**** Producer's Note: The following is a general transcript of LCC Connect's weekly radio program. Contents include but may not be limited to podcasts, program imaging, announcements, and PSAs. More detailed and accurate transcripts of the podcast episodes featured in this broadcast can be found at LCCconnect.com or by following the links provided in the show notes of this episode. ****

It's time for Stars on Sport, a.

Podcast radio show dedicated to sharing stories about our athletic program at lcc. Past and present.

Lansing Community College athletics has a strong tradition. 25 national championships, over 190 all Americans.

19 MCCAA all sports trophies.

Stars on Sports will introduce you to individuals that have contributed to our program success and give you the backstory on what it takes to develop it.

We'll also dive into and break down the topics and issues facing athletic department across the nation. And right here at lcc, this is Starz on Sports.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Stars on Sport. Today I'm joined by our assistant athletic director, Steven Cutter and our producer, Dallian Lowry. And as we record this gentleman, Happy New Year. It's our first recording of 2025 and that is crazy that we're talking 2025. Just seemed like Y2K was yesterday and now it's a quarter of a century away. Had a great 2024. And so today I'd just like to talk about 2025 sports trends. Goal I'm not a big goal setter, and maybe that's part of my problem. When I reflected on this podcast, I think I work hard, I think I'm busy. I don't think I'm always productive and maybe because I don't have that goal setting. But the one thing I have learned, and partly from you, Coach Cutter, is scheduling calendar, putting my things on a calendar. And as I reflect, I think they can be intertwined. That is almost like goal setting because you're putting something down that you want to accomplish or get done and it's helped me be more productive. So as we talk about this podcast and looking forward to 2025, I don't want to, you know, necessarily get into goal setting, although I did list something that I would hope to accomplish personally and professionally this year. But are either one of you like New Year's resolution goals kind of people?

I don't. I think, yes, I do try to set a lot of goals because I think goals can be pretty important, but they can also be one of those things that aren't great as well. Because you can set a goal and then you wake up the next morning and you're like, oh, I didn't stack any bricks on the way to that goal, you know, and so it can be. Goals can be a really negative thing too. I think it's kind of to each their own, but you should set some type of marker that you want to accomplish. And I really, you know, we've talked about Telescopes and microscopes. I feel like it is very challenging for all of us to set goals that are just for a year. It's such a long period of time, and there's so many things that are going to come into play that you're going to have to work through with resiliency and things like that, that it's easier to set goals maybe for the day or for the hour or for the half a day, things like that. And you'll have probably a lot more rewards out of that piece. So I think, like, for myself, I'm really more focused on this this year, on impact over accomplishments and really watching the ripple effect of what that impact can do and not getting tied into accomplishments, whether they're team accomplishments or my own accomplishments.

Okay.

Yeah.

I can't say I'm really a resolution guy. I will say that this year I decided to work on a skill, and that is specifically better listening, which you would think doing what I do, I would be pretty good at that. But occasionally I find myself in situations, especially in personal life, where I'm just. I'm realizing I'm not listening. I'm thinking about goals, I'm thinking about other things. I'm distracted with other things that I shouldn't be. And so I decided to make better listening a priority for myself.

I like that. Actually, I might take you up on that. Not on listening, per se, although I think our whole society need to work better on listening. That's a whole other.

Well, and there's a lot of truth to that because there's a lot of distraction that we all have now.

But I think it also reflects our society of even, like stop signs, as we talked about before, people are not stopping because they're already going. And I think with listening, people are already wanting to respond. So they're not listening. They're not listening to hear. They're listening to respond that they're. They want to give that next answer before you're done talking. So we don't. Don't listen well, which, again, stop signs. We've talked a number of times on this podcast. Gentlemen, today, with my best reverse parking.

In my life, I had to park.

Between two cars, and I wasn't gonna do it. I did it and it was. It turned out well. And not even too many turns. So I don't want to digress.

Well done. Well done. Regarding the goal setting, though, I find that goals tend to be very fluid. Whenever I set a goal, so I set a goal, and then all of a sudden I'm going to Maybe I need to go a little higher or maybe I need to bring that down. The other thing that you mentioned where I would recommend to anybody because you said that you get caught up into the day to day activities. And I do that all the time. So last year what I did is I incorporated into my work calendar where I just put a little entry where like things, the big enterprise type projects, things that I really want to get to, but I just can't ever seem to get to that. I at least dedicate a half hour of that, maybe an hour of that every week. And I just put a reminder that no matter what's happening, I block off that time and this is my time to work on this project.

