Community, Scholarships & the Arts | Western Connections: A Young Perspective Ep. 2Page Title
Chapter 1: Welcome to the Western Wyoming College Podcast
Dr. Kirk Young: Well, welcome everybody. Uh, we're excited to have you here with us today and this is our new podcast series that we're doing here at Western Wyoming College. My name is Dr. Kirk Young. I'm the president here at Western. I've been here now for about two and a half years and this is something that's been on our radar for quite some time [music] and uh we're grateful and excited about the talent that we have here at Western and the opportunity [music] to show that talent off um to keep our community and again not just maybe the local geographic community but the Western community wherever you are uh involved and engaged with what's going on here at Western. And so we're going to be talking about any number of topics uh throughout this podcast series uh meeting [music] with some of our students and some of the programs from our theater program or for from any of our academic programs here on campus. We'll be talking about uh speakers that we're going to be having come here on campus and speak to us and some of the the awesome opportunities that are here at Western. So uh as the president of Western Wyoming College, it's my pleasure and really I'm excited to invite all of you to join us for this podcast, but then also please come on campus. come see what's going on here at Western. Uh share with us your perspectives. Uh we're open to any suggestions that anybody has about any podcasts. Uh but we look forward to this and hope you'll join us as we go [music] uh throughout the year with this series.
Chapter 2: Meet Josh Grant and Alli Kauchich.
Dr. Kirk Young: I have with me today we have Josh Grant. Josh is a professor of English here at the college as well, but he's also here today as a representative for the Westwick Foundation. He's the the college's representative for that. We're going to talk a little bit about that here in just a minute, but uh hello. Welcome Josh. Nice to have you.
Josh Grant: Thanks. Thanks for inviting me.
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah, you bet. And then we have Alli Cousich who is here with us as well. She's the executive director of the Western Wyoming College Foundation. Um our our big community partner uh effort here at Western and so she oversees community relations as well, which this ties in with. So, welcome Ally.
Alli Kauchich: Hi. Thanks for having me.
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah, you bet. It's awesome to have you both here. Why don't you just quickly Josh, why don't you just take a minute and introduce yourself and share with us a bit about your background and who you are?
Josh Grant: Okay. Well, I've been teaching English here since I think 2013. And I've been teaching um like these English classes since 2006. This was the first year or last year was the first year that I've been teaching my classes longer than my students have been alive. Oh wow. So that was kind of like a trippy day for me when I realized that [laughter] and I was like, well, I guess I'm probably an expert then. But um yeah, so I've been on the Westwood committee I think since its inception. Um, and uh, I love being part of it. I I like how it's like kind of like autonomous from the college and like um, you know, it's kind of like its own thing. So that's the two, you know, capacities I'm here today in.
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah, that's wonderful. Thank you. Ally, why don't you take a minute and introduce yourself?
Alli Kauchich: Yeah, I'm um, I'm originally from Sweetwater County. So, I've been born and raised in Green River and now I reside in Rock Springs where all my family is. And um you know, after graduating college and moving to Montana and you know finishing up some more school there, I decided that this is where I wanted to be and wanted to come home to my family. And so after working remotely for a couple of years, I I really wanted to get into a job that I was passionate about. And um luckily this opportunity presented itself and I was able to start here in February and I've just I've loved being a part of the college and I'm really passionate about the mission here.
Dr. Kirk Young: So well that's awesome. Well thank you for being here uh today as well. So really
Chapter 3: The Westwick Foundation and Its Mission
Dr. Kirk Young: today's topic um and what we're going to be talking about ties in so very well with uh especially you Alli and your role and it's it's a great opportunity for us to be able to talk about community relations and the role that the college plays in being kind of an essential community partner and like you said Josh it's you know it really you're you're here representing today an independent initiative that's not really a part of the college it's the uh the Westwick Foundation and uh you're the representative for that foundation. And so we're going to be able to talk today about how these community partnerships work to help facilitate the development of and the understanding of and the furthering of the arts, especially in communities like ours, rural communities where [clears throat] we may not have access to a whole lot of of other things. Um, and so, uh, Josh, you're representing the Arlene and Louise Westwick Foundation and Ally, you're obviously representing the the colleg's foundation here and and so we want to talk a little bit more about that, but Josh, I want to start with you and if you wouldn't mind, you said a little bit about it uh, just in your introduction, but if you'll please share with us some more detail about kind of the history of the the foundation and how this partnership with the college and everything came about.
