Jeanine: Hello and welcome back to the Transfer Talks Podcast. My name is Jeanine and I'm a Transfer Jacks Peer Mentor. Today, the rest of the podcast committee is joining me to talk about the podcast.

Leilei: Hi, my name is Leilei Renaud.

Tiff: Hi, my name is Tiff Kim.

Cora: Hi, my name is Cora Brown.

Jeanine: In this episode today, we just wanna share more about why the podcast is out, why it's being created, the importance of us sharing the stories of our transfer student community, and the behind the scenes of us going through producing this podcast, because it is mainly a student-produced podcast, so it's a little bit different from maybe a regular podcast, but, and kind of like us sharing our experience in producing this podcast. So, as far as to this, our Transfer Talks Podcast started out as a new project for the Transfer Jacks Mentoring Program at Northern Arizona University. The process of this project began last semester, so Fall 2022, and the main reason we started it was with the goal of sharing the stories and experiences of our transfer students. Being a transfer student is a unique experience. It's completely different from a first-year experience, and the transition and adjustment to a new school and a new environment is the part where a lot of students tend to struggle, which is why our mentoring program is here to help support them. They're trying to find their community, make new friends, join clubs and organizations, learn a different school system, all while being in their second, third, or even fourth year of college. So they kind of got the college thing down, but again, they're just trying to find their community. So every student's story is completely different, and having the platform to share these stories allows us to learn how to better advocate for the transfer student community, and this is basically the entire reason why this podcast was created, and it kind of, like I said, helps us learn how to better advocate for the transfer student community.

Leilei: The podcast, as we previously said, began in the Fall 2022 semester. As a committee, we started out with coming up with questions to ask students and figure out how we can reach out to students to get them interested in wanting to record their own episode. An email got sent out to the transfer student community at NAU during National Transfer Student Week, which was in October to introduce this project to our community and gain student interest. From there, we reached out to students to start scheduling their episodes, and we began recording in December, right before winter break, and resumed recording when we returned for the Spring semester. Our Transfer Jacks Coordinator, Katherine, also began recording some staff at NAU who were transfer students while they were in college.

Jeanine: As a committee, we have all recorded episodes with students and our mentoring team, and we've also even recorded our own episodes. So we've recorded video versions, we've recorded audio versions of the episodes, and currently have out just audio on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, but we're soon gonna be hitting YouTube with these videos. So it's been such a journey trying to figure out how to record these episodes, edit them, transcribe them, get the students scheduled, creating the script, and everything else that comes with producing a podcast, or this podcast in particular. So here's my question to the rest of you. What has this experience been like for you, and how does it feel, as a student, to have had the opportunity to produce a podcast like this?

Leilei: I really enjoyed it to really get to know other people's stories because I come, my story was coming from a community college, but I've met a lot that were more along the lines of taking a break, or even just other stories in that matter, and I just find it really interesting, and also in the sense of how common it is for transfer students to feel isolated, alone, and just kind of timid to reach out. So it's definitely a trend, and it's nice to know that as a community, it's pretty prevalent.

Jeanine: Yeah, absolutely.

Cora: See, as for myself, I love hearing my own voice and seeing myself on recording, so I love being the center of attention, but being also as a center of attention, I really like to watch other transfer students share their stories, because I, myself, am not consider a transfer student, but I do have transfer credits, but my experience was way different compared to other experiences, and their experiences are way different from mine, and just hearing those stories kind of opened my eyes of, wow, that sounds very difficult, but also very courageous, because some of the stuff that our transfer students have done has been very bold, and I feel like for me, my personality, I'd be too scared to take that risk as they did.

Jeanine: Yeah, yeah, I mean, even with being a mentor, right, you hear everybody's stories, and everyone, like you said, comes from different backgrounds, or has a different story, and people have transferred from community colleges, taken breaks, transferred from another university, like, I transferred from another university. I didn't, well, technically, I transferred twice, from a community college to another university, and then that university to here. So I'm like, okay, that's a little interesting, but yeah. What about you, Tiff?

