Breaking Barriers Alumni Chat Video Transcript
Thank you so much, Katie. Alright. Alright. So it looks like it is a recording already, so that has fantastic. Oh, there I see the little red button there. So Sonia, how are you doing today? Can you hear me? Yes. And we can see Excellent. Yeah. We had a change of plan. I'm here. Yea, yea. Well, thank you so much for joining us. So for us, it's the afternoon and for Sonya over a Washington State, it's her morning, so she's just getting her day kicked off. So thank you everyone for joining us, all the students that are here as well. Fantastic turnout. And my name is Laurie and I'm with career services and Katie Davidson, who works at the Delano OCHA office, is also joining me. She's going to be monitoring the chat. So if you have any questions during our presentation today, feel free to put those in the chat. Katie will be watching out for that, as well as if you would like to ask any question, just put in the chat that you would like to ask a question so that way Katie can call on you and that way we don't have to worry about people talking over each other. I'm going to quickly introduce our two alumni and then I'm going to stop sharing the screen so that way we can all sort of see each other. So if you want to turn on your cameras, you're more than welcome to. So again, we have Sonya and Patty here today.
They're both 果冻传媒 alumni, both from 2016. And I think you both knew each other in high school as well, is that correct? Yeah, we did. We both went to test the trouble with alcohol and very cool. Good high school friends joining us across the nation literally. So let me start off with sewing. Yes, she's a chemist. So I apologize if I mispronounce any of these scientific words. You will be able to. I think I was the last time I took chemistry. Everyone, please pardon me with some of the terminology here. But Sonya is a chemist and their radio chemical analysis group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Biology and her associate of science and chemistry from U and G. In 2016, her adventure began as is it solely SU LI? Yeah, the student undergraduate laboratory internship, which yeah. Excellent. Working with working in soils in MSL In the spring of 2017, which was followed by a post bachelor's research position for the low background materials and as a group where she was involved in the work of electro plating, ultra pure copper four detectors and sample preparation for low background analysis. I have no idea what that is, but it sounds really cool. And her undergraduate research involved in gene expression and cope with those. So I put a film, a flurry of Dana, very GV. You said it very well. And bio char effects. Alright, got that one on soil and plant growth. So I apologize for those of you that are biology and chemistry folks. I probably mispronounced a lot of those words.
And Patti. Proud alumni of the University of North Georgia also 2016, she has her bachelor in business administration and management and also associates degree and bachelor or sorry, business administration. During her time at u and g, Patty was actively involved in the Latino Student Association as a member of the Executive Board and also involved in enact this. And she started her HR career as an HR assistant at HR strategies, which is a professional employer organization servicing 300s, small to medium-sized businesses in handling and processing all unemployment claims. And now patty is a resource human resource specialists for construction resources, LLC. In her current role, petty supports the entire recruitment and new hire onboarding processes. She assists Spanish-speaking employees and benefit election and performance review process and handles day-to-day employee relations and supporting managers and employees in conflict resolution and disciplinary process who are quite accomplished. And that was quite a lot there, so fantastic.
So before we get started asking and talking to sonya and Patty, I want to ask our students a few questions right before we begin. So what are some of the things that you're hoping to learn today? And you can choose multiple choice here. Details of sonya and paddies, career hurdles you may, they may have experienced how they're U and G education help them and tips for college and career success. So I'll give you just a moment that you can fill out that poll and we'll learn a little bit more about our students who are attending today. And thanks everyone who's already done the pole. So it looks like right now there's kind of a tie for, they want to know more about tips for college and career success and some of the hurdles that you've overcome. So I'll give it just another few seconds here. So folks can vote for what they're most interested in learning about today.
And I will go ahead and in the Pauline. So let me share the results. So mostly people want to know more about college and career success and kinda tied therefore details of your careers and how you overcame any kind of challenges that you may have had. And let's see. We have, okay, there we go. We got one more poll here at the beginning. So real quick. So for the students that are joining us today, you know, what are some of the barriers that you find that you're facing When achieving your goals that kind of concern you the most. What are some of the things that you're really kind of worried about? Is it finishing your degree, gaining the right experience, getting into grad school, making those professional connections in your field, and even just finding a job, especially these days, it can be a bit challenging. So how do you find a job in your field? Maybe not getting an opportunity because of your ethnicity or your gender. All those kind of biases that may be working against you or any other kind of hidden barriers. What are some of the things that you find that you're really facing today when you're trying to figure out how do you find it, find the right opportunities and all of that.
