Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Hello, friends, loyal listeners and bears everywhere. Welcome to the sound barrier, Northeast State Community College's official podcast. We're coming at you today from the entertainment technology studio here in the technical education complex on the Blountville campus. The entertainment technology staff doing a great job recording this episode as they do so many episodes for. For us as usual. My name is Tom Wilson. I'm your co host today along with my fellow co host, Mackenzie Moore. Gent. It's almost a season for because of you here at Northeast State, the because of you campaign to benefit scholarships and students. And we have with us today Mr. Josh Johnson, who works in the Northeast state foundation office.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Yep, absolutely. And oversee alumni donor relations as well. Thank you, Tom, for allowing me to be here. Mac and Jordy as well. This is the first time I've been in this studio. It's. It's an awesome space.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Wow, I didn't know this was your first time. Welcome.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: The building is fantastic. I mean, I gave tours in this building when we were doing some fundraising and walking donors and community members through here, and it just blows my mind to see it finished.
[00:01:10] Speaker C: Wow. Okay. You're just such a dynamic person. I would have like, envisioned you'd been here already and talked already on a previous podcast. Just. Okay, well, I'm glad just to drag you in today to talk because of you you campaign. Thank you, guys. Gosh. Because of you campaign is going to be jam packed with events.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: So October 20th through October 31st. It was originally the first, and I think I kept putting that out there. And then we realized it's a Saturday and I don't want to come to work on Saturday. So October 20th through the 31st.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: Sweet. And you know, for those who might be unfamiliar with because of you at Northeast State, what does that entail? What is because of you campaign?
[00:01:47] Speaker B: So the because you campaign started in 2011 in really what it is is it's a fundraising campaign focused on support of student scholarships and programs. And. And it's a whole lot of fun. You guys know there's a lot of activities going on. We're going to have a jam packed. It's not just two weeks. It used to just be two weeks. And now we kind of open the floodgates with the golf tournament and then Daryl Scott's coming. The. The electrifying trio. That's going to be fantastic. So really, it's going to be like the whole month of October, especially with door decorating. We want to get that started. People are getting antsy now, so.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: Oh, sweet. Yep. And it's about that time of year too. And trick or treating on campus too, a lot.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Yes, that's a big event for us. I think we've done great our our student life areas, partnering with in student development, partnering with Westridge High School on their trick or treating. So we're going to have trick or treating on October 30th from 5:37 for the community and then they can go ahead and jump right over to Westridge. So by the time the kids leave here, they're pack with sugar, take them home. They're not going to bed. So it's going to be a late night.
[00:02:51] Speaker C: We've kind of already started jumping into some of the events that because of you campaign entails this year. Let's really dive into all these different events, all these different campaigns and the groups that are spearheading these campaigns. What does that look like and what's just what has the team and community work been like so far leading up to this campaign?
[00:03:11] Speaker B: It's been huge. I think last year really changed the game for us. When you think about the golf tournament and how big that was, that was hugely successful. Not only did we have the best weather possible, I think it was 72 degrees that day, bright sunny day, great for golf. We had more than 100 participants playing that tournament, 25 to 30 sponsors a great deal of support from the community on that campaign as well and raised a lot of money, more than $20,000 raised for the golf tournament. So I think that opened us up. The Kingsport Academic Village did a wonderful job with that part with Workforce Solutions as well. Workforce Solutions this year is partnering with Daryl Scott electrifying trio to bring them here. There's going to be a lot of events, food trucks and other things tied to that one. So that kicks off October 15th for the golf tournament, the 17th for Daryl Scott and then we're going to roll right into the kickoff because you we're not going to stop until probably October 31st.
[00:04:08] Speaker C: Awesome.
Awesome.
So exciting. And I'm actually I have the because of you campaign webpage on northeastate Edu pulled up right now just to check out some dates and some times and you had already mentioned the golf tournament October 15th shotgun start 1pm we still have sponsorship opportunities for that. We have partnered with just numerous community organizations and businesses and we're so thankful for their partnership and just allowing us to put on this event and just it really just drives home that community aspect of Northeast State too. We have so many connections in community beyond our campuses. We have them out throughout The Tri Cities or Appalachian Highlands just in this general area. So it's really great just to see what can come from those partnerships and from that community, that larger community beyond campus.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Absolutely. Our reach has been broad and we'd like to thank also our foundation board members for their involvement and those connections that they make. They help bring those community partners. Partners to campus and, and help drive the giving.
