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A Few Minutes With … Brian Siemann

Jan. 13, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Brian Siemann (Photo provided)

2020 Paralympic Games trainee Brian Siemann chats with Vince Lara of the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois about how he got involved with racing, coach Adam Bleakney and working at Disability Resources & Educational Services at Illinois.

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Transcript

VINCE LARA: Hello. This is Vince Lara at the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. Today I spend a few minutes with Brian Siemann, two-time paralympian who’s training again in Illinois for a spot in the 2020 games in Tokyo. Brian, good to talk to you.

So you’re a graduate of Notre Dame High from New Jersey, the school that also produced Star Jones, famously, among others. And you started taking part in racing when Coach McLaughlin introduced you to it. Did you think that sports wasn’t something you’d ever be able to do to take part in before that?

BRIAN SIEMANN: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Sports to me was kind of this foreign concept that, you know, I didn’t really know of any opportunities that existed nor did I really see any kind of representation of athletes with disabilities competing anywhere. So it’s kind of one of those things that when you’re– when you’re growing up, you just sort of kind of resigned yourself to the fact if you don’t see it, then it’s kind of out of sight, out of mind. And you just look for other opportunities or other sort of interests that, you know, are kind of calling to you. And so when I was asked by coach McLaughlin if I wanted to come out for the racing team, it was very much a shock because sports, again, was something that I had never considered myself doing nor did I really consider myself excelling at it at all. So it was definitely a memorable day, to say the least.

VINCE LARA: Yeah, and how quickly did you come to enjoy the sports part of it? I guess– was it racing that you got into first?

BRIAN SIEMANN: Yeah, yeah. So I got into racing. And so basically, the high school coach McLaughlin had said to me, you know, I’ve never coach an athlete with a disability before. And I was like, oh, cool.

Well, I’ve never done any sports before. And so he was like, we’ll just kind of figure this out together. And so basically, my high school raised money for my first racing chair, which cost about $5,000, which is a huge– looking back on it now is a huge– was a huge sort of gamble that they took and kind of a leap of faith in me just to kind of have me be included on this– on my high school track team.

And then I just started racing. I did the same workouts that all the able-bodied runners did. And so it was just– I was just another member of the team, and I just used a racing chair instead of my legs.

VINCE LARA: Yeah, that’s great. Now you know, being from the east coast, did you know about Illinois’ training facilities, and was coming here about DRES and about the ability for you to continue to train?

BRIAN SIEMANN: Absolutely. But at first, it was not the case. So being from New Jersey and having no exposure to sports, I had created sort of this four year plan for myself where I was going to graduate from high school. And even when I started racing, I had said, like, OK. I’ll do this through high school, like, you know.

But it was never anything that I envisioned happening much later on and, like, continuing to do now for, oh my God, nearly 16 years at this point. And so I definitely did not consider that. But as I started to train, I think around my– like, towards the end of my sophomore and junior year, as you go to these local competitions with other athletes with disabilities, you start to– Illinois is a term that’s frequently mentioned.

And so you start to– you know, again, I never– I was living in New Jersey. I was by the shore, by New York City. The idea of coming out to the Midwest and cornfields was like the last thing I ever wanted to do. But I was actually– I was recruited out here. I came up for a visit I want to say my– like, the beginning of my senior year, I came out for a track camp that the university program runs for younger kids with disabilities.

I came out, and I did like the whole visit. I saw alma mater. And then I went– I trained with all of the other U of I paralympians.

And as soon as I came home, I was like, this is where I want to go. Upon just, like, getting around campus, just seeing just the culture around this entire university towards disability is something that is noticeable right away even for someone who has no exposure to it. And so oddly enough, so I submitted my application. I did– I think it was like the early decision thing or whatever.

And so around that December 1 or whenever that is, I remember I got– I was, like, frantically checking my email. And I was really frustrated because it was– we’re east coast time. And so I had to wait until 6 o’clock and not 5:00, even though it’s, you know, the same thing. but–

VINCE LARA: Right.

BRIAN SIEMANN: My didn’t view it that way. And so I was, like, frantically, like, refreshing my email. And I actually accepted my offer of admission before even telling my parents that I got in.

VINCE LARA: Oh wow.

BRIAN SIEMANN: I remember just telling them, like, oh yeah, I got in and I’m going just because I knew that this was where I belonged.

VINCE LARA: Now you predated Coach Bleakney, correct?

BRIAN SIEMANN: No, he had been here for– I want to say about four years before I started. And so he recruited me.

VINCE LARA: OK. So did you know about him, and was his reputation that wide that even in the East Coast, people knew, oh yeah, you want to go, you know, train with coach?

BRIAN SIEMANN: Oh yeah. So with Adam, it’s really funny. So we kind of have this running joke where once I started to learn about the Illinois program my junior year or so, I mean, even before I came out here, you started to see– like, I learned about the accolades of Adam Bleakney.

It was like I wanted to impress him. And so he would always come to these junior national competitions and everything. And I still remember my conversation with him.

And I always ask him now. I’m like, do you remember, like, where we met and what we talked about? And he’s like, yeah, yeah, of course. And he has no idea. And so it’s kind of this recurring joke between us that he remembers me when I was a kid. And now he’s been stuck with me since 2008.

VINCE LARA: Now you’ve competed twice in the Paralympics. Do your teammates, at this point, come to you for advice? Because you know, there’s a pretty nice gap between you and, let’s say, Alexa or some of the younger members. And is that a role that you enjoy?

BRIAN SIEMANN: Yeah, so I think we have a really welcoming sort of environment. I remember when I was the young kid sort of what that was like to be– you know, we’re kind of really lucky here. We’re surrounded by phenomenal athletes. And so I remember kind of feeling slightly intimidated but just sort of how welcome I was made to feel by the older teammates that I still am friends with to this day. And so it is something that I do take very seriously when new students come in that I try to be that open sort of person that kind of talks to them and kind of lets them kind of learn from some of the mistakes I made maybe. Or just to have someone to talk it was always kind of– is something that I do cherish a lot.

VINCE LARA: Mm-hm. Now you got your masters here. Now you’re working in DRES and student services. So do you allow yourself to think what’s next beyond sport and what your next step would be?

BRIAN SIEMANN: So taking this job as an access specialist at DRES really sort of was kind of what I was thinking as what’s my next step after sports. And so I’m very fortunate in the fact that working at DRES gives me the opportunity to still train and train for 2020 and also still work with students, which is what I love doing. And so that culture, really, I don’t think I can do this anywhere else. And that’s kind of– this is the perfect sort of position for me. But it really did come out of this desire to sort of– and it’s a desire that’s really kind of– it’s a message that’s instilled by Adam because he wants us to look beyond sport as well and then to look towards like having healthy, active lifestyles through sports but also then having something set up after the fact because that’s something that a lot of athletes struggle with if they don’t have some sort of plan in place.

VINCE LARA: My thanks to Brian Siemann. This has been “A Few Minutes With.”

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Podcast: A Few Minutes With … Kevin Richards

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Feb. 13, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Kinesiology and Community Health assistant professor Kevin Richards spends a Few Minutes With AHS media relations specialist Vince Lara and speaks about his pedagogy research and the socialization of teachers, primarily in physical education.

Transcript

VINCE LARA: This is Vince Lara in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. Today it’s been a few minutes with Kevin Richards, Assistant Professor in the Kinesiology and Community Health Department of AHS, to talk about his pedagogy research and the socialization of teachers.

