Hey, hey, hey. This is Lisa A. And you're listening to Who's That Star? On LCC Connect at Lansing Community College. Who's that Star? Is a behind the scenes show where I sit down and talk with the employees at the college. This is an inside look at LCC where you will have a chance to learn about their passions, projects, what inspires them both at work and in their personal lives. I'm your host, Lisa Alexander. I'm so excited to get a chance to talk to all the people who make LCC great. This show is for you to, to get to know the people that work at Lansing Community College a little bit more and see what makes them tick. Are you ready? Okay, let's go see who's today's star. Today's star is a person who's been around LCC for about 20 years. He always has a smile on his face and willing to lend a helping hand. He's a native of North Carolina, been living in Michigan for almost 27 years. He was one of the people who trained me to be an advisor. He has style out of this world. A student one day asked me who he was because his style was just so chilled. He has major swag. Are you curious? All right, drum roll please. Today on Who's That Star? We have Alan Sorrells.

Yeah, that is some serious applause that's I've ever gotten for any event in my life.

Hey, hey. You deserve it. Alan, welcome. And I'm so glad you had the opportunity today to come on Who's That Star? Thank you for taking time out of your day.

Yeah, it's good to be here. I appreciate you having me.

So, Allen, let's jump right in. Tell me what you do here at LCC.

Okay. I work over in the student affairs area and I work as an academic advisor. And really what advising does is we just kind of work with students on their goals, academic goals, life goals. And usually what I end up telling students, especially in that first meeting, is I want to know where you want to be. And then we kind of backtrack from there from where you are and try to find the best path to get you there.

All right. Yeah. I wonder, do you work with any specific population in advising?

Yeah, I work with a lot of transfer students, so associate in arts, associate in science students. And then I work work with a lot of the sports teams. So I've worked with, with volleyball players for, for years and years now. And I also work with track and cross country and baseball players.

So how do you find that you get along with that population. I mean, that's interesting is all these athletes that you're working with.

Yeah, yeah, it. No, it's actually, it's actually pretty cool. I grew up playing, you know, like a lot of little kids. Just my life kind of revolved around sports when I was little, so. And then all through high school and I still try to stay active and so I, you know, I find myself at volleyball games and that sort of thing. So I support the students. Yeah. So I see a lot of. I see a lot of myself in them when they were, you know, 18, 19 years old. Which is kind of cool because I.

Know one of your hobbies, you run.

Yeah.

And so I bet that makes it a lot relatable, I guess, to you and the runners. What is it? Cross country team. And men and women.

Men and women cross country team. And for a handful of years, I actually coached high school cross country and track.

Really?

Yeah. When. When I first moved up here, I worked over at Waverly High School back in the, let's see, 95 through 2000. And I coached cross country in the fall and track in the spring. And I was in grad school and I was also working another job.

Did not know that.

You didn't? No, I did. So a lot of times I don't know that the cross country kids know that either. So when I start talking to them about training and how many miles you're getting in and that sort of thing, they. You can, you can kind of. They look at me like, hey, this guy's asking me questions that I should probably have good answers to. So. Yeah, so it's kind of cool.

Yeah. And I think that you can give them, you know, that work life balance too. You know, you gotta train, but you also have to study because you are a student athlete. And so I think that someone having the experience and the background and what they're interested in, it really does make a difference. I'm not advising any cross country team. Cause I'm not running cross country anywhere. But I definitely think that it does make a difference when you are able to relate to your students. So, Alan, tell me a little bit about your advising philosophy. I know you said you like to kind of work backwards. How did you come up with that philosophy?

Yeah, I think sometimes, and maybe this is just myself, and I think I've probably read and heard some speakers about it as well. But I have this idea that you don't really know where. You don't really know how to go somewhere unless you know where you're going. So it's kind of like if you're going to drive from here to there, you need to know where the there is. So I'll ask students, you know, what do you see yourself doing? Where are you thinking about going? And that kind of provides me with a better view of maybe the best way to help support them to get there. And so I think students, a lot of times kind of respond to that. And when it comes to student dialogue, you know, and having those conversations with students, I'm usually pretty relaxed, and I just kind of let them see what sort of style or conversation they might feel comfortable having.

So I think that's one of your best characteristics is that you are so chill. You're relaxed. You know, you make people feel comfortable. And I think that's a good thing, because a lot of times students come in with different concerns, and when they get an opportunity to see you and work with you, you put them at ease. And so I think that's a great thing, and you do a great job. Thank you. And I say that because you trained me, so I have to say that I learn from the best.

Well, I appreciate that.

Yeah, I do, too. Thank you. Because I've been here now for 10 years, and I owe a lot of that to you, so I appreciate you.

We're glad you're here.

Yeah. So tell me a little bit about how LCC helped you grow as a person, because you said you've been here about 20 years.

