-: Ball State prepared me a lot.
-: I'm a kid from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
from the east coast comin' to Indiana
was a complete change to me.
I came here with a basketball scholarship
and once I came here I was determined to interact
with everybody I encountered.
One of the funny things that helped with me was
I was a known athlete but I interacted with everyone,
and my first job I got was with
the Department of Child Services here in DCS
and I went in and interviewed.
I was the last person to interview
for the job and they had no intention
of hiring me at all.
I left my interview and they was like
I'll contact you next week on a Thursday.
I got hired the next day,
and one of the reasons I got hired
was cause of my networking opportunity.
Even though I was a basketball player here,
I interacted with the band, English majors, cheerleaders,
and one of the guys in the band that I interacted with
his actual grandmother was a director of DCS
and she explained how I got interviewed,
interviewed Maleen today.
He's an athlete.
He was like you gotta hire him,
and that's how I got hired.
Kids gotta understand that don't be ashamed
to put yourself out there when you come to college.
College is also for learning.
It's for networking 'cause you're never gonna understand
who you're gonna come across.
You'll understand who you're gonna engage with,
you're gonna need in later in life.
So I'm just makin' sure I understand is
be able to open and be able to give yourself away to others.
Don't just sit in your room.
I especially speak to athletes.
If you're an athlete, just don't stick with athletes.
Go sit there and engage with everybody as a community,
'cause everything's a friendship and a network opportunity
for you to potentially advance in life.