I needed to do it to like get into good colleges or like just like be busy.
• 19:07
  And I think it helped, like, like learn, like how to take some time for myself.
• 19:12
  It helped me like time management. It was definitely like very important because in college it's almost the exact opposite.
• 19:17
  You have so much time that you just like don't know what to do.
• 19:20
  And it's very good to know, like how to manage your time and understand that, like you need like blocks and understanding like sometimes it is too much and
• 19:28
  you need to like, not do something for a week or not do that project or whatever,
• 19:33
  because it's just like a club and it's okay. And you need to prioritize other things.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER1: Learning to say no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great.
• 19:41
  You said something that makes me think I'm going to jump into the next question because you really started this. How did your expectations about life after high
• 19:48
  school compared to the reality of what you've experienced since graduating?
• 19:53
  What did you think it was going to be like? And then what it's like.
• 19:58
  Who wants to start? Go ahead, Cole.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER10: It has exceeded my expectations.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER13: Oh, I'm glad to hear that.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER10: So, I mean, I kind of brought this up at the student panel just an hour ago, but I didn't know anybody that was also going to the University of Iowa.
• 20:10
  I didn't know anybody older than me, so I was it was a complete fresh start, and I hadn't really had to make a new friend group since kindergarten.
• 20:16
  So K through 12, I had the same, you know, kind of core group of friends. So it was a lot different.
• 20:21
  But I was lucky enough to be on an all guy floor my freshman year.
• 20:24
  So I met all my roommates on there now. So I'm living with five other guys who I'm all met on the first day I was there,
• 20:32
  But I've also just, you know, getting involved on campus.
• 20:35
  I've met so many people that are just so similar to me, like they're almost carbon copies of me.
• 20:39
  And now I've become friends with them and we've been able to share some just great experiences.
• 20:44
  I'm seriously just having the time of my life.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER13: That's amazing.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER1: That's going to be hard to top. All right.
• 20:50
  But does somebody have a different perspective to share?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER5: I can actually go like the other way. I mean, like there is good things about college.
• 20:57
  Like I mentioned that like, there is a lot of time on your hands.
• 21:00
  Yes. And so but to see the opposite of that is like you procrastinate a lot more.
• 21:06
  A lot of times you're like, "oh yeah, I have all the time in the world to do this assignment." And then it's 11:00 and you're like,
• 21:12
  "okay." And as Brynn mentioned earlier, is that like, zeros are a big thing.
• 21:16
  If you don't do it, you get a zero. I also feel like academically, like high school and college are completely different,
• 21:22
  like realms. And, um, it really depends on like the classes you're in, obviously.
• 21:26
  Like there are a little easier classes in college, but there are a lot of classes that are just very,
• 21:30
  very difficult. And I did not pick up a textbook through high school.
• 21:33
  And I did great. And then college came around and I was like, I don't need a textbook,
• 21:37
  you need a textbook. So I think it's very important to emphasize that, like, even if you're a fully student in high school,
• 21:44
  college is going to be very, very different. And you have to like, learn to like,
• 21:48
  study more and learn to, like, spend 12 hours studying for an exam and you're not used to it.
• 21:54
  So it's definitely hard on that front.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER1: Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. Haylee?
• 21:59
  SPEAKER6: Um, I think to kind of going off of both what Cole and Rae said.
• 22:04
  But, um, when I was at Duluth, like, I had this perception of college, of being like,
• 22:09
  very social and like this great experience.
• 22:12
  And I did not feel that way initially, and I just did not ultimately find, like my community and my people there,
• 22:18
  even though I did. I met great people and I am still friends with some of them.
• 22:22
  Um, but it just wasn't necessarily what I expected.
• 22:25
  Um, and then ultimately, um, now that I'm transferring into Madison.
• 22:29
  And even though I haven't started my first semester there, um, through Rae, I've met so many people.
• 22:34
  We're on UW campus all the time. I have really good friends who go to UW who I've met,
• 22:40
  um, not even going there. And I feel like I really met like a great community of people,
• 22:45
  um, that are really similar to me, that are doing things, um, similar to me.
• 22:50
  And I can, like, connect with them about, like, our career paths and like our interests.
• 22:54
  And I didn't really have that, um, initially.
• 22:58
  Um, so I think that's something to like.
• 23:00
  I didn't expect that I'd have to transfer or, um, change my path, but I did, and it ended up being really a good decision.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. And it's about finding community.
• 23:10
  That's what you guys are talking about. Gracie?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER8: I also, I have a really I've been having a really similar experience to Cole.
• 23:15
  Um, my first week, it was really nerve wracking just because going to Iowa State,
• 23:20
  I didn't know anyone. Um, and like everyone else, was a lot of people, not a lot of people were from Wisconsin,
• 23:26
  too. So like a lot of Iowa people, a lot of people from Illinois and Minnesota, but no one really from Wisconsin.