So I'll leave this pulling up for just a few more seconds. Fantastic. It looks like everyone has voted. So let me in the polling share the results. So it looks like most of you are concerned with gaining experience, which is something I know that Sonya and Patty can really speak to about. Again, you'll just even talking about their experiences on gaining the right experience so that they were able to get into their careers. So what I'm going to do is stop sharing this PowerPoint so that we all can see each other if you want to leave your cameras on, that'd be great. So what I'm gonna do, Sonya, is I'm going to turn it off, turn it over to you first. And just like with interview questions, tell us a little bit more about yourself. K. Well, hello everybody. So my first-generation college student and that with hard growing up, my parents were always pushing for school, which is great. You know, parents can push it, can pull whichever way they want. But getting there is what's hard, especially when they don't even know themselves how to get you there. So I hot, Well, first of all, I really liked school. So that wasn't the problem. The problem was money, the financial part of it. And so just don't blind to a lot of scholarships came in handy. Now that I got chosen for many. But applying gives you practice for writing, which I hate. I will say that I hate writing and I'm not the best at it. Also as a second language, English is really hard guys.
But we're, we're doing well. Let's see. I have four siblings, come from a big family. And I'm the only one so far that has pursued science. My two younger sisters, one who has finished college, she went into linguistics and the other one is going into political science. The other two are still in high school and middle school. So we'll see someone's going to come my way. I am originally from Mexico and then I move to Georgia. So my parents and my siblings are there. But you know what? You'd like to know. But that's good. That's good. Don't worry. I've got plenty of questions to pull more information out of Boethius. Don't worry about that. So how do you tell us a little bit more about yourself as well? Okay. Hi guys. I'm Patty about T-cell. So I'm originally from California.
My family moved to Georgia in 2005. So I started the most awkward stage of all, the A0 case Middle School here. Great joy. My family is originally from Mexico. It's been kissed on you and I. We didn't know each other from high school, but we do have a lot in common and for the record that know that we're gonna be doing this panel together. What I saw was super excited and now that I hear more, I don't know they knew all about information. It's like, well, we have even more uncommon. But with that being said, my family is also from Mexico. Both my parents are from God, I don't make equal. And I come from a family of four. I'm the youngest, so I am first generation too. But my second oldest sister did pursue higher education. So thankfully, I did have them to guide me with application process and do all that. But most of the supports to apply for school came from my siblings.
My parents, of course, same thing also pushed education. My dad has always told me that the one thing nobody can ever take away from you is your education. So that always stuck with me. It's the one thing you're going to work super hard for. It's really just you. And that accomplishment is you. So it's the one thing nobody can ever stripped from you because that paper has your name on it. And so that's that's a little bit about me. Okay, great, fantastic. So in Sonya, like you said, you're over in Washington State. And so can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to move all the way from Georgia, literally across the country and kind of whoa, whoa, got you. Over there. Was it an opportunity that you just happened to see posted somewhere or was it a professor? And what did you learn about that experience? About moving moving all the way out to Washington yet? So i with ending my last semester or you Angie and I was actually a pre-med student. And because I like everything like I feel like I have no set interest. So I was the butterfly or more like a honey bee. I just picked every flower that I found that interesting. And most of my undergrad was being involved in research and TA.
And so as I was hitting that last semester, I because of the research interest, I really wasn't focused and like, oh, I need to study and take the MCAT. And so I should have applied to medical school, but this point already and actually be ready so that I can start the following year. That was not me. And talking with Dr. Smith, she's a professor at the Delano campus from the Biology Department. We add some interesting life talks of what it looks like to college or just to adult or to do life. And one of the things that she told me and it really stuck with me was like, You make your own timeline. It doesn't matter what year you're in. Because a lot of the students or if you apply to any pre anything like dentist or medical school or PA or whatever, as long as you got your weaker prerequisites to get into the school or the program. You don't have to finish that degree. Obviously, they do prefer it because if it ends up not working out, you have some degree to rely on, but it's not necessary. And so that's one of the things that she told me, you know, like life, it's your own so you can do it whenever you want. So she really helped me and just feel better about the fact that I had not taken the M cats. I have not applied to medical school. She was really happy that I was having a great time doing research, not just with her but with Dr. Huang. And so I just stopped worrying about it. And I just, you know, whatever time it came, that's when I was going to do it. And so two of my friends, our graduating with me from also biology, I think one was pre-vet and the other one just was General. They were they found they came across the Soo Lee site.
