RamStories:
An Oral History Project to Record the CSU Experience
Andrew, Own, Chris, Daniel
Watch the interview: Size: 50MB Duration: 12 Min 7 Sec
Janet Bishop: "This is Janet Bishop from CSU Archives and we're having a variant on our oral history Student Interviews tonight. We are having our second set of four, so I'm going to be doing the interviewing because one-on-one with four might get a little unwieldy. Tonight, it is Friday Night, August 18th, and the time is 9:20, so the night is still young because there's lots of activities at the Lory Student Center. We're down on the ground floor of the Lory Student Center, in Room 24."
Janet Bishop: "We're going to ask the questions going down the row each time. So, for the first question, it's a pretty simple one. I'm just going to ask you to introduce yourself: Say your name, where you're from, and (I'm assuming you're all Freshmen), but if you're not, say that too. So, we'll start with you, Sir."
Daniel Coronado: "Alright. I'm Daniel and I'm from Arvada."
Janet Bishop: "And what's your last-name?"
Daniel Coronado: "Daniel Coronado."
Christian Harmson: "My name's Christian Harmson, and I'm from LaHara, Colorado."
Owen Yamanaka: "Owen Yamanaka, and I'm from" [Indistinct] "Hawaii."
Andrew Sherton: "Hello, I'm Andrew Sherton, and I'm from Fort Worth, Texas."
Janet Bishop: "So this is good. We have a mixture of in-state and out-of-state, so when we get to ask how you chose CSU, I'm going to ask the out-of-state people how they came to be here."
Janet Bishop: "Ok. Tell me, or tell us, how you came to be friends and how long you've known each other, and if it's two hours ago, that's fine too. So I'll start with you."
Daniel Coronado: "I met Christian at orientation, and these two guys I met about a half-hour ago."
Janet Bishop: "Did you just walk into each other?"
Daniel Coronado: "I found him [Christian] and he was with them."
Andrew Sherton: "We actually walked into each other."
[Indistinct]
Andrew Sherton: "Yeah, we were doing the music video."
Janet Bishop: "Ok. Alright, so now we're going to ask: Why did you choose CSU?"
Janet Bishop: "A Ram? Ok, you'll have to explain it to me."
Daniel Coronado: "Aw, no way!"
Janet Bishop: "Yes!"
Daniel Coronado: "I just liked Fort Collins much better than Boulder, and to me, CSU's a much better school than CU."
Janet Bishop: "Because of the camaraderie? The Academics?"
Daniel Coronado: "Academics and Socializing."
Janet Bishop: "Ok. Yes, I am from Seattle, I moved here about a year ago so I'm still."
Christian Harmson: "[I chose] CSU because I heard a lot about the school, I heard a lot of good things, and [to] just kind of get away from home because there was not too much to do there. Here, there's a lot of things to do around Fort Collins."
Janet Bishop: "Are you from-now, I'm still learning the Geography of Colorado-so are you from a suburban area, a rural, or.?"
Christian Harmson: "A rural area. It's in the San Luis valley, and there's mountains and stuff to do around there, but not to much people."
Janet Bishop: "And how did you come from Hawaii?"
Owen Yamanaka: "Um.by plane"
[All laugh]
Janet Bishop: "Why did you choose CSU?"
Owen Yamanaka: "I don't know. It's different than Hawaii.a lot, and I wanted to experience something new, so I traded the water for the mountains."
Janet Bishop: "Had you been out to Colorado before you chose CSU?"
Owen Yamanaka: "Only once, but that's pretty much it."
Janet Bishop: "So this is totally new?"
Owen Yamanaka: "Yep."
Janet Bishop: "Probably higher and dryer too."
Owen Yamanaka: "Yep."
Janet Bishop: "Why did you come from Texas?"
Andrew Sherton: "Well, I'd applied to a bunch of schools, mostly at places I'd like to live-East coast, West coast, mountains-and I started narrowing them down realistically, and I couldn't decide between two colleges, so I literally flipped a coin, and CSU won."
