By SUNY Oneonta
The podcast currently has 7 episodes available.
On November 30th, 2003, the SUNY Oneonta Women's Soccer team became national champions. On this episode, we talk with coaches, staff and players who take us inside the historic game.
Show Transcription below:
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Dr. Morris: My heart rate was up and that's exactly what you don't want your heart rate to go up because you don't have that much oxygen. And I'm expended a lot of energy. I hadn't slept cause we left at midnight. People were getting sick, there were life flights, helicopters coming, picking up people. And so I was daydreaming about how I could get my life flight helicopter, come get me. So, and how can I stop doing this and what a stupid thing to do on my birthday.
Host: Welcome to my Oneonta life, a podcast about everything Oneonta. I'm your host Jared Stanley. On this show we discovered the stories and experiences of the people who make SUNY Oneonta the place we like to call home [inaudible].
Host: Most people can agree there's nothing better than a great vacation, whether it's time on a beach, a weekend in the city, or a trip across the world, it doesn't really matter where you go as long as it's time away from the daily grind. Dr. Barbara Jean Morris is Sunni Oneonta's eighth president and she just started her second year in the position in July. Her summer vacation was a bit unconventional. She decided to travel to the country of Tanzania and spent eight days climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. While many people wouldn't consider this challenge of vacation. Dr. Morris is an outdoor enthusiast and she is an avid skier, surfer and hiker. She attributes her love of the outdoors to her family outings. As a child,
Dr. Morris: I was raised, uh, essentially outdoors. I always like to tell a story. My dad, um, uh, taught my sister and I to be survivalist. And so when we were in elementary school, when we would go camping, whether it's the mountains, the desert or, um, beach camping, whatever it is, we would, he would place us somewhere and he would say, fine tin things and find your way back to camp. It was just, uh, a way that we learned how to, um, look at the surroundings and understand our surroundings and, um, be able to, to think about where you were and how you could survive, uh, at any given time. So outdoors was always part of our life.
Host: You may be wondering why Kilimanjaro, what was the draw to this particular mountain?
Dr. Morris: Yeah, so Kilimanjaro it's been on the list for some time and partially because it's one of the big mountains, but it doesn't have a lot of the mountaineering technical side. I mean I have done technical, um, climbing and I've done rock climbing, but it wasn't Everest or that type of commitment that you're going to have to be there for months. So, um, Kilimanjaro just is, has that more accessible way. They call it a walkup. But, um, I didn't really think it was a walkup. It was harder than a walkup.
Host: Climbing Kilimanjaro requires hikers to be an extremely good shape. Dr. Morris is a regular at the campus gym at 5:30 AM but she realized that her workout routine needed a boost. Come to find out the Hills of Oneonta were the perfect match.
Dr. Morris: So I had this, uh, kind of walk, run, um, loop that I did. So it starts over by the tennis courts. There's a very steep Hill to the Memorial Hill and to the upper, um, soccer and rugby fields and kind of come down and go down, um, the cow path. And then we'd go all the way into town. Then we'd do the Hartwick stairs and come back and then go up Clinton street and then come back up that, um, that other Hill. So those, because they're such steep grades, um, both going up and down and that was really the mimic, um, many of the steep grades, um, throughout the eight days of, of tracking. So, uh, I would say Oneonta is a very good place because of the, the Hills and where SUNY Oneonta is situated is, is great. So all of our students that, um, do the cow path, uh, on a daily basis that they're ready to go to Kilimanjaro
Dr. Morris: first four days. You start actually at, um, a rain forest and then your, the route I took, you're kind of always going around the mountain. So the day before when I saw the camp, you look up and I asked my guide, I said, we're not going on that wall our way. And he said, yeah, that's her going. I said, well, where, where's the trail? I'm afraid of Heights. So, uh, so it adds this layer of, of anxiety, um, on there. So there's this place where he called the kissing rock because you are kind of just moving across and there's um, very little ledge there.
Dr. Morris: The first summit is when you hit the REM, it's over 19,000 feet. You go through this time period. So the sun was just a, um, coming up. So I started, um, summit day at midnight and most of those hours of it was a clear night watching the moon. Um, you know, on one side kind of go over and that was my to, you know, looking how, how long am I getting closer? Am I, am I getting there? Um, because it was very cold and it was about 10 below zero. And um, you couldn't stop at all because of the cold
Host: at this point in the Trek. The exhaustion and sheer enormity of the physical and mental challenges she encountered started to set in. Dr. Morris continued to push through
Dr. Morris: that very beginning of summit. I was afraid because I'm afraid of Heights. I knew that it was an exposed area. Um, so my heart rate was up and that's exactly what you don't want your heart rate to go up cause you don't have that much oxygen. And um, expended a lot of energy. I hadn't slept cause we left at midnight and so I get past that section and I'm just exhausted. I'm just, Oh my gosh, I'm so tired. And my upper back started to hurt part of the time, that first kind of hour, hour I was daydreaming because people were coming down. Um, people were getting sick, there were life flights, helicopters coming, picking up people. And so I was daydreaming about how I could get my life flight helicopter, come get me. So, and how can I stop doing this and what a stupid thing to do on my birthday.
