Campus and Character Podcast - Chaz and Jeriah

In this episode of the Campus and Character Podcast, host David Magles speaks with Chaz, President of the Community Government Association (CGA), and Jeriah, CGA Vice President at Commonwealth University of Bloomsburg. Both sophomores and resident assistants share their leadership journeys, campus experiences, and the role CGA plays in representing student voices.

Both students explain that although they initially considered attending Penn State, they chose Bloomsburg because of its smaller class sizes and more personal learning environment. They credit the strong sense of community and the relationships with faculty, staff, and fellow students as major reasons why they enjoy being at Bloomsburg.

Chaz also discusses his dual major in Business Administration and International Business, as well as his passion for traveling and learning from different cultures. These experiences have shaped his interest in leadership and human resource management.

The conversation highlights CGA’s efforts to increase student engagement, including expanding its social media presence and rebuilding participation in the organization’s senate. The episode also focuses on “The Big Event,” CGA’s annual community service initiative, where students volunteer to help Bloomsburg residents with tasks such as yard work and cleanup.

Overall, the episode emphasizes leadership, representation, and the importance of giving every student a voice on campus.

Transcript

Chaz and Jeriah Part 1

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome back friends. You're listening to another episode of the Campus and Character Podcast, where we explore leadership stories to inspire growth and connect leaders. I'm your host, David McGolas, and I'm with two special guests. Jazz, who is the CDA president for the 25-26 academic year. He's a sophomore with a dual business major, studying business administration and international business with a concentration in human resource management. He's a proud member of the Honors Program. He's also serving as a resident assistant. What else is going on? He's passionate about a lot of things, but one thing he loves is leadership and creative president. Welcome to the show, Chad. Thank you so much for having me. Super excited. Awesome to have you here. Alright, other special guest, Daraya. How are you doing, Durah? Great, thanks. He is the vice president of the Community Government Association at Humwell University of Bloomberg. He's also a sophomore majoring in business administration with a concentration in information technology analytics. He also serves as a resident assistant. Something I did not know about Dryot is that he has professional experience in real estate consulting.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yes, I do. How did that happen? Well, um, a lot of my family works in real estate, and so after high school, I thought that's what I wanted to do as a career, and so I did that for a while for a few companies um that service Penn State students, and then I decided I want to come back to school, and here I am.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Awesome. Well, welcome to the show, Jariah. Thanks for being here. So, can I ask both of you a question? I'm gonna start with you, Chess. Yeah, how did you get to Bloomsburg University?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

So, my initial thought process is you know, for sure I want to go to college, I want to further my education. Um originally, I actually uh my mindset was set on Penn State. After thinking into it and reading more about uh Bloomsburg campus and the entirety of Commonwealth University. Um, I do believe the class sizes and being that more centralized small group learning is exactly what catered to my needs and not so much the giant lecture halls over a Penn State. I was planning on going to main campus, so there was a bit of a size difference from here to main campus.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Just a little.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah, just a little bit, right? Um, I know I made the right choice coming to Bloomsburg because everything here is is exactly what I was looking for. Coming to Bloomsburg, it really opened up my eyes to a bunch of different perspectives, and truly I've met some amazing people here and made so many different connections, and you know, there's no other place I would rather be. Absolutely. Bloomsburg campus.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

That's right, absolutely. Dariah, now tell us a little bit about you. How did you get to the Bloomsburg University campus?

SPEAKER_00 2:26

I think my situation sort of mirrors Chaz's in a few ways. I lived in state college predominantly for the majority of my life, and so most people I know go directly from being a high school student there to moving to Penn State and then studying there. And Penn State's great, and I really enjoy it. I'd say 90% of the people that I'm close with go to Penn State. But I also agree with Chaz when he spoke about there's just there's not as much one-on-one, like it's not as personable at Penn State. Their lecture halls are gargantuan, they are so big. And I think you lose some of that personal connection that you get with the Bloomsburg campus. And I can I'm sure I can speak for both of us in saying that we have definitely found so many connections and professors and TAs and assistants and just all different characters like throughout campus. It's truly been amazing. And I agree with you in saying that this has definitely been the right choice. I I love going here, it's been fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

So you're both sophomores. Yes. Would you be CGA president and vice president at Penn State right now?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

I don't know all that much about their student government. I mean, do you know anything about it?

