Episode 3

Gerry (00:11):

Welcome to the Seidman Mentorship Podcast. This is your captain speaking. On this show we navigate the voyage of life through the lens of Lakers, some who have just come aboard and others who are well underway. We will speak with experts who will show us the ropes, help us plot a course and recount exhilarating tales of uncharted territory all while promoting lifelong learning agility and a culture of mentorship.

Gerry (00:38):

Today on the show I interview Bob Stoll. Bob is legendary at Grand Valley. Having served students for 38 years, under four different University presidents as associate Dean and director of student life. The office of student life under Stoll's leadership expanded to oversee club sports, student Senate, Greek life, student organizations and more. Today there are more than 400 student organizations. It has been said often, Bob was the first person you've seen when you arrive on campus during orientation and the last person you see when you leave GVSU at commencement. Despite his busy schedule, Bob always made time for and mentored many students, including myself. Today, we talk about mentorship from the mentor's perspective. Ahoy, Bob, and welcome to the show.

Bob (01:25):

Hey Gerry, it's great to be here. Look forward to spending some time with you catching up on things and sharing what little bit of knowledge I might be able to help people with.

Gerry (01:34):

Well, you've been helping me out for a… I don't know… I'm trying to remember the first time we met in my undergrad days; and now that I'm the captain of the mentorship, you should be the Admiral of the mentorship fleet. I don't think you can swing a stick around Grand Valley without hitting somebody that you've probably helped or probably mentored. And I know that you're a modest guy and you're going to deny a bunch of this stuff, but you're, you're really. When I was talking to the people here, just at Pew campus and over in the advising office that, that you were coming to like, “oh, can you bring Bob over? I want to see Bob”. And, and two themes always strike me. When, when people talk about Bob Stoll to me, first of all, it's how somehow you made a connection with them. I saw it this morning when you came in to career center here where the studio is and you asked, not only did you talk to the folks, but you asked and you know, their, you know, their spouse's names and you know what their kids' names, and you asked them about, you know, how they're doing it.

Gerry (02:30):

And if they're ready for school, you make that genuine connection. And I know you're not just doing that because I've observed you for 30 years and I feel like you genuinely care. Secondarily, you've helped so many people just through your connections, you help connect people to things, whether they later on got married, which is a legendary story, I'm sure we might talk about later; or you helped connect students with their interests, like in my case, or coming full circle now. Which is kind of cosmic that I'm sitting in this chair that I am professionally at Grand Valley when this is something that wasn't even in my sight line 30 years ago.

Bob (03:06):

Yeah. Well, thanks Gerry. The as I often look back at my career, people had asked me, “well, what do you really do in your role?” And I try to help them understand that it was really kind of like a gardener or farmer. And that was, I tried to create an environment for people to flourish and grow and just kind of have an environment that's full of experiences because so often the fast pace of what everybody's doing on their phone these days or technology, the personal part of it, the caring part about each of us within our community is really critical. Even as a faculty member, as a staff member, everybody makes relationships throughout the campus. That's why you'll see me at a, a university function and I'll be talking to the custodial staff. We'll be talking to the chef, working from the catering end.

Bob (03:54):

I'll be talking to the President of the University. I'll be talking to the students. I'm engaged at that, all those levels and comfortable in that. And it's important that students find those opportunities so that they can start to meet people in each of those environments. Cause everybody's gonna approach it and give you advice or, or be able to listen. But you've got to build a relationship with someone so that when you go to have that time and you have needs, that may be a little bit more personal. Again, I'm not the counseling center where, you know, sometimes I've had students that would really get into some real needs and I'm like, that's kind of above my pay grade. We really need to get you with somebody. That's got the professional skills to get to that. But I would say most of the time I was able to help students navigate what the, what was going on in their personal life or within their academic or career choice.

