HBCU Campus Organizations 101

Mike che12 what it do family welcome welcome welcome back to another edition of the campus rundown show right here on historically black sense your goto for everything HBCU I'm your host MC and before we get to bring talk about the topic I just want let you know we G have a good time tonight feel me let's video real quick [Music] yeah yeah yeah I'm sorry it's a TMV of me I had to I'm I had to just show a little bit listen like I said welcome back to another edition of the camp this rundown show I'm your host MC Hing all the way from the big the bad the B buoy State University you feel me we are so glad to have y'all here with us again now holding it down my fellow co-host but with that I had to bring some amazing guest with me on the show today to talk about balancing academics and social life amazing amazing amazing guest and I actually want to bring them up right now I I want to see who we got who who we got on the call today hey it's aluren gilchris I go to norrick State University behold the green and gold and I'm studying journalism oh nice nice nice nice who else we got rain and Rand Rand and Rain my name my name is Randall Pearson I go to Virginia State University I'm a maass Communications major I'm a part of the best frat of all time the Omega scii attorney Incorporated Ro to the good Rand Rand I like you up until that part I really did I really like this cool it's cool it's cool cool and one last but definitely not least who else do we got on this call hello everyone I am rain Mosby I'm a junior at Clark Atlanta University I'm a mass media arts major with the concentration in radio television and film from Washington DC shout out to the common media Majors we love to see it you know Common media they say we don't need degrees but look at us getting to it all right so before we get into you know balancing academic social life all that cool stuff here on the campus rundown show we love to do it checkin with all of our guests so we're gonna spice it up a little bit um if you can give me how you're feeling in terms of battery percentage all right where is your battery at right now with basically the start of the week this Tuesday how you feeling right now o I think I'm maybe at a cool 73 are you on the charger are you on a low power mode I'm on the charger on the charger okay love it love it love it why 73 um I think this week has already started to become busy and it's only the second day um I'm feeling good though I'm mentally happy I'm focused I'm getting my work done so I'm I'm just cruising cruising nice nice what about you rle uh I think my battery I don't know I feel like I got a lot more energy see I'm I'm an energy type guy so like I feel like I did a lot already so and but I still feel like I got a lot more energy so I feel like I'm probably at like an 85 no tomorrow Wednesday so I don't start my battery don't start like draining for real real until like maybe Thursday for real it's you ever have to like go to the bathroom and it's like the closer you get to home the more you got to get to the bath like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that's that's really that's really how it is yeah it's like the closer you get to the Finish Line the more you start to yeah the closer I get to the end that's when I really start to drag a little bit I'm like rain about you how you feeling um I would say 65% well it's only Tuesday why why we there already I know I think I would just say my past two days have been pretty draining and a little bit taxing physically I guess you could say and I'm also trying to readjust my sleep schedule from the summer so use a type to just stay up until like 3 4 am just I sure was and I'm really trying to get better really trying I'm there with you we we there we here um all right so again to everyone watching the campus rundown show right now we are talking about balancing academics and social life and of course who better to ask than our guests who are very involved in handling the academics and their social life so I want to ask y'all right when it comes to which is plain and simple balancing your academics and being a part of orgs just being social in general what have you found to be the best balance for you you feel me what's what's the best balance for joining these organizations and having that balance with your academics as well I would say for me personally I'm a visual type of learner so I make sure every single school year to have a planner and behind me right there is actually a chalkboard uh calendar and on the side where it says notes I actually write down my class schedule and everything like that to make sure that you know I'm staying on top of everything and whenever one of my teachers might like assign a new assignment or we have an upcoming test or even just something that I feel like needs to be a mental note I always make sure to write it down because nine times out of 10 if I don't especially given all of the things I'm involved in I probably will nine times out of 10 potentially forget I feel you I feel you I feel like for me um I'm more of a reactive type person so like whatever I got going on at the time being I mean it's it's it's really like usually at the beginning of the week I know what I got to do for the whole week so I'm more of a game plan type person like like I start putting in plays and and and plan how I'mma do okay how am I going to do Monday how I'mma do Tuesday how like what time I'm going do this what time I'm do that to get you feel me like to make sure everything is all taken care of make sure nothing is left unturned make sure I get everything done when it needs to be done so like I said usually I know like when what I have to do for the week so I already have put in place what I got to do so if something was to pop up that wasn't a part of the plan I can fit that in where I can ni nice hey laen how about you I think for me this sounds so much like a journalist but it's deadlines for me I tend to get overwhelmed very easily but I've realized if there's a schedule and there's deadlines that I got to meet whether that's with assignments or you know I know I have this meeting this day that day it helps me stay on track um focusing on one thing at a time what comes first whether that is an assignment or whether that is a meeting or something else I got to do just being disciplined being kind of focused on each task at hand each hour of the day it really really helps me from you know becoming overwhelmed talk to me about some of the organizations that you joined on your campus and why you decid to join them um I would say oh are I'm sorry is that a general question oh yeah no this is everyone join and just why decided to be a part of those organizations Lauren do you want to go okay yeah I'll go um three of the orgs that I've Jo joined so far is nabj which is the National Association of black journalists which I'm currently the president of um the Sparco which is our newspaper and we have a hot 91 which is our radio station here um these organizations I joined because they coincided with my major which is mass calm and journalism and the reason why I joined is because in this profession you need the resume you need the reals you need the proof that you're doing the work and for me it does not feel like work it's fun when we're doing live production or whether we're writing or whether we're going on trips and doing service like for me things that coincide with my career like I don't know it just fulfills me and I feel like sometimes I'm getting more out of these ORS than I am in classes that's a I ain't gonna lie that's that's the go Mount right there and that's that's where it becomes scary because yeah end up like you know you're