#96 - Creating Content for International Students for Recruitment and Retention
w/ Chris Rapozo
from Stamats
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SHOW NOTES
Chris Rapozo shares his journey from Germany to the United States, discussing his experiences as an international student and the cultural challenges he faced. He emphasizes the importance of addressing the emotional needs of international students and the role of content in supporting their retention. The conversation also touches on the significance of personal connections and the impact of life decisions.
Key takeaways:
Invest in yourself for a 100% return.
Repurpose long-form content into short-form videos.
Address the fear of looking stupid in new environments.
Loneliness is a big deal for people moving to a new country.
Life decisions often lead to unexpected and rewarding outcomes.
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Transcript (done with AI so only about 90% accurate):
00;00;00;09 - 00;00;34;13
John Azoni
All right. My guest today is Chris Raposo. Good buddy of mine. Chris is a strategic communicator by trade. Chris brings vast experience in brand storytelling, public relations and multi-channel campaign execution that drives measurable RBI. And he has successfully led national campaigns, digital engagement initiatives and high impact events that expand, reach and accelerate growth. Chris is also the founder of the Education Marketing Leader, a platform that includes a 100 plus episode, higher ed marketing podcast and a professional learning community through its industry book club.
00;00;34;27 - 00;01;00;17
John Azoni
He graduated with honors from University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications with a degree in public relations and outside of his work. Chris is an avid runner who regularly organizes morning run groups at higher ed conferences like NC, NPR, Digital Collegium and AMA. He lives in Georgia with his wife Cara, and their two children, Joseph and Kate and their Cavalier King Charles.
00;01;00;22 - 00;01;03;02
John Azoni
Sampson Sampson is a great name for a dog.
00;01;04;02 - 00;01;06;13
Chris Rapozo
He acts like like a Sampson, too, sometimes.
00;01;08;10 - 00;01;16;02
John Azoni
Well, welcome to the show, Chris. You're a frequent flier now. You've reached repeat offender status. Been on here the second time now.
00;01;16;23 - 00;01;35;17
Chris Rapozo
Yeah, it's great to be here. John, thank you very much for having me. The first time I was on the show, I was still working full time for Hannan Hill, Content management provider, but I've since then have switched to stay made so comprehensive marketing agencies serving higher education institutions. And I'm sure we're going to talk a little bit about that as well on the episode.
00;01;35;17 - 00;01;49;11
Chris Rapozo
But yeah, a good to be back. Thank you so much. It's good to be on the other side. I'm usually the one who interviews people 125 plus episodes and the education marketing leader. But now I'm about to get grilled by the man himself. So let's do this.
00;01;49;11 - 00;02;15;21
John Azoni
525 That's great. I commend you because I was on that track and I do like you and I like started our podcast around the same time. And so we kind of we're kind of like and sometimes I like search higher ed marketing stuff on YouTube and like yours will come up above my. Yep. Chris So I at some point moved to like a biweekly, like every other podcast thing, which is it's one which has been a weight off my shoulders.
00;02;15;21 - 00;02;15;29
John Azoni
Oh.
00;02;16;12 - 00;02;33;10
Chris Rapozo
100%, Yeah. I did the same thing initially. I had every week I had 100 episodes and 100 consecutive weeks and then I was like, okay, I hit a century mark and we're going to stop the podcast altogether. But I kind of still, you know, felt the need to continue it because I love the relationships that you build on those shows.
00;02;33;10 - 00;02;39;05
Chris Rapozo
And I say, Jon's going by weekly, so so can I. So let's do that. All right.
00;02;39;20 - 00;03;00;05
John Azoni
Good deal. Okay. Well, today we're talking about the journey of international students challenges and fears and insecurities they face. And at least from Chris's perspective here, how our content can can speak to their emotional needs. Let's jump in with a little tangent question here. What's something people would be surprised to know about you when you were here last?
00;03;00;16 - 00;03;06;20
John Azoni
You talked about playing football in Germany, which I'm sure will touch on. Is there another random thing about you that you can share?
00;03;07;06 - 00;03;28;21
Chris Rapozo
Sure, yeah. The football or football story is always the one I go to, first of all, because people can connect with it in the United States and me playing football in Germany. But a lot of people are. Notice as a kid, I was partially raised by nuns in a Catholic boarding school in town called Hexagon. Our, which is the birthplace of Adolf and Rudolf Dassler.
00;03;29;03 - 00;03;32;03
Chris Rapozo
Pop quiz. Do you know who these brothers are and what they found it?
00;03;32;20 - 00;03;37;00
John Azoni
No. When you said Adolf, I thought you were going somewhere else.
00;03;37;00 - 00;03;58;17
Chris Rapozo
It was a very common name back in the twenties and thirties. But Adolf and Rudolf Dassler were the founders of Adidas and Puma. So those two those two companies were founded in Herzegovina, Germany. So Adolf, the abbreviation Adi, Adi, Dassler, Adolph Dassler, Adidas. So that's where I was raised.
00;03;59;00 - 00;04;03;05
John Azoni
And I thought it stood for all day. I dream about soccer, so.
00;04;04;03 - 00;04;24;06
Chris Rapozo
Yeah. No, no, no, it's not. It's not true. It's. It's a combination of his name. So that's a little bit of a surprising background about me. But he has a nun's as well, raised in a Catholic boarding school. So being away from home. So I have a little bit of insights there as well. When it comes to international students and the homesickness they experience.
00;04;24;28 - 00;04;41;15
John Azoni
Cool. Well, that's a great that's that's one of the best tidbits we've had on this podcast. My youngest daughter, Rylan, she's eight. Her soccer team last year was sponsored by not really sponsored, but they were all Adidas stuff. And so I was like, Oh, you know what that stands for? All day I dream about soccer. So I taught her.
00;04;41;15 - 00;04;45;02
Chris Rapozo
Right now she knows, oh, you know.
00;04;45;21 - 00;04;48;18
John Azoni
Probably the first of many times I will lead my kids astray.
00;04;50;10 - 00;04;53;21
Chris Rapozo
Soon enough they'll chat cheap. T your responses. Yeah.
00;04;54;29 - 00;05;17;04
John Azoni
So I just got a new truck. And speaking of Chatty Betty, Rylan and I after. After her soccer practice. Yeah. Last night, we figured out we could, like, talk to chat, get to the car and just, like, have back and forth conversation. So that was a lot of fun. We were having it. It's a female voice. And she was asking, asking Rylan a bunch of trivia questions for eight year olds.
