Dialogues Across the Decades: Conversations with Balfour-Hesburgh Scholars Program Alumni , Part 5: New Frontiers

0:00Good morning, good afternoon and good evening everybody. Welcome to dialogues across the decades, conversations with the Balfour Hexbridge Scholars Program alumni, where we will share the legacy and impact of the Balfour Hexbridge Scholars Program at the University of Notre-Dame. My name is Charlie Rutegi-Fairo, I graduated from Class of 2020 and I am the first Balfour alumnus to be a full-time member of the staff for the Balfour Program. And I'll be spending some time with you today discussing the evolution of the Balfour Program or the last decade and some of what we can expect next for a favorite scholars program. Before we jump in, I want to thank all the co-sponsors of the Balfour Hexbridge Scholars Program and the Notre-Dame Alumni Association. And now, I'd like to welcome our lovely crew for today's episode. I want everybody to share the graduating year a silly fact about yourself and then just share a little bit more about your bio, okay? We're going to start off with Mr. Nicholas Crookston.

1:00Thanks so much, Charlie. Thanks to the Balfour Program, Dr. Lucero and of course you for bringing us all together. No one brings people together better than Charlie. My name is Nick Crookston, Class of 2023. Born and raised in Muncie, Indiana and I think that's my fun fact. Another day, my study of political science, global affairs and Latino studies are the concentration and civil and human rights. I stayed in bomber hall, sorry, a sick fruit hall and then moved to bomber my last year and I'm currently based in Northern Virginia where I work for an organization called Volta Latino as their manager of partnerships in advocacy. Thank you, Nick. Another fun fact is you're a big sad of New York City. Yeah, we're doing silly episode and I my fun fact is I very recently visited New York and as I mentioned in the prep for this it is America's best kept secret. So I'm here to promote. Thank you so much, Nick. Next up we have Mr. Billy McCard.

2:04Hey guys, I'm Billy McCard. So I was Balfour summer 2020, nori game class of 2024 studied finance and real estate at Notre Dame. Currently I live in Boston and where I'm working in commercial real estate. My silly fact is that I was born with, I don't know if I can't even see the camera, but I was born with two extra fingers. You can kind of see this one right here and then let's see I've got to locate the camera, but yeah, I was born with two extra fingers that were removed when I was when I was first born. And my uncle, he actually has those extra fingers, so it's kind of cool and weird to see. Well, Billy, we're all learning a little bit more about you today. Thank you for that. Next up we got our money. My name is Armani Gajon. I was Balfour summer 2021 and I graduated in 2025 with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering and a

3:07minor in theology. I'm from San Antonio, Texas, born and raised and now I am back in San Antonio working at a consulting firm. Oh, and my silly fun fact, I'm not so sure if this is silly, but one of my biggest flexes is that I saw Taylor Swift in concert when she was an opening act. Wow, did you get invited to the wedding? Unfortunately not. Thank you, Armani. And another fun fact is that this week was your birthday. So happy birthday. It was my birthday. 23. Okay, thank you, Armani. Next up we have Shahad. Thank you, Charlie. Hi, my name is Shahad O'Haley. I am Balfour summer class of 2022. I graduated just this year, so class of 2026 with a degree in chemical and bi-molecular engineering and a minor in bioengineering. I was in Farley Hall and I'm currently in Cleveland,

4:11which is where I'm from, working at Cleveland Clinic in Phase 2 trials. And yeah, I'm excited. This is my gap year. So hopefully dental school next year. And then my fun fact is there is a giant photo of me and LaFon second floor. Are you wearing a Luigi costume in that picture as well? Actually, it's a Mario costume. No, okay. This is made in appearance at a football game, so if you saw me flying. Thank you, Shahad. Thank you everybody for introducing themselves. So today we're going to spend time talking about the next frontier. I'll give a little bit of background first, so my time here Balfour and then we'll transition into the conversation. But I came in 2016 summer, a very amazing summer. I had a fun time. I'm sure everybody who's heard the other episodes has heard about the great time that Balfour summer is. And back then, Balfour didn't had its own office. It wasn't until I was a junior that we had our office in Hagger Hall.

5:13And so some of you don't even know what it's like to not have a Balfour office, so you guys have been spoils for sure. But it was major. I mean, I live in Stamford Hall, so I could literally walk down the steps and be a Hagger Hall in 10 seconds and talk to Miss Ware and Miss Wadley, I'd like to do Sarah. And it's been definitely an evolution since I started the student to where Balfour is now. We have a lot more resources now. Thanks to the certain grants for study abroad, for internship support. We eventually created in 2021 the summer service emergent, which took students to home to Florida to mentor high school students with the Mixed American Council. A great program that I will for sure be picking on Nick to talk about later on. And we also started the Alumni Networking Weekends. We went to Austin, New York. I think you guys are going to, I don't want to say it. I don't want to be surprised, but I know you guys are going to next. We've been to DC. We've been to San Diego. That was a really fun one as well. And we've been to Atlanta, I'm pretty sure, right, Billy? We've been to Atlanta, yes. We're in

6:17to Atlanta. So Balfour has become so different from 2016 towards now. I know we're here that we also went to San Francisco recently. I was in a part of that one, so I don't want to say anything. But it's been amazing seeing the girls that, you know, under the doctorate, so his leadership, how Balfour has re-changed. It's been so amazing that I can still go to the office and talk to Ms. Wadley, you know, I was on campus recently. I wasn't able to see her, but I know that I'll be able to find her there. And Balfour has really been a pivotal part of my, I wouldn't call it success in her team, but just an experience, you know, being a part of the community is huge for me. Being able to work in Balfour after graduating was now in hindsight, where I needed to be honestly, because I'm being on community and I can acknowledge it now, but I didn't acknowledge it back then. But the Balfour community in general is what helped me thrive in their day. You know, I mean, people I can talk to about, you know, similar experiences, such as being the first

7:18in your family to be in college, I couldn't talk to my parents about home or something, because they had never done it, you know. If those of them in parents, I would have stayed a man, they gone to like a local community college, because for them college is college, but they don't understand, you know, the procedure comes in our day and we begin an institution like this one. And so being able to talk about other peers, being able to talk about productive Sarah, Missware, Missware, Miss Wadley, it was pivotal for me and I know that that experience a lot of students have had as well. I am very grateful of my time as a staff member at Balfour because I got to see, to meet so many cool people, like you guys here right now in this chat. And I have so many positive memories, you know, of being able to see so much growth. I talk about Mark Metrios who came as a goofball and came out as like everybody knows Mark at this point, you know, like if you didn't know Mark is because you just hadn't met him yet, you know, but he started a club. He's doing great in finance now. I got to see people like Billy Grove, people like Nick. I know Nick had a very memorable summer, right?

