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Geovanny Mayorga 0:05
Welcome to Campus Connections, a podcast dedicated to connecting with one another. You can find us on Spotify and YouTube, you may contact us by writing in the comment section or writing to us at podcast@mccollege.edu. We'd love to hear your positive feedback and your thoughts on any future topics you would like to hear.
Geovanny Mayorga 0:25
I am your host Giovanni Mayorga, and we are recording from downtown Chicago. So as I mentioned in the last episode, I grew up playing soccer and soccer will always be sports, I am most passionate about it don't play it as much anymore other than playing with my kids already family gathering. But I do love to watch professional leagues and international competitions.
Geovanny Mayorga 0:49
I have a picture, which is my favorite picture of me as a child, where I am in front of my house in Guatemala City, basically, in the concrete Street. And in the picture, I am about to kick the soccer ball. And I have this kicking motion pose, which I love. Because I look back at this picture of a little kid playing and it brings fond memories of being with my best friend that I grew up playing. His name is Max. Max love you, buddy. Hope you're doing well. And Max and I, we used to play like any child, and we fantasize about being one of the great players either kicking or being goalie. And we would celebrate like we had actually won something. Then of course we grow up and realize that we're not that good after all. What a bummer. Today, I'll speak with a colleague who has a similar soccer and education background as I do. Drew one so.
Geovanny Mayorga 2:04
So, Drew, welcome to the podcast. I'm excited that you're here. How are you feeling today?
Drew Wentzel 2:09
Doing good. I'm glad to be here.
Geovanny Mayorga 2:11
Excellent. happy that you're here. We've had great conversations in the past. So I'm looking forward, forward to another great conversation. So let's start by talking about what you do now, what your position is, how many years you've been here, and how lucky you are to be here.
Drew Wentzel 2:30
Well, like you said, Gio, I am very lucky to be here. Again, my name is Drew, I'm in the financial aid department, financial aid coordinator. Coming up, actually, next month, I will have been at MCC for two years. So have learned a lot over two years, I think you learn quite a bit from day to day, I work with a great set of teammates, to my left and my right in the department. And you are exactly right. I am very lucky and very happy to be here. Been at a different couple, couple different schools in the past. Not the best of experiences wasn't a different department before. So something to be said about that. But glad to have found the MCC family for sure.
Geovanny Mayorga 3:15
You started any different department here?
Drew Wentzel 3:18
No at a different school. Yeah, so started. Yeah. So when I originally sought to be in higher ed after my undergrad, I knew I wanted to stay in higher ed. And when I went home, I ended up taking a position over at Colorado Technical University at their Schaumburg location out in the suburbs, and was in the admissions department. And it turned out to be very much like a call center. So I found out really quickly, selling education over the phone was very, very hard for me.
Drew Wentzel 3:52
I like to get to know people in person, get to know them first, develop those connections, and then try to get down that nitty gritty of why why school going to better yourself. Now, financially, it's a little different, you don't get into the heart of those conversations as much. But inherently, you know, you're still opening up to the student because at the end of the day, school is not cheap. But we're here to help. We're here to figure out what's best for them and how we can kind of align those interests.
Geovanny Mayorga 4:20
Yeah, you do a great job. Thank you for that. Now, you spoke a little bit about being in higher education. And I know you and I spoke about your in your individual education and you have a master's degree. Initially you started in economics, is that correct?
Drew Wentzel 4:37
Yeah, yeah, that was um, you know, being being completely blunt that was born out of what's probably going to be the best fallback of a, you know, undergrad degree if certain other interests don't really take flight. So to explain a bit more about that my minor and undergrad was studio art. So, you know, that was, I'm sure, really happy that the parents have found that out. But you know, I've always taken an interest in art, and I couldn't fully let it go. But then I think that's where I took the completely 180 degree of trying to go in economics because, you know, I hear a lot of people when they're not sure what to do. They're like, well go for business. learn the hard way, economics is not business. It's not finance, it's not accounting. It's very much theoretical. So to be honest, if I go back to undergrad, I don't think I would do I don't think I do econ, or some classes. I like some classes. I didn't...
Geovanny Mayorga 5:40
Do you still do art? Do you do anything with it? Like sketches?
