May 8, 2025 • 28 mins
Spring 2025 Commencement coverage continues with a conversation with the Humanities, Business, and Social Science Sciences Valedictorian Emmanuel Lewechi, who has a 4.0 GPA and is one of 467 semi-finalists for the national Jack Kent Cooke transfer scholarship. We tap into his affinity for creative writing and how he pushed himself out of his comfort zone helping him achieve life changing societal goals.
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Jason Varga (00:00):
Music. Welcome to the program. Pod, a national
(00:03):
award winning program on thercbc Podcast Network which takes
a deep dive into the programsoffered at rcbc through
different perspectives ofstudents, faculty and employers.
Back in the Studio again here aswe are preparing for the spring
2025 commencement and speakingwith all of our student award
winners, for the speakers, fortheir peers at their specific
(00:25):
divisions, and right now.Emmanuel Lewechi, Hi, Jay, hi,
Emmanuel. Now you're on theother side this time here. Yeah.
For those that don't know,Emmanuel was actually my
podcasting assistant. You mighthave actually heard already from
here on the program pod from thelast commencement for the winter
commencement, when you werehelping me out, going to record
(00:45):
the students and getting thetestimonials and their
responses. So you got a littlefeel for commencement, little
feel for this podcast. How wasthat experience itself?
Unknown (00:53):
It was really fun. A couple of the commencement
speakers I knew, and some ofthem I actually learned, like I
knew about them before, butlike, I never actually talked to
them. So it was really fun, noteven just to talk to those
commencement speakers, but alsosome of the other graduates, a
couple of my friends graduatedthat winter commencement, and I
didn't even realize until Iactually, you know, talked to
(01:16):
them. And that was, that waspretty fun. Yeah, I enjoyed it,
yeah. So I'm
Jason Varga (01:21):
gonna get some fun, got some nice clips, and, you
know, trying to celebrate themoment this occasion, which was
the second annual winner,because we used to do it, to
just do it once a year, butthere was a lot of people
graduating and trying to pack itall in. But here, breaking it
up, and flip the script tospring here of 2025, and you're
going to be representing thehealth, business and Social
Sciences class as thevaledictorian special student
(01:43):
speaker for that. So first,congrats. Thank you. I'm not
surprised with all your yourscholarships and everything else
that you're knocking out anddoing that stuff. But you know,
when you first came to me, youkind of said how you're, I don't
see your introvert, right, butyou're, you're on the creative
writing side, and you know, youwant to get out and try to meet
people and everything else. Buthere you are now applying to
(02:06):
speak in front of, you know, theentire class and all that stuff.
So, you know what made, youknow? What made you flip the
switch there apply for thisspecial award.
Unknown (02:16):
I think part of it a little bit of a spoiler. Part of
it came from Princeton. So bythe time I, you know, met up
with you in the fall semester, Iwas just off of hot off the
trails of, you know, learning toactually connect with people
more and trying to put myselfout there. Yep. So by the time I
came to you, was like, well, Ineed to do this more, but back
at my usual environment. So Iguess the switch kind of flipped
(02:40):
for me, not even just helpingyou, but also with, like, a
public speaking class that I hadthat semester that really pushed
me to actually talk in front ofpeople and prepare a speech and
prepare to talk in front ofpeople. And
Jason Varga (02:53):
did you have Dr Osman? No, actually, I had
Unknown (02:57):
Professor Theresa. I apologize if I'm pronouncing
that wrong. It's okay. Um, butlove her. She's She's great. Um,
actually, I might have had her.I might have had her last
spring, but her her wisdom and,like, things that I learned from
her class really helped mefigure out how I wanted to talk
in front of people. Sure, andI'm also, you know, not just a
(03:18):
creative writer, but I'm, like,in the theater space. I'm in the
film space. So part of, maybenot necessarily putting on a
facade, but part of, you know,enunciating your words, you
know, speaking out properly, um,using body language, all of that
kind of comes together, and it'sa good skill for me to have as I
move forward, yes,
Jason Varga (03:37):
and that's what I'm trying to do here. You know,
this kind of my role of thecommencement part is not just to
bring you know the Presidentaward winners and valedictorians
in here to speak and get to knowyou a little bit more on a
personal basis, because thespeech is more obviously
inspirational, and get to shareyour message or whatever. But
sometimes you don't get toreally tap into that character
that is who you are. But whenI'm here, it's listening to you
(03:57):
speak on stage and working onthe delivery. And because public
speaking is a whole other realm,right? Like, you can be great
creative writing and stuff too,but you need to, kind of like,
execute and deliver. So is thatyour, what is your specific
degree? My
Unknown (04:11):
specific degree from here is going to be liberal
arts, with an option incommunication. Okay? So it may
likely just say communications,but I chose this major
specifically as a branching offpoint for wherever I transfer
to. So my goal is to transferand get a bachelor's in some
(04:33):
form of screenwriting orDramatic Writing, or writing for
film and television, or the mostadjacent to that, which would
just be film and television, ifpossible, or creative writing if
film isn't present. So my wholemajor degree plan here has been,
how can I do pre reqs that wouldhelp me as I move forward? So
(04:55):
for example, one of the well,actually required classes was
semantics and. And for some ofthe other majors that I'm
looking at as I transfer, that'sone of the possible electives
that I can take. So choosing acommunication degree was one of
the best options I had, really,for that, sure. So even at
before, when I first I used tobe a English major,
Jason Varga (05:18):
too, yeah. So I wanted to ask, I see, like, this
was the original choice. Or, youknow, you flipping, you know,
switching majors and stuff,
Unknown (05:24):
you know, I flipped, I flipped the English major thing,
like, like, week one of meapplying, not for me, I switched
it to entertainment tech,actually, okay, because that's
what I already did in highschool, sure. Um, but then I
made the switch my firstsemester here, to
communications, because Irealized, while I do like film,
and that is where I am going tohead up hand, eventually, I
(05:47):
shouldn't be so focused on thethe technical practical, like
using, using a camera editing,while all that is important, and
I do that on my own time, interms of degree wise, I should
Be focused on writing, writing,writing, speaking, knowing how
people speak properly, how tospeak myself, how to use my my
body language properly, how toconvey emotion through the
(06:10):
speeches that I use. So I madethat last switch my first
semester, and honestly, Icouldn't be more happier I did.