supposed to be in school to get your degree in education but you get to a point to where you are pouring more into the social aspect more into the organization aspect and for a lot of folks certain organizations may have been their whole reason why like I know a lot of folks espe like Greek folk their whole purpose of going to school may have been because they were influenced by Omega SFI or Alpha F Alpha and they wanted to become part of those organizations and then once they're in them it's like they lose the motivation to finish school because like you already got what you really came for now what you're supposed to be there for in a sense that's uh rain Randall what about y'all some of the organization um all right so um of course I'll start with the big one Mega s five uh well clearly one of the main reasons why I strove to join this fraternity was because I am a a double Legacy um I um my dad is the BR my granddad is the BR um this was something that I definitely had wanted to do since I was a young kid um but aside from that point I also Al am a big community service type person so I definitely use this to like work in the community a lot um it's a lot of stuff that I do regards of on campus activities and off campus activities like I said community service I'm real good at talking um so I feel like the connection based with that by getting big internships with people that I met through the fraternity which is help me a lot um aside from that I've also like made my own type of stuff on campus like like I know this is official or but I have started like my own little singing group on campus and we do community service with stuff like that and we sing on campus at different hospitals and stuff like that going up around places in the area and singing which I personally have a joy of singing so this is what I use to like fulfill with that pleasure so yeah nice nice nice I want to I want to ask so when it comes to being so involved on the campus you know you may have a lot of students who feel like um it's weird or it's no point so what what do you say to those students who may not necessarily see the the benefits and what you can get out of joining organizations what do you say to those students is this a general question or just this is everyone and it's a welcome week first week and it's or fair and you see a student who is just not feeling anything they don't really want to look for any organization what say to those um me personally I would say well first of all your network is your net worth so it's really important to try to plug in on your C in any way that you can and honestly if you don't see an organization that best fits you or your interest then that's when you can really take it upon yourself to either collab with someone or really just take it upon yourself to create your own organization because at my school we have campus chartered organizations and then you can also as a student Charter your own organization through the school so you know I can definitely say like it can be really easy sometimes to have that imposture syndrome and feel like oh well this is not for me or this is not for me but that's really when sometimes like my school's motto is find a way or make one so sometimes you do have to make a way for yourself if you're not finding something that best fits you that's real that's real hey Lauren Rand about y'all I think you know I would tell someone to first you know look for your passion and it doesn't have to align with your major like how I've kind of done it but find something that you just like like how Randle mentioned he has a passion for singing you know you don't have to join the choir there's other ORS that you know you'll be able to channel that passion I marched in marching Bandon high school but coming to college I kind of you know put my career in academics at the Forefront so I couldn't join the SP Legion but the way I kind of you know feel that void is sometimes writing stories for the newspaper for them or either you know covering their events or either doing media for them that kind of feels that void I think sometimes you know just finding something that you like finding a passion will help you find an org and it doesn't have to be academically related and I think it also helps when it comes to you know feeling lonely and making friends when you have an organization that you're a part of you're never necessarily lonely and when you're going through a tough time you can lean on the people in that org to help you get through it and it gives you something to look forward to besides just going to class I definitely agree with that um what I would say about it is like I feel like you know with me like for an example I'll use myself as an example like I mean I didn't I wasn't really looking at to any orbs when I when I first got to school I mean I was I was playing football so I mean that was really all I had to look at so aside from that I mean when you just like I really how I look at it I feel like you should just stick to what you're good at and something that fits that best fits you that's what you should do or like I said earlier like it's something that you if it's something that you feel you could do that you feel you could do a good job at doing you should do what you feel you can do a good job of doing and it may not necessarily mean all the time you having to break your nck to go join something like like for an example the guys I sing with like those really like my for real like and we we're not a part of any or well I mean with the attention of me being in a frat but I mean we're not a part of any or anything like that but we have each other and like what we've created like we don't need to go and you know find something to fit in with because we're doing what we like to do this is what we're good at this is what we find pleasure doing this is where we have fun at doing like where we have fun at so I feel like you should stick to something that you're good at I feel that I feel that I want to touch on something you said Randle in terms of those folks being your brothers right and we hear all the time how college is supposed to be a place where they say you get your lifelong friends here right and we know of course joining organizations a big part in finding those friends so and this is to everyone talk to me about joining an organization and you really just feeling like you have found your close nit group your family not just in that school but you feel like you can carry on these relationships even outside of school I feel like I can I can start off I was ready for this one um I really feel like well like I tell people all the time I'll start with like because our group is called fatal the singing group I got we're called fatal I tell people all the time short and sweet like the Brotherhood that we got it's like like it's it's that that dream that that that friendship that you see in the movies that you dream to have like we do everything together we go we go everywhere together like these are really like my brothers like they've came they slept in my crib I'm GNA cook for them like I I would really do anything for them and it's like we live together in the dorm we go everywhere together like these are like the guys that like it's like we're all the same person we all fit together and it's like that energy that we bring everybody just loves to be around me same thing with my lbs what we've been through made us tight like it's it's it's kind of something that like my dad always says like the process makes you the process makes Brothers like some of the people some of my lbs before we became a part of the Frat I would have never hung out with any of them I've never even known them like with the I I