00;05;17;04 - 00;05;25;21
John Azoni
And so that's fun. I highly recommend it if you have a catchy beat, plus hit the little live chat function and just have a chit chat while you're driving.
00;05;25;21 - 00;05;26;07
Chris Rapozo
That's cool.
00;05;27;00 - 00;05;35;08
John Azoni
Anyway, let's let's talk about something related to the episode here. Just tell me about your journey coming from the U.S. What brought that about?
00;05;35;08 - 00;05;58;12
Chris Rapozo
Right. So coming from Germany and United States, so born and raised in Germany to a German mother and a U.S. servicemen man were stationed in Germany, We had the U.S. Army, so they met early eighties. You know how things go. Eventually, when his service was over, they got divorced and whatnot, and I stayed behind in Germany. But the one great thing he did for me is he gave me dual citizenship.
00;05;58;12 - 00;06;24;11
Chris Rapozo
So he made sure that I was set up with a Social Security card, an American passport, just in case, you know, if I ever wanted to venture out and find my way out West and live my American dream. So as a young kid, I would do race in the nineties a lot, watched a lot of tell a vision, a lot of American lifestyle movies, you know, little giants, sandlot kids, that sort of thing increased my appetite for going to the United States.
00;06;24;11 - 00;06;45;25
Chris Rapozo
There was just one problem. I had to go through German to the German school system, you know, go through high school. I just said at the nunnery and then go through trade school. So I did trade school instead of traditional college in Germany. But once I finished and once I finished my apprenticeship, I was free and ready to go whatever I wanted to do.
00;06;45;25 - 00;07;05;18
Chris Rapozo
So and it was around the age of 22 where I set. My mom told her, Hey, I bought a ticket to the United States and I'm going to move there. And she really in disbelief. First of all, she's like, Why do you want to go to the United States? And I told her little bit about my dream that I really wanted to forge my own path and give it a try over there.
00;07;05;18 - 00;07;19;05
Chris Rapozo
And she said, okay, just give it a shot. It was kind of like when, you know, in the United States, when people graduate from high school or from college, they take a leap year and they go to Europe to travel Europe by backpack. It was kind of like the same idea of like very low pressure, really nothing to lose.
00;07;19;05 - 00;07;33;04
Chris Rapozo
I had two suitcases when I hopped on a on the airplane and arrived in Tampa, Florida, in 2005. And 20 years later, I'm still here kicking it and building a family and a career in the land of the free. So it worked out.
00;07;33;04 - 00;07;56;05
John Azoni
That's cool. That's awesome. I just read this book called Die with Zero, and it's about like managing your personal finances to get like the most out of life now instead of like for, like your retirement. And they just talked about, like, the importance of like just going and traveling and investing in those memories and stuff. So it sounds like you checked that box.
00;07;56;25 - 00;08;19;22
Chris Rapozo
Yeah, while you can, right? I mean, like, still fresh and ready to go and able to have the energy to experience all those things. And when you're in your 70, that's going to be really hard to travel. So might as well if you can do it now and then continue as you do. And so I love traveling, always enjoyed it, love traveling in different states in the United States, especially through conferences when I go on the conference circuits would stay mates.
00;08;19;22 - 00;08;38;22
Chris Rapozo
For example, I'm going to be in Virginia Beach in a couple of weeks and never been there before. So it's a great, great way to experience different areas within the United States. You know, because in Germany, if you drive for hours west, you're in France. And if you drive 4 hours north, you're in Tennessee. You know, it's kind of like the same thing.
00;08;39;00 - 00;08;54;25
Chris Rapozo
Every state is kind of like a different country, different culture. So as somebody from the outside, I still appreciate that. Like, when I went to Albuquerque last year, I was like, Oh my gosh, this is amazing. This is so different than what it is like in Georgia. I mean, it's the United States. It's but it's different states, but it's still the same country.
00;08;54;29 - 00;09;02;07
Chris Rapozo
But culturally, it's so diverse, like a different culture in Europe. I mean, the good thing is we all speak the same language here, which makes it easier.
00;09;03;01 - 00;09;19;17
John Azoni
Yeah, absolutely. So it was more for you, more just like a grab life by the horns kind of kind of thing coming and see and seeing what the U.S. is about for people that maybe didn't listen to the previous EP. So tell us about you know, you had a whole football career and how that plays into the story, right?
00;09;19;17 - 00;09;39;04
Chris Rapozo
So I played football in Germany relatively well that I even once was invited to try out for the national German national American football team. They have like a national football team, like we have a national soccer team. So I tried out there, you know, didn't make the team, which is okay. I was 18 years old, but I went to the United States.
00;09;39;04 - 00;09;58;25
Chris Rapozo
I thought, hey, maybe I can play college football here. Went over here with my German transcripts, which obviously needed to be translated and all that. I would have needed to have the proper grades to get into a school like the University of South Florida that's in Tampa. Went to see the assistant athletic director. He told me, Hey, your grades are up to par.
00;09;58;25 - 00;10;14;18
Chris Rapozo
You probably have to go through junior college, go through community college first, which I plan on doing. But then reality hit. You know, you have first time out of the house, you have bills, you have rent, you have to pay for food, and all of a sudden you're like a $10 an hour job and you're like, I got to get to work.
00;10;14;18 - 00;10;33;16
Chris Rapozo
I can't go to school right now. So just got to stay above war and survive. So that's what I did, put the football dreams on hold and eventually never stepped another foot on the field, which I always thought I would do one more time. But now I'm in my forties and it's not going to happen again.
00;10;34;03 - 00;10;36;01
John Azoni
Yeah, it's tackle football, right?
00;10;36;13 - 00;10;44;12
Chris Rapozo
Yeah, yeah. Full on, Full on contact. I mean, the kind of thing where you walk away bruised and get the wind knocked out of you and that sort of thing.
00;10;44;12 - 00;10;51;05
John Azoni
So yeah it's, Yeah. That's crazy. I couldn't do it. I would quit after one hit. The biggest.