It worked out well for the mostpart. Most part, most of the
colleges I'm going to areaccepting like 50 credits, which
is not, I mean, I'm fortunate toeven get that. Some people get
as little as like 20. So I thinkit worked out well, yeah,
Jason Varga (06:31):
now, yo, you're as you're getting ready to
creatively write your speechhere, you know, just continue to
work on it. How you feelingready to do it? Um, work in
progress. It is a work. It'sfinals time. I get it too. It's
Unknown (06:43):
a work in progress. As you know, it's been a couple of
weeks of me not having it in ain a state where I've enjoyed
not even just reading it, butsaying it, yeah, but I've just
recently changed it to focus onthe story aspect of myself, and
I'm tying it into the way howevery human has a story. Every
(07:04):
person is a story that we do. SoI'm framing it as a story. I
think one of my first signs isliterally allow me to tell you a
tale or something like that,very corny, very cheesy, but I'm
I'm speaking about the rcbcGraduate. So I may be referring
to some of my own lifeexperiences. But at the end of
my speech, I'm going to say thisrcbc graduate is not me. I
(07:24):
believe the pronouns I use formy entire speech is just going
to be day. So man, woman, nonbinary, no matter who it is, an
rcbc graduate is an rcbcgraduate. But I'm coming from a
place of human my own humanexperience, and relating it back
to my fellow graduates. So Ifinally have a good framework. I
have the heart of it now. Itkind of touches into my own
(07:46):
creativity and how I like totell stories, and how I like to
get a little meta with it byrelating it back to everybody
else and saying, you've gonethrough things. You've had
dreams as a child. You may havethought some of those dreams
weren't worth it. You may havethought maybe you weren't worth
it, but you graduated, you'rehere literally right now. You
have your degree to show for it,and you're going to be moving on
(08:08):
forward. And I want people to, Iguess, really realize that. I
know it sounds hard toconceptualize, but a lot of
people do not look at theirachievements and realize, oh, I
actually got something done. Iam guilty of that to, like, 3000
degrees,
Jason Varga (08:28):
not to cut you off, but a lot of this, because
everything happens so fast, likeyou, and it's literally right
now with finals and stuff too.It's like that, you know, I was
kind of joking, you know, offMike, while I was in school, is
that sometimes professors, thatthey're a little behind, so
they're starting to cram in,like, a bunch of chapters in
there, and they're trying to,and that's not just one course,
(08:48):
it's another other course too.You're trying to cram most all
this stuff in, and next thing,you know, boom, commencement
here, and then commencing tocome and gone. Like, you know,
for me, I'm obviously older thanyou like, my wedding day. It's
like, all kind of, like a blur,and you don't even get to soak
it in, yeah? Now you get to kindof, you know, kind of hopefully
drive home that message to them,like, own it, you're here.
Unknown (09:06):
Yeah, I really want people to not even just
acknowledge the fact thatthey've graduated now, but like,
as they move forward, like, justlive in the present a little bit
more. Just like, realize thatyou are living history, like
your own personal living historyis happening as you graduate, as
you walk out, and as you move tothe future, you may not
(09:29):
understand, like, maybe that jobthat you lost was just a way for
you to get a different job, andby the time you have that new
job, you may not even realizethat you needed this. So it's,
it's like, I want people to kindof just be a little bit more
present. And really, realize,you know, you're not, you're not
gonna be perfect, you're notgonna you're not gonna have
everything figured out. No oneis you literally will fail. Um,
(09:52):
and I'm guilty of that too.Like, I think failure is
something, well, I think in thedeep recesses of my mind that
failure is something I have to.What it all costs. But really
it's just a way to grow. It's away for me to learn by myself
about what I need to do, andwith my speech, I'm hoping I can
convey that to people. It's
Jason Varga (10:11):
kind of a common thread, because Nicole, who's
speaking in front of the STEMstudents, was talking about
failure, and don't be afraid tofail. And it's a message that I
always can go into my students,because it was a message that
was always passed to me. Youknow what? I mean? It just, it's
only going to, you know, doesn'twhat kill you make you stronger
type thing, right? Like, that's,I know, a common cliche, but,
you know, it just builds up yourcharacter and your perspective
(10:32):
and stuff too. Because ifeverything was given to you and
always happen the right way, thefirst time, it's just not gonna,
it's not gonna build you up,right? And it's not gonna make
that character, or go back tothe beginning of our
conversation. You know, createyour story. As you said,
everyone has a story to share,right? And you're creating it
every single day, exactly. Sothat's it's a great way to do
it. And I wouldn't expectanything less from a creative
(10:54):
writer, film, person, stuff,too. So, you know, obviously,
kind of talked about it withyour message, you're gonna be
sharing your fellow classmatesand stuff too. But why are you
here with the experience andsomeone's maybe been to rcbc and
stuff you know? Can youdescribe, like your experience
while being here and getting youto where you know you are now
moving on to the next chapter offour year school and other
(11:17):
adventures. When I my favoriteexperiences, too.
Unknown (11:20):
Yeah, when I, when I think about it, um, I, and I'm
kind of calling back toliterally what we just talked
about. I'm kind of evenforgetting some of the
experiences I've had, um, here,because it's just all flew by so
fast. But um, literally, one ofmy favorite experiences was my
literal first 8am class ever atrcbc, when I literally made a
(11:43):
friend group just out of mystatistics class, just as a
study group, but, like, I'mstill friends with two of the
people in there. 8am
Jason Varga (11:53):
statistics sounds brutal, by the way. Oh yeah, it
was because when you saidsemantics, I'm still, like, at
PTSD from my semantics course inschool, because I had it three
times a week at eight in themorning, and that was when I was
down at Rowan. And of course, myprofessor is very monotone doing
semantics. I'm like, Oh, my God,this class is
Unknown (12:11):
brutal. God, I'm doing it online. It's a lot less So
yours is online. Yeah, it's alot more direct. My own direct
Jason Varga (12:18):
being there in the seat by eight in the morning.
Yeah, no. Statistics
Unknown (12:22):
was pretty, pretty hard, yeah. But, you know, like,
just that was one of the mainkind of factors. Is, like, here,
I never realized how much theconnections that I was making
were just kind of surface level.So my time in high school was a
lot of me thinking, Oh, well,these people are vapid. These
(12:42):
people don't care. And I kind ofheld onto some of that when I
came here to college, but then Irealized that's not really the
case. It's usually the groundedconversations that reveal a lot
about people's character. And ifsomebody's willing to just come
up to you and talk to you aboutI don't know your day, or what
you ate, or like, even ifsomebody's willing to ask you,
did you eat today, that meansthey care about you. They mean
(13:04):
they want to know if you werefed. Yeah. So, like, having
those people that are still myfriends to this day is kind of
eye opening. Um, it's kind of,it's honestly probably one of my
favorite moments of all time.Um, but I have a couple others,
uh, I would say maybe, maybe myvoice addiction class. Um, that
(13:28):
was pretty fun. Wait, would yousay the petting farm, the
petting car? I did see that. Ididn't, I didn't. Everyone wants
Jason Varga (13:34):
it signed it back up again, or like, the live
stream of just the chickenshatch, uh, chickens hatching.
Live Stream. Oh, yeah, there's alive stream. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Unknown (13:41):
No, I didn't, I didn't do the petting zoo because I my
allergies would have killed me.If I went out there, I would
have died. I'm so serious. Um,yeah, it was bad. Um, honestly,
student life wise, my favoriteexperience might have been the
renaissance fair or not. Well,it was the renaissance fair,
but, um, was, uh, medievaltimes, okay, yeah, they do a lot
of cool things. It was, it wasreal fun. I think I really
(14:05):
enjoyed that. I got to go withone of my friends. We went
there. Obviously, it's ajousting competition, sort of.
They're actors. They're not realjousters and all that. So
they're, they're acting, butthey hold the giant turkey legs
too. Yeah, we got to, we got toeat giant, like, turkey legs. So
(14:25):
we
Jason Varga (14:25):
said, You got to eat, yeah, yeah. I didn't. It
Unknown (14:28):
was, it was really fun. We had this great server who was
like, every time I asked formore garlic bread, he would give
it to me. So, like, yeah, weloved it. I bought a chalice
there. I had to. It was eitherthat or the $1,000 sword. And I
don't think I was gonna likethat. So I got the chalice.
Yeah, more safer too. Yeah, alittle bit more safer. Don't
(14:50):
want me wheeling that on a bus.Yeah, I was gonna say
Jason Varga (14:52):
it. I don't know kind of waiver you would have to
sign for the you know, gettingon the bus with $1,000 sword go
over a bump, like, oh, sorry,yeah.
