Elevate: John Striednig

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 John Striednig. Thanks for joining me, John. John Striednig: Thanks for having me, Tim. Timothy Webb: You're a National Park student doing the 2+2 through SAU, is that correct? John Striednig: Yes, sir, that is. Timothy Webb: Tell us a little bit about yourself, John. John Striednig: Well, I'm originally from west Texas, Lubbock, Texas, to be exact. I came out here about two-and-a-half, three years ago, to get closer to family. I'd learned about this program about that point in time. Hopped in, got some prereqs done through National Park College. And then, about a year ago, started doing the full-time SAU stuff. I am 28, so this is my second run at college. Safe to say, it's going a little bit better this time around. Timothy Webb: It takes some of us a few more times. I don't want to tell you how long I've been at it. So, John, what field are you studying here at National Park? John Striednig: Biology Pre-Health. Timothy Webb: Okay. Why that field? John Striednig: Well, I want to go be a doctor, and the health sciences is so fascinating to me. Timothy Webb: Oh, okay. Can you tell us what specifically fascinates you about the health sciences? John Striednig: Yeah, so whenever you start learning about all the molecular machinery of the body and seeing how that works, seeing how it works when it's working right, seeing how it works when it's working wrong, it's kind of cool to see the way that the body is this big biological machine that's all working in tandem. It's just a really fascinating thing. Some people like actual machines, seeing how they work together. Some people like looking at the recording machinery that we're using here. Some people like looking at the computers right there. I like looking at the biological machinery of the human body. It's a lot of fun to learn about, and it's pretty impressive, to say the least. Timothy Webb: For sure. For sure. Yeah. And the fact that it happened naturally, quite interesting, for sure. How long have you been here at National Park, John? John Striednig: Well, about two-and-a-half years ago, I started doing... I was working at that point in time. I was traveling around as a site superintendent for a construction company, just taking classes online where I could, so it was online part-time stuff about two-and-a-half years ago. And then, about a year ago, that's whenever I first started going back full-time in person, started actually getting on campus for the first time. Timothy Webb: What are the challenges that you face being a non-traditional student? John Striednig: Numerous. I mean, I'm telling you, this time around, I really kind of screwed myself taking this route. It's been a lot tougher. I mean, it's a character building experience, but whenever you talk about trying to balance all of the bills that you've racked up at this point in your life and actually getting it together and getting the wherewithal to make yourself go back and do this stuff when you get used to a certain way of living and a certain type of living, actually just making yourself go, "Okay, no, this is what's best for me. This is what's important. I'm going to prioritize this, and I'm going to give up all these other distractions." Timothy Webb: Right. John Striednig: It's tough. It really is. And then getting back into the mode where you can finally study again, you got to relearn that stuff. You got to relearn how to focus on school stuff. But it's doable, it's possible. It's been a learning experience that I'm really proud of. And I only got semester-and-a-half, and then I finally got that bachelor's I thought about for so many years. Timothy Webb: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Any common myths that you'd like to clear up or explain to our listeners about being a non-traditional student? John Striednig: Yeah, there's no scholarships for non-traditional students. Yeah, some people think that there are those. It's tough to get financial help whenever you're a non-trad. Basically, you're going to end up taking out loans. Timothy Webb: What were some of the biggest obstacles you had to overcome to get to where you are today, John? John Striednig: Deciding to move out to Hot Springs. I'd been in one place my entire life, picking up my roots and completely changing that, deciding that I wanted to do something else, something better with my life. And just the process of getting to the point where you feel like you're ready to make that decision is a hard process. Passing organic chemistry, that might be the biggest obstacle. That was a lot of really hard work. Timothy Webb: It sounds like it. John Striednig: Great professor in that class, though. Shout out to Dr. Shrestha. He's a great guy. And then, navigating, handling life's responsibilities, going to work, getting those bills paid, taking care of the house, doing the chores, mowing the lawn, and 15 hours of class- Timothy Webb: Dang. John Striednig: ... every single week, week after week, and just doing what needs to get done, sacrificing all the other things that