Kevin, what inspires your research? Let me ask it this way. What led you to do what you do?

KEVIN RICHARDS: Yeah, that’s a good question. It’s interesting because a big thrust of my research is socialization. So, basically, you’re asking me what socialized me into the research that I do. But so I did my undergraduate degree back in Massachusetts in physical education. And I had every intention to go out into schools and to become a K-12 physical education teacher.

But back east, you have to have a master’s degree within five years to keep teaching in schools. And so a lot of people did like the night– the night school thing, and that just wasn’t for me. So I decided that I was going to look at graduate programs so I could just knock out that master’s degree in one shot, and then focus on teaching after. And that led me out to Purdue University, where I did my master’s and built the relationship with my advisor, Tom Templin.

And Tom studied socialization. And he was one of kind of the forefathers of that area of research in physical education. And I just got really passionate about that area of research through talking with him. So, you know, the main thrust of my research through the work that I did on my PhD and then, you know, and the majority of my career since focuses on how we recruit, prepare– recruit and prepare teacher– individuals to go into the field of physical education.

And then once they’re out in the schools, what are their lives and careers like? Physical education tends to be a marginalized subject in a lot of schools. And so I do a lot of work looking at marginality and how that affects teachers’ understanding of themselves and their relationships with others.

VINCE LARA: So, basically, to streamline what you’re saying is, you’re trying to build the best teacher you can, is that fair to say?

KEVIN RICHARDS: Yes, in a sense. You know, we look to recruit people into our programs who are diverse in terms of things like traditional markers like race and ethnicity. But then also in terms of their background experiences. Physical education’s been traditionally a discipline that potential recruits really see to align with coaching.

So those who want to coach extra curricular school sports sometimes come into physical education with these really solid, developed backgrounds in team sport. And they see physical education as kind of a conduit to continue that. But not every kid who is out taking physical education in schools loves sports. So we try to recruit more diverse students.

But then also looking at the methods that we use in our physical education programs to give those students the knowledge and skills that they’re going to need in order to become effective practitioners into the future. But, also, you know, we focus a lot on dispositions, because, you know, while they’re in our classes, we can hold them accountable. So we can grade them. If they don’t do what we tell them to do, you know, we can fail them even.

But the reality is that once our students transition out of our programs out into schools, we lose that control. And so at that point the true marker is, you know, have they internalized these beliefs to the extent that they’re going to use them even when we’re not watching. And so, we really try to work with students to help them develop ideologies that align with best practice, but are grounded in their own experience, and that they’ll follow through on.

VINCE LARA: What are some of the challenges, you know, physical education teachers– there’s some stigma around that, right? So what are some of the challenges of getting kids into the program? And what do you do to try to, you know, defeat some of those stigmas, if you will?

KEVIN RICHARDS: Yeah, yeah. That’s– it’s a really good question. And it’s timely, because this has actually been one particular area that I’ve been focusing on quite a bit in my work right now. But, you know, there are a lot of those negative social stigmas. And some of them, you know, are grounded in fact. You know, unfortunately, there are some physical education teachers, especially at the secondary level, the middle school and high school, who teach using ineffective practices.

The colloquialism in our field is that they roll out the ball. So they just kind of throw a ball out and let the kids play. It’s not educational. It’s not purposeful. And I think that sometimes people think about physical education and they reflect upon their own past experiences or maybe what their kids are going through in school, and they use that as the marker to evaluate the whole discipline. But, you know, of course, physical education can and should do so much more than that.

And so we really try to work with, you know, on the pre-service teacher side of it, develop teachers that are ready to step out into the world of schools, and teach using effective practices. And then a lot of my work has then also looked at those teachers who are in-service, working out in the schools, and how can we help to improve their work conditions and reshape their ideologies so that they’re using best practice. And then you have kind of this streamlined approach in the ideal situation where pre-service teachers are stepping out into schools that are ready to embrace the practices that they’ve learned.

And then, you know, this is all kind of a cyclical process, because the next generation of teachers are going to come out of those schools, and they’re going to see physical education as it’s presented to them by their own teachers, and use that as the basis for evaluation to determine whether or not they think physical education is for them. And so if we can get better physical education in the schools, then we’ll have better recruits coming into our programs.

VINCE LARA: One segment of your research, I noticed, deals with helping teachers deal with stress.

KEVIN RICHARDS: Yeah.

VINCE LARA: So what methods do you use to research that?

KEVIN RICHARDS: Yeah, yeah. So I was initially trained as a qualitative researcher. My advisor, Dr. Templin, was very qualitative. I joke, in that, I don’t think he’s ever, like, calculated a mean in his career, like it just wasn’t his bag. Now I’m exaggerating, he has. But he’s very qualitative. So that’s how I was originally trained.

But then I did a postdoc at Purdue with a woman named Chantal Levesque-Bristol. And she was a cognitive psychologist that used primarily quantitative methods. So I kind of got a mix of both, and have really come to appreciate mixed methods and multiple methods working together. A lot of my studies are designed using sequential approaches.

So we might do a large scale survey of teachers, you know, and get hundreds of responses, asking them questions about stress and burnout, and, you know, protective factors like resilience and perceived mattering. And then we’ll take a sub sample of people who complete that survey, and then do qualitative interviews with them.

But what I’m really excited about is we’re taking all of this information that we’ve learned over the last few years studying teacher stress, and we’re putting it into practice. We got some funding through a small seed grant to develop a professional development program for teachers in local Champaign-Urbana area.

We’re calling it the Dream Project. That’s developing resilience and enhancing appraisals of mattering. And it’s kind of the culmination of the last six years of my career learning about stress and burnout in the relationships among these variables, and how teachers experience their work life, and then putting that to practice to try to do something about it.

VINCE LARA: You also look at social and emotional learning in physical education. Would you elaborate a little bit on that?

KEVIN RICHARDS: Yeah, yeah. So that’s kind of a sub area or a second, maybe not sub area, but it’s kind of like a second tree of my research. So I had a colleague when I was going through grad school together– grad school named Michael Hemphill. And Michael and I– or Michael was very interested in social and emotional learning using this one particular best practice model called teaching personal and social responsibility.

And so TPSR, as we call it, is a way to teach within a physical activity context that views physical activity as kind of a mediator or a vehicle to get kids talking about personal and social responsibility. So there you have that hook of physical activity that a lot of kids like. It draws them in. And then that opens the door to say, OK, well, yeah, we’re going to focus on skill development. We’re going to focus on activity. But we’re also going to help you learn to be better people.

And so we focus on goals like participation and showing good effort, respecting the rights and feelings of others, self direction, and some goal setting, leadership and helping other people. And then the ultimate goal of all of that is to take lessons learned in the gym and transfer that out into other aspects of your life. So you know, you learn about respect in a physical activity program where you can use that in school.

Before I came to the University of Alabama, I was at– or excuse me, before I came to the University of Illinois, I was at the University of Alabama. And while I was there, a doctoral student and I, Tori Ivey, we ran a after-school program that focused on social emotional learning through physical activity over the course of three years, and learned a ton about best practices and best ways to do that.

And so then moving up here to Illinois, myself, Naiman Kahn, who’s another faculty in KCH, and my wife, Felicia Richards, who’s an instructor in our department, have been collaborating to take a summer program that our department’s actually offered for like 60 years. It’s one of the longest running summer programs, physical activity summer programs in the country. It used to be called Sport Fitness.

