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[Music] hello Blue Jays and welcome to the nest stories about life after Manor College I am your host Kelly Peiffer vice president of marketing Communications and this is definitely the best part of my day for those of you who are familiar with Manor College thank you for tuning in and being a loyal Manor College Blue Jay I love that for those of you who are new listeners welcome my hope is that this podcast will encourage inform and inspire you making you feel like at Manor College you belong here always so

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why are we starting a podcast featuring Manor College alumni well that's a great question I'd love to tell you people remember stories up to 20 times more than they remember facts as someone who thinks a lot about Manor College our brand our perception our marketing uh our incredible marketing Communications team we focus a lot on storytelling telling our students our faculty donors and alumni stories has always been integral to our strategy and frankly I wanted to do more storytelling so in 2021 in the

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midst of the pandemic I started interviewing alumni on zoom and live streaming those interviews to Facebook and YouTube kind of did this randomly one day and it kind of had a few set up but I realized that connecting with alumni for just 20 minutes and hearing about their time at Manor their career journey and any kind of life lessons that they are taking from them since graduating it quickly became my favorite thing to do so I kept doing it and over the last three years I've interviewed over 50 alumni and each month I would

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have a different one that I'd focus on but without fail the most valuable part of each interview was the advice that they would share at the end to current Manor students things like network with everyone you can or enjoy your college days soak it in meet people to help you find internships be true to yourself all of this was great advice that stood the test of time whether it was an alumni I'm talking to from the 1960s or from 2010 something cool was really happening that when students and faculty were

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watching these interviews and reconnecting with alumni that they saw maybe they had them in class or they really enjoyed seeing where their life has taken them a lot of times also I would hear back from a current student that they saw an interview and they got connected to that alumni and they connected on them through Linkedin or social media because they're from the same high school or because that alumni went into a field that that student wants to go into and they were inspired so what I've learned from taking so you

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know hours and hours of my time to talk to all these alumni um is that everyone has a story and that Manor's influence whether it's big or small whether you were here for one year or you were here for four years remains a constant thread and all of us are connected to each other through Manor College our Manor college experience I personally have been so inspired by our alumni and I am honored to continue bringing you more alumni stories right here on the nest so before we get to today's guest I

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want to introduce a segment for the show called did you know this is where we'll share a fun fact or two about mayor College that you may or may not know we've been around for 78 years so we have quite a few fun facts to share so for today's did you know did you know that mayor College was a filming location for the movie Hustle starring Adam Sandler that came out in 2022 yes that's right back in 2021 our Manor College gymnasium was hired to be a filming location for the movie and if you've seen the movie The Parts where our gym

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is involved it's one of the most pivotal scenes and kind of in the plot it's a turning point in the movie so it's a really cool thing to be a part of it was a crazy time when the cast and the crew were here they were here for over a week it was still pandemic time so we had to do a lot of precautions they took up most of our parking lot and the parking lot across the street at St Basil's Academy they repainted our entire gym top to bottom a different shade of beige and then when they were done filming

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repainted it back to our shade of beige um um Adam Sandler Jay Wright Anthony Edwards and a lot of other big NBA names were all here and it was just crazy to think that all these people were here at 700 Fox Chase Road so if you watch the movie you will see the iconic blue jay padded basketball chairs that were used um the film is on Netflix and it's definitely worth a watch I am now honored to welcome our alumni guest for the day having graduated with not one but two degrees from Manor College his

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associates and his bachelor's degree in Business Administration in 2019 and in 2021 he was the mother josephat metal winner in 2019 receiving Manor's highest student award involved with just about every student activity or Club you can imagine everything from Rotaract to student Senate and also a student athlete for our indoor and outdoor track and field teams currently he is an assistant track coach for Manor College works at Chick-fil-A also works at Buck County baseball in Bristol PA and volunteers with

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transformation to recovery a faith based addiction recovery nonprofit in South Philly an avid Philadelphia sports fan and a good friend of mine I am honored to welcome will rodebaugh hi will thanks for joining me today Kelly hi hi thank you so much for uh for uh inviting me on the podcast I'm I'm very excited to have this conversation with you and answer any question you may have so thank you again thanks for having me you you are so welcome will I'm the one who's honored for sure I absolutely love

