Interview with Jason Hubbard, 04/22/2016

UW Oshkosh Campus Stories
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AS: It's Friday April 22nd at 1:30 in the afternoon and I Alyssa Spaniol am here with Jason Hubbard--

JH: Hubbard (corrects me on how to pronounce his last name).

AS: Hubbard at the UWO Alumni Center. Alright, Jason do you want to start off by telling us where you grew up kind of.

JH: Sure, I grew up in Oshkosh so I always had somewhat of a familiarity with the university. My grandfather was employed in Reeve Union doing student activities for 33 years working with the union board, the [Cavern?] Bowling Lanes, and he did ski club, RUB films. He was very involved through the years. That kind of exposed me to campus at an early age. I do have quite a bit of history with the institution.

AS: What was your family life like growing up, just like how you were raised and stuff like that?

JH: Sure, well I was born in 1987, so I guess it was during the Reagan era. My 00:01:00parents didn't have too much money growing up, my dad was working for Necron Steel Fab at the time.

When I was probably about 4 years old he started working for Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, so I think that gave us a little bit better quality of life than what we had prior to that time. I grew up on West 9th Avenue to begin with until 1994 when my parents built a home on the west side of town. Let's see, spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up. All four of my grandparents lived in town too, so they were never really more than five minutes away. Primary babysitter was my mom's mom because she was unemployed and she wanted to take care of my sister and I. My sister was born in 1990 so the two of 00:02:00us grew up pretty close. Probably quite spoiled as a grandchild because it was really just my sister and I. My parents each had a brother. My mom's brother at that time was living in Champaign, Illinois, he then moved out to Denver, Colorado and worked for the airport out there. And my dad's brother is in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He was in the Air Force, so he does have two sons but they were never that close with my grandparents because of distance.

AS: Okay. Now what was the neighborhood like where you grew up at that time, like children, like any ethnicities, like anything that specific you remember kind of?

JH: Sure. Umm. Sure. Very white. I would say 9th Avenue was getting to be a busy 00:03:00street where we lived. Our dog was actually hit by a car. I was probably, let's see 5 or 6 years old at the time, fortunately she survived that whole ordeal. Very white neighborhoods where I grew up in. Grew up in the Lutheran Church; I'm still very involved in my church, Martin Luther Church, which is just down the street on Algoma Boulevard. I went to school there through 8th grade and then attended high school at Winnebago Lutheran Academy down in Fond du Lac. Once we moved out to the west side of town it was all young families building new homes, so it was people around my age and my parents age that we were surrounded with. One of my dad's good buddies growing up ended up building a house just down the street from us, so that was kind of cool. Always spent a lot of time with family 00:04:00growing up; going on camping trips with my dad's folks. They had bought a Jayce Pop -Up Trailer. So really very family oriented life growing up.

AS: So you mentioned the church played a big role in your life, do you want to emphasize on that. Like by what you mean you were involved, what do you mean by that?

JH: Sure. Our church was founded or began in 1917, affiliated with the Wisconsin Senate, so a little bit more strict, very much taking the bible as it is, as God's word. They had started a school or a pre-school the year before I was eligible to begin pre-school. I started out in preschool there and they ended up 00:05:00adding on a grade each year until we had a full school through 8th grade. I was the second graduating class from Martin Luther School. The class ahead of me I believe only had 4 students and there were about 12 or 13, I think 12, in our class. That whole time I was at school there I only had a handful of teachers. I had the same teacher for pre-k and kindergarten, the same teacher for first and second grade, and then I had one teacher for 3rd grade, just strictly that year, and then 4th-8th grade we had a principal who came in who always wanted to teach the highest two grades, so I had the same teacher 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th. That was a little bit rough (laughs) on me because I didn't always see eye to 00:06:00eye with that individual. But that's really what, what the school was like. It was very small, only about 100-125 kids total in the school. We built a new school at that time, actually until I was in 3rd grade we had instruction in the church basement. We built, uhh at that time it was a $1.2 million school building behind the church so that was really an exciting time to be a part of. Our senior pastor at the time, Paster [Hobik?] that was his goal all along since he had been there. I think he came in 1971 or 1972 and like I said his goal was to eventually have a school and that became a reality, had to of been in the early 90s, so it took him 20 years, but he got that and he got the building. He 00:07:00confirmed my mom and my uncle. He baptized me and confirmed me, so he meant a lot to our family as well over the course of time.

AS: Okay. So you had a sister you said, do you want to describe your relationship with your sister?

JH: Sure. My sister, let's see, she's about two and a half years younger than I am. I was very excited at the time to have a sibling. We were always together. Growing up we went to the same school, we spent a lot of time in the sandbox, and playing in the backyard together. With all the family activities we did, we were together continuously. As I got older into teenager, it's kind of like, you know give me some space here I want to do my own thing you don't always have to follow in my footsteps. She also is a graduate of UW Oshkosh, she went into the 00:08:00same major as I did, Human Services. She is still more involved in the nonprofit world, she is currently working for Clarity Care down in Fond du Lac. We both had moved away for a while, now I moved back to town and she moved back as well. So, I see her probably every couple of weeks. We have some kind of family thing at my parents' house.

AS: You talked about your years up to 8th grade, do you want to tell me a little bit about where you went to high school and your experience there, like what the classes were like kind of?

