Jeremy Klinger with his nonprofit group Relentless Productions

If you’ve ever helped a nonprofit group, you know the time and effort that goes into the job and the satisfaction you can get from helping people. Jeremy Klinger is one such student. He uses his passion for fixing and racing cars to raise money for notable charities like Children’s Home Society.

Ben: When did you start racing cars?

Jeremy: I got started in high school. Cars have always been kind of a hobby. Me and my friends have always been interested in cars, and we just bought our cars and then started buying parts.

Ben: So what kind of car do you have?

Jeremy: ’95 Acura Integra GSR

Ben: How much money have you put into that?

Jeremy: I bought the car for $3,000 and I’ve probably got about $6,000 total in it.

Ben: So how often do you race?

Jeremy: Marion (S.D.) has a drag strip and once a month they have street legals where people can go with any type of car they want and race. It doesn’t matter if they have a slow car or fast car, you can just go out and have fun.

Ben: You recently made a business out of repairing and racing cars. Where did that idea come from?

Jeremy: We wanted to take our hobby and use it as something to help people. We do it anyways so we might as well help someone in the process. The five of us got together and decided to plan a car show to help out a charity. We planned everything out; we went to news stations and radio stations to get the word out, and ended up raising about $1,500 for Children’s Home Society in one day.

Ben: Do you guys make any profit?

Jeremy: Nope. We’ve actually had a lot of help from Vern Eide. They paid for everything, so more money goes to the Children’s Home Society.

Ben: What is one of the coolest things your organization has done? Was it the one-day event for Children’s Home Society?

Jeremy: That’s the main thing for now. With that event we’ve decided we want to keep doing this for years to come so we’ve started the process of making an actual nonprofit organization so we can continue doing this.

Ben: What is the name of your nonprofit organization again?

Jeremy: Relentless Productions

Ben: Where did that name come from?

Jeremy: It’s actually our racing team’s name. We just decided to incorporate it.

Ben: Do you have any events coming up soon or over the summer?

Jeremy: The car show that we did last year, we’re doing the second annual show August 27 in Sioux Falls. We’re still working on the plans, but we have almost a whole week of events planned. We’re going to plan some smaller events throughout the summer, but that’s our main event.

Ben: Does your background in military have anything to do with your passion for cars?

Jeremy: My dad and my brother both work at a car dealership so cars have kind of been a history for my family and so has the military. I think the military has helped me instill into everything else; one of our core values is service before self, so I’ve kind of lived that in every aspect of my life.

Ben: You’re also a Union manager and student, so how much of your time does your nonprofit take, and where do you find time to fit all that stuff together?

Jeremy: Right now we try and keep it somewhat limited during the school year. We don’t want it to be a full-time job for everybody. Right now we probably meet once or twice a month, but during the summer we focus more on it.

Ben: So you graduate in May, and after that you plan on moving to Montana for Air Force?

Jeremy: On the 7th (May) I’ll be commissioned as a second lieutenant, and then I’ll be going to Brandenburg Air Force Base in California, and after my training is done there I’ll be full-time in Montana.

Ben: Do you have any words of wisdom to our readers that might be considering starting a nonprofit?

Jeremy: Use the talents that you already have. You don’t have to go out and find something new. We just started it from something we do on a normal basis, so don’t think that you have to go out of your way to start something. It will take a lot of work but you’ve already got the groundwork there.

If you’ve never helped a nonprofit group, take Jeremy’s advice and give it a shot this summer. My full video interview with Jeremy can be seen on our website under the “Juice” tab.

This is the last Average Jack of the school year, but stay tuned next fall for more student profiles. Thank you to all the SDSU students who shared their stories with me and the rest of The Collegian readership this semester.

Have a great summer everyone, and remember that being average usually translates to being superior.

Everyone has a story to tell. Most of these great stories go unheard by the general public because they aren’t considered “news worthy.” Check out The Juice throughout the semester to hear an average student’s story.

Girl Talk and Daft Punk are probably a couple artists that come to mind when you think about famous DJ’s. Meet Leo Silva, a part-time student and full-time music lover. He’s made a name for himself as a prestigious DJ in the Midwest. Silva got his start by playing at house parties and nightclubs; his next gig is opening for Jason Derulo at the Frost Arena on April 14.

