Episode 3

The transcription is a conversation between a group of individuals discussing their top three favorite restaurants in Kokomo, upcoming events at their university, and plans for sustainability week in April. They also talk about baseball games and a trip to a Holocaust museum. Yo Cougs, it's the third episode of the Kokomo Narrative. I'm Snax. I'm with Hayden. What up? Tanner. What's going on? And we're glad to be back. We have three special guests today. Juju from the men's basketball team. Mackenzie Gibbons from IUK Women's Soccer. What's up? And Vivi from the Sustainability Club. Happy to be here. And we're happy to be back. And we're going to lead right into our question. Top three restaurants in Kokomo. That's not fast food, but it's like stuff like Cracker Barrel and Chili's and stuff like that. One of everybody's top three restaurants. Okay. Top three. I'm from Kokomo. That's true. Okay. No, we don't like to talk about it, but it's there. Don Pancho's up there. Don Pancho's? What is that? Taku. Taku's good. And then Fish, Chicken, and Guy Rose. Wow. That's at one? Yeah. I like that. Okay. I like that. No specific order, but I'll have to say Hog Heaven, which is an excellent barbecue place. I've never been. It's actually, I wish you would've went before it closed down, because it's excellent. And then Farm to Fork's, another little barbecue spot. It's actually tremendous. What's the third one? I guess I have to go with Kokomo Fish and Chicken. Every time. Excellent chicken, excellent fries. Everything's good. For sure. Mine would probably be Half Moon. Top one. Half Moon. Can never go wrong. Oscar's Pizza. It's a good one. It's a small place. Not a lot of people know about it. I would say Texas Red House would be another one. The rolls. Really? It's really the rolls and those chicken tenders that carry them, actually. Oh, yeah. I'd have to say, you mentioned Half Moon, and I forgot that they have my most favorite menu item ever, the pretzel breadstick. Pretzel. I love that. I don't know, there's no good. Another place. I've been regularly going to Stoney's recently. Stoney's. Stoney's. What goes on at Stoney's? Where's that at? They have a location, I believe, on that five-way intersection of Alto, Webster, and it's a part of the One Stop. Something else. I recently got a job at Outback, and I never, yeah. Are you a server, too? Yes, I serve at Outback, and I've never been there, and recently they've been giving me free food since I've been training, and I have to say, I've been really impressed. Really? I wish I had not been there yet. Tanner, what about you? What are your three? I always put Texas Roadhouse first. Really? Yes, number one. Is it the food, the service? It's the rolls. The rolls. There's nothing better than free rolls. You'll get better service at Outback. Once you start working there, you'll get old with the rolls. Because that's all you'll be consuming, actually, is rolls. Try that with the spicy ranch. It's a lot better. The bread? The bread. With spicy ranch? Yeah. I'm going to try it. I have a hard time coming up with a top three, because I'm never really in Kokomo as much as... Top three restaurants at Noblesville for our Noblesville listeners. Oh, my God. There's so many. You've got to have three. Texas, I mean, yeah, it's first on everything. Really? Yes. I forgot. Yes. We have a Texas Roadhouse. Do you just have a Chick-fil-A there? Yep. We do. That's what I was going to say. We have a Chick-fil-A. And I really can't pick one. I want, at three, Kokomo Fish and Chicken. It's the first thing I ate when I came for my visit. Number two. What? I don't... Oh, there's this taco place. It's also a Mexican market. Tacos are fire. I got, like, eight for, like, $16, and it was the best one I've ever spent. Alvarego, downtown? Maybe. Is that the Mexican grocery store downtown? Yeah, it's, like, right next... It's good. It's amazing. And number one, Cracker Barrel. I worked there. Leading right into what happened this week, we had the Spanish Club meet and greet on Tuesday, March 7th. We had the terrarium event that everybody I know went to. They were so adorable. Yeah, they were, like, nice little plant terrariums. It was soothing. They weren't big enough for a turtle. No. But they were big enough for the aesthetic. The aesthetic, yeah. Which, for my own personal reason, made me not like it as much. That's okay. You told me I was going to be able to fit the turtle, and I couldn't. I never said what kind of turtle. We also had Music Monday. So, the first Monday of every month, we have Music Monday. I would like everybody to attend to. It's really great, and it kind of brings, like, to some unknown... Where is it at? It's right in the alumni hall. It'll be right... What time? I actually don't know the time. Maybe it changes, but I'm not sure of the time. Last week, it was at 1230. They just need to do better at, like, getting it out there. Yeah. We had Diversity Trivia on Wednesday, March 8th, and we had the Lunch and