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Episode 292: Students Share Traditions and Talent in “People of the Pacific” Class Apr 10, 2025

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They are sharing culture and building community in a class, that’s also a club, called “People of the Pacific” at West Jordan High School. On this episode of the Supercast, find out how students are unleashing lots of talent, taking to the stage in dance competitions to showcase their rich cultural traditions from various Pacific Island nations. They are students proudly supporting one another on a path to greater academic success. Audio Transcription Auro Sosi:This is competition season for us. The "People of the Pacific" are involved annually in the annual Who Got Roots competition. Carl Talanoa:So we do dances and we even do sometimes we practice our languages and even music. Auro Sosi:The idea of their identity through their culture, cultural practices and rituals so that way they can still stay connected even though they're far away from their motherland. [Music] Anthony Godfrey:Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are sharing culture and building community in a class that's also a club called "People of the Pacific" at West Jordan High School. On this episode of the Supercast, find out how students are unleashing tons of talent and taking to the stage in dance competitions to showcase their rich cultural traditions from various Pacific Island nations. They are students proudly supporting one another on a path to greater academic success. [Music] We are here at West Jordan High School talking with Auro about the competition that's coming up. Will you introduce yourself? Tell us about your position here and what the "People of the Pacific" group has been up to these days. Auro Sosi:Yes, so my name is Auro Sosi. I'm the "People of the Pacific" teacher and advisor. I also run the Reset and Restore room here at West Jordan High School. Just students who are assigned mostly by admin to come into the room who need additional help whether it's with classes, Edgenuity, packets, and things like that. So right now this is competition season for us. The "People of the Pacific" are involved annually in the annual Who Got Roots competition. It's a statewide competition that involves all of the high schools who have either "People of the Pacific" or Pacific Islander clubs or classes in their schools. So it's a dance competition. Anthony Godfrey:And that's what they're practicing in the background. That's what we hear. Tell us a little bit about how that competition is judged and what they're working on today. Auro Sosi:So there is a panel of judges. They pretty much judge off a lot of criteria. Most of it is off synchronization, presentation. A lot of it has to do with cultural rituals and practices involved in the dance scenes and performances. So like this one that they're performing now is the traditional Tongan Lakalaka. It's performed by all of the Tongan men. So it's just a male-only dance. But there's a lot of criteria depending on what the judge who the judges are. But it's been pretty, pretty fulfilling these last couple of years that West Jordan has been able to participate. Anthony Godfrey:That's awesome. How many different numbers will there be? Auro Sosi:So the way this particular competition works where we choose, we select two islands that we wanted to perform as our main islands. So this year we've selected Tonga and Samoa. And then a month prior to the competition, they go out to all of the schools, meaning the organizing committee, go to all of the schools that are participating to draw what is called a wildcard island. So each school will be given the same amount of time to work on this wildcard island. And it's mostly an island that's maybe overshadowed or overlooked, not necessarily performed every year. So this year we selected Tokelau as our wildcard island. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me about Tokelau. Auro Sosi:So Tokelau is an older island in the South Pacific. There are dances when the students are studying it. It kind of derives from like all of the sister islands that surround it. So there's a little bit of everything. There's some Samoan motions and there's a lot of Tongan rituals that are embedded in their cultural dance. But they're very subtle. They're not as loud and obnoxious as the other sister islands. Anthony Godfrey:So it's a quieter, subtle, a little bit forgotten island when it comes to the performances. So tell me about the louder performances. What are some of the aspects of performance that people who are not here able to see this? Describe how the boys dance, how the girls are dancing now. Auro Sosi:So the boys you can see a little bit more live. We call it mafaná. It's kind of like their spirit of dancing, the energy that they bring to the stage. That's what's expected of the male performers in the Tongan islands. Well, in any island in the South Pacific, the girls as you can tell, they're a lot more graceful. They're a little bit more subtle. They're not as wild. But it just kind of showcases the grace and beauty of the women of the South Pacific. Anthony Godfrey:Lots of hand motion and small steps, less, less full body motion. Just more of the hands. Auro Sosi:For Tongan dancing, it's mostly motions from the upper body and hands. As you can tell, most people are probably more familiar with Hawaiian dance. It's hula where it's embodying the whole body. Where she's hooling and utilizing all parts of her body to perform. But in Tonga, they're more subtle in the sense that it's just the upper body and hand motions mostly. Anthony Godfrey:I see. It's just really transporting me. I wish I were on an island right now. I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it. So tell me, how long have they been preparing for this? Auro Sosi:So we actually start from the beginning of the year. We have performances throughout the year here at the school and throughout the district. That's what we kind of utilize as our service opportunities when we go out. We want to perform. We were able to visit with the Mayor of West Jordan and the City Council just a month ago. And that was what one of the things that our students were able to do was present their advocacy program and platform and also perform for them. So we pretty much prepare throughout the year with our service opportunities. This being kind of like that climax moment that we prepare for is our competition. Anthony Godfrey:Fantastic. Now I got to be part of a ceremony at the beginning of the year for leaders in the school. Describe that for folks who are listening. Auro Sosi:So our ‘ava ceremony, it's a traditional kava ceremony. It's something that we've embedded in our "People of the Pacific" program that we like to start off the new school year every year with. It's just in Samoan it's called the ‘ava feiloa’iga or pretty much our greetings with each other. Us welcoming, whether it's guests or honored guests, that we're honoring in that particular setting. But for the ritual itself, it's really a teaching moment to our kids but also to welcome in the new year. Usher in the new year that they're about to embark on. But also in a cultural sense to set that precedence and tone for them as far as culture is concerned. Because "People of the Pacific" is what we're trying to portray is get more of an idea of their identity through their culture, cultural practices, and rituals so that way they can still stay connected even though they're far away from their mother lands and the islands. Anthony Godfrey:Yeah, yeah it's a sense of connection with each other and with the broader school community. So now we saw the boys separate and the girls separate. Now this is a combined dance. Tell me about this particular dance. Auro Sosi:The Island Kingdom of Tonga is the only remaining monarch in the South Pacific, meaning that they're the only island in the South Pacific still today ruled by a king and queen. Never colonized, never taken over by any other foreign power and so their dances as you can see they're a lot more reserved. They're a lot more respectful in the sense that you see when the girls perform they're very graceful, they're very, you know, demure. Where the boys are always so masculine and they're just so full of energy. But when they come together it's just like both of those aspects and qualities all mesh together to become this pretty much beautiful, royal production. So that's what they're performing right now is their traditional Tonga Lakalaka that's combined for both male and female performers. Anthony Godfrey:Stay with us. When we come back we'll talk with three student leaders of "People of the Pacific". Never miss an episode of The Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org. Break:It's giving busy parents a little more peace of mind when it comes to their students getting to and from school. We're talking about Zonar MyView. It's a mobile app meant to enhance the school bus transportation experience for students and their families. The app allows parents to check on their child's school bus location and the estimated time of arrival at the bus stop each day for pickup and drop off. If you want to join the thousands of parents already using the app, it's easy. All it takes is a few simple steps. First download the Zonar MyView app from the App Store or Google Play. Then visit auxiliaryservices.jordandistrict.org/zonar. That's where you'll find the school access code and directions on how to enter your student's unique ID and learn how to create an alert zone around your child's drop-off and pickup locations. Let the Zonar MyView app help you stay on top of things knowing when a bus might be running a little late and when to get your kids going or head out to meet them at the bus stop. It's one more way for us to better connect with you. Anthony Godfrey:You have won an award recently, just last week. Tell us about that. Auro Sosi:So the Utah Pacific Islander Chamber of Commerce here in Utah, this was their first year. They had their inaugural Pacific Islander Educator Award this year. There were nine nominees including myself. They came here and delivered the nomination here at the school and a few of our administrators were present. I was totally shocked and taken aback to have been nominated. Just to be nominated alone was an honor, but when we got there that evening– I went with my parents and a few of our other students who happened to be awardees as well for scholarship by the chamber unbeknownst to us. When they presented each and every one of us nominees and a certificate they then announced the award and I was the recipient of that award. So it was truly an honor. To me, receiving that honor is more of a tribute to not only the other eight nominees but to all of the students and other educators who aspire to educate and inspire any and all students. Not just for Pacific Islanders, but everybody. All students across the board around the world everywhere. Anthony Godfrey:That's an important point. It's really not about just one group it's about connecting that group to the broader school community and inviting the school community in to connect with this group. It's anything but exclusive. It's something that really is very inviting. So tell us about any other activities. I know there are performances throughout the year, there's the ceremony at the beginning of the year. Is a service component of "People of the Pacific"? Auro Sosi:So we have what is called the Island Teen Advocacy Team, for short we call it ITAT. So that's pretty much the service and activity arm of the "People of the Pacific" program. It's an advocacy program where there are students who advocate for mental health awareness, suicide prevention and also being tobacco and vape-free in high schools. They're so involved in that throughout the year. At the beginning of the year, they have what is called the Great American Smoke Out where they go out and advocate for pretty much– not so much smoking, but vaping here in the high schools. It's become like this pandemic here in our schools. Where things are just like so readily accessible for our students to access these things. So they advocate for those things. Try to educate on the the downfalls and also the symptoms that a student can experience if they do vape and things. Most of it comes from our mental health and suicide awareness platform because a lot of them can relate to that. Just recently, just within our community, the Pacific islander community, four youth between the ages of 14 and 19 took their lives just within the last month. So it's just become this thing now since they've been so aware of it and they've advocated it for so long. It's now become more personal for them because they're wanting to make sure that everyone feels accepted. Everyone feels loved and appreciated. But also that they know the value of life and that everyone is valuable, even themselves. Anthony Godfrey:I love that emphasis on supporting each other and valuing each other. Well, congratulations on running an incredible program that provides great opportunities and support and on your well-deserved award. I understand there were educators from higher ed that were in the running as well and you beat them all out. So congratulations. Well done. Auro Sosi:Appreciate it, thank you so much.Anthony Godfrey:We're here with three students who are part of "People of the Pacific" here at West Jordan High School. Just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your participation. Carl Talanoa:My name is Carl Talanoa. I'm a senior at West Jordan High School and I'm the president of the POP class. Caitlyn Lokeni:I'm Caitlyn Lokeni. I'm also a senior at West Jordan High School and I'm the vice president. Andrea Togavailoa:I'm Andrea Togavailoa. I am as well a senior at West Jordan High and I am the secretary in our POP class. Anthony Godfrey:So tell us, for those who aren't familiar with it, tell us about Pop class and what it involves, and why it's important to you. Carl Talanoa:So People the Pacific class is really a class where we do a whole bunch of cultural stuff. In this class, we learn about our backgrounds as Pacific Islanders and we also learn about our culture, expanding into our culture. So we do dances and we even do– sometimes we practice our languages and even music. We do a lot of other stuff that is outside of the school as well. We are part of an ITAT thing where we do outreaches to other schools like middle schools and all that about the program that we do. Anthony Godfrey:Outstanding. Andrea Togavailoa:Yes, about our ITAT team, it stands for Island Teen Advocacy Team and basically what that stands for, or what they support, is they support preventing drug use and vaping and smoking and as well as tobacco use. They also bring attention to suicide awareness and I think that our class really strives for that stuff. Especially in our generation today where many teenagers now struggle with mental health. I think it's important to have knowledge and to know and understand that there is help. I think ITAT is a great platform for them. Anthony Godfrey:Awesome. Caitlyn Lokeni:Yes, taking it back to outside of what we do, outside of school obviously. What our president said. We have more to do with our cultural backgrounds like deeply rooted. Our POP cl…

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Episode 291: The Digital Generation Redefining a Love for Learning Apr 03, 2025