Ben: Tell me a little about your background. You’re from Sioux Falls right?

Leo: Originally I’m from Brazil actually, but I’ve been in the Midwest for quite a while. I grew up in Seattle and went to high school in Sioux Falls, and I’ve been at SDSU ever since.

Ben: How did you get into DJ-ing?

Leo: Well, I’ve always been into music but DJ-ing is relatively new. I was really into jazz, really into the whole jam band scenes. I had a couple bands, had a couple ensembles, but those broke up in high school once everyone went to college in different areas of the country.

Ben: Was there an influence that pushed you to try DJ-ing?

Leo: Electronic music is very popular all over the world. I always compare it to soccer and the metrics system where the United States are the only people that haven’t caught on yet. I’ve personally been doing it for two or three years now, but only publicly for about a year because I never thought it would catch on. Pretty much all pop music has some type of electronic influence.

Ben: How would you describe your style of DJ-ing?

Leo: I’ve always really enjoyed the “live” element of bands. Like I said, I was really big into the jam band scene; like Dave Mathews, Phish, and Umphrey’s McGee. So I really try to keep as much of it “live” as possible. I play around with a lot of loops, I drop acapellas, I try to keep it as much of a show performance as possible, but one of the really cool things about DJ-ing is that there really is no rules. I mean, as long as it sounds good, it doesn’t really matter what you’re doing back there.

Ben: What sort of gigs do you play mostly right now? I know you have a pretty regular show at Club David in Sioux Falls.

Leo: I do about every two weeks at Club David, it comes out to roughly twice a month. Next week I’ll be opening for Jason Derulo, so that’s big, that’s major. Saturday I’ll be at The 9 in Brookings. Sunday I’m at The 9 again, then back at Club David. Then the 30th I’m up in Minnesota; I’m doing a festival at St. John’s University. This summer I’ll be doing LifeLight, opening up for Terrance Parker who’s a huge DJ. It’s kind of a new thing they’re doing at LifeLight is bringing in some famous DJ’s. I’m also in the works with some other stuff down in Phoenix and Austin.

Ben: That’s pretty crazy! Your name is definitely getting out there. Are you all self-promoted or do you have anyone that helps you with all that?

Leo: I’m self-promoting as of right now. Different events that I do have promoters who will promote me.

Ben: What has been your favorite gig or memory thus far?

Leo: Halloween at Club David was crazy, that was nuts. Honestly, I’ve been very fortunate to play for a lot of people. I really care a lot more when people are into the music. I mean, sometimes a simple house party can be a lot more fun than a club with 200 people. I still do a lot of house parties, I still do random things here and there, so it really just depends on the atmosphere.

Ben: You were chose to open for Jason Derulo at Frost Arena. Tell me how that all worked out.

Leo: I was contacted by UPC as one of the openers that they wanted to have, and I was approved by Derulo’s management and given the green light to go. It’s news to me, but I’m really excited.

Ben: What does this show mean to you and to your career?

Leo: Numbers-wise it’s definitely the biggest show I’ve done. I’m really excited, it’s gonna be really cool to rock the Frost Arena.

Ben: Do you hope to make a career out of DJ-ing?

Leo: Who knows, with the job market the way it is you never know. I love DJ-ing. If I weren’t DJ-ing on stage I’d still be DJ-ing in my basement, so it’s something I’m going to stick with whether it be in front of lots of people or nobody.

Ben: Where do you see this going or where do you see yourself in the next five years?

Leo: I have no idea, maybe Europe. I honestly hope that this continues. I really love DJ-ing. I think I have more fun than anybody there, so as long as I’m still enjoying the music and people are enjoying listening to it, I’ll continue as long as I get invited.

If you haven’t heard Leo Silva’s live DJ-ing and mashup skills, you can see him live at Frost Arena on April 14, when he opens for Jason Derulo. This will be the largest performance of Silva’s young career. Go beyond the black and white by watching my full video interview with Silva on our website.