8:23He still is in contact with all those people that he met with. I have to see Sarah Hattiguro, but got to see her money, took on leadership positions, and that's meant the world to me being able to you know, be a mentor and almost like a cool big brother to you guys. And I think that's really at the heart of what Balfour is about, you know, it's not just about going bridges, but also providing a community for you to get through these four memorable years in their life. So with all that said, I want to open up the question, the first question for you guys, which is what do you think it makes Balfour special and anybody can start? I think I already kind of answered it, so I'll leave it open. I can take a first crack at it. And also, I think everyone in this call can relate to having Charlie as a big brother of sorts. It was definitely a big blessing. Charlie wasn't a big during my Balfour summer. And I guess since we're talking to a podcast audience, well, it's Balfour. So

9:23if you don't know what a big is, it's like your mentor is the older folks who stick around for the summer, take classes, then also serve as arrays and TAs and mentors for the incoming Balfour is doing our summer. Didn't have the chance to have Charlie as one of my bigs, but I did meet him very soon. His name was floating all around the summer and I met him very soon after as soon as we got back to campus in the fall. I would say for me, like Balfour has opened up so many doors and opportunities to grow, to come to DC, build, begin building my network here over like summer internships, to come to DC for the networking weekend to go to Homestead, which I know we're going to touch on in a bit. But I would say at its core, people who have established connections coming to a college like Notre Dame, they have networks coming to Notre Dame for a generation. You don't have that. But what Balfour granted us, I would say, is found family. At least that was my experience. In a lot of ways, you really have an opportunity during those months before

10:27freshman year to come in and to get to know a community of other people like Charlie mentioned, who have very diverse and different backgrounds, but similar experiences and through lines. Everyone is really committed to community. Everyone is committed to lifting each other up and to being there for each other and to sharing those experiences and to supporting each other. My Balfour summer, I met my found family, my friend group that kind of blossomed from the seat that was Balfour throughout all four years at Notre Dame. People like Shire de González, Ashley Castillo, Andrea Romero, Christian Martinez, as well as goes on and on of folks that were really close to me throughout my time at ND. And then after graduation, I moved to, these are the people that I would go to football games with, of course, people who would hang out in dorms, hang out with the CCD and the Balfour lounge, the ILS lounge, travel with, do spring break with and all that good stuff

11:27and really lean on. They were part of the Undoq ally and D team and some of the student leadership initiatives that I had the chance to lead. And now after graduation, I moved out here to the DC area, I worked in DC and a few of those friends and found family. I moved out here with me and I had the chance to kind of round out my growing up process here with them for a few years. You know, in my time here as an early professional before going to law school and I mean, surely those are the people in my life that I can see being in my wedding and therefore, Godparents to my children and you know, the kinds of folks that you can call when you need them at all points in life. And I don't think I would have found that had I not had Balfour in the community that was given to me through that. That was a lot. I can go next. I'm probably going to say a lot of the same things as Nick, but this is this is cliche whenever people ask, oh, what makes Notre Dame or what makes XYZ Play Special. Everyone always says the people, but I think this is especially the case for Balfour. Coming in, it was a

12:32little bit different from me. We or at least my cohort was the COVID cohort and I think we'll get into that a bit later, but it was hard to make friendships at first. I remember when I first got to Notre Dame with all the, what were they even called? The here campaign with that here campaign, staying six feet apart. It felt very odd. It's not what I expected of college and people were very clicky. So having Balfour was really cool in that. You have this group of friends who come from somewhere, backgrounds. You know, you kind of know from day one and you even know or somewhere was online. You've got a group of people who you've got to know a little bit and so you're not completely alone. Of course, that transpired differently for my cohort again because we were online. So we always kind of did look up to the other cohorts, seeing what Nick's cohort had. Then the Banoffo's cohort, like the 2022 and then 2021. So it was always kind of like, there was always

13:38like this feeling of longing and hoping that my cohort would have that and we never really ended up having that just because of COVID and all that, but we were able to make the most of it. So when I think about, why I just think of the people, the people in my cohort, other cohorts, I just made it special for me. Dr. Luis Serro, Mrs. Wadley, Charlie. Charlie can tell you about the thousands of times I like almost broke down in his office about any and everything, whether it be an exam. If he had a penny for every time I came to his office talking about, oh my gosh, I failed this exam. I don't feel good about it. I'm going to drop the class next week. I'm like, oh yeah, it was all right. Like I didn't do great, but I'm okay. Just to do the same thing in three weeks. And then just like some of my friends from my cohort, like Jordan and then some of my friends from outside of Banoffo that, you know, became honorary, Banoffo's almost. Like I know a lot of you guys are familiar with Bobby,

14:38Bobby would be an lounge all the time. So Banoffo was really like a safe space for me, a community of people that I can always rely on. Whenever I'd be going through things, I could go to Charlie, I could go to Dr. Lee Sarrow. So it's just like a, it was like a family for me. And yeah, when I think about why I just think of the people and that's what made it special for me. I can go next. Not to sound repetitive, but I agree with Nick and Billy. It really is the people that make Balfour what it is. I know myself, my Balfour summer, I was moving from Texas to Indiana and it's really scary. Having been in one place for so long, never being away from family for so long, to go to this completely different world essentially. Like with Noregaan being a PWI, it's also very intimidating as well. So just being able to be in that group of people

15:41who share similar experiences with you, which really makes it all the more comforting. And that for those first four weeks, you really are establishing a community and in a way acknowledging that you do belong here. And Balfour really is a key factor in doing all of that. I know when I was, my Balfour summer, I was really worried because I was going to be missing my birthday with my family for the first time. And I thought that I was going to be alone and sad on my birthday. But one of my fondest memories of Balfour is some of the friends that I met that summer. They threw a picnic for me and we got to celebrate. And that was just kind of like, I guess it set the tone for the rest of my time at Noregaan essentially. But yeah, it's really all the memories you make and those special connections like Billy and Nick were saying.

16:44Balfour is really a family. And through some of your toughest times, the people you meet there are, I guess like you're back bone. They're your supporters away from home. And honestly, I don't think I could have done it if it wasn't for the people in Balfour. Okay, so I'm probably going to repeat a bit of what you guys said because it truly is a family. That's what we always tell, like even when I was lucky enough to be a beg for two summers ago. And when they asked me anything about Balfour, it was like, Balfour is your family at Notre Dame. And Mike Cohort really likes to say that Dr. Lucero is our mother on campus. But the reason that what makes Balfour is different is because at least for me, it was when I came on to campus that very first summer, it felt it was like the first time where I could admit some struggles that I didn't even realize were struggles that I've had. Like all throughout

17:49high school middle school, just growing up, I'm an immigrant from Iraq. And so I had to like navigate so many things on my own. My school didn't really have advising. And I always had to think about finances and like all these things that I never realized were not normal. And I was always almost ashamed to admit these struggles. And I feel like my summer, I met all these people from such different places, from such different backgrounds that somehow shared so much with me. They all had similar struggles or similar stories. And it was what connected us. But then it was also our motivation, our passion, our hard work. Like everybody was so hard working. And I remember we chair experiences and stories. And it felt like such a bonding summer because it brought us all together and closer. But it built that family, that family we like to say,