Dr. Morris: So I was all this and I came up with a plan of altitude blindness cause I figured I could fake altitude blindness and then they won't know and they can come get me and this will be great. And then I spent, you know, another hour debating the ethics of, you know, faking altitude, um, blindness. So then I was wondering, is this worse than childbirth? And I think it is. And so, I mean, your mind does all these kinds of things as you're, you know, going up out the toot and the fatigue and the mental, um, versus the physical and say, son, getting closer to that first REM of the volcano, that first summit, and you could see it and it was there and you're going, there it is. You know, there's the first, and then you had this very loose scree and it's like quicksand and you're just, every step you take is your, you know, your boots going into this, you know, just very loose gravel and you're pulling yourself up and say you get to this first REM and it's, that's when the emotion hits.
Dr. Morris: You just have this kind of just outburst of emotion that you've made it to this place. But then you have 220 meters to go and it's still an hour. And that's the kind of remarkable thing is it's only three miles from summit camp to the summit, but a 4,000 foot elevation change. Oh, you'd get finally to summit and then you take a picture. I mean that's the kind of thing that's like, okay. And then, then you go down. Um, they, they don't let you stay up there very long because you're at such high altitude. So essentially I had a guide and then I had another um, guide, take each of my arms and we ran down the mountain and in this kind of very loose scree and you know, I would either be sliding or her running and then I would be yelling rock. There's a rock ahead.
Dr. Morris: And then I'd be jumping over rocks. And at that point in time, um, I had frostbite on my toes and a little bit on my fingertips. And so the pain of the, my toes was starting to kick in because they were fine out. So by the time I get to summit, I still have eight miles to go that day down to the next camp and another eight miles the following day. And last day kind of hiking out. I couldn't even wear my hiking boots and I had TIVA sandals and socks and it was very muddy. And the vertical grades and um, that you'd go both up and down were, were very steep. So that was, those were the painful days.
Dr. Morris: it was great. It, it reminded me of my first real, um, vacation and forever, I mean a really long time. This was, uh, just a chance to kind of be in nature, um, you know, see, uh, different landscapes, but um, be quiet and have that, um, both a physical, um, push of pushing my physical limits but also that kind of space to think and reflect and digest. I mean, being here for a year and the role and, and, um, everything that being a president of such a great university entails and means, uh, I was able to kind of process that and think about the future. So that really just then energized me and, um, invigorated me.
music:
Host: that's all for today's episode. If you want to learn more about Dr. Morris and see photos of our hike up Kilimanjaro, check for a link in the show bio. I'm Jared Stanley. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of my Oneonta life.
Denis Muganza: Oh, I remember going back home and people, I was in the plane and people are like, wait, are you that guy who wraps in the, you know, it was cool, like it's, if someone yelled my name across a airport in Brussels, which is weird but interesting, you know,
Host: welcome to my Oneonta life, a podcast about everything Oneonta. I'm your host Jared Stanley. On this show we discovered the stories and experiences of the people who make SUNY Oneonta the place we like to call home. [inaudible]
Host: music is a huge ingredient in the college experience just as much as pizza pulling all nighters, spring break. For some students, music plays a much larger role in their life. It's part of their personal identity and is the driver of who they want to be and where they want to go in life. Today I'm introducing you to Dennis Muganda, a musical artist from Kigali, Rwanda, and a 2017 graduate of SUNY Oneonta. I got to know Dennis during his time at Oneonta and learned about his life as an international student. His aspirations as a musician and what he was going to miss most about his college experience. Dennis's time at Oneonta started with his trip to campus, which was a bit longer than the typical Oneonta student when he boarded a plane from Rwanda heading across the globe to the United States.
Denis Muganza: It was my first time in the United States and the first place I Atlanta doors and JFK and you know, I went to New York city and it was the biggest city I'd ever been to and towns, a little overwhelmed. And then the next day I was in Oneonta, which was a huge contrast and I didn't know how people were going to, if people were meant to be nice to me or you know, if they're going to think of me as a foreigner and not to want to be friends with me, but it all turned out great.
