Tiffany: Welcome back to the Transfer Talks Podcast. My name is Tiffany Kim, I'm a Transferer Jack's peer mentor and today I have with me Zachary James. Zachary: Yes, yes. Tiffany: Would you like to introduce yourself? Zachary: Yeah, so my name is Zachary I'm a transfer student here at NAU a little bit about me my major right now. I'm studying to get a bachelor's in finance with a certificate in economics and then prior to that I'm your non-traditional student aside from like transfer student. I've been going on and off with college since 2012. So, um Yeah, I've been doing this for nearly 10 years on and off and every time I come back, you know, it's just always I have this game plan set at this time third time around, it's you know, finally put into place, you know, I have my projected year to graduate and I'm on track for that. So and then other than that, I've been I don't know how many students have been but at least I could say is that, um, When I say non-traditional, I mean like as non-traditional as it can get but some of the struggles like I've been through is like not only with going on and off with college But I've also dealt with like, uh, the criminal justice system in and out of jail. I went to prison a couple times and then here I am, you know back on track getting on my feet and just uh persevering through whatever obstacles come in my path. So it's pretty cool It's molded me into a leader into a better person and never in my life what I thought I'd be here at NAU as a student continuing my education. So, You'd be surprised what opportunities, you know, the doors open in life. So Yeah, I mean other than that, I've been here in Arizona my whole life. Uh, after graduation I plan to; you know move away from the desert Doppin new climate a new city stuff like that. So Definitely interesting and uh, can't wait to see what else unfolds down the line. So yeah. Tiffany: You have a really interesting story. I heard from one of my friends Jen. She's your mentor. Zachary: Yeah Tiffany: And she's she just like tells like such crazy stories. Like yeah It's just so interesting, especially the non-traditional students Like, um, I don't think I'm considered a non-traditional student, but I am like one of the older peer mentors. Tiffany: Yeah, I definitely Not I don't like completely understand your like, you know your path, but you know, I I can like somehow like Zachary: Right Zachary: Yeah, absolutely Tiffany: And so what exactly led you to NAU actually? Zachary: Yeah, it was it was pretty crazy like, um, before I even like applied or had any thought of doing it I don't know out of nowhere get these emails about transferring to NAU these transfer emails and they were just like they just build up over time, you know, I saw them maybe for like a little less than a year just pile up in my email and one day I just happened to be passing through Flagstaff Coming back from Phoenix and I said, you know, let me check out the campus, you know, what? You know, just ask a few questions and see where I go from there. So what ended up happening was that? I stopped at the Student service center right next to the bookstore Ask some questions About, you know transferring all my credits from the community college, which I attended down at Glendale community college in Glendale, Arizona, and they simply said it's just an application and that's pretty much it. So um, it was easy, you know, I did what they said one line Did the whole transfer process everything like that and it was easy but there was an obstacle that happened was that um, this was last year in 20, uh 22 oh my gosh And like probably in January when I was doing this and I sent in the application I had received an email from the school and they said Hold on we need to look into your criminal history before we can actually accept you as a student And I was like, yeah, that's fine. You know, I provide him whatever information I had, you know, uh public data base for department of corrections And maybe a couple months went by or something. I haven't heard back from the school and I was just like, okay, you know, maybe it's not, you know a sealed deal. That's fine. You know, there's other options out there for school and finally they got back to me and they're like, okay, you're cleared with the board. They accepted your application everything and then that's the green light so, uh that was the first struggle of getting here, but it was, you know, more so just like patience and just waiting to hear back. Tiffany: I mean, you're here now. Zachary: Absolutely. Yeah Tiffany: So what exactly do you like about campus or NAU or Flagstaff in general? Zachary: Yeah, so, um, I'm no stranger to Flagstaff. I've like I said, I've lived in the Arizona my whole life. So um, it's kind of like whereas um, in Glendale Community College, you know, you're surrounded by that Urban area like the city of Phoenix and all the other cities around there. So it's just like coming from that place and then