Bob (04:45):

Because one of the key things that you are doing as a student at this point is trying to figure out what's next. Maybe somebody told you that this is where you need to be, or we want you to be this, or you want you to be that. But I've had students that have gone through school after three years in computer science and said, that's not for me. I'm going over here in the art area. But it's expensive. So, you want to try and figure out how to do that and make decisions and have the experiences as early as possible. So, one of the ways to do that is to connect with faculty members. Maybe establish a formal mentorship. I've had lots of students that will come in and see me as they're involved in student government, or the newspaper, or some of the student organizations that do programming; Greek life and those kinds of things.

Bob (05:35):

And I always, I've always welcomed that time. I, I stopped what I'm doing because to me that's the number one importance is to help everybody as they kind of move through now, there's others that they don't seem to find that time and take the time, but you want people that are really going to care and I'll tell you what, there's a lot of those folks at the university. That's what makes Grand Valley special. And I'm, I'm pleased to have been part of that for almost four decades. It's different now that I'm away from it. But I'm also, I have a son that went through Grand Valley and ended up working on the housing staff. And now he's one of the key advisors, senior nursing advisors in the college of nursing. And all he does is help students navigate that curriculum and, and their career opportunities because sometimes they may not succeed and get into the nursing program.

Bob (06:22):

So how do you help students then rebound from that and figure out the next course of direction? So, as you look at the opportunities with faculty and staff just because there's a door on their office don't let that be a barrier. They're all human. They appreciate that opportunity, but think about what you want to accomplish, because I know sometimes I hear stories from faculty. Like we encourage students to go in and see their academic advisor and they get there and then they don't know what to ask or the faculty is like, well, what do you need? Cause it's like, we've got to help everybody have that dialogue and have some conversations. The bottom line in all of this is we want everybody to grow and get the experiences and be that kind of finished product, that model of somebody that's got an idea of what they want to do and learning is lifelong.

Bob (07:13):

And I think that's one of the things that we all realize as we continue to go through the university structure. But you have so many people to give back. And I know part of the program, Gerry had told me that there will be like upper level students that may be junior level students that can help mentor those, those first-year students coming in. And I know that I see that so much, it's critical that you identify students that are at an upper level to get advice from them, but make sure that you know that they know what they're talking about. I know I always joked with my son. I said, whatever you do, don't take academic advice from your two sisters because, their role and how they went through school is different than how he was going to go through school. So, no, know those resources. But I know Gerry's working with students that are at that level to help create some good mentorship roles. So, you can get connected at any different level here across the university. And so, start to think about what those opportunities might be and who can offer you some. An ear to listen and an opportunity to kind of process things with, sorry, it's probably a pretty long answer to kind of a thing there. So.

Gerry (08:26):

It's a great answer and it touches on so many things we talk about with mentorship. And I, I don't know, I'll give you credit for it. I don't know if it was you who said it or not. Who told me, “you know, it's a trusted friend and advisor and the knowledge that your trusted friend and advisor has manifest in so many different ways”. And you and I were talking a little bit before the show about, you know, some people want a former, a formal mentorship program and they want agendas and they want schedules when they sit down their mentor mentee, and that's okay, but you and I have had an informal mentorship for 30 years. And whether it was me calling you, or you calling me to check up on me, you know, which I so much appreciate cause sometimes it's all it takes and have a conversation and kind of look at things a different perspective and kind of check in and check up on people.

Gerry (09:13):

And I think the last year with the pandemic really brought that to the fore, right? People needed their, their social resources more than ever before, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me back up and let me give you a chance. And we ask everybody who comes aboard to the Mentorship. We have so much fun with the puns on this podcast. So, bear with me. Our fans love them. So, tell us a little bit, and I know this is a loaded question because you have so much Grand Valley experience. Tell us a little bit about your Laker journey. If you can thus far

Bob (09:50):

Uh, well, I could just say that, that I started in an office that had myself and one other person and grew it to an office that had about 12 full-time staff and six or seven Graduate students. So, learning to manage and excite and energize a team of committed student affairs professionals and then to support a community that campus grew from 6,200 students when I got here, to almost 25,000 and a dual campus. And, you know, trying to manage things between both areas and meeting student needs has changed so much over that. And if you add little things like technology with laptop computers or our cell phones and smartphones email, and things like that. That we had to do as if you called and maybe got ahold of somebody when they lived in their apartment or a hope that a roommate might give them a message, it was totally different than the communication that is on now, or the ability to sit and write your paper and have spell check and grammar check and all those.