Learn, Neurodiversity in the Classroom, and that had to have been exciting. On Thursday. We had the LGBT Discussion Table with LGBTQ+, plus Health Awareness, and that was right through the Multicultural Center, and that's all we really had. Going to current and upcoming events. So, for current events, obviously, next week is Spring Break. We're all super excited for that. Even if you're leaving, enjoy. Be safe. If you're staying, still, try and enjoy. Be safe. It's Kokomo. I will be working. Come see me. If you need something to do over Spring Break, obviously, Snacks is in town. You'll see my Cracker Barrel. Every time, actually. Or, if you're not hungry, you could go to the baseball games, which are coming up. One is on Tuesday, March 14th, and another is on Friday, March 17th. Following that, we have two games on Saturday, March 18th. How many games does baseball play a year? Does anybody know that number? Personally, I don't. They're always on the road. They actually do travel crazy. Do they have, like, the most games? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Probably by far. Huh. What's your rough guess? 80. 80? I would have said 40. They play well over 40. They play, like, I think it's 80. Let me just look. It's like 80 to 100. Professionally, doesn't baseball have the longest season? Oh, my God. Too many games, actually. They play so many. But they're 11 and 7, so. Oh, wow. That's a positive record. They're good. They've got 18 games. Oh, my God. They won 18 world games. Proof right there. Poor guys. They just started their season, too. It's not too long. They're, like, actually never at school, actually. I mean, the weight room's cleared up. That's important. True that. All right. So, kicking off into not next week, but the following week, we're going to have on Tuesday, March 21st, is Mentor the Future, which is at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Alumni Hall. And then on that same day, we're going to have a game night hosted by Criminal Justice Association, which is going to be at 4 p.m. in the Crime Lab, which is KU 103. And then another baseball game on Tuesday, March 21st, 5 p.m. Go and check that out, if you missed any of the others. Give them some love. And then we have another Lunch and Learn for Equal Pay Day, which will be on Wednesday, March 22nd, 12 p.m. And then also, March 22nd, a good five out of the six of us here, all know what's coming up this Wednesday. What is it, Sax? SGA Bi-Weekly Meeting. Come out. Please be a senator. We need more people involved. I would definitely recommend it, even though I'm not a senator. But it's fun to be a part of. You get to vote on a lot of stuff. You get a lot of power in a good way, in a very good way. Yeah, for most. I have done nothing wrong, personally. Right. And then also, Women in Business on that Wednesday as well, 5 30, is going to McAllister's Deli. Seems like they're having like a little lunch for their group to hang out. Fun fact, there's a key trip coming up on Wednesday, and they are still accepting students to go. It's a trip to Terre Haute where you, I think in the description it says you're going to go to the Lawrence Wright and to visit Candles Holocaust Museum and Education Center. Oh, I heard about that. Very informational about everything. We have another Mentor the Future on Thursday, so if you missed the first one, you can go to the second one. And that's at 11 30 a.m. in Alumni as well. And that's going to wrap it up for all the events we have the following week. And then we do have an update from the lovely Vivi. Would you like to give it out? Yeah. Next month in April, from the 10th to the 14th, we'll be hosting Sustainability Week. We'll be doing an herb giveaway. We've selected a few different speakers to come talk about Kokomo and some other different topics like factory farming. We also have our annual tree planting as well as our campus cleanup. We had a very successful turnout last year, and we're hoping to have another successful one this year. Something I would like to highlight is our student art contest coupled with our silent auction. We've provided materials for some students to put together some art that will be displayed all week in the Kelly Center. And we'll be hosting a silent auction so that anybody can bid on the art pieces if the student decides to put theirs up in the auction. And all the proceeds will go to the students themselves. Some other little events during that week that I've heard about is there's a student putting together a fashion show featuring some sustainable materials. Oh yeah. I will be a model actually. I'm modeling for... Did Andy and Danny do that last year? Yeah. I was supposed to and I backed out. They asked me to and I was like, I don't want to. I didn't have it in me. I have it in me personally. I have that dog in me. I'm Beezer. I'm really excited. It should be fun. If you want to see Josh model some clothes, come to the fashion show. And there should be a potential for a clothing drive for the