have I have nine lbs with the exception of maybe one or two those are the I only knew maybe like one or two that I could I would sit and have hold a conversation with the others I had never even met before but because I joined the fra that brought us together that made us tight you feel what I'm saying so I definitely am a firm believer in joining something or creating something or being a part of something definitely brings friends or brothers and builds a family and a bond that that just can't be broken I'm definitely a believer that college brings your lifelong friends because I definitely my lbs and fatal I def can see me being connected to them for until God comes and calls me home but preaching brother was definitely preaching uh alen and Rain same thing to y'all talk to me about your journey and finding comfort and within a community of people who you can not only see as being your college friends but just friends even outside of college um I can go um well yeah this type of story is very pretty personal but it really does speak to just my journey as a college far but my grandfather passed away my freshman yearing semester like literally I think we were in school for a week when spring semester started when I came back um to Atlanta for school and he passed away and so I was away from school for about two weeks and I was really nervous and anxious about you know coming back to school especially given the fact that a matter that I have family here but my close family you know regarding my mom my grandma and even just our family in general was back at home in DC and in Maryland and so I was really nervous and honestly it got to a point where I didn't even know if I wanted to come back to school but some of my friends from some of my organizations that I built bonds with outside of the organization and even just some of my friends um that I created here they definitely just helped me and encouraged me you know through that whole journey they cried with me literally the day that I found out my grandfather passed away I was on campus um and the first person that I called was actually one of my really really really really really close friends who's also my cousin um and he came immediately and was there for me and even when I came back to school my professors were also very understanding but if it really wasn't for my family who are my friends but they're my family honestly but if it really wasn't for them like I really generally don't know how I would have been able to even make it throughout that semester and General because it was so many times I wanted to go back home like honestly and even now like with it being a year later almost now being two years later like you know those anniversaries and stuff are very very hard but if it wasn't for my friends that I created here honestly that really know me and know when I'm off and really check on me and stuff like that then I really don't know you know how I would have made it through but I did and I'm still here so God did God did God did um um um I will say since joining nabj um it's more of a professional or but I feel like the biggest thing um I've met people in my life that are going to be kind of like my colleagues in my network but are still just so close and I feel like the coolest thing is watching some of my friends like from the past two three years they graduated ahead of me and seeing what they're doing now and kind of you know being able to still call them when I need advice being able to talk to them when I need advice and we're all in this kind of network encouraging each other even though we're on different Paths of school and career and whatnot and it feels like a family it feels like I don't I don't even know how to describe it but you know for a fact they're going to be in your life forever and it feels good to be in a circle where everybody is kind of pursuing a higher standard or a higher goal and every everybody's you know clapping for each other everybody's congratulating each other and kind of like how rain said if somebody is going through something hard okay we all come together to lift each other up what I'm hearing as a constant theme and it's like this at buy and I'm sure it's like this at Clark Atlanta at North fol at VSU that strong sense of community right that strong sense of no matter where you go on campus you'll be able to find that you can resonate with that can talk to be compatible with but with doing this of course we know that at some point because we're all human we all probably succumb to at some point you may feel like hard to get out of your comfort zone right especially that freshman year you walk on campus you're going from maybe a big fish in a small pond in high school to now a little fish very big pond right so talk to me about and this for everyone talk to me about that instance of you can feel that you're in your comfort zone right and you're scared to step out but somehow whether someone that came along encouraged you whether voice in your head you stepped out of your comfort zone in relations to an organization and it paid off talk to me about that um I feel like me being honest with myself I do feel like I've always been the source of attention so it's like well like I like being out front I feel like that's just me being honest with myself um I think that obviously I think my biggest thing when I moved from home I don't really think it was a comfort zone thing um I think it was more of oh I'm going into a unfamiliar place and I I didn't know anybody when I got here um as far as like joining like the Frat I mean I've never been really a nor a nervous person so I mean I don't really think it was a big step for me to say that I was nervous to step out of my comfort zone because I've like always been a outgoing person so it was like I've never really been a nervous kind of to myself type person like it was never hard for me to open up and be myself around new people or people that I know you was never nervous when you had to make sure you was on time had to make sure you had that suit oh yeah I mean yeah but I mean that's to be expected I mean like of course you G have little butterflies but I mean some people take it different than most you understand what I'm saying that's all I'm saying how how long um when you cross I just crossed in March March oh congratulations congratulations appreciate appreciate um what about alen rain that time where you had to step out on your comfort zone and you can admit you was nervous beforehand you had second thoughts about doing it but something LED you to step out regardless for me I do have a personal story with that um my first year I joined n NJ as just a regular member I would come to the meetings network with the professionals um participate in production all that good stuff and it was coming up in my sophomore year um the president at the time was about to graduate and the chapter advisor and the president of the time had kind of opened up eboard nominations and it was kind of like an anonymous thing where people could nominate others and I was nominated to be president and as a sophomore like going into my sophomore year I was very very nervous because I'm like president of a Collegiate chapter of an organization I just got here why why am I being nominated for this and so I took a week to kind of like process think about it and I of course accepted but it was really really scary because I was like there's no way that I'm just getting here and you're expecting me to now lead a campus organization that's you know pretty big pretty structured and I was really afraid that oh I don't want this organization to you know fall down or break up or get messed up because I don't know what I'm doing but I feel like