JH: Sure. I went to high school at Winnebago Lutheran Academy in Fond du Lac, which like my grade school and my middle school is affiliated with the Wisconsin Senate. My time in high school was probably a little bit different for what 00:09:00might most high school students' experience, because I was bused down to Fond Du Lac and back to Oshkosh every day for four years. I had to catch the bus by 6:40 A.M. every day, and then typically it wasn't until about 4:10 P.M. or so when we would get home from school and then I'd have to walk from the bus drop off point home, which is about a 10 or 15 minute walk too. We had a rotating schedule in high school, so we had seven class periods throughout the course of the day, and then an eighth class that was on a rotating block. Every day we did have a chapel service and in school, so Monday's and Tuesday's that would be led by the 00:10:00principal or one of the four pastors, who were also teachers at school. Wednesday's we would do bible reading. Thursday's devotion would be led by one of the male teacher's in the school and then Friday's would be led by a pastor within the district of churches and schools that were affiliated with WLA. In high school I have to say I was not very engaged in extracurricular activities. I was more engaged in grade school, I played soccer, I played in the chime choir in church, and I played basketball for a year. I was never all too athletic. I did tryout for soccer in high school, but I didn't make the team and then they 00:11:00really wanted me to go into track, I just really, although I liked being outside, I like hiking and walking, running did not appeal to me, so I never did that. That's really what high school was like for me. Is there any other questions as far as that goes?

AS: How would you say how important school was and your family was before college?

JH: Family has always been important to me. School looking back on it, I think I got a lot more out of the grade school and middle school years, than high school. Although I do value the Christ centered education that I had. That was a big change coming here to UW Oshkosh, where I took a religious studies course 00:12:00and some of things I had learned in grade school and high school growing up were challenged by the individual teaching that course. I had to make a decision in writing papers and reporting of okay do I write this the way that he would expect I would write it or the way that I believe. That was a challenge that I faced moving into that. Like I said with family we did a lot of camping trips with my grandparents, my mom's parents eventually got in on those camping trips. A lot of the time we spent at the state parks throughout the state. Some of the time we spent a lot of time at were High Cliff, Mere Lake, and Peninsula State Park, sometimes we would go to places like Governor Dodge or Wyalusing State Park. Family vacations we always did with the grandparents. We went down to 00:13:00Florida with my mom's parents, we went out west to visit my uncle in Denver and out to see Rushmore Custer State Park and that type of thing. After my dad's father died, I guess that was a big part of my growing up too, which I didn't touch on I can go into a little bit. In 1998 I would have just turned 11 years old, my dad's father, who I was very close to, with the camping and I have his train set that his grandfather had purchased him when he was a kid. He was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. After the time he was diagnosed he decided to have knee replacement surgery done, it wasn't anything to try to combat the 00:14:00disease it was just his knee on his own had deteriorated to the point where he felt he needed to do that. It was the day after Thanksgiving in 1998 when he had that surgery, and I've always thought back on that as that surgery was kind of a transitionary period in my life because death really became a reality to me at that point because he never walked fully on his own power again after that. My dad would go over there every day, literally every day until he passed away and often times my sister and I would be there too, to help out in whatever way we could; to assist him in walking. He was able to walk fairly decently with a cane for a while, but then he became fully reliant on a walker, and then it got to 00:15:00the point where my dad had to come over and lift him out of the chair. Even if he could attempt to get in a few steps that was pretty good for him, because after that diagnoses the disease seemed to progress very quickly. It was around 18 months after he was diagnosed in June of 1998 that he passed away. And he was relatively young, he was 59 years and 2 days old; it was 2 days after his birthday in 2000 when he passed away. Being exposed to that deterioration he experienced, I mean he was an independent person his whole life. He was forced into early retirement. He wasn't able to travel anymore. He was very much home bound. I think that created a greater sense of family in me as well because you 00:16:00really don't know what tomorrow holds, you have to make out of each day. I would say from my grandfather I learned the importance of a sense of humor most of all, in addition to his faith because he stood strong in his faith up until the day he died. But the sense of humor I think is something that carried him through, and even after he lost the ability to speak he had his ways he was able to communicate with us with his sense of humor. To me that's always been very important.

AS: Alright. What your goals in not necessarily elementary school, but in high school in terms of college? Did you kind of always want to attend college, or when did you decide you wanted to attend college?

00:17:00

JH: I really didn't give that a whole lot of thought. I've never, throughout my years growing up, I really was never able to pinpoint what it was that I wanted to do. And that, I'm sure we will get to this later on in the conversation, even once I got here it took me more than a year and a half to declare a major. So, certainly at that time I had an interest in writing. I was kind of artistic as a child. I took classes through the rec department in the summertime related to art. I took some art classes in high school, which I guess we're probably one of the more fun things I did participate in in high school with Mrs. [Zan?], was my 00:18:00instructor. I took almost all of the art classes that were available through her. Does that kind of answer that question?

AS: Yeah. Who in your life influenced you most to go to college? If you think one person did.

JH: I wouldn't really say any of my teachers or instructors in high school were influential in that decision. I would say, probably, it was my grandfather, my mother's dad, not the one with Lou Gehrig's disease, who had worked here at UW Oshkosh because that was my one direct connection to college. Although my parents attended technical school, they never attended a four year university. 00:19:00And of my grandparents, grandpa [Nowman?] was the only one to complete a four year degree. He graduated from UW Milwaukee before he came here.

AS: So you said you came to college at UWO before, with like visiting your grandpa, do you want to emphasize your experience there and tell us about the campus then on what you remember kind of?