Bob (10:56):

I mean, I'm sounding like a dinosaur at this point, but when I went through school, we didn't have those luxuries. And so, the one thing that I would say is I've, I've realized that because of the ability to text back and forth in that you really don't have to plan as much. I'll just go back. When I went to school in the seventies, if I was going to meet Gerry at the library after class, I had to make that plan with him before I went to class. I couldn't just like in the middle of class or when I got out of class, text them, say, “Hey, I'm going to the library. You want to meet me?” So, the skill for planning is not as ingrained as much as it used to be needed because you have the ability to kind of do it on the fly all the time.

Bob (11:41):

And so, I think when we're talking about the mentorship. Part of thinking about it strategically for each of you as students, or as a, as a faculty member, it's, it's planning some time to do that and planning to make that effort, to identify people that might be potential mentors to you. Because if you just leave it to that unplanned and kind of unstrategic, you'll miss that opportunity. And I think when I say that opportunity, I'll come from both ends here as a faculty member. It's, it's a real gift to really be able to connect with a student outside the classroom and spend time and help them on their journey of learning and growing and maturing. That's probably the one of the most rewarding parts that I had about my time here at Grand Valley, especially because I had students that would stay connected all the way through and then as they've left and now as they come back, I've got student's kids that are now attending the university.

Bob (12:39):

That's how long I've been here. So those pieces come from that experience and just planning to have it. But in my time here, I was always going back to my experience. I advised a lot of student government and the newspaper and student organizations. I was there to help. And I could tell when people were trying to figure things out or I'd invite people to come see me. And it's sometimes it's that invitation part as a faculty member to, to invite people to come in or to go have a cup of coffee, or to sit down in the common food areas and be approachable and be connecting and all that informal connectedness leads to sometimes more formalized connectedness. And I think that's one of the things that makes the journey for all of us more special is when we take the time to care about each other. And I've kind of learned in this world, there's those that are takers and there are those that are givers. And so, if we all give our time and give our support to each other, I think we'll be much better as a community. And each of us as individuals will grow and flourish to even greater Heights than we would individually

Gerry (13:51):

Well said we talked about on the show before, you know, humans being a tribal people. We're, we're kind of programmed to go through things together and band together. And sometimes these tougher times are great times to show that. Tell me a little bit, Bob, from the mentor perspective, cause you have a lot of experience as a mentor and there's folks out there who are listening, who are professionals, or they've graduated Grand Valley, they're alumni. They're not alumni, they're out there working and they're listing this, they're listening to me, beg that we need great people to be mentors. And they have a lot of objections of why they may or may not. Why would anybody want to be a mentor?

Bob (14:30):

Oh, that's, for me, that's almost a loaded question because the rewards, the rewards and the opportunities to do that outweigh all the other opportunities that are out there because it's the, the connecting that way. I, it's hard to describe that, but while the fact that we're sitting here right now, whether its relationships that started 30 years ago, or I can even I'll, I'll share that. When I started as a freshman at Northern Michigan university, I had a hall director and I ended up being a president of my hall and got involved in all kinds of stuff. And that led to this and that. And then I ended up being an RA for that person. Well, here we are 45 years later or whatever. That person that I just mentioned is actually my best friend. I text him probably every day and talked to him probably three days a week and we get together all the time.