18:50Valfour's family, it comes from that from sharing so many things that you never thought you would with people that come from all over the world. And so Valfour was also a place where you can share struggles and they provided a lot of solutions during college. So I felt like they lifted a lot of the weight. And so it was a safe space. Like I think of Valfour's my safe space. I started before college with these people. But also my senior year, I just graduated. Most of my memories are with the Valfour's. It was almost like we had to come back together, even though we were all such different majors and we had such different passions and all these things. We all came back as we just wanted that family. Because you know, it was like a full circle moment. Yeah. Well, thank you everybody for bad thing. What I already said, Valfour's a family. As you can all tell clearly or good at building community, you know. And I bring to the next

19:52question, which is what would you feel about for memory, whether it be the school year, the summer, whether it be in home set or in EC abroad or whatever it is. I will say, and I'm going to feel this from Billy because he might say, my fair about for memory was something that only one cohort in the 40 years carried a two. And that is a senior trip to Puerto Rico. Oh my gosh, were we spoiled bad. As Billy mentioned, you know, his cohort had to do their summer virtually, which is of course not as fun as doing it on campus. So we made it up to them and we took them Puerto Rico in April of this year. And for me, it was not just the fact that we were in an exotic location, but also that I was leaving Valfour literally like a couple of days after that. And so it was so amazing being able to start my Valfour experience as a staff member with their summer and then finish it at the same time as they were finishing it up. So it was a very full

20:52circle moment for me as well, being able to see all these kids that have spent the last four school years mentoring and trying to keep out of trouble and stuff. Hearing them complain about these exams that they would eventually get an A on every single time, it was so cool to be able to be in Puerto Rico for three days and just have fun and let loose and relax and wind. And that's something that I'm super proud to say it. 99% of other Valfours can never relate to. So that was my favorite memory, but there's also so many special ones like to share, but I don't want to steal a spotlight from you guys. So I'll let whatever else wants to go next talk about their favorite memory. I mean, since we're on the topic of Puerto Rico, yes, that was my favorite memory. That was one of, I would say one of my favorite memories. The other was, I'll be brief because I know there's a bunch of us on this call or a good amount of us, but the other was being able to serve as like a big unofficial big slash shaperone for the

22:00way that they're class of 2028. Yeah, for that. So summer 2024 cohort, but on Puerto Rico though, Puerto Rico was just amazing. Just given that my cohort, we weren't able to have a summer. And then just where we weren't able to like build the bonds and relationships that all the other cohorts have been able to and that impacted us throughout our four years. And of course, there were some of us were intentional about trying to make up for the time that was lost online. But that COVID was just a really tough year. And honestly, Notre Dame was really the same until I don't think it was normal until maybe spring of sophomore year going into junior year. That's when things started to be normal again. So naturally, despite some of our efforts, it was really hard for my cohort to bond. But in Puerto Rico, seeing groups of just seeing many of us who didn't hang out all the time, who we

23:05wouldn't hear from much or wouldn't see and haggar much, it was just really great. Seeing people that I would barely cross paths with, people that I probably hadn't seen in two to three years, like I kid you not, it was really great. And it was just kind of awesome to just kind of get a glimpse of what we missed out on. And then of course, we were in Puerto Rico. So Puerto Rico was just, it was amazing. And then being able to just hang out with, you know, Charlie and everyone else, like me, Charlie and the boys, we just, you know, just being silly. And it was just an amazing time. Yeah, being very professional as well. We'll have to write a book someday, but it was just, it was just a really great time. And it was a great way to cap off like, you know, our four years after like what happened during COVID. And then I'd say my second core memory is being able to serve as a big for the summer cohort of 2024 class of 2028 now. It's actually crazy. Seeing some

24:08of them do the takeovers for the about four summer. And I'm like, now they're rising juniors. And I remember always telling them, as soon as you're a sophomore, things are just going to go by fast, because like, saw after sophomore year, you're already a rising junior and you're like, wait, I just, I was just a freshman last year. And so it's crazy seeing that come, you know, come true, just what I had told them. But it was just like a great experience. I'd always wanted to be a big, but never had the opportunity to my freshman summer. I was taking classes online to try to get ahead sophomore and junior summers at summer internships. So doing that in 2024 was really meaningful to me. And the net the time I had been looking for a job, the job search was really stressful, really hard. And you know, class of 2024, it was the job market was really tough. And it's tough now for class of 2026 as well. So I definitely feel for them. But being able to be a big just really like alleviated all of my stress. And it was just such a great time and just being able to in a way, God and mentor these kids, well, they're not even kids. They're like, what, 2021? And

25:15it was just really great because I have a younger brother. My younger brother is way younger. He's like 15. But in them, I saw my younger brother. And you know, I just, they were like my little sibling. So that was really cool to just be able to help them in whatever way I could. And just try to make it the most fun summer. I have to boast. I do think I was the best big. We had a water gun fight that I orchestrated. And everyone loved it for the 4th of July. And that is facts. But yeah, no, those are two core balfour memories that like I'll keep with me for the rest of my life. I have to step in because I was also a big. I was the girls array that summer. And it's definitely a core memory for me. I absolutely loved that summer. Billy, I think I rival you for best big just because I do know they love me. I don't care what you say. So definitely this would be my second core memory. But I would say being the array that summer, that cohort is really bonded. They love each

26:22other. They are always like together, always talking to each other. They just have to be really close. And they are still close, which I just love seeing. But I remember I organized Girls Night. And it started out just like as a little thing like once. And I brought them onto my room and I got some snacks. And they ended up loving it so much. It became a thing that like some of the guys were trying to sneak in. And I would have to kick them out. I remember I saw Marcelo literally hanging from the ceiling as if I wouldn't see him standing at the door. And I was like anyways, so that was definitely a highlight. And they wanted me to keep it going throughout the school year, which was a little tough because we all had such busy schedules. But the first memory would definitely be my summer. I still think that is the best summer. And I want to broaden the other summers. So definitely up there. And it's because our cohort was really unserious. We always, it was like you gave five year olds like a pound of sugar. Like we were just

27:25always like joking around like pranking each other. And then my favorite one was the big prank Solomon. And he went into his room and couldn't find his bed. It was just his mattress was missing. Yeah, he did end up finding it. I don't know if I could tell you where he found it. But I thought was definitely a highlight of that summer. Anyway, what about your money? I need to choose from. Ball four summers are definitely up there. I also got to be a big summer of 23. So that's for the rising seniors this year. So that was that was one of my highlights. But I don't know. I think my summer was pretty good as well. Like one of the big things I remember that year is on the 4th of July a group of us were playing ring toss and we won a goldfish

28:29which is like only happens in movies. And I know like over like that brief period of time where like we went back home before coming back to campus. I think Bonoffo took care of it for us because he was still like going to be on campus. And then we had named him Bubbler because there was like a big thing with Jordan that summer. We were like it's called a water fountain, not a Bubbler. So in honor of that we named him Bubbler. And then unfortunately he passed during that first semester. But we had a funeral for him. And we let him go into St Mary's Lake and it was beautiful. Everyone showed up. So it was definitely one of the pretty good memory. But yeah like I said there's just so many to choose from. Being on BSB2 I got to plan a lot of like cohort events and I think planning Balfourmall for two years in a row was also definitely a pretty big highlight.