And so we took that and made some modifications to the structure, and rolled out a revised version of the model that we’re now calling IPAL. So it’s Illinois Physical Activity and Life Skills is what we are calling the program now. And that– that’s kind of a framework that we’re going to use this summer to roll out a couple of different summer program offerings using physical activity as kind of the hook, but really trying to get at those social emotional learning goals.

VINCE LARA: Is that program one of the reasons why you chose Illinois?

KEVIN RICHARDS: You know, I chose Illinois for a lot of reasons. I really like the people I worked with at Alabama, had great relationships down there. But Kim Graber and Amy Woods who are in pedagogy area with me, they’re leading scholars in the field. And Kim was actually on my dissertation committee. So we have this relationship that goes back a ways. And then, you know, Amy and I have collaborated over the years, too.

So those pre-existing relationships are a big part of what drew me here. But then, you know, or at least piqued my interest. But then after having come onto campus and see everything that Illinois has to offer, I mean this is a magical place. I really love it here. And, you know, my wife and I couldn’t be happier with the decision we made.

VINCE LARA: Now research obviously is a big part of why you’re at Illinois and our institution, obviously. But you know you also have to teach.

KEVIN RICHARDS: Yeah, yeah.

VINCE LARA: So do you– is there a particular class that you enjoy more than others?

KEVIN RICHARDS: Yeah, yeah. And people who listen to this might find this a bit surprising. But I love teaching actually. You know, it’s a huge part of my identity. I look forward to it. It’s not a burden. I love interacting with students. And the way that my teaching appointment is split here is that I teach one physical education majors course, so I still have my connection with the PE majors.

I teach a rotating course for our doctoral students. And then actually my favorite course is– it’s KIN201, Physical Activity Research Methods. And when the course got turned over to me, Neha Gothe and I actually collaborate on it. I teach it fall, she teaches in the spring. And when the course got turned over to us, you know, I think that it was a good idea, but it needed some fleshing out and development. And it’s been really fun to do that over the last couple of years with Neha.

And, you know, we’ve got the course to a position now, where the feedback that we’re getting at least, is that the students really enjoy it. We use kind of a lecture lab format. So they– you know, a large group lecture, where we can kind of talk about these concepts. But then the students break out into lab groups, where they get more kind of intimate contact and attention.

And, you know, I love talking about research. And so sparking that interest in the minds of our undergraduates, I think is a really cool part of our job. And so, I just got an email the other day actually from a student who was able to take something that we talked about in class a few weeks ago, and apply it in her life, reading a research article, and she wrote to me to tell me about that, which I thought was really cool and that really speaks to what I hope students get out of this class.

VINCE LARA: My thanks to Kevin Richards. This has been A Few Minutes.

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Podcast: A Few Minutes With … Naiman Khan

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Dec. 12, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Kinesiology and Community Health assistant professor Naiman Khan speaks with AHS media relations specialist Vince Lara about his research on the impact of diet on cognitive health.

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Transcript

VINCE LARA: This is Vince Lara in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. Today, I spend a few minutes with Naiman Khan, an assistant professor in the Kinesiology and Community Health Department, to talk about his research in the disciplines of dietetics, body composition, and cognitive neuroscience.

NAIMAN KHAN: First of all, thank you for having me. It’s a real pleasure to speak with you today. When I actually started doing, starting my training, I was interested in practicing first. So I was interested in becoming a registered dietitian and working in the field– so focusing on clinical nutrition.

And all the way through my master’s degree, that was the plan. So I did my master’s in nutrition. And then, I did a dietetic internship, which is the clinical training. And during that time, I realized that I really enjoyed the research on campus. And after I received my dietetic credential, I returned to do my doctorate– and then, focused on research.

And but that– you know, my training in dietetics was still very useful in sort of shaping the questions and my approach for my research agenda. So it’s still very beneficial. But that was a point at which I decided to pursue research.

And, of course, there are different ways to do research and different types of institutions. I really enjoyed teaching. And especially during my graduate training– I was working with different schools and teachers across the state of Illinois. And I really enjoyed the education component of my research. So I wanted to work at a place like the University of Illinois that gives an opportunity to do both research and nutrition.

VINCE LARA: Now, you mentioned nutritional neuroscience is what your research focuses on. And what led you to study that?

NAIMAN KHAN: Well, that fascination of, sort of, merging those two disciplines started when I was a graduate student. I had a assistantship in the University of Illinois Extension program. And my job involved really working with teachers and children in elementary schools that had at least 50% of the population receiving free or reduced school lunch. And we were focused, of course, on that. In that study were focused on nutrition education.

But I spent a lot of time in schools. And it really got me thinking about academic achievement and cognitive health markers in children and whether our nutrition could be used as a way to meet that health gap that we know exists in many different communities.

We know that there are some implications of– some households, some schools do better than others. And we know there’s some variability in how well children do in school performance. And I just wondered if nutrition could be something we could leverage to do that.

And that fascination led into a postdoctoral position with Chuck Hillman, who was a– Dr. Hillman, here at the University of Illinois, was doing work in pediatric exercise neuroscience. And that was where I received my neuroscience trainings working under him.

VINCE LARA: So you focused on diet and physical activity as well as the link to obesity and cognition. So I think, traditionally, people might see the brain and the heart as separate– but what did you find when you looked at the interactions of those things?

NAIMAN KHAN: Yeah, so the philosophy sort of varies depending on which scientist you speak to. Traditionally, yes, people have studied the brain separately from physical health– so cognitive health has been separate from physical health. But the reality is that they’re co-dependent. We have evolved as a species to mature.

For example, from a developmental standpoint, cognitive development is in synchrony with physical development. And they really inform each other. And it turns out, if you look at the data, the epidemiological data, in particular, all the markers that affect cardiovascular health, chronic disease, those things– for example, sedentary behavior, and even poor physical activity patterns, poor diet, elevation in blood markers that increase risk for heart disease– these same factors are also predictive of cognitive health in individuals. And we see that quite a bit in the older adult literature.

And what we’ve been interested in examining is really– when does that start? When do we start seeing that link between behavioral patterns and these health factors that we know are important for living a healthy life? When does that– they start actually having an impact on cognitive measures?

And so far, we have been able to demonstrate this in young adults. We’ve shown it in preadolescent children and even in younger kids now. So we’re doing some work in four and five-year-olds where we’re seeing some very similar patterns. So it would be consistent with the hypothesis that health behaviors like healthy nutrition and physical activity, and of course, maintaining a healthy growth status, a healthy body weight– these factors seem to be important for cognitive health even in early childhood.

VINCE LARA: You recently did a study that got some really good publicity on the link between children’s cognitive processes and water. So what led you to study that?

NAIMAN KHAN: Really, what inspired that is that—our laboratory is interested in looking at diet quality. So at least, I don’t think that there’s only one way to eat healthy. And there are multiple aspects of our diet that we used or leveraged to even do that for a healthier lifestyle.

And we know that water is a marker of high diet quality. And that’s been demonstrated. Most of the foods that are higher in water tend to be fruits and vegetables and water consumption. Hydration is vital. Adequate hydration is vital for survival. And that’s been known for a long time.

So we were interested in– previous work in our lab had looked at dietary fiber. We had looked at dietary consumption of cholesterol and some fatty acids. And another marker of diet quality is also water consumption. And so that’s what led to that study.