Yeah, just. I'm in my 20th year right now, really, which is. Which is kind of crazy because. Because when you look back on everything that's gone on in your personal life or your work life or the life of the world or the society we live in, there's a lot. A lot has happened, and in 20 years, so. But. But LCC itself, I just. I enjoy so much people I work with, and it's. It's always been a very supportive place. And. And I've enjoyed students, you know, over the last 20 years. I, you know, I suspect maybe I've seen, you know, kids of students that I may have worked with some other time. And. And so it's. It's. It's kind of cool. And. And the diversity of the students and the demographic of students that we have is something that I appreciate. And I learn as much being here, honestly, I think, as students do from us in a lot of ways.

Well, yeah, I know a lot of times people don't really realize how their work environment plays a role in their life, and you've been here for 20 years. So you've raised your child working because Berkeley was born. Yeah. When you were working at LCC.

No, she was, let's see, she was about 2 because she's 22 now. So she was, I mean, she was, you know, she was pretty, pretty new on the scene when I started working here, so. But, but everybody in our office, she's, she's known since she could just barely walk. Really.

Yeah. Berkeley is our advising child. We are so proud of her. She's about to graduate, isn't she?

Yeah, she's actually graduating in May, I think as of tomorrow. I'll be able to say next month. But she's graduating from MSU in May with two degrees actually. So she's done a lot of cool stuff.

So can you pump her up? What are the 2 degrees, please?

She's one degree. She's in the residential college in the arts and humanities. So she's going to have one degree in arts and humanities and her second degree is in history. So she's really into museum studies and research and curation and that sort of thing. So that's kind of what her plans are.

Yeah. I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to meet Berklee. Berklee just has the best personality as well as your wife, Angel. I love having the opportunity to just get to know them. That's the one thing that I like about LCC. We do. We're family, you know what I mean? And we care about each other and we get an opportunity to learn about one another's lives and passions. And your family is a major passion for you and you are an active father and participate a lot in your child life. So I think that's something that I admired about you.

Well, thank you. They're great. Both of them are great and, you know, strong, independent women and they've helped me see things through eyes that most, most, you know, males might not other have. That might not otherwise have that opportunity to see through. So. So yeah, we have a lot of. We've always had a lot of good conversations and they're, they're both pretty, pretty amazing.

Yeah, I think so, too.

Yeah. Thank you.

Yeah. I have to. I say you did a good job on that. So you said that you came To Lansing, what, 27 years ago?

Yeah. Let's see. We moved, we moved up here in 1995 from North Carolina and then, and then we just, we moved up here for school and we often thought. I always like to tell people that when we first moved up, we thought, okay, we had no intentions of staying, but we had no intentions of leaving. And so we were fortunate enough that we met a lot of cool people, a lot of friends that we're still friends with today. We literally met people the first month we lived here that we've seen in the last month or so over at their house and that sort of thing. So that's pretty cool. So we've been very fortunate and, and we love, we love the area we live in and school district that our daughter went to. And also it's, it's been very, it's been a very, it's been a blessing for us, really.

So another passion that I know and that I think is really interesting is your love of music. Tell us a little bit about that.

Yeah, it's, it's. It's kind of funny. I've always been into music and I've always listened to a lot of different kinds of music over the years. In some ways, I've always kind of come back to the same sorts of genres in the last 40 plus, 45 plus years of my life. But yeah, I was the kid that sat in his room and would stare at album covers and would memorize all the liner notes and everything and listen to it and my parents would beat on the wall and tell me to turn it down and that sort of thing. So, yeah, music has always kind of been this sort of primary driving force in life and a lot of my interest and that sort of thing.

But you particularly like certain groups, right? Like, you like those small, like those not known groups and then you follow them until they are like famous. How many of those have happened, you think?

I don't know. I mean, I've Berkeley and I once saw a show in a little small place in Ann Arbor called the Ark. And we saw a band and it was Jason Isabel, who used to be in the band called the Drive By Truckers. And, and at the time the place sits seats like, you know, 400 people. And you know, we were there and I was really excited to be there because, you know, he's always been one of my favorite artists. And then, you know, a handful of years later, I think he's won maybe four Grammys and is selling out arenas and, you know, maybe not arena arenas, but, but much bigger rooms playing, you know, the Ryman and places like that. So there's, there've been a lot of those sorts of bands that I've kind of tried to stay clued into early on, and then they kind of grow and kind of expand from there. So it's pretty cool. But yeah, a lot of kind of rock, alt rock stuff. Some folk, some kind of Americana, more country type stuff too.

Yeah. Because you and angel have different genres of music that you like. Because angel is a 90s lady. She likes to sing all the 90s songs and things like that.

