Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line 10-01-2026: Jim Grot shares fall updates from Sauk Valley Community College

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Talk Line 10-01-2026: Jim Grot shares fall updates from Sauk Valley Community College · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, Sog Valley, welcome back to The Waking Crew. Wait,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: whose voice is that? Yes, it's mine. Oh, The Waking Crew,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: you should have woke me up. I got up a
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: little late. My talk line guest, he gets it. He
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: was here on time, but he gets it.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: It was a good day to kind of just take
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: it easy. I guess. Yeah, that gloomy weather out there,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: that rain going.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: My body completely must have agreed with you. So phone
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: dies in the middle of the night, and it was like,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: we don't wake up at 4.30. We wake up at 7.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: We want to see what it's like to see the
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  Speaker 3: sun when you wake up.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, well, those silky tones coming from our talk line
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  Speaker 1: guest this morning, Jim Groke, coming here through the rain
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  Speaker 1: and my tardiness from Sauk Valley Community College. Sir, I'm sorry.
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  Speaker 1: I did not hear the bell. Do not send me
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  Speaker 1: to the principal.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: It's our secret. It's our secret.
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  Speaker 1: I love it. What's not a secret is what's going
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  Speaker 1: down at the college. You guys have got a few
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: things coming up to help folks out.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I talked about this a little bit the last time.
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  Speaker 3: We have Dana Chacon, who's our coordinator of workforce development.
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  Speaker 3: She had a workshop this past month, and then she
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  Speaker 3: has a couple more coming up. So I just wanted
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: to repeat those. We have Developing a Powerful Resume. That's
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  Speaker 3: on Monday, October 19th. And these are in the evening,
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  Speaker 3: 530 to 630. And that's if you've never written a
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  Speaker 3: resume before and it's been a while since you've done
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  Speaker 3: an existing one. And that's kind of the one to me.
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  Speaker 3: I haven't done a resume in 20-some years. But actually,
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  Speaker 3: Dana helped out my daughter just this past week. She
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  Speaker 3: was building a resume. And my daughter went to SOC
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  Speaker 3: and she's like, I need help. And I'm like, I'm
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  Speaker 3: not the one to ask. I'm like, let me send
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  Speaker 3: you over to Dana. Because Dana is awesome at this.
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  Speaker 3: So if you need help with a resume, she's absolutely fantastic.
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  Speaker 3: So Developing a Powerful Resume, Monday, October 19th from 530
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  Speaker 3: to 6. And then she also has, in November, Interview
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  Speaker 3: Do's and Don'ts. So this will cover pre-interview preparation, interview structure,
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  Speaker 3: question and answer preparation. and like post-interview etiquette, which was
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  Speaker 3: another thing that I had her talk to my daughter about.
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  Speaker 3: So it's kind of like, you know, these are the
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  Speaker 3: things you got to do after an interview. So, um,
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  Speaker 3: so if you, if you need help with either one
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  Speaker 3: of those things, um, get ahold of Dana, just check
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  Speaker 3: it out on svcc.edu and just look up Dana and
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  Speaker 3: send her out an email or whatever and, and register
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  Speaker 3: for those. So, um, another, a cool thing that we
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  Speaker 3: had happened that I just, I threw on here just
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  Speaker 3: to mention is, um, we have, we got a new
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  Speaker 3: CDL simulator, um, Which is really cool. So it's right
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  Speaker 3: next to my studio and I can hear them shifting
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  Speaker 3: and honking and all this kind of stuff. And it's
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  Speaker 3: really cool. And I asked Joe, who runs our CDL program,
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  Speaker 3: I'm like, I go, what's the point of having a
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  Speaker 3: CDL simulator? I mean, isn't it better to be out
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  Speaker 3: in the trucks and driving and.
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  Speaker 2: That kind of stuff?
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  Speaker 3: And he said, well, we can't simulate animals running out
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  Speaker 3: in front of a truck or someone cutting you off
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  Speaker 3: at a merge or something like that. He's like, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: he's like, it's a little dangerous to do those kinds
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  Speaker 3: of things. And he's also a simulator simulator. helps us
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  Speaker 3: have those kind of scenarios so you can, you know,
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  Speaker 3: learn how to react when those kinds of things happen.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh, like never would have thought of that.
