WEBVTT

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My name is Wagner Trindade. I came from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2009 here to Western Oregon University.

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Currently I'm an adjunct music instructor.

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[playing music]

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It's an interesting story how I came up here to Western.

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I was playing a jazz club in Brazil for many years, and I met Tom Bergeron,

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one of the music professors here at Western, there in Brazil.

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And I was really interested in getting a master's degree in the United States.

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He told me about Western and I went to the website, checked all the information,

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and it was exactly what I was looking for.

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And in 2009 I applied and I came here.

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One of the important things when one chooses a university to attend is to be able to identify a school

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that you can say, 'This is a place I can call home.

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Because you're going to be spending many hours with us, many years with us before a degree is completed,

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and you want it to be a place where you can grow intellectually,

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you can grow emotionally and you can grow in friendship

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and connections that you're going to have for the rest of your life.

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I've been at Western Oregon University for about 6 years after spending many years in the Los Angeles area.

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I ended up at Western Oregon University because I liked what the university appeared to be,

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and when I got here, I discovered it really was what I thought it was:

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a very friendly, mutually supportive environment

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where the faculty are focused on mentoring students.

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TRINDADE: One of the best things about studying music here at Western, it's about opportunities.

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Since I came here, I had opportunities to perform with international artists,

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such as Lizz Wright, Alan Tuson, Lynn Anderson,

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which makes me feel that learning process goes beyond the classroom.

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I felt I was growing as a musician, not only in the classroom,

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but also live on stage.

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At Western Oregon, we really enjoy having international students on our campus. We are in a global society

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and the more that our students are exposed to students from other countries

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gives both our Oregon student and our international student a real opportunity to get to know other cultures

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and to realize that we're all striving for the same goals in life

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and that there actually are more similarities between us than there are dissimilarities.

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TRINDADE: I think that international students should study at Western for several reasons.

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We have a beautiful and safe campus. The classes are small and I feel very comfortable raising my hands,

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asking questions, or making appointment with the teacher later.

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And also it goes back to the opportunities that you will have to perform and grow as an artist.

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SCHECK: One of the great things about our programming at Western Oregon University

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is our general education core that all degree programs require.

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And so that whether one was going to be pursuing music or pursing criminal justice or history

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or chemistry, they all are going to have some underlying curriculum

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that prepares you for working with others in the outside world.

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So many times we have graduates that graduate with a particular discipline

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and work in a job environment totally different than what they'd ever dreamt they would be working in.

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TRINDADE: From my personal standpoint, what makes Western special,

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here I don't feel that I'm a number. I feel that I'm a student with a name

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and teachers, they call me by my name.

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And that's the personal connection that makes all the difference.

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[music]