Welcome to Digication
Scholars Conversations.

I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.

In this episode, you'll hear my
conversation with Andres Parres a

student at the University of LaVerne.

More links and information about today's
conversation can be found on Digication's,

Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Full episodes of Digication Scholars
conversations can be found on YouTube.

Or your favorite podcast app.

Welcome to Digication
Scholars Conversations.

I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll,
and today I'm very excited

to introduce Andres Perez.

He is a current student at
the University of LaVerne.

Uh, where he is majoring in
psychology with a Pre-Med track.

Welcome Andres.

Hi.

Thank you for having me.

Um, yeah.

So my, my name is Andres.

It's currently my last year
at the University of Louverne.

I'll be done with all my
classes in the summer.

Not too sure when I'm
going to be graduating.

It's either in the spring or in the fall.

I have to clarify with my advisor.

Um, but, uh, yeah, and, uh,
oof, what was I going to say?

Oh no, I blanked.

On the spot.

It's fine.

Thank you so much.

It's very exciting that you're
getting Near to the end of your time

there, and as part of your experience
there, uh, for our listeners, I

was able to, uh, learn a little bit
about Andres before our conversation

today from his wonderful ePortfolio.

And uh, for those that have been
listening to other conversations,

I did have a chance to talk to one
of his professors, Benjamin Jenkins

on Digication Scholars as well.

And we had such a lovely conversation
about how he uses ePortfolios

in his courses that I wanted the
opportunity to speak to one of his.

Past students as well.

So, um, Andres, I know in the
portfolio that you created, it has,

uh, a title in it that's called
the LaVerne Experience ePortfolio.

Could you tell us a little
bit about what that is?

Yeah, so the LaVerne Experience, uh,
so basically it's a requirement from

the school in order for us to graduate
and it incorporates all the student,

uh, the values of the university, so
community engagement, uh, diversity,

inclusion, um, lifelong learning, and
there's one more, but I forgot what it is.

But, um, yeah, so we had to incorporate
the values into our portfolio and see

how the values has affected us over the
time, uh, we've been at the university.

And so I highlighted three
key, uh, values that diversity,

inclusion, community engagement, and
lifelong learning in my portfolio.

So then I explained in my portfolio.

Each value of what it meant to me and
like how it's affected me and what

I'm going to take from those values
and apply it to my life in the future

after I graduate from Little Rock.

Nice.

So, when you started creating this
ePortfolio, was there a specific

course that you were taking that kind
of prompted you to start building it?

Um, well, it was our Honors Colloquium
II class that Professor Jenkins taught.

Um, it's basically, it's a part of
our librarian experience requirement.

Um, not everyone takes Honors Colloquium,
it's only for the honors program.

But, uh, usually the class, like, people
outside of the honors program have

to, like, go out in the community and,
like, either, like, um, be a tutor for

students at a public school or volunteer
at a, I think at a food shelter.

But, uh, for our class, uh, Professor
Jenkins wanted to focus on giving

back to the community and being a,
giving, adding to the LaVerne history.

So, um, at, uh, at our university we
have a, uh, Uh, ooh, what's it called?

Uh, the history and then
he wanted us to add to it.

So we used our portfolios to add to it.

Oh, what's it called?

Oh, no.

Are you speaking about
the university archive?

Yeah, the archives.

Yes.

Thank you for saving me.

Yeah, the archives.

He wanted us to add to the archives and,
um, which will add to the community and

making us have a history so when future
students can look back upon the archives.

And see it.

And then he also, in the class, he wanted
us to use archives to write another paper.

Um, and so yeah, we used the archives
to look back on our history and then

like, and apply it to how much it's
changed over the time of the course of

the university's history to present day.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So what was that experience like for you?

I know you, uh, in some of the
reflective writing that you

did in the e-portfolio were.

Kind of sharing that when you first
embarked on creating the ePortfolio,

you were struggling a little bit to
think about, you know, your kind of

place in the institution's history or
how you were doing really mattered.