So it's under the DOE. And I can send you links if you, if any of the students want them for that internship. But The student undergraduate, laboratory internship or whatever. I shouldn't say whatever. It was really, really important that I came across or they told me to apply. I mean, again, you don't lose anything. I mean, just done now, but you gotta get practice with writing and everything else. So I ended up stuff from that internship you can apply to any of the, I think there are 16 national labs in the country.
And then it asks you what you're interested in. So it doesn't even have to be biology. Not that I was interested in biology. I was just kinda going for what? I was interested in the research which I had done soil and the gene expression. But my point is I was like maybe something similar. I don't know, maybe something a little different. So they have a bunch of different topics. And you just picked your top three. And let me ask you write like mini essays and they really like 2-3 paragraphs, nothing major, which was great. And it's just explaining why you want or why you've chosen those interests and what can you bring to the table? What made it even better with that? Like you don't even have to have a degree or the experience or the skills in what you've chosen, you can come in with nothing. And as long as you're willing to learn, as long as your versatile thing is you're taking the initiative. They pretty much take the student because off I probably shouldn't say this, but you're free labor because you are paid by the government, not by the lab that hires. You.
Say it's a paid internship two, so you get a stipend and then make sure some of them are, some of the labs are really good at making sure that you get housing either through their laboratory so they can put you in a hotel or they may have a guest house or whatever. But some don't, but they delegate. You can connect it so that you can get housing for whatever you decide to do. Spring semester, they divided intellects mid-semester, winter, which is the fall, and then summer. So whatever tight time of the year you want to do you can. So it turns out that the three of us applying the same labs. So you get two choices of lab's first choice, second choice. So we want to apply that to Los Alamos, New Mexico, who wouldn't like it? Had never been anywhere else other than when I was in the orientation team and we got to travel to the conference this but I was like, that's like so we ended up choosing Los Alamos and European I know in Washington while they got chosen to Los Alamos and I got over here, we got separate sites, but that's how it started. When I was applying, I told my parents that if I got chosen, I would go. And that was one of the hardest things because I had never left the house like with Mexican parents or I guess many similar has spent occurs. You don't leave the house for a girl until you get married. So that Alice a big blow to my dad. But in the end they were very supportive.
And I think it was mostly because it was just a one term thing. And suddenly you're allowed to terms by the way. So I was coming for the spring semester sits and 16 week program by that point. And so I was just supposed to be here for 16 weeks, but I guess I did so well in my PI. Principal investigator the research that I was working under, she offered me a second one. So once you're in the system, if the scientists just really wants to keep working with you, they'll kind of tag you and then you just reapply and then you don't have to go through a second interview or anything. You're just like rolling over here. Yay. Granted, you can apply it. So again, any other the same application, like second time around, you can apply to any other lab. You can have plight and change your topics so you don't have to stay with the same science, but you're under and that probably would have been more fun. I don't regret it, but, you know, can experience more. So that's how I got here for longer. And then when you're I guess when you're being mentored and made sure that you have clear conversations. And I guess just because you're free labor like that doesn't mean that you have to be misguided or lied to.
That's something that was really hard for me because what happens? And so I just kinda like, you know, like chugged along and I ended up deciding to apply to other jobs other than the one with the scientists and was working under. So I ended up hired as a post back. That's when I got hired. And thus when I called my parents and I told them that I got the job and then I was coming back. I didn't go back though for like a week to get a lot of my textbooks and stuff, but I ended up here and that's when I started to electroplating of copper, which I knew nothing about.
Oh, it's very I don't know. So when interviewing, I didn't actually interview many times in undergrad. I had been like when I was at phi and an orientation leader. And so I was not very good with interviewing. And so for me, this is how I act and interviews even then. Like I'm just like, this is this is what you get. And keep different to one some hired. So I when I was hired, our announcement you're interviewing for that position? I would straight up. I'm like, I don't know anything about electric chemistry. As you can see on my resume, the classes that I've taken, chemistry related. You can see the research that I've done so far, the conferences that I've been to, but I don't know I don't know how to do this. And they were very nice and just very optimistic on like, oh, it's going to be okay, like we're going to teach you everything. We're going to show you that there's not going to be no downtime. I like coming you really excited because I was like so excited that I was going to learn new things. And it was going to be with a different group and a whole different environment. And so that happened. And after two years and three months and through some networking, which is also something that I don't really like.
