June 25, 2025 • 35 mins
🎓 From the Deep South to the West Coast: A Mother-Daughter Graduation Story
In this heartfelt episode, we sit down with Judy and Kirkchelle Harris—a mother-daughter duo who are graduating together from Victor Valley College. Originally from Louisiana and longtime residents of the San Fernando Valley, they made a bold move during the pandemic to start fresh in the Victor Valley. With inspiring determination and an unshakable sense of optimism, Judy and Kirkchelle enrolled at VVC while balancing their already successful careers. Their story touches on resilience, family bonds, and the power of education at any stage in life. Oh—and there’s a surprising twist at the end you won’t want to miss. 👀✨
In this heartfelt episode, we sit down with Judy and Kirkchelle Harris—a mother-daughter duo who are graduating together from Victor Valley College. Originally from Louisiana and longtime residents of the San Fernando Valley, they made a bold move during the pandemic to start fresh in the Victor Valley. With inspiring determination and an unshakable sense of optimism, Judy and Kirkchelle enrolled at VVC while balancing their already successful careers. Their story touches on resilience, family bonds, and the power of education at any stage in life. Oh—and there’s a surprising twist at the end you won’t want to miss. 👀✨
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And welcome to another edition of Ramplify, the podcast brought
to you by the ASB here at Victor Valley College.
I'm your host, Andrew Caravella. This is a different setup.
I am physically not sitting at a table. And you'll
notice we actually have our theme from last year's ASB retreat,
(00:33):
we is greater than Me. I'm wearing that specifically. Usually
I do things on accident, but this time I'm doing
it specifically. Did you know that, Hayley, that I did
that on purpose? You did not.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Laundry that?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
We know?
Speaker 4 (00:48):
What?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Good job? Because that is something accurate that I would do. Yes,
I'm wearing this today because we have two special guests
in the studio. Today. We have kirkshell Hey and Judy Hey,
daughter and mother. Yes, this is a really great episode
because these two women are graduating together.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yes, we are almost done.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That's nuts, that's nuts. That's great. So how did this
work out? How did you guys just did you guys
just like look at each other one day and say, hey,
let's go to let's go to let's go to college
and just graduate, Like what's the story? How did this all?
How did this all come to be? That you guys
decided to go to college together.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, what happened was talking to Mike.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Talking to Mike. A little more.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Happened when we were initially from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Hold on, I got this knowledge. Now she's going off script.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I don't know what that means. I don't know what
any of that means.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
That the good times.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Let the good times. We're all okay, Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So what happened. We were living in the valley, and
I have pretty much raised all of my children as
a single.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Mother of five, five children, five.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Children, and Kershelle went to school for culinary arts in
two thousand and eight nine, yeah, right after high school. Yeah,
So she graduated and we started a small catering business.
And during that time we had so many life events
that happened. My dad passed away, my mom, we had
(02:29):
a lot of loss, right and so the I would say,
the moment that made me wanted to actually move to
the High Desert was shortly after my mom passed. I
wanted to go somewhere where I knew no one where
I just wanted a clean slate.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Okay, okay, but but hold on, I'm sorry to cut
you off. Judy it's for all of you live here
in the Victorville area. Like, you don't just find this place, right?
Did you throw a dark at the border? Like how
did you?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Really? One day, I just took a loan drive right.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And I was like, from Knowles, I believe that would
be a long drive.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yes, actually from the valley. I lived in San Fernando
Valley and the studio city. Yeah, So and I took
a long drive out here and I was like, wow,
this looks like a little tinsel town middle of nowhere. Yeah,
And I was like, it's going on. It was just
so it was mind blowing to me. It was absolutely
clean and serene and quiet.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Part what part were you in Apple Valley? Well, here
we go Apple Valley.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So I was like, well, And I took several trips
after and I prayed about it, and I was like,
you know what, I think I'm going to sell my
house and move out there. And I was on a hunt.
It was crazy.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Let me ask you, at what point did your mom
share this news with you?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
She waited, She waited. She didn't tell anyone that she
was going to sell the house and move. Mind you,
this is a house we grew up in over nine years,
so after my twenty oh oh wait wait after two well,
of course after that. But I moved out when I
was like nineteenish, So I went to the Cordon Blue.
(04:15):
Then I went to lattc to pursue my culinary arts.
And I was also working in the home. She had
her own, you know, in home childcare center called Stepping
Stones Family Daycare, and that was in nineteen ninety four.
So from working with her in the house, you know,
we didn't want to give up that home. We knew
everything about that home, and you know, just having to
(04:36):
move it was a new, clean start, but it was
also something refreshing.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
So she said, hey, I'm going to move to Victorville.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
She said, I'm going to move to Apple Valley but
she had already bought the house and said, I got
a surprise.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
For you guys.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
And we're like, where are we going? I always see
is you know, tumbleweeds, And I said, We're going to
Vegas and she's like, surprise, And we go up this
large driveway and we just couldn't believe it. We are
all crying. We were hysterical.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Okay, were you crying because you were?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I was kind because I was like, Wow, this is unbelievable.
I couldn't believe there was like land out here such
as you know what, she has such a big piece
of land, you know, leaving from our room, sharing it
with my sister, and now being able to have a
place where my children can grow up in.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So you were positive about it, then oh my gosh,
my life is over. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
I was positive because I grew up in matured and
I was like, I am kind of tired of the
valley graffiti, you know, all these different things started up.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
But everything was so close. I was in the San
Fernando Valley all the time. I love the durable of arts.
It's like, mom, lay ground.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Everything the valley. But you know, I felt like we
could always drive back.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
We were doing a lot of driving back and forths
for a while until we officially got over it and
said I have to say too. During that time when
I made that move, I was an empty nester, the
last one had left home, and until everything was much
about me. So I was like, you know what, once
I tell them, they're gonna say no, mom, And that's
what happened. I was like, I'm thinking about it. And
when I said I'm thinking about it, and it was like, no,
(06:07):
what about our friends. I'm like, day, I was like,
you guys all grown up, and I'm like those friends,
you can come visit. So I made that move without
them knowing. I was like, hey, this is a new
house and they were like, okay, they were happy.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
What year was that when you guys decided to start
putting roots down here in the high desert?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:29):
What month was that?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
In May?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Oh so right in the right.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
In the beginning of it to my second Oh wow, yeah,
and the pandemic was at hand. I had just lost
my mom in January. That's when I was like, you
know what, it's fine, fresh start and I would say, yeah,
I have no regrets. I love it here. I love
it Sally, like we love BBC, and how we came
(06:53):
to the decision to go back to school because.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
We hold that hold that big we gotta we gotta
get them hooked right now. That we got them hooked,
a quick time out and then you find out how
how you discovered VBC.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Right after this Don't Go Away got.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And we are back on ramplifying with mother daughter soon
to be graduates, Kirkshelle and Judy we're trying to figure
out why they decided to go to community college together.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
So we've learned that you guys are from Nulln's New Orleans.