Drew Wentzel 5:44
No, the, the one of the best classes in undergrad that I took was a ceramics class. So it was, you know, molding clay on the wheel was very dirty. But as some people might know, if you've done those kinds of classes before, you don't just have a wheel lying around, I'm sure there's classes in certain areas where you might live. But that's not something that I'm just gonna spend a few $100 on. Just because that's not like not a hobby that I'm willing to invest in at this point in my life, but it was really fun. I really liked it certainly helped the GPA.
Geovanny Mayorga 6:20
I have a friend from high school that is an artist, does, like oil paintings, the sketches. He's actually very good. He has good following. And he does it as a hobby. I had a conversation with him not too long ago. And I said, What Why don't you do this full time. Of course, he, you know, an artist is difficult to be to have to live solely on being an artist, but hit most of his, like his big paintings are a little dark. So he has a darker way of doing his paintings, which I'm not too too fond of. But some of his most colorful ones that I really, really like. He's, you know, he has his community of the artists he communicates with our art also very good.
Geovanny Mayorga 7:16
I also didn't start, I actually have my bachelor's in physical education. But I didn't start as physical education. I actually started as an engineer. And I have a ton of background in Math, Calculus, triple integrals, physics, which I like physics. No, but at some point, it was like, this is just like when I started getting into infinities and I'm like, I can't quite put put things together anymore. So that's when I ended up switching to facade. And I got my degree in physical education, got a teaching degree, a lot of endorsements that have to come they come on, come with it, but and then I have my, you know, my master's in sport management, you decided to get a master's degree in, in higher education. And what what was the thought behind that from going from art, econ. And then, in which a lot of people do the previous, I have previously worked at an institution where I predominantly hired or hired, recruited students who want to go into teaching, and there were programs that would cater to people that from other degrees to go into education, but what was your thought behind going into the education field?
Drew Wentzel 8:41
So during undergrad, there were a lot of experiences in which I took and had that directly correlated with advising mentorship, getting to know underclassmen, and, you know, obviously, at a certain point in undergrad, you have to declare major, and there's just no going back. So, you know, roll with the Econ. Take it for what it's worth. But there was actually a program at my alma mater, which is Denison University, they have a program called Juno short for June orientation. And the main objective of the program is to allow incoming freshmen, obviously, during the month of June, last a day and a half for each session, where they come on to campus, they, if they haven't taken their placement tests, they take those, they meet their classmates, they sign up for classes, they get to see campus.
Drew Wentzel 9:43
So essentially, you take a lot of the nerves and the fear out of coming to campus for the very first time in August. And you get to meet a lot of underclassmen. And so basically, between you know, sophomore, junior and senior year I was a junior advisor is what they call them. So you get a group of about five to seven students per group, there's five sessions within each year. And you help them acclimate a little bit. Obviously, everybody, for the most part, they're organized pretty randomly, right? So you could be in a group with athletes, music majors, people were coming out scholarship, international students, it could be just a whole range of things.
Drew Wentzel 10:25
And I learned that I really gravitated towards that kind of environment, just being in higher ed. And I think I've also gravitated towards that level of student. I think a lot of teachers and people in teaching and education in general gravitate towards a certain age group and what they feel they can most relate to, or accommodate or just feel comfortable with. And I like having those conversations where I can talk to them as adults, but still help them understand what college is meant to be how it's meant to help you and how can really shape the rest of your life. So it's big conversations, formulated in small conversations to take light of the fact that this is a serious step.
Drew Wentzel 11:06
We're very much here to help you and how we can do that. So really love that experience. And so when I left college, I was like, I don't really like econ. But I loved doing what I did outside of my major, which was working with students. So it's like, how can I put myself in another position like that, and another school, maybe not at Denison, which is in Ohio? And either develop organizations at existing schools that don't have them? Or how can I better organizations that schools already have for those types of instances. And so that's the kind of the main goal, the trajectory of what I'm looking to do in higher ed is just help students and student organizations.