Chapter 4: The Legacy of Arlene and Louise Westwick
Josh Grant: Well, it started with Arlene and Louise Westwick. So, I never met Arlene. I think she passed before I got here. Um, but I met Louise a lot and really was it was all about her from in from my perspective. Like she would attend every event that we had. Um, she loved reading and writing and she would go to like you know any speaker that we had and um she formed a relationship like the whole story of the Westwig I think at Western starts with um Fern Stringham who was our librarian. She retired five or seven years ago. Um and her husband Rick Kempo was uh he was an English professor here too. Um he's an ameritus now. So he was here for like 30 something years. But Rick and Fern would pick Louise up at her house and bring her to all the all the events and then take her out for dinner. So like they it was really about like the relationship that Fern I think mostly and Rick u formed with Louise is like what was like the real connection to the college. And I think Louise and her sister were like lifelong educators too. and um she was just like she was just like a really sweet woman and it was really nice to have her around here. And when um she passed and that fund opened up, we were like floored because [gasps and snorts] I don't think there's any community colleges that have like humanities endowments like this and it was kind of a big deal and um we were just like I know so grateful and um we've tried to use the funds to you know bring stuff to Western and to Sweetwater County that would never come here before. [gasps] Um, like we had uh Tobias Wolf come here to read, you know what I mean? Which is kind of insane if you think about it. Um, and we're having uh we're in the works with another guy who just um wrote a movie that came out. It was called The Last of the Dog Stars. So, it's in theaters now, I think. So, we're trying to get him to come in um in the spring. But, it just like we wouldn't be able to do these things without this foundation. Like, no way. like we have to before this um we would just have to like claw for like every scent that we got to like bring somebody in here and now we have this thing that's so crazy that um I think it's doing I think it's functioning exactly as they hoped it would. So I don't know we're so like we're so grateful to have this. Yeah. Yeah.
Chapter 5: Bringing Recognized Authors to Rock Springs
Dr. Kirk Young: You're probably going to get mad at me for asking this question but uh can you tell me explain for us who Tobias Wolf is?
Josh Grant: Oh, so he wrote this um This Boy's Life.
Dr. Kirk Young: Okay.
Josh Grant: So, and he wrote a couple like other Yeah, he's author. He's um a big deal. Like a super big deal. Like when we got him. [snorts] So, Chris Propes is another English faculty here. And he's the one who's always trying to get these like heavy hitters to come. So, he's trying to get he was the one that is getting this guy who wrote this movie. I forget his name. And then he got Tobias called Tobias Wolf and was like, "Hey, do you want to come to Rock [laughter] Springs?" You know what I mean? So, Chris is always like reaching for the stars. um me I play um a little closer to the ground and [laughter] would just try to get people you know who are not as big a name and maybe won't cost as much cuz I don't know I'm more frugal but um Chris and uh and Rick and myself and Michelle Zupa and Cesy Bernal the English department we are always like on the lookout for um for these people but having Tobias Wolf was like great was nuts like awesome in the literary world it was like a big deal
Dr. Kirk Young: yeah oh that's so cool well and and we're going to talk a little bit about it here uh further on, but we
Chapter 6: Lindsay Schopfer and Creative Writing
Dr. Kirk Young: one of the reasons why we're doing this podcast now is we have another author that's going to be coming here on campus here pretty soon, Lindsay Schoffer, and we're excited about that. And that all is made possible through this Westwick Foundation. So, we're looking forward to that. Y um could you tell us maybe a little bit more about how kind of the values of you know the the shop for or not shopper but the the Westwick family and the foundation that they've established um really helps to continue to shape the work and the effort that you're trying to do with with uh utilizing the funds that they provided today.