JH: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Those are fun memories for me because you look around campus and it's very different from what it was in those days. It's not talked about as much anymore, but I can remember growing up, one of the instances during St. Patrick's Day when the students rioted. And it sounds like based on your reaction that you've heard about that. I remember seeing that on TV, that 00:20:00had to have been, I'm not sure on the year, but I'm thinking 1994 or 95 it could have been the last time something of that magnitude happened. So that was one impression of UW Oshkosh of seeing windows smashed in on the stores in main street and cars flipped over, and all these terrible things that the students did. Then of course the administration changed the date of spring break so that it would no longer coincide, or that it would coincide with St. Patrick's Day so that the students weren't around. One of my instructors [Marsha Rossiter?], who is now retired from the university would talk about when she was doing, I'm not clear on it, I think it was her undergraduate work at Northern Illinois, she would talk about how at that time, which was probably the early 1970s, during 00:21:00St. Patrick's Day Oshkosh was the place to be. And there would be bus loads and busloads of students headed up this direction for the St. Patrick's Day parties and festivities. I think that's kind of aside from what the real question was, but that was one of my early impressions of the university. Beyond that, like I said, my grandfather was very much involved in the Union Board and the operation of the Union. He managed the [Cavern?] Bowling Lanes which no longer exist. The way that I understand it, bowling had been cut out of the curriculum or was no longer being offered through the physical education department, so that really diminished the use of those bowling lanes. But I remember we had some church 00:22:00outings when we went to Reeve to bowl. I remember going there just me and my grandfather to bowl. My sister did, or had dance recitals, grandpa was never, he is always someone to be busy and for him to sit through those recitals sometimes was a little bit tough, so and I had no interest in attending those. So he and I would get a burger from Culver's and we'd go down and bowl and maybe sneak into the recital at the very end. So that is another memory I have of Reeve, I remember going to the homecoming parades, which used to go right down Algoma Blvd. through the thick of things, and they no longer do those either, which is 00:23:00unfortunate. I think there are so many outside distractions for students now that unfortunately that sense of community doesn't exist to the extent that it did at that time. But I can remember one time going with my grandparents to watch the parade. And another time my dad brought us down to see the parade because grandpa was in the parade. And I can remember they threw out tons of candy and things because people, administrators from the campus knew my grandfather because he worked there he got tons of candy thrown at him. So as a kid that was really exciting to come home with this whole, I think he had a hat, and we just filled this hat up with candy and that was a big thing. Also, I remember going to see a movie in Reeve, which would have been through RUB Cinema 00:24:00Committee. I'm trying to think, it could have been Aladdin that we went to see and at that time there was no theater proper like there is now in the building. Movies were shown in the room 101 and 102, they would set those up specifically for the movies. And grandpa because he contracted with [Swank?], the company that they show the movies through or rent them from, sometimes he was able to bring those home and I remember him setting up the projector, and I think it was Beauty and The Beast that he had brought home, and that was kind of cool because you were seeing it on a bigger screen at home. So those are some of the earliest memories I have of Reeve Union.

AS: Do you remember how the appearance has changed from then to now, since you 00:25:00went college? Like how the campus looked back then kind of?

JH: I can remember going into Reeve for the first time after project 2000 was completed, it was probably 2002 I think maybe that project was done. And one night my grandparents took us in and we just looked around the building to see how it had changed. Prior to project 2000 I believe the bookstore was located in the lower level of Blackhawk, so that was a big change. The commons area, which is now the market place, was located where the bookstore exists currently. Like 00:26:00I said there had been various additions and renovations to the building throughout the years, but project 2000 really made it a state of the art union, which I think has been a real asset to the university throughout the last 15 years or so. Now unfortunately, you've got so many other new buildings; Sage, well looking at Horizon Village too. I mean the appearance of the landscape just outside of Reeve has changed tremendously. The NBC village; Nelson, Breeze, and Clemmons. I parked on Amherst Street the entire time I went to school here and walked through there, so to have those three dorms torn down was quite a big 00:27:00change. And Horizon Village built is a nice feature for the students, so it really has changed quite a bit. As far as Reeve I can remember physically what, what the bowling lanes looked like. There were tons of pool tables down there, not like now where you got two pool tables down in the Titan Underground. You had all kinds of video game machines, you don't see those anymore really anywhere, and then foosball tables. I'm trying to think how many lanes were down there, I have a picture. There must have been 12 lanes down there. And the thing that stuck out was the mural that was on the wall down there. I don't know quite how to describe, they weren't gnomes but they were some kind of forest creature, 00:28:00little human creature, and there was, and there was, they each had a banner or some kind of emblem for each of the other UW schools that were typical opponents of UW Oshkosh included on this mural. So, that was kind of a neat thing. And I think Reeve has a picture of it hanging up somewhere, but that's what sticks out to me from the [Cavern?].

AS: What interested you most about the college life before you attended?

JH: Before I attended?

AS: Yup.

JH: Honestly I did not give it a lot of thought. Probably the level of independence I would have, because unlike a number of my classmates I didn't have a car until a month before I graduated from high school. So having that 00:29:00freedom to go where I wanted, when I wanted when I started college it was relatively new to me in the three to four months before I started my freshman year.

AS: Where else did you decide to go to college, if you looked into any other schools?

JH: I did not look into anywhere else. Grad school I did, but undergrad I did not.

AS: What made you decide to go to UWO?

JH: The fact that it was close, it was familiar, it was home, that I didn't know what I wanted to major in. I was familiar with the location of things, it wasn't going to be a major transition for me in my mind, like it would be for other students. The big difference was I had been sheltered throughout grade school 00:30:00and high school in attending private schools. My grandfather did take me to campus one day and we walked through some of the buildings. We walked through Halsey and I don't think we walked through Swart, but we walked through Harrington Hall and things. Another thing I could mention about Swart is for at that time my grandfather arrived here at Oshkosh they had a campus school, specifically for individuals who worked on campus to send their students to, and my mother attended school in Swart, I think until third grade or so. So once in a while she'll bring that up and they have that mural too when you walk into Swart. She always talked about as a kid that's one thing she really remembers 00:31:00about that building.

AS: Your first week of classes, what was your first impression of the classes or the campus you had?

