Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Kendall Speaks.
I am Brian Stewart, Kendall campus President and we have an amazing panel with us today. I'm really excited to have this discussion on student development. With me is Homer Viejo, Director of New Student Services, Maite Padrone, Director of Recruitment, Griselle, Director of Testing, and Jennifer. I'm not going to try it. Director of International Studies. So thank you all for being here. We're really excited to have this conversation. A lot of the success we have here at the Kendall campus is the roles each of you play. And so I think this is going to be a really great podcast for our listeners to learn about the Kendall campus. But let's first start by learning a little bit about each of you. Homer, tell us about your journey and how you got to the Kendall campus, if you would.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Stewart. So my journey started here. I actually was coaching. I was a former collegiate wrestling coach out in St. Louis, Missouri and I was there for about four years and I decided to come back home to Miami. And I started at the college at the north campus as a pre college advisor. I spent about two years there. I transitioned to be the Director of Recruitment and then I had the opportunity to come back a little further south to Kendall campus and I transitioned as the director of the new student center. So I've been here now for three years, going on year number four at the Kendall campus and it's been phenomenal. Been a great time here. We've done a lot of magical things and I got a good team with me that's here in the house.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: And you have a little grilling background now. I understand.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: I do, I do, I do. You've, you've been, been instrumental on that. I had to prove myself. I think I moved up from the, from the hot dogs to the burgers and everything.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: You're, you're my right hand man now. So thank you for being here. Maite, tell us a little bit about your journey to the Kendall campus.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: So I'm the daughter of immigrants and I mentioned that because I noticed you were at the Freedom Tower yesterday or the Freedom Tower event. My mom actually spent the night at the Freedom Tower.
[00:01:44] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Amazing place, an amazing story.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: Absolutely. And so I grew up in a house speaking Spanish the entire time. So it would only be natural, right, that I grew up to be an English teacher.
So that's what I did before coming to the college. Both my daughters attended the honors college here and I attended Miami Dade Kendall campus as well. So it's kind of like a homecoming. Right. And I'm Having a great time. I always tell people I've never worked so hard in my life, but I've never had such a blast at work.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: Last night at the Freedom Tower event, one of our board members came up to me and was talking to my wife and said, we need to start making Brian pay to work here because we. And that's the way this place is. It's so great to be here. We have so many great faculty today. We had the Innovation awards and our faculty just swept them. And so I think your point's well taken. It's really a cool place to be and so glad you're with us today and I love your enthusiasm.
[00:02:34] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Next with us is our director of testing. Grisel, tell us a little bit about your journey.
[00:02:38] Speaker E: Well, like you, I hail from the great state of Texas.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: All right.
[00:02:41] Speaker E: But I was raised in Miami probably. I've been with the College now almost 10 years now. I started like Homer, as a pre college advisor. Then I became the director of recruitment for an interim. I moved over here about three years ago as the assistant director of advisement and then now the interim director of testing and assessment.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: Glad to have you. You're doing a great job.
[00:03:00] Speaker E: Thank you.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: People talk well about you. And last but not least, our international director, Jennifer, tell us about your pathway to Kendall campus.
[00:03:08] Speaker D: Yeah, thank you.
Actually, this was not a traditional pathway for me. I have a degree in medical social work. So I worked at a local hospital for many years, decided to take a career change and I actually started out here as a part time advisor. Not thinking I would still be here today. I thought it was gonna be just kind of a little bit of a career change and that I'd go back into the medical field. But six years later, I'm still here and, and I worked my way up. I was a senior academic advisor and now I have transitioned to the interim director of international students and it's been fantastic so far.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: And I know with our athletes we have a lot of. You have a lot of role supporting them as all of our students at International Students.
[00:03:50] Speaker D: Sure do. Sure do.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: All right, well, glad to have you here. We'll get to some questions. Let's first start with Maite and Homer. Maite, tell us a little bit about an overview of our recruiting strategy. One of the things I've been really impressed with at Kendall is how we're all in the community and how we're recruiting. Talk a little bit about your perspective and overview that.
[00:04:09] Speaker C: Sure. So I've got quite the team. I have about six or seven advisors under me, which we need because we've got a lot of Kendall schools and a lot of community work that we do. So first of all, we're aligned with MDCPs quite brilliantly. And I have an advisor at each of the high schools that feed into us. And we've really. Our recruitment strategy there has been to be familial and to, you know, form a great casual and working relationship where we have each other's cell numbers, we hold meetings with principals, we align our advisors to their CAP advisors. And I'm telling you, there's not a day that we're not at one of these schools. So we are there to provide wraparound services from helping to onboard their senior students to helping them with their dual enrollment cohorts and things like that. And our recruitment strategy, really, I would say I would sum it up in just be there. We're there.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: And you have a really good relationship with our area superintendent and all the principals. I think that's another amazing part of what you do.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: We do. We do. And the thing is, we help each other. Right? We're constantly asking the region, hey, how can we bridge your gaps? What can we do? What can we provide?