But it's very necessary. I was hired as a chemist, which on a staff now at the lab. So I can get fire now. I'm kidding. I can't get to. But it's just really hard to get rid of a staff at this point. You just have to really mess up who would want to. And like I said, I was pre-med. So obviously that's not happening. But I did try it out. I was working while I was a post back, made my life Herder. I had another job, hop Hospital and was the scribe in the ER. And I soon found out thoughts dealing with little amounts of blood. It's not the same as leading with or dealing with cautious and fountains of blood cells along? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Almost hostile guy like humming, like going there and being helpful to the doctor, I became a liability AS this is not for me. I know we have different conversations now about like, should I really give it up? Like, I mean, It's just a spline and you don't have to deal with blood every day. But like the bathroom lady of dealing with blood every day happens. Alright. So one of the conversations I had with one of the partners that I was working under, was that again, H is irrelevant because one of them went in when he was 45. And so like, you know, four years than then your residency and then you're officially like a doctor. Dr. And so he just made me feel really good about like the life choices I was making and just kinda like, I guess three I'm starting. My life choices were fine to make and that's telling us I was happy about them. Every everything was fine and like no one else should care about the choices that you make as long as you're happy. So how I got back home? Yes. But only for like a week or two at a time.
And that's not because I don't Mr. Joe and my parents felt like, I don't know, have daddy issues guys. Like family problems here. Yeah. And so I try to not deal with them if I don't have to. And my dad is a very old fashioned Hispanic male. And so trying to change his ways into the culture that I was brought up in. Not just the Mexican, but like the American one. It's just really hard. And I write I spoke to I just want happy moments as many as I can get, so I'm not going to touch my way and I don't have to. And that's a really good segue into Patty. I wanted to ask you kind of a similar question, you know, how is it that you decided on your career? Was HR something that you always wanting to get into or did you just kinda find yourself fallen into it a little bit like how sun you just kind of landed in hers just by circumstance. How did you get your start? An HR? Yeah, mine is definitely fell into it. I think there's a lot of pressure that goes into figuring out what you want to do. So you're in school, right?
And then while you're in high school first and then you come out and they're like, alright, decide what you're gonna do for the rest of your life. You know, no pressure. But you go in and you're like, I don't know. I know some things that I work. I know what I don't like to do, but I don't have enough experience to even make that decision yet. Right. You take your core classes. So my interests for, I guess oh, she's general business started in high school.
I took a couple of business classes and I found that I like the structure of it. I like the logistics organization of it. Because before that I thought I wanted to be a teacher. So I did take the Early Childhood Education clauses to. I did an internship where for one of my classes in high school, I'd go down to the local elementary school. And that's when I learned that I adore kids, but I couldn't see myself fresh out of college doing that every day. I want to continue to like children, so I'm not gonna go da background. It's like maybe down the line, decided that it's something that I want to do, but for the time being, not going to go down that route. So going back to the business classes, that's kinda where it sparked my interest. So I was like, okay, well, I'll study business. And then so I started taking some of the classes. The general ones once I got into my exit was a threethousand level classes for like the associate's just that beginning part of ij accounting as one of them.
So that kind of peaked my interest there too. I had a little bit of a do I like County. And then my professor was quick to call me out in the world of class and say, well, for example, like Patty, she's very good at accounting, but she does it tested very well. It looks like maybe a Catholics Dr. Jones VIII, was it like alcohol but I was like, okay, well, another awakening maybe that's not for me either. But so throughout college, like Laurie was say now a super involved in school. So I pretty much lived there. I was involved in LSA. I was involved in enact is I worked at student involvement. So if I wasn't in class, I would have enough MSA office working on something where I was at work at suited involvement. So with all of that and I held positions as treasure and Vice President will LSA. I was always the go-to person for the policies. I wanted to know all the policies and this is going to sound bad, but I'd like to know them so I know how to go around them. What are the exceptions to the rules? What can we get away with it? What can we not let's stay within those boundaries but get away with it too.
So I was like, okay, well, maybe if I like policies and all that, I might like HR. But that spark didn't happen until like end of junior year, beginning of senior year. So again, no pressure if you don't know who you want to do yet. I mean, some people graduate and are related. So after worried or just fine, going along with start with what Sonia said. There's not really a timeline for all that. It's going to be different for some of us. Some of us start college and know exactly what you want to do and that's awesome. Like you could get started sooner. But for some of us, Slater, amorphous. So but with that being said, the MSA office was hosting a success series, so they had a bunch of different speakers. I would come in from different backgrounds. And so I attended one of them were Roger throughout. I was the speaker. And so he was speaking about how to be what you do in school so that you could be successful when you graduate. And so although like, oh yeah, I got this like so much community surveys, so much involvement like I got it. Right. Your graduation. And so I went and I'm listening and he's like, Are you need briefings, community service, international experience, and an internship and all. What makes a year. And I got one of the three, the community service.