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They are teachers doing groundbreaking work, redefining what traditional learning looks like in the classroom. On this episode of the Supercast, we explore the history of digital learning, how it’s impacting students today, and how teachers are seeing big benefits, using all of the new technology now at their fingertips. Audio Transcription Kelli Cannon:It’s just really fun to see how far education has come. Megan Dahlgren:So to be able to take this and learn and see how it's grown from Oregon Trail to you know whatever, however you're using it in your classroom now. Kelli Cannon:There are old programs that they used to actually print out and hand out to the attendees and there are topics like WordPerfect and AOL. [Music] Anthony Godfrey:Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are supporting teachers in doing groundbreaking work, redefining what traditional learning looks like in the classroom. On this episode of the Supercast, we talk with a Digital Learning Specialist and an Instructional Coach to explore the history of digital learning, how it's impacting students today, and how teachers are seeing big benefits using the technology that is now at their fingertips. We're here at UCET in the UEN Homeroom Podcast Studio talking about how UCET impacts your practice and we're talking now with Kelli Cannon. Tell us a little bit about your role in Jordan School District, with UCET, and how being at UCET and being involved has impacted your practice. Kelli Cannon:Okay, so yeah, my name is Kelli Cannon. I am a Digital Learning Specialist in Jordan School District and I'm also a UCET Board member. This is my third year on the board and I love everything about UCET. My first UCET conference was my first year of teaching, 2014. It feels like a long time ago. When I think about that time I think we didn't even have laptops. So we had desktop computers and people were just kind of like sitting on the floor with like the first generation iPads trying to learn things and do things and just how much the conference has grown in the last 11 years has been just really fun to see. Just the impact that technology has had on education. Anthony Godfrey:So when someone comes to UCET what sorts of things will they learn about in breakouts and keynotes and in talking with vendors? Kelli Cannon:Okay, so the way we have the UCET Conference sorted out right now is in strands. In the strands there are different topics so there's like a robotic strand, and there's a tech basic strand, and a tech advanced strand, and so there's a little something for everybody here. There's also leadership and coaching because we have a lot of instructional and digital coaches as well who want to improve their practice. Then coming into this vendor hall as I look around I see a lot of tech companies. This year our theme is “Authentic Intelligence” and it's a little– like we say it's a little bit cheeky to AI in a way. There are so many AI vendors here and how AI is really shaping the landscape of education in Utah right now. Anthony Godfrey:Tell us more about what “Authentic Intelligence” means. Why that theme? Kelli Cannon:So when we were sitting around at our– we planned these conferences a year in advance. So we were sitting around in our meeting last July and we said “We know AI is gonna be really big it's not going away, so what can we do to kind of play off that theme?” So we said, “Let's use AI, but when we say Authentic Intelligence we mean how can we use AI or keep the human skills in a technology-driven world?” So we're still looking for that human input. I think that's what keeps teaching like personalized and relevant is having that human interaction. Anthony Godfrey:I really think artificial intelligence propels human intelligence instead of replacing it. It's a way to enhance it to support it and to build a foundation. Kind of clear the easy stuff out of the way so we can get to the real deep thinking. Kelli Cannon:Yeah, I agree. Anthony Godfrey:Instruction is really at the heart of this right? I mean it's technology-focused but it really comes down to teaching and learning. Kelli Cannon:Yeah, I agree. Something that we really like with AI and something we've been talking a lot about in our district is how AI, particularly school AI, has really personalized learning for each of our students. And how we've been able to use AI as a thought partner and not just, you know, putting students in the space or with a chatbot but really making sure that they are learning, and growing, and making it relevant to them. Like you mentioned to offloading some of those administrative tasks so we can have more time to work with the students which is what really matters. Anthony Godfrey:Absolutely. If you go back in time to the 2014 Kelli and you compare her with the 2025 Kelli, how has UCET changed the way that you look at education and teaching generally? Kelli Cannon:Well, I remember that year I met my new team. I got hired like a week before school started right out of college. They gave me this big huge stack of worksheets and they said this is our math for the year. I was like “Oh wow, okay, packets, worksheets, books” and I mean of course those things have their place but now I look at just the many opportunities that we have with technology and because of technology to teach in a different way and make it last. These are what our students now they spend a lot of time on devices and a lot of time on the internet and technology and so this is like what they're used to. So students of ten years ago compared to now are completely different. Anthony Godfrey:So I love how you switched it from you ten years ago to students ten years ago. Kelli Cannon:Sorry. Anthony Godfrey:Which is really the focus. No, you're right. You're right because you have to think about what world are students coming from. What's their day-to-day experience and how do you tap into that to make sure that education is as effective as it can be? Kelli Cannon:Agreed. Anthony Godfrey:Tell us about a Digital Learning Specialist for those who don't know. What is your role in the district? What exactly do you do to help support our teachers? Kelli Cannon:Yeah, so there are about eight of us and we have about ten to fifteen different schools that we visit every month and we try to spend extended time there. We meet with instructional coaches and digital coaches, we hold tech trainings, we also do a lot of professional development in the district office. We love everything tech-related. People are always emailing– just don't call us because we don't use our phones very well. I don't know how to transfer a phone call, figure that out. Anthony Godfrey:It's an archaic skill. It's an archaic skill like writing a check. Nobody needs to do that anymore. Kelli Cannon:What is that? Anthony Godfrey:Right, exactly. Exactly. Kelli Cannon:Yeah, and so also part of my role is I work with computer science. I help train our computer science rotation leads and I get to do STEM and robotics and help them do lessons and train on tools. So it's just a really fun and unique job to have. Anthony Godfrey:As I walked in I saw the “Eras” booth. The “UCET Eras” booth with lots of technology over the years. I felt really comfortable standing between the '80s table and the ‘90s table. That felt really good to me. Tell us about the “Eras” booth. Kelli Cannon:Yeah, okay. So about a year ago “Taylor Swift The Eras” was really popular so that's kind of what started it, right? Taylor Swift through the eras. I've always listened to her music since I was a teenager and so I thought, “Wouldn't it be fun to go back in time and use that and see what's changed?” I've learned a lot in the last year. The original UCET committee was UCCE, which I can't remember that stands for. It's like Utah Coalition for Educational Technology, like that, and it was formed in 1980 out of Mike Bailey's master's project which I thought was really interesting to see a master's project grow into something this big. Just going through the history and seeing where they started out. Just you know a few people or maybe a high school auditorium with a hundred people to where we are today in 2025 with 1600 teachers here. And just the amount of vendors and moving even from high schools, to Provo, to the Salt Palace. Like every year we keep growing. So we're really excited to just keep incorporating technology. Then as far as the “Eras” booth, what we have is since we started in the 1980s we have a table for each decade. I've asked people to donate old technologies so we have old Apple computers, and we have floppy disks. In the 80s and 90s we have a VHS, which I just found out stands for Video Home System. There were some things over there though I didn't know what they were so I had my Gemini, my Google Gemini app, open yesterday I took a picture of it and I said “Google, tell me what this is and what year it was made” and it explained it to me. Anthony Godfrey:Using new technology to understand old technology. that is a thing of beauty. Kelli Cannon:Then in our 2020 era, we have a face shield that someone used during teaching of course. I think this one wasn't used but it's just really fun to see how far education has come. There are old programs that they used to actually print out and hand out to the attendees, and there are topics like WordPerfect and AOL. Then you know as we go through it's changed a bit. Anthony Godfrey:Is there a CD over there for 1600 free hours of AOL in a particular month? Kelli Cannon:There's a floppy disk. Anthony Godfrey:Okay, that's great. It was really cool to look through the eras. And I actually think it's very instructive because as you look I think we're always looking forward. What's new? What's next? How can we get better? But we have to pause and look back and see our progress and see how far we've actually come. It was it was really nice to reminisce through the technology and really think about how far we've come. So bravo on all the work that you're doing and on the eras tour that I got to take through the UCET history. Kelli Cannon:Thank you so much. Anthony Godfrey:All right, good luck with your presentation. Kelli Cannon:Thank you. Anthony Godfrey:Stay with us. When we come back, more on digital learning in Jordan School District. Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org. Break:It's giving busy parents a little more peace of mind when it comes to their students getting to and from school. We're talking about Zonar MyView. It's a mobile app meant to enhance the school bus transportation experience for students and their families. The app allows parents to check on their child's school bus location and the estimated time of arrival at the bus stop each day for pickup and drop off. If you want to join the thousands of parents already using the app, it's easy. All it takes is a few simple steps. First download the Zonar MyView app from the App Store or Google Play. Then visit auxiliaryservices.jordandistrict.org/zonar. That's where you'll find the school access code and directions on how to enter your student's unique ID and learn how to create an alert zone around your child's drop-off and pickup locations. Let the Zonar MyView app help you stay on top of things knowing when a bus might be running a little late and when to get your kids going or head out to meet them at the bus stop. It's one more way for us to better connect with you. Anthony Godfrey:We're now talking with Megan Dahlgren who is an Instructional Coach at Rosamond Elementary. Tell us a little bit about being an instructional coach for those who don't know what that is. Megan Dahlgren:Oh my goodness, so this is actually my first year as an instructional coach. I'm super excited about it. So my job is to go in and work with the teachers to help improve their instruction. Anthony Godfrey:This is now a full-time position. For a while, we had a few hours here a few hours there that we paid people to work after school, but I'm really proud that we are able as a district to have a full-time instructional coach in every elementary school and to have coaches in every secondary school. Every person in this world needs a coach of some sort to help them get better at what they're doing. You know the thing is LeBron James has a coach, Tiger Woods has a coach. Megan Dahlgren:Michael Phelps has a coach. Anthony Godfrey:All the greats have a coach. Caitlin Clark has a coach. They all have coaches. They all have coaches over the years who have helped them become better and even when they're at the top of their game they want to be a little bit better. They want to maintain and the same is true of teachers. Megan Dahlgren:Absolutely. Anthony Godfrey:Everyone needs that coaching cycle. Everyone needs that support. So tell me about UCET. How does UCET support you as you support teachers and improve instruction and outcomes for students? Megan Dahlgren:So I first attended UCET years ago when I was just a teacher, and I came back from that to my classroom and I said “Oh, I want to try this and this and this.” It was when AI, as I think about it, it was when AI was just getting started in education there was a math– an adaptive math game– that I put into place. Or program, it was gamified, and then also a program that would listen to kids read. And I'm like “Oh, that's what Amira is now” so this is like a forerunner to Amira. I remember taking them back and feeling “Oh, I want to use these.” I could use one because it was free and I couldn't use the other because it cost money. So now here, I think I have a good grasp on what a lot of the programs are. So here for me as an instructional coach, where I'm also a digital coach, but I have a teacher that I am doing a coaching cycle with right now and it's for an ML student. So as I was going through the list of different presentations those were a couple that really stuck out with me, is how I can use the programs and digital technology to help these MLs. So I'm excited to learn and be able to take that back to her and say “Oh, what if we try this, and this, and this.” So that's one of my big focuses as I'm here over the next two days. Anthony Godfrey:For those listening, an ML is a multi-language learner. Megan Dahlgren:Yes. Anthony Godfrey:So you're helping a teacher meet the needs of someone who's learning English at the same time that they're learning their native language and learning all of the subjects throughout the day. Megan Dahlgren:Yes. I can't even imagine being in that situation and so whatever we can do to help. I mean I spent time last week putting together little flashcards that will help her with vocabulary and things like that. But it's like “Oh, what can we use technology based that could help her as well.” Anthony Godfrey:I'm really grateful that you do this work. What you just described is exactly, I think, why it's great to be a teacher in Jordan School District because of the level of support. I love hearing your enthusiasm when you learn about something new even years ago “Okay, I gotta get this. I gotta put this to use. And how can I help this teacher help this ML student?” I just love that energy that you bring to it. Megan Dahlgren:Can I just say something? To my dad's credit, my dad was an educator and he got his master's in instructional technolog…

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Episode 290: Pursuing Perfection: What it Takes to Become a National Board Certified Teacher Mar 27, 2025

