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.

Welcome to the Seidman Mentorship Podcast. I'm Dylan Jones-Wrisley,

the editor for Season Four. Today on the show, Gerry welcomes Mike Messner,

the Director of the Student Academic Success Center.

Mike's a lifelong Laker holding two degrees from Grand Valley,

a master's degree in higher education, and a bachelor's degree in biology.

In today's episode,

Mike throws a lifeline for the most troubling student concerns --mental health

concerns, tutoring with Grand Valley's hardest classes,

along with professional and academic success services.

Mike demonstrates his excellence in student affairs with over 18 years of

experience at Grand Valley.

Well, you know, it seems like as I go on with the podcast, I,

I keep bringing these people back from my past.

And I think this is because there's one of two ways to look at it.

Either you guys never move, or ,

Grand Valley does a great job of creating environment where people wanna come

back, and today's guest is in that category. And this goes back to, more of my,

my mentors. And this isn't a review of, of Gerry's mentors over the years.

This is more about, I think,

the systems that exist at Grand Valley that people forget about, until

they really need them. And so today we're going to try to preempt some of that,

by bringing on today's guest, Mike Messner, Mike,

Director of the Student Academic Success Center.

The Mez back in the day. Um, great to see you. Thanks for coming on.

Yeah, no, it was great to see you too.

So, I asked our research department to do research on you.

Oh, geez.

We're going to see how good that they did.

So Mike started his educational journey at Grand Valley with a Bachelor in

Science in Biology. Yep.

After graduating continued education at GVSU and got an MED that's a master's in

education.

Yep.

In college Student Affairs Leadership. After completing these,

he pursued a PhD in Adult Lifelong Education at MSU.

Yep.

Did you complete that?

I did not complete it. I completed all the coursework, um,

but I didn't finish the whole program.

Is it true that the PhD sucks all the joy out of whatever <laugh> topic?

It's, you know, it's a, it's an inter um, I really love the courses.

I just got really busy. I, I still,

I think I will go back and finish one of these days.

All right.

But we'll see. Yep.

The terminal degree, they call it.

Because it either is the end of your education or the end of you is the...

I, that's, I like that. Yes.

It's the joke.

Yep.

Then you spent two years at Kansas State University,

as a Residence Life Coordinator,

also spent a year at Central Michigan as Residence Hall Director.

You were the Director of Student Life at Davenport for six years.

Yep.

And then, started at GV in 2006. And this is where my,

I, you and I both know you didn't start at Grand Valley in 2006 because we met

when, when you had kind of started professional employment at Grand Valley.

And that was, I won't mention the year. It was a long time ago.

Yeah. It was in the mid, mid-nineties somewhere. It was. So yes.

It was, it was 1994. Since you brought up the decade. <laugh>, I'll, I'll,

I'll nail it down. And I say that because for, for our listeners,

in one of those cosmic things that if I was writing a fictional novel,

you wouldn't dare write it this way. Right.

So this is one of those coincidences that it's just such a coincidence.

You wouldn't dare write it, because they're like, oh, that's a,

it's obviously a plot twist.

But you were my resident advisor.

You were my hall director in Copeland. Yes. My freshman year.

So I appear at Grand Valley, and you were there,

and we mentioned this during the, the warmup, but I was not,

I was not a problem for you. In fact, I was such a wallflower that I remember.

I'm surprised you,

you even remember me because other than when you had to pull us together for a,

you guys were knucklehead meetings when we played football in the, you know...

Yeah. Little bowling alley set up in the hall, things like.

Yep. We had something going on and you had to call us in.

And the thing I love about this, and, and that I remember about you,

because you know, the, the,

the brother and sisterhood that belongs to the "S shaped dorms" at Grand Valley.

Right. So your Copeland, your Kissler, your Robinson,

everybody knows everybody because we all live in this,

this little end of campus. And I knew some of the other directors,

and I'm thinking of, I'm thinking of Joe from Kissler <laugh>.

And I'm thinking of, unlike the great police movies that I love, where the,

the police chief's always that guy who screams all the time.

You were not that kind of leader. You were very quiet. You'd pull us in.

You're like, you guys, you did this. That, we can't have that.

And this is the way out of that. We're not doing that again. Okay. Good.

You know, go back to your rooms, and Joe was the, the screaming police chief.

Joe's a teacher now, he teaches math at Cass Tech, I believe.