So I quickly realized that I guess I was not as ready as I thought it was going to be. So soon after that I looked at a study abroad program. So the shortest one within my field was the London experience. So I signed up for that. I was like, okay, check. And then so with that, I saw Roger at another event. It was the Spanish-speaking debate. And so I wasn't a part of coordinating down, but I did go ahead and I saw him there. So I went up to him and I was like, hey, I just want to thank you for your speech. Like I thought I was ready and it was a big, you know, slap in the face and I was not as ready to v. So with that, I guess he was impressed by it and he's like, oh, like So what are your interests?
And other times it will business, have a little bit of an interest in HR and we'll say, well, shoot me your resume. I was like, oh, okay, cool. So I send the resume and turns out his best friend and he was working for the company to but as sales, she was a director of HR there and they were looking for an intern. And so one thing led to another, and I got lucky because so it was supposed to be an internship. And the person who was in the full-time position actually had resides within, you know, like a few weeks. The internship turned into a full-time opportunity and start with senior year. I was working full-time and going to school full time. So that was interesting and try to find a balance there, but that's all I'm doing in a term. That is fantastic. It sounds like both of you, both Sonya and Patty, you've had some great mentors in your life and people who live in for both of you. It was just kind of let me just take a chance. You weren't really quite sure what you're getting yourself into.
And you weren't sure where you were going to land and where it was going to take you. But whether you just said, you know what, let me just try this. And, you know, I think that is a really fantastic thing for everyone to hear. Especially, you know, I really like that. You were going to things on campus and in reaching out to people and asking for help and speaking with professors and just kinda learning these life lessons along the way. So in because you've had all these great support systems, what would you say were some of the challenges that you had to overcome, whether it was in high school or getting into college or being in college. And you've kind of referred to that a little bit in terms of not sure what you wanted to do and having a very demanding schedule. Did you ever Sonya you had mentioned like he had, you know, so some struggle sometimes even within family having to leave and things like that. So Sonia, I'll start with you. What were some of the struggles and challenges that you've had to overcome to get you to where you are. Some of the, maybe the folks who didn't quite believe in you or didn't support you as much as they probably should have. So I guess I guess what the support or like not believing. As I feel like as a teacher, you should, you should believe in all of your students. And I did come across one teacher. But just the first time he met me with my dad, I was I was taking honors and AP classes and he was going to be my honors human anatomy teacher. And again, like I had, I had always liked the sciences and so that was one of the classes I was really excited about.
And when he met me, sometimes the accent comes out, but you just can't help it. And he noticed that and he right up front told me maybe you should consider taking the normal one. The mean. It's the normal the normal human anatomy. And I just slight translated to my dad and he looked I can never say never seemed like look on him like disbelief, kinda like, i mean, you he was holding my schedule. He could see all the classes that I was taking him for him to say that like, I just took a personal I probably shouldn't have I don't know. It was just that moment and I was like, I'm going to stick it to him. Like I'm going to show him that I could do it. I stuck with the class and I ended up taking, Well, I did so well that he recommended me for his AP Bio class and then took that class and then I scored high on the AP exam. Superpower to myself. The points that I also join taste like science team for. It wasn't like academic team, but it was like a science of it. And so we competed and like he just kind of claim the assets as his child through not let's just really happy that I am an American Dad. Dot pointed out just like you have that one person that thinks that you can do it and then all of a sudden you like do it. And then he's like, really proud of you. So that was one that even up to this point, we still talk his birthday is coming up. If I don't message him on his birthday, Like he'll message maybe like, Hey, what are you doing?
Congratulated. It's up to that point. And so our swine and then just in in college, even though I did struggle with some classes because I'm just not good at repairing. There was one class where this was also science, genetics. And I took it with this professor that was all about math, genetic suits like the mass of genetics. And I really struggled with the class, but I would go to his office hours all the time. Like sometimes he wouldn't even have office hours and I would like be barging into his because I needed help. And we just got to the point where we didn't know what else we could do to get me to do well in the class by the add tweak up. But so at the end our goal was to just pass the class. Granted, it was upsetting, but at the same time, like it was really nice to have his support even at that point where it was like we're just kind of trying to get you to get pass the class. Maybe like you can retake it later on, which I did. But with a different professor, Not much related. But it was just like those struggles are there. But just yeah, I guess it's just like perseverance. Don't give up. And it's hard for everybody. It's just your struggles are different than other people? I think that answers the question. Oh, yeah, no, that's perfect. That's perfect. I mean, in that I mean, that is a real shame that when you're a teacher in high school, just kinda really was trying to blow you off almost. Now is I just don't even bother and you're like, oh yeah, let me show you. Oh, I'm glad you were able to do that.