SPEAKER_01 3:34

I I know that it's it's run a lot different from our CGA. Um, however, you know, there's a lot more students, there's a lot more, you know, student perspectives, there's a lot more chances of outreach, but there's also a lot more competition too. So that's right. At the end of the day, I guess it really depends on how we how we would have marketed ourselves over there.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

But if we did it the same way we did it here, I'm sure we would be somewhere up there. Could you imagine if we both went to Penn State and somehow found each other and also ran together again like that? That'd be crazy. Yeah. That would have been crazy.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Um, Chess, tell us a little about your dual major. What are you hoping to do with that?

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Absolutely. In high school, I I really wanted to travel all over the world. And being able to go to Spain one year and then Portugal, and then this past summer I went to Germany, France, and London. It really opened my eyes to a bunch of different perspectives. And I guess that's the main thing that I want to learn. It's not so much that I want to work in a bunch of different areas. I wouldn't be, you know, against it. I would love to get paid to travel. It's really the fact that I I want to make sure that I embody all the perspectives I possibly can around me. That's something that's very I hold very you know strongly to myself, and that's one of my values. I want to place myself in a bunch of other people's shoes to gain as many perspectives as I possibly can. And you know, the international business portion is exactly where I can get that from, as well as the business administration and concentration in that human resource management, um, managing organizations, help managing people, advocacy and leadership. Those are just things that I I want to make sure that I continue throughout the entirety of my life. And I couldn't think of a better place or route to get there than business administration and human resource management because that's all you do is do with people all day long. And that's exactly what I'd like to do in the future.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

So and that's what you're doing right now at CGA too. Absolutely. We got one request though. The next time you travel, you heard that long list of places you've been. Yeah, we need an invitation. All right. I feel a little left out. All right. So summer's coming up.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

We would like to, you know, if you're traveling, hey, maybe a podcast episode. Right. We'll do it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

We talked about your management, we talked about your leadership, you've done so many different things. Tell us a little bit more about CGA. What's going on?

SPEAKER_01 5:39

So I'm just gonna back up a little bit and talk about the very beginning of last semester. So at the beginning of last semester, Drya, myself, and the rest of the executive board are all brand new to our positions. And this is something that hasn't happened in quite a little bit that the entirety of the of our executive board last year left. Wow and we only were the only person that returned was Jessica Dodge, who is our student trustee. Amazing, one 100% amazing, fantastic. Um, and she has been uh a a major help this year. But at the end of the day, it it gave us this giant learning curve of how are we gonna learn these positions while maintaining the standards that we've had set for years prior. And at the end of the day, I I feel very accomplished and very happy with where we're at. Um just for example, we haven't had a full Senate in several years. The beginning of this year, we had you know, there's only 30 people on our Senate, not including the executive board, and we had over 40 applicants. We had our Senate full, and that's a direct result of how we marketed CGA over the summer at the beginning of this year, and how we continue to move forward. We have a ton of outreach from the students, we have a ton of outreach from the people who are in CGA currently. Our centers are very, very engaged. We have people taking on leadership positions. Um, you know, I'm I'm even creating more leadership positions to make sure that we keep that engagement up. That's one thing I want to make sure that we keep moving forward. Um, we're also getting recognized by the university a lot more as well, especially with our marketing. Um we have a ton of marketing up on social media right now on Instagram, and we started a CJ TikTok this year as well. And we truly are just pushing out content, pushing out content, pushing out content. Because at the end of the day, that's that's where everyone's getting their news right now. The social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. We want to make sure we keep harping on those staples. And other than uh social media and TikTok, you know, we're focusing on getting ready for our big event coming up. Um, I know I've been tackling it, right? Do you want to talk about the big event a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Sure, yeah. So the big event is our signature philanthropic event where we go out into the town and we do so a little bit of cleanup for the town members, and we couldn't have done that without the students who sign up for the big event, and we just help direct them to go to the places they need to go so that they can go ahead and do their cleanup, and then you're finished. It's such an incredibly impactful event. We've been doing it for do you remember how many years? 2010. 2010 for a long time. We've been doing it for a long time, and it's so been so incredibly positively impactful for the people of Bloomsburg, and we're always excited. What this will be our second time now, yeah. Around this time as president and vice president. So things change a little bit, but at the end of the day, at its core, we're still doing some of the same things. Um, and I think we've also learned a lot along the way doing the big event, but overall it's just so positively impactful to the people of Bloomsburg, and we love doing it.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

