December 17, 2024 • 19 mins
RCBC's 2024 Winter Commencement is finally here and we're excited to sit down for a conversation with the President's Award winners once again! Up first, we catch up with Wilkins Paul, who will speak at the STEM and Adult Basic Education ceremony as the division’s President’s Award winner. He'll discuss his passion for civil engineering including NFL stadiums, provide a motivational message to his peers, and take you inside his experience being a Baron.
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Jason Varga (00:01):
Music. Welcome to the program. Pod, a national
award winning program on thercbc Podcast Network, which
takes a deep dive into theprograms offered at rcbc through
different perspectives ofstudents, faculty and employers.
Yes, yes, yes. WinterCommencement season upon here.
Holiday season upon it's been awhile since we actually had the
(00:23):
program pod on. Had to take alittle break because of the
actual, you know, other job Ihave here at rcbc, which, Hi,
Jay Varga, how you doing? Youknow, putting a brand new
website, fancy that@rcbc.edu butfinally, getting back into, you
know, what I really, truly love,truly being passionate about, is
getting to speak with thestudents. Speak with the
students, talking about some ofthe programs, but all for the
(00:45):
culmination of graduation. Andit's the second annual winter
commencement, something westarted last year and trying to,
you know, not have everybodywait until May so they can walk
and move on with their othercareers and such. So what we got
going on now is we're going tobe speaking with some of the
president award winners that wehave for all three ceremonies,
which is health sciences,humanities, business and social
(01:07):
sciences, and, of course, stemas well as A, B, E, which we'll
get into those acronyms rightabout now, because we have the
President's Award winner, ourfirst one for this first episode
of the two parter. Here we haveWilkins Paul, which, hi,
Wilkins, how you doing? AJ, I'mgood. How are you? I'm good. I
almost want to be in a dyslexicside, because I see Wilkins
Paul, and then I get it kind ofbackwards a little bit
(01:30):
sometimes. Paul, Wilkins, doesit happen to you a lot? You
would not, would not be thefirst, I'm sure. Well, again,
congrats. You know you're thepresident's award winner. Going
to be speaking in front of yourpeers for the stem and Abe
commencement, which is thesecond of the third, or is it
your third? Your third one?Okay, I'm still trying to get
everything organized. TheHolidays end of the semester.
(01:51):
It's wild. Yeah, it's not goingon. But stem standing for course
science, technology, engineeringand mathematics, as well as A,
B, E, which stands for adultbasic education, right? So we're
honoring everybody there forthose for that ceremony, and
you're gonna be speaking infront of them. So first of all,
Wilkins, where are you from?
Wilkins Paul (02:12):
So I'm coming out of Burlington Township, okay,
New Jersey. All right.
Jason Varga (02:16):
Falcon, right, yeah. Or Falcon, yeah? All
right. Falcons, yeah. There yougo. Yeah. I was a I was a
renegade way back when. Anyway,you're here. We're not talking
about sports. Maybe a little bitlater on, some stupid questions
I'll be asking you later. Wewant to get to know you first,
first of all, get to listen tosome of your speech. Sounds
incredible. Sounds like you'reready, right? I think you're
ready. Yeah, no,
Wilkins Paul (02:35):
I'm really excited about it. Yeah, yeah. No, when I
first found out I had to do thisfirst was a little overwhelming,
but I got the speech I feel liketo what I wanted to be like and
that that eased me up. I feelcomfortable like now. I'm just
excited to deliver it now I likewhat I have to
Jason Varga (02:53):
say. Yeah, have you ever spoken in front of a size
this before, um, speaking of
Wilkins Paul (02:57):
sorts, this amount of people? No, I've done, I've
done public speaking, though, atmy church, I sing, so I sing in
front of, like, people. So I'mused to being on stage in front
of people, but I think thismight be the biggest amount
people, yeah, which is fine. I'mexcited
Jason Varga (03:10):
for it, yeah. And it's actually, look it's not as
big as it is before the for thespring ceremony, when you have
like, the whole crowd out there,and then you have all the family
and such. Plus, it's kind of alittle weird the way your vocals
will you know when you'reoutside at an arena of sorts,
right? Not that it wasn't arena,but the way you're it's kind of
hard giving speech people oftenpeople understand when they're
actually speaking in the podium.You can't really see the people,
(03:32):
but sometimes, like the Echo andthe reverb and somewhat get a
little distracting. But that'swhy we have these practices for
you, so that you're often readyto go, and you definitely seem
like you're ready to knock itout of the park, which,
depending when people listen tothe commencement or the, you
know, this particular podcastwill probably already happen,
because, well, we are going tobe broadcasting, you know, all
three ceremonies on our YouTubechannel for the rcbc YouTube
(03:53):
YouTube channel. Or, again, isthat fancy new website? It said
rcbc.edu, and then I'm going tobe pulling some of your speech
so everyone else can hear whatyou have to say to some of your
peers, and then we'll bespeaking with some of the
students. I have a new employee,slash intern. Source, Emmanuel,
is going to be helping me out,rocking out with everybody over
at the Student Success Center.Because after the commencement
is over, everyone will trickledown from because we are at Voda
(04:16):
hall right now. We're in themakeshift room here back in the
AV area, but the ceremony willtake place in Voda hall here on
Mount Laurel campus, and theneveryone will follow Barry, the
mascot, all the way down to theStudent Success Center for some
selfies, some cookies and allthe other stuff. And, you know,
get to really celebrate the forthe occasion. And that's when
Emmanuel be speaking with someof the other of your fellow
classmates and figuring out, youknow, seeing what their
(04:37):
experience was like at rcbc. ButI'm here to talk to you. First
of all, you know, why did youchoose to put your name in the
hat for President's Awardwinner?
