August 20, 2024 • 24 mins
In this episode Johnny Steinklauber shares his experiences from his gap year, where he worked diligently to save for college and discovered his passion for welding and photography. He will be pursuing those interests this year at Northwest College in Wyoming; blending the art of precision with creativity. He provides insights into the scenic beauty of Wyoming and how the night sky influenced his decision. Johnny also talks about his growth both personally and spiritually during his gap year and how working with children has impacted him.
As Johnny prepares for his new adventure, he discusses his plans, the challenges he faced with financial aid, and his excitement about the opportunities ahead. He offers valuable advice for students considering a gap year and reassures parents about the benefits of taking time to make informed decisions. Whether you're into hands-on craftsmanship or capturing the perfect shot, this episode is packed with inspiration and insight. Tune in to hear Johnny's story and discover how he's turning his passions into a thriving dual career!
Topics:
- Transition from high school
- Informed choices
- Work experience
- Interests in welding and photography
- Discovery of Northwest College
- Wyoming's scenic environment
- Personal, spiritual, and professional growth
- Challenges
- Advice
- Future career aspirations
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Surviving and Thriving After High School podcast.
We've survived high school. Now what? This incredible world we live in is filled
with choices and we'll help you navigate your path to success.
Today, we have none other than the incredible Johnny Steinklauber with us.
You want to tell everybody, hi, Johnny?
(00:23):
Hey, how are y'all doing? Nice to meet you.
That's so Johnny. Yes. Well, we appreciate you coming out here,
man. Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me. Yes.
So Johnny and I have known each other for, I think it's about eight years,
right? Is it? Since third grade or something like that. Yeah.
Yeah, dude, that's crazy.
Wow. So that's actually more like 10. Wow.
(00:43):
I've known you for like a full decade. That's crazy. That's like a quarter of a century, isn't it?
Oh man, yes. That's funny. Okay. Yeah.
Maybe just a little bit under a quarter of a century. but yeah, no
no no that's awesome. It's crazy how
we've built this friendship over so long and I'm glad
that we always get to do stuff. We actually did a recording project when
(01:06):
we were much younger with our friend Sam and it was for our health class. That
was interesting. We were like eating marshmallows and then like Marshmallow
popped out. Oh yeah, yeah and I was crying for some reason. I don't remember
why i was crying. Was it because I burnt the
marshmallows? Something like that. That sounds right. And then we like ate kebabs.
Anyways, so Johnny here, he has an incredible thing that he's going to do.
(01:30):
And it's unlike anything that I've ever heard of before.
He is going to go for welding and photography. So absolutely incredible.
And he is going to Northwest College in Wyoming.
So Johnny, can you just tell us like how that came to be?
Because they're so wildly different things, but they are so you.
I could definitely see you being interested in those two.
(01:51):
But how did that come to be what you realized you wanted to do?
Okay, so my senior year, I did not know what I wanted to do at all.
I knew I was going to take a gap year, right?
But I did not know what I was doing after that.
It wasn't until around halfway through the gap year that I figured I will go
ahead and tour Northwest College, which is in Powell, Wyoming,
(02:14):
because I have family up there and we're going to be up there.
So, you know, why not go ahead and tour it? Yeah. And I did tour it.
And oh, my goodness, it's really cool. It's very scenic. Like mountains or like
what? What is the scenery like?
Oh, there's mountains in the distance and there aren't many trees.
I'm naturally not very fond of trees just because it blocks the view of the night sky.
(02:36):
Okay. And I do like me a vision of the night sky. It's pretty.
That was one of the deciding factors, actually.
Really? Yeah. There's no trees up there.
Nice. Okay, sweet. Yeah. So I
toured the college and they showed me their welding and photography area.
And ooh, they got some good stuff up there.
Nice. Okay. They have a lot of equipment just to use.
(02:59):
I was contemplating welding to
begin with. Gotcha! Then
i saw that and I thought oh this is yeah this is what I'm doing so that's
that. Well that's incredible! So with the photography i remember we were talking
about this a little bit before we started recording, but you said something about
how big this photography school is and did you say it's top in the northwest?
(03:25):
So it's top three in America.
Bro, that's insane. Wow!
Okay, sweet. So for photography, that is incredible. Okay.
I could see that though, like with the night sky and everything you have in
that opportunity, you have all of that scenery.
And I feel like that's something that you would definitely need at a good photography school.
So I am so excited for you, man. I can't wait to hear about this.
(03:47):
But before we move on with that, can you tell us a little bit about your gap
year and and how that was and what you did to keep yourself busy during that time?
So gap year was designed for me to be a year of just working to be able to pay
for college, just like in case I didn't happen to get any scholarships,
which I doubt that I won't get any scholarships, but you know,
(04:09):
there's always that. What if?
Oh yes. So that, and I had no clue what I wanted to do at the end of my senior year.
So I thought, Oh, why not take a gap year? So I I did that.
And I have been working at Trinity seven days a week.
Sunday and Saturday, I tear down, set up the stage, do AV, all that for the Sunday service.
(04:30):
And then Monday through Friday, I work in afterschool from two to six every day.
Very light schedule, but it makes decent money.
That's awesome. I could imagine like, even though it is a light schedule, that would be taxing.
I'm sure that you love the kids and everything, but only a few hours with them
every day. It can be a lot, like just the mental part of that.
(04:51):
But I know that you love the kids. You've told me about that before.
That's awesome that you're just there to help grow them and support them.