Bob (15:29):

And this was a relationship that started you know, all those years ago. And I was just the freshmen, but he was a professional staff member, but we had so much in common and over all the years, we've raised our families and we live in different towns and different parts of the state, but those relationships go on. And so, when I'm when, as a faculty member, those students that go out there and continue on in the field and take the education that they learn in the classroom and apply it through their internships and, and the formalized you know, things that are trying to accomplish there, but just the informal mentorship, or if there's really this formal mentorship program. You know, identifying what the outcomes might be. It's really about asking and knowing what questions to ask, because as a student, you're going to have questions and you're going to have needs, but I never really tell people what they need to do.

Bob (16:27):

As far as that mentorship, it's it being able to ask the right question to help that person explore in their own mind what they are thinking it's kind of help helping the brain was some other, you know, three-dimensional kind of questioning and people that are good at that really make excellent. What counselors do it all the time? But for those of us that would be in a mentorship role, it just triggers the thought process. And it may lead people to clarity in their direction and their purpose, and it may challenge them to move forward and even to greater Heights than they would now. And I think that's where as a faculty mentor the rewards come, when you watch that person light up that passion, same thing that you see in the classroom, especially like in a laboratory experience as they move forward and have that.

Bob (17:16):

And then later on when they're in the field and in an internship at a company or in a corporation, you know, you can see that and you can hear that in their, in their voice and in the excitement and in the rewards because life's going to bring so much to them, but if you can help them realize the potential there. And many students are struggling with things as simple as finance or relationships or things like that, that they don't know where to find that advice and support. And as a mentor, you may not know the answers to all those, but you know, where some of the resources might be and something that's all it takes to help a student, you know, bring some closure to something or to deal with something and move forward. So, it's not like there's a probably uh, I'm sure Gerry's got some things for some structure to help people in the mentorship program, but, uh it's, it's really just a process of uh helping one another and engaging in some dialogue that you can move forward with things.

Bob (18:19):

So, it, it has many rewards and, and I would really encourage everybody to take advantage of that on both sides of it from the faculty perspective as a staff member or as an upper-class student to take.

Gerry (18:33):

Or a community business person.

Bob (18:34):

Or a community business. Actually, who's if, if you can make the connections and a lot of times, and that's one of the areas where faculty especially can connect students to that external community person in a business or a different area, there's relationships that are there, same thing through career services, where they're developing internships and have relationships with various businesses and things like that. So, and part of it is you want to, I mean, I look at the college of education, they have a program where you actually go student teach for a semester. But I was talking earlier about making sure, you know, where you really want to be, because if you go through all your school years, and then you get out into the career and you go, “this sucks, I really don't like this.”

Bob (19:20):

You should know that before you get into it. So how do you go do that? And part of it is too, you know, this mentorship, but help you identify some of the internship opportunities and those internship opportunities that are, you know, probably more formalized and, and you're getting critiqued on that and working within a big corporation or the business. And all, that's pretty, pretty common sense, but it may be a little scary and how to navigate that. And that's more as a faculty mentor, you can help mentor that student and take some of that, that just anxiety that comes with that. Cause it's all unknown. You know, you may not have gone through that before. And I always forget about how much we know. I remember watching a presenter one time and just talking about all through life. You're always a freshman, you know. You're always, you're always moving into a new home. You're always taking on a new job, whatever the case, we're all freshmen all the time. And so, you remember what it's like to have that concern and that excitement at the same time, you're worried about whether you'll fit in or whether you're going to be successful. And how do we, you can store that confidence in everybody and know that if they've made it to Grand Valley at this point, they've got the ability to be successful. So how do you like that fire and trigger them?

Gerry (20:34):

Absolutely. And I think about the rewards of when the, especially after the, if you have a formal mentorship and they end or whatever, you get the call, right? You get the call from the former mentee or the now friend or whatever, and something you did or said helped them and their journey in life. And there's a lot of reward in that. And I ran into a lot of community mentors right now, business professionals who are like, I'm just too busy. Or I just feel like I have too much on my plate, or I don't feel I have anything to offer a student. What would you say to those community folks, the business leaders in the, in the, in the area for thinking about this, but around the fence with some of those objections?

