Angie Cooksy: 0:09

Welcome back to the Bradley University Podcast. If you have not been here before, my name is Angie Cooksy. I serve as one of the co-hosts. I am the vice president for enrollment management, marketing and communications here at Bradley, and my co-host for our episodes.

Ben Jedd: 0:24

I am Ben Jedd. I'm the assistant vice president of marketing and communications here at Bradley.

Angie Cooksy: 0:29

And I like to say that we just have really long titles, which really are mean, which really mean that we get to be the storytellers of Bradley, which I think is the coolest job on campus.

Ben Jedd: 0:39

Super fun. I love it.

Angie Cooksy: 0:40

I feel like you said that with some sarcasm. No, no, I was serious.

Ben Jedd: 0:43

It is super fun.

Angie Cooksy: 0:45

So if you haven't heard the show before, we record in Hillstop in Hilltop Studios, which is in the lower level of University Hall. It is a campus-based space where people can come and record. We have musical equipment. We have uh all sorts of buttons that I'm really trying hard not to touch because there's lots of lights and things. Um, but it's a really great space for both our faculty and our community and our students. So very thankful to be here in Hilltop Studios recording. And the purpose of the show is to get to tell the stories of Bradley with the awesome people that are doing amazing things. So I think we should jump right into this episode. We have David Daye joining us, who is a communication instructor and the assistant director of forensics here at Bradley. David, can you give us a little bit of your background and your journey to the seat that you're sitting in today?

David Daye: 1:35

Yeah, um so honored to be here and glad to be here with you. I'm so excited about this. Um I'm originally from Rockford, Illinois, which is like two and a half hours uh north of here. And um kind of really during like my junior and senior year of high school, I kind of switched career paths. I was gonna be a teacher. Um so funny that I ended up teaching anyway, but I was gonna be a teacher. And so I was looking at a few other places, but um I really found myself like really enamored with politics and government. I probably was the only 17-year-old watching C-SPAN at 6 o'clock in the morning before um I went to school. I called in several times. I I had a whole thing. You did not. I did. I was on C-SPAN multiple times. I called in every morning before I went to school. Um and so I kind of discovered that that I had a passion for that. So I was like, well, maybe I should think about political science or something like that. Uh I also was on the speech team in high school, so that kind of lended itself to the wheelhouse of politics. And uh I went to state a couple times uh in high school in the last year that I came. Um, it's hosted here in Peoria every year because it's kind of central for all the schools to come to. And um I did pretty well. I got fourth in the state, and uh Bradley always has a table there, um, recruiting, you know, students to come join their speech team. And they kind of stopped me. They were like, hey, have you ever thought about doing like speech at the college level? I was like, I don't know what that means, but um, you know, I'm interested. And uh they just kept reaching out, a couple emails, a couple phone calls, and uh I ended up coming to Bradley to join the speech team. And the one thing that I always say about my journey to Bradley is like, well, first of all, let me be clear, it was the only school I applied to. Some people are always shocked when I say that, but I I kind of saw what I wanted in Bradley, and that was it. It was either Bradley or nothing for me. I love that. Um yeah, so I I I chose the school I wanted to go to and this was it. Um, but my journey to Bradley, I always say that I came for their speech team, but I stayed for everything else. Um because I'm a social butterfly, I like to talk. Um, you'll discover that throughout the episode. Um and I wanted a place that felt home and felt small enough and intimate enough that um, you know, the classroom would have robust discussions and I'd be able to have dialogue with professors and students. But I also didn't want to sacrifice my social experience because, again, I like to make friends and and do things. And I really didn't believe them when they said Bradley had kind of mashed with those the best of both both worlds, where in the classroom you have this really intimate experience, but also outside of the classroom, there's so much to do. Peoria is a vibrant place. Um, we've got like uh 200 student organizations and more. Um, so it really balanced all the things I was looking for in one place, which I didn't think was possible, but uh it definitely was. Um and while I was here at Bradley, I tried to get involved as much as in as much as I could. Um I worked in the admissions office as uh a star. Um I was in Student Senate all four years. That was the one thing I they probably thought I was like a stalker when I was looking at their Facebook page for months before I even got to Bradley. I was like, that was the first thing that I was gonna do is run for office uh when I got here. And uh I capped out my journey becoming the student body president my senior year here, and uh I got to travel all over the world and the country with the speech team um competing all four years there. Um blessed to, you know, been a multinational champion, international champion, and uh I credit a lot of the success that I had to the environment that Bradley created for me to succeed. And uh I loved it so much that I stuck around and uh I'm now teaching in the communication department and helping to coach the next frontier of speech competitors on the speech team.

Angie Cooksy: 5:16

What's that transition been like from going from student to staff and to faculty and facilitator and instructor? That's a that's a big change.