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talking to Manor alumni hearing their stories so let's kind of get into it starting off with how did you choose Manor um and how did you first find the college that's a very that's a very good question very interesting story too so I actually started hearing about it I didn't know what Manor what what Manor College was until 2015 to to be exact the date was March 7 2015 my dad got an my dad got an email from Manor College um and I was I was so far in 10th Grade so I wasn't really thinking about college yet but I was

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kind of like I knew I was going to start thinking about it in 11th grade and at that time I wanted to be a Vet Tech actually I wanted to uh because I was very interested in animals specifically marine life I wanted to be a marine biologist so I thought um I thought Manor College would would be a good step in that direction and backing up my dad actually heard about Manor because he was at Manor at the at the at the library actually he had a work meeting there and then since he went there he's he kept getting a lot

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of emails and and that and that was how I heard about it so in July it was my birthday present I turned 16 so it was a big age so my parents had a big present for me and I went to the actually Manor College had a whole week summer camp for vet tech students and and then I was there and then um even though I found out that after after a couple months after that VCH was my thing I was still very interested in the college so I decided to apply in Spring of 2016 uh on March 12th of 2016 I went to my very first open house where I met a

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man named Mark Minnick who used to work at Manor College he became a really good friend where we're still very connected a very good friend and mentor and I met him that day and after meeting him and meeting some of the other teachers I was like man I really want to go here so I decided on March 12th that that um one of the colleges I wanted to apply for was Manor College so that's kind of how I got my feet wet I even went to the Founders Day in 2017 so I went to a bunch of events I went to the the the orientation too in

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2017 for the new students so yeah it was it was a lot of fun wow I I love that will and I feel like um I've known you for a while now but I never knew that you were first interested in vet tech and then I remember that summer camp we did that for a few years and it was pretty neat it would bring high schoolers to this like kind of week long um and got you know got high schoolers interested in in animals and I didn't know you were part of that how cool um good what a good gift also from from a parent

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perspective giving your kids like a cool experience like that that's a really that's that's really cool I'm I'm so glad that you had that I'm so glad that your dad um had that work meeting in the library and then got a few emails I mean as someone who obviously uh Works in marketing the the power of email marketing is not dead so always reassuring to hear about that thank you so much wolf for sharing that that's awesome so um just describe your Manor experience what what was it like being a Manor student what were you involved

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with and kind of kind of take us back to what was it like for you very good question um I could really go anywhere at this but uh I think I have a good path I want to go on so I was very I was very excited my first day at Manor College was September 5th 2017 and I took I had one course that day that's where I met Mary Sims another person I'm very very uh Professor Mary Sims someone I'm very connected with uh I took legal environment at business still probably one of my favorite courses I ever took there um and um I remember I knew that I

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knew that I belong there from that first class because um I remember I went up and I just thought she was she was such a nice teacher I remember after that I would call I I thanked her for the class I was like I was so I was so inspired and it was such a small class I knew everybody's name I met some very very good people and I'm like man after day one I really thought I belonged here but still I don't think anyone would have recognized the William Ro to ball the will Road ball from the first year to

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the second the first year I was still like I was always I always found myself as a very extroverted person who love talking to people but I have not been in an in-class environment since 2012 so it was all it was kind of all like I was restarting I was homeschooled for a lot of my years it was it was definitely the best the best way to learn um I'm autistic so I thought so so um it so like homeschooling was very helpful for me but then I realized that I was extroverted and then at the same time I

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saw the workload and I'm like okay so let's just so I'm kind of mapping this out on myself because I'm a very planned learner like I'm very organized so I'm like let's just let's see so I'm going to so how about this first semester I I won't join any clubs but I'll just I'll I'll just be always set on school and we'll see how it goes um it it went well and everything but I didn't realize like how short the classes were and everything and I was realizing I was coming home really early there wasn't