I sit at Braddock Senior Highs ESAC Committee, and I get insight there as to, you know, what are the schools needing? Where are their gaps? Right. So I come back and I bring that over here. Like, how can we help?
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Good. That's great. Homer, talk a little bit about some of the biggest challenges facing student recruitment and how we can address those as a college.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: So I think one of the biggest issues we have is that we've been known for a while as being the 13th grade. Right. Miami Dade College is always that place that was just a fallback. But we've become the choice for our students. My team have gone out and we visited several of our different high schools and really showed the data that the kids are coming here, the students are coming to mdc. We're the choice over a lot of other institutions. And it's because of what we're offering. I mean, stellar programs, great faculty and staff, an opportunity to get involved here on campus. So, I mean, look at the Kendall campus has transformed over the last three years. So, you know, we're showcasing that day in and day out to the different groups of students that are coming on campus and letting everyone know, like, the opportunity is endless here. And so it's really breaking that stigma, which I think we have. I mean, we've hit some landmark numbers. We've definitely had Some landmark numbers over the last year or so. I know you've seen them as well. And so it's phenomenal, the work that's been done and really changing that stigma of what's happening here at Kendall and at MDC as a whole. And so really just showcasing and continuing to open eyes. And it's awesome, it's fun.
[00:06:35] Speaker C: And I also think that the college has done such a good job of offering scholarships to students in different demographics. Right. And with the economy today, I know that it sounds so sexy to go away to college, to go to Texas, to college, to go wherever you were at college, but when you really look at the numbers and the nuts and bolts, it makes sense. Miami Dade College just makes sense here.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Speaking of special students, one of the things I know, Maite, you've worked really hard, we all have is with our dual enrollment students, and you mentioned them a little bit, but talk a little bit more about how we engage those students and other things in the community.
[00:07:08] Speaker C: I think that's been a great factor in our recruitment strategies. Right. Because Miami Dade College is in the high schools. When these high schoolers are 9th, 10th, 11th grade, they're already applying to the college. They have an MDC ID number. So I really think that that's probably one of our great recruitment strategies, that as young as 9th grade, they're already hearing about us and they have already have a profile with us. Right. And we're accelerating their pathways. These students are taking college courses while they're still in high school, where we are accelerating their pathway so that when they get near graduation, they're like, wow, I took all these courses at Miami Dade. I might as well stay. I've got a little bit left. Or I've completed an aa, whatever the, you know, whatever it may be. But I'm proud to say that this semester, this current semester, we have over 3,600 students taking a dual enrollment course at that.
Taking a dual enrollment course at the college. And to me, I feel like that helps that transition when it comes time to transition. Because, hey, man, we're in your backyard. It's what you know. You already know us.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Which leads me into the next question. In your opinion, and homer jumping here, too, what do you think makes our campus appealing? You both mentioned some things, but anything else that we want to make sure our audience hears about what's great at Kendall?
[00:08:28] Speaker C: Well, as a former Kendall student, this place is just completely different. I remember driving here, coming right back home, and now there's like such great hangout spaces for students, things for students to do. I mean, yeah, we can talk about the Chick Fil A and the Starbucks, but activity hour, all the events that we put on for the students, they come here and they feel comfortable here. They're going to hang here, they're going to study here. You know, so you can make this more than a commuter college experience if you'd like.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: You're also not getting world class barbecue at fiu anywhere else here at the.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Kendall campus, that's a secret we'll keep, actually. We may use to draw them in, talk a little bit about utilizing digital tools or social media to recruit students.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: So one of the things that we definitely adapted into is to reaching our students on social media platforms. And one of the things that Maith and her team has done is they've created a Instagram account with where we're posting content daily for our students and for our future students.
[00:09:21] Speaker C: Dr. Stewart, do you follow us?
[00:09:23] Speaker A: I do.
[00:09:23] Speaker C: Kendall Shark Squad. All right.
[00:09:25] Speaker A: I do. They've helped me do that, both on Instagram and LinkedIn. Of course.
