Campus and Character Podcast

Leadership and Innovation with Warren

David Magolis Season 1 Episode 13

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Host David Magolis interviews Warren on the Campus and Character Podcast. Warren joins from Berlin, Germany, two weeks into a two-month study-abroad internship at Berlin International University (renamed Wildcliffe), chosen to complement his dual majors in biology and political science. He explains his choice of Bloomsburg (now Commonwealth University) after a Pennsylvania school search and says he grew to love the campus through unexpected opportunities. Warren outlines his academic path—biology and political science (pre-law), with minors in professional sales and Black studies—and his career goals in biomedical sales and, later, law, with volunteer work for the NAACP. He lists extensive involvement in groups such as The Voice and CGA, discusses leadership in student recruitment, and describes winning first place and $3,500 in the Husky Dog Pound with “Fold Outfit,” a bag that becomes a shelf for changing in public spaces, including a provisional patent and manufacturing plans. Rapid-fire answers cover ambition, favorite staff, 3D printing, advice to “stand out,” inspiration from Eileen Gu, Tri Pi pizza, and studying in The Voice office.

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Warren.Part1

SPEAKER_01

Welcome back, friends. You're listening to another episode of the Campus in Character Podcast, where we explore leadership stories to inspire growth and connect leaders. I'm your host, David Mogolis, and I'm here with special guest Warren. Warren, thank you for coming on the show. Of course. Thank you so much for having me. And so this is the first interview for this podcast that I've done where someone's been in another country. Can you tell us where you're at?

SPEAKER_00

Where are you at? So I am in Berlin, Germany. Um, it's really fun over here. This is actually yesterday marked my two weeks of being here. I'm here for a total of two months, though. And the study you brought off has really helped set up this opportunity for me. And I'm I'm really excited for and happy about all the work I'm doing here. So, what are you doing there? What is the work that you're doing? Yeah, so I am. Um we'll talk a little bit more about this later, but I'm a dual major in biology and political science. And so I was looking for something that I wanted to have an intersection of that. So I was able to find a great internship with Berlin International University. Actually, a fun little pivot about them is that they're changing their name to Wildcliffe University. And so it's really similar because when I got right when I got there, they're like, Oh yeah, we're changing the name, we're changing everything, but you still have the Berlin International email. And it really reminded me of my Commonwealth journey where I came in with my husky email, my husky.com like email or whatever, and I had the blue I signed up for Bloomsburg and did the Bloomsburg application, and then that transition happened the second I got there. So maybe it's a trend with me. That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's really funny. You have uh a knack when you go to a university, they just change their name. Yeah, it seems like.

SPEAKER_00

But for some reason, my name hasn't been a part of it yet. I've I mean, I feel like I've been scammed over here.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, wow. Well, tell us a little bit about coming to the former University of Bloomsburg, now it's Commonwealth University. How did you how did you decide to come here?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so it was really um a process of elimination. At first, I was like, I can't go to temple because my brother went to temple. I can't go to Penn State because my dad went to Penn State, and I I just can't go the same place as my father, right? And so I was looking for PA schools because they didn't want to travel too far that were nearby. I didn't want anything in the city because I'm not really a city person. And so Bloomsberg popped up on my radar. And at first, it was just kind of uh like general, okay, like I get I guess I can go here, I guess I can just make it work. But I found even within my first month of being at the university, I really started to enjoy it, get involved, find a lot of opportunities that are available at the university that I never would have expected. One of the great ones, for instance, is parking. The fact that that's a thing as a freshman, right? Is a very rare opportunity that not a lot of universities have.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, absolutely. We uh we've done a lot with our parking. We have more parking now than we we've had in the past, so that's good. Um, still restrictions though on freshmen. Like freshmen aren't allowed to park in certain place anyhow. Now, where's your hometown?

SPEAKER_00

Where did you come from? So I am from Delaware County, Pennsylvania, or Delco, as we say. Um, specifically from Garnet Valley. Don't know if you know where that is, but there is definitely a Delco accent that I do not have. It's like the furthest south part, it's the furthest southeast part of PA, but there definitely is like an SNL did a skit um about like you murdered my dirter, right? Like all the Delco accents, but I don't hear you. I know every everyone tells me they're surprised when I tell them from Delco. Yeah, like what? You don't have the accent?

SPEAKER_01

Come on, you gotta work on that. So you came from Delco now, Bloomsburg, that's pretty far. It's a couple hours. Yeah, so how'd you do and a half hour drive?