Tiff: I have a little bit more of like a selfish story.

Jeanine: That's okay.

Tiff: So when I first started, my first interview was like six minutes, and then my most recent one was almost 30 minutes so you can tell that I actually grew from that process.

Jeanine: Yeah.

Tiff: And I really liked that, and also I'm just able to have a more like coherent discussion with other people, and it's possible because of this podcast.

Jeanine: Right, absolutely. I mean, I think we have all grown from recording episodes in this podcast, because obviously from the start, right, it's a working process. So we don't necessarily know where things are gonna go. We don't really know like what we should do, or how we should carry on, things like this, but I definitely think the episodes, all in all, are very, very interesting, but you can kind of see how we've grown as a podcast.

Cora: Absolutely.

Jeanine: Yeah, okay. So going on to the next thing, we've recorded approximately 30 episodes that are out right now and have listened to so many different student stories, even just as being mentors. So what is something that you have learned from the transfer students that have shared their stories, whether that's with the podcast or that's with being a mentor?

Cora: One thing that I have learned from all the transfer students that I have talked to was that everyone's experience was definitely different, and I have heard stories that can bring me to tears and just how strong our transfer students are due to other circumstances at home or other university circumstances. And as a mentor, it kind of taught me to be more empathetic to transfer students, because you know, when I first came here, my thought was like, yeah, I'm a college student, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna go to class, I'm gonna get A's, that did not happen, but hearing the stories is like, they also had that same idea, and then stuff happened, and now they have to or want to switch to a different university to get that exact same experience or what they thought that they would like. And just to understand, you know, everyone says college is such a fun time, and not all colleges can be a fun time. 

Leilei: I think it's also really cool, or something that I've learned too, after picking up trends that are prevalent within the transfer students, is just to normalize it. To see that it's frequently encountered means that it's a normal thing, and it's part of the process. And I'm not saying, not trying to invalidate other people's stories, but it's just like, it's good to know that with us being transfer students or rather non-traditional, we have our own ways of doing things, and it's often stigmatized. And what I really like about this podcast is to just bring it to light, to kind of like, how do you explain it, tell their stories in a way where people can better understand, because maybe people don't know where to start, and starting this podcast is, I think, a really good starter to just get the conversation going on what being a transfer student really means.

Jeanine: Yeah, I definitely agree, because when I first came to NAU, a lot of the classes that I took were like, freshman, first year, like 100 basic level classes. And I think, because a lot of the people that I have encountered, whether that's people that I've worked with, or people that I've met with, a lot of people either had an associates degree or were at a community college for a couple of years or a different university for a couple of years, and they were already taking, in their first semester, upper division courses, and that wasn't something that I went through. So, I guess more or less, when I first came here, I was ashamed to call myself a transfer student, because that's weird. Like, I was in my sophomore year of college taking 100 level courses, and I was like, that doesn't seem right at all. So, I was like, oh yeah, I was going around telling everybody I was a freshman, but I really wasn't.

Cora: No.

Jeanine: I do not recommend ever doing that and I wish I could take it all back. But I guess the one thing that I learned is that, a lot of people, or not maybe a lot of people, but quite a few people are actually very proud to be a transfer student, and I love that for them, good for them. But I think it's important to destigmatize, like you're talking about the idea of being a transfer student, and it's not a bad thing. It's not, everyone's on their own path, everyone's on their own journey,like what works for you works for you. Do you have anything to add?

Tiff: Basically, reiterating, like, I feel like a lot of the people on the podcast, they have a strong relationship with their mentor, so you know that this program actually did help them. And yeah. I mean, the program does help, and I'm like, seeing for me, I was also like, I don't wanna say that I'm a transfer student when I first came here, and now I'm like, I'm a transfer student, and I'm happy about that, because you know, like, we all have our own like story that led us here, and that's something to be proud of.

