April 24, 2024 • 33 mins
Join host Kelly Driscoll in this engaging conversation with Andres Parres, a psychology major at the University of LaVerne. 🎓
Tune in to hear about Andres' experience creating his ePortfolio and how he incorporated his love for soccer into his college journey. 📚
Don't miss out on his inspiring story and valuable insights!
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You can watch our previous conversation with Benjamin Jenkins, Andre's tutor and University archivist at the University of LaVerne: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/episode-119-telling-your-unique-narrative-nurturing/id1538850043?i=1000633382988
Andres Parres is passionate about soccer and promotes the beautiful game with friends, too: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8hEyPCojVnu_mrc9iJH2qw
#DigicationScholars #PodcastEpisode #StudentStories #ePortfolio #UniversityLife #SoccerPassion #CollegeJourney
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
(00:03):
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
In this episode, you'll hear myconversation with Andres Parres a
student at the University of LaVerne.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's,
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication Scholarsconversations can be found on YouTube.
(00:25):
Or your favorite podcast app.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll,and today I'm very excited
to introduce Andres Perez.
He is a current student atthe University of LaVerne.
Uh, where he is majoring inpsychology with a Pre-Med track.
(00:46):
Welcome Andres.
Hi.
Thank you for having me.
Um, yeah.
So my, my name is Andres.
It's currently my last yearat the University of Louverne.
I'll be done with all myclasses in the summer.
Not too sure when I'mgoing to be graduating.
It's either in the spring or in the fall.
I have to clarify with my advisor.
Um, but, uh, yeah, and, uh,oof, what was I going to say?
(01:08):
Oh no, I blanked.
On the spot.
It's fine.
Thank you so much.
It's very exciting that you'regetting Near to the end of your time
there, and as part of your experiencethere, uh, for our listeners, I
was able to, uh, learn a little bitabout Andres before our conversation
(01:29):
today from his wonderful ePortfolio.
And uh, for those that have beenlistening to other conversations,
I did have a chance to talk to oneof his professors, Benjamin Jenkins
on Digication Scholars as well.
And we had such a lovely conversationabout how he uses ePortfolios
in his courses that I wanted theopportunity to speak to one of his.
(01:51):
Past students as well.
So, um, Andres, I know in theportfolio that you created, it has,
uh, a title in it that's calledthe LaVerne Experience ePortfolio.
Could you tell us a littlebit about what that is?
Yeah, so the LaVerne Experience, uh,so basically it's a requirement from
the school in order for us to graduateand it incorporates all the student,
(02:15):
uh, the values of the university, socommunity engagement, uh, diversity,
inclusion, um, lifelong learning, andthere's one more, but I forgot what it is.
But, um, yeah, so we had to incorporatethe values into our portfolio and see
how the values has affected us over thetime, uh, we've been at the university.
(02:36):
And so I highlighted threekey, uh, values that diversity,
inclusion, community engagement, andlifelong learning in my portfolio.
So then I explained in my portfolio.
Each value of what it meant to me andlike how it's affected me and what
I'm going to take from those valuesand apply it to my life in the future
after I graduate from Little Rock.
(02:57):
Nice.
So, when you started creating thisePortfolio, was there a specific
course that you were taking that kindof prompted you to start building it?
Um, well, it was our Honors ColloquiumII class that Professor Jenkins taught.
Um, it's basically, it's a part ofour librarian experience requirement.
Um, not everyone takes Honors Colloquium,it's only for the honors program.
(03:19):
But, uh, usually the class, like, peopleoutside of the honors program have
to, like, go out in the community and,like, either, like, um, be a tutor for
students at a public school or volunteerat a, I think at a food shelter.
But, uh, for our class, uh, ProfessorJenkins wanted to focus on giving
back to the community and being a,giving, adding to the LaVerne history.
(03:41):
So, um, at, uh, at our university wehave a, uh, Uh, ooh, what's it called?
Uh, the history and thenhe wanted us to add to it.
So we used our portfolios to add to it.
Oh, what's it called?
Oh, no.
Are you speaking aboutthe university archive?
Yeah, the archives.
Yes.
Thank you for saving me.
(04:01):
Yeah, the archives.
He wanted us to add to the archives and,um, which will add to the community and
making us have a history so when futurestudents can look back upon the archives.
And see it.
And then he also, in the class, he wantedus to use archives to write another paper.
Um, and so yeah, we used the archivesto look back on our history and then
like, and apply it to how much it'schanged over the time of the course of
(04:23):
the university's history to present day.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So what was that experience like for you?
I know you, uh, in some of thereflective writing that you
did in the e-portfolio were.
Kind of sharing that when you firstembarked on creating the ePortfolio,
you were struggling a little bit tothink about, you know, your kind of
(04:45):
place in the institution's history orhow you were doing really mattered.
You know, you were goingto classes and then.
Going home, you know, how does thiskind of fit into the bigger picture?
So what was the experiencelike for you as you're creating
the ePortfolio and starting tomake some of those connections?
Well, Professor Jenkins gave us, gaveus the idea of just like, look, You
(05:08):
have to make a portfolio, but it'sup to you what you put in there.
Like he, he gave us instructions,but it wasn't like a set thing
to follow, like a prompt.
It was kind of just like,this is your project.
You do what you want withit, which was difficult.
Cause usually I like instructionsand I like knowing what to do.
So I was, I was able to be a littlebit more creative in this sense.
(05:28):
And I was able to like take differentthings in my life and put it together.
But, um, Yeah, it was difficult becausehonestly, I'm not involved in any
sports clubs, anything at the school.
I literally just go to class, drive home,and then I do stuff outside of class.
And so it was difficult to see howI've impacted the community in any
way, because like, you know, if you'renot really there, then how can you?
(05:51):
Impact the community.
So I had to like, uh, look at mypersonal life to see how I impact the
community instead of just the school.
I started to expand my horizonsand think outside of the box,
um, to answer those questions.
Yeah.
So what kind of discoveriesdid you make in that process?
Well, upon, upon looking, reflectingon my life, basically, um, I, I found
(06:15):
out that I actually, like, in fall,I'm engaged with the community a lot.
Um, at that time, you know, Ihave a, I have a podcast called,
uh, 'Get In' football podcast.
It's changed.
The name has changed since the portfolio.
So it's outdated on the portfolio, but,um, yeah, I realized that we engage a
lot with the community, every video wemake, you know, sometimes it doesn't get
(06:35):
a lot of views, but you know, so there'salways someone to engage with someone that
watches and that engages with our video.
And, uh, recently we had a video, um,And we were talking about the Jamaican
national team, and we had a lot of peoplefrom Jamaica commenting on our videos,
sharing their thoughts and opinions,and that was just mind blowing to us
because we had no idea we could reachanother country and have that big of
(06:57):
an engagement with another country,so it was really cool to see that
engagement with them, and then, uh, andthen diversity and inclusion, you know,
I play soccer outside of the school.
And I was thinking, I was like,there's got to be something cause
it's the world's biggest sport.
Um, you know, it's, uh, everybody lovesit and there's got to be something.
And then I was, I'd recently joined a semiprofessional team at the time of making
(07:22):
the ePortfolio and two of my teammateswere Jamaican and I believe Nigerian.
And I never really encounteredanyone from those countries, like
specifically from those countries.