SPEAKER_00

How'd you find out about Bloomsburg? Uh my dad actually found out about it first. He he was very active in my college search. I feel like that's a dad treat. A lot of dads tend to take that on. But um, he was like, Yeah, like applying here. He had me apply to Westchester too. I didn't want to go to Westchester because that was too close. It was close, so uh yeah, it Westchester was too close. I was like, I know everyone is going there. So it really um it wasn't an expected choice. It wasn't like I I planned to go to Bundesberg, it just kind of fell into my lap, and then it had all the things I was really looking for, all the things I need off the bat, and I was like, okay, I I guess I can go here. And then yeah, it really grew into something much larger later on.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely, and it has turned into something much larger because you've done so many different things. We'll pick apart some of those things that you've done. But can you tell us a little bit about your major? What's your major, and then what year are you in school?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I am now um assuming in the fall semester I'll be a junior. So I have two more years left. And this this major minor part was where it gets a little complicated. I am a dual major in biology and political science with a concentration in pre-law, and then a dual minor in professional sales and black studies. Whoa, what? How did you come up with all that? That's impressive. So it started with um, I knew I wanted to go do my biomedical sales into college. I knew that was the career I was looking for, but I've always had a passion when it comes to civic advocacy and when it comes to law in particular and politics. I've always been an interest of mine. And so I I knew I wanted both majors. So I came in with um political science. I knew I wanted, I just came in with political science. I knew I wanted a biology major. I got that declared actually um this week. It officially got declared, but um, I knew I wanted the biology major. And then yeah, while I was here, I added on black studies because I heard it was just an easy minor to get um because it worked like coursework wide for a lot of gen eds. But I found a lot there as well in terms of not only the incredible community, but also in the work I want to do. And then professional sales minor, it goes with uh biomedical sales. But um, my career path is actually focused in biomedical sales as a career, as a job, as a full-time gig. And then I actually want to go to law school and practice law being a practicing attorney and do volunteer work with that, particularly for the NAACP. So luckily, the Black Studies minor would come in handy a lot.

SPEAKER_01

There you go. Yeah, it all makes sense now when you explain it. But when you first hear it, you're like, What, what? How does that all fit? But great explanation, great idea. Um, it's amazing that you have that much foresight into your future and uh the motivation to go after that. So give you a lot of credit because you're only a sophomore. You know, you said it, you have two more years left. Who knows? You might pick up three more majors and eight more minors, but uh it's a screen.

SPEAKER_00

I don't think I graduated on time with all that. Yeah, right. It's a it's luckily I'm in the plan to graduate in the four standard four years without having to take summer courses or anything outside of this uh mentorship, which actually just made my my senior year is going to make a lot easier.

SPEAKER_01

So tell us a little bit about some of the extracurricular stuff you do too, because you're doing the academic stuff, but then there's a lot of other stuff you're involved in as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I'm involved in a lot of I would I would say um out of the people I've talked to, I would say I'm involved in the most extracurricular activities of students I've talked to. And they range from everything I I can try to, let's see how many I can think of from The Voice, which you know, PRSSA, um, the forensics or speech and debate club, FBLA. There's PASA, Political Science Student Association. I'm in both university republicans and university democrats. I am a part of um BU players. I've done like sewing work for them, CGA. I've always had an active role. Pi Sigma Epsilon, they're a sales fraternity at the University or NSLS National Student Leadership Society and then AMA American Marketing Association, out of the ones I can kind of remember off the top of my head. But I feel like through these groups, I've been able to find a lot more about me, develop a lot of skills that are really important, and I think grow in a way that classroom settings can't really always provide, especially when it comes to university Republicans and university democrats. It's really nice to, as a political science major, to be in environments where you see kind of both perspectives. And I feel like they have to take a more analytical approach and then also kind of understand the other side, which is something we really need. But everything from understanding intersections of business, because realistically, everyone's gonna have some contact with media and journalism somewhere in their business career, right? So understanding a little bit more about what it's like to write from the other end, or everything from CGA, understanding the processes going on in university, meeting people like Stacey Wagner, Dan Noor, that can help me even further how much I know about the university or its history, like Jerome Dvorick or I Eric Evans, right? The work of the foundation, knowing those alumni connections. So I would say all the extracurriculars I've been a part of, while they seem very sporadic and random, and to a large degree, a lot of them are, I think they've all helped me learn a little something more that you might not expect to know.