you want to do. Those are, I guess I would say, are the obstacles. Timothy Webb: Yeah. But you got your eye on the prize though. John Striednig: That's it, brother. Timothy Webb: So that's what keeps you going. John Striednig: Yep. Timothy Webb: Can you tell me how it felt when you passed organic chemistry? John Striednig: Oh my gosh, I could have cried, I swear. The intense wave of relief. I didn't even do my best on that final exam, but I got enough to where I got like an 80.03 in the class. And when I saw that 80.03, it was just an intense wave of relief. I never have to touch organic chemistry again. Timothy Webb: Yeah, I know the feeling. John Striednig: Yeah. Timothy Webb: Not with organic chemistry, though. John Striednig: But with hard classes. Timothy Webb: For some other classes, yeah. What lessons have you been taught by being a non-traditional student? John Striednig: For the most part, the only limits that exist are the ones that you put on yourself. Timothy Webb: Nice. John Striednig: You start telling yourself 40 hours a week is too much work. And I'm exhausted after 40 hours a week, and I need those two days off a week. And I just want to work nine hours a day, and then I got to have my time watching those TV shows, or playing those video games, or hanging out with those friends at the bar. You start telling yourself these stories and you start believing them. But whenever you get out there and flip the script and change the narrative, you start realizing, okay, well maybe it's not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I mean, it's still difficult, but it's- Timothy Webb: It's doable. John Striednig: ... definitely doable. Timothy Webb: Right. So, John, you said you grew up in Texas. Was it Lubbock, Texas? John Striednig: Yes, sir. Timothy Webb: What was it like there? John Striednig: A lot dustier. A lot windier. There's not nearly as much water or greenery or trees. Timothy Webb: Okay. John Striednig: Good people, though. Really good people. Timothy Webb: Any childhood memories you'd like to share with us? John Striednig: Yeah, there was this one time, I was kind of a smart aleck. My parents had a garden in the backyard that we grew a bunch of vegetables in. Well, they grew these jalapenos, but it was in the middle of a drought. And so, if you know anything about growing jalapenos, the hotter it is and the drier it is, the hotter they get. Timothy Webb: Oh, okay. John Striednig: And so, we'd harvested these jalapenos, and I think I was talking smack about being able to handle it. And so, my mom dared me. She was like, "I'll give you 25 bucks if you eat this jalapeno whole." I didn't even think twice. I just grabbed that jalapeno, and I chomped down. And I swear I cried over that sink with milk, trying to pour milk into my mouth to save myself for the next 30 minutes. It was so embarrassing. Timothy Webb: Oh my gosh. Thanks, Mom. John Striednig: Yeah, thanks, Mom. Taught me a valuable lesson. Timothy Webb: Yeah. Tell us about an influential person in your life and how they impacted you. John Striednig: I played football whenever I was in high school and in college. And in high school, I had this coach that was my absolute favorite. Now, he and I got along so well because we were a little bit too much alike. But this was a guy that held me to task and pushed me whenever he needed to. And then, he gave me someone to talk to whenever I needed someone to talk to. His name's Coach Kevin Cheryl, one of the best men I think I've ever met in my life, and someone that saw the potential in me and really pushed me to reach that potential. Timothy Webb: Nice. That's what great teachers and coaches do, isn't it? John Striednig: Yeah, absolutely. Timothy Webb: So, John, if you could give your younger self any piece of advice, what would it be? John Striednig: Don't spend so much money on alcohol, man. I could have so much money by now. Timothy Webb: That's a good one. That's a good one there. John Striednig: Yeah. Timothy Webb: So, John, what is it that brought you here to National Park College anyway? How'd you get here? John Striednig: Whenever I moved out here to Arkansas to get closer to my family, so I also had the plan of, I'm going to get back to college. I'm going to do this. I'm going to get that degree. I think whenever I first wanted to get back into it, I was kind of thinking psychology, but that was with the eventual goal of becoming a psychiatrist. But then, I started realizing, well, biology is the better way to do that anyway. And whenever I first went into college, biology was my degree plan. I'm going to have more of the prerequisites already built, and I like that stuff anyway. So I'll do the biology route. And I was working at this time, it was mid 2020, I'd moved out to Arkansas, I think I started working for this company March 15th 2020. And it was- Timothy Webb: Oh, wow. John Striednig: ... yeah, maybe the next week that the lockdown happened. So we were considered essential workers, though. So I was working all the way through, which was, I mean, thank God for that. It was an absolute blessing. But