Geovanny Mayorga 11:48
Because I've, I've been doing operations for a few years now. When I was at Ball State, I did part of my graduate assistantship, I was working for the regression department, and working with pseudo organizations who wanted to hold events. I remember I remember one time we were doing it was it was not Battle of the Bands, but it was bands coming out and, and performing. One particular day, there was bad weather coming in. And the band was just getting started. And I said, Listen, you need to pay attention to the weather, because it's moving and fast. We're not going to have time to get this, you know, your performance. In course, college kids want to get their performance. And you know, and I said, Look at the clouds, like it's coming in pretty fast. So I'm gonna stop your setup right now. Because we're not going to have time, by the time you set up, the weather is going to be on top of us. It's gonna ruin your entire set of equipments. Very expensive. Yes, yeah, I should know.
Geovanny Mayorga 13:02
And sure enough, the first sign of lightning, and they still wanted to do it. I said, No, we're gonna cancel it right now. And I apologize. And I went through that. They pleaded and pleaded and pleaded that they wanted to, I said, No, we're not going to do it. Like five minutes later, like the storm was on top of lists. And I mean, they were like rushing to get their equipment off of the stage and into their cars. And they're like, Oh, my God, we're so thankful that you, you know, you decided to cancel it. I'm like, there's a reason why I have this job and why I'm trying to help you make the proper decision. And I've had, you know, I, when I worked at the University of Chicago, I did the same thing doing student was in charge of athletic facilities and students would come in certain organizations. So I'm very familiar with that.
Geovanny Mayorga 13:47
We also have a similar background in soccer. You and I both played soccer as children and played in college. How's your experience? My, my, my experience? I'm sure it's a little bit different than yours. We'll talk we'll talk about how it differs. But how was your experience growing up going to high school going to college? And now apparently, you're you're you're still coaching, which I don't coach anymore. I've thought about coaching my kids, especially the way I see some of the coaches today, and this is, but it's a commitment. So how was your soccer experience?
Drew Wentzel 14:21
Um, I mean, soccer has been a very constant force in my life. I think everyone should have one what, regardless of what it is. And like you said, sometimes it fades and sometimes it comes back, right? So I'm just dormant periods in which life takes over and it can't be as consistent as you'd like it to be. And that's the beauty of having a childhood where if you have a good family and a good surrounding environment that enables that to just grow. But, you know, started in kindergarten, one all the way through, it was really nice for our parents because my sister also played played soccer. So You know, there were times where one parent had to go to one game and the other player had to go the other game, because, you know, there's not always the luxury of being to home games at the same place at the same time. And so certainly also fortunate to always have someone in the crowd, being a fan of mine. That was, that's always huge.
Drew Wentzel 15:18
And looking back on it as a kid, you know, I don't think you fully take that in and what that's worth and what it's for, and super appreciative of that. But yeah, definitely a highlight of my life was in high school, my sister and I are three years apart. And so she was a senior when I was a freshman. And having grown up in soccer, and taking a really strong passion for it, I wanted to be good at it. And so I did make Varsity my freshman year, and I was able to play with my sister on varsity, which was just in and of itself was a great memory, you know, obviously didn't, didn't win everything. But we did make my only run estate was with that team with her. So that was super fun. But um, other than that, college was one of the best times of my life.
Drew Wentzel 16:10
I think one of the main things that I remember was that before I left freshman year, basically stressed out of my mind, because I was like, I don't know anybody here. I don't really like meeting new people, which is crazy to think that I went to a school where I knew nobody. My dad was like, these are gonna be the fastest four years of your life. And I just, I was like, I really hope they are because I don't want to be here. I'm so terrified. And I look back and I'm like, I wish I could go back. I wish I could read. I wish it was longer than that. There's a part where it's like, I don't wish it was longer because you have, you take everything in stride, which is the tests, studying the homework, you know, finals, all that stuff. But that's why you have great memories, because there's obviously less fun moments that make the other fun moments more fun. But, um, no, absolutely loved it. And that I think that's why I continue to do what I do today is that even if you're not playing, even if you're not coaching, especially with things like when the World Cup rolls around, when the Olympics roll around.
