Elevate: Evret Rice

Timothy Webb: Thank you all for joining us today here on Elevate, broadcasting from the Razorback Camper Sales Studio. This National Park College podcast highlights a different Nighthawk with each episode. We'll talk about their journey, challenges, key moments of success, their moments of elevation, leveling up, and overcoming. I'm Timothy Webb, your host, and I'd like to welcome to the program Evret Rice. Thanks so much for joining me today, Evret. Evret Rice: Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. Timothy Webb: So, Evret, tell us a little bit about yourself. Evret Rice: I am technically a sophomore here, enrolled at National Park College, trying to close in, finally, if I can pass all my classes this semester, on a associate's degree of science, which will be a transfer for a business degree to try to get a bachelor's in business. Timothy Webb: Awesome. Now, you're also a work-study here on campus, aren't you? Evret Rice: Yes, sir. I work at the community and corporate training building and I'm an administrative assistant, technically. Timothy Webb: Wow. What all does that position entail? Evret Rice: It's basically answering the phone, being polite. Most of the time I'm in the front office, so people see my face first and just being welcoming. On the other side, learning the studio manager software and enrolling students in certain classes and stuff like that. It can be a handful sometimes. Timothy Webb: Yeah. How long you been at NPC? Evret Rice: When I first graduated high school in 2010, I did do a year in 2014, and then I took a little break and then came back. I moved out of state, came back, and I started again in 2020. Timothy Webb: Okay. Evret Rice: Couple years. Timothy Webb: Couple years. So you said you're studying business? Evret Rice: Yes, sir. Timothy Webb: How come that field? Evret Rice: I chose that field, really, because it was broad. You can use it in a lot of different ways. I thought to myself, I want to make sure I can get a degree. I've heard so many stories about people getting degrees and they're in a business and they're in a professional position that where they're not actually using that degree. It's like, "Well, I don't want to spend all this money and waste all this time and not actually use that degree." So that was my main thing with that one. Timothy Webb: Basically, every job is business. Evret Rice: Every job is a business. Exactly. Timothy Webb: So you're a work-study and you're also a college student. Can you tell us about some of the challenges you face? Evret Rice: I'm a pretty unconventional student. I don't live on the campus. My job is on the campus, but half of this time since I came back in 2020, I didn't have that work-study job. I had a job elsewhere. You just got to balance your time right, life, bills, everything. Balancing your time is probably the biggest obstacle. Timothy Webb: So Evret, is there any common myths about being a college student that you'd like to clear up for our audience? Evret Rice: I was talking with a friend about this other day and he was saying, basically, that he wasn't smart enough to be a college student. And I'm like, "I'm not the smartest guy." You don't have to be the most intelligent, you don't have to have the greatest ACT or SAT scores to be a college student. I think it's more if you have a good work ethic and understanding. Most of the time, every class is broke down, you'll see in the very beginning on your syllabus, you can fail every exam in a class and it's only going to be a certain percentage of the weight of that class, the homework assignments and the quizzes and stuff like that, stuff that's really just putting in effort, that can pass you the class still and when that's with you failing every exam. So you don't have to be the most intelligent person. I feel it's more about work ethic, in my opinion. Timothy Webb: Absolutely. No, I'm so glad you said that Evret because so often I've heard the same thing, people saying, "Oh, I'm not smart enough to do this," or, "I'm not good enough to have this." Something in those regards. Just to your point, literally, half the battle is showing up and just doing the work. Evret Rice: Exactly. Timothy Webb: That's really, really the biggest part of it. Evret Rice: For sure. No doubt. Timothy Webb: What are some of the biggest obstacles you've had to overcome to get to where you are today? Evret Rice: Man, I'm 30 years old trying to come back. I have a nine-month-old son. When I first originally graduated high school, I attended University of Central Arkansas and I flunked out. It's been a long road. I had to learn more about myself and as far as balancing time and just grow up a little bit before I came back and made this decision that I'm going to try to come back and get my degree. It's been a lot of adversity for sure. Timothy Webb: Being a work-study and a college student, what's the most rewarding things about those positions? Evret Rice: Number one, it