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really anybody at home at that point so I'm like so so I'm like okay maybe I should change this a little bit and then Mary Sims uh the second semester she she invited me to come to rotaract she said I would be a very good fit I should come they were having like an open house meeting so and and and um and um it uh was with like free food I mean free food why why you that free food at May I'm like okay I'll I'll come and check it out and then when I was there I'm like man I love this like I should like try

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to be the vice president and it happened like that and I I uh I um I ran for vice president my pinning ceremony was March 1st and then I I was really into it and then later I would become the president and we we would start doing a thing for the Eagles autism campaign so that so that was a couple years later but yeah that first year rotaract was really the only thing I was involved with but the second year I realized my classes were really spread out I had a couple classes with Professor JP Lutz and other mentor of

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mine who who who I work for right now and he um and and the uh there was some there was like a class at 3:45 there's a class at 2:30 so I'm like all right so let's see um um maybe I should involve myself with some more things and then I I I joined one of my favorite groups the campus Activity Board it was awesome I I loved like because like I have a very marketed mind so I loved coming up with great ideas for events ways we could approve them and really I loved like listening to the students and talking to

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them so that was fun and then a Dream came true earlier that summer when when um the the uh cross country and track clubs opened up and I had so much fun uh I had so many coaches that that I was under like so many there were so many assistant coaches who I'm still connected with now so many uh teammates I had and it was just a great experience like I loved I loved just like expanding what I was doing um I won a lot of great Awards like I won the MVP one year I won the coaches award it was so fun like it was

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it it was such a great experience um so yeah no no I loved I really loved being involved at Manor and then um and then I people started calling me Mr Manor because I was just so involved I was helping them and it just became my tagline and everything and I I I I really I really ran with it you know yeah I think so I think after doing all those things you better be called Mr Manor I think earned certainly earned that title and and wore it very well I um I remember the the Mr Manor of uh so that that's really cool Will and thanks

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for sharing a full picture of of what it was like for you um if you don't mind talk to me a little bit about what was it like going from like a homeschool environment you know being autistic to you're just you're in a classroom you're in a college setting with lots of other students who have very different backgrounds than you what was it kind of like and and how did you feel that you were accommodated for anything that maybe you needed assistance with thank you thank you um that's a good question so

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all right so homeschool I really enjoyed homeschool um because it helped me really like I could take my time on stuff and I and like when I was this backs up to even earlier when I was in third grade no even second grade I I didn't think I wanted to go back to school because like I was so I was so comfortable um I had a very hard time in first grade um I think I did okay with like work and everything that that that go M sure I had some learning issues and that kind of stuff it was more I think then I had more more issues with like

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with like the the teachers and everything that the teachers didn't really see me the way that the class me saw me everybody loved me at that school that um that um I was at but like I I just had some issues with teachers but then I went back because I realized that I really love talking to people and I was a people person so I'm like you know what I want to go back I cuz I even love talking to people then but then I'm like you know what I think like um and and there was like clubs but I wanted to do it

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full-time so in sixth grade I went back I actually did did something challenging I did two schools in once I did a cyber school work and I did a couple and I did all the work too except for a couple things for the uh one school I went to so I did two for two years I did that and I was very impressed and I was still involved in a bunch of clubs so um so yeah and then and then and then um and then after that I for high school I was homeschooled again and and um I went to a school called I think Keystone

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it was called and and it was it was it was really good it was correspondence school it was um you'd get everything in the mail you'd fill it out You' fill out all your tests and You' get the results back and you'd have to do all the work in a year there was no deadlines so that that's what kind of like um and then when I was doing High School I was strongly considering College I'm like you know what I really want to go to college and when when I went to college um when what when I went to college I just

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I loved it because because like it was a small college and even and and I I wanted to go to college was small I was thinking about like colleges like Temple and Drexel and that kind of stuff but I wouldn't I wanted to really meet people and get to know them and when I heard about Manor it's like no-brainer if I get into the manor I I'm accepting so I didn't think I was going to um hear back for a while so I did my SATs and everything I did everything I had I I did everything I had to do um I didn't