Josh Grant: Well, having Lindsay come is kind of a perfect example of what um I think that the spirit of the foundation is about. He's a writer. He writes um like fantasy books and stuff and he's self published which is like how like I guess that's what have you have to do these days and um but he's also a teacher. He's like that's why we really like him cuz he's like an excellent teacher. So he's going to come and do like a webinar about something. I forget the topic. I think it was creating your own world or something. Then he's going to do like a reading and a lecture after that. And I think that those two like the art and the humanities of the writing combined with his like um his ability as a teacher I think are like a perfect like connection between what Arlene and Louise were about. So that's why we really like him.
Dr. Kirk Young: That is kind of neat how you talked about that and I didn't realize like you had said earlier that Arlene and Louise [clears throat] were educators.
Josh Grant: Yeah. So Arlene taught English I think for like decades you know and then um Louise taught I think home for a really long time. So they were both like they were both teachers and they lo they loved us like they loved um like our English department um you know we'd have dinner we had dinner with them I don't know 10 or 12 times not with Arlene with Louise and her friends and um they just were so like um I don't know appreciative of what we were doing and they loved our energy that we had and um so I think that uh like group speakers like Lindsay like really speak to what she's about.
Chapter 7: Bringing Arts and Culture to Rural Wyoming
Dr. Kirk Young: That's great. um when you have these types of [snorts] um you know authors and and others that come on campus, what is your audience typically look like? Like who usually are people that come to this?
Josh Grant: Um it used to be more community members and I think that that's what we're trying to get back to and when Louise was coming to these things um she would bring like a like a cohort of like her people, you know, and then when she passed away um that kind of group They were all kind of older. They kind of left and then we used to and then we'd have like a smattering of like other community members but she was like I don't know she just like drew a lot of people like like were around her I guess. So now I think it's mostly like um college people. Mh. But we'd really love to kind of like we always try to pick things that we hope the community will be interested in because we'd love to get what we used to have like we used to fill up 1302 with um with people from the community and there will be college students there also but um we used to like it would be like standing room only in there for a lot of the stuff we used to do and um it's just like not like that anymore. Yeah. So I think it's probably because of like I don't know the the speakers we're trying we're getting or something like that. So, we're always trying to be aware of like things the community will like to. Yeah. But it's kind of hard. That's like that's not easy to do. Like it's like you guys got to guess and then sometimes it works out and sometimes there's a huge swing in this, right? And you're just like standing there with like one guy looking at you, you know? It's just like so we brought a I brought a writer in from Salt Lake last year and like seven people came and I was like, but so I was trying though, you know what I mean? Like
Dr. Kirk Young: Well, that's just it. And I and I think to your point, you know, having an endowment from uh, you know, supporters of the arts and supporters of the college, uh, here, I guess, gives us the opportunity to kind of take those swings. And you're right, maybe some once in a while. Yeah.
Josh Grant: But you think about it, like Western is such an important play such an important role for the humanities in within like 500 miles, you know what I mean? Like, so this we're we're it for the most part. Um, there's the fine arts center downtown in the library, which is really lovely. also. But um aside from that, like we're kind of it. So yeah, we have to I think it's like we have a responsibility to to maintain that here and the Westwick certainly helps us do that.
Dr. Kirk Young: No, this is great. I you know, I often say that I I see Western part of our role and mission here in the community is is serving as that cultural center for the community. You know, in a rural setting like this, there really aren't a whole lot of opportunities for that. Uh, and so, you know, we often talk about the theater and the the theater program and the work that they're doing and they do awesome. They do such good work over there and they get like the the town in the area loves them. Yep. So, they they do really good. Yeah. Yeah. We talk about the art gallery and the work that Nathan's doing there and all of that. And so, uh, I think that, you know, coupling this type of effort with that and and helping our community be aware of of the work that's going on in the humanities and in the arts to to help bring kind of that cultural element to our community is really big and really important.
Josh Grant: It's kind of like a rich um um culture here. If you think about like more most rural communities like they don't have this. So, I'm like really proud of any the work that I can do or that is being done here. Like I I really appreciate it and um I think I recognize its value.