Bob (21:20):

Well starting or reverse order there, that everybody has something to offer and you may not know it. I remember when we were doing the event and we were, we were raising resources for the Olympic wrestling trials back in the eighties. And one of the people that was a mentor to me, Jim Scott, he was like, everybody has something to give, even if it's only pencils, you know what I mean? That there is something there. So, I would encourage everybody to, you know, invest some time there. And again, we all have 24 hours in the day and how we spend it, how we use it or how we lose it. I think you can find that time in there even with families, even with careers. But the real question is what are the real priorities for us as educators? And as a community member, what is, what is, what is your commitment to give back to the community, to the next generation?

Bob (22:17):

And I think that's the key thing that our society, those that are in the education and are trying to help the next generation come along. But our community leaders many of them as well, but realizing the role of that, if you can help build the next generation to support your business, support your organization, you know, whether it's a nonprofit or whatever. We can help the next generation become better. And we want that level of citizenship. I always wanted to, we, we did a program one time where we took students to the pops concert and we met with John [inaudible] before and had dinner. And we, we were trying to engage students with, you know, those particular kinds of programs because we knew they were going to go into business areas and they were going to the ones that were going to support the arts and the next generation.

Bob (23:16):

So, they needed to understand the importance of that and their role in that. And so, we gave them those kinds of experiences. So, in a business you might invite people in to help shadow see the operations and maybe attend meetings, be visible things. There are so many opportunities and everything that we take for granted that we do every day, that others may not have ever had that experience. And so, it's a great experience. I, one of the things I did when I'll say a formal internship, but I went with each of the regional supervisors from the, the regional office, from the DNR up in the UP. And I went with waterways, I went with law, I went with fisheries, I went with parks and I got to see all those different pieces of how the DNR works and covers those different areas. So, any business has the accountants, the HR people, you know, the production, the marketing. So, throughout any organization, there are things that students can connect to and taking the time to realize the role that we all have. The important role that we all have in, in that is helping the next generation come along and move our society forward, help build our community and keep it as a great community. We all are partners in that.

Gerry (24:36):

We're all on the same ship in the end, right? Nobody’s doing it themselves and you're going to have good ship mates and you're going to have other ship paints. What kind of, what kind do you want to add?

Bob (24:46):

Well, you can always throw them overboard.

Bob (24:48):

There's, you know, I always talk about when I was, I said I was a farmer or a gardener. There was always a few that I had to pull weeds and we might have to pluck them in and have them try something different. But I think overall the opportunities are there and it's, it's really just lending a hand and lending an ear and, and reaching out and taking time for that. I know that my good friend, Troy Farley, who's the director of the career services area. He's like I keep half my day and open up open time to meet with students because he goes, that's what my job is. I get sucked into so much administrative meetings and, and things like that, project work, but the real need is obviously the student contact. And so, I think for all of us to make time for contact with students every day outside the classroom, if you're a faculty member, or if you're another student to know, just take that time to look, look for a younger student and how do you mentor them and, and help move them forward in their career.

Gerry (25:50):

Do you have a… it feels like a good time if you've addressed so many things, do you have a great or a favorite mentor or mentee story?

Bob (26:03):

I, well, I Do.

Bob (26:04):

I guess I could, this'll be a kind of a comical story, but I had was doing an internship and I had, I was working with a conservation officers and I worked with one officer quite a bit. I'd spend about 3000 hours over a couple of years in the field with them. And I just thought, okay,

Gerry (26:23):

Formal mentorship or a formal internship, or, well, it's just something you set up?

