All is made clear as AppX's brand new host Patrick welcomes student body president Carson Rich to the podcast studio for a discussion that makes sense out of the alphabet soup that is college.
Transcript
Patrick Sullivan: Hello everyone! I am Patrick Sullivan and you are on with AppX. This will be my first podcast flying solo without Laurie and I am joined today by Mr. Carson Rich.
Carson Rich: Hey everyone, I’m Carson.
PS: Today we’re going to be talking to you all about some of the confusing acronyms and slag words, and jargon statements that are unique to Appalachian and ASU, because there are a lot of them.
CR: I have to agree, you get to App and it’s basically Alphabet soup and you have got all of these acronyms and this jargon that you are not aware of. I would have to say that the first one that always struck me was “the rock”, because you’re told “ahh” the rock. And you are thinking is it Dwayne Johnson. Why is he here? And obviously he’s not. Then you think to yourself “it’s that large stone outside of the stadium that we don’t really reference anymore”.
PS: The rock is right smack dab in front of the stadium. Dwayne Johnson is not here to wrestle you, it’s just a giant rock.
CR: He’s off pursuing a phenomenal “B” list movie career.
PS: Yeah, he is coming out with some really good content. Something that always through me off is in the student union all of the rooms are named after hiking spots or overlooks. I remember on my first day in the student union someone was like, “oh that’s in Beacon Heights” and I was like, “I have to go to the parkway?” I have to hike to get to a room? What are you talking about!
CR: When I first joined SGA it first took place in Linville Falls, and they were like you just need to meet us at Linville Falls. I remember that I went there as a kid and got pictures with my family and it was really nice and scenic, but I don’t know why a student organization is meeting there. I still find myself though having to think about where it is. For instance you have Linville Falls, Linville Gorge, and Linville Caverns and Line Coves. There is no way to direct yourself there when trying to remember it. Another thing that I think can be very confusing is all the different Dougherty buildings and that’s another thing too. How do you pronounce it because the “g” and the “h” are together there and you’re not quite sure what to do. What do you remember in regards to the different Doughertys or how do you remember it?
PS: I remember LS Dougherty, that’s the nutrition building and I don’t really have any reason to go there as a public relations major. I kind of just forget about it, but BB Dougherty I remember that’s where all of the higher ups are if I want to go see someone who is a higher up in the university that’s where I have got to go. Then DD Dougherty I know if I’m in trouble academically then that’s where I have to go. I actually worked in BB Dougherty last year. I sat at a front desk and all the time people would come in and be like I’m here to meet with my academic advisor. I would be like, “this is BB Dougherty you’re looking for DD Dougherty and the looks on their faces. There is another Dougherty, I really felt for them.
CR: It can also be confusing because yes Dougherty is the same, but you’re also doing it with “BB” and “DD”. Which also makes you wonder if the parents were just trying to confuse you when they named their children. They knew what they were getting themselves into.
PS: For those of you who don’t know the Dougherty’s are the founders of the University, so they’re very important.
CR: Yes, we are not trying to discredit them what so ever. They just have confusing names.
PS: Recently we have had a lot of building names changed. A lot of things for underclassmen may be known as something, but you may here an upper classmen say something completely different. Central Dining Hall which is what it was when I was a freshman and sophomore is now the Roess Dining Hall. I think the most confusing one is the fact Peacock Hall which was formally Raley is now Peacock Hall, but the parking lot is still Raley parking lot that it looks over. That just really throws me off.
CR: For sure, and then there was the very exciting change from CAP to Garwood which just blew me away.
PS: Thank you Senator Garwood, we really appreciate it.
CR: I’ve never been in that building, but I have seen it multiple times. It is a beautiful building.
PS: I’ve never been in it either.
CR: We’ll do that sometime, we’ll go to Garwood Hall and make an event out of it.
PS: You have a funny story about the dining hall too, don’t you?
CR: Yes, I do. The upstairs portion of Roess Dining Hall is called River Street Café. When I was a first year student at Appalachian my friends text me and they said “we’re at the River Street Café” and I was like awesome I can go eat at this local Boone restaurant and I’m going to hang out with my friends. I remember going up and down River Street looking for River Street Café distraught that I could not find where my friends were. I was so confused and sad and they were like no, and this was at the time, it’s in Central Dining Hall. It was such a letdown because I thought I was going to experience local Boone culture when really it was just in the dining hall and I felt stupid too because I had walked up and down River Street.
PS: There is a lot of those double names there’s Walker Hall and the Walker College of Business. There’s Belk Library and Anne Belk Hall which are two different things. There is the LLC which is the Living Learning Center or the department of Language, Literatures, and Culture which is also called LLC. We have duck pond and Duck Pond Field. My freshman year there was a big event on Duck Pond Field called Apple Fest. On all the advertisements said at Duck Pond and I was like “Oh wow they’re going to have all of these inflatables and everything blown up on the pond and we’re going to go swimming”. I get there and I get to the duck pond and there is just ducks and a few old ladies feeding them bread. Then I realized the field behind Trivette Hall which is Duck Pond Field is where the festival was. So don’t go jumping into duck pond whenever you think there is a festival.
