Angie Cooksy: 0:11

Welcome to the Bradley University Podcast. We are your hosts. I am Angie Cooksy.

Ben Jedd: 0:15

I am Ben Jedd.

Angie Cooksy: 0:16

And we serve enrolls in the enrollment and marketing space here on campus, which means that not only do we get to do lots of the visuals, but we also get to be part of telling a lot of the stories on campus, which is why this is one of my favorite parts of our job. And Ben is gonna sing today.

Ben Jedd: 0:32

I am not, but Angie is going to play the cowbell.

Angie Cooksy: 0:37

I didn't know where you were gonna go. I tried to beat you to the street.

Ben Jedd: 0:40

I've had cowbell planned all day, so don't worry.

Angie Cooksy: 0:44

Um all of these continue to be lies because neither one of us are musically inclined. Actually, I don't know. Maybe Ben is musically inclined.

Ben Jedd: 0:51

I I yes.

Angie Cooksy: 0:52

You are?

Ben Jedd: 0:53

No.

Angie Cooksy: 0:53

Oh, all right. Well, uh, we record this show in the Hilltop Studios.

Ben Jedd: 0:58

But I can dress this up a little bit. We have we now have bubbles. Uh David, who is our guest and we're gonna introduce in a moment, just sprayed a bubble cannon in our podcast.

Angie Cooksy: 1:10

Which is perfect because we now have the podcast available, both audio and visual. So we added some visual elements today. Um, we record in the lower level of University Hall in Hilltop Studios, and it is one of the coolest kind of unsung places on campus where we have resources, resources like this for faculty and staff and students to be able to be creative and create something that they have in their mind into reality. And so with that, we are gonna jump right into our guest for today because that is what the show is all about. Uh joining us today is David Trillizio, director for orientation and transfer student experiences. Uh, welcome to the show.

David Trillizio: 1:48

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Angie Cooksy: 1:50

I was not expecting your bubble machine, but as the director of orientation, I should have expected nothing less. Um, let's jump in and get started with a little bit about your background and your journey to the role that you sit in today.

David Trillizio: 2:01

Wow, so it takes me back 25 years. Today is my officially my 25th uh anniversary date here at Bradley University. Oh gosh, congratulations. Yeah, thank you.

Angie Cooksy: 2:09

So he planned that for today. I'm sure that you did.

David Trillizio: 2:13

Yes. So 25 years ago today came to Bradley University from graduate school uh in Buffalo, New York. And uh I as an undergraduate, I was an orientation leader, and I thought that it was a great experience and very helpful for people, and I wanted to give that back. And so I never left orientation at that point. So as an undergraduate, I went to graduate school for student personnel administration and had an assistantship, a graduate assistantship with orientation at Buffalo State College, and then I just started looking for jobs and I found Bradley University, and I just remember the campus, even at that time, uh, was a matter of it wasn't too big, it wasn't too small, and it just felt right. And those are things that I still hear students say to this day. So yeah, that was my journey here, and you know, I was gonna be here for two or three years and then move closer to home, and it's been 25 years, and so I never left.

Angie Cooksy: 3:03

So this is home now.

David Trillizio: 3:04

This is home away, it is home away from home. I hear other people on campus say that, I say the same thing.

Ben Jedd: 3:09

Oh, that's so sweet. Uh, so you are one of the first experiences students have on this campus. Um What does orientation mean to you? And and uh how do you think it is unique here at Bradley?

David Trillizio: 3:25

Orientation to me, this is the first in-depth experience that a student or a parent guest or supporter will have. So what it means to me, or what it should mean for students, is I want them to, and their parents, guests, and supporters, to begin to get a an appetizer of the main course, the main course being the fall semester. And so I want them to be able to get to know a little bit about what things are like and where things are on campus. Now I know on visit days, I mean they're going around and doing that, but some of them it's been months, you know, since they've done that.

Angie Cooksy: 3:52

They're window shopping then.

David Trillizio: 3:54

Right. So they're not, yeah, they're not concentrating on everything exactly. So this is the first in-depth eating in the cafeteria, sleeping overnight, et cetera, et cetera. We want them to, they're the people that they're meeting at orientation are gonna be people that they will be seeing for 100% in the fall. So we have about 70 to 75 students that are in a session, which is not huge. So, you know, they're in small groups of like six to eight people. So they're really getting to know the people that are here. So it's important to have them meeting people and having fun while they're here so that when they come in the fall, orientation sessions with the us having all of the sessions we do in the summer and the in the middle, if you will, it provides a nice window into what the fall semester is going to be like. So they might come feeling like a high school senior, but they end up leaving, I think, feeling like a college first-year student and really excited to return. So, and we want them to actually quote unquote go to class too. They're not going to accounting or a physics class, but you know, they're gonna be learning some things about the resources that are available. So you're going to class a little bit, you're going to be uh registering for your classes, that's important, uh, because they're gonna do that all four years while they're here. We want them to have fun while they're here. So it's just the things that they're gonna be doing in the fall semester. We try to squeeze that all into a day and a half orientation while they're here.