00;10;51;12 - 00;11;11;27
Chris Rapozo
Biggest thrill of my life. I'll tell you that. Biggest thrill. I played quarterback at first. I played wide receiver. And then after two years, I play quarterback. But when you have that ball in your hands, it's like you get this primal survival instinct going because you're like, I have a target on my back. Everybody's going to come after me and you never know what's going to happen in this violent sport, right?
00;11;11;27 - 00;11;25;29
Chris Rapozo
You could walk away paralyzed. You see it all the time, like it's fun. It's a good game when you know how to maneuver your body, but you really never know if you're going to walk out of it. Like there could be some freak accident and that's the end of it. So you always have that in your back of your head.
00;11;26;12 - 00;11;35;18
Chris Rapozo
But overall, really thrilling. So I wish my wife would allow me to have our son play football. But that's not in the cards right now.
00;11;35;18 - 00;11;42;29
John Azoni
So as you acclimated here, though, what challenges did you face culturally that might not be obvious to the casual observer?
00;11;43;12 - 00;12;06;03
Chris Rapozo
Yes. So German culture and the way we approach things is very, very direct. Like if you say something, you do it. And I recognized that American, the way of doing things a little bit more indirect, an indirect style. So for example, when you're trying to make friends and people say, Hey, we should hang out sometime, you know, you're like, Yeah, let's hang out, set a date and let's do that.
00;12;06;03 - 00;12;23;27
Chris Rapozo
But it's really more of a customary nicety. Instead, you know, of course, there are times we're like, Yeah, you really hit it off. It's somebody you're going to hang out. But it's not like, you know, if you meet somebody once, they're like, Hey, we should hang out sometimes. And he said, Yes, and that's never going to happen. And you're like, Wait a minute, This person just said they wanted to hang out.
00;12;23;27 - 00;12;41;11
Chris Rapozo
Why aren't they hanging out? I don't understand. So it took a while for me to realize that it's it's more of a casual conversation thing to be nice, but like, half the time it's not really what they mean. They're just trying to make small talk. And the other thing small talk was one of those things as well, especially when I came over here.
00;12;41;11 - 00;12;59;29
Chris Rapozo
I was an introvert. I kind of got out of my shell. But it's the same thing. Like small talk was never anything for me. Every time I opened my mouth, it had a purpose and a goal. So, you know, doing another, you know, how things go with your family, that sort of thing. And your expected response is good and you move on.
00;12;59;29 - 00;13;19;11
Chris Rapozo
You know, you don't want to go into detail, especially when you just meet somebody. But again, in Germany, it's like, hey, if somebody asked you a serious question like, how are you? You usually answer with a serious response. Like, Hey, if I'm not feeling so hot, you know, I'll let you know. But I also learned that is not the way you should go about it.
00;13;19;11 - 00;13;53;05
Chris Rapozo
In this particular instance in this country. So and it's fine, you know, and the other thing was never getting health care. Oh, my gosh. Like in Germany, it was all free when you went to the doctor and here you get slapped with a $500 bill. You know, I was like, oh, my God, I did not know that. I'm going to, you know, put myself in my way again with bankruptcy if I don't pay his bills off and also help me understand that or realize that sometimes if you have a little bit of an ache, you'd better pop aspirin and not go to the doctor to save that that money.
00;13;53;05 - 00;13;59;16
Chris Rapozo
But it's not advisable. Obviously, if you have a serious condition, you probably should see a doctor and get the proper health care.
00;14;00;02 - 00;14;11;12
John Azoni
You should and God forbid you're playing football and God. That's right. That's right. You had to get airlifted because I heard that it's like 40 grand or something like that. One ride to the hospital.
00;14;11;12 - 00;14;30;24
Chris Rapozo
Yeah, I just recently saw a Facebook post. My wife sent me about a child who was riding his scooter and they didn't wear their helmet and they fell. And then they had to be airlifted to the hospital. Like, that's going to set you back to a week or two and you're budgeting. And the other thing, one more thing here, public transportation is the Norman, Germany.
00;14;31;05 - 00;14;55;09
Chris Rapozo
You know, everybody's riding the bus regardless of social standings. And here having a car is the norm, especially if you live in a suburbs like I do. And North Atlanta area. So and yes, you see in recent the news, it's not exactly safe either when you see the Ukrainian lady that was stabbed in North Carolina. So it's another thing, you know, it's not always the safest way to commute.
00;14;55;09 - 00;14;58;19
Chris Rapozo
So also something that it wasn't accustomed to when I moved over here.
00;14;59;02 - 00;15;10;28
John Azoni
Yeah, it's tough. It's not always the safest, best place to be. But talk about the isolation. Do you feel any sort of isolation when you came here? Just like trying to fit in and trying to find belonging?
00;15;11;12 - 00;15;32;23
Chris Rapozo
Oh, yeah. Loneliness is a big deal for people. Move into a new country because you don't have the support base. If you're the only one moving over here, you're you have nobody. So, you know, the Zoom calls. It wasn't Zoom back then. It was like, what was it called? Skype. That Skype, Exactly. So we did the Skype calls.
00;15;32;23 - 00;15;49;18
Chris Rapozo
But after that, you're just you're basically just on your own making it work. So what I always did was I try to stay busy. So every hour of the day was basically planned out, whether it was reading, whether it was going to the gym, whether it was going to the grocery store, whether it was playing soccer at a team, that sort of thing.
00;15;49;18 - 00;16;20;01
Chris Rapozo
Right. The less time you have on your own, the easier it is to get by. So because if you're sitting in your apartment by yourself, you start drifting and you start getting that homesickness and feel that isolation and maybe even depression may set in when you have that, you know. So we're a species that see connection. So yeah, if you're especially if you're new in a country and you're very insecure about the command of the language, like when I moved over here, my English was not good at all.
00;16;20;09 - 00;16;42;08
Chris Rapozo
I learned English in, in high school, but it's basically the way you learn Spanish in high school here. You'll be able to squeak by and pass the grade. But if somebody would throw you in the middle of Barcelona and tell you you get a job and get by, it's a whole different story, you know, because you constantly keep questioning yourself, especially in a professional environment.
00;16;42;17 - 00;17;03;04
Chris Rapozo
Did I what I said Is the sentence structure correct? Is it a way that makes me look like a professional or does it make me look like somebody who didn't pass elementary school? The way you talk, right, Especially with me, my accent, like people always tell me, Oh, you don't have a really thick German accent. So what if I tell you?