That's another good one because I feel I struggle with that too. Getting to. I'm so busy doing the day to day like things, I don't have an opportunity to work on those bigger vision items I have for our department. And I do schedule them sometimes just again with the interruptions and that. So another good tip. Well done. You're on Fire in 2020, 2025 of helping us be better. So, but back to, you know, even what Coach Cutter said about stacking wind, that is, you know, when, when researching goal setting, those are some of the things, you know, like one of my, one of our, I think favorite things is from the Admiral that said make your bed every morning and, and we do that at home. And it is stacking a win and a goal, you know, starting the night before that you know you're going to do it and then getting something accomplished. That goal setting does help you focus because you have something to work towards. It does help with determination that you do have to work towards something. And then if you measure it and do well, it can be those stacking wind that we have talked about. So I think there is a lot of merit to goal setting. I think like you said, it's different. Both of you have different people and how you phrase it or how you, how you word it. But you know, one of my favorite things, and I might have shared this on a podcast before, but I use it all the time. It's one of my favorite memories. In athletic administration, we were at a student leadership summit and the presider in the room had all the students take out a piece of paper and write down as many numbers as they can in 30 seconds. I don't know if it was 30 seconds or not. So everyone's writing down numbers. And then she went around the room and how'd you do it? And then she had them do it again. And you should see the significant improvement. Now, they knew that they needed to do better because the first time they didn't know what they were doing. They were just writing down numbers, but then they had a goal in front of them. And so if they wrote 1 to 30 the first time, they wrote 1 to 76 the second time. And it was a real good example about goal setting of the differences between the two of just writing one, however, in 30 seconds and then trying to beat that number the second time. So that's always stuck with me. It's an example I use all the time. So. But yeah, so for me, I don't. I mean, I need to. I like the skill one. I will have come up with a skill one for our next. Our next podcast. And you talked about impact. That's a great example. You know, in our business, you get stuck on winning and don't get stuck on it, but that's what a lot of people's goals are. Win, win.

How you're judged.

It is. And it's a measurable thing you can see on the scoreboard. And I want to win. I want to compete to win. So, as we've told before, usually our number one objective is to win the all sports trophy, and we're halfway through the year and, you know, we'll be in contention for it. And I think, you know, we'll hopefully in a good to earn that. But, you know, the word that stuck with me are like, like the impact and skill is, you know, take risk challenge, not, you know, thinking, doing the same thing every day. You're not going to get this. You're going to get the same result. So back to even doing those things that will help me be better, because as I've told before, be better. The general goal I use every day is just be better than yesterday. One of my favorite shirts is Beat Yesterday.

It's hard to do, but if you do, it is a mindset. But if you do focus on, you know, kind of the theory behind plus one, where, you know, it's really small stuff. It's. It's not the, the super large stream, but it's the, the small things. And through those small things, it could be, I just picked up a piece of garbage in the hallway and threw it in the trash can that was, you know, seven feet away. Plus, that's a plus one. And that's what winning looks like. And that's how confidence starts building. And you just go through your day stacking these really, really small Bricks. And at the end of the day, if you do that for one full day, you'll sit there and say to yourself, that was a pretty solid day. And, and it's not the fear of how do I get 1% better tomorrow or 2% better tomorrow. It's just like I'm just gonna keep plus one and I'm gonna push my chair in when I leave the room plus one. You know, it's that kind of mindset. So you're stacking all these wins, which then builds confidence. And we all know that people that are confident can accomplish a lot more than people that are questioning and full of self doubt.

And I like the plus one because I do that. I'm a list person. So every day I write a list of things that I like to get done. And I've done every leadership personality test out there. And one of mine is achiever. So when I check something off, I'm excited. And if I check off the whole list, you'll see me stand up and dancing in my office and doing this. No one does see me, but it does give me energy. And those lists never seem to end. I mean, at the end of the day, even though I checked four or five of them, I've added more to the list. But it is crazy what little things can do to help move you forward or excite you to move on to that next task, which is similar to sports. And being successful in sports. And as we start new season this week or start new semesters in the next week, that's important too. Getting confidence early and building on, you know, it's a tough transition in college from high school and now kids figuring out how to be successful in the classroom. And now a long season to check things off. And I think we forget that sometimes because again, we get too caught up on the big picture of the scoreboard. Or I'm not starting or I'm not scoring this many points or my batting average isn't this or that. But then you got to start breaking it down back to the process of being successful. And that's the nice thing, as you talked about the Dalian is reflection, having time. I don't think our society spends enough time reflection on our goals or, you know, we put a lot of things out there, but when do we stop and think and evaluate where or how we are at? And so reflection. I had a mentor of mine always talk to me about the importance of reflection. So I've worked hard at trying to. But we get busy. I mean, at the end of the Night. Some of the best podcasts I've read, you should prepare tomorrow, the night before. But by the end of the night, I mean, time flies.

I will say that since hanging out with you guys on this podcast and just listening to the show a lot of the times, I now look at things, as you guys very often say, brick by brick. Because I used to always look at that big goal and just kind of go, am I ever going to get there? And, you know, you got to realize that, yeah, it's the small victories that lead to the big one.

Yeah. See, you know where we are constantly because of everything that's happening. We're missing the trees amongst the forest, you know, kind of deal. And so when you're trying to do that, another great thing is to be able to journal. And it can just be five words, but it kind of gives you some feedback of where you are, what you're thinking, what just happened to you.

And.

And it. You can look back on that stuff and you say, man, you know, I was, I was down in the dumps at this point. And just a week later or a day, a day later, or maybe it's a month, whatever it might be, and you can look and you'd be like, you know, there's a lot of plus ones that have happened since then. And that's where, like the, the word resiliency, that's where resiliency is built. And that's where that muscle is built. And through resiliency, you. You going to grow confidence.

God, I think you just got me back onto another resolution. I think I need to get back on that journal.

Me too. I wrote it down. I do.

I haven't done that. I did not. I don't even think I wrote in it once last year. Not even once.

I wrote in a journal last year. And do you have frequently, do you.