So it was really cool to talk withthem and spend time with them on
the field and outside of the, Field.
And yeah, it was just somethingI had to think about outside.
And then the lifelong learning, thatwas, that was when I could actually
(07:44):
go in the classroom and it was likereflect on classes I've had in the
past, because usually for me in college,like once I take a class, I don't
really think about it too much unlessI have to use it for another class.
So it was kind of like one of thosethings, but like it forced me to
go back and think about all theseother honors classes I've taken, all
these other psych classes I've taken.
And then I was able to use that.
To draw from my ePortfolio, and then Iuse a couple of examples from like papers,
(08:08):
and I think I used a presentation I usedin one of my favorite classes I've had
to incorporate it into my ePortfolio.
Yeah.
How did you make decisions aboutwhat you wanted to include?
And it looks like in some of theother 'LaVerne Experience', uh,
portfolios that I've seen, there'skind of an, uh, overlying structure.
(08:30):
Did you modify that structure atall or did you kind of use what
was available within the templatebut then filled it in with yours?
Specific kinds of projects.
And how did you decide what youwere going to add to each area?
Yeah.
Um, well he gave, uh, Professor Jenkinsgave us a, a rough idea of how to set it
up so it didn't look like a chaotic messof material just chucked into a portfolio.
(08:53):
Um, but I wanted to tell a story witheverything I did, uh, to an extent.
So like for my essays that I hadin the section, I forgot what
I exactly called that section.
I wanted to tell a story of myprogression through, uh, college so far.
Like my writing style.
My, uh, presentation style, becauseI wasn't a very strong writer.
I'm sure my high school teacherscould attest to this, um, in, in my
(09:15):
high school classes, um, I alwaysgot like B pluses on all my essays.
I rarely got any, any A's and, you know,I, I wanted to show that I've grown as a
writer, um, and show that I've improvedand, uh, in some way, because I've, I've
made sure I incorporate a research paperI wrote, cause I've never wrote, at the
(09:36):
time I've never written a research paper,and I was proud of what I've written
cause I spent a lot of time working on it.
And I wanted to show that and thenshow a reflection essay that I
had as well in another class thatchallenged me to think outside the
box again from Professor Jensen.
At the time, you, uh, you, uh, ProfessorJensen was a professor at all freshman
year and he had like all of these essaysall the time that were like really
(09:59):
like made you think outside the boxand they were never straightforward.
It was very frustrating, but you hadto like really put your mind to it.
And, and so, yeah, so I incorporatedone of his essays and then I just.
Try to tell a story with everythingthat I did and try and like reflect,
put my own spin on it, um, too,because I try to show my personality
(10:19):
a little bit through the presentation.
Like why the reason why I incorporated,uh, incorporated presentation into that
section for the documents was because,uh, it was my favorite class, but also
it's my favorite thing I've worked on sofar because in that presentation it was
an interpersonal communications class,uh, and so the class was basically.
About, um, uh, relationshipsand how they work.
(10:44):
And I thought it was really coolbecause it was applicable to my life.
And you can, I, I, what I've learned, I'veused in my life and I can see about it.
Uh, see what it's about.
And, um, and I was able to, inthe presentation, I was able to
analyze my favorite movie and therelationship between the two characters.
And then, so I was really proud of that.
So I had to incorporate that.
So yeah, a lot of everything that'sin there is a story of myself.
(11:07):
In a way that I try to make a story inthroughout my life, uh, in each section.
So, that was the idea behind it.
Nice.
And for you, was this kind of, um, processof personal storytelling or reflecting
on your experiences something that youhad done before you used the ePortfolio?
(11:29):
Or was this a new, uh, A new kindof practice or process for you?
It was definitely a new practice.
Um, because I didn't, I didn't reallyreflect on my life in that way and try and
incorporate the values of the universitythat we had, uh, to look at upon.
So it made me reflect on my lifebecause I never really done that before.
(11:50):
I usually just gone, gonewith the flow and I was like,
all right, this happens next.
And this happens fora reason and all that.
And, um, Yeah, and I just had to reallyreflect, but I enjoyed it because it
made me think outside the box though.
Um, especially with, uh, we hadto do interviews and I tried to
get, like, a theme going with theinterviews because I just didn't want
to interview, like, random people.
(12:12):
Um, and, uh, like, uh, so I was like,let's interview someone from the
past of the university and then let'sinterview someone in the present.
So I grabbed one of my friends that I'veknown literally the first day of college.
I met her on the first day.
And then I grabbed my mom who went tothe university, thankfully, so thank
you, mom, for going to that university.
Aww, that's wonderful.
(12:33):
I was able to reflect, I was ableto compare and contrast the two,
so I was just focused on telling astory in every aspect that I could.
Yeah, so I'm curious, between their twodifferent perspectives, were there a
lot of parallels in their experience.
Going to the same university, even thoughthey were there at different times.
(12:54):
Um, I would say there's, there'ssome parallels, both very hard
driven women on both sides.
Um, but it, my mom always emphasizedthat the campus during her time was so
much smaller than the campus it is now.
Because a lot of it was never built,uh, when she went there, and, and
then now it's a lot bigger, obviously.
(13:15):
But, um, yeah, I mean, it kind ofreflected the same way, because,
uh, you know, My friend, Sh...
She's still in college, but mymom's gone on to graduate school
and got her PhD and stuff.
So, like, uh, she's a lot moredeveloped in the educational side.
And my friend's stillstarting out in that sense.
And so, um, it was similar in the sense ofwhat they got from the university so far.
(13:40):
But it, um, but my mom was able to applymore to what she learned from LaVerne.
I was able to use it outside ofLaVerne for further education.
Um, but my friend hasn't, is stillthere, but she thinks that it's gonna
help her, uh, long, later down the road.
Nice.
(14:00):
And I know in my conversation, uh,with your, um, professor, Professor
Jenkins, he was speaking a bitabout the university archives.
And how important it is for studentsto be able to share their stories and
experiences in the same way that you'reable to refer to the archives and learn
(14:25):
about the institution's history and whatlife was like for students then and what
the kind of, Learning outcomes wereat that time to serve you today, that
your experiences and stories can havevalue to future generation and kind of
(14:46):
thinking about the ePortfolio as sort ofa time capsule, sort of your legacy that
you're leaving behind for other students.
And was that something that you kind ofhad in mind as you were creating these
stories or who are you thinking about asthe, the audience for your ePortfolio?
Well, I know obviously professorJenkins was the main audience.
(15:09):
Um, also, you know, I know he works,um, as an archivist at the school.
Um, but yeah, I didn't reallyhave like a set audience in mind.
I knew that it's possible for future,uh, students to see my portfolio.
But it's not like a guarantee, right?
Um, but I just wanted to, I tookthe matter serious and I wanted to
(15:30):
ensure that I was able to reflectand my portfolio showed the story of
my time at LaVerne and, um, I didn'thave like a set audience in mind.
I just want to be able to show mypersonality, but also show my time
at LaVerne and hopefully people canlearn from it or people can see.
What it was like back then.
And so, yeah, my, my, I didn'thave like a set audience in mind.
(15:54):
And I was curious too.
So you, it sounds like you added materialsfrom a number of different courses
that you've taken over your time there.