[00:09:29] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: So what we're doing in there is we're just reaching out to students. Anytime that we're visiting a school, we're letting students know that we're there, we're tagging the school, the school's reposting and stuff. And we're just constantly getting a presence online. It's good for us, for our students that are, you know, learning a little bit more about NBC, what's happening. They get to meet their PCA virtually. So if they haven't had a second to see them at the school site, they get to see a name to the face. Right. They see Olivia, they see Eyvette, they see Pam, they see everyone there. So it's good to just kind of get that face to the name. And then also, you know, they get to see what's happening. We offer things scholarships there. Hey, you want to reach out to somebody? Just a quick little dm, all of a sudden we're reaching back out and say, hey, yeah, we could schedule an appointment with you. So social media has been huge for us in that platform.
[00:10:08] Speaker C: It is, it is. And it kind of really, what I've enjoyed about our social media presence is like Homer says, it makes us real, it makes Angela real. You know, we've highlighted each advisor, what are their hobbies, what do they like to do to just kind of, again, make the students feel comfortable with who they're going to be dealing with when they get here.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: Yeah. I recently heard from our athletic Director. That one of our volleyball players is a. What do you call it? Someone that's influencer. Influencer. Huge influencer. And matter of fact, she even followed our college president and like, quadrupled her following.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:10:42] Speaker C: Just by her follow, can she follow us? Kendall Shark squad.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: I thought the same thing. I said, let me give you exactly, but she was with the college president, so I didn't want to impart. What advice, Homer, would you give to prospective students that are considering the Kendall campus?
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Take a visit. Just come see what we got to offer before you do anything else like you do with every other institution. Come take a visit. Come look at what we got. Meet the team. You know, it's family here. It really is. Our students, our staff, everyone's a huge family. So if you come take a visit, if you give us an hour of your time, I promise you, you'll fall in love and you'll want to be here.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: One more question for both of you before we turn to testing. What advice would you give a prospective student? Any. Anything else that you would say that might help them realize this is the place for them.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: Yeah. What do you want? I mean, what do you want? Focus on what you want. And a lot of students don't know yet because they're young and they're early and figuring out what they want to study. But we have it here. Yeah, we have over 300 programs and we have state of the art facilities. I mean, unless you step in here, you would never know. You drive past day in, day out, and I'm sure that anyone listening, and even before, there's been hundreds of people who've driven past the campus. But just step in and once you see, you'll see our esports room, you'll see our makers lab, you'll see everything that we have to offer. I mean, we have world class athletics. We just had team in the national finals.
[00:11:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: Our soccer team just started. They were the national tournament. So, like, we have some of the best things to offer. Just step in.
[00:12:01] Speaker C: I love asking parents whenever we have an open house or I'm presenting to a group of parents or students with their parents, I love asking them who attended Miami Dade College. And guys, we are everywhere. I mean, all kinds of hands are raised up in the room. And then I'm like, kendall doesn't look the way you had, you know, when you came here. And they're like, no, not at all. I mean, their parents are impressed with the spaces we've created in the same hallways that they walked when they came here.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: You Know, I'll tell this story often, but when I came in June, there was a lot of community events I went to and a lot of people, hey, here's the new president of Kendall. And so many people came up to me. And I promise you, mathematically, since that's what three out of four people said, hey, I went to Kendall. Hey, Kendall. And these are people who are major, major people in the community that are still here and are still making an impact in this area.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: I mean, NBC is for everyone. I mean, we've had celebrities, people that are running the country. I mean, we got a lot of people who stepped through these doors. So it's phenomenal.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: Makes you feel good to work at a place like this.
[00:12:56] Speaker C: It does. And I don't know about you guys, but my cell phone rings probably two or three times a week with someone's kid, someone's sister, so and so's brother. Can you help onboard them? And I love that. You know, I get a kick out of that.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: I still get calls from medical people, board members. Hey, can you. No, I better stop.
Let's turn to testing. Grisel, talk a little bit about our testing center and what goes on in there. Give. Give our audience a little description of what you do.
[00:13:22] Speaker E: So at the testing center, we serve both students and the community. So for students is it's either placement testing, academic testing, and for the community, it's certifications, examination. So if you're looking to get some kind of certification, real estate, this or that. Our center, we have our. Actually a testing site for different vendors. So all walks of life come through our doors. Dual enrollment, especially.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Tell me the number of seats you have and some of the, some of the things you have in the facility, if you don't mind.