And I'm curious, how have you grown through that gap year?
We'll start with personally. How have you grown personally through that gap year?
So personally, I have been building myself up. So mental.
In the mornings, I would go to the gym, right? Yes.
(05:14):
I mean, I need that summer bod, you know? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean,
we all do. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
So I'll get up probably around 10 o'clock. I'll have a late morning.
I'll get up, eat breakfast, and then I'll go to the gym for probably around an hour and a half a day.
30 minutes of that is cardio. Sweet. weight.
It's great for burning calories and stuff.
(05:36):
The other hour is strength training, you know, legs, arms, backs, that kind of stuff.
Okay. So you're like sore after all that. Oh yeah. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah.
I will say the first couple of weeks were terrible. It was really bad.
Yeah. That's intense, but like, I'm glad that you're able to do that. That's awesome.
So spiritually, how would you say that you've grown over that gap year?
(05:58):
So spiritually, I have been praying and praying about what I'm going to do.
Most of the gap year, or at least half of that gap year was praying,
oh my goodness, Lord, what am I going to do? I have no clue what I want to get into.
I had toured schools before Northwest, like Southeastern and Georgia State,
stuff like that. But none of them really spoke to me.
I completely understand that. And then the Lord just kind of pushed you in that
(06:22):
direction with Northwest when you went there?
Yeah, Northwest was the first college that I had toured that I thought,
oh my goodness, this actually sounds like something that I want to do.
It's cool when you can just like clearly see Him directing you in a specific path.
Like that's absolutely amazing. And I'm glad that that happened with you.
Was there anything else that happened spiritually? I do think working with those
(06:45):
kids and having them being able to look up to me has helped me realize how much,
it doesn't really compare to how much He loves me.
Yes. But knowing how much I love them, it's just kind of, oh my goodness,
that's insane that He loves me that much.
That's awesome, man. And I'm glad that you have that sort of role of mentorship
with them and that sort of thing.
(07:05):
And I'm sure that you were very uplifting to them. And with that,
since that was where you work, did you grow professionally?
And if so, like, how would you say that you grew professionally over your gap
year? Because you were working like all that whole time.
So professionally, I wouldn't say that doing after school did much,
but working AV audio visual setup, that has taught me a decent bit about like,
(07:30):
you know, where stuff goes and how to work it.
And I've learned more about how to set things up. And just as we were talking
about before, cable management, you know? Oh, cable management, yep.
If you're going to be in anything just even briefly related to electronics,
you've got to know cable management and that sort of thing. Yeah, yeah.
With this program that you're going to be doing at Northwest College,
(07:52):
what are the activities going to look like?
What are you going to be involved in and that sort of thing?
For the photography class, this is one thing I'm really looking forward to.
Every week, we go to Yellowstone.
Yeah, it's about an hour away and it's just beautiful. We go up there, take pictures.
I think it's either once a semester or once a year.
(08:13):
The class will take an international trip. Sweet. I have no idea where though.
I do know they do that and they'll go on photography trips, take pictures and stuff.
Especially like if you got to go to like Germany or somewhere because I mean
like being German, that would have to be cool.
So with that, are you thinking of possibly leaving Georgia and moving to Wyoming
(08:37):
like for forever? Are you going to come back? Like, what's your plan?
I do not foresee myself coming back to Georgia.
After the few years at Northwest, I have been talking to one of my cousins who lives in Oregon.
Oh. There is a very small possibility that I'll be living with him.
Nice. We'll be renting out a house and we'll go from there.
(09:01):
That's awesome, man. Sweet. Well, you'll still like have to come back and visit
like me, Sam and obviously James.
I mean, James is going to be missing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I hope so.
Yes. We all hope that James would be missing. Yes. James is Johnny's little
brother, by the way. I feel like I should explain that, but yeah.
So what specific skills or knowledge are you hoping to gain from it?
(09:24):
So one thing that I would like to do, this is going back to welding.
Okay. I would love to learn TIG welding.
Interesting. Because with TIG welding, I can get into aerospace welding if I
do get good enough with that. And that pays a lot.
Yeah. So TIG welding, would you mind like just briefly explaining kind of the
(09:44):
premise behind that? I know nothing about welding.
So what is that going to be like? What is the difference between that and like
a normal like house weld?
So welding basically is joining two pieces of metal in a way that is structurally
sound, and the weld would be indistinguishable from if it was just a solid plate.
You specifically said like TIG welding.
(10:05):
What is that going to be like? Like, is that different from any other sort of welding?
Or like, how do you differentiate between the different parts of welding?
There are a couple different methods of welding. There's TIG,
MIG, and STIC. So, TIG, MIG, and STIC are the most common.
TIG welding uses a tungsten.
Carbide tip that emits plasma
(10:27):
which basically melts the metal gotcha and
then you'll have a rod of whatever metal
you were trying to belt weld and you would dip that rod into the pool of molten
metal that the plasma creates okay and that's what makes the weld and then stick
welding is kind of like you know those little sparklers you light the end and
(10:49):
it sparkles everywhere Yeah,
it's kind of like a really big one of those, except you have to lay it on the
metal and it will create a trail of metal.
Okay. So long-term goals.
What are you thinking with the program? Like what's your end goal?
What type of job? You've told us that you want to work in aerospace and that
(11:09):
sort of thing. What do you want to do as far as photography goes?
So photography would be more of a side job hobby kind of thing.
So wedding, photographies, nice stuff like that.
