WEBVTT - TO GO OR NOT TO GO? (PART 2) 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.000 To go or not to go to college? Part two. 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:05.720 This is such a hot topic right now, the conversation 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:08.200 that millions of families are having, weighing the pros and 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:11.680 cons that benefits versus the cost. We hope these two 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:15.600 episodes will contribute to those discussions. Part one featured two 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:19.079 young entrepreneurs who bypassed college to carve their own paths. 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:23.160 The focus for this episode making the most of college years. 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:27.080 It features three guests who took control of their own educations, 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.920 shaping college to fit their needs, avoiding the pitfalls that 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.400 too many students fall into, and we'll get to those. 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:35.920 I have a tendency to get a little worked up 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:40.240 about wasted opportunities. My three guests are all applying lessons 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:45.040 they learned outside classrooms, accountability, reliability, leadership, teamwork as they 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:49.000 take on new chapters. First, to hear from James Kinoff, 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.680 who took a gap here and volunteered for some life 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.400 changing challenges before heading to Stanford and then co created 0:00:55.400 --> 0:01:00.560 the phenomenal nonprofit farm Link. Then two former college athletes, 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.520 Clemson linebacker and captain Kendall Joseph, a part of two 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:08.320 national championship teams, and Morgan william who was the hero 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.440 of two runs by Mississippi State to the women's Final four. 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.720 Morgan hit the long buzzer beater to snap the one 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:18.080 D eleven game winning streak of Yukon, the team that 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.800 had beaten the Bulldogs by sixty the previous year. Billyhams 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.679 three sec It's to Morgan Williams. Morgan Williams just going 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:26.200 to put it up, fires it up, and it is 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:35.160 it's It's going to the national championship. Morgan Williams. Don't 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:41.440 stop believing Hellos are playing five title Morgan william at 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.759 the buzzer, ho my good move. Control your own destiny. 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.280 I mean, you know what your cap beloved, not hard, 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:52.000 you worked for something. You know your strengths and weaknesses. 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:57.600 You know opportunities where you can capitalize on. Why why 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:01.800 put someone else in control your Like for me, Uh, 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.800 it just just reality hit Chris. I knew that, Hey, 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:07.200 I have two degrees I have I do have an education. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.440 I can be successful in the next step of life. 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:11.960 And it's like, do I want to continue to chase 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.720 this and pursue this or am I a piece? And 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:17.120 and and realizing that everything that God gave me to 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.280 that point, I supposed to be appreciative. Well, and that's 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.480 kind of that. That was just my mindset because I 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:24.399 know a lot of people that they enter a dark 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:27.160 space after their their football career is over and they 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:29.520 don't know what direction they're gonna go in, and they're 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.120 still training and they're hoping for a call. And I 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.320 didn't want to just be hanging around waiting and training 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:37.440 and waiting for a call. I wanted to take action. 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:39.800 But I think if I just come straight from high school, 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.040 I'd be missing the why why are we doing this? 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.080 To beginning with? What is the purpose? What are we 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.440 gonna use all that we're learning to actually go do 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.440 in the world? Um? And otherwise you're gonna make like 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.240 the uber for dog walking apps that that will be 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.560 kind of like, oh, you take all your learnings to 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:57.440 go do that, um, And you'd really be missing the 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.760 why and kind of the purpose. James sense of purpose 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.160 is very powerful for someone his age or any age. 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.120 Is it his fifth year at Stanford, a super senior 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:10.560 who is set to graduate in the spring. He grew 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.440 up in l A. His family emphasized the importance of 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:18.880 gratitude and giving back, so James two weeks before you 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:21.919 were set to start at Stanford, one of the world's 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.800 great schools. You make a decision, a pretty quick pivot. 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:30.760 What happened and what was behind it? Yeah, two weeks 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.560 before starting school. Uh, I ultimately decided that I was 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.760 going to take a year off. Um. And that was 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:38.520 it kind of felt like you were kind of on 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:40.880 this kind of career treadmill where you go from one 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:42.280 thing to the next to the next and kind of 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:45.000 race through school to get your job, to go, go, go, 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:47.800 go go. Uh And I wanted to take just a 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:51.280 second too, to pause, um and see if there's other 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:53.240 ways that I can kind of give back. What was 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:57.080 the spark of that idea? The spark of that idea 0:03:57.160 --> 0:03:59.920 was was a friend who was actually as older as 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.560 as a journalist. Um. And he was just encouraging me 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:05.360 to do this and kind of pushing me, saying, hey, 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:07.720 you should really just take a year off. Hey, maybe 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.400 reach out to some NGOs. You're you're half decent at 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.520 making little films. You could shoot some things for them. Um. 