Unknown (15:00):
Cut off your finger. So that was, that was that was
really fun, yeah, um, recentwise, my favorite experience,
honestly, has just been talkingto people. Yeah, I I'm a, I'm a
huge stickler for talking topeople. I like, I like casual
conversation. If you talk to meat IRL, I'll tell you, I hate
texting, I hate calling. I'drather just see your face and
(15:20):
talk to you in person, because Ilike doing it. I like doing it.
I like it. It's kind of rarethese days, almost is, and I
don't know why, but it's great.And this whole semester has just
been me talking to people, thepeople outside of my division,
people outside of my usual wheelwheelhouse. I've met a lot of
computer science majors, and,like, some of them are, like, my
close friends now. And it's,it's pretty it's pretty eye
(15:41):
opening, because, like, even,like, even now I see computer
science as an art. Yeah, codingis just writing. It's just
language. So they've come a
Jason Varga (15:49):
long way, because I used to joke about STEM and now
computer science majors even mycoolers up there, because
sometimes they're, like, a lotof introverts, because they're
into the computers and thecoding and stuff. But the
character, like, even faz, whois, I don't think he's a student
speaker. He was definitelyhelped out marketing. Helped out
marketing. Helped me out withthe website and stuff too. But a
Computer Science Guy, biggestpersonality, he's ain't walking
around. He has, like, the bigboots and everything else too,
(16:10):
just a big teddy bear. What heis,
Unknown (16:11):
literally, computer science people are some of the
most extroverted
Jason Varga (16:15):
people I've ever they're flipping a script,
flipping we're talking abouthere.
Unknown (16:20):
Yeah, they are, and it's, it's been pretty it's been
pretty fun talking to a lot ofpeople, because now that I'm
about to leave, you know, I haveto get their Instagrams, I have
to get their phone numbers. Igot to keep in contact. But I
want to make sure that I'm notjust talking to you, just to
talk to you. I want to makesure, like, you know, we're
actually sure they're eating. Iwant to make sure you're eating.
(16:42):
Want to make sure you're good. Iwant to make sure you have a
plan in life. I want to makesure you're not you know, down
and out, let me know if you havea job. Do you need a job? Do you
need an internship? I know somepeople, let me, let me help you,
and that's been very fulfillingto me to care about other
people. I know it sounds veryterrible to say, but it's like I
(17:04):
didn't I don't think I reallyfelt such a care for other
people the same way I would havein high school, like now, I
genuinely really care aboutother people. I want to see them
succeed more than i i want tosee my folks succeed. Sometimes
it's very strange to me
Jason Varga (17:19):
now the same vibe you putting people in front of
yourself? Yeah,
Unknown (17:22):
it's so it's so fulfilling. And I love just
talking to people, seeing wherethey've come, what their futures
are, what they want to do, andeven being able to help them,
yeah, yeah, what's your future?So my future is for answering
everybody's is. So, you know,I'm not anyone special in that
regard, but my immediate futureis to write. I'm a writer. It's
(17:45):
what I do. I have not beenwriting every morning like I
should be, but I'm hoping to getback, yeah, I'm hoping to get
back into that discipline, yeah,just like the same way as the
gym. Haven't been in the gym, somaybe that's why. So I want to
get back into that discipline.Right now. I'm looking at a
couple of colleges. I wasfortunate enough to be a semi
finalist for the jack Ken cookFoundation Scholarship, and
(18:06):
that's going to play a big dealin what school I go to, sure. So
right now I'm looking down threepaths. The first one is, and
this is best case scenario. Andyou know, I'm really hoping for
it. I need all I needeverybody's prayers. I'm hoping
I one get accepted into NYU,which I may not find out, at
least until around late June orearly June, actually, but it's
(18:28):
rolling admission, so I mightfind out. So if I get into NYU,
and I get and I am a finalistfor the scholarship, then I will
be going there. If I don't getinto NYU, which, you know, it's
no big deal, but, like, I'drather live in New York, I will
go to Loyola MarymountUniversity. It's in LA if I get
the scholarship, I'll be headingthere. I've already put in the
tuition deposit, just because Ihad to save my seat. But if, if
(18:50):
I don't give a scholarship, youknow, I'm hoping I do, but if I
don't, I'll probably stay in NewJersey. I'm not fully settled on
what college I want to go to, Ihate to say, but I don't really,
I don't really want to be in NewJersey, but you know, if I have
to say, if I have to say, I'mlooking at either Montclair or
Fairleigh Dickinson, okay, I'mnot really sure which ways out.
(19:12):
More. So over another, I alsoapplied to writer, and I have a
lot of connects that go there.So that's another option to me.
Jason Varga (19:19):
Yeah, Nicole, actually, student speakers right
there. I was gonna, I can pushRowan because I'm a former
graduate and communicationsmajor and RTF, and they have one
of the best communications inthe country, actually. So just
something to think about, notjust as one of our partner
schools, you know. I don't getany endorsements or any kind of
kickbacks for this at all, youknow. But I hear great success
(19:39):
stories from, obviously, riderand fairly Dickinson and
Montclair, my buddy, one of myformer students, was Montclair,
and he is, or no, he wasMonmouth. Sorry, so not so much
about Claire the one. Yeah, hewas Monmouth, though, but he's,
he graduated Monmouth, but nowhe's, like, worked himself all
the way up, also a writer, butsports writer, and now is
working for sny out of New Yorkand covering the Jets. And the
(19:59):
Jets. Is one of the leadreporters. So a lot of great
schools in New Jersey, but Idon't, you know, I don't fault
you for wanting to kind of stepout, you know, you know, whether
it's up in New York or out toLA, yeah, kind of just, it's
just, even if you go for like, alittle bit in the back here,
right? It's just kind of morefor, like, that cultural lesson
and life and continuing to addto your story that you're
(20:20):
writing about yourself and maybeworking into some kind of like
script writing somehow. You knowwhat? I mean, it's all about the
experiences throughout all youknow, every facet of your life
that you're kind of going sojust kind of curious what you
were, where you're heading offnext. But first, you know, we
got to get to this commencement,get to the speech, and then all
that stuff. Get your finalsdone. You done your finals
Unknown (20:38):
yet. I just finished my Music Fundamentals final this
morning. Okay, I feel prettygood about it. I'm not gonna
lie. I woke up feeling great,went to sleep at 3am woke at
seven, somehow, had a lot ofenergy, didn't eat, no coffee
either. And I was like, I gotthis. It's in the bag. And by
the by the time I was on, I waslike, This feels great. This is
an A, yeah,
Jason Varga (20:56):
that's called being in college again. I used to be
able to do all that stuff too.But now, you know, my life's
kind of flipped around. Well, Iget some of the energy I'm
probably used to, like, notreally sleeping because of radio
and all that, and, like, justworking crazy hours, but I don't
miss I was joking with all threeof you the you know, the student
speakers, as we're practicingfor this commencement, is
missing all of his exams and thepressure because I'm kind of
(21:19):
more in the procrastinator sideof things, like, I'll get it
done, but I work better whenit's under pressure, right? If I
know that, I can I finish mypaper, it's not do it for like,
a month, or study for my exams,not doing for a little bit. I
got other stuff that's priorityto me, right? Whether that was
soccer practice or other, youknow, just group events or doing
something, I'll get to it. I'llget to it, because this is what
needs to be done right now. Andthen you get there. Like, why
(21:40):
didn't I do that a month ago?I'd be ago? Chipping away at it.
