In the Jungle; Cassandra Ngo

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 grill as a Pittsburgh State University. I'm your host, Howard Smith, and today we are joined by Cassandra Noe. Hi, Cassandra. Hi. You know, Cassandra's not new to us, and she's a Pittsburgh native, but attending school here at Pitt State. How come you chose Pitt State? I chose Pitt State because it was rich in traditions. I really liked the smaller class sizes. I graduated in class of 34, so when I toured KU and Arkansas, and they were talking about the lecture halls with 500 students, that was really overwhelming, and also growing up around the Pittsburgh area. I saw the impact that the community had on the university, and I really liked the aspect of it. And that's an interesting perspective, because I mean, you've been familiar with the institution. You've been around it for a long time. Now you've attended here. Were there anything new that you've learned by attending here that maybe you didn't notice

when you were growing up here? So actually growing up, I'd never been on campus. Why? So the first time I didn't toured Pitt State at all, but when I came here for Pitt Cares, I fell in love with the campus. Like the banana trees and all the landscaping, it was just a really cool atmosphere. Well, that's interesting, I mean, because I'm assuming most people are like me, they kind of assume that somebody's been on campus if they let them do, but you came back and checked it out just like you would in the institution. So your major is political science and- And justice studies. So why are you pursuing that area? So originally in high school, I thought I wanted to go to law school. I was really involved in debate and speech, and so I was like, oh yeah, law school, let's do that. Law, and then as I went through, I think it was sometime last year, my junior year, that I decided that I didn't really want to pursue law school, but I knew I wanted to pursue like another degree after. So I'll be doing a master's after I graduate in May, online through Arizona State University,

doing a master's in forensic psychology. Wow. So what's your career goal then? I think I want to do something in like crime investigation, maybe white collar crime, definitely something in the investigative field. Now, I know you've been heavily involved in campus at times. Tell me a little bit about some of the activities you've been in, and maybe what you got out of them. Okay. So last year, I had the honor of serving as the student body president. That was a really unique experience. I gained a lot not only in learning about different aspects on campus, interacting with different people like you, on campus, and getting to get to know the students really well, but also being able to represent Pitt State on a state level at the Kansas Board of Regents. I got to be the vice chair with the student advisory board there, and got to really get to know the other student body president around the state and see how other institutions function and just get different ideas with them and collaborate with them.

What were some lessons maybe you learned about life being a student body president? I learned about just how much goes into the university functioning, going to the Kansas Board of Regents meetings and hearing about tuition and fee increases and just hearing about different student concerns about tuition and funding from not only students on Pitt State's campus, but seeing how all of the universities have things in common was really cool. Hey, since you've been here, what are some things that stick out that have happened that you think, man, that's really cool, I got to be involved in that. Freshman year, I got to go to my first higher education day, I was just a little baby in SGA, and as a senator, I went to higher education day where we lobbied on Lifeline 9-1-1, which is the bill for medical amnesty for minors, basically saying that if they find themselves in a situation where they are surrounded by people drinking underage, if there's a life threatening emergency, they can call 9-1-1 and they will not have repercussions to

calling 9-1-1, basically, so that they can save a life if it comes to that. And while we didn't pass that freshman year, we lobbied on it again my sophomore year and it was passed that year. So it's really cool to have been able to say that I was a part of that. That is cool. Let's talk academics for a minute. Is there a course that's really pushed you or two? There have been a lot. I think one of the most interesting courses and probably one of the most thought-provoking ones was my serial killer's course that I took with Dr. Kathleen Cameron. We learned a lot about different serial killers and then we did a course summary and then another course that I took that really pushed me was crime scenes and laws of evidence. We did a lot of hands-on things. We got to do a car stop where they brought in police cars from the Sheriff's Department and we got to work with step-by-step what you were supposed to do if you were a law enforcement

agent and you had to go through a car stop and lots of different scenarios. So drug bus, routine traffic, car stops, anything like that, we went over all of that. Has there been anybody on campus that's had a big influence on you since you've been here? I think President Scott is one of my favorite people on campus and whenever I give tours I talk about how friendly he is and how much he loves interacting with the students. I think it's so cool that him and his wife host people over to their house every month for Crimson Club, they host student organizations over like on a weekly basis to just have them see the house and have dinner with them and so I think that having been able to interact with him last year especially and getting close to him it's really cool to see how much he cares about this university. I don't think that other universities can say the same where he'll go around campus and know like at least I'd say 30% of the student body by their first name.

What advice would you give to a prospective student that was considering BIT State right now? Why should they consider it? So I think one thing for sure is a lot of students think oh like BIT State's really small. I won't get the college experience but I think to just like keep your mind open and not exclude BIT State because you think it's you're not going to get the college experience. I think that one of the things that I've learned being at BIT State is that you really get the college feel but you also get to feel like you're at home. You get to feel like you have a family of girls around you. If you walk around campus you see a familiar face like walking anywhere and I think that that is really what makes BIT State the place that it is. Hey that proves why you belong at Pittsburgh State University Cassandra thank you for joining us in the jungle. I'm your host Howard Smith thanks for listening. Join us for in the jungle Wednesday afternoons at 350 and Friday mornings at 850 here on KRPS.