since I took that role I feel like my network has increased my confidence has increased um My overall professionalism and just different opportunities I've had to intern and see and experience has all opened up just by me saying yes I'll do it um stepping out of my comfor comfort zone and not being afraid of like the opportunities that are coming your way of course not every opportunity that comes your way is for you but I feel like there are times where you really need to like step out and take that risk if something is presented for you facts absolutely true absolutely true rain what about you um I can say for me my freshman year like since freshman year honestly I've been pretty involved but last year was definitely definitely the year that I think just gave me even more confirmation that like I'm where I'm supposed to be and I'm doing what I'm supposed to do because I started to get recommended for certain things and you know certain people were asking me like regarding our newspaper which I've been writing for um freshman year some people part of our um radio station and even um regarding the association that I'm a part of now which is the public relations student Society of America Association the Clark chapter like a lot of you know the presidents and vice presidents that were on eboard you know were asking me like hey rain like why haven't you applied for an eboard position and you know me personally I would just be like well you know I don't really know like I don't think I should like well why you know and like a lot of people would just me like well you're good at writing you're really good at communicating you're really good at bringing people together you're really good at understanding people like maybe you should do this maybe you should do that and when I actually got out of my head about that I started to see the end results so that really helped but one of the things that I can say that like really has helped me last year and is definitely going to be helping me this year is comparison is the thief of Joy so when you're really on comparing your journey and comparing anything that could going on to other people it can be really easy to get stuck in that just space of I'm not good enough or feeling like oh well you know I want to do this but but they're already doing it they're doing it so good so let me not do that but it's like honestly you never know unless you take a leap of faith and I can definitely say when I actually started to do that and when I really coached myself like R just do it because honestly you can you do you did it if you didn't get that opport or even if you failed or like you at least you can say that you tried then I would at least be able to you know walk away feeling better about it rather than having a whole bunch of what ifs rain I think that you know the hardest thing about especially because I'm assuming we're all in our 20s right all somewhere in our 20s almost say almost yeah my birthday you know what you you right there you right there you right there um the hardest thing about it is a lot of times especially with the impact of social media you look at everything as if it has to we have to have it now right because of the things that we see not knowing that again back to your thing of comparisons thief of joy we are comparing our journey someone else's not knowing what they had to do to get to where they are in their Journey right so they may be at let's say the 100 million Mark in whatever followers and money whatever the case may be and we could have just met them last week and they could be doing the same thing uh we're doing but we've only started a week ago they've started five years ago but we're just looking at in real time where they are so it's really really important to not get to that point you saying comparison thief of Joy don't compare only compare yourself to yesterday yourself to yourself yesterday the day before the day before keep tunnel vision yeah I want to Pivot a little bit and act you all um especially with like you a laoren as now being the president of an or what are maybe like two things one some misconceptions that a person may have about the orc until they actually join the orc now they see oh well this is actually how things are and then two especially for you A laoren how is it going from just being a general member to now a president and what does that difference look like for you um we can start with we can start with the first one just misconceptions a person may have before joining an organization and then once you get on the other side you're like oh well this is actually how this is or this actually isn't that things like that I would say some misconceptions that people have when it comes to all student organizations is that honestly the time it takes some people think that you know you can join something and then never show up to a meeting um I think people people need to understand when you join an organization it's not like a job but at the same time there's a level of commitment and some people don't understand that um I know um in my past years um I served on the student government Association and I learned that a lot of students had a lot of misconceptions particularly with that orb on what we could and could not do and so from like an SGA standpoint it got really really frustrating at times because students couldn't see what we were facing or the barriers and things we were trying to deal with when it came to helping the student body and vice versa they thought you know we could just change everything and do this and do that but really it's kind of like we're a council we have advisors and we still have a process of things to do nice nice Randall rain what about yall some misconceptions folks may have had before or that you might have had before joining um well it's definitely a lot of misconception about um my fraternity uh I think the biggest one is you know a lot of people think that they can just join the Frat and not do anything for the Frat they they like t-shirt wear they think that they can't like like she said go to meetings um just basically me and T where is not doing anything for the Frat but our frat definitely is a a working frat we do a lot in the community I feel like a lot of people they just join the Frat just to just to be out hopping at parties doing the nck rolls everything that you see in the Tik toks and all of that but it's it's a lot more to it's a lot more to Omega than just party hoing and picking girls up whatever everybody may see I'm just gonna keep it real it's a lot more just Rand you never picked nobody up be [Applause] honest n he had to take a stop professional Prof rain misconception um I would say to piggyback off both Randall and aluren definitely regarding the time commitment because although it is not a job you do still have to show up to certain things and there is a difference definitely between like General body and eboard because eboard you know we tend to do more things behind the scenes and we have to curate what's going on and when this General body meeting will be and then we have to execute the general body meeting then we got to do the so you know definitely that I would definitely say the biggest misconception would definitely be I guess the commitment but it also just really has to do with what you're joining because there are certain organizations that might be a little bit more time consuming than others so it's really just about figuring that out as well and if that's something that you really want to do because I can definitely say for one of my organizations that I'm a part of I'm a Bonner scholar which is a four-year community service based organization a lot of people you know come in there because of the