Latest / The Wesley Word / HoW Ep.1 Good Genes and Perfect Pitch

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HoW Ep.1 Good Genes and Perfect Pitch · The Wesley Word

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Wesley World This week on Humans at Wesley, I'm joined by Lauren Hunley.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Lauren, welcome to the show.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you want to start by introducing yourself?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sure.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm my name is Lauren Hunley.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: I am a senior genetics major.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the worship leader at Wesley, so that's where you might know me from.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I really can't think about anything else interesting about myself.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh where are you from?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from Fort Mill, South Carolina, which is right outside of Charlotte.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, in classic uh kind of our tribute to the old humans of Wesley videos, I'm gonna start off with a few uh icebreaker questions.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, great.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: To just, you know, get these right off the top of your head.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you had to uh dedicate your life to a single Olympic sport, which one would it be?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I think about this a lot, especially with the Olympics that we're just on.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um probably tennis.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think that would be fun.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: And not not super strenuous, you know?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's definitely like one uh where your opponent changes and you know you have to play against different people.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, cool.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um what's the best TV show or movie you've seen in the last month?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: The last month?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't even tell you what I've watched in the last month.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Period.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: I I really don't know what I've watched in the last month.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you could be any fruit, what would you be?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Any fruit at all.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'll say grapes.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, I like grapes, but also they're like really easy to eat and really like easy, uh, easy snack to bring along with you.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I like to think I'm easygoing.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Weird comparison, but it works.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um what's your go-to karaoke song?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Would you believe I don't actually do karaoke?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I thought this would be a good one for.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: I actually I haven't done karaoke since I was like eight, but I did, believe it or not, I was on a cruise ship and I did All-Star by Smash Mouth.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it was great.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: What is your favorite restaurant in Clemson?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Smoke and pig.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Smoke and pig.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: What a great choice.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Classic.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you said you're uh from Fort Mill, all right?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how many times have you been to Carowins?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: When I was a kid countless times, uh, we would get like the season passes every summer, so we weren't really big roller coaster people, and neither me or my brother, so we would go to the water park mostly.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you've been to Carowins, the biggest ride I've ever ridden there was the Gold Rush, so nothing super adventurous.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um I haven't been in years.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think the last time I went, I was probably 12 years old.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because when it's right there, I don't know.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know people come from all over to go to Carowinds, but it's in my backyard.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I take stuff for granted in Clemson like all the time.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: I actually like having you know friends in college that uh make me appreciate things in Clemson all the time.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of that, is there anything from Fort Mill that you miss when you're in Clemson?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Anything that I miss.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um when people talk about their hometown, they often say there's nothing to do, and that's like mostly true about Fort Mill, but there's stuff around you.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: There's plenty of stuff around to do.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: And in Clemson, that's just like not an option.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: You can go to Greenville and do some things, drive an hour, drive two hours to go to Atlanta or Charlotte.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: But when Charlotte's in your backyard in Fort Mill, there's just like so much more.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: The shopping is way better.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if I need clothes in Clemson, I'm like SOL.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and I understand that you uh grew up in a pretty unique neighborhood in Fort Mill.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Can you describe that to me?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um I actually, so it's gonna sound irrelevant, but I promise it is uh important to the story.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: I took a seminar class my sophomore year about tiny houses, and we were supposed to look up um like articles and stuff about neighborhood developments, I think.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I ended up finding a New York Times article about the neighborhood I grew up in, talking about how like rapidly it was expanding and how um just like unique the setup was.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um I grew up in Baxter, if you're familiar with the Fort Mill area.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: I really didn't think it was that special until I grew up, and you realize not every uh not every neighborhood looks like that.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was very walkable.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: They had like a whole downtown So it's essentially a whole town, right?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you if you took Baxter and like drew a line around it, you could have its, it could be its own city, uh, for sure.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: But I think what was unique about it at the time that not a lot of places were doing is like we I walked to my elementary school, there was a whole row of shops and restaurants that you could walk to.