You know, you were going
to classes and then.

Going home, you know, how does this
kind of fit into the bigger picture?

So what was the experience
like for you as you're creating

the ePortfolio and starting to
make some of those connections?

Well, Professor Jenkins gave us, gave
us the idea of just like, look, You

have to make a portfolio, but it's
up to you what you put in there.

Like he, he gave us instructions,
but it wasn't like a set thing

to follow, like a prompt.

It was kind of just like,
this is your project.

You do what you want with
it, which was difficult.

Cause usually I like instructions
and I like knowing what to do.

So I was, I was able to be a little
bit more creative in this sense.

And I was able to like take different
things in my life and put it together.

But, um, Yeah, it was difficult because
honestly, I'm not involved in any

sports clubs, anything at the school.

I literally just go to class, drive home,
and then I do stuff outside of class.

And so it was difficult to see how
I've impacted the community in any

way, because like, you know, if you're
not really there, then how can you?

Impact the community.

So I had to like, uh, look at my
personal life to see how I impact the

community instead of just the school.

I started to expand my horizons
and think outside of the box,

um, to answer those questions.

Yeah.

So what kind of discoveries
did you make in that process?

Well, upon, upon looking, reflecting
on my life, basically, um, I, I found

out that I actually, like, in fall,
I'm engaged with the community a lot.

Um, at that time, you know, I
have a, I have a podcast called,

uh, 'Get In' football podcast.

It's changed.

The name has changed since the portfolio.

So it's outdated on the portfolio, but,
um, yeah, I realized that we engage a

lot with the community, every video we
make, you know, sometimes it doesn't get

a lot of views, but you know, so there's
always someone to engage with someone that

watches and that engages with our video.

And, uh, recently we had a video, um,
And we were talking about the Jamaican

national team, and we had a lot of people
from Jamaica commenting on our videos,

sharing their thoughts and opinions,
and that was just mind blowing to us

because we had no idea we could reach
another country and have that big of

an engagement with another country,
so it was really cool to see that

engagement with them, and then, uh, and
then diversity and inclusion, you know,

I play soccer outside of the school.

And I was thinking, I was like,
there's got to be something cause

it's the world's biggest sport.

Um, you know, it's, uh, everybody loves
it and there's got to be something.

And then I was, I'd recently joined a semi
professional team at the time of making

the ePortfolio and two of my teammates
were Jamaican and I believe Nigerian.

And I never really encountered
anyone from those countries, like

specifically from those countries.

So it was really cool to talk with
them and spend time with them on

the field and outside of the, Field.

And yeah, it was just something
I had to think about outside.

And then the lifelong learning, that
was, that was when I could actually

go in the classroom and it was like
reflect on classes I've had in the

past, because usually for me in college,
like once I take a class, I don't

really think about it too much unless
I have to use it for another class.

So it was kind of like one of those
things, but like it forced me to

go back and think about all these
other honors classes I've taken, all

these other psych classes I've taken.

And then I was able to use that.

To draw from my ePortfolio, and then I
use a couple of examples from like papers,

and I think I used a presentation I used
in one of my favorite classes I've had

to incorporate it into my ePortfolio.

Yeah.

How did you make decisions about
what you wanted to include?

And it looks like in some of the
other 'LaVerne Experience', uh,

portfolios that I've seen, there's
kind of an, uh, overlying structure.

Did you modify that structure at
all or did you kind of use what

was available within the template
but then filled it in with yours?

Specific kinds of projects.

And how did you decide what you
were going to add to each area?

Yeah.

Um, well he gave, uh, Professor Jenkins
gave us a, a rough idea of how to set it

up so it didn't look like a chaotic mess
of material just chucked into a portfolio.

Um, but I wanted to tell a story with
everything I did, uh, to an extent.

So like for my essays that I had
in the section, I forgot what

I exactly called that section.

I wanted to tell a story of my
progression through, uh, college so far.

Like my writing style.

My, uh, presentation style, because
I wasn't a very strong writer.

