Podcast Ep. 80: Twin Sisters, Chemical Engineering Alums ‘Sugar and Spice’ Discuss the Power of the Purdue Community

Sugar:

This is Sugar…

Spice:

And this is Spice.

Sugar:

And you’re listening to…

Spice:

This Is Purdue.

Kate:

Hi, I’m Kate Young and you’re listening to This is Purdue, the official podcast for Purdue University. As a Purdue alum and Indiana Native, I know firsthand about the family of students and professors who are in it together, persistently pursuing and relentlessly rethinking who are the next game changers, difference makers, ceiling breakers, innovators? Who are these Boilermakers? Join me as we feature students, faculty and alumni, taking small steps toward their giant leaps, and inspiring others to do the same.

Sugar:

Purdue prepares you to be who you are. And when you go out into the real world, you have that grounding of a Purdue education, of a Purdue background and experiences and your Purdue family and friends.

Kate:

In this episode of This is Purdue, we’re talking to twin sisters who bleed black and gold, Elmira Eliana and Giovan Crisel, also known as Sugar and Spice. Nicknamed by their maternal grandfather at birth, these Purdue Chemical Engineering alums have taken the Boilermaker community by storm. And if you’re involved with Purdue for Life, you’ve likely already heard of these two. From the Purdue for Life Foundation, to the John Purdue Club, to the Purdue Women’s Network Chicago Chapter, Sugar and Spice have a legacy of university involvement and think of their Purdue connections as one big family. We had the opportunity to chat with Sugar and Spice at Purdue for Life’s Annual President’s Council Weekend in Naples, Florida. And by the way, when I asked them if they’d be interested in coming on the podcast, they sent me a PowerPoint presentation full of photos and notes. That’s just a little taste of who Sugar and Spice are.

You’ll hear this dynamic duo discuss the impact their Purdue education has had on their lives and why staying connected, being involved and giving back to the Boilermaker community is so important to them. But first, let’s hear some more background on those interesting lifelong nicknames. First off, we have to go over the nicknames. You have to give us the background and introduce yourselves to our listeners.

Sugar:

I’m Almira Yllana AKA Sugar.

Spice:

And I’m Giovanna Krozel AKA Spice.

Sugar:

The background on the nicknames is our grandfather nicknamed us Sugar and Spice. And because we’re identical twins, it just was appropriate. And we’re Filipino and if you know any Filipinos, all of us have nicknames. So I think we even have nicknames for our nicknames.

Spice:

Yes.

Sugar:

So only our closest friends know our nicknames for our nicknames. But Sugar and Spice have stuck.

Spice:

Even at Purdue, all our professors knew us as Sugar and Spice. Even now, pretty much everybody knows us as Sugar and Spice. At work, they knew me as Gio, but they know Sugar.

Sugar:

I joke that only strangers and coworkers call me Elmira. So it’s people can’t remember or pronounce our names sometimes, so it’s just easier to go by Sugar and Spice.

Spice:

They definitely can’t spell them.

Kate:

Can’t you just imagine the twins in a big Purdue lecture hall class in hearing a professor call on Sugar or Spice? The Twins tell us more about their childhood and how they first found out about Purdue University.

Spice:

So we were born actually in the Philippines. So we moved here to the States when we were 11. Grew up in Cincinnati, middle school and high school.

Sugar:

So we first heard of Purdue from our chemistry teacher in high school, Mr. Norman.

Spice:

And he kept plugging Purdue because we’re in Cincinnati, Ohio, it’s big Ohio State kind of school and a feeder school. And so he suggested, because we were AP students, very interested in science, engineering, math. He’s like, “You have to take to look at at Purdue.” So my earliest memory of Purdue, we weren’t even students yet. We were doing a student visit and we were in the engineering mall and we hadn’t told anybody we were going to be there. Our parents were there and suddenly we hear off in the distance, “Sugar and Spice.” And I was like, “God?” And it was one of our friends who’s older, who was doing a summer class at Purdue and he stopped what he was doing, gave us a private tour. And so that’s our actual earliest memory of Purdue.

Kate:

So at what moment did both Sugar and Spice know that Purdue was the right place for them? Here’s Sugar.

