Hi, everybody. Welcome to Student Stories, our
brand new YouTube page. This is Jennifer Smith,
and we are so thrilled that you are here today
with us. And we are also thrilled to have one
of my very, very favorite classmates, Sariana
Lee, on our first Student Stories episode of
the semester. Welcome, Sariana. Hello. Good to
be here. Hi. Hi. Would you introduce yourself,
please, to our listeners? Yeah. Hi, my name is
Sariana and I am a student at JCCC and I am currently
in a few classes and one of those being a class
that I share with Jennifer, which is Fundamentals
of Acting, which is where I met her. Yeah. So
you are originally from Texas, yes? Yeah, I am
originally from Texas and I moved here with my
family about eight years ago, which I'm really
happy that I have the opportunity to go to the
school. It's been great. Yeah. You have a pretty
unique backstory about your journey to JCCC and
how you came to study here on campus with us.
Will you share that with our listeners? Yeah,
sure. So I was actually homeschooled for my entire,
I guess, 18 years of like schooling. I did go
to like a co -op once, but it was only for six
months and Yeah, I had no experience at all with
public schooling or like private schooling or
anything like that. Anything that's like, you
know, more traditional. And so I was like pretty
nervous when I started thinking about going to
college. And yeah, it was like a little bit nerve
wracking. How long have you been here on campus?
I have been here. Like, I guess it's been about
two months. OK, so this is your first semester
here. This is my first semester. Welcome to campus.
Thank you. How are you enjoying it so far? Yeah,
I'm enjoying it a lot. I think like the first
day when there was like everyone, there was like
people everywhere able to direct us to our classes
and everyone was like really, really kind. And
it was like a little less scary than I thought
it would be, which was, you know, really helpful.
Absolutely. So that leads perfectly into my next
question, which is about having been homeschooled,
what's that transition been like to go from a
homeschool environment to a very big, very public
school like JCCC? Yeah, it's been really different.
There's so many people that I've gotten to meet.
There's so many clubs. There's so many classes.
It's like a little bit. overwhelming with how
much is going on but it's great because you have
so many options so many ways to meet new people
and find people that have the same interests
as you and I really love that because I really
love people and it was hard you know being homeschooled
and you don't get to see a lot of people so yeah
yeah on the topic of people you spoke very highly
in our pre -interview of your professors There
one that has really stood out to you that has
really made a difference in your your short time
here at JCCC and can you share that story with
us? Yeah, I feel like Let's see. I feel like
my composition one professor Danny Alexander.
I feel like he has been Like really encouraging
especially like in the beginning classes Yeah,
he was like He's very friendly and I really like
the freedom that he gave us in our assignments
because we got to pick our own subjects. Yeah,
I really like that. That's wonderful. That's
wonderful. On the topic of the academics, you
mentioned that you and I are in the same fundamentals
of acting class. So shout out to the fundies
and shout out to Aubrey Urban, who we love. She's
a wonderful professor. Are you involved in any
campus activities? Yeah, I go to this board game
club that is in the cafeteria on Fridays at,
I think, 1230. which has been really nice to
be able to like... connect with people, and play
games that I love, and learn new card games.
It's been really, really nice. Yeah, you were
telling me earlier that you went to one of the
games this afternoon after our class, so that's
fun. If anybody should be interested in joining
that group, do they just show up to the cafeteria,
or do they need to send a message to you guys
first? How do they reach you? That sort of thing.
Yeah, so if you want to join the board game club,
you literally just have to come to the cafeteria
at 12 30 on Friday. and just sit down, grab a
game, or join someone else who's playing a game.
It's really easy. And if you're super interested,
they've got other events going, and you can be
added to their group meet. Perfect, perfect.
So you and I share, we share a lot of things
in common. We're both sopranos, we're both singers,
we both love music, and we also love yarn crafts.