Janet Bishop: "Now I'm curious. What schools did you apply to?"
Andrew Sherton: "Applied to a couple of Texas schools, a Miami school, a California school."
Janet Bishop: "What schools?"
Andrew Sherton: "Baylor, Texas State, River State, Miami, UC-Irvine."
Janet Bishop: "And what lost the coin-flip?"
Andrew Sherton: "Texas State and San Marcus."
Owen Yamanaka: "You did a coin-flip with three?"
Andrew Sherton: "Yeah, I narrowed it down to two."
Owen Yamanaka: "Oh."
[Owen and Andrew talking indistinctly]
Janet Bishop: "Ok. What do you want from your CSU experience?"
Daniel Coronado: "Success."
Janet Bishop: "In what?"
Daniel Coronado: "In academic things, mostly."
Janet Bishop: "Does that mean you have a goal-like a profession you want to go into?"
Daniel Coronado: [Replies indistinctly]
Janet Bishop: "And you [Christian]?"
Christian Harmson: "The same-academic success, and to get to know a lot of people, to make lasting friends."
Owen Yamanaka: "To graduate, and get a good job."
Andrew Sherton: "Mine's a little different. I want to find my passion in life, and find something that I enjoy doing, and then get a job in that field so that I'll be happy."
Janet Bishop: "Very good. Ok, I have a heavy question: What do you fear? What are a few of your fears, in the context of CSU?"
Daniel Coronado: "Not knowing things, I guess."
Janet Bishop: "Not knowing things academically?"
Daniel Coronado: "All of the above."
Christian Harmson: "Mine are getting back into study-habits, because I've been out of high-school for 3 years, I've been working. And the finances-getting a part-time job and trying to pay for school also, I'm willing to pay for my bills."
Andrew Sherton: "My-well, it's kind of not a fear, but a joy-I'm afraid I'm going to freeze and get really cold, but I can't wait."
Janet Bishop: "Well, is there a lot of snow where you're at in Texas? I guess not."
Andrew Sherton: "Not really, it's more sleet, and that's about it. It doesn't get cold for long."
Owen Yamanaka: "That's one thing: I'm going to freeze my ass off for sure."
Janet Bishop: "Have you seen snow?"
Owen Yamanaka: "I've seen snow, but it's ice by the time we get up to the mountains-like, volcanoes and stuff. It's not like, real powder. When you fall on it, it really hurts."
Janet Bishop: "What are your first impressions of campus?"
Daniel Coronado: "It's there. I don't know."
Christian Harmson: "It's really big. Tons of things to do."
Owen Yamanaka: "There's so many people."
Andrew Sherton: "The campus strikes me as really beautiful compared to the flat-land of Texas, so I'm very, very happy to be here, and I can't wait for classes to start."
Janet Bishop: "And snow?"
Andrew Sherton: ".And snow, too."
Janet Bishop: "Two more questions: What do you miss most about home? If anything, yet."
Daniel Coronado: "Right now I don't miss nothing about home."
Christian Harmson: "I'm the same so far. Once I get settled-in and classes start, I'll see if it's still the same way."
Owen Yamanaka: "The water. But right now, I'm really pretty fine with the mountains."
Andrew Sherton: ".My mom's home-cooking, because she always cooks a lot."
Janet Bishop: "Ok. This is the 'Advice to future self': Do you have any advice for your future self? In other words, knowing who you are now, and guessing who you might be in 20 or 30 years, what advice do you have to give to that self?"
Daniel Coronado: "I really don't know, it's kind of hard to say."
Janet Bishop: "We can come back to you."
Christian Harmson: "Just to keep trying and to do what I like to do."
Owen Yamanaka: "Just to have fun. What else can I say? Be happy."
Andrew Sherton: "If you don't like what you're doing, do something else that you like."
Janet Bishop: "We're back to you."
Daniel Coronado: "To be happy and regret nothing."
Janet Bishop: "Well, that's great. You guys were great. Thank you so much."
END