[00:13:49] Speaker E: Sure. So we have 190 exams or I should say stations. In those stations, they're ready to go for pretty much any examination. If it's academic testing, if it's placement testing, if it's certifications. One that's particularly popular right now, it's Adobe Photoshops. Just community examinations like clep. CLEP is a big popular one for our students and folks. Even students from other institutions, they come. And since we're a test center for them, they come test with us.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I hate to admit that I've not been in your center, but it's always because when I walk by their students lined up and like, I don't want to disturb them. So I do need to come in and walk through sometime and not disturb people. Talk a little bit more about the exams and any type of assessments you want to highlight that you give.
[00:14:32] Speaker E: So the popular ones are assessment examinations that we do. So if you're a new student and you happen to have graduated from a private school or out of state or from you're coming from another country, A popular exam that we give is accuplacer next generation. Just to see where you're at with reading, writing, math. That's what students would need in order for an advisor to get to go ahead and register for classes. Other examinations. So it would be the Florida civic literacy exam. So you need that in order to graduate. So if you're a student with a college, you're for sure going to step foot probably in our district.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: What are your hours?
[00:15:02] Speaker E: 8 to 7, Monday through Thursday, 8 to 4, 30 on Fridays.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: Okay, good.
[00:15:06] Speaker E: Yeah, good.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: Okay.
How does a center accommodate students who have needs that, you know, need accommodating with language and disability and that kind of thing?
[00:15:16] Speaker E: Sure. So students who are approved with our access department, generally speaking, either get extra time or a separate room. So if it's a student who needs more concentration, they'll get that separate room paper exam. So if you're a professor, you're giving your normal examination. You give a student an hour. This student needs double time, which is two hours. They'll come and sit with us and we do that type of examination.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: Do you have any of the numbers on top of your head of like this semester?
[00:15:42] Speaker E: For this semester we have 331 students who will come to test with us outside of the community and outside of.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: All the other things are going on. Wow, that's impressive.
[00:15:51] Speaker E: That's why it's always so busy.
[00:15:52] Speaker A: Yeah, that's why I can't get in there.
What are ways that you support our online and our remote students needs when they're testing?
[00:16:00] Speaker E: So even college wide that's, that's, that's grown because it's such a. A big need. There's actually a remote testing group that takes care of those examinations. If it's for Florida civic literacy, if it's for accuplacer, those examinations are done through that group. So online. If it's an MDC online group or student and they can't for whatever reason or they don't want to take their exam at home, they will come and take the exam with us.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: Very good. Thank you for all this great information and what you do because the testing is a critical part of a campus and for sure, and I think we do, you do a good job of it and I Appreciate all that.
[00:16:36] Speaker E: Well, I have to give a quick shout out to my team. They do a fantastic, fantastic thing.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: Well, Jennifer, let's turn to international studies a little bit. And our students talk a little bit about the approach that we take and just how you support those students that come to us.
[00:16:50] Speaker D: So the way that we support our students is many different ways. Right. So we have. Imagine a student who lives here in the United States and they go away to school. Right? That's a huge milestone. They're going to be apprehensive. It's going to be scary. Take that now. And now you're talking about an international student who's coming from another country. Their customs are completely different. They're coming to the United States. Just the American culture that they have to adapt to. It's a scary place to be. And I think I honestly, I'm new to this role, but I can honestly say that my team, the, the orientation, the information that we provide to these students is incredible. We do a wonderful job with something that we don't even consider. Okay, the difference between needing to go to a hospital versus an urgent care. The pharmacy. Where do you get over the counter Medications, housing. Those things that we just take for granted. Grocery shopping. We compile a list for them where they can actually know where to go. That's close by.
Contact numbers. The things again that we take for granted that everybody should know. They don't know. But I think that the campus does a great job with that.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: That's a great answer. And you mentioned things I hadn't even thought of. So that's, that's really good. What are your numbers? Can you tell the our group what our audience, what your numbers are? Do you have some of those off the top of your head?
[00:18:14] Speaker D: I do actually right now currently registered in Sevis, which is how international students with, with their F1 visas, how they come. We have 322 students.
[00:18:24] Speaker A: Okay. And does that include our athletes?
[00:18:26] Speaker D: That includes athletes as well. And that's for Kendall campus and west campus.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: Kendall and West. So you manage both Kendall and West.
[00:18:32] Speaker D: Correct.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: See, I'm learning things today here, Homer.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: I didn't know that.
[00:18:35] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: We do talk a little bit about how our international students contribute to the campus community and to our culture and diversity.