29:31We got to do the what was it? Masquerade one year and I'm blanking on the other theme. Does anyone remember? Charlie you were a big help. I don't want to say because Billy is still mad at me about that. Yes I remember it was like into the woods. It's been a lot of fun. It should have been great gaspies. It's great gas and it was great gaspies. We did have great gaspies one year and then Masquerade the other year. Those are the two Balfourmalls I helped plan. Shout out to Eric. He was my co-vice president. Big shout out to Charlie. I remember going to visit venues with you and you bringing us food. It was just a whole thing. But yeah I just love being able to just do things for the community and get people together. Those are definitely some of my top memories for sure. I have too many to really name. I think I might have had one of the last

30:36normal Balfour summers being summer of 2019 because I walked in Notre Dame and it was pre-COVID. Yeah so we had the last normal Balfour summer and I don't know. As you all are talking I'm just getting so many different memories coming back to mind of my cohort. I remember one morning waking up and we went into our first class and for some reason everybody was bald. Everyone decided the evening before to shave their heads because there was Ricky Silva who was in our cohort. Racked a shaved head when he first came Notre Dame and Mario Marco Juan Palo Marquez. I think Oliver Aceves also shaved his head and maybe Benafo did too. I don't remember but everyone was bald which was crazy. I remember Balfour summer riding going horseback riding as part of the leadership through the barn dorn experience and that one was a little wild. I had fortunately had a family

31:40member pass that summer so I had to go home at the first week of Balfour for the funeral and it came back and I got thrown into a bus and I was riding on horses a few hours later and that was awesome because we were all being silly about it and taking it seriously as seriously as you can take horseback riding for the first time for most of the youth folks but it was a lot of fun. I'm trying to think lots of good experiences throughout the like doctor going to Dr. Sato's house for the Fourth of July. I was a lot of fun. I think we did a water ball or water balloon fight which was really great cedar point lots of good memories like the Balfour almost were always so much fun. I did pull up something that so all of this to say like you know we throughout the summer and I don't want it to make it sound like we are just very silly because we are very silly we're very human and that's great. We also were very studious and our study halls like we took that being first gen and really wanted to make a mark. I remember like taking that very seriously as of my peers and riding in rhetoric and the coding class that we took which was really cool and like seeing really

32:42cool products and stuff come out of that and get to you know learn together for a little bit for the summer but the silliness was also there was always there and I think one of my favorite memories if I can I think I'll win away. So we had a Balfour tailgate that was sponsored by Balfour that fall of my freshman year and it was my first true tailgate you know ever because I didn't have like a lot of my friends to get invited to tailgates you know and that kind of thing so a Balfour invited me to my first tailgate and out of that tailgate came a really cool picture. This is all Balfour's lifting me up for my first ever touchdown pushups. It's one of my favorite images of my time at Notre Dame and you know some of those people went on to be you know like I said lifelong friends like I can see Ashley Cassie on the background of this photo. She's later became my godmother when I got Catholic confirmed at Notre Dame right so I think like for me I it was

33:44best memories of Balfour there's too many to kind of name but though there was just so much light I think throughout the entirety of that experience and it really allowed me to kind of be my fallist and my joyful self and it was because of like those amazing people that I got to meet who lifted me up through all that so thank you Nick for bringing it back to the scholarly part of our name here because it's not just about you know lost mattresses and dead goldfish it's also about studying because that's what we're here to do guys so before you get into more trouble let me ask you guys how many do you ask to get manage of the resources that Balfour offered to just summer study of broad stipends or internships you know summer service immersion scratch school prep I know that some of you took advantage of multiple things as you should right but tell me a little bit more about how Balfour helped you get to where you want to go post-grad I did two of the like networking weeks the first one that I did was our weekends what the first

34:47one was in DC where I now live that was my first time early game to go to DC and meet with professionals so it was really cool getting to learn how to network and being able to do so in good spaces with familiar faces and people who knew my experience I could like really get that experience early on Balfour helped to fund my DC summer that I did a rising senior year for housing I got to stick around after my Washington program for a few months and working in the in the senate as an intern and I think that was a big part of the reason I was able to stick around and come back post-grad for my first gig out of school the homestead experience as well which I think we're gonna talk about along the line and then also I was able to get my math and one of my philosophy credits out of the way because of Balfour during the summer of COVID because my immigrant mother refused to let me

35:48have a relaxing summer and she was like you must be taking some kind of class even though we're all hunkered up so I was a part-time I think second grade teacher and also because of Balfour I was taking classes that summer. Second grade teacher for my brother by the way I wasn't actually a teacher I'd yeah. Thank you Nick. I can go I feel like I had so many like Balfour honestly supported me every single year and every single summer and I'm so grateful because I feel like that weight was lifted off for four years and like when I graduated I like remembered like oh things aren't so easy when you have we need to don't have Balfour around especially as I'm going through dental school application process and that's really expensive um but for me I was come a clung engineering pre-med and so that meant I had to take so many classes I was pretty much overloading

36:50almost every semester in like minimum 18 credits every time and so I needed to take summer classes too and Balfour funded three of them actually and they also funded my summer study abroad at one point before senior year I thought I was never going to go abroad and it scared me because like that is the Notre Dame experience that I always would hear about and so I remember like calling Rojaleo who's also a Balfour and being like I don't think I could do it I don't think I can go abroad like I didn't secure the scholarship um and then Dr. Lucero was so very kind and she made that possible and so I got to go abroad at least once during my time at Notre Dame um yeah and my DAT um I was able to finance that through Balfour um because I was really worried that I was gonna have to pick up extra hours my senior year just to afford all the applications

37:55and all um the expenses that came with that but those were a few I'm sure there were more I didn't research during the summer and Balfour was able to help me with the housing um on campus um similarly to Shahad I also thought that I was never going to be able to study abroad due to finances um but the summer after my freshman year Balfour helped to fund my um engineering summer abroad in Ireland for six weeks so how much more Irish can you get you know um but luckily I was able to um I did two classes while I was there I got to um you know travel meet new people meet other engineers from Notre Dame that I hadn't met before and it was my first time out of the country and none of that would have been possible if it wasn't for Balfour and some of my like best memories are in Ireland and I really want to go back one day so fingers crossed um Balfour