Jeanine: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, ironically, the first couple of friends that I made were transfer students, and they transferred in the same semester as me. Like, my roommate, back in Mountain View, was a transfer student, and I had no idea. And then one of my first friends that I made in one of my basic 100 level classes was also a transfer student, and I had class with her like every single day. I was like, okay, so I guess it's not like super uncommon, and then my best friend back home was a transfer student too. Like, thinking about it now, didn't realize it till now. So I was like.

Leilei: It's really just that stigma of actually just saying it out loud, because I feel like we're all, we're doing a lot better these days, but we're kind of all hidden.

Jeanine: Yeah.

Leilei: And like, you can't tell who's a transfer student and who's not in a sense, so.

Jeanine: Yeah. 

Cora: I would even say like for me, when I first came, a lot of my friends were transfer students, and I, even though we both came into the school at the same time, it was nice talking to her, because she did have experiences like, oh, professors will do mostly this or that. And even though we were both new to the school, she had way more experience than me, and I relied on her a lot to kind of get through my freshman year and see what college was actually like.

Jeanine: Right, yeah. And you came to NAU during COVID, right? Like, Fall 2020, I think you said.

Cora: Yeah.

Jeanine: Yeah.

Cora: I moved into the dorms and there was nothing to do.

Jeanine: Yeah, so fun. So, so fun. Okay. In a lot of our episodes, we've talked about what we would like for people to know about the transfer student experience and what it's like to be a transfer student, especially here at NAU. So, is there a theme that you have noticed to help us learn what we could do as a program to better serve the transfer student community here?

Tiff: I've heard a lot of people equate transfer students to first year students, and a lot of the mentees been saying that, like, no, that's not actually it. Because we have a completely different experience. We've already been to college, maybe like one or two years. And we have somewhat of a handle on things, but we still need, you know, guidance.

Jeanine: Right, it's going back to that whole, you've already done college, but now you're in a new environment. You're at a new school, you're learning how to make new friends, you're learning the school system, you're learning just basically finding your community. And that's already hard, especially like with being a transfer student, right? A lot of people here are already friends or already have their established friend group or their established community. But us coming in, I guess more or less, we're scared to jump into that community and disrupting whatever they have going on.

Cora: I have also had students tell me that when they first got here, they thought they had everything fine because they did school before, they know how teachers work. They went to class and try to use BB Learn and struggled with that. And then they had to go and get their books, they didn't know exactly what to get their books, like the beginning steps. And they all at first think, like, I can do this because I've done this before, I just have to relearn it by myself. And a lot of them told me that they didn't realize that they had this program for them, even though I reached out to them a lot of times, but that's okay. But they didn't know that our program is here for them. And the reason why they acknowledge it was by getting phone calls and emails by us 24 seven as we do. So I think like for our program, one thing I guess what we can learn from talking to our transfer students is that we need to reach out a lot more and help them straight from the beginning before we let them fall on their face first.

Jeanine: Yeah, and I think as part of that, because as the three of you know, I've been here for a long time.

Cora: Yeah.

Jeanine: So there's like a good, I don't wanna say a good thing and a bad thing, but like an easy way and a hard way or something like that as far as to reaching out to them more because some people truly just don't wanna talk to you and that's fine. Like we've accepted that, we know it's gonna happen. 

Cora: It's hard because you want to be there to help and you know, admitting that you need help is even harder for I would say for our transfer students because they're in a new place, they don't want to admit they need that type of support because they've gone through it before, they need to feel like they know what they're doing. 

Leilei: I think it's like, it comes more along the lines of like age and maturity because you think coming in, we typically have transfer students coming in as upperclassmen, but I can't say that for all, but we do have a trend for that. And like there's a certain like way where we feel like we have to have it all down even though we're new because we're older and it would just be more beneficial to us because it's like, oh, I'm a freshman so it's okay if I don't know anything whereas it's different, people hold different standards and expectations, that's just society as it is on like upper division students. So I feel like there's definitely that peer pressure to like have it down because it's like you're an adult now so you should be able to figure it out on yourself, like by yourself. And so like you said, like reaching out for help is not an easy thing.