Drew Wentzel 17:09
And you remember that excitement that you had, when you started a game, when you went up against a hard play and up, you know, tough player, you still get riled up, which is, like I said, everybody should have that kind of passion for something, whatever it is. But it is just so fun to watch, good players play and even. I mean, who knows, I don't know if I'll be a person, a parent, someday in the future that I'll want to coach my kids, maybe I just won't be I'll be that parent that's off to the side that doesn't want to hear other parents what I say underneath my breath. But no, soccer has always been a consistent force in my life. And I don't see going anywhere, anytime fast.
Geovanny Mayorga 17:45
One of the hardest things for me now as a parent watching my kids, because my kids are are in a club, but it's still the recreational side, not the travel side, which is a little more intense. And I still find that at least what the club that they're participating in now. That is treated much like recreational and there's not a whole lot of it, maybe because a lot of times the coaching is a volunteer. But there's not a whole lot of knowledge of the of the sports, it's the sport itself. And that becomes frustrating to me, because, you know, I'm like, that's not the way you're supposed to do things. That's not the way you you know, you're supposed to coach your kid. And and that frustration comes out now I've I've toned it back a lot because you know the club starts sending emails about parents seem to be quiet on sidelines. And I'm like, I would if the coaches would be doing their jobs. Anyway.
Drew Wentzel 18:55
I think you were CC'd indirectly on that one?
Geovanny Mayorga 18:57
I think so. Yes. Very much. So. When I went to high school, and I only played one year, my senior year even though my my my friends would always tell me, come play with us. My junior year I think they made it to state they won city championship, which is a huge deal because I went to Chicago Public Schools. Sure it's high school. Yay. And my junior year they made it to state so winning the city championship was a big deal for the school. So my senior year I finally joined a team only to find out that we were coaching ourselves because the coach was non existent. After we graduated, we we didn't really do well my senior year. After a friend of mine and I we were trying to get into the Chicago Soccers which is it's time was like a farm team to Chicago Fire. We were already practicing with, on a practice squad somewhat of a prank we kind of just like snuck in as practice players. And we went back to our high school to ask the coach for a reference letter. And I'm never gonna forget he's like, yeah, those guys over there are really big. I don't know. I'm like, You serious? What? Why do we even bother coming here?
Drew Wentzel 20:27
Yeah, that's always a tough situation. It's almost like, and I hear this a lot really, especially from even older people than me, you know, previous generations where they say, you know, a lot, a lot of what Sports teaches you prepares you for the world. And I do believe there are direct correlations in that, you know, and, you know, they'll give you sports analogies to try to relate to what you're doing at work. And at the end of the day, sometimes those things are very cliche to me. But I mean, you do look back on it. And you know, a bad coach is just as bad as a bad boss. And it's like, how do you how do you teach yourself? How to play soccer? How do you teach yourself to do your job on your own? It's a tough situation to be in.
Geovanny Mayorga 21:09
Absolutely. I went to open and I played on the team two years, Captain. Again, coach was not very good. The first year, it was the coach's first year as well. I kid you not we were like, like the movie that the bad news bears, which is about baseball. If people don't know just to give people background listeners background, a quick background on the movie, the bad news, bad news bears. It's about a baseball team and children to the children. The children are really the wimpier non athletic kids.
Drew Wentzel 21:53
That's, that's the nice way of putting it.
Geovanny Mayorga 21:56
That's a nice way of putting it. That's how I remember my first year at Oakton, it was like a Bad News Bears team. And I was like, like, is this out supposed to be the second year a young lady joined our team didn't have a women's soccer team. So a young lady joined our team. We made it to the playoffs. Well, the first year we won maybe like to two games, maybe second year, second year, my dad came on as coach. And then we were bought a think eight and eight or nine, nine and seven, something like that and made it to the playoffs last in penalty kicks. Oh. But yeah, and then after after that couple a couple of years later, one of my female cousins was the first one to start the women's soccer team at open. Now you and I spoke on a different conversation about the women's women's national team, US Women's National Team. Now their their coaches gone. Thank God. And and, you know, you did hear from us captain that things weren't that? Well, what you could tell, I think from from seeing them play.