39:00also did help fund one of my summer classes I only ever took one summer class of just to mention that um but the summer after my sophomore year when I was a big on campus I was also taking linear algebra and if you're in STEM you know linear algebra is pretty pretty tough um so thank goodness for Balfour for helping fund that class um and then another one I thought of was the alumni networking trip to San Francisco um I actually went that was my senior year and I it could seem kind of like oh why would you go on a networking trip if you're already like have a job secure and things like that but I think the biggest lesson I learned going to that trip is a lot of the speakers um past alumni Balfour alum that we heard from um a lot of their stories were them starting in like one specific major or like one um kind of thing that they wanted to do and their

40:06careers like completely shifting into something different and as someone who was about to graduate and like be thrown out into the real world it just made me feel a lot more comfortable in um like not knowing if my life is going to do like a complete like 360 or like 180 sorry and just like knowing that it's okay if what your initial plans were um don't end up coming into fruition and like life just takes you another way and that's just it's something that happened so that was definitely the biggest lesson I learned there. Yeah and for me um Balfour helped with a summer study abroad so I was lucky enough to be able to go to South Africa um in Brazil and those were transformational experiences um I still talk to the people on that trip the people I've met in South Africa the people I met in Brazil um those were amazing experiences and then Balfour's

41:11helped me with so many things numerous things I remember uh senior year or after senior year I graduated and this is when I was staying um staying back for the for the Balfour summer and there is this uh real estate program that I wanted to try to get certified in or at least you know exposure to and it was it's pretty expensive um program to to acquire and my Reductual ESAIRA helped me get the license for that and just you know be able to just add those skills which definitely helps for resumes and whatnot and then I also worked as a study hall monitor um I want to say my junior year in Hagger um which makes sense I was in Hagger all the time anyway so I might as well get a job there um and that was really that was really cool to just be able to you know do a job that's you know that's important because you're you know making sure that it's you know it's a good study space for Balfours um and it was also like a good way to get income

42:17um because I think after my freshman or sophomore year I stopped working my job through um as a student trainer just because I wasn't really interested in going down that path anymore so it was cool to have like a source of income and have you know some spending money and just some money whenever I needed it through that job so that that job was pretty amazing and I you know got to study and make make some you know make some money on the side so that was those those were also very helpful resources for me I'm glad you guys mention all this because part of the reason why you were chosen by the heavens to be in this podcast was because I know that you guys did take advantage of Balfour you know um and I'm sure things those people ask me something like hey we're just gonna do this I'm like we're as Balfour you know like we're here to help you you know um and I think that part of the part of the benefit as well like maybe you need to think about right now is that one of the best things in life is to just ask you know um when I was in Balfour at the

43:21underclass under undergraduate sometimes I didn't ask I was like I don't know I don't think I could get to done and I just wouldn't ask and obviously the answer being no you know I remember we were in Austin for an alumni working event and I'm sitting next to Miss Weir drinking water um and I'm telling her I'm like you know what I want to do photography this and that I just don't have equipment for it's expensive and Miss Weirles like why don't you just you know ask us for it I'm like you know what I never thought about that and a month later I had like a $2,000 dollar camera and I was like whoa like I miss your big bucks mine I mean um and there's so many stories from Balfour's like that but I would say that from my experience it's been especially more in the last 10 years and it was in the first 30 sorry but we definitely have had more resources available for you guys and you know I'm very happy to have seen that growth as a program that we're able to support more stuff for students because I know a lot of you guys

44:22it wasn't that we funded everything 100% of the time but it was always so crushing to be sometime we wouldn't be able to fund certain things um because I want to fund everything you know I want to fund all your dreams I know I just sort of felt the same way and you know looking forward to what the next 10 years look for Balfour I hope that we can continue to do even more of that and then more soon to get back into the resources that we offer and the people that we have um okay we can do a cut there um because I was trying to get onto the next question but couldn't find a good segue so we'll do a cut there um calcium but we'll be onto the next thing so another thing that Nick mentioned earlier that I want to talk about a little bit was a homestead summer service emergent program because for those that don't know for the rest of the summers we went down to homestead Florida to work with the Mixander American Council and organization that mentor is you mentor is youth in high school and gets a bit prepared for college with most of those youth

45:22being from farm worker backgrounds with you know mom or dad working in the fields or working in the packing house working in a nursery and you know it was a very special experience for everybody that took part of it not three summers I know that Nick was part of the first summer so he got to see it brand new and we had just started it so I want to talk to you Nick about how that summer went for you what you got out of it and what made it so memorable yeah I would say it was a wonderful experience the homestead summer it was a pro it was a brainchild of from what I understand Charlie and professor Tatiana Boutetta um and Dr. DeSero yeah Dr. DeSero they might have modded their three brains and created this really great program and opportunity to send Bout 4 students and some friends at Bout 4 down to Mimeadee County Southgate I think it's like the last exit before you to the keys yeah right homestead Florida um to spend a summer

46:29really immersed in this community um which is predominantly farm laborers farm worker families working with the children of farm workers at this place that Charlie mentioned the Mexican American Council which is a really remarkable um non-profit organization that serves the community not just the youth of homestead but also the families um Charlie went on to work for them for a little bit and continued that else in mission for me I think that summer was really cool so the the program itself was we would spend I think four days a week it was working in CCP college and career prep with these youth from the high schools of that region we'd wake up in the morning and do SAT prep with them in different workshops workshops really to career and college preparedness I think I remember doing a resume workshop some vision boards and really trying to help these young people understand you know what was out there

47:32or the possibilities through continuing you know pursuing higher education pursuing a trade and really growing in that sense so it was very much taking I think a lot of the the skills of Bout 4 and what we learned from awesome mentors like Dr. Lozetto and being able to take that into another community and share some of the resources that we first generation students were lucky enough to come upon with these young folks and really get to know them in a very personal sense you know beyond the in a similar light of Bout 4 I've not that kind of look at it Charlie it was kind of like a Bout 4 parallel that we do with these young folks like we also had the opportunity to do fun engaging activities and really give them a summer you know some of these kids um I remember like it was Monday through Thursday and some of these kids would go on Friday to go help parents like work in the fields like they were working jobs during their summer so this was also a reprieve for them where we get to do field day or field trips we went to the Everglades uh for like a service trip where we were holding alligators um sorry Dr. Lozetto for I guess liability

48:39purposes but we were carrying alligators um and you know it was a lot of fun to get to know these kids um and to you can't see the comments but Dr. Lozetto said yikes and I can't agree more and we can share some more yikes stories from that summer um but it was a really great experience to get down in that community and work with these these young people and to kind of cultivate them and you know I know that for some of the years afterwards you know we kept in touch with them they kept us posted on their progress a couple a number of them went on to go into school at like my mid-team college I think one of the students ended up being a I think was it a quest bridge or was a posse finalist Charlie posse posse finalist which is huge like that's a remarkable thing that came from a workshop that we had with these young people right um so it's just a remarkable really really great experience um and for me as someone who you know was always been interested in advocacy and you know being an growing into being the best kind of advocate that can be for my communities I think that as a rising uh junior in college was like the best experience to kind of get grounded