Tell our listeners about your love for crochet
and how that came to be. Yeah, so crochet, I
have actually just been learning this year. I
started in maybe February or March, and I started
with knitting, but It did take a long time, so
then I started with crocheting and I really fell
in love with it. And I started making grainy
squares, I started making bags, and I've just
finished my first cardigan, which took a long
time, but I love it so much. You were working
on a bandana, like a white bandana with the,
it looked like granny squares, kind of. Did you
finish that? I did finish that, yeah. Well, you
have to wear it to class sometime. Yeah. You
and I also share a love of reading. Can you tell
our listeners a little bit about the books that
you like to read? Ooh, so my favorite kind of
books are classic, like classical sort of books,
like, I mean, there's, you know. The Obvious
Standout, which is Pride and Prejudice. I like
that one. And I love Jane Eyre. I love Anne of
Green Gables. And then I also get into the more
fantasy side of things, which is like Lord of
the Rings and all of the other books that that
author has written. I seriously love them. I'm
a big nerd. Definitely. I love that. Early in
the semester when I was getting to know seriana
she shared her love with me of pride of project
pride and prejudice Excuse me and the locket.
Yeah, I see locket. Do you still wear that? Oh,
yeah, I should have worn it today, but I did
it I Showed Jennifer my locket that has it's
like shaped like a book and inside is a very
very teeny tiny picture of mr. Darcy from the
1995 BBC series One of my friends gave it to
me for Christmas and I just, I love it. She actually
cut it out of a DVD cover. Wow, very cool. She's
committed. Very cool. We also love musicals.
You and I both love musicals. Oh, yeah, I love
musicals. Tell me about the two that we talked
about that you love so much. Oh, let's see. Did
we talk about Phantom of the Opera? We did. Phantom
of the Opera is one of my favorite musicals.
It's just very dramatic. The music is amazing.
I love the organ. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just the
dramatic. nature of it, the costumes. It's beautiful.
It's a beautiful, beautiful movie. And I wish
I could see the musical, like, in person. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. Believe it or not, I just watched the
movie for the first time last weekend. Really?
And to think that Emmy Rossum was 15 when she
sang like that. It was just absolutely beautiful.
Yeah. Yeah. And what about being in the room
where it happened? Oh, Hamilton. Hamilton is
another one of my favorites. What was like, actually
a really good memory for me was when I first
was in my first few classes with the fundamentals
of acting, a few of us stayed afterwards and
we played card games and we started singing Hamilton.
We started like... us like taking turns one person
would be this character one person would be that
character and it was like the most fun I've had
in a long time because I haven't met anyone Hardly
who loves that musical so it was it was like
a really great moment of bonding for all of us.
I think We have a really good class and we were
talking offline and we've spoken about this multiple
times about how lucky we are to have fallen into
this group of really supportive, really funny,
really kind people. Has that helped you in making
that transition from being homeschooled to now
being in this very public forum? Yeah, I would
say that's like a big part of what makes. being
here so nice and so welcoming and fun is how
friendly the people are in my fundamentals class.
Because I feel like in some of the other classes
they may be just gen eds or they might be harder
classes and everyone is kind of more reserved.
It's harder to make friends, but in this class
everyone is really outspoken and really... you
know loud and they want to have fun and they're
very friendly and we all have this big group
chat where we just talk to each other uh and
uh we we've had we've had a lot of fun things
going on we even like We're giving this one girl
like relationship advice. And it was really funny.
I was like, do you need me to come pick you up?
I can pretend to be your mom and be like, you
need to come home. She was on a date that she
did not want to be on. She was not happy. I was
like, I've got you, girl. I've got you, girl.
It's funny. The group chat, that is so true.
I got a new phone today, and my phone is just
now starting to catch up. And it was like bleep,
bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep. And it was mostly
our group chat, which I love. It was mostly our
group chat. I love that so much. It's so fun.
It feels really good to be noticed and to be
seen. And we were talking about that before the
interview this afternoon. I was sick, and I missed
class, and I heard about it. Not only did I hear
about it when I got back, but I heard about it
on the group chat. So that felt really good to
be included in that. And that has been my experience
here at JCCC is that it's just been a really
welcoming campus and I'm glad that that's been
your experience. Finding people who care about
you is so important and I really hope that everyone
can find a group of friends here that they can
really connect with and they can who can check
up on each other you know yeah we were just talking
about how even though we may not be in classes
in the future we'll still stay friends and you
know that's that's really incredible and that's
the power of i think a community college is that
it unites people of all ages of all backgrounds
um so yeah that that's really wonderful and i'm
glad that that's been a parallel experience um
for you How do you stay organized and on top
of your studies? And do you have any tips that
maybe our listeners or our viewers on YouTube
might be able to use as we get closer to finals?