where I'm from is Page, Arizona. It's a small little town, so it's kind of like it meets both, you know in the center so somewhere in the middle like where it's not too big, It's not too small for me Zachary: That's what I like about Flagstaff the seasons we get here. Oh my gosh I'm like, finally, this is what Spring looks like. It's nice, but um aside from that, you know, the the college itself, you know, it's been around for quite some time so I've known some people that have gone here gotten their degree and done great things down the line. So That's when I chose NAU and The Business college is pretty good as in itself and all the other resources here on campus, like once you get here, you're foot in the door with being a student starting that first semester like just know that there are a ton of resources here at your disposal like You pay a lot of money to go to school, so utilize all the resources you can that's That's what I would say and that's what attracted me. It was more so the resources than anything else, so and then on top of that You have like the professors and networking opportunities on top of that, so it's really just hone in on all these opportunities here even through like the Jacks Uh are transfer Jacks. They have so many opportunities here just even like small world events you can attend. So There's always something I do and keeps me busy, which I like. Tiffany: Yeah. Yeah, I like that especially For NAU because at my old school, we didn't have anything for transfer students specifically Because you know transfer students, um, I feel like a lot of them have the mindset I had the mindset of like, I just need to study. I need to get my degree. I need to like get out of here. Zachary: Right Tiffany: But you know, the real thing is like while you're in college might as well enjoy it. Zachary: Absolutely. Tiffany: Yeah, and you're right You're paying for it. So might as well use all the resources that they give you. Zachary: Absolutely, that's true. Tiffany: So what was one of the big bigger like resources that kind of helped you with your transition here? Zachary: um sefinitely just the the staff involved in all the different departments just asking them the questions and then having those answers or if they didn't have the answer right there and then they would point me to somebody else that would so that's like in the beginning like applying and whatnot. That's why I said it was like super simple where I thought it was gonna be really complicated and it wasn't so uh, you know, thanks to the staff and hard work you guys pulled through, so it really pays off. Tiffany: Well, we're glad that we were able to help you and I'm sure um, yeah Zachary: No problem. Yeah, there's so many names. So I'm like just making a generalization of like the staff. Yeah I feel like there was so many people that helped. Tiffany: So compared to like your old school. How was your experience there? Zachary: Yeah, um going from the community college in Glendale, Arizona, um, it was being that it was a smaller school um, I remember they said that at one point we had like more than ASUS, Which is like upwards toward 30,000 students, but the community I would say was a little bit more um tighter because it was so small and you know, I was taking advantage of all things, you know different clubs student organizations, uh, even being on the student government. So it was it was really really awesome and then taking that experience with me to NAU and it's just opening the doors toward like other opportunities helping students vise versa and you know here I have a I have a like other things on top of being a student outside of school you know, everybody does like work family, friends, whatever it is that you're trying to balance out school but here it I feel like I take on a lot more uh along with my like criminal history, I do a program so that eats a lot of time out of my schedule, but it's just finding that balance, you know between I feel like I have more opportunity here Versus at the community college level but at the same time, it's just like having the time to allocate for those opportunities I think that's the difference and the of course just the size of the colleges in general, you know. Tiffany: You mind sharing what other? Clubs and stuff that you're in Zachary: Yeah, so here at NAU That's the great thing anytime you jump into any semester. There's always these like, you know club fairs uh, club rush however you want to call it, but at the beginning I came in here just like any new student to NAU and just kind of like not knowing what's going on whatever, so I remember One day there was just a club fair down the outside of the union front starbucks just that pathway. There's a bunch of like club just everywhere and there were quite a few that caught my attention, but of course, you know, you don't want to bite off more than you can chew so it's like, yeah, you know, I'm interested, but you know, I probably don't have time