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It is a rigorous, time-consuming, and challenging process, one that produces some of the very best and highly trained teachers in the entire nation. On this episode, we meet two Jordan School District educators who recently achieved National Board Certification. Find out how this personal drive for perfection is taking their teaching practices to new heights, benefiting students and colleagues in other classrooms alike. Audio Transcription Raechel Bunnell:And I did what I want my students to do. I looked and saw what I needed, where my deficiencies were, what parts of history did I need to study. How hard is it to watch yourself teach on a video? Leslie Steele:It is very stressful. Anthony Godfrey:Nobody likes watching themselves or listening to themselves. Raechel Bunnell”No, you're like, "Oh, my posture is bad." I keep saying, "Huh?" Like there's all kinds of things. [Music] Anthony Godfrey:Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a rigorous, time-consuming, and challenging process. One that produces some of the most highly trained teachers in the entire nation. On this episode of the Supercast, we meet two Jordan School District teachers who recently achieved National Board Certification. Doing so required them to submit materials from their lesson plans, recordings of their lessons, and many self-reflections that were reviewed at the national level by experts. Find out how their personal drive to be their very best is taking their teaching practices to new heights. [Music] We're talking today with our two teachers in Jordan School District who are newly Board Certified at the national level. We want to talk with them about the process, but first, just introduce yourself. Leslie Steele:I'm Leslie Steele and I teach first grade at Eastlake Elementary. Raechel Bunnell:Raechel Bunnell and I teach social studies at Riverton High School. Anthony Godfrey;We're going to dive right into it and ask what impact has this had on your teaching going through this process? Leslie Steele:Oh my gosh, a huge impact. Not just for the kids who I certified with last year, but the kids this year. It asks you to really reflect on your practice. You video yourself and you watch it over and over and over and find places where you ask good questions and places where you could ask better questions. And the goal isn't perfection. It's reflecting on your practice. How can I dig deeper? How can I be better next time? Also, you really analyze student work. For my path of certification, I'm early childhood literacy. So that's reading, writing, listening, speaking for ages 3 to 11. So it's a big span. But you basically take student work and just like dive in and work with that student one-on-one and help them craft their writing to be much better. So you're just really going deeper with things that teachers are doing every day. Raechel Bunnell:How hard is it to watch yourself teach on a video? Leslie Steele:It is very stressful. Anthony Godfrey:Nobody likes watching themselves or listening to themselves. Raechel Bunnell:You're like, "Oh my posture is bad. I keep saying, “huh” like there's all kinds of things. And that just makes you a better teacher. The reflection part of it is absolutely a big part of why board certification. Leslie Steele:It's a really good way to reflect on your teaching and always grow and always be better. It's not like, you know, this board certification process it says like, "Hey, these are really excellent teachers." But also it's like these are teachers that are continuing to grow, that are continuing to move forward and not just be stagnant in one place. You know after I got my master's degree I was like, "What's next?" You know, "Do I go admin? Do I go doctorate? Do I get a second master's?" And when I thought of National Board Certification I was like, "Okay that's the thing that's gonna help me be a better teacher for the future." Anthony Godfrey:I love your desire to go to the next level. Okay, what do I do now? What's next for me? And it's really impressive that you've both taken this on. Now when you were speaking earlier you talked about some of the language that has now become just second nature when you talk about your own teaching and your own reflection. So it sounds like going through this process has really given you a structure for thinking about your own teaching. Leslie Steele:Yes, completely. 100%. I mean there's like national board speak. I feel like there's like this language that we use it's this very specific way of writing. It's this very sort of scientific way of looking at things and you're a scientist of like your own work and you're like okay. You're analyzing yourself in right next to your students work to see how you can impact that going forward. Anthony Godfrey:Which is not always easy to do. As humans, we tend to tell the most favorable story about ourselves in our minds like oh they're probably fine with what I just said oh this probably worked better than I thought it did. At least as a survival method, we kind of tell ourselves the best story we can. But you have learned through this process to really dig into what needs to change and what needs to be better in your class. Leslie Steele:A key phrase in National Board is ‘next time I will’. Next time I would and that has really altered my teaching. Just like I say it's just put this lesson to a side it's good enough but like oh you know what I could have done there. If you don't take the time to sit and do that, you know teaching is a fast-moving train, we move on to the next thing. So National Board forces you to slow down and dig deep. Raechel Bunnell:Considering the needs of the students is a big part of it and you know I hadn't been a data teacher in the past. I hadn't been somebody who asked the students how they were doing along the way. You know I might have done like an end-of-the-semester kind of a reflection from the students, but if you can get them along the way and get them to self-assess and how their own learning is going then we can help them to mold their learning into the future and make some better students. Anthony Godfrey:I love that focus on data and self-reflection and what you said earlier, it's about always getting better and having the tools in place to always get better. One thing that really struck me with this process as I heard from those throughout the state this morning who are newly certified or are maintaining their certification. I like that term it's “Hey I'm keeping up I'm moving forward”. This is not an easy process this isn't a process where you just decide you're going to do it and you go through the steps and you're all set you check the boxes. You told a story about your pathway to certification can you tell us about that? Raechel Bunnell:So it took me a while. I started all the way back in 2020. Our school district wants you to do it in three years, one to three years. Or I guess the state wants you to do it in one to three years. They have had a system in place that they pay for your fees, and if you don't do it in three years then you have to do retakes on your own dime. So I was determined. I was like for sure in one to three years. It was COVID that messed things up, but I was able to get everything in in three years. So it's you know you submit your work in April. Is it April? March, and then you have to wait all the way until December until you get the results back. It's very exciting, nerve-wracking because there's a lot that you know you're waiting for, anticipation. I had all of my family gather around while we were going to open the results of my certification in 2023. We're sitting there and it's like those Tik-Tok videos when people are opening college acceptance to Harvard. So we're all standing around it's very exciting. We stayed up late you know and I get the email I open it and there's so much anticipation and I didn't certify. I didn't pass. I looked up at my family's faces and I'm like “I didn't get it” and I started to just cry. And they're like “Okay” and they all kind of went away. It was really anticlimactic and super sad because I started to think who am I? What did I do wrong? Am I even a good teacher anymore? It was really a weird thing to fail, quote-unquote fail because I just thought I was gonna do better than that. So I had to decide if this was really– did I want to try again? Did I want to do retakes or was I done with the whole process? It took a month to really think about it and figure out what I wanted to do next. I did what I want my students to do. I looked and saw what I needed, where my deficiencies were, what parts of history did I need to study. What parts of geography and economics did I need to study? And I was able to do it. Gosh, it really came down to the wire. I studied. I did flashcards. I did all this and then even when we were waiting, you know Leslie and I took the test on the same day. Leslie Steele:That’s where we met. Raechel Bunnell:And we're sitting there and I'm waiting in line and I'm even listening to review videos on my phone while we're in line waiting to check in. And wouldn't you know it? Anthony Godfrey:You were cramming. Raechel Bunnell:I was cramming. Anthony Godfrey:You were cramming. Raechel Bunnell:I had studied a lot but I also did some cramming. The essay on the test was the exact thing that I had studied on my way in and then I had my phone to my ear and I did well. All of that time, all of the years that I sat there and tried and worked really hard. It is a really hard process, and so I took the test. This last December comes up, and I don't tell a soul. I didn't tell anybody that I was getting my results. Anthony Godfrey:You couldn't have a repeat. Raechel Bunnell:No, I was too nervous. I was much too nervous. So I was just sitting on the couch everybody was like watching TV. I opened the email and I said “Whoo-hoo” like so excited because I actually certified. It's been a really amazing process and stuff. Leslie Steele:And you saw your fireworks. Raechel Bunnell:I saw the fireworks. Leslie Steele:When you certify, the screen where you log in has like these firework confetti things coming down. So like in the National Board world, it's “Who got their fireworks? Did you get your fireworks?” I would keep logging in and like see them reanimate. Raechel Bunnell:Yep. Just so you could see those beautiful fireworks. Anthony Godfrey:The fireworks rerun. Raechel Bunnell:You know, I don't fail at many things. Anthony Godfrey:I wouldn't think so. Raechel Bunnell:It was it was hard emotionally and that's a lot of what students go through. You know, they get a paper back and it has a D, an F on it and how do you bounce back from that? Are you going to bounce back from that? Are you going to work at a retake or talk to your teacher and study and do better next time? That's absolutely what they go through. That doesn't end when you're an adult. It doesn't end in your career. So it was an interesting experience to have to go through that disappointment and then understand that it wasn't personal, right? You can grow from it. You grow from your failures. Anthony Godfrey:Absolutely. Leslie Steele:And the support from the cohort. That was like a master class to me in teaching and giving students support. The way they would structure those meetings and give us sentence frames and guide the discussion. That alone was great professional development to kind of see how they taught us. Raechel Bunnell:Leslie's lucky because she started with a cohort. Back in 2020 when I started, I didn't feel like I had any idea what to do. I was alone and lost for a good for the first two, three years of it and then I figured out that there was support out there. So if I could do it all again, oh my gosh a cohort. There's one through the Utah NBCT, is that the one you did? Leslie Steele:Yes, I don't know how you did it without because they break it down for you and kind of say like “Okay this month we're really gonna focus on this”, “this month we're gonna focus on this” and then toward the end we're actually sending each other our papers. Reading papers, giving feedback, it was so incredibly valuable. No shade to National Board but those instructions are insane. Those instructions, I mean you can read them over and over. What do they want from me? So they help to really break it down. Anthony Godfrey:Stay with us. When we come back more with two of our National Board Certified teachers. Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org. Break:Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect. Anthony Godfrey:What advice would you give teachers who are considering becoming National Board Certified? Leslie Steele:I would say you can do it. Dive in. The first step is just deciding that you want to do it. There are people in our district who are here to support you and to help you sort through the process. It seems really overwhelming at first but it's things you're already doing, you're just going deeper. Anthony Godfrey:There is some financial incentive at the state and at the district level. Talk to folks about that who are listening and might be interested. Raechel Bunnell:So at the state level, there is an annual stipend, I suppose, that is about a $1,000 or $2,000 if you are teaching at a Title One school. That is one of the lower that states offer in the United States right but I think that there's a push to get more. Leslie Steele:Yes, the tides are turning I feel it. Anthony Godfrey:I feel like that's true because they talked about legislators who are interested in sponsoring legislation going forward to provide better support and more financial incentive. Raechel Bunnell:In any state where they have a higher financial incentive you, have a higher amount of teachers that are doing board certification. It's not all about money though, like our school district also has a great stipend of $2500 a year, and that's awesome. Leslie Steele:The state also pays for you to go through the process. So they pay for your individual components because that would be a couple thousand dollars I think and so the state works with the TSSP funding and that just goes directly into your National Board account. Raechel Bunnell:Yeah, and if anybody has questions about that, ask one of the National Board Certified teachers that you know and we can help you figure that out. Anthony Godfrey:I've talked with you about how much you love teaching first graders. I have visited your classroom and talked with you about how you handle current events and the difficulties of teaching social studies and the joys of teaching social studies. Tell me just about what you love about teaching first grade and teaching high school. Leslie Steele:Okay, first grade is like the growth. I mean from beginning of the year t…

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Episode 289: Students Savor Opportunity to Compete in Big Culinary Competition Mar 20, 2025