Bob (26:28):

Was a formal internship that started, but then I continued with actually the state had a volunteer conservation officer program where you could spend hours in the field with, with an officer. And again, as a police officer law enforcement officer, they, they don't want just anybody riding with them. So, over the course of time, I, you know, built that trust. And then I spent a lot of time because that was my original career goal was to, to go that way rather than student affairs, where I ended up in, in higher ed. And I just remember always getting those little mentorship kinds of comments from him throughout that experience, that related to life in general, and then related to the law enforcement kinds of things. And so, some of those were humorous, some of them were dead serious but those are all kind of some of the mantras that I end up living life to later on and realizing that you don't have control over everything, things can change instantly.

Bob (27:32):

And so those experiences at times where were, like I said, humorous and other times you know, if you, you wouldn't wish that on anybody some kind of getting lost in that, but, but for me, that was one of those experiences where I learned a lot of really good life lessons, but I also had people, especially at the university that former president Lubbers you know, I got hired by him, way back in the eighties and I still am in contact with him. And, and, you know, he's in his nineties and he's still mentoring so many of us and challenging us and thanking us and, and those opportunities that, that we get the rewards from that, you know, just are insurmountable. So, I just have had so many opportunities with so many people like that. A lot of them have come from informal relationships with other people on campus just through my relationships with them too.

Bob (28:35):

And so great advice from colleagues. I created partnerships with my good friend Andy Beachneu now who's at the time was the director of housing and Andy and I met every week for lunch. And that was a good time for us to help mentor each other, share what was going on, I'll say, personal lives, our professional lives, or to deal with staff issues. And those kinds of common experiences were, you know, in different shops, but we had a good opportunity to help gain strength and knowledge and wisdom from each other. And so, when you look at any of those opportunities, everybody has something to offer. Those are the kinds of things I would encourage people to look at. So other students that are in your program or may have graduated, or the more that we can connect with alums and get them to be back and talk about their experiences, you know, all those things are there, but again, faculty have gone, you know, they've, they were students at one time.

Bob (29:36):

I always had my students when I was working with a freshmen seminar program, I had them interview faculty members and talk about what the faculty members experiences, why were they at the university? And we started to, you know, get common threads about why people came here. What advice they had to students as undergrads. And I think as faculty members, if y'all go back and think about what your experience was like, how can you help current day students with the stress and pressures that they've got be successful? So, it's just applying that back in that sense, even those that are out in the community, you know, you were students at one time you remember what that experience is like. So, we're all humans and we all have needs. So, step up and, and be a part of it.

Gerry (30:29):

I appreciate that in so many different ways. And I, I, you, as you were talking about that, and you talked about President Emeritus Lubbers, who's actually going to be on the show next week as to tell the bill Seidman story. I think a lot of Siemens students could learn and myself included from that, but there's kind of a, there's a silent mentorship net that's been formed, right? So, while president Lubbers hasn’t formally mentored us, he mentored people who support us or created programs that are there. Like you're talking about whether it's in the college of education or whether it's the outdoor club that I know that you were, you know, involved in those things exist because other people have volunteered their time and treasure. I call it to make sure that those avail that that's available. And I think that's, what's great about the Grand Valley story is Grand Valley is not an old Ivy league school university.

Gerry (31:26):

It's a new one. It was kind of a new experiment at a time that it wasn't a greatest time to, to build a university but people did it. And because they did it, we're sitting here today. And I think every Laker has a piece of that legacy and the people who are interested in that legacy had that learning agility. They want to learn more and they're going to form those relationships. But we're, we're, it hits so many great points and I could talk to you for days and, and, and we will, but to wrap this show I was wondering if you would talk a little bit about maybe if, if a student is listening to this and they or a mentor, a potential mentor is listening to this other than calling us and saying, Hey, I want to formally be part of this. What kind of questions, internal dialogue, what kind of things should they be thinking about? And if you're thinking these I, what I'm going to is, if you're thinking these thoughts, mentorship might be right for you, or, you know, a mentor relationship.