Kluger Closet as well. Please donate some clothes. Yes. Anything else? No, that's all I had. Awesome. I have a question. What's the way for us to be more sustainable? For the people listening. Oh my gosh. Being intentional. I think that's the biggest thing. With anything that you do, there's really no solution. You're not solving anything crazy. It's the small stuff. So if you go to the store, it's just a little stuff. If you decide to buy something that's packaged with paper instead of plastic or something, or you bring your own grocery bag. I've been shopping at Aldi recently. And I do. I have my freezer bag and I have a collapsible tote that's been helping me out. I live in an apartment. I live on the third story. So if you go upstairs. You've been getting that work done. Do you make two trips? No, I just take my boyfriend. Every time. I carry the bag and he carries the little collapsible bin. That's right. It's a team effort. Yeah. Okay, okay. Do you also think having a home garden would be sustainable too? Or is that more of just like... Why? What do you want to grow plants? Tomatoes? Yes. Honestly, anything. Growing plants is fun. Being outside is really good for you. Or like flowers. Can I get a flower garden type shit? Yeah. There's actually ways you can plant wildflowers. You can support the local ecology. Are you guys a part of the bee farm? Yes. Okay. We did. How's that doing? 50% of the product that is produced here with the hives on campus is donated to the Cougar Cupboard. Oh, okay. Interesting. Well, going from there, let's go ahead and just shift right in. Okay. Switching to sports. I got my boy Juju here. Yes, sir. How are you feeling today? Feeling good. Can't complain. Able to wake up. So God's been good. Yeah. You guys just got done with your season Tuesday, right? So how would you take... What's the biggest takeaway from this season? The biggest takeaway that I feel like most of our guys should just remember and just keep to their heart is consistency. Because there's a lot of times this year where I felt like we was the better team, but we just fell short because of mental lapses, or just being inconsistent, or just stuff like you're not ready to play that game. If you want to be great and just, I guess, win nationals, you got to stay consistent and keep putting the work in. So that's one thing that I feel like we fell short this year, but next year we just got to stay consistent. Oh, we're coming back crazy next year. Oh, yeah. We're coming back crazy next year, but just consistency and just keep the hard work. Hard work, definitely. So when did you start playing basketball? Give us a little background, you know, how you got to IUK. Well, I didn't really start playing basketball until maybe like fifth or sixth grade. And then after that, I just kind of fell in love with the game. Of course, my dad played at Indiana State until he had a knee injury, and then my grandpa played. So it's like a family thing. And then, of course, I just got into the AAU scene, seventh and eighth grade. I love AAU. I love AAU. It's one of my favorite parts of basketball ever, just traveling and going to different cities and just being away from the family for like just for a good time. So that's how I kind of got into basketball. I kind of like fell in love with it. The crazy thing is, like when I my senior year of high school, I didn't even know that I was going to play basketball at IUK. Like in my mind, I said I was done because I was hurt. I missed like how many games? I missed the first 10 games of my senior year. Oh, wow. Yeah. And then before that, I broke my fibula my junior year. And so I missed like, yeah, I've missed like a total of like 10 to 12 months. And I kind of got to the mindset of where like my last game of high school, I didn't even cry. Like that's that kind of show where my mindset was. So I was just kind of like over it. Like I was kind of like to the point where if I do play in college, I play. If I don't, I don't. But I just want to be proud and just be thankful for the opportunity that I got to come to IUK because I didn't really have that many options. And it was either I would come to IUK or I don't play. So yeah, well, great opportunity. We're happy that you're here. IUK wouldn't be IUK without Juju. Who has the highest rank on the team? Me. What is it? 44. So what's what's like, you know, to end it out, what's like a final message you would give to the kids growing up, you know, thinking about playing basketball? Final message would just be like, just to say, like I said earlier, just stay consistent, because if you keep putting in the work right now, I mean, because obviously the work's not going to show in two days, three days, four days. But if you're consistent and you have the mindset to, hey, let me put this work in and it might not show for another two to three years, you know what I'm saying? But just stay consistent, just have a good mindset, stay positive. A lot of things come in. Also be confident because a