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They are high school students crafting mouth-watering masterpieces in a sizzling hot competition where culinary talents are put to the test. On this episode of the Supercast, we join students from four Jordan School District high schools dishing up delicious food in a very impressive ProStart competition. It’s a competition where rising young chefs are on a fast track, turning their love of food service into successful careers. Audio Transcription (upbeat music) Anthony Godfrey:What is it that you're judged on? Mackenna York:So I know we're judged on our knife cuts. We're also judged on safety and sanitation, teamwork skills, and then obviously how your food looks, how it tastes, and then the cleanliness of your cuts. Grant Ashby:Teamwork comes into a big play because it really, even though most classes do involve it, it's more of a smaller amount of people. So you get to really personally connect with everybody (upbeat music) (bell ringing) Anthony Godfrey:Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are high school students crafting mouth-watering masterpieces in a sizzling hot competition where culinary talents are put to the test. On this episode of the Supercast, we join students from four Jordan School District high schools dishing up delicious food in a very impressive ProStart CTE competition. It's a competition where rising young chefs are on a fast track, turning their love of food service into successful careers. (upbeat music) We're here at the ProStart competition at Mountain America Credit Union Exposition Center to talk with some of the students who competed today. Introduce yourself and tell us what school you're from. Keyon:I'm Keyon and I'm from Bingham High School. Mackenna York:I'm Mackenna York, I'm from Herriman High School. Grant Ashby:I'm Grant Ashby and I'm from Mountain Ridge High School. Ashlee Brixley:I'm Ashlee Brixley and I'm from Copper Hills High School. Anthony Godfrey:Grant, tell us what you cooked today. Grant Ashby:Yeah, so for us, we cooked an appetizer with marinated zucchini, toasted bread on top of creamy ricotta, with a chili crunch sauce, and toasted hazelnut. Anthony Godfrey:Very nice. Grant Ashby:And then for our main, we cooked a petite filet with gochujang carrots on top of creamy mashed potatoes with a chimichurri sauce and microgreens on top. Anthony Godfrey:And for dessert? Grant Ashby:We cooked a lemon meringue tart with a strawberry coulis and a strawberry brunoise with toasted pistachios on top. Anthony Godfrey:I haven't made a strawberry brunoise in I can't tell how long, so. Grant Ashby:Yeah, well, we tried our best today. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me what is involved in the strawberry brunoise. Grant Ashby:Yeah, so it's sauced strawberries that are very finely diced. Anthony Godfrey:Okay, cool. And what did you make today? Mackenna York:So for our appetizer, we made a vanilla bourbon glazed vinaigrette salad. It was like a salad in a cucumber bowl. Anthony Godfrey:A glazed vinaigrette salad? Mackenna York:Yes. Anthony Godfrey:Okay, go on. Mackenna York:And then for our entree, we made a pan-seared duck breast with an orange sauce with a parsnip puree and a sweet potato rosette with lemon brussel sprouts and garlic butter mushrooms. And then for our dessert, we made a hazelnut, what's it called? A hazelnut tarte with strawberry curd and chocolate mousse on top. Anthony Godfrey:That sounds fantastic. I should not do this interview at lunchtime. How about you? What did you guys make? Keyon:So for our appetizer, we made an Asian cucumber salad that was on top of purple cabbage and it was with edamame, carrots, and roasted peanuts. Then for our entree, we made salmon and sauteed vegetables, rice, and the salmon was a miso salmon. And then for the dessert, we made deconstructed cheesecake with a blackberry sorbet. It was like oat and honey crumble. And then we had passionberry curd. Anthony Godfrey:Wow, it's like I can picture all of this. It's such an incredible combination of colors and flavors, that's really exciting. What did you make today? Ashlee Brixley:So today we were really, really focused on having our team create their own recipes and work solely off of those. So we made our own recipe for our crab rangoons and our sweetened sour sauce. Creamy, crunchy, sour, savory, amazing. Our main dish was a miso pork ramen. We team prepared the stock, it took 12 hours to put that together. It took forever. And yeah, we had carrots, we attempted some eggs, they didn't turn out all the way. And we put some pork, some bean sprouts, and some beautifully diagonal cut green onion on top of there. Anthony Godfrey:That's high-stakes cooking eggs these days, because it's $3 an egg, so you– Ashlee Brixley:I know, it was really expensive. Anthony Godfrey:–you can’t mess up on those eggs. Ashlee Brixley:I know, I know. And then for dessert, we did a no-bake matcha cheesecake that was inspired by a riverbed so our first layer has poppy seeds within it to represent the rocks. Our second layer is our matcha layer, and then on top it's shaped like a lily pad and has a carved strawberry to look like a flower. Anthony Godfrey:Good heavens, that all sounds incredible. What is it that you're judged on? What is it that you're competing? What are the criteria? Mackenna York:So I know we're judged on our knife cuts. We're also judged on safety and sanitation, teamwork skills, and then obviously how your food looks, how it tastes, and then the cleanliness of your plates. Anthony Godfrey:So do you prepare in advance, or do you know what you're going to make in advance if you bring all the ingredients, or do they say here's a horse hoof, some cauliflower, and a flavor packet of Wyler's lemonade, and now you need to make an entree? Ashlee Brixley:Well, thank goodness we get the opportunity to create our own menu, which is actually another thing we're graded on here. Anthony Godfrey:Oh, okay, so creating your menu, you talked about the 12 hours of preparation, and then you execute while you're here, and they watch the teamwork. Tell me about knife work. Is it cutting everything the same size so it cooks evenly, or is it just simply not severing a digit? What exactly are you judged on? Keyon:So we're judged based on a list of knife cuts that we could choose from originally, and we don't actually get judged on the knife cuts within the dish. We put aside two of the knife cuts, and that's where the judges come in and look over those knife cuts. Anthony Godfrey:So it's the knife cuts in addition to what you've prepared? Keyon;Yes. Anthony Godfrey:Wow. Well, I knew from the first description of the first dish that this is far out of my league. I could eat all of this effectively, but I could not prepare any of it. Stay with us. Coming up, more tasty tidbits from students competing in the ProStart CTE competition. (upbeat music) Never miss an episode of The Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org. (upbeat music) Break:Does your student want to become a veterinarian, commercial pilot, programmer? Maybe they want to make a difference as a dental assistant. These are just some of the programs offered as part of Career and Technical Education, CTE in Jordan School District. CTE provides the technical skills needed to prepare students for future employment or a successful transition to post-secondary education. Career and Technical Education provides work-based learning opportunities. We partner with industry experts to offer apprenticeships and internships with students working in the real world at real jobs while going to school. The CTE experience starts in our elementary schools with the Kids' Marketplace and grows through middle and high school. To explore all CTE has to offer in Jordan School District visit cte.jordandistrict.org today and let's get your child started on the pathway to a profession. Anthony Godfrey:Oh wow, this is really nicely put together. Describe where the crab rangoon is, is that right over there? Ashlee Brixley:Yeah, so right here's our crab rangoons. Anthony Godfrey:And I like the smear of, I don't know, the dash of color there that you've got. Very nice. This looks delicious. Ashlee Brixley:Yeah, it's awesome. Anthony Godfrey:What's your favorite of these dishes? Ashee Brixley:I am the one that actually created the recipe here for the ramen, so I definitely am a natural favorite to the ramen. Anthony Godfrey;Yeah, that looks really good. And I like the little stack of carrots, what would you call those? Ashlee Brixley:Those are julienne cut carrots. Anthony Godfrey:Julienne cut carrots. Gives a nice little pop of color and boy, that is nicely arranged. Okay, let's take a look at the next one. Keyon:So, what questions do you have? Anthony Godfrey:What did you do to the cucumber there? That is quite an intricate cut. Keyon:Spiral cucumber, when we cut it, we had two chopsticks below the cucumber, and we cut it 90 degrees first, and then we flipped it over and cut it 45 degrees to achieve that kind of look. Anthony Godfrey:Wow, that is really cool. And I can see that you have carefully arranged the salmon here. That is really nicely constructed. Keyon:Yeah, so. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me about that design. Keyon:We're struggling with the salmon a lot, especially the rice because it's kind of difficult to shape the rice to where how it looks good. Anthony Godfrey:It looks great right now. Keyon:We decided to put it a little well for the sauce. And this salmon filet is actually a little small because it doesn't cover the sauce up there. Anthony Godfrey:I see. Keyon:And normally it covers it on top, but it's whatever. As you can see, a lot of our dishes were focused on bringing out the color of the dish instead of just like, you know. Anthony Godfrey:Yeah, the colors really do pop, and I even felt that in your description, like I could see what it looked like. Tell me about the latticework here. Keyon:So she actually just melted some white chocolate and put some coconut oil in it. And as that melted, she put it back into the cooler. No, she drizzled it just with a spoon. So it was just a spoon. Anthony Godfrey:Wow, it looks really cool and the coconut oil made the difference that it could kind of keep shape like that. Keyon:Yeah, it looks really great and it tastes amazing. Anthony Godfrey:And it tastes really good. Well, I'll have to take your word for it. I can't disturb that. Is that a lime rind? Keyon:Yeah, that's a lime rind. So that was actually to give some of that lime flavor to the sorbet. I didn't taste it personally, but I think it tastes pretty good. I think the dessert probably tastes the best because there's so many combinations of flavors throughout the dessert, but everything works really well together. And the texture of the coldness of the dessert makes it so good. I just love it. Anthony Godfrey:Well, everyone's probably heard of every ingredient here. It's how you combine them in a unique collection of flavors and colors that can really make something unique. Keyon:Actually, our dessert right here is $17, and our salmon is $12 because we have vanilla bean inside our cream cheese. Anthony Godfrey:Dessert’s more expensive. That would make it very enticing. Like, ooh, why is the dessert more expensive than the entree? I must know. Keyon:It tastes so good. Anthony Godfrey:Yeah, good. So it's the vanilla bean that makes it expensive? Keyon:Yeah, it's in the cream cheese right there. Anthony Godfrey:Oh, yeah. Very nice. Let's take a look at the next one. Okay. Where's that strawberry you diced up? Grant Ashby:The strawberry brunoise is right on top. Anthony Godfrey:Oh, the brunoise. Grant Ashby:You can see those finely diced ones mixed in with the pistachios. Anthony Godfrey:With little dots of-- is that strawberry puree? Grant Ashby:Strawberry coulis. Anthony Godfrey:Coulis. Grant Ashby:Yes. Anthony Godfrey:Oh, I should have known. Wow, this all looks so nicely arranged. And that petit filet is something that I would love to sink my teeth into. Grant Ashby:Yes. Anthony Godfrey:What did you do to the carrots to make them look actually appetizing? Grant Ashby:Yeah, so we peeled them and we made sure they were all relatively the same size as possible and then we boiled them to cook them. And then when we were toasting and cooking our zucchini, we actually put them in a pan fry. And so they are pan-fried on the outside and then they're marinated in a gochujang sauce. Anthony Godfrey:Wow. It looks, they look delicious. They're glistening there on the plate. Are they heirloom carrots or are they Harmon's carrots? Grant Ashby:They're just normal carrots. They're fine and they're rainbow carrots. They just, with the sauce, it loses the color a little bit. Anthony Godfrey:Well, no, it looks fantastic. And let's look at the final dish here. Mackenna York:Yes. So these are definitely our ugly plates. I mean, our salad fell apart, but it's supposed to be, it's supposed to be in like a really tight circle. Anthony Godfrey:I mean, there's some structural issues sometimes with this sort of plating, I guess. Mackenna York:But, so this is our vanilla bourbon glaze. Anthony Godfrey:This still looks great. Mackenna York:Thank you. Anthony Godfrey:If you hadn't told me it had collapsed, I would think it was exactly as it should be. Tell me about the dessert here. I love the design there. Mackenna York:So this is our chocolate mousse piped around with our strawberry cream. And then this is strawberry curd and under the chocolate mousse on top of the tarte, there's more strawberry curd under there. Anthony Godfrey:It actually looks like calligraphy there on the plate almost. It's, that is a lot of delicate drawing and larger dots that get a little bit smaller along to kind of accent that. It looks delicious and it looks gorgeous all at the same time. Makenna York:Thank you. Anthony Godfrey:If anyone was served any of these dishes, they would take pictures first for sure and then finally decide to eat. That looks so good. Makenna York:Thank you. Anthony Godfrey:Well, that is very impressive. Tell me about what it's like being in this ProStart program. What do you like most about being in these classes? Ashlee Brixley:It's a sense of community. It's definitely a sense of home. But on top of that, it really just advances your techniques. I wasn't gonna be going into culinary until about a year ago. So I've truly started square one with this program and now I'm here competing with the best in my class. Mackenna York:I think it really just brings everybody together and it puts you in like a field if you weren't sure if you were interested in culinary, like she wasn't sure. It really shows you all of the fun that it can be, all of the excitement that you can have in it. Keyon:I just like being here and talking to people 'cause in most classes you have to keep your mouth shut but I just love talking to people so much. And in this class, it's just a lot of communication and you have time to talk between your networks and everything so. Anthony Godfrey:Lots of interaction, love it. Grant Ashby:I think the teamwork comes into a big play because it really, even though most classes do involve it, it's more of a smaller amount of people. So you get to really personally connect with everybody and you work as a team and you can create these dishes like we all did today. It's just something cool to s…

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Episode 288: Riverton High School Club Inspires Teamwork & Storytelling Mar 13, 2025