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.160 And so that's what I ended up doing. And out 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:19.560 of that decision, go over with with your parents or 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.040 Stanford or other people they had to run it by 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.320 because it's a little bit of a surprising move, as 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.160 you knew at the time. Yeah, so I'm the I'm 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.000 the fourth child in my family, so I think at 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.120 this point that kind of given up and they're like, yeah, 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.280 they'll figure it out. I think if I was the 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:36.760 first child, that would have been a much more difficult conversation. 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:40.120 I think I was maybe one of three or four 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.480 people from our school of I guess like maybe four 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:48.960 students graduating that took a year off, um, you know, 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.480 out of minimum coming out of high school. So it's 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:56.440 definitely a different a different path. James emailed twenty humanitarian 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.560 groups volunteering to film their efforts in Africa in the 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.680 Middle eat East. He got one reply soon after. He 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.320 was in South Sudan documenting lives ravaged by civil war 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.920 and man made famine. Next was Syria, as the only 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.480 American and a small group doing human rights work in 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.640 Damascus at a very dangerous time. Later in his gap year, 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.679 James and her friend spent a month in Nicaragua making 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:24.320 a film about college students in crisis. At the time, 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:28.440 the government was having a major crackdown on student protesters. 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.880 Um they were ultimately literally kidnapping students from the classrooms, 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.600 taking them because they had been protesting. And the students 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:41.760 there ultimately rebelled and they kicked out the teachers, to school, everything, 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.200 and they took over their university. They put up barricades 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.440 around it, uh and basically defended it from paramilitary and 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.680 police that were trying to come in to take these students. 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.360 H We got in touch with a couple of students 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:55.000 that were down there that were kind of leading some 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.200 of this um, and ultimately decided that we were going 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:01.839 to go tell their story. So you're really talking to 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.880 the peers, kids who were slightly older than you at 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:09.560 the time. What what did you take away from your 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.240 experience talking to college students in another country? What what 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:15.960 seems to be a different environment. But on the other hand, 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.200 the world of college students, some would say, is there 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.120 worth is rather flat because there are universal experiences regardless 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:23.560 of the culture. Man, what did you take away from 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.479 your action with them that you later were able to 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:31.400 reflect them when you got to Stanford. They're willing to 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.600 throw away um, their entire future to fight for something 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:36.680 that they believed in. You know, they were seeing their 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.160 transcripts were going to be deleted everything, they would risk 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:43.160 go into prison, never literally never leaving. And they were 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.800 willing to put all of that on the line to 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:47.839 fight for something that they believed in and to stand 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:49.800 up for something that they saw was wrong, which is 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:54.039 the government's oppression. That to me was incredibly inspiring. And 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:57.279 I remember what kind of being at Stanfordius the first 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:59.960 day walking around and he was like, would that happen here? 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:05.760 Would would people here do the same thing? Humbling to 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:14.200 see that experience absolutely it's it was absolutely humbling too 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:20.080 to see and experience that. And yeah, I don't know, 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.520 they're just struggling for words here. I still think about 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.880 it because ultimately students that we followed they had to 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:30.960 ultimately flee the country. UM. And we ended up, uh, 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:33.720 you know, fleeing the country and they're still there and 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.440 then you know they still can't go back, um, And 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.760 that's that's kind of a hard thing because meanwhile, like 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:44.160 well this, I'm I'm down there for you know, a month. Um, 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:46.080 I ultimately get to go back to my life. I 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.280 go to go back home, I get to go to school. Um. 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.840 They don't have you kept in touch with some of 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.440 those students are you still in contact with them, Yeah, 0:07:55.560 --> 0:08:00.160 every week. UM, I'm still talking with with my to 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.440 them and hoping that they are going to be able 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.880 to return home soon. How has your experience been at 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.640 Stanford different from if you had been one of those 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.200 fresh faced kids that came right out of high school 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:14.800 in southern California and walked down a college campus and 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.320 not had that year and I had those experiences, I 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.680 think I'd be missing the why. So Stanford has so 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:23.600 much to offer and you can learn so much and 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:28.760 ultimately it's really it's an amazing and it's a special place. Um. 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:30.720 But I think if I just come straight from high school, 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.000 I'd be missing the why. Why are we doing this 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.000 to begin with? What is the purpose? What are we 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:37.240 going to use all that we're learning to actually go 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:40.440 doing the world? Um? And otherwise you're gonna make like 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.200 the uber for dog walking apps that that will be 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:45.480 kind of like all you take all your learnings to 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:48.440 go do that, um, and you'd really be missing the 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.800 why and kind of the purpose. I think everyone comes 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:55.040 with such a unique perspective that they kind of bring. Um. 