All right. Well, um, good for Joe. But I, I remember you guys,

and this,

this comes around to this piece of mentorship because I think people always do

better when they're supported. And that mentor, whether that's, you know,

your RA is, is is there for part of that. The friends that you meet,

these first connections you make at Grand Valley are super important.

Super important. Alright. So that was your first actual gig, so, um,

this probably hidden suppressed on your, on your resume.

A little bit. I mean, I was a resident assistant then. Um,

while I was doing my master's degree, I was a graduate student,

in housing res life. And then partway through, I was, I was hired as the,

like adjunct living center director back in Copeland Hall,

which was kind of cool for me because I was an RA there then I was the living

center director there. But I, I loved working in housing res life,

but I love what I'm doing now, too.

And now you're the director of Student Academic Success Center-- SASC.

Is what we call it. And that's a, that's a fun name.

Current role 14 years.

Yeah.

Married with two children.

Yes. That's all true as well. Yep. Geez, you guys, this is like deep research.

I'm a little nervous what else is on that list.

But, yeah. Well, I'll tell you when, when,

it's funny because when we have guests, I,

my student workers don't like most of the work that we make them do. Mm-Hmm.

<affirmative> because it's work. But there are fun things we get to do.

And research is one of those things nowadays, with our digital footprint.

But our Gen X generation,

it is hard to find stuff on us because it didn't exist.

And then by the time it did, we all figured out like, oh,

this is a bad idea 'cause it's forever.

And then we were very grateful that all the things that we had that were on

Polaroid have since either been destroyed or locked in a safe.

Only to be open upon my passing. So...

I don't think I had email until my senior year of college. So, I mean,

that's <laugh>.

<Laugh>. If you recall when email became a thing, I'm using air quotes.

At Grand Valley we had the terminal up in Copeland, right? Mm-Hmm.

<affirmative>. And then you had like, like two terminals. When I say terminal,

for, for you later gens listening. Yep.

That means a computer screen with a keyboard that was somewhere that was

accessible to the public. And there was one,

I think there was obviously one in the computer labs. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.

There was one, I think in Mackinac and one in like Ausable or something. Mm-Hmm.

<affirmative>. And we checked the email like, once a week. Mm-Hmm.

<affirmative>.

And the only people on email were other geeks like me at other universities.

Um, who were emailing. You get an email from somebody at Michigan Tech. Yeah.

I'm like, wow, cool. And it was this novelty.

It was definitely not something that we do now, constantly. Alright.

By the way, um, my room was retired. I don't know if you knew that or not.

The number three...

I think they told me that, yeah.

313 Copeland no longer exists. That, that tells you about my legacy.

Yeah. What is it now?

They changed the numbers.

Oh, okay.

So one summer they were painting and I was with another, alumni, um,

Marty, who lived across the hall from me. Owned that great motorcycle. And,

we happened to be on campus. I said, let's go to Copeland.

And they were painting. So we got into the building, we went upstairs,

we looked at our old rooms, and they just changed the numbering. Okay.

So the room is there, but the number is gone.

Okay.

But I think it's better for my mystique if I just say...

It's gone.

The room was retired. They blocked it in. And, you know, it's a secret now. So,

um, I, I said this before,

when students first come. And you've seen this now in so many iterations, right?

You saw it as a resident advisor. You're now seeing it,

as director of SASC.

What's the most important thing that students do when they first come to campus

to set themselves up for success?

I think, you know, I think there's a mix of things that are hugely important.

I think, you know, coming to college is one of those big life transitions.

I mean, leaving home, going from high school for most of us into college. Um,

so it's figuring out the new place, the new people, the new system.

Um, I think some of the things that, that we see that, again, most folks,

most new students aren't great at, is figuring out the time management,

the organization. Like how to get a system. You know,

your system that worked in high school might not work the same.

So you gotta adjust, adapt, figure out how that's going to work. I think it's,

I think sometimes we come out of, out of high school thinking,

"I don't need help." "I can do this. You know, nobody gets help. But I mean,

that just, that's not how it is. So, I mean,

one of the big ones too is reaching out, you know, connecting with your advisor,

a success coach, your mentor, or going to the tutoring center,

talking to your professors in office hours. So, you know,

kind of making this place your home, finding your people here, finding friends.