Ben Jedd: 5:10

So you've had a couple orientation sessions so far. Correct. What do you think is like the best experience for students? Like, what do you think students walk away from and say, like, oh my gosh, I'm so happy. This was so awesome.

David Trillizio: 5:23

Yeah, again, I think it's just meeting people. And so we have a variety of different uh options for them to do that, whether it's small or large group icebreakers, whether it's our minute to win its competition, whether it's after minute to win it is over with, one of the unique features of Bradley's orientation is that we give each student a 15-minute one-on-one, we call that, with their orientation leader, or as we call them here, student aids. So for that 15 minutes, Angie could walk around with her student aid and talk about her tennis season for 15 minutes if she was really proud of that. Or she can ask, you know what, how does how does a student get involved on a campus? Or, you know what, I am a little bit nervous about coming to school. How did you deal with that? So for 15 minutes away from any parent, guest, or supporter, if you're nervous to kind of say that, this is an opportunity for you to say what's on your mind, ask those particular questions and really connect with another student who is only a year or two older, but that's someone that is in a leadership position, which is really important. So I think that's unique and that is important for them. And again, they're gonna be meeting people the next day during the scheduling process that are in their college or in their major. So uh yeah, that's that's what I would say.

Angie Cooksy: 6:30

I love that. One of the other things is you've been talking about sort of that transition to campus and the and the things that students might be nervous about, is we have a program here on campus in the first year called EHS 120, which is really that freshman experience or first year experience course. And I know you play a role in in sort of the administrative oversight of that. And I think a lot of families, not even students, but families are just really nervous about I don't know what I don't know. This is totally different. My student or my I am going away from home for the first time. Can you talk a little bit about EHS 120 and and how it aids students? And I know this year we're actually signing up all of our incoming students for EHS 120 as part of their core experience. So why is that so valuable?

David Trillizio: 7:12

Thank you for the question. Yeah, so EHS 120 is a one credit hour uh once a week for 50 minutes uh throughout the whole semester. So in a day and a half, we can't tell them everything with orientation, nor should we. They're not gonna remember all that anyway. So it is uh during the course of the semester, it is team taught by a student affairs professional or somebody that works on campus along with a student aide or a student leader on campus to have some of their age, their peer group. And so, what are some of the things that we do in the class? So in the class, uh we again it it's meant to be a little bit social. It's meant to be you're in a class of 20-ish other first-year students. Uh, so that's the place where you could ask that's what you perceive to be that silly question. Uh, I don't know where this is or how do I print on campus or whatever. So it's a great opportunity for you to feel, yes, that you can put yourself out there a little bit if you need to. But some of the other things that we do in there, along with the social activities, we will so for resumes, for example, the career center that students at Bradley have an academic advisor and a career advisor. So uh we have them at least prepare an initial first-year student resume. And it doesn't have to be perfect, but we want them to know that they have a career advisor that can help them as soon as their first semester on campus. Uh, along with that, we will also have we reteach them how to schedule their classes in the fall because they're during orientation, there's a lot that's going on, and there's a lot of help that we have for them for that process. But when they're here in the fall, you know how this works. You have a day, you have a time, and then you're supposed to do this. Uh, you could do it from your dorm room, you could do it from wherever, but it's you doing it on your own. So we have to reteach them that whole process, and they really do appreciate that. That's the one comment that I consistently get in the evaluation that that's really important. So, scavenger hunts again to refamiliarize more places on campus. We start we started to do well, also up to, and we have student activities come in. There's required presentations that come in about how to get involved on campus. Uh, but we've also even kind of initiated a little bit of a life lessons kind of a series, you know, with the classes. So there will be we uh balancing meal plan dollars so that they or dining dollars that they don't run out at the end of the semester. I mean, it's a simple division process and don't it's like budgeting life. It is. And I mean to see the eyeballs when we would start to kind of do this with kind of like, wow, I never even never thought of that. Never thought of using my calculator to divide with that. And that's not to minimize that, because again, it is new. I mean, budgeting on their own is new, or even little things about tips on laundry. Uh, some of them know how to do laundry and some of them don't. Or uh maybe like uh writing a check is not something that happens a lot for students anymore. But you know, if you ever have to do this, you know, here you go, put this in a drawer. Uh if at two in the morning you're not feeling well, you know, what do you do? If we pretend I'll say if your mother is running an international race in Turkey and she's not available to answer the phone, you know, then you kind of know what to do. So just things like that that uh they can feel a little bit more comfortable navigating these waters. So, but it's meant to be a fun uh experience while also giving them some information as well. That's so great.