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realize the ACT wasn't not required for man Manor so like I was happy I was so nervous about when I was taking the ACT twice I was so nervous scary it was a scary experience but like yeah that is a nerve-wracking thing for sure yeah if they see your phone yeah so it sounds like um you know you definitely went you went through a lot of different types of schooling and education you've been through you know um a normal like a traditional classroom setting a cyber setting a homeschool setting a college

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setting that that's pretty cool to show that how adaptable you are to different settings regardless of you know age and situation um that's neat so let's kind of talk about your career and kind of you you went into business and and marketing particularly so kind of talk to us what was it like transitioning from I'm a college student and kind of in this secure familiar homey environment to now I got to go get a job I got to go make some money uh what was that like kind of transitioning into like a first job

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after being a college student all right so so I graduated in 2021 and then I was even looking for jobs even before that even before I graduated I wanted to like you know I want to know what I was getting myself into I have I have a degree in business I can do anything yeah great great so I H I had my fir I had my first interview it was kind of cool my dad um he he mentored this this one guy got him his first job and that guy he uh he interviewed me then for a job and I got further than I thought I

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was going to in the process it was like a finance type job so and I think I did really really well in that first interview like I think I was very confident and then I found out a few weeks later I went into the second interview I didn't after the second interview I didn't go any further but I was still very impressed because I'm like fresh out of high school and and this was like a big like Finance type job and the fact that I gotten the the second one I was just so proud of myself so I was yeah thank you so I had so many

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interviews and then um I really learned that summer that who you know is really important because for about two years what the first job I ever had I I worked a lot of it is um a very oh what's the word a confidential job but it was a researching data entry job uh it was like it was like 40 30 to 40 hours a week I could do it whenever I wanted and um I call the week of August um of August 20 23rd one of my favorite weeks of all time because after weeks of searching I found out I got the job in August 20th after weeks of searching and

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it was it was going to be temporary but then I ended up working longer than I thought because they were very impressed by how good my researching was how good like how attentive I was how like whenever they wanted a phone call I was there I was I was very um they they thought that that I was very dependable and then it kept me going for longer but then um but then like I stopped working there not because of what I did but just because of the the Thea direction of the company but then that week I get a text

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from uh my coach an email from my Coach Jeff McCann wonderful guy I got a uh uh the track coach he says hey um there there's a position opening up for assistant track coach if you want to um if you're interested we'd love to have you and no brainer I I said yes right away like I think I probably said yes before I told people I'm like because like I didn't want to I didn't want to miss it so I was already going to help out at that orientation but I didn't realize that I was gonna I was going to be at the orientation as an

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employee of Manor I mean this was four months after I graduated so it was it was awesome yeah so cool wow well that that's great it sounds like you um you know had a good experience with some interviewing processes and then had the the data entry job which is like that's a good kind of like earning your stripes kind of like college kit job that's a good thing to learn everyone should kind of have an experience doing that and then getting a call to come back to be an assistant coach is is H seems like

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serendipitous you know it's really cool yeah so tell us kind of what are you doing now in your career and how do you find that your Manor education kind of is inter interwoven with what you're doing now in your career good question question so now I'm pretty much doing the same stuff um I have a couple more jobs um people call me the renaissance man because I do everything yeah I do I like to do a lot of stuff so now I'm working for well as you mentioned before I'm working for Chick-fil-A I'm just it's I what I like

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about working there is I get to talk to people like I get to talk to a lot pretty much that job is like it's very like you get to talk to people and like you get to help them out and that's what I love doing I love helping and talking to people and then I work for another company uh called trans TR to recovery which is a nonprofit company that deals with people who struggle with you know like alcoholism and and that kind of stuff and um I I I've been running that that social media site since uh October

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of 2023 and I've been helping with the finances and I've been writing articles and doing interviews it's it's really a great job it's just a fun job and I'm getting more and more involved with the church because um I'm I'm a person of faith and I'm really um and and I'm really and and um I'm really big on like you know reading the Bible I listen a lot of Christian music I'm very I I try to live that kind of Life Style too and it's um and and um it's very important to me so having a job where you know you you get