If you or someone you know would like to have your story in The Collegian, let us know! Send us an email with your story to juice@sdsucollegian.com.

If you think you have a large following of friends on Facebook, you don’t know Barry Davis. At one point he had close to 4,000 friends. Davis is a sophomore computer science major at SDSU and an avid Facebooker (although he has never touched the game Farmville).

Ben: How many friends do you have on Facebook?

Barry: I have about 2,600 friend right now.

Ben: You recently removed a bunch of friends, how many did you get rid of?

Barry: I just got rid of about 1,000 friends. I went through all of them and weaved out different criteria of friends that I didn’t really think I needed.

Ben: Why did you decide to remove all those friends?

Barry: I kept a majority of the people that live in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota; people that I’ve known or partied with in those areas.

Ben: Have you ever met someone with more friends than you on Facebook?

Barry: Before I did the deleting, no. I had not seen anybody. I’m starting to get down into the 2,200 range so I’m getting back to normal.

Ben: How well do you have to know someone in order to add them as a friend?

Barry: When I began Facebook, there was no privacy, and people could click and add you no matter what and automatically they’re your friend. Before, I didn’t care. We would have 50 plus mutual friends. That was more of the thing.

Ben: You’re from the small town of Ipswich, S.D. How did you acquire so many friends being from such a small community? You said you have a lot of friends from North Dakota. How did you meet those people?

Barry: From fifth grade to seventh or eighth grade we had basketball tournaments. We had numerous tournaments in North Dakota, like AAU style. So you met a lot of people through that, through the hotel scene. Throughout high school I had track meets and state events. You meet everyone through track, so that is probably the biggest reason why I had so many friends.

Ben: What is your favorite aspect of Facebook?

Barry: I’m starting to like the apps more. Right away they get kind of annoying when people send you requests numerous times, but if you find the right one, that’s really fun.

Ben: How many hours do you spend on Facebook each day?

Barry: I feel like I’m on it a majority of my day including some of my classes. You see that around for everybody. They may not be using it all the time, but it’s always open.

Ben: What would you say to people that think Facebook is a waste of time?

‘Barry: I would say that they’re wrong on that because it’s a good way to keep in touch with your family members. With the new Facebook chat, it’s a good way to make sure you can still communicate with them. It’s a great way to meet people in your class and talk to them.

Ben: What is your view on privacy? Are you a pretty open guy with all your information?

Barry: I was up until about two months ago. I didn’t really have any privacy on my Facebook. I didn’t really care who added me. And then about a -month-and-a-half or two months ago I put up privacy settings to where they couldn’t see anything except my profile picture and basic information and know that this is the person I met.

Ben: Do you think it’s important to be open while online?

Barry: You know who you can talk to. There’s certain times where you can be open, and other times it will stab you in the back if you’re too open.

Ben: When someone is searching for you, how much do you want them to see?

Barry: I’d say it would be alright to leave some photos up so they can tell this is actually the person that they met. On Facebook you can pretty much be who you want. It’s kind of like a second personality.

Ben: Do you use other social networks besides Facebook?

Barry: I used Twitter last year for class.

Ben: Was that with Greg? I’ve interviewed him before. What did you think of using Twitter in the classroom?

Barry: It was kind of fun, I’m not gonna lie. Wherever you went you had to Twitter, like say what you did and you can respond to everyone else. It was kind of fun.

Ben: Do you see that going somewhere in the future at SDSU?

Barry: I do. I think it should be a huge part. I really thought Twitter was a good idea. Twitter, Facebook and social networks should be a huge thing for college now.

Ben: Last question: do you FarmVille?

Barry: Actually, I am one of the very few of my friends I know that doesn’t use FarmVille. The majority of people that I know have started using this new app called “Spartacus” from the famous TV series. Spartacus is my FarmVille.

Barry is still working on bringing his number of Facebook friends down to a “normal number,” but that doesn’t mean his isn’t still one of the most socially networked guys at SDSU.

If you or someone you know would like to have your story in The Collegian, let us know. Send us an email with your story to juice@sdsucollegian.com.