Wilkins Paul (04:45):
Yeah, I think there's been a lot of people
before me that I've listened toon YouTube, all different types
of people that motivate me. Theysay really encouraging things
that has helped me and served mein my journey. Um, and really
whatever I'm doing in life. Andso I feel like this was a cool
opportunity to pour into mypeers say something that will
(05:09):
encourage them on their journeysgoing forward. And that's really
what it's all about for me. Likethat's really I wanted to model
my speech after saying thingsthat will help people, that they
can keep in mind after thisceremony and be like, Wow, he
said that, and that really thatthat helps me. Yeah, I was
Jason Varga (05:29):
like, to kind of get into the psychology of it,
of why people want to do it,because some people are
terrified and speaking in frontof it. But, you know, some of
the great stories I had is like,it's kind of something similar
that you said where, you know, Ihad a person I was battling drug
and alcohol addiction, and oneof the other speakers also was a
three time recovering addict,and went on now working at
Lockheed Martin, chemicalengineer, really crushing it.
(05:50):
I'm literally getting goosebumpstalking about this student,
Justin so Bucha, which isactually is his name, but that
his story connected to oneperson here at their
commencement, and now thatinspired them. I'm literally
getting goosebumps, becausethat's what it's all about,
exactly, right? It's all aboutthat connection and sharing and
that experience and stuff, but,but hopefully now your message
(06:11):
will now inspire somebody else,and then it continues to pay it
forward, right? Yeah, for sure,right? So let's go all the way
back. Why? You know, going froma Falcon to a baron. What made
you, you know, just kind ofstick around here for
Wilkins Paul (06:21):
rcbc. Rcbc, it's a good school in terms of, you
know, lower tuitions close tohome and, I mean, it's a good
campus. I mean, it's really nicehere. It's a relaxing, it's a
relaxed vibe here, it's not,it's not scary or anything like
the classroom sizes are nice.It's not too many people in your
(06:43):
classes, not big, huge lecturehalls. You get to have a good
connection with your teacher,with your professor, and so for
all those reasons, that's why Iwould say I chose rcbc. I mean,
for the first two years of mycurriculum, the same classes I
could take at a four yearuniversity for more money. Why
(07:04):
not just take it at the localschool? And also, I had some
family that came before me aswell, so I was already pretty
accustomed to the school. So forthose reasons, nice,
Jason Varga (07:14):
yeah, that's what I think people not really
understand. Sometimes CommunityCollege can have, like, it's a
little bit of a stigma, right?
Wilkins Paul (07:20):
Yeah, for sure, it's the same classes, I think,
yeah, I wish more peopleunderstood that. Like you said,
I mean, it's the same classes,yeah,
Jason Varga (07:26):
but you sometimes you're getting that more, you
said, one on one, you know,education, right? Like when
you're when you're in those bighalls, like this four year
school, sometimes you're in anauditorium with 200 people, are
you really connecting sometimeswith the professor? Are you
getting, like, I don't know,some of these professors that
can kind of really hone in. I'mnot taking away from what those
other universities are doing,right? But sometimes people also
choose here for kind of figurethemselves out. They didn't
(07:47):
really know what they wanted todo, and they come here and not
spend all that money and thenstill get that same kind of
education. And especially now,you have the partnership with
Rowan University that alwayskind of helps out, which I'm
hoping, you know, eventuallytell my daughter, it's just kind
of, you still gonna get thatsame Rowan degree, but you're
gonna, you know, save yourselflike a lot of school debt,
possibly. But did you alreadyhave your major? Obviously,
(08:08):
you're speaking of STEM. Soyou're gonna be one of the
science, technology,engineering, mathematics,
obviously, which one is that?What is your major? And Was that
something you already knew youwere doing, or is that something
you figured out as you startedhere?
Wilkins Paul (08:19):
Yeah. So my major is engineering. I want to go on
to do civil engineering,specifically because there's all
different types of engineering.As far as I wanted to do at
first i in high school, I wasthinking maybe I might do
something in computer science.So I took an AP comp sci class,
and that's where I discoveredthat I absolutely do not want to
(08:41):
do computer science. It justwasn't really my thing. Yeah,
Jason Varga (08:47):
so you figure it out, you try it, not for me,
yeah,
Wilkins Paul (08:49):
exactly. But I've always liked specifically. I've
always liked NFL stadiumspecifically, but I've just
always found them super cool.And there's, like, so many
different types of across thecountry. Yeah, go birds. I love
the link here.