But one that stood out to me was delta sigma pi and they were the co-ed business business professional fraternity here on campus and You know just their values, the the mission and goal behind them It stood within line with what I wanted and being that it was part of the business college It just seemed you know to go together so well. So I ended up pledging doing the whole pledge process with delta sigma pie and then last semester fall 2022 I actually became a brother, and now today I serve on the executive community as the vice president of alumni relations chairman of fundraising so that's what I mean by opportunity. It's out there. You make time for it and then on top of that I'm kind of like Uh attend other organizations just to get a feel for it. Like there's um The information systems association (ISA) also through the business college, you know, just to get a little bit more A feel for like software and technology within the business realm, which is cool. And then there's like um the they go by the acronym ABLE it's American Indigenous Business Leaders that's through um, just like right next door at the Native American culture center And they're cool. They have like a bunch of opportunities Because that's my background. That's uh, I'm Native American. So it feels nice to have that, you know connection with like a homestead feel Uh, connecting with people from your culture. So that's always great. And I know there's like a plethora of other things out there uh with the transfer uh jacks, you know, I try to attend as many events as I can due to how busy my schedule is, I mean if there's food, I'll probably be there, any events? So why not, you know. Tiffany: That's that's a really good selling point, you know. Zachary: absolutely. Yeah Tiffany: But it's nice to uh know that you found your like kind of group Like you found your place at NAU. Zachary: Absolutely Tiffany: I feel like for transfer students it might take a little bit because they're just trying to like learn more about the college while like, you know, where there's kind of like a stigma, um that transfer students they should know where everything is at. They should know where like what like everything that's going on because you're not considered like a first year. Tiffany: Yeah, and then like a lot of us are relatively older. So it's like, you know, like you should know what you're doing that kind of thing. Tiffany: Oh, yeah, but like yeah, how how does that mean to feel like being a transfer student? Zachary: Yeah, I mean, um as far as like experiencing about my belt prior to NAU with uh college I already attended college with a total of four years prior to come into NAU had no degree But you know kind of knew the ins and outs as far as like, you know Man like stuff like scholarships applications stuff like that But when it comes to like extra being on campus and finding resources and whatnot, it's like I said Uh the difference between my community college versus NAU. It's much bigger. There's a lot of resources. I feel like almost Like every month I'm finding out there's something new like, um when I first came here last semester in the fall of 2022 like I didn't want to purchase a laptop because with the scholarship money I had I had to be careful of like how I budgeted it, so I found out I was able to get a laptop rental through the library, you know just three days at a time the long term was already out of the question because students had already got it, but that was cool and then learning to find out like different resources just within the library itself. It's just crazy like they have like audio equipment videos cameras that you can rent out their 3d printing lab is free to a certain extent and it's just like wow. You know, I had no idea that we had those resources. I just found out like last month in the business college like I'm able to print out like Flyers and stuff without using my own like jack's account money, whatever I put on there. So, you know that that was crazy. I'm just barely found out little things here and there the HLC. I remember last semester I, I thought you had to pay to go there. So when I found out being a student here full-time I didn't have to pay because it was already incorporated into the tuition. So I was like, oh, wow, that's great. So, you know, that's another great resource there and then just like when it comes to like being involved in these groups and like clubs and stuff utilizing resources beyond what you can think there are like with The events coordinator the NAU police and all these things, you know, to coordinate an event that make it happen It's just like wow, you know And that's also at the same time building that experience under your belt. So it's like it's beneficial to win-win for everybody, you know And there's always something new to learn here at the university. Tiffany: Yeah, honestly, I work here and I learn stuff every week. Yeah, I learned like, oh, that building is actually You know, HLC