Basically being able to communicate in an image what is going on.
Cool. Well, I'm doing wedding DJing now. I don't know if I told you that,
but you did not. That's cool. That's really cool.
(11:31):
We'll have to work together at some point. Oh yeah, that would be fun if we
just like didn't say anything ever.
And then like we just randomly showed up at the same wedding and I was like, Johnny.
And then you're like Coleman. woman and then we just both had
that really cool exchange and then the bride was like what is going on that
would be sick yeah that would be sick bro yeah yeah i hope to work with you
like i hate that we're not gonna see each other for a while because june 10th
(11:53):
right man that's coming up you know ah okay so last month what are you gonna
do in your last month last month that's a good question.
I'm considering getting another job just to get that extra boost of cash i got
you having to pay for all my meals and gas and stuff.
That's just like a whole new world of stuff that I'm not.
(12:16):
I mean, I do pay for gas, but like meals, my mom will make meals and I'll eat
that. But other than that, I am pretty much dependent on them.
I completely get that. I'm the same way. I am kind of curious now,
though, since you said that, going to Wyoming, are you driving all the way there?
Oh yeah, this is a fun topic. So yeah, me and yeah, yeah. Yeah.
(12:38):
Wow. How far away is that, dude? So the trip with me and my dad are taking is
probably going to be close to 2,300 miles.
How long is that going to be? That's going to be closer to three days of just driving on the road.
That doesn't account for all the stops and stuff that we're making.
Okay, gotcha. So three days. What do you do to pass the time on the road on
(12:59):
like that sort of car trip?
Do you like listen to music or do y'all play like the license game where you
like try and... Oh, goodness.
No, no. We'll listen to music. We'll probably listen to a couple podcasts and
audiobook and stuff like that.
I've been trying to get him into some music that I've been listening to recently
called Brent Faiyaz. Have you heard of him?
Yes. Okay, sweet. Yeah. He's an R&B guy, right? Mm-hmm.
(13:21):
His lyrics are a little eh, but his backbeat and mixing, it's all just really well done.
But I will say one thing I'm looking forward to is we are driving all the way
to LA and then through Colorado and then up through Utah and then to Wyoming.
So going to LA, are you stopping in and getting photos with celebrities or like, what are you doing?
(13:45):
So I have an uncle that lives out there who is big in the film industry.
Nice. He's a pretty big set designer out there, but he is wanting to get me
set up with some of his contacts as just like a fallback for if I ever wanted
to go into the film industry,
assuming welding and photography doesn't work out.
(14:07):
So I'll always have a fallback. even if photography does work out you could
do like the behind the scenes photography right yeah.
That'll be awesome man cool i can't wait to see where
the Lord takes you with this and we will definitely have to
keep in contact because that's awesome dude so how
do you think this experience of going off to
Wyoming living on your own thousands of
(14:28):
miles away from home from where you
know like nothing about right because have you
ever been to Wyoming before other than like visiting the college yeah
we so I do have some filming up there we'll go
up every two to three years oh okay but the
only places we've been to in Wyoming are Powell and
Cody which is about 30 minutes away gotcha yeah so not much up there are you
(14:54):
excited to like have that experience of oh I'm going off I'm getting to live
on my own and that sort of like obviously I know that you love your parents
and just like I love my parents but are you excited about that sort of aspect of it?
Or are you more like, I wish I could live with my parents and still go to college? How does that work?
Yeah, I'll respect my parents. It will be nice being able to live by my own for a little while.
(15:17):
I mean, granted, there still will be house rules, but nothing to the extent
that I have been with my parents.
I got you. I completely agree. I love my mom and dad, and I love everything
that they do for me and how they support me.
But I have seen myself grow so much being off at college.
So I was just curious, like going into it, like what your thoughts were on that.
So that's cool, man. Yeah. Sweet.
(15:39):
So are there any classes that you've seen on the roster that you're like,
oh, I got to take that one before I get out?
Welding. Welding. Okay, sweet. Yeah, no, no, no, I get that.
Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Okay, cool. So if someone were taking a gap year like you did,
what would be a good goal for them to set or how would they They just jump into
it. And any recommendations for the parents?
(16:01):
So for the kids, I would say your number one goal with a gap year is making money.
Assuming you're going to be paying for college on your own would be to make
money to pay for that college.
So getting a full-time job, stuff like that. Nice.
But if your parents are paying for the college, then it would be great to set that money in a fund.
(16:25):
It would be good to set that money aside for later usage. For sure.
Yeah. Like for first house or something like that would be great.
So as far as parents go, what's something that you can encourage a parent with?
Because, you know, I feel like sometimes parents might think,
oh, my kid is not going directly to college.
What's going to happen? How can you encourage a parent with that?
(16:47):
How have you seen yourself grow to where you can tell a parent,
hey, this is my experience. This could be your kid's experience.
I will say I have not been in the house as much as I have been during the school years.
Gotcha. So for the parents, I will
say it is a breath of relief not having your kid in the house as much.
(17:08):
Yes. But it will be a big change when your student does decide to go off and do what they want to do.
Yeah. So that is something that you'll have to mentally prepare yourself for. Gotcha. Yeah.
Did you come into the gap year with any reservations about it?
Or were you just like, no, this is what I want to do.
I'm set on doing this. How did that work? And did your parents have any reservations?
(17:33):
It was until halfway through my senior year that I figured, oh,
I really should do a gap year because I do not know what in the world I want to do.