[00:18:42] Speaker D: I think that's a great question. Again, coming from all different parts of the world, everybody comes with different experiences and, and just the way that they handle things, they bring a different perspective. And a lot of our students, they try to get employment here on campus. And I see just in Our department, what a great impact they have. And just working together with different students from different backgrounds, it shows a cohesiveness when you have different backgrounds. Sometimes that's culturally, it's when you work together with people, that's an adjustment, and they do a fantastic job at that.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Can you talk about any of the programs or ways we celebrate diversity in these students here, Kendall?
[00:19:27] Speaker D: Sure. We have the International Education Week. We also have. The majority of our students are coming from Hispanic countries. And we have the International Hispanic Heritage Month, where a lot of our students participate in and take advantage of those events that we offer here on campus.
[00:19:46] Speaker A: That's really good. You mentioned some of the challenges. Are there any other challenges that these students face that our audience would know and how you work to address those, or did we hit them all?
[00:19:58] Speaker D: Oh, we actually have. Yes. We have a Texas story. We have a student who is going to be coming in and you're not.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: Gonna talk about my adjustment from Texas to here? Cause I was thinking about it.
[00:20:08] Speaker D: We can talk about that, too.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: There's an adjustment.
[00:20:12] Speaker D: Yes, There's a student that's going to be coming in now in spring, and she's transferring in from UT Austin. So when we spoke, and she's coming from a Hispanic country, and she said she had the hardest time adjusting, not knowing the language, trying to just acclimate. And she's so excited to come here. She came to visit because a friend is here. And that's where we get a lot of our students, as well as word of mouth. When one student, you know, they come from the same country or they get to know each other on these different platforms and they'll talk about Miami Dade College and say, this is great. Why don't you consider. So this particular student is coming. She had a really rough time in Austin, but she said she goes, the one thing that I learned here is her English is perfect. She learned English in a year and. But she's looking forward to coming here just to have more of those things that remind her of home.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you'll have to introduce me to her.
[00:21:08] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: About Texas when she comes. What advice would you give any of our prospective students on how we can support them and, you know, being away from home, like you mentioned. Any other advice you'd give them?
[00:21:20] Speaker D: I just think for us to really. And I think across the college. Right. For if you come across an international student, to let them know that it's normal to be apprehensive in a new place and that we're here to support them and this is their home now.
[00:21:35] Speaker A: Well, this has been a really great conversation. Before we turn the tables here, is there anything else anyone would like to bring up? Any. Any stories? Because, you know, I really think what you guys do is so important to the fabric and the growth of the Kendall campus. And, you know, currently right now, we're up 10.4% for spring, which is important, and a lot of this kind of recruiting is how we got there. So.
[00:21:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll chime in. I just think it's. It's a good team. I want to give a. Kudos. She's not here at the moment, but definitely our dean of students has put together a family here. So big shout out to Dr. Cassio Vasquez. I mean, I have a solid team. These three lovely women here that are in front of me really put their heart and soul into what they're doing. There's not a time where I cannot reach out to them, and they put their efforts into anything that I ask, and there's times where the asks look a little crazy, and they'll look at me, and they're like, what do you mean? And I'm like, just got to get it done. Like, it can happen. Trust me. And they believe and they get it done. So a big kudos. Everyone stepped in. I mean, from the beginning, Giselle stepped into her role and had a big task in front of her, and she stepped up and has done phenomenal. Maite. My team was there with me through thick and thin when I asked her to step in and said, hey, I need you to do this for me. And she, you know, filled the role, and the numbers are phenomenal.
[00:22:43] Speaker C: Yeah, but the same thing, too. Homer, you got there and you rolled up your sleeves and said, let's do it.
[00:22:47] Speaker E: Let's do it.
[00:22:48] Speaker C: You know, he wasn't. He wasn't that kind of boss that was like, all right, guys, this is what you're doing. You know, whatever I'm doing, it's because he's doing it, too.
[00:22:54] Speaker E: Correct.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: And so Jen. Jen's now here with me now, and she's going through it, and I know there's some growing pains in there, and I know she just gave me a nice little look, but.
But I know that in that first week, she was like, thought for a second, what was I thinking doing this? But. And I told him, like, hey, it's gonna get tough. It's gonna look a little crazy in the beginning, but trust me, it'll be okay.
[00:23:12] Speaker A: Like.
[00:23:12] Speaker B: And, you know, and little. Little by little, we've Figured it out. We've gotten done, and. And she's here, and, like, you know, she's been talking and she's doing her thing, so really just a phenomenal team. It starts from the top. It really does. You know, Dr. Stewart, the vibes that you brought here to the campus, everything's there. You know, the collaborations that we have. It's. It's. It makes its way down. So thank you.