Yeah, absolutely. Well, as a person who's been in Bloomsburg for a long time, we love the big event. I remember life before the big event, and I remember life after the big event. It has changed the community. It really has, and we appreciate all that you do. We're gonna take a quick break. Stick with us, we'll be right back with more Campus in Character podcasts

Commercial 1

SPEAKER_03 8:42

in a minute. Thanks. Are you looking for a smart way to reach an engaged, media-savvy audience? Become a partner of the Campus in Character Podcast by sponsoring the show. Our listeners include students, faculty, alumni, and industry professionals who care about our campus, our student leaders, and the character that drives all of us. When you partner with us, your message is delivered in a trusted, authentic environment, not lost in the noise. Support the next generation of student leaders while growing your brand. Find out how to partner with us at campus and characterpodcast at gmail.com. That's campusandcharacterpodcast at gmail.com. And let's encourage the next generation of

Part 2

SPEAKER_03 9:21

leaders. Welcome back to the campus and character podcast. I'm here with two special guests. We got Chas and we got Jurah here. They are the representatives of CGA. We got the president and vice president here. This is a very special day. We're also talking a lot about the big event. The big event's coming up here in a couple weeks. Um, before we get to the big event, though, there is kind of a deadline for signups. It looks like it's around uh March 20th. Yep. So if you're out there and you're looking to sign up, how could we go about signing up?

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Well, absolutely. So if you follow our Instagram accounts or TikTok, you'll see that there's a link in our bio that sends you directly to our HuskySync page. Um, you can also go directly to HuskySync and under forms, if you search in CGA, it'll be the only form that pops up. It'll be the big event registration form. Can't miss it. Yeah, no, you absolutely cannot.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

And then scattered throughout campus as well, we do have signage where you can scan a QR code. It'll take you to the same place that he just talked about. So whether you live on upper or lower, you will find a area that you can sign up for the big event.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

That's good to know. I just did a quick Google of the big event at Blendsburg University. Website came up. The cool thing about the website I like is you have all the past events there kind of listed and different information about the past events. What should I expect that day?