JH: Well, I was one of the last people to go through Odyssey for my freshman year, so getting into classes was a little bit of a challenge. So I always had classes at 8 A.M. or 9:40 A.M. So I was always on campus early. I didn't always have the luxury of having classes back to back to back and being a commuter student that was kind of disgruntling I guess in a way because I didn't sometimes know what to do with myself; sometimes I'd go to the library and study, sometimes I'd go to Reeve and study, sometimes I'd run home, but then 00:32:00there was a challenge of trying to park coming back. First class that I had was Fundamentals in Speech Communication with Nancy [Norris?]. She is now retired, but that always just sticks with me because I remember the fall days walking in and the class was in the basement of Polk, and it wasn't a very nice classroom. I think maybe the classrooms have been updated down there since that time, but I don't know that for a fact. But you know it was the old linoleum tile, and the hard wooden you know individual desks, you know not necessarily very impressive. And myself being more of an introvert to have speech my very first class was a little bit difficult, but then I had other classes I really liked. One that 00:33:00sticks out to me, and probably contributed to my success and wanting to remain on campus, and I was thinking of majoring in history at the time, was Modern Civ and that was taught by [Anna Maria Capulospoppy?]. I believe she is still on campus in the history department. It was very much a lecture based class but [unclear] and her exams were tough because they were always essays, there was no multiple choice, it was writing, and it would take you the full hour to complete the exams, and sometimes that was a challenge to get everything out on paper in an hour because they were so labor intensive. She was a difficult instructor I 00:34:00would say, but she was very encouraging to me and really gave me a lot of good feedback on my work, so that really created a sense of pride in me I never would have guessed I could have done successful on that kind of exam, with an instructor who, English is not her first language either, so that made it a little bit interesting for me.

AS: You said you were a commuter student, do you want to tell us a little bit about that, because most students first year stay in the dorms, so like a perspective on the commuting.

JH: Sure. I kind of, like I alluded to, scouted things out prior to beginning my freshman year. I came down to campus with my grandfather and I didn't want to uhh, I was working at Wendy's at the time. I guess that is another aspect of my 00:35:00early life I didn't talk about. I worked at Wendy's for four years, so I was very careful with my money and I didn't want to spend money on a parking permit either so I parked on Amherst, which really wasn't too bad. I mean it was a little bit of a walk if you had a class in Clow or Nursing Ed. or something like that. Getting to campus for the early classes was never a challenge, like I said, if I decided to leave and come back parking could be a challenge. I mean I had some of my own friends from work that I hung out with at that time, but my first year and a half on campus I was really not engaged outside of the 00:36:00classroom. I don't know if that is something you are going to ask me about later on, so I won't get too into that. And not having a major declared, I was undeclared for the first year so [unclear]. I had some really valuable discussions with my academic advisor, but pretty much it was come to campus and leave and do my job and do my own thing for the first year and a half I was here.

AS: Like what kind of student were you like for the first year and a half, would you say? Grade wise kind of?

JH: I definitely tried hard and my grades weren't bad, they weren't the best either, but they weren't bad. Certainly they improved once I felt a little more vested in the university and had a major declared.

AS: Do you want to tell us a little bit about the major you decided to pick, 00:37:00once you decide after a year and a half?

JH: Sure. Well first I'll talk about how I came to the conclusion of the major that I thought I wanted. In January into February of 2007 I had an interview for a job in Reeve Union and I was really apprehensive about using my grandfather's name, didn't feel like I wanted to get a job because he had formerly been an employee on campus. So I had been, they kept telling me ohh you should apply to work on campus, and for that reason I put it off for as long as I could. So finally I did turn in a resume. I probably didn't go about it the right way I 00:38:00sent it directly to the director of the union [Randy Hedge?]. They had an opening for a reservations assistant, so I interviewed with Lacey [Bez?] and I started working in Reeve. So I was a reservations assistant, I was taking reservations for rooms and student orgs. And things in the building. I really liked that. It exposed me to a lot more people on campus, it was helping people, and you know kind of service oriented work. So I thought maybe social work would be something I'd want to get into. I remember having a conversation prior to that with Linda [Freeman?], who was a director of academic advising and advised students with undeclared majors. And now Liz [Whaley?] is the director of academic advising. It must be protocol that the director advises the students who don't have a declared major. Lynn really was an awesome advisor. I was sorry 00:39:00once I declared a major to lose her as my advisor then, but she taught a course for students who didn't have a major declared that I enrolled in. She talked me through, you know you don't have to be you know a Doctor or a Lawyer or some grand major of some field that is going to make you a lot of money if that is not really of what's in interest to you and I remembered her talking about "oh I know these people in the grounds crew and they are so content in what they do and they enjoy their work and sometimes college isn't for everybody and if you feel that it is not for you we can talk about what those steps would be." But then once I started working in Reeve everything changed. I decided I wanted to 00:40:00go into a helping profession, so I started taking some social work classes. I applied to the program and my essay was returned to me and I'm like what the heck. I was a good writer, I had some people review it, and I was like what the heck is going on here. So that, I, that really, I don't know it really turned me off to the social work program than. And I didn't like the advisor I had, so I went back, and I must of talked to Lynn and we looked at human services as an option and that is what I ended up doing. But I would say it wasn't really my major that kept me here it was working in Reeve Union, and the fact that I enjoyed the staff, and the students and the responsibilities I had there so much 00:41:00that kept me going for graduation.

AS: You said you worked during school, did you do other extracurricular, do you want to talk about those if you participated in any.