Host: Adjusting to life in college is a challenge for most freshmen students. And even more so as an international student, even though Dennis is from across the globe, he and many other Oneonta students have one thing in common, a love for music. Back in Rwanda, Dennis began his music career when he was 13 years old when he produced his first song by age 17. He was an avid performer and event organizer and formed his own music label, dark matter entertainment.
Denis Muganza: I just wanted to increase my chances of succeeding really. So I did everything that I could and like starting recording studio days and not the same as here cause I'm here. Oh, every other student has a recording gear, you know. Whereas there, um, not everybody is privileged enough to have a recording Mike or you know, any of the interface or even a laptop, you know. So I had that. Then me and my friends just tipped in like 10 bucks every, every month. Five of us that add up to 50 bucks. Believe it or not, they could actually rent a room this big, you know, you know, I ended up for a month, you know, so it was like, of course not in the best neighborhoods, but we'd still go and get every sound soundproof displays ourselves, camera and everything. And Hey man, the recording studio, I knew it was a lot of fun
Host: as a student. Dennis looked for ways to become involved in the campus music scene, but he found a lack of diversity in music styles amongst student musicians.
Denis Muganza: As much as I like all genres of music, everybody on campus seemed to have a similar style. They all had the guitar that they just pop out and start playing and singing a little bit like, um, some version of John Mayer, the most part at least that was the stereotypical on the Ontario musician, you know. So I was personally a little bit disappointed cause I, I didn't hesitate. I went to all the clubs, I went to the music industry club, I went to the songwriters club and that's all they saw. And they felt like a, not fit in, but they said this is New York even though it's Oneonta, New York is New York, which is where hip hop, hip hop came from. New York, you know, at least anyway, they will can tell you that New York, LA is probably where hip hop came from. So it has to be some rappers out here.
Host: Fast forward three years and Dennis has a large list of accomplishments. He was cofounder of the Oneonta hip hop collective and had the opportunity to open for international artists. Big Sean during Oneonta's fall concert.
Host: his biggest accomplishment is releasing his first album African and has been touring throughout New York state and Canada.
Denis Muganza: and it was fun, successful. Um, I remember at the time we only got maybe two dozen people at each show, but I've noticed since I went back to Montreal again, I got 50 more people than I got 10. That's the whole point of doing this store is trying to gain a larger following. I remember going back home and people, I was in the plane and it's, people are like, wait, are you that guy who wraps in the, you know, he was cool. Like it's someone yelled my name across a airport in Brussels, which is weird, but it's interesting, you know, so it's good to see that at least I'm having some sort of impact. Um, I'll say that I'm not where I wish I was. I wish that I was graduating and didn't have to worry about getting a job because my music was that popping. But unfortunately, you know, I'm not there yet, but I'm not discouraged. I think everything is a work in progress. It's a step by step
Host: graduation, a time to celebrate accomplishments and to reflect on his time spent here at Oneonta. What's the best way to do that by creating an Anthem to own [inaudible]
Denis Muganza: I love college. I love taking every weekend. I love chilling on the evening. I acknowledge that I'm here for a reason. All this knowledge I'm receiving, but this book that I've been reading saw wrong and I noticed now this thing in my dorm man. Then I'll be gone, gone from this place where I say I be long, but now
Denis Muganza: it's cause of Oneonta. It's very homey and people when you get here sort of and belong and just have your own unique perspective and I felt the need, especially being slightly outside, um, average person who comes to Oneonta, I felt they needed to sort of tell my story and how I thought about it. And if you say a song, it's really from a senior's perspective, it's not from the whole freshmen. I'm so excited to be here type of thing. I tried to go for a nostalgic sound, so I was trying to make a song that people can listen to many years after. We know we all leave. So I hope I did that.
Host: with a couple of weeks to graduation. Dennis is trying to figure out what the next step in his life will be. It's an issue all students have to deal with. But as an international student he has to figure out where his next destination will be. Just,
Denis Muganza: yeah, I got a letter from immigration that said, Hey, your student visa expires May 30th you got a two month grace period. So it's like I might end up in a job here. I might end up anywhere in the world. I might just go back home. What I'd like to do the most is actually stay here cause I feel like, especially in the music industry in New York, New York city in particular, there's so much potential and they feel like I have the drive and determination to make something big. But regardless, I feel like no matter where I end up, I'm still gonna make it in my own way. And especially cause the world is so, it's a different world nowadays. You know, it's so globalized. It doesn't really matter where you are.
Host: with Snapchat and Instagram, students will stay connected long after graduation. The memories of college and the relationships made will last a lifetime. Any parting words for Oneonta?,
Denis Muganza: That's too much to put into like a sentence or two and this, there's a lot of emotions I felt here. You know, I've been, I've had some of the greatest times in my life. You'd like things I never thought were possible have happened here. Like, take me back to 2011 you know, there's no way I'd have thought that I'd opened for this people. And how many years? Five, six years ago. Oneonta has given us the opportunity to be anything we want to be. Yeah. Just keep it up, I guess, do it for the next generation.