SPEAKER_01 10:30

What should I expect in the morning? So, you know, you arrive whether you're an individual or you're coming, you sign up as a group, you go through our first round of check-in. So you check in, you get your t-shirt, um, you go ahead, you pass the info trailer, which info trailer has all the information of where the townspeople are, which houses you're gonna go to. Um, we like throughout the entirety of the actual big event day, which is April 11th, we will be receiving phone calls from downtown and you know, a bunch of different, you know, personal to personal connections being made there. Um, once you pass that station, you kind of head over to the equipment station. That's where we already have all the equipment that you need ready to go. We'll hand you the equipment, whether it's 10 shovels, 10 rakes, and eight of the compost bags. You know, we'll have it all ready for each group member to take and move forward to their job assignments. Before you even get to the job assignments, we have some music, we have a bunch of different stuff going on at the actual event itself in the the Swisher parking lot. We also have the Duncan truck this year. So you know gets Duncan. That is the big event runs. Big event runs on Duncan, yeah, it's a good thing. Exactly. It does indeed. I love it. Once you you're ready to go, you head on downtown, you start, you know, it it's hard to really say exactly what you will be doing because each house is different and each resident has different needs and you know tasks that need to be done. So you could be doing anything from raking, shoveling, digging, planting, maybe helping move minor size furniture, nothing too extreme, maybe weed picking. It it really just depends on each uh downtown resident what their needs are.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Yeah, and it's nice because the community can request help. Yeah. And we're here at the university, we're a huge fixture, and we can give back to that community this day. And this is a great way to just get involved, make a connection with someone in the local community. Um, I have been a part of the big event in the past, and I've done simple things just picking up some trash in someone's yard or doing some raking or doing some organizing in someone's yard. It's really not that strenuous. And you get the cool thing is you get to meet the person in town, but you also get to hang out with all your friends. Exactly. Like you get your friends together and say, let's go. We're gonna go do this, we're gonna just have fun for the morning. And it doesn't last all day. It's not like you're there for 16 hours. No, you're there for a couple hours, you get some donkey, you get a couple donuts in you, you have some fun with your friends, and then you go, hopefully, it's a beautiful day, and you just go and relax, right? Yeah, fingers crossed. Nice. So you're both in leadership position. Can you tell us why you're in leadership positions? Like what draws you to be a leader on campus?

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Yeah, absolutely. I I can start there. Based off my experiences, especially in high school, I've noticed everyone has a voice. We we all know that. There's a voice, everyone has a voice, and everyone's voice deserves to be heard. And I felt as though in high school I saw some of my surroundings and I saw that not happen. And coming to Bloomsburg, I want to make sure that I have the ability to represent every single person on this campus, no matter of differences that we may have. I want to make sure that there's an outlet for literally every single person on this campus, and that's what really keeps me going in my leadership positions, and that's the the main thing I like to focus on in my role as CJA president.

SPEAKER_03 13:34

Man, you have a great heart. That's a great idea. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Try, how about you? I would agree. I think at its core, the foundational element is that representation matters, and that being in positions where you are able to represent people of all walks of life, all backgrounds, it gives you the ability to create an environment that everybody is welcome in. And similarly to Chaz, there have been times for sure for me where I have been in environments where not everybody was welcome or not everybody was represented. And when you're in the position of being represented, or if that environment is favorable to you, well, of course it's good, right? You may not see the cracks in the foundation, but for people who are not being represented or who are underrepresented, there are so many negative aspects of that being in situations like that for them. And I just want to kind of bridge the gap between those so that I can ensure that any room that I walk into where I have the ability to be a leader, that I can represent everybody.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

And so what if we found somebody on campus where I'll walk around on campus and say, you know, I don't feel like I'm being seen. I don't feel like I'm being heard. What could they do? Is there something they could do?

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Could they reach out to you come to a CGA meeting? Yeah, absolutely. When are they?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

It's bi-weekly on Mondays. Yeah. Um one of the very first segments that we have in those meetings. Uh we have the student concern area. So if you have a student concern, you can come and voice it. If you feel as though, like if you want to share, you want to vocalize things that you know maybe you feel as though aren't being heard on campus, that's when you should come and do it in our CJ Center meetings. But also, Dry and I both have CGA um Outlook accounts. Yeah. So uh it's CJ Prez and CJ VP, I believe. Correct. Yes. Yes. And we take in a bunch of emails every day with student concerns and you know, students who want to get into leadership positions, and that's a great way, you know, reaching out to us is we can direct you into you know those those the avenues that you know you are looking for. So that's you know, those definitely through Outlook and coming to our CJ Center meetings 100%. I also have uh my office is over in the fourth floor of care union as well. So I have office hours from 1 to 2 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of every week.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

Excellent. So people can just stop in and see you.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Absolutely. And one thing to add on to what you were saying, Chaz, about coming to our meetings to voice your student concerns. You don't need to be worried about where to direct those concerns because you just tell us what's going on, and then the onus is on us as the exec board, and we will figure out how to direct that concern and what we can do to help you. So you can't do it.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

You just come and come and chat. You mentioned some of your social media accounts. Can you tell us what the the handles are for those? How do we get into those social media accounts?