And then, we also realized that in the literature, there’s very little known about hydration in children and its implications for cognitive health. What’s alarming, really, is that recent epidemiological data even suggests that majority of children in virtually most countries, but even in the United States, specifically, are chronically in a state of hypohydration, where then, we don’t think they’re adequately hydrated, based on some really good markers in urine.

So we thought it would be important to determine whether this chronic state of hypohydration has implications for cognitive health. And if we did provide children with more water to drink and modulated water intake– to determine whether that would actually affect certain aspects of cognition.

VINCE LARA: Did you find or have you found that it’s a lack of understanding the importance of water? Or is it a lack of access to water?

NAIMAN KHAN: So it’s a combination of both. And when it comes to kids and children, the challenge is that they’re more likely to have involuntary dehydration. But they depend on adults for much of their food intake. It’s the same thing with beverages and water.

So unless adults are paying attention to making sure that kids have access to water– it’s being provided to them, it’s likely that children also then have increased risk for dehydration. And that’s a awareness that we just need to have in our communities and in families and schools to make sure children are having access to water.

And then, the other aspect of it is also the research gaps. As scientists in the area of behavioral sciences, we haven’t really done a lot of work with water. Even though it’s such a vital and essential nutrient to survival, it is often taken for granted. And we really haven’t figured out or conducted randomized controls for trials to really determine what is the adequate amount of water necessary to really be healthy in all the different domains of health.

The current recommendations are really just based on, sort of, population patterns of what we think is adequate. But really, we don’t know how much water should be consumed for particular outcomes of health. So in that regard, it’s really a challenge of both sides– it’s awareness, access. And also just– so as far as a research priority, it’s just not been something that we’ve really done a good job at.

VINCE LARA: Now, we’re conducting this interview in your lab. And you can see– your lab was buzzing out there. So what kind of things are you working on that are upcoming that you’re excited to talk about?

NAIMAN KHAN: Well, we have a lifespan approach in the laboratory. So we’re conducting studies in– from four and five-year-olds all the way to older adults. And as I mentioned earlier, there are many ways of living healthy. And if you just look at diet alone, there are many factors of diet that could contribute to cognitive health. And the same thing could go with physical activity and fitness as well. There are multiple components of activity that could be predictive of cognitive health.

So the work that we’re doing in the laboratory is multidisciplinary. And that’s really exciting for us. We like to merge that knowledge in and across disciplines. So it’s hard to pick a particular area that I’m really excited about because it’s all very exciting to me. I have a lot of different interests.

But I can tell you about some of the recent studies we’re doing. Some of them focusing on younger children– so four and five-year-olds. We are interested in determining whether the factors that we have shown are predictive in early adolescence– so true also in younger age in terms of diet quality, aerobic fitness, and the effect on cognitive health.

We’re excited about that area of research. There isn’t a lot known in that area. And then, on the other end of the spectrum, we’re focusing in the area of multiple sclerosis and trying to understand how a diet can impact some of the symptomology and quality of life in multiple sclerosis– which we’re excited about because there’s some potential to really have an impact on people’s lives.

VINCE LARA: My thanks to Naiman Khan. This has been A Few Minutes With.

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Podcast: A Few Minutes With … Clarion Mendes

Dec. 05, 2019 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

AHS media relations specialist Vince Lara speaks with clinical assistant professor Clarion Mendes about her speech pathology work and work with helping transgendered individuals find their voice.

Transcript

VINCE LARA: This is Vince Lara in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. Today, I spend a few minutes with Clarion Mendes of the Speech and Hearing Science Department to talk about speech pathology, alternative communication, and helping transgender individuals find their voice.

Clarion, thanks for meeting with me today. I really appreciate it. I wanted to ask you– I commonly ask this question– did you always want to teach?

CLARION MENDES: So no. And I think that’s one thing that’s really fascinating and exciting about the fields of audiology and speech language pathology. When I went into graduate school, I initially started graduate school in a different field, and then I transitioned into speech and hearing science.

And what’s phenomenal about it is, if you approach the fields of audiology and speech pathology with an open mind, with a curious mind, you’ll never know what you might discover as far as what your strengths are. So if you had asked me 10 years ago when I graduated, would I end up teaching at a large research university, I’d probably say no way. But it’s been a really fantastic journey.

VINCE LARA: Yeah, so speaking about your research, what led you to do what you do? Was there something– some inspiration in your life that made you decide on this kind of field?

CLARION MENDES: So I have always been fascinated by the prospect of language. And as I was studying the fields of linguistics and psychology, I realized that I had a deep fascination with the idea of what can happen when a system that was previously entirely intact has had some degradation from some sort of neurological event or some other situation. And so I switched in to speech and hearing science and became a speech language pathologist.

And I started out working with the geriatric population in skilled nursing facilities as well as acute care. So that’s kind of how I fell into this field. Yeah.

VINCE LARA: Yeah, interesting. Well, I know the geriatric population is your favorite population of people to work with, and I wonder, why?

CLARION MENDES: I think the geriatric population has the best stories. So when you have lived that long of a life– and it’s also my grandmother’s 89th birthday today–

VINCE LARA: Oh, wow.

CLARION MENDES: –so happy birthday, Grandma.

VINCE LARA: Yeah. [CHUCKLES]

CLARION MENDES: They have the most rich life experiences. And so it’s so rewarding to be able to give back to individuals that have given so much of their lives to their hobbies, and their interests, and their vocations. So it’s great.

VINCE LARA: That’s fantastic. So I wonder, today’s era of communication is all about text, and it’s all about non-speech communication. Does that help someone who has a speech difficulty communicate?

CLARION MENDES: Well, if we look at the idea that pretty much everybody uses communication in multiple modalities– so we’re not just robots who are producing information that we process in our brain, right? We are using communication in so many different ways, whether it’s texting, email, body language, dress, so on and so forth. So I think we probably should look at it not just as something that helps individuals that might have a communication disorder, but we all benefit from having multiple different options to communicate, not just speech.

VINCE LARA: Because it makes the message easier to convey?

CLARION MENDES: Sometimes, yes. Sometimes it might make it more complex, right? You can think of the situation where you sent a text message and then regretted it shortly thereafter, realizing, oh it didn’t convey the right tone or it didn’t convey the right message that I was looking for. So just like any tool– if we look at communication as a tool– it can be used for good or not so good.

VINCE LARA: That is true. Now, you’ve been involved in helping transgendered people find their voice. Very popular research that you’ve undertaken. Now, how does that process work? And to you, why is it important?

CLARION MENDES: So it’s been very, very rewarding. And I will say that since I started working with this population about four years ago, the vocabulary and the terminology has changed, and the culture has changed quite a bit. So I’m just going to say that we don’t say transgendered people, we say transgender individuals.

VINCE LARA: OK.

CLARION MENDES: So I stumbled upon working with this community about four years ago, and it was completely by accident. So, like, a lot of, like I mentioned earlier, having a curiosity and an eagerness to learn has just been super rewarding in this field, and is one of the reasons why I love being in speech path. So about four years ago, a young woman had reached out to somebody– a couple of people my department– my department head as well as the professor who was here at the time, tenure track working with voice. And she had mentioned that she wanted to work on voice feminization because her gender identity was female, and it was causing a lot of distress that she had this masculine-sounding voice.