I mean, Darrell Scott, we've got Citizens Bank, BCS Wealth Management, Snap on for the golf tournament. Marcus Garza's law firm, Wallace, Nissan and Kingsport, they're sponsoring a hole in one. I think we're gonna try and give away a car if somebody can hit a hole in one. So, Tom, tee it up. That'd be great.
But that's really exciting stuff. I mean, that without that support, we wouldn't be successful. And that funds into scholarships and student programs, I mean, it's just massive for us.
[00:05:41] Speaker C: Definitely. And the Daryl Scott concert, that's going to be big on campus. That's October 17th. So that same week as the golf tournament will be on a Wednesday.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: Yep. Friday we've got Daryl Scott rolling right, right in here.
But we've got a lot going on. Partnering with Tennessee Hills, that's another local business, big one here. They've got a nice new facility, the Brustillery they have up there near the Pinnacle. It's fantastic.
It's great to have these partners here and supporting a community college. They've got a lot of options around here, let's be honest. There's a lot of colleges, there's universities around here and, and to speak to kind of that. What, how it becomes tough for the giving. We've got to compete with all of those. And we're a small community here, not just community college, but the Tri Cities in general. So it can be difficult at times. When it's tough times out there in the economy, it's tough times for us. We're just doing what we can to support students.
[00:06:33] Speaker C: Exactly. And that's. That's what it all comes down to is that student support and getting them to where they want to be. And Daryl Scott, I mean, maybe you've not heard of him, but he has written songs recorded by huge stars. Beyonce, the Chicks, Faith Hill, Brad Paisley.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson. Yeah, the list goes on. Yeah, absolutely. So if you haven't heard his music, check it out. You can go to YouTube, you can listen to previews. We'll probably have some stuff upcoming here on social media, but it's going to be a great concert. So if you haven't got your tickets yet, you can do that. Go to the website Northeast State Edu because of you or B, O, Y, C and get those tickets.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Definitely you can, you can sign up for the golf tournament at that website also, can you not absolutely. Play golf?
[00:07:17] Speaker B: Yep. You want to play golf, sign up, register your team. If you want to donate. If you're. If you're a local business industry leader and you want to go ahead and give to the campaign. We do still need sponsors for both Daryl Scott and the golf tournament. Just go ahead and reach out to us. You can call or email me. You can, you can also go to the Northeast State webpage, northeastate Edu boyc and then just click more info.
[00:07:38] Speaker C: I know the golf tournament last year, that was the first annual one and it was massive. Yes. Great opportunity for sponsorships, getting your business out there and you know, networking, meeting other business owners, meeting other people and organizations in our community.
Great networking opportunities, advertising opportunities. But also when it all comes down to it, just a few fun day.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. And as far as sponsorship goes, they've got sponsorships of all levels. We do as well for Daryl Scott. You can sponsor a hole. You can also do the beverage cart, you can do signage, you can also do giveaways. If you want to give away items and promote your business, you can do that too. Add into our door prices for the golf tournament, that'd be fantastic. Come out for the food trucks that we're going to have for Daryl Scott and then hang out for the concert. It's just going to be a lot of events over 3, 4 weeks time and we're gonna have a lot of fun.
[00:08:32] Speaker C: Oh yeah. And we kind of already drove it back to campus with the Daryl Skull concert. But can we talk a little bit more about what specific groups, what campaigns they're spearheading?
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Absolutely. So we've got Bear box is a big one for us. It has been for years. So you're gonna have giveaway baskets that we'll have for donation. Well, they're also going to do coffee sale. We'll have a bake sale involved. They're going to do a big plant sale this year, which we haven't done before.
So they've been taking buds of plants and growing them throughout the summer and then we're sell those house plants as part of their fundraiser. That's going to be a cool event. We've never done that before. We've got tie dye, you can come tie dye T shirt. You can buy Northeast State T shirts that We've had done, which we try to do every year for because of you. We also have a really big attic sale, rummage sale that we do through the Northeast State Scholars foundation. And that's been a pretty big fundraiser for us over the years. On average, we're probably raising almost $6,000 every single year. And that goes right back to student scholarships like the student needs program and for scholarships that have been underfunded. So that's a big, big help. I mean just so many different things that we're going to have going on on campus. Hot dog sales, pet look alike contest and door decorating, chili cook off. Wow.