00;17;03;13 - 00;17;12;10
Chris Rapozo
I'll try to tell you something and it comes out grammatically, completely incorrect. What is the first thing you think about? Like, what's what's wrong with this person? Right. She's not all there.
00;17;12;21 - 00;17;17;08
John Azoni
Yeah, I had never thought about that. Like, you get a pass when you have an accent.
00;17;17;08 - 00;17;17;22
Chris Rapozo
That's right.
00;17;17;24 - 00;17;46;08
John Azoni
Plus dramatically incorrect equals, you know. Okay, they're not this isn't their first language. But I think that, like, colleges need to be more aware too of and the point of this episode is, is really, I think more about retention because I think, you know, colleges do a lot of work, you know, to attract international students, but there's not a lot of content that I see created that's focused on retention period, let alone for international students.
00;17;46;08 - 00;18;09;16
John Azoni
So if colleges aren't focusing on retention at all, I think some of the most likely students to bounce are international students, right? So, you know, the reason one of the reasons why I got you on this, this podcast was you had posted something on LinkedIn about a young quarterback who was asked out, was it a quarterback?
00;18;10;00 - 00;18;15;23
Chris Rapozo
There was a kicker, a punter from University, Nebraska, but he was from Australia, okay.
00;18;15;24 - 00;18;46;20
John Azoni
And he was asked in a press conference if he was missing his family. That's right. He just started bursting into tears. And you had posted about, you know, just kind of relating to that feeling of homesickness. And I saw that and I was like, Man, I totally relate to that too. And I didn't even go very far. So like my first semester of college, I moved from Detroit to Baltimore and just some small things that were such a culture shock to me were like played a big role in me going back to Detroit after one semester.
00;18;46;29 - 00;19;11;23
John Azoni
So like, yeah, I mean, number one, it's like transportation was terrible there. I didn't have a car. And the only form of transportation by the campus was the light rail, which only kind of went like, you know, some places. So you had to like to get groceries. You had to really you had to do a whole process, like get on the light rail, walk a long time down to the grocery store, get only as much as you can carry in your hands.
00;19;11;23 - 00;19;31;09
John Azoni
You got to get back on the light rail and that was tough. And just like new friends, like new teachers, it's my first foray into college. So the professors, you know, the teachers were a lot harder on. I know some than I was used to. And so, like kind of all of that, you know, also just navigating life on your own and all that stuff.
00;19;31;09 - 00;19;49;11
John Azoni
So I feel like as a freshman, to begin with, you have all that you're just plopped into this new environment and you're away from your parents and there's all these new things that you're trying to figure out. But then as an international student, you have these whole other layers of things going on. And for me, I was very homesick.
00;19;49;11 - 00;20;07;04
John Azoni
I had very close friends at home. And so that was one of the things that I was like really struggling with was like feeling like I was missing out. I was like hearing about my friends doing all these cool things together back home and I was missing out. And, you know, at the time, too, my parents divorced, was finalized in that three months that I was in Baltimore.
00;20;07;04 - 00;20;30;21
John Azoni
So there's just now there's just things at home were going on. And eventually I just felt like I was depressed. It was my first time I had ever, like, really experienced what depression is like. And then I moved back home. And on the one hand, I don't regret it because, you know, if I had stayed out there, I probably wouldn't have my wife and my kids, you know, but would have completely other relationships.
00;20;31;09 - 00;20;48;25
John Azoni
So my life now is, you know, a result of that decision. But on the other hand, I'm like, man, I just feel like I could have stuck it out in like, had more more of an adventure, you know, away from home in my college years to be in a different state and different climate and new friends and stuff like that.
00;20;48;25 - 00;20;56;06
John Azoni
But I kind of like retreated to safety in some way. Did you feel that pull at all to to head back?
00;20;56;16 - 00;21;21;19
Chris Rapozo
Yeah. First of all, I commend you for, you know, being transparent like that and vulnerable and and every time you have that feeling, I would look at your wife and your kids and you compare it and you're like, I would not have this if I wouldn't have gone back. So best decision you've ever made was to go back and, you know, find your path in Detroit and have your wife and have your kids and have your family.
00;21;21;19 - 00;21;40;00
Chris Rapozo
So every time you get that feeling of like, Oh, did I miss out on something? No, man, you've got the best thing you could have possibly gotten. So that's the first thing. And yes, the other thing you said, which, you know, walking to a grocery store, getting your groceries, but only as much as you can carry, it's all external stuff.
00;21;40;00 - 00;21;59;09
Chris Rapozo
But the thing that really drives people back is the internal struggle, like where Theo, one of one, said on his podcast, The thing about being alone, it's not that you feel you don't have anybody, just that you feel that nobody has you like nobody has your back when you're away, right? Because you have nobody. They're like, Who are you going to go to?
00;21;59;19 - 00;22;24;23
Chris Rapozo
Like when you struggle? I remember one time I was in my apartment and I was super sick. Like, usually I don't get sick, but I was sick. I was like, so sick and I couldn't get out of bed, man. And I was like, Holy cow, I have nobody to call. I was freezing, so I was dragging myself out of bed, got in the car, barely made it to the grocery store to give myself a blanket to go back to the apartment.
00;22;25;02 - 00;22;46;27
Chris Rapozo
So I would feel warm. You know, it's that sort of stuff. It's like if you're healthy and everything is good, that's one thing. It's still hard, but if you hit get something like a like a sickness and you're like, Oh my God, like, there's nobody there. Nobody can make me soup. Nobody can take me or give me a sweater or nobody can give me a blanket like I was.
00;22;46;27 - 00;23;06;07
Chris Rapozo
I was just cool and have a proper blanket. I just had a sheet that I slept on with. So I still remember dragging myself in the target, finding one of these fuzzy blankets, dragging myself back to the register and just to get home, to have some warmth and to make it through those two days where I was not feeling well.
00;23;06;16 - 00;23;21;27
Chris Rapozo
So that's one of those things you're like, Oh my gosh. Like, you don't think about that, right? Because you just, you know, you're just a person when you show up on campus, like, Oh, they're cool, they're in class or they're not there, Maybe they have a cold, you got to get over it. But you know who's there to take care of them, You know, that's one of those things.