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It is a fast-growing club at Riverton High School where students are using their imagination, relying on teamwork, and growing their storytelling skills in a unique way. On this episode of the Supercast, we meet members of the Dungeons and Dragons Club at Riverton High. It’s a club where students are bonding over their love of exploring dungeons, defeating dragons, and finding treasure in a fantasy world where critical thinking and creative minds are key to success. Audio Transcription Anthony Godfrey:What do you guys love about playing D&D? Ethan Sabin:I just love the versatility of it. It can help you have friends that can do these kinds of things with you...That can build friendships anyway. Anthony Godfrey:Kind of the opposite of being on your phone. Shadow Tillman:I mean, it's more stimulating to your brain. There's a lot of creativity and improv in it. [Music] Anthony Godfrey:Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a fast-growing club at Riverton High School where students are using their imagination, relying on teamwork and increasing their storytelling skills in a unique way. On this episode of the Supercast, we meet members of the Dungeons & Dragons Club at Riverton High. It's a club where students are bonding over their love of exploring fantasy worlds, defeating evil creatures and finding treasure in a game where critical thinking and creative minds are key to success. [Music] We're here at Riverton High School, after school, talking with members of the Dungeons & Dragons Club here. Introduce yourselves and tell me a little bit about yourself. Ethan Sabin:So I'm Ethan Sabin. I'm the president of the D&D Club here at Riverton High School. I don't know. I've been playing D&D for about a decade. Shadow Tillman:I'm Shadow Tillman. I'm also a member of D&D Club. I haven't been playing as long as he has, but it's still quite a while. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me about the origins of the D&D Club. Has it been around for a while or when did it start? Ethan Sabin:So I'd say that the D&D Club, as far as I know, it's been going on for a little while. However, the previous teacher that was supporting the club recently left and moved to, I believe, a job in BYU-Idaho, and so we had to find a new advisor. And it's almost like it restarted the club, but it's been going for a little while. Anthony Godfrey:And for those who don't know about Dungeons & Dragons, explain what a role-playing game is and what Dungeons & Dragons involves specifically. Ethan Sabin:So D&D is a tabletop role-playing game where basically you create your own character and it's very customizable from several different specifications and stuff. You play your character running through a story, and you have a character or a person known as the Dungeon Master that writes the story and that controls fate, and runs you through the story using the character you've created. Anthony Godfrey:So they create the adventure and then they guide you through the adventure and one of the ways that fate or luck come into play is by using dice. So tell me the role that dice play, so to speak, in Dungeons & Dragons. Ethan Sabin:Dice, they're definitely a major role of D&D. You use them to create your abilities, scores, and the things that you use to determine how your character is what they are. And then you can also use them any time that you want to make an ability check. So for example, any time you're trying to track someone or scale a wall or shoot a bow, for example, you'd make an attack roll or a different roll with one of the dice and if you roll low, you usually fail. If you roll high, then you might succeed. Anthony Godfrey:And if you are a certain type of character, then you have certain abilities that make it more likely that you'll be successful trying something. Ethan Sabin:For example, a fighter would be better at using a bow or sword than, say, a wizard would. And so because they're proficient in these items, they gain pluses to their rolls. So for example, if they rolled a 17, then they might have a plus 3 and so it would be a 20 rather than just a 17. Anthony Godfrey:So the plus 3 means because you're who you are, whatever damage you do, we're going to add to it just on the basis of the fact that you're a fighter as opposed to a wizard. Ethan Sabin:Yeah. Anthony Godfrey:Okay, what you just described... Oh, Shadow, go ahead. Shadow Tillman:Additionally, those modifiers are decided by the rolls that you get at the beginning when you first make your character. So you might be like a fighter who's skilled at fighting but about nothing else. Anthony Godfrey:And I think that's an important point, Shadow, is that you don't just get to decide at the beginning, "Well, I'm really good at this, and I'm really good at that, and I'm good at everything." You have to roll when you're creating the character to determine exactly what your strengths are. Is that still correct? Shadow Tillman:Yes. Ethan Sabin:I think that there are a little bit of things that you can choose. So for example, when you're creating a character, you can choose what class you want to be, which is like the specialization, and then you can also choose which skills you're proficient in. So there is some choice to it, but there are other things that you have to work for. Anthony Godfrey:Just give me a general description of the club. I know there are lots of clubs here at Riverton. How many people are there? What are the officers and how often do you meet? Ethan Sabin:So our club is one of the larger clubs at the school. We meet every single week on Mondays from 2.30 to 4. Our club has around 50 members. Not everyone comes every week and some of the players do it on different days, but we've got around 37 or so active members. And in terms of leadership roles, it's really just the president, and then we have the vice president this year. And it's an election basically at the beginning of the school year. Anthony Godfrey:What do you guys love about playing D&D? Ethan Sabin:I just love the versatility of it. Obviously, it's fun to play, but then it can also help you have friends that can do these kinds of things with you, or that can build friendships anyway. And then you can also create stories. You can go through those stories with your friends. You can create your own character and stuff from scratch. Anthony Godfrey:How about you Shadow?Shadow Tillman:I would say that there's a lot of creativity and improv in it. So that there's never a time where you're feeling bored or left out. Everyone's involved, or at least everyone's supposed to be. Anthony Godfrey:There are lots of worries these days about people not, and youth in particular, not interacting with each other, being on their phones, being on screens. This seems like a really good antidote to that. It's in person, there's a great connection with each other, high creativity, and like you said, Shadow, everyone's involved, everyone has a chance to interact. Would you agree that this is kind of the opposite of being on your phone? Ethan Sabin:For sure. It's more stimulating to your brain. You actually have to do some sort of problem-solving stuff. You have to be creative on some of the things that you have to do. Shadow Tillman:There's a lot of problems that will come up, and your goal is to solve those problems. So there's a lot of puzzle-solving and things that will actually get you to think. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me about the club. Does it make it easier to find people to play Dungeons and Dragons with, and do you have closer friendships as a result? Ethan Sabin:I think that in some ways it's easier to do it in a club, because when you're in a club, you basically make time to do it at a certain time every single week, and so it's more in a set time, and it makes it happen. Whereas if you sometimes just do it at your home with your friends just whenever you can, it generally gets put on the back burner and isn't really something that happens all that much. Shadow Tillman:Also, the club makes it a lot easier to find a group, at least the way Ethan did it the first day, made it easier. Anthony Godfrey:What you just described is exactly what everyone is supposed to do, and that set aside scheduled time to really do things that connect you with other people and really give you joy in your week. So I love that you've got this club going and that you found another advisor. Student:Good, that's 20. Student:10. You get a 10. Anthony Godfrey:So we're talking now with Mac, who is the advisor for Dungeons and Dragons. Tell me, how did they drag you into doing this? Mac Hansen:I don't know. Before this, I didn't really play Dungeons and Dragons. I listened to a lot of podcasts and stuff about it, mostly for the comedy of it all, and they somehow sensed that I'm a super nerd, and so they said, "Hey, we think you would have fun doing this." I was like, "Insulting, but yes, I would. Let's do it." Anthony Godfrey:Nerd-recognized nerd, you know? Mac Hansen:That's exactly what happened. Well, it's funny because I had three different groups, separate from each other, without knowing that each other were coming to talk to me, come to ask if I would do it. Anthony Godfrey:So you give off nerd energy in ways you didn't even realize. Mac Hansen:Apparently yeah. I don't even try. Anthony Godfrey:Well, I love that you're helping support them. What have you noticed in the interactions? What did they seem to be getting out of being part of the D&D club? Mac Hansen:A chance to be more social with people within similar interests. It's the same as what some kids get for football or basketball. They're playing a game together with people who have the same interests, and so they come and they get in their separate groups and they play their campaign for an hour and a half, and they're just having a good time. Anthony Godfrey:I think it's fantastic, and I love the level of creativity, the personal interaction, and really the engagement that pulls away from a lot of other things that try to get our attention these days. Mac Hansen:I play too. When I'm here, I'm not just sitting on the side. I'm in Ethan's campaign. I told him, "If I'm going to be there, I'm going to play." Anthony Godfrey:I love that. Mac Hansen:We're all just interacting and the phones are away, which is awesome, the computers are away, and we just have dice and a book. Anthony Godfrey:Thank you for providing this for students. I think it's really fantastic. Mac Hansen:It's provided entertainment for me as well. Stay with us. When we come back more with the Riverton High School Dungeons & Dragons Club. Never miss an episode of The Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org. Break:In Jordan School District, we like to support students in and outside the classroom along with their families. That's where the Jordan Family Education Center comes in, offering support services and a wide variety of classes for students and their families, free of charge. You can take a class called Blues Busters for children feeling sad or worried. Just Breathe is a class that helps students reduce stress. Or how about a class that supports parents in helping their children make and keep good friends. There are also support groups and free counseling, all provided by Jordan School District school psychologists, counselors, and school psychology interns. To find out how you can benefit from free family support services offered by the Jordan Family Education Center, call 801-565-7442 or visit guidance.jordandistrict.org. Anthony Godfrey:You have a character sheet here. Oh, okay. Just as you take this out and unfold it, this honestly reminds me of the old character sheets. It really does. This is not far off. Okay, let's take a look. Let's take a look. So, talk me through this character. Whose character is this? What's the name? Ethan Sabin:So, one of my characters is running an artificer, a fairy, artificer for one of my campaigns that I'm running on Thursday. So, not for the club, but for something else. Anthony Godfrey:So, fairy is the race? Ethan Sabin:Fairy is the race– Anthony Godfrey:Artificer is? Ethan Sabin:Artificer is the class. Anthony Godfrey:Okay, and what does that mean if they're an artificer? Ethan Sabin:So, an artificer is basically someone who imbues item with magic to just create magical items, and so they have a lot of versatility because of the different abilities that they can give to these items. And they're also spellcasters, so they can cast a lot of spells along with the magic that they're also using. Anthony Godfrey:Now, explain to me, Shadow, how alignment works. Tell me about alignment. It's interesting because lawful good, that combination, it's the same combination that was used back in the 1900s when I was playing D&D. And actually, back in the past, we used to think, "Oh, you know what? That person's kind of chaotic neutral." Anyway, in real life, sometimes you would assign alignment to people. Tell me about alignment. Describe how that works. Shadow Tillman:So, alignment is basically the way your character reacts to things. There's two parts of alignment. There's good and evil. So, good and evil is pretty self-explanatory. And then, between all of those, there's neutral, where it doesn't really affect things all that much. Basically, you follow what you believe in for most neutral things, or if you're lawful neutral, you're going to follow the law, but not really lean towards good or evil. Anthony Godfrey:So, it's a combination of either lawful or chaotic and good or evil, right? Ethan Sabin:Yeah, so there's lawful neutral. Anthony Godfrey:And then, neutral is thrown in there as well, just in case. Ethan Sabin:Yeah, so there's lawful neutral, chaotic, then good neutral, evil. And so, you can have combinations such as chaotic good, which might mean you do whatever it takes for the good. Whereas, you might have one like a chaotic evil, which is—or sorry— chaotic evil, where it's just you want to cause chaos and destruction. You might have something like lawful evil, which is kind of like politicians, really, where they're like saying within the laws for the most part, but not for good reasons. Anthony Godfrey:I'm going to leave that as your quote. But there is a tendency when you learn about these alignments to think about people in real life and think, "Are you chaotic neutral or chaotic good?" So, yeah, that's very interesting that it has stayed the same all these years. Pulling dice out of the case that is carefully organized with four-sided, eight-sided, six-sided—no, let's see. Ethan Sabin:Yeah, that's correct. Anthony Godfrey:Yeah, right, six-sided, and then is that 12-sided? Ethan Sabin:So, there's two 10-sided dice, and they're— So, one of them is just the 10-sided dice, which has one through 10. And then there's another one that has 10 through 100 in sets of 10s, so like 10, 20, 30. Anthony Godfrey:So, if you're doing a percentage. Ethan Sabin:So, percentage, yeah. Ethan Sabin:So, when you roll it that way, you could get—if you roll both of them together, you might get like 83 or 27 or numbers like that. Anthony Godfrey:So, one is the 10s and one is…

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Episode 287: Compassionate Teacher Impacting Life of Student Battling Cancer Mar 06, 2025

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It is a beautiful story of one teacher’s true love for her students …how her big heart is not only impacting lives, but changing them. On this episode of the Supercast, we visit Megan Dotson’s third grade class at Antelope Canyon Elementary School. Find out what Ms. Dotson is doing to support one of her beloved students battling cancer. Hear how her caring heart is lifting not just Lucas, who has leukemia, but the entire class in the process. Audio Transcription Megan Dotson:We found out that one of our little family members wasn't going to be able to come with us anymore. I immediately started just surfing the internet. Anthony Godfrey:It's a way to still feel like he’s somehow a part of things. Marcela:Oh, absolutely. Anthony Godfrey:Why do you think they want to call you a superhero? Lucas:Because I’m going through something so hard. Marcela:We didn't ask her to prepare plans. We didn't ask her to do anything. We just said, "Hey, he relapsed." [Music] Anthony Godfrey:Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. We all know that teachers care deeply for their students. On this episode of the Supercast, we visit Megan Dotson's third grade class at Antelope Canyon Elementary School to find out what she is doing to support one of her beloved students battling cancer. Hear how her caring heart is lifting not just Lucas, who has leukemia, but the entire class in the process. She launched the “Smile Like Lucas” campaign and is providing opportunities for students that they will never forget. [Music] We're at Antelope Canyon today talking with Lucas. Lucas, thanks for taking a few minutes to talk with me. I see “Smile Like Lucas” everywhere I look. I see shirts. I see sweatshirts. I see it written up on the whiteboard. Why are we smiling like Lucas today? Lucas:We just invented it and I really liked the idea. Even the idea of a monkey in the chair. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me about the monkey in the chair. Lucas:It came with a book, and it shows whenever you're not there, the monkey will be there, and it will be like wearing the exact same outfit as you. Except it will be wearing its own shirt, I think. It came with its own shirt, except we put on a little one like me. Anthony Godfrey:So is the monkey wearing a “Smile Like Lucas” shirt? And for those listening who don't know, why can't you be here sometimes? Lucas:Because I have hospital appointments and I have to stay in the hospital. And sometimes I might have to stay in there for maybe a month. Anthony Godfrey:I hear that you really love school. Is that right? What do you love most about school? Lucas:Spending time with the class and Miss Dotson. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me about your teacher. What has your teacher done that has made it such a great place to be? Lucas:We made Lucas Friday, the monkey in the chair. Well, really everything. Anthony Godfrey:What's Lucas Friday? Lucas:Lucas Friday. It's where everybody wears their “Smile like Lucas” shirt and then they come to school with it. Unless if your school doesn't do it. So then they come and it's short day so we do mostly fun things. Anthony Godfrey:Mostly fun things. And have you noticed that people smile like Lucas, like the shirt says? Do they? So I see your t-shirt and the sweatshirt and lots of other things as I walk into school that says “Smile Like Lucas” and it's got a big smile with lots of teeth and the blue glasses. Are the blue glasses kind of how people know you? Have you had the blue glasses for a long time? Lucas:There's even a ribbon. Anthony Godfrey:Oh yes, look at the orange ribbon. I didn't see the orange ribbon. What does the orange ribbon mean? Lucas:It's the symbol of my leukemia. Anthony Godfrey:So it's a symbol of your leukemia. And because of the leukemia you have to miss class sometimes, right? Hospital visits, doctor visits, and how long have you had to be out before? Lucas;Two weeks. Anthony Godfrey:Two weeks? Lucas:One time I had to be out for a pretty long time. I don't remember how long but it was more than a month. Anthony Godfrey:And there's a monkey that takes your place. Is that right? And his name is? Lucas:George. Anthony Godfrey:George. Is he curious at all? Okay, good. I thought he might be. We're talking now with Lucas' mom, Marcela. Tell us a little bit about what the support from the school has meant. Marcela:It's been incredible. So he has always been a very social kid. He thrives in having those interactions with his friends. And when he first was diagnosed, he was out of school for about ten and a half months. We did a lot of online classes, which were helpful, but we could see that his emotional well-being wasn't like, it wasn't being taken care of as well as we wanted it to be. It wasn't until he came back, he came into third grade, and we got Miss Dotson involved, and we had the nurse and the counselor, and they were all really helping him thrive because he would say that he was very lonely even when he was here. He would come out to Miss Dotson and give her a hug and say, "I'm just really lonely." And then all of these other activities that we're having, the monkey, the pictures, the letters that he gets every week. I mean we get pictures every day, "Hey, we're wearing his shirt today. It's not Lucas Friday but we're wearing it." And it makes him feel like people are there. Even if he can't see them and he can't hang out with them, people are there for him. And it's made a huge impact on his well-being emotionally. The other thing that I will say is that we notice that when he is in a good mood or in a good emotional state, he recovers from the chemo or the procedures a lot quicker than when he's sad or feeling a little bit depressed. So it's there. We see it. We see it every day. Anthony Godfrey:So it lifts his spirits, but it also improves the medical outcomes and his physical health. Marcela:Absolutely. Anthony Godfrey:When you said the diagnosis was about how long ago? Marcela:So he was first diagnosed in June of 2023, and then he relapsed and they found it in January of 2025. Anthony Godfrey:The relapse is very recent. Marcela:Yeah. January 6th. Anthony Godfrey:Is that when all of the super Lucas and the “Smile like Lucas” started out? Marcela:Yeah. There were a lot of things that were happening before, but the relapse was like when we, it was like a lot more because we knew his treatment last time allowed for him to somehow interact here and there. Not very often. It would go weeks before he could see people. But this time around, he's heading in for a bone marrow transplant. He's going to have radiation which he didn't have before, and the chemotherapy that he'll be given will be very, very harsh. So he will actually have to be out of school for a full year and not just out of school like we'll have to fully quarantine. His immune system will not be back to normal for at least two years and any little virus could kill him. So we have to take a lot of measures. So I think once we found out how serious this relapse was, that's when we're like we need to be there for him. We need to help him and he has handled it like a champ because he knows he has an army. Anthony Godfrey:Yeah. It's pretty remarkable to see all of the support and is today the last day before he prepares for all of that. Marcela:Yes. So today will be the last day he is at school because tomorrow he has a procedure to change his port. He has an internal so it's an inserted port on his chest, but they need a different line for the bone marrow transplant. So he gets that tomorrow. So he'll be out all day and then he starts cranial radiation on Wednesday and he'll be admitted to the hospital on Friday. Anthony Godfrey:We'll be wishing him the very best. Marcela:Thank you. We appreciate that. Anthony Godfrey:George the monkey will have his work cut out for him. Marcela:Absolutely. We love getting the pictures of George the monkey playing the parachute, or going to recess, or at lunch. He loves it. Anthony Godfrey:Well. Lucas:That's how I put him in the parachute and you guys launched him. I tried to catch him but he would just keep going into the parachute. He's like “No, I'm not going anywhere”. Megan Dotson:He's talking about a time that we took the monkey to PE and put him in the middle of like the traditional school parachute and we launched him in the air and he says he just doesn't feel really right about launching George into the air like that. Anthony Godfrey:Well. Lucas:I'm like, doesn’t that hurt? Marcela:Would you like to be launched? Anthony Godfrey:You know I'm not surprised that you're looking out for George, making sure that he's okay too. Does it make you as a family feel more connected to the school, getting the pictures of George? I'm sure that for Lucas it's a way to still feel like he's somehow a part of things. Marcela:Oh absolutely. I think obviously he's missing out on part of it, right? He's not here, but being able to see what the class is up to when he's not, because he's– One thing that I love about Ms. Dotson is we didn't ask her to prepare a plan. We didn't ask her to do anything. We just said, “Hey, he relapsed,” and that was a huge burden that she lifted. The fact that we didn't have to say “Hey, is there any way we can set up Zoom calls” or think about how we were going to keep him up to speed with school. She did it all. She gave us a schedule, and she said “I'm going to have it on whether he joins or not. It'll be on. If he doesn't feel well, that's fine, we'll catch him up.” And that was just as a family, we were worrying about all of these other things that we had to do. His medication, finding a donor, all of it, and to not have to worry about that was just incredible. So he joins the calls, but then what he considers the fun, like the not school stuff, he doesn't get to be part of that, so getting the pictures of the monkey and the letters that describe all those things, that's just he he loves it. He absolutely loves it. Anthony Godfrey:I think it's a great way to keep you connected and you know that people are thinking about you when you're not here. Stay with us when we come back more with Ms. Dotson and Lucas. Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org. Break:Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect. Anthony Godfrey:Ms. Dotson, tell me about what this has been like for you this year. Megan Dotson:I feel like my kids mean a lot in this room to me. They're a big deal. Each one of them are a really big deal, and when we found out that one of our little family members wasn't going to be able to come with us anymore, I immediately started just surfing the internet of like what have other teachers, there's got to be another teacher out there doing this. So I just started looking and this foundation came up and I reached out to Marci and I was like “Hey, what do you think about this?” I needed some more information from her about his case and stuff like that to get it sent to us, and they sent it, and we found really good ways and putting him in our room. Honestly it feels whole again. We're all back together for at least reading and math, and those are our important parts of the day, and the biggest pieces, and he's here with us when he can be. And hearing his voice. He ends up being over the loudspeaker and hearing his voice is so wonderful. He'd been out a couple of days before he got to be back on Zoom with us and they all, I wish I could have known that he was going to speak to show their reaction. There's the biggest smiles in this room because that's what he is to us. Anthony Godfrey:So you found the idea for having George on the internet, but you took a lot of initiative to leap into action. Tell me what sparked that for you. Megan Dotson:I just knew that we cheer each other on a lot here. My biggest thing is “Can we give so and so a big ‘Oh yeah’” and they all shout ‘oh yeah’ in class pretty often. I needed a way for him to hear his ‘oh yeah’ pretty often because I knew that this wasn't going to be easy. I knew that there was going to be a lot that he was going to do this time. There's a member in our class that I had heard a rumor that her aunt did t-shirts, and I was like, you know what? I got to figure it out. I sat down to my trusty computer and I came up and I was like, oh, his blue glasses, and then his smile is something that lights up our room so much every day. And I sent Marci the idea and I was like “Oh my, does this fit him? Is this kind of the message we want?” And she's like “Yeah” and so I decided to make a t-shirt for each of the kids in this room to show their support. Not only that, but in his brother's class and his little sister's class they all have the same shirt because they need an army too, not just his class. Anthony Godfrey:That’s great. Well, let me give you a big “Oh yeah” for jumping in and doing that. I think that's really tremendous. What do you think the other students in this class and other classes have learned from this experience of really supporting Lucas? Megan Dotson:I think I've watched the empathy and each of these little kids grow by a million and a half. Over conferences just the last couple of days, having the parents come in and like, oh my, they just talk about it all the time, how excited they are for Lucas Friday or how they're going to grab an extra of this or whatever at home to put in his mailbox or things like that. Just watching them care for someone else has been really really cool. And then come up with ideas about how we’re doing to, or what we’re going to say, or what they'd like to do to show him love. I encourage that a lot in this room, but I have watched it grow tremendously in the last little bit. Anthony Godfrey:It sounds like you had created a classroom that was very supportive long before you knew that Lucas was going to be in this situation. That gave you a lot of a lot of momentum to build on instead of just starting out of nowhere like “Oh wait a minute, we're going to focus on each other for a moment.” Megan Dotson:Yeah, I do. I mean, my biggest thing in here and I always, I usually cry at the beginning of the year when I tell them. But I always tell them how important kindness is to my heart. I never want someone to leave this room feeling like they don't matter, that they don't have anyone. I always say that when you get to middle school and you're sitting at the lunch table alone I want you to see someone else that's from Miss Dotson’s class in third grade and like “Hey, I could go sit with them like they were part of my family I know that they'll have me” because we are a family in here. Anthony Godfrey:That's remarkable and this is exactly the type of education we're hoping that students receive. One where they feel a part of things, supported, and they learn to support each other as well. You'…