• 23:32
  So that was already like, that's interesting.
• 23:34
  Yeah. Um, so that was a bit nerve wracking, but I was lucky enough to meet a really great group of girls.
• 23:40
  Um, I'm not super involved on campus. That's my goal next semester is I want to be,
• 23:44
  like, join a couple more clubs. Um, but just like, I've been having a really good time and just,
• 23:49
  like, giving it, you know, a week or two, like, my first week was really hard.
• 23:53
  But after that, I haven't really been homesick or anything.
• 23:56
  So just giving it time for sure. And like, I'm super lucky.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER1: Oh, that's great to hear.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER7: Um, I'm gonna echo what Rae said about the time.
• 24:07
  I have so much more time to do things, but that can also be kind of a double edged sword,
• 24:13
  because, you know, you look at your assignments, you're like, oh, I have this paper due in two weeks.
• 24:18
  I'm not going to start it because I have all this time, and then it's two weeks later and you're kind of screwed.
• 24:24
  Um, But overall I enjoy college a lot. I love doing hands on things in my classes.
• 24:34
  Um, and I kind of got a sneak peek of this.
• 24:37
  I've been taking classes through MATC since I was a junior here.
• 24:41
  Right. Um, so I knew what it would be like, but just the the change of going from a part time student,
• 24:48
  um, and working and part time student at MATC my senior year to being full time and working,
• 24:56
  um, has it's been not necessarily difficult.
• 25:00
  It's just different. Mhm. Um, and you know, I don't my program specifically is pretty small.
• 25:09
  So I don't have much say in where my classes are unfortunately in the day.
• 25:14
  Um, so I kind of have to go with what's scheduled for me, which this upcoming semester means I'm going to have to cut back on work,
• 25:22
  um, because I have full days of classes.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER1: Wow. Anybody else want to add to this one?
• 25:30
  Go ahead. Ryan.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER9: Um, one thing that I did not realize when I was in high school was how expensive the real world is.
• 25:37
  Yeah. And, um, fortunately, I kept a good head on my shoulders.
• 25:41
  And right away in my career, I set myself up with a financial advisor.
• 25:46
  And that was a that set me up. Yeah. What a
• 25:49
  SPEAKER1: great decision.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER9: Yeah.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER1: Wow.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER9: Yeah. So I keep a good budget for myself and, you know, make sure my rent's paid and all that and still have money saving and
• 26:01
  going to retirement and other things like that.
• 26:04
  That's a very important thing in life.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER1: It's--it's pretty cool when someone your age already is planning that far ahead.
• 26:11
  That's really great. Um, all right, here's the last one.
• 26:17
  You ready? This is for everybody. So think of what you're going to say. Finally,
• 26:21
  could you give a piece of advice to your high school self?
• 26:26
  Think back to high school self. What advice would you give that person the person that you were?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER10: I would say get involved sooner. Okay. Um, I would say, I mean, like dating back,
• 26:38
  like I kind of knew what I wanted to do, but I didn't really get involved here until my junior year.
• 26:43
  Um, I joined Panther Vision my junior year.
• 26:46
  I joined Panther Radio my junior year, and then I got the great opportunity to work with OCA Media and call men's and women's basketball games my senior year.
• 26:53
  But I wish I would have been doing that since as early as my sophomore year because my freshman year was COVID,
• 26:58
  so it was a little iffy. It was half online, but just going back to my sophomore year,
• 27:02
  I wish I had gotten involved immediately. And I have even more experiences to, you know, kind of look back on.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. What do you think, Brock?
• 27:09
  SPEAKER12: Take yourself seriously. Um, you make impressions with people that you don't know,
• 27:15
  uh, are important in the future. Um, like, people know people.
• 27:21
  A lot of people know a lot of different.
• 27:23
  People say you make a bad impression with somebody at a school, and then you want to go get a job,
• 27:27
  and this person knows this person that you made a bad impression on, that all comes back together.
• 27:32
  It's a very small world, especially in certain careers.
• 27:35
  So make a good impression. Work hard. Invest in yourself.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER1: Thank you for that. What do you think?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER13: Um.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER5: I would say that, like, let high school kind of be like that cushion to, like, make mistakes and do things.
• 27:50
  Um, I feel like I did a lot of stuff in high school that really, like, even if I wasn't good at it,
• 27:55
  it was good to kind of know, like, I wanted, like, wanted to do that. I didn't want to do that.
• 27:59
  And like, because once you start like once you graduate high school, like, a lot of that stuff is going to be in the past,
• 28:04
  like people classes like your GPA doesn't matter once you're in college.
• 28:08
  Like nothing from like, high school really matters except for those opportunities that you grasped from it,
• 28:13
  whether you worked, whether you did clubs, whatever it is.