And I told my parents about the plan and they were like, yeah, go for it.
That's awesome yeah they just said go for it so because my mom is wanting me
in the house as much as possible.
I know that's not the same for every parent, but my mom is one of the people
(17:56):
who wants to have their kids around as much as humanly possible.
I have the same experience. My mama, we tried to get her a cat to like,
kind of like, I guess, replace me in a sort of way.
She just cried like the whole entire time. She was like, no,
but yeah, that cat turned out to just be straight up evil, bro.
Like, I don't know what the deal is with the cat, but yeah, I have a similar
(18:18):
experience. Like my mom, she loves me and I love her and she wants me in the
house as much as possible.
But that is one key thing with a parent is like having that sort of support
to where it's just like, that's what you want to do.
Great. We're going to support you in that. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know,
to an extent, I think that is very healthy.
There's a certain extent where it doesn't become healthy anymore and it actually becomes harmful.
(18:40):
But in that sort of scenario, when you don't know what you want to do,
then in my opinion, it would be a waste of money to just go off to college and
be like, I'm going to figure out what I want to do.
I think that gap year, that was very wise for you to just be like,
I'm going to spend this time that way I can save up for college and that sort of thing.
And then during that time, I'm going to figure out on my own.
And I'm assuming that you set that goal for yourself too as well, right?
(19:03):
Like during the gap year, I'm going to figure out what I want to do for college
or like, what was that goal?
Like, was it two years, three years or one year? Like, how did you decide I'm
going to either go to college or not? So that time frame really only lasted
three or four months until I went to tour Northwest.
Okay. So before I toured, I was under the impression that I would be doing something
(19:28):
with computers or technology.
That's what I have a natural affinity for. Yeah. But that never came to fruition.
I did want to get into 3D graphics.
I remember that. I wanted to make 3D models for a company called Activision.
Hey, yeah, just a small little company. Yeah, just a small. You've never heard
(19:50):
of it. You would never hear of it ever.
What's been your greatest challenge that you've had coming up through all of
this going into the gap year?
And it could even be like something in your childhood, high school,
anything that's led you to this point in 2024.
I think the greatest challenge that
I've had to go through is setting up financial aid. That is a disaster.
(20:14):
Because FAFSA does not like me for whatever reason. I cannot get anything to
go through. Is it the signature thing?
I don't think it was a signature thing. They don't like my email. Oh, that is weird. Yeah.
I've had a lot of trouble with FAFSA too. Like it's the weirdest thing.
I remember they had to like extend the timeframe for financial aid at Belmont.
(20:36):
At least I don't know how it is for any other schools, but at Belmont,
they had to extend it because the site was not working.
But I completely understand how that could be the greatest challenge. Yes.
I will say another challenge was just making it through high school, period.
Yeah. Because there were definitely times that I just wanted to drop and not do anything.
(20:57):
Really? And be a slum. Yeah, because it was just not good. I was not having a good time.
I wouldn't have ever guessed that just like seeing you at lunch playing the
ukulele instead. Oh my goodness. High school was pretty good for me.
Like up until probably the last year, it was kind of rough the last year.
But by the same token, in eighth grade. I think I did that one to myself.
(21:20):
I took three extra credits that I didn't have to and they were all sciences.
So like we were in the PE class.
All the credit goes to Ms. Brezina for any PowerPoint skills that I have now.
Like, oh my word, that was PowerPoint 101 for me because I had never done anything in PowerPoint.
And then it was like all these different PowerPoint presentations.
(21:40):
So thank you so much, Ms. Brezina for like teaching me that.
That has been one of the most useful skills I've had in school.
So thank you so much. You were amazing at teaching us that. And yeah,
so I could definitely see how high school would be a rough point though.
I'm glad to see that you made it through, though. Yeah, I pushed through.
Cheers to you, Johnny. That's awesome. I made it. Yes. Barely.
(22:04):
Just curious, what is your favorite memory that you've had from this gap year?
So those kids, for one, just being able to work with them has been a blessing.
They see me as one of their favorite teachers, and I really appreciate that. Aw.
So yeah, even though I don't actually teach them anything except not to kill each other,
which is really taxing some days because they are
(22:26):
just going at it yeah like what age
are they so it's first through fifth grade
yeah there's probably close to
60 kids every day and that doesn't
include pre-k kindergarten that's like a whole nother i'm
not in yeah you don't want to be sick every week i
get that no no i completely get that yeah but
(22:47):
that's awesome that you've developed that sort of bond with them yeah yeah
and I'm so proud of you like I can just see like
in your face you are much happier now like I
know that I said that you seemed happy in high school you did, but
you seem much happier now that you're out and now that
you've like had that experience and i have no doubt that
working with those kids and like in the church environment and that sort of
(23:09):
thing that definitely had an impact on you you can just see from your countenance
and everything yeah that's changed but that's awesome man so is there anything
else that you would like to to share with us that's happened like over the gap
year or anything else that you're just excited about in general?
If you don't have a solid idea of what you want to do before your high school
career ends, take a gap year.
(23:31):
There's no downsides to taking a gap year. I love that. Yeah.
Thank you so much. Words of wisdom from Johnny, everybody.
That's awesome. Yeah. So if you don't know what you want to do, then take a gap year.
Love it. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
Thank you so much for listening. Let's give it up for Johnny, everybody.