Yeah, that's good. I would say something that's
helped me is to take lots of notes, like whenever
the teacher is talking. Just take lots of notes,
write down the things they're writing down. I
have found that especially useful with my music
theory class because, man, you have to keep on
top of everything that is happening. Yeah, so
I would say lots of notes. I found that blocking
out two or three hours of just study time is
really helpful for me. And it can be also helpful
after 30 minutes of studying to get up, walk
around, get a drink of water, to really refresh
yourself and then get back to it. But yeah, having
study blocks where you're just only studying
and then the rest of the time you're doing something
else, I think that's really helpful for focus.
Where do you like to study? Is there a place
here on campus that you like to study or someplace
in the city or are you more of a home study?
Yeah, I think coffee shops have helped me quite
a lot in studying. There's this place. It's like
one of my favorite coffee shops It's called ace
coffee and it's in Grandview And that has been
one of my favorite places. They've got big windows.
They've got cheap cappuccinos like in the afternoons
and Yeah, that's been like my favorite place
to study Are there other students there that
you see studying as well, or does everybody kind
of keep to themselves? Oh, actually, I do have
a friend who is studying nursing, and I see her
there quite a lot, but she's not going to the
school. On the topic of your friends, you told
me in our pre -interview that you had a friend
that was already a student here at JCCC, and
that she kind of helped you make that bridge.
Oh, yeah. Share that story. Yeah, she helped
me so much. Her name is Paloma, and she helped
me like... get into school as a homeschooled
student. She helped me set up everything. Like
she explained to me the financial end of things.
She explained to me how to set up, you know,
like counseling sessions. Yeah, she, I would
just ask her questions and she'd be, she'd give
me a very thorough answer. And I feel like honestly,
I couldn't have done it without her because I,
yeah, I would have had to ask so many other questions
to like other people, but. Yeah, I'm really grateful
to her for helping me. And it goes back to what
you were saying before about the power of community.
Yeah. Power of having people in your life that
are there to support you, that are cheering for
you, that want you to win. And I'm again, I'm
so glad you had Paloma and I'm glad that I have
you and I'm glad that you've had that experience
here at JCCC. I love to ask. I guess this question,
this is so fun. Let's say that time and money
were no objects. You had a gajillion dollars,
you had no commitments, no school, no work, none
of that. What would you do? You could go anywhere,
do anything. What would you do? Let's see. I
think I would buy, I think I'd buy a few houses
and buy some land. And because I think in the
future, I would just love to live on a farm,
I think. Yeah, so I would buy at least like a
couple of houses like a vacation house like a
house I really liked with some land and then
I would like go traveling I would just travel
like a lot and then I would buy a lot of yarn
and I would just have all this free time to crochet.
Call me. I'm coming over. You're invited. Thank
you. Love that. Yeah. You met Harper in the other
room before we came in here. She is also a yarn
person, too. So we could probably get a little
club of yarnies together. Ooh, I'd love that.
That would be so fun. I would love that. Yeah.
If you're a yarnie and you're watching this or
you're listening to this, reach out to me and
let me know. Find us, we need a community here.
Yeah, at CupcakeGen1972 on socials, I would love
to hear from you. What advice would you give
to somebody who is maybe homeschooled or maybe
not 18, maybe a little older than the traditional
student about coming to JCCC and what it's like
to continue your education in this very public
forum? Yeah, I would say like... Don't be intimidated
by the college. I think a community college is
a great place to start because you can ask as
many questions as you want. You can get people
to help you. Honestly, I was really surprised
at the amount of things there are at JCCC that
make it possible for people to succeed. There's
people who help you write your essays. They'll
give you feedback. There's people who help you
with math and science. There's just so many resources.