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah. Well, that's great. And it's great that you'll you'll take the lead on this and you know, you and and uh and you mentioned Chris Post and and others to
Josh Grant: keep going. There's a whole bunch of people that really care, you know, and they want to do they want to bring cool people here and do good things.
Chapter 8: Author Workshops, Readings, and Self-Publishing
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah. So, it's my understanding that Lindsay is going to be doing a virtual workshop.
Josh Grant: Yeah. on the 3rd on November 3rd and then on the 17th I think y he's going to come into room 1302 over here and um do a reading from his one of his books. I I don't know what he's going to read from. Then um he's going to do a like a lecture Q&A thing afterwards.
Dr. Kirk Young: Okay. Yeah. So tell me more about what that's going to look like both [clears throat] the virtual workshop and uh the inerson thing.
Josh Grant: So the virtual um thing I've never done one of these with him or with anybody before. So this is my first one that I'm going to kind of be part of. But I think he's just going to give a little lesson about how I think it's called I think it's creating worlds. I think that's the one he's going to do. So like how to invent like a fictional world or whatever. So he's going to give like a little lesson and then um I don't know if there's going to be like interaction with people. Um or if it's just going to be recorded and then we're going to like share that recording. I haven't figured that out yet. And then the in-person thing will be um uh you know it'll he'll read for probably like 15 or 20 minutes maybe and then we'll kind of talk for about another 30 or 40 minutes after that. Yeah, it's a really good opportunity if you want to publish. Like that's what his deal is. He's a self-publisher and a lot of people these days they want to do that and he's a success. He's like this is his job. Like he's he's making money writing fantasy books and then doing these little like lecture series. like that's pretty awesome, you know. Um he's in town that week for other things that he's doing in Sweetwater County. Um but if you if you're interested in self-publishing, which is like I I think kind of the way to go these days, um this would be this is like the opportunity to learn from a guy who's like doing it.
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah. Oh, that'll be neat. That'll be great. And we're excited to [clears throat] have the community here with us and and doing that. So, uh, we'll talk about this a little bit more, but I want to make sure we get the information out there for anybody that's paying attention. But it's on November 3rd at 3. The webinar is at November 3rd at 3 and then the readings at um, and we have a we have a Zoom link, you know, that we'll share like on our social medias and stuff like that. And then on [clears throat] the 17th, he's coming here to room 1302 at 7 o'clock. Yeah. And that's in person. That'll be great. Yeah.
Chapter 9: Western Wyoming College Foundation and Scholarships
Dr. Kirk Young: Well, I'm going to shift a little bit over here to you, Ally. We've got two foundations that are represented here today. We're talking obviously we've been talking about the Westwick Foundation and their support for the college and and the arts and humanities and so forth, but also the Western Wyoming College Foundation. Um so why don't you tell us a little bit more about that?
Alli Kauchich: Yeah, so currently as the Western Wyoming College Foundation, um you know, we we have several different endowments, the Westwick um endowment being one of them. um we are able to provide and award students with scholarships and just help them help support the students in any way that we can. Um historically the majority of that support has been scholarships which is great. Um just for example last year we awarded $411 scholarships totaling up to $288,523 to be exact. Um but so you know historically that's been the type of support that the foundation has offered. Um you know now that I'm in this role I'm really excited to kind of shift not move away from scholarships but shift and grow the impact that the foundation can have on the students as well as the community and the college itself. So, that's that's where we're we're kind of working towards, you know, um we still want those scholarships to be just as impactful, if not more. Um and we want to grow those endowments still. Um that will always be a priority, but um we're we're just looking for different ways that we can expand and create more opportunities.
Chapter 10: Expanding Opportunities for Students
Dr. Kirk Young: What might be some examples of ways to expand and create new opportunities?
Alli Kauchich: Yeah, so I think that a big thing for us, um we would really like to help with campus improvement. um and you know just different resource development that we can help out with um here on campus because I think that benefits the students maybe indirectly because it enhances their experience here on campus right um but we would also like to help increase any experiences that they might be able to have whether it's traveling for you know different opportunities in their programs whatever that might look like um you know and I think it's you know without having to say it it's always important for us to have different industry partnerships and community partnerships. So really focusing on how we can expand those and looking to different people to um you know in different businesses in our community to see if a partnership um would be if they would be interested in a partnership and what that would look like and you know how we can just build that relationship.