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: People drove golf carts everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, like on the roads.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I feel like that's more common now, but at the time it was it was really unusual.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: What's your take on cherry lemon sun drop?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I didn't I wasn't a huge fan of it.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: At first, I would get the slushies.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you uh grew up in Fort Mill, there's a there's a gas station that sells cherry lemon sun drop slushies, and it's like a rite of passage when you uh uh bring them to school and show off to all your friends that you got a cherry lemon sundrop slushie.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would do that for the for like the social aspect of it.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the clout of bringing a slushie to school.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um but they eventually grew on me and uh I took actually took Gracie and her brother there a couple years ago.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: And they were they're pretty good, worth a try.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess Sundrop is a decently common soda, but for some reason the cherry lemon version is only like available in the Rock Hill Fort Mill area.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, really bizarrely.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's one other place in the country, but I think it's also somewhere in the southeast.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Really weird.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I didn't really understand that until my uh one of my organic chemistry professors paid one of my friends from Rock Hill to bring him like a suitcase of cherry lemon sun drop.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the weirdest drug deal you've ever seen.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I had the same professor, and I think I brought him a case too.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so what brought you to Clemson?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if you had asked me anytime before senior year, I would have told you I did not want to come to Clemson under any circumstances.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was hell bent on getting out of South Carolina.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but as it came down to it, um it just ended up being the best option for me in like more than more ways than one.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, in-state tuition is great and wonderful, and the scholarships that come with being in-state.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I really wanted to major in genetics or something similar.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: And there's only a handful of colleges in the United States that have a genetics major.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: And having one like in my same state, there was no there was no question.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: I had to come here.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's a really unique opportunity.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, your family has some connection to Virginia Tech, though, right?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's where my dad went, and that's the football I grew up rooting for.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: So if they come on TV, I'll still watch and cheer.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, did you have a lot of did you ever travel to Blacksburg or have a lot of connection to Virginia Tech before?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: A few times.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: When I was little, we would have season tickets and go.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um when we were really little, my parents would just ditch it at my grandma's and go to the games themselves.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: But I've been to plenty of tech football games.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything that Virginia Tech has that you wish Clemson had?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: This is a loaded question and you know the answer.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Clemson's intro, the like running down the hill.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all are gonna hate me.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is blasphemy.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's a lot, hey.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: This is blasphemy.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: But um, the running down the hill, it's it's great, it's exciting.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: But if you've ever been to a Virginia Tech football game, their intro, it just does not compare.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: You're a big Inter Sandman thing?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, not even the song, it's just the hype around it.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: They play Inter Sandman, and every single person in the stadium jumps up and down.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: It registers on the Richter scale.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's a massive event.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And with Clemson, like the students, I don't know, maybe this is just I the last time I went to a football game was COVID times, so maybe my uh interpretation is skewed, but when you see them run down the hill, the students get really excited, but I feel like everyone else is just kind of there.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: There's no like hype song.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it could be more of an event.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Go tigers, though.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Don't don't hate me.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you're a genetics major uh and you're a senior.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So uh what do you what's what's next for you with that?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully genetic counseling, unless I don't know, I get struck by lightning and totally changed my mind somehow.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Genetic counseling is a is a grad program, right?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it'd be a master's degree.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's a that's a pretty unique major as well, right?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's pretty limited options for that.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Very unique, very niche, and uh as a result, all the programs are tiny and very competitive.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's totally common for you to be super qualified and not get in your first or even second uh try getting in.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it has a pretty like crazy unique um application process too, right?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's like if you're familiar with the med school application uh process, it's like residency.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's a match program.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you either get in one program or you don't get in anywhere.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: So no pressure.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you do some research on campus with that too, right?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I don't know.