And as you were kind of going throughthis process of curating and making
decisions about what you wanted toinclude, had you seen any of your own
(16:16):
kind of growth or transformations as youhad kind of moved through the curriculum
there from one course to the next,how your skills may have developed.
I think thinking outside the box isprobably the best thing because, you
know, usually in high, in high school,you would be like, here's a prompt,
write about it, you know, or you haveto write a certain way, especially in
(16:37):
those AP courses, you have to write acertain way in order to get the grade.
So you're very limitedon what you could do.
Um, and, and when I got to the Universityof LaVerne, it was kind of interesting.
Uh, the writing professor I hadfreshman year was, I mentioned
before, was Professor Jensen.
He always, like, encouraged to thinkoutside the box, and he gave us prompts,
but the thing was, is I rememberat the time I was always frustrated
(16:59):
every time he gave us an essay towrite about, was that he never, like,
was super specific on what to write.
Like, we would have, like, some, like,reading, we, like, a reading we had to
do, or, like, a book we read, and thenwe'd have to write about it, but he
kind of gave us the leeway to kind ofwrite about what we wanted to write.
But, um, yeah, I think my writingstyle in that sense of thinking outside
(17:19):
the box improved, but also throughwriting so many essays and papers, um,
my overall writing just got better.
I'd stop making, I stopped speakinglike, don't slang English, you know, uh,
I, I gotta like, I started like, I'venarrowed down the typos and I've started
speaking like proper English when writinginstead of just like using like slang
that you should never use in a paperand I would always be a culprit of that.
(17:43):
And then I'd be like, Wait aminute, I gotta go back, because
I can't say that, that's not,that's not how you write a paper.
Um, but also um, I think another thing,uh, that has, uh, that has improved
over time was um, listening to othersas well, because usually I was kind of
like, narrow minded in that sense, butI think through all the classes I've
(18:04):
taken, it's, I've, I've learned thatit's important to also, like, listen
to everybody and just hear them out.
Um, because I've taken a lot of philosophyclasses because of the honors program
and everyone, and we've learned aboutso many different cultures, cultures
I've, like, never even thought about.
And, but it's always important toincorporate those, uh, to not incorporate
them, but listen to them and see howthey can be even incorporated in your
(18:26):
life or how similar they are to certainvalues that you have in your life.
And just be able to compare and contrast.
So those are the twothings I've learned so far.
Nice.
Uh, and it's great to hear that itsounds like some of the assignments that
you were given that kind of pushed yououtside of your comfort zone and may
(18:47):
have initially challenged you and madeyou feel a bit frustrated or some of the
things that you're most proud of today.
And where you've seen some ofyour, um, biggest growth happen.
So, I know many educators are,are hoping to kind of push their
students to the next level.
(19:08):
So, um, it sounds like you've had somereally good experiences and teachers
there at your, your time at LeBarn.
Um, and I was curious for you, youmentioned that you, uh, have a love
for soccer and that it's somethingthat you do, uh, outside of your,
(19:29):
uh, time at the, at the school.
It's something that you've includedas part of your extracurriculars
within your portfolio.
Um, when did you make thedecision to include that?
What kind of led you to want toshare that, that aspect of yourself?
Well, soccer's been a massive part ofmy life and it's helped me be the person
(19:51):
I am today through, um, trials andtribulations, uh, but I, I started when
I was 12, uh, and actually a couple ofdays ago, it was my eighth anniversary
of playing on the 17th of August.
I saw it on my, um, Instagram.
My mom showed me one for Facebook,but what I Aw, congratulations!
Oh, Yeah, so I was, so yeah, it's beeneight years since I started playing,
(20:12):
and it's always been a big part of mylife for, um, because you know, uh,
this is personal, but I will share it.
Uh, so I was diagnosed with a, uh,blood disorder, hemophilia A, so I
don't, I can't clot, I don't havefactor VIII, so I can't clot blood.
Um.
So, I was never cleared to playany sports when I was a kid.
I couldn't play football,soccer, tennis, nothing.
(20:34):
Um, and uh, you know, thankfully, andluckily, I was blessed with a great
medical team at Kaiser Permanente.
Shout out Kaiser Permanente in that sense.
Um, and I was blessed with a greatteam who, when I turned 12, actually
approved of me playing, but also,uh, the medication got a lot better
as well, and so I was able to play.
(20:56):
And so, yeah, it's always been abig part of, uh, part of my life.
Before the age of 12, I alwaysremember watching soccer with
my grandpa and, uh, my dad.
And it was always theMexican National Team.
We, um, big supporters of theMexican National Team, because my
grandfather, he was from Mexico.
And he, he actually got me intosoccer, because I remember one time
I was like, probably like five, andhe was like, he was watching Chivas,
(21:19):
he loved Chivas, and I was a kid.
I had no idea.
I didn't really care too much.
And I was like, Hey, canwe change the channel?
I don't want to watch this.
And he got mad at me.
And he was like, change the channel.
What do you mean change the channel?
And then he got mad at me.
So I had to leave the room.
And I was like, why is he so mad at me?
I just asked him to change the channel.
(21:41):
I didn't get it until recently, uh,when I started, like, when I was
around 12 and really got into soccer,playing soccer, watching soccer, that I
understood what it meant, um, to be sopassionate about something that you love.
And soccer is something that I'm verypassionate about and that I love.
And, uh, and so I thank him for that.
Uh, so yeah, it was just abig, big part of my life.
(22:01):
I've, you know, had a lot of ups and downswith soccer, uh, Actually, I had a year
break after senior year of high school.
I got injured with a knee injury, tooka year break and then didn't get back
to it until I was making this portfolioliterally the week and before I had to
turn in my portfolio, I made my semiprofessional debut and that was my first
game back in over like a year and a half.
(22:23):
So it was just like, everythingwas coming together at the
right time as I was making it.
But like, during that year gap, itnever left, uh, my passion for soccer.
And during that time was when I madepodcast, was filled in that soccer
gap or that I had, uh, Um, but it wasnever, never really felt the same.
Like I love making that podcast, but itplaying is just a different experience
(22:45):
for me is something that I prefer to do.
But, um, yeah, so now I'm doing both andI just love what I'm doing at the moment.
Ah, that's such an incredible story.
And I'm so glad to hear that even thoughthere were so many limitations placed on
you as a child, that you've been able to.
(23:06):
You know, build this love for the sportand have this wonderful opportunity
to play and have come so far.
That's really remarkablein just eight years time.
Right.
Yeah.
And, um, I love to hear that it's rootedin family and, uh, you know, of course
(23:27):
your grandfather wanted to share his.
Joy and passion for the sport with you andwhat a wonderful way to kind of carry on.
Your family's kind of historyand joy with the sport also.
Um, so you mentioned you startedthe podcast, if I got this correct,
and you started that when youneeded to take that kind of one
(23:50):
year break from the sport, correct?
Yeah.
So There's going to bea backstory behind this.
So actually, the podcast I have todayisn't the original podcast that I had.
So my friend Elijah, heis a part of my podcast.
I went to high schoolwith him for four years.
So me and him are still good friendsbecause we still have podcasts together.
But senior year of high school, weactually had another podcast called
(24:13):
Everything in Between the Sticks.
And it was an idea we had just for fun.
