Beyond the Bell Tower

Dominick made a huge impact at TRIO being the first President of the TRIO Student Ambassadors. It was obvious he was meant for great things. He recently graduated with a bachelor’s and master’s in Accounting from NC State. Today, he is an auditor with Cherry Bekaert LLP. Dominick’s path was not always a straight line. Within his first two years at NC State, Dominick had been a math major and applied to the Colleges of Engineering and Design. Discouraged is not in Dominick’s vocabulary – when he was turned down for summer internships, he just kept preparing himself for his career. Not getting an internship with NASCAR did not stop him from being a car fanatic.

Clay Chaney is the TRIO resident meteorologist. Currently a TV Weather Center Intern for WRAL local TV station, Clay covered Hurricane Florence and Michael, creating a weather graphic of Hurricane Florence that had over 1 million views and 15,000 shares on social media. In this episode, Clay shares the literal sweat and tears he shed to reach his goal of being a storm chaser. He relied on Greek life, intramural sports, undergraduate research and TRIO to be the first one in his family to graduate college and go onto graduate school. We do wish him luck to reach another goal, winning a championship in intramural flag football.

TRIO Student Support Services and Student Support Services STEM is an organization that provides a supportive community for an underrepresented and under-resourced demographic at NC State – the low-income, first generation students. In this community, students feel safe, understood and supported. Outside of this community, however, it’s hard not to feel judged. Because in a society where social justice has reached an all-time high, with support for marginalized groups like minorities, the LGBT community and women, we still need to have the conversation about why our society hates the poor.
Aalanah Valentine and Riki Dows are TRIO students who know this feeling of being judged all too well. In this episode of “Beyond the Bell Tower,” Aalanah and Riki talk about the stigma society has of the poor, share their own personal struggles with being low-income on an elite campus like NC State and prove to anyone listening that they don’t have to be ashamed of their background. They hope to inspire low-income, first generation students to be proud of where they’ve come from because it’s the reason they’re here today and to show them that no matter where they’ve been, their strength is going to take them amazing places in the future.

Are you a future graduating student? Are you interested in pursuing a graduate degree? Would you like to connect your post-graduate experience to someone else’s? This episode will answer those tough questions and provide clarity to individuals who are facing these issues as well as dating life talk.
Dorcas is a recent graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine, receiving her Master’s of Public Health with a concentration in Nutrition and currently working towards a PhD in Community Health Education at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition Sciences from NC State University when she was an active TRIO leader.
During this podcast, we tackle a series of issues such as student life, relationships, graduate degrees, and more. This is a timeless episode for students at any stage of their career. This episode is very useful for students thinking about or entering their journey to graduate programs as well as for students wondering what college life is post graduation. We also touched on relationships after graduation which is huge for the college student wanting to continue to build their social skills.

This episode highlights the study abroad experience of TRIO student Gabrielle Neal. This was Gabby’s first experience leaving the county as well as first time flying! The road to South Korea was uphill for Gabby as she managed the Covid-19 restrictions for both the United States and South Korea as well as completing all of the Visa applications as well as confirming her budget and financial aid resources. The opportunity to study in Sol, Korea was a top goal for Gabby and she achieved it! During this episode, we tackled student life at NC State versus student life abroad, benefits of TRIO from high school to college, and life abroad.

Andrea Wallenbeck
Counselor, Post Master’s Fellow
NC State University Student Counseling Center
In this episode we tackled multiple mental health issues from a student perspective and faculty perspective. Both Isaiah and Andrea shared their own experiences with mental health challenges and seeking support. The transitions students experienced with Covid-19 and continuing in college has not left any student without personal, academic, health and financial challenges. And the effect of Covid-19 is still challenging for the student population. We also mentioned various mental health resources for students and faculty to use throughout their time here at North Carolina State University. If you would like to strengthen your mental health please reach out to the following resources ncsu.rints.com/, ncsu.miresource.com/ and contact your TRIO Coach with any questions.

Robin Batsuli is a student at NC State University Majoring in Business Administration and an active TRIO student. He completed a Co-Op position during COVID19. During this podcast, we tackled tough conversations surrounding race, professional internships, academics, moving across the country and more. We do a deep dive into Robin’s co-op experience and what he went through as an African-American male in a completely different part of the country.
Many of our students at North Carolina State University go through internships experiences every year, this episode takes a deeper look into the individuals experience during their internship. Are you a student that doesn’t know anything about co-ops or internships? Have you had an abnormal internship experience? Would you get a glimpse of what it is like to take a co-op internship during undergrad? This episode will answer those questions.

Miguel Ortiz-Cruz and his family living in Pender County experienced devastation to their home and lives by Hurricane Florence in September 2018. For over one year, Miguel’s family lived in FEMA shelters while the family waited for their jobs to return and roads could be restored so the family could begin rebuilding their house.
There was a silver lining to Miguel’s experience. In this podcast he shares how he learned the benefits of asking for help and leveraging personal experiences to become an advocate for other college students managing homelessness while earning a degree. Miguel accessed the Hurricane Emergency Grants offered by NC college students as well as all of the assistance NC State made available. Normally avoiding any attention, it was during the experience of living through Hurricane Florence and the after-math he became vocal in the media with local, state and national media.
Miguel graduated from Magna Cum Laude in May 2020 with a degree in Technology, Design and Engineering from the College of Education. While at NC State he was active in the Marching Band, Bellydance Club, and TRIO.

Mohamed is an Industrial Engineering major and is looking forward to work for a Design Consulting Firm after college. He plans to eventually start his own practice.
Fun fact: Mohamed: “I make music and it’s available everywhere! Just search “Shmoneymo” on your streaming platform
Sarah Aljaafari is a Junior at NC State. She has received various certifications for first aid, suicide prevention, and crowd management. Sarah has worked with four departments at NC State spanning from Event Manager to Global Ambassador.
Fun Fact: Sarah is certified in QPR+ Suicide Prevention Training.

In Charlotte, N.C, one of our students has already made an impression in her community. Unique Patton’s journey started in middle school, where she started her journey helping local artist, Tom Stanley, create public artworks for Charlotte’s Blue Line Extension. Unique’s work on the HOME public art project focused on reflecting upon her community and what home can mean to others. Her belief in how everyone is an artist has really shaped her community as a member of the Black Artists Coalition and an active design studies student. She is always interested in seeing how public art can affect infrastructure and people’s views on their own and other’s communities. Now, as a sophomore in the Design Studies major with a concentration in Business Administration, Unique is still continuing her journey by helping on Tom Stanley’s newest installation in Charlotte.
Unique’s success continues as both a peer mentor for the TRIO program and as a winner of the first Communities in Schools Student Innovation Challenge and 2019 Imagine Mecklenburg Student Art Contest. Her accomplishments show the value of community and giving back to the places you call home. Recorded fall 2020.