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: When you're an undergrad, I feel like research is a strong word, especially depending on the lab you work in.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um being an undergrad, at least in my lab, all you really do is the grunt work.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like we we are given ta I certainly am hands-on with the research material.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: I work in a plant lab, so I I will, you know, incubate the plants with the bacteria or cut up the leaves that will be used for whatever project, but I don't really know the why.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I've heard that that's pretty common in this lab.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: You don't really know the why until you've been working there for like two years.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I also do a lot of dishwashing and going to the autoclave.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's a that's pretty classic Clemson agriculture uh research project, though.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: So um as you kind of, you know look forward to working in the field of genetics, what do you think is like the coolest thing that's gonna happen in genetics in like your career?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like the next 20 years or something.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um what I what I'm looking forward to most is uh just the capacity for a a greater understanding of human disease.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because so much, even if a disease isn't explicitly like a genetic disorder, there could be a genetic factor that makes you more uh uh susceptible.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Or I don't know, there's so much about the human condition that is that has a genetic link.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, I think we're gonna spend a lot of the next 50 years discovering more and more, and healthcare is just gonna explode.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um so pretty uniquely, you also have a uh a music minor, correct?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I do.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're a big singer, you're a worship leader at Wesley.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um you're in the a couple like choirs at Clemson, right?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: So there's CU Singers and Cantorai.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: How do you pronounce that word?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Cantorai.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Cantorai.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I didn't know when I got here either.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what's the difference between those two groups?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: So they're both auditioned and they're both mixed.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so CU Singers is right now we have about 65 people, I think, and it's mixed uh uh male and female voice.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that sort of music tends to lean more classical.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: So my freshman year we did the Mozart Requiem, which is super, a super common classical piece if you've heard of it.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're doing another Requiem this year.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, we tend to lean more like classical and like stereotypical choir music, I guess.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: But Cantorai is much smaller.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's only 24, well, 25 this year.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: He had to make make an exception.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um but that's also auditioned, also mixed voice.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: And we do more like modern chamber music.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's a chamber choir, so the emphasis is more um, I don't know, I find the music more like rhythmically and sonically uh challenging, and it's more of an endeavor to like learn the music.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um but they're both really great experiences.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um what's your favorite thing that you've gotten to do with choir so far?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, we're supposed to be doing a lot more travel, but the trips that I have gotten to take in with I had the trips I have gotten to take with them have been really fun.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: My freshman year we went around to we were in Atlanta, Nashville, somewhere else in Tennessee, I think, singing in singing for a bunch of different audiences and just going getting to see the sites and spend time with each other is really fun.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you're also no uh newbie to the performing arts.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: You were quite into theater growing up, right?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I did theater a lot in middle school, not so much high school, but.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: How many shows do you think you've been in?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um eight, probably.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Counting middle school and high school.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: I did like casual things at church, but like that doesn't really count.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um is that something that you uh would do again, like as an adult?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Would you do theater shows?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, like a like a small community theater.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: I certainly don't have a great musical theater voice.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's a very particular style of singing that I just don't think I'm very I don't think I'm great at.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think makes a a great musical theater singer?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh expression.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're a great singer, so I would know the difference.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't really know that either until I came, really I came to college, and people are studying all sorts of different types of like vocal styles.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm not a great classical singer either.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have a lot of friends in choir who are training, like they're they're a voice major, so they train classically, and it's just a totally different approach.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And same thing with musical theater, it's just a different skill.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like there's a lot of emphasis on like, I don't know, vibrato, which I'm not very good at.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really have great um, I don't know, belting is something I can't do either, and that's really important depending on the show.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, it's not that I think I'm a a bad singer by any means, it's just musical theater is not the style that I'm trained in.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think is the uh most true stereotype about theater kids?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that we're annoying.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't know if that's a stereotype it might just be true the truth.