I'm sure my high school teachers
could attest to this, um, in, in my

high school classes, um, I always
got like B pluses on all my essays.

I rarely got any, any A's and, you know,
I, I wanted to show that I've grown as a

writer, um, and show that I've improved
and, uh, in some way, because I've, I've

made sure I incorporate a research paper
I wrote, cause I've never wrote, at the

time I've never written a research paper,
and I was proud of what I've written

cause I spent a lot of time working on it.

And I wanted to show that and then
show a reflection essay that I

had as well in another class that
challenged me to think outside the

box again from Professor Jensen.

At the time, you, uh, you, uh, Professor
Jensen was a professor at all freshman

year and he had like all of these essays
all the time that were like really

like made you think outside the box
and they were never straightforward.

It was very frustrating, but you had
to like really put your mind to it.

And, and so, yeah, so I incorporated
one of his essays and then I just.

Try to tell a story with everything
that I did and try and like reflect,

put my own spin on it, um, too,
because I try to show my personality

a little bit through the presentation.

Like why the reason why I incorporated,
uh, incorporated presentation into that

section for the documents was because,
uh, it was my favorite class, but also

it's my favorite thing I've worked on so
far because in that presentation it was

an interpersonal communications class,
uh, and so the class was basically.

About, um, uh, relationships
and how they work.

And I thought it was really cool
because it was applicable to my life.

And you can, I, I, what I've learned, I've
used in my life and I can see about it.

Uh, see what it's about.

And, um, and I was able to, in
the presentation, I was able to

analyze my favorite movie and the
relationship between the two characters.

And then, so I was really proud of that.

So I had to incorporate that.

So yeah, a lot of everything that's
in there is a story of myself.

In a way that I try to make a story in
throughout my life, uh, in each section.

So, that was the idea behind it.

Nice.

And for you, was this kind of, um, process
of personal storytelling or reflecting

on your experiences something that you
had done before you used the ePortfolio?

Or was this a new, uh, A new kind
of practice or process for you?

It was definitely a new practice.

Um, because I didn't, I didn't really
reflect on my life in that way and try and

incorporate the values of the university
that we had, uh, to look at upon.

So it made me reflect on my life
because I never really done that before.

I usually just gone, gone
with the flow and I was like,

all right, this happens next.

And this happens for
a reason and all that.

And, um, Yeah, and I just had to really
reflect, but I enjoyed it because it

made me think outside the box though.

Um, especially with, uh, we had
to do interviews and I tried to

get, like, a theme going with the
interviews because I just didn't want

to interview, like, random people.

Um, and, uh, like, uh, so I was like,
let's interview someone from the

past of the university and then let's
interview someone in the present.

So I grabbed one of my friends that I've
known literally the first day of college.

I met her on the first day.

And then I grabbed my mom who went to
the university, thankfully, so thank

you, mom, for going to that university.

Aww, that's wonderful.

I was able to reflect, I was able
to compare and contrast the two,

so I was just focused on telling a
story in every aspect that I could.

Yeah, so I'm curious, between their two
different perspectives, were there a

lot of parallels in their experience.

Going to the same university, even though
they were there at different times.

Um, I would say there's, there's
some parallels, both very hard

driven women on both sides.

Um, but it, my mom always emphasized
that the campus during her time was so

much smaller than the campus it is now.

Because a lot of it was never built,
uh, when she went there, and, and

then now it's a lot bigger, obviously.

But, um, yeah, I mean, it kind of
reflected the same way, because,

uh, you know, My friend, Sh...

She's still in college, but my
mom's gone on to graduate school

and got her PhD and stuff.

So, like, uh, she's a lot more
developed in the educational side.

And my friend's still
starting out in that sense.

And so, um, it was similar in the sense of
what they got from the university so far.

But it, um, but my mom was able to apply
more to what she learned from LaVerne.

I was able to use it outside of
LaVerne for further education.

Um, but my friend hasn't, is still
there, but she thinks that it's gonna

help her, uh, long, later down the road.