I love saying that. That's awesome. So and then you
guys ended up coming to California, San Fernando Valley, Los
Angeles area for for for several years. And then from
there you decided fresh start after your mother, the matriarch,
passed away, and then you ended up moving to the
High Desert.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
And then that was during the pandemic. And then you
were just about to tell us before the host rudely
probably decided to go a commercial break, tell us how
Victor Valley College came to be. Oh, before we do that,
because my adhd is really bad. Okay, So chef chef like,
what's like the dish, the go to dish.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So we love doing a jambalaya, Cajun shrimped or chicken
saucea I go too, yes that or gumbo.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
That's because you're from the South right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Islands, so we always have to add that little Cajun
cuisine touch to it. And I kind of drifted off
of the catering for a while. I was doing it
a lot in LA for about three four years. My
mom would step in with a lot of the chafing
dishes and all the little tools and things I needed,
so she funded those catering I did, but I was
doing the you know, private caterings outside of my home.
(08:45):
And then I decided, eh, you know, it's too much work.
I need a little more manpower to help me carry
these things. And I kind of let that go for
a while, but I want to include that into my childcare.
You know, when I move further on into the future, you.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Think, you like, I get that you kind of put
it to the side and stuff, But it sounds like
you're still passionate about it. You think you ever, like,
like bust out a cookbook one of these days.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I mean, when it comes to children, you have to
create menus, You have to create some type of you know,
dietary needs. So I'm going to always have that in
me to have that, So I'm going to always include
the two.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
That's cool. I love that. All Right to get here
we are The year is twenty twenty. Yes, you were
living in the high desert the seven six zero. According
to you, it's the clean.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Party when it's a seven six zero.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Apple Valley, is what you have claimed here, And all
of a sudden you have discovered a little old community
college now known as the fastest growing community college in
the Delimoria.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
So how did that happen? What happened? Who was it?
What was it that you discovered?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Okay, So, as I mentioned earlier, I took a long
drive out here, and then I discovered that it's very clean,
it's very rural, it's quiet. It was like a little
tinsel tale to me, right, And just like Herschelle mentioned,
she wanted a break from catering, so she kind of
got a timeline a little mixed up, which I can understand,
you know, the young mother sometimes No, but she had
(10:23):
been doing it for quite some time. She did the
La Food Show. She had a chance to pair with
a lot of the celebrity chefs, like uh, what's his
name Curtis and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Special cook wear he does. Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Oh yeah, absolutely lovely. So she was one of the
more up and coming young chefs, right But as far
as the business part, I handle most of that, and
I was also her chef. But I learned how to
cook by watching my dad. He was a chef, and
herchel learned how to by watching me. And so when
she told me she was passionate about that, I encourage
her to go to Lake cart On Blue and then
(11:04):
she went from there to La la la trade. Yeah,
and so moving forward to the desert. When we got
out here, she said, Mom, I wanted to take a break.
I'm like, what all of that money in time I
invested in this business, you're passionate about this. I said, okay,
let's do this. Why don't we go to school, you know,
I said, I'll do let's trade off. So I used
(11:25):
to be an elementary school teacher and a preschool teacher,
and I had my own family daycare. So she went
back to school for early childhood education and I'm back
here for culinary arts, you know the rest of her
So we switched rolls for a minute. So we were like, hey, yeah,
that way we can both have a degree in the
same field.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
So this is how we came to Victor Valley College.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I find that fascinating and the reason I wanted to
dig into that and the reason why I pushed you, guys,
I'm sorry, encouraged you guys to do the podcast is because,
and as you guys know my background in journalism, I
find certain stories very fascinating. And one of the stories
I find fascinating is similar to your stories I find
(12:12):
I find I find uh like, sons and fathers and
daughters and mothers not not super common, but I find
it happening on community colleges, parents and adult children going
to college at the same time. Wow, and let's normalize that. Yes,
(12:33):
I think that's a beautiful thing. And I and I
and I find your story inspiring, like why not you
know when we say community college community Hello?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
That right? Yes, speaking of community, we do have six
streets that we've adopted in the town of Apple Valley,
so we are we're very privy and passionate about tanity.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
And I'm sorry, did you did they say they adopted
sixth streets?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Adopted sixth streets? So when you go down the golf
course area, you can see our names, the Harris family,
you know, the children. But you guys, yes, yes, you guys. Yeah,
you see Shelley there. That's my nickname, so everyone knows
me as Miss Shelley instead of mister Shell. They go
(13:24):
by both or chef Shelley.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, that is so inspiring. I have been trying for
the longest time to find out No, no, no, no no.
I've been trying for the longest time to have the
town of Apple Valley at least dedicate a street in
my name because I grew up in Apple Valley. Oh
here you are. You have set you dedicated because you
(13:50):
clean them up and stuff. Maybe I should clean up
one street. Maybe that's what I'm doing wrong.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
You can commit to it yearly, definitely, and.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
That's a commitment. Oh yeah, yeah, I'll have to think.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
We even have the little ones taking the bags and
raking things and years.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Old for you.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yes, he's got like pictures of him growing up doing
the community volunteer work with in his mouth.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
And I call it labor. Good good for you spinning
it around like that.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And I have to say that community involvement Park comes
from the way I raised my children, because even dill
as a single parent, I wanted them to always be
involved in community. I was an elected official neighborhood council
president for thirteen years for the city of La Yeah,
so all that community involvement started at home. And I'm
(14:44):
very passionate about that. That is something I always want
to do. And I'm right now trying to find my
niche here at the college because I say, hey, we
got to give back because we found I think we
found the best jewel in the high desert here at
Valley College. The resource sins are here. I'm like everyone
at attends school here, there's no way they can fail.
(15:05):
The only way it's because they don't want They don't
want it. You have to want it because the resources
are here. We mean beautiful people like you guys.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Hear that? Yeah, stop you again, he said beautiful and
then she gestured to me like this.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I loved how he just literally I mean, we were
to just bring out talents, you know, even me shine
away from the singing. You know, I was involved in
the Winter Talent Show. You know, things like that that
kind of broaden the student, the child, everyone's you know, personality,
and I think it brings a lot of character to
the school. And I appreciate you bringing that out of
(15:41):
me because I was going to give that up to
put that on the show.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Appreciate it. I'm appreciated. We're going to take another quick break.
But then it's not always Rosie. I want to I
want to kind of dig deep into challenges because we
all have challenges and we want to discuss that openly.
So we'll be back with Kirkshell and Judy in just
a second. Don't go away. It is all right, and
(16:18):
we are back once again. Ramplify the podcast from ASB
here at Victor Valley College. How you doing, Haley? Amazing?
How your finals going? Are you? Are you ready? Yeah?
Finish strong? Good for you? Yay. I'm gonna I'm gonna
(16:49):
put her on blast right now. Okay, she should be graduating, so,
but she decided to change majors. Oh so she technically
could graduate, but she's to stick it out one more
year because she wanted to go in a different direction.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Okay, I understand.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Which is good because I think I think it's a
way better direction.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
That's why I love the community. Colleges gives you a
lot of flexibility.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Well, there's so many options. That's why she decided to change.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
I want to do film with you next.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
I don't want to leave yet. What do you mean film?