Have it in that stack over there?

It actually I went, are you sure that stack is not your podcast stack? And then I'm going to put piles on my list for this year, too. There's another skill, but, man, I get two today. Now you made me lose my train of thought. But I love journaling. I look back at my old journal, then just laugh or smile and think of what I did this day in 2014 or something. And even have encouraged my kids to journal and look at their journal. I don't look at them, but they share them with me or such. I know you do a great job with your team everyday journaling, but you're right. But that also helped with reflection too, because it gives you something to look back and reek and reflect on. So another thing that I need to do better this year. But you know, back to prioritizing, you know, that's where scheduling can help in balance, avoiding conflict and interruptions. You know, we talk about getting hit and how you handle those. And we all have, you know, jobs are the interruption. Back to your big picture thing. It wasn't until recently this wasn't one of my favorite analogies, but it actually has become more higher on the list for me is how to eat an elephant. And it's one bite at a time. And if you look at an elephant, you think, how would you accomplish knocking that down? And it's one bite at a time. And there's a nice little parable about that. And that's really stuck with me over the last five years as an example, one I use and I just heard it recently because that is it. Back to one brick at a time, one step at a time. You're not going to eat the whole thing at once. You got to break it into pieces and chip away at it. And again, I think that's also true. As we talked about in our office, we have a lot of good podcasts in our office about stories, how seasons are stories and they're pieces, pieces that come together and there's some happy ending stories, not happy ending stories. And as we start a new year and many people in our world do do resolutions or do do the one word goal thing that, you know, that we've talked about in the past. It is, you know, there seems to be a lot of like pot, you know, like happiness or whatever that I can maybe do that this year that I, I haven't done in the.

My Craig's beating up the microphone just.

So everybody knows you had me lifted up and now it's in my way.

He's using some hand gestures and they're good ones, though.

But so, yeah, so I think, you know, we just completed a busy holiday season and I love the holiday season. Thanksgiving is about gratitude and Christmas or whatever you celebrated about giving. So I think those are great attributes that our society can embrace and not just celebrate during that month, but should try and celebrate year round. So those are what stick with me that. But now as we head into a new year, people are looking forward and maybe trying to do something they haven't been able to do in their previous year or lifetime. So it always seems like this is a big topic right now of what I'm going to try and accomplish this year or what we can do. And in sports, we do that every season. And then when we live by seasons. And so for Some of us, January 1st of 2025 is in the middle of a season. For some of us, it's out of season. For some of us, it's the beginning of a season. But that's one of my favorite things about sports is every season we kind of set those goals, set those expectations, and then work toward those. Because one of you mentioned earlier on December 31st of 2025, how many look back and say, well, I didn't get that done or well, I didn't accomplish that, or, you know, there are, they're probably looking for and say, well, I should try it again this year or I should should do this. And so again, I think it's important. I like that our society does use in a year, beginning of a year to try and move forward because again, we all should be trying to be better or plus one over yesterday.

Very good.

So anything else to add to that quickly? Another topic that we'll spend a whole nother podcast on is as I'm talking about 2025, I was looking at trends in sports and there's some neat ones, but most of them are 2024 for your program because you do a lot of these. But I just would like to share and maybe we can dig deep into these in a future podcast. But when you're looking at trends for 25, there seem to be two areas, technology and then environment and what I mean. So in technology, the number one trend is wearable technology. And I'm not wearing mine today because I charged it last night. But, you know, more and more sports teams are using wearable technology. And our baseball team has a watch that they wear to help determine their performance readiness and where they're at. And so that's a big trend that we can probably talk more on. AI is obviously in data stuff and virtual reality, which I know again, you guys use some virtual reality for skill acquisition. Are trending. I just used AI for the first time over winter break. I downloaded ChatGPT on my thing and my son's gonna be the best man in the wedding. So I just put on their best man toast and it was crazy. I've been a best man in a wedding a couple of times and, and so I put speeches together.

And you did edit afterwards, right?

I did. I just did it for fun. I didn't even. I just, it was pretty. I mean, it's something you really could work with. It is, you know, so it was a good foundation. Yes. I would definitely tweak it. I'd even share it with him.

Yeah, that's the one thing I recommend for anything that's been written by AI is make sure you read afterwards.

But they, they talk about how AI can help as we talk about in sports data driven analysis and statistics and how plugging them into AI can help tailor or be more sport specific or even be more accurate than human analysis. So that was another topic, but the interesting one too for me because I'm we're going to talk about sports venues on this podcast in the future too and I've done a lot of research. I love sports venues.

Junior junior college venues.

Oh Port. You know, I'm a big be the end of the question. But the Coliseum, the Rome and Greece, the built facility thousands of years ago and some of them are very similar characteristics what we have now. But I believe that's going to change and looking at some trends, they're going to be more fan interactive, they're going to be more towards social gatherings and I think minor league baseball has already done this with some of the things they do. Picnic tables instead of.

Yeah.

Stadium seating, food, you know, where they fit in even. One of the things I saw is it's going to be blurred between the fan and the athlete. Like even including virtual reality and games and like that. Which makes me a little nervous. But that's how far we'll go because the other side of it that's also going to big is streaming and the way we watch sports now and how accessible it can be. So any quick things on sports trends or other music trends for 2025 that you want to. We again we can go over those.

