"You have one life, and it's yours"

[00:00:09] Speaker A: Hello friends, loyal listeners and Bayers everywhere. Welcome to the sound barrier, Northeast State's official podcast. My name is Tom Wilson. I'm your co host today with Mackenzie Moore Gent. We're in the studio here at the entertainment Technology center in the technical education complex here on the Blountville campus. The entertainment technology team doing a great job for us as always. And in today's episode we welcome Annie Eam, a student and student worker at our testing center here at Northeast State. Annie, welcome to the sound barrier and it's great to see you. [00:00:41] Speaker B: Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here. [00:00:44] Speaker A: We're delighted to have you. Just to start off, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to being Northeast State and a little bit, a little bit about your background. [00:00:54] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Well, it was such a journey getting here, so I'll try to keep it succinct. It's just, it's been. I'm a non trad student. I'm 20 years out of school and like a lot of my fellow students, I came here the non traditional path and I came through the testing center and when I came through that portal I just, I kind of stuck there. And yeah, I'm here now. I don't, I don't know how else to answer that. [00:01:20] Speaker A: Did you grow up around here? Are you from this area or. [00:01:23] Speaker B: I am not. I've been here for a very long time and off for about 30 years, but I'm originally from Long Island, New York. [00:01:30] Speaker A: Oh, wow. [00:01:31] Speaker B: Okay. So I've been a little bit all over the place, but I've stuck here. I love the mountains, I love this area and I love raising my family here. So I think a lot of people do because we've, we've, we've had a lot of new people to the area, which has been nice. [00:01:50] Speaker A: When did you first learn about North? You said you got here through the testing center. How did you, how did you learn about Northeast State and how did you find your way to the testing center as a student first? [00:01:59] Speaker B: Oh man. So when I decided to come back to school, I knew nothing about it. I'm a non traditional student in the sense of that I'm also a first generational student. No one in my family went to school. Higher education. Of course they went to, you know, elementary and high school and all that, but they didn't go to college. So I didn't really understand that you have to either have ACT or SAT or things like that to get your foot in the door. Of course so once I applied I was told no, you have to either have an ACT or place in. So I was introduced to the testing center and I took an accuplacer that was my first entry into school. As to Northeast State, what brought me here was it's a little more welcoming than nothing against etsu. I actually live right around the corner from ETSU and my son goes there, my oldest child goes to etsu, but it is such a large school. [00:03:02] Speaker C: Northeast State is a great stepping stone, I think to getting people and preparing themselves for, you know, their degrees, their certificates they're working toward, but also just bigger university life for sure. I'm, I'm from the area I went to. I don't know if you've heard of David Crockett High School. It's over near Telford, outside of Jonesboro, just a little bit. But I went straight from David Crockett High School to ETSU when I was 17. That was. And my performance at ETSU did not look anything like in high school. I performed very poorly for starting out in my undergrad studies. And I think that was definitely because I wasn't ready for that transition. I wasn't mature enough to tackle the studies and the workload that ETSU had compared to David Crockett High School. And that's not, you know, talking badly about my high school too because they prepared me in any ways they could. It was just if I could go back, I know that I would probably just come here to Northeast State and do a transfer pathway, prepare myself. It's a little bit of a smaller school so you have that more of that community feel, I think like here at Northeast State if you don't know where you're at, the workers here, like they would walk you to point A to point B to get, like to get you there. And then I know at etsu I remember, oh, you're in the wrong office, you're going to have to head this way. It was like an office like across campus, like a mile away. I'm just like, oh, it's okay. It's not like I have this 40 pound book bag on me lucking that across campus. But it was definitely just intimidating for me for starting out. I think that intimidation factor really stepped in. So I'm glad that you know, as a non traditional student that you are able