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  Speaker 3: So we got this brand new simulator in. It's a
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  Speaker 3: very cool thing. And so basically it just makes our
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  Speaker 3: CDL program even better. You know, and I think the
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  Speaker 3: hope is that, you know, they want to eventually reach
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  Speaker 3: out to businesses that have, you know, truck drivers and
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  Speaker 3: things like that and have them do some practices, you know,
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  Speaker 3: training and that kind of stuff on this simulator. Because again,
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  Speaker 3: you can't, You don't want to simulate animals.
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  Speaker 2: You don't want real life.
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  Speaker 3: If animals run out, our cars cut you off and
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  Speaker 3: that kind of thing. So that was just a cool
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  Speaker 3: update that I wanted to mention about what's happening around
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  Speaker 3: the college. And then we also have some Jersey Boys tickets.
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  Speaker 3: So that's Jersey Boys in Chicago. That's November 18th. And
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  Speaker 3: it's our normal bus trips that we have. You leave
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  Speaker 3: early in the morning at SOC. You take off at 845.
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  Speaker 3: You get back at 730. This is at the CIBC
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  Speaker 3: Theater in Chicago. But Jersey Boys, the musical, Wednesday, November 18th,
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  Speaker 3: and that's $ 99 per person for that. So if you
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  Speaker 3: want to do something fun in November, check that out.
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  Speaker 3: And that one, you just go to svcc.edu slash trips.
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  Speaker 3: And then the last thing that I wanted to talk
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  Speaker 3: about was kind of our biggie thing that we have
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  Speaker 3: coming up is our fall open house. We had our
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  Speaker 3: first open house last year out at the college. And
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  Speaker 3: it went over so well that, I mean, it was fantastic.
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  Speaker 3: There was people everywhere. And so we actually combined. We
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  Speaker 3: have CTE classes, which is like our welding and ag
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  Speaker 3: and nursing and multi-craft. Those are our CTE courses. So
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  Speaker 3: we had an open house for them, and we had
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  Speaker 3: a regular open house for our normal transfer programs. Well,
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  Speaker 3: we combined everything into one this time. And that's going
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  Speaker 3: to be October 13th from 4.30 to 6 p.m.
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  Speaker 2: Out at the college.
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  Speaker 3: And it's just come explore the campus. You can meet
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  Speaker 3: with professors, talk to them about what kind of career
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  Speaker 3: can I get into if I study this field and
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  Speaker 3: that kind of thing, and what kind of pay do
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  Speaker 3: they get. And so the professors are there. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: we're going to have, you name it, criminal justice, ag, welding,
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  Speaker 3: there's business, art, early childhood education.
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  Speaker 2: We have everything.
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  Speaker 3: All the professors will be out there talking about their field.
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  Speaker 3: And Just ask them the questions and get to know
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  Speaker 3: what it is that they do or what that field
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  Speaker 3: is like so you can make those decisions as to,
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  Speaker 3: is this the right thing for me? And all of
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  Speaker 3: our student services will be out there advising, admissions, disability
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  Speaker 3: support services, and a lot more that will help you
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  Speaker 3: answer questions. If you have financial aid questions of how
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  Speaker 3: do I apply, all those kinds of things. So everybody
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  Speaker 3: will be there out at the college to answer your questions.
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  Speaker 3: Financial aid, we'll have, um, we're going to have a
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  Speaker 3: room set up with laptops and they'll be there to
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  Speaker 3: help you fill out the FAFSA, which is the federal
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  Speaker 3: student aid free training. I can't remember what that all
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: stands for, but the, um, federal assistance for free student assistance,
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  Speaker 3: something like that. I should probably learn what that acronym
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  Speaker 3: stands for, but anyways, but they're going to.
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  Speaker 2: You have to do it.
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  Speaker 3: You don't have to do it, but you're really, if
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  Speaker 3: you're in the impact program, you do it. That's part
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  Speaker 3: of the impact program is filling out the FAFSA form. Um,
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  Speaker 3: And so they'll help you do that. They'll have laptops there.