[00:09:44] Speaker C: There's so much donations for denim too.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: Donations for denim, absolutely. Our staff, I don't know what it is, but they love to wear their jeans. So we've got donations for denim. $5 will allow you to wear your denim the first Thursday of every month going throughout the year. So that's just a nominal amount, let you take part, support student scholarships and wear your jeans.
[00:10:04] Speaker C: Oh, and I'm just scrolling here on the webpage still just so many events. I'm on the Bearbucks team. Paint party.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: Paint party, absolutely. Our own Miranda Herbert over in the business office, she's an outstanding artist. She supports a paint party every year. So we get about 20 people participate. Everybody do kind of a step by step do a painting. Those came out really good last year if you haven't seen them around campus. We had bears and we had cats. You could take your pick. This picture is going to be pretty cool. We'll have that posted on the website as well.
[00:10:33] Speaker C: Sweet. Anyone's an artist, find the artist in.
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Yourself one way or another. Absolutely.
[00:10:40] Speaker C: Let's talk license plates. What's going on with that? What does that.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: Exciting. So our Northeast State specialty license plate campaign.
So we learned a couple years ago, I have this downtime over Christmas. We're off for a couple of weeks and my brain starts, just starts going, start thinking about things like doing a children's library.
[00:10:58] Speaker C: Never actually downtown with you.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: It's never downtime. My brain doesn't stop.
But I was sitting here thinking about all these license plates that you see on the road, especially license plates, and how do those come about. And ETSU's got a couple UT's got theirs. You can support local veterans organizations, the VFW.
And I thought why doesn't Northeast State have one? And then after doing some research, I realized there's not a community college in the state of Tennessee that has one. But then I also found out that Some of that funding goes back to the college or university.
If you were a 501C3, if you're a non profit organization, that money comes back to you. So I thought, well, how do we go about doing this? And with the president's blessing, we went and requested from the state to do a Northeast State specialty license plate. So you can order yours now. You can go to the Northeast State website and just type in license plate if you want to or Northeast State euplate I think it is and you can order your own. That's a free pre order. So the Northeast State foundation and the college has agreed to pay that 35,000 doll dollar pre order fee.
So if we get to 1000 pre orders which we're working hundreds in right now, we're going to go ahead and get our plate on the road and about 17, 18 of that registration fee goes right back to the college and every penny of that is going to a student scholarship.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: So they're not just paying for the plate, they're they're helping fund student scholarships.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Absolutely. So you ask how to get involved. That's a simple way.
Put our plate on your car. You're supporting Northeast State and student scholarship at the same time.
[00:12:29] Speaker C: And again, that is Northeast State edu plate plate. So they'll only have to pay the $35. We've already covered the $35 for the.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: So basically that's a pre order to get the plate into production. So after we get to our 1000 pre orders there'll be some road testing for probably 2 months or so with TDOT we'll do that and then they'll let us know, hey, your plate is at your local county clerk's office. You can come and pick it up. And then every time they re register with that plate, 17 to $18 on that on average is going to come right back to the school for scholarships.
[00:13:03] Speaker C: Amazing. And thank you so much to the donors who covered that additional, that first 35,000 just to you know.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: Yeah, we really appreciate that. This, this, the school has been enormously supportive in this whole initiative and we've seen so many, I mean hundreds of pre orders already from our faculty, staff and current students. That's the funny part. I'll get order and I'll look up the name and I'm like, I don't know that staff member. It's not a staff member, it's a student.
[00:13:29] Speaker C: Interesting.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: So you're a brand new student and you're already providing that kind of support. That's what we want to see we want to maintain that connection, especially for me. I work in alumni.
[00:13:39] Speaker C: So Northeast State pride on your ride.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: Yeah, there you go. Yes, there you go.
[00:13:45] Speaker C: Do we want to talk parking spot auction, too? What does that entail?