Thank you for coming out here after us being
(23:52):
friends for all these years like and just doing this like this was
so fun I'm glad we got to express our audio side you know yeah like that's so
fun and we finally got to record something together and I can't wait to work
with you in the future man because I have no doubt that we will I don't know
what it's gonna be like if it's gonna be welding or something or if it's gonna
be a photography wedding thing that we do and i I don't know. Maybe it's music.
(24:15):
We'll figure it out. But it really means a lot to see how much y'all are loving the show.
And every time y'all reach out to us, thank you so much for just giving us that sort of feedback.
It's really encouraging and it really keeps us going.
Please join us next time as we take a look at college visitations and event planning.
Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Surviving and Thriving After High School podcast.
We've survived high school. Now what? This incredible world we live in is filled
with choices and we'll help you navigate your path to success.
Today, we have none other than the incredible Johnny Steinklauber with us.
You want to tell everybody, hi, Johnny?
(00:23):
Hey, how are y'all doing? Nice to meet you.
That's so Johnny. Yes. Well, we appreciate you coming out here,
man. Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me. Yes.
So Johnny and I have known each other for, I think it's about eight years,
right? Is it? Since third grade or something like that. Yeah.
Yeah, dude, that's crazy.
Wow. So that's actually more like 10. Wow.
(00:43):
I've known you for like a full decade. That's crazy. That's like a quarter of a century, isn't it?
Oh man, yes. That's funny. Okay. Yeah.
Maybe just a little bit under a quarter of a century. but yeah, no
no no that's awesome. It's crazy how
we've built this friendship over so long and I'm glad
that we always get to do stuff. We actually did a recording project when
(01:06):
we were much younger with our friend Sam and it was for our health class. That
was interesting. We were like eating marshmallows and then like Marshmallow
popped out. Oh yeah, yeah and I was crying for some reason. I don't remember
why i was crying. Was it because I burnt the
marshmallows? Something like that. That sounds right. And then we like ate kebabs.
Anyways, so Johnny here, he has an incredible thing that he's going to do.
(01:30):
And it's unlike anything that I've ever heard of before.
He is going to go for welding and photography. So absolutely incredible.
And he is going to Northwest College in Wyoming.
So Johnny, can you just tell us like how that came to be?
Because they're so wildly different things, but they are so you.
I could definitely see you being interested in those two.
(01:51):
But how did that come to be what you realized you wanted to do?
Okay, so my senior year, I did not know what I wanted to do at all.
I knew I was going to take a gap year, right?
But I did not know what I was doing after that.
It wasn't until around halfway through the gap year that I figured I will go
ahead and tour Northwest College, which is in Powell, Wyoming,
(02:14):
because I have family up there and we're going to be up there.
So, you know, why not go ahead and tour it? Yeah. And I did tour it.
And oh, my goodness, it's really cool. It's very scenic. Like mountains or like
what? What is the scenery like?
Oh, there's mountains in the distance and there aren't many trees.
I'm naturally not very fond of trees just because it blocks the view of the night sky.
(02:36):
Okay. And I do like me a vision of the night sky. It's pretty.
That was one of the deciding factors, actually.
Really? Yeah. There's no trees up there.
Nice. Okay, sweet. Yeah. So I
toured the college and they showed me their welding and photography area.
And ooh, they got some good stuff up there.
Nice. Okay. They have a lot of equipment just to use.
(02:59):
I was contemplating welding to
begin with. Gotcha! Then
i saw that and I thought oh this is yeah this is what I'm doing so that's
that. Well that's incredible! So with the photography i remember we were talking
about this a little bit before we started recording, but you said something about
how big this photography school is and did you say it's top in the northwest?
(03:25):
So it's top three in America.
Bro, that's insane. Wow!
Okay, sweet. So for photography, that is incredible. Okay.
I could see that though, like with the night sky and everything you have in
that opportunity, you have all of that scenery.
And I feel like that's something that you would definitely need at a good photography school.
So I am so excited for you, man. I can't wait to hear about this.
(03:47):
But before we move on with that, can you tell us a little bit about your gap
year and and how that was and what you did to keep yourself busy during that time?
So gap year was designed for me to be a year of just working to be able to pay
for college, just like in case I didn't happen to get any scholarships,
which I doubt that I won't get any scholarships, but you know,
(04:09):
there's always that. What if?
Oh yes. So that, and I had no clue what I wanted to do at the end of my senior year.
So I thought, Oh, why not take a gap year? So I I did that.
And I have been working at Trinity seven days a week.
Sunday and Saturday, I tear down, set up the stage, do AV, all that for the Sunday service.
(04:30):
And then Monday through Friday, I work in afterschool from two to six every day.
Very light schedule, but it makes decent money.
That's awesome. I could imagine like, even though it is a light schedule, that would be taxing.
I'm sure that you love the kids and everything, but only a few hours with them
every day. It can be a lot, like just the mental part of that.
(04:51):
But I know that you love the kids. You've told me about that before.
That's awesome that you're just there to help grow them and support them.
And I'm curious, how have you grown through that gap year?
We'll start with personally. How have you grown personally through that gap year?
So personally, I have been building myself up. So mental.
In the mornings, I would go to the gym, right? Yes.
(05:14):
I mean, I need that summer bod, you know? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean,
we all do. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
So I'll get up probably around 10 o'clock. I'll have a late morning.
I'll get up, eat breakfast, and then I'll go to the gym for probably around an hour and a half a day.
30 minutes of that is cardio. Sweet. weight.
It's great for burning calories and stuff.