stuff like that. Right. Yeah, because, you know, I feel like I'm also a transfer student and you know, it's just difficult to like find out information all at once like as you stay here longer you learn more. Zachary: Oh, yeah, absolutely Tiffany: Yeah, it's like the more you know. Zachary: Yeah, and that's the great thing about asking questions. We don't know something I know that like when a lot of students come in whether transfer or just like new from like that transition from high school to college. Always ask questions because you know, that's the way you're going to learn. That's where you're going to find out about, you know, resources opportunities and whatnot. So don't be quiet. Just always ask a question even if it's a dumb question. You know still ask it. Tiffany: Yeah, honestly It helps. It might help us learn something too. Zachary: Absolutely. Tiffany: Yeah. So speaking of that, what's another piece of advice you would like to give to incoming transfer students? Zachary: Yeah, incoming transfer students like I'm not sure where a lot of people's mindsets are when they're like thinking about that transition step whether it is from a community college or a different university, you know I would say don't make excuses just make time, you know, set time aside to go and tour the college go and see and ask these questions to the different departments that you're interested in as far as like majors go and just simply ask like around, you know, not even here at the college, but maybe in the area you know. A lot of people know that this is more so a college town and you know, a lot of people have their input on it. So don't be scared. Don't hesitate. You know, that's a thing to like, you know try it out for a semester. If it doesn't please, you know, you or up to your standard there's always the opportunity to transfer elsewhere too. So it's not, you know, like I'm going to waste my time and money, you know, get whatever classes you need to hear if it doesn't work out for you. You can always opt out and go Transfer to somewhere else. But yeah, definitely for transfer students, you know, don't hesitate, you know, especially if you're coming from one of those like smaller Universities or Colleges, you know, don't don't feel pressured to like, "oh those are the big dogs", you know like no jump in with us. We're all we're all lost here. We all have to go to the college Jump in with us. We're all we're all lost here, we all need guidance and we all do that by helping one another. So its pretty cool. Tiffany: That is really good advice. So, um another question If you could go back and change anything about your transition to NAU, what would you change? Zachary: Um Like I said, like in the beginning I was getting hounded by these emails for at least like a little less than a year but like definitely If I had to like go back and change things was to be to do it earlier, to do the transfer process earlier and Uh, most of the time like when I'm asked that question about like pass like what would you change? I don't always say nothing because you can't change the past but you know for those that are listening, you know Transfer students or not, you know, uh, definitely jumping on it, you know, you know, that's when you get old as I am. I'm 28 I'll be graduating when I'm 30. Tiffany: You don't look like it. Zachary: Yeah. Yeah, times are very precious. So, you know When you're younger you kind of like just get to college and you're like, uh, you know I'm just living my life. That's cool. But like just keep in mind like time goes on and that's something that you can't get back so definitely jumping on these things earlier than later and then. Same thing with like scholarships and whatnot like when I first applied as a transfer student here I was already like the transfer award scholarship was, you know, given to me and I'm like, wow, that's awesome. You know just for Filling out the application and being accepted, you know, so that's when I knew I was like here for, you know good reasons and good intentions here and that the college had as well as good intentions. So yeah. Tiffany: Yeah, it's really nice I especially like hearing your story too, because I haven't met a lot of people who who've done like four years of education beforehand because I did that as well and I didn't receive my bachelor's degree. Yeah, and like it just feels very like not a lot of people do that. So Very nice to hear your story. Zachary: Absolutely. Yeah, so It's never too late. Yeah, you know, it's not a it's not a sprint as they say it's a marathon. So it's like I've been doing this on and off for 10 years. So it's like, you know, now it's time to hit that finish line for me. Tiffany: You're almost there. Zachary: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Tiffany: So now we're gonna go into like rapid fire. This or that edition And so okay, so NAU gold or NAU blue? Zachary: I love gold, but my favorite color is blue. So I'm gonna have to go