to be introduced to Northeast State and get accustomed to, you know, higher education in general. Because even higher education is just so different than from high school or you know, grammar school. So I'm really glad that you Got connected and made the connections you had to to, you know, end up here. [00:04:58] Speaker B: You bring up a great point about preparation. Because I feel now that I've been here, I do feel so much more prepared because I'm going to be transferring to ETSU next semester. And I feel so much more prepared now after coming to Northeast State than I would have seen, say, if I went straight to etsu. [00:05:16] Speaker A: Excellent. What is the accuplacer? [00:05:20] Speaker B: So the accuplacer is a test that helps determine if you are going to need supportive learning classes, which is no problem if you do. Some students do need that, especially if you've been out of school for a little while. And even if you haven't been out of school for a little while, some students come right out of high school and they just need a little bit of assistance as they go into a higher education setting. If you do need those classes, thankfully, Northeast State and many universities and colleges have those classes available. All the accuplacer does is determine if you're going to need those classes. And if you don't need those classes, the accuplacer determines that and helps place you in the appropriate classes. [00:06:04] Speaker A: What are you studying here in Northeast State? Have you had one major or have you kind of moved through it? [00:06:09] Speaker B: I've had one major. I've been studying social work, and I feel pretty set on that. [00:06:15] Speaker A: Oh, excellent. What appealed to you about social work? [00:06:18] Speaker B: I think it's just the whole reason I came back to school. I think I came back to school after a pretty serious health issue. And after that health issue, I felt it was a now or never moment. I think we all have experiences like that maybe at some point in our life where maybe we're confronted with something very serious and those moments make us or break us. That moment, for me personally, left me feeling so grateful, so just full of this spirit and a zest for life, just. Just ready to tackle things. And I thought, you know, I need to do something with myself. I need to do these things that I've been wanting to do. And also I wanted to pay it forward. I wanted. Yeah, I just wanted to do something meaningful. Social work. [00:07:13] Speaker A: It is very inspiring. [00:07:15] Speaker B: I don't know. Yeah, about that. [00:07:17] Speaker C: But truly, I think. I think so. I agree. [00:07:20] Speaker A: Tom, who are like, some of the professors have kind of stood out to you here at Northeast State. We always like to talk about our faculty, and we have a tremendous faculty and they do so much for students and leave a lot of impacts on people. [00:07:33] Speaker B: I gotta say, I didn't know how to Take them at first, but now I just love him. Professor Jim Kelly. [00:07:39] Speaker A: The great Jim Kelly. Yes. [00:07:41] Speaker B: Oh man. Professor Jim Kelly is something else. He really is. He's just. You know why I think he's excellent but because I wish my son was in his classroom. I see these young people in his class and I mean myself too as an adult, you know, and 18 year olds are adults too, but you know what I mean. [00:08:05] Speaker A: Yes. [00:08:06] Speaker B: And he's telling us to think, can you believe it. [00:08:13] Speaker A: Jim? He completely turns what you would think about a college class on its head. And I've always heard nothing but great things about Jim from students for so many years. How he really changes the game for them in class. [00:08:26] Speaker B: He encourages people to ask questions and to interact with each other. And just in general, the staff here have been excellent. They've been great. Supportive, understanding and not a professor, but just in General Staff. Ms. Melissa Ramsey over at the testing center. She's just excellent. I mean we have people coming through that she's just so accommodating. It's so easy to say no. We have so many people in this day that say no. She's not a no person, she's a yes person and we need that truly. [00:09:07] Speaker C: So you discussed the accuplacer test with the testing center and you know, having to become familiar with that and you know, undergo that just to begin your higher education journey. How have you used the testing center while you're like on the ground running during your higher education journey? Have you used it since? [00:09:27] Speaker B: Let me tell you about the clep. Okay, I think you mentioned while we were talking before this that you're familiar with the clep. [00:09:36] Speaker C: No, not the acronym