David Jones: [00:00:00] Hello, thanks for joining us for another Minnesota State University, family orientation podcast! I appreciate you listening for us a little bit more today; as a reminder I'm David Jones, I'm the Vice President for student affairs and enrollment management here at Minnesota State. Again, thrilled to be giving you updates and introducing you to some of the most interesting people here at the University, and the many things that they do to make us a cool special place.

So, I'm particularly excited about today's episode because we have our newest leader here at the University , we're joined by our new student government president. I'm going to let Rihanna do a full introduction of who she is here in a moment, but just to give everybody context, because I know we'll be talking about some COVID stuff.

Today is June 7th as we're recording this, every time we record one of these, we'll talk about what we know based on what the Governor and Minnesota Department of Health has released. So, it's all in context of today's date at this point. Enough about that, we'll talk more about that I'm sure, in due time as part of our conversation.

So Rihanna, thank you for joining us! Why don't you with our listeners here, share a little bit about who you are, your title, and what you're studying.

Rihanna: [00:01:13] Yeah! Well, thank you for having me, Dr. Jones, as you alluded to, my name is Rihanna Steph and I am the newly elected Student Body President.

So, I am actually a junior, but I'm entering my senior year, this fall, and I'm double majoring in Mass Media and Political Science. I have been involved with student government over the past two years, and then the opportunity came up this year, of course, to run for president and implement some of the things that are important to me and my Vice President Kara's pearson.

So I think it started excited to kind of see some of those plans come to fruition and hopefully help out a lot of students in the process.

David Jones: [00:01:51] Excellent, excellent! Now what'd you share folks, where are you from, where's home?

Rihanna: [00:01:56] I am from Illinois, actually in a very small town in Illinois called Mulberry Grove.

I think when people hear Illinois, they associate that with Chicago and Walmart. I do have a lot of family there and I was born there. I moved to the Southern portion of the state, I'm in the town of about 700 people so that's where I grew up.

David Jones: [00:02:16] Mankato itself , the niversity is bigger than your hometown.

Rihanna: [00:02:21] Yeah! I said in my my inauguration speech that I will be serving 14,000 students, and that my constituency is now of course, bigger than my entire town's population and the towns next to us combined. So, Mankato is definitely a jump in size from what I'm used to.

David Jones: [00:02:38] Right! So, the natural question is going to be how did you find us and why did you come here?

Rihanna: [00:02:44] Yeah! So, I have a sister who lives in the Twin Cities and she had been trying to get me to come to Minnesota for years, and I was like, well that sounds good, but I need to explore my options. I knew I did not want to stay in Illinois, I did want to see somewhere new, I want to try a different state.

I feel like in Illinois, your options are very rural where I'm from or Chicago, and I didn't necessarily want to be in either. Then my sister actually had my niece and that kind of sealed the deal for me, so I started touring schools in Minnesota. I went to a couple places St. Cloud. I went to the U and then I toured Minnesota State, which it felt like an actual college campus to me, that's kind of what separated it from the other schools. I didn't want to feel like I was just like roaming through the inner city; I wanted to feel connected. Like I can have a campus and I can have a campus community. I also didn't want something super small that reminded me too much of home.

So, coming here, the campus was beautiful. They had the program I wanted, which is political science originally, before I added on my second major. Then I saw the arena and I saw just the opportunity to get involved with different organizations, and I was like, okay, I can definitely see myself being here!

Luckily it ended up great as you guys can see!

David Jones: [00:03:58] Yeah, absolutely buddy! President, that's not too shabby to say the least, just awesome! So this past year with the pandemic has been different right? In so many different ways. So, how did you navigate this past year?

Rihanna: [00:04:12] So this past year, well I do like, I guess my own company, it has been very difficult getting used to your own company when you don't have a choice.