Drew Wentzel 23:15
Oh yeah, you can, you can tell when everyone's on the same page. And it's, it's hard, you're human, you're gonna let things that are off the field affect things that are on the field. And that's why it's very much true. And they say, you know, just in a simple vacuum example, you know, the way you practices the way you play, the same way that like the environment you're in will either feed or fester with how you're going to play on the on the pitch. And so a great coach has the ability like we've seen, take them to new heights championships, World Cup gold, and then you can also see them crash and burn, even with the talent that they have. If teams can't come together, and if coaching staff can't provide support, and help nurture what they can naturally do, then it doesn't matter how much talent you have in the world. Yeah, are a great example of that.
Geovanny Mayorga 24:11
Would you think about the eventual champion and what's transpired, what transpired before and then after that?
Drew Wentzel 24:19
I think I think it's a real real shame that this has taken the front seat and a lot of the news circles that for a program having their first World Cup Championship be overshadowed by two seconds on. It's not even just nationalist, it's global news. This is the largest stage in most aspects of televised history, like there are very few other instances in our lifetime that get more viewership than the World Cup. Because athletics in general gets always a lot of viewership. Because whether people are athletes or not, it draws viewership, period. And then you take the most popular sport in the world. And, of course, there's gonna be people watching and it just, it's disheartening to see someone think that they're entitled to do whatever they want. And I and people might disagree with me with what we're saying here. But that's exactly what it is. It's pure entitlement to know that I can do this because who I am, my stature, my title. And the fact that he was like, No, I'm not leaving was even more mind blowing. It's insane. But um, and people will say, Well, you know, if roles were reversed there, there should still be chronic. I agree. I think there, there should be outcry. But the point of the matter is, you've never seen a woman do that to a man. I don't think I don't think women come from a position to have that much gall to do that. Because we've always been pushed down. And so, again, I just I, I feel for those players that to have this great, amazing moment. Get pletely shadowed by this instance.
Geovanny Mayorga 26:13
Yeah, absolutely. It's, it's a little mind blowing. Not only that, obviously, it happened now. His mother is involved because the mother is on a hunger strike it Oh, my gosh, it's insane. Yeah. And not only that, but then the player who scored the winning goal. The dad had passed. I heard about that, too. And I was just like, That is insane. You pass the day before and yeah, it was family chose it was to tell her and then she goes ahead and score the winning goal. That's...
Drew Wentzel 26:48
What do you think you would have done? If you were her family? Do you think you would have told her?
Geovanny Mayorga 26:54
No, I would have done the same thing.
Drew Wentzel 26:55
I think I would agree with you. I think I think it would have been different in an instance in which maybe he would have been hospitalized but not, you know, not passed. And that would be I think, to me a harder decision whether to tell her or not. But I mean, it sounds might sound cold. But you know, fact of the matter is he wasn't coming back. And she was going to find out. But where where do you put her headspace going into a game? Right. And I think, from what I could tell, and again, everything, you know, people are going to act differently in front of a camera. But I think she took it in stride. And I hope she comes to terms with their decision and where they were coming from. And ultimately, you can tell they tried to do what was best for her. Right? Like, it's almost like it kind of panned out for everybody because that she you know, scored the winning goal should actually scored the game one of the previous goal too, and so she just had a phenomenal tournament. I think they were very much correct and making her the captain of that match. Yeah. Because I Googled who the captains were. And she didn't come up on a junior masa was one of the captains but it was a different player who was listened to second captain, it wasn't Olga. Cremona, I believe is the last one. Yeah, thanks. She wasn't listed as a captain. And I think those coaching decisions to make players captains and certain games rather than for a tournament or --
Geovanny Mayorga 28:22
I wonder if they if they knew. And that's why they are captain. So
Drew Wentzel 28:29
basically, like,
Geovanny Mayorga 28:31
they're knowing ahead of time and not telling her -
Drew Wentzel 28:34
helping her rise to the occasion. Yeah, yeah, I hear you.
Geovanny Mayorga 28:37
The women's game has come a long way. I mean, if he's, in such a short period of time as the talent level that I saw in this World Cup was insane.