00;23;22;08 - 00;23;49;07
Chris Rapozo
But back to your question. Did I ever feel like going back? Yes, I did. So after seven years in the United States, I felt like, you know what, I've been here for seven years. I've experienced the culture of experience, everything that I thought I would experience here and the last year or two, all I left for was basically I worked 50 weeks and then I left for two weeks for Christmas break where I could go to Germany.
00;23;49;07 - 00;24;06;09
Chris Rapozo
And then I was like was talking to my brother too. I was like, Well then, man, it's the last day of my German trip, so I'm just going to work for the next 50 weeks. The only thing I look forward to is next Christmas so I can go back to Germany to visit you all. So that's, that was that, you know, And I was like, That's no way to live.
00;24;06;09 - 00;24;25;26
Chris Rapozo
Like, this is crazy. What am I living for? Two weeks? It's like when people are living for the weekend, you know, when they're in a dead end job that they don't love. They work five days a week, they're miserable, and they're living for the week in the live it up. And then Sunday night, you know, you don't know Sunday scaries when they say or Sunday evening comes around and you're like, oh my gosh, ready to go to work, man.
00;24;25;26 - 00;24;41;04
Chris Rapozo
If you have the Sunday scaries, you wake up on Sunday, you were like, Dang it, man, It's the last day. And I got to go to back to work tomorrow. So all day Sunday already dreading to go to work. So you got one day, Saturday, you have Friday night and you got Saturday where you're happy. But yeah so I thought about going back.
00;24;41;12 - 00;25;06;10
Chris Rapozo
I thought about going back. And then literally I sold all my stuff. I was like, okay, I'm going to sell my stuff inside. I gave stuff away. I packed my car almost ready to ship back to Germany. And then I meet this girl named Cara Partin, who turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to me, who then turned into my wife and the mother of my children three months before I was ready to go back to Germany.
00;25;06;13 - 00;25;13;15
Chris Rapozo
Here's another thing, right? Well, you always say, Hey, what would have happened if I would have gone for the state in college? Where ever was it? South Carolina? Where was it?
00;25;13;26 - 00;25;14;13
John Azoni
Baltimore.
00;25;14;26 - 00;25;34;07
Chris Rapozo
Baltimore. Right. So I'm always like, what would have happened if I would have gone back to Germany after seven years as this international bachelor? You know, I had all this life experience in in the United States. It's a really big deal. It's exotic to people in Germany, right? There's experience of international lifestyle. But then I'm like, what are you talking about, man?
00;25;34;11 - 00;25;46;20
Chris Rapozo
You got the woman of your dreams and you got two beautiful children. You got a great career. You got a degree from the University of Florida, which you would have never gotten if you wouldn't have come across that lady. So things work out that way as opposed to.
00;25;47;12 - 00;26;08;00
John Azoni
Yeah, yeah, that's great. And so you you came to the States, you intended to go to college, ended up getting a job, but then later adults and that's what that's right you on the podcast earlier about was talking about marketing to adult students because it wasn't you know till like I think seven or eight years later that you actually did enter college.
00;26;08;00 - 00;26;10;04
John Azoni
And so what prompted that?
00;26;10;15 - 00;26;31;26
Chris Rapozo
That's right. So like I said, when I came from Germany, I had to make ends meet. Our jobs were subverted. A trucking company. Then I worked in a mail room delivering mail and learning the language by reading emails that I received from colleagues. And then I finally found my way into a law firm entry level legal assistant job and worked my way there up to paralegal through eight years.
00;26;32;10 - 00;26;55;10
Chris Rapozo
But I hit a career ceiling. You know, I didn't have a American degree and I thought I wanted to advance. But really everything that I jobs that I was looking for, they required a college degree. So also during that time, I was dating my wife. We got engaged and we were talking about family. I thought, well, the salary I make now, they're not going to make ends meet to support a family.
00;26;55;24 - 00;27;11;12
Chris Rapozo
So I walked into Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida, looking at different degrees and walk right. That got us like, oh my gosh, it's going to take me eight years because I'm working full time and I got to go part time to school. So I walked right back out and I said, Hey, you know, it's like it's not going to happen.
00;27;11;12 - 00;27;26;11
Chris Rapozo
It's going to take too long. And then a friend of mine came to me and asked me how the college search went. As I told them, Hey, you know, it's going to be too long and going to be almost 40 by the time I'm going to graduate. And they were like, Well, you're going to be 40 regardless. I might as well be 40 with a degree.
00;27;26;18 - 00;27;45;26
Chris Rapozo
So I said, okay, point taken. So I walked back into the admissions office and I was about to walk back out again and I saw this poster that said, Invest in the one thing that will return you 100% of your investment yourself. And that was kind of like that trigger, like, I need to just invest in this because the other thing was always I was always money conscious.
00;27;45;26 - 00;28;05;09
Chris Rapozo
I was like, how am I going to afford going to college? I don't want to get into debt. But then I saw that debt poster about it being an investment and it was the best investment of my life that I did. So I went to Hillsborough Community College, graduated there, applied myself a graduate with honors, which opened all the doors for the state schools in the in the state of Florida.
00;28;05;23 - 00;28;30;12
Chris Rapozo
And I looked around at the best value and the best prestige, and University of Florida came across my desk, one of the mail pieces that said the Gator Nation is everywhere, that I could earn my degree from the University of Florida, stay in Tampa and work and as an adult. And there was a no brainer. Apply to USF and got in and graduated a couple of years later with my son in the stands watching me walk the stage.
00;28;30;12 - 00;28;31;26
Chris Rapozo
So that was a good feeling.
00;28;32;09 - 00;28;35;02
John Azoni
You know, print, print, advertising. Really?
00;28;35;02 - 00;28;35;21
Chris Rapozo
Yeah.
00;28;35;21 - 00;28;36;14
John Azoni
Heavy hitter with.
00;28;36;14 - 00;28;51;16
Chris Rapozo
You. It did. It did. Print advertising was the one that got me into HCC. A male PS from the University of Florida was a magnet with Gator that said, the Gator Nation is everywhere. I have it up there on my cardboard. I'm not going to pull it off now, but it says.
00;28;51;17 - 00;29;02;13
John Azoni
Sample of like every, you know, Gen X marketing team is like, oh, this slogan is going to get so many people in the door and it like it never does because it's not about the slogan. But in your case.
00;29;02;20 - 00;29;04;10
Chris Rapozo
Like it was, it was.