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Episode 286: Students Building Bright Careers in Construction Trades Program Feb 27, 2025

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They are nailing it in a unique class designed to get students career ready in the construction trades industry. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to JATC South where it is all hands-on deck as high school juniors and seniors build a “tiny home,” on site, as part of a new Construction Trades class. How are students measuring up? Let’s find out. Audio Transcription Ryan Clayton:My goal for the program is that it's all student run from management to building and I'm just here as an advisor. Anthony Godfrey:Talk about meaningful learning. It's a big deal. It's an outcome that helps improve people's lives. Ryan Clayton:It's an amazing opportunity to put on your resume. You are actually taking somebody out of homelessness by building this house for them. [Music] Anthony Godfrey:Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. These students are nailing it in a unique class designed to prepare them to be career ready in the construction trades industry. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to JATC South where it is all hands on deck as high school juniors and seniors build a tiny home on site as part of a new construction trades class. [Music] We're here at JATC South outside watching a new class and talking with a new instructor. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about this class. Ryan Clayton:Yeah, so I'm Ryan Clayton. I'm coming from industry. I own my own construction business. And what this program is is basically taking what you would see in industry and bringing it into our high school. So we are a construction crew here and currently we're building a house for a homeless community in Salt Lake City. It's all completely built by high schoolers. I mean I pitch in here and there to help with something, but 95% of the work is done by our students. All the way from the foundation, they put our center blocks down to raise it up and put our floor in, framing it. At some point we'll get to the point where they're going to do the siding on it, they'll do the flooring, the walls, everything. Anthony Godfrey:So this is construction management, so they're not only learning the actual construction, but they're also learning how to oversee a project and make it all fit together. Ryan Clayton:Correct, yeah. So this year we've kind of combined a trades class and a management class. Next year we'll do a trades class that will focus more on the trades, learning the trades. And we're doing a separate management class that will be managing those trades classes. So they're going to get that managing experience. So what you would see is what a superintendent would do or what a foreman would do or a project manager. So my goal for the program is that it’s all student run from management to building and I'm just here as an advisor. Anthony Godfrey:And this really gets on two needs in the industry, and you know better than anyone. I've heard that the need is not just for those who have the skills and the trades, but those who can lead and manage projects, as well, who also have those skills and the knowledge of construction. Ryan Clayton:Yeah, so for sure one of the biggest deficits we have in construction is management positions, and especially managers who know the skills. Because you can have someone with an MBA come in, a business major has all this business experience, but has no construction experience, and it's really hard for them to manage. So what we need is individuals who have that construction knowledge but can also manage a team. So this strikes a good balance between that and prepping those students for it. Anthony Godfrey:I know that not only is there an industry need, but there's also been a high interest from students in being able to participate in a program like this. Tell me about the enthusiasm you've seen from students coming in. I have, honestly, I've seen more enthusiasm from parents. Parents have been open house, parrot-tater conferences, they just keep coming, “Oh my gosh, I can't believe you guys are finally starting this program. This is awesome. This is exactly what my student needs.” And the students are, some of them are a little apprehensive coming in, some of them are really excited, but man once they get going they've really been loving the program. Attendance for me has never been an issue. They want to be here, they want to be working. Anthony Godfrey:So when you come out of industry and you meet these students, it's got to be exciting to see that there are some great kids coming into the workforce and adding to the field. Ryan Clayton:Oh yeah, you'd be surprised how many general contractors from industry come and want me to hand-pick my students for them because it's so hard to find really good quality labor. Because these kids are going to get scooped up right away. I mean, for them to even just take the initiative of taking a class like this in high school is already going to put them so many steps ahead of other applicants for construction jobs that they're not going to have any issues finding jobs right after high school. Good, good management or trade jobs, whatever they want to do. Anthony Godfrey:What advice do you have for parents or students who are considering taking either construction management or the construction course? Ryan Clayton:My first suggestion would be if you're a junior, take my trades class first. Learn the process, learn what the trades do, and then as a senior take my management class. It's kind of my advanced class. That would be my first advice. My second one would be probably come prepared to be cold. Anthony Godfrey:Come prepared to be cold. We are standing outside. You know, this suit jacket is very warm, but I am a little bit cold. Ryan Clayton:You can ask my students, that blizzard came in on Thursday and we were out here working on that shed over there in the blizzard. Anthony Godfrey:That's real world experience there. Ryan Clayton:Yes, we finally shut down once it started really hitting us hard, but we work in pretty tough weather and school is during, mostly during the winter. They're off during the summer when it's the nicest time to do construction. Anthony Godfrey:So are they going to be looking for summer jobs that they're better qualified for, even earlier than graduation? Ryan Clayton:Yeah, so I have some of my juniors are actually, some of my juniors are doing apprenticeships. Hunt Electric, for example, does a great summer apprenticeship for high schoolers. A lot of these kids come from construction families, so a lot of them will go work for their dads or their moms in some specific construction industry. Anthony Godfrey:And those are the moms who are thrilled to have them in this program Ryan Clayton:Moms and dads, who are thrilled to, well, and it's those parents who want to expose their– because some of these kids have been doing, you know, carpentry or concrete their whole lives. And their parents want them to come in here and learn the other trades, because it's so important to see the big picture, see the whole process of construction. Anthony Godfrey:That's where the management can come in too, where we have a broad experience, better able to manage those projects that you're hiring and working with. Now let's talk about the product. Let's talk about the, it would be called a tiny home, is that right? Ryan Clayton:Yeah, so we, what we did is we started with these sheds that you see on the other side, which are just backyard, small backyard sheds that you would see like a tough shed from Home Depot. Anthony Godfrey:Right. Ryan Clayton:And that's kind of our practice because this, what we're building here is going to be inspected. It's permitted. You know, Salt Lake City is going to come out and inspect that we build this correctly. So I want them to make their mistakes on our sheds before they make a mistake on this. And we, and not to say we've made mistakes on this. We've actually torn down three walls and rebuilt them because we built them wrong. Anthony Godfrey:That's how learning happens. Ryan Clayton:But yeah, so we built those sheds that we're going to sell and help fund more sheds next year. And then this one is through a program called “The Other Side”. They have all kinds of programs. They have their Other Side Moving Company. They have their Other Side Boutique. Anthony Godfrey:I heard a presentation from someone who's closely involved with that organization. It's pretty impressive. Ryan Clayton:It's pretty impressive. So they started "The Other Side Village" and it's a village that they're building these tiny houses from all kinds of different programs. Salt Lake Community College is building several and we're building one. The really cool thing about this program is that they provide all the funding for it. So they buy all of our materials for us. We don't have to try to allocate budget for this. I just put an order into Home Depot through their account. They approve it and then they send us the materials. That's the coolest part is that they're getting this experience and we are able to do a high quality thing like this without having to find the funds for it. Anthony Godfrey:Talk about meaningful learning. This is a big deal. And it's an outcome that helps improve people's lives. Ryan Clayton:Well, and one of my students today was saying, oh, you're just using us for free labor. And I was like, no, this is an amazing opportunity to put on your resume. You are actually taking somebody out of homelessness by building this house for them. Anthony Godfrey:Amazing. So I see all of the piles of lumber and tools and equipment and I can smell the sawdust. There's the sound of the blades and things going on. We've got a new portable here that is super sized, that we bought from another district that has all the tools and everything through there. In fact, as we talk, let's walk through that. Stay with us when we come back more with the students who are building a tiny home on the campus of JATC South. [Music] Never miss an episode of The Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org. [Music] Break:In Jordan School District we never want a student to go hungry, without food, warm clothing, or school supplies. Hi, I'm Mike Haynes, director of the Jordan Education Foundation. If you're looking for opportunities to help students and teachers in our schools, we invite you to join us. The Jordan Education Foundation works with generous community partners, volunteer groups, and amazing people to provide classroom grants for teachers, food and clothing to fill Principal's Pantries for students. And together we recognize outstanding educators in every single school every year. If you want to connect with an amazing community helping to fuel success in Jordan School District, get involved or donate by visiting our website at jordaneducationfoundation.org. That's jordaneducationfoundation.org. We hope to hear from you soon! [Music] Ryan Clayton:Either way. Anthony Godfrey:We've been outside and we just stepped into the lab. This is a lab that we bought along with some equipment from another district, and I haven't been in it since it's been completed. It looks like a really nice workspace. Is this working out for you? Ryan Clayton:Oh, yeah. I am super grateful that the original plan was to have us just in a regular classroom up at North Campus. After learning the scope of what this program needed to be, I am incredibly grateful that the district was able to secure this building and give us the space that we needed and give us the space that we need to do big projects like this. Anthony Godfrey:Yeah. So with all of this equipment and this space, and the things that you're building, Salt Lake City is coming to do the permit inspection before you move that home into Salt Lake City. You're operating, I understand, as a construction company right now. Ryan Clayton:Yeah, so at the beginning of the school year, we were a little delayed on getting our tiny home started because to pull a permit from a city, you have to be a licensed general contractor. Now, I have my personal license, but I'm not going to put that under my personal liability. So we had to get it set up with the district to become a construction company. So hanging in our classroom is our general contracting license. And as an acting general contractor and having my students as my students, but they're also considered my employees as well under the license, we are functioning as a construction company. We have all the rights and the abilities to build whatever a normal construction company, you know, Big D or Oakland. I mean, obviously we couldn't build on that scale, but... Anthony Godfrey:Well, this is thrilling. This is really exciting. It's something we've talked about for a long time. I'm really grateful that you've chosen to teach here. Tell me about what brought you here. Ryan Clayton:Well, my background is kind of interesting because I actually come from an architecture background. I have my degrees in architecture. That's what I wanted to go into was architecture. But then the pandemic happened and, you know, there was just a huge hiring freeze and it was super hard to get into any position. So I ended up falling back and working because the housing industry exploded during the pandemic. I ended up going and working for my dad's company during the pandemic. I mean, I grew up working for my dad's company, so I had tons of years of experience. But I like some of that office work, but I also like being outside working with my hands. This was the perfect balance of not only do I get to work with my students in the classroom and have that time, I get to work with them out there. This has been just a thrilling experience because I was always worried about having to, you know, classroom manage and discipline. But these students are just so great that I haven't had any issues, behavior issues. They come here willing to work. And I've really, you know, I don't think I could leave now. It's just been so enjoyable. Anthony Godfrey:I love hearing that. Well, we're thrilled to have you here. And thank you so much for getting this off the ground. It sounds like next year it's going to be even better. Ryan Clayton:I'm hoping so. Yeah. Anthony Godfrey:We're talking now with a couple of students who are in the construction management program. Go ahead and introduce yourselves. Mason:Hi, I'm Mason. I go to Mountain Ridge. I am a senior right now. Austin:Hi, I'm Austin. I go to Kings Peak High School and I am in 11th grade. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me a little bit about this program. What drew you to the construction management program? Mason:I guess I kind of just wanted to follow in my father's footsteps. He's been in the construction industry for most of his life. I figured I could learn something from myself here. So yeah. Anthony Godfrey:And what does he think of your being in this program? Mason:He's pretty proud of me. I maintain good grades and I really enjoy this class. So yeah. Anthony Godfrey:How about you? My uncle is my biggest inspiration. He's actually a general contractor. Austin:I really like working with my hands and power tools and building things. And I hope for one day to make this into a career. Anthony Godfrey:OK, awesome. What do you think? And Mason, is this what you want to do for work or are…