You know, we only post on Spotifyand it was just kind of like for
laughs and giggles and it didn'tdo well cause you know, you don't
really post on Spotify unless youhave like an audience to follow.
It's good.
It's hard to follow people onSpotify that are starting out.
YouTube's the best way.
And you know, it didn't go anywhere.
(24:33):
We kind of forgot about it.
Like we stopped filming andwe like just forgot about it.
And then he texted me.
He was like, Hey, it's probablylike September of 2022.
I think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Around like August, September ago.
Yeah.
So we're actually almostreaching our year anniversary.
(24:54):
So it'll be next month.
Uh, and he was like, Hey, Uh, we havesome people in Sweden who watched our
podcast, Everything in Between the Sticks.
And I was like, Sweden?
And he was like, yeah.
He was like, you wantto run it, run it back?
And I was like, you know what?
Sure.
Why not?
Let's run it back.
And this time, uh, we incorporatedone of his friends is now
one of my friends, Diego.
(25:15):
So then it became a trio on the podcast.
And then so around September, I'm sureI can probably find the exact day if
you just look on the YouTube channel.
Cause, yeah.
Can see the when it's posted.
I think it's like September 10th, I think.
Yeah, we can include a linkto it in our show notes.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, that's fine.
It's on our greatest video.
It's because it's a start,it's a startup video and we
(25:36):
had no idea what we were doing.
Uh, and I was just like, we, we didn'tknow how to flow because we were all,
we were three guys, but we never knewhow to like how to properly have a
flowing conversation that was engaging.
And so it was kind of like one of us wouldspeak and then another one would speak.
And then we would wait and it justnever was like really flowing and
(25:56):
we're like, Oh, who would watch this?
And then slowly we picked up overtime, we picked up how to like
actually have this huge, like dialogueor like how to talk and like how
to flow instead of just one of us.
Uh, one at a time.
And so, yeah, we've, we've, we'vepicked up a few tricks here and there.
And, uh, we've grown a little bit sincewe started a year ago, but, um, yeah.
(26:19):
And then we had the World Cup.
We grew during the world cupand then, uh, we actually did
really well during the Gold Cup.
That's where the Jamaican fanscame in the Jamaica video.
That's our best videoactually with a 10 K.
And then, uh, then we had atick talk with my team West Ham.
They were playing in a final.
And that went to 18k.
That was our best TikTok ever.
(26:40):
And it was just literally a video of mereacting to us scoring the winning goal.
And that was it.
That was the video.
But it was really like asentimental video to me.
Cause my little brother's inthe background of the video.
He's celebrating like crazy.
He's celebrating morethan I am in the video.
And that's just causeI was in shock of that.
We actually were, we won atrophy and I couldn't believe it.
(27:02):
But, um, yeah, Yeah, it's also thatvideo, the TikTok was also important to me
because it documented history of My teamwinning, but I care about my team a lot.
And it was just like seeing that moment.
I got to just go on TikTok and relive that moment.
Watch myself react to the video.
Well, and clearly others haveenjoyed in kind of reveling
(27:23):
in that joy with you, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Some people were a bit saltythat my team won, but some people
were, but, uh, overall it wasa good, good reaction to it.
And you know, I thoroughly enjoyeddoing the podcast with those guys.
They're a great group of guys.
And being able to experiencecertain things with them, like we
went to a football game recently.
(27:45):
It was a Wrexham, I don't know ifyou know who that is, Wrexham AFC.
It's owned by Ryan Reynolds.
And Rob McElhenneyversus Manchester United.
We had to go to SanDiego to watch the game.
Did a video on that.
And it was just, Another fun experiencethat we were able to do was us three.
So yeah, it's a nice little escapetoo because like if it's a busy week
then I have like an, I know I havean hour set where I can just talk
(28:08):
about something that I love with.
Two guys that are amazing andyeah, it's just a great time.
Well, and it sounds like you have a lotof, uh, respect for the kind of team that
you've built for your podcast and how doyou feel like that may connect to your
kind of team interactions playing soccer?
(28:31):
Well, you know, I've always...
It's always been taught to me.
It's always treat everyone withrespect, obviously, you know, treat
others how you want to be treated.
But, you know, it also helps that I wentto school four years with that guy, with
Elijah, and then Diego and I just goton really well straight from the start
because he was friends with Elijah.
And it, it, sometimes we have ourlittle bickers, uh, little bickers
(28:53):
here and there, but it creates,creates for a fun conversation
that adds to the conversation.
But it, it translates well to thefield, cause I, I don't think I've, I've
only non gone along with a few of myteammates, but that's besides the point.
But overall, you know, you always gottaget behind your teammates, cause they're
your teammates at the end of the day.
It's 11 players on the pitch, and uh,you gotta always have each other's backs.
(29:15):
Uh, so It's kind of easy to incorporatethe fact that, like, you have to be
nice to each other, but also just,like, have everyone's back, especially
people that are important in your life.
And so, I always just try and haveeveryone's back, whether it's these
guys or my teammates on the pitch.
Like, I'll always havetheir backs no matter what.
No questions asked.
So, I always love to ask whatstudents plans are after graduation.
(29:40):
Have you, have youthought about that at all?
Are you starting to?
Make some connections on that front.
What are you thinking?
Um, see, this is whereit gets iffy for me.
Um, uh, you know, Med school iswhat I'm aiming for, but I have
a secret passion project, whichis soccer, professional soccer.
(30:02):
It would be the dream.
Uh, but Med school is the realistic dream.
Uh, so, uh, Uh, I'm studying for the MCATsright now, uh, so I can take it, uh, but
I'll probably, after graduation, probablygo to EMT school and be an EMT for a
little bit, uh, before I go to Med school.
Uh, but, uh, the goal is, thedream is soccer at the moment.
(30:23):
I'm fully focused on it and I haveMed school in the rear view mirror
though, just in case soccer falls apart.
But my dream is to go professional.
Um, if that happens or not, we will see.
But I have some, I have some thingsin the works at the moment to try and
go pro, so we'll see how that goes.
That's, that's the dream aftercollege, but if not, you'll probably
(30:43):
see me in some med, Med school place.
I don't know, some journal.
Yeah, that sounds great.
Yeah, and I encourage you to pursueboth of those passions as long
as they continue to be passions.
Because you just, you really don'tknow where, where life might take you.
So follow, follow your heart.
(31:04):
Well, I'm so glad we had achance to connect today and
for you to share your story.
And before we say our goodbyes, Iwas wondering for, um, students that
may be listening to this or for thosethat may be introducing ePortfolios
to students for the first time.
I know when you came to this,you weren't really sure if it
(31:26):
was going to be of value to you.
Or, um, you know, what stories youmight share, what advice might you
have for students that are like, Idon't, what, what is this all about?
How, how could this benefit me?
Just have fun with it.
You know, don't, don't like try andmake it something that it's not.
Uh, just don't try andmake it super academic.
(31:47):
You know, a portfolio is supposed to bea show yourself, show your personality.
Be a part of you, be a reflection of you.
So just make sure you have your littlepizazz to it, be it, have fun with it.
Cause I had fun with it, compilingeverything, finding everything
and, you know, talking to mymom, talking to my friend.
And yeah, just, and also be, behappy to share, share it too.
(32:09):
Just be able to share it andjust share it with anyone.
Um, and yeah, just focus on having fun.