I know that I took. So the clap. [00:09:41] Speaker B: Yeah, clap. [00:09:42] Speaker C: I haven't heard of that. I know. I took a test over at ETSU actually in my undergrad time there. I took a test to place into a. A higher French course. [00:09:51] Speaker B: I'm sure I bet you anything that was probably CLEP or something similar. But the CLEP test is a test that lets you test out of classes if you have enough knowledge of it or if you can prove that you have enough knowledge of a subject, you can test out of it into higher form of that class or just out of the subject completely. So while I was here, I utilized a program that is offered nationwide and that our school honors called Modern States. You can go to modernstates.org and you can utilize this program to get vouchers to take the clip for free. [00:10:34] Speaker A: Sweet. [00:10:35] Speaker B: I know we have more information for it available over at the testing center, it gives you access to videos to study material. Once you utilize this study material and watch all the videos, they give you a voucher. You check in that voucher with the college board and they allow you to take your CLEP exam for free. Now back to what you were originally asking me about how I used that while I was here. I utilized it four times and clapped out of four classes, which allowed me to clap out of a semester of school and then also be able to take honors classes and get an honors degree while I was here. So it helped me immensely. I mean, I. When I say that I'm passionate about the testing center, it completely changed my trajectory of school while I was here. I mean, if it wasn't for the testing center, I don't know what. Just my degree would look different and my experience would look different. I'd be here longer as well. [00:11:41] Speaker C: Wow. So kind of used as a fast. [00:11:43] Speaker B: Track towards your bachelor's and a way to get honors. I mean, I wouldn't have been able to get it. [00:11:49] Speaker A: Wow. In working at the testing center, how do people need to find out about the CLEP test and find out about these tests so they can do what you did? Are people aware of that? [00:12:00] Speaker B: That's an excellent question. I mean, we have a bit of signage outside. We have a little box that has the modern states thing right outside the door. We do the best we can to make sure people know about it. You know, Trio, my trio advisor was good about letting me know about these things. I hope that there's people that are passing the word around. Other than that, I'm a little unsure about how it gets spread around. I'm here right now letting people know about it. [00:12:27] Speaker A: This is the best way to do it right now. Get the word out. [00:12:31] Speaker B: Get the word out. If you've done it, if you've utilized this program and you had a great experience. Experience. Please let your friends know. I try to let everyone know just how excellent it was for me. I'm a disciple of modern states. It was. It was so great. Okay. [00:12:45] Speaker A: Excellent. Beyond clip, what are some other tests that the testing center offers? I know there's a lot of academic tests based on classes. And what about like act? You can't take the ACT or the SAT there, can you? [00:13:00] Speaker B: I don't believe so. At least I've not seen that. Exactly. And the accuplacer, it's kind of similar to the act, But I know that they do tests say for. There's teachers here on campus who maybe have students come by that need to do makeup tests or there are like E campus exams that are done through the testing center or there's like community facing exams like workkeys for Eastman. [00:13:29] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah, that's. I knew that was, I knew that was one out there somewhere. [00:13:34] Speaker B: There's several services that are offered through the testing center Beyond Accuplacer and CLEP. I mean there's. Oh, there's the A2 for nursing, which is a huge one. [00:13:43] Speaker A: Absolutely, yes. [00:13:44] Speaker B: There's you know, the exit exam that we do for graduating students. [00:13:49] Speaker C: And could you technically test out of like any class available here on campus or is this like what kind of subjects are available through clep? [00:13:57] Speaker B: I'm familiar with the ones on modern states which are pretty varied. All of your basic ones like the literature, the histories, humanities, infosystems, there's some mathematics, chemistry, bio. That being said, you do need to have languages. You do need to have a working knowledge of these things though. You can, you can study AP material. I was not an expert in these subjects before taking these. I am not a genius. I just studied really hard. But Northeast State requires, if I understand correctly, you need