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Episode 285: Good Deeds Get Students Vinyl Records at West Hills Middle School Feb 20, 2025

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It is a fun way to recognize and reward good deeds at West Hills Middle School and it has become a big hit. On this episode of the Supercast, find out why a local vinyl record shop has established a presence with a “Pop Up” inside West Hills Middle, creating a nostalgic vibe and rewarding students for positive behavior. Audio Transcription Tim Brooks:I had a line that probably went 30 yards of kids waiting to just buy this one record from one little crate. David Sherwood:It's like he got me into records and got my whole family involved. Tim Brooks:They are highly sought after commerce because of things like this. Because of some of these other binders you see here like the coins. These are all things that kids can buy only with Positive Paws. [Music] Anthony Godfrey:Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host Superintendent Anthony Godfrey It is a fun way to recognize and reward good deeds at West Hills Middle School and it has become a big hit. On this episode of the Supercast find out why a local vinyl record shop has established a presence with a “Pop Up” shop inside West Hills Middle School, creating a nostalgic vibe and rewarding students for positive behavior. We're here with David Sherwood now to talk about your involvement with this store to help motivate students. Thanks for joining us. David Sherwood:It's good to be here. We've been longtime supporters and we're so excited to be here today. Anthony Godfrey:I think it's so cool that you're doing this now. I have been out. I have purchased records from you. David Sherwood:I know that you look familiar Anthony Godfrey:There are some 12-inch 80s singles that I was pretty excited to get at some of those Daybreak sales. It's amazing to me the collection of records that I found as I was crate digging. Going through those boxes and boxes of records. David Sherwood:I feel like there's something for everybody if you dig deep enough. Anthony Godfrey:There is, there absolutely is. Tell me about how you got involved and how you and the broader vinyl-loving community have been a part of this. David Sherwood:So I've been collecting records since I was a teenager, back before it was cool. But now, the past four years, have been doing this as a business. So during the pandemic, I was a travel agent and the pandemic just kind of wrecked us. So we're like, we need to do something to make money. We started selling records and the way we got involved in all this is my mom is actually a first-grade teacher in your school district. Anthony Godfrey:Wow, where does she teach? David Sherwood:Ridge View Elementary. She's a first-grade teacher. Anthony Godfrey:That's awesome David Sherwood:Linda Sherwood. Anthony Godfrey:That's our K-3 school now that just has those four grades. David Sherwood:And so the thing that got us started though was my mom actually a couple of years ago went through cancer. While going through this our group of record collectors rallied behind it and they wanted to do something to give back to the community. So it started with– we partnered with Primary Children's. We decided to donate and do some fundraisers for Primary Children's and then that evolved into we had extra records. We met Tim and he's like, you know, we've started this store in our school, it would be fun to put those records up for the kids. So that's kind of how all that came about. Anthony Godfrey:I love that. It's really exciting that the record-loving community and it's a great community. I've been part of a record-loving community for a very long time. But just the fact that you pulled other people from outside of the school that want to help and want to support and want to do something is really remarkable. I always say that, you know as the superintendent I'm supposed to be supportive of students. I'm supposed to be supportive of employees. But when people go out of their way to contribute and to really support students at being at their best that means the world. It's really a different kind of support that has a really, really big impact. David Sherwood:It's so funny that our group is so like– they are the most amazing people, kind-hearted. We actually had to hold them back because they wanted to donate more than we could handle. So we have to pace ourselves so Tim doesn't get overwhelmed here at the school. Anthony Godfrey:We love that. The exciting thing for me is that not only do students try to be at their best at school because of the motivations that you and the community have provided but also they start to love records and they connect with each other and that broader community as well. I think Tim is a perfect example of somebody who supports the music community David Sherwood:The reason I kind of got involved with Tim is I was one day at Costa Vida getting lunch. This girl behind the counter saw my Daybreak Record shirt on and she exclaimed loudly “Do you know Tim Brooks?” and I was like, this is so weird. How does she know me? She said “I bought records from the stores--the record store at the school” and she's like “He got me into records and got my whole family involved”. And she eventually came into our store in Sandy and ended up buying some records from us. Anthony Godfrey:Well, I love that and it does create a sense of community. The shirt you're wearing with the samurai, explain the logo to me here. David Sherwood:So part of what we did is we actually flew to Japan and sourced records from Japan. Anthony Godfrey:Wow. David Sherwood:So the records from Japan are higher quality and people were loving them here in the U.S. So we went to 55 record stores in Japan– Anthony Godfrey:Holy cow. David Sherwood:–and shipped back almost a whole pallet. You know the Opie? So yeah, I love that. Anthony Godfrey:So you shipped those pallets over– David Sherwood:And because everybody wants something that's not around. So people in the US want Japanese records people in Japan want U.S. records. It's kind of funny like that. Anthony Godfrey:Oh, I see. That's very clever. Well, you've you've you've really raised the I don't know awareness of vinyl and and the pleasures of vinyl. You opened a store recently in Sandy. Talk to us about that. David Sherwood:We're called Daybreak Records, but we're out in Sandy. So we got an opportunity out there we couldn't turn down. Partnering with a friend of mine out there who has a bookstore. So it's a combo book and record and then we also do our weekly online things on Facebook. So we do a live record auction and then a buy-it-now post. Anthony Godfrey:So where can people find the auction and the store? David Sherwood:So go to Daybreak Records on Facebook. It's a group. It's a lot of where our charity stuff is done, too so that's a fun one to join and then out in Sandy we have our store. It's in Union Square. Anthony Godfrey:Fantastic. Which brings us to this huge collection of records that you and and the group have donated in addition to our assistant principal here Tim Brooks. David Sherwood:I'm excited to be here. I can't wait for you guys to see the store. Anthony Godfrey:Now I have to tell you, the first record that caught my eye was not the very cool Beatles record. Not the very cool Taylor Swift record, but the K-Tel Disco Rocket two record set. Now I have bought K-Tel records from you. Yeah, I absolutely have. So 12 inch 80 singles, but I've also bought K-Tel records because these are the ones that I saw on TV that I thought if only I could afford the shipping and handling from Ronco to get this K-Tel record. David Sherwood:You should have done the penny deals they did back in the– Anthony Godfrey:I did! David Sherwood:You did? Anthony Godfrey:Yes. And then and then the $9 record or cassette showed up the next month and I thought “Oh, yeah I was supposed to cancel this What am I going to do with this Don Henley CD? I guess I'll listen to it. Hey, wait a minute. It's really good.” I said CD. It was a cassette I'm making myself sound younger than I am. But yeah, the thing about K-Tel records and greatest hits generally was for me growing up It was like it was basically a bargain. I was thinking how many hits can I get for $10 instead of all the dross that might be included on an album. David Sherwood:I love a compilation of greatest hits Those are great for me. Anthony Godfrey:So I love that. Some record collectors are a bit disdainful of the compilation. David Sherwood:I'm not your average record collector. Neither is Tim. Tim has excellent taste. Anthony Godfrey:Let's talk with Tim. I've also bought records from you Tim out there at Daybreak in in subsequent years. So let's talk about the store and why you set this up and how it works for students. Tim Brooks:Well, that's a good question. About five or six years ago one of my daughters asked for a record player for a Christmas gift, and she asked for an Abbey Road album. At that time in my life I had no records because I had sold them all away because I was into the CDs and then digital. Anthony Godfrey:So you converted from vinyl all the way to CDs. Tim Brooks;Yeah, and then I converted back because once she got that record player on Christmas morning, I just started yearning for one myself. So I started buying records and then I saw David across the street at the biannual Daybreak Yard Sales selling records. I went over there and I bought a few and started accumulating my own collection. Then I would sometimes buy a better version of an album and so I'd have two of the same record. I'm like, “Well, I need to get rid of this one, why don't I do what David does? I'll just sell some records from my front yard.” So I did that and it just kind of snowballed. When I used to work at Fort Herriman Middle School we had a school store over there. And then again at Mountain Creek Middle School in South Jordan and we would sell typical little trinkets and things to the kids. Bracelets, pencil sharpeners, erasers and fun stuff like that. And I thought “I’ve got some records in my own collection I really don't want. I don't want to take them to the thrift store, that just hurts too much to donate them.” Anthony Godfrey:I cannot donate records. I can't do it. Tim Brooks:I brought it. I brought one — Anthony Godfrey:I’d donate my car before I’d donate records. Tim Brooks:So I brought one crate to the school store and just put it out and see what the students wanted. And I was asking three of the good behavior cards. Little cards for good behavior. I was asking three cards for records. Anthony Godfrey:So you earn three cards and you could go buy a record if you wanted. Tim Brooks:Yeah, they were junky old records. Scratched, not very popular and I had a line that probably went 30 yards of kids waiting just to buy these one record from one little crate. I was like, “This is awesome! Okay, they really like this.” Next week we upped the price to five cards and it tempered things down a little bit. I kind of did a little– Anthony Godfrey:Dynamic pricing. Tim Brooks:Yes, dynamic pricing and it just snowballed from there. Then I told David about that and he said “I've got some old records I'm not moving at all” and David has brought me crate after crate after crate after crate. I used to say he gave me hundreds of records. It's got to be in the thousands now. It's got to be in the thousands. I've done the math on it, two or three thousand maybe. Anthony Godfrey:I love that. It's such a great support. Tim Brooks:And so we sell them, and then here at the store I have–if you buy one it costs five cards, if you buy three it goes to twelve. I just go through the pricing of whether it's an LP, which is the 12 inch 33 and 1/3 records or the smaller 45 7 inch records. Anthony Godfrey:This is such a it's physical, tactile inter-personal sort of experience that's made possible through all these donations. Do any of the kids try to haggle? Tim Brooks:Yes, and I say “Sorry dude. Nope, I’ve got other people. I’ve already given you a screaming good deal on this.” Some of the things that I've been thinking about this over the years, there's so many different things we teach about vinyl records. You've got to be economical if you want to buy a mass amount and get them for cheaper. The history that's in all these records. David donated about a year ago of probably about 20 or 30 vinyl records of poetry, just spoken narration. We put those in there. There's their stuff about you know patriotic music there. I have some old records that are just dedicated to Civil War music. These records introduce the kids to something that they're not typically listening to on their portable electronic devices. There are genres in here they've never heard before like opera or yacht rock. Anthony Godfrey:Well, yacht rock. Yacht rock. That's a whole separate episode of the podcast. Tim Brooks:Yes, we need to do that. Anthony Godfrey:Stay with us. When we come back we'll have more on the big vinyl record comeback and how students at West Hills are lining up and going all in on vinyl records. Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org. Break:It's giving busy parents a little more peace of mind when it comes to their students getting to and from school. We're talking about Zonar MyView. It's a mobile app meant to enhance the school bus transportation experience for students and their families. The app allows parents to check on their child's school bus location and the estimated time of arrival at the bus stop each day for pick up and drop off. If you want to join the thousands of parents already using the app, it's easy. All it takes is a few simple steps. First download the Zonar MyView app from the App Store or Google Play. Then visit auxiliaryservices.jordandistrict.org/zonar. That's where you'll find the school access code and directions on how to enter your student's unique ID and learn how to create an alert zone around your child's drop-off and pickup locations. Let the Zonar MyView app help you stay on top of things knowing when a bus might be running a little late and when to get your kids going or head out to meet them at the bus stop. It's one more way for us to better connect with you. Anthony Godfrey:So tell me, please, please tell me that people are choosing records based on the look of the album cover. Tim Brooks:They are. A lot of times a student will buy a record and I said “Why are you buying this Ellie?” and she'll say “Cuz it's a good-looking cover.” Anthony Godfrey:Yes Tim Brooks:Or they’ll say “I don't even have a record player, but I'm just gonna put it up on my wall.” Anthony Godfrey:I love that. I've discovered so many bands just by saying this album cover looks cool. In the 80s. I discovered the Housemartins because I thought the Housemartins, how would a band sound that has the name the Housemartins? And now I have every single note they've ever recorded. Tim Brooks:Yeah, yeah, one of the things too, that a lot of listeners might not know is it used to be that one or two kids at a school would have a record player. There are so many kids who have record players now. It is a resurgence. There are tons of kids who buy the records because they know they have a way to play it at home. Like last month which was Christmas time. I brought out some crate that was just Christmas-related records, and there were some kids who were going through that but other kids were going through and saying…