Jeanine: Yeah, and like your whole thing, right? Because with age and maturity and things like that. When I became a mentor, I wasn't even 20. I was 19 and a half. So, and a lot of the people that I met with like Yendira, one of our former mentors, she's older than me and I was her mentor when she came here. Like that, that's sometimes I think people are more or less like, oh, you're younger than me, I probably shouldn't listen to you, but they I think are also afraid to ask for the help because it's like you said, right? The age and the maturity thing, they wanna do it on their own, they're an adult. But at the same time, some people don't really know how to ask for help or don't wanna ask for help. Like I'm one of the very people that have told all of my mentees, don't be afraid to ask for help. And then I'm a hypocrite because I don't do that.

Leilei: I think there's definitely like a pride aspect to it. And I feel like it's good to be able to like do things on your own, but you should know like to an extent how far you can go and when you need help. But again, no one knows how to actually pop the question of how do I say I need help without making it look like I can't like necessarily do it or I didn't try it a couple of times. I don't know, there's like a fine line for that, but yeah, a lot of transfer students are really hesitant for that because it's just like, how is it gonna make me look? It's kinda humiliating that I don't know, but it's like, you're new. It's okay, it's okay.

Cora: I completely agree.

Jeanine: Does anybody have anything they wanna add to the topic of themes they noticed to help us learn what we could do to better advocate for the transfer student community?

Leilei: I was kinda wondering if like, and I don't know if we really do this. You guys can just let me know, but like, is there any way that maybe, cause I know they have their mentors to reach out to when it comes to like meeting with them, but some people aren't too big on the one-on-one kind of meetings or just like there's no point, but I feel like maybe if we had more like workshops in a sense of like offering what kind of resources we have here, like we've had advising here, what else have we had, career development, you know, stuff like that to where transfer students tend to be looking at, at the moment. And so maybe they're not, cause like we all come with like different motives and some aren't necessarily looking for that empathy or connection and wanna like get started and like what's the next thing. And I think it's really important to like establish or like promote the resources through workshops that we have exclusively for those transfer students. If you know what I mean. And then like, from then on, they can like decide whether or not to like explore further into that. But I think it's a good like first step and it'll be a lot easier. And it's with like a group of people rather than just one on one. If you guys know what I mean.

Jeanine: Yeah, I mean, obviously we do pizza, planning, and prizes. So that's one as far as to getting a jumpstart on like your goal here of academics or I being organized, making sure you know what's going on and everything like that. And then also having us mentors there to help them out as far as to, oh, where can I find my books? Where should I look to make sure that I know where all of my assignments need to be submitted and things like that, which I know is probably going to be a little bit difficult next year just because we're going from BB Learn to Canvas. I've never used Canvas. So when I heard that we were making the switch, I was like, oh, I'm so excited because I don't need to learn that for like a year or a semester because BB Learn's like my thing. Like I used it in high school. I used it at my colleges at home. Like, yes, I know BB Learn, that's my thing.

Cora: Yeah, and I did Canvas when I was in high school taking college classes and I have very much mixed opinions on it.

Leilei: I do have to say I would like to highlight there whenever you submit something confetti comes out. It makes me feel pretty good, even if it's like a late submission. You guys, you never have that?

Jeanine: Really? In Canvas?

Leilei: I did that for my community college I think because we went from BB Learn to Canvas as well.

Jeanine: Oh, okay.

Leilei: So like we, like whenever I submit something, it would be like a, like confetti, like it felt so good. It would like go off the screen and so I'm just like, oh my god, that's so cool. That could just be like a one thing, but that was like one of my favorite things about Canvas. They do have different layouts, but I feel like it's manageable, but it's hard when you're so accustomed to BB Learn, especially as a mentor, making sure you have it down to help other students.

Cora: Very important.

Leilei: Yes.

Jeanine: So I guess that's your summer assignment.

Cora: Yes. Yes, it's going to be.

Leilei: But it's okay if you can't do it alone. You can ask other mentors.

Cora: I'm going to ask my mentees how you do it.

Leilei: There you go.