I don't teach. You got to teach now.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I'm want to do whatever you guys are doing.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I think my class would cry if they ever did
a class, so uh, you know, speaking of crying, I
would like to discuss the struggles and the hardships and
the challenges because it's not always roses and daisies, right.
I think people were probably watching the first two parts
of this podcast and being like, oh, they're just they're
they're selling all of the all the the glitter and
(17:48):
the and the sparkles. But because girl, let's let's be honest,
you're a leopard over You're like Shania Twain, like with
the with that don't impress me much outfit, right, which
is like literally one of my favorite artists, like, you
look amazing right now. But aside from that, no, it's
it's hard work. It's hard work to go after your goals.
(18:08):
You know, as it is. You know, people will give
up because that is easier. Yeah, you know, and I'm
sure I'm sure in your guys' journey it wasn't easy. Right,
So let's see you guys moved up here in twenty twenty,
it's now twenty twenty five. On average, if you're full time,
you finished it in two years. Obviously you didn't finish
it in two years, so it took some time to
(18:29):
get there, but you did.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It was twenty two years.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Three years.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yes, we were like, we're gonna do this and we're
gonna get a two years mark. We're always at the time.
I don't think we ever did any type of yah
in summer.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
What were the moments where it got it got tough,
it got it got where you felt like sometimes you
were at a wall.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Well, a lot of people know me is the VVC mama.
I'm always bringing my newborn here. I was actually taking classes,
going to exams.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
They are adorable. Just let you know, get thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
I worked at the CDC as an assistant teacher all
the way up until I was eight months and then
I had just left the job on maternity leave. So
being a student worker here absolutely pushed me even more.
I was very determined. I said, I'm not going to
let this stop me from graduating. And they work with
you here, They absolutely work with your schedule, you know.
(19:22):
So I really love that about VVC just being very
authentic and and you know, giving, and also just being
able to be flexible with students like myself. I need
a lot of that because I have three kids now.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
You know, did you feel every time you had a
challenge come up you being vocal, you found out, Oh
there's a resource, there is a solution to help.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
You absolutely like thrive in different places. Different counselors, especially
Miss Monika, Miss Shanta, mister Robert, a lot of you
have all been counselors to me. And it kept me going.
You know, it kept me thinking, you know, it's not
so bad after all, you know, there's always the rainbow
at the end of that.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Do you feel like sometimes people's pride maybe gets in
the way of them asking for the help, do you
I believe so.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
But I started asking. I would tell them, hey, I
need the money, now, I need the resources. I absolutely
need that transportation grant. I never shied away from any
of those resources, financial aid, you know, EUOP and S.
Those are the things that I really held onto that's
helped me a lot.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And it became successful because of it.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, Yeah, thankful, thankful for Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Judy, what about you? What about your journey? Challenge?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
My journey, I had a lot of challenges, as I mentioned,
being a single parent. I had to learn how to budget,
how to use time management resources. You know some that
I you know, it wasn't a pride thing. If what's
more or less, I don't want to be a statistic thing,
you know what I mean, Because a lot of people
would think, hey, this is a single mom, she's going
(20:55):
to eventually be on government assystem most of her life,
and a single Africa American mom. I wanted to make
sure that I made sure that I was not going
to be a statistic So prior to me moving here,
I had to work three and four jobs to maintain
the household because I did not get child support. I
didn't get any of those things, and so I did
(21:17):
get a little assistant at one time from the government,
which was hardly nothing. And I was like, for what
they make you go through, it's not worth it. So
I worked, and the sacrifice was having the kids be
latchkey kids. But because I couldn't afford a babysitter, so
the oldest son had to watch his siblings and things
like that. So I made sure they had videos, pizza,
(21:39):
you know, food prep. I would do that, you know,
a week, you know, in advance, so they could make
sure they could just pop it in a microwave. Now,
after my youngest moved out, I was like, wow, the
only resource I have now because I was sending money,
you know, home, which is New Orleans, to make sure
my mom was okay. But unfortunately she passed away. So
(22:00):
it's a lot of resources that I was pulling from. Resources.
I hardly had to take care of my family, you know,
So that's just who I am. So the only resource
I had was my home. I was like, this is it.
I have nothing else monetary to make to help me survive.
So selling a home, what's the best thing I did? Okay?
(22:20):
And so when I moved here, it's like, hey, let's
go to school because the jobs. You know, I'm a
particular age I would say that, and sometimes ageism does
play a part, so we can't shy away from that.
That is true. So I was like, hey, let's go
back to school. I'm going to make sure when I
do get out there, I'm going strong. You know. I'm
(22:41):
gonna pick up way kershell left off in the culinary business.
But we're going to be bigger and better. I even
trademark two business names already. That's Mighty Grids one and
Cajun fixed on Root sixty six is the second one. Yes,
so look out for us. So we're going to be
looking for support from the community. I saw she's actually
(23:03):
saying that she's also kept that a secret. Yes, and
so I want to make sure because as a student,
we're here most of the day. We pretty much live
here because we're in school and here as a culinary
our student, I'm in the lab most of the day.
When I leave, I go to work in EOPS as
a peer advisor, so I'm here like fifteen hours a day.
(23:26):
So I'm like, oh my gosh, that is so hard
for the ones that don't have anything to how to eat.
So what I want to do. I spoke with Chrishelle.
We're going to try to make sure at least once
a week we're going to provide a hot meal for
the students that can't afford it in the dining room
or in the desert Ram cafe. So that's what I'm passionate.
(23:48):
So as far as being in a spot where it
was hard, I have stories that you guys don't have
enough time for you to share.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So we can bring you back for the next day.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And yeah, So pride has never been a part of
my forte. So I never have an issue with asking
for help, and I always tell my fellow peers or
anyone I know, Hey, if you ever need help, please
come to me, even if it's just a conversation, you know,
even if it's a life experience that I could share
with you, and how I was able to resolve that
(24:22):
a navigate through that. The beauty of the struggle. When
you're seeing other people needing the help, you're also opening
up your heart to that and your doors because we've
been in that position before them.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Sure, we will be right back here in just a second.
You finish up our interview here with Kirkshell and Judy,
don't go away, and we are back for the conclusion
of the Kirkshell and Judy exclusive Get you or what
(24:53):
is it?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Cajun fath fixed on roots just can't fix fix.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
So when's the merch mount oh so logo?
Speaker 2 (25:03):
My dad did that in New Orleans. He's an artist
in New Orleans.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
So did that? Does Round sixty six go through New Orleans?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
You know what I think?
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Let's see the song rot sixty six go through New Orleans?