Sugar:

Gosh, I think it was the moment we, a lot of people have that same experience, stepped on campus and we saw the engineering mall. And it felt like home, it felt like it made sense, everything was symmetrical.

Spice:

I love red brick, so I fell in love. We had done other college visits across the United States-

Sugar:

Yeah, but the feel was not the same.

Spice:

And I think we definitely wanted to stay together. We definitely knew what we wanted to study, which was engineering and specifically chemical engineering. And we’re like, if Purdue will take us, we’ll go.

Kate:

I was curious, growing up as twins, you share a lot of the same things. So did these two struggle at all when it came to wanting to go to the same exact school and majoring in the same thing? Here’s Spice. So growing up, was there any competition between you two? You both go into chemical engineering.

Spice:

Yeah. That’s interesting because in the Philippines when we were growing up, we didn’t really know each other. I don’t even think we were friends. She had her own…

Sugar:

Yeah because they put us in two different homerooms, so we didn’t really see each other.

Spice:

And then in the States, at Indian Hills specifically at sixth grade, is when I think we became the pair that we are and-

Sugar:

They put us in the same home room.

Spice:

And early on, I don’t know if you watch Hannah Barbera, the Wonder Twins, we kind of were like well, we got to activate the Wonder Twin Powers. Might as well.

Kate:

You guys are already finishing each other’s sentences. I’m like oh boy, we’re in for a treat.

Spice:

Yeah and their power was, they change into two different complimentary things-

Sugar:

Liquids and an animal-

Spice:

… to solve a problem, which is basically what engineering is or get out of a situation or save the day. And so I think that’s more of why not versus compete actually help each other.

Sugar:

And it was more about collaboration, and if one of us was struggling in one area, we would help each other and vice versa. Because it didn’t make any sense to us if either one of us was-

Spice:

Not the same level.

Sugar:

… because we wanted both of us to shine and not-

Spice:

And I think our parents were very conducive of that too. It was not an environment of competition necessarily with each other.

Kate:

Sugar and Spice have a deep love for Purdue, which I’m sure you have already picked up on. And they’ve remained involved in this Boilermaker community and volunteer in so many different capacities. But part of why they love Purdue so much is also because of the memories they shared as students. In Purdue, Charles D. Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, Spice discusses how she met her husband, Ken in one of her classes. And Sugar expands on some additional favorite memories that involved some professors performing a roast.

Spice:

So I met my now husband the second day of classes in Math 165, his name’s Ken Crozo. And my memory of it was I got in early and I sat in I think the second row and he comes in five minutes late and sits in a seat next to me. And before he sits down, I look up at him and say, “This seat’s broken.” And he looks down at me with that face, I’m still going to sit there. And he sits down, finds out. I was like, “I was looking out for you, I really was. It really is broken.” He thought that I didn’t want him to sit next to me. And through, we became math buddies and literally we’ve been best friends ever since. So that’s the memory I keep with me and that’s where he actually proposed.

Kate:

Inside the math-

Spice:

In the math building right before a class was going to start, he didn’t even know. So that’s a good memory for me.

Kate:

Oh, that’s special.

Sugar:

Yeah. And I think we have a lot of great memories from Purdue. One of the funniest memories I remember is when, so in chemical engineering in senior year, there’s not many students. There’s about 100 or so, maybe less. And at the end of the year we do a RAs banquet, which is kind of like a roast. So the professors roast the students and the students roast the professors, and we do skits and things like that.

Kate:

Oh my God.

Sugar:

So the professors did a skit about us, and-

Spice:

It was so spot on.

Sugar:

Because they were like, “We’re not sure what we’re doing here but we’re pretty happy being here.” And we’re like, “Yeah, that’s us.”

Kate:

And you said your professors would literally call you Sugar and Spice?

Sugar:

Yeah, on exams.

Spice:

On exams, Sugar and Spice on our homework.

Sugar:

Sugar and Spice.

Kate:

That is incredible. Did you have any favorite professors or mentors that have really impacted you?

Spice:

Absolutely, actually. And he attended my wedding, he and his wife Professor Neilhouse. He was actually a Terry Chemical engineer.

Sugar:

377, 378, so that was heat and mass transfer and-

Spice:

Fluid dynamics.

Sugar:

… fluid dynamics.