So everyone works their ownstyle, but you're here,
obviously you're great at whatyou do. It's the reason why you
know you were chosen andselected to be the valedictorian
for the humanity humanities,Business and Social Sciences,
which I'm still trying to get,because it's no longer liberal
arts. It's the it's the reallynamed division that they did
(22:01):
last year, so working it intothat so, you know, congrats. But
one final thoughts, partingmessage to your fellow
classmates, anyone listening foryourself here, it doesn't
necessarily have to be abouteducation. It can be just you're
kind of already talking about itlike you're writing your own
story. But just a final goodbye,my
Unknown (22:22):
only final goodbye would be, you're unique. Play
into that
Jason Varga (22:28):
like it. We all are well. Manuel, proud of you.
Thank you. Congrats. Glad I gotto, you know, work alongside
you, as limited as that we did.But yeah, I'm really excited to
see what the future holds foryou. And, you know, it's a great
honor to watch you, you know, dothis and kind of let you grow.
And just to have like this iswhat I enjoy doing, personally,
(22:50):
is I know I'm not in theprofessor side anymore. As I
step back after COVID, when, youknow, I run the website of the
college, you get to hide behindthe screen, but it's the
podcasting I get to interactwith people like yourself, and
hear those stories, and seeingthe culmination of it, going
into commencement and everythingelse, and literally getting
goosebumps talking about andstuff. Because this is what I
think, this is what pretty mucheveryone wants to be in higher
(23:11):
ed for, is so that we can, youknow, you pass on to the
students and watch them grow ascharacters, and kind of help
them choose their past. Butyou're not telling what path to
choose. You know what I mean,just trying to provide those
resources and guidelines and,you know, or advice of what do's
and don'ts and learn from mymistakes and stuff too. And, you
know, just to see, they said,like, my other student is now
working for the Jets and theGiants, but to see maybe go out
(23:31):
there and do some cinematographywork or something like that, you
have a favorite director. By theway, I meant to ask that
earlier.
Unknown (23:37):
It's, it's change. It's becoming. Ryan Coogler, I can't
lie, I can't lie, yeah, um,after I saw sinners, I think it
had to be solidified. It'smaking it's him peel
Jason Varga (23:49):
Yeah, I wouldn't see those two crazy. Was
watching peel skits, the kingpeel skits to go into the horror
stuff. You know what? I mean. It
Unknown (23:56):
makes sense. Comedy and horror are, like, on the same
thing, either you laugh or youcry, yeah? One of the
Jason Varga (24:01):
two. Oh, good point, good point. You know,
mine's definitely, oh, why can'tI think right now? Because my
brain is not working for him forthree hours, Quint Tarantino,
oh, my God, I don't know why Ihad to pause for that. Just
because I loved, you know, hewas all about, like, dialog. You
know what? I mean, his moviesare all about dialog. And it's
like, I mean, talking about theHateful Eight year, literally,
(24:23):
the whole movie is in house,just dialog. Yes, just dialog,
yeah. So I think that's what heand he also knows how to, like
subliminally put like a filmtogether musically, like a
score, of finding, like the offbeat, again, this is my radio
guy, DJ stuff coming out of me,but finding those deep tracks,
but knowing when to have like,these certain rock anthems or
(24:43):
whatever deep cuts that he'sdoing, and the progression of
the cinematography, so that whenthe the editing is hitting the
same, like the bass is hitting,the drums are hitting, or
something like that, or justbuilds that submit cinematic
effect to it. But it was allstarts from his dialog. And, you
know, he's always goodinspiration.
Unknown (24:59):
I gotta know. The favorite Tarantino film.
Jason Varga (25:02):
That's tough. I mean, obviously Kill Bill is
going to be, you know, both ofthem up there. And, of course,
Pulp Fiction, right? But PulpFiction was weird to see what?
Because, again, I'm living asit's coming out in the first
time, so there's not manyspoilers going out. And you're
trying to watch it, you're like,What the heck's going on?
Because it's like, you're in themiddle, and then you're in the
end, in the beginning, and thenall this stuff and had, but he
(25:23):
also had to rejuvenate a lot of,like, actors careers, right?
Yeah. So he brought a lot ofpeople back that, like, they
were popular in the 80s, andthen, like, John Travolta, like,
he kind of started to jump theshark a little bit, right? Yeah.
You know the jump the sharkphrase, by the way.
Unknown (25:39):
Okay, that was, it's
Jason Varga (25:40):
actually a happy days. Goes back to, like, the, I
don't know this is pre dating meand stuff with the Fonz, right?
But there was an episode this,course, like, you know, Fonz
could do no wrong. And he wasalways trying to, like, these
crazy stunts or whatever it is.He literally jumps over sharks
or whatever. So it became, likea catchphrase in the industry.
Like the TV show is kind oflike, okay, you know what I
mean, kind of the Fast andFurious right where, like, now
(26:02):
you're flying a rocket ship inspace with a car. Yeah, we can
go into all that, but yeah, Imean, I love all the Quentin
Tarantino films, kill build oneand two are definitely, you
know, up there. But a lot of my,like, if you listen to a lot of
my radio shows and sound bitesand everything else that I use,
it's either clips from that, ormusic that's from that and
stuff, just because it was hemade you think, you know, I
(26:24):
mean, like, some stuff, you canpredict how much it's like, kind
of like happening in the filmand stuff. And just, I'm a big
dialog up person, so just kindof all that. So I wasn't sure. I
was kind of hoping you're gonnago to that point, but I can't
fault you to
Unknown (26:36):
dialog is, dialog is all there is. I can't lie. I'm,
I'm, I'm, I'm still trying tolearn dialog, um, I've been
really trying to get into CormacMcCarthy so that I can properly
learn how people talk, likeTarantino. Tarantino is another
his scripts or something. I'mtrying to, I've been studying
too, because I, right now, I'mtrying to learn how do people
talk. And one of the Crazythings I do right now, which is
(26:59):
very weird, and I know peoplethink I'm weird for and I look
around and I can, I can see iton people's faces, but I'll
literally have a notebook. Ihave loads of notebooks, and
I'll write down what people aresaying as they're saying, just
so I can literally understandhow people talk properly, pauses
and all, okay, yeah, I'll die
Jason Varga (27:15):
like there. Oh, another two. Is Reservoir Dogs,
which is just, yeah, one of themeccas. But I always loved the
respect not to throw back tohim, because I was now bringing
back my roots or whatever. And,you know, being a film major,
and you know, he was, he kind ofparlayed with, uh, or not
parlayed. It's like the wrongword to use. But he was a big
you could see Alfred Hitchcock,or Hitchcock influenced him, how
(27:36):
his Alfred would always workhimself into as like a small
character. So Quentin Tarantinowould always be like a small
character into that stuff, butthen, you know, all that stuff.
And again, we can talk aboutQuinton tartino a lot, but we
wrap it up because I got somethings to do. You don't have any
more finals, so you're good,right? But you have a speech to
prepare for, so let you get toit. And you know, again, annual,
(27:57):
congrats. Proud of you all thatgood stuff. Proud dad moment.
Right looking forward to havingyou on the live stream. We're
going to hear your full speechin its entirety as anyone
listening again, you can checkout all of our YouTube live
streams of the commencements forany of them, you know, winter,
spring, everything else. They'relive as they happen, and then
they'll be archived, and we'rehaving all of the reactions and
(28:18):
the testimonials from our socialmedia channels. So of course,
subscribe, click the likebutton, button or button below.
Do all that fancy subscribe,share with your friends, all
that yes, all that jazz, right?And you make sure you subscribe
to this podcast, wherever youget your podcasts, all right.