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, we're a special brand, special breed of annoying.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: So one cool thing about your uh musical talents is that you have perfect pitch, right?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I do.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um do you get tired of people like playing sounds and telling asking you what uh pitch that is?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: It depends.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: It depends on who it is.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um sometimes it does get old, but also depending on you know, if I'm really comfortable with you, I'll like hear a car horn and be like, mm-hmm that was a B flat, if you were wondering, just to like make people mad because it's funny.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: But um Does it you think it actually helps you a lot in your musical endeavors, or is it more of just like a party trick?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think it definitely helps with especially with uh choral music.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: And when we read start read a particularly hard piece and um there's like a weird jump, weird interval where like it wouldn't really make much sense isolated, like when you're just singing your part alone, I can hear the note and I can just like jump right to it.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I don't know, it's helpful for me.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if the people around me can hear, if it helps them too, I don't know, but I find it helpful.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um do you you see people like uh Charlie Pooth on TikTok who just likes to uh I think Charlie Pooth is annoying when he does that.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Just like to say what bitch things are, like correct people on there.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: It was funny at first.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: It was funny at first, but he's like taking it to a whole new weird level.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do you also get the uh the TikToks where like Benny Blanco just like makes fun of him for it?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think I have seen one.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know the name, but I I probably have seen one of those.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's like produced every popular pop music song ever.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um speaking of TikTok, you're quite the uh TikTok power user.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: I don't make TikToks.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: I want to put that I I make like one TikTok every three months, maybe.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: But I if I check my screen time right now, it'd be up there for sure.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: You like uh actively keep track of like sides of TikTok that you uh I do get on to, right though?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm like fascinated by the TikTok algorithm and how it sort of just like knows who you are and where to put it on.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's very impressive.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so um probably like over a year ago at this point, I started like writing down the very niche sides of TikTok that I've ended up on.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um because like you go in the comments and it's like, oh wow, I can't believe I made it to this side of TikTok, or you know, people people take it very seriously.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so I started recording it and it's just fascinating.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: I scroll through the list and look how far I've come, you know?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all the different uh things you're into.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um speaking of that, you're you're a pretty big fan of uh movies and TV and books and lots of fandoms.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm also kind of a nerd.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I think we would have gotten along really well in middle school.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um what's your uh favorite kind of fandom right now?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh gosh.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh probably Star um I'm gonna say Star Wars, even though Star Wars fans are the worst.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um I will say that fans of pretty much every fandom group of nerds together is gonna suck in some way, but Star Wars is like especially bad.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think it's gotten a little better in the few years, in the past few years.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Granted, I don't like I don't really seek out Star Wars corners of the internet.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: They just kind of find me, like especially on TikTok.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: But um I also think with the advent of Disney Plus, there's been a lot of great uh Star Wars content that's come out recently.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, definitely.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: So now transitioning a little bit to your uh role as the the Wesley worship leader.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: So again, we've been talking a lot about your your music, um capabilities, talents.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um what got you into uh leading worship at Wesley?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I showed up to it was probably my first ever even song, and I met Rachel, who was the current worship leader of the time.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: She was a senior and I was a freshman, and I told her I was in choir and she was like, Do you want to sing on Sunday?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, sure.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: And uh before you knew it, yeah, I they threw me up there and I was there.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: I had a I wasn't singing quite every Sunday, but pretty much from my second Sunday I was heavily involved in the worship.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, what is your your favorite part about music in worship?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think it's pretty common that you know in different religions and stuff, everybody has songs they sing.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely the community aspect.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it is kind of hard to get that on a stage on Sunday night, and especially because when I'm up there, I kind of get tunnel vision, and especially when I was first starting out, I just wanted to get it over with, and I was like, wasn't really trying to be in the moment at all.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: I just wanted to be done.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um but especially recently, when you play a song that everyone knows really well or that they really like, and you look out in the audience and everyone's like having a really great time uh in worship and community together, I think that's really, really cool.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really fun hearing everyone sing together.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, what brought you to Wesley in the first place?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I grew up Methodist, and when my youth pastor found out I was going to Clemson, she told me to look for the Wesley Foundation.