Spice:

And he was a really great teacher, very practical. So he was able to actually not just teach the theory… And his exams were hard. I mean, I think the high was at 11 or something like that out of 100. But what he did was he made us think, you can get multiple answers, but does that answer make sense? If you build a 300 foot distillation column, is that really practical? Probably not. So those are kind of realistic things we tied into our co-op. So tying back in what we learned at school to the real world at work was integral. So he definitely-

Sugar:

And he was funny because it was 7:30 every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And we were in the front row and-

Spice:

He knew everyone and he knew if you were late. And the one time he was actually late was because his granddaughter was born.

Sugar:

He comes in, his hair is all messed up.

Spice:

Like what are you doing here professor? He looks so tired. He’s like, my daughter just-

Sugar:

I think he was speaking in a different language. Dutch. We’re like, okay. Go back to bed…

Spice:

And sleep.

Kate:

As for their favorite Purdue Traditions, the twins share some of their memorable dining traditions and several experiences they were able to enjoy their senior year on campus.

Spice:

We love Mad Mushroom.

Sugar:

Yes.

Spice:

So we always go to Mad Mushroom.

Sugar:

Yes.

Spice:

When we’re on campus, if you stop by Mad Mushroom, we may be there.

Sugar:

Yeah, we may be there. We were in the air where you could actually run through the fountain without the safety column. So that was something that I know Ken definitely did. I just put a toe in, that was enough for me. But we were talking about, we actually our own tradition. So Sundays they don’t feed you at the residence hall, so we would actually… There’s a restaurant, I don’t think it’s there anymore, but it was across from…

Spice:

Mackey.

Sugar:

Mackey. It was called Tasties. So Sundays would be our Tasties run. It was just like Chinese buffet and we would literally-

Spice:

All our friends would-

Sugar:

… every Sunday… All our friends. That was I guess, our tradition.

Kate:

Oh, that’s fun.

Sugar:

We joke because we were always studying chemical engineering. We didn’t do much except study. We didn’t go to many games. We went to one football game our freshman year. It wasn’t until our senior year, second semester when we already had job offers lined up when we’re like, “Okay, this is what a game is. A little basketball game is.” And all this stuff. And go to Jake’s and all these places. Piano Man was so fun, but it wasn’t until then we got to experience it.

Kate:

Sugar and spice now live in the Chicago area. Spice is in Gurney, Illinois and Sugar lives in River North in the heart of the windy city. Spice is part of the Purdue Women’s Network, Chicago chapter and serves as the President of the Purdue Club of the North Northwest Chicago Suburbs. Plus she’s a Purdue President’s Council Advisory Board Member. Sugar is a member of the Purdue Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Purdue Women’s Network Chicago Chapter co-lead and past president of the Purdue Club of Chicago. The twins are also both members of President’s Council and John Purdue Club. So why exactly do they hold this special affinity for their alma mater? Why do they spend so much of their time and resources to give back to Purdue?

Spice:

Well, so Purdue really changed our lives. So we were on scholarship. We basically fully funded our education, so they gave us scholarships. We were in co-op, we did work study. Obtaining this and earning this education and degree was not easy by any means, and we wanted to give back. So for any student who wanted to come to this college and to this university, we want to help. So when we learned that the Alumni Association did scholarships in the clubs in Chicago, where we live, we had to do something. So that’s what we did.

Kate:

What does it mean to you to be giving back and always involved in everything?

Sugar:

It’s almost seeing a little bit of ourselves in the students. And I think that’s the empathy that we have and the passion that we have for Purdue. We want people to feel that and the pride. And so I think that is what keeps us, at least that’s what keeps me going and seeing the students. And it’s almost like it keeps us young.

Spice:

Yeah, it’s like a family. So our northern club awarded this book scholarship to this one-

Sugar:

Chemical engineering student, her name’s Alex Adams.

Spice:

And so we met her at 18 and we’ve kept in contact with her until she graduated and even until now. And we hang out with… She moved to Chicago.

Sugar:

She was the first birthday card this month actually. She just had a birthday card.

Spice:

And to see her progression through student life, we’re so proud of her.

Sugar:

Through her career, it’s amazing. It gives back tenfold. And we have fun, we actually do hang out.

Kate:

So what is a favorite event or memory that you have from all of your different volunteering and networking that you do through Purdue?