David Daye: 5:25

It's a huge change. And um it was a little odd at first because um a lot of the the professors and and staff and people that I respected um, you know, as you know, authority figures over me have now become my colleagues. And um I think that in the best way though, it set me up for success because I had already built so many of those relationships with veteran educators. So, you know, when I'm running into something in the classroom that I've never experienced before, um, all I have to do is walk down the hall and go talk to somebody like Dr. Paul Gullifer or Dr. Tony Adams, and and they already know how to handle those situations and we already have a great rapport. Um, I think the biggest challenge is understanding the weight that you have as the educator, that somebody's education and what they learn and what they take away from this experience, that is your responsibility. Um and I take that with great seriousness. But that first moment that you walk into the classroom, you're like, oh wow, this is it. Like there is no- They have to go to the front of the room. Yeah, like I'm like, I am the teacher.

Angie Cooksy: 6:30

Like, I, you know, um and I look around sometimes and I'm like, where's the grown-up? I might have been in here.

David Daye: 6:37

Like, there's nobody gonna be here with me today. Okay.

Ben Jedd: 6:40

I I had a friend in grad school um who was probably about your age, recently uh graduated from undergrad and was teaching his like first class, and it was like the third or it was like the the first semester he was in there, and he sat down with the students and he was just started talking. He was like, I heard this this professor's terrible. And then uh somebody was like, When's the professor gonna be here? And he's like, Oh, I'm here. And he like got that.

Angie Cooksy: 7:04

I feel like this is also a movie.

Ben Jedd: 7:06

No, no, this really happened. This really happened.

David Daye: 7:08

Oh my goodness. Yeah, it is it's kind of surreal that first moment that you're gonna be.

Ben Jedd: 7:12

Well, because you're you're so the students aren't much younger than you at this point, right? And so it's it's really trying to develop those experiences with the students as well. So that's exciting. Uh could you tell us um what about your role here at Bradley is different? Or what is something that people may not know about your role here at Bradley?

David Daye: 7:38

Like in terms of what I do for coaching, teaching.

Ben Jedd: 7:41

Whether it's coaching, whether it's I mean, so yeah, let's say coaching. You're you're a speech coach. People think like you coach, like what what what do people not what what is it about your position that might be unique that people may not know about?

David Daye: 7:53

Got it. I it's so funny to most of the people in my life when they ask me, you know, what I'm doing at work today or what did I do at work today, I always just kind of boil it down to oh had lots of meetings, lots of meetings. Um because when I I explain, like what I do in competitive speech, we are in the competition of ideas. So my day uh could actually look like writing a sub point about um why we need to address a uh a particular environmental concern. Or um it looks like um taking one line of a prose story and making a student do it over and over again until they get the right tonality and emotion. It's like my day can be anything and nothing all at the same time, um, depending on who you ask. Um and so I think a lot of people probably don't realize the amount of hours and time that we can take on small little bits of a product before we get to like the large um events and speeches that you probably are used to seeing from the speech team.

Ben Jedd: 8:49

That's awesome.

Angie Cooksy: 8:50

That's so cool. I you know, Breno's talking about kind of what people don't know. I'm kind of in the same boat, a little bit curious. Like, I think speech team at Bradley, sort of this like aura, like people know it, but what would you want people to know about the speech team?

David Daye: 9:07

That we work with some of the the best and the brightest students. Like speech is something that it not only challenges you to become like a better person just by virtue of the things that you talk about and the ways that you talk about them and advocate for them, but I also think it makes you become uh a more well-rounded person. Our students on the team, by nature, become better students just by virtue of being on the team. Because it forces you to think outside the box, it forces you to confront things and challenges in the writing process, in the research process that you gotta get through if you want to if you want to get the speech done. Um and so it teaches us to kind of be resilient. And so that's why I always say our students, no matter where they end up, no matter what they end up doing, if they never uh go into a public speaking or public-facing career, they will never say that I regret the skills I learned. Um it's because it made them who they are in such a way that no matter where they land, they will always have a skill set that will put them uh a cut above to organize ideas in a way that others cannot. Quickly, quickly. It teaches you that. It keeps you light on your feet, um, and it teaches you to invest in a product that sometimes you don't know where the final outcome is is going to end up. Like competition is itself subjective and unruly. Um, specifically in a competition where you're speaking and there's different thoughts and ideas and people's biases are involved. So you have to put your best into a product, even if you don't know that that product will succeed. That is the nature of what it is, and it also is a great lesson in life about just because you don't know whether or not the outcome is going to be favorable, doesn't mean that you don't give it your all and you don't give it your best in that moment.

Angie Cooksy: 10:53

Yeah.

Ben Jedd: 10:54

I love that. Uh so you've been in the classroom for a while, you've been coaching students for a while. Could you share a story of a student experience, whether that's a student you've taught, coached, or even one of your own, that really highlights the Bradley experience?