about the middle of that summer, my mom really got onto me. She was like, "I mean, if your plan is to get back to college, I would already be making moves towards that." And so, I was like, "All right, you're right. Let me put my nose of the grindstone for a bit, figure something out." And then, I think it was about that time someone had told me about this program. They showed me the newspaper article where they were having the 2+2 program. Started looking into it. I liked what I was seeing. And then, I think that week I looked into getting into a class. I signed up for Spanish and Dr. Argo's World Civ to 1500. And then, I've just been going ever since. Timothy Webb: Wow. John Striednig: Yeah. Timothy Webb: That's awesome. So you saw it, I guess, in the Sentinel Record, correct? John Striednig: Yeah, I think so. Timothy Webb: Yeah, yeah. Wow. So print is not dead. John Striednig: Not dead. No, sir. Got me on my path. Timothy Webb: Other than National Park and biology and medical stuff, what are your hobbies, John? John Striednig: One of my favorite parts about moving out here to Arkansas, hiking trails, man. And I was doing some mountain biking there for a little bit until my bike petered out on me. Timothy Webb: Uh oh. John Striednig: I weigh a lot. I'm a big 260 pound man. And on those bikes going down those slopes, but more importantly, going up them, my gears got all chewed up on my cassette. Timothy Webb: I see. John Striednig: It was bad. Timothy Webb: Yeah. John Striednig: So I haven't been doing too much mountain biking anymore. But I'll get out there and I'll hike. I like getting into the gym and working out. I have a plethora of TV shows that I like watching. I like playing video games every once in a while. Timothy Webb: Do you ever use the National Park Wellness Center here on campus? John Striednig: Oh, yeah, I have. Yeah, there's been a lot of improvements made to that wellness center. I really enjoy going in there now, especially having a basketball court right there where I can just go and shoot around for a little bit. Timothy Webb: Right. Yep. So what is it about hiking and mountain biking that drew you to it? What do you like about it so much? John Striednig: It's good exercise, for sure. And we got really clean air around here, so getting out and getting that fresh air is a nice way to get your exercise in. But also, I don't know, man, connecting with nature's a big deal to me. Getting out there, and I have a specific place that I like going out on Northwoods Trail where it's just, it's peaceful. There's that little lake out there before you get around to the dam. Especially during the fall, whenever all the colors are turning, it's peaceful, man. Whenever life gets really hectic, especially right about now, it's nice to be able to go out there and cut off a slice of it for a little bit and just kind of not focus on all the busy work. Timothy Webb: We really are blessed around here. We have wonderful, wonderful surroundings. John Striednig: And I talk to so many people around here, so many people take it for granted. Timothy Webb: Oh, yeah. John Striednig: They really have no appreciation for what's surrounding them. But being in West Texas growing up, all we had were cotton fields and tumble weeds and old dirty lakes with clay in them, so they're red. We did not have anything like this. No hiking trails, barely any trees. Most of them are the ones that we planted ourselves. I mean, half the time we have no grass. Timothy Webb: Yeah. No, we truly are lucky here. But I think it's just human nature, you get used to what's around. John Striednig: Absolutely. Timothy Webb: Yeah. If you could talk to anybody from the past, present, or future, who would it be and why? John Striednig: You're going to have to give me a second on this one. I got a lot of options that I would really like. Timothy Webb: Yeah, I understand. John Striednig: For me, I would personally, I'm a huge basketball guy, I would love to talk to Michael Jordan. I was literally going to say Michael Jordan. Timothy Webb: Yeah, he was the guy for me. John Striednig: I know. That's so funny. I was just thinking about how awesome he would be to talk to because he's been through so many experiences, and he's such a wild guy, you know? Timothy Webb: Yeah. John Striednig: I think my dream experience with Michael Jordan would be at a casino or on a golf course. Timothy Webb: Yeah, yeah. John Striednig: Hands down, that would be my favorite experience with Michael Jordan. [inaudible 00:12:37]. Timothy Webb: He'd probably open up a little bit, huh? John Striednig: Oh, man. You would see the crazy gambling side of Michael Jordan. I feel like that would be the funnest side of Michael Jordan to be around. Super competitive. I mean, he would be throwing money like crazy. But if he was winning big, that'd be crazy fun. And you'd never beat him at a game of golf. Timothy Webb: No. He's really good at golf. John Striednig: Yeah. Timothy Webb: Yeah. John Striednig: But since you already said Michael Jordan, I'll choose someone else. Teddy Roosevelt. Timothy Webb: Okay. John