Spice:

One of the things that we did at the Northern Club, we had a event at a book fair where you could actually donate books and then we put books together so that they could actually donate it to families that needed it. And we actually did as an event and families were open to it. And we had about, I think 25 people and half of them were kids. So it was really cool to see these kids looking through the books, actually sorting them saying, “Hey, I have actually read this book.” I remember that was neat, and we actually posted it on our Facebook page for the Northern Club and we want to do that again. So that was a fun one. I think the second one was goat yoga, which we just did I think last.

Sugar:

Yeah, I’m trying to do bunny yoga. We’ll see.

Spice:

So, between kids and the bunnies and goats, that’s what I remember.

Kate:

Sugar and spice also share more on how Purdue set them up for success in their careers after graduation and what this community of Boilermakers really means to them.

Spice:

Sugar said, having a Purdue degree, you earn it. And so the expectations, it’s very high with us. Having that on your resume is one thing, living it is a whole nother. I think the expectation is very high. So when people actually interview us or I interview people for my team, when I do see Purdue, I’m like okay, great. This is going to be a great interview because I can actually drill into some questions. And it really has the mentorship, the championship, the even friendships and the relationships that we have across, the network is vast, large and endless. And so take advantage of those relationships. So I think that is what I take away. Even again, work, play, wellness and even just to… I love looking at all of the Instagrams. Some of these memes are hilarious so-

Sugar:

The Bobblehead producer.

Spice:

So it’s something to talk about when you do even go into an interview and you have a fellow producer or another Big 10. So sometimes my meetings actually start with a whole, at least three minutes on what happened at the game, with someone I know, I worked with was a Penn State All American, and another one was another twin but he went to Minnesota. And we literally would just talk sports for a couple minutes and then we’d go on with the meeting for sure.

Sugar:

But as far as career, Purdue prepares you to be who you are, how to live your life away because it’s just yours. It’s not your parents, it’s not anyone else’s. And so when you go out into the real world, you have that grounding of a Purdue education, of a Purdue background and experiences and your Purdue family and friends because whether you know it or not, you do have it. You just have to-

Spice:

Exercise it.

Sugar:

Unlock it, unleash it kind of thing.

Kate:

So what is this community and this… We’ve had so many guests on that tell us why Purdue is special to them and why it’s the Boilermaker spirit and all the athletics coaches tweet at each other and attend the games. You don’t see that everywhere, right?

Spice:

No, it’s not.

Sugar:

I’ll tell you it is again, a vast, endless-

Spice:

We joke like it’s like the Illuminati.

Sugar:

Yeah, we joke it’s the Illuminati.

Spice:

Who run the world silently, and modestly and humble.

Sugar:

In Chicago alone, there’s about 67,000 alumni and you wouldn’t even know it. They wear their peas, they wear their alumni wear.

Spice:

I would say when I travel and we travel, we’ll wear a Purdue gear. I mean, this is Purdue Hello Kitty, she travels all around the world. And it’s so funny because it’s a conversation starter.

Kate:

It is.

Sugar:

And so you wear the pee and you’ll get either a friendly boiler up, hammer down or at least go Purdue. And I haven’t seen really, I mean I didn’t go to Ohio State, so I don’t know what they say. Io. I don’t know, but at least every country I’ve been, Singapore, Japan, Switzerland, Brazil, you’re wearing a P, you’ll hear…

Spice:

And you can never underestimate a Purdue grad. They can look like anything and anyone. And I’ve met leaders of corporations at a game watch. I’ve met amazing people who do amazing work all over the world and you have to dig it out of them really because they don’t line to brag. But when they do, I definitely brag for those.

Sugar:

We could be their agent.

Kate:

From volunteering to traveling to events like Purdue for Life’s annual Boilermaker Ball to even who they invite to their Star Wars theme birthday bashes, these twins have continued their Purdue journeys long past graduation. Sugar and Spice share more on how Purdue has been an integral part of their lives for nearly three decades now. What role has Purdue played in your life?

Spice:

Oh my gosh.