But again, anything else you'dlike to say? Closing remarks,
Unknown (28:38):
thank you for having me.
Jason Varga (28:40):
Yeah, easy enough. All right, dude, cheers and good
luck, man, thanks, man, bye.
Music. Welcome to the program. Pod, a national
(00:03):
award winning program on thercbc Podcast Network which takes
a deep dive into the programsoffered at rcbc through
different perspectives ofstudents, faculty and employers.
Back in the Studio again here aswe are preparing for the spring
2025 commencement and speakingwith all of our student award
winners, for the speakers, fortheir peers at their specific
(00:25):
divisions, and right now.Emmanuel Lewechi, Hi, Jay, hi,
Emmanuel. Now you're on theother side this time here. Yeah.
For those that don't know,Emmanuel was actually my
podcasting assistant. You mighthave actually heard already from
here on the program pod from thelast commencement for the winter
commencement, when you werehelping me out, going to record
(00:45):
the students and getting thetestimonials and their
responses. So you got a littlefeel for commencement, little
feel for this podcast. How wasthat experience itself?
Unknown (00:53):
It was really fun. A couple of the commencement
speakers I knew, and some ofthem I actually learned, like I
knew about them before, butlike, I never actually talked to
them. So it was really fun, noteven just to talk to those
commencement speakers, but alsosome of the other graduates, a
couple of my friends graduatedthat winter commencement, and I
didn't even realize until Iactually, you know, talked to
(01:16):
them. And that was, that waspretty fun. Yeah, I enjoyed it,
yeah. So I'm
Jason Varga (01:21):
gonna get some fun, got some nice clips, and, you
know, trying to celebrate themoment this occasion, which was
the second annual winner,because we used to do it, to
just do it once a year, butthere was a lot of people
graduating and trying to pack itall in. But here, breaking it
up, and flip the script tospring here of 2025, and you're
going to be representing thehealth, business and Social
Sciences class as thevaledictorian special student
(01:43):
speaker for that. So first,congrats. Thank you. I'm not
surprised with all your yourscholarships and everything else
that you're knocking out anddoing that stuff. But you know,
when you first came to me, youkind of said how you're, I don't
see your introvert, right, butyou're, you're on the creative
writing side, and you know, youwant to get out and try to meet
people and everything else. Buthere you are now applying to
(02:06):
speak in front of, you know, theentire class and all that stuff.
So, you know what made, youknow? What made you flip the
switch there apply for thisspecial award.
Unknown (02:16):
I think part of it a little bit of a spoiler. Part of
it came from Princeton. So bythe time I, you know, met up
with you in the fall semester, Iwas just off of hot off the
trails of, you know, learning toactually connect with people
more and trying to put myselfout there. Yep. So by the time I
came to you, was like, well, Ineed to do this more, but back
at my usual environment. So Iguess the switch kind of flipped
(02:40):
for me, not even just helpingyou, but also with, like, a
public speaking class that I hadthat semester that really pushed
me to actually talk in front ofpeople and prepare a speech and
prepare to talk in front ofpeople. And
Jason Varga (02:53):
did you have Dr Osman? No, actually, I had
Unknown (02:57):
Professor Theresa. I apologize if I'm pronouncing
that wrong. It's okay. Um, butlove her. She's She's great. Um,
actually, I might have had her.I might have had her last
spring, but her her wisdom and,like, things that I learned from
her class really helped mefigure out how I wanted to talk
in front of people. Sure, andI'm also, you know, not just a
(03:18):
creative writer, but I'm, like,in the theater space. I'm in the
film space. So part of, maybenot necessarily putting on a
facade, but part of, you know,enunciating your words, you
know, speaking out properly, um,using body language, all of that
kind of comes together, and it'sa good skill for me to have as I
move forward, yes,
Jason Varga (03:37):
and that's what I'm trying to do here. You know,
this kind of my role of thecommencement part is not just to
bring you know the Presidentaward winners and valedictorians
in here to speak and get to knowyou a little bit more on a
personal basis, because thespeech is more obviously
inspirational, and get to shareyour message or whatever. But
sometimes you don't get toreally tap into that character
that is who you are. But whenI'm here, it's listening to you
(03:57):
speak on stage and working onthe delivery. And because public
speaking is a whole other realm,right? Like, you can be great
creative writing and stuff too,but you need to, kind of like,
execute and deliver. So is thatyour, what is your specific
degree? My
Unknown (04:11):
specific degree from here is going to be liberal
arts, with an option incommunication. Okay? So it may
likely just say communications,but I chose this major
specifically as a branching offpoint for wherever I transfer
to. So my goal is to transferand get a bachelor's in some
(04:33):
form of screenwriting orDramatic Writing, or writing for
film and television, or the mostadjacent to that, which would
just be film and television, ifpossible, or creative writing if
film isn't present. So my wholemajor degree plan here has been,
how can I do pre reqs that wouldhelp me as I move forward? So
(04:55):
for example, one of the well,actually required classes was
semantics and. And for some ofthe other majors that I'm
looking at as I transfer, that'sone of the possible electives
that I can take. So choosing acommunication degree was one of
the best options I had, really,for that, sure. So even at
before, when I first I used tobe a English major,
Jason Varga (05:18):
too, yeah. So I wanted to ask, I see, like, this
was the original choice. Or, youknow, you flipping, you know,
switching majors and stuff,
Unknown (05:24):
you know, I flipped, I flipped the English major thing,
like, like, week one of meapplying, not for me, I switched
it to entertainment tech,actually, okay, because that's
what I already did in highschool, sure. Um, but then I
made the switch my firstsemester here, to
communications, because Irealized, while I do like film,
and that is where I am going tohead up hand, eventually, I
(05:47):
shouldn't be so focused on thethe technical practical, like
using, using a camera editing,while all that is important, and
I do that on my own time, interms of degree wise, I should
Be focused on writing, writing,writing, speaking, knowing how
people speak properly, how tospeak myself, how to use my my
body language properly, how toconvey emotion through the
(06:10):
speeches that I use. So I madethat last switch my first
semester, and honestly, Icouldn't be more happier I did.
It worked out well for the mostpart. Most part, most of the
colleges I'm going to areaccepting like 50 credits, which
is not, I mean, I'm fortunate toeven get that. Some people get
as little as like 20. So I thinkit worked out well, yeah,
Jason Varga (06:31):
now, yo, you're as you're getting ready to
creatively write your speechhere, you know, just continue to
work on it. How you feelingready to do it? Um, work in
progress. It is a work. It'sfinals time. I get it too. It's
Unknown (06:43):
a work in progress. As you know, it's been a couple of
weeks of me not having it in ain a state where I've enjoyed
not even just reading it, butsaying it, yeah, but I've just
recently changed it to focus onthe story aspect of myself, and
I'm tying it into the way howevery human has a story. Every
(07:04):
person is a story that we do. SoI'm framing it as a story. I
think one of my first signs isliterally allow me to tell you a
tale or something like that,very corny, very cheesy, but I'm
I'm speaking about the rcbcGraduate. So I may be referring
to some of my own lifeexperiences. But at the end of
my speech, I'm going to say thisrcbc graduate is not me. I
(07:24):
believe the pronouns I use formy entire speech is just going
to be day. So man, woman, nonbinary, no matter who it is, an
rcbc graduate is an rcbcgraduate. But I'm coming from a
place of human my own humanexperience, and relating it back
to my fellow graduates. So Ifinally have a good framework. I
have the heart of it now. Itkind of touches into my own
(07:46):
creativity and how I like totell stories, and how I like to
get a little meta with it byrelating it back to everybody
else and saying, you've gonethrough things. You've had
dreams as a child. You may havethought some of those dreams
weren't worth it. You may havethought maybe you weren't worth
it, but you graduated, you'rehere literally right now. You
have your degree to show for it,and you're going to be moving on
(08:08):
forward. And I want people to, Iguess, really realize that. I
know it sounds hard toconceptualize, but a lot of
people do not look at theirachievements and realize, oh, I
actually got something done. Iam guilty of that to, like, 3000
degrees,
Jason Varga (08:28):
not to cut you off, but a lot of this, because
everything happens so fast, likeyou, and it's literally right
now with finals and stuff too.It's like that, you know, I was
kind of joking, you know, offMike, while I was in school, is
that sometimes professors, thatthey're a little behind, so
they're starting to cram in,like, a bunch of chapters in
there, and they're trying to,and that's not just one course,
(08:48):
it's another other course too.You're trying to cram most all
this stuff in, and next thing,you know, boom, commencement
here, and then commencing tocome and gone. Like, you know,
for me, I'm obviously older thanyou like, my wedding day. It's
like, all kind of, like a blur,and you don't even get to soak
it in, yeah? Now you get to kindof, you know, kind of hopefully
drive home that message to them,like, own it, you're here.