That's the most important part.
And then also the grade helpstoo, but, um, just be serious,
but also have fun with it.
It's that perfect balance.
You just gotta find.
But don't try and just make itall academic and try and put your
own spin on it because that'swhat a portfolio is all about.
(32:32):
Right.
Well, thank you so much again.
It was wonderful to talk to you.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you for listening to everyone.
I appreciate it.
Thanks so much.
Bye.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
(00:03):
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
In this episode, you'll hear myconversation with Andres Parres a
student at the University of LaVerne.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's,
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication Scholarsconversations can be found on YouTube.
(00:25):
Or your favorite podcast app.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll,and today I'm very excited
to introduce Andres Perez.
He is a current student atthe University of LaVerne.
Uh, where he is majoring inpsychology with a Pre-Med track.
(00:46):
Welcome Andres.
Hi.
Thank you for having me.
Um, yeah.
So my, my name is Andres.
It's currently my last yearat the University of Louverne.
I'll be done with all myclasses in the summer.
Not too sure when I'mgoing to be graduating.
It's either in the spring or in the fall.
I have to clarify with my advisor.
Um, but, uh, yeah, and, uh,oof, what was I going to say?
(01:08):
Oh no, I blanked.
On the spot.
It's fine.
Thank you so much.
It's very exciting that you'regetting Near to the end of your time
there, and as part of your experiencethere, uh, for our listeners, I
was able to, uh, learn a little bitabout Andres before our conversation
(01:29):
today from his wonderful ePortfolio.
And uh, for those that have beenlistening to other conversations,
I did have a chance to talk to oneof his professors, Benjamin Jenkins
on Digication Scholars as well.
And we had such a lovely conversationabout how he uses ePortfolios
in his courses that I wanted theopportunity to speak to one of his.
(01:51):
Past students as well.
So, um, Andres, I know in theportfolio that you created, it has,
uh, a title in it that's calledthe LaVerne Experience ePortfolio.
Could you tell us a littlebit about what that is?
Yeah, so the LaVerne Experience, uh,so basically it's a requirement from
the school in order for us to graduateand it incorporates all the student,
(02:15):
uh, the values of the university, socommunity engagement, uh, diversity,
inclusion, um, lifelong learning, andthere's one more, but I forgot what it is.
But, um, yeah, so we had to incorporatethe values into our portfolio and see
how the values has affected us over thetime, uh, we've been at the university.
(02:36):
And so I highlighted threekey, uh, values that diversity,
inclusion, community engagement, andlifelong learning in my portfolio.
So then I explained in my portfolio.
Each value of what it meant to me andlike how it's affected me and what
I'm going to take from those valuesand apply it to my life in the future
after I graduate from Little Rock.
(02:57):
Nice.
So, when you started creating thisePortfolio, was there a specific
course that you were taking that kindof prompted you to start building it?
Um, well, it was our Honors ColloquiumII class that Professor Jenkins taught.
Um, it's basically, it's a part ofour librarian experience requirement.
Um, not everyone takes Honors Colloquium,it's only for the honors program.
(03:19):
But, uh, usually the class, like, peopleoutside of the honors program have
to, like, go out in the community and,like, either, like, um, be a tutor for
students at a public school or volunteerat a, I think at a food shelter.
But, uh, for our class, uh, ProfessorJenkins wanted to focus on giving
back to the community and being a,giving, adding to the LaVerne history.
(03:41):
So, um, at, uh, at our university wehave a, uh, Uh, ooh, what's it called?
Uh, the history and thenhe wanted us to add to it.
So we used our portfolios to add to it.
Oh, what's it called?
Oh, no.
Are you speaking aboutthe university archive?
Yeah, the archives.
Yes.
Thank you for saving me.
(04:01):
Yeah, the archives.
He wanted us to add to the archives and,um, which will add to the community and
making us have a history so when futurestudents can look back upon the archives.
And see it.
And then he also, in the class, he wantedus to use archives to write another paper.
Um, and so yeah, we used the archivesto look back on our history and then
like, and apply it to how much it'schanged over the time of the course of
(04:23):
the university's history to present day.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So what was that experience like for you?
I know you, uh, in some of thereflective writing that you
did in the e-portfolio were.
Kind of sharing that when you firstembarked on creating the ePortfolio,
you were struggling a little bit tothink about, you know, your kind of
(04:45):
place in the institution's history orhow you were doing really mattered.
You know, you were goingto classes and then.
Going home, you know, how does thiskind of fit into the bigger picture?
So what was the experiencelike for you as you're creating
the ePortfolio and starting tomake some of those connections?
Well, Professor Jenkins gave us, gaveus the idea of just like, look, You
(05:08):
have to make a portfolio, but it'sup to you what you put in there.
Like he, he gave us instructions,but it wasn't like a set thing
to follow, like a prompt.
It was kind of just like,this is your project.
You do what you want withit, which was difficult.
Cause usually I like instructionsand I like knowing what to do.
So I was, I was able to be a littlebit more creative in this sense.
(05:28):
And I was able to like take differentthings in my life and put it together.
But, um, Yeah, it was difficult becausehonestly, I'm not involved in any
sports clubs, anything at the school.
I literally just go to class, drive home,and then I do stuff outside of class.
And so it was difficult to see howI've impacted the community in any
way, because like, you know, if you'renot really there, then how can you?
(05:51):
Impact the community.
So I had to like, uh, look at mypersonal life to see how I impact the
community instead of just the school.
I started to expand my horizonsand think outside of the box,
um, to answer those questions.
Yeah.
So what kind of discoveriesdid you make in that process?
Well, upon, upon looking, reflectingon my life, basically, um, I, I found
(06:15):
out that I actually, like, in fall,I'm engaged with the community a lot.
Um, at that time, you know, Ihave a, I have a podcast called,
uh, 'Get In' football podcast.
It's changed.
The name has changed since the portfolio.
So it's outdated on the portfolio, but,um, yeah, I realized that we engage a
lot with the community, every video wemake, you know, sometimes it doesn't get
(06:35):
a lot of views, but you know, so there'salways someone to engage with someone that
watches and that engages with our video.
And, uh, recently we had a video, um,And we were talking about the Jamaican
national team, and we had a lot of peoplefrom Jamaica commenting on our videos,
sharing their thoughts and opinions,and that was just mind blowing to us
because we had no idea we could reachanother country and have that big of
(06:57):
an engagement with another country,so it was really cool to see that
engagement with them, and then, uh, andthen diversity and inclusion, you know,
I play soccer outside of the school.
And I was thinking, I was like,there's got to be something cause
it's the world's biggest sport.
Um, you know, it's, uh, everybody lovesit and there's got to be something.
And then I was, I'd recently joined a semiprofessional team at the time of making
(07:22):
the ePortfolio and two of my teammateswere Jamaican and I believe Nigerian.
And I never really encounteredanyone from those countries, like
specifically from those countries.
So it was really cool to talk withthem and spend time with them on
the field and outside of the, Field.
And yeah, it was just somethingI had to think about outside.
And then the lifelong learning, thatwas, that was when I could actually
(07:44):
go in the classroom and it was likereflect on classes I've had in the
past, because usually for me in college,like once I take a class, I don't
really think about it too much unlessI have to use it for another class.