Drew Wentzel 28:48
Oh, I said it during the tournament. I'll say it again. This was if you've ever watched a March Madness tournament, I don't care if you don't like basketball. You've seen at some point, a March Madness game it very much at that field, which is so refreshing for the women's game, because even outside of soccer, a lot of teams that are powerhouses for a long time, absolutely, technically, are not technically but normally don't get dethroned. Right. And that's where the US women's team has been for a while. In other sports. It's just like winning, right? And it's just like, it's almost, I don't want to say boring because I do very much enjoy watching those teams play. But when it's almost so predictable, about who's going to win, it takes some of the fun out of it because then you're not on the edge of your seat of work ago of what could happen of who's going to rise there. I mean, the amount of African nations this year, and Caribbean nations that have shown up for their countries, and even the fact that some of the teams that have qualified for World Cup for the very first time. I'm half Filipino, and I was super excited to see the Filipino team make it to the World Cup. Now play for them. Yeah, I would have a better shot with that team than the US team. Let's, let's be fair. But no, I think last time we talked one of the questions I wanted to ask you, because it's very, I get a lot of very answers from people. And so in a championship game, would you rather be blown out or lose one nothing. And why?
Geovanny Mayorga 30:23
I've always said, I'm okay, losing one, nothing. But to me, the hardest thing is losing at the last second or the last minute with the last second goal or last minute goal. That to me is a killer. If it's a close game, it's one nothing. And I lose, like, Okay, we give it everything we did, if I'm blown out, is it'll be just like, contract catastrophe. I'm like, I don't ever see myself playing a championship and getting blown out because I know, like, I didn't deserve to be here, which is like, you know, I think it's a different mindset then. But if I do one once, I would not want to be blown out. Because then it's like, I didn't deserve to be here. And this is clearly your better team. And we need to reevaluate what we're doing as a team. One, nothing is like, Okay, I'll accept that. I do not want to get blown out any any game, let alone --
Drew Wentzel 31:18
So you're saying if you lose one-nothing, it depends when you get scored on.
Geovanny Mayorga 31:22
Yeah.
Drew Wentzel 31:23
So it doesn't matter how you get scored on.
Geovanny Mayorga 31:26
You know, with soccer, and everybody says, as you can lose one-nothing. And you could be the better team.
Drew Wentzel 31:34
And I think so to answer my own question. That's why I'd rather be blown out. Because I understand the sentiment of I don't feel like I should be here. But at the same time, if I got there, I deserve to be there. Now, if the other team was just outright better than. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. I see both ways. But like, I think, at the, to put it simply, that night, after the loss of that game, what's going to help me sleep better, knowing that we could have won, because we only lost one nothing. Regardless of how it scored, right? It could have been amazing goal, which kept an amazing team to one nothing, it could have been a PK could have been a bad Breakaway, whatever it is, it's still won nothing, it's still very achievable, win, and still not come out on top. Whereas like,
Geovanny Mayorga 32:25
it could be one of those where you're an overachiever, and then you get blown out by a better team. So then in that sense, it's just like, I wasn't supposed to be here anyway.
Drew Wentzel 32:35
I know. And that's why I look at it's like, there's a lot of sports where you have to win multiple games to win a championship. You know, baseball is made that way. Basketball is done that way, football is similar to us where they get one game one and done, right, you need to show up or you don't come out on top. And I think that's why it's easier for baseball players and basketball players to accept whether they've lost or won. Because I've had chances. You know, maybe you don't show up for one game, but you dominate the next game. You only get the one game in soccer, you only get the one game in football. Right? So it's like you need to show up. And that's why I think that one nothing laws are so bad. It's true. Right? And I'm thinking like, blow out, like blow out to me at a high level game would be like three nothing. Not like I'm not talking like rec soccer or it's like eat nothing like that. That is your game. Maybe you maybe you don't deserve to be there.
Geovanny Mayorga 33:30
Because then you get into different levels. And I've seen that playing ice hockey. But that's an entirely different conversation. I know you have to go. We can continue talking for another 30 minutes, probably longer. Yes. And you know, maybe we'll do this on a second episode. Continue the conversation. Yeah. So I want to thank you for doing the podcast. I think it was very easy conversation. I hope our listeners get that same sense as well. And looking forward to potentially doing another one down the line. Want to thank you for taking the time and remind the listeners that you can reach us at MCC or podcast@mccollege.edu And we look forward to speaking to you next time.