Cora: You know, all of them told me how much like they used Canvas and they don't understand BB Learn. I think the roles are about to be reversed pretty soon.

Leilei: I feel like it's like pretty cool to keep like a grounded conversation with your mentees too, you know? So you're like, you know, I don't know how to do this, do you? And it's like, you can help me out.

Cora: Yeah. For ideas to like improve our mentorship, I think we need to have more communication with our transfer students and ask them, what would you guys like to see? Like send out like a survey or have them tell us personally so we can write it down because I want the chance, I feel like all of us want the Transfer Jacks Program to be very beneficial to every transfer student and trying to come up with new ways. Like, you know, we do events, we do one-on-one meetings, we do trips, and there's so much that we can do in our heads, but I think we need to add in some new ideas by our current transfer ones because as the people that are standing in this room today transferred many years ago or a few years ago and there could be something that's new with us going on in today's current way of transferring.

Jeanine: Yeah, I love that idea and I really do hope that that is something that's implemented because I have had so many students, especially after the paint night in the Fall semester that were like, oh, we should do another paint night. Like, I really like that. Okay, yeah, let's do another paint night and then we did another paint night this semester. But yeah, like even off the top of my head because I've been here for so long, all the things that we have done, especially over the past couple of years, I don't really remember, so I don't remember what was good and what was not, but I love the idea of hearing from the voices of the students, especially the students that we have that are constantly participating in our events, constantly meeting with their mentor, are constantly hanging out in our transfer lounge. I think it would be best to hear from them because maybe they wanted us to do something and we didn't do it.

Cora: Yeah, I agree.

Jeanine: All right, so as I mentioned earlier, we've got about 30 episodes out at the time of recording today's episode, which is such an amazing accomplishment for, again, a student-led podcast, a student-produced podcast. So with all of the episodes that are currently out and thinking back on everything we have done throughout producing this podcast, what has been everyone's favorite moment working on the podcast?

Cora: My favorite moment.

Jeanine: Oh, I know what you're gonna say. 

Cora: Working on this podcast, 

Leilei: The eye contact is real.

Cora: Was editing Leilei's video and every sentence she said, yeah, and then we continued and I counted that they said it 158 times. 

Leilei: In how many minutes? 

Cora: 19. And that's just forever my favorite memory.

Jeanine: I cannot believe 158 times in a 20 minute episode.

Leilei: It is a form of engagement and telling the mentee, I'm here. I'm here. I'm still here. And it was with a mentee where he also had the vibe of saying yeah, 

Cora: Yes.

Leilei: So we just collectively kept bouncing off of each other.

Cora: Like yeah, yeah, yeah.

Cora and Leilei: Yeah! 

Leilei: I swear at one point we're just like, yeah, yeah.

Cora: You did, you did.

Jeanine: Oh, I think my favorite part has been editing all the episodes because I'm the one that does the editing, but even if I'm not in the room helping somebody record or if I'm not recording the episode myself, like being able to listen back to everybody's episodes has been such an amazing thing just because as we keep reiterating and keep reiterating, everyone's stories are so different and so unique to them. That you get to learn something new from like outside of the students that you typically work with. So that's been, that's been really fun. Stressful at times, but really fun. 

Leilei: Worth it, right?

Jeanine: Absolutely, yes.

Tiff: Okay. I think my favorite moment was when I recorded my episode or maybe it was Jen's episode and we just couldn't stop laughing for like 30 or 40 minutes and we kept restarting every like five minutes because we were just too giggly and that was just really fun. I love that.

Leilei: If we can get the behind the scenes on that. 

Jeanine: If you still have the recording send it to me so we can get some bloopers in there.

Tiff: I still have the one where we sing apple bottom jeans.

Jeanine: Send me that please. That's so funny.

Cora: Totally forgot about that one. 