Jason Varga (09:06):
Like now that the Eagles are trying to possibly,
do, you know, a closed stadiumnow, really, you know, I just
heard a little talk about that.It just came out, like last week
or two weeks ago, where it was,yeah, so now that the Eagles, or
Jeffrey Lori, you know, owner ofPhiladelphia Eagles, is trying
to possibly sell off, or hemight have already sold off
again, just going to conflict inreports. But the selling off
(09:27):
part of the stadium so they canafford to fund a, you know, an
enclosed stadium has like a roofover it, because they would
eventually want to be able tohost the Super Bowl and other
and other events. I mean, youlook at what Jerry Jones does
down in Dallas, right? That AT TStadium is is massive, but they
they bring in so much more moneyand revenue. But, you know, it's
like, if Eagles continue to besuccessful, but they never get,
(09:50):
you know us as Eagles fans, wenever really get to experience
potentially, like a Super Bowlin home stadium, like the Rams.
Obviously, it's very rare,right? I think it's only
happened one. Face with the withthe bucks and the Rams, but
that's, that's a cool feature,though, didn't do another
Wilkins Paul (10:04):
No, it would be interesting. I think I
understand the reasoning, but Ijust feel like, as I feel like
Eagles fans, I think we're loud,we're, you know, we're
rabunctious. I just can't, Idon't know if many Eagles fans
would like an indoor Yeah, it'sa different vibe. It's almost
like buffalo like, I don't knowyou think exactly what it had in
mind. Yeah, right. Like, we wantto be outside. We want to
experience those elements.
Jason Varga (10:24):
I mean, I did, thankfully, one of those ones.
It can be like, I was there was,like, at that snow game, right,
when shady went that, you know,had, like, whatever against the
lines, and it was only supposedto, like, snow about a couple
inches. And the next thing youknow, we're at the stadium. I'm
like, this is more than a coupleof inches, or whatever it was,
but, yeah, you're not gonna getthat, get that with the stadium
over there, but All right, well,we'll get back on track again.
We can talk, we can talk allthat stuff a lot more. That's,
(10:47):
that's pretty cool, though, but
Wilkins Paul (10:49):
I will say, just to finish what I was saying,
like, yeah, so I've always kindof liked buildings and such, and
so I thought I wanted to doconstruction management. That's
when I first that's what I firstcame here as construction
management. Okay, that's why Idid my first year here as and
then I just just through doingresearch, because, like you
said, when you come tocommunity, you don't always know
(11:09):
totally what you want to do.You're still kind of exploring.
Did some research on it, andjust found that civil
engineering kind of broadens myfield a little bit. And I also I
really enjoyed the science sideof engineering, right? So
construction management, it'skind of just more of a managing
side of things. Engineering isgoing to be that science, the
(11:30):
physics, the math in it andstuff. And I enjoy that. So
that's when I switched over tocivil engineering specifically.
Then it clicked, then itclicked, yeah. So I really like
it. I like my classes. So I feellike this is what I want to
stick with. So any professorthat kind of stuck out, I love
Professor Sherlock. That was mythat was my chemistry teacher,
(11:51):
my
Jason Varga (11:51):
he's always a repeat offender on my show.
Yeah, a lot of lot of studentsalways bring him up. He
Wilkins Paul (11:56):
is an amazing he's an amazing person. And he's
always, he's, he's a bigsupporter of mine, like he's
always supported me. And I lovethat, man. It's a great guy,
yeah, yeah. Well, sarcastic guy,
Jason Varga (12:09):
yeah, that's right, my wheelhouse, right there.
That's why we definitelyconnect. But so we're here
getting ready to move on. Butbefore you get ready to move on,
you know a favorite experienceat rcbc, favorite experience,
Wilkins Paul (12:22):
I think, you know, funny moment, whatever. Yeah,
no, I think funny enough. I hada and I mentioned this in my
speech. I failed calculus two,and I struggled with physics.
That was my spring, I think,2023, semester, I believe. And I
was that that was a hard, thatwas a hard season of life for
me, but it was also kind ofmaybe my favorite, a little bit
(12:45):
just because, like, I wasfailing the classes and
struggling, but I also had agroup of friends. We were just
all failing together. We werejust all struggling together.
But it was good times, in a way,because it was just, it was just
fun being with them and likebeing in physics lab with some
(13:05):
of your classmates. You know,good times. Yeah, so that's
good. So where you head next?Yeah, so I'm gonna end up doing
one more semester here at rcbc,yeah, just because I need to do
an engineering clinic sophomoreversion of the class before I
can transfer over to Rowan.Yeah. So one more semester, then
I go over to Rowan, finish mydegree. There, two more years my
(13:26):
Bachelor's at Rowan University.
Jason Varga (13:27):
Very nice. And then after that, you're gonna be out
into the workforce. You're gonnahave all your student debt, and
you're gonna start becoming areal adult with, you know, bills
and everything else the realworld experience. No, but then
you're gonna be making, youknow, some, some awesome, you
know, advancements in that civilengineering for for the next
generation, everything that'skind of coming on. But what I'm
(13:48):
getting to is that, you know,you had to apply for these jobs,
right? And you had to havethese, these, these interview
questions and stuff. So I kindof came prepared, okay, for some
questions to get you ready for,you know, maybe your next step
after Rowan University.Fantastic. Okay, let's do it. So
if you had a walk up song, orspeaking, you know, speaking of,
you know, you like baseball, I'mnot a baseball guy. Okay, all
(14:08):
right, so, but you know, thewalk up song, the batters come
to the plate and they have theirsong, or whatever, or, you know,
simply, you walk into a room, uhhuh, what songs gonna what song
is Wilkins want to hear? Oh,man, I represent Him. Represent
himself.