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:58.240 Granted mind was a little bit different, um, but everyone's 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:01.000 perspective is valuable and nonetheless, And I think what I 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:05.680 ultimately realized is that a majority of people want to 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:08.240 They really do want to make a difference. And the 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:10.520 question is like, how do you bridge this gap between 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.200 like the economic and innovation hub um largely of the 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.360 world UM, and then everything else that's going on and 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.320 all the problems and can we actually are there things 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.680 we can do? Like can do these worlds have to 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.880 live like this and be entirely separate? Um? Or can 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:28.080 we put them together? And are there ways that we 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.880 can take learnings from each to really build a better 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:35.680 future what you expected it would be versus how it's been. 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.240 And I'm talking about when you are in classes, not 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.680 when you're taking taking the breaks from studies. I've been 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:45.000 so amazed by all the people. Honestly, that has been 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.960 like the students sitting side by side and always feeling 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.040 like wow, I did they mess up and letting me 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.720 in here? Was this a mistake? Like g it is brilliant, 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.040 or like that was the most beautiful thing I've ever 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.679 heard someone say. UM, So I think that part has 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.360 been amazing. Like you said, it's it's not the place, 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.480 it's really the people UM. And I feel really really 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:08.280 fortunate to just get to be a small part of that. 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:11.720 I try not to preach younger people, but I endued 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:16.959 joy giving ideas when I'm asked. Learning from other students 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.920 in college is one of the least tapped into resources 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.720 people your age. Education too often is viewed as a 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:28.600 linear thing from the educator to the students who just 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:33.800 listen and absorb. It's such a horizontal thing learning from 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.680 each other. I tell if you just like open your eyes, 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.200 open your ears, open your heart, you can come away 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:44.920 from your college experience infinitely richer just from learning from 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.320 other students. Forget what the professor is saying, if you 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:49.559 don't even hear what they're saying, and never take a note, 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:52.040 you can learn so much by the folks that are 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:56.920 around you in college. That's that's spot on. It's like 0:10:57.480 --> 0:10:59.480 we always say, you're gonna learn a lot more in 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.200 your dorm room than you are in the classroom. All right, 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:07.760 it's kind of those late night conversations. Um, that's that's 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:10.240 I think where you really learned. And that's that's one 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.720 of the biggest values I think of of of college 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:17.480 in general. Something mostly concerns me James is this begins 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.679 really young in life. This begins, as you said, the treadmill. 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:22.679 For a lot of kids, the treadmill starts about ten 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.400 years old or even sooner. Living part of the time 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:27.440 in New York City. Maybe it's the same in l A. 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.000 When you're in the private school system. I mean, by 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.680 age three, you're sort of tracking towards something and your 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.280 future is mapped out and you're expected to be a 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:40.160 high achiever, and the pressure is so realized. Actually, um, 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:43.360 not funny, because the pressure takes its toll on kids, 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:46.240 and you see the amount of anxiety and depression and 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.199 kids who wrestle with all kinds of mental health issues, 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:52.200 self esteem and and so on. And it's because of 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:54.640 that pressure from such a young age finding a way 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:56.880 to sort of release that, to keep it in perspective, 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:02.200 what's been important for you to do that? What are 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.640 the tools have you used to to not get into 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:12.800 that trap so many students are. I think taking the 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:15.160 year off before school was the best decision that that 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.080 I've ever made, um And I think that that's given 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:22.880 me a lot of perspective to really not It's not 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:24.760 even like a tool to not fall into the trap. 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:28.080 It's like it's now it's just how am I going 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.319 to get all stressed out of a test the night 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.360 before that I might not be prepared of prepared for. Like, 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:39.040 it's those problems feel like relatively typally small, and you 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.400 kind of realized that that like feeling of kind of 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:45.400 perpetual competition is really artificial, UM, And then it's really 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:51.120 it matters more about kind of what you do. UM. 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.480 That's interesting because the feeling of perpetual competition is so 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:58.160 real for so many students from much younger ages than college, 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.400 and it's fostered by the sister them. It's a part 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:03.360 of the system, it's built into the system. It's in 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:07.000 some ways considered a key to success of elite schools 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:11.079 to foster that competition, to pitt students against each other. Yes, 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:13.600 so this is the part that I don't you know, 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.840 I don't fully understand. UM. You know, it makes sense. 