(05:36):
The other hour is strength training, you know, legs, arms, backs, that kind of stuff.
Okay. So you're like sore after all that. Oh yeah. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah.
I will say the first couple of weeks were terrible. It was really bad.
Yeah. That's intense, but like, I'm glad that you're able to do that. That's awesome.
So spiritually, how would you say that you've grown over that gap year?
(05:58):
So spiritually, I have been praying and praying about what I'm going to do.
Most of the gap year, or at least half of that gap year was praying,
oh my goodness, Lord, what am I going to do? I have no clue what I want to get into.
I had toured schools before Northwest, like Southeastern and Georgia State,
stuff like that. But none of them really spoke to me.
I completely understand that. And then the Lord just kind of pushed you in that
(06:22):
direction with Northwest when you went there?
Yeah, Northwest was the first college that I had toured that I thought,
oh my goodness, this actually sounds like something that I want to do.
It's cool when you can just like clearly see Him directing you in a specific path.
Like that's absolutely amazing. And I'm glad that that happened with you.
Was there anything else that happened spiritually? I do think working with those
(06:45):
kids and having them being able to look up to me has helped me realize how much,
it doesn't really compare to how much He loves me.
Yes. But knowing how much I love them, it's just kind of, oh my goodness,
that's insane that He loves me that much.
That's awesome, man. And I'm glad that you have that sort of role of mentorship
with them and that sort of thing.
(07:05):
And I'm sure that you were very uplifting to them. And with that,
since that was where you work, did you grow professionally?
And if so, like, how would you say that you grew professionally over your gap
year? Because you were working like all that whole time.
So professionally, I wouldn't say that doing after school did much,
but working AV audio visual setup, that has taught me a decent bit about like,
(07:30):
you know, where stuff goes and how to work it.
And I've learned more about how to set things up. And just as we were talking
about before, cable management, you know? Oh, cable management, yep.
If you're going to be in anything just even briefly related to electronics,
you've got to know cable management and that sort of thing. Yeah, yeah.
With this program that you're going to be doing at Northwest College,
(07:52):
what are the activities going to look like?
What are you going to be involved in and that sort of thing?
For the photography class, this is one thing I'm really looking forward to.
Every week, we go to Yellowstone.
Yeah, it's about an hour away and it's just beautiful. We go up there, take pictures.
I think it's either once a semester or once a year.
(08:13):
The class will take an international trip. Sweet. I have no idea where though.
I do know they do that and they'll go on photography trips, take pictures and stuff.
Especially like if you got to go to like Germany or somewhere because I mean
like being German, that would have to be cool.
So with that, are you thinking of possibly leaving Georgia and moving to Wyoming
(08:37):
like for forever? Are you going to come back? Like, what's your plan?
I do not foresee myself coming back to Georgia.
After the few years at Northwest, I have been talking to one of my cousins who lives in Oregon.
Oh. There is a very small possibility that I'll be living with him.
Nice. We'll be renting out a house and we'll go from there.
(09:01):
That's awesome, man. Sweet. Well, you'll still like have to come back and visit
like me, Sam and obviously James.
I mean, James is going to be missing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I hope so.
Yes. We all hope that James would be missing. Yes. James is Johnny's little
brother, by the way. I feel like I should explain that, but yeah.
So what specific skills or knowledge are you hoping to gain from it?
(09:24):
So one thing that I would like to do, this is going back to welding.
Okay. I would love to learn TIG welding.
Interesting. Because with TIG welding, I can get into aerospace welding if I
do get good enough with that. And that pays a lot.
Yeah. So TIG welding, would you mind like just briefly explaining kind of the
(09:44):
premise behind that? I know nothing about welding.
So what is that going to be like? What is the difference between that and like
a normal like house weld?
So welding basically is joining two pieces of metal in a way that is structurally
sound, and the weld would be indistinguishable from if it was just a solid plate.
You specifically said like TIG welding.
(10:05):
What is that going to be like? Like, is that different from any other sort of welding?
Or like, how do you differentiate between the different parts of welding?
There are a couple different methods of welding. There's TIG,
MIG, and STIC. So, TIG, MIG, and STIC are the most common.
TIG welding uses a tungsten.
Carbide tip that emits plasma
(10:27):
which basically melts the metal gotcha and
then you'll have a rod of whatever metal
you were trying to belt weld and you would dip that rod into the pool of molten
metal that the plasma creates okay and that's what makes the weld and then stick
welding is kind of like you know those little sparklers you light the end and
(10:49):
it sparkles everywhere Yeah,
it's kind of like a really big one of those, except you have to lay it on the
metal and it will create a trail of metal.
Okay. So long-term goals.
What are you thinking with the program? Like what's your end goal?
What type of job? You've told us that you want to work in aerospace and that
(11:09):
sort of thing. What do you want to do as far as photography goes?
So photography would be more of a side job hobby kind of thing.
So wedding, photographies, nice stuff like that.
Basically being able to communicate in an image what is going on.
Cool. Well, I'm doing wedding DJing now. I don't know if I told you that,
but you did not. That's cool. That's really cool.
(11:31):
We'll have to work together at some point. Oh yeah, that would be fun if we
just like didn't say anything ever.
And then like we just randomly showed up at the same wedding and I was like, Johnny.
And then you're like Coleman. woman and then we just both had
that really cool exchange and then the bride was like what is going on that
would be sick yeah that would be sick bro yeah yeah i hope to work with you
like i hate that we're not gonna see each other for a while because june 10th
(11:53):
right man that's coming up you know ah okay so last month what are you gonna
do in your last month last month that's a good question.
