Beyond the Bell Tower

“It was over there, so we didn’t have to worry about it,” Shelyn Williams who is a freshman at NC State University talks about the start of the pandemic. She has experienced first-hand what life on campus is like during a pandemic. As one of the freshman students who requested to stay when the university decided to transition fully online in Fall 2020, she explains what it is like to live on campus during a pandemic along with the difficulties faced by having had her senior year of high school finish during the beginning of the pandemic as she recognizes how quickly the virus spread in North Carolina and how our views changed about the pandemic overtime.
Miranda Peruesk is a transfer student and senior at NC State who is able to recall what campus life is like for students like Shelyn who have not been on campus before the pandemic, “it was like we lived in our own mini-city, our own social ecosystem”. Miranda plans to graduate from NC State in Spring 2021, she takes to heart the struggles that Shelyn faced as a senior in high school.
Together, these students look at the COVID-19 pandemic as a whole, and what the university and the state of North Carolina can do as we head back onto campus. Recorded fall 2020.

“It was over there, so we didn’t have to worry about it,” Shelyn Williams who is a freshman at NC State University talks about the start of the pandemic. She has experienced first-hand what life on campus is like during a pandemic. As one of the freshman students who requested to stay when the university decided to transition fully online in Fall 2020, she explains what it is like to live on campus during a pandemic along with the difficulties faced by having had her senior year of high school finish during the beginning of the pandemic as she recognizes how quickly the virus spread in North Carolina and how our views changed about the pandemic overtime.
Miranda Peruesk is a transfer student and senior at NC State who is able to recall what campus life is like for students like Shelyn who have not been on campus before the pandemic, “it was like we lived in our own mini-city, our own social ecosystem”. Miranda plans to graduate from NC State in Spring 2021, she takes to heart the struggles that Shelyn faced as a senior in high school.
Together, these students look at the COVID-19 pandemic as a whole, and what the university and the state of North Carolina can do as we head back onto campus.
Recorded fall 2020.

NC State Junior Ruby Shah is a Sombers Neurochemistry Research Lab Volunteer and a previous WISE mentor. Her experience as a science major was shaped by struggles, but with the support of her family, her TRIO peer mentor, and her WISE mentor, she has succeeded and is looking towards going to grad school. Her experience as a first-generation college student is one many can connect to and is an identity she embraces as a sign of her strength and her struggles as she learned to navigate campus and succeed without the knowledge others have coming into college. Ruby shares her own advice to students wishing to connect more with other students and staff during the pandemic.

NC State alumna Roshaunda McLean rejoins us for her second episode of the podcast to celebrate as she gets close to the finish line of receiving her PhD. at the University of Georgia. Tia Canada, a freedom fighter, TRIO Alum and now first year graduate student at NC State College of Education joins Roshaunda to reflect on their similar experiences with impostor syndrome. This emotional episode takes us back to the feelings Roshaunda had three years ago with the added hope and celebration of both women’s accomplishments, the value of resting, sisterhood and their steps forward that will lead to paving the way of a better future as African Americans in higher education. Both women were able to connect with each other through staff and how tightly-knit the community at NC State is. Roshaunda and Tia talk about research projects, and Roshanda’s work in Athens, Georgia about underrepresented populations in higher education including African Americans students and community members in predominantly white college towns. The conversation ends with “You are not the imposter! You worked harder than anyone in the room to be here! You earned this with what you have done everyday of your life.” Recorded in fall 2020.

Esmira Poladova joins Sarah Wright in this conversation, only a month after participating in NC State’s largest philanthropy celebration of the year. Esmira Poladova was one of the select TRIO scholars to share her story with NC State’s top donors. Beyond her role in this event, Esmira unfolds her life story from the lens of an immigrant refugee. She also talks about how she chooses to engage with the world and specifically other individuals on NC State campus, as an individual who has survived and witnessed things that the average person could not even imagine. From engaging in challenging academic conversations to humbly living in “the other world”, Esmira demonstrates that there is always more to an individual than their script, that she specifically is a human before she is ever an immigrant, and that all of her experiences have made for a resilient and wise graduate. This episode was recorded Fall 2019.