JH: Sure. It was halfway through my sophomore year when I started working in Reeve like I said. So I didn't have a, well I quit Wendy's a month after starting Reeve, but there was no summer work opportunity available to me what I was doing. So I was kind of scared, oh what's my dad going to say if I don't have a summer job. Fortunately, one of my co-workers got a different job for the summer, so I got some hours. That fall I was approached by the assistant director of operations for Reeve, at the time that was [Dee Curbart?] and she 00:42:00wanted me to apply to be a building manager and get some more experience that way and work for her. I could still do reservations. So I applied and got the job. I think something that helped me to get that job was that I had started to serve on the Reeve advisory council. So that was something extracurricular that I did, and basically what that council does is they look at different policies in the buildings that we can improve and make sure that we're fulfilling the mission of providing student centered services in everything that's offered in the building. After that, we had a graduate assistant too, I guess had become a 00:43:00project person in the building her name [Sarah Haley?], and were in charge of developing a late night program for students on campus, which is now known as titan nights. So I was on the committee and we got that up and running. Like I said it was [Sarah Haley?] who spearheaded that, along with the assistant director for student leadership and involvement at the time, who was [Stan Sweeney?]. So we explored a bunch of different options and programs we could do. A delegation of us, I wasn't one of them unfortunately, got to go down and see 00:44:00what they did at late night programing at Florida, in Florida. But I did go down and see what we did, what they did for late night programming at Marquette, and I think it was just called Late Night Marquette or something. They had a craftapalooza, was the event we went down to see, and the grad student at the time who was running that was [Mike Leader?], who we then brought on because we knew he was going to be looking for a job, so we interviewed him when the Titan Nights position was fully developed and ready to be posted. He of course got the job and now he works in the university studies program with the volunteerism aspect of that. So that was a thing that I was proud to be involved in. Just 00:45:00working in the building you are exposed to just so many different student organizations and happenings. There is always some activity going on, whether it is speaker's series. You know I started to come in for different speakers that we had, and that really increased my level of engagement with the campus. I finished my undergraduate degree of January of 2010. Prior to that, it was probably October that I was having a discussion with my boss [Dee?] about, okay what am I going to do after graduation, because okay I have this major, but I don't know what I want to do with it. I had done internships, at let's see, [Father Carr's Place?], at mercy medical center, at the Oshkosh Senior Center. 00:46:00Working with older adults had kind of appealed to me because I had done an internship at the senior center. I was close to my grandparents growing up, that kind of thing. But working in Reeve, I never thought of student activities or higher education as a field to go into, and so [Dee?] sent me to the regional AC wide conference association of campus unions national to see what that was about. And then my plan was to apply to some graduate programs dealing with student affairs and higher education, because overtime working in Reeve for two and a half, three years, whatever it was I enjoyed my job. It was a passion of 00:47:00mine at that point. So [Dee?] encouraged me that I should look into that as a career. Like I said, I didn't have a job lined up. I went to human resources and talked to my friend [Joe Fenwrick?] up there, and said hey what kind of limited term employee options you have that I could do, while I'm in the process of applying for grad schools. Because that was going to be what my spring was going to be then applying for grad schools, well it started in the fall and into spring applying to grad school. So, [Joann?] set me up. I interviewed in what was known as the center for new learning in Dempsey Hall, room 110 I worked, which basically was the online degree program on campus for non-traditional 00:48:00students within the division of lifelong learning and community engagement. So I began working there in January, right after my official graduation date in January. I worked there for 6 months. During that time I had interviewed to go to grad school at the college personnel program at Western Illinois University. That didn't work out, it seemed I was always meant to come back here, I guess there is a reason for that. There is a special place in my heart for UW Oshkosh. So I had interviewed down there, I had also Interviewed for the professional counseling program here at UW Oshkosh and got into that program. I have to say 00:49:00the faculty in that department are excellent. I would highly recommend that program, so I started out there. Coming back here as a graduate student meant that there were opportunities for me as a graduate assistant. So I was approached by some of the folks in Reeve saying hey we've got graduate student opportunities. So my first year of graduate school I worked as a graduate project assistant in the Titan Underground on the programming side. We had another graduate assistant down there who managed food and beverage and that type of thing, but I did the programming down there. We did things like club U, Texas Hold'em nights, karaoke, pool league. We did as much as we could to try to 00:50:00encourage student organizations that they could co-sponsor with us for events and that we would help offset some of their costs, so I did that for a year. I also was involved, in a much lesser capacity with Greek life for that year. I advised the vice presidents of public relations for panel and [unclear] and IFC. Our main charge was to come up with some volunteer opportunity for the students or a way for them to give back, so we did the Coats for Kids drive in the winter, and in the spring I had some students that were really over achievers I 00:51:00would say, and that they worked to bring, oh I can't even think, Danny Thomas, what's his charity? It's on the tip of my tongue. Anyhow maybe once I think of that I can email it to you, or it will come up later. But we started this [afterglow program?] It bothers me that I can't think of what this is, but I've talked about so much else. Anyhow we brought a new big opportunity for students to campus in the area of volunteerism. The second year I started advising Reeve 00:52:00Union Board as a graduate assistant, which I really loved. I enjoyed that much more than the Titan Underground. So I advised 2 committees, the concerts committee and the student leisure committee. Concerts committee was in charge of the big homecoming committee that comes to campus in the fall and Bye Gosh Fest the big end of the year celebration in spring. So that particular year we brought Comedy Central to campus for the fall, so that was my first time working with a significant middle agent and somewhat significant names like Anthony Jeselnik and Shang Wang and some of these guys we brought into campus from that 00:53:00program. That committee we kind of realized we have the big event in the fall and this big event in the spring, so what do we do in between. So that's when we decided to develop WISCO the music fest, which I know, I believe is still happening on campus in the January-February, must be in February-March timeframe where we bring some more local bands into campus in collaboration with Titan Nights and do a set rotating in between the ballroom and Titan Underground. That was exciting to develop with the students. For Bye Gosh Fest we had not been bringing in very large acts for several years, so we went to student allocations committee and requested, I believe we requested, it was at 00:54:00least $30,000 in funding, and I think we got $20,000 is what we ended up getting. We were able to bring in a little bit larger of an act than what we had initial funds for.

AS: Do you remember who you brought in?

JH: We brought in All Time Low for the spring.

AS: Now what year was this?

JH: That would have been 2012.

AS: Okay.