I'm considering getting another job just to get that extra boost of cash i got
you having to pay for all my meals and gas and stuff.
That's just like a whole new world of stuff that I'm not.
(12:16):
I mean, I do pay for gas, but like meals, my mom will make meals and I'll eat
that. But other than that, I am pretty much dependent on them.
I completely get that. I'm the same way. I am kind of curious now,
though, since you said that, going to Wyoming, are you driving all the way there?
Oh yeah, this is a fun topic. So yeah, me and yeah, yeah. Yeah.
(12:38):
Wow. How far away is that, dude? So the trip with me and my dad are taking is
probably going to be close to 2,300 miles.
How long is that going to be? That's going to be closer to three days of just driving on the road.
That doesn't account for all the stops and stuff that we're making.
Okay, gotcha. So three days. What do you do to pass the time on the road on
(12:59):
like that sort of car trip?
Do you like listen to music or do y'all play like the license game where you
like try and... Oh, goodness.
No, no. We'll listen to music. We'll probably listen to a couple podcasts and
audiobook and stuff like that.
I've been trying to get him into some music that I've been listening to recently
called Brent Faiyaz. Have you heard of him?
Yes. Okay, sweet. Yeah. He's an R&B guy, right? Mm-hmm.
(13:21):
His lyrics are a little eh, but his backbeat and mixing, it's all just really well done.
But I will say one thing I'm looking forward to is we are driving all the way
to LA and then through Colorado and then up through Utah and then to Wyoming.
So going to LA, are you stopping in and getting photos with celebrities or like, what are you doing?
(13:45):
So I have an uncle that lives out there who is big in the film industry.
Nice. He's a pretty big set designer out there, but he is wanting to get me
set up with some of his contacts as just like a fallback for if I ever wanted
to go into the film industry,
assuming welding and photography doesn't work out.
(14:07):
So I'll always have a fallback. even if photography does work out you could
do like the behind the scenes photography right yeah.
That'll be awesome man cool i can't wait to see where
the Lord takes you with this and we will definitely have to
keep in contact because that's awesome dude so how
do you think this experience of going off to
Wyoming living on your own thousands of
(14:28):
miles away from home from where you
know like nothing about right because have you
ever been to Wyoming before other than like visiting the college yeah
we so I do have some filming up there we'll go
up every two to three years oh okay but the
only places we've been to in Wyoming are Powell and
Cody which is about 30 minutes away gotcha yeah so not much up there are you
(14:54):
excited to like have that experience of oh I'm going off I'm getting to live
on my own and that sort of like obviously I know that you love your parents
and just like I love my parents but are you excited about that sort of aspect of it?
Or are you more like, I wish I could live with my parents and still go to college? How does that work?
Yeah, I'll respect my parents. It will be nice being able to live by my own for a little while.
(15:17):
I mean, granted, there still will be house rules, but nothing to the extent
that I have been with my parents.
I got you. I completely agree. I love my mom and dad, and I love everything
that they do for me and how they support me.
But I have seen myself grow so much being off at college.
So I was just curious, like going into it, like what your thoughts were on that.
So that's cool, man. Yeah. Sweet.
(15:39):
So are there any classes that you've seen on the roster that you're like,
oh, I got to take that one before I get out?
Welding. Welding. Okay, sweet. Yeah, no, no, no, I get that.
Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Okay, cool. So if someone were taking a gap year like you did,
what would be a good goal for them to set or how would they They just jump into
it. And any recommendations for the parents?
(16:01):
So for the kids, I would say your number one goal with a gap year is making money.
Assuming you're going to be paying for college on your own would be to make
money to pay for that college.
So getting a full-time job, stuff like that. Nice.
But if your parents are paying for the college, then it would be great to set that money in a fund.
(16:25):
It would be good to set that money aside for later usage. For sure.
Yeah. Like for first house or something like that would be great.
So as far as parents go, what's something that you can encourage a parent with?
Because, you know, I feel like sometimes parents might think,
oh, my kid is not going directly to college.
What's going to happen? How can you encourage a parent with that?
(16:47):
How have you seen yourself grow to where you can tell a parent,
hey, this is my experience. This could be your kid's experience.
I will say I have not been in the house as much as I have been during the school years.
Gotcha. So for the parents, I will
say it is a breath of relief not having your kid in the house as much.
(17:08):
Yes. But it will be a big change when your student does decide to go off and do what they want to do.
Yeah. So that is something that you'll have to mentally prepare yourself for. Gotcha. Yeah.
Did you come into the gap year with any reservations about it?
Or were you just like, no, this is what I want to do.
I'm set on doing this. How did that work? And did your parents have any reservations?
(17:33):
It was until halfway through my senior year that I figured, oh,
I really should do a gap year because I do not know what in the world I want to do.
And I told my parents about the plan and they were like, yeah, go for it.
That's awesome yeah they just said go for it so because my mom is wanting me
in the house as much as possible.
I know that's not the same for every parent, but my mom is one of the people
(17:56):
who wants to have their kids around as much as humanly possible.
I have the same experience. My mama, we tried to get her a cat to like,
kind of like, I guess, replace me in a sort of way.
She just cried like the whole entire time. She was like, no,
but yeah, that cat turned out to just be straight up evil, bro.