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah. Yeah. That's great. And [clears throat] you know, I have obviously been here for a couple of years and have worked closely with the foundation and just the work that our community does to support our students and even to your point about scholarships. Uh [snorts] to give away, you know, to 400 more than 400 students, several hundred,000 worth of scholarships is [clears throat] tremendous. And that that is all that's all privately funded money. I mean, that's money the donors have given to help support the people of this community. And that's always it's always neat for us to see when, you know, when we get the reports that show how much is going towards scholarships. Um, education's expensive, higher education's expensive. Um, and and so to have that support from our community means so much. And for myself, having worked at other small community colleges like Western, uh the endowment that we have here is bigger than anything that I've seen at other institutions of this size. And that just speaks to the community support that we have here for our students. Um and and I know that that's something that you're constantly working on and and trying to help grow those opportunities and and so forth. So that's great. Um any other updates or anything recently or on your mind with the foundation at the moment um that would be important for our community to know about?
Chapter 11: Community Partnerships and Fundraising
Alli Kauchich: Um yeah, I would say that so just to kind of give a brief rundown of some things that I've been doing since I've been here. Um you know, we hosted our first golf tournament and that was I would say that was a great success for us. You know, it's kind of hard to get something like that off the ground and we saw a lot of success and people were very happy with it. Um, it was the bestrun golf tournament of the year, I think.
Dr. Kirk Young: Well, that's great to hear coming and you have an expert opinion. [laughter] You work over there. You're involved with what goes on at the golf course.
Josh Grant: So, yeah. So, that was a fun day. It was like, you guys did a great job. I was like, I talked I talked to the to the pro the golf pro. I was like, if that like this is how you do this, you know, so good good job.
Alli Kauchich: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I think it was a great experience and um you know our athletes were out there and so I think just having that touch point with our students I think but I I could say the same for any of our programs here on campus. I think that the more touch points our students have with our community is going to be the most impactful event and I think that was why it was so successful even you know even if it monetarily wasn't such a it would it was but um I think that that's what makes the impact right and so grow too like every year. Yeah. But I think just in general, um, kind of my what my focus is going to be for the next year, um, is really just going out in the community, um, and really educating people on the foundation and who we are, what we do. Um, I think and just trying to connect with people. I think that everyone has a reason why they support an organization. Um, and mine could be different from the person sitting next to me, but I think that just finding that connection with other people and having those conversations is going to be what I'm really looking forward to. Um, and learning why people support Western in our community. I know they they have their own reasonings, but I I would like to find out why and just really have that connection with others so that we can in turn take that feedback and expand what we're doing so that you know it's so that it's growing what people want to support. Yeah. Um so that'll be my main focus moving forward um for the next year is just really being out in the community and getting to know people and the what what their why is.
Chapter 12: Western Alumni and Building an Alumni Association
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah. Yeah. And I that I'm in this unique and really special position as the president of the college that [snorts] uh I get to hear I get to receive a lot of compliments about the college that really are deserved by the people that work within the college. You know, I often have very little to do with what those compliments are based on. And it has to do with everything from our staff and faculty and and everybody else that are working so hard. Uh, but honestly, I almost can't go almost anywhere without running into an alumnest, somebody that [clears throat] graduated from Western and is so proud of that the education that they got here and the way that that set them up for their future and so forth. And and that is somewhat unique. I did not experience this at my last school that I worked at. Um, [snorts] most of the time community colleges you the the alumni affiliation isn't as strong because in many cases students will transfer on to another institution and that's where they have their alumni affiliation. Western's different. Western for whatever reason, even if people transfer on to go somewhere else, they're so still so proud of their experience at Western. And I know Ally, you're going to be doing some more work with our alumni here. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
Alli Kauchich: Yeah. So, we're um we're looking to not looking to we are going to grow our alumni and our alumni data base. Um but that going to that's going to start with the creation of the alumni association. So, we have already kind of kicked this off the ground. Um, now it's about really implementing the strategies of bringing alumni in, you know, and just having that retention of, you know, maybe you're not even actually donating money, but it's coming back to campus to support the theater or to attend an athletic event or to go to a Westwick endowed uh speaker. You know, it's it's doesn't have to be in the same capacity for an alumni. you know, maybe you just want to come walk Western in in January or February when we do that because you want to be back on the campus that you called home. Um, and so we're going to be really strongly reaching out to alumni um in the new year so that they can become more involved and feel like they still have a place at home here because they do, you know, and we we want them back on campus and we want them supporting the different programs. And so I think that that that all starts with connecting and reaching out and talking to them and just finding what their interests are and being able to navigate those connections and relationships.