At the beginning of the pandemic, when all the departments of the school closed, you know, student workers are sent home. Students were sent home from their dorms, and so I actually lost my job on campus because I couldn't be inside the department. Luckily, an opportunity arose for me to become a tutor, doing zoom tutoring.

So I got to combine 10 of my passions for, reading and writing and do that in a format that was safe for everyone. Over the summer, you know, adults still have to go to work. They still have to pay bills, and so my sister and her husband still had to do what they had to do to support their family.

So I ended up actually leaving my apartment in Mankato and staying in Minneapolis all summer 2020 to kind of help them with my niece, basically.

Then of course we had social justice movements, we had the death of George Floyd, and so all of this combined was kind of very taxing on myself and a lot of other students, but it was nice having the support of the University, having the University give us constant updates on what the plans were moving forward.

Then really just having University that took the pandemic and COVID seriously it implemented safety measures that could help students get back to normal life as we are about.

David Jones: [00:05:30] Yeah! Yeah, I would imagine. So, obviously when you're a college student, the key thing is taking classes. How did your classes switch and how were you able to manage that?

Rihanna: [00:05:42] Yeah. So, of course all of my classes went completely online. And because a lot of my classes are reading and writing focused , whereas we would do some of that work in class. Usually now you have to do all of it at home , you have to still give reports, you still have to write papers.

And, you know, instead of having the two days of the weekend, it kind of felt like an endless stream of school basically. So with that I really had to start making the schedule to really start planning things out when I'm going to incorporate time to focus on school, because whenever you're at home, It feels like school2.

So, luckily I had some really great professors who understood this and who are switching completely online themselves, but it was definitely a big transition going from being inside a classroom, at least probably eight hours a week to being at home 24/7 and having to make that schedule for yourself and stay on are disciplined in routine.

David Jones: [00:06:35] Yeah, I would think so. I've talked to a lot of students, clearly people learn content for a class, but that ability to learn how to manage, you know, during this time will probably pay off for years and years and years for you to stay, whatever organizational structure you used to stay on top of stuff will be there, whether it's lists or whatever it might be.

Did you discover any new approaches yourself?

Rihanna: [00:06:59] Yes! So for one, I think I really discovered like the possibilities we have. I don't think anyone ever imagined having meetings virtually or class meeting virtually, unless you have signed up for online classes. So this whole format itself was I guess, kind of very educational on what possibilities we do have and how to extend access to all different types of students.

Because I know there's some traditional and non-traditional students who probably prefer this format. But as far as other techniques I've learned, really just trying to focus on what needs to be prioritized , when it needs to be prioritized and how often, and to what extent I need to do my work. So, it was just a transition and, you know, something new I learned , the structure that going in class provides; I guess you don't think about that in the moment, but once you don't have the option, it was kind of different being like, okay, well now I have to structure everything myself and I have to figure out what works.

So, I think during the process, I became like a different type of learner and now I have options. I don't hopefully see any more pandemics in the foreseeable future, but at least we now know that we have options going forward.

David Jones: [00:08:10] Yeah, I think you're right. And, you know, I was super impressed with all of you in student government and the way that you both maximize the use of technology to help you stay connected.

And at various times you try to do some in-person , with social distancing within our physical distancing, within a room, as well as doing the zoom stuff and it's not smooth. It's not a 100% smooth by any means trying to navigate that. But the one thing there was no quit!

You kept trying to, oh, we'll try it like this. We'll try it like that. So, as you view this coming year; it is your year to be the student body president. What are your thoughts and feelings about what you think next year will be like?

Rihanna: [00:08:53] Oh, my gosh, I have so many plans. I'm so excited!

I think something Kara and myself are really focusing on is just being different, that doesn't mean necessarily breaking precedent in every term. But we really want to make sure that we're doing things in a graceful way. We're doing things in a way that gives students and gives ourselves grace.

We're also really basic needs focused, so we have the basic needs hub and making sure students have access to housing and things that really underline their success as students. Moving forward in this next year, the plans I have will really focus on making sure students are supported at the most basic level, because I feel like once students are supported that way, then they can succeed in other areas.