I think the AI aspect is both exciting and scary for everybody really. I mean there's so many things that can happen and honestly we could just do it a whole episode on AI really.

Maybe we will. Maybe we will. I'll highlight that because again, other trends is sports betting. We can talk about issues that we will deal with in a Future podcast in 2025 at the NJCA level. Another one that attracts me about stadiums is environmental sustainability going I never say go green but it's, you know, I always joked if they would have said go blue it would have picked up a lot quicker in history of helping us be more environmentally sound. But I even saw a stadium that's going to reusable cups, you know, if you buy a pop or something that you know. So that's exciting for me on trend that could be happening in 2025 so quickly. Any other things on 2025 we want to hit before?

Just super briefly. The. I think the AI is incredible, and it helps people become more efficient, and there's a lot of positive behind it. And then as I was thinking about it, as we were talking about, I was like, man, it's not any different than a generation before us being afraid of the Internet and what that could bring. And Google's right at your fingertips, and you can find the closest restaurant and that you could see the reviews and, you know, that car dealership and, you know, the Yellow Pages went away. And then you start the podcast by saying Y2K when everything was going to shut down because of.

Right.

Yeah.

And that was one of those things that was super scary.

Just talk about bringing it full circle Y2K to AI.

Listen to the song 1999 on the radio this morning. We talked about Y2K over what we were doing 25 years ago when that happened.

Progress.

And as. As we talk about it now, we're probably affecting AI, so it's kind of interesting.

Yeah. We will talk more about AI and sports in a future podcast. So those who are still listening, I have two questions at the end as we talk about. So the first one is, what country would you. If you could visit any country in the world, what country would that be?

Wow.

I would say almost all of them, but. But the one that I've always wanted to get to and I still have not had the opportunity to do so, would be Ireland.

Okay.

All right.

You know, it's beautiful.

I got a story about Ireland. But what about you, Coach?

I was. I was kind of thinking the same thing because I actually coached a player that did an internship in Ireland, and he came back talking about the. The incredible. I'll just start with the landscape.

Yeah.

And he.

He had such a way of sharing a story that it just made me say, wow, that. That seems like a really neat place to go to.

Well, three for three. I would. I remember. Me, too. The other one would be Rome, Italy, just because.

Or that would be my second one, actually. Mine would be the art and the architecture.

Yeah. Just not sports.

Beautiful.

Right, Right. But back to Ireland, I had a friend, he's Catholic, and he had a buddy go to Ireland, and the guy calls him, goes, you would love it here. There's a pub and church on every corner. And my friend goes, I didn't know you went to heaven. I thought you went to Ireland. So, yeah. The landscape is also cool, but very interesting. So we'll actually save the next question until our next podcast about food. So until then, Go Starz Stars on Sports is recorded live at the WLNZ Studios. Engineering and production assistants are provided by Dadalion Lowry and Journey Robinson. You can listen to the episode and other episodes of Stars on Sports on demand@lccconnect.org to find more information about our athletic program, visit lccstars.com thanks for listening. Be sure to join us next time for more Stars on Sports.

Go Stars.

Connecting you with Lansing Community College this is LCC Connect.

LCC Connect.

Voices Pipes Vision.

The Cesar Chavez Learning Center's Access Program at Lansing Community College creates a community on campus for underrepresented students, providing them with a support network and multiple layers of academic, social and professional experiences. Access also incorporates workshops and resources that assist in educational and career advancement. To find out more about access, visit LCC.edu and search access Program.

I'm Steven Cutter and I host a show called Coach Cut's Corner here on LCC Connect. Coach Cut's Corner is about Lansing stars, baseball program, mental performance and just getting better in everyday life. You can always find more about LCC Connect show and Listen on demand@lccconnect.org.

Work, school, grocery shopping, doctor's appointments, the gym, to the airport to pick up loved ones to the kids, soccer games, piano lessons, out for movie night to hear your favorite band in the city, over to Grandma and Grandpa's house and on last year's amazing road trip. Your vehicle takes you so many places. Protect it. When you leave your vehicle, remember to always take your keys or key fob with you and lock the doors. If you suspect auto theft, contact the National Insurance Company Crime Bureau at 1-800-tell NICB. That's 1-800-TEL-NICB or visit our website at www.nicb.org. a public service message from the National Insurance Crime Bureau Lansing Community College's Business and Community Institute provides businesses with customized synergistic trainings that realize logistical opportunity. Learn more about the future of business today at lcc. Edu bci, LCC Connect Voices Vibes Vision.