Um, and just really, not just letting it happen to you,

but also being active and really thinking about, hey, what's,

this is the time where I'm going to, I can reinvent myself.

I can do anything I want. It's a whole new environment.

So being kind of intentional and smart about,

about that while you're making the shift from, from high school or, um,

you know, a gap year or whatever it is, into, into college.

That reset that you're talking about,

I think escaped me until almost grad school.

So it took me an awful long time. But I'm a slow learner.

<laugh> is, you get a chance to reset yourself.

So who you were in high school. The person that you developed,

the clique that you hung with, the, the, your group, whatever it was,

how you saw yourself, you get a complete chance to redo.

That's also true semester to semester only because

how many times do you really stay in contact with that person from biology

class? And maybe you don't.

So the next semester you're in a whole new set of classes.

Nobody knows who you are, right? Or there's always a new friend group.

And I think that choosing a friend group for that first-year student, or,

exploring who you're connecting to is so important.

And needs to be thought about with agency,

because sometimes we fall into groups of,

of friends that maybe aren't the best for us.

Where do we find these, these groups of friends?

The positive ones that take care of us?

You know, I, I think it's a, um, I think it kind of depends.

And I also think, you know,

you can have different friend groups that you do different things with. Um,

but I do think it's super smart to find

a group that is academically mindset or, you know,

kind of act focused on their academics,

maybe in your same major or a similar major. Um,

and so again, that can be through classes that could be joining like clubs,

organizations with similar interests to you. Um,

it could just be folks you meet in class. I was a, we talked about,

I was a biology major, so, you know, we had big lecture halls,

but we had small labs where you had, you know,

these were two or three hour labs.

You do have time to really get to meet people, talk with people, um,

kind of feel those things out. Um, but I, I think some of it too is just going,

you know, being open, open to new friendships, open to new people,

different people. Um, but again,

finding folks that also are there for the same goals that you are earning

your degree, moving forward. Um, and are going to, you know,

support you versus pull you down and, and pull you into other things sometimes.

So we establish ourselves. We go to campus life night,

we look at, um, different opportunities.

And campus life night is not just for freshmen. I wanna put that out there.

You get this chance every semester to reinvent yourself because you can choose

new people, right? And I always tell people,

find something you absolutely wouldn't have done, and give it a shot..

You're not pledging yourself to do whatever the group is doing.

Go to a couple meetings, see what's going on.

But there's over 400 registered student organizations at Grand Valley.

Go find some people and learn,

the diversification ability to network with people you wouldn't normally.

That's a huge skill, especially for our business majors who are listening.

Because you will do business with people who are not like you. I guarantee it.

In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say, if you're a Grand Valley student,

you're going to do that anyway no matter what your major is.

And you're going to learn that.

So let's talk specifically more about SASC. And I have some questions here from,

from the, from the department of research, who are students.

What are the first steps when you start falling behind in a class?

I, I think it is to realize what's going on.

And also seek out help. Um, you know, if you're falling behind in class, I,

you know, I say your professors,

your academic advisor, or your success coach,

if you have one, are always great starting points, because again, if they...

These folks care about you, they've been at the institution a long time.

This is what we're here to do is help you be successful.

And if I can't answer all your questions or your professor can't, they've,

they know where to connect you, the resources. Um,

so it's coming in and again,

maybe working with a success coach in my office or a different office to

rethink how you're spending your time, rethink your study strategies, um,

reassess, you know, your approach that you're doing test taking. So kind of,

kind of whatever that is. I think the,

the one thing that's really important is sometimes I kind of see a couple groups

of folks, you know, um,

people that know they're not doing as well.

Something's going on and they seek help and they try to right the ship.

Other people just kind of stay in that.

And maybe they're going to get lucky and pull out of it,

but sometimes they don't. Or sometimes there's a group that starts to shut down,

like, they're not doing great. And now they start avoiding things.

And that's a really, that group, you know,

that's scary because we lose some of those folks, you know. Um,

so I'd say first thing is if you feel something's off,

just seek help. I mean, and a lot of times it's not,

you might not need to meet with a success coach every week,

but you may have two or three meetings where you get some really good skills and

then are able to kind of take it from there and move from there.

I call it coasting and ghosting. Yeah. I like that. And, and the,

the rails end at coasting and ghosting,

usually with you separated from the thing permanently. Um,

whether that's people, organizations, classes, majors, or your college career,

you start coasting and ghosting. I can tell you how it's going to end.

