DRAFT NOT FINISHED Brooke: Welcome back to the Transfer Talks podcast. My name is Brooke Hoeltge and I'm a Transfer Jacks Peer Mentor. Joining me today is our guest who would like to share their transfer student experience with us. Polaris: Hi, thank you for having me. My name is Polaris Zuniga. I'm a communications major here at NAU. Specifically CMF, which is Creative Media and Film with an emphasis on independent filmmaking. I'm from Temecula, California, which is north of San Diego. And I will actually be graduating at the end of the semester, so fall 2023. Brooke: Congratulations, that's so awesome. Polaris: Thank you. Brooke: What made you choose Creative Media and Film? Polaris: So for me it was kind of a last minute decision. I've always been really good at writing. I want script writing to be my career. And I was miserable in my previous major, so coming to NAU I was like, well let's just see what writing programs they have. And coincidentally I happened to come across this CMF major and I was like, that seems up my alley. So I was cool with that. Brooke: Seems like that's something you'd be good at. You seem like passionate about it too, so that's really cool. Where did you transfer from? Polaris: So my transferring was a little bit different than I think most transfers was. I was at a community college down in California. I don't really want to say which one, because it was kind of a miserable time. The entire time I was there. Brooke: Ok ok fair enough. Polaris: Just the environment wasn't very good. The faculty as great and as encouraging as they were, I felt like it could have been better. So I pretty much, I got my associate's degree in anthropology and I was like, okay, let's see where else I can go from here. Because I didn't want anthropology to be my career. Brooke: Understandable. My minor is ethnic studies and I don't want to be an anthropologist. I wish I could be back in my major, but I don't want to be a professor or an anthropologist. So have you been to any transfer events yet? Polaris: Yes, I actually went to a couple of events my first semester up here. I think my favorite was there was a morning hike to the Grand Canyon. I love hiking and I love kind of Route 66 vibes, so that was really fun. Brooke: That sounds really fun. The Grand Canyon is beautiful. Polaris: I went a couple of times with my parents beforehand. Brooke: Oh cool. Polaris: This was my first time going by myself. Brooke: Do you like to hike? Polaris: I do like to hike. I don't get to go out very much because I don't have a car. Brooke: Oh same. Polaris: So everywhere I go it has to be within walking distance. But I'm actually in a class right now where we have to go out pretty much every single time and I have friends that give me rides now. So I'm getting out there. Brooke: Awesome. What class is that? Polaris: So I, a majority of my classes are taught by Carter McCormick. He's one of the CMF professors here at NAU. I'm in his wildlife filmmaking class. We're going out pretty much every day. He brings his dogs. They're so cute. Brooke: That's awesome. What kind of dogs does he have? Polaris: He has an Irish wolfadoodle and I'm not sure what the other one is. It's just like a puppy. Brooke: That sounds giant. Polaris: He's a very big dog but he's very sweet. Brooke: That's cute. So you said wildlife filmmaking? Polaris: Yes. Brooke: What does that entail? Polaris: Well we're still pretty early into the semester so we're still kind of getting a feel for it. We only meet once a week. Right now we're pretty much just learning about animal behavior and what it's like to try and document that. My professor is really big about making sure we can get our gear in and out of certain environments. It's mostly hiking out in the Flagstaff Wilderness and figuring out what we can capture. It's difficult because if there's a group of 25 of us, we're like this big herd of elephants he likes to compare us with. So we scare off most animals pretty quickly. So it's really more a test of how quiet can a group of 25 college students be? Brooke: That's funny. That sounds really interesting. Samantha: Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Brooke: What made you choose NAU and why did you transfer here? Besides what you said earlier about your college. Polaris: Yeah, so the first time I ever came up to NAU's campus, I was on a road trip with my family. We were touring colleges for my sister actually. I remember her just being blown away by the campus and stuff. I was 14 at the time so it was my first time on any college campus. So first impression was just very, it was, I don't remember the exact vibes that I got from it because I have a goldfish memory. I just remember I really liked the environment. I really liked the people who did the tour of the campus that we did. And compared to my old college, NAU is just very old college here, new- NAU's here. A huge part of it was mental health for me because where I'm from, from California, the job I had, I came up in 2021 so it was right after the pandemic. I just really needed to get out of California and NAU was offering me a fresh start, first time living on my own, living in the dorms. So it was really a huge hurdle for me to be able to begin life as an adult. So I'm really grateful for NAU for pretty much giving me that stepping stone. And yeah, I just like Flagstaff is a very community-conscientious place and I feel like the university is really big on that too. Brooke: Yeah, definitely. Thank you for sharing that. I appreciate it. Polaris: Yeah. Brooke: So you said you mentioned you like NAU's environment. Polaris: Yes. Brooke: What do you like about campus and the environment specifically? Polaris: So Flagstaff is incredibly different