Bob (32:31):

Yeah. Especially if you hung on and listened to this whole podcast at this point in time it's kind of like, okay, where's the sales pitch we've been I'm in my mind, that's a natural one does tell you that this is something we all need to do on, on both sides as a mentee or as a potential mentor. I've had so many great experiences with that, but and I was just thinking about some of the students that I've had that continued to come back into my life. It's kind of like you plan an apple seed, you get an apple tree and you get apples forever. It just keeps on giving back like that. So those are the things that, for me, I've just been some of those students, I stay connected with all the time and they may be relationships that have started a long time ago.

Bob (33:19):

I've had a lot of other staff and faculty that I've had relationships with and sought that advice and support they've now moved on and retired or in different areas. And I still am in touch with them. There's still that outreach. There's still that connectedness. And so those are the things that I would continue to see, you know, people trying to do. So, if you start to think about it, who do you want to, what do you want to learn? Something from? It can be informal. I used to always tell students, and I still tell them meet three new people every day. That was something that former student Senate president Scott Henny had a whole campaign, excuse me, one year. And we're all trying to get people to realize that all your life you've been told, don't talk to strangers, don't talk to strangers.

Bob (34:11):

And then you get to college and it's like, you better start talking to people because you should be able to tell who's a good stranger and who's a bad stranger at this point. So my whole need and my whole direction that to my staff, it was always, we just gotta sometimes, excuse me give people a little nudge and maybe this podcast will help give you that little nudge, whether you're the student that kind of, not sure if you want to do something like this, but a little nudge to go check it out and go make, make, take some steps to do something. Again, there's no, there's no fear in this when you really come down to it, it's, it's all about getting some more support. And then from a faculty and two it's, sometimes it does the nudge. It's like, Hey, faculty member, you you'd be a great mentor.

Bob (35:00):

You may not realize that thinking or think you have time, but you've got time. You've got the skills. You've got the experiences. Take the time to add to the educational process and spend a little bit of time informally. And again, some of it may be hanging out in the cafeteria, trying it out. And then later you may end up a little bit more formally and help students. You know, they may, there are some students who are gonna want to chart out what their goals are going to be from this mentorship. And some faculty members may say, if it's going to be worth my time, we need to plan out what your objectives are. What are the kinds of questions we want to get to? What's the heart of it? How often do we meet? Or what does that look like? And that all comes with once the relationships get started, but sometimes it's just the nudge to get that relationship started.

Bob (35:47):

Or it's the nudge for you to call Gerry and say, Hey, I want to be a mentor. I feel like I'm on a PBS pledge break now. So just, just call in and, and, you know, the prizes that you get from donating the prizes you get the reward you're going to get from having this experience are going to be overwhelmingly rewarding. And life-changing for people on both ends of it. So, I really wish Gerry luck with a program. And I hope all of you that have stuck with us, listen to my rambling in that sense are going to find those opportunities. So, I wish you all best luck and go Lakers.

Gerry (36:30):

Thanks, Bob. It's a absolutely a pleasure and honor to have ya on behalf of all the Lakers, all Grand Valley, thank you for your 38 years of service. Thanks for coming back and on a personal level. Thanks for, for being my friend and my mentor. It has meant so much, and it really defined a big part of my Laker journey. And it's, it's by no accident that you're involved here after my undergraduate time, my professional time, my returning to Grand Valley to coach, and now being in this chair for mentorship you've been a part of that and a big part of that. And I thank you for that. It's been, it's been a pleasure and I'm looking forward to whatever we're going to get into next,

Bob (37:09):

As my pleasure, Gerry. I can't wait to see a heavy make this program, just, just blow up and be such a success and such a valuable piece for the Seidman college and for students in general. So good luck.

Gerry (37:21):

Thanks Bob.

Gerry (37:21):

Thank you for sailing along on this episode of the Seidman mentorship podcast. For more information on the Seidman school of business mentorship program at Grand Valley State University set your heading to www.gvsu.edu/Seidman If you have a story to tell know someone we should interview have questions or comments, email us at go2gvbiz@gvsu.edu until next time, keep a weathered eye on the horizon and we wish you Fairwinds so long.