So you need somebody and

they're there for you. Um, and it can start with that friend group,

but engaging that professor usually.

The next question's in here is --I'm struggling with a professor's teaching

style or tough grading, how do I handle it? And, okay,

let's do the obvious thing. Engage that professor and say, "hey, you know,

what do I gotta do?" I am a huge advocate of office hours.

That's how I met my mentors. Yeah. Go to office hours,

because literally professors are sitting there with nothing to do,

wishing that somebody would come and talk to them. Sans talking to my professor,

what kind of ideas or strategies do you have if you're struggling with a

particular, ,

professor with their teaching style or their tough grading?

Yeah, I think there's a few places to kind of start. Again, I mean,

academic advisor, success coach is a good one. Um, but other things are,

you know,

finding ways to connect with maybe upper class students who have had this

professor in the past. So, whether you're in a formal mentoring program,

I'm a big proponent of, you know, especially your first year,

join some student orgs for fun,

but join one or two that are either line up with your professional goals or your

academic goals because one of the things you have there is if I'm a first year

student in that club organization,

there's a lot of juniors and seniors who have had my professors,

had the classes I've taken. Um, and can be, you know, just good resources on,

"hey, here's what worked for me. Here's, um, you know,

this professor isn't as scary as you think. When I went and met with him.

You know, things turned around." So, it's just good resources there.

The other one is, you know, tutoring, whether you're doing scheduled tutoring,

we have a lot of drop-in tutoring options. Um, but I, you know,

I kind of think if you're nervous about going to a professor, an advisor,

a success coach can help you get there, but also take advantage of,

you know, other students at the university that,

that have had that professor maybe, or, you know,

are further along in the program.

That's great advice. We've used the term several times. What is a success coach?

So, a success coach. Um,

most of us have been through some level of coaching, training actually. And,

you know, kind of the way I would describe a success coach. You know, if I,

if I put it in context, like what's a success coach?

What is an academic advisor? What's, um, a counselor or a therapist?

We're sort of in the same area sometimes, but take different approaches like,

you know,

a counselor or a therapist is going to work with you on things that have

happened in the past, making meaning of those.

And how does that propel you forward?

An academic advisor is really going to focus on the academics. So like, um,

the courses, you know,

moving towards graduation or graduate or professional school,

a coach, our job is really to take you where you're at,

see and see where you wanna go with things. So, um,

we ask a lot of questions. We kind of help you figure out where you need to go.

And, and a lot of what we work on is, you know, time management, organization,

study strategies, goal setting. Um, but it's, it's,

it's not super focused on past behaviors.

It's more on, let's take you where you're at.

Let's focus on your strengths and let's get you where you can go and not worry

as much about the past. So kind of a, a forward thinking, you know,

I kind of say growth mindset, um,

strengths-based approach to helping students be successful is what,

what we really focus on.

It's that learning agility is determine. I keep hearing,

and I love what you're talking about, being where you're at,

because if we're ruminating on the future or we're living in the past,

neither of those things really change anything in the present besides us

machinating on, on what we're talking about, what we're thinking,

what we're feeling. It usually isn't positive. Um...

I love that.

And I think it could be complimentary. I mean,

probably two thirds of the students I'm working with also are working with

somebody in Disability Support Resources or a therapist. Um,

a lot of 'em also meet regularly with their advisors. So it's not,

it's not like a one or the other.

It's let's compliment each other in our approach to helping you be successful.

Thanks for bringing up, Disability Support Resources. DSR. Because

when I, when I, I don't know if it existed in my time,

I do know since then that I learn differently than other people. Um,

and there are certain situations that I would struggle with.

So recently I was working on a, a new certification rating in aviation.

And, it's basically, here's the online program.

Call us when you're ready to take the test. That is doomed for me.

That is absolutely the worst way for me to learn.

Give me an in-class interactive style is way better for me.

Can you talk a little bit about DSR and demystify?

Because I think a lot of people think,

unless I am physically unable to get to a class, unless I have this, you know,

very obvious thing where you could just have a different learning style

and DSR can be helpful. So can you un-mystify that for us?

No, I think DSR, um, it's a good connection for anybody.

Whether you're talking about a, a physical disability,

some type of processing issue, you know,

we've just seen in the country. I mean,

a huge spike in folks coming to school with anxiety, depression,

ADHD numbers are going way up.