[00:23:31] Speaker E: It's an MDC family for sure.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: It really is. I was just going to say that when I walk through your spaces, I see that, and I see people generally like to be with each other. And the one thing you got to carry back to Dean Vesuvo, we've tried, I think, at least two or three times that she refuses to come on this podcast. She always sends someone else. So I'm sending a challenge out to the airwaves here for you guys to go back and let's get her here. We will have her here in another form, but it's kind of interesting how she always has somebody else.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: She maneuvers her way around it.
[00:24:02] Speaker C: Yeah. But you know what? I will say this, too. Homer and I were just talking about it today how Kesia, we know college wide. People know Homer, people know me, people know Grisel, and people know Jet, and that's because Kesia mentions our names in rooms where we're not in. And so. So you're asking for expertise, and rather than her come here and give you her expertise, she, you know, she taps.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: On her team, and that's what she should do. And I will say the college knows about us, too, about you guys. They know that Kendyl does it. Right? So. So that. That's what I think we've hopefully shown today. Well, we always like to end this broadcast by turning the microphone around. And so if you guys would like to ask me anything, I'll do the best to answer it and open to anything you'd like to ask.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: So, yeah, I think. I know I'm curious, and I know some staff are curious. The kids are curious. When's the next barbecue? It's been a while. It seems like you hung up the.
[00:24:55] Speaker C: Rose for a little bit. You put a spatula away, and that's it.
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Well, you know, we did MDC day, and we kind of did it big there. But the next cookout is on schedule. We're going to do it, I think, the second week of January for our men's and women's basketball team conference, their first conference game. After we get back, we're going to Grill out in front of the gym and then we're going to serve during both games in the gym. And we can't really grill in the gym, but we can make some smoke and noise outside and hopefully encourage our students to come. I think it's the second week of January we're going to do that, but we'll get that out. And I do get that question a lot and it makes me feel good when people know what we do with that. And I think it's important. So we will also do it for softball and baseball separately when their season starts too. So we got some cookouts coming in the spring.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: Yeah, perfect. Perfect.
[00:25:42] Speaker E: Looking forward to it.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Anything else?
[00:25:44] Speaker D: I just wanted to ask, since our international students do have a difficult time transitioning here to Miami, how was your time transitioning from Medical to Kendall?
[00:25:55] Speaker A: That is a great question. So I've been here almost a little over six and a half years.
And when I came here, I didn't know anyone in this city. I always. My wife doesn't like this. But I didn't know a girlfriend played basketball. I knew no one. So when I came here, it was a very big transition. The very first time I came, I interviewed with a search firm and then I interviewed with Dr. Harrison and Dr. Dicio, if you. If you know them. And the next week, Dr. Padrone. So it was like a three week dating process. And they offered me the job in like three weeks.
[00:26:25] Speaker C: And you got the final rose.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: Yeah. And I guess.
[00:26:27] Speaker E: Right.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: And one of the days, you know, I didn't get to interview with the faculty or the. And that really, I didn't. That's not the way I did things in Texas. You know, you always interviewed with your team. So I snuck on campus one day at Medical. And you've all been to Medical, I assume. I got stuck. It was July, it was 100 and something degrees. I got stuck in the elevator in a black suit getting ready to go interview with Dr. Padrone. And so I was like, what am I doing here? Am I in the right place? But what helped me survive were the people at the college, the Miami college, specifically, the medical campus were so great to work with. They're a family, just like we are. And I couldn't have made it without that. And so it was a big transition, though, to your point. And when you were talking about international students, I really seriously thought Texas is a lot different than Florida. And you know, and I think about our students who come from all these different countries and they come and they're just shocked at how huge Miami is. And just driving around this place was an adjustment for me here among, you know, have the Mexican food like we're used to in Texas, right? Homer, that's completely different. It's Cuban, which I love, but everything's different. But now I look back and I shouldn't say this over the airwaves because it's recorded, but it would really be hard to go back to Texas. I've been back a lot and this is home now and this place especially is too, so.
[00:27:45] Speaker E: Well, we're happy to have you.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: Yeah, well, good question. Didn't mean to get too serious there.
Well, I want to thank everyone for being here today. This has been a great podcast. We're so happy that you're listening to Kendyl Speaks today. I want to thank Christine Saenz, our head head writer, Paul Klein, our executive producer and Alex Bellows, our in house producer. Thank you guys for being here today and goodbye for now.