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  Speaker 3: And because it's a little intimidating if you've never done
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  Speaker 3: it before, you've got to go on the website, you've
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  Speaker 3: got to fill out all this information, and they're there
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  Speaker 3: to answer questions. So it's like, don't do it alone.
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  Speaker 3: If you've never done it before, just come out to SOC.
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  Speaker 3: And even if you're not going to attend SOC, we're
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  Speaker 3: still there to help the community. So you can come
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  Speaker 3: out and we'll still help you fill out that FAFSA,
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  Speaker 3: that kind of stuff. So our financial aid people are fantastic.
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  Speaker 3: So During that time, again, laptops set up all over
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  Speaker 3: in the Helmick Riverview Conference Center, and they'll help you
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  Speaker 3: fill out the FAFSA. And then Impact will also have
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  Speaker 3: informational sessions there as about what are the next steps
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  Speaker 3: to do for the Impact program. So you've done your
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  Speaker 3: volunteering work. Now it's time to do your scholarships, fill
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  Speaker 3: out the FAFSA. And even when you attend SOC, there's
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  Speaker 3: still some volunteer hours you have to do and that
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  Speaker 3: kind of thing. You still have to fill out the FAFSA.
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  Speaker 3: You still have to fill out your scholarship forms. So
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  Speaker 3: they go over those kinds of things. Once you become
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  Speaker 3: a SOC student, it doesn't just end because you did
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  Speaker 3: your 25 volunteer hours during high school or your 100
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  Speaker 3: volunteer hours during high school. There's still some steps you
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  Speaker 3: have to take to complete everything and get that free
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  Speaker 3: tuition out at SOC. So Impact will have a couple
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  Speaker 3: sessions there. We're going to have treats. I will be
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  Speaker 3: serving ice cream. But everyone's welcome. So it's high school
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  Speaker 3: students and even those thinking about a career change. It's like, hey,
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  Speaker 3: you know what? I'm not sure what I want to do,
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  Speaker 3: but I think I want to do something different. Come
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  Speaker 3: out to SOC and talk to everybody. Talk to professors.
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  Speaker 3: Talk to the staff. We're there to help. So open
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  Speaker 3: house Tuesday, October 13th, 430 to 6.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I absolutely couldn't agree more. Go have a conversation.
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  Speaker 1: Change your life. You don't know. where that's going to
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  Speaker 1: end up taking you, but you've got to have those
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  Speaker 1: conversations for it to start.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and the faculty, they absolutely love talking about their field,
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  Speaker 3: which is why they teach. And so last year when
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  Speaker 3: people were coming to the open house, it was great
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  Speaker 3: to see the faculty out there too talking to these
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  Speaker 3: students who had interest in what they teach. And so
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  Speaker 3: you could just see it on their faces too that
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  Speaker 3: they loved being at the open house. It was exciting
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  Speaker 3: for them too. Um, so, you know, it's exciting for
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  Speaker 3: the students to come along to have this new atmosphere.
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  Speaker 3: And it was also exciting for the staff and faculty
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  Speaker 3: to see all these new, um, people come around and
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  Speaker 3: ask questions. So yeah, come ask questions, ask to stop
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  Speaker 3: at every single table.
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  Speaker 2: What do you do? What is it like?
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  Speaker 3: What's it, you know, what's, what's this, what's the world
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  Speaker 3: like in this, you know, in this field and that
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  Speaker 3: kind of thing. So, um, but yeah, come on out.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Jim, Jim being out there, he gets to live it
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  Speaker 1: every day. So he knows, but I'm certainly backing him
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  Speaker 1: up with this. The, professors are more than happy to
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  Speaker 1: talk with you to share this information. Karen Able, thank
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  Speaker 1: you for having that conversation with me. That's why I
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  Speaker 1: get to have fun and talk with Jim, you know,
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  Speaker 1: instead of memorizing muscles. God, that would have been boring.
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  Speaker 1: No offense to any of you, you.
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  Speaker 3: Know, memorizing what your shoulder's located to.
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  Speaker 1: Some people like that stuff. We need you. It wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: have been me, and so I'm glad it wasn't.