Leilei: What is it? My favorite part of doing this podcast was I really like the idea of like creating a comfortable environment for the mentee because we've had like a various like amount where like it was like they were either extroverts, introverts, or in the middle, but especially for like the introverts that need a little bit more time to feel more comfortable. I love to see them grow throughout the conversation and I'll get mentors that'll be like oh this mentee is like quiet so like you know see if you can try and like get them to talk and I had no problem with it once like they felt comfortable and it was just really like nice and fun to just see them like feel comfortable in their own space to like just branch off and further elaborate on like their own stories and I just I love listening to it and just watching it. 

Jeanine: Yeah it's actually been a fun experience being able to watch how people from the beginning and then to the middle to like the end of their episode just start off with like simple things and then branch out into explaining their story because obviously starting something new you kind of get off to a rocky start because you don't really know what to do and then as we've recorded more episodes we've really started to learn like what works right so like the first couple of episodes we started with a casual, a casual question and then got into like some serious stuff and then did our this or that segment which didn't really work out so having been able to figure that out I think really worked in our favor to get more people to really talk about their stories.

Cora: Absolutely.

Leilei: Yeah.

Jeanine: Looking back on everything we've done with meeting all the time, producing episodes, recording episodes, interviewing students, is there anything in particular that you have learned with producing this podcast and is there anything you would have wanted done differently? Like for me I kind of wish that we were able to figure out very early on that asking the this or that and the, the simple questions and then going on to like the more serious topics was something that we started from the beginning because obviously I think it has led to better conversation and has led to people being more open to sharing their stories so that's something I think we would have done differently and I think that's also something that we've learned right because some of the questions that we ask are very heavy and very in-depth so it's not really something someone wants to talk about within the first 30 seconds of an episode.

Cora: Completely agree.

Tiff: I think a more basic thing we learned how to actually work the stands. We lost a screw for the camera stand and found a random screw. I just wish we found the actual one.

Jeanine: Yeah so for those of you that are listening that don't know we have a couple of different like stands for some lights that we use and to set up the iPad when we do record our video episodes and that, that has been a journey in itself trying to figure out how to set that up every single time.

Cora: You think you get it down and then it surprises you it's like oh it's not supposed to go this way wait what? 

Jeanine: Yeah 

Cora: Every single time.

Jeanine: What about you Leilei and Cora? 

Leilei: I don't know if I have anything that we can improve I just really want it to like reiterate. It's so good because it's like in the beginning I remember learning how to set up and I was like so you're like okay you do this and then you do this and I'm like okay okay okay trying to keep track and then like I guess like as we kind of like grew into it we like got into the motion of things and it was just like okay obviously this tripod goes with that and these go with here you know I don't really maybe wanted to be like this kind of light setting so nothing I don't know but like I can't think of improvements at the moment because I feel like it's just like a overtime muscle memory kind of thing of like going with the flow not going with the flow getting the flow as it is so like I kind of feel like we like did a good job it was just like this is very new for all four of us and we just had to adjust it to it.

Jeanine: Yeah. 

Cora: Well one thing I say like I know we have mentioned this quite a lot in this podcast that we've all for have grown into a better speaker, a better person that can interact with transfer students and for me personally I want to keep growing on that because there's sometimes when I'm recording that I wish I like said it in a different tone like when I'm rewatching I wish that I phrase the question differently or responded with not wow amazing so as that I wish that I could improve more with us following year and with also practice. 

Leilei: And with that takes practice. You're doing amazing sweetie.

Cora: Thanks mom.

Jeanine: We've had our go-to list of questions all semester while recording. Is there any topic and or question you would like to be seen in the podcast that is asked or talked about in the future?

Leilei: So keep the questions in there or add another question?

Jeanine: Like add something else or talk about like a different topic obviously a lot of what we talk about or a lot of what we have talked about and other students that we have recorded have talked about are very repetitive but it's because it's new to us and we're trying to get a groove on right but if there's like any specific topic or question you want to be you want to see be asked in the future. 

Leilei: I think I want to go off what Cora said about like getting feedback from them. I feel like the podcast is a really good place to ask them for that. Just because we're already in the moment of like such a deep conversation of like the program itself and what transfer students are typically like and what they would need. So I feel like that'd be a really good question to ask. Just like you know what is it with how would you how would you word that though on asking them like is there anything that we could do better? You know what I mean? 