Like, I don't know what the deal is with the cat, but yeah, I have a similar
(18:18):
experience. Like my mom, she loves me and I love her and she wants me in the
house as much as possible.
But that is one key thing with a parent is like having that sort of support
to where it's just like, that's what you want to do.
Great. We're going to support you in that. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know,
to an extent, I think that is very healthy.
There's a certain extent where it doesn't become healthy anymore and it actually becomes harmful.
(18:40):
But in that sort of scenario, when you don't know what you want to do,
then in my opinion, it would be a waste of money to just go off to college and
be like, I'm going to figure out what I want to do.
I think that gap year, that was very wise for you to just be like,
I'm going to spend this time that way I can save up for college and that sort of thing.
And then during that time, I'm going to figure out on my own.
And I'm assuming that you set that goal for yourself too as well, right?
(19:03):
Like during the gap year, I'm going to figure out what I want to do for college
or like, what was that goal?
Like, was it two years, three years or one year? Like, how did you decide I'm
going to either go to college or not? So that time frame really only lasted
three or four months until I went to tour Northwest.
Okay. So before I toured, I was under the impression that I would be doing something
(19:28):
with computers or technology.
That's what I have a natural affinity for. Yeah. But that never came to fruition.
I did want to get into 3D graphics.
I remember that. I wanted to make 3D models for a company called Activision.
Hey, yeah, just a small little company. Yeah, just a small. You've never heard
(19:50):
of it. You would never hear of it ever.
What's been your greatest challenge that you've had coming up through all of
this going into the gap year?
And it could even be like something in your childhood, high school,
anything that's led you to this point in 2024.
I think the greatest challenge that
I've had to go through is setting up financial aid. That is a disaster.
(20:14):
Because FAFSA does not like me for whatever reason. I cannot get anything to
go through. Is it the signature thing?
I don't think it was a signature thing. They don't like my email. Oh, that is weird. Yeah.
I've had a lot of trouble with FAFSA too. Like it's the weirdest thing.
I remember they had to like extend the timeframe for financial aid at Belmont.
(20:36):
At least I don't know how it is for any other schools, but at Belmont,
they had to extend it because the site was not working.
But I completely understand how that could be the greatest challenge. Yes.
I will say another challenge was just making it through high school, period.
Yeah. Because there were definitely times that I just wanted to drop and not do anything.
(20:57):
Really? And be a slum. Yeah, because it was just not good. I was not having a good time.
I wouldn't have ever guessed that just like seeing you at lunch playing the
ukulele instead. Oh my goodness. High school was pretty good for me.
Like up until probably the last year, it was kind of rough the last year.
But by the same token, in eighth grade. I think I did that one to myself.
(21:20):
I took three extra credits that I didn't have to and they were all sciences.
So like we were in the PE class.
All the credit goes to Ms. Brezina for any PowerPoint skills that I have now.
Like, oh my word, that was PowerPoint 101 for me because I had never done anything in PowerPoint.
And then it was like all these different PowerPoint presentations.
(21:40):
So thank you so much, Ms. Brezina for like teaching me that.
That has been one of the most useful skills I've had in school.
So thank you so much. You were amazing at teaching us that. And yeah,
so I could definitely see how high school would be a rough point though.
I'm glad to see that you made it through, though. Yeah, I pushed through.
Cheers to you, Johnny. That's awesome. I made it. Yes. Barely.
(22:04):
Just curious, what is your favorite memory that you've had from this gap year?
So those kids, for one, just being able to work with them has been a blessing.
They see me as one of their favorite teachers, and I really appreciate that. Aw.
So yeah, even though I don't actually teach them anything except not to kill each other,
which is really taxing some days because they are
(22:26):
just going at it yeah like what age
are they so it's first through fifth grade
yeah there's probably close to
60 kids every day and that doesn't
include pre-k kindergarten that's like a whole nother i'm
not in yeah you don't want to be sick every week i
get that no no i completely get that yeah but
(22:47):
that's awesome that you've developed that sort of bond with them yeah yeah
and I'm so proud of you like I can just see like
in your face you are much happier now like I
know that I said that you seemed happy in high school you did, but
you seem much happier now that you're out and now that
you've like had that experience and i have no doubt that
working with those kids and like in the church environment and that sort of
(23:09):
thing that definitely had an impact on you you can just see from your countenance
and everything yeah that's changed but that's awesome man so is there anything
else that you would like to to share with us that's happened like over the gap
year or anything else that you're just excited about in general?
If you don't have a solid idea of what you want to do before your high school
career ends, take a gap year.
(23:31):
There's no downsides to taking a gap year. I love that. Yeah.
Thank you so much. Words of wisdom from Johnny, everybody.
That's awesome. Yeah. So if you don't know what you want to do, then take a gap year.
Love it. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
Thank you so much for listening. Let's give it up for Johnny, everybody.
Thank you for coming out here after us being
(23:52):
friends for all these years like and just doing this like this was
so fun I'm glad we got to express our audio side you know yeah like that's so
fun and we finally got to record something together and I can't wait to work
with you in the future man because I have no doubt that we will I don't know
what it's gonna be like if it's gonna be welding or something or if it's gonna
be a photography wedding thing that we do and i I don't know. Maybe it's music.
(24:15):
We'll figure it out. But it really means a lot to see how much y'all are loving the show.
And every time y'all reach out to us, thank you so much for just giving us that sort of feedback.
It's really encouraging and it really keeps us going.
Please join us next time as we take a look at college visitations and event planning.
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