to have at least 25% of your degree actually through the school. You can't just clip out of everything and then be like, where's my degree? You know, there's a certain amount, I will say a certain amount of your degree has to be attained through classwork through the college. [00:14:48] Speaker A: Right. [00:14:49] Speaker C: And what if someone's listening to this and they don't know where the testing center's at or even like where to go? How would you find that? If you're just, you know, listening to this and just curious about checking it out. [00:14:59] Speaker B: So if you come through the main entrance, which is up through the. I don't know how to describe outside. Like the hoop, you know? Yeah, pull in through the hoop. [00:15:07] Speaker C: Right, like the little roundabout area near the parking. Yeah. [00:15:10] Speaker B: If you just came through that entrance and went to the left, you're gonna go all the way to the end and turn your head to the left and we're right there that those double doors right there open and you'll see a couple smiling faces looking at you through those doors. [00:15:23] Speaker C: Yep, it's right near that sidewalk that cuts through the. It separates the performing arts center from. I guess. Would that be Pierce or would that be students? I know where the testing center's at. I'm just really bad at giving directions. [00:15:38] Speaker B: It's over by C campus as well. [00:15:41] Speaker C: Yes. [00:15:41] Speaker B: And over by. There's a couple student success advisors over there. [00:15:47] Speaker A: Evening Services, I think, is nearby there as well with Tammy and. [00:15:52] Speaker C: Yeah, right around the corner from Scholarships C building. [00:15:56] Speaker B: Yes. [00:15:57] Speaker C: Great. [00:15:58] Speaker B: And like we said earlier, there's so many helpful staff here on campus, so if you need help finding it, all you need to do is ask someone and they'll be more than happy to help you find us. Yeah. [00:16:07] Speaker C: Great. And I know Melissa's always there too, so. [00:16:10] Speaker B: Absolutely. She is. [00:16:11] Speaker C: Great. So. And you're a student worker there yourself. So what do your hours look like there as a student worker? [00:16:18] Speaker B: They're a little all over the place. Just because I take classes and I have a family, which Ms. Melissa is so excellent about, giving me the flexibility I need to balance, you know, family and school and. And responsibilities that are required with all that. So usually it's Monday through Thursday. Usually it's Monday through Thursday. 7:30 to 2. Ish. [00:16:41] Speaker C: Oh, wow. [00:16:42] Speaker B: Okay. [00:16:42] Speaker C: Yeah, you're juggling a lot. And I'm so glad that, like, you found that flexibility here to be able to, you know, pursue your dreams of working in social work and serving your community, you know, while still managing the life you already had. [00:16:56] Speaker B: You know, I've recognized, I see that there's, there's so many students here doing something very similar to me, juggling family and work and trying to go to school. And we're so fortunate that there is a great community here to support us on our journey. If I would have only known that that would be the experience here, I think that I probably would have done it sooner. I just didn't know. We don't, we don't know these things, you know, you don't know what you don't know. [00:17:24] Speaker A: Very true. What's the least known or maybe the least understood challenge that non traditional students face in college? Not necessarily at Northeast State, but generally. What's like, secrets that people maybe don't necessarily understand about being a non traditional college student? [00:17:40] Speaker B: There's just an information gap, you know, there's many years in between. So for me, it was 20. And because everything's been digitized during that period, it was difficult for me to even get my high school transcripts. [00:17:58] Speaker A: Oh, really? [00:17:59] Speaker B: Yeah. And I didn't graduate high school. I got my GED back in 2004 and it was hard to even track that down because of that. So I think that one of the things that's really hard, that's maybe not thought about is the difficulty in tracking down things as simple as records just to apply and the difficulty in juggling all the responsibilities. It is so hard to work multiple jobs to come to school, to go home and to make dinner and to do laundry and it is. But we're all humans and we're all tired and we all do those things. I think you just focus on your goals and where you're going and you'll get there. [00:18:48] Speaker A: Wow, that's very. Yeah, that's very. A very telling response about the digitization of information and just how you're finding it. That's. Yeah. I