helps pay the bills. Being a work-study, all those guys over there at Community Corporate, they showed me a lot. It's more life skills, people skills, of course, computer skills. They've shown me a lot. Most of the time with a work study job, they're going to put you somewhere that is geared to your degree. They want you to get almost like an internship-type of situation, and I've learned a lot over there. They've shown me professionalism and how you're supposed to be. I'm blessed to have it, honestly, for sure. Timothy Webb: Yeah, I know a few of your people over there, they're good people. Evret Rice: Oh, yeah. Shout out, Bill. Shout out, Pam, Kristen. Timothy Webb: Is there any lessons that your positions have taught you that you'd like to share with our audience? Evret Rice: Just being on time. It's a lesson that you're going to experience throughout your work career. I'm still learning that. Being on time, it's more... I've had jobs where you get penalized and stuff like that, but it's more of the perception, I've learned that. And learning different things, as far as with your computer skills, like Excel, there's always going to be some type of software where you're going to have to keep up with records or enroll and stuff like that. Just those two things I would say are the main things for sure. Timothy Webb: Yeah, Excel is so handy. I used to be so scared of that program, but when I learned how it worked and how to use it, I was like, "Wow, this is so handy." Evret Rice: You can do pretty much anything with it. Timothy Webb: You can. Evret Rice: For sure. And it keeps up with everything and calculates everything for you. Timothy Webb: I know. It's quite amazing. Evret Rice: It is. Timothy Webb: So Evret, in your short career so far, what achievements are you most proud of? Evret Rice: So far, just staying enrolled in school is the main achievement. Of course, I like to walk across that stage at one point and get the degree, but my main achievement is just a proud father, happy to have my son with me and take care of him, watch him grow. That's probably my biggest accomplishment so far. Timothy Webb: Yeah, and that's the best accomplishment you could have, to be honest with you. Evret Rice: Yeah, appreciate it. Timothy Webb: Evret, where did you grow up and what was it like? Evret Rice: I grew up here. You're talking to a born and raised native of Hot Springs, Arkansas. I attended Lakeside and I originally was at Hot Springs School District. I went to Oaklawn. Then I think around sixth grade or something like that, I went to Lakeside and graduated from there. Hot Springs is definitely a big tourist town, so you're going to see a lot of people that are not from here, they're in and out from a different state and stuff like that. There's a lot of different eggs that you're going to bump into. It's good, it kept me kind of well-rounded and how to deal with not just one type of person. I look at it as a good place to grow up. Timothy Webb: Can you tell us about an influential person, how they impacted your life? Evret Rice: I would definitely say both of my parents were definitely the most influential people in my life. I've seen them work from the low scale to the positions they're at now in their lives. They just instilled, no one's going to give you anything. You're not supposed to be born and everyone's going to give you something because of that. You have to earn it. They instilled that into me at a very young age and it was a great lesson. It taught me how to be independent and I'll always appreciate them for that for sure. Timothy Webb: Do you have any favorite childhood memories you'd like to share? Evret Rice: Oh, man. My dad, right now, he's a mail man, but he used to work for Frito-Lay. When I was younger, part of those lessons of hard work, he would have me go with him and stock up these chips in Walmart or Kroger's or wherever store he was at that day and I was like, "Man, can we go home at some point?" And he'd be like, "Nah, man, we got just a little bit longer." I would do that quite often. Just those type of lessons, they really stuck with me though, for sure. Timothy Webb: Shout out to the postal workers, too. That's a hard job. Evret Rice: Yeah, all day, six days a week. Timothy Webb: Yep. Rain, sleet... Evret Rice: Rain, sleet or snow. Timothy Webb: Right. So if you could give your younger self any piece of advice, what would it be? Evret Rice: Just listen. For example, I was blessed enough to have both my parents, but if there's a kid out there, they're staying with their grandparents or they're staying with their uncle and their aunt, people that are taking you in or are actually responsible for you, most of the time they're saying stuff that's in your best interests. When you're younger, you don't want to hear that really. You think you know everything and you kind of want to rebel a little bit. I would just say, "Man, just listen to that advice." Someone that has found out the hard way is not a road