So it was kind of like one of thosethings, but like it forced me to
go back and think about all theseother honors classes I've taken, all
these other psych classes I've taken.
And then I was able to use that.
To draw from my ePortfolio, and then Iuse a couple of examples from like papers,
(08:08):
and I think I used a presentation I usedin one of my favorite classes I've had
to incorporate it into my ePortfolio.
Yeah.
How did you make decisions aboutwhat you wanted to include?
And it looks like in some of theother 'LaVerne Experience', uh,
portfolios that I've seen, there'skind of an, uh, overlying structure.
(08:30):
Did you modify that structure atall or did you kind of use what
was available within the templatebut then filled it in with yours?
Specific kinds of projects.
And how did you decide what youwere going to add to each area?
Yeah.
Um, well he gave, uh, Professor Jenkinsgave us a, a rough idea of how to set it
up so it didn't look like a chaotic messof material just chucked into a portfolio.
(08:53):
Um, but I wanted to tell a story witheverything I did, uh, to an extent.
So like for my essays that I hadin the section, I forgot what
I exactly called that section.
I wanted to tell a story of myprogression through, uh, college so far.
Like my writing style.
My, uh, presentation style, becauseI wasn't a very strong writer.
I'm sure my high school teacherscould attest to this, um, in, in my
(09:15):
high school classes, um, I alwaysgot like B pluses on all my essays.
I rarely got any, any A's and, you know,I, I wanted to show that I've grown as a
writer, um, and show that I've improvedand, uh, in some way, because I've, I've
made sure I incorporate a research paperI wrote, cause I've never wrote, at the
(09:36):
time I've never written a research paper,and I was proud of what I've written
cause I spent a lot of time working on it.
And I wanted to show that and thenshow a reflection essay that I
had as well in another class thatchallenged me to think outside the
box again from Professor Jensen.
At the time, you, uh, you, uh, ProfessorJensen was a professor at all freshman
year and he had like all of these essaysall the time that were like really
(09:59):
like made you think outside the boxand they were never straightforward.
It was very frustrating, but you hadto like really put your mind to it.
And, and so, yeah, so I incorporatedone of his essays and then I just.
Try to tell a story with everythingthat I did and try and like reflect,
put my own spin on it, um, too,because I try to show my personality
(10:19):
a little bit through the presentation.
Like why the reason why I incorporated,uh, incorporated presentation into that
section for the documents was because,uh, it was my favorite class, but also
it's my favorite thing I've worked on sofar because in that presentation it was
an interpersonal communications class,uh, and so the class was basically.
About, um, uh, relationshipsand how they work.
(10:44):
And I thought it was really coolbecause it was applicable to my life.
And you can, I, I, what I've learned, I'veused in my life and I can see about it.
Uh, see what it's about.
And, um, and I was able to, inthe presentation, I was able to
analyze my favorite movie and therelationship between the two characters.
And then, so I was really proud of that.
So I had to incorporate that.
So yeah, a lot of everything that'sin there is a story of myself.
(11:07):
In a way that I try to make a story inthroughout my life, uh, in each section.
So, that was the idea behind it.
Nice.
And for you, was this kind of, um, processof personal storytelling or reflecting
on your experiences something that youhad done before you used the ePortfolio?
(11:29):
Or was this a new, uh, A new kindof practice or process for you?
It was definitely a new practice.
Um, because I didn't, I didn't reallyreflect on my life in that way and try and
incorporate the values of the universitythat we had, uh, to look at upon.
So it made me reflect on my lifebecause I never really done that before.
(11:50):
I usually just gone, gonewith the flow and I was like,
all right, this happens next.
And this happens fora reason and all that.
And, um, Yeah, and I just had to reallyreflect, but I enjoyed it because it
made me think outside the box though.
Um, especially with, uh, we hadto do interviews and I tried to
get, like, a theme going with theinterviews because I just didn't want
to interview, like, random people.
(12:12):
Um, and, uh, like, uh, so I was like,let's interview someone from the
past of the university and then let'sinterview someone in the present.
So I grabbed one of my friends that I'veknown literally the first day of college.
I met her on the first day.
And then I grabbed my mom who went tothe university, thankfully, so thank
you, mom, for going to that university.
Aww, that's wonderful.
(12:33):
I was able to reflect, I was ableto compare and contrast the two,
so I was just focused on telling astory in every aspect that I could.
Yeah, so I'm curious, between their twodifferent perspectives, were there a
lot of parallels in their experience.
Going to the same university, even thoughthey were there at different times.
(12:54):
Um, I would say there's, there'ssome parallels, both very hard
driven women on both sides.
Um, but it, my mom always emphasizedthat the campus during her time was so
much smaller than the campus it is now.
Because a lot of it was never built,uh, when she went there, and, and
then now it's a lot bigger, obviously.
(13:15):
But, um, yeah, I mean, it kind ofreflected the same way, because,
uh, you know, My friend, Sh...
She's still in college, but mymom's gone on to graduate school
and got her PhD and stuff.
So, like, uh, she's a lot moredeveloped in the educational side.
And my friend's stillstarting out in that sense.
And so, um, it was similar in the sense ofwhat they got from the university so far.
(13:40):
But it, um, but my mom was able to applymore to what she learned from LaVerne.
I was able to use it outside ofLaVerne for further education.
Um, but my friend hasn't, is stillthere, but she thinks that it's gonna
help her, uh, long, later down the road.
Nice.
(14:00):
And I know in my conversation, uh,with your, um, professor, Professor
Jenkins, he was speaking a bitabout the university archives.
And how important it is for studentsto be able to share their stories and
experiences in the same way that you'reable to refer to the archives and learn
(14:25):
about the institution's history and whatlife was like for students then and what
the kind of, Learning outcomes wereat that time to serve you today, that
your experiences and stories can havevalue to future generation and kind of
(14:46):
thinking about the ePortfolio as sort ofa time capsule, sort of your legacy that
you're leaving behind for other students.
And was that something that you kind ofhad in mind as you were creating these
stories or who are you thinking about asthe, the audience for your ePortfolio?
Well, I know obviously professorJenkins was the main audience.
(15:09):
Um, also, you know, I know he works,um, as an archivist at the school.
Um, but yeah, I didn't reallyhave like a set audience in mind.
I knew that it's possible for future,uh, students to see my portfolio.
But it's not like a guarantee, right?
Um, but I just wanted to, I tookthe matter serious and I wanted to
(15:30):
ensure that I was able to reflectand my portfolio showed the story of
my time at LaVerne and, um, I didn'thave like a set audience in mind.
I just want to be able to show mypersonality, but also show my time
at LaVerne and hopefully people canlearn from it or people can see.
What it was like back then.
And so, yeah, my, my, I didn'thave like a set audience in mind.
(15:54):
And I was curious too.
So you, it sounds like you added materialsfrom a number of different courses
that you've taken over your time there.
And as you were kind of going throughthis process of curating and making
decisions about what you wanted toinclude, had you seen any of your own
(16:16):
kind of growth or transformations as youhad kind of moved through the curriculum
there from one course to the next,how your skills may have developed.
I think thinking outside the box isprobably the best thing because, you
know, usually in high, in high school,you would be like, here's a prompt,
write about it, you know, or you haveto write a certain way, especially in
(16:37):
those AP courses, you have to write acertain way in order to get the grade.