And Patty, what were some of the challenges you've had to overcome? Just trying to get through high school, get through college, and and just kind of make your way through your career? Yeah. I think for me it was more of finding a balance at that very thing. Because I think if you're like me, I like to be an over achiever. I like to make sure everybody's okay. And within that sometimes I lose myself. So especially those years were my schedule was I would literally create an Excel spreadsheet in 30 minute increments. And my day was labeled out minute by minute. So finding a balance between a and I worked when I was in school too. So whether I had a couple part-time jobs or my senior year working full-time hours. Finding that balance between making sure the grades or making sure assignments are being met, fulfilling my duties in my positions. I try and make a couple books in the making. And also finding time for family because white sonya.
Next again, so family is a big thing for us and I'm sure that's not only for his day cultures, but a lot of that. I mean, it's a big thing, you know. So finding that time where I could still dedicate quality time with the people that I care for. Because at the same time, you need that time to feel yourself so that you can continue going with the rest of the chaos. So a little bit of finding that balance within there. But then I think also, I don't know about you Sonja. But after I graduated, it was like a whole new balance that I had to find because I was like, I'm so busy all the time. I have this, this a mad. And once you graduate, they're like, okay, well here's your your big girl job. Yogi made it did once you started you like, what else would I do? So finding that balance again, but I guess my advice to you is that it, it does take time. It's true. One thing saying sometimes that with time you kind of figure it out, you find you routines for yourself. You prioritized things differently. And so you'll learn that as it goes and it's one of those things that you have to lift through to actually figure it out. So definitely take advice as you hear it. But it's something like you have to live out and figure out for yourself and prioritize what's important to you so that you can fill the rest of your duties. Fantastic.
For, for I'll let I'll let you guys toss up who wants to answer this one next? But how do you feel that your time at u and g helped prepare you for what came after graduation all that time leading up to what were some of the things you experienced, that whether it was your classes or campus involvement or whatever the case may be, that you feel really helped prepare you for the next step? I could take it works. I mean, yeah. Okay. So I think for me the biggest thing was being involved because you do learn obviously a lot of things when you're in class, obviously that's where you go to school. But a lot of the soft skills you're honestly going to learn outside of the classroom. There's not, there is time for speaking within the classroom and talking to different people making those connections.
But I guess some of the ones that you're going to carry out without you are going to be outside of the classroom. So I know my first year, so my schedule was perfect. It was eight to 12, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So it was like, awesome. I get to go to class and I leave. Like that's it. I don't want to be any longer. But I did start to kind of get involved. I'd say after the meeting for Elysees 30, that's waltz of although we won't give it a shot, it's only on Wednesdays I could do that. So building those soft skills and connections and I know this is a crossroad, but I don't think I've met a person that just says I absolutely more networking. My extend me to all the networking events, you know. So but it's something that really stuck with me and that I've actually used even after I graduated. So of course, the soft skills, you know, you're going to have those conversations with the people, the networking. But Roger, when I heard his speech, he mentioned something that I hadn't heard of before, which is called net weaving. That's what he referred to refer to it as. And it's so say Sonya needs a contact, right?
The networking would be between me and Sonya. Say Sonya needs somebody but I'm not that person, but I know somebody. So I can add them. There's absolutely no benefit for me in it. But Song is going to get back connection. So it, I mean, it's really useful. So EBIT as you're meeting these people throughout school, you might not need them, but somebody that's important to you might need them and in that you're helping them out. So I think then that we think is a really big thing that I had weren't. Fantastic. And how about you, Sonya? I'm going to agree to everything about publishers with their ditto. Ditto. Yeah, so I think they like a good show. I just, again, like being at home and just growing up and wanting to experience the freedom. I try to be in school as much as I could. And my parents. That was ok. But because it's school, anything you do on a school campus, it's fine. It's related to school. So just like I said, like any any activity that I could find interesting, I would join. I was in the lasso, which is say part. It's also was involved with dot. I did become an orientation leader. I was a TA, I was MSI and I was involved in. Student activities, not the boy, but I was now the activity one. I can't even remember now. It's not always entertainment. Yeah. So I was the movie committee because I liked movies a lot, so I was into the movie planning and like I enjoyed being stationed in the popcorn, making popcorn and drink because that's when I would see familiar faces that I would not interact within any other time. So yeah, just like participles soft feels like work on those because I have some co-workers that are tedious.