Wilkins Paul (14:20):
That's a great question. And this is something
I've thought of before,actually, just because when I
was younger, I used to be realinto WWE, okay, and so I think
of like, those entrances, Yeah,same thing. I've definitely
thought of a song, and I don'tremember what song I would have
thought I would have liked towalk in with, but what's coming
to mind right now is, I believeit's called red stripes,
(14:42):
something. Army, do you knowthat song I'm talking
Jason Varga (14:44):
ago? One white stripes, Seven Nation. Army,
here it is, yeah,
Unknown (14:48):
that little baseline, yeah, yeah.
Jason Varga (14:53):
Shoes are in colleges too. Man, think that
gives her again, chills. Yeah,that's a great song to walk
into. Or, you know, have your.Off. Okay, I see that. Maybe
I'll have them set up for thecommencement. There. You're
walking on the stage right fromCO so you got the little Seven
Nation Army going on. That'd befantastic. All right, so what
fictional character do youidentify with most? And why? Oh
(15:14):
man, these are heavy, loadedquestions. Oh
Unknown (15:18):
man, okay, what fictional character do I
identify with most? It's a goodquestion. It's usually
Jason Varga (15:24):
a good question when you stump the inter view.
Yeah,
Unknown (15:28):
right. I'm trying to be real on it. This one got me we
can come back to it. Yeah, let'scome back to that. Yeah. Let's
come back to that one. Okay, howabout this? We'll
Jason Varga (15:36):
close it out with explain quantum electrodynamics
in two minutes. Starting now,
Unknown (15:42):
what dynamics you said? I don't
Jason Varga (15:45):
even know. I just something I Googled.
Unknown (15:49):
You know, I really couldn't give you a serious
answer on that one, but this ismy best attempt. A lot of these
weird words typically have,like, maybe a Latin root to it,
maybe. And so this is me tryingto give a smart response.
Jason Varga (16:03):
You always just throw an AI, you know, or chat,
GTP,
Unknown (16:06):
I'm sure, I'm sure Latin language will help us out
with that. All right, well, allright. So maybe,
Jason Varga (16:11):
hopefully you don't get those, some of those
questions, but if they do now,you're kind of, you know, now
you can get like, like secondthought for it, you know. And
your job interview, it's kind ofcoming up. So before we do wrap
it up, though, and you know, wewill be taking some of your
clips from the speech, which,again, we will be streaming live
on our CBC YouTube channel. Andpeople can go back and watch the
entire commencement ceremony.You can go back and really live
it with your friends and familyand stuff. Watch our whole
(16:33):
speech there. But for podcastsake, we'll take a couple of
clips, some of your highlightsfor it, because it's usually
about like a 10 minute speechand such. But some parting words
for your your fellow classmates,you know, some an inspirational
message that we can you know,have a little testimonial here
that you would like to say toyour classmates there.
Unknown (16:48):
I would say that, um, and what I'm about to say this
something I really believe instrongly, like, throughout your
life, a lot of people have anidea of you, their opinion of
you. And I think it can bereally easy to side with those
opinions. For example, right?Maybe someone knows you as the
(17:12):
guy that can't do math. Randomexample, don't take on that
identity as, Oh man, I'm notgood at math, because all I hear
from around me is people sayingthat I'm not good at math. No.
Like, block out noise, right?Like, people's opinions,
thoughts of you, just make sureyou're doing the right thing.
(17:35):
That's like, stay strong in yourcharacter. Just make sure that
you're doing the right thing,work hard for what you want and
like, be whoever you want to be,right, like, I, you know, but,
you know, tune out that noise.Tune out that noise, be who you
want to be. That's, that's, Ithink that would be my message.
(17:55):
And you know what? I want tocome back to your fiction. Okay,
nice, yeah, let's do it. I didjust I thought of something. I
think of the Eagles in thatseason, where they won the Super
Bowl. And, you know, every,every time before they play a
ball game, they play the rockymusic. You know, Rocky is huge
in Philly. And so I would saythat would be my answer for who
I side with as a fictionalcharacter, Rocky, just because
(18:16):
underdog, um, underdog guy, alot of people didn't believe in
him, but you know what, he camecame back believed. And you know
this actually correlates with myparting message, actually, you
know, just works hard and doesdefy the odds. Defy the odds.
And this isn't a fictionalcharacter, but I love Nick
(18:38):
Foles, the quarterback who wonSuper Bowl because he was
another guy, an underdog guythat he he worked hard and he
believed he could do it. No onethought the Eagles could beat
the Patriots. They did it. Andso I'd say, Sure did that. That
that's who I side with. That'smy answer for that. Remember,
Jason Varga (18:55):
it's not how hard you can hit, it's how hard you
can get hit. All right, true.Yes, sure. I hope I didn't
butcher, oh, Rockies. Think it'spretty close to because I was, I
was on here, here, like thechime too. It's like a third
down at the Eagles games too,right? But it's just like,
Robert, yeah, it's not about howhard you can hit. It's how hard
you can take a hit exactly. So
Unknown (19:15):
keep getting back up. Yeah, that's it all right. Well,
Jason Varga (19:17):
you know, go, Rest up. Get ready for the for the
ceremony tomorrow.Congratulations. Wilkins Paul
here with us, going to bespeaking in front of his
classmates the President's Awardwinner for the stem and adult
basic education commencement,and looking forward to watching
it all go down live. Awesome.Yeah, I can't wait. And thanks
for having me on this is a lotof fun. Absolutely appreciate
it. Absolutely cheers. Paul.