49:42in what that actually means to be a good advocate what it means to serve a community um and I got to learn that with amazing people like Charlie and our cohort that came down and I'll also mention Charlie was a great RA slash like guy he's from the Miami he born and raised in Miami or he's from Miami grew up there and showed us the ropes showed us his favorite beach uh right by the denys I remember and like our speech yeah beach yeah um some great you know experiences and times there um some of us saved our money and went shark diving um eat a semi-renandas and I did that um at the end of the summer to kind of capstone it so you know while we're doing this great work some of us were like you know uh that's the other yikes Dr. Lucetto is the shark diving you know we're also getting to grow together in community and share time together and lean on each other for mentorship um and honestly that was probably one of the the hallmarks of my time in in underdaim was yeah well i won't Dr. Lucetto tell you anymore that was one of the hallmarks

50:44of my time in underdaim i think that that summer um it was grounding it was refreshing and it was inspiring for i think the work that i got to do as soon as i got back to campus and the work that i got to do um beyond it was a truly remarkable summer and it was three fantastic summer as i would say um that's first one i'll tell a quick story so i was rigging them i simmering counts off to that they thought we had they had a good job and they want to hire me for it um but we just had our farmer concern of gyniston ceremony a couple in june actually and one of the students of that first summer his name is david of laska's he's a student that's on a wheelchair he was the one who gave the college graduate response of the ceremony in june because he graduated was a and it was really a full circle moment for me because he had come in that summer because he needs to get his grades up and his attains up so he was a part of the program and when he was giving his commencement speech i know i started tearing up because i was like man i saw his kid five years ago and now he's here giving the commencement speech and he killed it

51:47he'd dug another game he said that that was one of his most special memories at mac and it was so amazing just seeing him grow up from who he used to be he stole goofball obviously you never get rid of that but he you know he got a lot more serious about his grades um he got these studious he wants to follow in his sister's footsteps who all had master degrees as well um but just seeing him you know give a shout out to nerdy and give a shout out to nicking Shirley in speech and talk about how inspired he came out of that summer of seeing people like him you know being a great school getting to degrees pursuing dreams that he didn't think was possible um is a testament to how much of an impact we had that summer that nicked didn't even notice you know i'm just nicked just finding out right now that he got a shout like he didn't even know it so i think it was great um you know one of the players about four service and i think that we absolutely killed it with those three summers um of course leadership as another as another pillar we have bsb presidents here we have

52:47oh my god lsa president's here with mech um all of you guys here have sort of leadership positions at some point in time here and i think that that's also a testament to not just your experience with balfour but the fact that balfour knows how to pick them right um they they look for people who really are here for a greater purpose i think that that also makes the community really special um so i also want to ask how do you think that balfour equipped you guys for a world that you know looks miles apart from what it did back in 1986 that 40s now um how do you think that balfour prepared you for that because you know we're talking about family or talking about fun stuff we did but how was where you guys prepared um for life you know after college now was your ndc boss in texas or in my case jacago i could start um well as a part of the balfour student board for three years one of the

53:53things i had to do was plan different events for um whether we are cohorts and then later on for the entire balfour group and as a part of my job i'm currently in a position in our fun and volunteering team so a lot of what i was doing in balfour whether it be um like planning just fun things to community or build community or um like helping set up different volunteering events that's something that i'm actually continuing to do at my place of work and um yeah there's just something that balfour is definitely helping me out with because i have the experience for it now and it feels good to be able to continue fostering a community um in a different sense now in my like corporate field um exactly how i did with the balfour community so that's a bit more of a i guess like an exact parallel or something i did in balfour and something that i'm doing now

55:02um i also relate to our money but i will say one thing that balfour really gave me was the confidence and the things i do um i found myself often like underselling myself i would sometimes not want to apply to things i didn't feel uh i kind of always felt intimidated and i found that was more common at Notre Dame because you go to school with such impressive accomplished people and that is the definition of imposter syndrome except to me was just a word like i felt like that word kept getting thrown at me freshman year but i never really understood it until i like really reflected on it and honestly i had a bad case of imposter syndrome halfway through college because i always thought i had it figured out that i would um go to medical school like i would finish out my engineering degree go to medical school and like that was it like i had my path set since i was very very young um but

56:03honestly i think it was balfour it was the first um networking trip i went on which was the San Francisco trip that i really felt the confidence from the alumni like their stories were all they all had such non-linear paths like and i remember talking to dr. Lucera about it because i would code her often like when i was like worried but i didn't know what i was going to do after college but when i realized like i didn't want to do medicine i was terrified i was like how can i switch how how do i where do i go from here um but their stories were so inspiring a lot of them were like graduated college did one thing and completely didn't want to 80 but they were successful they were you they were very very successful but so happy with what they were doing like they truly pursued what they enjoyed and that to me was just never i never really had the confidence to do that and so

57:04junior year and senior year i've really tried to look for what i liked it was no longer about just taking the safe easy path or like the path i was safe with uh or the one that i knew most about and actually pushed myself and tried something scary um and so i tried other things and i um i talked to a lot of upper-classmen actually a lot of my biggs i remember going on a marine thinking hey should i do a phd and she's also incredibly accomplished um and so like having people baffore who are so similar to you do so incredibly well in their field um and then have the confidence to switch and then excel in another really really made post-grad seem a lot uh less intimidating so like right now um sometimes i feel like i don't know what i'm doing but i have that met like i constantly reflect and i'm like i know so many alumni who didn't know what

58:05they were doing actually even in new york a lot of them were talking some of them knew exactly what they wanted to do some of them were completely lost and that that gives you like the confidence but also that like self-assurance um that you might not have because you don't have i don't know parents who were in that field or parents who went to college um so yeah it's definitely safe confidence i can go next um i would say just being in balfour um equipped me with just being able to um i guess knowing like or learning how to you know seek out other seek out people who feel like home or people who feel like family um i think that's a skill you learn in college and that's a skill you're gonna have to apply to real life like i moved to boston and i never been to boston never had any intention of going to boston and so just kind of had to start

59:11over again and then just being on balfour and you know the family and you know all the close friendships that i had on balfour really taught me a lot about myself and a lot of like you know the the people that were instrumental in my life and the types of people that i get along with and you know the types of people that i need and you know what it looks like to have someone to lean on what it looks like to be you know supportive to other people so i think it served as a really great example for me like hearing boston like i i'm not you know like i don't have like a thousand friends but i have close friends and people that i can you know rely on and these are like lessons that i took from balfour in terms of like finding my community and then i've just carried it with me wherever i am in life so it's balfour taught me a lot about like the community and then being intentional and seeking out what feels like home and what feels like a community i can't i go what billy said enough especially like you know balfour taught me and brought me into places where i