You're like, I've sworn in your brain, but there's it's just really hard for them too. I talked with you. And it's not that they can't obviously, they can talk. They just talk smart or or or just not at all. Sometimes. Yeah. And it's just it's just really hard to get them to open up and to the level where you can actually communicate and not just about work. So when I got hired into the postdoc decision, one of my tasks was to open up the group and to make sure that they would hang out hang out at least once a month. I did that. I would give them a really butter flippers that I'd like. Also because I need human interaction. A guy can be alone for as long as I want or for as long as I need to. But at some point I need some human interaction. And that was this because not having my family close by having to live on my own, it just really hard. Even might want that freedom, so that's on me. But again, those soft skills are amazing. I never networking is really scary because you're just throwing yourself out there. You're wanting to sell yourself and sometimes you're not comfortable with that. I'm not comfortable with that.
So I just tried to make friends the other way and hopefully it becomes a professional network that might help me where I can be helpful sometime in the near future. But other than that, yeah, Patty, you rule pretty awful fault. Yeah. Yeah. They're both awesome. I'm so glad you guys are able to come today and I can't believe we're already getting close to the end of the hour. I mean, I could listen to the both of you for like the rest of the day, but I know you do have other things to do.
So let me just ask you one more question before we go. So what advice do you have for your fellow nighthawks? Something that maybe when you were in college, you wish you knew that you now know, or some kind of, you know, words of encouragement, which I know we've heard a lot of already today. But anything else that you would want to pass on to the folks that are kind of in similar shoes that what you were just only four years ago? My gosh. Well, technically you live on less than four years ago. I don't time flies, doesn't it? But what kind of advice would you have for your fellow nine hawks on anything that you wish you knew back then, you knew that, you know, now, you're definitely not alone. I know it feels that way because it's like all on your shoulders like your, the one go into cluster, the one who needs to graduate driven ones, who needs a job, you're the one who probably your farm, your family will be relying on us an extra support financially, or like your siblings. But you're not alone like all the professors that you've had. Some of them, I'm pretty sure one of them, you at least have a favorite that you talk with them. I like about life. Select hit, bought up. By hitting it. I mean, like, you know, talk to them and tell them where you're at because they've gone through it as well.
So like find support in that in a little relief that whatever timeline again, whatever tunneling you're in, it's yours and nobody else is. So don't worry about needing to get there fast. But also take whatever route or like from anything that comes out, you take whatever you're interested in and don't go for what the society is telling you to do. Because in the end, you're looking for like what makes you happy and not I mean, not just bringing in money. I know that my niece importance and thus because like my parents, well, one of them tells me how important it is to bring money. But like if you're bringing money and you're not happy, like what's it? Like it's worthless because of what I'm going for and I pay all your friends, talk to your friends, make friends. Friends are important. You need again, internships, applied Tasmania can being rejected. It's not like you're not good enough. It's just like you're not what they need, but you're good enough for many, many other things. So do that.
Fantastic. Kappa you paddy. Yeah, I think that was a good one because again, it can become very overwhelming. But when you have that support system and the funny thing is, even when you think you don't inhabit supports is some little do you know there's probably somebody at u and g, a faculty or staff, you know, that has your back. So there's so many resources there that I think a lot of students don't utilize. I'm going to give you guys a shout out. Like if you guys have can go to the mock interviews, I'm telling you. I can't tell you how many people have walked it. Don't even shake a hand properly. Give me the Lucy brutal handshake, like along. Picking up on those skills. And if I could give you guys some advice, you know, once you raise, graduate and everything is also don't be afraid to negotiate like a I don't know. That's something that came up recently with my sister where she has a new job opportunity. So I was pushing her. She's my oldest sister, but I was kinda pushing her in this in this situation. But a lot of the times freshly out of school, you you think like, oh, I'll take anything like o, which you do have to start somewhere. But at the same time, once you start to gain that experience, you can even negotiate the PTO.
So I think a lot of people don't know that a lot of businesses will negotiate that with you. If you want to shoot for a higher dollar, try it. The worst they're going to say is No or they're going to counter offer. And even when a counteroffer and you're getting a little more money, so don't be afraid to put yourself out there. And the worst thing that can happen is somebody will say no. Fantastic, fantastic. We can have you come and speak at some of our workshops, hiring and processing all these people as fantastic. So before we close out today, first, I want to give our students a chance. If anyone on on the chat today has any questions for Sonya or paddy. Again, you can either put those in the chat or you're welcome to write in the chat that you have a question and then Katie can call on you. So give you a moment to do that.