The kids I can do technology. No, Route sixty six
is not past thing.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
New Orleans, Okay, but I know it does pass through
Apple Valley and Victorville, right, Yeah, I know. Fixed our
route sixty six and that's mighty rot those are. And
we merged out of the Chef Shelley's catering because I
told her I didn't want it to just.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Be my name Chef Shelley though that's good literation. Yeah. Yeah,
I want to know who's been your biggest inspiration here
at the college and how come? How come they have
been your biggest inspiration? What did they do?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Does it have to be one person?
Speaker 1 (25:52):
No, I mean we only have so much time for
the show.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Well, I would say, oh my god, you know, I
admire all of them. They have been so helpful. There
was one that really stood out and I just found
out he got the what was that, the NIL Award?
My professor Pendletonton. Yes, he was amazing because when I
(26:18):
first enrolled here, I wasn't privy to canvas and all
of that stuff, right, so I thought I could still
do it old school by writing all my work on
paper and then taking a screenshot of it. And he
was like hell no, he said, gud, you can do this.
You have. He just motivated so much. Yeah. At one
point I was like, you know Whatchelle, I don't know
(26:39):
if this is for me, right, now you know what
I say, with all the technology, I'm not ready for it.
And she was like, mom, No, but mister Pendleton, he
really motivated me and inspired me.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
How about you?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
She always talks about him. I love that. Yeah, I
would say Professor Heather right off the bat. A lot
of the professors I love them. They have been and
very graceful with me, very patient. But Ms Heather on
a personal level, she's been you know, undoubtedly just so
loving and passionate and informative, you know, letting me know
what career paths I can take after I graduate, and
(27:16):
you know, us being mothers, you know, and her being
able to relate to that, she's just been you know,
so I can't even explain it. Also, like you know,
I just could go to her about anything, you know,
through tears, through all of that, you know, the stresses
of doing work and then also working here and being
a mom. It's just someone that I've always been leaning to.
(27:37):
And so Professor Heather heaven and I have to mention, yeah,
I know, I mean I have to mention, if.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
You go for it, girl, it's your show.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
My Professor Tyler Bush, Okay, who's over restaurant management? When
I first came to the program. He didn't know me,
I didn't know him. You know, we were like we
had we have like this friendship, bixus little student, you know,
we have this relationship.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
So I'm just curious and the big sis little sis relationship,
which one is.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
I'm sorry because I'm just curious this big sis, little brother,
big brother, little sister relationship. I'm sorry, Yeah, but he
has been my inspiration. I was just so surprising how
talented he is and the whole program and all the
resources that are there in the lab. I'm like, wow,
(28:28):
this is a full restaurant. And I mean the knowledge
that he has about food from different cultures in across
the world that blew my mind. From someone so young,
because he's young. Yeah, I was like, man, you're amazing.
And I mean every week, you know, he'll tell me hey,
you know, I like that he doesn't give me a break,
you know, meaning like okay, because they'll probably say, oh,
(28:51):
she's she's a non traditional student in the classroom. That
doesn't matter in his classroom. Okay. He doesn't care who
you are, you know, what background you kind from. He
treats everyone fairly. He wants us all twin at this
culinary experience, you know. So without Tyler, you know, I
look at him as my motivator and my inspiration. I'm like,
(29:13):
I want to show him that all of his work
that he's been doing here for the past ten or
eleven years will not go in vain, because even if
it takes one student that's going to come out and
push that. Hey, you know, I got a lot of
my experiences from Tyler Bush. I think I'll do them
well and I have some more kudos. Oh you guys,
(29:34):
especially yes.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Andrew, this is not scripted.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Uh huh, Andrew, Angela and mir Robert Miss Angela, this
place will not be the same. When we first met
them and every day we were like, oh my gosh,
they are like God.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
I think that's what kept us here too.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
He's like, they're like us. They're so friendly and kind
and welcoming. And that meant a lot, you know, because
when you go somewhere where you know you're going to
spend most of your day, you want to feel like
you're welcome and not that you're you know, being a problem.
Or they make us feel so welcome. And I mean
(30:14):
we talk about my oldest daughter, she's like you guys,
always like you guys, always about see you like she's
always about the clubs. You know, this is our life.
Now we want them to experienced this where now even
my youngest son rather student here. So he means you
(30:35):
guys have probably seen him at the Red. As a
matter of fact, I think you meant you did mean
for the black student successuperstar. Okay, so we're like he
was like, now, mom, I see what you guys mean,
because they would get so upset with us when he
can't reach us when we're here at Yeah, we don't
calling you guys. What's going on? You know? So yeah,
(30:58):
but all of it, I would say, have to say
all of my professors and and especially to mister Carl Smith,
who's an EPs. He gave me another opportunity to get
a job. A second shout out to you know, I
mean everyone here. It's a community of help here. You know.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
So when you guys graduate, I guess you guys are
going into business locally.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Then yes, yes, and we're bringing all of our BBC
collegiates with us too.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah that's exciting.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
We're going to offer them a job. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Well, I can't wait to see you guys. On graduation
days walk across.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I'm excited. We were pulling up in that party bus. Andrew,
we want you to come with us us.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Unfortunately I have to meet and greet all the VIPs.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
That we had to do a New Orleans style. So
we're gonna do it. This is a big accomplishment for
the for us, it was a lot of sacrifice. For
two years. I didn't have a chance to see family
friends is so I like in shock. She was back
at school three days after giving birth. So it was
(32:05):
it was a broad But we are so happy that
we're gonna finish strong and we want to celebrate big.
So yes, go big or go home.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I do want to say that getting to know you
guys the last couple of years, that when I when
I reflect on that, you know, even through like the
Talent Show and stuff and getting to know your mom
and your family, I look back on that and getting
getting to see you guys, you know in a few weeks,
get your degrees and walk across the stage like you guys,
(32:38):
in my opinion, reflect strength and refreshment, like you're refreshing
to see the two of you, you know, generational doing
this together.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yes, and I'm the first one in my generation to
graduate really, yes, from college.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yes, so here we have first generation and second generation
and doing it at the same time.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
And my second born he's the first that will be
graduating from the CDC the childcare center here, so.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
We literally have three generations doing it all at the
same time. I don't know about shot, but that's the
definition of harmony.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Yes, it is. Yeah, we have so many guardian angels
up there that I could just see them jumping up
and down and.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Yeah, that is that's I don't know, that's that's pure
beauty right there, you know. And to see that really
like gives me hope that, you know, oh, there's still
some goodness just in the world summer, And I really
hope people take your guys a story and realize that,
you know, there's there's so much commonality in it and
(33:54):
people can just kind of realize, Hey, that's that's me, right,
that's that's my that's my story. Yes, you know. So
thank you so much for opening the book that is
Kirkshill and Judy's World. Oh yeah, and just and just
sharing a little bit of it with all of us today.
Really do appreciate, we appreciate.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
You guys, so much an opportunity, just being in the
talent show, hosting it, being around you guys, just all
of fun and I just love. I don't want to leave,
but I gotta go.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
That's okay, you're around sixty six. With with that sixty six,
I'm gonna be trying that stuff, all right. Yes, cage
is fixed. That's it, And that's my because it's not
too spicy because I'll probably die.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Oh no, we know we're gonna make it need yea.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
All right, guys, we'll see you next time right here
on later, alright.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Ramplify the podcast is filmed and recorded in Victorville, California.