1:00:12have found found family um you know not just friends found family i think i remember my balfour interview uh the summer uh my like right after graduated from high school and i was really nervous walking into that interview uh i remember dr lucetto and then miswear now dr wear uh interviewing me and i went on this long diet drive about like a pit it was a pitch of who i was or who i thought i was at the time and why i thought i was qualified and all this stuff this long story and then dr lucetto at the end stopped me and she was like oh i just wanted to know your name uh this is a little something about you because i was really nervous right and i didn't know um how to kind of walk into those kinds of conversations and throughout the balfour summer and the balfour experiences and the found family cultivation and what that family has done for me i've learned um not only that like

1:01:13i have a story but how to use my story how to talk about my story how to relate to other people how when i walk in a room any room i carry so much more than just myself i carry many loved ones have come before me and sacrificed a lot for me and found family and people who really care about me and that has persisted all throughout college it wasn't just in the classes on identity that we took during the balfour summer or the balfour course that we took where we learned how to kind of talk about our story and who we are um but it persisted throughout college working on being i was a little known fact i was on bsb as the first year rep um and i kind of i remember pitching in and being part of that and also you know helping pitching in when uh under the um roomero and i they but i has room charge at bsb doing really great work and having folks like that in my life to kind of help me uh you know be built up as a leader and help build them as leaders uh ashi kastigio was the co-president of lsa with me for two years and was on the board with me um from most of that time

1:02:14as well and like having her there um i think you know that found family has also has really helped me to find my voice like anecdotally as well i just went through the rigors of applying for law school um and that imposter syndrome started to creep back in uh throughout that season of submitting the applications and thank god i had balfours you know actually and on today i hear with me um to kind of push me and be like no like what are you talking about um you know i was afraid i wasn't even to get into a school um and they were pushing me throughout the entire process to keep submitting applications they were they helped edit and advise my personal statement and they really really were a grounding like presence for me throughout that whole process and carried me through and you know because of them i'm you know i was admitted to law school and i will be going in a few months um and i think that's because of balfour and just that long um string of advocates that it granted me

1:03:16and supporters and people who taught me how to wield my voice how to wield my story um and how to be my fullest sense of self thank you guys and you know i will also echo everything because of saying and i also have to agree shahad but in a different way that balfour did help me grow my confidence one of the things that made me i think a pretty decent mentor was that i messed up a lot and college i had so many mistakes i could tell stories for days um but it would be so funny when i would see like a student okay so one of the things that i want to mention here that started when i started working at balfour it was that i would have lunch with students so balfour paid for the meal you know we'd have a nice good meal balfour paid for all of it thank you aklu saril thank you balfour um but i would be just good to know students and keep up with them and try to anticipate needs you know um see what their goals were how i could help them and you know one of

1:04:20the things that i would notice every now and then was a student was like maybe making mistakes that i made when i was a student and so i was like hey uh you know speaking from experience maybe that's not the best route to take um but i think that that made me such a better mentor and you know having graduated class of covid-19 and i didn't get to walk so the last two months in my senior year then i get to do on any of those experiences they've had a struggle a struggling summer i had a struggling summer it was tough um but i think that as a professional i grew a lot under doctor sir as leadership and mentorship as well um just being able to work with you guys taught me a lot about being ambitious you know because i think that a lot of balfours are very ambitious you know they come in saying hey i want to be a lord i want to be congress someday and i'm like i believe you snap you know some of them are already on the way there and but um you know i came out just so inspired by all the stories i was learning about and you know i still there's so many balfours that

1:05:24i was able to mentor as a staff member that are younger than me and i always like i'm not afraid to say that i look up to you guys you know like i want to be like you guys someday um i know the thing is mutual you don't have to hide me up but there's so many stories that i'm always like damn you know i wish i could have been like that when i was younger when i was 18 19 20 and you know i definitely see a life in a different perspective now because of my tiny balfour it's not necessarily about regretting your mistakes it's about learning from them you know and making adjustments and doing what you think is best at the time and i've been doing that ever since i've been working at balfour i did a great job at maximum american council as many people will tell you um and that doesn't happen without my time at balfour so thank you guys so much thank you doctor sarah thank you the balfour community thank you miss where miss widely everybody helped me become a professional at am today and with that said we are going to get to our last segment here folks so please stay tuned for more but pretty it's probably the hardest question for us to ask and that is what can balfour improve

1:06:26upon for the next 10 years you know and we're talking about the 50th anniversary and i'm sure we'll be invited to as well what do we want to say about far as accomplished in the next 10 years and if you don't even know what to say you could say that as well i will say you know one thing for me this program now being 40 years old means that it has grown out a very extensive accomplished and bold alumni network and i don't think it's incumbent like i'm not going to challenge the program itself i'm going to challenge my fellow alumni um to be even better in bolder advocates for the current students and the next generations i mean speaking truthfully i work in my current role with college students across the country latino college students um our communities are very much under attack uh we are being defunded programs that are

1:07:27deemed dei are being defunded and rolled back students um are feeling less and less safe to go to school for fear of immigration presence uh enforcement around and on campus um it is a different environment and because of that it is incumbent on us as people who have been through the process and who have not come out to be the advocates for these next generations to stand up and to offer our hands of support to current and future balfours um and the best ways that we can um you know saying yes to things charlie texted me and said you want to be in a podcast for balfour i'm like yes absolutely saying yes to these kinds of things offering connections offering helping hands for folks when they're in cities um you know being an advocate for the program at Notre Dame um i speak very highly of balfour in every single alumni circle that i'm in because it was formative for me and i know it continues to be formative for other people so i think it's less so a challenge for

1:08:33balfour the program um you know it will continue to have great leaders who are going to push it through and continue to be good advocates for the students it's up for us as alumni with the strength that we have as we continue to grow as an alumni network to be those forceful advocates outside of the university and to um support the next generation of balfour in every way that we can so we can get that next balfour in congress or in the c-suite or you know to the moon uh wherever we're going next i um have to agree with nick uh when i was thinking about like just balfour um i couldn't come up with anything that i really thought like needed improving i think as long as we keep that aspect that balfour is more than just a scholar's group it's a family um we're here to support each other but i was thinking as a recent grad um my account for some reason for group me stopped working

1:09:33and that was my connection to balfour i always loved reading it i was even the happy birthday like whenever there was a text in that group chat i would always check it and now that that's for some reason gone um i felt like we are missing that network um i feel like there's so many balfours and they're all doing so incredibly well it would be amazing to have that as alumni um opportunity to reach out to other balfours that were not in our cohorts that were uh or younger balfours older or younger it would be nice to be able to stay connected in a way um that's just special to balfours and i know the reunion will definitely open up a lot of those doors i'm so excited to meet balfours from all the different generations and i think a lot of my fellow at my cohort and other cohorts would agree with that um i would love to learn more about them and their stories and