Sugar:

It’s funny because when I’ll get text messages or notes or emails from people, and it’s either going to be Hello Kitty, Disney or Purdue. And it’s funny how that it’s actually those three things are the things I kind of love and I wear… We’re shadow boxes. You get what you see. And so Purdue is me, I am Purdue. So when I even read this cup, this is Purdue, I was like that song from the greatest show. It’s like, this is me. I am Purdue.

Spice:

Purdue personally really saved my life. I went through a very, very painful divorce about 10 years ago. It was getting involved with the clubs helped me find who I am, who I was that I’d lost through that whole thing. It grounds me. It’s also six degrees of separation. If you can do a whole, why are you doing this and why do you know these people? And they may be totally random, and then you just trace it all back to Purdue. It really is.

Sugar:

Yeah, we do trace it back to Purdue.

Spice:

It’s a lot.

Sugar:

And it’s become not just home, but also the Cheers bars. Everybody knows your name and if not by one degree at least, maybe six degrees.

Kate:

What did having that Purdue community mean to you during that time in your life?

Sugar:

It meant quite a lot. I mean, so at the Purdue Women’s Conference, it was the first Purdue Women’s Conference in Chicago. We had a keynote speaker named Marilyn Marlin. She owns a consult consulting firm in the northern suburbs of Chicago. And she had mentioned one of the best… The reason for her success actually, probably 99 to a 100% of reason of her success, is her husband. She picked the right person. She said, “And if you didn’t pick the right person, you can pick again. You could choose again. If you didn’t choose the right person, choose again.” Even now I was like, oh my God. I got so emotional and started crying because I was like, I wasn’t giving myself permission to choose again. And it took Purdue alone to do that for me.

Kate:

I love that women’s conference. I got to go for the first time in June. I saw you guys there.

Sugar:

There’s shining examples of what Purdue women are, what Purdue alumni are. There’s so many of us who are out there.

Spice:

Yeah. And it is Purdue Strong and we’re strong for ourselves and strong for each other.

Kate:

I love Sugar’s vulnerability. And that she was able to open up to me and our entire audience right there to share the challenges she’s overcome through persistence and perseverance. And I also have to share this exciting update. Very shortly after our interview in February, Sugar got engaged at Disney World. Congratulations to her and her fiance, Justin. And speaking of persistence, I asked the twins what that word meant to them. Here’s Spice.

Spice:

There is that the book definition? It is pulling through. It’s stepping every step. I think about persistence as people. Sugar is one of them.

Sugar:

Grit and resilience.

Spice:

And Sugar and I, we do choose happiness and we do choose to actually light happiness too. And it’s not like we had it easy. So persistence, making sure we studied hard, got the grades, did our best and-

Sugar:

Do what we say and say what we do.

Spice:

Yes. Consistency, showing up and doing well and doing things right, whether or not anyone’s watching you. I see Sugar’s persistence because-

Sugar:

Stubborn.

Spice:

Besides getting through a very painful divorce, which it was devastating for her and also devastating for us. She’s the strongest person I know. She walked away from a should have been a fatal car accident. She was hit from behind by a semi truck going actually from Cincinnati to Purdue, and you know how flat it is. But where she actually got into accident was the only place that actually had a hill-

Sugar:

A ravine in Shelbeville or somewhere near Shelbeville.

Spice:

And so coming out of that and literally having to relearn how to drive. Something as easy as that, you would think, take for granted.

Sugar:

So I like the Purdue professors helped with that. And Purdue-

Spice:

You were supposed to fly out for your co-op, the next day. She’s like, “I don’t need to go to the emergency room. I got a flight to catch.” I’m like, “Oh my gosh”

Kate:

And you walked away from that?

Spice:

She walked away from that, and I felt sick the second that she was in that accident, and that was at Purdue. And she calls me and she’s like, “I got hit and I’m in a ditch.” And I’m like wait, I ran over to Ken’s apartment. And I’m like, “God, Sugar got into an accident, she’s in a ditch.” He’s like, “Did you call 9-1-1?” She’s like, “Did you call 9-1-1?” And I was like, oh yeah.

Kate:

That’s your first call, your twin?

Spice:

[I’m sure a lot of people ask about the twinning thing, and that was definitely one that I remember.

Kate:

You felt that?

Spice:

I felt physically ill, so yeah.

Kate:

What is it like being twins?

Sugar:

It’s like a built in partner, roommate, partner in crime but I never felt alone.