This podcast is made possible with the support of the
Associated Student Body of Victor Valley College. The views and
opinions expressed in this production are those of the speakers
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of
Victor Valley College or its affiliates. Ramplify is hosted by
Andrew Caravella, produced by Robert A.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Sewell.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Production crew includes officers of the Associated student Body of
twenty twenty four through twenty twenty five. If you'd like
more information about this podcast, please reach out by email
info at VVC dot edu,
And welcome to another edition of Ramplify, the podcast brought
to you by the ASB here at Victor Valley College.
I'm your host, Andrew Caravella. This is a different setup.
I am physically not sitting at a table. And you'll
notice we actually have our theme from last year's ASB retreat,
(00:33):
we is greater than Me. I'm wearing that specifically. Usually
I do things on accident, but this time I'm doing
it specifically. Did you know that, Hayley, that I did
that on purpose? You did not.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Laundry that?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
We know?
Speaker 4 (00:48):
What?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Good job? Because that is something accurate that I would do. Yes,
I'm wearing this today because we have two special guests
in the studio. Today. We have kirkshell Hey and Judy Hey,
daughter and mother. Yes, this is a really great episode
because these two women are graduating together.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yes, we are almost done.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That's nuts, that's nuts. That's great. So how did this
work out? How did you guys just did you guys
just like look at each other one day and say, hey,
let's go to let's go to let's go to college
and just graduate, Like what's the story? How did this all?
How did this all come to be? That you guys
decided to go to college together.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, what happened was talking to Mike.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Talking to Mike. A little more.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Happened when we were initially from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Hold on, I got this knowledge. Now she's going off script.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I don't know what that means. I don't know what
any of that means.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
That the good times.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Let the good times. We're all okay, Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So what happened. We were living in the valley, and
I have pretty much raised all of my children as
a single.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Mother of five, five children, five.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Children, and Kershelle went to school for culinary arts in
two thousand and eight nine, yeah, right after high school. Yeah,
So she graduated and we started a small catering business.
And during that time we had so many life events
that happened. My dad passed away, my mom, we had
(02:29):
a lot of loss, right and so the I would say,
the moment that made me wanted to actually move to
the High Desert was shortly after my mom passed. I
wanted to go somewhere where I knew no one where
I just wanted a clean slate.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Okay, okay, but but hold on, I'm sorry to cut
you off. Judy it's for all of you live here
in the Victorville area. Like, you don't just find this place, right?
Did you throw a dark at the border? Like how
did you?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Really? One day, I just took a loan drive right.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And I was like, from Knowles, I believe that would
be a long drive.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yes, actually from the valley. I lived in San Fernando
Valley and the studio city. Yeah, So and I took
a long drive out here and I was like, wow,
this looks like a little tinsel town middle of nowhere. Yeah,
And I was like, it's going on. It was just
so it was mind blowing to me. It was absolutely
clean and serene and quiet.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Part what part were you in Apple Valley? Well, here
we go Apple Valley.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So I was like, well, And I took several trips
after and I prayed about it, and I was like,
you know what, I think I'm going to sell my
house and move out there. And I was on a hunt.
It was crazy.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Let me ask you, at what point did your mom
share this news with you?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
She waited, She waited. She didn't tell anyone that she
was going to sell the house and move. Mind you,
this is a house we grew up in over nine years,
so after my twenty oh oh wait wait after two well,
of course after that. But I moved out when I
was like nineteenish, So I went to the Cordon Blue.
(04:15):
Then I went to lattc to pursue my culinary arts.
And I was also working in the home. She had
her own, you know, in home childcare center called Stepping
Stones Family Daycare, and that was in nineteen ninety four.
So from working with her in the house, you know,
we didn't want to give up that home. We knew
everything about that home, and you know, just having to
(04:36):
move it was a new, clean start, but it was
also something refreshing.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
So she said, hey, I'm going to move to Victorville.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
She said, I'm going to move to Apple Valley but
she had already bought the house and said, I got
a surprise.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
For you guys.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
And we're like, where are we going? I always see
is you know, tumbleweeds, And I said, We're going to
Vegas and she's like, surprise, And we go up this
large driveway and we just couldn't believe it. We are
all crying. We were hysterical.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Okay, were you crying because you were?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I was kind because I was like, Wow, this is unbelievable.
I couldn't believe there was like land out here such
as you know what, she has such a big piece
of land, you know, leaving from our room, sharing it
with my sister, and now being able to have a
place where my children can grow up in.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So you were positive about it, then oh my gosh,
my life is over. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
I was positive because I grew up in matured and
I was like, I am kind of tired of the
valley graffiti, you know, all these different things started up.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
But everything was so close. I was in the San
Fernando Valley all the time. I love the durable of arts.
It's like, mom, lay ground.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Everything the valley. But you know, I felt like we
could always drive back.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
We were doing a lot of driving back and forths
for a while until we officially got over it and
said I have to say too. During that time when
I made that move, I was an empty nester, the
last one had left home, and until everything was much
about me. So I was like, you know what, once
I tell them, they're gonna say no, mom, And that's
what happened. I was like, I'm thinking about it. And
when I said I'm thinking about it, and it was like, no,
(06:07):
what about our friends. I'm like, day, I was like,
you guys all grown up, and I'm like those friends,
you can come visit. So I made that move without
them knowing. I was like, hey, this is a new
house and they were like, okay, they were happy.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
What year was that when you guys decided to start
putting roots down here in the high desert?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:29):
What month was that?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
In May?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Oh so right in the right.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
In the beginning of it to my second Oh wow, yeah,
and the pandemic was at hand. I had just lost
my mom in January. That's when I was like, you
know what, it's fine, fresh start and I would say, yeah,
I have no regrets. I love it here. I love
it Sally, like we love BBC, and how we came
(06:53):
to the decision to go back to school because.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
We hold that hold that big we gotta we gotta
get them hooked right now. That we got them hooked,
a quick time out and then you find out how
how you discovered VBC.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Right after this Don't Go Away got.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And we are back on ramplifying with mother daughter soon
to be graduates, Kirkshelle and Judy we're trying to figure
out why they decided to go to community college together.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
So we've learned that you guys are from Nulln's New Orleans.
I love saying that. That's awesome. So and then you
guys ended up coming to California, San Fernando Valley, Los
Angeles area for for for several years. And then from
there you decided fresh start after your mother, the matriarch,
passed away, and then you ended up moving to the
High Desert.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
And then that was during the pandemic. And then you
were just about to tell us before the host rudely
probably decided to go a commercial break, tell us how
Victor Valley College came to be. Oh, before we do that,
because my adhd is really bad. Okay, So chef chef like,
what's like the dish, the go to dish.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So we love doing a jambalaya, Cajun shrimped or chicken
saucea I go too, yes that or gumbo.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
That's because you're from the South right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Islands, so we always have to add that little Cajun
cuisine touch to it. And I kind of drifted off
of the catering for a while. I was doing it
a lot in LA for about three four years. My
mom would step in with a lot of the chafing
dishes and all the little tools and things I needed,
so she funded those catering I did, but I was
doing the you know, private caterings outside of my home.