And so my department head and my colleague said, why don’t you speak with Clarion? She’d probably be a good fit for you as far as this kind of treatment is concerned. And I met with this young woman and I was completely honest with her. I said, I’ve not worked with this population before. I said, once I heard from you I started digging into the research a little bit to see what’s out there. And I said I’m open-minded, but it’s going to be a learning journey for us together.

And she’s like, that sounds good. Let’s do it. And it was a great experience. Made a tremendous positive impact in her life. And since then, I’ve pursued additional education, done a lot of readings. I have to pull– because it’s a relatively new field of study– when I’m working with individuals, I have to pull from research in lots of different fields. So possibly acoustics– I’ve looked into the forensic linguistics literature, and linguistics in general. And so since then, I’ve just had a big increase in caseload from word of mouth, from different health care practitioners in the community.

VINCE LARA: Locally, or have you extended beyond that?

CLARION MENDES: Locally, although I do hear– I do get people from all over the state. So for instance, Lurie in Chicago has reached out to me for resources as well as some places in Wisconsin, and just around the state because it’s a relatively rare specialty.

VINCE LARA: Can you talk a little bit about how you go about changing someone’s voice?

CLARION MENDES: Yeah, absolutely.

VINCE LARA: Oh, great.

CLARION MENDES: So I think a lot of people, when they think of voice feminization, immediately their brain goes to, let’s increase the pitch. But if we think about when an individual is speaking in a falsetto, it doesn’t sound particularly feminine, right? It just sounds like a male speaking with a really high squeaky voice. So while there is a baseline pitch that a person needs to achieve in order to be perceived as having a feminine voice, there’s a lot of other factors involved.

So I focus a lot on resonance, which is kind of a tricky term, right? Sort of difficult to define, it’s difficult to train. But some of the things that I’m looking for when we’re training residents is, how do we modify our articulators? So for instance, our lips and our tongue, to make the oral cavity, the mouth, present sound with a more feminine manner?

So some of the ways we do that is, if we sort of move the position of the tongue to be more forward in the mouth, it’s going to sound more feminine than if we were to retract the tongue to the back of the mouth. So things like that– playing with the articulators, playing with inflection, helping to better connect breath support with foundation– these are all things that can help shape the voice. But it’s a process. And it’s a lot of work for the folks that choose to pursue this, but it generally is very rewarding for them as well.

VINCE LARA: I imagine so. Do you ever look at the person who is asking for this kind of help and try to fit the right voice with them by doing that? Or is it something they say to you, I’m trying to sound like this? I mean, how does that process work?

CLARION MENDES: That’s such a great question. So something that’s super important– and I’m so glad that you brought that up– is I’m their guide. It’s not my job to tell them exactly what they’re supposed to sound like. Everybody’s goals are going to be different. But it might be my job to help shape expectations to be realistic.

So we can do amazing things transforming the voice and communication. But if somebody has a very deep bassy voice, probably not going to make them a soprano. However, what we can do is make a voice that helps them feel like themselves, express themselves in the identity that they truly are.

VINCE LARA: Mm-hmm. Well, as a clinical professor, then, you have a course load. Are there courses that are your favorites? I know it’s like asking who your favorite child is, right?

CLARION MENDES: Yeah, right, right right. So I primarily have taught the motor speech disorders class. And so I’ll be teaching that again in the summer. I am excited, though, because coming up in the spring, I teach a medical methods in speech language pathology class.

And what I love about that is, that is helping students prepare for the final step before they actually get their master’s degree in speech language pathology. So at our institution, the last 10 weeks of their graduate career they’re in a full time medical externship. And that’s really exciting because in that opportunity they get to work with patients full-time and get to show what they know– show what they’ve acquired and learned during their experience here.

And so the medical methods and speech language pathology class prepares them so that they can take all of the coursework and all of the clinical work and be able to apply it to patients directly.

VINCE LARA: My thanks to Clarion Mendes. This has been A Few Minutes With.

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Podcast: A Few Minutes With Kim Shinew, Monika Stodolska and Liza Berdychevsky

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April 03, 2024 | Ethan Simmons

This is a summary of the article that hooks the reader

In this new podcast, Recreation, Sport and Tourism Department faculty Kim Shinew, Monika Stodolska and Liza Berdychevsky discuss their study and findings on youth gang involvement and recreation programs.

Transcript

VINCE LARA: This is Vince Lara in the communications department of the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. Recently, Kim Shinew, Monica Stodolska and Liza Berdychevsky, all of the recreation, sport, and tourism department, discussed their research on how recreation programs can be effective in addressing youth gang involvement and violence.

KIM SHINEW: My name is Kim Shinew, and I’m a faculty member in the department of recreation, sport, and tourism, in the College of Applied Health Sciences. And I’m here with my two colleagues.

MONIKA STODOLSKA: Monika Stodolska– I’m also the faculty of the department of recreation, sport, and tourism. And I work with Kim for almost 20 years.

LIZA BERDYCHEVSKY: My name is Liza Berdychevsky. I’m also a faculty of the department of recreation, sport, and tourism. And we’ve been working together on this project for several years now.

KIM SHINEW: Well, we’re here today to talk about a study that we did up in Chicago. The study started many years ago in a project that Monica and I did as it relates to youth in Chicago and their access to recreation and sport programs. When Liza joined us, she had an interest in gang activities. And that coincided very nicely with research findings that we had had in previous studies. And so we wanted to conduct a study that focused more specifically on the gang experience and their motivations for joining gangs and their experiences once they left gangs.

MONIKA STODOLSKA: Some of our research topics were the factors that affect people’s use of outdoor recreation spaces, specifically Latina youth. And we conducted focus groups. And some of the things that people talked about over and over again was how crime affects people’s ability to use public spaces and recreation resources. And that’s how it all started.

LIZA BERDYCHEVSKY: And then in this particular study, which was funded by the campus research board grant, we have focused on the roles and benefits of using recreation in the prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation programs targeting youth involved in gangs. Recreation is a tool that can be used on many levels in the prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation efforts for vulnerable youth who are involved in gang violence. Now, not every recreation effort would necessarily work.

There are key features that we have to deliver to those recreation programs. They have to be consistent. They have to be affordable.

They have to be attractive to youth. They have to offer structure and supervision. And they have to target high risk youth appropriately.

And then if we are successful with that, we can deliver pro-social relationships, positive role models. We can deliver capacity for transformation and reappraisal. And we can also offer safe havens to vulnerable youth, which is extremely important.

One of the programs that was particularly instrumental in our society and helped us a lot, both with recruitment and data collection and even understanding the results that we’re getting, is Cure Violence, formally known as Ceasefire. They’re actually an intervention program. They employ former gang members who act as violence interrupters and mentors and coaches who work with high risk youths who are already involved in gangs and gang violence.

So many of the features that we are discussing were successfully implemented in their programming efforts. They were using recreation both as a hook to entice people to join their programs, but they were also using it as much more than that to helping them open up, grieve over things that happened, connect to each other, communicate better to each other, connect to positive role models, and even things like learning how to be a father because some of them– not all of them.

Some of him never had a fatherly role model. So they use recreation in various roles. And many of our findings are linking well to that example.

KIM SHINEW: And I would just like to add to what Liza said about Ceasefire. They were instrumental in the success of this study. As you might imagine, it is difficult to find former gang members that want to sit down and talk to you about a research study.