[00:13:48] Speaker B: So our parking spot auction on campus, that's going to be initiative done through our Bear Bucks team. And they've got their hands in a lot this year. So I think that that one is kind of fun because if you think about it from a student or staff perspective, most of the year it is not as balmy and sunny as it is right now. You get wind, you get rain. We get hurricanes. Unfortunately, you get snow.
These are. These are things that you can mitigate the impacts on you, your car, your walk in by getting your own parking spot. So we're going to auction off space on campus. As long as it's not already a designated space for the police and safety handicap, our veteran spaces. Then you can pick your spot anywhere on campus you want to park. If you want to get that auction for every month in the year, you can do that. We'll put a sign up for you. We'll get you a hang tag to put in your car, and then you can park in that spot all year long and be a vip.
[00:14:44] Speaker C: That's convenient. That's awesome.
And just so much. I mean, Northeast State's got talent.
Oh, that's a fun one.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Yeah. We're doing. It's going to be a little bit different this year. We're putting a twist on that and doing. I believe. I don't know if we can put this out there yet. It's a lip sync competition.
So this is going to be kind of cool. It's something a little bit different because a lot of people don't want to sing. But, man, who said everybody sings in the shower? I mean, come on. If you don't sing in the shower, I don't know who you are. But everybody lip syncs when they're in their car. Everybody. So we're going to do a lip sync competition that's going to be a heck of a lot of fun. I think that our women's and science education group, they're going to jump on that. They're going to get some help from some of our other folks on campus that are really familiar with that entertainment space. And I think that one's going to be a heck of a lot of fun. So that the pet lookalike contest, those are some little bit different things that we're doing. The lead center.
[00:15:37] Speaker C: Kudos to Brittany Wick.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Brittany Absolutely.
[00:15:40] Speaker C: Idea.
[00:15:41] Speaker B: If you think, hey, people told me I look exactly like my pet, which I don't know if I've ever heard that before and I don't know how to take it. But it, I mean, if you think that you look like your pet, send us a picture, we'll post it, put it in a contest, and that helps raise funds for our elite center.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: How did the because of you campaign get started? I know we've been going for a few years, but really started a few.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: Years back, about 15 years ago. So in 2011, our executive director of the foundation at that time was or executive director of advancement was Heather Cook. And she wanted to increase on campus giving and allow areas support for their fundraising efforts. So we did have different divisions and groups and student organizations that were doing fundraisers, but they really weren't all kind of rolled into one or wholly supported by the foundation like they are now. So it's become a massive thing. Last year we raised like $125,000 through the because of the campaign over to expand. So really it's grown from that, that was about $50,000 that first year to what it is now. And we have around 17 different clubs, organizations, departments participating. So it's a big thing and it was a big deal to get this program started.
It's called because of you for a reason, because of us, because of people like you, all that participate that makes the students successful. Without that participation, it wouldn't succeed. That's why it's because of you.
[00:17:09] Speaker C: So many facets, so many pieces, so many people, programs and students.
[00:17:15] Speaker A: What kind of role do alumni and the donors play also in kind of making all this work possible, not just like last year, but in the last several years and kind of growing that base of both alumni and donors to support our students.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Alumni and donors, they're crucial to the continued success of the campaign.
Not just the campaign, but for the growth of the scholarship programs as well as they're the drivers for the innovation on our campus. They provide early support for initiatives and new programs. A lot of times when we want to try something new on campus, you know, we look to those donors first to seek support for those. And usually those efforts pay off in a big way. And then that helps us gather the state level support that we need to fund new campaign initiatives like the student needs Project. That's a big one for us. Our national alumni association, they're going to be broadening their reach within the community just to educate the public on our mission here at Northeast State and to Grow their donor base for student support as well.
[00:18:12] Speaker C: And how has the community surrounded us? How have they responded over time? How was that built to what it is today?
[00:18:18] Speaker B: I'll give a lot of credit to our foundation board members as well as programs like the Attic Sale, for instance. That attic sale, we put signs up all over campus. We put signs on the street. We're sending that out in the media. We're talking about it on tv, radio, wherever we can put it. Social media, that's drawing in community support as well. Because they're coming on campus. They've never seen our facilities before. Some of them never attended college before. They walk around, they feel the inviting atmosphere, they see the facilities we have. They may become students. They may have just come in for a yard sale item, but they've become a student.
