Season three of Knights Do That, UCF’s official podcast, returns with a new host — James Evans.
Evans is a first-generation student and member of the Burnett Honors College. He is a junior majoring in accounting and minoring in computer science. He is a former LEAD Scholar, orientation leader and resident assistant. Evans has also served within Student Government as a senator, fiscal committee chair, and Safety & Transportation coordinator. He currently serves as a member of the President’s Leadership Council.
Here Evans shares more about what drew him to hosting the podcast and his goals for future episodes.
Transcript
James Evans: Hello and welcome back to Knights Do That. My name is James Evans, and I’m your new host. I want to take a moment to thank our former host, Alex Cumming, for putting so much time and energy into making the podcast what it is today. I especially love the episodes with Associate Professor Claire Connolly Knox and CFO Gerald Hector. They both bring so much to the table in their respective fields. And how I was able to learn so much from listening to those episodes is a testament to this podcast. Good luck on all your endeavors, Alex.
As the new host of Knights Do That, I think it might be a good idea for y’all to get to know who I am. My name is James Evans and I’m a first-generation college student from Callahan, Florida. Being from a rural town, I love to travel whenever I get the chance. From day trips to full on excursions, I relish every chance to explore our pale blue dot. Within the UCF community. It would be better to know me as a third-year accounting major within the Burnett Honors College.
Y’all are probably wondering what an accounting major is doing hosting a podcast, especially one focused on people and stories. The truth is I have a passion for stories. I believe storytelling is our greatest strength in asset because it’s so engaging and persuasive.
When I was an orientation leader. My favorite question to ask incoming students was what their favorite piece of media was. From books to albums, to art, I heard it all. I loved that question so much because the answer, no matter the medium, is some form of story. And I believe knowing someone’s favorite story reveals their core being.
It wouldn’t be fair of me to tell you this without answering the question myself. My favorite movie is Ratatouille because I love animation, food and anything inspirational. I find a joy and motivation from the central premise that anyone can be anything they want to be. I grew up on a zip code where the employment rate was only 54%, and the amount of people in my extended family who held a college degree could be counted on one hand. Which brings me in my next point…
I am proud to say that I’m a UCF Knight. I chose UCF because I believe in what we stand for. I was immediately drawn to the university the first time I stepped on campus. I remember walking around and feeling right at home. At one point during the ad hoc tour, my friend was giving me, I remember them showing me the John T. Washington Center. And then at the end of it, we saw the John C. Hitt Library. That side of the library at the time was being renovated. So my friend turned to me and said, “You should probably know that UCF stands for under construction forever.”
While the notion was presented to me with sarcasm and angst, I don’t carry it with me with those same feelings. I believe UCF does stand for under construction forever, but for all the good that idea represents. Every individual member of this institution, whether faculty staff, student or alum,, is unleashing their potential to make the world around them better.
I’ve been surrounded by amazing and talented people at every point along my journey at this university. I’m not only thankful for the people here, I am constantly inspired by their passion, their growth, their commitment to empowerment.
My purpose with hosting this podcast is to perpetuate that notion of making ourselves and the world around us better by sharing the stories of knights doing amazing things. From groundbreaking research to making an impact in their communities, every guest on the show will have an innovative and unique perspective on the challenges facing the world today. Furthermore, they’ll have an equally important and insightful solution with global impact.
[Outro Music]
So… what can you expect from season three? We’ll be sharing new episodes every other week, starting Aug. ust 15th with our first guest, Peter Weishar the brains behind UCF’s new MFA themed experience track. So… what can you expect from season three? We’ll be sharing new episodes every other week starting Aug. 15 with our first guest: Peter Weishar, the brains behind UCF’s new MFA themed experience track and Master’s of Science in Themed Experience.
Here’s a preview of that episode:
Peter Weishar: But what I tell my students is, “You’re the artist standing in front of the room and you’re presenting your great idea. And you’re doing your pitch and sitting in the chairs around you it’s going to be somebody from production, somebody from maintenance, somebody from engineering, hospitality, operations, all these different people around the table. And you have to understand enough about what they do to answer the most fundamental questions about your idea.”
James Evans: As always, if you’re doing something cool, whether that’s at UCF or somewhere you took UCF that we should know about. Send us an email at socialmedia@ucf.edu, and maybe we’ll see you on an episode in the future. Go Knights, Charge on!