SPEAKER_01

And that's what college is really about, trying to discover different things about you, learning more things, you're learning unique things. And that's what makes college so beautiful is you do learn a lot about yourself and you learn a lot about the world and politics and how to write stuff for the media. And you're right, because uh I obviously teach in the media field and you're part of one of our media clubs or two of our media clubs, and just to see that connection between media and business is something we're always trying to teach our students in class because we don't make money in the media field unless there's a business component, a business aspect. We have to sell whatever it is we're creating, and you know both sides of that because you're also involved in sales, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yes. So, what do you will say though? I have to give a huge shout out um to Natalie Miller. She's a recent graduate, but she ran advertising for the voice, and she has always been such a leader. And that's another great thing I found at Commonwealth. There's so many standout leaders that you'll you'll find all throughout the campus. So Natalie Miller being one of them, she was she is or was president of FBLA. She helped me with she like in the voice with advertising. And so, because she runs such a slew of things, she's helped me even learn different business approaches. Like before um certain events or before I go up to certain alumni, I'll ask her, like, what's the inside scoop? What did you know about them? What are things you've picked up? And she really has such a business mindset. And even Kozlovsky, or Dr. Kozlowski, Professor Kozlovsky, when he talks about like people nowadays want to see that immediate satisfaction. They're used to Instagram reels telling them what to know right away. And so, even in terms of marketing the voice for all of our pages, for all of our advertisements, for all of our front covers and everything, making sure that you start off with the Kozlowski loves this. What happened, why it matters, right? And he he loves that schema because it's that process of immediately telling people what they're looking for. And I feel like that's something you see a lot in the business world as well is that intersection of sales. You want to be very upfront. You want to tell people who you are, you want to give your 60-minute, 60-second pitch, right, about what you're marketing to them, why they need your product, why they need you as a part of their company, as a part of their organization. It's awesome. That's a great stuff to learn.

SPEAKER_01

And you learned that all in a club, too. And some, I'm sure in the classroom, but a lot in the club. So well, this is great, Warren. We're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna come right back with some more questions about leadership. You mentioned leadership. We want to come back and talk about your leadership style. So stay tuned. We'll be right back

Commercial 1

SPEAKER_01

with Warren. 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 character podcast at gmail.com. That's campusandcharacterpodcast at gmail.com. And let's encourage the next generation of leaders.

Part 2

SPEAKER_01

Welcome back to the campus in character podcast. I'm here with Warren, who does a little bit of everything on campus. He's done uh so many different things. We recognize Warren as a leader on campus. Warren, can you tell us some of the things that you've led, some things you're a part of, where you helped make decisions. We've done so much. So uh what do you got for us?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I can start with a few examples, specifically studying my work kind of a CGA because it relates to university a lot. Everything from I was co-chair of student recruitment for the big event, um, not this most recent year, but the year before that, my freshman year actually. And really reaching out to students, getting those people signed up. That was something that was really important to me. That was something that I felt like really expanded my leadership skills. But then also as a part of CGA, I've actually am now a full-time member of the DEIB committee. I'm the Bundesford representative for SEG committee, but I've been able to work on policies. Actually, um, we we've had uh get permission for me to work on an extended amount of policies. But in terms of some policies that we're working on right now, I was actually the person who wrote the first draft for it. And so I've really been able to kind of declare my spot in the university through these processes that are open. And then even in the community, being a college student, being someone that's very focused on civic advocacy, um, I was in charge of logistics for some of the protests that happened in town for every on everything from like no Kings Day, May 4th, et cetera. And it was nice because I worked with the Sunrise organization. But we're it's a student-centered organization. So it was great working with students to help make it happen. And then also taking that active approach and like from everything from calling the chief of police to get permission to like shut off streets, right? Things that you you don't think would you would necessarily like do in your college career, being able to do that, being able to actually, my dad hate to say it, followed in his footsteps a little bit. Um, he ran some protests and at his university as well at Penn State. He got, I like to say though, he got 40 people at his protests. I had 400. You beat him. So a little different. Exactly. But yeah, I've really been able to get my hand in a lot of different baskets. Everything from um, like you talked about earlier, policy work to even with the voice, right? Some of the top-hitting articles that we've done, especially relating to the Bashar Hale controversy, all the legal work associated with it, and even our editorials about the topic, being able to pitch my bro role in there, be a part of it, and then have that work be published as me and other editors coordinate together to create these kind of finished pieces. And so it was really nice to be able to get involved in a lot of unexpected ways. And I feel like it what one of the great things about Commonwealth University being a on the smaller side of universities is that I've really had a lot of opportunities to get involved, to change manners from everything from like I talked about, policies at the university to just big events that are hosted, the big event that's hosted at the university. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

And now you're also uh part of something called the Husky Dog Pound. Can you tell us what the Husky Dog Pound is and what happened there?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so the Husky Dog Pound is Boomstort's version of Shark Tank. And so we actually had people from all of Kabala, the university there, but um, it was really a fun event and it it curated a part of me that I felt like I kind of had lost in college, which was I've always been very mechanical engineering focused. In fact, for years I thought that's what I wanted to do, and then I realized I want to do it for myself and not as a career for other people, but it really allowed me to access that part of my brain again, and so I actually have um a LinkedIn post about it, but I was able to get first place in the competition with my invention called Fold Outfit.