Angie Cooksy: 10:17

I will also say that was a personal question because I get to be a part of it this year, so I also wanted to know what I was doing.

David Trillizio: 10:23

So yeah, well, there's more information to come on that later. So I wasn't gonna oucha in that regard, but yes, you're doing that.

Angie Cooksy: 10:28

I'm super excited. I I think it's one of the things that um is so much a core Bradley experience, and I think people even later on remember, you know, what orientation session they went to because they have that close experience, and people really remember what their EHS 120 experience is because it's it sort of creates sort of this little integrated cohort in a lot of capacities. Um you might not ever have class with that student again, but you sort of remember those first few weeks on campus.

Ben Jedd: 10:51

Are you teaching an EHS student?

Angie Cooksy: 10:53

I am Wednesdays at 11. So selfish plug if you want to come be in my EHS 120 class.

Ben Jedd: 10:58

Totally coming to that class.

David Trillizio: 11:00

I teach Wednesday at 10 o'clock, so I'll be right before you.

Ben Jedd: 11:03

Um that is so exciting for me. Um I think we're gonna do a live podcast from Angie's class.

Angie Cooksy: 11:10

I think you're gonna be busy every Wednesday at 11 uh doing other things.

Ben Jedd: 11:14

That's probably true. So uh, David, you you interact with a lot of students here on campus. Uh, can you share a story um of a student experience that you think is interesting or exciting or unique to Bradley?

David Trillizio: 11:29

Unique, exciting, or interesting. I gosh, there's so over the course of all of my years here.

Ben Jedd: 11:36

I know, I'm just asking for more.

Angie Cooksy: 11:38

This is the part where people are like, just one exciting or interesting.

David Trillizio: 11:41

Well, I don't know why this one comes up, so I hope that this fits the category. But uh years ago, there was an engineering student who was at orientation that was really wanting to also take French classes. And uh I'm I can't remember if it was a double major in French, but uh, if your listeners or viewers don't know, uh if you're going into engineering, uh you have to, as a Bradley student, either have a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree. So a lot of the courses that engineers are taking, you know, really qualify for the Bachelor of Science degree, but that doesn't mean that you can't do a Bachelor of Science degree while taking world language and cultures courses, and the student was really wanting to take those. And so understanding it could add a little bit more time, uh, you know, depending on how you budget your classes and schedule your classes. But so I helped her, I remember at orientation with getting into French classes, and just because uh yeah, I just I don't know why I remember that. But four years later, I'm in my office, and then this father and daughter or student come to my office, and I don't remember, you know, everybody, and they said, Yeah, you know, David, you helped us at orientation, and uh, even though students don't really kind of have to go that route, and after four years, you know, she's gonna be double majoring basically in this engineering field and in this French field, and it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you. And she's really appreciative and happy uh with with this particular kind of career path that she had. So I didn't expect them to come in and say that I didn't think I did anything extraordinary in that regard, but uh we really we do make a difference, we really try to make a difference.

Angie Cooksy: 13:10

I I mean that's just the that's the Bradley story over and over again, and and that's honestly Ben, that's why I like that we do this show because I think people don't realize how amazing it is. I think you're you're like that was just my job. Like that's what I did on that Tuesday in orientation, but like you changed the course of that student's life.

David Trillizio: 13:26

It was nothing seemingly extraordinary at the time.

Ben Jedd: 13:29

But that's but it's I bet it's uh hundreds of those little stories, which is why you've been here for 25 years. You know, so that's I think that the amount of compassion and caring is noticeable.

Angie Cooksy: 13:42

Um David, what's something that people may not know about you or your Bradley experience?

David Trillizio: 13:47

Something they may not know about my Bradley experience.

Angie Cooksy: 13:50

Or yourself, you can share anything.

David Trillizio: 13:52

I've been skydiving. I don't know if that's uh that's not a Bradley thing.

Ben Jedd: 13:56

No, that's not that is that is you.

Angie Cooksy: 13:58

Yeah, we love learning about people. I love it.

Ben Jedd: 14:00

Skydiving once or multiple times.