you want to go down. Timothy Webb: No. Evret Rice: You don't want to do that and you're going to waste a lot of time and it's going to be a regret. Timothy Webb: Right. No, that's some good advice. Evret Rice: Yeah. So, listen. Timothy Webb: Listen, young people, listen. Evret Rice: Yes. Timothy Webb: So what brought you to NPC? Evret Rice: Of course, born and raised here so I always knew about it. I tried to avoid it when I first graduated high school because I was so tired of High Springs. After moving and coming back from different states and stuff, I just finally realized this is convenient, this is affordable, it's right down the street. You're not going to get a better, easier route than doing this. So it just finally clicked one day, "I'm going to go back to National Park." Timothy Webb: Especially now that we got some of these four-year degrees happening out here on campus as well. Evret Rice: Yes. Shout out, UAM. Timothy Webb: Yeah. Evret, other than National Park and community and corporate training, what are some of your hobbies? Evret Rice: I will always be diehard Arkansas man. I'm always watching the games, sadly. We're looking all right in basketball. I pretty much did almost every sport in high school. Never took it to the college level, wasn't good enough. But I still play in free time basketball and stuff like that. But yeah, mainly just watching the games and just being with my son. Timothy Webb: Right. Sports and fatherhood. Evret Rice: Yeah, pretty much takes up all my time. Timothy Webb: So what is it about sports that drew you to it? Evret Rice: As far back as I can remember, I think there's a picture of me, one with the basketball and the little goal, it's just always been part of me and all my family's done it, football, basketball, baseball, track. So it's just like, it was no option. Timothy Webb: So Evret, if you could talk to anyone from the past, present, or even the future, who would it be and why? Evret Rice: I would have to say Malcolm X. The reason why is I've watched the movie, I've read his biography and it's just this dude lived a crazy life. He went from prison to civil rights movement leader and political and religion and all this stuff. He's got a lot mixed in there. And for him to leave at such a young age, it's just kind of sad. I don't think he really was able to reach what he was trying to go for and I just would like to ask him, I probably have a list of questions. I got a few things, but I just always thought he was interesting and just full life for sure. Timothy Webb: So Evret, what are your future plans? Evret Rice: That is another good question. I would have to say, I want to finish out the degree, and once I get the associates knocked out, I'll probably go on the route to try to go ahead and get the bachelor's. Timothy Webb: So you're going to get the business degree, the bachelors in business through the UAM program? More than likely, that's your plan? Evret Rice: Yes, sir. Timothy Webb: Okay. And that's here on the National Park campus, so it's quite convenient. You're still here in Hot Springs. Evret Rice: Still convenient, still affordable. That's what we need. Timothy Webb: They have that good scholarship that goes along with that, that's going to get that price even lower. Evret Rice: I've heard. Hopefully I can be one of those lucky people to get that. Timothy Webb: Absolutely. So Evret, is there any advice or mottoes that you live by that you'd like to leave our listeners with? Evret Rice: Just stay at it. I don't want to be too cliche or anything, but everyone, just realize that you could be going through a huge storm hurricane and it seems like everything is done, you have no hope. Just stay at it. At the end of the day, you are only going to get what you put into something, so just stay persistent. Don't let it get you down. That would be my main advice. Timothy Webb: That's some good advice. Stay at it. I'd really dig that. That's actually been keeping me going for a few years, to be honest with you. Evret Rice: Yeah. It's not always going to be sunny days. It is going to be some tough times. You got this, it seems like everything, most of the time in my life, everything that can go wrong all goes wrong at the same time. It's not like one at a time this messes up and then this. No, it all happens at the same time. Those are the days that you remember though, whenever you do achieve something, you remember those days and you'll know why. Like, "Okay. This is a reward, so it's worth it." Timothy Webb: Evret Rice, thank you so much for sitting down with me on Elevate Today. I really appreciate it. Evret Rice: Thank you for having me. Timothy Webb: Thanks to all of you for listening to Elevate today from the Razorback Camper Sales Studio. New episodes are released each Thursday. Special thanks to National Park College and The Sentinel-Record for making this podcast possible. Until next time, this is Timothy Webb reminding you that every day is a chance to elevate.