Harper Talks Episode 43 - Andrew Payette

Harper Talks Episode 43 – Andrew Payette

Transcript

Harper Talks: The Harper Alumni Podcast
Show 43:  – Harper Talks — Andrew Payette

[00:00:01.090] - Brian Shelton

I'm Brian Shelton, and you're listening to Harper Talks, a coproduction of Harper College Alumni Relations and Harper Radio. Today on Harper Talks, I'm excited to speak with Andrew Payette. He is a 2018 graduate of Harper College and is a constituent services liaison for the office of congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. Andrew, joined me in the WHCM studios in Building A. Thanks for being here.

[00:00:24.500] - Andrew Payette

Thanks for having me.

[00:00:25.530] - Brian Shelton

It's good to have you here today. The day that we're recording this show is the day before a big winter storm that's coming, and I think everybody's getting a little nervous about what's happening there. But we talked, you said the congressman is in DC, so no worries there, yeah?

[00:00:40.670] - Andrew Payette

Yeah, it's safe and sound, doing the people's work as it were. Yeah.

[00:00:46.700] - Brian Shelton

Normally, when we do Harper Talks, I start back before you came to Harper College and working your way through and everything, and then getting to where you are now. But I'm so fascinated by this job that you have, working the congressman. I'm curious if we could start with that. How did that come about? How did you start working for the congressman's office?

[00:01:07.070] - Andrew Payette

Yeah, I guess a little bit by accident, a little bit on purpose, right? While I was here at Harper, actually, is where the seeds were sowed, as it where I was on the speech team and one of our coaches had an internship blast from the congressman's office saying, Hey, anyone politically aligned, interested in the functions of government, want to step up and do it? That was primarily what I focused on when I was on the speech team. I was like, yeah, absolutely. I want to take this internship, see what government's all about. Loved the job. They liked me, apparently. I stayed on as a full-time employee, and I've been there now for over six years.

[00:01:48.550] - Brian Shelton

Over six years? Wow, that's amazing. What do you do as a constituent services liaison? What does that mean?

[00:01:54.510] - Andrew Payette

I do have to explain this to a lot of people almost every day. Basically, we help with any issues you have with the government. A lot of what we do here in Illinois is apolitical. We leave the politics in DC. So if you've got an issue with your tax return, for instance, if it's delayed or if the IRS isn't processing it correctly, you come to our office. I'm the person who would fix that or address it in the best way possible. And it's not exclusive. It's any federal agency. So we're talking immigration issues, tax issues, social security issues, funding issues, anything that directly impacts you on a day-to-day basis, if it's got the federal government stamp on it, our office can address it, help you find resources, et cetera. It's limitless.

[00:02:46.460] - Brian Shelton

Yeah, and I think it's important to point out that it is a political, right? I mean, we do represent our congressperson and our representatives based on politics, right? We do voting for Democrat or Republican. But once they are elected, their job is to serve everyone in their district that they represent, right? And so politics aside, their job is to represent you, yeah? Yeah.

[00:03:05.740] - Andrew Payette

There's 750,000 people in our district, roughly, and we're not going to agree with every single one of them, but we're going to try to help every single one of them. Having issues with your taxes, that has nothing to do with what's happening in DC. We want to make sure you get the money you're owed. Social Security benefits, that's a big one. Folks on fixed income have it tough enough. We're not going to pile on by saying, don't vote for us, or, if you didn't vote for us, we're not going to help. We try to stay out of the news, as it were, and we want to just help folks, really, at the end of the day.

[00:03:46.850] - Brian Shelton

Do you have any personal political aspirations? Or has working in the office made you think about that more or less

[00:03:55.400] - Andrew Payette

Less, certainly. I think you come into these jobs green eyed, full of energy, excitement. To be fair, it is still a very exciting job. Seeing the congressman's schedule and the demands on his time, both personally and professionally, has really turned me off to the idea of ever running for public office. (laughs) I like being behind the scenes. I like having a little bit more leverage to help folks directly, whereas the congressman, he's in DC every other week. On the weekends, he's working 10, 12-hour days most weekends. There's really never a time where he can just completely shut off and not be the congressman.