SPEAKER_01 16:12

So our Instagram is B U C G A. Our TikTok, I believe, is Bloomsburg Student Government. I know we had it to switch it around a little bit. So I believe it's um Bloomsburg Campus Student Government. Uh or might be C U Bloom Student Government. Um also our CJ website, if you literally just look up C G A dash Bloomsburg, it'll pop up for you. For our Instagrams, it's C G A Prez P R E S at Commonwealth U.edu and CJ V P at Commonwealth U.edu as well for our vice president Drya. And we're very active on those accounts and we push out a lot of updates, a lot of outreach. Um, for example, we have four open Senate seats. I'm gauging around you know, seven to eight people coming to fight for those seats. So it's good the engagement is going up, and that's reflecting back to our social media accounts and uh media management this year is is truly off the charts. And you're a work as well.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Because you guys aren't sitting back, you're actually out there doing things, you're you're intimately involved, and that's usually what happens with leadership. Leadership stops getting involved, and then things start to fall apart a little bit. So you guys get a lot of credit for that. I know your media team's doing a great job as well, but yeah, you're also doing a great job. Are there any challenges that student leaders face on campus that we should know about or something we should think about?

SPEAKER_01 17:28

I think in every role, whether you're president, whether you're on the executive board, whether you're just a member, maybe you're a member that's not even that active, at the end of the day, you have responsibility to the organization. Um, I'm gonna focus mainly more on the executive roles. Whether it's CGA, whether it's Bloomsburg Rugby, just an example, whether it's a a different club organization on campus, I think that we can all get caught up in the moment, but at the end of the day, we are all students. We all have hearts, we all go to classes together. At the end of the day, you know, I know Dry and I deal with a lot of student concerns, and sometimes those student concerns maybe um aren't addressed to us in the proper ways. Yeah. Um, but at the end of the day, you know, Dry and I have to remember that people are frustrated, it's a frustrating time, you know, midterms are coming up. Yeah um, you know, maybe faculty are upset too, but at the end of the day, we are students as well. And I think that's the the one thing when it comes to leadership positions that we all need to remember is we dedicate our time, we will dedicate our values, we will make sure that we continue to push forward. Um, but we also have to remember that we're all students on this campus and we all can grow and learn from each other together. Yeah, it doesn't have to be divided.

SPEAKER_03 18:40

Yeah, and we're a community. Yeah, we're up on the hill, but we're still a community. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

So I would say primarily a a big challenge that I think both Chaz and I have struggled with, or not even struggled with, but rather face is that when you're in the position of leadership, obviously you will be making decisions, and ultimately there will be people who are frustrated with you or feel that you made the wrong call for X, Y, or Z reason. And I think a large part of being a leader is going with your gut and deciding what is right based off of your experience and what you're seeing. Not always are the people around you who are chiming in correct, sometimes you just have to make the decision as that leader, and you have to recognize that not everybody will be happy, and when they're not, that's okay. That's just something that happens in leadership. You will not make everybody happy. Somebody will be frustrated with you or disappointed with you, and I think that's happened to both of us on numerous occasions, and ultimately we made the calls we had to make, and I think like 90 plus percent of the time we usually make the right calls. Of course, everybody makes mistakes, but predominantly I think that going with their gut end has really led us to make the right decisions so that we can have the organization and build the organization that we have now.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

Well, you've provided us with some excellent leadership advice. We appreciate everything that you're doing. We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back to the Campus in Character Podcast.