1:10:35um everything they've done and hopefully i can open up the doors for the younger generations when i can but it would be nice to have some sort of format or way for us to stay connected um whether you're in the same city or not or in the same field it would be really nice to be connected to other alumni i think nick and jihad said that really well um like that we're balfours approaching it's 40 years so that's 40 years worth of um worth of balfours and i just think that's a lot of there's a lot of opportunity there um we've been talking a lot about you know balfour being a community and being a family and i think it's also realizing that that community isn't limited to your four years that you're there on campus um i know like norter game has different opportunities to connect to alumni but as we were mentioning um you know throughout this podcast episode um people

1:11:36that are in balfour share a lot of the same experiences and being able to see someone and speak to someone who was in your shoes a couple years ago it could honestly it can make all the difference um and i really think that like i said we have 40 40 years worth of balfours that i think would all be more than willing to like reach out to an incoming freshmen or just be more involved in the community still and i know balfour has taken some steps in that direction i know we get our like alumni uh newsletter um i see those in my emails and have been looking through them um but yeah i'm just pushing that effort more to um just could emphasize that the community is just beyond our time and order game yeah i'm gonna echo the same thing um and i i think i've talked to either

1:12:38doc luciero or traivan about this but i always thought um there's just so many balfours doing so many great things so many alumni that are and you know business politics whatever medicine whatever it might be and i i just think we should be able to you know there should be some way maybe some forum as you know as you guys have mentioned where we stay in touch and i guess the hard thing with that is like group me i i barely check group me and then with these things you kind of fall out it like once you graduate um it's hard to you know it's hard to stay in this like a lot of people delete group me after college because i didn't know group me until i went to Notre Dame so i think i pitched some kind of mentorship program when i was a senior or that summer to either traivan or doc luciero i feel like i'm out of ideas now that i'm older i don't really

1:13:38use my thinking cap as much but i think it's kind of coming back to me what i had um talk to someone about was you know having you know maybe like different and then just thinking through it now like having i don't know bios up of all the alum and i know um i think traivan talk to lees sarrow uh missus wally i think you guys have been gathering phone numbers contact info for a lot of the alum that are going to be at the reunion but if we could get i don't know like maybe pictures and some kind of like archive you know billy mccard xyz graduate this you know you're in this field and if someone's interested in real estate here's his emails or here's his phone number shoot him you know an email and you know he'll connect and if he hasn't connected reach out to doc luciero or or traivan or missus wadley so something like that is something that might be helpful and then i on the communication side i don't know because

1:14:41i feel like every every you know website or app will eventually like kind of like fall out of favor like group me's well i barely use it i only have it because about four i know they've got what's that app where you have like subgroups like it could be a alumni and medicine um it was like super popular during kovid uh it starts with it hey i forgot slacked yes slacked i guess slacked you know has subgroups but the thing with slak is like i think i had a friend start a slack with something cool um and you know i can't remember last time i used it so it's it's all about finding like something that's going to keep people engaged but something that's modern that maybe we'll stand the test of time and that people will still use after you know they graduated things like that but i do think maybe um with the collection of data that went into planning um the the reunion maybe making something out of that

1:15:42having you know intros or bios for everyone that's willing to put up their bios and then being able to like have it up i don't know if we still have the balfour website but having it up on the website you know balfour through the ages 2000 2010's 2020's and you know being able to click on it and seeing what people are doing in the real world i think could be helpful um and then in terms of like that mentorship thing i when i when i think when i talked about it i can't remember this was two years ago again when you're in school you have all these bright ideas and then when you get into the real world you're like oh but there's this and that um but from when i can remember i think it i forget what program i based it off of but it's basically be um kind of like you know i work in real estate and before i look at any other applicant i'd reach out to doctor leo sarrow and be like hey is there anyone in balfour that's interested in real estate all you

1:16:43know give them you know the rundown what they need to know and how to you know impress the folks at my job um or at my company things like that because at the end of the day that's how the real world works it's like all connections and who you know so that was part of the idea having something like that like a mentorship program where you know if we're having internships or like for you know shahad you're in stem and medicine if you want to do like if you want to shadow a doctor or if you want to follow a lawyer for the day um you know i don't know like i guess it starts with us as a lump being like hey i'd love to have a balfour do this we're offering this program and kind of like you all have said it's really gonna take us a lump being you know proactive and saying hey we want you know the next generation of balfour to you know working these same jobs or if they have the same interest as us see you know what we do on a day to day so i kind of to echo what everyone said but those are some of the ideas that you know i had in mind for for just you know how

1:17:50we can help out the next generation of balfour moving forward i think these are great ideas i completely agree that alumni can do more um i will say that i am also guilty of not responding to trade on when they reached out saying you need a profile picture on that so i can start myself but i think that this word right now is a podcast i'll give me an history of balfour is already a great step towards you know i'm really promoting what this program has been about for 40 years now and where it's going forward i think that like you guys said this a lump this weekend we have September to all come together again it's an amazing opportunity for us to get to know other alumni but maybe even like you know take a quick five minutes to get headshot everybody get to quit by you and put on the website you know make it as easy as possible because we're already there um but yeah i mean i think balfour is an amazing program it's in case you guys are known to all the scott's program another name and it's my favorite um and it's also i think the funnest one

1:18:58you know out of the other programs they can't take themselves too seriously we don't always do that as you can tell by you know very multiple hats we have a Luigi in the room a satuary and a princess um i'm waiting for Billy to put on his hat he said he would do it an hour ago but i have a surprise give me before uh you know okay but i think that yeah we'll be definitely doing more the alumni but i also understand that it's hard because we're all working you know once you start working like like Billy said i barely take the group me and he's like once every other month but just like shahad you know that i found out that i got kicked out of group me and i do not remember my password because you know i haven't logged into group me in like 10 years so we'll see i do sorrow do not have me right now i'm too busy to that but but you know how can we figure out a way of staying touch and maybe that's something where we pick everybody's brain next next in September when we're all together so make sure that we're not thinking the same thing you know and um well yeah that is my last question for today thank you

1:20:02for joining us for the fifth episode of dialogue through the decades conversations with Balfour Heisberger alumni and thank you to each of our guests shahad or mony billy nick um for sharing your wisdom of stories with us we look forward to seeing you all very soon on a campus for what should be a magical celebration this episode comes out in august so we are about to meet in a couple weeks once this comes out for more information about the balfour Heisberger's college program these visit our website to see more about where students are up to you can find us on instagram at balfour underscore heisberger underscore scholars to find out more or to share the series with friends please visit dink dot nd dot edu go Irish and god bless everybody much love and a big balfour hug