[00:04:37.490] - Brian Shelton

That's very interesting. In your position, you feel like you're able to directly help individuals in the district, whereas if you were in a political post, maybe not as much.

[00:04:47.180] - Andrew Payette

Not as much. Every action a public-facing official takes will be under the microscope in some capacity. That's not inherently a bad thing. We want all of our public officials to be held to account. But Raja can't help 600 people, which is how many cases we have open right now. He can't individually help 600 people. The demands on his time are just too great. That's where his staff comes in. And I really relish in the opportunity to help folks to the best of my ability and the best of our office's ability.

[00:05:21.130] - Brian Shelton

Yeah. Does the job take you to DC at all?

[00:05:23.050] - Andrew Payette

Do you- Occasionally. But again, it's something where it was very fun the first couple of years going to DC, and now it feels a bit more tedious. Just being away from friends and family on a day-to-day basis is tough.

[00:05:38.120] - Brian Shelton

I'm on the board of a professional organization, and its conference is in Las Vegas, Nevada every year, has been for decades. The first time you go, you're like, oh, this is cool. The conference is in Las Vegas. Then after the 20th time you go, you're like, I can't believe I have to go to Las Vegas. (laughs)

[00:05:54.670] - Andrew Payette

That's exactly it. A lot of my coworkers, they travel a lot more than me, especially the folks based in DC, they have to come to the district much more often than us in the district have to go to DC. But it's the nature of the job. If I have to go, I'll go be happy about it. But like you're saying, the 20th time, the 50th time, it's more robotic and less exciting. Yeah.

[00:06:22.050] - Brian Shelton

Why am I doing this? Yeah. Okay, so that's what you're doing now. Let's go back in time here. How did you choose to come to Harper College? What was behind that decision-making process?

[00:06:30.870] - Andrew Payette

Yeah, I think it was born of convenience more than anything else. Right out of high school, I didn't really have a good idea of what I wanted to do with my life. I was at Indiana University for a year, which was fun, exciting, first time on your own. But I hadn't committed to a major, and spending $20, $30,000 a year when you have no idea what you want to do, it weighs on you. So I came back, took a few years off, just worked. Didn't like the jobs I was working, wanted something a little bit more substantial. So I came to Harper, got my associates, and then went into the workforce.

[00:07:13.460] - Brian Shelton

Yeah, I think that's a problem That's the problem that so many folks have is that there's this push, like go to high school, graduate, go to a four-year school, pick out a major, do your thing. A lot of people just don't know what they want to do when they get there. And you're paying an awful lot of money to not know what you want to do, right?

[00:07:29.410] - Andrew Payette

Right. Yeah. It's something where I did and did not know a lot of what college was, what the workforce was, as everyone coming out of high school, they've got a rosy picture of what real world is like. But it was really nice. I went to Buffalo Grove High School. I lived in Arlington Heights. So Harper was right here. It's a great institution, and it really helped me get my footing.

[00:07:57.560] - Brian Shelton

Yeah, I think that's a real problem for a lot of people. I know me personally, I chose the wrong major and was in it for two years, and then that cost me a lot of money, right? And so I think about today, my daughter's 14, and we think about, where is she going to go to school? If she's going to go to college, what is that going to cost? Should you stay at home? Should you go to community college? That thing. I think a lot of people are also emotionally unprepared to go to college, too.

[00:08:24.250] - Andrew Payette

Yeah. I think that even if you know exactly what you want to do, the cost of college is astronomical. Getting all your Gen Eds done here at Harper, which it's a fantastic institution, right? It saves you tons of money. It gets you those life skills in a little bit less stressful environment, and then you're ready to hit the ground running. Right now, I'm at Northwestern finishing my bachelor's degree and not having to take a math class or a science class anymore and just finishing my public policy degree has helped my mental health insurmountably because I don't remember how to do calculus. It's not applicable to my day job. So it was nice getting that out of the way in a less stressful environment and being able to focus on what I want to focus on.

[00:09:21.190] - Brian Shelton

Yeah, makes a big difference. It makes a huge difference. While you were here, you were on the speech debate team, which I've worked with over the years. They're in the same department as us. What was that like? What's speech and debate? Tell people what that is.