This is Bob Myers from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. It was called the Rainbow Inn. Located on the southern edge of Petoskey, it was Northern Michigan's only African American resort hotel and restaurant. Its clientele included people of all races, colors and creeds. The Rainbow inn opened in 1950 and was the brainchild of William Thomas west, an African American porter and chef on the Pennsylvania, Ohio and Detroit Railroad. The railroad provided passenger service to Petoskey, Harbor Springs and Mackinaw City during the mid 20th century. West, a 25 year veteran of the rail company, lived in northern Michigan during the summer season. He knew firsthand that many hotels, restaurants and other businesses in the north were just as segregated as their Southern counterparts. In 1949, west bought a three story boarding house and carriage house near the the railroad tracks in Petoskey. The boarding house was originally built in the 1880s as a mansion for Frederick Bowerly, a wealthy woodenware manufacturer. It was located in what people called Hungry Hollow, where many Native Americans lived. West took his retirement savings and bought the building on a land contract. He and his wife Gail spent the next year remodeling it and in the spring of 1950 opened their restaurant and hotel as the Rainbow Inn. The name signified that they welcomed customers of any color. The couple placed advertisements for their hotel and restaurant in African American newspapers, publicizing the Rainbow Inn as a Northern Michigan destination for people of color. The inn also became a favorite place for African American domestic service who spent summers in the area with their employers. The Rainbow Inn continued to prosper, but years of protests began to change America's political landscape. On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights act of 1964. No longer could businesses refuse service because of race, color, religion or national origin. The Civil Rights act also meant that America's black resorts, such as Idyllwild in Western Michigan, were no longer necessary. But it was an accidental fire, not the Civil Rights act, that ended the Rainbow Inn. On March 8, 1965, the Rainbow Inn burned to the ground. It was never rebuilt. William west died in 1970 and his wife Gail passed the following spring. Now the Rainbow Inn is only a memory of an inclusive place that served travelers of all colors. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.

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Edu Laura, that was an amazing meal. The guys really went to town on that leg of lamb.

Yeah, thanks, Amy. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it.

It's hard to believe how much you and Jim have done with the house in such a short amount of time. It's just gorgeous.

Yeah, we love it too. And the kids are really thriving in school here. But.

But what? Something's wrong. I know you too well.

Jim's company is cutting his salary and he may even get laid off. He doesn't think we'll be able to afford the mortgage.

Oh, Laura, you know what? My cousin Susan and her husband were in a similar situation, but they got some terrific advice for free from a housing counselor from the nfcc, the national foundation for Credit Counseling. You need to be careful who you can trust these days with so many so called mortgage consultants out there. The NFCC is non profit and has been around for more than 50 years.

If you think you're in danger of.

Foreclosure, call the NFCC today at 866876322.

Or visit mortgagehelpnow.org that's mortgagehelpnow.org, a public.

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The Lansing Community College foundation provides scholarships that make education possible, change students lives, and uplift our community. The foundation annually accepts scholarship applications from November through January. Learn more at LCC Edu Scholarship.

LCC.

Connect Voices, Vibes, Vision Conversations with Kait is like a conversation with your friend, hairstylist or therapist where we will talk about music, life stories and everything in between with interviews and guests sprinkled in. As an LCC student, it's an honor and I love bringing a fresh perspective to the podcast menu on LCC Connect. I I am your host, Kate. Let's get into this episode. How appropriate. We are all dancing to the intro. Today is a very special podcast. I have three of my choir classmates with me to talk about all things choir. And then we're gonna kind of go from there. We're gonna talk about some other things I did very quickly before I came down today, write down some things to talk about, but then we're gonna go from there. So the first thing that we're gonna do is we're gonna start with like, I want everybody to introduce themselves and tell me when you started singing in a choir. Like, how old were you? Because I know all of you guys have been doing this way longer than I have.

Give yourself some credit. Yeah, give yourself some credit.

I don't know about way longer.

Okay. So like for me it's just been since the beginning of last year.

Oh, really?

You only got two years on me.

Wow.

I thought we'd been in choir together for a lot longer. It feels like it's been longer.

I know. Yes. I love that. Yay okay. And wait a minute. What did you say?

That you only have two years on me.

So you just started When I was.

In junior year of high school. I finally got into my high school's choir, then through senior year, and now. Yeah, this would be my third year in choir.

No, you have more time than me because I literally just started last January.

I'm saying that I only have two more years.

Oh, gotcha. Okay. All right, with that being said, Absolute children. Absolute children. Yes. This episode is already wonderful. Okay, so let's go around the room and we'll start with Matthew.

My name is Matthew. I'm 20 years old and no, I'm not. Oh my God, I lied. Whoa. I'm 21. Oops, I just remembered Hannah birthday.

Ooh.

So I did choir since, I want to say fifth grade. Wow, that was. Damn, that's a long time ago.

How old are we when we're in fifth grade? What like 10? 11, right? Yeah. Okay.

I think it's 10.

I have no idea. A long time ago. I've slept since then.

That being said, Jordan Kidder guarded at like four to five, typically. So then add five years.

Exactly. We'll go with that.

The math makes sense.

Exactly. All right, that being said.

Perfect.

Go ahead.

So, hi.

Hi.

My name is Toby.

Hey, Toby.

20.

Yeah.

Yeah. I've been in choir since. So are we doing like choirs in like a choir choir or just like choir class? Like choir class even?

Yeah. Okay.

So I want to say like 16 years technically.

Wow. Yeah.

I went to a performing arts elementary, middle and high school.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Okay.

Since kindergarten I've been. I've been singing.

Wow. See, I went to performing arts middle and high school, but it was more. I leaned more into the like art. Art and the dance and ballet in high school.

You can never catch me dancing.

I might go ahead and you introduce yourself.

Hi, I am Caroline. I am 18. I've only done choir for three years, but I've been singing my whole life just cause I come from a very music based family.

Love that. Woo hoo. Woo hoo.

Woo.

Okay, so what do each of you love the most about choir?

I love the community of it all. I love meeting different people and different backgrounds and just learning about each other and creating relationships. I love that.