We partnered with Wheeler Church across the street before about their major yard sale that they have their community event and that works out really good. So things like that draw in community support. The golf tournament is going to be a big one. Darrell Scott. We have this great entertainment tech space here on campus. We have this outstanding facility partner with Ballard Health over here to support the arts. So bringing in artists like Darrell Scott, bringing in the golf tournament to cattails at Medivue, I mean, that's how you draw on the community. You let them know that we're involved in a lot more than just sitting in a classroom and just reading books to our students, giving out education.
[00:19:28] Speaker C: And this might be. This might be a very big question here, but the impact of this campaign, students, faculty, the region as a whole, what does that look like?
[00:19:39] Speaker B: You know, you ask this question and I think about students. I've been on this campus since 2009 and one faster or another, I began here as a student, as an older adult student, 29 years of age. And I've seen a lot of students come through that were just like me. I've seen a lot of students come through here starting at the age of 16, coming from homeschool programs. And I've seen success stories on both ends of the spectrum. And it's too numerous to name. I mean, I can hand pick a couple people. Will Riddle, Jermaine Davis, Emma Bragg, Matthew Parker. These are fantastic success stories that came out of support from scholarship programs, student services offices, the grant development office. Matthew Parker is a huge success story on this campus. He was an educational access and diversity student. He was a very quiet student when he came here. Outstanding person, I mean, would do anything for you. He. His impact has been felt from one end of this campus to the other, not just on the educational side, but on our staff side as well.
Matthew went on. He graduated from here with honors, went on to graduate with his undergrad, and he now works for the Department of Defense. That's massive. I mean, that's a successful story. Directly coming out of the support from campaigns like because of you and scholarship programs.
[00:20:56] Speaker C: Yeah. It affects real people. There are real people in real time being affected by this. And in turn, they're turning around and they're wanting to make a difference too, because they've seen and experienced that growth. They've experienced that community.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:21:08] Speaker C: That connection.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:21:10] Speaker C: And what role do the donors make in making this possible?
[00:21:16] Speaker B: That's huge. If we didn't have the donor support, this wouldn't be a successful campaign.
Especially looking at last year, if you think of it, it's almost immeasurable. What it takes to get to $125,000 in funds raised for student scholarships and programs. We have a lot of community support. We've got a lot of support from our foundation board, our chair, all the offices here on campus. It's an everyday occurrence that I have someone come to my office, say, what can I get involved in? And that's great. I mean, if it's anything just from buying a T shirt to stepping out of your office, to, as far as students go, joining a club or an organization, our board members just saying, hey, I can give a thousand dollars to go to this program or scholarship.
Helene, last year, I mean, Helene had such an impact in our community.
And it happened just before our because of youf campaign kicked off.
So it's hard to have. You know, we're celebrating because of you coming. It's how hard to have that in that environment.
But what we saw was the community coming together as one.
We were on zoom calls right away. We're talking about how we can turn them. Because you campaign into fundraising support for our students that are impacted negatively by the storm. We did that. We provided WI Fi and Internet support for those students. We talked to instructors. I talked to many of them one on one. I was one. I was teaching a class at the time, and I had half of my class living in Carter County.
You can just see that impact directly. So without that support, we would be nowhere. And I saw it. We all saw it last year.
[00:22:55] Speaker C: Yeah, unfortunately. But, you know, just having that support, how do we encourage current students to get involved and share their stories with us?
[00:23:04] Speaker B: Last week, we partnered with the lead center to give out free hot dogs.
[00:23:08] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: And I'm out in the quad before the storm came. It was crazy. I'm out in the quad and I'm yelling, free hot dogs. Free chili dogs. Over and over again. All I can do is encourage them to not just leave your class and go back to your car. Take a step out, go into an office and ask a question if you need one. Go to our bear den if you have any issues popping up. Those are the people. Yeah, absolutely. Go in there, ask them questions, ask for their support. They're going to get you to the right office, grab you some food, buy a T shirt, join a club. If you don't feel like, hey, I haven't found my people yet, you can create that environment for yourself, start your own club, and then talk to us about a fundraiser you want to create that'll support what you're doing. Argumentation and debate Society. This is a good one to mention.
So they have to fund their student travel to go to these debate tournaments. And I don't know if you've seen the news, but they're killing it.