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think she knew anyone here in particular, but she knew that every pretty much every school has one.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: So she told me to look for it.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: And when I came here, I ended up really liking the people, and I was like, well, this is it.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Here I am.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't look anywhere else, and here I am.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what do you think uh is the biggest way that being in Wesley has kind of affected your college experience so far as a senior looking back?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um It's definitely uh given me friendships that I don't think I would have had.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously you meet wherever you end up in college, you're gonna meet different people, but I have a tendency to I'm very content being by myself.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: And Wesley has like forced me to go do things and make friends, especially my freshman year.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, first semester, I was like a big loner.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so being in Wesley and having these events that I was excited for forced me out of my comfort of being alone to make friends and um what's the your favorite thing that you've done with Wesley over the past few years?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Probably our Nashville mission trip.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: It was just it was so fun in so many ways.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I I remember a couple weeks after and like the excitement of the trip had worn off, I was like, uh I was like apologizing to people because I had been so I was so high energy the whole trip, and I felt like I had just been like so much because I was so excited to be there and excited to have friends and go do all the stuff, cool stuff we were doing in Nashville.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was like, got home and I was like, wow, I was I was a lot on that trip.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: So uh now as of last year, you have joined the many sets of siblings in Wesley with Parker joining.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do you like having Parker around?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: I do, yeah.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if it had been like four years ago, my answer would have been heck no, because we we hated each other.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I guess it was my senior year of high school that we started actually like really getting along.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Parker and I are like the same person.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we have a lot in common and we tell the same jokes.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like we freak people out because we'll tell the same joke at the same time and they're like, what is happening?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, it's been really great having him here.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: So this year you're also leading a uh small group, right?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I am, and that's not something I've done.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't done I haven't led a small group in a long time.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: My last time was my senior year of high school, so it's been it's gonna be a learning curve a little bit, but I'm I'm really excited.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: We had uh our first meeting was really awesome, so I'm excited to dive into it.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And what's what's your small group about?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we're basically I I started calling it Bible crash course as a joke, but then it kind of stuck because I mean that's basically what it is.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we will be going from Genesis to Revelation, obviously, like not reading the whole thing, that would be ridiculous.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but like skipping around to the um like highlight reel of the Bible and putting together like the overarching story.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because um, when I was a freshman in high school, I did a Bible study where we basically read the whole Bible from cover to cover, and um it really changed the whole way that I read scripture.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was the first time I saw it as a cohesive story as opposed to just like a bunch of things that were thrown together and published as one big book.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I'm really hoping this small group will be.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um it doesn't matter like how much you've read the Bible, you can still be in a small group and get something out of it.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: But my hope was that if you are really unfamiliar with um the overarching story of scripture, or you just like wanted to learn more about certain parts of scripture, that this would be a place for you, and yeah, I think it'd be really great.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, why do you think scripture is an important uh for us to understand better?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, at the root of any religion, your scripture is your link to uh the community, your how you worship, all that stuff.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, on a basic level, the rules, quote unquote rules of being a good Christian are outlined in the gospels.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: But um I think there's so much that's important there to know for the context of how we got here as modern Christians, um, where what we're supposed to be according to Jesus, um, why Jesus was necessary in the first place, why God had to send a messiah.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's so much to to read, and you know, it's easy to brush off the Old Testament or parts of the Old Testament is like not relevant still, but I think it's all worth examining.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds really great.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure uh the members of a small group will have a great time with that.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you, Lauren, for joining us.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks for having me.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um if people like what they hear and want to be friends with you, how can they reach out to you?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um please like DM me on Instagram or I live in the Wesley building.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like pull up whenever.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always looking for friends.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love to hang out with people.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: As I said earlier, I am a loner and I'm very comfortable.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm bad at reaching out to people because I'm very comfortable being by myself.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want to hang out, I love to hang out.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Please, I want to have friends.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Lauren.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: The Wesley Word is a production of the Clemson Wesley Foundation.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about Clemson Wesley, check out our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, get out there and love your neighbor.