Spice:

Yeah, you never feel alone.

Kate:

Sugar and Spices, twin bond is the real deal. But as for the whole twinning thing, believe it or not, Sugar and Spice have not always been so inseparable. The two have lived apart from each other previously in different cities.

Sugar:

People think we are always together, but we make the most of it when we are together. She’ll come down for the events that we have in the city and things and we’ll make a weekend of it. Usually three, four things.

Spice:

And we have lived apart after graduation, Canada actually-

Sugar:

And co-oping too.

Spice:

… to New York Yeah, co-oping as well. So we had time separated and-

Sugar:

They were in New York and I was in Chicago and the worst was saying goodbye.

Spice:

Oh yeah. That is the worst.

Sugar:

Every weekend they would have to leave or I would have to leave. It was just like, oh man-

Spice:

Heartbreaking. Just like we’ll see you next-

Sugar:

And then we realize, I think we’re just better together. It’s like PB & J.

Kate:

I asked the twins who they think of when they think of Purdue, and their answer was a specific person. George Shanazarian. George was incredibly involved with Purdue Athletics, John Purdue Club and all different types of campus and alumni events. The twins traced so much of their involvement within the Purdue community back to him. Here’s Spice.

Spice:

I met him, we were colleagues at Motorola and if I remember the first day and I was walking around meeting people and I saw his office and had all this produced stuff, I’m like, “Yes, we’re going to get along real well.” And he was the kindest man. And he would always invite us to so many different things.

Sugar:

Persistent.

Spice:

Persistent. Sometimes we’d be like, “I don’t think we can go, George.” And the ones that we would be able to go to like at this volleyball game, never been to a volleyball game. He was like, “You have to come.” That was a lot of fun.

Sugar:

Yeah.

Spice:

Naples weekend. He’s like, “You have to come.” Yeah.

Sugar:

And so we learned that from him too though. It’s like we just invite and it’s like if you can come, you can come. If you can’t, that’s fine too. But especially to a lot of the Purdue events because-

Spice:

In the Northern Club, he was some big supporter. So we actually have a golf outing named in honor of him. It was actually before he passed, but his family comes and we have George Shanazarian golf outing for the northern suburbs every year.

Kate:

The twins have alluded to this throughout this episode, but your time in college is so unique, so special. You’re making a life for yourself. These are such formative years. So I asked them what they would tell their 20 year old selves as they reflect back on their time at Purdue?

Spice:

In our 20s if I think about, our heads were down, we were studying all the time. And as we said, we didn’t really do a lot around the campus when we were in campus. So I think my advice would be the advice we’re giving other students is get out there, talk to alumni. I mean, I think that was the one thing. If had we gotten a chance to meet more alumni and go to some of those events, maybe that would even be, I guess our trajectory is not necessarily different but could be something that would be good advice that I would give myself in my 20s.

Sugar:

And the Purdue family is always there for you. Everything will be okay.

Spice:

Yeah. Everything will be okay.

Kate:

Oh, and one last thing they would tell themselves, plan ahead to coordinate outfits for these special Purdue for Life events.

Spice:

And you get your Boilermaker Ball outfits ready every year.

Kate:

Yes. Okay.

Sugar:

In the future.

Kate:

I’ve heard that you guys always dress to fit the theme.

Spice:

We love a theme.

Sugar:

We love a theme. We love a party, throwing a party. Going to parties.

Spice:

Party with a purpose is our hashtag.

Kate:

If you take a look at some of our, this is Purdue social media posts on Instagram at life at Purdue, you’ll see Sugar and Spice’s themed outfits from events like the Boilermaker Ball and the Molinoff Keith Classic Golf scramble firsthand. And ask the twins advice to current Purdue students, it’s no surprise Sugar and Spice lean on their own personal experiences for this answer.

Spice:

Make good friendships. Make good relationships, connections and genuine ones. You don’t have to have a lot, but when they’re genuine and again, is real, those connections would go far into your lives. Our flight here was flown by our friend who is a captain of United. We met him at a freshman mixer at Wiley Hall-

Sugar:

20 plus years.

Spice:

And we told him we’re flying to Fort Myers for Naples and he was able to fly us down.

Sugar:

The surprises. We were in boarding group, like VIP because no one else was on the plane.