Nice.

And I know in my conversation, uh,
with your, um, professor, Professor

Jenkins, he was speaking a bit
about the university archives.

And how important it is for students
to be able to share their stories and

experiences in the same way that you're
able to refer to the archives and learn

about the institution's history and what
life was like for students then and what

the kind of, Learning outcomes were
at that time to serve you today, that

your experiences and stories can have
value to future generation and kind of

thinking about the ePortfolio as sort of
a time capsule, sort of your legacy that

you're leaving behind for other students.

And was that something that you kind of
had in mind as you were creating these

stories or who are you thinking about as
the, the audience for your ePortfolio?

Well, I know obviously professor
Jenkins was the main audience.

Um, also, you know, I know he works,
um, as an archivist at the school.

Um, but yeah, I didn't really
have like a set audience in mind.

I knew that it's possible for future,
uh, students to see my portfolio.

But it's not like a guarantee, right?

Um, but I just wanted to, I took
the matter serious and I wanted to

ensure that I was able to reflect
and my portfolio showed the story of

my time at LaVerne and, um, I didn't
have like a set audience in mind.

I just want to be able to show my
personality, but also show my time

at LaVerne and hopefully people can
learn from it or people can see.

What it was like back then.

And so, yeah, my, my, I didn't
have like a set audience in mind.

And I was curious too.

So you, it sounds like you added materials
from a number of different courses

that you've taken over your time there.

And as you were kind of going through
this process of curating and making

decisions about what you wanted to
include, had you seen any of your own

kind of growth or transformations as you
had kind of moved through the curriculum

there from one course to the next,
how your skills may have developed.

I think thinking outside the box is
probably the best thing because, you

know, usually in high, in high school,
you would be like, here's a prompt,

write about it, you know, or you have
to write a certain way, especially in

those AP courses, you have to write a
certain way in order to get the grade.

So you're very limited
on what you could do.

Um, and, and when I got to the University
of LaVerne, it was kind of interesting.

Uh, the writing professor I had
freshman year was, I mentioned

before, was Professor Jensen.

He always, like, encouraged to think
outside the box, and he gave us prompts,

but the thing was, is I remember
at the time I was always frustrated

every time he gave us an essay to
write about, was that he never, like,

was super specific on what to write.

Like, we would have, like, some, like,
reading, we, like, a reading we had to

do, or, like, a book we read, and then
we'd have to write about it, but he

kind of gave us the leeway to kind of
write about what we wanted to write.

But, um, yeah, I think my writing
style in that sense of thinking outside

the box improved, but also through
writing so many essays and papers, um,

my overall writing just got better.

I'd stop making, I stopped speaking
like, don't slang English, you know, uh,

I, I gotta like, I started like, I've
narrowed down the typos and I've started

speaking like proper English when writing
instead of just like using like slang

that you should never use in a paper
and I would always be a culprit of that.

And then I'd be like, Wait a
minute, I gotta go back, because

I can't say that, that's not,
that's not how you write a paper.

Um, but also um, I think another thing,
uh, that has, uh, that has improved

over time was um, listening to others
as well, because usually I was kind of

like, narrow minded in that sense, but
I think through all the classes I've

taken, it's, I've, I've learned that
it's important to also, like, listen

to everybody and just hear them out.

Um, because I've taken a lot of philosophy
classes because of the honors program

and everyone, and we've learned about
so many different cultures, cultures

I've, like, never even thought about.

And, but it's always important to
incorporate those, uh, to not incorporate

them, but listen to them and see how
they can be even incorporated in your

life or how similar they are to certain
values that you have in your life.

And just be able to compare and contrast.

So those are the two
things I've learned so far.

Nice.

Uh, and it's great to hear that it
sounds like some of the assignments that

you were given that kind of pushed you
outside of your comfort zone and may

have initially challenged you and made
you feel a bit frustrated or some of the

things that you're most proud of today.

And where you've seen some of
your, um, biggest growth happen.