name because Bonner is a very very big name when it comes to just all things Community Service as well as scholarships and just you know leadership and some people you know sometimes do try to fulfill certain roles and then they realize you know that it's a little bit too much for them or you know at the beginning of the year our advisor might tell us you know the whole rundown of rules how we have to you know meet every Monday and you know just how it's a mandatory meeting and then people just start to you know over time potentially drop like dead flies and you have to remember you know what you came for and if that's not for you then you really do have to be honest with yourself and figure out like okay well this is not for me so maybe you know I should bow out gracefully I know everyone at some point has mentioned about folks who may join the organization but do nothing for it they don't show up the meetings they just want to uh hop or stroll or whatever talk to me about how your organization handles like removing people who don't contribute is there like a three strike system is it like hey we need you to come is it an instant removal from the group chat like talk to me what that um disciplinary system looks like for your organizations well straight well straight up with it um we got a system over here where first of all you have to have three community service you have to do at least three Community Service events a month or you'll be put on suspension simple as that nice nice so it like you had like we we really really emphasize doing the community service and doing the stuff around campus and not just being t-shirt wearers and basically doing what we need to do so when it's time to go to a party we can actually be out but being out and hopping and doing all that like I said that's like that's like a little little small grain of rice in such a big big bowl of of food so that's that's how we handle it over here nice hey Lauren Ry what about y'all yeah for um Naj and even our paper um we do have a group me and so after a while we'll end up cleaning it out just people who don't show up will start cleaning it out but also we have a lot of incentives kind of like okay if we're taking a trip to DC all only the active members who have been showing up been coming to our fundraisers our service events things like that nature they're the people who are getting the benefits of that um like our we're going on another trip up to New York you know we're starting to learn how to not necessarily gatekeep but kind of reserve the real networking events the real big in incentives for people who are consistently showing up and I think that helps us also weed out people who just really don't want to be here yeah nice nice Ry I would definitely say to piggyback off of a Lauren definitely regarding like the group me cleanout that's been a thing and also for my community service organization we have to complete um 10 hours of community service a week at our work sites so if you're not doing that over time and we also do have a contract that we sign and everything like that then nine times out of 10 you most likely will be um kicked out of the organization or there will probably be a meeting that will be held and then you that's when you have to figure out like if this is for you or if it's not that's real that's real i w to ask you all so in this right in the say disciplinary phase of things where maybe someone who been ex active they haven't been to meetings haven't done their community service what the case may be because it's a sense of community is there ever any like reaching out to see maybe what's going on with this person because college is college and sometimes life in while yes this person still has to be held responsible for their actions maybe it's because they just had someone pass away in their or maybe it's because um they're trying to figure out how they even going to pay for school so talk to me about just the the community side of when you see someone who is not okay who maybe isn't holding their own maybe you've experienced it maybe somebody has helped you when you were going through this talk to me about any of those kind um well I know that I definitely I definitely talk to my lb fatal but all of them I talk to them every day it's not a day that that doesn't go by I least talk to each one of them every single day whether it's a group chat or whether I talk to them individually um but I definitely if I don't talk to one of them in a long period of time I definitely reach out to see like yo what's going on and I also am an accountable person so if I know that they're fine and they just they're trying to go because they don't want work I definitely hold them accountable for that but I definitely make sure that everybody is good on my side on my part nice nice Heen R what about y'all I think sometimes like I've recently encountered it last semester you know with the paper we have deadlines and so if we start to see you know certain people they're missing their deadline or they're not showing up to pitch anything then we at least for me we try to figure out okay are you doing okay in your classes around the five we grades 10 we grades that's kind of like our progress areas if we see people are starting to you know not show up or things like that we kind of extend people Grace and also tell them that okay it's okay to take a break if you need to get your classes in order or if there's something going on at home it's okay to take a break I think you know just some people don't like to communicate but I feel like for a student perspective and your peer who's like maybe on the E eboard just communicating back and forth with them and me as a president I try a lot of times to relate to people try to talk to people especially if I notice something that's going on but definitely I think it comes from just letting people know it's okay to take a break if something's really going on if if you're failing your classes it's okay to take a break that go goes back to we say earlier about folks being part of these organizations and then that becomes their whole life right so which which we'll get to that part but it becomes their whole life to the point where they forget about academics and it's like you can't be a student anything a student leader uh a student athlete a student anything unless you are handling the student part first um but R I want to ask you the same thing so when it comes to oh Dam what was I just say I just had the thought I Lally just had the thought oh yes the sense of community right there we go look at God the sense of community that goes with these organizations talk to me about that where maybe you or yourself have seen someone who wasn't doing their part but there was actually more to it reached out to them or they reached out to you like anything like that um I can definitely say regarding my work site um the place that I've been working at since through my organization which is boner since freshman year which is Mimi's Pantry which is under and Evelyn Lowry Institute um one of my co-workers and myself we also um you know we tend to sometimes I guess you could say overextend ourself if you can put it that way and you know regarding um where I worked which is a pantry which we give free groceries to sophomores Juniors and seniors in the Atlanta University Center um we were required you know to be there for 10 hours a week Monday through Friday and you know sometimes it would potentially interfere with our class schedule or we might end up going all the way until Friday and then realizing oh shoot I didn't do this whole 10 hour mark that I was supposed to do because I might have had a test or something interfere with something but definitely