with the blue. Tiffany: North or South campus? Zachary: I find myself at the south campus a lot more, but I feel like north campus has a lot more Departments and things. So it's like it's kind of like A balance between Zubai south campus for sure Tiffany: South campus feels so spread out, to me. Zachary: It does. Yeah, I feel like I get like a good mile or two in. Tiffany: Okay, uh, sun or snow? Zachary: Um, definitely sun. I've been here in Arizona for a long time and I can deal with the heat, the snow, no. Tiffany: Really? Yeah, I'm from st. Louis. So it's We have all four seasons and Phoenix itself just feels like you're stepping into an oven. Zachary: Yeah, it does Tiffany: And Flagstaff I don't know how the apartments they don't have AC for the most part. Zachary: Really? Tiffany: Yeah. Oh, you haven't experienced that? Zachary: Well, I- I live off campus student housing The Jack And I was told like that too like they're like, oh, yes The apartments don't have AC. I was like what and then like I guess I'm on the fifth floor, So it does have ec. We have like our own the control and everything Tiffany: That's very nice. Zachary: Yeah, blessed but um Uh, good luck to y'all out there for the summer. Tiffany: Yeah, it's like 90 something degrees in apartments sometimes. Zachary: Oh my gosh. Tiffany: Yeah, that's when you go on a fun trip safely just walk around Zachary: Yeah, wow, that's crazy. Tiffany: Yeah. And what about Fall or Winter? Zachary: Uh, definitely fall. Yeah, like how around share with the Aspen trees. They change colors. The weather's nice and it's just a good time. Tiffany: And let's see the DUB or the Hot Spot? Zachary: Um that's a hard one. For me because like it's both I think I'd rather choose the DUB because it's closer to my vicinity. Where I'm always at, but the Hot Spot does have like other options to so the DUB. Tiffany: Okay. Okay. Uh Fall semester or Spring semester? Zachary: Um, I would say Fall only because I feel like there's more festivities going on and it's just the season to be out here. And I don't know. It feels like there's it's just always something to do in the fall. Tiffany: Doesn't it seem like spring semester goes by way too fast? Zachary: It does. I'm like, what's already April? Like this is crazy. Tiffany: We have four weeks of school left. Zachary: Oh my gosh. That's it's gonna go by quick. Tiffany: Yeah, um, Morning classes or evenings slash afternoon classes. I'm definitely a morning class person, but I'm not a morning person. Yeah. Tiffany: Explain that. Zachary: Yeah, it's just it motivates me to because like last year or last semester I took math in the morning eight o'clock. Tiffany: That's rough Zachary: But yeah, and I was always a struggle to get up sometimes I would just get up and just put my backpack on and go like there's no breakfast nothing I was just like, but it feels good to get that out of the way and then carry on with the rest of your day so that's how I look at it. Like it's the first thing I can get done in the morning or for the day. Tiffany: It does feel nice when you're like done with classes by like 2 p.m, or something. Zachary: Right? Tiffany: Yeah, you have the rest of the day. Zachary: Absolutely. Yeah, I feel like if I had like classes in the later half a day I feel like more tired and like Just not with it, but yeah. Tiffany: What about Union or HLC? Zachary: I think the Union just because like I've been to HLC. It's cool and everything in there. Um, there's a bunch of study areas in there, quiet areas study rooms but for like the union has it all here like with the different food options Starbucks just right here. There's different areas to go around here and just uh, you know sit down and study breakout session whatever.Yeah, the union's where it's at. Tiffany: Okay so um that pretty much concludes what um we're gonna talk about in our episode. Do you have anything you would like to add? Anything you would like to plug or anything? Zachary: I would just say like just like some advice for all the listeners out there no matter what you're going through whether if it's like you're trying to like go into college complete it whatever like, there are always going to be struggles, there are always going to be obstacles to endure. You know, there's a saying that "If what you go through you grow through", so you know like like I said, you know It it takes me 10 years to get where I'm at right now through the hurdles of like being incarcerated coming out of that being here being here and it's just like I don't stop no matter what, you know, so hopefully that shed some light on other people's situations what they're dealing with like, you know, nothing should stop you and that you should always like, you know find that motivation within yourself and continue what you want to do in life. Yeah Tiffany: So thank you very much for being on our podcast. Um, we appreciate you coming in and sharing your story. Um, yeah. Zachary: All right. Thank you so much!