So, I know many educators are,
are hoping to kind of push their

students to the next level.

So, um, it sounds like you've had some
really good experiences and teachers

there at your, your time at LeBarn.

Um, and I was curious for you, you
mentioned that you, uh, have a love

for soccer and that it's something
that you do, uh, outside of your,

uh, time at the, at the school.

It's something that you've included
as part of your extracurriculars

within your portfolio.

Um, when did you make the
decision to include that?

What kind of led you to want to
share that, that aspect of yourself?

Well, soccer's been a massive part of
my life and it's helped me be the person

I am today through, um, trials and
tribulations, uh, but I, I started when

I was 12, uh, and actually a couple of
days ago, it was my eighth anniversary

of playing on the 17th of August.

I saw it on my, um, Instagram.

My mom showed me one for Facebook,
but what I Aw, congratulations!

Oh, Yeah, so I was, so yeah, it's been
eight years since I started playing,

and it's always been a big part of my
life for, um, because you know, uh,

this is personal, but I will share it.

Uh, so I was diagnosed with a, uh,
blood disorder, hemophilia A, so I

don't, I can't clot, I don't have
factor VIII, so I can't clot blood.

Um.

So, I was never cleared to play
any sports when I was a kid.

I couldn't play football,
soccer, tennis, nothing.

Um, and uh, you know, thankfully, and
luckily, I was blessed with a great

medical team at Kaiser Permanente.

Shout out Kaiser Permanente in that sense.

Um, and I was blessed with a great
team who, when I turned 12, actually

approved of me playing, but also,
uh, the medication got a lot better

as well, and so I was able to play.

And so, yeah, it's always been a
big part of, uh, part of my life.

Before the age of 12, I always
remember watching soccer with

my grandpa and, uh, my dad.

And it was always the
Mexican National Team.

We, um, big supporters of the
Mexican National Team, because my

grandfather, he was from Mexico.

And he, he actually got me into
soccer, because I remember one time

I was like, probably like five, and
he was like, he was watching Chivas,

he loved Chivas, and I was a kid.

I had no idea.

I didn't really care too much.

And I was like, Hey, can
we change the channel?

I don't want to watch this.

And he got mad at me.

And he was like, change the channel.

What do you mean change the channel?

And then he got mad at me.

So I had to leave the room.

And I was like, why is he so mad at me?

I just asked him to change the channel.

I didn't get it until recently, uh,
when I started, like, when I was

around 12 and really got into soccer,
playing soccer, watching soccer, that I

understood what it meant, um, to be so
passionate about something that you love.

And soccer is something that I'm very
passionate about and that I love.

And, uh, and so I thank him for that.

Uh, so yeah, it was just a
big, big part of my life.

I've, you know, had a lot of ups and downs
with soccer, uh, Actually, I had a year

break after senior year of high school.

I got injured with a knee injury, took
a year break and then didn't get back

to it until I was making this portfolio
literally the week and before I had to

turn in my portfolio, I made my semi
professional debut and that was my first

game back in over like a year and a half.

So it was just like, everything
was coming together at the

right time as I was making it.

But like, during that year gap, it
never left, uh, my passion for soccer.

And during that time was when I made
podcast, was filled in that soccer

gap or that I had, uh, Um, but it was
never, never really felt the same.

Like I love making that podcast, but it
playing is just a different experience

for me is something that I prefer to do.

But, um, yeah, so now I'm doing both and
I just love what I'm doing at the moment.

Ah, that's such an incredible story.

And I'm so glad to hear that even though
there were so many limitations placed on

you as a child, that you've been able to.

You know, build this love for the sport
and have this wonderful opportunity

to play and have come so far.

That's really remarkable
in just eight years time.

Right.

Yeah.

And, um, I love to hear that it's rooted
in family and, uh, you know, of course

your grandfather wanted to share his.

Joy and passion for the sport with you and
what a wonderful way to kind of carry on.

Your family's kind of history
and joy with the sport also.