David Trillizio: 14:02

So it was it was once, and actually the the so this was around, gosh, it was 2011, 2012, 13. This after the final orientation session in July had concluded, I mean not right after, the next day, one of the student aides lived near Skydive Chicago, about an hour north of here, and there were about eight, nine of the student aides, not all of them, that said, hey, you know, what at skydiving would be a fun way to end the summer. So all of us went up to Skydive Chicago. I had never been before, I'd always wanted to, but there was there was this other festival that was going on too. Normally it's just a quicker up and down kind of a thing, but then all like for hours, you mean we're just waiting and anticipating, and they put you through safety classes and the student aids. I mean, when you it was fascinating because when you go up the plane, you're not coming back down the same way. And so I told the student aids, all right, I'll go first, I'll show you it's easy and whatever. And I was super excited, kept asking the tandem instructor when is it gonna happen? I'm so excited, and then they open the doors, and it's like, oh my gosh, right now I'm going third. This is about to happen. And so I'm trying to be like again, I told the student aids I go first, and so I was kind of wanting to say, Does anybody want to go before me?

Ben Jedd: 15:09

Someone else wants to go.

David Trillizio: 15:10

I'm gonna do this, and it was caught on video too. So uh, but it what a great way to end the summer, and that's a very unique experience with say nine other student aides that I very unique. Yeah, and that's it's it's yeah. So, you know what? We we are people outside of our jobs too, and so that was a fun experience that I've got to share.

Angie Cooksy: 15:29

I feel like since you offered that there's video evidence, we should slice that into the video of this of this show.

David Trillizio: 15:36

So we'll have to I don't know about that. Uh a lot of facial reactions and fear.

Angie Cooksy: 15:43

Yeah, I'm not jumping out of an airplane anytime soon. Um, you know, we talk a lot about what makes Bradley special. You just I mean share some of those experiences. And so we always wrap up the show and and ask people this question that we usually get the same reaction every time we ask it. So we'll see, we'll see if your reaction's the same. Um what are you unapologetically exceptional at? What are you great at what you do?

David Trillizio: 16:06

Oh gosh, the these questions, I what oh my gosh, that's embarrassing. Uh to it's embarrassing to name positives or things to that such. I think having done, I don't know how many orientations over 25 years, it's got to be around 300 or so. I'd like to think, and I've heard people say this about me, that I will approach each orientation session because for every student, guest and supporter that comes to orientation, it is their first. It doesn't matter if the student aides, if it's their 12th or their 20th, if they worked two or three years, or in this case 300 and whatever, it has to be their. It's their first. It's the parents, guests, and supporters first. Whether they're an empty-nested or nervous for that reason, or whether it's just their first time and they've got a lot of questions, they need to see enthusiasm. They need to see, you know, a process where it is not on cruise control and autopilot. And so I think I am able to provide, and I try to instill this in the student aids too, that, you know, this is I know it's the end of the summer and you could be a little bit tired and whatever, but you know, these people, this is their first experience and their first time. And we have to give them that same gift that the other people earlier in the summer received. So I'm really, yes, that's very important to me.

Ben Jedd: 17:21

That's I mean, that's so important and so again, Bradley is putting so much trust in you because this is their first experience and you uh the compassion you have for those that are coming in early August because it's just as important as early June. Absolutely.

Angie Cooksy: 17:40

Is there anything you would like to to add or to share for for your time with us today?

David Trillizio: 17:45

Is there anything to share? I that could go in so many directions. So uh no, no, no, no. No, I I just uh I yeah, I appreciate being able to do this. Uh I I don't uh I I don't.

Ben Jedd: 17:58

No, that's okay. That's okay. Thank you so much. Like this this has been great to learn this process and your experiences. It's been it's been wonderful talking to you.

David Trillizio: 18:06

Yeah, thank you very much. And if any one of your listeners are Buffalo Bills fans, go Bills.

Angie Cooksy: 18:10

I literally wrote here on here I was gonna I was waiting to see how long it would take us to get to Buffalo. Um I you're not you're not a fan or anything. It wasn't a big year for you. No, no.

David Trillizio: 18:20

Oh, it was a great year. Um Josh Allen MVP was fantastic. So yeah, so they just they need to win the Super Bowl before I pass away, whenever that is. So that's that's important. It has nothing to do with Bradley, but it's important to me. It's important to you. Sounds good.

Angie Cooksy: 18:33

It's great. I love it so much. Um that wraps up another episode of the Bradley University Podcast. It is one of our favorite times of the week, and we hope that it's something that you look forward to as well. As always, if you'd like to come and be on the show, reach out to myself or to Ben or to Marketing or stop us in the quad. Uh, we'd love to have you to highlight your story and your experience here at Bradley and to wrap us up as always. Go, Bradley.

Ben Jedd: 18:55

Kaboom.

Angie Cooksy: 18:56

Kao boom. Bye, everybody. Bye.