Music. Welcome to the program. Pod, a national
award winning program on thercbc Podcast Network, which
takes a deep dive into theprograms offered at rcbc through
different perspectives ofstudents, faculty and employers.
Yes, yes, yes. WinterCommencement season upon here.
Holiday season upon it's been awhile since we actually had the
(00:23):
program pod on. Had to take alittle break because of the
actual, you know, other job Ihave here at rcbc, which, Hi,
Jay Varga, how you doing? Youknow, putting a brand new
website, fancy that@rcbc.edu butfinally, getting back into, you
know, what I really, truly love,truly being passionate about, is
getting to speak with thestudents. Speak with the
students, talking about some ofthe programs, but all for the
(00:45):
culmination of graduation. Andit's the second annual winter
commencement, something westarted last year and trying to,
you know, not have everybodywait until May so they can walk
and move on with their othercareers and such. So what we got
going on now is we're going tobe speaking with some of the
president award winners that wehave for all three ceremonies,
which is health sciences,humanities, business and social
(01:07):
sciences, and, of course, stemas well as A, B, E, which we'll
get into those acronyms rightabout now, because we have the
President's Award winner, ourfirst one for this first episode
of the two parter. Here we haveWilkins Paul, which, hi,
Wilkins, how you doing? AJ, I'mgood. How are you? I'm good. I
almost want to be in a dyslexicside, because I see Wilkins
Paul, and then I get it kind ofbackwards a little bit
(01:30):
sometimes. Paul, Wilkins, doesit happen to you a lot? You
would not, would not be thefirst, I'm sure. Well, again,
congrats. You know you're thepresident's award winner. Going
to be speaking in front of yourpeers for the stem and Abe
commencement, which is thesecond of the third, or is it
your third? Your third one?Okay, I'm still trying to get
everything organized. TheHolidays end of the semester.
(01:51):
It's wild. Yeah, it's not goingon. But stem standing for course
science, technology, engineeringand mathematics, as well as A,
B, E, which stands for adultbasic education, right? So we're
honoring everybody there forthose for that ceremony, and
you're gonna be speaking infront of them. So first of all,
Wilkins, where are you from?
Wilkins Paul (02:12):
So I'm coming out of Burlington Township, okay,
New Jersey. All right.
Jason Varga (02:16):
Falcon, right, yeah. Or Falcon, yeah? All
right. Falcons, yeah. There yougo. Yeah. I was a I was a
renegade way back when. Anyway,you're here. We're not talking
about sports. Maybe a little bitlater on, some stupid questions
I'll be asking you later. Wewant to get to know you first,
first of all, get to listen tosome of your speech. Sounds
incredible. Sounds like you'reready, right? I think you're
ready. Yeah, no,
Wilkins Paul (02:35):
I'm really excited about it. Yeah, yeah. No, when I
first found out I had to do thisfirst was a little overwhelming,
but I got the speech I feel liketo what I wanted to be like and
that that eased me up. I feelcomfortable like now. I'm just
excited to deliver it now I likewhat I have to
Jason Varga (02:53):
say. Yeah, have you ever spoken in front of a size
this before, um, speaking of
Wilkins Paul (02:57):
sorts, this amount of people? No, I've done, I've
done public speaking, though, atmy church, I sing, so I sing in
front of, like, people. So I'mused to being on stage in front
of people, but I think thismight be the biggest amount
people, yeah, which is fine. I'mexcited
Jason Varga (03:10):
for it, yeah. And it's actually, look it's not as
big as it is before the for thespring ceremony, when you have
like, the whole crowd out there,and then you have all the family
and such. Plus, it's kind of alittle weird the way your vocals
will you know when you'reoutside at an arena of sorts,
right? Not that it wasn't arena,but the way you're it's kind of
hard giving speech people oftenpeople understand when they're
actually speaking in the podium.You can't really see the people,
(03:32):
but sometimes, like the Echo andthe reverb and somewhat get a
little distracting. But that'swhy we have these practices for
you, so that you're often readyto go, and you definitely seem
like you're ready to knock itout of the park, which,
depending when people listen tothe commencement or the, you
know, this particular podcastwill probably already happen,
because, well, we are going tobe broadcasting, you know, all
three ceremonies on our YouTubechannel for the rcbc YouTube
(03:53):
YouTube channel. Or, again, isthat fancy new website? It said
rcbc.edu, and then I'm going tobe pulling some of your speech
so everyone else can hear whatyou have to say to some of your
peers, and then we'll bespeaking with some of the
students. I have a new employee,slash intern. Source, Emmanuel,
is going to be helping me out,rocking out with everybody over
at the Student Success Center.Because after the commencement
is over, everyone will trickledown from because we are at Voda
(04:16):
hall right now. We're in themakeshift room here back in the
AV area, but the ceremony willtake place in Voda hall here on
Mount Laurel campus, and theneveryone will follow Barry, the
mascot, all the way down to theStudent Success Center for some
selfies, some cookies and allthe other stuff. And, you know,
get to really celebrate the forthe occasion. And that's when
Emmanuel be speaking with someof the other of your fellow
classmates and figuring out, youknow, seeing what their
(04:37):
experience was like at rcbc. ButI'm here to talk to you. First
of all, you know, why did youchoose to put your name in the
hat for President's Awardwinner?