More folks are coming in on the autism spectrum. And again, that,

that's probably half of our students, whether they're registered or not. So,

most folks are succeeding. It just is figuring out, um, you know,

if I learn a little different, if I need to restructure how I am,

my study time looks a little different based on the way I learned,

DSR can help folks get moving on that.

We also work super closely with DSR and do all, you know, the,

the coaching we do, um,

I think also helps students' kind of neurodivergent students coming in as well.

Um, the other thing I'd say about DSR is, you know, if you go in,

you meet with somebody, you have a disability or register with them,

you're going to have options as far as accommodations. Not everybody takes that.

Like sometimes I'll have a student who they have extended test taking

time,

or they can take an exam in the testing center and maybe for one or

two other classes that's helpful. But for other classes, that's just,

they don't need to do that. And so, again,

you can also choose how much you want to share with your professors,

how you want to talk things out. But,

but then you do have your accommodation set up ahead of time if you need 'em,

then you can tap into 'em and, and you're ready to go with it.

And I love the fact of what you said,

and I think that that helps because I think some people feel that if I register

a DSR,

then suddenly this is public thing that I am either neurodivergent or I learn

differently or there's something wrong with me.

And that's not the way it is at all. And as an instructor myself,

sometimes when they're crazy enough to let me go off the rails and go teach,

we, I'll tell you how it works. The first day of class,

the student comes up to me, they hand me a letter. That letter is from,

DSR that says, "hey,

this student gets this accommodation if they choose to use it." So one student,

one semester got to record lectures. Because that helped them.

It wasn't a major,

thing or gets more time testing or an alternative testing

style.

So maybe there's an oral examination instead of to take away test anxiety of a

written test or, um, online versus, or paper, whatever it is, to,

to help students out. So yes. Leaning into DSR, I think, um,

thank you for demystifying that for us,

because I think that's a underutilized resource. And I know very,

very successful people. A friend of mine who loves it so much,

he's getting his second PhD.

Oh, geez.

Okay. Um,

has registered DSR and was the first person who told me about it when I went

back for my master's that said, "hey, I'm a psychotherapist and,

and have you thought about this?" Mm-Hmm. And, um, I think it's an over,

it's overlooked and,

and there shouldn't be any stigma associated with your DSR. Yep.

So next question, a student has a major life tragedy.

Who should they speak with first about academics and the academic plan? Yeah.

I, you know, I think, um,

talking with your professors is, is hugely important. Um,

you know,

if there's a life tragedy where I'm going to miss a significant amount of class,

or I might have to withdraw that semester, um, advisors a good start.

Our office works with a lot of that, too.

We'll send notices out to your professors that you might be out because of an

injury, a family emergency. Um,

the Dean of Students Office is also a really good resource where they can work

with you on, you know, laying out some options about, you know,

do I need to withdraw this term? Can I make it through,

what support systems can we put in place to help you, you know,

manage whatever's going on? Um, so I'd say, you know, your professors,

advisors, our office, dean of students, are all good kind of starting places.

If, if you have a, a, you know,

a life circumstance that is going to significantly

impact your ability to do well in the semester you're in.

And what I'm hearing is, is all of these things are not coasting and ghosting.

All these things are engaging with somebody. And so, I mean, you've,

you've given an open invitation. So for the freshman student who's listening,

or the student who hasn't used any of these resources,

I think the key to this is to establish a relationship before you need one.

Now there's introverts listening to this podcast who said, yep,

I'm going to go see Mez as soon as, as there's a need to do that.

I suggest it might be worth connecting. And whatever those resources.

And we all work together behind the scenes.

I'm attached to advising here at Seidman. So, we see all,

we work together on this, right?

So the professors working together with advising, working together with SASC,

working together with the Dean of Students Office. So no matter where you go,

you're going to get options and ideas.

Two things I want to make clear. You're still driving the bus, right?

So all these things are laid out.

Nobody's going to tell you you have to withdraw or you have to do this,

you have to do that. They're going to say, these are the options.

And then you get to choose.

But it's really hard to choose if you don't have that connection. Right.

And that's where the mentoring comes in.

So whether that's your student peer mentor, your Junior/Senior mentor,

if you're Seidman student in the program, or, um, our office,

the Mentorship office, whether you call Mez,

where any of these folks to do that and going to your professor.