(08:45):
And then I decided, eh, you know, it's too much work.
I need a little more manpower to help me carry
these things. And I kind of let that go for
a while, but I want to include that into my childcare.
You know, when I move further on into the future, you.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Think, you like, I get that you kind of put
it to the side and stuff, But it sounds like
you're still passionate about it. You think you ever, like,
like bust out a cookbook one of these days.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I mean, when it comes to children, you have to
create menus, You have to create some type of you know,
dietary needs. So I'm going to always have that in
me to have that, So I'm going to always include
the two.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
That's cool. I love that. All Right to get here
we are The year is twenty twenty. Yes, you were
living in the high desert the seven six zero. According
to you, it's the clean.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Party when it's a seven six zero.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Apple Valley, is what you have claimed here, And all
of a sudden you have discovered a little old community
college now known as the fastest growing community college in
the Delimoria.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
So how did that happen? What happened? Who was it?
What was it that you discovered?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Okay, So, as I mentioned earlier, I took a long
drive out here, and then I discovered that it's very clean,
it's very rural, it's quiet. It was like a little
tinsel tale to me, right, And just like Herschelle mentioned,
she wanted a break from catering, so she kind of
got a timeline a little mixed up, which I can understand,
you know, the young mother sometimes No, but she had
(10:23):
been doing it for quite some time. She did the
La Food Show. She had a chance to pair with
a lot of the celebrity chefs, like uh, what's his
name Curtis and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Special cook wear he does. Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Oh yeah, absolutely lovely. So she was one of the
more up and coming young chefs, right But as far
as the business part, I handle most of that, and
I was also her chef. But I learned how to
cook by watching my dad. He was a chef, and
herchel learned how to by watching me. And so when
she told me she was passionate about that, I encourage
her to go to Lake cart On Blue and then
(11:04):
she went from there to La la la trade. Yeah,
and so moving forward to the desert. When we got
out here, she said, Mom, I wanted to take a break.
I'm like, what all of that money in time I
invested in this business, you're passionate about this. I said, okay,
let's do this. Why don't we go to school, you know,
I said, I'll do let's trade off. So I used
(11:25):
to be an elementary school teacher and a preschool teacher,
and I had my own family daycare. So she went
back to school for early childhood education and I'm back
here for culinary arts, you know the rest of her
So we switched rolls for a minute. So we were like, hey, yeah,
that way we can both have a degree in the
same field.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
So this is how we came to Victor Valley College.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I find that fascinating and the reason I wanted to
dig into that and the reason why I pushed you, guys,
I'm sorry, encouraged you guys to do the podcast is because,
and as you guys know my background in journalism, I
find certain stories very fascinating. And one of the stories
I find fascinating is similar to your stories I find
(12:12):
I find I find uh like, sons and fathers and
daughters and mothers not not super common, but I find
it happening on community colleges, parents and adult children going
to college at the same time. Wow, and let's normalize that. Yes,
(12:33):
I think that's a beautiful thing. And I and I
and I find your story inspiring, like why not you
know when we say community college community Hello?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
That right? Yes, speaking of community, we do have six
streets that we've adopted in the town of Apple Valley,
so we are we're very privy and passionate about tanity.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
And I'm sorry, did you did they say they adopted
sixth streets?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Adopted sixth streets? So when you go down the golf
course area, you can see our names, the Harris family,
you know, the children. But you guys, yes, yes, you guys. Yeah,
you see Shelley there. That's my nickname, so everyone knows
me as Miss Shelley instead of mister Shell. They go
(13:24):
by both or chef Shelley.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, that is so inspiring. I have been trying for
the longest time to find out No, no, no, no no.
I've been trying for the longest time to have the
town of Apple Valley at least dedicate a street in
my name because I grew up in Apple Valley. Oh
here you are. You have set you dedicated because you
(13:50):
clean them up and stuff. Maybe I should clean up
one street. Maybe that's what I'm doing wrong.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
You can commit to it yearly, definitely, and.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
That's a commitment. Oh yeah, yeah, I'll have to think.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
We even have the little ones taking the bags and
raking things and years.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Old for you.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yes, he's got like pictures of him growing up doing
the community volunteer work with in his mouth.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
And I call it labor. Good good for you spinning
it around like that.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And I have to say that community involvement Park comes
from the way I raised my children, because even dill
as a single parent, I wanted them to always be
involved in community. I was an elected official neighborhood council
president for thirteen years for the city of La Yeah,
so all that community involvement started at home. And I'm
(14:44):
very passionate about that. That is something I always want
to do. And I'm right now trying to find my
niche here at the college because I say, hey, we
got to give back because we found I think we
found the best jewel in the high desert here at
Valley College. The resource sins are here. I'm like everyone
at attends school here, there's no way they can fail.
(15:05):
The only way it's because they don't want They don't
want it. You have to want it because the resources
are here. We mean beautiful people like you guys.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Hear that? Yeah, stop you again, he said beautiful and
then she gestured to me like this.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I loved how he just literally I mean, we were
to just bring out talents, you know, even me shine
away from the singing. You know, I was involved in
the Winter Talent Show. You know, things like that that
kind of broaden the student, the child, everyone's you know, personality,
and I think it brings a lot of character to
the school. And I appreciate you bringing that out of
(15:41):
me because I was going to give that up to
put that on the show.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Appreciate it. I'm appreciated. We're going to take another quick break.
But then it's not always Rosie. I want to I
want to kind of dig deep into challenges because we
all have challenges and we want to discuss that openly.
So we'll be back with Kirkshell and Judy in just
a second. Don't go away. It is all right, and
(16:18):
we are back once again. Ramplify the podcast from ASB
here at Victor Valley College. How you doing, Haley? Amazing?
How your finals going? Are you? Are you ready? Yeah?
Finish strong? Good for you? Yay. I'm gonna I'm gonna
(16:49):
put her on blast right now. Okay, she should be graduating, so,
but she decided to change majors. Oh so she technically
could graduate, but she's to stick it out one more
year because she wanted to go in a different direction.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Okay, I understand.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Which is good because I think I think it's a
way better direction.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
That's why I love the community. Colleges gives you a
lot of flexibility.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Well, there's so many options. That's why she decided to change.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
I want to do film with you next.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
I don't want to leave yet. What do you mean film?
I don't teach. You got to teach now.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I'm want to do whatever you guys are doing.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I think my class would cry if they ever did
a class, so uh, you know, speaking of crying, I
would like to discuss the struggles and the hardships and
the challenges because it's not always roses and daisies, right.
