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seeing like how things work, especially with um the the people that uh work here at um it to understand how they uh go around about things and being able to figure things out. It's really really interesting and I always try to like uh you know take notes and kind of like uh watch what they do so that I can like you know use that in the future. 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

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and this is the best part of my day. My hope is that this podcast will encourage, inform, and inspire you. Making you feel like at Manor College you belong here always. Today's episode is sponsored by the Blue J Challenge Golf Outing. Hit the links for a cause. Join us for the Manor College Blue Jay Golf Challenge outing on October 13th at the Philmont Country Club. Support student athletes and enjoy a day of golf dinner and fun with special guest Philadelphia's favorite comedian Joe Conklin. Register now at manor.edu/golf.

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That's manor.edu/golf. We have a great show for you today. It is a pleasure to welcome to the show a Philadelphia native, a graduate of Northeast High School. Go Vikings. This guest is the youngest alumni we have had on the show to date. While studying at Manor College, he was not only a dedicated student, making the deans list multiple times, but also an accomplished athlete on our men's soccer team. He was a member of the ESAC all academic team in 2021. He also received the highly prestigious Brian Barry

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award. Currently working with the Manor College IT department and also being a team member at Target. It is my pleasure to welcome Wayne Nembhard to the nest. Hi Wayne. Hi. Hey. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you for having me. So Wayne, can you start us off by sharing with us how did you first hear about Manor College and why did you choose to attend? Um so I first heard Manor College I remember back in high school. I went to my um counselor and I saw that she had like a Manor flag in there. So I was

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like, "Oh, that seems like a pretty cool school." And plus there was a college fair that also had like you know the Manor stand. So I went over there checked out some of the programs and I was like oh I'm you know seeing a lot of uh options. And then I also did uh did a tour here and uh it's not and I that's when I realized that it's a lot closer to my house so it's not as far so it's really local and did the tour saw that they have a nice soccer field and I was like oh that's

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that's cool too. So and I was kind of like sold. I was sold. I was like yeah this is a school that I would uh like to attend. Well that's great. Wayne, your story that you just shared, that's like every admissions counselor's dream. Like, you saw our flag in the counselor office, you saw us at a college fair, you came for a tour, you were sold. That is like if every student could do that, we would be so so happy. Um, but I'm really glad that you were able to kind of put all those pieces together and obviously

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attend. Now, Wayne, you are our youngest um guest that we've had on the nest so far. We've had about 25 guests since launching the podcast earlier this year. You just graduated in May 2025. So, congratulations to you on graduating. That's such a huge milestone. Um, but what was your Manor experience like for you? What were you involved with? What were classes like? And kind of it wasn't that long ago obviously, but take us back. What was it like for you as a student? Um it was it was kind of nerve-wracking

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a little bit because definitely the um the switch into being college like when I first started uh my class I was like wow like I was really excited because just to be in that college feel and um and it was just and I liked how like the class sizes because with me being at Northeast a lot of the class sizes were kind of big. So, for it to be at like the smaller, it was it was really like good for me because then I can at least um I feel like I can um pay attention a lot better. So, and I can uh

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communicate with my teachers a lot easier. And uh yeah, and so some of the clubs I did um as you mentioned, I did play soccer and it was really fun like uh JD was amazing coach. So yeah, pretty much that's cool. That's cool. Um yeah, so it sounds like having that switch from maybe a larger high school where what was the average class size do you know in at Northeast? Was it like 40 50 kids in a class or was it bigger? Yeah, like I think around that like 40, right? So our average class size is

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around 12 to 13. So that's certainly a lot um more personalized. You can't really hide in that kind of setting. You know, the professors are going to know if you're there, if you're not, if you're paying attention and if you're struggling. Um and also you talked about the accessibility to faculty, being able to go up to them, chat with them, tell them what's going on in your life, and kind of just get that relationship. That's such a huge part, I think, of Manor's culture. Um, I

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like to say that like we we not only know your name, but we know something about pretty much every student on campus. We know part of their story, if not the whole story. Um, but we know certainly way more than just your name. So, that's something that I think makes Manor really unique and special. Um, so what was it like being a student athlete um on a collegiate level? That's a big deal and that's kind of like some a lot of people's dream is to play at that kind of level. What was that like