SPEAKER_01

First place you say first place, you just like glossed over that, like it was nothing. First place out of all the Commonwealth. Congratulations. That's awesome!

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much. So, what did you came with a great little monetary value as well? $3,500. So that was nice.

SPEAKER_01

That's huge, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But um, I invented fold outfit, so it's a bag that turns into a shelf. So it's like the um collapsible shelves people hang in their closets now. I'm sure you've seen them, but it puts it inside of a bag and then it actually makes it instead of being for a shelf, being for a bathroom stall. And so that's the whole thing with having to be a student that I ran track in high school, having to change in public locker rooms that are dirty, that have no real good place to put clothes, or even as a you know, business student, right? Wanting to change into business professional clothes from casual clothes. This thing I actually did this was a little scary. Um, my friend Lexi told like gave me the idea for it, but I changed on stage from like I started in like slides and like shorts on, but it's like very business competition, and then I had all my clothes in the bag, my dress shoes, my dress pants, my dress shirt, and the vest in the bag, and then I changed whilst on stage using it. But it's really nice to have, yeah. But a lot of a lot of college students complain about not being able to change easily for business events. And so I was able to create a product, I was able to 3D model pieces for it, 3D print them as well on my 3D printer, sell pieces for it, come up with a design, then actually get a provisional patent for it, which I was really happy about.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's cool. So, what has happened since the Husky Dog Bound? Did Shark Tank pick it up or anything?

SPEAKER_00

I I actually have been looking into um Shark Tank, trying to get on there, but it's like I need to launch it a little bit more first. But I one thing I've been doing is reaching out with alumni, making more connections um with alumni and even professors at the university actually that have heard about the project project and trying to find a manufacturer that would be able to make this something that I can do a little more full time. And so sincehand, I I've been able to one pursue the process for making it a full like course patent, um, type out some little work a little bit more for the provisional patent. I only had about six pages typed out, and then I had the design photos attached and the explanation of what makes it unique, all that fun stuff. But one thing that you need for the patent is very specific, very in-depth work. And so I've been able to work on that further. And then even in terms of getting into the process of mass producing it, um, initially I cut out the polypropylene sheets, which are the plastic pieces up that are like in the between the shelves. Initially, I cut that out with scissors. And then I actually was able to purchase a Cricut machine and get the designs for the pieces I want cut, and then be able to cut out the fabric and the polypropylene sheets for it on the machine. So getting a little bit more into that manufacturing side and share these designs with other people, having them all documented, even 3D modeling-wise, I've been able to remodel the instructure of the shelf backpack so that way hopefully it'll be easier to mass produce in like different manufacturing techniques.

SPEAKER_01

That's awesome. Wow, where did you come up with that idea? Like, I mean, you said a little bit of it, but like actually to go out and actually do it, you know, like how did you have the time to learn about sewing and 3D printing? And where did you learn all that?

SPEAKER_00

So I've always been a creature of many habits. Um, and so I've always done things like 3D printing and sewing. And it was really in high school that I actually had a class, family, family and consumer science class, but the project was create something, just an invention or something new, like a piece of art out of like unexpected things that helps your life in some way or some shape or some form. And so while most people um met the requirements for the course, I was actually able to go a little bit above and beyond because I saw that unmet need and being someone that changed in the public locker room, right? In the bathroom stall into my track clothes. And so not having a place to put them, one little hanger being there. And I don't know exactly where the idea fully sprouted from. Um, I saw my track bag, which we were given by the university that had it was a shoebag, really. So it had nothing inside of it. And then I saw the little folding shelves I had, and I thought, why not put these together in a cool way and add some hinge? And so I initially made a lot of the designs in high school, which made it a little easier to enter the competition, but I was really able to improve upon it before the actual competition, everything from finalizing pieces to even doing market research relating to it from everything, um, from, for instance, disease infectant rates from people changing in public restrooms, or you know, how many fecal particles spread past the toilet, what percent of the American population says that bathrooms are dirty, what percent of the American population actually changes in bathrooms? Like what groups of people, right? Everywhere, and you really realize it's so many people that use public restrooms to change. Everyone from students to just travelers, people getting off airplanes wanting to change, gym goers, right? People that going to the gym or coming from the gym having to change in dirty spaces. And it really kind of gives an easy way to not only keep your clothes clean, also because of the shelf, it keeps your dress clothes folded, but then also have them all stored in one and have a really easy way to access it and then bring it with you. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01