Chapter 13: Why Learning Outside the Classroom Matters
Dr. Kirk Young: Well, that's great and I'm excited for that and [clears throat] we look forward to uh enhanced communication and engagement with our alumni and so forth. And you know, as I consider this this event that's coming up with Lindsay uh to come and and speak to in some cases our students, but also our community, it reminds me of a conversation that I had with a a professor of mine when I was in my undergrad. And this professor was a mentor for me and somebody who really truly changed my life. And I remember one day he told me, he said, "Kirk, you will never ever again in your life be at a place like a college or university." He said, "You will never be able to replicate that experience ever again in your life." And he said, "You will never ever be at a place where so many people are hyperfocused just on you and your success." And he said, "Think about it." And it's true. You, every employee, every single person that works here at Western, it gets paid to focus on our students and on our students success on helping them to um to advance in their lives and so forth. And you know, I mean, never, right? you will go out into the workforce and you're never going to have a job or anything where hundreds literally hundreds of people are focused just on your success and helping you to succeed in life and to move on and so forth. And then he said he said you can come to college and you can go to class and you can kind of do the bare minimum and and you know pass your classes and walk out of here with a diploma and then move on and good for you. He [snorts] said, "Or you can really jump in with both feet and take full um uh advantage of all of the opportunities that are here for you that a college campus provides. It just doesn't happen anywhere else." And he suggested he said, "You find those lectures, find those things that are going on outside of the classroom, outside of your courses because colleges are always bringing guest speakers or or others on campus." And he said, "If you find those things and you get engaged, you get engaged in clubs, you get engaged in whatever it is you want to, but but take advantage of every opportunity to learn and to develop yourself." And he said, "If you'll do that, if you really will take advantage of what college has to offer for you," he said, "It'll change your life." And I remember I respected this guy so much. I was like, "Well, man, I'm I'm going to try it. This, you know, this person is awesome and I want to be like him." And so I did. And I I remember attending lectures from brain surgeons and authors and others that truly just opened my horizons to ideas and ways of seeing the world that I had never even contemplated and it completely changed my life. Um you know and I'm so grateful for what education has done for me and it really a lot of it had to do with what happened outside of the classroom and so I am so thrilled that we have a partnership with a foundation that helps to support this here. Um this is a unique opportunity for us. Um what I would like it if maybe each of you could maybe take a minute and just share what what does that this combination this partnership between a foundation an external foundation and the college to be able to do something like this? What does what does that mean for you Josh?
Josh Grant: Um, [clears throat] I think like I kind of said earlier, to me it just I really I'm just like really grateful to be able to be part of this thing and to be able to be funded, you know, and to pay people to come here and um, you know, present whatever, you know, knowledge they have. Um, so for me, it's just it's really about brought gratitude um to Louise and to her sister. Um, so I think that's probably what I would say about that.
Dr. Kirk Young: That's great.
Alli Kauchich: Yeah, yeah, I agree with the gratitude piece. I think it's um amazing that we are able to offer these experiences here. Um and then I think to step back outside of the lens of being the foundation director as a community member. Um I think it's really unique opportunity that you know this typically doesn't happen in different places around our community. Um, and so I think it's awesome to be invited to come and attend regardless of if you're an employer or a student. It's open to the public. It's free. Um, and it's educational. And I just I just find that so valuable because that it's not very common. And um, you know, I think anytime you can learn something new and like like I said, it's it doesn't cost anything. Um, free and open to the public.