You know, if a student doesn't have secure access to housing or food. They're not going to be worried about joining the mini RSOs we have on campus or attending a football game, or really just getting any type of experience that normal college students would. So moving forward, I'm excited to get back in person.

I've made a commitment to have most of my meetings in person now; guaranteed that everyone feels safe enough to do so. And I think Kara really has awesome plans herself and some projects she's going to be working on as well. So we're really excited to get started.

David Jones: [00:10:06] Excellent! For our listeners, you just introduced Kara, who is Kara?

Rihanna: [00:10:11] So Kara is my Vice President and she will be in her junior year, a social work major, and she is also really basic needs focused. She actually implemented and had the idea for swipe out hunger, which is a program that donates meals students who might be facing food insecurity on campus, which a huge success that she got done in under a year, which was also really impressive.

And hopefully be a program that stays in Mankato for years to come. So, yeah, she is my Vice President and I'm very lucky to have her on my team.

David Jones: [00:10:43] Excellent. Yeah, it's been fun to watch both of you grow throughout the Student Government experience and it's going to be an awesome year to watch both of you fully spread your wings and provide the leadership to all the students.

Rihanna: [00:10:55] Yeah, I guess in the same breath, I haven't introduced Minot Hill, who is our speaker now. So, this year is also pretty exciting because to my knowledge, it's the first time in student government history that there's an all female executive team, so this year it's going to be really exciting working with Minot hill, who is also an international student.

She brings a different type of perspective that me and Kara will not have. We have a really strong team and I'm excited to work with both of them and hear their ideas as well.

David Jones: [00:11:23] I totally doubled down on the strength of your team. I think it's going to be an awesome year because of that.

So the folks listening are family members, you know, students who are coming this fall. Based on your experience so far, what kind of advice would you give for incoming student heading to Mankato this fall?

Rihanna: [00:11:44] Yeah, so I would definitely encourage any student coming to Mankato. Well, first you made an awesome choice choosing this institution.

Then second don't limit yourself on what you can do. So freshman year, you know, it was kind of a rough year for me, to be honest, I was going through a lot as far as like family-wise. So I flash forward to my senior year. I would have never imagined that I would be student body president. And then of course, like I said, I'm now serving a constituency that's larger than the town that I'm from.

So don't limit yourself based off where you come from, obstacles, you might've faced, your demographics and really just be open to new experiences. I would also say as opportunities present themselves, don't be afraid to take them. Don't let imposter syndrome or anything else get in the way of you really experiencing the full college experience.

Again, I would have never imagined myself being here. So if I had said no to certain opportunities, if I had shied away, then I probably wouldn't be here. So really reach out to people, be social, join learning communities, which is something I also did in. Join RSOs and different groups.

Because even if you don't stick with them, you learn something in the process. You've met people, you make connections and you possibly set yourself up for future opportunities. So definitely don't limit yourself and be open to new experiences.

David Jones: [00:13:04] Yeah. That's great advice! Any advice you'd give to their families or parents?

Rihanna: [00:13:10] Okay. Again, I'm going to start off. You guys also made a good choice. But as far as parents, you know, I know it can be hard to kind of separate from my family. I went from seeing them every day to now I need to call them every day while I'm at school, but as far as parents, I would say follow our social media websites.

So you can also stay updated on what's going with the University. We are a pretty transparent institution, also come in on family days, things like that. So you can kind of see what this campus is about and see what the people here are really representing. When you have the opportunity to visit campus, please do, but also follow our social medias.

And if you have any questions, of course, I'm willing to answer them as well. And you can email me and all that good stuff.

David Jones: [00:13:51] Absolutely! Those are great pieces of advice. So you and I were talking right before we started recording today, a little bit of what, you know, how your weekend was and you shared that you're, you're working here locally.