don't know if anybody's put a lot of thought into that, but that, yeah, that would be a huge obstacle to try to get around just getting. [00:19:05] Speaker C: The information and even like the information gap that you talked about. Like, and I know you had mentioned you're a first generation college student. Like, I had my dad's help, like he went to etsu. I had my dad's help with the FAFSA with, you know, rounding up college applications. I had that information because my dad was there to help guide me. Imagining and like putting myself in like the shoes of a first generation college student. They don't, they don't have that, you know, parental guidance in the sense of, you know, here's what you're going to do with college applications. I know you got to knock out the fafsa. I know you need to do this and that, like to be that mentor. It's like that's not there when you're a first generation generation student. [00:19:46] Speaker B: No, it's not. [00:19:47] Speaker C: So it's like just acknowledging that and like, you took the initiative to like figure all that yourself. Like, that sounds so intimidating to me. That makes my hands clammy. Like just thinking about not having my. [00:20:00] Speaker B: Dad there, you know, I, I am fortunate that my, at least my, you know, my parents, I still have both my parents. My parents love me and are supportive. And you're right. You point out some very valid points. I remember asking the ladies in the testing center to explain to me what a CV is because I couldn't ask my parents or my friends. I don't have a single friend that's like in my immediate circle that went to college, you know, or a cousin or my grandparents or my parents. You're right. So that is a challenge. But that's when the helpful staff, that's when people who are here that are willing to take five seconds out of their day to answer a question is even more important because you have people like me that don't have any idea, that may feel really dumb for asking something like, can you please tell me what a CV is? Can you please just Tell me. Tell me why it's important to come on a podcast. Tell me why it's important to go to do Northeast State presents. And they can say it's important because you can put it on your cv. Even though my parents might not be able to break that down for me, Tammy and Ms. Melissa sure can. [00:21:23] Speaker A: For the folks at home. What is the cv? [00:21:25] Speaker B: It's like an academic resume, right? [00:21:27] Speaker A: The curriculum. [00:21:28] Speaker B: And you can submit it for things like scholarships, and it rounds out your application for ETSU when you want to transfer. And, boy, I didn't know that. [00:21:37] Speaker C: It's a lot. [00:21:39] Speaker B: Yeah, and I explained that to my parents, too. [00:21:43] Speaker A: You said your son is at etsu. [00:21:45] Speaker B: Yes, he is. [00:21:46] Speaker A: What is he studying? And how have you been able to pass along your experiences to him and say, hey, this is how you do it? [00:21:52] Speaker C: That's a great question, Tom. [00:21:53] Speaker B: He is going for computer science. It's so funny because I feel like we're kind of like, traipsing down this path together. It's like the blind leading the blind. It's so funny. It's so funny because, like, I'll ask him something, he'll ask me something, and it's just. We're just holding hands, figuring it out. We're just figuring it out. That's what it's like, but we're figuring it out together. [00:22:22] Speaker A: Is he like, thanks for the advice, or is he like, oh, Mom, I know that already. [00:22:25] Speaker B: He's. He's 18. He actually. He knows it all. He knows everything. But yes, he also. He's also grateful. I actually, I'm very fortunate. I have an excellent kid who's very. Who's very gracious and he's very helpful to me. Sometimes I. I get kind of stuck in my head thinking about things, overthinking it. I think he's got a lot of friends that are. Have went to college or in college and their parents are all have went to college. So I think he has maybe a little more informed of a circle. You know, he has friends living on campus. He gets a lot of feedback from people who are probably better informed than me. But we still talk. We still have really good conversations about it. [00:23:12] Speaker A: And I'm sure, like most in his age group, he is enmeshed in digital technology. Or is he? [00:23:18] Speaker B: He is. And it's so funny to compare our classes because he lives in math and science and I live in humanities. All his finals and midterms are like capstones, and all mine are these very abstract papers. [00:23:33] Speaker A: What advice do you give to. Would you Give to a non traditional student who maybe took a few college classes when they were younger, but then they got into