Um, so you mentioned you started
the podcast, if I got this correct,

and you started that when you
needed to take that kind of one

year break from the sport, correct?

Yeah.

So There's going to be
a backstory behind this.

So actually, the podcast I have today
isn't the original podcast that I had.

So my friend Elijah, he
is a part of my podcast.

I went to high school
with him for four years.

So me and him are still good friends
because we still have podcasts together.

But senior year of high school, we
actually had another podcast called

Everything in Between the Sticks.

And it was an idea we had just for fun.

You know, we only post on Spotify
and it was just kind of like for

laughs and giggles and it didn't
do well cause you know, you don't

really post on Spotify unless you
have like an audience to follow.

It's good.

It's hard to follow people on
Spotify that are starting out.

YouTube's the best way.

And you know, it didn't go anywhere.

We kind of forgot about it.

Like we stopped filming and
we like just forgot about it.

And then he texted me.

He was like, Hey, it's probably
like September of 2022.

I think.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Around like August, September ago.

Yeah.

So we're actually almost
reaching our year anniversary.

So it'll be next month.

Uh, and he was like, Hey, Uh, we have
some people in Sweden who watched our

podcast, Everything in Between the Sticks.

And I was like, Sweden?

And he was like, yeah.

He was like, you want
to run it, run it back?

And I was like, you know what?

Sure.

Why not?

Let's run it back.

And this time, uh, we incorporated
one of his friends is now

one of my friends, Diego.

So then it became a trio on the podcast.

And then so around September, I'm sure
I can probably find the exact day if

you just look on the YouTube channel.

Cause, yeah.

Can see the when it's posted.

I think it's like September 10th, I think.

Yeah, we can include a link
to it in our show notes.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, that's fine.

It's on our greatest video.

It's because it's a start,
it's a startup video and we

had no idea what we were doing.

Uh, and I was just like, we, we didn't
know how to flow because we were all,

we were three guys, but we never knew
how to like how to properly have a

flowing conversation that was engaging.

And so it was kind of like one of us would
speak and then another one would speak.

And then we would wait and it just
never was like really flowing and

we're like, Oh, who would watch this?

And then slowly we picked up over
time, we picked up how to like

actually have this huge, like dialogue
or like how to talk and like how

to flow instead of just one of us.

Uh, one at a time.

And so, yeah, we've, we've, we've
picked up a few tricks here and there.

And, uh, we've grown a little bit since
we started a year ago, but, um, yeah.

And then we had the World Cup.

We grew during the world cup
and then, uh, we actually did

really well during the Gold Cup.

That's where the Jamaican fans
came in the Jamaica video.

That's our best video
actually with a 10 K.

And then, uh, then we had a
tick talk with my team West Ham.

They were playing in a final.

And that went to 18k.

That was our best TikTok ever.

And it was just literally a video of me
reacting to us scoring the winning goal.

And that was it.

That was the video.

But it was really like a
sentimental video to me.

Cause my little brother's in
the background of the video.

He's celebrating like crazy.

He's celebrating more
than I am in the video.

And that's just cause
I was in shock of that.

We actually were, we won a
trophy and I couldn't believe it.

But, um, yeah, Yeah, it's also that
video, the TikTok was also important to me

because it documented history of My team
winning, but I care about my team a lot.

And it was just like seeing that moment.

I got to just go on Tik
Tok and relive that moment.

Watch myself react to the video.

Well, and clearly others have
enjoyed in kind of reveling

in that joy with you, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Some people were a bit salty
that my team won, but some people

were, but, uh, overall it was
a good, good reaction to it.

And you know, I thoroughly enjoyed
doing the podcast with those guys.

They're a great group of guys.

And being able to experience
certain things with them, like we

went to a football game recently.

It was a Wrexham, I don't know if
you know who that is, Wrexham AFC.

It's owned by Ryan Reynolds.

And Rob McElhenney
versus Manchester United.

We had to go to San
Diego to watch the game.

Did a video on that.

And it was just, Another fun experience
that we were able to do was us three.