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for you? Um it was it was pretty fun like definitely and it definitely taught me scheduling when it came to um my school and plan cuz it was a little bit hard. But once I manage to build a schedule of okay, I'll do my assignments at this time and then so that I don't have to worry about it later when I go to uh practice and then I can just have after practice my time to rest and then the next day just kind of like rinse rinse and repeat. So definitely it helped when it came to building my schedule and um

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but yeah, it was fun like the the team it was it was fun. We had a blast, especially going to uh ESAC. So, yeah. Yeah. Were you a part of any of those ESAC championship teams? Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's awesome. You went to Virginia one year, right? Went to Pittsburgh this last year, I think. Um, right. Those kind of trips are always good bonding trips. That's awesome. Um, so, so Wayne, I do know that part of your academic journey, I mean, you were a bachelor degree student, so you were here for four

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years. Yes. Um, which, which is great. You know, every year we're seeing more and more bachelor degree students and it's really cool to see that growth because for us being a bachelor degree institution is still relatively new. We started those degrees in 2018, so it hasn't even been 10 years yet, but it's so cool to see that more and more students are staying for the four the four-year degree. Um, but in in those four years, um, you had a semester where grades were slipping, grades were not maybe what you wanted it

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to be. Um, but then you were able to kind of persist and work through it and get your grades up. Can you kind of tell me what was going on and kind of what made you like turn things around because that's hard to do? Yeah, definitely. Uh, I think the main thing was um family. My mom definitely told uh kept me focused and she told me she uh gave me a I can't remember but it was like a really good message but I can't remember it at this moment but it was she gave me a message and pretty

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much ever since then I always kind of like stuck to it. So and that helped me to um fix up uh my grades and whatnot. So yeah, and a lot of it was also communicating with my teachers. It was a big help and the tutoring as well. So yeah, a lot of that stuff was really helpful. That's great. I love that. I feel like you being able to turn it around. I mean, for a semester, you were getting D's and Fs, and then for the rest of your time at Manor, it was all A's and B's. That's pretty incredible. I

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mean, major kudos to you for doing that and and to your mom for being the encouragement that um you know that you needed, but I love how you shout you shouted out tutoring. I think tutoring is something that um everyone can utilize at Manor and I'm always encouraging others to go seek tutoring. Go get the help you need. There there should be no shame in that. There should be no stigma. You know what I mean? Like we're all here to succeed. Um, and whether you're going from a D to a C or

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you're trying to go from a B to an A or an A to like a better A, tutoring is here for you. So, certainly get the help you need. Um, because we have those services. It always pains me when I see students not doing well and you ask them like, well, did you go see tutoring? And they're like, no. It's like, well, come on, use the resources we have because we want to help you. So, that's amazing. I think that part of your journey really can will resonate with people. Um because not everything is

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always like cookie cutter picture perfect, right? Life is life is this up and down and there's es and flows. So um major kudos to you for persisting. A lot of people probably would have said, "All right, I'm just going to stop college and I'm going to go work and I'll figure it out later." But no, you persisted. So that's really impressive. Thank you. Um, so Wayne, talk us about talk to us about what you're doing in your career and kind of where your passion for computer science came from.

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What made you want to study computer science? So, um, growing up I was really like my dad, he had a uh business and it involves like technology and working with computers. So, I saw that and I remember just watching him fool around with like computers and I was like, "Oh, that seems pretty cool." And plus, like I'm like a movie fanatic, so I like watching uh movies. There was this uh one movie, I forgot the name of it, but it was where they um took a Xbox and made like a time machine out of it.

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So, I saw that and I was like, and it was, it's funny enough, it was like a bunch of college students. And I saw that and I was like, "Yo, that's like really cool." And you know, and ever since then, I kind of was just like had uh my uh like focus on when it came to like technology and whatnot. So, and plus I do play like a lot of uh video games during my downtime. So, Gotcha. Yeah. Okay. So, video games, movies, kind of having a natural bend for computer science and technology. That's That's

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cool. So, you're you're working right now in the Manor College IT department and um I know obviously you probably get a lot of password resets and those kind of things, the mail room copers jammed, you know, those kind of normal things that all of us who work here kind of deal with. Um what has been something interesting that you've learned so far from kind of working, you know, from going from being a student to working for the college? What's kind of been something interesting that you've kind