the workforce and they spent 15 years in the workforce. [00:23:46] Speaker B: Oh, man. [00:23:47] Speaker A: And something's happened and now they're facing a major. They've got to change careers and they've got to learn a new skill and they're gonna learn something new. What advice would you give them? Just from your experiences. [00:23:58] Speaker B: Don't be afraid to come here. Don't be afraid. It's so easy to think I'm too old. Life's went by, it's too late. It's too late. It's never too late. It's never too late to learn something new. It's never too late to get that dream. Please. I thought it was too late too, but it's not. You don't want to wake up one day and think, man, I wish I would have. I just think that life is too short. You've got one life and it's yours. And you're the one that has to answer for it. [00:24:34] Speaker A: That's right. [00:24:35] Speaker B: There's so many great programs in the state of Tennessee that help people get back to school. Especially adults, especially non trads like Tennessee Reconnect. [00:24:48] Speaker A: Yes. [00:24:50] Speaker B: Which I highly encourage people to look into. You know, adults who want to come back to school. So if you are a non traditional who's been in the workforce for 15 years and you want to learn something new, I hope I see you here. [00:25:03] Speaker C: Now, I've got another question after that. Are you a Tennessee Reconnect student? [00:25:07] Speaker B: You know, I am and I'm not. Okay. I am in the sense that I initially signed up and reached out to them, but I'm not in the sense of I was very fortunate that a Pell Grant took care of everything I needed. [00:25:22] Speaker C: Oh, good deal. [00:25:23] Speaker B: So I meet up with Ms. Carol because we have science. We had my kid graduated now, but Science Hill Band kids. And we had really good conversations, but I didn't really need their services. So that's it. That's all. I still, I still absolutely, you know, I'm a disciple for them too. I tell them, tell about them, talk about them to anyone. Because I want to see people here, especially after having such a great experience. Experience I kind of kick myself for, like I said, for not being here sooner. I want to make sure that other people learn from my experience. Experience is the best teacher, they say. [00:25:58] Speaker A: So true. [00:26:00] Speaker B: No one else is going to learn except from their own experience. But that I still can't help but try to try to pull Them all in, pull them into the fold. [00:26:10] Speaker A: Get them in here. Yes. It's never too, never too late to start, start again. No, it's not to get in touch with everybody at the testing center. If you want to get in touch with the testing center to schedule a test, it is testingortheaststate.edu. that's the email. And if you want to learn more about the testing center, it's NortheastState. EDU testing. There are also testing center sites at different northeast state campuses. The Elizabethan campus, it's E122. The Northeast State of Kingsport campus, that you could find that in Blazer Wilson hall and room 134. And here on the Bluntville campus, it's C2303 in the general studies building. And stop by any of those, those sites during, during business hours. Just a variety of tests and you can find all those tests listed at the webpage. So we'd strongly encourage, encourage everybody to go there. And if you need a test, if you want to test out of something, just learn more about generally what some of the things you can, you can test out of to really expedite your college experience. Go check out the testing center at Northeast State. Annie, we thank you so much for your time. It's been a really, really enlightening interview with everything you talked about from the testing center and just about yourself. We really appreciate you coming in and talking to us today on the sound barrier. Just thank you so much for being here. [00:27:30] Speaker B: Well, thank you for having me again. I really appreciate it. [00:27:33] Speaker A: Glad to have you been great. [00:27:34] Speaker C: I mean, just learning about your experience and just about you as a human too. Like aside from the testing center and. [00:27:42] Speaker B: And all that, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. [00:27:45] Speaker C: Right back at ya. Take it away, Tom. [00:27:50] Speaker A: You can check out the sound barrier on any of your favorite streaming services from Pandora, Amazon Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts. We're on them all. Go on there, check them out and give us a listen. Leave a review, leave a comment. Good or bad, we take them all. But thank you so much for listening to the sound barrier. And we're signing off for now. Until we see you next time, this is the sound barrier.