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah. Uh it's a it's a wonderful advantage.
Alli Kauchich: Um and I think that we're just very fortunate to be able to house it here.
Josh Grant: It also builds a community within the college itself when you see um kind of like the same students going to these different events and then you know the next event there's like four more of them and there's like there's [clears throat] like four more of them in the next one and like they're growing this little troop, you know what I mean? that are like they're doing what you did is like taking advantage of all the things that happen here and it's I think it's like really cute to see like [laughter] I like to see them doing that and um you can tell that they're the ones that are super jazzed up in five or seven years from now. Yeah. And they're thinking about their time here. Um so I've been here long enough to have those experience where people come back in 10 years or 5 years and they're like, "Oh man, I remember this." And I'm like, "Wow." Like, "Oh, I don't I don't even remember that, but that's cool that you did." You know? So, uh, it's little things like this that are that are going to do that. Yeah. We got to make those connections for those kids.
Chapter 14: How to Support Western Wyoming College
Dr. Kirk Young: Well, that's great. Yeah. So, so Ally, for individuals or businesses [clears throat] that may be listening to us today and thinking about wanting to get involved in supporting the college, how do they go about doing that?
Alli Kauchich: Yeah. Um, I think the easiest way would be to just call me um or to send me an email. Um, my contact information is on the website. Um, if you search up foundation, it should pop right up and you'll be able to kind of go to our site. Um, but that would be the easiest way to get a hold of me. If not, um, always open to people joining us on campus or if you want to go grab a coffee, happy to do that as well. Um, but yeah, if people wanted to come to campus and come up and meet us and see the office and we can show them around campus, whatever that looks like, um, we're happy to welcome anybody in. So, well, that's great. Well, thank you. And
Dr. Kirk Young: so, well, before we wrap up, I really would like to hear from each of you on what it is that you're most looking forward to with Lindsay Schoffer's visit. Um, and what you would hope that people would take away from an opportunity like this, Ali?
Alli Kauchich: Yeah, like I said, I think first and foremost, it's it's free education. Um, so I hope that the community does take advantage of that. Um, and also just follows along with what follow follows along with what Westwick is bringing to our campus. Um, you know, I think that if they're doing one a semester, it's a great opportunity that's twice a year that you can come and um, listen to somebody that is has a different perspective and can teach you something that you maybe don't know.
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah, that's great. [clears throat] Awesome.
Chapter 15: Connecting Writers and Creative Communities
Josh Grant: Um, so if you're a writer and you want to publish, this is the thing to come and see. Come and see Lindsay's webinar or lecture cuz he will be able to tell you how to do that. it is not easy to make a living in that field. Um, we also at Western, I also want to kind of plug this is that we have a writer's guild here that is um, and we have a literary magazine, you know what I mean? Like we're doing a ton of stuff here. I have to give a thanks to Michelle Zupa cuz she is like does all that work and [snorts] now we have Dave Gutierz who taught at the high school forever and taught here um, for a while too. he's running the literary magazine. So, like if you come to this event, you'll find other people that are into the things that you're into. And I think that that is um um that's a that's an awesome opportunity cuz I think, you know, artists or whatever, like sometimes maybe they're alone and they don't really realize, you know, there's other people there that are trying to like do the same thing they're doing. And this kind of event, you're going to come there and you're going to sit down and you're going to maybe recognize somebody or you're going to hear a question that you had. um asked by somebody else and you be like, "Oh man, like there's other people here like me, you know, and I think that's one of the beauties of these type of events too." Yeah. Bringing people together, you know.
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah. Well, that's great. We're looking forward to [clears throat] this. Uh I look forward to being able to uh even myself further just learn, grow, and enhance my knowledge. And um uh so I look forward to to every time we have somebody here on campus that's visiting is going to be sharing something. And so we hope our community will will come and and join us and you know Josh you do a great job of pointing out a lot of the reasons why we should attend and um I am certain there is a community of people out there that are interested in what is going to talk about and and will want to be here for sure. So thank you. Thank you both for being here.