Host: So where is Dennis in 2019? He's back in Rwanda and he's performing under a new stage name Kanaka. To learn more about Dennis Muganza, visit his kanakarw.com. I'm Jared Stanley. See you next time.
Ohh there’s a bald eagle right here. You see him? Counting down the ridge? Plenty of those today.
If you’re a student at Oneonta, most likely, you have a hobby. Maybe you have a love for sports? Music? Knitting? The top player of Can Jam in your residence hall? Even if you don’t have a hobby, there are over 150 clubs on campus for you to explore.
Today, we’re going off campus to meet up with our next guest.
“My name is Kyle dudgeon. I'm counting hawks up here at Franklin Mountain Hawk Watch.....enjoying a nice cold early winter day, early December day.”
Vo: You hard that right. He’s counting Hawks. Today, he’s also on the lookout for the Golden Eagle. Kyles is a wildlife photographer and avid birder, and volunteers his time, counting hawks, in between classes.
“So I'm actually working for the Delaware/Otsego Audubon society. I was a sophomore, I transferred here, so I just came up here one day and got involved with everybody and uh, you know, it took a year of coming up here in the fall during Hawk watch season and then eventually I was vetted and I became a counter. So this is my second year, um, being a fall counter. It's been fun.”
Kyle’s interest in birds started when he was in high school, when his family introduced him to the local hawkwatch in his hometown of Warwick, NY.
“all through high school I was going up there and I got really interested in hawks and birds of prey. It's like a big thing in the fall. I got really involved in, the birding really came from that. I, my friends used to joke with me, I could care less about, you know, a little tiny songbird or whatever it may be. Back when I was, you know, first getting into this because I was so interested in seeing eagles and hawks and falcons and all that exciting stuff, But I guess in the past couple of years, i it's really become like a passion for me.”
“So the first thing I'll always do is just throw in my binoculars because it takes probably 10 minutes to get ready and, uh, any bird can sort of pick up and start flying in those 10 minutes. So it's important to, you know, be ready and be on a watch. But then I'll set up my scope, get the cameras out, um, you know, take my first set of data through data sheets on a clipboard and maybe drink a little coffee and, uh, yeah, I can get on with the day.”
Every hour, Kyle documents the weather conditions on the mountains, such as wind, temperature, and barometric pressure. Today, its been snowing for most of the morning, and visibility is low.
“Yeah, well, today's cold, um, typical of early know or December either. Um, we have northwest winds today, which is really good for migration. And on a typical year we'd be seeing lots of Golden Eagles today. Um, but this year has been not so typical.”
Franklin Mt. Is known to be the best location in NYS to spot Golden Eagles, as they migrate south for the winter. During the fall season, they can be seen daily basis. However, October 28th, 2018 was a day to remember for Kyle and bird enthusiasts from across the state.
Kyle Dudgeon:
"October was a, was an odd month. We had record numbers for an entire season in the month of October alone. Um, and then of course the Big Day of 10/25, 128 (golden eagles)which was pretty miraculous. I was here for an hour and saw a 20 and then had to go to class. But, um, I was happy for those people to all get those spirits."
"when I was here, there was probably 15, 20 people here, not including the counter. So it was a pretty good crowd for sure. And they were all very surprised and very happy when they went home."
As the snow continued to fall, Kyle decided to call it a day. The data he and other counters collect from Franklin Mountain is sent to the Hawk Migration Association of North America, and will be used to gauge the health of the hawk population and help paint a bigger picture of the health of our environment.
There are indicators for the overall health of our ecosystems our environments, especially now with climate change here and present. Um, we need to pay attention to things like birds and see what they're doing. Why are they moving earlier? Why are they not nesting here when they used to nest here for the last thousand years, whatever it may be. Um, so that's, that's why it's important aside from it being a hobby and whatnot. But luckily today we have databases like E- Bird, you know, people go out and just bird every day and they'll record what they see and that now can be used for science. So they call it citizen citizens science. Um, you know, this is citizen science too. I'm a volunteer. It's just people going out doing what they love and it contributing to the bigger picture.
So what’s next for Kyle after graduation? He’s off to Montana to manage the Bridger Mountains Hawkwatch and is pursuing his passion of photography. If you're interested in learning more about Golden Eagles check out the links in the show bio. For My Oneonta Life, I’m Jared Stanley, see you next time.
The podcast currently has 7 episodes available.