Wilkins Paul (04:45):
Yeah, I think there's been a lot of people
before me that I've listened toon YouTube, all different types
of people that motivate me. Theysay really encouraging things
that has helped me and served mein my journey. Um, and really
whatever I'm doing in life. Andso I feel like this was a cool
opportunity to pour into mypeers say something that will
(05:09):
encourage them on their journeysgoing forward. And that's really
what it's all about for me. Likethat's really I wanted to model
my speech after saying thingsthat will help people, that they
can keep in mind after thisceremony and be like, Wow, he
said that, and that really thatthat helps me. Yeah, I was
Jason Varga (05:29):
like, to kind of get into the psychology of it,
of why people want to do it,because some people are
terrified and speaking in frontof it. But, you know, some of
the great stories I had is like,it's kind of something similar
that you said where, you know, Ihad a person I was battling drug
and alcohol addiction, and oneof the other speakers also was a
three time recovering addict,and went on now working at
Lockheed Martin, chemicalengineer, really crushing it.
(05:50):
I'm literally getting goosebumpstalking about this student,
Justin so Bucha, which isactually is his name, but that
his story connected to oneperson here at their
commencement, and now thatinspired them. I'm literally
getting goosebumps, becausethat's what it's all about,
exactly, right? It's all aboutthat connection and sharing and
that experience and stuff, but,but hopefully now your message
(06:11):
will now inspire somebody else,and then it continues to pay it
forward, right? Yeah, for sure,right? So let's go all the way
back. Why? You know, going froma Falcon to a baron. What made
you, you know, just kind ofstick around here for
Wilkins Paul (06:21):
rcbc. Rcbc, it's a good school in terms of, you
know, lower tuitions close tohome and, I mean, it's a good
campus. I mean, it's really nicehere. It's a relaxing, it's a
relaxed vibe here, it's not,it's not scary or anything like
the classroom sizes are nice.It's not too many people in your
(06:43):
classes, not big, huge lecturehalls. You get to have a good
connection with your teacher,with your professor, and so for
all those reasons, that's why Iwould say I chose rcbc. I mean,
for the first two years of mycurriculum, the same classes I
could take at a four yearuniversity for more money. Why
(07:04):
not just take it at the localschool? And also, I had some
family that came before me aswell, so I was already pretty
accustomed to the school. So forthose reasons, nice,
Jason Varga (07:14):
yeah, that's what I think people not really
understand. Sometimes CommunityCollege can have, like, it's a
little bit of a stigma, right?
Wilkins Paul (07:20):
Yeah, for sure, it's the same classes, I think,
yeah, I wish more peopleunderstood that. Like you said,
I mean, it's the same classes,yeah,
Jason Varga (07:26):
but you sometimes you're getting that more, you
said, one on one, you know,education, right? Like when
you're when you're in those bighalls, like this four year
school, sometimes you're in anauditorium with 200 people, are
you really connecting sometimeswith the professor? Are you
getting, like, I don't know,some of these professors that
can kind of really hone in. I'mnot taking away from what those
other universities are doing,right? But sometimes people also
choose here for kind of figurethemselves out. They didn't
(07:47):
really know what they wanted todo, and they come here and not
spend all that money and thenstill get that same kind of
education. And especially now,you have the partnership with
Rowan University that alwayskind of helps out, which I'm
hoping, you know, eventuallytell my daughter, it's just kind
of, you still gonna get thatsame Rowan degree, but you're
gonna, you know, save yourselflike a lot of school debt,
possibly. But did you alreadyhave your major? Obviously,
(08:08):
you're speaking of STEM. Soyou're gonna be one of the
science, technology,engineering, mathematics,
obviously, which one is that?What is your major? And Was that
something you already knew youwere doing, or is that something
you figured out as you startedhere?
Wilkins Paul (08:19):
Yeah. So my major is engineering. I want to go on
to do civil engineering,specifically because there's all
different types of engineering.As far as I wanted to do at
first i in high school, I wasthinking maybe I might do
something in computer science.So I took an AP comp sci class,
and that's where I discoveredthat I absolutely do not want to
(08:41):
do computer science. It justwasn't really my thing. Yeah,
Jason Varga (08:47):
so you figure it out, you try it, not for me,
yeah,
Wilkins Paul (08:49):
exactly. But I've always liked specifically. I've
always liked NFL stadiumspecifically, but I've just
always found them super cool.And there's, like, so many
different types of across thecountry. Yeah, go birds. I love
the link here.
Jason Varga (09:06):
Like now that the Eagles are trying to possibly,
do, you know, a closed stadiumnow, really, you know, I just
heard a little talk about that.It just came out, like last week
or two weeks ago, where it was,yeah, so now that the Eagles, or
Jeffrey Lori, you know, owner ofPhiladelphia Eagles, is trying
to possibly sell off, or hemight have already sold off
again, just going to conflict inreports. But the selling off
(09:27):
part of the stadium so they canafford to fund a, you know, an
enclosed stadium has like a roofover it, because they would
eventually want to be able tohost the Super Bowl and other
and other events. I mean, youlook at what Jerry Jones does
down in Dallas, right? That AT TStadium is is massive, but they
they bring in so much more moneyand revenue. But, you know, it's
like, if Eagles continue to besuccessful, but they never get,
(09:50):
you know us as Eagles fans, wenever really get to experience
potentially, like a Super Bowlin home stadium, like the Rams.