[00:09:32.970] - Andrew Payette

Oh, my gosh. If you like arguing and if you like forcing people to listen you to talk, I highly recommend it. No, speech and debate, it was great. Professor Pryzbylo and Professor Thunderbrook, who I don't think is with the team anymore, but he was my debate coach. They're exceptionally smart, phenomenally driven folks who I think without joining the team, I would have had a lesser experience here at Harper. But lifelong friends that I still have, still talk to on a daily basis. The speech and debate team itself, it's learning a lot of soft skills that you might not be comfortable with or might not otherwise get just through a regular education. I cannot sing the praises highly enough of the speech and debate team and what it did for me.

[00:10:20.700] - Brian Shelton

Yeah, it's always that term soft skills comes up a lot, and I always think about it in the complete opposite way is that I think of them as being the hard skills. If you can't talk to people, if you can't communicate, then that's a hard skill, right?

[00:10:35.160] - Andrew Payette

Yeah, that's a great way of putting it.

[00:10:37.910] - Brian Shelton

Yeah. If we have to learn that and do that, and if employers are saying, We need people who can critically think and speak and talk to people, then that's a hard That's a good skill. Yeah.

[00:10:45.540] - Andrew Payette

And like you're saying, it's more than just public speaking, which is terrifying for a lot of folks, rightfully so. But it's analytic, it's practice, repetition, it's thinking on your feet. A lot of things really help you in ways that you would never think. And not just in formal settings, not giving a presentation to your boss at work, but trying to network, trying to make new friends. It goes so much farther than you would think of just initially.

[00:11:17.200] - Brian Shelton

Yeah, absolutely. While you're on the Speech and Debate team, you got the Jake and Jordan Sadoff scholarship? Yes. Did you ever meet those guys?

[00:11:24.270] - Andrew Payette

Yes. They were around, especially towards the end of the year. Great guys, they really were instrumental to keeping the team going. Yeah.

[00:11:34.610] - Brian Shelton

Big supporters of the college, big supporters of that scholarship. Everybody in Chicago knows their business RESTORE hair because you see the billboards all over the place. Good guys to have around. Any other faculty that you worked with while you were here that stood out for you?

[00:11:50.700] - Andrew Payette

Yeah. I mean, so Margaret on the speech team as well. She's amazing. Professor Long, also a speech coach.

[00:11:58.100] - Brian Shelton

Oh, my gosh, Kevin Long. The Energizer Bunny. Yes. Yeah.

[00:12:00.500] - Andrew Payette

Yes. Yes. I had his class actually before I joined the speech team. If he wants to take credit for me finding the inspiration, absolutely, I'll give it to him. But someone who's just extraordinarily passionate, right? And incredibly knowledgeable. It's the type of teacher that you want your kids to have. He really is someone who inspired me a lot.

[00:12:28.540] - Brian Shelton

That's fantastic. I I ran into him getting coffee this morning, and as you know, Kevin drinks gallons of coffee.

[00:12:34.010] - Andrew Payette

Well, he has to to maintain that energy.

[00:12:36.500] - Brian Shelton

That level of energy, yeah. Anybody who's listening who knows Kevin Long, that energy and that vibe that he puts off all day long is totally real, and it's amazing that he's able to do that.

[00:12:48.700] - Andrew Payette

It's not an act.

[00:12:49.870] - Brian Shelton

It's not an act.

[00:12:50.480] - Andrew Payette

I'm extraordinarily envious.

[00:12:52.470] - Brian Shelton

Yes, I wish I had it. I don't have it. You mentioned that you're finishing your bachelor's degree at Northwestern. Felt like Harper really prepared you for that?

[00:13:01.760] - Andrew Payette

Yeah, absolutely. Again, getting all of the gen-eds done, getting a softer landing right out of high school really helped. It helped me focus on exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. And Northwestern accepted all of my credits transferred over. So I'm just about done. I think I've got maybe a year more left. But yeah, I think it's been a really smooth transition. And The opportunities they are allowing, I think, build on everything that Harper provided for me.