Unknown (09:06):
Yeah, I really want people to not even just
acknowledge the fact thatthey've graduated now, but like,
as they move forward, like, justlive in the present a little bit
more. Just like, realize thatyou are living history, like
your own personal living historyis happening as you graduate, as
you walk out, and as you move tothe future, you may not
(09:29):
understand, like, maybe that jobthat you lost was just a way for
you to get a different job, andby the time you have that new
job, you may not even realizethat you needed this. So it's,
it's like, I want people to kindof just be a little bit more
present. And really, realize,you know, you're not, you're not
gonna be perfect, you're notgonna you're not gonna have
everything figured out. No oneis you literally will fail. Um,
(09:52):
and I'm guilty of that too.Like, I think failure is
something, well, I think in thedeep recesses of my mind that
failure is something I have to.What it all costs. But really
it's just a way to grow. It's away for me to learn by myself
about what I need to do, andwith my speech, I'm hoping I can
convey that to people. It's
Jason Varga (10:11):
kind of a common thread, because Nicole, who's
speaking in front of the STEMstudents, was talking about
failure, and don't be afraid tofail. And it's a message that I
always can go into my students,because it was a message that
was always passed to me. Youknow what? I mean? It just, it's
only going to, you know, doesn'twhat kill you make you stronger
type thing, right? Like, that's,I know, a common cliche, but,
you know, it just builds up yourcharacter and your perspective
(10:32):
and stuff too. Because ifeverything was given to you and
always happen the right way, thefirst time, it's just not gonna,
it's not gonna build you up,right? And it's not gonna make
that character, or go back tothe beginning of our
conversation. You know, createyour story. As you said,
everyone has a story to share,right? And you're creating it
every single day, exactly. Sothat's it's a great way to do
it. And I wouldn't expectanything less from a creative
(10:54):
writer, film, person, stuff,too. So, you know, obviously,
kind of talked about it withyour message, you're gonna be
sharing your fellow classmatesand stuff too. But why are you
here with the experience andsomeone's maybe been to rcbc and
stuff you know? Can youdescribe, like your experience
while being here and getting youto where you know you are now
moving on to the next chapter offour year school and other
(11:17):
adventures. When I my favoriteexperiences, too.
Unknown (11:20):
Yeah, when I, when I think about it, um, I, and I'm
kind of calling back toliterally what we just talked
about. I'm kind of evenforgetting some of the
experiences I've had, um, here,because it's just all flew by so
fast. But um, literally, one ofmy favorite experiences was my
literal first 8am class ever atrcbc, when I literally made a
(11:43):
friend group just out of mystatistics class, just as a
study group, but, like, I'mstill friends with two of the
people in there. 8am
Jason Varga (11:53):
statistics sounds brutal, by the way. Oh yeah, it
was because when you saidsemantics, I'm still, like, at
PTSD from my semantics course inschool, because I had it three
times a week at eight in themorning, and that was when I was
down at Rowan. And of course, myprofessor is very monotone doing
semantics. I'm like, Oh, my God,this class is
Unknown (12:11):
brutal. God, I'm doing it online. It's a lot less So
yours is online. Yeah, it's alot more direct. My own direct
Jason Varga (12:18):
being there in the seat by eight in the morning.
Yeah, no. Statistics
Unknown (12:22):
was pretty, pretty hard, yeah. But, you know, like,
just that was one of the mainkind of factors. Is, like, here,
I never realized how much theconnections that I was making
were just kind of surface level.So my time in high school was a
lot of me thinking, Oh, well,these people are vapid. These
(12:42):
people don't care. And I kind ofheld onto some of that when I
came here to college, but then Irealized that's not really the
case. It's usually the groundedconversations that reveal a lot
about people's character. And ifsomebody's willing to just come
up to you and talk to you aboutI don't know your day, or what
you ate, or like, even ifsomebody's willing to ask you,
did you eat today, that meansthey care about you. They mean
(13:04):
they want to know if you werefed. Yeah. So, like, having
those people that are still myfriends to this day is kind of
eye opening. Um, it's kind of,it's honestly probably one of my
favorite moments of all time.Um, but I have a couple others,
uh, I would say maybe, maybe myvoice addiction class. Um, that
(13:28):
was pretty fun. Wait, would yousay the petting farm, the
petting car? I did see that. Ididn't, I didn't. Everyone wants
Jason Varga (13:34):
it signed it back up again, or like, the live
stream of just the chickenshatch, uh, chickens hatching.
Live Stream. Oh, yeah, there's alive stream. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Unknown (13:41):
No, I didn't, I didn't do the petting zoo because I my
allergies would have killed me.If I went out there, I would
have died. I'm so serious. Um,yeah, it was bad. Um, honestly,
student life wise, my favoriteexperience might have been the
renaissance fair or not. Well,it was the renaissance fair,
but, um, was, uh, medievaltimes, okay, yeah, they do a lot
of cool things. It was, it wasreal fun. I think I really
(14:05):
enjoyed that. I got to go withone of my friends. We went
there. Obviously, it's ajousting competition, sort of.
They're actors. They're not realjousters and all that. So
they're, they're acting, butthey hold the giant turkey legs
too. Yeah, we got to, we got toeat giant, like, turkey legs. So
(14:25):
we
Jason Varga (14:25):
said, You got to eat, yeah, yeah. I didn't. It
Unknown (14:28):
was, it was really fun. We had this great server who was
like, every time I asked formore garlic bread, he would give
it to me. So, like, yeah, weloved it. I bought a chalice
there. I had to. It was eitherthat or the $1,000 sword. And I
don't think I was gonna likethat. So I got the chalice.
Yeah, more safer too. Yeah, alittle bit more safer. Don't
(14:50):
want me wheeling that on a bus.Yeah, I was gonna say
Jason Varga (14:52):
it. I don't know kind of waiver you would have to
sign for the you know, gettingon the bus with $1,000 sword go
over a bump, like, oh, sorry,yeah.
Unknown (15:00):
Cut off your finger. So that was, that was that was
really fun, yeah, um, recentwise, my favorite experience,
honestly, has just been talkingto people. Yeah, I I'm a, I'm a
huge stickler for talking topeople. I like, I like casual
conversation. If you talk to meat IRL, I'll tell you, I hate
texting, I hate calling. I'drather just see your face and
(15:20):
talk to you in person, because Ilike doing it. I like doing it.