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of figured out? probably like how uh things work around here and I pretty much like everything because I didn't you know attending here I didn't really know much when it came to that stuff but seeing like how things work especially with um the the people that uh work here at um it to understand how they uh go around about things and being able to figure things out. It's really really interesting and I always try to like uh you know take notes and kind of like uh watch what they do so that I can

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like you know use that in the future. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. I always equate IT departments or IT people to like problem solvers. I feel like you guys are problem solving all day cuz no one comes to IT with not a problem. You know, everyone's always like this doesn't work. I'm struggling like it's never oh just hi you know what I mean it's always a problem to fix so you are professional problem solvers and that is a great skill to learn and that will translate into anywhere that you go

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um so talk to me about Target you're currently working for Target obviously Target is a huge corporation that many of us know um I personally love Target so much I'm a mom of three so Target is like a second home for me the drive up particularly is where I find myself most um week at least once on a weekend picking up diapers, milk, groceries, that kind of thing. Um but what is it like working for Target and kind of where do you see yourself growing in the future with your career? Um working at Target it's pretty it's

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pretty cool. um they have me like everywhere. So, it's definitely um definitely very interesting and I'm I am learning a lot and also um I'm I feel like I'm improving with my um de uh customer service skills. So, it's just a lot of stuff that um I'm like taking like small things and being like, "Okay, I could see how I could use this at like another like at another job." So, and it's pretty fun. It's pretty fun. Yeah, that's cool. Um, any I like asking this question about

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like busting any kind of myths or any debunking something that maybe we all have a misconception about. Any interesting myths that we could debunk about working at Target that maybe people think like I would think working at Target is pretty fun and cool, but maybe any myths that you feel like actually it's really this that you want to debunk for us? Um, I'll probably say like, so I've had some people come up to me and say like, "Oh, Target seems like a hard job to get into." I I don't think

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so because like I feel like there's definitely something that uh especially at the Target that I'm working at, I feel like it's definitely some room for people that can um definitely also grow and um be able to be able to uh work there as well. So that's just like that's just I think that uh is something. Yeah, that's cool. Well, Wayne, it certainly sounds like you are busy between the two jobs. Um where do you see your career going or what's like a goal that you have in mind for what you

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would like to see yourself do maybe in the next 5 years? um definitely try to find um a solid uh IT spot somewhere and be able to show some of the skills that I am learning from e from both pretty much from both jobs. So definitely yeah def I feel like that's definitely will be something. Yeah sure that's great. Well, make sure you're utilizing um the people that you're meeting at Manor in our IT department to maybe help leverage those further opportunities, but also our career services office. Um I know that's

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in a bit of transition right now, but once that office is fully staffed, you know, make that connection. Career services is an um is a service that's open to our alumni as well. So, you know, make sure that you meet the person and you tell them what what what you want to do, where you want to go, and they can also help you make those connections because a lot of kind of those first jobs is really getting your foot in the door. Um, and it is a little bit of like maybe who you know or who your boss knows and

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those kind of things. So, it's good that you are already getting yourself connected at several places. That's really good. So, so Wayne, thank you so much for spending time with us today. It's been really, really lovely chatting with you. One last question. What advice would you give to current Manor students? You were just in their spots. Um, but what advice would you give for them that kind of you're able to kind of maybe reflect upon now that you're a graduate? Um, I would say my

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advice is definitely stay focused on um stay focused on school definitely and time management. As soon as you get in, start um start to plan out things. Especially the one useful thing that I did was to take notes on my phone. like definitely take notes and have a a schedule up so that it's easier to um plan out your day and um that's pretty much it. Yeah, I mean that's great advice. Stay focused, time management, know how to manage your time. that's great advice. You can't go wrong

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with that. So, thank you Wayne so much. It was wonderful talking to you and I wish you nothing but the best. Thank you. Thank you for having me. You're welcome. Thank you for tuning in today. If you like what you heard, listen and subscribe on Spotify or YouTube. Stay up to date with all new episodes by following Manor College on Instagram at Manor College. And that's a wrap on another episode of The Nest Stories about life after Manor College. Remember Blue Jays, you belong here always.