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.240 You want to instill values of hard work, um into students, 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:24.239 that's a really important thing. UM. But like the perpetual 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:26.320 kind of competition where you just kind of keep moving 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:28.400 up and up and up until you finally find other 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:32.320 students who are like exactly like you, and therefore then 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.040 you don't feel special, Like that doesn't make any sense. 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:38.480 And like how many kids who go into college freshman 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:40.320 year and have all these dreams about what they're going 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:42.200 to go on to do end up getting crushed by 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:46.320 that system. Um, that's the part that that does bother me. 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.679 But but just to clarify, I have not I have 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.680 not experienced that at Sanford UM, which I have been 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:55.680 really really grateful for, and I think that is a 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:59.959 little bit different than some other schools, no doubt. Something 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.600 else I notice when I talked to young people, not 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:07.559 just college but even earlier than that, is this intense 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:13.160 focus on their future, on what's next, on what they're 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.600 getting ready to do, as opposed to what they're actually 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.840 doing that day in the moment. I do my best 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:25.000 as an older person to express some ideas that what's 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.600 most important is what's going on right now with you today, 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.800 And if there's a way to not get preoccupied with 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.560 always getting ready for something else, what's down the road. 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.680 That's part of that perpetual pressure and competition. If if 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.400 what you're doing now, you know, is never good enough, 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:46.800 it's always the next thing, the next big step. I mean, 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:48.480 that's a tough way to live man, and people are 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.520 out in the real world way beyond college still live 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:52.520 that way. It's because we're trained to live that way 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:54.880 from a really young age. I think it's really important. 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:59.040 Um yeah, if you perpetually are on the strength of like, 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:01.000 what's the next thing to this? And then if I 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:02.800 do that, if I just work for a couple more years, 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:04.880 then I'll be there there there. I think that's when 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:07.840 you wake up at sixty and realize you you wish 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:13.360 you would have done something else with your life. Um. 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.960 That I think this is. I think this is changing. 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.640 Um and I see this when I'm at when I'm 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:24.520 at Stanford, I think a lot of people, um are 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.360 living more in the moment and are thinking more of 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:28.400 the present. And maybe maybe it's the pandemic that has 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.640 caused us. There's a consciousness raising in that area, you think, 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:35.520 where people are reshuffling their priorities and understanding not to 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:41.720 take the present moment for granted. Absolutely that it's it's 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.040 not taking the present moment for granted, and then it's 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:47.800 not over optimizing for yourself, like if all your thoughts 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.240 are going into like what am I going to do next? Etcetera? 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.040 This this, this h and rather like shifting more into 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.040 the present moment and what can I do for others 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:57.960 right now? Not what can I do for others in 0:15:58.000 --> 0:15:59.880 the future, but what can I do for others right now? 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:01.840 I think that shift is happening, and I see it 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:06.120 across campus. There's a lot of problems UM and it's 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:07.440 messed up, and we have a long way to go. 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.400 And you actually have the agency to do something about it. 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:14.920 You've been you know, one the lottery and been able 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.360 to go to this amazing school and have this amazing education. 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:18.800 What are you gonna do with it? Are you going 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.520 to do it to kind of like continue your success 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:23.440 or you're gonna do it to try to help others 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:25.480 and try to level the plane field a little bit. 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:30.320 I think that that has to be the focus going forward. 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:33.720 Like I don't think we can really sustain UM, like 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:35.840 in this kind of globalized world. I don't think we 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:40.880 can sustain this level of inequality. This mindset led James 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:43.520 and his buddy Aiden Riley, who was a student at Brown, 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.080 to create farm Link. It's an amazing all volunteer group 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.840 about a hundred and fifties students around the country fighting 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:53.760 dual problems, massive food waste, which is also very harmful 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.880 to the ozone and widespread food insecurity. What was the 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:02.200 spark for this not for profit student run organization that 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.560 is UH done incredible work in a short amount of time. 