JH: 2012. So that was really a rewarding experience because we went through so much paperwork and trouble to put this forth to allegations. It did pay off in the end that we were able to get a bigger act than what we had several years for Bye Gosh Fest and we were very proud of that. Of course you do all that planning and it never turns out the way you want, because we could no longer use the 00:55:00grounds outside of Reeve. I don't believe they were complete yet with Horizon Village. We had to host Bye Gosh Fest by the Student Rec and Wellness Center by the river.

AS: That's where it still is.

JH: And it still is there. And the day before we had so much rain and flooding around town we had to go through the trouble of going to the City to close Pearl Ave. and close off the parking lot by Kolf, because of you know these big trucks with the production company that we were working with. The field was so wet and flooded and muddy that there was no way we were going to be able to have the program out there, after the work we had put into it. So then we had to move it inside to the Reeve ballroom, and I can just remember the crowd surfing that was 00:56:00going on in the ballroom. That room was packed to the maximum capacity, because students were excited about this event and the students jumping up and down and you could feel the floor vibrating. It felt like the floor was moving several inches up and down. It was a little bit scary in a way, but it was disappointing that we had to move the event. We got a lot of the satisfaction out of the work we did and to see how excited the students were. The other committee like I said was creative leisure, so we did things like a plant sale, stuff an animal, various crafty type events. We collaborated with the Fire in Appleton to do a 00:57:00mosaic night and a pottery painting night, so it was more personal enrichment type of things that we did. Then we would host trips to the PAC and then the Brewers game in the spring. Which I'm sure RUB will do forever because you know that's a good seller. And then just working with the leadership team with RUB was always rewarding and with the team of folks we had working in the SLIC. Some of the, my other responsibilities with that job had to do with leadership, so I was in charge with the student, or the certified student leader program and then developing a leadership program, which turned out to be more of a wellness 00:58:00program that was geared toward nontraditional students on campus. I believe there still exists the nontraditional student organization on campus. They were a big part of that collaboration, as well as [Ruth Fryburger?], who worked in what we called the ANSR office. That's A N S R (Adult Nontraditional Student Resource Center) and getting that off the ground. Trying to, trying to do programming for nontraditional students is definitely a challenge because they have so many conflicting priorities, whether they'd be kids in extracurricular activities with kids or older family members that they are caring for. We tried out a Sunday program for them and we had about 15 participants the first time 00:59:00around, so that in itself was rewarding for me as well.

AS: You mentioned earlier that you were involved in Titan Nights in kind of creating it almost, what did you guys do for Titan Nights back then?

JH: I'm trying to think what we did for the very first Titan Nights. I hope somebody interviews more people from Reeve because we do, they continue to do so many great programs in Reeve. For the first one, I think, the first one occurred as daylight savings time in the spring and so by the time we got everything wrapped up and with the time change it was like 3:30 in the morning when the 01:00:00staff finally got out of there. We had been working for more than 12 hours. I think that one where we brought in mini golf and then we always had a free movie with Titan Nights. I don't know if they do, do they still do the full breakfast at midnight for Titan Night.

AS: I'm not sure.

JH: Not sure, but we would work with Sodexo and we'd offer a full midnight breakfast for students. The whole purpose was to provide an alternative for students who tended to, you know utilize the bar on a regular basis, you know to provide some programming for them. And always we had bingo, usually in the underground or the ballroom, like I said a movie, we would have bands and things 01:01:00that would come in too. Always some crafty component. So we tried to have something that appealed to everyone.

AS: You mentioned the bars, did you attend a bar scene, what was that like if you did?

JH: Certainly I did! Once again it was my friends from Reeve who were there. I didn't, I did not participate regularly in drinking until I was of age, certainly I did a few times and those were my buddies in the union who got me out. Once again it was my friends from Reeve who were there for my 21st birthday and its things like that you never forget who those people were and what they meant to you. I did eventually move out of my parents' house that would have 01:02:00been my junior year, well right after I turned 21 I moved in with some friends from Reeve. So that job really, it meant a lot to me something that sticks in my mind is, because is during the summer really what we did in Reeve was Odyssey and student orientation, so it was always [Jim Chitwood?] the Dean of Students was always in the building and [Debby Graypatten?] from the Dean of Students office was always there with us and [Ellie Maslowski?] who also worked in the Dean of Students. It was, it was really Debby and Ellie running the show, and so they were always a presence in the building and fun to work with. It was actually kind of nice to have Odyssey in the building because so often you could 01:03:00leave the same room setups for a week or more at a time and not have to worry about turnovers, just simple refreshes and cleaning up and things like that. I remember Debby saying how I always had a certain spark as a building manager, and after that time in my life ended that spark kind of dimmed a little bit and I feel like in some ways I'm still trying to get back to that place where I was because I loved that atmosphere so much.

AS: You mentioned your friends, do you still stay in touch with them at all?

JH: I, I do stay in touch with many of them as well as some of my past supervisors on campus who have retired. A few of the folks that I worked with in Reeve now work on campus as well, which is kind of cool. Two of them are running this building right now [Jessica Glyer?] and [Stephanie Warner?] both came out 01:04:00of Reeve Union. I have so many friends and connections around the state and around the country really that are a result of my time here as a student and as a student employee. To me that's really exciting. Another thing I think of quite often that came out of Reeve is all of the relationships that came out of Reeve. I was to a wedding a few weeks ago in Beaver Dam, that was a former building manager in Reeve who ended up marrying the cousin of another student employee who worked in Reeve, and they never would have met had it not been for that connection in Reeve Union. There is another wedding I'm going to in May, May 14th, a couple who both worked in Reeve union and met as a result of working in 01:05:00Reeve and later on this summer there is a third couple, this year alone, that are getting married that met as a result of their student employment in Reeve. It's just a really special unique place.