I like it. It's kind of rarethese days, almost is, and I
don't know why, but it's great.And this whole semester has just
been me talking to people, thepeople outside of my division,
people outside of my usual wheelwheelhouse. I've met a lot of
computer science majors, and,like, some of them are, like, my
close friends now. And it's,it's pretty it's pretty eye
(15:41):
opening, because, like, even,like, even now I see computer
science as an art. Yeah, codingis just writing. It's just
language. So they've come a
Jason Varga (15:49):
long way, because I used to joke about STEM and now
computer science majors even mycoolers up there, because
sometimes they're, like, a lotof introverts, because they're
into the computers and thecoding and stuff. But the
character, like, even faz, whois, I don't think he's a student
speaker. He was definitelyhelped out marketing. Helped out
marketing. Helped me out withthe website and stuff too. But a
Computer Science Guy, biggestpersonality, he's ain't walking
around. He has, like, the bigboots and everything else too,
(16:10):
just a big teddy bear. What heis,
Unknown (16:11):
literally, computer science people are some of the
most extroverted
Jason Varga (16:15):
people I've ever they're flipping a script,
flipping we're talking abouthere.
Unknown (16:20):
Yeah, they are, and it's, it's been pretty it's been
pretty fun talking to a lot ofpeople, because now that I'm
about to leave, you know, I haveto get their Instagrams, I have
to get their phone numbers. Igot to keep in contact. But I
want to make sure that I'm notjust talking to you, just to
talk to you. I want to makesure, like, you know, we're
actually sure they're eating. Iwant to make sure you're eating.
(16:42):
Want to make sure you're good. Iwant to make sure you have a
plan in life. I want to makesure you're not you know, down
and out, let me know if you havea job. Do you need a job? Do you
need an internship? I know somepeople, let me, let me help you,
and that's been very fulfillingto me to care about other
people. I know it sounds veryterrible to say, but it's like I
(17:04):
didn't I don't think I reallyfelt such a care for other
people the same way I would havein high school, like now, I
genuinely really care aboutother people. I want to see them
succeed more than i i want tosee my folks succeed. Sometimes
it's very strange to me
Jason Varga (17:19):
now the same vibe you putting people in front of
yourself? Yeah,
Unknown (17:22):
it's so it's so fulfilling. And I love just
talking to people, seeing wherethey've come, what their futures
are, what they want to do, andeven being able to help them,
yeah, yeah, what's your future?So my future is for answering
everybody's is. So, you know,I'm not anyone special in that
regard, but my immediate futureis to write. I'm a writer. It's
(17:45):
what I do. I have not beenwriting every morning like I
should be, but I'm hoping to getback, yeah, I'm hoping to get
back into that discipline, yeah,just like the same way as the
gym. Haven't been in the gym, somaybe that's why. So I want to
get back into that discipline.Right now. I'm looking at a
couple of colleges. I wasfortunate enough to be a semi
finalist for the jack Ken cookFoundation Scholarship, and
(18:06):
that's going to play a big dealin what school I go to, sure. So
right now I'm looking down threepaths. The first one is, and
this is best case scenario. Andyou know, I'm really hoping for
it. I need all I needeverybody's prayers. I'm hoping
I one get accepted into NYU,which I may not find out, at
least until around late June orearly June, actually, but it's
(18:28):
rolling admission, so I mightfind out. So if I get into NYU,
and I get and I am a finalistfor the scholarship, then I will
be going there. If I don't getinto NYU, which, you know, it's
no big deal, but, like, I'drather live in New York, I will
go to Loyola MarymountUniversity. It's in LA if I get
the scholarship, I'll be headingthere. I've already put in the
tuition deposit, just because Ihad to save my seat. But if, if
(18:50):
I don't give a scholarship, youknow, I'm hoping I do, but if I
don't, I'll probably stay in NewJersey. I'm not fully settled on
what college I want to go to, Ihate to say, but I don't really,
I don't really want to be in NewJersey, but you know, if I have
to say, if I have to say, I'mlooking at either Montclair or
Fairleigh Dickinson, okay, I'mnot really sure which ways out.
(19:12):
More. So over another, I alsoapplied to writer, and I have a
lot of connects that go there.So that's another option to me.
Jason Varga (19:19):
Yeah, Nicole, actually, student speakers right
there. I was gonna, I can pushRowan because I'm a former
graduate and communicationsmajor and RTF, and they have one
of the best communications inthe country, actually. So just
something to think about, notjust as one of our partner
schools, you know. I don't getany endorsements or any kind of
kickbacks for this at all, youknow. But I hear great success
(19:39):
stories from, obviously, riderand fairly Dickinson and
Montclair, my buddy, one of myformer students, was Montclair,
and he is, or no, he wasMonmouth. Sorry, so not so much
about Claire the one. Yeah, hewas Monmouth, though, but he's,
he graduated Monmouth, but nowhe's, like, worked himself all
the way up, also a writer, butsports writer, and now is
working for sny out of New Yorkand covering the Jets. And the
(19:59):
Jets. Is one of the leadreporters. So a lot of great
schools in New Jersey, but Idon't, you know, I don't fault
you for wanting to kind of stepout, you know, you know, whether
it's up in New York or out toLA, yeah, kind of just, it's
just, even if you go for like, alittle bit in the back here,
right? It's just kind of morefor, like, that cultural lesson
and life and continuing to addto your story that you're
(20:20):
writing about yourself and maybeworking into some kind of like
script writing somehow. You knowwhat? I mean, it's all about the
experiences throughout all youknow, every facet of your life
that you're kind of going sojust kind of curious what you
were, where you're heading offnext. But first, you know, we
got to get to this commencement,get to the speech, and then all
that stuff. Get your finalsdone. You done your finals
Unknown (20:38):
yet. I just finished my Music Fundamentals final this
morning. Okay, I feel prettygood about it. I'm not gonna
lie. I woke up feeling great,went to sleep at 3am woke at
seven, somehow, had a lot ofenergy, didn't eat, no coffee
either. And I was like, I gotthis. It's in the bag. And by
the by the time I was on, I waslike, This feels great. This is
an A, yeah,
Jason Varga (20:56):
that's called being in college again. I used to be
able to do all that stuff too.But now, you know, my life's
kind of flipped around. Well, Iget some of the energy I'm
probably used to, like, notreally sleeping because of radio
and all that, and, like, justworking crazy hours, but I don't
miss I was joking with all threeof you the you know, the student
speakers, as we're practicingfor this commencement, is
missing all of his exams and thepressure because I'm kind of
(21:19):
more in the procrastinator sideof things, like, I'll get it
done, but I work better whenit's under pressure, right? If I
know that, I can I finish mypaper, it's not do it for like,
a month, or study for my exams,not doing for a little bit. I
got other stuff that's priorityto me, right? Whether that was
soccer practice or other, youknow, just group events or doing
something, I'll get to it. I'llget to it, because this is what
needs to be done right now. Andthen you get there. Like, why
(21:40):
didn't I do that a month ago?I'd be ago? Chipping away at it.
