Achieve You Storms Campus
October 12, 2022
If you have seen a group of people at a table outside the library, or maybe the commons, or maybe even your favorite building on the University of West Florida’s campus, you may have been confused or intrigued. These men are a part of Achieve You, a group who focuses on putting a smile on people’s faces.
I myself got to be a part of one of their many interviews here on West Florida’s campus. They pride themselves on asking difficult to answer questions that truly make the interviewee think in a deeper way than usual. They have also tried many other forms of “man on the street” videos where they have had passerbys call someone to tell them they love them in exchange for five dollars or have someone write a note that they later pass on to a random stranger.
Achieve You started with a friend of the group suggesting that they create a website where people could go to express themselves and vent to someone anonymously. Although the website was never actually created, it did start the brainstorming of what would eventually turn into what Achieve You is today. The group consists of a set of triplet brothers from the Pensacola area and their close friends.
While sitting down with three members of the Achieve You team, they were asked the following question: “How would you define Achieve You?” Although all three answers differed, they all had one common theme: making people happy. Austin Rode shared that he believes Achieve You is “a group of guys who make content that helps make your day a little better.” While his brother Cody Rode said it is “an entertainment company that steers towards wholesomeness.” The third definition, “the bringers of tears of joy,” stated Kye Burton.
A large part of Achieve you is the impact that it has on the community not only in Pensacola but also where the group travels! The members of the group expressed that their main goals are to give the people they speak to or whom view their content an outlet to go to that reminds them that people around them are feeling the same things that they are. Cody stated that he felt this impact was even bigger with college students at the University of West Florida, as students are able to have a look into what other students who they may never see or speak to are going through.
One of the group’s most memorable responses to one of their outings was when they handed a stranger a note to write; that note was then handed out to another stranger. This idea stemmed from Austin seeing a video on YouTube where a man wrote a note on a candy bar and handed it to strangers. Achieve You then spun this around with their own twist on it. Kye asked a man to write a note which Cody then passed to a woman at the pier. Austin stated that “she started crying and it looked like the universe was telling her that the note was for her, and then a pelican landed next to her almost trying to comfort her.” The TikTok linked below is the one in which you can see firsthand the “almost movie scene like experience” as stated by Cody, who had handed the woman the note:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR5QDxp2/
While doing a project on UWF’s campus, the Achieve You group challenged students to call someone and tell them they love them for five dollars. They stated that “most people’s parents thought they were dying or in an emergency situation.” The group then stated that these responses taught people how to reflect on the fact that we as college students may not call those close to us and tell them that we love and appreciate them as much as we should. They even had one student say he did not want to take the five dollars and that he was glad the group encouraged him to call a family member.
It’s not always serious with Achieve you; Cody informed me that their current favorite activity they have done at UWF is truth or dare. As stated by Austin, “We play truth or dare with a wholesome spin, and the dares usually revolve around calling someone.” Although the group knows how to pull out the serious side, they try to throw in fun games or experiments every once in a while
Achieve You has not only had an impact on those whom the group has spoken to, as well as their virtual following, but also the members of the group as well. Tune in for insight on how Achieve You has affected Cody, Austin and Kye personally.
An exciting new idea from the group is that they may come out with a card game that contains the questions that are asked during their interviews. If you view their social media, you will see a large number of comments asking for access to the questions, so the group has come up with a fun way to share their questions with their followers.
Achieve You and their content can be found at any of the sources listed below:
https://www.youtube.com/c/achieveyou/videos