That's so real.

Yes, I agree with that. When I stepped into the choir room for the first time in January of last year, I was like, I have found my other people.

Yes, I love that.

I was just like, holy cow, this is wonderful. And literally the sense of community Just in that classroom, I was like, it's crazy.

So supportive.

Yeah.

Exusiating.

Is that a word?

I don't know.

We're just gonna call that a madism.

Do you need exuding?

Yes, exuding.

Okay. And so, Caroline, Toby, can you guys add anything? What do you love about it the most?

What don't I love about choir? Honestly doing the alto part.

So noted. Exactly five octave range. Come on, another clap for that one.

Yeah. I've recently found out that I, through my vocal development, I have a five octave range, which means that I'm able to do any part in the choir. So I've been trying to challenge myself by doing the alto part, which I had no idea how hard the auto part actually is, but it's just. But joining choir has been such a transformative experience for me. Finding people who have the same values towards music and art as I do and getting to express myself in a way that honestly feels as natural to me as breathing. It's just. I honestly don't know where I would be mentally without choir at this point.

That is so awesome. I absolutely agree. Music is everything.

It really is.

I love that.

It's also how. Well, not exactly how I met, but pretty close to how I met one of my best friends across this table here.

Aw.

Oh, shucks.

That's how we got to meet. If we didn't have choir together, we wouldn't even know each other.

Right?

Theater.

Well, I was a part of theater then.

Oh, really? Yeah, I was in. I joined theater after Toby graduated.

Yeah. For context, we all, all three of us went to high school together.

You did?

Yeah, I graduated first and then Matthew and then Caroline.

Which high school was that?

Everett.

Where's Everett?

In the Lansing area.

Okay.

It is a performing arts high school.

Okay.

Big emphasis, big quotations on performing arts high school.

They try, but bureaucracy, funding.

Got it.

A lot of stuff. Yeah.

Barbara, Arts school, we sure get a lot of sports right.

You know, a lot of the time I find, especially here, that that happens. It even happened with my high school in Orlando. We were performing arts middle and high school. And when I was in 10th grade, they started doing. They opened up school of choice and where before it was strictly. It wasn't like strictly to that area, but it was literally just. That's what that high school was for. There were other middle schools, there was other high schools that had just general stuff and. And then, of course, you know, all the good football players and baseball players came to good old Dr. Phillips High School. Yeah, I went to. I don't know if you guys know this, but the high school that I went to was in front of. Well, in. Technically in the back of Universal Studios. So when I was in high school and like 9th grade, they were breaking ground on Islands of Adventure. They as crazy. Seriously, like the. Within a month of starting ninth grade, they started putting up. You know how they do the fence line with like the green stuff?

Yeah.

For islands. Words, Catherine. Islands of Adventure. And you could see just all of the coasters and everything just being built from across the street.

That's really cool.

Did you ever sneak out into the lot?

Yeah.

No.

Because they are serious about their security. Okay, so I have a question for you guys next. Where have you struggled with choir?

I'd say a lot of different places, personally, but I call myself out on this.

So.

I was also in band in high school. I was not very studious in that sense, which is not the best thing. I am decent.

Ish.

I can get by with bass, clef, treble clef. Whole different ball game. Oh, no. So I guess reading music and then like, notation of it. So I don't know. I do better than some people in the sense of I know when the note goes up and when the note goes down. Like, I. And I can. If I sit there and I, like, clap it out, I can figure out the rhythm.

Yeah.

It just takes me a minute.

Get out my metronome.

Yeah. Key signatures are. No, no.

I've taken a piano class. I hate key signatures.

They're kind of evil. They're the bane of my existence.

Listen, I just got done with Theory one and two, and let me tell you something. As someone who has unmedicated add, I had to take about six to eight hours extra every single day on those lessons.

Oh, damn.

Oh. It was a lot like. Yeah, yeah, yes, absolutely. And I had to figure out my own ways of, like, memorizing all of the things for all the exam. Oh, my goodness. So I feel you on that, Toby.

So so much. I applaud anyone who, like, has that memorized and can just, like, whip like. That's their party trick. That they can just. Just do anything.

Just hand them some sheet music and they're able. Like, they just.

Look, I have to think about it still. Even I literally have to physically, like, in my mind, picture my own little cheat sheet that I used to write down on the paper. I have to think about it first and be like, all right, what key is this? D sharp. Oh, okay. Where is that? In the thing. Okay, There we go.

Yeah. No, we have A. We have a person in our class who shall name be named Anonymous. But she, like, is incredible on the keys. She's just. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

I don't know.

She's just amazing. And I am so. I'm so envious. But she's so talented. And I'm like, if I could snatch just an ounce of that talent, it would be mine.

Just a little bit.

Yes.

Okay. Anybody else? Not anybody else. Everybody else. Tell me, where have you struggled in choir personally? And that could be. Currently. That could be in the past.

I struggle a lot because I have a. I would say a basic understanding of music theory. Like, I understand treble and bass clef. If you hand me sheet music, give me some time, I can tell you what the notes are. The problem for me is that I can't then equate those notes to the sound. So I can look at a paper and say, oh, that's an A note. I can't then say the A and.

Okay, gotcha.