CR: Yeah, that can definitely be something that is very confusing. Another thing for me that can be confusing is Sanford Hall and Sanford Mall because they are both right next to each other. One is an academic building obviously and one is a patch of green grass.
PS: The one that always threw me off and I think still throws off a lot of people is “the JET”. Which stands for John E. Thomas Hall it’s where admissions, financial aid, and housing has their office. I remember freshman year I had to have some financial aid information taken care of and I was talking to my advisor and she said you’re going to have to head over to the JET. I was like “we have an airport? What or we have a plane? Am I going to get to fly?” That’s so cool. Turns out it was just financial aid and definitely not near as exciting as going to an airport and flying in a plane.
CR: I once had someone tell me they said, it’s called the JET building because from an aerial view it looks like a lightning bolt. Which is true, but lightning bolts don’t really have to do with jets unless you’re in a jet and there is a lightning storm. Which is very applicable to just that one situation, but it’s actually called JET because it’s named after one of our previous chancellors, Johnny Thomas. Just know if people say the JET building it’s basically the admissions/financial aid/perch/housing/everything building. I know it can be very confusing particularly dealing with east side and west side again is Bowie and Hoey. The fact that Bowie doesn’t look like Bowie (Bo-e) it looks like Bowie (Bow-e) and Hoey (who-e) you just ask yourself why.
PS: Mhmm, I actually Lived in Bowie my freshman year and I remember getting my housing assignment on actually this day three years ago, and I remember saying I living in Bowie (bow-e), I’m living in Bowie (bow-e). I was a David Bowie fan in high school so I was like yeah David Bowie, I’m going to live in Bowie. My brother who went here who went here was like “whoahh it’s Bowie (boo-e) so like get it together”. I was like “oh” I have to like figure this out, I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of the college kids when I get there. Hoey (hoe-e) I actually went to high school with someone whose last name was Hoey (hoe-e) and it was spelled like Hoey (who-e). So, I thought it was Hoey (hoe-e), but it’s Hoey (who-e). Those are both first year dorms so if you get placed in those Bowie (boo-e) and Hoey (who-e) don’t mess it up.
CR: Another thing for me is, and we have briefly gone over this, but yes different buildings you may have a long name like WH Plemmons Student Union, but people will just say either the Plemmons Student Union or just the Union. You need to know when they mention the Union they’re not talking about riots and pickets and getting a union together to fight against certain job markets in North Carolina. They’re just all talking about where we all go to be students.
PS: Two very different things.
CR: Yes, very very different.
PS: One thing that I thought was hilarious when I came to Boone was Legends
CR: Mmmhmmm
PS: For those of you from the Raleigh area you are familiar with Legends as an establishment in Downtown Raleigh focused toward the gay community. The on campus night club we have is also called Legends. Freshmen year I remember there wasa concert that I wanted to go to My friends were like, “Yeah it’s over at Legends!” and I was like, “ We’re going…what? Legends? Oh! This just took a complete turn. We’re going to a gay club! And they said, “No. That’s the on campus night club.” Woops!
CR: I have a similar story. I have a couple of friends that go to NC State so they’re in Raleigh where Legends is. I don’t know if they still have it but at the time, the residence hall’s held a Lip Synch competition at Legends here on campus. I remember letting my friends know that, “Yeah. We made it to the next round and we get to go perform in Legends. I’m super excited!” I painted my whole body because I was the Appalachian Hulk. I was wearing purple shorts and just going into Legends and getting ready to perform. They were like, “Carson, is there something that we don’t know?” I was like, “No! I’m just excited and I’m going to Legends and I can’t wait for everyone to see me.” I then realized the confusion there. That is a funny coincidence.
PS: Yeah. It’s something that a lot of people run into I think.
CR: Yes Yes.
PS: I’ve been an orientation leader for three years now. I’ve had a lot of interactions with first year students. The one thing that a lot of them don’t understand is on their printable student schedule there are abbrevisations for the day of the week that class is held. There is an “M” for Monday, a “T” for Tuesday, “W” for Wednesday, an “R” for Thursday and an “F” for Friday…which makes sense. If your class is on Tuesdya Thursday, it shows up as just TR. I know more than one student who thought, “Oh this class is just on Thursday because TR means Thursday. It’s week three going into classes and they’re really confused like, “My teacher is jumping around from thing to thing.” I asked, “Oh have you been going to class everyday?” and they’re like “Yeah! Every Thursday.” I said, “What about Tuesday?” You just see their faces lose life like, “Oh my God. I’ve skipped three weeks of classes on Tuesdays. So, if you are looking at your schedule and you see an R, that means Thursday and the T means Tuesday. Make sure you don’t get confused.