from where I'm from. It's mostly like, it's mostly desert. It's very suburban. Like everyone's got like fake grass lawns or they've got dirt lawns. And there's not a lot of seasons where I'm from either. So you get all four seasons here at NAU. Brooke: Yeah, we do. Polaris: It's very lush and very green up here. And I love like green forestry. When I was staying here my first semester, I was staying in the North Quad. So that park that's out there was just a beautiful place to like just go sit and work on my homework and work on projects. And again, it's a very community-conscientious place. I feel like everyone's really supportive of each other here too. Brooke: Yeah, definitely. I agree on that. And we definitely do have four seasons. And how do you feel about like the snow? Polaris: Oh, I love it. Brooke: Yeah, even last year's? Polaris: Well, I mean, last year's a little bit much. But like I said, where I come from, there's no seasons. There's hardly any seasons at all. I mean, we get rain if we're lucky. But yeah, I really loved it. I didn't have any issues with it. I've only ever fallen on the snow once and I wasn't even moving. I just fell. Brooke: It happens. So now I'm going to move on to more like serious questions. Polaris: Yeah. Brooke: So what type of programs, departments, people have helped you through your transition to NAU? Polaris: If I'm being completely honest, I was stubborn and I wanted to do a lot of it myself. I really wanted to top it out. Transfer Jacks has been like an amazing resource, like all the events you guys have hosted. They're great options to like take a break from the stress of schoolwork and to go out and do something. Like I mentioned, the hike that we went on. My roommate my first year, she was a super nice, super chill person, really easy to live with. A lot of my friends, all these students, especially the faculty, my professors have been amazing. Like I said, a majority of my classes are taught by the same professor this semester and that's because I feel like he's been really supportive of the stuff that I want to do and he's also just amazing. Brooke: Yeah, sounds like a G. What do you wish people understood about the transfer experience? If you had to give any advice. Polaris: I feel like the experience isn't very, like it's not one size fits all. I feel like that's what people have is like, oh, it's, you know, someone just at a different school wants to transfer in and it's very like, I don't know, I feel like in like the media, it's very like foreign exchange student is the transfer student. And then that's not always the case. There's plenty of transfer students that come from different universities within the US here to Flagstaff. And for me, I had technically graduated from a former university and then I transferred in here. So I feel like people don't really understand like it's not just exchange students or it's not like one specific path to transfer in. Brooke: Yeah, I like how you worded that. Like it's not one size fits all. Like everyone comes from different backgrounds and has a different college experience and journey through their undergrad or whatever, the master's degree, whatever you're going to school for. If you can go back and change anything about your transition, is there anything you would change? Polaris: That's a good question. I truly don't think I would. Like I mentioned before, you know, my first semester here was pretty ideal. It was a really good transition into becoming more of an independent adult person. You know, if there was one thing I would probably change, it was probably just my personal thing, probably just eating habits because like, you know, the freshman 15, you know, can hit me in the butt. But that's the one thing. Brooke: You've mentioned a lot that you really value your autonomy and growing into your own person as an adult and finding your way and stuff. I just want to let you know that you seem very well put together and like adulting well. I'm excited for the rest of your life journey after you graduate, whatever you endeavor on. Polaris: Yeah, it's a facade. You know, fake it till you make it. Brooke: So now we're going to do this or that NAU edition. Polaris: Okay. Brooke: Okay, North or South Campus? Polaris: I have to say North. I lived in the North Quad my freshman year. I live in the apartments right behind Cline. All my classes are on North Campus. So, North Campus. Brooke: I have to agree with you. NAU Gold or NAU Blue? Polaris: Well, my hair is blue. I think that's a good answer for that one. Brooke: Yeah, yeah. Okay. Fall or winter? Polaris: Oh, that's actually a hard question. I like the fall because I like seeing all the colors of the trees. My mom is the same way, so is my grandma. But I feel like I just like the snow a little bit better. You know, from a person who doesn't have to drive in it. Brooke: Yeah, for real. Since you are somebody who doesn't drive, walking or riding the bus? Polaris: Oh, walking all the way. I'm always pretty big with fitness. Brooke: Morning classes, afternoon classes or evening classes? Polaris: That's so hard because my schedule has always been like Mondays in the morning, Tuesday in the afternoon, Wednesday at evening and reverse like that. So I've never really gotten to experience a semester where it's just classes are one time block. I think afternoon classes are one time block. I think afternoon because I don't like waking up super early. I take a long time to do my makeup. I have meals. Brooke: It looks good too. Polaris: Thank you. Brooke: For sure. Thank you, Polaris, for joining us today. We appreciate you coming in and sharing your transfer experience with us. Polaris: Yeah, thank you for having me. Brooke: Yeah, for sure.