And we reached out to Ceasefire, and they reached out to their group, their members, and asked them if they would participate in this study. So when we would go up to Chicago, they coordinated the interviews. And we would sit in this room with them, and we would interview someone. And then we would walk out, and we would say next.

And the next person would come in. So in terms of data collection, it was a dream because of their willingness to help us. And when we asked them about their willingness to help us, they felt that our studies, goals, aligned with the goals of their project. And that’s why they wanted to assist us with recruiting people for the study.MONIKA STODOLSKA: It was actually interesting because some of the older gang members who, you know, deceased from the activity decades ago, they mentioned that gangs in the 1960s and ’70s and ’80s, there were action organization that provided recreation opportunities to youth. They were the ones who set up the soup kitchens in the neighborhoods. They are the ones who took kids to Six Flags, and they actually provided recreation opportunities for the kids. And now they comment that is no longer the case.

It’s more everybody’s, you know, on their own, and they’re focused more on obtaining money from drug sales than caring for the community. Obviously, this was the more of a romanticized notion of gangs, what happened 20, 30, 40 years ago. But they were sort of disillusion about the landscape of crime that is happening in Chicago and major urban areas right now. And it’s more difficult to police them as well.

KIM SHINEW: Monika mentioned something that I just thought of when she was talking about the type of individual that is attracted to gangs. I mean, sometimes, it’s been a family tradition, and they just, it’s what they know. Other times, it’s youth looking for thrills, right, and the risk associated with being a member of the gang. And I believe that this is another place where recreation and sport programs could play a role because if they can find other avenues to get that thrill and that excitement that comes with a gang, then that might be a good alternative to joining a gang.

MONIKA STODOLSKA: Absolutely, and the role models. For many of the youth, they mentioned that they’ve never had a real family. They never had someone they could depend on and someone who would actually care for them. And this is what they are looking for in gang affiliation. So the recreation practitioners whom we spoke with, they mentioned that a recreation professional, a coach, can be the mentor, can be this important person that can actually change the life of a child.

KIM SHINEW: The other thing we learned doing that study when we were interviewing middle school students is how early the recruitment for gangs started. It was much earlier than what we had anticipated and that it was happening in late elementary school, early middle school when they were being approached and asked to join gangs. We need to be on the lookout for gang activity in elementary schools and that that’s where a lot of the recruitment happens. I remember interviewing someone who said that by the time they get to high school, they’ve already decided, right?

They’re either in or they’re out. But it’s that late elementary school where they’re making that decision and then into middle school. So I think by the time you get to high school and you think about programs to prevent gang involvement at high school, that’s too late. And so it really needs to be much earlier.

LIZA BERDYCHEVSKY: And I think it also refers to what kind of programs would be offered to those different age brackets because if we’re talking about primary and middle school, we should be focusing on primary prevention efforts– so focusing on broader youth. And then when we are offering programs that are targeting high school age kids, at that point, since, like Kim said, the decision for most of them has been made already, maybe offering intervention programs that are more tailored towards high risk groups who are already involved in gangs– so different efforts and using recreation differently in those efforts.

MONIKA STODOLSKA: Our study had a lot of interesting findings, and some of the things that really struck us was that gangs have evolved in recent decades, and they have become much less organized, much less structured, more violent. There is much less cohesion among gang members and less loyalty. And what happens is that they’re mostly focused right now on earning money from drug sale.

What we are also seeing increasingly is the influence of Mexican drug cartels, especially the Sinaloa cartel in Chicago. And that really affects the landscape of violence in the city. So one of the things that we need to learn from future research is how to protect you from that new violence that is happening in our urban areas.

Another thing that was really interesting in our study that we discovered is that gangs operate not only in those impoverished central city communities– gangs are present in every city, in every neighborhood, even in small communities like Champagne Urbana. They attract youth not only from working class families but also from middle class families. So youth of all kinds of backgrounds are exposed to gang activity. So what we need to learn more in future research is what are the protective factors, what are the personal characteristics of youth that makes some kids more resilient to crime than others, and how communities and how families can use recreation to protect their children from crime and violence.

KIM SHINEW: Some of the areas that we haven’t talked about today that was certainly evident in our findings was a difference between males and females and their gang experience. And I think that is also a fertile area of research just as it relates to sexuality and risk-taking. And that’s an area that Liza has done quite a bit of work in.

LIZA BERDYCHEVSKY: Mm-hm, that’s one of the papers that we are currently writing up gangs have an extreme chauvinist culture. It’s like taking double standards that we still unfortunately have in the society and magnifying the amplitude of their influence on what roles are available to men and what roles are available to woman, what different kinds of victimization female and male gang members are being subjected to. And unfortunately, a gang is a horrible place for everybody but even more so for young women.

KIM SHINEW: What we feel is that we need to be at the table when these different intervention and rehabilitation programs are being developed because if those key qualities are not there, they will not be successful. So practitioners who are working for YMCAs and park districts and public schools and Boys and Girls Clubs can play a really pivotal role. But they need to be included at the initial stages to ensure that the programs are set up in a way that allows them to be successful.

So recreation in sports is not a panacea. It’s not an automatic that they will have a positive impact. But I think our findings highlight very well the potentially positive impact that they can have.

VINCE LARA: My thanks to Monica, Liza, and Kim. This has been A Few Minutes With.

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A Few Minutes With … Carmen Rossi

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Feb. 07, 2022 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Lawyer, entrepreneur and University of Illinois graduate Carmen Rossi speaks with Vince Lara in the College of Applied Health Sciences about his gift to Recreation, Sport and Tourism.

Transcript

VINCE LARA: Hi, and welcome to another edition of A Few Minutes With, the podcast that showcases Illinois College of Applied Health Sciences. I’m Vince Lara and today, I’m speaking with Carmen Rossi, who is an RST alum, who’s an entrepreneur, real estate developer, and owner of the legendary KAM’s, about his academic career, his entrepreneurial spirit, and his contributions to RST. So Mr. Rossi, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to talk to me this morning. How are you, sir?

CARMEN ROSSI: Good morning. Good morning. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Hello, and not only to you, Vince. And I think we’re going to have an enjoyable time speaking together. But certainly, the greater U of I community in the AHS alumni, faculty, staff, and students. This is really cool. So ready to kick it off.

VINCE LARA: Excellent. well, Carmen, I should tell our audience that you’re from Frankfort, Illinois. So as someone who grew up in the state, did you always plan to go to the University of Illinois?

CARMEN ROSSI: Well, not to give the Tom Cruise Risky Business reference a regard. But for me, personally, the University of Illinois is a highly competitive process and application and applicant pool. I’ve always had a steadfast desire to attend the community. And I think I honestly say that genuinely because I think I can very much recall the moment when I learned that I had been accepted. And I think it was with that sort of excitement was a channel for me to want to maximize my time. And that not only was during the time that I spent on campus, but that same scene reverberates today. I look at this as an opportunity to remain engaged on, as you will soon learn, very committed to the greater use of the University of Illinois community. And sort of look at it, the journey is not limited to just the years spent on campus, but my commitment beyond, which is as an alumni and as a active cheerleader to the community at large.

VINCE LARA: Now you are an English and political science major as an undergrad. Then you got your master’s degree in RST, Recreation, Sport, and Tourism. And then you got a law degree. And I’m wondering what spurred you to pursue such diverse academic avenues? Was it something that your parents encouraged or was something within you?

