In the Jungle; Trevor Johnson

Thank you for joining us for In The Jungle, where you stay connected to the current students at Pittsburgh State University. Now, here's your host, Howard Smith. Welcome to In The Jungle, where we meet the gorillas of Pittsburgh State University. I'm your host, Howard Smith, and today we're joined by Trevor Johnson. Hi, Trevor. Hey, Howard, how are you doing? Doing great. Hey, we're glad you're on the radio with us today. First of all, tell us where you're from. Tell us a little bit about your hometown. So, yeah, I'm from Gower, Missouri, a small town just south of St. Joseph, Missouri, north of Kansas City for those who don't know where St. Joseph is. About 1,500 people are strong, graduating class of 59. So, a lot smaller in Pittsburgh, actually, which surprises a lot of people, but I'm here. So, how did you hear about us, and what brought you to Pitt? I searched for best business schools in the area, and it came down to UMK Sierra Pittsburgh State. And Pittsburgh State, I thought, would have the correct atmosphere for me. I'd get more one-on-one with professors, and so that's what brought me here. So, it hasn't been what you thought it would be. For sure, for sure. You definitely get to build relationships with professors, and it's also a very close-knit community. And so, you make friends quickly, and you're able to just develop those relationships

and continue to make connections, and have all of that in a family atmosphere. So, what is your major, actually? I'm a double major in accounting and finance. Wow. Why accounting and finance? It's funny. So, I've always had a passion for business, but I didn't know what I wanted to do in business. And so, my uncle, who's a CPA, was really pushing for accounting, and then I asked my other uncle, who's also high up in business, and he told me, yeah, accounting is the right route. So, as I got into it, I started to realize I enjoyed finance more, but accounting is the base for everything in business. So, why not double major in them? So, do you have anything in any particular position in mind, or area you want to be when you graduate? I love investments. I love business research and business analysis, and things like that. So, I could definitely see myself being a portfolio manager someday, or a financial analyst, something along those lines. It's been a lot of work. It's been a lot of work, but if you put in the work, you'll get the results. So, what's been your most challenging class so far, or class, as let's say? Oh, wow.

I'd say intermediate financial accounting. It's just a step up from financial accounting, and it's different than managerial accounting. So, I'd say that's been the most challenging so far. Not a homework? Call it that. I think when you add up all the classes, it's a lot of homework, but not for one particular class. So, you live on campus or off campus? Off campus. What's it like living off campus and going to school? It's not too bad for me personally, because I'm fairly close to campus. So, if I wanted to walk, I could. So, really, the difference is you don't have that closeness with other people that you would if you lived on campus. So, I lived on campus my first two years, and I noticed I would make more friends I felt like. If I wanted to go to the library, I was right by it, I could just go, and I could study, and get away. With living at home, it's a little different, or living in an apartment, I should say. And you live by yourself? No, I do have a roommate, one of my best friends. But, where'd you live when you lived on campus? I lived in Tanner. In Tanner.

Both years? Both years, really. Tell me a little bit about living in Tanner, where there are activities, anything going on? Yeah, so the RAs are always trying to put on group activities. So, you know, you might have a movie night in the main area of the dorm. Or, you know, they'll promote, like, I remember we got to watch the Royals and the Mets on the big screen, which was great for the World Series. So, yeah, there's always something going on that RAs will be posting about. No, isn't it kind of nice to have somebody prepare meals for you? That is true. Yeah, it is. It is. I do miss that, for sure. So, you know, now I have to go home and cook. Has there been anybody on campus that's had a major influence on you today? Yeah, Dr. Rosen of the Account of ACIS Department. And how did you do that? Dr. Rosen and I met, I actually had to take his CIS class. What's the CIS? Computer Information Systems. Thank you. For my business major. And so, that's where I met Dr. Rosen. And then he also became my advisor later on when I got accepted into the Kelis College of Business. And so, we've just really connected a lot. And he's helped me with recruiters from colleges and things like that.

And just making those connections. And he's been a big influence on me. So, from an advisor or standpoint, that relationship. You think he's built a nice relationship with you? Oh, definitely. Would you see yourself calling him once you graduated? For sure. For sure. We'll be in touch. Well, that's cool. Hey, what about the community? Is there any places you'd like to go on the community? You mentioned it's a family atmosphere. What do you like? The Maldelli. You can't beat it. It's a Maldelli. I got to give props to Maldelli. It's great food. So, it's a great place. You know, a lot of people say, what's one of the big traditional things that happens at the Maldelli? Oh, the crackers and sauce. I mean, you got to have that. That's good stuff. You sit down and you know, that's an unusual thing. People don't, you have to kind of experience it, don't you? Yeah, for sure. They give you crackers and they give you a town. You're in dressings and kind of like a ketchup bottle. And everybody, that's kind of your order or whatever you're to start off with. Yeah, and the evening. So, that's kind of cool. Hey, I know you're involved in Crimson Club. Tell me what is Crimson Club and how did you get in and what do you think you'll be doing? So, Crimson Club is an organization where some members are selected by faculty.

And then we interview for to be a member of Crimson Club. And Crimson Club is just helping out with events on campus that come up. So, like, anything President Scott needs us to go to and help out with. And we're really what Crimson Club is is representing Pitt State. So, like, people want to hear our experiences. They might have already talked to President Scott and things like that. So, when we go up in the, you know, the... Like skybox? Skybox. When we go up in the skybox, they want to hear our experiences, right? Right. Because most of them probably already know President Scott. So, they really want to see, you know, Pitt State tradition and they want to hear what we're doing and getting involved in. So, you're really like ambassadors. Yes. I mean, you're reaching out and building relationships with folks who are visiting. Have you had a chance to sign up for anything yet? So, our first thing... We have a President's dinner coming out. That's for all the donors. Yep. Yep. So, that we're going to be helping out with that. So, that's going to be exciting.

And then, of course, we have our monthly meetings with Crimson Club. What happens in a meeting in Crimson Club? So, we get together. We usually have a team dinner, which is nice. So, we get to get back all the... Being a college student. We can't be free food. So, we get together and then we'll talk about upcoming events who wants to volunteer for it, things like that. So, for example, we all have to do a football game where we go up in the sky box and talk with people. And they have a formal presentation. I'd each of those as well. Oh, I wouldn't call it a formal one. A formal one. But yeah, you learn something new. Yeah, for sure. For sure. That's cool. Has there been any surprises since you went to school here? Anything that surprised you about, Pitt? There's college, what you thought it would be. Any college isn't what I thought it would be in the sense, you know, people always build up college to be. It's going to be super hard and you're just... You're not going to have a life or anything like that. And that's not the case, you know. You start to make it your life. You know, making connections, making friends, schoolwork, things like that. It's just... It's busy, but it's not hard if you just stick to it. And so, that's one thing that I would say about college.

Hey, what advice would you give to a prospective student considering Pitt State? What would you tell him to say, right, why should you consider Pitt State? Once again, I'll go back to the relationships. You're not going to build better relationships anywhere else. You're going to get that one-on-one with professors. You're going to make close friends, and you're going to make a wide variety of friends as well from all different places. And so, that's why I would recommend Pitt State. And that proves why you belong at Pittsburgh State University. Thank you for joining us in the jungle. I'm your host, Howard Smith. Trevor, thanks for being with us. Thank you, I appreciate it. Join us for in the jungle. Wednesday afternoons at 350 and Friday mornings at 850, here on KRPS.