• 28:16
  So it definitely let it be the time to, like, make mistakes, try new things.
• 28:20
  Even if you're like, I would hate that. Um, there's a lot of times where I try to class and I absolutely loved it.
• 28:25
  Never thought I would. So.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER13: So you tell
• 28:27
  SPEAKER1: yourself to take even more chances?
• 28:29
  SPEAKER13: Yeah. Gotcha. Definitely.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER7: Um, I think the greatest advice I could give to me, especially early in high school,
• 28:38
  was that it does get better. Um, people like to talk about high school especially.
• 28:44
  I feel like our parents generation, they talk about high school and college like it's the best years of their life.
• 28:49
  And unfortunately for some people, it's not.
• 28:52
  And it really sucks. Um, when you think about all the like, I don't know, all the,
• 28:58
  the stereotypes, if there's all these cliques and drama, it genuinely is true because everyone is kind of figuring out who they are and
• 29:06
  projecting it onto other people. Um, so high school was a lot for me mentally, and I unfortunately didn't have the support system,
• 29:16
  um, that I wish some of the admin could have provided to me.
• 29:20
  So to more so to current, um, high school students who are not feeling comfortable with where they're at.
• 29:28
  Like college will be better and your life beyond that will be better, I promise.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER1: Thank you.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER8: Um, I would say like my biggest piece of advice is don't be embarrassed.
• 29:38
  Um, there was a lot of, especially my freshman and sophomore year, the only club that I did with student council because I was too nervous to do
• 29:44
  the things that I wanted to do because I thought that people would perceive it as being,
• 29:48
  I don't know, like weird. Um, so I didn't even join the poms team until my, I think,
• 29:54
  winter of my junior year. And I wish I had done it sooner because it looked like a lot of fun.
• 29:58
  I had a lot of fun on the team. Um, it was a really good experience.
• 30:01
  Um, doing things like I didn't. I was a dance captain of the musical last year and that was super fun.
• 30:07
  It was a great experience, and I wish I had done that sooner and offered like my leadership sooner,
• 30:13
  just because I was nervous that people would think that I was like, doing too much or being,
• 30:17
  like, being weird, quote unquote. Um, that I missed out on a lot of opportunities that,
• 30:22
  like, I didn't have that I didn't get the chance to do until later on in my high school career.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER7: Gracie was also amazing. We had one of our actors get sick, and she had to jump in and play that role on like,
• 30:34
  what, an hours notice?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER13: Wow.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER7: She was incredible. Yeah.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER8: So that was a super -- that night was like one of the highlights of my high school career. And like, it never would have happened if I had never joined
• 30:45
  theater. So that was super fun.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER1: That's great.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER8: Yeah.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER6: Um, jumping off that, actually doing Panther Vision is obviously very like public.
• 30:54
  Um, the whole school sees that. And I didn't get super involved with it until my last year of high school.
• 31:01
  And I wish I would have gotten involved earlier.
• 31:03
  Um, but I was obviously nervous about like, how other people would view me and perceive me and,
• 31:10
  um, I wish I wouldn't have been nervous about that because regardless of what anyone else thought about it,
• 31:15
  I really enjoyed that experience and it gave me a lot of skills that I use today,
• 31:19
  even outside of, um, just journalism and that sort of thing.
• 31:23
  Um, but the other thing I would say is, uh, to save money, uh, because I worked all through high school and I didn't
• 31:31
  have a lot to show for that when I graduated.
• 31:34
  Um, and it would have definitely helped me out to have some of that money, but it is what it is.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER1: Thanks, Haylee. What do you think, Ryan?
• 31:42
  SPEAKER9: Well, everybody said a lot of great things they did.
• 31:44
  My final piece of advice to myself would be, um, advocate for yourself.
• 31:49
  You know, don't be afraid to speak up for yourself. If there's something that you want to try, you know, sign yourself up for it. If there's a question you
• 31:55
  have, ask it. I was kind of a quiet kid at first in high school.
• 31:58
  I was just shy, and I wish I would have been more outspoken at first.
• 32:03
  But I talked to people every day now and it's.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER1: You kind of have to now, don't you? Yeah.
• 32:08
  Just like the math. Yes, yes. It's just a part of what you have to do.
• 32:12
  I surely hope people listen because I think that all of you are giving the advice you're giving your younger selves.
• 32:19
  They can find so much wisdom in that for their own life.
• 32:22
  So thank you so much for that. We appreciate the time you took to come back for Alumni Day,
• 32:27
  sharing your experiences, and know that there are a lot of people here rooting for you.
• 32:32
  Uh, really excited about all that you're doing.
• 32:36
  Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at oregonsd.org/podcast.
• 32:47
  You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
• 32:51
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 32:57
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.