00;29;04;23 - 00;29;08;04
John Azoni
You're the quote unquote poster child. No pun. That's right.
00;29;09;12 - 00;29;20;29
Chris Rapozo
When they present the right discussion to their board, they have a quarter of me in a picture next to it. Hey, this guy said it on five different podcast that this made them made a move to USF. So yeah.
00;29;21;05 - 00;29;25;04
John Azoni
These are a deal customer profile right here.
00;29;25;04 - 00;29;27;09
Chris Rapozo
Hit me up USF any anytime you need an interview.
00;29;27;09 - 00;29;51;00
John Azoni
So that's awesome. So as a marketer in 2025 now we have all this information, we have all this content at our fingertips. What do you feel like? Because I know that you see a lot of college marketing stuff. How would you advise colleges in the U.S. on a content strategy aimed at international students? That's going to that's going to address some of those things that they're feeling?
00;29;51;12 - 00;30;12;28
Chris Rapozo
Yeah, definitely want to do student testimonials. That's the no brainer answer, obviously, because people don't. You can advertise all you want, how great you are, what your stats are, what your ranking is. You know how many people graduated, the prestigious alumni did you have at university. But these people, they're unreachable at times. So you want to have people that are like me that look like me.
00;30;12;28 - 00;30;32;17
Chris Rapozo
They went through what I went through to talk about how they achieved what I want to achieve. So how do you do that? Obviously, content marketing is key there, long form quarantine and Q&A a day in the Life. But I'm really leaning towards video these days, which really leads into what you do long form video. You know, student testimonials.
00;30;33;01 - 00;30;51;02
Chris Rapozo
But more than that, once you have the long form video, make sure you repurpose it, because then long form video may be sitting on some page or YouTube and it just collects dust after the initial launch. So you want to go into short form videos where your audience hangs out. You know, take to Instagram. YouTube shorts is super hot.
00;30;51;02 - 00;31;18;00
Chris Rapozo
I mean, I'm really gotten into YouTube shorts lately doing 62nd vertical style videos, short snippets, get the hook in the first 3 seconds to earn yourself another 3 seconds to get them through the whole video and just meet the people where they are and your target audience with their whether they're Gen Z, Urgent Alpha, they're here on their phone scrolling doomscrolling at times just getting hit with one short video after another.
00;31;18;00 - 00;31;38;03
Chris Rapozo
And if you appear in there, that's really going to help you a lot. And also if they they Google this bachelor's degree in finance in the United States. Google just recently came out with a little tab there that gives short form video examples right. That show up there. So you want to make sure that you rank in that as well.
00;31;38;12 - 00;32;02;28
Chris Rapozo
And obviously, Jet shaped perplexity, Gemini, all these air tools as well. And how do you rank their you don't rank there by keyword stuffing. You rank there by answering questions that your students, you prospective students have that addresses their pain points. And how do you address those pain points? You ask the current students or your ask the alumni that went through the program, what did they experience when they came to the United States?
00;32;02;28 - 00;32;26;03
Chris Rapozo
Because you have somebody there that was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan. They're not going to know what somebody from Sri Lanka is going to feel like when they consider going to Michigan to go to school or the United States at large. Right. So you want to find somebody that is their ideal client profile that went through the institution to pick their brain on, hey, what did you feel?
00;32;26;19 - 00;32;39;28
Chris Rapozo
How did we address that or didn't address that? How could we addressed it to make the next generation of students be more successful and stick around, become graduates and eventually donors, or send their friends to our school as well?
00;32;40;11 - 00;33;05;05
John Azoni
Yeah. So I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit here because I didn't prep you with this question. But if you're in 2005, because I love what you said about answering questions that students are asking, because that's that's one of my top pieces of advice, as well as a video marketer is, yeah, it's one thing to say yay, rah, rah, such and such university were great for all these reasons, but there's so many granular questions.
00;33;05;05 - 00;33;33;08
John Azoni
And when a student is like middle to bottom funnel, they're asking more granular questions like even like I wrote in my newsletter recently or LinkedIn posts or something I wrote somewhere, you know, like when you're showing like the housing, campus housing and stuff. So like the laundry area, you know, like, like, what does that look like? How do you yeah, you know, like, where do you store your bike if you have a bike, if you're bringing a bike on kick, where does that go?
00;33;33;15 - 00;33;52;10
John Azoni
You know, that's our little stuff. Anyway, my surprise question was if you're in 2005, we have all the technology here in 2005 that we have here in 2025. Catchy beat, perplexity, Google all the stuff. What questions are you asking about University of Florida, for instance?
00;33;52;20 - 00;34;12;14
Chris Rapozo
I'm going to ask the money question. First of all, how much does it cost now? How much does it cost? And it's going to tell me it's at $125 per credit hour. And I'm like, is a credit hour a class? I don't even know how much credits do I need for what's a credit? Our first of all, how much credits do I need to complete a class?
00;34;12;19 - 00;34;31;28
Chris Rapozo
How much credit hours do I need to get my piece of paper? The reason why I'm go in there. All right. Is the first question is you got to answer. Then I get this answer to answer. Okay. It's three credit hours per class usually. Okay, So 125 times three, That's $375. It's going to set me back $375 per semester.
00;34;32;11 - 00;34;47;20
Chris Rapozo
I'm going part time. I got about seven or $50 per semester that I have to set aside just for the class. Then you get these hidden fees. How much is the freaking book going to cost? That's another $100. That sounds like a waste of money. How am I going to get.
00;34;47;20 - 00;34;48;17
John Azoni
This book.
00;34;49;04 - 00;34;53;28
Chris Rapozo
Right? Right. The books are probably not going to read it at all. I'm just having it just in case.
00;34;54;22 - 00;34;57;16
John Azoni
I pay $100 to go dumpster diving for your book.
00;34;57;18 - 00;35;16;26
Chris Rapozo
That's right. That's right. So, you know, obviously, I did my research, so I always rented my books. So I came across like whatever the sites were off campus. I never bought them at the bookstore at full price. I always went like, got a rental. And these books, they fell apart, but I didn't care. I just needed a book, just an insurance policy in case there's something that I need to pull from.