[00:13:35.880] - Brian Shelton

Which is great. Yeah. And so public policy is the degree.

[00:13:38.740] - Andrew Payette

Yeah.

[00:13:39.870] - Brian Shelton

I'm not trying to get you to give up your job or anything like that, but what's the future there? Is there a plan or are you still working, figuring out what it is that you want to do long term?

[00:13:48.470] - Andrew Payette

Yeah, a bit of both. I mean, if I can stay with the congressman as long as he's an elected official, I'd love that. I think it's two things, right? Providing me opportunities where if for whatever reason the congressman leaves public service, my job is it's only ever given a two-year contract. The congressman has to get reelected in order for me to stay employed by him. I really am just focusing on making sure I have opportunities down the road. But also to refine the skills I already have. You learn a lot on the job, but there's more to be learned that would help make you better at the job. It's that two-pronged approach is why I'm back in school.

[00:14:30.190] - Brian Shelton

But you see yourself staying in government and public service.

[00:14:34.740] - Andrew Payette

In a perfect world, yeah. If not directly for the federal government's tangentially related government affairs, maybe municipal government as well. Something along those lines.

[00:14:46.190] - Brian Shelton

Yeah, there's a lot there. Yeah.

[00:14:47.650] - Andrew Payette

My job is recession proof. It's executive order proof. I'm uniquely blessed in that regard. As long as I can keep working to that end, I will.

[00:15:01.700] - Brian Shelton

That's great. I try to ask everybody who comes in here, what advice would you give to either someone who's thinking about coming to Harper and/or someone who's at Harper right now? What advice would you give them? Yeah.

[00:15:13.870] - Andrew Payette

I mean, Folks coming to Harper, do it. They're thinking about coming to Harper, do it. Again, if you don't know what you want to do, but you want to do something, this is the place to find out. And along those lines to folks who are already at Harper... Explore, fail, try. Make sure that you get out of your comfort zones and do things that you wouldn't otherwise do. I circle back to speech team a lot because at the beginning of the year, there's a lot of members who are quiet, who may not be comfortable with themselves, may not have found their voice yet. And by the end of the year, you can't get them to shut up, right? Both in a formal setting and just discovering who they are as people and acclimating themselves to a world that they might not be familiar with. So I think to that end, fail hard, try things, get out of your comfort zones, and do it in a way that makes sense to you.

[00:16:12.420] - Brian Shelton

Yeah. And I think it's a really great advice, especially for folks to get involved in what we might call extracurricular activities. Here at the radio station, we're not really training people to be broadcasters. The radio industry isn't what it used to be. But we are training people to be critical thinkers. We're training people to tell stories and to use their voice to tell stories. And it doesn't matter if you're a liberal arts major or an IT major, that's important. So students who take the opportunity to explore radio station, theater, pottery, the Environmental Club, whatever, that's an opportunity to branch out a little bit.

[00:16:45.260] - Andrew Payette

Yeah, I mean, it's exactly it. My debate partner, she was also in the Pottery Club, for instance, and found something that was uniquely rewarding there. So many of my friends now, I made when I was on the speech team. If nothing else, it's not about the competition. It's not about winning every single debate or nailing every single speech. It's just about having fun, discovering something.

[00:17:12.360] - Brian Shelton

You might as well have some fun while you're here, right? Right.

[00:17:14.090] - Andrew Payette

Yeah. All right.

[00:17:15.530] - Brian Shelton

Thanks so much, Andrew. Andrew Piat is a Harper College graduate, and if you are in Congressman Raja's district, he can help you out. If you're enjoying Harper Talks, please subscribe, and while you're at it, rate and review us so that others might find us. Harper Talks is a coproduction of Harper College Alumni Relations and Harper Radio. Our show is produced by Shannon Hynes. This episode was edited by Coby Pozo, and our online content producer is Vicky, and she's told me how to pronounce her name correctly, but I'm going to get it wrong. I'm going to say Drieswecke, and that's wrong. I know it is. Anyway, our theme music was created by Aiden Cashman. I'm Brian Sheldon. Thanks for listening.