Obviously, it's very rare,right? I think it's only
happened one. Face with the withthe bucks and the Rams, but
that's, that's a cool feature,though, didn't do another
Wilkins Paul (10:04):
No, it would be interesting. I think I
understand the reasoning, but Ijust feel like, as I feel like
Eagles fans, I think we're loud,we're, you know, we're
rabunctious. I just can't, Idon't know if many Eagles fans
would like an indoor Yeah, it'sa different vibe. It's almost
like buffalo like, I don't knowyou think exactly what it had in
mind. Yeah, right. Like, we wantto be outside. We want to
experience those elements.
Jason Varga (10:24):
I mean, I did, thankfully, one of those ones.
It can be like, I was there was,like, at that snow game, right,
when shady went that, you know,had, like, whatever against the
lines, and it was only supposedto, like, snow about a couple
inches. And the next thing youknow, we're at the stadium. I'm
like, this is more than a coupleof inches, or whatever it was,
but, yeah, you're not gonna getthat, get that with the stadium
over there, but All right, well,we'll get back on track again.
We can talk, we can talk allthat stuff a lot more. That's,
(10:47):
that's pretty cool, though, but
Wilkins Paul (10:49):
I will say, just to finish what I was saying,
like, yeah, so I've always kindof liked buildings and such, and
so I thought I wanted to doconstruction management. That's
when I first that's what I firstcame here as construction
management. Okay, that's why Idid my first year here as and
then I just just through doingresearch, because, like you
said, when you come tocommunity, you don't always know
(11:09):
totally what you want to do.You're still kind of exploring.
Did some research on it, andjust found that civil
engineering kind of broadens myfield a little bit. And I also I
really enjoyed the science sideof engineering, right? So
construction management, it'skind of just more of a managing
side of things. Engineering isgoing to be that science, the
(11:30):
physics, the math in it andstuff. And I enjoy that. So
that's when I switched over tocivil engineering specifically.
Then it clicked, then itclicked, yeah. So I really like
it. I like my classes. So I feellike this is what I want to
stick with. So any professorthat kind of stuck out, I love
Professor Sherlock. That was mythat was my chemistry teacher,
(11:51):
my
Jason Varga (11:51):
he's always a repeat offender on my show.
Yeah, a lot of lot of studentsalways bring him up. He
Wilkins Paul (11:56):
is an amazing he's an amazing person. And he's
always, he's, he's a bigsupporter of mine, like he's
always supported me. And I lovethat, man. It's a great guy,
yeah, yeah. Well, sarcastic guy,
Jason Varga (12:09):
yeah, that's right, my wheelhouse, right there.
That's why we definitelyconnect. But so we're here
getting ready to move on. Butbefore you get ready to move on,
you know a favorite experienceat rcbc, favorite experience,
Wilkins Paul (12:22):
I think, you know, funny moment, whatever. Yeah,
no, I think funny enough. I hada and I mentioned this in my
speech. I failed calculus two,and I struggled with physics.
That was my spring, I think,2023, semester, I believe. And I
was that that was a hard, thatwas a hard season of life for
me, but it was also kind ofmaybe my favorite, a little bit
(12:45):
just because, like, I wasfailing the classes and
struggling, but I also had agroup of friends. We were just
all failing together. We werejust all struggling together.
But it was good times, in a way,because it was just, it was just
fun being with them and likebeing in physics lab with some
(13:05):
of your classmates. You know,good times. Yeah, so that's
good. So where you head next?Yeah, so I'm gonna end up doing
one more semester here at rcbc,yeah, just because I need to do
an engineering clinic sophomoreversion of the class before I
can transfer over to Rowan.Yeah. So one more semester, then
I go over to Rowan, finish mydegree. There, two more years my
(13:26):
Bachelor's at Rowan University.
Jason Varga (13:27):
Very nice. And then after that, you're gonna be out
into the workforce. You're gonnahave all your student debt, and
you're gonna start becoming areal adult with, you know, bills
and everything else the realworld experience. No, but then
you're gonna be making, youknow, some, some awesome, you
know, advancements in that civilengineering for for the next
generation, everything that'skind of coming on. But what I'm
(13:48):
getting to is that, you know,you had to apply for these jobs,
right? And you had to havethese, these, these interview
questions and stuff. So I kindof came prepared, okay, for some
questions to get you ready for,you know, maybe your next step
after Rowan University.Fantastic. Okay, let's do it. So
if you had a walk up song, orspeaking, you know, speaking of,
you know, you like baseball, I'mnot a baseball guy. Okay, all
(14:08):
right, so, but you know, thewalk up song, the batters come
to the plate and they have theirsong, or whatever, or, you know,
simply, you walk into a room, uhhuh, what songs gonna what song
is Wilkins want to hear? Oh,man, I represent Him. Represent
himself.