Alli Kauchich: Of course.
Josh Grant: Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Chapter 16: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Writing
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah. This is off topic but I'm going to pick your brain a little bit Josh. So, I'm fascinated by language, right? And it and it's something that's just been on my mind a lot recently and as we're kind of now entering into this world of AI and and so forth. And um you know, I remember years ago even as a college student just reading how it is that I mean, languages and preaching to the choir, I know, but um such a powerful instrument. I mean, we have civilizations that that we're able to learn about that we have a record of because somebody chose to record in language. Um, uh, you know, their their day-to-day events and life and and everything and and so forth and taxes usually. [laughter]
Josh Grant: Yeah. Exactly. You know, where [clears throat] the first writing came from.
Dr. Kirk Young: Yeah. And uh and keeping a record of people and uh you know, they often talk about how languages is is it's like this time capsule, right? I mean, it captures a moment in time that then can last forever. Um, and so now we're entering in this world where I worry that this the skill, the ability to write and to write well is um [snorts] I don't know, is it under threat? I mean, what I'm worried about it. Yeah. What are the [laughter] conversations that we have amongst our English faculty and others [clears throat] as we see these these developments in society that are driven by artificial intelligence?
Josh Grant: I think so. Like I have a lot of concerns about it. Um, when I post my classes online, you know, I'll post or I on my first day of class, I post a picture of like this like cute little robot, you know, sitting at a desk like typing. I'm like, this is what you think AI is. Then the next picture is the Terminator 2, like Terminator from Terminator, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, like the robot version. I was like, this is what it is to me. Um, it's a threat and it's a threat about what it's threatening is originality and like passion and the the the need and the want to like express your thoughts and yourself. Um, if we have a society that doesn't want to do that, um, we're we're going to be like so bland and vanilla. Um, it's dystopian for sure, you know, and I don't want to be dramatic about it, but [clears throat] I worry about it all the time. Yeah. You know, like I see my students, you know, they're it's like they're being tempted by this this technology. Um, and I could totally understand their temptation to to to use it in ways that they're not trained for or that aren't beneficial to them. Um, I'm really really worried that, you know, there's a there's a a near future where you can like get an entire college degree and like not have a thought. Yeah. You know, and that's really frightening to me. Yeah.
Dr. Kirk Young: you know, I I think so a famous quote comes to mind and I'm going to paraphrase it and I know I'm going to butcher it, but uh it's a a quote about Winston Churchill, you know, and essentially I think the point of the quote is that Winston Churchill essentially saved [snorts] um Western civilization by marshalling the English language and marching it off into battle. And essentially, you know, the point that that that the way that Churchill used language during World War II um really to as the whoever I can't remember who the quote was by, but the point that they're making was that through the medium of language and you know, here you had a master of the English language that was able to employ it in such a way that it that it brought a civilization together, you know, and it united them and and united them for a great cause. And I kind of share what you're saying there, like the the worry that what if we lose the ability to master the use of of such a powerful instrument that language is.
Chapter 17: Why Original Thinking Still Matters
Josh Grant: Well, I tell my students all the time too, this is going to happen. This is coming. It's like going to happen. I'm um I've always been fascinated with technology. I'm actually kind of I'm more interested in technology that I am in literature now. like at this point in my life like I read more about um emerging technologies than I do books like lit like uh novels and stuff. But [clears throat] what I say to my students is that when everybody else is going to be using these tools in ways that are you know going to get that it's going to make them look average. So what you need to do is to keep your creativity and your originality and you're going to stand out. You're going to be an outstanding student, you know. So, if you can just and all you have to do is be yourself. Use your own brain and your own um [clears throat] your own words. I always try to remind them that the human brain hasn't evolved in 300,000 years. It's the same like the same meat pie that's been in our head for 300,000 years, you know. So, um there's it's it it works really well. So, just use it, you know. You don't need other things, you know. Yeah.
Dr. Kirk Young: That's great. Well, thanks for letting me go off topic.
Josh Grant: Yeah, of course. That's anytime.
Dr. Kirk Young: All right. Thanks, guys. Thank you both. Yeah. Have a good day.