There's counseling. I love how many resources
there are. They make it just as easy as possible
for you to succeed. And yeah, I would just say,
don't be afraid to ask questions. If you want
to learn, you should pursue it because you have
that desire for a reason. You should totally,
totally go for it. Faith in yourself and stepping
forward like that are gifts that you give yourself.
And we were talking about this, and actually
we've spoken of it several times, that sometimes
people don't step forward into their light. There's
no reason not to. There are so many, as Sariana
said, resources here to help you and wonderful
people to walk beside you. Yeah, and you don't
have to start off with like a full class schedule.
You could take like one class. You could take
two classes. You can dip your toes in. You can
take anything that interests you, and that's...
Yeah, that's why I love this place. And that's
true of everyone. I mean, we've talked about
this. We talked about this last semester. I am
in my 50s. So I am a non -traditional student.
We have students here that are my age and older,
which is always fun when I get in a class and
there's somebody older than me. I'm like, I'm
not the oldest in the class. It has happened.
And then we've got folks that are younger, you
know, some high school folks. And we have some
in our class as well. Yes, you do. There's two
of them. Yeah. So. There's a place here for everyone
at JCCC and I think that we are stronger because
of each other. We grow from each other and we
grow for each other. And I just, I'm really,
really appreciative that I've had that opportunity
with you. So I want to circle back if we can
to you being homeschooled. You shared a pretty
cool story about your mom and that time that
you were together when she was homeschooling
you. Can you share that with our listeners? Cause
I think it's... It kind of circles back to what
we've been talking about. Yeah. Support and having
great people in your corner. Sure. Yeah. So my
mom actually only ever got an eighth grade education.
And yeah, she actually dropped out of school
when she was 14. But. She still taught me and
my three siblings. She homeschooled all of us.
And there were, you know, a few things that we
did have to figure out because of that. Like,
you know, all of the algebra stuff that was,
like, pretty complicated. It's not something
that she could really help us with, unfortunately.
But, yeah. Yeah, it was really good. And she
always encourages me to do whatever. She would
have been happy if I decided not to go to college.
And now that I am going to college, she supports
me and asks me how my classes are doing. And
yeah, she just really supports me in anything
that I'm putting my mind to. What a wonderful
feeling that is. Not only here on campus, but
at home too, to have those people cheering for
you and those people really, really wanting you
to do well. Something that I forgot to ask you
about was other musical artists that you like.
You mentioned Fleet Foxes to me and I had never
heard of them until you mentioned them to me.
So tell us a little bit about why you like them
and if there's a song of theirs that you think
I should listen to since I'm new to them. Yeah,
Fleet Foxes is my favorite band. I think owing
in part because of my owing to my brother, because
it was one of his favorite bands. I just love
to listen to it to like, you know, feel close
to him. And I really love them because they,
especially their older albums, because they have
so many choral elements. Yeah, like it sounds
like a choir. They've got different harmonies,
different melodies. Me and my friends would used
to like sing them together and like, yeah. and
hit all of those. Yeah, but I would recommend
their first album. It's like it's really beautiful.
It's like kind of medieval sort of feeling. It
also feels like fall, so it'd be great to listen
to right now. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah, as we're coming
to the end of October. Yeah. On the topic of
music that you love, who else is on your playlist?
I know Hamilton and Phantom are. Yeah. Who else
is on your playlist? Who else is on my playlist?
Oh, I think Tame Impala actually just dropped
a new album, and I've been listening to that,
so that's definitely been on my radar. Yeah,
it's been really good. Song Dracula is really
good. Very good. I'll check that out. Thank you
very much. You're welcome. Well, guys, we're
so thrilled that you were here with us today
for our first student stories segment. Say that
10 times. Student Stories segment of The Messenger
mic'd up our new podcast here at JCCC. My very
dear friend Sariana Lee, thank you so much for
being here with us today. You're welcome, Jennifer.
Everyone, thank you for tuning in. Thank you
to Zach, who is off camera over here, who is
our podcast editor for all of his support. We're
thrilled that you're here with us and we can't
wait to see you back on Student Segments. Have
a great day, guys. Bye.