[00:23:58] Speaker C: Oh, yes.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: Our debate team is fantastic.
They're great. Don't argue with that. Don't argue with SkillsUSA. They'll kill.
[00:24:06] Speaker C: No. We've got gold medalist, national outstanding.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: Come look at the banners line in these hallways. It's fantastic. So argumentation and debate, They've got to fund their travel. So they're gonna do a chili cook off. So on October 29, you can support by bringing us a pot of chili. Students can do that as well. And then we'll do 50 cents for the samples. They're gonna take $3 for a bowl, and then you can vote on your favorite. And let me tell you, my name's on that plaque.
[00:24:28] Speaker C: Oh, no, you don't want to go.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: Up against that out there. But it's an awesome program to be a part of. And all that money goes right to student support.
[00:24:36] Speaker C: Yep.
That chili cook off, that gets intense.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: I. I love it just because I love chili. And every year, it's just fun. It's just a lot of fun.
[00:24:46] Speaker C: Chili connoisseurs.
And do we want to discuss maybe some challenges that we faced over the years with this campaign?
You already kind of mentioned, you know, Hurricane Helene was a huge one. Just the impact it had on our.
[00:24:59] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:25:00] Speaker C: Our community, our surrounding area, the people. What are some other maybe roadblocks that we faced along the way? How did we overcome those hurdles?
[00:25:11] Speaker B: I think the main thing is remembering that we can't get siloed in our offices, in our departments, in our areas. It's really important to get out there and be involved and support one another.
And because that partnership only supports students, our efforts to get them to graduation, that's the goal. Right. I think that's the key. To keep in mind, we all have one goal. That's to get every student in this hallway where they want to be.
[00:25:36] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: Graduate, transfer on if they like, join the workforce, I mean, get an education, get a certificate and really just broaden their knowledge in this world. That's our goal. So I don't. I've never felt like we have not been all on the same page as far as that goes.
So we really, we like to see this support on the campus. We want to try and get every department as involved as we can. And we're always open, especially in the advancement office, to step out, talk to you about what you have going in your office and how we can support you. How can we get the foundation involved? They're very helpful resource in this community. I mean, around 50 board members that we have that are in various areas of business and industry in this area, they can help.
[00:26:19] Speaker C: Definitely. And they do.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: They do every day.
[00:26:22] Speaker C: Amazing.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: If you hear the speeches at graduation, usually our foundation chair or lately we've had Peter Raber, who's a huge support for us. Peter comes in and gives a talk and usually you'll hear him drop a Star wars reference or two, but he's a, he's a great support to this college. Trust me, if students knew what all he did, and they did behind the scenes, they would be amazing. They'd probably give him a hug every time they walk around across the stage.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: Why is philanthropy like that among a community? Because we are a community college and we're as, as we like to say, we're your community's college throughout this region. Why is philanthropy and that kind of connection with people like Peter Raper and our board members, why is that so important to this campaign and just to the culture of the college?
[00:27:07] Speaker B: I mean, what better way to make an impact locally than to give to your local college or community college? If you think about it, I mean, you're putting dollars in that. You're going to see a direct and immediate impact for that's the best I can say. I mean, if I gave a thousand dollars in a book scholarship right now to the college, the scholarship programs office, Aaron Blevins is going to turn that around in funding and put that in a student's hands. They're going to go over to the bookstore, they're going to pay for their books. And they're not going to leave college because they had to take and pay for their books instead of paying their rent or paying to keep their lights on or keep their water on or.
[00:27:46] Speaker C: Even just juggling a job to keep up with all those expenses. And then that takes away from your studies. So this kind of allows students to put their all into their field, into what they're studying so that they can reach those goals. It makes it possible.
[00:28:00] Speaker B: I was directly impacted by this when I started back in 2009. I had been laid off from my job. I lost my car, I lost my house. I came here with next to nothing. The car that I drove here was borrowed from someone else and the trunk was duct taped shut.
I received a scholarship. Greg Walters, who is a former employer retiree of Northeast State, current member of our national alumni association, very impactful on this campus. He created a scholarship. I was a recipient of that scholarship.
You think that $300 doesn't go a long way? It made a huge impact for me. It helped pay for my books that kept me in class.