I think people were probably watching the first two parts
of this podcast and being like, oh, they're just they're
they're selling all of the all the the glitter and
(17:48):
the and the sparkles. But because girl, let's let's be honest,
you're a leopard over You're like Shania Twain, like with
the with that don't impress me much outfit, right, which
is like literally one of my favorite artists, like, you
look amazing right now. But aside from that, no, it's
it's hard work. It's hard work to go after your goals.
(18:08):
You know, as it is. You know, people will give
up because that is easier. Yeah, you know, and I'm
sure I'm sure in your guys' journey it wasn't easy. Right,
So let's see you guys moved up here in twenty twenty,
it's now twenty twenty five. On average, if you're full time,
you finished it in two years. Obviously you didn't finish
it in two years, so it took some time to
(18:29):
get there, but you did.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It was twenty two years.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Three years.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yes, we were like, we're gonna do this and we're
gonna get a two years mark. We're always at the time.
I don't think we ever did any type of yah
in summer.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
What were the moments where it got it got tough,
it got it got where you felt like sometimes you
were at a wall.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Well, a lot of people know me is the VVC mama.
I'm always bringing my newborn here. I was actually taking classes,
going to exams.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
They are adorable. Just let you know, get thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
I worked at the CDC as an assistant teacher all
the way up until I was eight months and then
I had just left the job on maternity leave. So
being a student worker here absolutely pushed me even more.
I was very determined. I said, I'm not going to
let this stop me from graduating. And they work with
you here, They absolutely work with your schedule, you know.
(19:22):
So I really love that about VVC just being very
authentic and and you know, giving, and also just being
able to be flexible with students like myself. I need
a lot of that because I have three kids now.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
You know, did you feel every time you had a
challenge come up you being vocal, you found out, Oh
there's a resource, there is a solution to help.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
You absolutely like thrive in different places. Different counselors, especially
Miss Monika, Miss Shanta, mister Robert, a lot of you
have all been counselors to me. And it kept me going.
You know, it kept me thinking, you know, it's not
so bad after all, you know, there's always the rainbow
at the end of that.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Do you feel like sometimes people's pride maybe gets in
the way of them asking for the help, do you
I believe so.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
But I started asking. I would tell them, hey, I
need the money, now, I need the resources. I absolutely
need that transportation grant. I never shied away from any
of those resources, financial aid, you know, EUOP and S.
Those are the things that I really held onto that's
helped me a lot.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And it became successful because of it.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, Yeah, thankful, thankful for Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Judy, what about you? What about your journey? Challenge?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
My journey, I had a lot of challenges, as I mentioned,
being a single parent. I had to learn how to budget,
how to use time management resources. You know some that
I you know, it wasn't a pride thing. If what's
more or less, I don't want to be a statistic thing,
you know what I mean, Because a lot of people
would think, hey, this is a single mom, she's going
(20:55):
to eventually be on government assystem most of her life,
and a single Africa American mom. I wanted to make
sure that I made sure that I was not going
to be a statistic So prior to me moving here,
I had to work three and four jobs to maintain
the household because I did not get child support. I
didn't get any of those things, and so I did
(21:17):
get a little assistant at one time from the government,
which was hardly nothing. And I was like, for what
they make you go through, it's not worth it. So
I worked, and the sacrifice was having the kids be
latchkey kids. But because I couldn't afford a babysitter, so
the oldest son had to watch his siblings and things
like that. So I made sure they had videos, pizza,
(21:39):
you know, food prep. I would do that, you know,
a week, you know, in advance, so they could make
sure they could just pop it in a microwave. Now,
after my youngest moved out, I was like, wow, the
only resource I have now because I was sending money,
you know, home, which is New Orleans, to make sure
my mom was okay. But unfortunately she passed away. So
(22:00):
it's a lot of resources that I was pulling from. Resources.
I hardly had to take care of my family, you know,
So that's just who I am. So the only resource
I had was my home. I was like, this is it.
I have nothing else monetary to make to help me survive.
So selling a home, what's the best thing I did? Okay?
(22:20):
And so when I moved here, it's like, hey, let's
go to school because the jobs. You know, I'm a
particular age I would say that, and sometimes ageism does
play a part, so we can't shy away from that.
That is true. So I was like, hey, let's go
back to school. I'm going to make sure when I
do get out there, I'm going strong. You know. I'm
(22:41):
gonna pick up way kershell left off in the culinary business.
But we're going to be bigger and better. I even
trademark two business names already. That's Mighty Grids one and
Cajun fixed on Root sixty six is the second one. Yes,
so look out for us. So we're going to be
looking for support from the community. I saw she's actually
(23:03):
saying that she's also kept that a secret. Yes, and
so I want to make sure because as a student,
we're here most of the day. We pretty much live
here because we're in school and here as a culinary
our student, I'm in the lab most of the day.
When I leave, I go to work in EOPS as
a peer advisor, so I'm here like fifteen hours a day.
(23:26):
So I'm like, oh my gosh, that is so hard
for the ones that don't have anything to how to eat.
So what I want to do. I spoke with Chrishelle.
We're going to try to make sure at least once
a week we're going to provide a hot meal for
the students that can't afford it in the dining room
or in the desert Ram cafe. So that's what I'm passionate.
(23:48):
So as far as being in a spot where it
was hard, I have stories that you guys don't have
enough time for you to share.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So we can bring you back for the next day.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And yeah, So pride has never been a part of
my forte. So I never have an issue with asking
for help, and I always tell my fellow peers or
anyone I know, Hey, if you ever need help, please
come to me, even if it's just a conversation, you know,
even if it's a life experience that I could share
with you, and how I was able to resolve that
(24:22):
a navigate through that. The beauty of the struggle. When
you're seeing other people needing the help, you're also opening
up your heart to that and your doors because we've
been in that position before them.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Sure, we will be right back here in just a second.
You finish up our interview here with Kirkshell and Judy,
don't go away, and we are back for the conclusion
of the Kirkshell and Judy exclusive Get you or what
(24:53):
is it?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Cajun fath fixed on roots just can't fix fix.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
So when's the merch mount oh so logo?
Speaker 2 (25:03):
My dad did that in New Orleans. He's an artist
in New Orleans.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
So did that? Does Round sixty six go through New Orleans?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
You know what I think?
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Let's see the song rot sixty six go through New Orleans?
The kids I can do technology. No, Route sixty six
is not past thing.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
New Orleans, Okay, but I know it does pass through
Apple Valley and Victorville, right, Yeah, I know. Fixed our
route sixty six and that's mighty rot those are. And
we merged out of the Chef Shelley's catering because I
told her I didn't want it to just.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Be my name Chef Shelley though that's good literation. Yeah. Yeah,
I want to know who's been your biggest inspiration here
at the college and how come? How come they have
been your biggest inspiration? What did they do?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Does it have to be one person?
Speaker 1 (25:52):
No, I mean we only have so much time for
the show.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Well, I would say, oh my god, you know, I
admire all of them. They have been so helpful. There
was one that really stood out and I just found
out he got the what was that, the NIL Award?