Are you familiar with the Iron Man races? Try and imagine that race, only on steroids. Jon Weiler, a sophomore English major, is just crazy enough to try this annual race of endurance and wit. The race has been held in Vermont for the past few years, and will be held there again this June.

Ben: Where did you hear about this race?

Jon: A good friend of mine, we served together in the military. He got out last year and started a gym down in Birmingham, Ala. He sent me an email in November saying, “do you want to do this with me?” I just glanced at the website, which is You May Die.com.

Ben: That’s kind of intimidating!

Jon: I was like, “yeah, whatever, I’ll do it.” Quite honestly I didn’t think he was going to be totally serious about doing this. He said that he registered, so I decided I had to register.

Ben: You said that you used to serve in the military. Do you still?

Jon: No, my time in the military ended in 2004. I’ve been a civilian since.

Ben: So you think that your training there might have helped you prepare for this?

Jon: Training is one thing, as far as the military goes. I was part of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 with the 82nd Airborne Division, and during that time we didn’t have a lot of facilities. For example, I went 30-some days without taking a shower or changing my clothes. So, as far as being uncomfortable for a period of time, I’ve been uncomfortable for a longer period of time than three days. What I do fall back on is that, and the experiences that I’ve had that kind of force your mind to say, “why am I doing this?”

Ben: So how long is the race?

Jon: They have three days blocked off, so 72 hours.

Ben: When do you think that mental toughness kicks in the most?

Jon: The beginning. Actually right now.

Ben: Right now?

Jon: Yes, right now. I’ll tell you, it’s hard to train for this because we don’t know what the events are. We have an idea based off the previous years, but that changes.

Ben: And some of the past events were crawling underneath barbed wire and dragging a log behind you.

Jon: And it’s an extreme distance too, it’s like mile. That’s a long time to crawl through mud. But yeah, not knowing what to expect makes it difficult to train. With that type of mentality or outlook, you have to train extra hard for any possibility.

Ben: So what sort of things are you doing to train?

Jon: I incorporate some distance runs. Normally the shortest I do are 10 miles and I’ll bump it up on some days. I mix that in with a good regiment of olympic lifts where you have to spend a good amount of time moving weight. The main portion of that is to get my mind conditioned.

Ben: It sounds like this takes a lot of training and preparing. So you’re doing that and you’re doing classes and you own your own business. So where does all this fit together?

Jon: It fits together, but the part that gets left out is generally sleep.

Ben: Based on previous years, what do you anticipate being the most difficult part of the race?

Jon: What would throw me up the most is trying to do the mental skills as far as puzzles or memorizing and then having to move on top of that. It’s difficult to remember things when you’re under physical duress. I’ve had to stay up for long periods of time in the past and I know that your motor skills and cognitive skills really go under duress.

Ben: So does the winner get something? Are the real winners the people that finish?

Jon: I don’t even know if there’s a prize for it because it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not in it to win it. I’ve done road races and short races before, but this race is going to push me into a different genre of boundaries. I’m going to start going into ultra-marathons which are the extreme endurance races, so this is a good place to get my feet wet.

Ben: Do you know how many people are doing it this year?

Jon: I believe I was in the 120’s as far as my registration.

Ben: So they might have filled it up?

Jon: That’s very possible. It’s going to be interesting to have that many people in the race. I’ve run lager races before and there’s always a bottleneck someplace.

Ben: So why exactly are you doing the Death Race then?

Jon: I work on limits. I like to find out what my limits are. Throughout my life I have. I’ve found those limits, I’ve hit those limits, but then I’ve exceeded those limits. With our day-to-day lives that we have now there’s not a lot of opportunity to push yourself to the extreme. Races like this are good examples to do that. If you don’t, you don’t really know who you are or what you’re capable of doing. That really extends to life, not just a physical competition or something fun that we do, that extends to everything.

Good luck to Jon as he competes in the Death Race this June. You can see my full interview with Jon on our website under the “Juice” tab.

If you or someone you know would like to have your story in The Collegian, let us know! Send us an email with your story to juice@sdsucollegian.com.

Everyone has a story to tell. Most of these great stories go unheard by the general public because they aren’t considered “news worthy.” Check out The Juice throughout the semester to hear an average student’s story.