I can say regarding just my supervisors and even just my whole team of of co-workers and they're honestly my family they've been my family since freshman year like I can definitely say during times where we might have needed mental health days they've understood that and during times where also me or one of my co-workers were experiencing burnout sometimes we would just you know make sure you know maybe take a little break sit down on the couch and I can do this right now or I can you know start unpacking and start restocking the shelves while you take a little break if you have some homework to do take a little break like definitely with what aluren was saying sometimes you do need to take breaks and that's important and that goes for every single area of life so I can definitely like we definitely held each other accountable for stuff for sure and it was always in such a polite way but at the same time though we also understood that life does life sometimes and if we needed a mental health day out of one of those five of the week they understood that you touched on it again rain about sometimes needing a brick right because as a college student you at some point you gotta chill I know at State we even have um a period during like the semester where the whole week is no classes it's just for students to chill to relax to they will be um what is it they'll have like dogs you can come and walk they'll to stress going to the counseling center like different things like that right and I'm sure at some point in your college career you have not necessar maybe not experienced but you've seen this you've seen someone who is a part of the organization and it's like all they do is that that organization you don't never see them in any other part of the campus that whole entire time all they do is H all they do is r or whatever so talk to me about when you maybe have seen someone whose entire personality has become that organization like what does that look like um I feel like that definitely is like something that I made sure that I emphasized because people sit here and say all the time like oh like I feel like like before before the letters like before I even like made it clear that I wanted to do this like it be like oh I feel like once you get out there you see all the girls you get all the attention like I feel like you're going to change but I really make sure that I didn't change who I am and that definitely is a thing like I've seen people that literally and it it's sad it's really sad that I cuz I've known them since like theyve grown up like we've grown up in the same area and like I've known each other like we've known each other since we were in sandbox and like I've seen them act a certain way growing up known them their whole life then they get in the Frat and their whole entire personality just changes and honestly that's like that's a that's and that's a turn off and it's not a good look and usually people that do that no good luck ever happens them I'm I'm a really firm believer in karma and I really believe that happened so I know with me people that know me they'll sit and tell you like yo red is literally the same I literally have been the same person since since middle school like people that know me they will sit here and tell you that like ain't nothing changed about me I'm still that same guy my voice may have gotten deeper I may have gotten taller may have lost some weight I'm still the same person I didn't let nothing change me because I feel like that's just lame I feel like you got to be true to yourself you feel what I'm saying facts facts R about you have you ever seen to where someone joins the organization and who's actually funny just talking about this from my other podcast um elitism within HBCU Community right so someone the organization and not only is it like this is their whole entire personality now but now it's like they feel like they're better than yes because they're in this organization talk to talk to me about that if you ever seen it y'all it's terrible y'all it's really terrible like it's not a good look it's really not a good look and honestly the best way I can put it like honestly is you it's important to be yourself honestly because even if you do get into an organization or after you know just going through certain things like you might you know get this spot on sgaa or get this spot on Royal Court or you know something like that like you know your personality will definitely show and I wholeheartedly believe that because I've seen it you know happen firsthand where you know sometimes regarding maybe campaign season or even just regarding your resume or interviewing or something like you just might put on a Persona and then when you might potentially get that role then it's like you're a whole different person it's like wait a minute but you just did this and now you're doing it like what is going on and personally the way that I look at it is like when you are really authentic and true to yourself honestly you're respected more number one and number two the best way to put it honestly is when you really are true to yourself then things will start to flow in your life more organically and people will start to really flock to you and you'll also get more opportunity that will you know be for you that will actually fit towards your authenticity versus you doing something that you know that you don't really do for real but you're just doing it just because and I don't know that's just the best way I put it and I've definitely made sure like with certain organizations that I'm a part of you to make sure that I'm not overextending myself because I am a very busy person on the-go type of person I've always been that way and so sometimes when I have free time I always like to fill that time up because I don't like just you know sitting still sometimes but I've also had to understand that sometimes you do have to do nothing EMB bask in doing nothing especially if it's the potential start of a school year and it might be starting off I'm telling y'all it's happening to me right now when you start your school year off slow and when you start certain things off like really slow it brings you so much peace that when stuff starts to boom boom boom boom boom when you might have to start to go to more meetings and you might have more deadlines and stuff like that it just comes easier and it's not as stressful if that makes sense that's that's a fact that's a fact sometimes you appreciate when you ain't got no events you got to be to for that week you appreciate you you can just if you want to go to the event you can but you and your or you don't have to be there appreciate that um hey Lauren what about you ever seen it where somebody they join something and their entire personality changes and now they feel like they're better than other folk they look at everyone else as peons and peasants like talk to me about that finding someone that's like that um I think I've experienced it when I was in the student government Association I feel like a lot of people when it when it comes to HBCU in college in general they play so much importance on a title and I see that the most when it comes to Greek life SGA and Royal Court people get these positions they get the titles and all of a sudden it's like they become somebody that they never were to begin with or you know they're just so obsessed with their title that they start treating people different they start acting different like you said you know you you could be best friends with them and then you know the election season comes around and all of a sudden they act like they don't even know you um I've seen so many people just kind of like like I said just change who they are