Commercial 2

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Stick with us. Are you looking for a smart way to reach an engaged, media-savvy audience? Become a partner of the Campus in Character Podcast by sponsoring the show. Our listeners include students, faculty, alumni, and industry professionals who care about our campus, our student leaders, and the character that drives all of us. When you partner with us, your message is delivered in a trusted, authentic environment, not lost in the noise. Support the next generation of student leaders while growing your brand. Find out how to partner with us at campusandcharacterpodcast at gmail.com. That's campusandcharacterpodcast at gmail.com. And let's encourage the next generation of leaders.

Part 3

SPEAKER_03 20:45

Welcome back to the Campus in Character Podcast. I'm here with our special guest, Jariah and Chaz. We're talking a little bit about CGA and we talked about the big event. They also shared some of their leadership tactics and ideas behind leadership. This segment's going to be focused on rapid fire questions. Are you ready for this?

SPEAKER_01 21:02

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_03 21:03

So first thing that comes to your mind, you just tell us what it is, alright? So first thing, one word to describe you, Jirah. One word to describe you.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

One word to describe me. I would use the word tenacious. Tenacious?

SPEAKER_03 21:16

Yes. How? Love that. Um, can you tell us a little bit about that just real quick?

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Yeah, sure. I think for me, when I describe myself as tenacious, that just means that sort of I can handle whatever comes at me. Excellent. You know, from left field, right field, whatever. And that ultimately that I can persevere through that.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Love it. Tenacious. All right, Jazz.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

I don't know if I can top that though.

SPEAKER_03 21:39

That was really good. Tenacious. Yeah, no, it was really good. Sorry. Put the pressure on you, too.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

No, it's all right. I'm gonna go and say organization. Organization. Yeah. Yeah. That is one very key point that I need in my life, and that's that's one thing that I want to make sure that I bring to not only student government, but into res life and to all the other factors in my day to day life, making sure that everything's organized and that I have time to. Properly devote my time to others as well.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

So well, if I'm looking for a leader, I want a leader that has tenacity and I want a leader that has organizational. Sounds great. Not necessarily in that order, but they can be in that order. All right. Those are two things I definitely look for. What is your favorite thing about Bloomsburg, Jazz? My favorite thing about Bloomsburg. Besides the CGA.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Besides CGA, okay. Um well definitely uh our students, uh, my peers, the people here are amazing. Uh at the end of the day, that's what everything comes down to is the people that you know who are who are in this environment that make it such a great environment. It's it's truly amazing. The the townspeople, the students on campus, the faculty, the administration, everything here. I'm truly happy to be surrounded by such great people.

unknown 22:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

Dry, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 22:40

I would say my Rest Life community. Um being an RA now has it's just been such a enriching experience, and the community of Res Life and all the people that embody it have been fantastic to be around, and it's almost like forced friendship in a way, um, spending so much time together. So I'd say that was the that would be the most my favorite part of Blindsworth University. It's a lot of fun for sure. Reslife.

SPEAKER_03 23:05

So what's your favorite song, Duray?

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Um oh my gosh. Right now, I guess it would be Break Your Heart Rate Back by Ariana Grande.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Alright, like it. Alright, Jez, how would you? You know, I don't really have any like individual songs that I I really like love love, but I I really do enjoy listening to Tyler the Creator, Bruno Mars, some of those heavy hitters. Those are are are my favorite to listen to. Do you have a favorite show? Ooh. Uh I'm a huge superhero guy. Um I love superhero shows, superhero everything, whether it's Legos, you know, whatever. Um I'm I'm watching Invincible, The Boys, you know, all all the heavy hitters. The new season's coming out soon. So how about you?

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Would a podcast count as a show? Sure, why not? Okay, I really don't say this one, because we know you love that. My favorite. So I'll say my number two podcast. Um I really like Diary of a CEO with Stephen Bartlett. Um, and I listen to it every morning religiously when I get ready. So it's like my favorite thing in the world. I'm gonna check it out. You definitely should, it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

Excellent advice. What's the best professional advice you have ever been given?