Rihanna: [00:14:05] So I think one of the things that's great about the city of Mankato, and we've been talking about the University, is that there are plenty of local jobs, especially right now, but it's been that case even before the pandemic, it seemed like there was always part-time opportunities for folks to have that.

When you look at cross cutting your friend group and such, is that pretty consistent? Does everybody have some kind of part-time job at this point?

Yes. Now that I think about it, most of my friends do. So, ranging from Walmart to Target and Menards. I have, all of my friends do have jobs, whether they work part-time or full-time.

And so it also seemed like they didn't have that much difficulty finding these jobs. They found something they thought they would like to do. They applied and got an interview within a couple of weeks. Anyone who is looking or considering a part-time job in Mankato, we have plenty of options ranging from like retail stores, gas stations, grocery stores, things like that.

And so I would say, definitely explore your options here. We have plenty. And then a lot of these places also come with internships if that is something you're also interested in.

David Jones: [00:15:06] Yeah, that's definitely true. And it's hard to go into someplace now without seeing a help wanted sign. They're everywhere!

Rihanna: [00:15:14] Yeah. And some places have even raised their wages I think. McDonald's starting wage is like $15 now. So if any of that interests you, you definitely have options and good paying options too.

David Jones: [00:15:24] Yeah, that's true. My son's in high school. Well, he's not a senior anymore. He graduated Friday , but he just got a raise this past weekend. He had not even asked for it, but yeah, his part-time job. Here's another dollar an hour. He's like, awesome! So yeah, the economy's humming in Southern Minnesota.

Rihanna: [00:15:42] Yep. I think they're really trying to keep their employees, so that's awesome!

David Jones: [00:15:46] It is ! Well, our time's evaporating here. I really appreciate you carving out and sharing a little bit about yourself and your goals for this year and everything and providing advice. You have anything else you'd want to share with our audience?

Rihanna: [00:16:00] Yeah! So if you're interested in joining Student Government, we are basically just like the representative body of students on campus.

We have quite a few senatorial positions that are still open ranging depending on what college you're in. So, we are actually having a special election during I think the first or second week in September. If you're interested in advocacy, if you're interested in representing your other students, giving your ideas to the University and then working of course, with faculty and staff and administration, to see some of your ideas through, you can email me or you can email Kara, but you can also join the special election and run to become a Senator, which is also a pretty special and awesome position as far as being a student and how you get to influence other students. So again, contact us, follow student government on Instagram and Facebook, and you can find some more information there in the coming weeks.

David Jones: [00:16:51] Wow. That sounds awesome. Plenty of opportunities, that's for certain. With that I want to thank you President Stiff for spending a little time with us here today!

For our listeners, let me share with you a little bit of a COVID update and we'll wrap up there. We did receive a higher education guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health last week, continuing to reinforce a more normal fall.

We're in the process right now of returning furniture back to our classrooms across the campus that we took out as we headed into the pandemic to allow us to use those classroom spaces . MDH in short has said that we can start to move back to full occupancy in our spaces.

Of course, all of this seems to be contingent upon the vaccination rate within our community, and within our campus. If you're listening, we are encouraging everybody to get the vaccine. Cause that's just going to provide more openings and opportunities, and specifically it's because the governor has indicated that if you're vaccinated, you don't need to wear a mask.

If you're not vaccinated yet, please wear a mask. And our campus size reflects that as well. So, get the vaccine and there's no shortage of opportunities. We also provide it here in our Student Health Center, but I know it's available through the state and local medical providers across the country at this point.

With that you can go to our our campus website. We now have a brand new one; it's no longer called return to learn it's called return to campus. You will find it right off our University homepage and with all the latest updates on that point. So, I'm pretty excited! I think as everybody is to have a little more normality, let's hope it continues that way.

Thank you for spending time with us and listeners stay tuned! We've got some more recordings coming out soon. Thanks and have a good day ! Rianna. You too.