I always tell students, as wacky as it may seem,

especially if you're a business student, that first day of class,

you have your business cards that you made and you bought on Etsy or whatever.

Vista Print for 25 bucks. That say, you know,

I'm Gerry Cook and I'm a management major at Seidmen College of Business,

expected graduation date, XYZ. First day of class,

I go up to the professor and I say, "hey, Professor Messner, nice to meet you.

I'm Gerry. I'm looking forward to taking your class.

I'm a little concerned about this, that, and the other thing in,

in the curricula, here's my business card." Now, when you go,

you're not an unknown quantity and you've psyched yourself up.

This is not a stranger anymore.

And it makes it easier for those things that come down the line.

And they're not always negative, right? So here I get to sit across from you,

you know, 33 years later. And, and,

and have this conversation be like, "hey, um, I made it.

I'm okay. Yeah. I'm doing good. In fact,

I've come back." And the students don't know how rewarding that is for us

too. Right? To see some of these, folks, especially the ones that struggled.

That make it, um, that's pretty cool. It's rewarding.

Yeah. The, the research out there, and they use this term strong support person,

but it kind of says like,

students that find a strong support person on campus are much

more successful than students who don't. And that strong support, you know,

it doesn't say who that is. Like, strong support person means if I needed help,

I feel like I could go to this person and they would support me, listen to me,

believe in me, and get me where I need to go. Give me the help I need.

And so that's something just to think about.

And that doesn't have to be the same person your whole four years at the

institution too. But, you know, think about that. You know, like each semester,

like if I got stuck with something, is there a professor or an advisor,

a living center director? You know, my Business 101 professor. I mean,

whoever that, if I feel comfortable going to that person,

it could be LGBT Center, Multicultural Affairs. And, you know,

if I went and talked to Gerry or whoever, he'd help me.

And so it's just important to, to not be afraid to go when you need it,

but also to, to think about that,

identify somebody you feel comfortable going to if you need help with something.

And there's so many, the,

the great thing about Grand Valley is I keep calling it the big small

university, right? So, um, we, we don't make the top,

you know, five universities in the country.

And I don't think that was the goal of Bill Seidman.

And the folks when this university was invented. Um, but boy,

I have never,

never met a staff or faculty person who doesn't care. In fact,

um, I know some very talented faculty and staff who probably could go to one of

those big schools and do the big thing for the big money or the big recognition,

and they stay at Grand Valley. And I don't know why this is you, you tell me,

you've been around longer than me. What,

what is it about the culture of Grand Valley that makes us caring and different?

Yeah. I don't know if I can answer that forever. I mean, some of the things, um,

that I've, and I, you know, I've worked at some large, you know,

a large research institution, um, another competitive,

small private school for a little while. And I think they're all good.

It, it also goes back to what your mission is.

And I think one of the things we have at Grand Valley is our mission,

the core of our mission really is to, to educate undergraduate students.

Like we're not, you know, our faculty, they do research, they do great things,

but that's not the focus.

The focus isn't getting the giant grant and doing the giant research project.

That's, you know, the, there's research institutions that do that,

and there's faculty that do great work there,

but that's the faculty and staff here that, that they haven't chosen,

that they've chosen to be here, work with undergrads, um,

really help folks move forward. And I think it's a, um,

you know, I just think we have a community of care, if nothing else.

Like people care about each other and our students especially being

successful here.

What is one thing you wish students today would do that they don't

do?

Seek out help when you need it. I mean, there,

there is no weakness in getting help, and you're not,

sometimes somebody thinks they're the only one having this issue. You're not,

you know,

and you coming forward maybe helped your friend or other folks to get help that

they need. Whether that's academic help, meeting with a counselor,

talking with somebody about maybe changing majors if I'm not in there, you know,

whatever that is. Um, I wish students would do that. The other thing is, um,

a lot of what we do too is helping folks figure out a balance.

So thinking, you know, big picture, like, you know, most folks,

they've got a job. They're taking classes,

they're trying to have some kind of social life. They're, you know,

thinking towards the future, whether that's graduate school, job,

whatever, professional school. And it's, it's

It's easy to get out of balance and, you know, sleep.

People stop sleeping or really cut sleep.

And so I think it is thinking holistically,

like your academics are hugely important.

They're going to take a big chunk of your time here,

but how do you fit that in with the rest of your life and not, um,

you know, not start to cut things out that are also important.

