WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 whoosh 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:08.000 Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the booth here at Western Oregon in Monmouth, Oregon. MacArthur Field. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:12.000 It's not just an advisor. This is the president of the residence hall. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:16.000 This is Eliza Sleezer. She's a fourth year here at Western Oregon. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:20.000 We're gonna kind of walk through the whole experience of things that you've done here. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:23.000 Tell me kind of where you are right now. 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:27.000 You say you're a fourth year. What does that mean? Should we call you a senior 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.000 or are you about ready to hightail it and get out of town? 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:32.000 After this year actually I have one more year. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:36.000 And so that's why I've been saying fourth year instead of senior since I'm not graduating. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.000 Right now I'm just finishing up my classes 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:41.000 and then next year hopefully entering the education program. 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:46.000 When you say taking classes, a lot of people aren't familiar with the whole college environment 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:49.000 and all of the new words you get to learn, it's kind of a new vernacular. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:54.000 How many courses are you taking, how many credits are you taking this year your fourth year in the fall term? 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:59.000 Right now I'm taking 16 credits. All of my classes have to do with education. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:00:62.000 And so I'm just very focused on my major right now. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:05.000 Tell me about the major. Tell me why you chose that major 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.000 and where it leads you in the future 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:12.000 and we'll talk in a round about way of how you got here and how it will translate to the future. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:18.000 Well I chose to be a teacher because in high school I was an outdoor school counselor three times 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.000 and I just fell in love with working with kids. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.000 I found that Western was a really good school for education 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:27.000 and so with that I decided hey that would be a really good school 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.000 and then I came and visited here and I fell in love with the campus. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.000 And so with that I'm just really excited about being here 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:38.000 and I've loved all three of the years I've completed here. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:41.000 It's weird I know to think about you being four years removed 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:45.000 from being a senior in high school to being a fourth year in college. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.000 Take us through that progression about how you got here, what have you learned? 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:54.000 What is it that is so special that people always talk about coming back here? 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:59.000 I think the biggest thing about Western is how small the campus is. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:01:61.000 You know everyone here. 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:05.000 And since I've been involved all four years of being here 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.000 I've really gotten to know a lot of people. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:13.000 I can't walk anywhere without saying hi to someone that I know. So it's been great. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:20.000 When you get here and you're that new student, I know that we're basically in the first or second full week of classes, 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.000 what is your role right now being the president of the resident hall 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:31.000 and how is that an opportunity down the road for new students to get their foothold here in Monmouth? 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:37.000 Well right now we just closed our applications for our hall governments. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:40.000 And within RHA we oversee all the hall governments. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.000 Here at Western we have four different halls and each of them have their own mini governments. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:47.000 And within RHA we're like the overview of all of that. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:50.000 And we kind of oversee all of that and help them out with that. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:53.000 Right now applications just closed for hall government yesterday. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.000 So we're really excited to see who gets elected in each of the halls and start working with them. 00:02:57.000 --> 00:02:62.000 Do we call you President Sleezer? Or do we say Madam President? How do we refer to you? 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.000 Most people just call me Eliza. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.000 A couple of my coworkers like calling me President Eliza. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:09.000 But Eliza's usually what I go by. 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.000 Is it something naturally that you thought you were gonna go towards 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.000 or is it just through your time here on campus? 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:18.000 Tell me what prompted you to say I want to take on this leadership position within this particular thing. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:22.000 Well my freshman year I joined hall government and I fell in love with it 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:28.000 and then halfway through the year a position opened up on the RHA executive board and I applied for that and got that 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:30.000 so then I was RHA first year liaison. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:33.000 And then I've held two other positions within RHA my other two years 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.000 and then president just seemed like the natural thing to do after that. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:41.000 How do you actually get elected? Is it a vote? 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:46.000 Yeah so before it was a vote of all the on-campus residents 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.000 but we just changed it where we have an election convention 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:55.000 where we have a whole bunch of people from different organizations come to vote 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:58.000 instead of just a general population. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:64.000 I have the good fortune usually twice a season to meet with President Rex Fuller. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:06.000 How has it been since he's taken over here? 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:10.000 It seems that the environment, the inclusiveness, and the growth 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:13.000 has all happened simultaneously and seamlessly. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:16.000 I think he's been doing great. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.000 I've had the chance to meet with Rex Fuller before 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:23.000 especially regarding our strategic plan that he was helping work on. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:28.000 I gave some student input about that and that was a really cool opportunity for me to have. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:32.000 Talk to me specifically about your major. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:36.000 Why it's going to be beneficial to you now and in the future 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:40.000 and what you really do hope to do with it once they actually give you that piece of paper 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.000 that you have obviously worked so hard for. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:47.000 Well I want to go into a third or fourth grade classroom. I want to be a teacher there. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:52.000 I'm getting my ESOL endorsement so I'll be able to teach students who are emerging bilinguals. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.000 So they're English-language learners. I'm really excited about that. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:58.000 And then I think after a few years of teaching 00:04:58.000 --> 00:04:61.000 I want to take a lot of the leadership skills I've learned here at Western 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:05.000 and possibly become an administrator or something within the school district. 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:07.000 So it sounds like leadership is an important thing. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:12.000 Once you kind of establish yourself within a certain area then you're gonna want to see what you can do. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:16.000 So four years ago or whatever it was, you came down here. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:23.000 Talk to people about what the process is about getting admitted to this university. 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:25.000 How people can come down here, taking tours. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.000 What's the best way for them to really feel that connection? 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.000 I know we do a lot of stuff online. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:33.000 But there's nothing that can beat just being out there. 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:37.000 Well in fall and winter terms we have a preview day 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:40.000 where we invite high school seniors to come to campus. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:43.000 They get to tour the campus. They get to learn all the information. 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:47.000 Typically those happen on Fridays and they can submit an application at the beginning of the day 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:49.000 and they'll know by the end of the day if they were accepted or not. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.000 So that's a really cool opportunity. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:55.000 I did that when I was a senior in high school and they're still doing that so that's really cool. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:58.000 Talk to me about, I'm gonna back you up even further, what led you. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:05:61.000 You said you went to Forest Grove, what high school did you go to? 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.000 I went to Forest Grove High School. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.000 OK. And then all of a sudden you had these opportunities and you chose Western Oregon. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:08.000 You said you fell in love with it. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:12.000 Give anybody that's thinking about coming here that one thing 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.000 that you think separates this experience 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:19.000 from say going to Corvallis, going to Eugene, or leaving the state altogether. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:22.000 Honestly I really think it's the small school aspect. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:26.000 We have really small class sizes. All my teachers know me by name. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:30.000 It's just a really unique experience that I know that other universities don't have. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:32.000 Very, very good. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:36.000 What are things to be looking forward to within the residence halls, within the government, 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.000 or just in general in this fall term? 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.000 I know you're always getting your bearings with the new students. 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:45.000 I hate to say it, you seem to know exactly what you're gonna be doing. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:48.000 But what does that look like for the students that are a little bit younger? 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:54.000 Well I think that they have a lot of different opportunities to get involved as well. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:59.000 They could join hall government. That's still an open thing to be doing even though applications just closed. 00:06:59.000 --> 00:06:61.000 They could also be joining the Residential Conduct Board 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.000 or they could be joining the Housing and Dining Advisory Committee. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.000 And there's a lot of different ways for on-campus students to get involved. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:10.000 Just for people to get to know you a little bit better 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:16.000 when you're not being like super cool being a president, trying to figure out how you're gonna graduate 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:21.000 what do you do to enjoy your time here say just to enjoy yourself, what do you like to do? 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:27.000 Well since you can't go anywhere without knowing people, it's real easy to be social here at Western. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.000 There's usually some fun event that you can find. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.000 There's a lot of events that happen around campus and stuff 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:36.000 and it's always easy to grab a group of people and go have fun. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:39.000 Are there any things that we need to be looking forward to in the next coming weeks? 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:44.000 Yeah so on Halloween RHA is putting on our annual event called Safe Halls. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.000 And it's basically a Halloween carnival that we hold every year and it's open to the public. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:51.000 It's usually more catered towards children. 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:56.000 We have a whole bunch of games and activities and candy for the kids. It's always a whole bunch of fun and stuff. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:61.000 And talk to me about the aspect of being at athletic events, is it a big deal here? 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:06.000 I know that what we're doing here, calling the game, is something I'm passionate about. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:14.000 But we're also using this opportunity to speak to you to be a marketing tool or vessel for Western Oregon University. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:22.000 This is your chance to give a 30 second speech: why are you coming to Western Oregon University and you need to do it now. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:27.000 OK I'm coming to Western Oregon University because the campus is small 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:31.000 because the atmosphere is great, the community aspect is great. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:35.000 Living in a small town has actually been really awesome to do 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:40.000 just because you get to know local business and everything. You know what's happening. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:43.000 You're really in-the-know about everything 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:46.000 and that's something I really enjoy about being here at Western. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:51.000 And then as well as that with the community aspect there's a lot of ways to get involved with the community as well. 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:56.000 A lot of volunteering. Western works really closely with all of the elementary schools and stuff. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:58.000 And so it's just really cool. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:08:60.000 I'll get you out of here on this. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:07.000 How confident do you feel that Western Oregon is going to provide you not just with a diploma 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:14.000 but a true pathway to being successful once you have to leave a place that I know is near and dear to your heart? 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:18.000 A hundred percent. I'm already feeling confident enough in my abilities 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:22.000 with my degree and then without my degree. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:27.000 So with education and then just as a general person I feel like I've grown a lot being here at Western. 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:29.000 So I feel very confident. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:34.000 This is President Eliza Sleezer and this was her first time doing anything on television other than face-time. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.000 She did a fantastic job. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.000 I want to thank you for your time 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:42.000 and for your loyalty to a great learning institution in higher education. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:45.000 It's an important thing. Eliza, I thank you for your time in joining us today. 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:48.000 Yes thank you so much. Have a great day.