00;35;17;10 - 00;35;40;04
Chris Rapozo
But then I'm like, okay, I got the 375 for a credit hour. How much does it take me to get it? A First of all, 60 credit hours, that's 22,500 nugget sticker shock. I'm like, There's no way I can pay that. And then I'm going to go into debt for for a degree where I have to pay triple that at the end of the day, when I finally pay off my credit, my student loan in 20 years.
00;35;40;20 - 00;36;03;06
Chris Rapozo
So this is what I've recently found out, that there is a lot of discounts for colleges and universities and scholarships, which when I come from Germany, the price is what it is, right? Like if it says hundred $25, it's $125. Like there's no ifs and buts about it. That's the other thing. When you come the United States, you see a sandwich that cost 899.
00;36;03;06 - 00;36;19;14
Chris Rapozo
You pull your $8 out of $0.99 and then they slap on the tax, which you didn't think you know, you didn't know that was happening. Because if you see it in Germany, you see the prices, the price on the menu, but here it's the price on the menu plus the tax. You have pay. You don't see that coming when you first come here.
00;36;19;21 - 00;36;42;13
Chris Rapozo
So definitely address the money question. Give them the opportunities to discount that. Like, here's a discount for this. If you're this and that, you qualify for scholarships. Here's how you go about scholarship. You know, it's one thing to have them sitting there and say, hey, here's a scholarship. But if you've never written a a paper or whatever you have to fill out to qualify for the scholarship, how are you going to do that?
00;36;42;13 - 00;37;02;16
Chris Rapozo
You know, so you may want to give some resources there that of people that earned scholarships in the past to help you with that. Granted, you said 2005. We have the technology we have today. I would probably go to Jackie Beatty and have them help me with writing those requests to get the most discounts that I can possibly get.
00;37;03;00 - 00;37;17;06
John Azoni
Yeah, that's great. Yeah. And I think that's a great I mean, in terms of video, you know, if I'm going to learn how to do something, I want to watch a video and follow me. That's right. Personally, I don't want to read a blog because I feel like it's reading like an instruction manual.
00;37;17;21 - 00;37;18;05
Chris Rapozo
That's right.
00;37;18;12 - 00;37;38;11
John Azoni
So let's just assume everyone's like me and they prefer video. That's great stuff for the in-house video team to do. You know, like, let's make a video on transparent pricing. Like if we put ourselves in the shoes of an international student, what are they wondering? What isn't going to make sense to them? What can we clarify for them?
00;37;38;20 - 00;37;55;09
John Azoni
Who do we get on camera to help, you know, talk through that? How do they go through the application process? How do they get, you know, scholarships? So like, what are the actual costs that come up? I mean, really give people a really down to earth sense of like how much this is going to cost. And I think video is just a great a great way for that.
00;37;55;09 - 00;38;25;05
John Azoni
And there's a lot, you know, like it's helpful, I think, to have these walk through videos and you can do these through loom so, you know, captures your screen and then you just talk as you're doing it. So like, you know, I consulted with one university about doing loom tutorial on how to fill out the FAFSA. Yeah. And so we were kind of talking about maybe doing that and kind of walking through all the steps in like we're actually applying in real time because at the time there was like all these changes to FAFSA and delays and all this stuff is a year or two ago.
00;38;25;15 - 00;38;38;27
John Azoni
But yeah, I mean, those are just simple things that would be so helpful. I think. I think we overcomplicate video sometimes where we think we feel like we have to have this big production. I'm just like, I don't need a big production. Just show me how to do the thing, you know?
00;38;39;24 - 00;38;54;26
Chris Rapozo
Yeah, I do that all the time when I all change like comes on it. And I just recently changed my oil. I wouldn't know how to turn off that. All change required light in my car. I'm not going to read some instruction. I'm going to go on a YouTube video or a YouTube short for 30 seconds and then figure it out that way.
00;38;55;05 - 00;39;19;07
John Azoni
Yeah, so much learning on YouTube. But I think that we colleges need to really capitalize that because that is where people go to learn things. So it's like what they're trying to learn about college That's going to reduce friction for you in applying and eventually enrolling and staying. You know what? Yeah, things might they try to learn, like how do I, I don't know, how do I get to this building or I don't know.
00;39;19;18 - 00;39;28;01
John Azoni
I don't know. You do like a GPS video or something of the campus, but like, you know what are the questions that people are asking even after they, you know, showed up first?
00;39;28;05 - 00;40;00;00
Chris Rapozo
That's right. Or even before that. You want to address the fear, too, right? Because with the current administration, there's some concern about education and international students even getting into the country. I get that all the time from my mom when she calls me is like a lot of anti Trump rhetoric in the German news and horror stories of people that are showing up at customs in the United States just to be turned away and sent back home because some of their visa documents or their documents were accepted.
00;40;00;13 - 00;40;16;02
Chris Rapozo
So maybe addressing that as well, that fear to have somebody show, Hey, this is what you got to do to have a proper student visa, because if your documents are in order, you shouldn't have a problem getting into the country. But you have to address that fear as well and show them how to do that.
00;40;16;16 - 00;40;45;05
John Azoni
Yeah, absolutely. Before we go, I want to address because one of the things you said earlier was just, you know, about language and, you know, not wanting to feel like you are undereducated or something like that. And I was thinking about this after you and I had our pre-interview call a few weeks ago that I imagine that like underneath all that fear, like if you really drill down to what the fear is for a lot of students, anyone in a new environment, but especially international students, it's like the fear of looking stupid.
00;40;45;15 - 00;41;04;26
John Azoni
Mm hmm. And that fear is so strong. And like, when I pay attention to the times when I get comfortable in my life, it's almost always because I'm afraid to look stupid. Like, if I get something wrong, if I get, like, the the wrong food or something doesn't taste like I'm like, I'm not the person that will, like, call the waiter over and, like, fix it.
00;41;04;26 - 00;41;39;22
John Azoni
I'm just like, I'll just not that I that's necessarily making me look stupid, but I don't want them to not like me. Right, Right. What were some things that, like, maybe dumb questions that you had that you might have thought were dumb at the time when you first came here? That international students might be thinking? Because one of the ideas I had was like, and it be great if school would do like these Man on the street videos, just a series and just knock them out and just go up to students and be like, Hey, what's a like a dumb question that you had on day one?
00;41;39;22 - 00;41;48;10
John Azoni
And what's the answer to that question? That's like normalizing asking dumb questions or, you know what? What is that for you? What was that for you back in 2005?