CR: When I was fairly new to Appalachian, I was taking a class. It was just a Monday class but it was for three and a half hours. I first off didn’t know it was that long. I also though it was three and a half hours Monday and Wednesday. I ended up dropping it and I realized what I had done and I was able to sign back up for it but there are definitely those different changes in schedules that you have to realize are specific to that class itself. Don’t do what I did. Read your schedule.
CR: Also another thing that I think can be confusing, and Patrick with you being a S.O.U.L. you can probably describe this better than I can but when you get to App and you have this App Card, you don’t really understand the gravity of this situation of this card that you have in front of you because if you do not have it, you cannot eat. You cannot get into the SRC…which stands for Student Recreation Center for those of you sick of the acronyms. But, what are some experiences that you’ve had with maybe incoming students who look at this App card and they’re like, “What is this?”
PS: Well, first I guess I should say what a S.O.U.L. is. Like Carson said, you come to App and it’s alphabet soup and everything is an acronym. S.O.U.L. stands for student orientation undergraduate leader so if you ever hear someone say that…that’s what that is. As far as the App Card a lot of students don’t realize that it is your life on campus. It has your meal plan on it. It has your express account which is essentially an on campus debit card. It is how you access your residence hall. It’s how your going to get into the SRC. These poor innocent first year students, they come in and check into orientation and we say, “Hey you’re going to get a tour to get your App card made. A lot of them show up at 8am in really casual clothing. They are not prepared to get a picture taken and then we throw them into this room and line them up and one by one we snap their mugshot and it is on this little card ID that they’re going to have during the rest of their time at Appalachian. I have students who want to pay the $15 to get a new one just so they can have a different picture on it. The App Card is the student ID and you have to have it. It you want to get a new picture taken and pay $15 that’s totally your perogotive.
CR: And if you don’t like your picture the good news is it normally fades after about two or three years and then you just become a white washed square on a piece of plastic welcome to Shawshank.
PS: It’s literally just…the picture is gone and everything. They really need to do something about that.
CR: They do! Antoher thing too is I once heard someone referencing INTAPP which in International Appalachian which deals with exchange students. I thought they were talking about what was on tap and what they were going to do later that night. INTAPP and what’s on tap are two different things depending on where you are and what you’re doing.
PS: Yeah we have WASU which is our on campus radio station. Whenever I heard the term WASU I picked up on what that was. I was like “Oh the radio station.” But one time someone said, “ Wah-Soo,” and I was like what is Wah Soo? Is that a weird Appalachian chant that I haven’t learned and someone was like, “No, I work for Wah- Soo.” I had no idea what they were talking about. Then I learned that they were saying WASU as if it was a word as opposed to an acronym. Our on campus radio station “90.5 Wah-Soo.”
PS: Something unique to Appalachian that I didn’t realize was unique until got to App and talked to some of my old high school friends who were now at other universities is a beeper. A lot of people might think, “Oh you use pagers up at App State? Noooo we don’t use pagers. We have iPhone’s come on. We’re in the 21st century.” A beeper is essentially a student that posts on Facebook and says, “Hey I’m beeping tonight and you can pay them two dollars and they’ll take you to where you need to go. So it’s kind of like Ubering but since we are a smaller town, Uber isn’t really a thing up here. It’s kind of like a taxi service which is very unique to this area. People in Raleigh or in Charlotte don’t know about beeping because they have very prominent taxi services.
CR: Exactly
PS: Well, the things that we’re talking about that confused us so much freshmen year are proof that even as a first year student things may confuse you but you can still be a very successful leader on campus.
CR: Yes! I have to say that I currently find myself being able to serve in the position of student body president and Patrick, I gotta tell ya, it’s just crazy to think of that story. Back when I was an incoming student with that ten dollar bill in my hand just looking for River Street Café. It’s been three years of trying to find my way around but you know what Patrick? By God I made it! I turned that situation around. Now I haven’t had this much fun since the renaming of Garwood Hall but I gotta say that it really has been a pleasure. And to all those people listening, just know that you may be that confused incoming student but one of these days you may just find yourself in an influential leadership position and you don’t want to tell people the mistakes you’ve made as I just did. So that just something to keep in mind.
PS: We appreciate your honesty.
CR: Thanks for inviting me here for this AppX podcast.
PS: Of course. I’ve had a lot of fun today talking to you Carson.
CR: It’s been a blast.
PS: Thank you to everyone who has listened in and laughed with us today. We will be back with another installment of AppX in the near future but thanks again and have a great day!.
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About Appalachian State University
As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, affordable education for all. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.