And that's definitely where I struggle a lot. Especially with how we currently do choir. Cause here it seems to be very. Based on a rudimentary understanding of sight reading, which I do not have.

Right.

At our old high school, the way that we did choir, there was very much. We would be given a piece, and then the choir director, Mr. Kinney. Love him.

Shout out to Mr. Kinney, we love you.

The entire reason that I have any skill, Mr. Kitty. He would always go through each part individually on the piano. So we would start off with that basis of, okay, this is what it's supposed to sound like. So it made it a lot easier to pick out our parts as they were being played because we had that bass like, okay, this is what things are supposed to sound like.

Yes.

Whereas here, it's very much just handed the piece of sheet music and trying to figure it out. And I've been struggling because of it.

So one of the things that I do because I don't always have all of the pitches, and this is just a. For help. Not that you need help. I'm just, like, putting my two cents in. I actually go home, and on my keyboard, I will play everything out for soprano. Because my thing is, is that if I hear it, I can remember. I don't always. I don't. Sometimes I forget between Thursday and Tuesday, and I got to be reminded it's whatever. But playing it at home, I don't know. If you have a piano at home, it helps a ton.

Yeah.

What about.

That's been my plan, though. To go home and start playing it on the keyboard.

Yes.

Yes. Matthew.

One struggle for me is like, I can't really read music. Like, I learned a little bit during my senior year, but, like, all that's just gone out the window and I can't remember anything. And now I'm struggling, like, okay, what key is this? In what note do I sing?

Help.

Sometimes I forget the flats and sharps, and I'll just.

I felt that so hard.

I don't even think about the flats or sharps. I'm just like, okay, how is it supposed to sound? And I'll look at where there's a flat or sharp, and I'll just know, okay, this is supposed to sound different than how it would normally sound. So I'll just go off of. Does it sound wrong? Especially if it's a sharp?

Yeah.

Like it's supposed to sound wrong.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I mean, sometimes there's just so much information on the page that it's almost too much to look at.

Yes. Oh, I agree.

It's just like the dynamics.

The dynamics. The mezzoforte. There was like, that. There's a couple of different symbols.

The repeats, the repeats.

Okay, the repeats.

Be honest. I don't struggle with the repeats as much. That might just be me, but I. Yeah.

I just have to pay attention.

I have to pay.

I have to.

That's where my ADD brain is. Just, like.

So real.

Because sometimes I go on autopilot and. Okay, okay, so I'll sing this part.

Like.

Oh, no, wrong part. Oops.

Exactly. Exactly. Okay, so what would each of you tell someone that isn't familiar with choir about choir life?

Firstly, I would just say, however lame you think we are for choir, I guarantee you we are far lamer than you think. For real?

I fear that is correct, yes.

Yeah, unfortunately, I wish I could say that. Like, we're always hanging out and partying, even to the extent of, like, Glee, where they would have house parties.

We are not Glee.

No.

That is not how things are. We are just a bunch of people who care about music. So we sit in a classroom singing together.

I mean, we could do Glee.

We could. I actually have a really good idea. I'm gonna suggest it in glue. So have you guys. Do you guys know who Alex Warren is?

I don't.

Oh, that sounds very familiar. Oh, wait, is that.

He was in the High Power, and he has a song out right now called Ordinary, and he wrote it about.

Look him up.

Yeah, look it up. So there. Yeah, we'll. We'll. Alex Warren So my idea is to get one of the altos or tenor guys to sing the song. Because there is a wedding version of the song where it's. It's him with a choir backing him. And I'm like, how cool would that be if all of us. The choir was singing? I'll show it to you guys after we're done here. It's amazing.

So give someone, like, a solo part to do the melody and then the choir behind it.

I love that.

You could even break it up so that it's like. Okay, fake names. But Jack. Jack gets, you know, verse A. Yeah, verse one, and then we all sing together as the chorus. And then Sarah gets verse two. You know?

Yes.

You could even break it up like that. Or even like a couple lines.

You could even do something, like, depending on how much work would want to be put into it, you could do something where, like, individuals get the verses, but the chorus, like, the melody goes to one of the parts. So, like, all the tenors get one chorus.

All the.

Do the second chorus.

I love that.

Oh, see? Okay. Yeah.

Genius.

Okay, table that. We're going to talk about that after we get off air. Okay. Toby, Matthew, what would you tell someone if they did not know anything about choir, about choir life?

I gotta think about it, Right.

If you're passionate about singing and you want to sing with others, I would highly suggest do it. Just know that we're not. It's not Hollywood, so we're not all friends together, but if you do get friends with other people, that's great.

That's awesome. That's awesome.

Yeah. I'd say don't be afraid to make mistakes or ask questions. Personally, I get so lost sometimes. Try your best. And you're just like, I don't even know what measurement. But I'm just gonna wing it.

Right.

Yeah.

That was me Tuesday.

No, I felt that.

I felt that song. I had to ask for the ultra part. Every song, literally.

And that's okay.

Yes.

You know, because they're.

I like that. That's a good.

There's always gonna be someone who's able to answer those questions. Whether it's another student, whether it's somebody else who's in your section.

Yes.

Whether it's your teacher or the. Oh, my gosh, what is the name of it? The piano player Pianist. Yes.

Accompanist.

Accompanies.

Yeah, I believe it's accompanist somewhere in there.