So really thinking of balance,

thinking of having a balanced approach as well as seeking out help. Um,

and other folks that'll help support you through, because it's hard. I mean,

college is hard for everybody and everybody's going to run into some bumps.

So knowing that's going to happen,

and then kind of having some strategies to move through it when it does.

Having those support people to help talk through that, what your priorities are.

Couldn't agree more with what you're saying.

Let's go back to the good old days for a minute. Let, um,

I see a smile when we talk about that. College sure is different now, isn't it?

Than our time. Yeah. Without airing our dirty laundry, which I,

this has been suppressed. So those of you go back and look, good luck.

Trying to find our records, because most of them aren't there. No. And, um,

the digitization of the Lanthorn um,

makes that tougher to go back and see anything. Although I don't think you,

nor I appeared in the Lanthorn more than once or twice.

Not a whole lot of times.

During, during our times there. So, um,

give us a flavor of,

of what it was like you've seen Grand Valley through the ages and I think some

of this, this history gets a little bit lost,

but the differences between now and then, things you,

things you miss or things you don't miss. Whatever you want to share.

Yeah. I mean, we've changed a lot, but a lot of things are the same, too.

I mean, still a lot of the same core values focus. I think, um,

you know, the, so I was a first-year student in 1990.

We're about twice the size that we were back then. So we've seen, you know,

a whole lot of, of growth in people. Um, I think, you...

You know, we didn't, again, we didn't have, there's no cell phones,

no social media, none of that stuff back then. So it, it,

you know, it forced you to spend time with people, develop relationships,

all those kinds of things, which I think was good.

I think there's still the ability to do that now,

but it's also easier for some folks to, um,

kind of pull back to themselves too. So it's, again, it's figuring out,

still putting yourself out there, doing some of that. Um,

one of the things that I think we didn't have as much of back then,

or at least maybe I didn't know about 'em,

was the amount of support services we have. I mean, our,

our career center is, you know, has grown when the student body,

we've got some great people in there. I mean,

we didn't have professional advisors back then. There's professional advisors.

We didn't have success coaches. Tutoring was like us,

a small little area in the basement of, um,

I don't know if we still call it the Commons, the..

Yeah.

In the commons. And now it's, you know,

we've got drop-in centers all over the place. I mean,

we didn't even have a downtown campus. So I mean,

it was all concentrated in Allendale. So, I mean, I think, um,

you know, nostalgia wise, there's always some good things. But I mean,

if I look at state of the art resources,

services, um,

access to really great internships,

professional career opportunities. I mean,

I think where we are now is, is great.

I also think, um, the student body isn't that different.

I mean, there's been, you know, we're, we're a little more diverse.

But if you look at academic profile, kind of where people came from, it, it's,

the place isn't that different than it was 30 years ago of, of who's coming in.

Um,

and what folks' goals were coming in to earn their degree and kind of make a

better life for themselves. Whatever that looks like down the road.

I think the cars, the students driver are nicer now.

The cars are nicer. Yes. That's for sure. Yeah.

I, you know, I, I, I think back for my nostalgia,

I don't think I had one group of, I don't, I don't think I had any friends,

freshman year who had one car that didn't have a problem.

Like there always was a door that didn't open or don't open that window,

because it's a one way, and we had to pile in to go to Jenison Meijer, right?

Because when I go to Allendale now, it's mind blowing, right?

There were no services in Allendale. Um, back in,

in our time you had to go to Jenison to buy groceries,

you know, whatever, to go to Burger King, um, if you wanted off campus food,

all that stuff. So it was mind blowing. So another Copeland guy came to town,

um, who, you know, living on the east side of the state, and I said,

when's the last time you were at Grand Valley? And we had to go somewhere.

I said, let's, let's go to camp. Let, lemme show you what's going on. I mean,

it's just mind blowing. Um,

the amount of change in growth is our little university.

And I love that my degree looks better and better all the time. Yep.

As Grand Valley continues to grow.

That I agree.

Yeah. But the, I call it the random encounter.

Everybody listens to the podcast or knows me know that I'm a,

I'm a gamer from way back. Right? Talking tabletop D&D,

not the silliness that in all this easy way to do it. Right.

I'm talking about the old hard, the hard way. Right. Um,

we had that random encounter, right?