David Daye: 11:13

Yeah. Um I it's happened to me twice now. Um when you're uh a beginning teacher, you sometimes wonder like, are you making an impact? Or like, are do the students even care about what you know you're doing and how you're doing it? Um and I think Bradley gives such the the most ample opportunity to evaluate that even in the times you don't think it's possible. Like I have about 22 students in my class. I mean, that's a pretty intimate class size. I know all my students by name. Um, I always like to play the little game. I'm like, I try to get it within a day or two of having them in class, and then I go around and try to get all their names and and and get to know them a little bit. Um, but after the semester is over, um last semester and the semester before that, you know, I'm just coming in on the break and, you know, do a little work. And I go and look in my mailbox in the staff uh lounge, and I've got these letters that students have written to me and sent to me via intercampus mail. And uh one of them was like, you know, thank you for being my relief. You know, some some you know, times it gets hard and I got a lot going on, but every time I walked in here, I felt like this was a relief. Um another student sent me uh a letter just a couple weeks ago, and he was like, you know, uh I didn't think public speaking was my thing. I wasn't really I wasn't really excited.

Angie Cooksy: 12:34

I didn't think it was my thing either. He's like, I really got a class in speech uh my con class uh freshman year.

David Daye: 12:40

Yeah, I'm like he's like, I I I didn't really think this was gonna be my thing. I didn't really think I liked it. Um but every time you walked in and you smiled and you made and you said good morning and you made us say it back to you, something about that um touched me and made me more willing to participate and be in the class. And then, I mean, I thought he gave some of the greatest speeches in the class and to hear that he, you know, didn't even think he was feeling it. But that that small moment of inspiration, that small moment of making them, you know, I'm like, every time I say good morning, I want you to say it back. We're humans, we should interact with each other. And he's like, that one moment made me feel like this is where I was supposed to be. I love that.

Ben Jedd: 13:19

I love that, and it's it's just it's real, it's real, right? Yeah, yeah.

Angie Cooksy: 13:24

So we've started asking everyone this question, and thus far no one has liked it. So I imagine that we will continue our streak. Um when we started the show, one of the things that we wanted to do was to highlight the people on campus. And across the board, every person that we've had on talks about everyone else on campus, and they talk about the amazing students, and they talk about their amazing colleagues, and they don't really talk about themselves. And so we are gonna put you on the spot. And I would love to know, David Daye, what are you in the classroom or as a professor or as a coach or an instructor? What are you unapologetically exceptional at?

David Daye: 14:06

Um I yeah, I'm gonna agree. I this is You're welcome. Um I I say that um just by the way of leading and and learning so much, I am like cool as a as a cucumber under pressure. Um I've seen in so many spaces where the moment that about of mishap or stress takes place, um, we tend to give ourselves a little leeway to be a little curt with others or you know get a little flustered. Um and uh I think that works for some people, but that's never been my mindset. Um I'm like, what it happened. What can we do to come up with a solution? Because us getting frustrated and upset isn't gonna do much. Um so that I think has contributed to the fact that I think I'm a master facilitator. I know how to take uh opposing conversation and viewpoints and kind of pare them down as like, okay, what I hear you saying over here is this, and what I hear you saying over here is this. Okay, but how can we get to the point of resolution? And I think it served me well in um all aspects of my life. I think part of that stems from like uh I'm an ordained minister, I've been preaching uh for over a decade, and what it taught me is about managing personalities in some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. And when you do that, you've got to have a level head because oftentimes some of those people may not. And at the end of the day, you know that there has to be a solution or a resolution. And so, what is the best way to get there without escalating the situation? Um, and so that's what I'm always thinking about. And I think that is why I've been so good at cultivating relationships. I I don't think I'm the most innovative person in the world. Uh or you know, I don't always have the best ideas, but what I do have is the ability to understand that if we if we can come to consensus, we can get something done.

Angie Cooksy: 16:05

I do feel like this also in some capacity has to tie back to your C-SPAN watching.

David Daye: 16:10

I think so. I'm like, you you learned, I'm like, I guarantee most people have not watched a subcommittee hearing of the Congress of the United States, and I have watched several. Um actually, when I was an undergrad here, one of my research projects in my scope and methods class was evaluating whether or not um committee membership uh in Congress influences the amount of money that you get to send back to your congressional district. Um and so it was the answer, yes. Um, the answer is mixed. There's a lot of theories of of governance there that some of them it depends on the committee. So like if you're on appropriations, you're bringing home the big bucks to um but it also depends on like if you're a senior member, if you have seniority on the committee, like you know, so there's a lot of factors that go into it, but I guarantee most people have not um delved into that work.

Ben Jedd: 16:57

Watched as much C-SPAN as David Daye.

David Daye: 16:59

Yeah, and still to this day, I was just watching yesterday. I it's I love it.

Ben Jedd: 17:02

I love it. I love that. So, David Daye, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been a really great conversation. We love learning more about you.

David Daye: 17:10

Yes, this has been my honor.

Angie Cooksy: 17:11

That wraps up another episode of the Bradley University Podcast. As we have shared in previous episodes, if you have a better name for us, uh let us know. We would love to work through what that looks like. Um, we are your hosts. I'm Angie Cooksy.

Ben Jedd: 17:24

I'm Ben Jedd.

Angie Cooksy: 17:25

We'll see you next time. Go, Bradley.

Ben Jedd: 17:27

Bye bye.