So you're very limitedon what you could do.
Um, and, and when I got to the Universityof LaVerne, it was kind of interesting.
Uh, the writing professor I hadfreshman year was, I mentioned
before, was Professor Jensen.
He always, like, encouraged to thinkoutside the box, and he gave us prompts,
but the thing was, is I rememberat the time I was always frustrated
(16:59):
every time he gave us an essay towrite about, was that he never, like,
was super specific on what to write.
Like, we would have, like, some, like,reading, we, like, a reading we had to
do, or, like, a book we read, and thenwe'd have to write about it, but he
kind of gave us the leeway to kind ofwrite about what we wanted to write.
But, um, yeah, I think my writingstyle in that sense of thinking outside
(17:19):
the box improved, but also throughwriting so many essays and papers, um,
my overall writing just got better.
I'd stop making, I stopped speakinglike, don't slang English, you know, uh,
I, I gotta like, I started like, I'venarrowed down the typos and I've started
speaking like proper English when writinginstead of just like using like slang
that you should never use in a paperand I would always be a culprit of that.
(17:43):
And then I'd be like, Wait aminute, I gotta go back, because
I can't say that, that's not,that's not how you write a paper.
Um, but also um, I think another thing,uh, that has, uh, that has improved
over time was um, listening to othersas well, because usually I was kind of
like, narrow minded in that sense, butI think through all the classes I've
(18:04):
taken, it's, I've, I've learned thatit's important to also, like, listen
to everybody and just hear them out.
Um, because I've taken a lot of philosophyclasses because of the honors program
and everyone, and we've learned aboutso many different cultures, cultures
I've, like, never even thought about.
And, but it's always important toincorporate those, uh, to not incorporate
them, but listen to them and see howthey can be even incorporated in your
(18:26):
life or how similar they are to certainvalues that you have in your life.
And just be able to compare and contrast.
So those are the twothings I've learned so far.
Nice.
Uh, and it's great to hear that itsounds like some of the assignments that
you were given that kind of pushed yououtside of your comfort zone and may
(18:47):
have initially challenged you and madeyou feel a bit frustrated or some of the
things that you're most proud of today.
And where you've seen some ofyour, um, biggest growth happen.
So, I know many educators are,are hoping to kind of push their
students to the next level.
(19:08):
So, um, it sounds like you've had somereally good experiences and teachers
there at your, your time at LeBarn.
Um, and I was curious for you, youmentioned that you, uh, have a love
for soccer and that it's somethingthat you do, uh, outside of your,
(19:29):
uh, time at the, at the school.
It's something that you've includedas part of your extracurriculars
within your portfolio.
Um, when did you make thedecision to include that?
What kind of led you to want toshare that, that aspect of yourself?
Well, soccer's been a massive part ofmy life and it's helped me be the person
(19:51):
I am today through, um, trials andtribulations, uh, but I, I started when
I was 12, uh, and actually a couple ofdays ago, it was my eighth anniversary
of playing on the 17th of August.
I saw it on my, um, Instagram.
My mom showed me one for Facebook,but what I Aw, congratulations!
Oh, Yeah, so I was, so yeah, it's beeneight years since I started playing,
(20:12):
and it's always been a big part of mylife for, um, because you know, uh,
this is personal, but I will share it.
Uh, so I was diagnosed with a, uh,blood disorder, hemophilia A, so I
don't, I can't clot, I don't havefactor VIII, so I can't clot blood.
Um.
So, I was never cleared to playany sports when I was a kid.
I couldn't play football,soccer, tennis, nothing.
(20:34):
Um, and uh, you know, thankfully, andluckily, I was blessed with a great
medical team at Kaiser Permanente.
Shout out Kaiser Permanente in that sense.
Um, and I was blessed with a greatteam who, when I turned 12, actually
approved of me playing, but also,uh, the medication got a lot better
as well, and so I was able to play.
(20:56):
And so, yeah, it's always been abig part of, uh, part of my life.
Before the age of 12, I alwaysremember watching soccer with
my grandpa and, uh, my dad.
And it was always theMexican National Team.
We, um, big supporters of theMexican National Team, because my
grandfather, he was from Mexico.
And he, he actually got me intosoccer, because I remember one time
I was like, probably like five, andhe was like, he was watching Chivas,
(21:19):
he loved Chivas, and I was a kid.
I had no idea.
I didn't really care too much.
And I was like, Hey, canwe change the channel?
I don't want to watch this.
And he got mad at me.
And he was like, change the channel.
What do you mean change the channel?
And then he got mad at me.
So I had to leave the room.
And I was like, why is he so mad at me?
I just asked him to change the channel.
(21:41):
I didn't get it until recently, uh,when I started, like, when I was
around 12 and really got into soccer,playing soccer, watching soccer, that I
understood what it meant, um, to be sopassionate about something that you love.
And soccer is something that I'm verypassionate about and that I love.
And, uh, and so I thank him for that.
Uh, so yeah, it was just abig, big part of my life.
(22:01):
I've, you know, had a lot of ups and downswith soccer, uh, Actually, I had a year
break after senior year of high school.
I got injured with a knee injury, tooka year break and then didn't get back
to it until I was making this portfolioliterally the week and before I had to
turn in my portfolio, I made my semiprofessional debut and that was my first
game back in over like a year and a half.
(22:23):
So it was just like, everythingwas coming together at the
right time as I was making it.
But like, during that year gap, itnever left, uh, my passion for soccer.
And during that time was when I madepodcast, was filled in that soccer
gap or that I had, uh, Um, but it wasnever, never really felt the same.
Like I love making that podcast, but itplaying is just a different experience
(22:45):
for me is something that I prefer to do.
But, um, yeah, so now I'm doing both andI just love what I'm doing at the moment.
Ah, that's such an incredible story.
And I'm so glad to hear that even thoughthere were so many limitations placed on
you as a child, that you've been able to.
(23:06):
You know, build this love for the sportand have this wonderful opportunity
to play and have come so far.
That's really remarkablein just eight years time.
Right.
Yeah.
And, um, I love to hear that it's rootedin family and, uh, you know, of course
(23:27):
your grandfather wanted to share his.
Joy and passion for the sport with you andwhat a wonderful way to kind of carry on.
Your family's kind of historyand joy with the sport also.
Um, so you mentioned you startedthe podcast, if I got this correct,
and you started that when youneeded to take that kind of one
(23:50):
year break from the sport, correct?
Yeah.
So There's going to bea backstory behind this.
So actually, the podcast I have todayisn't the original podcast that I had.
So my friend Elijah, heis a part of my podcast.
I went to high schoolwith him for four years.
So me and him are still good friendsbecause we still have podcasts together.
But senior year of high school, weactually had another podcast called
(24:13):
Everything in Between the Sticks.
And it was an idea we had just for fun.
You know, we only post on Spotifyand it was just kind of like for
laughs and giggles and it didn'tdo well cause you know, you don't
really post on Spotify unless youhave like an audience to follow.
It's good.
It's hard to follow people onSpotify that are starting out.
YouTube's the best way.
And you know, it didn't go anywhere.
(24:33):
We kind of forgot about it.
Like we stopped filming andwe like just forgot about it.
And then he texted me.
He was like, Hey, it's probablylike September of 2022.