So she likes a lot of that. She likes a lot of the 80s stuff. She's kind of gotten kind of into a lot more lately of maybe some of the bands that she really appeals to or some of the. Some of the. More kind of goth rock stuff out of. Out of, you know, London from, you know, 80s type, 80s type goth stuff, which is. Which is cool. And they've got a lot of those bands have this really kind of cool sound to them. So. Yeah, we've always got music on in our house, it seems like.

So did you get that from your parents?

Yeah, that's actually a good question. I don't really think about it that much, but I do remember hearing music from my bedroom when I would wake up in the morning and my mom always had a radio station on. And I can actually remember hearing like, you know, even a bass groove because that was all that comes through the wall. And I can remember listening and kind of trying to predict what song it was just from, you know, the late 70s and that. That mom might be listening to at the time. But. But mom was more into like Eagles, Beach Boys, those sorts of 60s, 70s kinds of sounds. My dad was a little bit more into like a lot of. A lot of the old school country stuff.

Okay.

From the 50s, 60s, and. And so it was a good blend. And I'm not lying, I still listen to some of those same bands today.

Yeah, our parents just have a major influence on our music. And I was wondering, you coming from North Carolina and then the music that you like now, if that was influenced from your parents or not, or you just kind of just stuck out on your own and found your own identity.

Yeah, no, I'm sure that it was. I'm sure that it was. And my mom got. My mom was kind of funny. She got pretty cool the older I got and I moved out. And next thing I know, she and my cousin are going to see the Rolling Stones and she's off to see all these other bands. And she was always kind of in the meeting music, but she wasn't necessarily hanging out at the rock shows.

Like, who is this lady?

Yeah. And I do remember thinking, who is this lady? So it was cool. I was happy for her.

Well, another great thing that I Like about you, Allen, is that your sense of humor?

Thank you.

You come off with a lot of good one liners and I really think that you're hilarious. When we have our staff meetings and different things, I may not look at you or I may look at you. It depends on if I want to smirk or not. But where do you think you get your sense of humor from?

Yeah, I don't know. That's. That's a good question, I think. I mean, my dad was a little on the funny side. He always had some kind of good lines here and there. My mom was a little bit more reserved, so maybe a little bit from dad. I think a lot of it probably just comes to, from, from reading and watching shows and listening to, you know, interviews and, and, you know, I guess, I guess some of my lines, you know, none of them are scripted. Usually the scripted jokes are the ones that don't go over so well. Yeah, you know, it's just off the top of your head kind of line. So I think, I think I've always kind of admired those fol. Because I'm not really like that, but I've always kind of admired the folks who, you know, are good. Just, you know, they just stand up and start talking and they're, they're engaging and they're funny and that sort of thing. So, you know, maybe it's just from reading and listening to and watching things over the years and that, that kind of humor that I might identify with a little bit more than others.

Yeah. I definitely think students should come in and get a chance to talk with you and not trying to put you on the spot or anything. And don't expect them to come out he with a comedy show. But I think if you get a chance to know him, you definitely will find the humor that he has to share. I have one more question.

Sure.

And I wanted to know what is your mind, your like your mantra, your motto? What would you say represents you?

Yeah, I think that's a good question. There are probably a couple of, couple of ideas come to mind right away that I think having a healthy perspective on life is just crucial. And understanding that we all have challenges and we all have struggles and we've all been through various degrees of situations or events in our life and always just still having a healthy perspective. That I heard somebody not long ago say, what was the quote? Quote was something like your, your worst day on your planet is. Is someone else's dream. Somewhere in the world is having that day and that opportunity that you may have had that resulted in not a great day. But other people in other parts of the world would, would, would love to be able to have been in that position that you were in on that day. And that kind of. And I think, I honestly think I heard a coach say that during the NCAA basketball tournament after his team lost. And, and that really hit me. And I thought, you know, that's, that's, that's, that's kind of what I try to think of when I think of, you know, kind of maintaining a perspective on life and understanding that we never know what other folks are going through. Being patient with folks, even when maybe they don't deserve our patience or whatever. And something's going on.

Yeah.

And empathy, I think, I think that's what's missing in a lot of the, A lot of the parts of the world and even in our own society, so.

Well, Alan, I'm so glad that you came today to be a part of Who's That Star? I want to thank you for spending time with us and I'm so glad that our audience got a chance to learn about you and how cool you are and the care that you have for the students at LCC. I just want to say you are a great co worker, a great team player, and someone who's always willing to give a helping hand.

So thanks, Lisa. I appreciate you having me. It's. I enjoy what we have going on over in our office. It's a good, it's a good thing.

It is.

You've been listening to Who's That Star? I'm Lisa A. And you can listen to this episode of Who's That Star? And other shows from LCC Connect anytime online at LCCconnect.org thank you for listening. Catch me next time to find out Who's That Star.