Jeanine: Yeah I think one could be like when people talk about their favorite Transfer Jacks event that they've been to we could ask them like as a follow-up is there any event that we haven't hosted that you would like to see? I think that'd be a good one because we probably have so many ideas for events that we don't really know about and then someone will come in and tell us that this is an idea for an event that they have and we'll just be like oh yeah you know what I did think about that at one point but it kind of got lost.

Cora: Completely agree. For me you know I'm a very nosy and curious person. When we talk to our transfer students on the podcast we're kind of just talking about their experience here at NAU so far and you know with me having my one-on-one meetings with my own transfer students I get to hear what their previous college was like and their previous experience and I wish for our podcast we were able to learn more about like not the comparison of NAU in their previous college but more the reason like how come they switch, how come, why they choose NAU, like what drove you to switch universities. Then again that is an extremely personal question and I think that should be something that can be at least suggested a little bit. 

Jeanine: You know that's such a basic question that I ask all of my mentees when we're in meetings and I don't know why we didn't think about that. I think something that I, oh I lost my train of thought okay.

Tiff: I think for a lot of transfer students they struggle with making friends so maybe asking the people on the podcast how did you build your support system here?

Cora: That's actually really good so that we can have a better idea.

Jeanine: That's a good question yeah.

Tiff: I'm going to forget that.

Jeanine: It'll be in the recording so I will write it down.  Oh I'm so sad I lost my train of thought now because I had a question and then I just it went over my head. Okay moving on. All right so as the semester comes to an end out of the four of us three of us will be graduating so as the new team comes in and takes over for the podcast specifically myself Lele and Tiff what do you hope to see from this new team and Cora if you would like to you can add your thoughts as well. Obviously I would like to see for this podcast to continue but again maybe bring in like a couple of people for an episode. 

Leilei: I agree on that. Oh wait like even more than just two?

Jenanine: Well not just two but like how one of us interviews because it's an interview style right so one of us will interview like two people at once like I think that'd be cool because a lot of the transfer students makes friends with other transfer students so it'd be nice to hear like how their story started or how they became friends and how they support each other as transfer students.

Cora: I would like to do a group interview like this. 

Jeanine: That sounds like so much fun or even well I wish we could have done it because our team is so small this semester but like the entire team recording an episode together. I think that would be chaotic but I think that would be fun. 

Leilei: Well then with you talking about numbers I feel like what I would like to see is more people in the committee but I know we're already as small team as it is.

Jeanine: Yeah.

Leilei: I feel like it'd be helpful. I mean we already successfully got out like thirty plus recordings out so it's obviously like a good size but we were really busy this spring too and we just kind of like made things work and we're able to adjust but I feel like even just like two more people wouldn't hurt. 

Cora: Yeah definitely have a bigger group.

Jeanine: I hope it does work out to the one mentor of the four of us that is staying.

Cora: I will try everything in my power to make it.

Jeanine: I'm sure it will. 

Leilei: We're just a call or text away. You can still reach out. 

Jeanine: Yeah. 

Cora: Call you guys to come back here.

Jeanine: Cora's gonna call us every every day. Okay so what do I do now?

Cora: Do I click this button or this button? Tiff, what are your thoughts? 

Tiff: So some of our mentees got hired on for next semester right? What if those like new mentors like kind of reviewed us as mentors. 

Jeanine: Ohh! 

Leilei: I like the shift right or like the switch right? 

Jeanine: That kind of sounds terrifying to me.

Tiff: I feel like I'm a good mentor.

Jeanine: I mean I do too but at the same time like oh okay like did I do something wrong and they've never told me?

Leilei: I like that. I like that. Well I mean like I'm they're gonna get it like a script of some sort right? Unless are we saying like they're just gonna like improvise. 

Jeanine: No let them freeball it. 

Leilei: Really? 

Jeanine: Yeah.