CARMEN ROSSI: Well, I think the greatest contributor to the idea of continued education, which given the diversity of my business ventures, contribute as a nod to the experience in college. But my pursuit of higher education and continued education was. The driving force was the U of I experience, most definitely. I had such a positive experience as an undergraduate, whether it was intimate class sizes and the opportunity to engage with professors before and after class.

Certainly, my classmates, with, as you’ve mentioned, those concentrations of studies are diverse, which puts you with a very different set of students and topics and themes. And so it was easy for me to remain committed and committed to the going pursuit of education, so long as it was at the University of Illinois.

And really, I was, also. I mean, those are– not to try to be a romantic here. But those are important development years. I can’t say that my goal, at all, as an 18-year-old or as an undergraduate was to pursue the many ventures that I’m in now. I had to develop individually, but also academically, and then professionally. And it was my exposure to those varied disciplines and paths that I think most contributed to my confidence, right?

So being an entrepreneur requires a element of patience and risk. And I think the academic journey itself, which is to say, deadlines and grades papers and a balanced curriculum. I think those were all little mini tests and mini milestones, which ultimately contributed to my abilities in venturing out into the professional world.

VINCE LARA: Now you passed the BAR in 2012. And you worked at a law firm in 2013. And then you opened a hospitality company. So I’m wondering, did that indicate that a pivot from the law? Or did you always envision pursuing an entrepreneurial career, even after getting your law degree?

CARMEN ROSSI: So the experience was such that I had, as an undergrad, started a couple of small businesses. And it really is a testament to the caliber of students that were my peers because going into Champaign as a freshman, I didn’t really know many people coming from a smaller town, like Frankfurt. And in class, made new friends. And we came up with a couple of companies. And I’m only smiling because I want to use the word, that corporate word, gingerly. But we started a painting company, for example. We started, with a classmate that I met in a Greek organization, with another classmate I met in political science. I started a furniture and loft building company. And again, I had not known these folks before school. And throughout the years, I would start little companies, maybe employee sizes. Maybe it was just two or three of us, the biggest probably being 20. And my undergraduate, with dual disciplines, was five years. My graduate was two. And my law was three. So I did more time than Van Wilder.

There’s the pop culture reference. But yeah, during those 10 years, I probably had eight or nine small businesses that really were just trial and error. I mean, if I were to reference, previously, the painting company or the furniture and loft building company, I don’t mean to indict the great work we did. But I had never painted or used a hammer in my life. So literally, it was those are true learning experiences, through trial and error and probably testaments to our commitment to one another, but our commitment to the customers, if nothing else.

But when I graduated to get back to your original question. When I graduated, I did work for a civil litigation firm out of Joliet, Illinois. I had clerked for the state’s attorney’s office and was actually assigned to one of the most high profile criminal murder cases, as just a clerk. But it was really exciting and cool at the time. And I had such an appreciation for the law. When you go into advanced academics, which I would describe as law, medicine, accounting, engineering– you’re really, to me, the elements and knowledge, specifically, is secondary to the discipline, which is the way of thinking and process of how you approach situations and that repetitive training.

And so I was very excited eager determined to have a career in law that would champion advocacy. So the idea of a hospitality company really didn’t show itself until the nature of my work allowed me the freedom to explore. So imagine I am actually assigned to drafting appellate court briefs for a firm, which is might sound fancy. But it’s incredibly monotonous and boring exercise of writing.

But you have to respond within some statutory time, 28 to 35 days later. And all you need is the internet because you’re just writing. So going the other way of seeing that is I was not confined to a courtroom or an office. I was merely required to have an internet and abide by deadlines. So I started spending time in Chicago. Being from a small town, how incredibly powerful and impactful the city serves those tall buildings, those busy streets. And I very quickly fell in love with the landscape and the potential, the capacity.

So I had money, some money saved up. You can only spend so much on ramen and cheap beer in college, as an undergrad. So whatever dollars I saved from those small ventures, I decided to open up a restaurant, pour all my money in. And not to take away from the the capacity and size of starting a new company. But I was at least aware of the reality of failed business and the reality of my lack of experience and the reality of my youth.

But I knew that I had a good degree. And I knew that I had a network of friends. And I knew that I was still young and that failure is sometimes a very necessary part of life’s lessons and journey. And for any students out there who are frustrated with themselves and any parents who are equally frustrated or kicking themselves in the butt, I am one of those who lived with my parents until I was 27 years old, God bless them. And I am super grateful that they allowed me that roof because it took off so many of the pressures and allowed me the time to develop.

So yeah, I wish I had a more explosive answer. But that’s the truth. That’s how I got there. And I describe as very– I describe academically and very seriously, the elements of success in preparation and research and due diligence.

But almost as importantly, timing and luck. That can be a very not necessarily chilling or humbling, but it can be a very necessary component to any venture or life decision. It needs to be made at the right time. And to get over that hump, you just got to catch a little bit of luck. And so in my opinion. And so I was at the right time for city politics, for city, for where we were in the economy. And I could have easily gone the other way because I was way in over my head. But that was where luck, then, played its part. And yeah, I just kept going.

VINCE LARA: Working in hospitality and opening an industry opening a business in hospitality, it really takes a specific mindset. You have to be patient. Something you referenced earlier, humble. And you have to have a willingness to serve. And so is that what drew you to hospitality?

CARMEN ROSSI: Well, right. That’s a great point. And again, highlights my lack of experience. So right, I had no professional background in hospitality, cooking. I’ve certainly never worked in a kitchen or cooked. But also, wasn’t a mixologist. I was never a server in the steps of service and the art of setting the plate or managing the customer. But I did have a–I have always had a fundamental understanding of making someone feel good and understanding that they are here to have an experience.

And I don’t limit that simply to hospitality. It can be in development, construction, it can be in client engagement, a first client interview, whether a lawyer or a doctor or a pre-call interview, as a journalist. You are tapping into the emotions and expectations of the person on the other line.

And with hospitality, maybe it’s a first date, a birthday, a corporate meeting. And understanding what that person’s expectations are, what they’re looking for from the experience, whether it is sustenance, whether I’m here just to have a bite or a drink and move on or creating a memory, like a wedding, engagement party, or otherwise.

So I knew that if I could surround myself with the skills and people who had the expertise, that’s probably my job today. I wish it was. I wish I was more developed on the intricacies of the many steps. But I put together teams. My ability to participate in so many varied industries. And most recently, if this interview is ever time stamped, in 2021, 2022, in the state of Illinois, you’ve had two massive industries emerge that had never previously existed or existed, legally, I should say. And that is cannabis and gaming.

And those are two industries that I am very deeply involved. But that comes with new regulation. That comes with your– it’s not simply the process of the operation, but rather education, dialogue with elected officials. And it is recruitment, as far as for me, London, of skilled, people who have worked in the industries and have that bandwidth.

So my job is similar to that of a general manager of a sports team. I have to field a team that can perform, but at so many different positions, in so many different skill sets. And the success of our team are, our goal of making the playoffs and playing in the championship, is through the journey of everyone having to perform at the highest degree, but not always at the same task.

So yeah, and boiling back down, I think you’ll be able to see now, as we’ve explored together throughout our talk this morning. I think you see how that’s sort of roadmap has been established. It was at Champaign. It was with very diverse students and curriculum and just learning throughout the process, not knowing where I was going.