lot of things come from having confidence and staying positive because people don't know, like the words that they put out, they can affect their game in other ways than one, you know what I'm saying? So that's just one thing that I would say for them is stay confident, stay positive and just stay consistent. All right. That's perfect. That's perfect. Well, thank you, Juju, for being a part of this podcast. Glad to be here. We'll go ahead and transition over to Miss Gibbons of the IUK soccer team. And I heard that you guys actually have an upcoming game. Yeah. So would you like to speak on that, the upcoming season or past season that did end a few months ago, but was a very successful season? Very successful, yes. We do have an upcoming game. We've been practicing indoor a lot at the Cougar Gym downtown, putting that work in. And upcoming, we have our spring break. So we're going to be off a little bit and then we'll be actually practicing outdoors now for the next four days after spring break. And then Saturday, March 25th, we have our game versus Mount St. Joseph. We'll be traveling there. It's in Cincinnati. It's about two hours, three hours away. I would love to make it, but it's OK. They won conference championships this year, though. And we were all there, I believe. Oh, I was there. Oh, yeah. And holding the flag. That's right. Where's the photo of me running down the field? I was running down the field. Everyone rushed the field. It was in the snow. Yeah, it was a great game. And we, the girls really worked hard for that. It was a big win. Two, three, nothing. You know, let's just pull it up. So while he pulls that up, give us a little background of when you started playing soccer or maybe when you had an idea of playing at IUK. My parents started me at a very young age. I started playing. I wasn't very good. I jumped from a few teams. I've been on five different teams, I would say. It wasn't until the last team I really developed my soccer skills and really learned from the coach I had and the experience I've had. And how I got to IUK would be our old coach, Terry. He unfortunately had to resign. But he introduced me to IUK. He came to St. Louis and actually went to one of my practices and contacted me right after. And I kind of toured IUK the next month, I would say. So I really liked it here. I do still like it. When I toured it, I really liked the atmosphere and around Kokomo. And there's some stuff to do, like if you really, surround yourself with a good group of people. You can do a lot in Kokomo. So I really enjoy my experience I've had in Kokomo. All right. And any message for the young soccer players of America who are starting to gain that skill? Yeah. Since I've been on a bunch of teams, I started off really bad, I would say. Don't give up. Your coach has a lot of effect in your soccer, even in your sports. So make sure you have a great coach to look up to. And again, never give up. Confidence is really a big one, too, because a lot of girls don't have confidence enough to play soccer. They lose their confidence, I would say. I struggled with that, I would say, senior year of high school. And it really brought down my athletic skills. So just be confident. I have a question for both of you. Do either of you see yourself continuing to play your sport outside of college? Do you want to, or do you see yourself going that route? I feel like I could. I mean, I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but I feel like I could because I know, like, I put in a lot of work. I'm consistent. I'm like, I'm in the weight room. I'm getting up extra shots after practice. I'm working out with the trainer before. And then I see a couple of guys go overseas. And it's kind of like, I mean, if they can do it, and I'm putting the same work as them, or even putting in more work than them to help with my game. But it just depends on what door is open. Like, that's not, that's not what I'm, like, focusing on or banking on. But if opportunities are there, why not? I feel you. Like, Enzi? For me, I wouldn't want to. I would still like to play recreational. So just here and there. Like a small league type stuff? Yeah. So like, every Sunday, I went, I played soccer with some of the girls indoor. I still like, I still enjoy that. Like, even in Missouri, they have a field called Betta. And they have indoor, like, teams that you can make and everything like that. Even if you don't know, like, a lot of people, you can come alone and be on a team still. So that's what I feel like I would do. Awesome. I think that wraps up our sports. All right. Well, that wraps it up for this week. I just want to thank our guests once again for coming out. For sure, for sure. Anytime you want me to come back, I'll come back. And we'll hold you to it. Yes, sir. And we won't be back next week. But the week after, you'll see another wonderful cast. Spring break. Guys, we heading out? You'll get an update from me next week. It'll be posted to the Kokomo Nerds page. Goodbye.