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to help not only like like like uh post stuff on social media and check the boxes off but like you know a job where you can further the kingdom of God by like you know by by spreading the gospel and that kind of stuff is is is great and it's when when um when um I was asked to to serve for my church and that kind of stuff I was so happy and um a cool thing about that job is uh there's another side of it called just La I work with a Philadelphia a former Phil Philadelphia Phillies player named Larry

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Anderson and and um and um it's he's such a nice man and uh he just really has a heart for the Lord and and um I've got to talked to him so many times and I've got to build a friendship with him so so it's just so cool and I love working there there's some very great people my dad works there too so it's just it's it's it's awesome and and he was definitely a big part in helping me get there so yeah that's one thing I'm that's that's great um so it sounds like you know your your career path so far

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has been faith and sports kind of kind of coming together I would say you got some sports things going on you got some Faith things going on you got serving others and honestly well as you're describing all this I'm just envisioning the The Manor College mission where the mission in the last line of our mission it says um our mission is to prepare students to serve Society effectively and compassionately and as you're talking and I'm like this is what will is doing he is in society serving people

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compassionately and effectively and obviously Manor College is founded by The Sisters of St basil the great they are um you know we're a Catholic institution and you know they obviously are Faith folded women who wanted to further the kingdom by educating Ukrainian orphan girls when it first started in 1947 and it's just so cool to see here we are 78 78 years later and will is kind of doing the same thing you know so thank you so much for kind of that 360 full circle moment of um of uh living out the Manor College Mission

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it's it's really empowering and inspiring to see so I can't I can't leave you without talking a little bit of eagles we're coming up on the Super Bowl Sunday and I know you are a fanatic sports fan all Philadelphia how do you think it's going to go what what are your thoughts on the Super Bowl coming up awesome well first of all I I just gotta say I can't I I love that story you were saying I can't I I can't leave without being being remiss and thanks so much for saying those kind words I I love that and yes

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yes fly goes fly let's go uh I got to tell you um I was telling people back then even in So at the beginning of the year I was really worried about how we were doing I knew we were going to be a good team and um I think in the week of the Cleveland Browns game where we played where we barely beat the Cleveland Browns I'm like I'm like oh man so I think we can make the playoffs but I don't I don't know is it gonna be a glass year but when we after that we went on a 10 game winning streak we never had that we we never won so many

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games in a row Saquon Barkley is is him he's awesome amazing Saquon Barkley is like one of the best Duos I think I've ever seen in sports and um and I'm just so confident I think we're going to win I think I think we got this in the bag um and I actually I think it's going to be people say it's gonna be a close game I I see us winning by 15 points I I very I'm that confident in our team I think we went four to 25 and um I'm just very excited the energy and Philly I'm just seeing so and so happy everyone's

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confident about it it's like I don't think I talked to one person who said I'm not confident we're winning that we're winning this thing I I think we're going to win this thing and and I hope you're right I hope that score is right that's a great score um I uh I read something recently that said um the word Eagles appears in the Bible 33 times go birds and I thought you know what I love that here we go here we go well thank you so much for joining me I have one kind of final thing I want to end this

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on just what advice would you give to Manor college students who are you know they're in it right now they're going to classes hopefully being their own versions of Mr Manor what advice would you give to them as a someone who's been there done that and now can can reflect upon you know I'm gonna give I'm gonna give very very basic advice but this basic advice helped me so much you know don't stop being you be yourself you know do what you love be get involved just like you know make friends all that

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kind of stuff it's going to serve you well not just in college but in life trust me I'm 25 years old now and I I couldn't agree with that advice even more so you know what go Blue Jays go Eagles let's go go Birds is a good thing because we're Blue Jays we're a bird go Eagles they're Birds just go Birds um but I love that so be authentic be yourself and not just in college but in life and you know stay true to you I think that's that's great will thank you for tuning in today if you like what you heard

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listen And subscribe on Spotify or YouTube to stay up toate all new episodes give a follow on Manor College Instagram at Manor College that's a wrap on another episode of The Nest stories about life after Manor College remember Blue Jays you belong here always [Music]