I think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Around like August, September ago.
Yeah.
So we're actually almostreaching our year anniversary.
(24:54):
So it'll be next month.
Uh, and he was like, Hey, Uh, we havesome people in Sweden who watched our
podcast, Everything in Between the Sticks.
And I was like, Sweden?
And he was like, yeah.
He was like, you wantto run it, run it back?
And I was like, you know what?
Sure.
Why not?
Let's run it back.
And this time, uh, we incorporatedone of his friends is now
one of my friends, Diego.
(25:15):
So then it became a trio on the podcast.
And then so around September, I'm sureI can probably find the exact day if
you just look on the YouTube channel.
Cause, yeah.
Can see the when it's posted.
I think it's like September 10th, I think.
Yeah, we can include a linkto it in our show notes.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, that's fine.
It's on our greatest video.
It's because it's a start,it's a startup video and we
(25:36):
had no idea what we were doing.
Uh, and I was just like, we, we didn'tknow how to flow because we were all,
we were three guys, but we never knewhow to like how to properly have a
flowing conversation that was engaging.
And so it was kind of like one of us wouldspeak and then another one would speak.
And then we would wait and it justnever was like really flowing and
(25:56):
we're like, Oh, who would watch this?
And then slowly we picked up overtime, we picked up how to like
actually have this huge, like dialogueor like how to talk and like how
to flow instead of just one of us.
Uh, one at a time.
And so, yeah, we've, we've, we'vepicked up a few tricks here and there.
And, uh, we've grown a little bit sincewe started a year ago, but, um, yeah.
(26:19):
And then we had the World Cup.
We grew during the world cupand then, uh, we actually did
really well during the Gold Cup.
That's where the Jamaican fanscame in the Jamaica video.
That's our best videoactually with a 10 K.
And then, uh, then we had atick talk with my team West Ham.
They were playing in a final.
And that went to 18k.
That was our best TikTok ever.
(26:40):
And it was just literally a video of mereacting to us scoring the winning goal.
And that was it.
That was the video.
But it was really like asentimental video to me.
Cause my little brother's inthe background of the video.
He's celebrating like crazy.
He's celebrating morethan I am in the video.
And that's just causeI was in shock of that.
We actually were, we won atrophy and I couldn't believe it.
(27:02):
But, um, yeah, Yeah, it's also thatvideo, the TikTok was also important to me
because it documented history of My teamwinning, but I care about my team a lot.
And it was just like seeing that moment.
I got to just go on TikTok and relive that moment.
Watch myself react to the video.
Well, and clearly others haveenjoyed in kind of reveling
(27:23):
in that joy with you, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Some people were a bit saltythat my team won, but some people
were, but, uh, overall it wasa good, good reaction to it.
And you know, I thoroughly enjoyeddoing the podcast with those guys.
They're a great group of guys.
And being able to experiencecertain things with them, like we
went to a football game recently.
(27:45):
It was a Wrexham, I don't know ifyou know who that is, Wrexham AFC.
It's owned by Ryan Reynolds.
And Rob McElhenneyversus Manchester United.
We had to go to SanDiego to watch the game.
Did a video on that.
And it was just, Another fun experiencethat we were able to do was us three.
So yeah, it's a nice little escapetoo because like if it's a busy week
then I have like an, I know I havean hour set where I can just talk
(28:08):
about something that I love with.
Two guys that are amazing andyeah, it's just a great time.
Well, and it sounds like you have a lotof, uh, respect for the kind of team that
you've built for your podcast and how doyou feel like that may connect to your
kind of team interactions playing soccer?
(28:31):
Well, you know, I've always...
It's always been taught to me.
It's always treat everyone withrespect, obviously, you know, treat
others how you want to be treated.
But, you know, it also helps that I wentto school four years with that guy, with
Elijah, and then Diego and I just goton really well straight from the start
because he was friends with Elijah.
And it, it, sometimes we have ourlittle bickers, uh, little bickers
(28:53):
here and there, but it creates,creates for a fun conversation
that adds to the conversation.
But it, it translates well to thefield, cause I, I don't think I've, I've
only non gone along with a few of myteammates, but that's besides the point.
But overall, you know, you always gottaget behind your teammates, cause they're
your teammates at the end of the day.
It's 11 players on the pitch, and uh,you gotta always have each other's backs.
(29:15):
Uh, so It's kind of easy to incorporatethe fact that, like, you have to be
nice to each other, but also just,like, have everyone's back, especially
people that are important in your life.
And so, I always just try and haveeveryone's back, whether it's these
guys or my teammates on the pitch.
Like, I'll always havetheir backs no matter what.
No questions asked.
So, I always love to ask whatstudents plans are after graduation.
(29:40):
Have you, have youthought about that at all?
Are you starting to?
Make some connections on that front.
What are you thinking?
Um, see, this is whereit gets iffy for me.
Um, uh, you know, Med school iswhat I'm aiming for, but I have
a secret passion project, whichis soccer, professional soccer.
(30:02):
It would be the dream.
Uh, but Med school is the realistic dream.
Uh, so, uh, Uh, I'm studying for the MCATsright now, uh, so I can take it, uh, but
I'll probably, after graduation, probablygo to EMT school and be an EMT for a
little bit, uh, before I go to Med school.
Uh, but, uh, the goal is, thedream is soccer at the moment.
(30:23):
I'm fully focused on it and I haveMed school in the rear view mirror
though, just in case soccer falls apart.
But my dream is to go professional.
Um, if that happens or not, we will see.
But I have some, I have some thingsin the works at the moment to try and
go pro, so we'll see how that goes.
That's, that's the dream aftercollege, but if not, you'll probably
(30:43):
see me in some med, Med school place.
I don't know, some journal.
Yeah, that sounds great.
Yeah, and I encourage you to pursueboth of those passions as long
as they continue to be passions.
Because you just, you really don'tknow where, where life might take you.
So follow, follow your heart.
(31:04):
Well, I'm so glad we had achance to connect today and
for you to share your story.
And before we say our goodbyes, Iwas wondering for, um, students that
may be listening to this or for thosethat may be introducing ePortfolios
to students for the first time.
I know when you came to this,you weren't really sure if it
(31:26):
was going to be of value to you.
Or, um, you know, what stories youmight share, what advice might you
have for students that are like, Idon't, what, what is this all about?
How, how could this benefit me?
Just have fun with it.
You know, don't, don't like try andmake it something that it's not.
Uh, just don't try andmake it super academic.
(31:47):
You know, a portfolio is supposed to bea show yourself, show your personality.
Be a part of you, be a reflection of you.
So just make sure you have your littlepizazz to it, be it, have fun with it.
Cause I had fun with it, compilingeverything, finding everything
and, you know, talking to mymom, talking to my friend.
And yeah, just, and also be, behappy to share, share it too.
(32:09):
Just be able to share it andjust share it with anyone.
Um, and yeah, just focus on having fun.
That's the most important part.
And then also the grade helpstoo, but, um, just be serious,
but also have fun with it.
It's that perfect balance.
You just gotta find.
But don't try and just make itall academic and try and put your
own spin on it because that'swhat a portfolio is all about.
(32:32):
Right.
Well, thank you so much again.
It was wonderful to talk to you.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you for listening to everyone.
I appreciate it.
Thanks so much.
Bye.
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