SPEAKER_00 24:12

I think the best professional advice that I have ever been given was when I was working in real estate and one of my directors had told me that it's sort of this sort of ties into me saying about me being tenacious and initially when we were talking about uh words to describe ourselves, is to kind of run at things headfirst and to just keep going and that you'll never feel ready. That sometimes just the the nervous feeling of doing X, Y, or Z, whatever it is that you want to go after, is your green light to go and do it. You will never be a hundred percent ready to start that business or to ask that person out or to run for a leadership position with the CGA if you decide to do that. You just have to go and you have to do it, and sometimes you'll fail, and that's okay. Ultimately, the more you try, you sort of build yourself up and you build that foundation until you find what is meant for you. You're gonna fail in life. Yes, that's absolutely that's a guarantee. Yeah, yeah. Chaz, how about you?

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, in high school, the this still maintains personality moving forward, but you know, in high school, a piece of advice my mom gave me, and I I think about this comment like every other day, is that you know, like she told me one day when I got home I was really upset from school. I had a long day, it was it was a rough day. But she told me, Chaz, you're gonna have those days, but you will never and it will never be okay to reciprocate negativity. When people come to you expressing negative thoughts or not expressing themselves in the proper ways, that's that's usually the reflection of other things going on in their lives. And that I think that's something that I knew for a while, but it took me a while to fully understand and grasp that.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

Those are great answers.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

What's your best pizza in Bloomsburg? Oh, definitely OIP, because we dry and I for all of our CJA meetings that we have that we have to order food for, we usually um order directly from there and it's it always comes out fresh. It's huge. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:05

Do you get anything on top, any toppings you like on your pizza?

SPEAKER_01 26:07

We usually get plain for our CJ meetings, but I'm a big mushroom and pepperoni guy. Really? Mushroom and pepper? And I'm a meat lovers guy.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

Meat lovers, I like meat lovers too. Sometimes like a Hawaiian, I think it's bacon and pineapple. Sometimes I switch it up and throw that in there. I actually had Papa John's the other day. It's pretty good. Papa John's is my little guilty pleasure. Because Papa John's pizza is so small, I like to eat the whole thing myself. So yeah. I feel like it's small. Maybe I just eat a lot. I don't know. Favorite place to study on campus, Jazz.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Oh, I so I'm in the honors college, and the like Coming Hall fishbowl area is the study lounge area for the honors students, and it is like dead silent all the time. It's beautiful in there. There's a bunch of you know artworks, there's the the window panes are open, it's very calming, very inviting. And you know, then I'll go in there, I'll walk in, and and I don't think about anything, I just get my work done. It's the perfect setting.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Excellent. Um, for me, I would say that it's the library. I know that's a little bit of a cliche answer because everybody sets at the library, but um grab a few friends, stop at Starbucks on the first floor, go to the library, preserve a room, and you're good to go for a couple hours to get some things done. Great advice.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

Thank you so much, Dryah and Chaz, for being here, for sharing your journey, for your leadership insights, the stories that truly illustrate the importance of character on campus. Listeners, you should follow CGA online. You can go out and Google them, find their social media handles, learn more about the big event. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share it with others who care about leadership and character and education and sports. Thanks for listening to the Campus in Character Podcast, and we'll see you next time. Are you looking for a smart way to reach an engaged, media-savvy audience? Become a partner of the Campus in Character Podcast by sponsoring the show. Our listeners include students, faculty, alumni, and industry professionals who care about our campus, our student leaders, and the character that drives all of us. When you partner with us, your message is delivered in a trusted, authentic environment, not lost in the noise. Support the next generation of student leaders while growing your brand. Find out how to partner with us at campusandcharacterpodcast at gmail.com. That's campusandcharacterpodcast at gmail.com. And let's encourage the next generation of leaders.