TRIO Alum Abriana Johnson shares exciting news with the growth of her company being able to quit her “day job” to focus full-time on Black Unicorn Creative LLC a creative solutions firm that helps businesses in the horse industry establish their digital hoof print and show up for their community online blackunicorncreative.com/. This summer, she was sought out by the New York Times and other media outlets for expertise on diversity in the equestrian industry. Abriana is the author of the Cowgirl Camryn children’s book series following an African-American girl who is passionate about animal husbandry and farm-life and she is a host of the popular podcast Young Black Equestrians www.youngblackequestrians.com/. As an Animal Science major at NC State (2010-2014) Abriana’s passion for horses, veterinary medicine, and being in charge was unbridled. Going to Vet School was her primary goal, however, when she was denied in her first attempt she pivoted and the rest is history!
Abriana wants listeners to learn a few things from the episode:
Don’t be afraid to pivot in your life plan. No one is in control of your outcomes but you.
You can be multi-passionate and still be successful. Figure out how to make your passion work for you.
Balance doesn’t exist, only prioritizing for the moment.
Impostor syndrome is developed when you are living by someone else’s standards and not your own. Create your own standards of success.
Surround yourself with people who are where you want to be, not where you are coming from. Only then can you elevate to the next level. This episode was recorded Fall 2020.

TRIO Alum Abriana Johnson shares exciting news with the growth of her company being able to quit her “day job” to focus full-time on Black Unicorn Creative LLC a creative solutions firm that helps businesses in the horse industry establish their digital hoof print and show up for their community online blackunicorncreative.com/. This summer, she was sought out by the New York Times and other media outlets for expertise on diversity in the equestrian industry. Abriana is the author of the Cowgirl Camryn children’s book series following an African-American girl who is passionate about animal husbandry and farm-life and she is a host of the popular podcast Young Black Equestrians www.youngblackequestrians.com/. As an Animal Science major at NC State (2010-2014) Abriana’s passion for horses, veterinary medicine, and being in charge was unbridled. Going to Vet School was her primary goal, however, when she was denied in her first attempt she pivoted and the rest is history!
Abriana wants listeners to learn a few things from the episode:
Don’t be afraid to pivot in your life plan. No one is in control of your outcomes but you.
You can be multi-passionate and still be successful. Figure out how to make your passion work for you.
Balance doesn’t exist, only prioritizing for the moment.
Impostor syndrome is developed when you are living by someone else’s standards and not your own. Create your own standards of success.
Surround yourself with people who are where you want to be, not where you are coming from. Only then can you elevate to the next level. This episode was recorded Fall 2020.

Toinette, Brianna and Isaiah sat down in Summer 2020 to discuss current issues including the Black Lives Matter movement. They looked into changes at the university and what could be done to better African Americans’ experience at NC State University and what programs and initiatives that could be put into place to make steps forward into furthering the diversity at the university. Focusing on how the university can improve long-term and increase diversity in not only the student population but in administration and faculty positions is one of many topics discussed in this podcast. Toinette, Brianna and Isaiah are also members of the Caldwell Fellowship program and talked about being a member of Caldwell has helped them and can continue to help them succeed.

Grace fantasized about celebrating her graduation from NC State from the first day on campus. It was the graduation ceremony that motivated her to devote every hour of each day to earning her degree with high grades and working three jobs. Her graduation ceremony remains a fantasy as the ceremony was cancelled due to Covid-19 circumstances. Grace graduated in May 2020 with a B.S. degree from The Poole College of Management. She has remained at NC State pursuing a graduate degree in Global Luxury Management. She details her strategies in facing hardships such as physical fatigue and developing her identity as a successful woman. Grace shares her life-long passion for Disney beginning with watching all the Disney movies with her mom in Ghana. She has a deep connection to Stitch from “Lilo and Stitch” as she was mischievous as a child. During her time at NC State she landed her dream Disney internship. How to build credit as a college student to be able to buy a car with no family support is super helpful. The episode ends with her sharing her experiences being hungry and homeless during her college career and developing a support system as she had no family to rely on. Grace will be your role-model for sustaining your motivation and commitment to earning a degree while only having herself to rely on. Recorded in summer 2020.

In the Summer of 2017, Eric Graham shared on the podcast how he had managed personal, financial and academic hardships. In the Summer of 2019, Eric returned excited to share updates only a few days after receiving a job offer from SPX FLOW, Inc. as a Product Manager. Eric recently graduated from NC State with a B.S. in Textile Technology, Supply Chain Operations and shares with us how his NC State experience (serving as a Chancellor’s Leadership Scholar, working multiple part-time jobs, contributing to several campus leadership organizations, and much more) has allowed him to become a well-rounded individual. Eric also testifies that despite some of the challenges he faced in undergrad, he was able to design a unique professional education background in both engineering and textile technology. With lived experience in his toolkit, Eric is now an open-minded and adaptive individual as well as a modern day employee who is equipped to excel in a diverse environment. This episode was recorded Fall 2019.