part 2

Emmett Espino, a full-time student and football athlete at Minot State University, shares his life experiences and journey to MSU. He discusses his small-town upbringing, transition to public high school, and his involvement in student leadership and sports. Emmett also talks about his decision to join MSU Life and the impact it has had on him. He highlights the importance of being involved and using your gifts to make a difference. Despite the challenges of time management, Emmett emphasizes the value of communication and prioritization. He plans to pursue a degree in accounting and finance and believes the skills he has learned in MSU Life will benefit his future career. Emmett admires Erin Hughes, a successful photographer who is passionate about her job and cares for the students at MSU. He encourages others to get involved and continue seeking personal growth and leadership opportunities. Welcome to this episode of Lead the Bees. In this episode, we feature Emmett Espino and his life experiences that led him to where he is today. Hi, I'm Alyson Sheen, your host for today's episode. Today I will be telling the story of Emmett Espino. Emmett is not only a full-time student, but also a football athlete and part of the MSU life here on campus. Today we will hear about his home roots and how he ended up in Minot, North Dakota. We will get insight into the obstacles he has overcome while taking on a full schedule. We will hear about what made him join MSU Life, what it is like to be part of the team, and the great role models in his life here at Minot State University. Emmett grew up in a small town in Northern California. He was homeschooled to the age of 14 until he went to a public high school just inside of the town called Fairfield. Schooled about 2,500 people, so it was kind of a big culture shock going from homeschool to high school, but there I was able to kind of get my social roots. I was able to join student leadership, captain of the football team for three years, captain of the baseball team for another three years. And I just all around got out of my comfort zone and I learned a lot while I was there. He talks a little bit about how he ended up here in Minot. Before coming to MSU, I was just looking for a place that could give me the same opportunities that high school did, and I was fortunate enough to stumble across this place in the recruiting process for football. Since coming to MSU, he talks about his favorite memory that he has had so far. My little brother goes here now, so it's really fun creating memories with family, especially him being my teammate on the football team. My favorite memory so far was actually this football season. I was able to get a snap on the field right next to my brother. So it was kind of cool because not very many brothers get to say they played college football together, and I was right next to him interlocked, blocking for a field goal. Now, let's hear a shortened version of how he came to be part of MSU life and what made him stick to it. I filled out an online survey to get an interview, and then I realized that MSU life aligned very well with my high school experience in student leadership and student government. And it just so happened that it was something I was very passionate about. But beforehand, it was literally just for the money. So I laugh about it today because people are like, oh, you're really dedicated to school. I'm like, well, thank God they mentioned money because otherwise I probably wouldn't have done it, which sounds horrible. But I'm very grateful for the opportunities. And what really made me stick in it for three years was beyond money. It was the people, the experiences, the ability to just lead a team and make an impactful difference in student life. Students around here don't have a lot to do in the winter, and being able to create smiles every day is something that I'm passionate about. Emmett talked about his past experiences with leading and planning events. Let's hear what he had to say. I was the high school vice president, so that's my past experience. I have planned events on my own for those four years in high school, but my senior year, I planned basically a concert for my high school, which had, I don't know if you know who it is, but DMACC, the guy who sings Panoramic, you know, drop it down, do a dance. That guy, he graduated from my school, and so he came through, and we had the next kids, who's a popular social media dance crew. We had them all in my high school gym right before COVID, so it was probably one of the first events where I was like, hey, this is an awesome opportunity to get to learn organization, team leadership, and that was probably my biggest past experience with what I've done Being part of an organization on campus comes with many responsibilities and roles. We have this thing called thermostat versus thermometer leaders. A thermostat is somebody who can change the heat or adapt the environment around them, and then a thermometer is somebody who can just kind of read the environment around them. My job is to play both the thermostat and the thermometer. He is planning on pursuing a degree in accounting and finance. The job skills he has learned with being part of MSU Life he knows will help him in the future. Communication, learning how to talk to people, learning where to meet people where they're at. I think that it's one of the most important traits to have. Having a full schedule, Emmett talked about some obstacles he has had to overcome while being part of MSU Life and being a full-time student and athlete. Time management. You kind of gave me the toss up there with listing all the things that I have to do. You know, it's really hard when a team is depending on you on the football field or the MSU Life team and then your teachers are depending on you as well. Life is tough and things get thrown at you, but being able to roll with the punches is something Emmett has had to learn. Navigating your day by priority. As it happens, it's very difficult and the biggest role of punches is letting people down, disappointing people. It's not fun and you have to find a way to build up that equity. A big part of college is getting out there and being more involved. For those of you out there thinking about one day joining the MSU Life team, Emmett has some insight for you. It doesn't have to be so cookie cutter that you're just a student or you're just an athlete. If you have gifts, use them because you might not have that gift for a long time. And if you're not sure what your gift is, joining a team can easily expose some gifts that you didn't know you had and it's important that you do so. Emmett has many great people in his life, but he tells how one person in particular really stood out. Erin Hughes is somebody to really look up to. A lot of people don't know, but she's here because she's passionate about it. She's not here because she needs to be here, meaning she has a really successful photography business. Hint of Lindsay, shout it out if you need pictures of your family or kids. But she's really successful at that and she doesn't need to be here. She's pretty much taking pictures of money every day, but she's out here because she's really passionate and she works because she cares for the kids and she cares for her job. It's just a good relationship, how she's invested into our students here on campus. It's pretty evident because she's recognized by the staff. She got the beat, I don't even know, the faculty of the month or whatever last month. We've been killing it and she's just a really good organizer, knows how to connect with people and just shows that she cares about her job. Lastly, I want to end with Emmett's final statement from the interview. I think that it's very important to get involved and I think that it's really cool that you guys are doing this project. I hope to see people like you ask about leadership and continue pursuing to get better. I just want to say thanks again, Emmett, for sharing your story. And thanks for listening to this episode of Lead with the Beavs and our story featuring Emmett Espino.