Wilkins Paul (14:20):
That's a great question. And this is something
I've thought of before,actually, just because when I
was younger, I used to be realinto WWE, okay, and so I think
of like, those entrances, Yeah,same thing. I've definitely
thought of a song, and I don'tremember what song I would have
thought I would have liked towalk in with, but what's coming
to mind right now is, I believeit's called red stripes,
(14:42):
something. Army, do you knowthat song I'm talking
Jason Varga (14:44):
ago? One white stripes, Seven Nation. Army,
here it is, yeah,
Unknown (14:48):
that little baseline, yeah, yeah.
Jason Varga (14:53):
Shoes are in colleges too. Man, think that
gives her again, chills. Yeah,that's a great song to walk
into. Or, you know, have your.Off. Okay, I see that. Maybe
I'll have them set up for thecommencement. There. You're
walking on the stage right fromCO so you got the little Seven
Nation Army going on. That'd befantastic. All right, so what
fictional character do youidentify with most? And why? Oh
(15:14):
man, these are heavy, loadedquestions. Oh
Unknown (15:18):
man, okay, what fictional character do I
identify with most? It's a goodquestion. It's usually
Jason Varga (15:24):
a good question when you stump the inter view.
Yeah,
Unknown (15:28):
right. I'm trying to be real on it. This one got me we
can come back to it. Yeah, let'scome back to that. Yeah. Let's
come back to that one. Okay, howabout this? We'll
Jason Varga (15:36):
close it out with explain quantum electrodynamics
in two minutes. Starting now,
Unknown (15:42):
what dynamics you said? I don't
Jason Varga (15:45):
even know. I just something I Googled.
Unknown (15:49):
You know, I really couldn't give you a serious
answer on that one, but this ismy best attempt. A lot of these
weird words typically have,like, maybe a Latin root to it,
maybe. And so this is me tryingto give a smart response.
Jason Varga (16:03):
You always just throw an AI, you know, or chat,
GTP,
Unknown (16:06):
I'm sure, I'm sure Latin language will help us out
with that. All right, well, allright. So maybe,
Jason Varga (16:11):
hopefully you don't get those, some of those
questions, but if they do now,you're kind of, you know, now
you can get like, like secondthought for it, you know. And
your job interview, it's kind ofcoming up. So before we do wrap
it up, though, and you know, wewill be taking some of your
clips from the speech, which,again, we will be streaming live
on our CBC YouTube channel. Andpeople can go back and watch the
entire commencement ceremony.You can go back and really live
it with your friends and familyand stuff. Watch our whole
(16:33):
speech there. But for podcastsake, we'll take a couple of
clips, some of your highlightsfor it, because it's usually
about like a 10 minute speechand such. But some parting words
for your your fellow classmates,you know, some an inspirational
message that we can you know,have a little testimonial here
that you would like to say toyour classmates there.
Unknown (16:48):
I would say that, um, and what I'm about to say this
something I really believe instrongly, like, throughout your
life, a lot of people have anidea of you, their opinion of
you. And I think it can bereally easy to side with those
opinions. For example, right?Maybe someone knows you as the
(17:12):
guy that can't do math. Randomexample, don't take on that
identity as, Oh man, I'm notgood at math, because all I hear
from around me is people sayingthat I'm not good at math. No.
Like, block out noise, right?Like, people's opinions,
thoughts of you, just make sureyou're doing the right thing.
(17:35):
That's like, stay strong in yourcharacter. Just make sure that
you're doing the right thing,work hard for what you want and
like, be whoever you want to be,right, like, I, you know, but,
you know, tune out that noise.Tune out that noise, be who you
want to be. That's, that's, Ithink that would be my message.
(17:55):
And you know what? I want tocome back to your fiction. Okay,
nice, yeah, let's do it. I didjust I thought of something. I
think of the Eagles in thatseason, where they won the Super
Bowl. And, you know, every,every time before they play a
ball game, they play the rockymusic. You know, Rocky is huge
in Philly. And so I would saythat would be my answer for who
I side with as a fictionalcharacter, Rocky, just because
(18:16):
underdog, um, underdog guy, alot of people didn't believe in
him, but you know what, he camecame back believed. And you know
this actually correlates with myparting message, actually, you
know, just works hard and doesdefy the odds. Defy the odds.
And this isn't a fictionalcharacter, but I love Nick
(18:38):
Foles, the quarterback who wonSuper Bowl because he was
another guy, an underdog guythat he he worked hard and he
believed he could do it. No onethought the Eagles could beat
the Patriots. They did it. Andso I'd say, Sure did that. That
that's who I side with. That'smy answer for that. Remember,
Jason Varga (18:55):
it's not how hard you can hit, it's how hard you
can get hit. All right, true.Yes, sure. I hope I didn't
butcher, oh, Rockies. Think it'spretty close to because I was, I
was on here, here, like thechime too. It's like a third
down at the Eagles games too,right? But it's just like,
Robert, yeah, it's not about howhard you can hit. It's how hard
you can take a hit exactly. So
Unknown (19:15):
keep getting back up. Yeah, that's it all right. Well,
Jason Varga (19:17):
you know, go, Rest up. Get ready for the for the
ceremony tomorrow.Congratulations. Wilkins Paul
here with us, going to bespeaking in front of his
classmates the President's Awardwinner for the stem and adult
basic education commencement,and looking forward to watching
it all go down live. Awesome.Yeah, I can't wait. And thanks
for having me on this is a lotof fun. Absolutely appreciate
it. Absolutely cheers. Paul.
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