So yeah, it's a nice little escape
too because like if it's a busy week

then I have like an, I know I have
an hour set where I can just talk

about something that I love with.

Two guys that are amazing and
yeah, it's just a great time.

Well, and it sounds like you have a lot
of, uh, respect for the kind of team that

you've built for your podcast and how do
you feel like that may connect to your

kind of team interactions playing soccer?

Well, you know, I've always...

It's always been taught to me.

It's always treat everyone with
respect, obviously, you know, treat

others how you want to be treated.

But, you know, it also helps that I went
to school four years with that guy, with

Elijah, and then Diego and I just got
on really well straight from the start

because he was friends with Elijah.

And it, it, sometimes we have our
little bickers, uh, little bickers

here and there, but it creates,
creates for a fun conversation

that adds to the conversation.

But it, it translates well to the
field, cause I, I don't think I've, I've

only non gone along with a few of my
teammates, but that's besides the point.

But overall, you know, you always gotta
get behind your teammates, cause they're

your teammates at the end of the day.

It's 11 players on the pitch, and uh,
you gotta always have each other's backs.

Uh, so It's kind of easy to incorporate
the fact that, like, you have to be

nice to each other, but also just,
like, have everyone's back, especially

people that are important in your life.

And so, I always just try and have
everyone's back, whether it's these

guys or my teammates on the pitch.

Like, I'll always have
their backs no matter what.

No questions asked.

So, I always love to ask what
students plans are after graduation.

Have you, have you
thought about that at all?

Are you starting to?

Make some connections on that front.

What are you thinking?

Um, see, this is where
it gets iffy for me.

Um, uh, you know, Med school is
what I'm aiming for, but I have

a secret passion project, which
is soccer, professional soccer.

It would be the dream.

Uh, but Med school is the realistic dream.

Uh, so, uh, Uh, I'm studying for the MCATs
right now, uh, so I can take it, uh, but

I'll probably, after graduation, probably
go to EMT school and be an EMT for a

little bit, uh, before I go to Med school.

Uh, but, uh, the goal is, the
dream is soccer at the moment.

I'm fully focused on it and I have
Med school in the rear view mirror

though, just in case soccer falls apart.

But my dream is to go professional.

Um, if that happens or not, we will see.

But I have some, I have some things
in the works at the moment to try and

go pro, so we'll see how that goes.

That's, that's the dream after
college, but if not, you'll probably

see me in some med, Med school place.

I don't know, some journal.

Yeah, that sounds great.

Yeah, and I encourage you to pursue
both of those passions as long

as they continue to be passions.

Because you just, you really don't
know where, where life might take you.

So follow, follow your heart.

Well, I'm so glad we had a
chance to connect today and

for you to share your story.

And before we say our goodbyes, I
was wondering for, um, students that

may be listening to this or for those
that may be introducing ePortfolios

to students for the first time.

I know when you came to this,
you weren't really sure if it

was going to be of value to you.

Or, um, you know, what stories you
might share, what advice might you

have for students that are like, I
don't, what, what is this all about?

How, how could this benefit me?

Just have fun with it.

You know, don't, don't like try and
make it something that it's not.

Uh, just don't try and
make it super academic.

You know, a portfolio is supposed to be
a show yourself, show your personality.

Be a part of you, be a reflection of you.

So just make sure you have your little
pizazz to it, be it, have fun with it.

Cause I had fun with it, compiling
everything, finding everything

and, you know, talking to my
mom, talking to my friend.

And yeah, just, and also be, be
happy to share, share it too.

Just be able to share it and
just share it with anyone.

Um, and yeah, just focus on having fun.

That's the most important part.

And then also the grade helps
too, but, um, just be serious,

but also have fun with it.

It's that perfect balance.

You just gotta find.

But don't try and just make it
all academic and try and put your

own spin on it because that's
what a portfolio is all about.

Right.

Well, thank you so much again.

It was wonderful to talk to you.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you for listening to everyone.

I appreciate it.

Thanks so much.

Bye.