based off of a title and you know make that their everything their every move their waking sleep almost their identity becomes a position and it's almost sometimes scary to watch when people aren't true to themselves and you know remain true to who they are in a position and some times I wonder how you know that's going to look from a career standpoint when they get out in the real world because if you know they cling so tightly to a title or a position and that's their everything what's going to happen in the real world when you get a job and you lose it yes or things like that nature you know you can't necessarily cling your whole life and identity to a title or position makes you wonder whether or not they join the they got their position to actually serve the people or to do whatever the role is or it's just to have it just be able to put it down on a piece of paper as a resume or or things like that and i' say in every case of that it's always someone who lacks in some area discipline right because while you can be the the the Mr clarkean Right or you can be the SGA president of vhu whatever the case may be but to have these kind of roles you got to have some kind of discipline and I know that um any these organizations whether Omega Safi nabj whatever the case may be you gained some kind of discipline for what you do right so I want to add to you all have you with being a part of these organizations have you gained any kind of discipline that you can now take and apply in another matter of your life since we're being honest I do really strongly believe that I mean since we being this is a safe space guys this is a very safe space this is like this is a safe space for being honest I really feel like I was a very like if I'm being honest with myself I'm never gonna lie about myself I really feel like I was a a supreme hothead before I became a part of Omega sci-fi and I feel like with me like going through the process and all the things that I've had to do prior to becoming the BR and at like all the things have led up to this moment right now I feel like it's po me restraint so I feel like me being a part of Omega scii me going through all the things that I've gone through with the frag or just outside of the fra I feel like this has taught me restraint so I do definitely feel like it benefits and has changed me into who changed me to be better than what I used to be nice he Lauren R any any form of discipline that being a part of your organization has helped you to retain another part of life whether when it comes to now working out when it comes to your academics like you've learned and applied that discipline to somewhere else I think for me um it's helped me with my procrastination um I feel like before I became president of nbj and um doing eboard and these other orgs I procrastinated a lot I was the person who would do my assignments really late at night and procrastinating but you know when you're president of the or and you have a meeting you know you can't wait until the day before to make sure everything is set up everything's ready everything's posted online and you have all your decks in a row um I think it's really helps me with you know time management and you know you're you're going to be held accountable if everything goes to the left um for me just being a president of an or and you know holding these positions has helped me really like get on my zoom as people would say like you you got to be able to plan you got to be able to repair you got to be able to have a backup plan and just really think critically there's no time or for at least for me there's no real room for error and I think that's helped me when it comes to my schoolwork because now it's like oh I'm planning that out too I'm planning to get my things done on time if I can get it done early so it's it's really helped me with the discipline when it comes to time management and balance nice time management helping my procrast nation yeah yeah R same thing I I want to ask if if the answer hasn't been said already but any kind or any form of discipline that your organizations have helped you to gain for another area of your life definitely to piggyback off a Lauren heavy on the procrastination and time management but also accountability and more so just self account accountability if that makes sense because there would be a lot of times where I would just continue to put a lot of things off or wait last minute to do certain things but now I'm in more of a space of planning things out doing things when I'm supposed to and honestly if I might have free time doing it during that time instead of maybe waiting later so that when later comes I can just chill out you know so I can defin say heavy on the time management and um wait what oh yeah heavy on the time man and self accountability yeah I think accountability is such a good point because it's kind of like when you're in a position it's almost like everybody's looking to you so you can't you know be making mistakes or being laid or being unprofessional or even just being rude I think for me I was never a rude person but kind of being like in an e position if someone's getting like your nerves or if you're even just having a bad day it's kind of Tau me to discipline like oh I can't take it out on them I still have to be nice to everybody I still have to speak to everyone I still have to be sociable even if I'm having a bad day and I'm not even feeling like this me right now when you step into that position of leadership in some sorts right whether you are the president of the org you are the director of the radio station what whatever the case may be when you step into that position it's now a different kind of life because now you're not only responsible for yourself but there are others who are now following your lead right others following your lead that you have to make sure that you not only do what's best for your interest but you got to put yourself first right you gotta put yourself first in that instance um I know we almost get to to the hour mark So I want to ask you all is there any piece of advice that you would have you would give yourself if you had to go back to freshman year right you got to go back to your freshman year again you just stepped on campus or maybe to um a freshman who's on campus who who is just wondering about how to navigate College in total when it comes to joining organizations what is some advice that you would give to yourself to that young person who wants to know about joining organizations on campus um uh well the tell I'll start with um with a regular freshman coming in I definitely would tell a regular freshman to stay in his Circle that's what my dad always would tell me I'm worry about what you can control not be able everything's not going to go your way um just do what you can and let the chips follow where they made never let anybody tell you that you can't do what you want to do I'm telling you like so like I'm I'm a prime example of people have told me that I was going to do this they talk so much trash about me growing up and they said I was this they said I was that and I'm doing things that they could never do while they're at home trapping not doing anything for themselves they're working they're not doing anything and they're watching me on this live stream right now I know that's right um I would I would definitely tell the Freshman just just stay true to yourself only worry about what you control and don't let anybody tell you that you can't do or get or accomplish what you can what don't let anybody tell that you can't accomplish what you can accomplish cuz Anything is Possible the the regular kid on the Block that nobody cared about he could go and become a