I'm a gym guy myself. Um, so you can sign me up. You sold one to me already. All right. So I'll take one and then I'll take one for my son, too. My son needs one as well. That's awesome, Warren. It's such an incredible uh gift that you have, and you're sharing it with the world, and I really appreciate that. We're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna be right back with some rapid fire questions. You can stick around for rapid fire questions? Absolutely. All right, we'll

Commercial 2

SPEAKER_01

be right back. 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_01

Welcome back to the Campus and Character Podcast. I'm here with Warren. We just walked through a huge list of things he's done at the university, things he's invented, all the skills he has, and he didn't even share all the skills. I know he has more skills. So we're gonna pull apart some other things here with some rapid fire questions. Are you ready, Warren? Absolutely. I'm ready to go. All right, let's go. One word to describe you. Ambitious. For sure. For sure. That list is quite long. One word is pretty hard to describe you, but ambitious is great. Uh, what's your favorite thing about Bloomsburg?

SPEAKER_00

Favorite thing about Bloomsburg? I would actually say the staff, the people that work there, Jeff Osgood specifically, he's been a great help as president, Dan Noor, all the people in admin that I've had the luxury of being able to talk to. Everyone's been very helpful, very friendly, very kind, and have really been open to giving me a lot of opportunities. Awesome. Awesome. So, what's your favorite hobby? My favorite hobby is 3D printing. I love 3D printing. I love 3D modeling and 3D printing. The idea that I can make fully functioning pieces and like parts and everything from outlets you can make with it, like that you can design that you can print, everything like nice, beautiful structures, gifts for people. It has so many possibilities. It's really cool to work with it and then be able to see that finished product in the end.

SPEAKER_01

Awesome. I need to get a 3D printer. I think that's one thing on my list. Uh, what's the best professional advice you've ever been given?

SPEAKER_00

Standout. Best professional advice I've ever Monica Fabia. She is a professor at the university, but she told me she was trying to meet with someone and he wasn't responding. They weren't setting up a meeting time. So she went to Walmart, she bought a pair of shoes at Walmart, shipped it to the guy, and inside was a low-no saying, now that I have my foot in the door, can we finally schedule a meeting? Right? It's those little things that make you stand out. People love it, and that's the big separation because so many people will have realistically the same thing that you're offering. But if you present it in a different way, if you're someone that's memorable, then you're their first thought to come to when they think, Oh, what do I need for this? or I need someone that can handle this.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

Excellent advice. So who inspires you? There are so many people, but I would say my most recent inspiration is Eileen Goo. Um, she is the most decorated female free skier in that to ever exist. And she actually got a few medals at this most recent Olympics, but she is 22. She goes to Stanford, and while her major, I forget her major, but she takes a physics classes that are outside of her major for fun, for growth, for education. And I think that's something I strive to do as well, in terms of like you talked about the voice being outside of my major, right? Connect with things that are outside, never limit yourself to one path.

SPEAKER_01

That's great, great advice, great insight. I'm glad she inspires you. So, what's the best pizza in Bloomsburg? Got a favorite place?

SPEAKER_00

TriPie is really good.

SPEAKER_01

I like TriPi. That's been one that's uh highly recommended on the show for sure. Yeah, and now where's your last question? Where's your favorite place to study on campus?

SPEAKER_00

My favorite place to study is actually the so because I'm an editor for the voice, I get access to the voice office. And I live in School building in the office in the basement of School. So when I really need to study, and I really need to lock in, I'll go down there, I'll go to the office, I'll sit in my little like back office corner, and I will just like type out everything I need to do. I have a list made, I'll work down there for hours just getting stuff done. And I would say realistically though, anywhere where it's quiet, where it's separate outside of your dorm room, because I can't rest in like I can't work in the same place that I rest when I really need to focus, just somewhere that's separate from what you normally do. Those are the best places because it's random, because it puts you in a completely different thought pattern.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. Great advice. Warren, it's been a real pleasure having you on the show. Thank you for sharing your journey, your leadership stories, and all the stuff you've done. You're an inspiration for many college students and for many people in general. We just really appreciate you. We're gonna have you back on, though. You're a sophomore heading into junior year. We've got some time. So we're gonna have you back on the show in senior year, see where things are at. But we really appreciate all that you've done, and we really love having you at the university. And we wish you well in your internship.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01

All right, thanks a lot. Have a great day. We'll see ya. Use ball.

Commercial 3

SPEAKER_01

Bye. 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 CampusandCaracter Podcast at gmail.com. That's campusandcharacterpodcast at gmail.com. And let's encourage the next generation of leaders.