My professor Pendletonton. Yes, he was amazing because when I
(26:18):
first enrolled here, I wasn't privy to canvas and all
of that stuff, right, so I thought I could still
do it old school by writing all my work on
paper and then taking a screenshot of it. And he
was like hell no, he said, gud, you can do this.
You have. He just motivated so much. Yeah. At one
point I was like, you know Whatchelle, I don't know
(26:39):
if this is for me, right, now you know what
I say, with all the technology, I'm not ready for it.
And she was like, mom, No, but mister Pendleton, he
really motivated me and inspired me.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
How about you?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
She always talks about him. I love that. Yeah, I
would say Professor Heather right off the bat. A lot
of the professors I love them. They have been and
very graceful with me, very patient. But Ms Heather on
a personal level, she's been you know, undoubtedly just so
loving and passionate and informative, you know, letting me know
what career paths I can take after I graduate, and
(27:16):
you know, us being mothers, you know, and her being
able to relate to that, she's just been you know,
so I can't even explain it. Also, like you know,
I just could go to her about anything, you know,
through tears, through all of that, you know, the stresses
of doing work and then also working here and being
a mom. It's just someone that I've always been leaning to.
(27:37):
And so Professor Heather heaven and I have to mention, yeah,
I know, I mean I have to mention, if.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
You go for it, girl, it's your show.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
My Professor Tyler Bush, Okay, who's over restaurant management? When
I first came to the program. He didn't know me,
I didn't know him. You know, we were like we
had we have like this friendship, bixus little student, you know,
we have this relationship.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
So I'm just curious and the big sis little sis relationship,
which one is.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
I'm sorry because I'm just curious this big sis, little brother,
big brother, little sister relationship. I'm sorry, Yeah, but he
has been my inspiration. I was just so surprising how
talented he is and the whole program and all the
resources that are there in the lab. I'm like, wow,
(28:28):
this is a full restaurant. And I mean the knowledge
that he has about food from different cultures in across
the world that blew my mind. From someone so young,
because he's young. Yeah, I was like, man, you're amazing.
And I mean every week, you know, he'll tell me hey,
you know, I like that he doesn't give me a break,
you know, meaning like okay, because they'll probably say, oh,
(28:51):
she's she's a non traditional student in the classroom. That
doesn't matter in his classroom. Okay. He doesn't care who
you are, you know, what background you kind from. He
treats everyone fairly. He wants us all twin at this
culinary experience, you know. So without Tyler, you know, I
look at him as my motivator and my inspiration. I'm like,
(29:13):
I want to show him that all of his work
that he's been doing here for the past ten or
eleven years will not go in vain, because even if
it takes one student that's going to come out and
push that. Hey, you know, I got a lot of
my experiences from Tyler Bush. I think I'll do them
well and I have some more kudos. Oh you guys,
(29:34):
especially yes.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Andrew, this is not scripted.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Uh huh, Andrew, Angela and mir Robert Miss Angela, this
place will not be the same. When we first met
them and every day we were like, oh my gosh,
they are like God.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
I think that's what kept us here too.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
He's like, they're like us. They're so friendly and kind
and welcoming. And that meant a lot, you know, because
when you go somewhere where you know you're going to
spend most of your day, you want to feel like
you're welcome and not that you're you know, being a problem.
Or they make us feel so welcome. And I mean
(30:14):
we talk about my oldest daughter, she's like you guys,
always like you guys, always about see you like she's
always about the clubs. You know, this is our life.
Now we want them to experienced this where now even
my youngest son rather student here. So he means you
(30:35):
guys have probably seen him at the Red. As a
matter of fact, I think you meant you did mean
for the black student successuperstar. Okay, so we're like he
was like, now, mom, I see what you guys mean,
because they would get so upset with us when he
can't reach us when we're here at Yeah, we don't
calling you guys. What's going on? You know? So yeah,
(30:58):
but all of it, I would say, have to say
all of my professors and and especially to mister Carl Smith,
who's an EPs. He gave me another opportunity to get
a job. A second shout out to you know, I
mean everyone here. It's a community of help here. You know.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
So when you guys graduate, I guess you guys are
going into business locally.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Then yes, yes, and we're bringing all of our BBC
collegiates with us too.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah that's exciting.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
We're going to offer them a job. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Well, I can't wait to see you guys. On graduation
days walk across.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I'm excited. We were pulling up in that party bus. Andrew,
we want you to come with us us.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Unfortunately I have to meet and greet all the VIPs.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
That we had to do a New Orleans style. So
we're gonna do it. This is a big accomplishment for
the for us, it was a lot of sacrifice. For
two years. I didn't have a chance to see family
friends is so I like in shock. She was back
at school three days after giving birth. So it was
(32:05):
it was a broad But we are so happy that
we're gonna finish strong and we want to celebrate big.
So yes, go big or go home.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I do want to say that getting to know you
guys the last couple of years, that when I when
I reflect on that, you know, even through like the
Talent Show and stuff and getting to know your mom
and your family, I look back on that and getting
getting to see you guys, you know in a few weeks,
get your degrees and walk across the stage like you guys,
(32:38):
in my opinion, reflect strength and refreshment, like you're refreshing
to see the two of you, you know, generational doing
this together.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yes, and I'm the first one in my generation to
graduate really, yes, from college.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yes, so here we have first generation and second generation
and doing it at the same time.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
And my second born he's the first that will be
graduating from the CDC the childcare center here, so.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
We literally have three generations doing it all at the
same time. I don't know about shot, but that's the
definition of harmony.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Yes, it is. Yeah, we have so many guardian angels
up there that I could just see them jumping up
and down and.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Yeah, that is that's I don't know, that's that's pure
beauty right there, you know. And to see that really
like gives me hope that, you know, oh, there's still
some goodness just in the world summer, And I really
hope people take your guys a story and realize that,
you know, there's there's so much commonality in it and
(33:54):
people can just kind of realize, Hey, that's that's me, right,
that's that's my that's my story. Yes, you know. So
thank you so much for opening the book that is
Kirkshill and Judy's World. Oh yeah, and just and just
sharing a little bit of it with all of us today.
Really do appreciate, we appreciate.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
You guys, so much an opportunity, just being in the
talent show, hosting it, being around you guys, just all
of fun and I just love. I don't want to leave,
but I gotta go.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
That's okay, you're around sixty six. With with that sixty six,
I'm gonna be trying that stuff, all right. Yes, cage
is fixed. That's it, And that's my because it's not
too spicy because I'll probably die.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Oh no, we know we're gonna make it need yea.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
All right, guys, we'll see you next time right here
on later, alright.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Ramplify the podcast is filmed and recorded in Victorville, California.
This podcast is made possible with the support of the
Associated Student Body of Victor Valley College. The views and
opinions expressed in this production are those of the speakers
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of
Victor Valley College or its affiliates. Ramplify is hosted by
Andrew Caravella, produced by Robert A.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Sewell.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Production crew includes officers of the Associated student Body of
twenty twenty four through twenty twenty five. If you'd like
more information about this podcast, please reach out by email
info at VVC dot edu,
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