millionaire it you never know you never know what God has in plan for you I would tell myself you did it man keep doing what you do oh that brother was hold on let me let me get the praise break music that brother was just just preaching just now yeah I think for me oh you good you good good I had to give him his praise break go ahead gosh yeah um I think for me um the thing I'm gonna say is just don't wait for anybody um stop you know waiting on friends and other people to join stuff with you if you want to join something if you want to run for a position just do it and just just do it have faith in yourself and just do it I think a lot of people fall in the Trap of like oh I got to have somebody doing it with me I gotta I gotta have my whole friend group doing it or vice versa your whole friend group wants to go here and you want to do something totally different don't let other people's opinions and influences determine what you want to do because I'm telling you you will you won't be fulfilled that way you will be miserable that way and a lot of times you'll just end up wasting time if you're waiting on other people to constantly support you or constantly do exactly what you're trying to do take the leap of faith and take the risk yes well said definitely well said rain what about you um I would definitely say a Bible verse that I go by every single day is to continue to walk by faith and not by sight it can be really easy to get caught up in what you see and how it might look but when you just continue to take that leap of faith and continue to go after the things that you want you'll find things to continue to really work in your favor and definitely for freshman and even for myself like I can definitely say like my biggest piece of advice would be to give yourself Grace like we're all figuring it out honestly and especially as a freshman definitely big big big give yourself some Grace because it can be hard honestly going to college in general is hard balancing social life academic life is hard also being homesick is thing regardless of what school you might go to like you know life sometimes really does life and especially as you do get older you know things do change in life as well so it's really easy sometimes to get so caught up in that and be heavily fixated on all those things but you really have to give yourself Grace and know that what's for you will always be for you and it'll never pass whatever opportunity is for you will be for you whatever you want to do in life it'll be for you even if it takes maybe 10 steps further than the person that might already have that opportunity right now whatever is for you will be for you and it'll never pass come on come on pass the rain pass the rain all right so before we get out of here um we do this every single week on the campus rundown show right we do the accountability check and it's essentially you saying something out loud that you want to hold yourself accountable for for this week um I'll start off so I know for last week my accountability check was to get more into to this bad boy right here um my friend put me on it's basically like a yearlong uh Bible study book right here um and I did it I finished Exodus finally finished Exodus I was B um I appr I appreciate it um for this week um I know I got some things even with tomorrow I want to go back to I forgot who said it uh on here I'm sure all of you said it to some degree is take those chances right take those risk um I got a big job on tomorrow that I got to do with DTLR radio coming to to booy state and so I don't like as much as I can be an extrovert I can sometimes be very introverted and like sometimes I really don't like talking I really don't y'all are cool y yall I like I like talking to y'all but I really sometimes don't like talking to people but I know tomorrow I gotta go out I gotta push to try and get that sound Buton from the host store whatever artist and I know sometimes it can be a little like don't to put myself out there but I am challenging myself to put myself out there and and get the drops and get the things I need to get done get done so that's my accountability for this week um let's give it to a laen your accountability check for this week my accountability check for this week is to take time for myself to rest each day um I tend to fill up my schedule to the point where it's like I'm not even resting until you know 10 11 at night and so my accountability check this week is to do some sort of self-care or something this week that is in it's intentionally just for me you know staying home from event or a meeting or something just carving out space for myself I don't have to fill up each day nice nice Randall rain what about y'all uh same as every week get class on time do your work get to bed uh that a decent hour I like it simple simple R I would say um my accountability check would definitely be to um complete everything well it's not that much but complete everything on my to-do list for the week but also take breaks for sure so yeah nice before we get out of here of course want to say thank you to to a Lauren to Randall rain for being on the show with us um is there anything that you see it was it was going good it was going good so you did is there any last thing anything you want to promo to the audience anything you want to say to the audience before we get out of here um rude to the good BR like I said the beginning and um I promote my uh my my S my senor group Fatal Five we definitely be singing I I really like to sing um yeah and everybody be blessed go go ahead go ahead just sing something real quick R just goad sing some I stay ready bro like okay could it be like a video it's like it's I got posted on on this HBCU page like not too long ago like a couple days ago what you saying could you sing something from the video so you want me to sing right now yeah not yeah come on yo I need will stand by me through the good times and bad times [Music] always be right there okay right n nice nice and you know what because that that was his choice of you know what I gotta do Acappella right here right now I'm go with this song Sam Mana taste I like it nice hey Lauren rain anything y'all want to say to the people before we get out of here anything want a promo um I would definitely say hey Mom I know you're watching Love You Down um and secondly I also want to shout out historically black sense we actually have two student writer interns right now here on the call me and a Lauren um so yeah y'all check out our articles online shout out the HBS family shout out HBS family hey laor about you yes definitely check out our articles definitely read we we come a lot of HBCU issues um I want to shout out hey short said y'all don't be reading yeah um I just want to say special shout out to my Naj chapter um my advisor Dr Marsh for just always pushing me to take a lot of risks that I wouldn't have taken without his push um shout out to my parents I know you guys are watching I love y'all and as always behold the green and gold this is big state over here I'll see you at the Labor Day classic I'll see you at the Labor Day classic I will be there she will she will have the green door right nice nice oh okay since we doing shout out to my people at home uh I hope my I love to hope my parents are watching uh love you Mom and Dad Boogie Kobe Apollo good and and you know since there was a lot of dog talk on here you know gotta good brosno the good Bros you feel me um listen shout out to Randall rain Alor thank y'all so much for holding down with me for this episode of the campus rundown show right here on historic black s your goto for everything HBCU we are here every single Tuesday we see y'all next week man Peace Love blessings