Yeah, she corrected me.

I was like, dude that plays piano.

Shout out to Dr. Z. Yeah.

We love you, icon. A Legend in the moment.

Yeah.

And shout out to Nana.

Yes. Love you, queen. You're a queen. We love you.

Do you guys have a favorite choir song or concert that's happened in the past and why.

I know I do.

I know I already. When I wrote this question down, I was like, I know exactly what Toby's gonna say.

I.

Okay.

So back with our old director, which. Caroline was the only one that wasn't there for that. But she was still in high school.

She was still a baby. Should have dropped out. I was kidding.

Listen, the way they were messing with me, I considered.

Trauma. Yeah. So we did this song called Adastra. I don't remember who the arranger is, but. Oh, my gosh, it's a beautiful song. And there's, like, Latin, I think.

Yeah.

And it's just so. It's so beautiful, and it's so dramatic in some parts, and.

Okay.

A little bit of tmi. A little bit of tmi. So I've been hospitalized, like, a lot in the past, and, you know, sometimes you don't have access to your phone for, like, a lot of different reasons. And so you kind of.

You get bored.

You get so bored, and you're trying to think of, like, any song that you can think of and just, you know, just to pass the time, because I don't want to be doing a crossword puzzle all day, you know, I don't want to do that Sudoku. I can't do math.

I've never done sudoku.

The same.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

So, I mean, a regular sudoku player over here.

Oh, my gosh.

So I just, like. That was the only song that I can remember, like, for the past couple of times I've been in the hospital for, like, long term, and I don't know, it just. Maybe it's that connection, but I just. I love it so much.

So you just would sing that song?

Yeah, just.

I love that.

I just make you feel better.

It did. Honestly, it's such a good.

I thank you for recommending it this term because that is such a good song. It is so fun. Yes. I can't wait to sing it.

My favorite song.

Caroline or Matthew. Favorite song? Past, Present.

Favorite song.

I'm gonna go last because I have a couple points to make.

Okay.

Okay. Shout out to Mr. Kinney. But my favorite song that he ever had us do was have Yourself Marry, Little Christmas. I don't know why. I just love that song. And the one thing that I loved about it was once, like, everyone, like, graduated. He would, like, have us like, hey, all the graduating people, come up here. Come sing with us.

And I was like, oh.

And I just felt at home.

Aw.

Okay.

Yeah. So to further explain that every winter concert, have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is like the one staple, and it's always how he closes off the show. And so as he's getting ready to do it, he'll look out to the audience and be like, if there's anybody who is like an alumni from choir who remembers the song and wants to come up and sing it, come up and sing it. So last year, I believe. I wanna say last year, both Toby and Matthew had come to.

I don't know, I know that two years ago when both of you were in choir, I think both of you.

Yeah, you.

Yeah, it was two years ago you had done it. And then last year, Matthew had done. And then this. This year, both you and I. Both you and I, Matthew had gone.

But.

And best believe next year I will be going again.

Right? I'm going again.

We're going again.

That's so cool.

But I have a couple signature moments for me and choir.

Signature moments. I like that signature.

Love that.

Firstly, I have a deep connection to the song I Won't Give up by Jason Mraz.

Love that song. You did.

That is the first solo that I performed. It was at my first choir concert that I did that. And because of that, I just. I feel like I have such a strong connection to it as words. I also have a very strong connection to the song Flowers from Hadestown.

Yes, you do. Yes, you do.

Yes, you do.

God.

Firstly, the first automatic thing is that Hadestown is the first musical that I saw live. So I have a strong connection to Hadestown.

Gotcha. Okay.

But then also, one year for choir, I did Flowers as a solo. But also that same year, when I was in the theater show, I did Flowers as a performance specifically because we were doing a whole Shakespeare thing and, you know, he referenced the Greek myths. So.

Shout out to Ms. McCampbell for Vikings. Go Shakespearean.

That was such a good show and my first on stage show.

I know.

That's so cool. I absolutely love the fact that you guys all went to the same high school. Okay. All right. Thank you so much for being in here with me today. Thank you, Caroline. Thank you, Toby. If you guys have socials, please go do it. All right, ready? 1, 2, 3, go. Caroline.

On YouTube, I am Rubymua. On Instagram, I am Rubymua. 1, 2, 3. 2, 1, 3. And on TikTok, I am RubyCaroline. The witch.

Okay. On YouTube, I am Matthew Rodriguez 175. On Instagram, I am Maddie the Hirajuku Barbie. Or not Harajuku Barbie, I'm Maddie the Hirajuku Tikilera. On Facebook, Matthew Rodriguez. And on Twitter X is MatthewR503-43457 and on TikTok I am. I know, right? I'm Matthew Rodriguez 834.

Yeah, I have an art account I'll plug real quick. I don't post there, but I'm trying to. It's acrylic. As in like the paint acrylic dot anxiety with an extra Y.

Thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode of Conversations with Kate. You can find more information on LCC Connect site as well as all social platforms. Facebook, Instagram. Yes, TikTok as well. Big love.

This is WLNC Lansing. You're listening to LCC Connect, a weekly program that features the voices, Vibes and vision of Lansing Community College. To find out more about LCC Connect programs or to listen on demand, visit us at LCC Connect.

LCC Connect, Voices, Vibes, Vision.