You're always meeting people kind of because you had to or it wasn't weird

to sit in the Commons, um,

sit at any dining facility next to people you didn't know. It was crowded. Um,

you know, everybody wanted to complain about the food. That's a popular thing.

Yeah. To, to do at any university, any, any organization.

That's a popular thing to do,

but you're having these random encounters with people. Also,

we didn't have the communication abilities we have now.

So going to the bulletin board to find a part-time job,

or to find a club, or to start a club.

or whatever it was, there was an adventure to it.

Akin to when I first traveled abroad. And now with all the technology,

I can still be in my world and act like I know what I'm doing. Right?

So I can get navigation, I can get translation, I can get information.

Back in the old days, you just had to do it. And it was scary, but man,

did I feel like I leveled up when I did that, right?

Because if I could navigate, you know, Kyoto, Japan, without this stuff,

I certainly can come back.

And then when I had a business trip in the Midwest and you're like, oh,

you gotta go to Minneapolis for this thing, you're like, whatever.

It's not Japan. I can, I can do this. Right? Everybody speaks the same language.

Um, and I see that as a, a missing component.

And I'm not saying that the students say they don't know how to do it. I said,

I think they're hungry for it. Yeah.

They're hungry for a little bit of adventure with a safety net.

You still got your phone in your pocket, but I encourage people to go,

go somewhere that you haven't been before. What's your favorite?

If you just have a half an hour or an hour to,

to spend on Allendale campus, what's a, what's an unknown?

I don't want you to give away your good ones, so people bother you.

But where's your, where's your go-to where's your hangout spot that's,

that people miss?

I, you know, I, I think we mentioned, you know, in my undergrad's biology,

I'm working in a different field. Um,

I love to walk the ravines or the arboretum or, um,

just check out the pond. I mean, I, I, that's, that's kind of how I reenergize.

I'm a little bit of an introvert. I like to take a,

a walk at lunch and I either walk, you know,

the edge of the golf course or the ravines and just kind of get out in nature.

We have, um, we have act. I mean,

not every school has that, you know, and it's just cool to get out and,

and do that. That's what I really like doing.

I've said it before, um, and I know you're a fall person too.

Allendale campus in the fall is almost impossible to beat.

And there's some big universities out there.

But even if you go to Ivy League school, it's in a big city. And it feels,

smells like a big city. Allendale. And then if you get, you know,

outside of Allendale, go to Ravines Park, for example. Right there.

It's fantastic. There on the Grand River, watch the bald Eagles, whatever.

Um, I've given it away several times. My favorite one is the Seidman House.

Still is a great hangout. Oh yeah. Sunken. Yeah. Quiet, sunken,

seventies living room. Super cool. Um, watch the squirrels.

Check out squirrels of Grand Valley on Instagram. Um, it's a lot of fun. So,

Mike cosmic to see you, thanks for putting up with me, and helping me,

through that transition. I am definitely one of those,

students who came from a very, very sheltered background. Um,

got plunged in, but I was the last of five, so my parents were exhausted,

so there was no going with me for orientation or move in. I, I did it all solo.

Um, thanks to, I don't know if it was called transitions then. And,

and thanks for you for shepherding us, around taking us to convocation.

It strikes me every year I go to convocation and I try to be the last staff

faculty member in my,

in my wizard robes in and try to whoop up the crowd a little bit,

because I think it's a, it's a culmination start Yeah. Graduation.

That's the time for the solemn occasion, but, um, convocation is a,

you know, voices together. Let's, let's do this thing,

and I think it's exciting and I, and I see the groups there, ,

sitting with the resident advisors. And it takes me back to when we did it,

you know, All those years ago.

Yeah. Few years ago. Yeah.

Those years ago. So appreciate you and, and thanks, for what you gave,

have given to Grand Valley and for the students that, that you work with.

And you touched and appreciate you. Yeah.

Well, thanks for inviting me. I, this was a ton of fun.

Yeah. It's good to see you, Mike. Take care. Yep. Yep, you too.

Thank you for sailing along on this episode of the Seidman Mentorship Podcast.

For more information On the Seidman College of Business Mentorship Program at

Grand Valley State University, look us up on your favorite search engine.

If you have a story to tell, know someone we should interview,

have questions or comments,

please email us at smp@gvsu.edu.

Until next time, keep a weather eye on the horizon and we wish you fair winds,

so long.