Kokomo, Ind. - Billie Webster is a man on a mission to make his grandmother proud. He shares his experience regarding transitioning from high school to college and finding his place in a close-knit community while in The Red Chair.
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The Red Chair is randomly placed around the IU Kokomo campus. Anyone walking by is free to sit down, get comfy, and share their experience about IU Kokomo.
Indiana University Kokomo celebrates 75 years as north central Indiana’s choice for higher education.
Description of the video:
Upbeat music plays while we are shown cuts between different students speaking, aerial shots of campus, and close-ups of the red chair.
The screen reads “The Red Chair at Indiana University Kokomo.”
Billie Webster, the Business Major and Basketball Player, speaks to us from the Red Chair.
“Teachers in high school would talk to me like they couldn’t picture me there, and honestly, there was awhile where I couldn’t picture me there, I couldn’t picture me in college, until the day before college started I couldn’t picture myself with a backpack on my back walking into a classroom, just because of how I was growing up. Now, I’ve gotten here, and I have a passion for learning and I’m much more motivated. I’m on my own now, I’m a grown man, it’s time to grow up. So, I needed to take care of business.”
Billie continues, “when I got here on campus, it really shocked me, because it looks like just a small campus, it’s got the Annex right there to the side, it’s just got a culture for college, especially when I went to the Cafe. When I went I went to the Café, I was like ‘okay, this is college.’ I was able to sit down, eat food, be able to get whatever I wanted. That was the biggest part for me, honestly, I loved that, I love food, and I loved being able to sit and relax in-between classes.”
“Gabby VanAlstine, she just brightens up a room whenever she walks in, she just makes class enjoyable, people go to college and think it’s a strict environment, but she’s able to have a controlled environment while you’re relaxed. Some people aren’t able to do that. Some people try to have a relaxed environment and it causes the students to kind of act out and start talking, but she keeps the respect while she has an environment that is relaxed. It just makes it so much easier, it makes you want to learn and makes you dialed in and care about what you’re actually getting taught, so I think she’s special, I think she’s the best professor I’ve ever had in my life.”
Billie goes on , saying “people look at me crazy when I say ‘college is a lot easier than high school for me, and it’s not like the work is easier, or its dumber, it’s just the environment really makes it easier to focus and learn in for me, and that’s not for everybody, but that’s how it is in my case and that’s what surprised me the most. And there’s no better feeling for me than getting a good grade in class now, and plus, I’m going to make my grandmother proud, and that’s the most important thing for me.”
IU Kokomo brand
Indiana University Kokomo,
honoring the bicentennial
iuk.edu