Leilei: Okay. 

Tiff: Like maybe like how would you describe your mentor?

Jeanine: Yeah. 

Tiff: Like that. 

Leilei: Okay I was actually gonna ask then would it be weird if like we had like it we interviewed a mentor and a mentee that frequently went off this? 

Jeanine: That would be so fun.  Oh yeah you did that with um yeah. 

Cora: Yeah. 

Jeanine: Oh at least but like once for every mentor that'd be so cute. 

Leilei: That would be. 

Tiff: I just thought about that.

Jeanine: I love that idea. 

Cora: I'll write all of these down. 

Jeanine: They're all recorded so it's gonna go on a paper anyways because Stacy also gave me a ton of new ideas for next year so. 

Cora: Okay I'm excited. I'm excited.  I'm gonna continue our legacy that you guys, that we have started together.

Jeanine: I also think a good thing would be to continue is this new tradition that we're starting of every single year at the ending of the Sspring semester even though you're graduating in the Fall. Of the committee coming together and just kind of reflecting on how the year went with the podcast. I think that that would be really cool.

Cora: I agree.

Jeanine: That would be a cool tradition to keep. Yeah okay so as we're kind of ending our episode is there any thoughts, anything you want to say about the podcast and how we've produced it and how we worked on it?

Leilei: I can't imagine working with any other people.

Tiff: Aww.

Jeanine: Aww. Yeah I don't got anything.

Leilei: Wait a second. 

Jeanine: You know what I will say something that producing a podcast was such a cool experience. It's not something I ever thought that I would do let alone I don't like listening to my own voice so having to edit back the episodes that were either the ones I recorded or ones I participated in is kind of odd. 

Leilei: Wasn't there growth in that? You said like huh I didn't sound like as bad as I thought I would.

Jeanine: Yeah there was. 

Leilei: There was growth though. 

Jeannine: Yeah there was but still yet like I recorded a podcast episode a couple years ago with Yendira one of our former mentors. I was just like a participant and a guest and I did not listen to it at all. It's been like two years and I still haven't listened to it. Yeah. 

Cora: Wow. 

Jeanine: I refuse to.

Cora: See for me I mean this team like you know we started we had our struggles we didn't know how exactly we were going to begin this. We didn't know if we wanted to do the script if we just only wanted to do video or just audio. We didn't know how exactly to reach out to our mentees and transfer students on scheduling and then to work with our schedules to schedule it with it. So you have had two people who do video and then slowly being independent and with another person or without another person but also still informing the group what was going on like blocking out that space on our calendar so we know that we can't both record it during that time. This is all stuff that we learned and improved on and I just am I'm very proud of like everything that we have done so far we've grown and I hope to continue and share this knowledge that we learned this semester with the upcoming semester mentors so they can have kind of a head start and then see what they create something that they can bring it on continue the way you see that we started with each other.

Jeanine: I promise you a handbook is in the process. I got you. Also Katherine asked me to but I got you. 

Cora: Yes definitely need that because there's a lot of trial and errors that we've all done. Finally got it. 

Jeanine: Yeah.

Cora: Right in the end. 

Jeanine: Yeah no kidding. Okay all right anything else any last minute comments?

Tiff: I love being the cameraman. 

Jeanine: Yeah those are fun moments.

Cora: I'm gonna miss editing Leah's or Leilei's video saying yeah.

Leilei: Ohh, so you did enjoy it? 

Cora: Not one minute. But I'm gonna miss hearing your beautiful voices.

Leilei: So it's on Spotify, podcasts you know feel free to listen to those whenever you're available.

Jeanine: Alrighty so as a graduating member of the team I just want to say that it has been such a pleasure and an amazing opportunity to be able to produce this podcast with the three of you. I have loved every second of recording, editing, meeting as a committee for updates, talking about everything, all of our laughs, all of our bloopers, everything like that. But I can't wait to see what the new team will do with this podcast. So thank you Tiff, Cora, and Leilei for joining me today and sharing the experiences you have had producing this podcast with me.