High precedent, Kyle Kyle, cow with a president, third one-year of lawfare. When I was 15. My favorite fellow students. But I think I figured that I was VP but in Gainesville because yeah. It's really a minute. Many family reunion here basically. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Well, OK. Are there any questions now that didn't sapphire? Okay. Well, what I'll do is I'll go ahead and launch our last two poles. So that way you can give us some, a little bit more feedback. So I'm going to launch one pole here were let us know. You. Did you learn something new about careers in did you gain some new insight to achieve your career goals? So we've got two questions there and then I'll have one more little poll after this. So just give us some feedback on what you've learned. And I'll keep that open for just a couple more seconds there. So what major are or you got the stood in for all of you to know the students?
Like me. But yeah. For the students, yeah. If anyone wants to put in the chat what their major is, or if you just want to speak out, you've got one person respond it Nicole responded, biology, pretty awesome that you have another biology present and they have responded biology, pray, pharmacy, biology, molecular biology, poly psy, maybe thinking about changing something to Business. Biology, Pre PA biology. These are all my friends guys. Cuba. Granted. They like, okay, again, all of my friends, I think there were only one or two and all of the ones that I interacted with who actually went with like I'm going to take them come my junior year and then I'm going to apply it and then I'm going to get into it. Because everybody else, granted, some of us are really about test taking. And so it takes more than one time taking them cat. But a lot of my close friends that were pre PMA, pre PA or whatever, they ended up taking their entry exams until after they graduated. And they did a lot of being a scribe, which I mean, aside from getting to meet great doctors. So networking and nurses as well, not just the doctors and nurses. You're getting paid. So you're building, you know, little safe. For later.
You get a little bit of the experience of what you're supposed to see later on if you decide for, I guess describing it's mostly in the ER every now and then you'll go to a clinic. But you get to see a little bit of what you'll be exposed to. Er is the right area for you. And if not, then you know that you have many other options. But again, like don't put so much stress on yourself off like stick into a timeline that everybody else wants you to follow, like take your time and they'll just be really proud of yourselves because being pre anything, it's just really hard and, you know, it's amazing that you're willing to put yourself through that path. And later are going to be there for those puppies or elephants or horses or whatever. And the theme for humans and for the pharmacists getting those drugs out there you needed. But yeah, so just be really proud of yourself. Fantastic. That is actually the perfect segue into our last poll. I mean, it's perfect. Like you've got it. Great. You don't even know what the questions are and you can already to segue right into them perfectly. So after this chat, how motivated are you for pursuing your career goals? One being where you're not very motivated, five, being very motivated. And then the second question, I'm interested in connecting further with 果冻传媒, alumni via and of course, all the different options that LinkedIn, email and alumni association, more chats and so forth. And then if anyone wants to connect directly with Sonya or patty, you're welcome to let me know. I'm going to put you guys on the spot. You guys don't mind if I were to connect you with. Okay. I didn't think you would be, but I just wanted to be, of course, a footnote live on the spot. But Katie, if you wouldn't mind putting my email address in the chat. So if anyone does want to continue their conversation and connects with Sonia, Patty after to get some more of those insider tidbits of what's it like after you graduate, what's it like in your career?
How did you get there? Or even as Patty had mentioned about, maybe they don't know the person or they're not the right person, but they know someone who knows someone. Which is also what is so great about LinkedIn, which I know that they're on LinkedIn as well.
So that's a great way to connect professionally to make those kind of connections in your field. So thank you so much everyone. It looks like you are all quite motivated in even willing to connect with others. So that is fantastic. So thank you again, Sonya and Patty for joining us today. I know you both are extremely busy petty you were mentioning how you're going to be doing a lot of hiring C plus you've got open-enrollment benefits. We know what that's like. We've gone on at you and G right now. So I know that will keep you very busy for the next couple of weeks. Maybe you finally get to enjoy a couple month by open-enrollment. Laugh a little bit.
Since they got out of it as well. Make the days go by fast. That's pre-tax pressure. Yeah. Thank you both for joining us. I really, really do appreciate it and thinking to our students who joined us today, it was fantastic to have such a good turnout. And it was great to see everyone and lays out with little family reunion here with some UN GLM. So fantastic. I wish you all the very best. Take good care of yourself and thank you again and have a wonderful day.