AS: What else did you do for fun on campus besides Reeve, school, and work? Or even off campus with your friends?

JH: Off campus and I guess this kind of goes into high school a little bit as well, but prior to working on campus we would go out to the quarries in Red Granite and swim. Which now is kind of a grey area as there is a lot of controversy over the lack of lifeguards and safety concerns out there. If 01:06:00eventually those quarries do get shut down that will be something that I can say that I did, that other people wouldn't have had that opportunity. Otherwise like I said the campouts with family. Once I turned 21 there were a lot more outings to the campus bars and to main street bars as well. Once I moved out of the house I lived, oh I lived in the park side place apartments, which are down by Menominee Park, which is a renovated piece of Mercy Medical Center. Formerly Mercy Medical Center where I was born, so that was kind of interesting to live 01:07:00in the former hospital I where I was born. And I did have the ability, if I had a few too many drinks, that if I didn't have a ride lined up that I could walk home and I did do that on some very cold winter nights, that I haven't forgotten about. Otherwise I do have some hobbies. History is something that's of interests to me, local history. I do family tree type of work, so that kind of kept me engaged outside of the classroom as well.

AS: What were the other students like at UWO? Were they friendly? How did you feel like with that?

JH: Oh yeah. I would say very much so. You know I, like I said before I'm more of an introvert. In my general studies classes or my pit classes it is not as if 01:08:00I made friends or connections or people that I stay in touch with, but when I, once I got into the human services program I made some friends. There are some people from that program who I've stayed in touch with and by stayed in touch with I mean I communicate with them outside of Facebook. I don't think just because someone is your Facebook friend, maybe you haven't seen them in 5 years. There are people I talk to or see occasionally from the human services program and from my educational leaderships program, probably more so from my master's program actually. Let's see, and I guess I didn't get into that I didn't stay with professional counseling. I ended up going to the educational leadership program on campus and that's what my master's degree is in. The student 01:09:00employees at Reeve really are the people that I remain closes to that wanted me to be involved, that invited me to their volleyball games and stuff during the summer. You know there have been various get together through the years, and these weddings have been really kind of nice to see how everyone is doing.

AS: Were there any major campus issues that you recall from your time either as a graduate or undergraduate?

JH: Major campus issues. One thing that came up-- during my time as a building manager was, and this stem back to those issues I talked about with the riots in the 1990s. I mean there was a time when people could smoke in their offices on 01:10:00campus. There was a time when it was routine beer was sold in Reeve Union. With those riots the sale of beer completely went away, and that was I'm sure was under the direction of Chancellor [Caregin?]. You know things toned down. When I was a building manager it was brought up to Reeve Advisory Council the possibility again of selling beer in the union in the Titan Underground. That was approved, however it could only be sold from Sunday through Thursday and I, I believe that is still the case. We did not sell or encourage excessive drinking on Friday's or Saturday's. But beyond that I can't say there was a lot 01:11:00of, a lot of major issues for students. I will say that working in Reeve during the political season was fun because we had Chelsea Clinton come to campus. We had John Carrie come to campus and he spoke outside of Reeve. I was here 8 years ago when President Obama was campaigning for office and he spoke in Kolf's Sport Center, so that's, that's another event that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I guess another event in my lifetime that sticks with me that I didn't talk about, growing up that changed the world forever was 9/11. You know people talk about they remembered where they were when Kennedy was assassinated, 01:12:00or the first moon landing, and those of us that were around November 11th, 2001 certainly remember where we were. And I remember I was in freshman choir at that Winnebago Lutheran Academy and our vice principal came over the sound system and told us what had happened. I mean I can't say that I had, had visited New York City, but it was a scary time. Our choir director led us in a prayer and then I went off to student health, but then that teacher said not a word about it. We went to chapel nobody said a word about it, but then we were having history exams that day and he put off the exam. We sat in the library and watched the news. I went home that day, the bus was packed because there were no sports activities and the first thing I did was call my mom and dad when I got home cuz 01:13:00I didn't know what was happening, if I should be alarmed at all. My sister's sports activities weren't cancelled, they were at her volleyball game, so I think it was a very confusing time. Hurricane Katrina had happened just a matter of days before I started my freshman year here and that was a very impactful event and something that we focused our group speech on. Those are really the things that stick with me. I guess more recently the kind of occurrence, or the 01:14:00greater threat of sexual assault or violence in the area surrounding campus and the gunshot that had occurred in Reeve Union. That must be about 3 years ago now during, I believe it was, Black Student Union dance. Those have certainly raised awareness of a thing on campus. And the titan alert system is a thing that has come about during my years here.

AS: What was like the best life lesson you learned from UWO or your most memorable experiences?

JH: Well the most memorable experiences go back to working in the union most certainly. And I think you learn from staff and students working in the union 01:15:00the importance of having a work ethic, but the importance of doing something you enjoy and making time for fun each day. That life's too short to not enjoy it, you can't be serious all the time, I mean there is a time and place for that. That the student centeredness of the union sticks with me too and, and my roles since then. That's what I've tried to focus is, is what I'm doing in the best interest in the students that we're serving.

AS: When you finished college how did you feel? Did you feel relieve? I know you went to undergraduate then graduate, but after you were done with graduate school.