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.680 So when the pandemic first hit UM, in addition to 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:11.520 the health crisis that was going on, there was an 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:15.440 economic one. Millions of families were forced to flood a 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:17.760 charitable food system that was never really designed for a 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.199 crisis UM. And at the same time that that was 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.520 happening as a result of closures to schools, hotels, and restaurants, 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:26.960 farmers were being forced to throw away billions and billions 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.359 of pounds of food. So eight and I were seeing 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.800 that really really big problem. And then the problem became 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:35.080 really really small when our local food bank and put 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:36.760 out a statement saying that they if they couldn't raise 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:38.800 more money or find more source of food, that they 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.760 could have to close their doors and start turning people away. 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.479 And so we said, Okay, here's this really big probleming 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:46.439 of these two things, maybe there's something we could do 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:52.000 UM And that's how we got started. So you've got 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:55.160 an idea that's a long way from making it reality. 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.400 How how do you do the work of locating farmers, 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:02.879 getting them to understand what was going to happen to 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:06.600 their wasted food who they couldn't get to market. They 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:08.280 were going to benefit from it financially, but it was 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.040 going to go to the help other people. And then 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:12.600 linked the food banks. Because it's one thing to have 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:14.440 an idea to know it's a problem. Be awareness is 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:17.160 an essential, amazing part of it, but it doesn't get 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:20.439 the job done. Yeah. So, and this is what we 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:22.639 always say. I don't think it's actually that impressive an idea, 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.080 and I think probably thousands of other people read those 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:27.720 same articles and had the same idea, like, wow, that 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:31.639 makes no sense. We should connect these two things. Um. 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:33.280 And what we tried to do is take that really 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:35.919 big problem and make it really, really small. And so 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:37.959 what that meant was literally getting on the phone and 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:41.439 calling hundreds of farmers trying to find surplus, talking with 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:44.880 hundreds of food banks to try to understand what items 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.280 they were actually looking for. Initially, we just spoke with 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:49.760 our local food bank. They needed eggs, so we called 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:52.719 about a hundred and fifty egg farmers got hung up 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:54.679 on most of the time. One of them happened to 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:56.879 have surplus, and that was kind of the start. At 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:59.399 the time, we didn't have transportation, so we rented a truck, 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:01.879 drove to the farm, picked up the stuff, and actually 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:06.400 delivered it to the food bank. Very hands on. How 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.440 did it grow? What was the growth process like? And 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:13.639 and listing other students to do this. Yeah, yeah, without 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.960 getting paid for it. I mean, friends, family, like, everyone 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.280 wanted to help. Um, wow, yeah, let's let's do this. 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.240 Let's figure out and just slowly we took a really 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.600 open approach that anyone who wants to join just jump 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.280 on our team. H and put it out on social 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.040 media and other people started saying, hey, we have the 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.280 same problem. I want to do this in my town. Um, 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.560 And pretty soon we had college students from across the 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:40.119 country calling farmers locating surplus. People were Americans were seeing 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:41.840 this through news that it started to pick it up, 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:44.240 and they were starting to just send us money. They're like, hey, 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:46.240 here's ten bucks. It's it's all I have right now, 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:47.960 but I know you guys will put it to good use. 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:52.080 And that's really how this got started. The reaction and 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:55.080 the enthusiasm from a number of other college students from 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:56.920 around the country. What was your reaction to that. I mean, 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:01.120 people of my generation certainly voice feelings pretty frequently about 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:05.560 people of your generation and what what their priorities are 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.480 and all the shortcomings and all the cranky old person 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:13.399 stuff that we say. What did you perhaps learn or 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.520 figure out about your peers people in your generation by 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:22.560 the response to the farm link idea. I think when 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:26.600 when there's a crisis, that's when we have to come together. Um, 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.840 it's not an option. And I think we saw that 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.320 through the farm, like through hundreds and even thousands of 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.919 students saying, hey, let me help. Yes, I'm in I 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.040 have free time right now. How can I how can 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:38.840 I do my part, whether it's a big act or 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:41.719 a small act. And there's like the classic view of 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:46.840 like the the entitled millennial or I don't even know 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:52.520 what are we gen z or um you forget about labels. 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:55.280 People who are you know, approaching college age, in college, 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.359 just out of college. That's the generation we're talking about her. Yeah, 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:03.719 people who are just that. People want to make a difference, 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:06.160 People want to make the world a better place. Uh, 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:11.159 and sometimes that you just need to spark um. That 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:13.600 allows for a pathway to do that, and so that's 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:16.679 what we really tried to create. Yeah, wanting to is 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.040 not quite the same as busting your butt and doing 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:20.520