So everyone works their ownstyle, but you're here,
obviously you're great at whatyou do. It's the reason why you
know you were chosen andselected to be the valedictorian
for the humanity humanities,Business and Social Sciences,
which I'm still trying to get,because it's no longer liberal
arts. It's the it's the reallynamed division that they did
(22:01):
last year, so working it intothat so, you know, congrats. But
one final thoughts, partingmessage to your fellow
classmates, anyone listening foryourself here, it doesn't
necessarily have to be abouteducation. It can be just you're
kind of already talking about itlike you're writing your own
story. But just a final goodbye,my
Unknown (22:22):
only final goodbye would be, you're unique. Play
into that
Jason Varga (22:28):
like it. We all are well. Manuel, proud of you.
Thank you. Congrats. Glad I gotto, you know, work alongside
you, as limited as that we did.But yeah, I'm really excited to
see what the future holds foryou. And, you know, it's a great
honor to watch you, you know, dothis and kind of let you grow.
And just to have like this iswhat I enjoy doing, personally,
(22:50):
is I know I'm not in theprofessor side anymore. As I
step back after COVID, when, youknow, I run the website of the
college, you get to hide behindthe screen, but it's the
podcasting I get to interactwith people like yourself, and
hear those stories, and seeingthe culmination of it, going
into commencement and everythingelse, and literally getting
goosebumps talking about andstuff. Because this is what I
think, this is what pretty mucheveryone wants to be in higher
(23:11):
ed for, is so that we can, youknow, you pass on to the
students and watch them grow ascharacters, and kind of help
them choose their past. Butyou're not telling what path to
choose. You know what I mean,just trying to provide those
resources and guidelines and,you know, or advice of what do's
and don'ts and learn from mymistakes and stuff too. And, you
know, just to see, they said,like, my other student is now
working for the Jets and theGiants, but to see maybe go out
(23:31):
there and do some cinematographywork or something like that, you
have a favorite director. By theway, I meant to ask that
earlier.
Unknown (23:37):
It's, it's change. It's becoming. Ryan Coogler, I can't
lie, I can't lie, yeah, um,after I saw sinners, I think it
had to be solidified. It'smaking it's him peel
Jason Varga (23:49):
Yeah, I wouldn't see those two crazy. Was
watching peel skits, the kingpeel skits to go into the horror
stuff. You know what? I mean. It
Unknown (23:56):
makes sense. Comedy and horror are, like, on the same
thing, either you laugh or youcry, yeah? One of the
Jason Varga (24:01):
two. Oh, good point, good point. You know,
mine's definitely, oh, why can'tI think right now? Because my
brain is not working for him forthree hours, Quint Tarantino,
oh, my God, I don't know why Ihad to pause for that. Just
because I loved, you know, hewas all about, like, dialog. You
know what? I mean, his moviesare all about dialog. And it's
like, I mean, talking about theHateful Eight year, literally,
(24:23):
the whole movie is in house,just dialog. Yes, just dialog,
yeah. So I think that's what heand he also knows how to, like
subliminally put like a filmtogether musically, like a
score, of finding, like the offbeat, again, this is my radio
guy, DJ stuff coming out of me,but finding those deep tracks,
but knowing when to have like,these certain rock anthems or
(24:43):
whatever deep cuts that he'sdoing, and the progression of
the cinematography, so that whenthe the editing is hitting the
same, like the bass is hitting,the drums are hitting, or
something like that, or justbuilds that submit cinematic
effect to it. But it was allstarts from his dialog. And, you
know, he's always goodinspiration.
Unknown (24:59):
I gotta know. The favorite Tarantino film.
Jason Varga (25:02):
That's tough. I mean, obviously Kill Bill is
going to be, you know, both ofthem up there. And, of course,
Pulp Fiction, right? But PulpFiction was weird to see what?
Because, again, I'm living asit's coming out in the first
time, so there's not manyspoilers going out. And you're
trying to watch it, you're like,What the heck's going on?
Because it's like, you're in themiddle, and then you're in the
end, in the beginning, and thenall this stuff and had, but he
(25:23):
also had to rejuvenate a lot of,like, actors careers, right?
Yeah. So he brought a lot ofpeople back that, like, they
were popular in the 80s, andthen, like, John Travolta, like,
he kind of started to jump theshark a little bit, right? Yeah.
You know the jump the sharkphrase, by the way.
Unknown (25:39):
Okay, that was, it's
Jason Varga (25:40):
actually a happy days. Goes back to, like, the, I
don't know this is pre dating meand stuff with the Fonz, right?
But there was an episode this,course, like, you know, Fonz
could do no wrong. And he wasalways trying to, like, these
crazy stunts or whatever it is.He literally jumps over sharks
or whatever. So it became, likea catchphrase in the industry.
Like the TV show is kind oflike, okay, you know what I
mean, kind of the Fast andFurious right where, like, now
(26:02):
you're flying a rocket ship inspace with a car. Yeah, we can
go into all that, but yeah, Imean, I love all the Quentin
Tarantino films, kill build oneand two are definitely, you
know, up there. But a lot of my,like, if you listen to a lot of
my radio shows and sound bitesand everything else that I use,
it's either clips from that, ormusic that's from that and
stuff, just because it was hemade you think, you know, I
(26:24):
mean, like, some stuff, you canpredict how much it's like, kind
of like happening in the filmand stuff. And just, I'm a big
dialog up person, so just kindof all that. So I wasn't sure. I
was kind of hoping you're gonnago to that point, but I can't
fault you to
Unknown (26:36):
dialog is, dialog is all there is. I can't lie. I'm,
I'm, I'm, I'm still trying tolearn dialog, um, I've been
really trying to get into CormacMcCarthy so that I can properly
learn how people talk, likeTarantino. Tarantino is another
his scripts or something. I'mtrying to, I've been studying
too, because I, right now, I'mtrying to learn how do people
talk. And one of the Crazythings I do right now, which is
(26:59):
very weird, and I know peoplethink I'm weird for and I look
around and I can, I can see iton people's faces, but I'll
literally have a notebook. Ihave loads of notebooks, and
I'll write down what people aresaying as they're saying, just
so I can literally understandhow people talk properly, pauses
and all, okay, yeah, I'll die
Jason Varga (27:15):
like there. Oh, another two. Is Reservoir Dogs,
which is just, yeah, one of themeccas. But I always loved the
respect not to throw back tohim, because I was now bringing
back my roots or whatever. And,you know, being a film major,
and you know, he was, he kind ofparlayed with, uh, or not
parlayed. It's like the wrongword to use. But he was a big
you could see Alfred Hitchcock,or Hitchcock influenced him, how
(27:36):
his Alfred would always workhimself into as like a small
character. So Quentin Tarantinowould always be like a small
character into that stuff, butthen, you know, all that stuff.
And again, we can talk aboutQuinton tartino a lot, but we
wrap it up because I got somethings to do. You don't have any
more finals, so you're good,right? But you have a speech to
prepare for, so let you get toit. And you know, again, annual,
(27:57):
congrats. Proud of you all thatgood stuff. Proud dad moment.
Right looking forward to havingyou on the live stream. We're
going to hear your full speechin its entirety as anyone
listening again, you can checkout all of our YouTube live
streams of the commencements forany of them, you know, winter,
spring, everything else. They'relive as they happen, and then
they'll be archived, and we'rehaving all of the reactions and
(28:18):
the testimonials from our socialmedia channels. So of course,
subscribe, click the likebutton, button or button below.
Do all that fancy subscribe,share with your friends, all
that yes, all that jazz, right?And you make sure you subscribe
to this podcast, wherever youget your podcasts, all right.
But again, anything else you'dlike to say? Closing remarks,
Unknown (28:38):
thank you for having me.
Jason Varga (28:40):
Yeah, easy enough. All right, dude, cheers and good
luck, man, thanks, man, bye.
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