Spice:

Yes, building Castanza.

Sugar:

Yes. And he was just, we got into the cockpit.

Spice:

You don’t want us flying.

Sugar:

And that’s what I’m saying. And another for students is meet alumni. If we knew people like us as freshmen, I think it’ll jettison your student life career. Your career, career. Velocity is just the rates a little faster. So meet alumni, don’t be… Yes, you have to focus on whatever, your school, your friends, whatever else you’re doing. But if you can meet alumni, it just opens a lot of more doors for you, and they’re happy to help.

Kate:

The twins also encourage all of our listeners, especially students, to come say hi, if you see them out and about on campus or at different events.

Sugar:

Oh yeah. It’s important to share. So if you ever see us on campus, wherever you are, don’t be afraid to come up to us.

Spice:

Even one of us.

Sugar:

Say hi, take a selfie, ask us any questions. We’re happy to talk. Like Tyler Trent says, “Everyone has a story and you just have to listen.” We’re good listeners too. We like to talk. We have a lot of stories ourselves, but so does everyone.

Spice:

So does everyone. Yes.

Kate:

Whether it’s taking selfies with Purdue President Mung Chang or head football coach Ryan Walters, or grabbing some behind the scenes video on the dance floor at the President’s Council Annual Dinner, Sugar and Spice are full of that special Boilermaker spirit, and their pride for Purdue is always on full display.

Sugar:

I mean, we definitely love Purdue. We love people who are Purdue. And if you’re not Purdue, if you’re friends of Purdue… My joke is we take hitchhiker and orphans. If you love Purdue, we love you. I always have a camera on me, I’ve nicknamed even Spiceratzi. I’ll be probably doing a TBS reel as well. Yes, exactly. And I guess I’m the family historian too because I love taking memories and shots of memories because at the end of our lives, really what do we have is how we made people feel and sometimes going back and looking at pictures and videos and movies, and maybe we’ll see this one day and say how much we had such a good time with you today.

Spice:

I think our latest Purdue party was at the Cubs Wrigleyville when Purdue played Northwestern.

Sugar:

Yes.

Spice:

And we had it at this-

Sugar:

They had a popup shop with all-

Spice:

The Santa Baby Bar. So it was all popup with Santa like Christmas decorations-

Sugar:

So we invited all of the Purdue alumni, president’s council, people we knew, friends who didn’t even go to Purdue. Actually, I was going to say one of the best memories we had as an alumni with non-alumni, was at the Michigan State football game last year.

Spice:

Oh yeah, half of us had never been a Purdue football game.

Sugar:

Never been. They were either private school or-

Spice:

Different school.

Sugar:

… non Big 10. So they didn’t have the same football experience. When we stormed a field, they’re like, “Is this going to be safe?” I’m like, “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.” They’re like, “Am I going to be safe doing starting this field?” We’re like, “It’s Purdue.”

Spice:

It was like orderly fashion storming of the field. They were so impressed. We’re like, “Wow.”

Sugar:

And now we can’t take it anymore because we’re like, “I think that was the peak.” I can’t guarantee we’re storming the field anymore, but you never know. We look forward to that.

Kate:

Well, we can’t thank you enough for joining us. It was so fun.

Sugar:

Thank you.

Kate:

We love your Purdue spirit.

Spice:

Thank you.

Kate:

If you want to watch our full video interview with Sugar and Spice in Naples, head over to our podcast YouTube page, youtube.com/atsign. This Is Purdue and remember, follow us on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode. This Is Purdue is hosted and written by me, Kate Young. At this special podcast shoot During the annual President’s Council weekend in Naples, Florida, our podcast team consisted of Ted Shellenberger, John Garcia, Becky Robinos and Trevor Peters. Our social media marketing is led by Ashley Schreyer. Our podcast design is led by Caitlin Freeville. Our podcast team project manager is Emily Jessalitis. Our podcast YouTube promotion is managed by Megan Hoskins and Kirsten Worss. And our podcast research is led by our, This Is Purdue intern, Sophie Ritz. Thanks for listening to This is Purdue. For more information on this episode, visit our website at purdue.edu/podcast. There you can head over to your favorite podcast app to subscribe and leave us a review. And as always, boiler up.