I mean, isn’t that a reflection of the American curriculum, as it relates to college. Not everyone knows exactly where they’re going to land in the next four years or what they’re interested in. I mean, I have a law firm today. And our concentration is mostly regulatory, government lobbying. But that was not at all what I had ever envisioned, even while I was in law school. And I think it is a contributor to a larger footprint, a larger vision.

And if you were to say, well, what is the proverbial, where do you see yourself in five years? Well, I hope my head is still above water. I couldn’t necessarily or absolutely describe what the next five years look like or that I wouldn’t get involved in other industries that today I have no idea about.

But the confidence in that patience that you referenced is really just borne from the fact that we’ve been here before, even from the very first day, we stepped on campus, we didn’t know where we were going. But we knew that this is a good community. We’re going to do good work. We’re going to listen. We’re going to network. So long as we make great relationships and friendships.

And so long as people pick up the phone when you call because you’re a valued asset to their Rolodex. Then we’ll be OK. And not to say that there isn’t chaos and problems. But if you boil it down to those very, very simple life lessons and sort of, I wish there was a more algorithmic formula that I could share with everyone, so to say, that I could say, here’s the secret. Don’t tell anyone.

But it’s not. I love keeping it simple. James Carville maybe, KISS, Keep it Simple, Stupid. During Bill Clinton’s campaign. Yeah, I love that. It allows you to breathe a little easier when the pressure is mounting or when you feel like you’re behind, if you just remind yourself of all the little things that you’ve done, all the great relationships that you’ve managed to bring in and cultivate them. It’ll be OK. You just got to weather the storm.

So yeah, that is definitely patience. And it is patience and understanding of that, ultimately, leads to vision. But those are the nation elements.

VINCE LARA: One of the many impressive things I found out about you in doing my research is that there is always a charitable side to your endeavors. And I’m wondering what inspired that in you.

CARMEN ROSSI: Well, that is fundamental. Probably central theme, if we had to create a bubble chart with singular themed words of this conversation, one of the words might be, community. And as I referenced, the network and the friends and the family and the new relationships and ventures, really, those are all fall into community and if you and if you believe that, and you make that a central tenet of your mission statement, then giving back is not, probably, a preferred way of framing. I don’t think– that might come off as obligatory.

I live in the community. And the community has been amazing. I’m so absolutely fortunate for being able to have experienced the degree of success as a product of the community. And the community is representative of so many different cogs in so many different organizations. Therefore, charity is a daily commitment. I can make this point, anecdotally. I had five or six restaurants within let’s say, two to three years of starting this company, which means I’m two to three years into learning about hospitality.

But I had quickly opened up. It was six. But let’s, as many as I have fingers on one hand, we had 150 employees, 200 employees. And I said, I am learning so much about Chicago because I’m not from there. And I’m meeting people who are coming into the restaurants as customers, who work in the neighborhood, that work for such a variety of businesses and organizations. And a lot of nonprofits, especially in Chicago. There’s so many awesome organizations that directly serve the community, but from such a– whether it’s children services, whether it’s educational, whether it’s support, human support. And I have an addictive personality. And I’m a people pleaser and quite frankly, a lover. The idea of hearing more about their organization was a internal trigger to just want to get involved. But I would share it. I would share. I’m in my 20s. And so many of my employees are like me, in their 20s. And I would, these are friends. And I would say, hey, let’s– I just met this person. And they have this organization. And I’m volunteering to serve food. We’re going to make the food. We’re going to go over there. We’re going to serve the food.

And then there was a support system, another organization that was for abused women. And we were there Just to sit and talk, to serve coffee and pastries, and just to hang out. And people in the service industry in their 20s are energetic. We’re jovial. If you have a desire to work in hospitality, you probably have a personality that is pretty electric. And you likely enjoy human conversation because that’s so much a part of the job.

So we just all started signing up. I would just put up sign up sheets throughout the business and our businesses and just say, hey, I’m going to show up here at this time. And if you want to, as well, great. If not, sounds good. And those sign up sheets were never empty. I mean, every single day. And sometimes, they were too full, which is to say we had more help than we needed. And it sort of got out that we were an organization that sort of really enjoyed getting involved. And it just grew from there. So I decided to formalize it and really, it was twofold to formalize it as an opportunity and channel for employees, but also as an opportunity and channel for organizations to hear about us and reach out to us and know that we would, whatever the task, if we’re capable, we’re in. And that was in 2014, 2015. And we’re still engaged 365 now.

VINCE LARA: Speaking of charitable works, part of the reason that we’re chatting today, a small part of it anyway, is that you are giving a gift to RST to support RST 180, which is Mike Raycraft’s Hall of Fame tour, a wonderful program that takes two dozen students around to see various landmarks across the country. So I’m wondering, why did you want to be involved with RST? And specifically, why RST 180?

CARMEN ROSSI: So the curriculum for RST is a lot of what I’ve talked about today. You’re working intimately with people with communities, municipalities, governments, charities, organizations related to kids, students, and development of new organizations. RST, it’s got a very vast base and that touches on a lot of foundations, whether it is organizations of recreation or tourism. Those are massive industries.

So, of course, you’re talking about marketing advertising. You’re talking about operational logistics. You’re talking– I loved it. I had such a– and when you talk about political science in English, and then you go, RST has disciplines that are much– they’re hands on, boots on the ground. And the best way to learn is to engage. Not to take away from the academic curriculum, specifically. But there is a practical application that will best serve you for success. And that practical application is showing up, is getting involved, is trying it out. Not only as the service intends, but as a service to yourself. I enjoy this, OK. There’s only so much a textbook or course tech can teach and educate.

So it requires the students to sort of get out into the community and work, whether it’s an event, whether it’s behind the scenes, organizationally. So I see in these students, probably, a role that I can play is certainly one of opportunity for internships, certainly one of opportunity in education, whether it’s education of philosophy and sort of the steps of service or participate in the practical application through anecdotes, stories, life lessons.

And then there’s the opportunity of establishing scholarships, establishing financial commitments that can lead to students being allowed to participate. Or I think there’s a–I think there’s a designation of funds that’s going toward I would describe as an extended road trip. But a field trip of getting exactly into what we’re talking about, getting into the thick of things, and going and learning and experiencing what you might have discussed, ad nauseum, in the classroom. But now you get to see it in action for events. So yeah, I’m excited to see where this goes. And I’m not hardly done. And the community, again, from Champaign to Chicago, has been an absolute blessing. And I think about that every day. And that I convert that into a commitment of staying involved. And as long as you’ll have me, as long as the AHS family and community will have me, I’m committed to staying involved and excited to see where our journey together will go next.

Again, this was an idea. Shout out to Mike Raycraft I hope there are smiling faces. There has to be many when I say that name because he’s had a significant impact on my experience at the University of Illinois and certainly, in the vast community. So he came up with this idea of getting involved in creating a program that would afford students to participate with financial resources that I could extend in a program that came out of nowhere. And so I’m excited to find out. I’m excited to participate in our next idea together.

VINCE LARA: Yeah, and that’s a fantastic way to end. I appreciate your time, Mr. Rossi. And thank you for all you do for AHS. And I appreciate the time you spent with us today.

CARMEN ROSSI: I thank you, really. This was a cool opportunity. And I again, thank you very, very much.

VINCE LARA: My thanks to Carmen Rossi. For more podcasts on Illinois’ College of Applied Health Sciences, search A Few Minutes With on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Radio.com, and other places you get your podcasts fix. Thanks for listening, and see you next time.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.
 

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