00;41;48;26 - 00;42;09;24
Chris Rapozo
Yeah, for me it was for when it comes to school, particularly, what's a semester like? Because in Germany, especially when you go to high school, you don't have two semesters, you have one entire year. So you have that subject for the entire year. Starting September, you end in July and you have this massive exam at the end that basically makes or breaks your grade.
00;42;09;24 - 00;42;31;05
Chris Rapozo
Whether you pass, you go through to the next one. If you fail that, you just have to redo it. Right. And it's a lot of pressure on here. But in the United States per semester is only three months and you have multiple exams and quizzes and all that stuff to get you to if you fail one to help you get out of that again and overcome it and pass the class eventually.
00;42;31;05 - 00;42;47;09
Chris Rapozo
So just asking like, Hey, what does this semester look like? What does a grading structure look like if you don't understand it? Because you think to go in a school and you should know all the answers, you have to have it all together. Now that you finally made it to higher education, you no longer high school students who ask all these silly questions.
00;42;47;15 - 00;43;07;11
Chris Rapozo
You should have to figure it out. Or if you have a question, you should know where to go to get it figured out. Right? So not being afraid to ask, There's no such thing as a dumb question as a freshman, especially go into a new environment that you've never been in. Getting rid of that fear that somebody makes you or did you feel like you look stupid and then giving the resources?
00;43;07;19 - 00;43;24;05
Chris Rapozo
Plainly, if somebody is afraid to ask these questions, half the frequently asked questions out there because somebody would eventually would have asked for it and make them available on your website, make them available on poster boards throughout the campus and on social media and address them through short form videos. I would say.
00;43;24;15 - 00;43;42;27
John Azoni
Yeah, yeah, that's great. I was talking to a marketing director at a different college a couple of years ago and she was telling me about this user generated video series that they did like their students did for TikTok. And there was the students just coming up with these ideas and filming them and letting them loose. And he said the most popular series was how to do laundry.
00;43;43;07 - 00;44;02;02
John Azoni
And I thought that was like really eye opening because like, I've done my own laundry since I was since like wide leg jeans came out because I didn't want my mom to, like, shrink my wide leg jeans. Well, they had to be as baggy as possible. She's like, You're doing your own laundry then. So I've been doing it ever since I was like 11.
00;44;02;12 - 00;44;14;11
John Azoni
But like, that is for for normal people. It's like it is a process or even like how to get gas, you know? That's right. Fill up your gas tank. If you're coming to the states and you're coming from a place that you don't you've never had to have, right?
00;44;14;26 - 00;44;32;13
Chris Rapozo
That's right. That's right. Yeah. And other places you pay after you get your gas, do you get your gas in Germany? Get your gas first. Then you walk into the little shop and you pay it. Not here. You pay here first. And I remember that like last time I was in Germany, walked into their gas station, I gave them guy $20 and he was looking at me like, where did you get the gas?
00;44;32;13 - 00;44;45;11
Chris Rapozo
I was like, Oh, wait a minute, I have to get gas first, then I pay. So it's that thing or when I first moved here, I didn't know how to cook because I lived at home all the time, so I didn't know how to cook a chicken breast. So it was crunchy on the outside and on the inside.
00;44;45;22 - 00;44;51;26
Chris Rapozo
And I thought, I'm going to have to eat tuna wraps for the rest of my life.
00;44;51;26 - 00;44;57;16
John Azoni
Chicken breast is hard, though. I mean, it's hard to give yourself some credit and it's one of the hardest meats to cook. It is not. It is.
00;44;58;15 - 00;44;58;26
Chris Rapozo
Yes.
00;45;00;17 - 00;45;21;10
John Azoni
Well, cool, man. Hey, it's been super great chatting with you. Thanks for sharing your, you know, your experience and, you know, for our listeners really take into consideration, you know, what are these like emotional needs, these fears that your students are having, especially international students that are coming to a new country for the first time, new culture, new stage, life.
00;45;21;10 - 00;45;46;09
John Azoni
Maybe they're away from their parents for the first time, all these new things. And so all of a sudden, when they come on your campus, you know, retention is a very worthwhile content strategy to have. And I haven't seen a whole lot of that in the schools that we've worked with on video. A focus on retention and focus is usually more like top of funnel and getting students to apply, which is great, but we should be thinking both.
00;45;46;20 - 00;45;49;19
John Azoni
But anyway, Chris, where can people connect with you that.
00;45;49;27 - 00;46;14;02
Chris Rapozo
Easiest way to find me is on LinkedIn. Just type in. Chris Raposo. Chris Raposo Stalemates, for example, and I should show up there no problem. Or the education marketing either podcast. So that's the easiest way to find me. People can also contact me via email at Chris Start. Raposo estimates that com that's Chris Start. Raposo at stablemates dot com Awesome.
00;46;14;02 - 00;46;17;03
John Azoni
What's the next book that you guys are featuring in your book club?
00;46;17;16 - 00;46;42;11
Chris Rapozo
Gary Deans How to be a small College November 4th. If anybody wants to join. And after that we are going to reach go giver by Bob Berg and John David Mann. It's about giving. It's a little story about the powerful business ideas of giving first and then receiving. So that's something we're going to read right before the holidays.
00;46;42;11 - 00;46;43;17
Chris Rapozo
So it's going to be great.
00;46;43;27 - 00;47;01;19
John Azoni
That's awesome, man. I love that you're doing the book club I've been following and I'm like, Man, I eventually want to join one of those. You should like, I have, like, no time. Yeah, it's hard. Like items. Like, I don't have time for another book outside of the book that I'm currently reading already. So yeah, it's enough to like, steal any reading time to begin with.
00;47;01;19 - 00;47;16;24
John Azoni
But man, it's such a cool thing that you're doing. I think it's really a unique way to bring, you know, higher ed folks together around learning and all learning the same thing and kind of pushing the industry forward. So I just want to commend you on that, sir. Great. Really appreciate it.
00;47;17;10 - 00;47;20;29
Chris Rapozo
Pretty appreciate it, man. It's a good time every month, so really appreciate it.
00;47;21;08 - 00;47;23;10
John Azoni
Awesome. Well, thanks for being here. Man Talks.
00;47;23;15 - 00;47;24;26
Chris Rapozo
You bet. Thank you. Bye.