Striednig: Yeah, Teddy Roosevelt. That dude is... got an insane life. And I bet he would've been a lot of fun too. I bet probably in his later years, especially when he was president, he wouldn't have been doing too much drinking. But in his younger years, whenever he was guy running around, captain in the military, part of the cavalry, that dude would've been a lot of fun to be around. Could have learned a lot of things from him too. Timothy Webb: Yeah. A lot of energy he had. I don't know if you know this about Teddy, he's actually one of my favorite presidents as well. He had asthma very bad as a kid, and he had to work extremely hard to get his asthma beat back. John Striednig: Is that right? Timothy Webb: Yep. His dad told him, "If you don't start doing fitness every day," and that's why he got into boxing, "you're not going to be able to do much in life." And he was one of those very driven people, and he beat his own asthma. John Striednig: Huh. Timothy Webb: Yeah. John Striednig: Ah, man. I love stories like that. You gave me goosebumps thinking about that. Man, that's funny. Timothy Webb: Yeah. John Striednig: Michael Jordan and Teddy Roosevelt. Timothy Webb: There you go, two very driven people. John Striednig: Yeah. Timothy Webb: What achievements are you most proud of at this point, John? I know you got some more to go, but is there anything you'd like to tell us about? John Striednig: Yeah, I mean, I rank organic chemistry as one of those achievements. They consider that class the weeder course for med school, so many people get cut out of going to med school before they even finish that class. Another achievement that was a big part of my life was making it to college football. And I was like a all state football player in high school, but also both all state and first team academic all state as well. Timothy Webb: Where'd you play a high school and college football at? John Striednig: High school with Shallowwater High School and college was Angelo State University, a D2 college out in west Texas. Timothy Webb: All right. John Striednig: And then, I would say, I guess on a more emotional level, as far as achievements go, just beating my younger self. Everyone's got these things that they go through whenever they're younger, challenges, personal challenges, internal challenges that they have to tackle. That would be another great achievement. A lot of people take forever to do that, and some people don't do it ever. Timothy Webb: Yeah. What are your future plans, John? John Striednig: Future plans would be to get out and go to med school, work my butt off, graduate, I mean, ideally in some good placement in my class, maybe even top of my class. We'll see. Timothy Webb: There you go. There you go. I like that. John Striednig: And then, get out, get matched into a good residency program, succeed there. And then, after I get out of that residency program, the world's mine for the taking. Timothy Webb: All right. John Striednig: We'll see. I know at some point, I would like to maybe own a house in Italy, and spend a lot of time in Italy because I think that place, the culture's awesome. Views are beautiful, food is magnificent, so we'll see. Timothy Webb: Nice. A lot of history there in Italy. Is that part of the reason you want to go to Italy? John Striednig: Oh, yeah. Timothy Webb: Or is it just the culture and the food? John Striednig: Yeah, the history for sure. I mean, it's all tied into one, the history and the culture and the food. Timothy Webb: Yeah. John Striednig: But I think there's a lot of depth there in that country that I would like to experience. Japan's the same way for me. Timothy Webb: How coincidental that you brought up Italy. I have a funny story. I'm taking Roman Republic History this semester. And the Romans were coming back from a long campaign. And when they got back to Italy, the first thing they did was eat pizza. You can't make this up. You can't make it up. John Striednig: Heck, yeah, man. Timothy Webb: Yeah. So I really do wonder what real Italian pizza's like. You got to wonder that. John Striednig: Yeah, it's got to be amazing. Timothy Webb: Yeah. John Striednig: It's got to be like a recipe passed down for 15 generations. Timothy Webb: Right. Is the bread the same? John Striednig: Yeah. Timothy Webb: I mean, what's going on with it? John Striednig: Where whenever you're learning how to make it, your grandma's like hitting you upside the back of the head if you're doing it wrong. Timothy Webb: Right, right. Any advice you'd like to leave our listeners with, any quotes or mottoes? John Striednig: One of the quotes that means a lot to me is struggles make your strengths. Just because you're going through a hard time doesn't mean that you won't come out on the other end better for it. Timothy Webb: Nice. Yeah, that's great, John. So John Striednig, thank you so much for sitting down with me today on Elevate. I've really appreciated and enjoyed talking to you. John Striednig: Yeah, same, man. Thanks for having me on. Timothy Webb: Thank you, sir. And 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.