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  Speaker 3: No, and these faculty, they change people's lives. They change
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  Speaker 3: their direction of what they were going, and that's.
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  Speaker 2: And that's important.
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  Speaker 3: And that is also why they do it, too, because
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  Speaker 3: they love those stories of students that they had. And
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  Speaker 3: they talk to them. And sometimes just a short conversation
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  Speaker 3: can flip a switch and just be like, oh, you
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  Speaker 3: know what? I never thought of that. And you head
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  Speaker 3: in that direction. So this is that first step in
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  Speaker 3: that journey is to come to the open house, talk
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  Speaker 3: to the professors, because you know if you don't know
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  Speaker 3: what you want to do you got to talk to
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  Speaker 3: people and you got to talk you got to listen
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  Speaker 3: to their experiences and learn from them so yeah this
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  Speaker 3: is first step in doing that is coming to this
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  Speaker 3: open house Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: And I mean, all of it. There's always so much
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  Speaker 1: at SOC. Love hearing about this CDL simulator. I got
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  Speaker 1: to come try this. I know.
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  Speaker 2: I want to try it out, too.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I haven't played a.
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  Speaker 2: Video game in a while. This sounds like fun.
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  Speaker 1: You know, resumes, whether you're a newbie and don't know
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  Speaker 1: what's going on and you need question, this is a
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  Speaker 1: big one. Or maybe you have, but it's been a
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  Speaker 1: while and you need a brush up. Having that thing
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  Speaker 1: ready is amazing because whether you're just starting your journey
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  Speaker 1: and it's your first foot forward or you're to the
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  Speaker 1: stage in the game where maybe you've just finished, you know,
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  Speaker 1: you're done at SOC, but you really, having that thing
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  Speaker 1: polished can be the difference sometimes. And I've seen it
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  Speaker 1: between job hunting and employers coming and offering jobs to you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: No, it does make a difference because, you know, I
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: just got done with a round of that. And when
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: you get a lot of resumes in, you can tell
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  Speaker 3: the difference between those who took the time to make
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  Speaker 3: sure everything looked good and was polished and they didn't
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: try to use AI to do it because you can
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: just tell the ones that, you know, maybe just try
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: to use AI and it says everything kind of looks
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: the same, sounds the same, all that kind of stuff.
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  Speaker 3: And that they didn't put that, the detail effort into it.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: And so it's important to do these kinds of things.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: And that's where Dana comes in and helps out with
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: that kind of stuff. And same thing with the interviews
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  Speaker 3: do's and don'ts. Like that's, That's a biggie too. It is.
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  Speaker 3: When you're sitting in an interview and, you know, some
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: people say things where you're just like, oh, all right.
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  Speaker 3: And the do's where it's like, you know, don't forget
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: to follow up afterwards and don't forget, you know, those
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: things are important, you know, especially from the employer side
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: of things. So, you know, we want, you want to
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: see that person stand out when you're hiring.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: You got to do those things. And so if you've
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: never done these things before, it's good to learn from
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: someone who has experience in it.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: It is. Don't be a Dale. I always think when
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I hear do's and don'ts, I think stepbrothers. And so
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  Speaker 1: I'm always picturing him like. leaning out from behind Will Ferrell.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: We've decided to interview as a team. And he's like,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: please just shut your face. These are do's and don'ts, people. Right, right.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly. Yes, exactly. Oh, my goodness.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Anything else you wanted to share this morning, Jim?
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  Speaker 2: That's all I got today.
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  Speaker 1: If anybody's got any questions about anything we talked about
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: or anything SOC related, just want to know what's the
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: best way to get the conversation started.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Always go to sbcc.edu and you can look up anybody. Again,
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: I always tell people too, you can look me up
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: and I'll get you to the right person if you're
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: having trouble finding somebody.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: You heard it first right here. Jim, thank you so
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: much for coming on and sharing. We look forward to
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the updates. And thank you for welcoming me in the
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: door this morning.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: It was kind of a fun little change of pace. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I liked it. Oh, my goodness.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Tardiness about. Thank you, Jim.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: You're welcome.