I'm one of many stories just like that, if not far worse situation than I was ever in on this campus. And I've met those students. You all have fantastic stories. But you know what they are now? They're success stories. They're graduates for Northeast State directly because the impact of those funds that were provided by community members.
So impactful.
[00:28:59] Speaker C: Greg Walters, it was so good seeing him at scholars training last week. He's outstanding.
[00:29:05] Speaker B: You're not going to meet a better person and a bigger advocate for Northeast State. You just won't.
[00:29:09] Speaker A: One of the Northeast State OGs.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely.
[00:29:14] Speaker C: Shout out to you, Greg.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: If somebody wants to would like to contribute to the campaign this year in any way because I know the scholars attic world, they're also taking donations will be open October 1st, I believe so.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: Yeah, we're excited about that.
[00:29:29] Speaker A: And there's a. Now there's a list of things that you of course do not take, but there's a variety of other things that people can donate that can be sold. And like you said, it raises a good amount of money. What are some other kind of things that the community in general can do to contribute? Get involved. What's kind of the first step they could take?
[00:29:47] Speaker B: Well, as far as the ag sale is concerned, they can reach out to our office. That contact information is on them because of you webpage we mentioned several times. More info donate here. There's several items that we can take in the list is you know, it's fairly short of the things that we can't take, but let's just consider we can't take 65 inch tube TVs because they're not going to sell if we have to donate them to Goodwill at the end. Goodwill's been a great partner for us. And usually what happens is at the end of this, whatever items we don't sell, we donate to Goodwill. And everybody sees the impact of those items in the community.
But things like toys, baby items are, are really impactful. Housewares are good. We do take some clothing, we'll take books.
There's. There's a lot of different decor, furniture, things of that nature that you can give in other ways. If you just want to come and participate in the trick or treating and see what we have on campus, get your children familiar with, hey, this is what a campus looks like.
College doesn't need to be scary. This is what we want to see for your future. At least let you know that that is an opportunity for you in this community, especially with programs like Tennessee Promise.
That's big for us. It's. It's big for our community, the state of Tennessee.
You can come and just grab chili if you want to. Come on the 29th, come for lunch, 11 o', clock, go in the Humanities building, grab you a bowl of chili. Hopefully it doesn't light you on fire. We've got some hot ones out there. I think our cfo, Chad Bailey is notorious for his Carolina Reaper or Ghost Pepper chili. Ouch. Yeah, it's. It's definitely now. I told him I missed out last year, so he brought me a whole bowl just for myself.
Yeah, I think I went through a whole pack of crackers when I ate.
[00:31:26] Speaker C: That, but I had to.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's fantastic. Grab a T shirt if you've got. More than likely, you know somebody, if you're in this community, you know somebody that's graduated from Northeast State or has been impacted by someone from Northeast State, come by and grab a T shirt from us. I'm happy to give you one. Happy to have a conversation about your time here at Northeast State. If you're an alumni, just come back here, get involved, walk the campus. It's just a great place to be.
[00:31:49] Speaker C: Yeah. Share your story with us.
[00:31:50] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: Makes an impact.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: Come sit in here. Get behind the microphone. We'll talk to you.
[00:31:55] Speaker C: No pressure.
[00:31:55] Speaker B: No pressure.
[00:31:59] Speaker C: Well, thank you, Josh, so much for diving in to what makes because of youf Campaign possible, what it entails and what we have to look forward to in the coming weeks ahead.
[00:32:08] Speaker B: This is my first podcast. I, I didn't know I didn't need hair and makeup, so I kind of wasted time this morning. But thank you guys.
[00:32:14] Speaker C: Thank you so much for joining us today. And you know, I also want to thank our entertainment technology department, Jordan there, Northeast State Edu, Boyc. That's where you're going to find all the because of you campaign happenings and events, ways to get involved, ways to donate throughout the coming weeks. And that's going to be in October and you can find us anywhere. Give us a listen. We're on Pandora, Apple Music, Spotify. I'm probably missing a few, but we're on them all. Give us a listen, give us a share and come join us on the sound barrier. Next time we're going to be here in the entertainment tech studio as usual. Visit northeaststate.edu and see what the college has to offer. Amazing opportunities here, amazing resources. So again, that's NortheastState. Edu. Check us out online until next time. We'll catch you on the sound barrier.