JH: After I was done with graduate school. I can't say I felt relieved. I, I 01:16:00miss it and I still miss certain aspects of it. I, I do miss being in the classroom, I do. After I finished, well I actually finished my employment in Reeve as a graduate assistant with the union board before I finished my master's program because I had a summer class to finish. So I finished that in August and after my employment in Reeve ended again, I didn't have a job. So I focused on getting those classes done, and applying for jobs, and I had different interviews all over the state. I didn't want to leave the state, which I think was harmful. I had interviews in Steven's Point, and in Superior, and at UW 01:17:00Milwaukee and all these different places. I had an interview at, or in Colorado as well that I went to because I thought if I'm not finding a job in my home state why don't I try going to, you know to Colorado or South Carolina where I have uncles, you know. So fortunately I had a connection with Mike [Leader?] who I mentioned before with titan nights he was, I think, his title was president for Habitat for Humanity in town. They were in need of someone to manage the office work and the finances and stuff, so he called me we need somebody tomorrow. You know, can you do this? (Laughs) I mean yeah. You know. So I worked there until I could find another job. Meanwhile I had kept in touch with one of 01:18:00my, he wasn't my direct supervisor, but he had come to Oshkosh from UW Fond Du Lac and always worked in facilities [Town Deer?]. Another one of the people including [Dee Cuburd?], and [Lisa Gatch?] who I would consider my mentors in Reeve. And he supervised student staff and custodians, and they needed a custodian. I'm like well, I need, I need, a little bit better job than this office work and so I went back to [Joanne?] who had gotten me my other LT job in CNL, and I said well put me in for the custodial work, so I did that. Tom didn't interview me it was [Don Dedloff?], who managed the facilities on campus, who interviewed me. And so I worked as an LT custodian for probably four months, and 01:19:00then I got a permanent full-time position working with a learning and retirement organization on campus. Which I only then did for about three or four months, and then our assistant vice chancellor, for lifelong learning and community engagement at the time, I don't know if I'm getting off topic here, but..

AS: Nope, you're fine.

JH: [Karen Hikel?] then approached me. We were in need of an advisor for the online degree programs again working with nontraditional students. So I did that as an I don't know if I was an LT or project, I think I was project in that role for it was over a year. So I did online advising, which was different, and I 01:20:00knew I wasn't going to want to stick with that forever, because once in a blue moon you'd get a student come into the office, but it was always over the phone or through email and I miss those kinds of, of interactions. So that position ended, it wasn't being replaced due to low enrollments and online. At one time the online degrees here were very innovative. Something that not a lot of other schools were doing, well now it's everywhere. So it will be interesting to see where that is in 5 years when the university celebrates its sesquicentennial. So I did that. And then I got a job working in the bookstore, which again is housed 01:21:00in Reeve. And I knew [Kathy Koenbach?], who had been appointed the bookstore director after [Joe Bloom?] had retired from that role. And she knew I wasn't going to be there long term. She really did me quite a favor by hiring me knowing that I was going to be continuing to look for employment elsewhere. So then I worked in the bookstore from April-May through August of 2014. Then I got a job working in the Student Union at UW Madison, which was really cool to work in Memorial Union, which was really the start of student unions across the nations in the world. And to be in someplace that had historical significance and that I had a passion for was really cool. I was doing events in Memorial 01:22:00Union, Union South, my office was located in Union South. And then the red gym and some classroom reservations in Madison, which was fun. I did however miss Oshkosh. It is not as if I was far from my family, but if they needed me here in a pinch, with my grandfather's Alzheimer's and things, I wanted to be closer. So eventually I ended up coming back here in this role as an outreach program manager, again in the division of lifelong learning and community engagement. Doing more continuing education programs, but still doing events. Doing some conferences and workshops and professional development seminars, some online course offerings, things like that are what I'm involved with now.

AS: Would you say your college experience here had an impact on wanting to work 01:23:00here too?

JH: Yes. (Excitedly) Yes. Certainly the atmosphere of campus has changed since the time I was here as an undergrad, and a lot of that is due to politics in the state and budget. And these are very scary times and I, it will be interesting to see what the future of this institution is. I know that is going to endure. I know that there are still individuals here who are dedicated to serving our students in the best way that we can. I, I'm worried about students not being able to get the classes that they need. I'm worried about them being able to graduate on time. I'm worried about student services being cut. You know you 01:24:00look at some of the athletic programs that have gone away and I, I'd hate to see those things continue to progress along that path. I think things have to change. I think things might have to get worse before they can get better. But I, I'm happy to be here. I'm happy that I have so many friends and colleagues who, who I can rely on for support and I know are, are working their hardest to do like I said what's right and in the interest of our students.

AS: You said like how things have changed. What is your major impression of UWO now? Cuz you like see around campus because you work here, compared to when you went to college in like 2006 and stuff?

01:25:00

JH: I feel like people are not as actively engaged now as they were at that time. I feel like there is a little bit of a sense of helplessness in a way. I think that Chancellor Leavitt is, is doing his best in these difficult times to transition some roles around campus. And change is difficult for a lot of people, but I think we need to roll with it, I think we need to be open to that change. And I, I'm excited to see what is ahead, you know you look at the way 01:26:00campus has changed physically in the last 10 years. We didn't have the Alumni Welcome and Conference Center, this very building. We didn't have the Student Rec and Wellness Center. We didn't have Horizon Village. Facilities was located where Sage Hall currently now stands. Now we've got all the properties across the river with facilities. You know Clow has been renovated now and is a very beautiful building. It would be nice to see some of these older buildings utilized to their full extent. Dempsey Hall, for so many years the former, not UARC, but the former library area, where career services was located has been sitting empty. To see something done in those areas of campus would be kind of 01:27:00nice. I know some of that's going to have to be put off with budget, but I think we've got a strong infrastructure and I think, I think whatever happens we'll continue to have individuals who are dedicated to this campus and are passionate about it, and want to see the students flourish and do their best.

AS: To end, like what advice would you give to a current UWO college student?

JH: I would say to be open to new experiences and to get involved in campus and something that's outside of your comfort zone. To try something new. To work on campus, working on campus opened so many doors for me. Had I not began working in Reeve it is very doubtful in my mind whether I would have completed a degree, there is no way I would have gone on for my Master's Degree and I certainly 01:28:00wouldn't be sitting here today.

AS: Well, (laughs) thank you.