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Episode 284: How You Can Play a Role in Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls Feb 13, 2025

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It’s that time of year when Mother Nature brings rain, sleet, snow, and ice in combinations that can create some slick conditions around our schools and buildings. On this episode of the Supercast, we talk to custodians who are constantly working throughout the day and sometimes into the night to prevent slips, trips, and falls for students, teachers, staff, and parents. Listen and find out how you can help. Audio Transcription Brandon Conti:Our number one priority is the safety of all students, teachers, and staff. Mark Nelson:You know, you start watching that weather and you know when those days are coming and you don't sleep well that night. You usually just get up and get over to the school. Nathan Morgan:No slack time. You gotta watch the timing of the storm and the duration. The commute as well, so you need to be on top of all of it. [Music] Anthony Godfrey:Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It's that time of year when rain, sleet, snow, and ice can create some slick combinations around our schools and buildings. On this episode of the Supercast, we talk with custodians who are constantly working throughout the day and sometimes into the night to prevent slips, trips and falls from students, teachers, staff, and parents. Listen and find out how you can help. [Music] We're here at West Jordan High School talking with two of our premier custodians about safety during the winter. Introduce yourselves and let's talk a little bit about how to stay safe. Nathan Morgan:Okay, I'm Nathan Morgan. I'm the head custodian over here at West Jordan High School. Mark Nelson:I'm Mark Nelson. I'm the head custodian at the district office. Anthony Godfrey:Now I know that nobody works harder than custodians when the snow falls and starts to stick to the ground. And there are no contract hours when that happens. Whenever it hits, it hits. I know, especially at the district office as I talk with Mark on a regular basis, you're there at all hours. Tell us a little bit about what it's like to clear that snow when it hits hard. Mark Nelson:You know, you start watching that weather and you know when those days are coming and you don't sleep well that night. You usually just get up and get over to the school. The district office, we're over there by Jordan Landing and airport number two. So we get the drift wind coming across that airport. So yeah, you know you're going to have a job that morning, but you know we enjoy it. We want to make sure our staff when they show up to work, they don't have to worry about how do I get to the door. You know, after 33 years of doing this, I love to hear those compliments and the people say thank you for getting us in the building this morning. And you know, we love it. Anthony Godfrey:You do a great job. Now tell me about a high school. Activity starts at the high school at 5 a.m. They're lifting weights at 5 a.m. So there's no slack time. Nathan Morgan:No slack time. You got to watch the timing of the storm and the duration and since the commute is well. So you need to be on top of all those. So sometimes you get here at 3 a.m. just so you can have it cleared for the athletic kids at 5 a.m. Anthony Godfrey:Wow. Now the way my teenage son looks at it, he thinks, hey, the snow is still falling, I'm going to wait till all the snow has fallen. And that's a great stall tactic. But that's not how you work. Nathan Morgan:No. Mark Nelson:No, no, we show up so that our doors can be open. But if the snow just keeps dropping, we're out there as long as it takes. A lot of times we will clear a path if it's a super bad day. We ask everybody, to please use our path. Please don't walk through the foot of snow. Use the path we've given you. We will get to the rest of it. We care about the space and getting it cleared from edge to edge. That's kind of something in custodial, edge to edge is where we want it. But please give us that space. So use that space and be safe. Nathan Morgan:Agreed. Anthony Godfrey:Do high school kids ever cut the corner of the sidewalk and go through the snow? Nathan Morgan:Yes. Sometimes they go and they park over the curb and it just gives you barely enough room for the plow to get through. Sometimes if I see them sitting in their truck, they're waiting for the building to open because the doors unlock at 5.30 and they're there at 5. “I'll just say, hey, can you back up just a bit so I can get this clear?” They're always very respectful. Anthony Godfrey:I didn't think about that. You are clearing snow around student drivers. That's a whole other factor. So we hire an outside company to clear the parking lots. But our custodians are responsible for the sidewalks. And you, Mark, talked about people taking the route that has been cleared, giving you time to get edge to edge and do the rest of the sidewalks. Mark Nelson:Yes. Anthony Godfrey:What's the advice for those who are arriving at work on a snowy day to help keep them safe and give you the space to complete the work? Mark Nelson:Yeah. Be it our secretaries or the students. They're wearing their outfit today. They don't care that it's snowed. Please carry the nice shoes that go with your outfit in your bag. Wear something that's appropriate for the sidewalks and for getting yourself into the building. We've had a couple falls over my career that have been pretty bad. And it's high heels usually. And it's, “Hey, put the nice shoes in the bag. Bring them into the building. Then change.” Anthony Godfrey:So wear footwear that matches the weather. Mark Nelson:Yes. Nathan Morgan:Let us know if there's any ice out there that we missed. If you see something, report it right away so we can get it fixed. We'll get on the mule. We have all our mules on standby on snow mornings. They're ready to go. All gassed up. All salted up. Even when I finish around the building, I'll go fill it up just for that emergency call for a-- Anthony Godfrey:Oh, so you're ready to go out of the spot? Nathan Morgan:We're ready to go, yes. Anthony Godfrey:Yeah. And I made the mistake years ago in the high school parking lot of walking up. And I saw a dark spot by my car. I'm like, “I'm sure it's just wet.” And it was ice. Watch for the dark spots. Don't assume that they're wet. I took a pretty good spill. And yes, we did pull it up on the security camera. And yes, it did look hilarious. How about taking a different route? Do you find that people take the sidewalk they're used to, even if there's one right next to it that's been cleared? They'll walk their normal path, right through the snow? Mark Nelson:We get that, yes. We get that. And our goal is to get to every sidewalk so you can have your normal day. But please use those paths we've cleared already. And know that we're salting those, so that's the safest path into the building. And we're putting down-- I mean, in your building, I don't know how many pallets you go through of salt, but I go through two pallets of ice melt a season. Anthony Godfrey:Two pallets? Mark Nelson:Yeah. And that's about 2,500 pounds per pallet of ice melt. So yeah. Nathan Morgan:About two years ago, we went through about eight pallets. It was quite a good time. Anthony Godfrey:Yeah, now let's talk about two years ago. Mark Nelson:22, 23. Anthony Godfrey:Two years ago with our two back-to-back snow days. Nathan Morgan:Yes. Anthony Godfrey:That was remarkable. And I think it was fairly unique to Jordan because, like you described, Mark, we have the wind, we have the lake effect, and we could not clear our campuses fast enough to bring people back in. I'm still a hero in my neighborhood because we had two snow days in a row. And actually, the neighborhood kids came and cleared my driveway as a thank you for the snow day. Mark Nelson:That's cool. That's awesome. Anthony Godfrey:But anyway, tell me about what it was like working through that two-day blizzard. Nathan Morgan:The first day was kind of overwhelming. I remember being out on the front sidewalk about seven, eight o'clock at night. And then I got the text from the custodial department that says, "Go home. We're closing school tomorrow. Go home. Get warmed up. Come back tomorrow morning, clear the snow." And that was kind of a relief because it was the drifts from the sidewalk, from the road to the sidewalk, the plow can't even get through. It was stuck. Mark Nelson:It was crazy. Nathan Morgan:It was crazy. Mark Nelson:Yeah, we had 10, 12-foot piles of snow from doing that. We had to bring in grounds crew to remove those piles at a lot of the facilities because it was so bad. And that's another shout-out to our grounds crew. They help us so much. If we have an area that our mules won't do or this or that, they will get over and help us when they can. And they're an integral part of that us too. And then also our mechanics. All of our equipment needs maintenance. So our mechanics and maintenance, they are awesome when it comes to helping us keep that equipment running. I'm currently using 16-year-old equipment, but it still keeps running and taxpayers are getting their greatest bang for the buck on this equipment because we do keep it running until it doesn't run. Nathan Morgan:100%, they are amazing. We have 20-year-old mules out there and they break and they're back up and going the next day without a beat. Anthony Godfrey:We do really have hundreds of great employees who dive in, do the work. And like you said, at all hours, 3 in the morning. And I know that on some of our snow days in the past, it's been a delivery day for Cisco. So then we have our nutrition services managers here in the snow, even though everyone else is home. Custodians are here, nutrition services managers are here to receive that food delivery. So there's a lot that goes on even when it feels like things are shut down. I can't thank you guys enough for the work that you do. You do keep us safe and warm and ready to learn. And that is no small feat and it's a 24/7 job, I know. Nathan Morgan:Oh, yeah, definitely. Mark Nelson:We enjoy it. Nathan Morgan:And I love it. I love this job. Yeah. Mark Nelson:Yeah. And the poor people in the portables is another thing. We worry about them. Anthony Godfrey:Oh, yeah. The whole portables is a whole separate thing. Mark Nelson:When we were in elementaries, all those portables have to be cleared too. Anthony Godfrey:Those metal ramps and metal staircases that are not very winter-friendly. Mark Nelson:Yeah. And pre-send your kids to school with appropriate gloves and things. They love to go outside even when it's... Anthony Godfrey:Yeah. That's true. That's true. They need to dress warm. Mark Nelson:Uh-huh. Anthony Godfrey:Yeah. Well, you guys do a tremendous job. These are great tips on staying safe in the winter. Take the cleared path, wear good footwear, and be ready to walk on the cleared sidewalks until everything is cleared edge to edge. Mark Nelson:Yes. Anthony Godfrey:But thank you very much. Thanks for taking the time today. And hopefully, we can continue a year like we've had. Lots of snow in the mountains, over 100% snowpack up there, and nice dry roads and sidewalks. Nathan Morgan:Oh, yes. Counting on it. Mark Nelson:We're ready. We're ready for it though. Nathan Morgan:We need it. Anthony Godfrey:Okay. All right. Stay with us. When we come back we'll hear from more employees who are working hard to avoid falls and other accidents in winter weather and throughout the year. [Music] Never miss an episode of The Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org. [Music] Break:Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org [Music] Anthony Godfrey:We're here with Brandon and Bonnie talking about how we avoid accidents, spills, injuries, especially during the icy and snowy season. Thanks for coming. Introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the role you play in Jordan School District. Bonnie Brennan:Okay, my name is Bonnie Brennan. I'm the director of insurance services, which kind of encompasses a few little things. All of the workers comp, accidents, property casualty, as well as the employee benefits. Brandon Conti:My name is Brandon Conti. I'm the risk management coordinator. I deal with all the compliance for the buildings, all the safety-related compliance, and fire code issues I deal with. Anthony Godfrey:That encompasses a lot. I don't think people realize. We've got 75 buildings or so, 57,000 students, 9,000 employees, and all the parents and patrons and others who come to buildings. So there are lots of opportunities for, unfortunately, now and then an accident to happen or something to go wrong. We work hard to mitigate those. But let's talk about some of the things that those who are visiting our schools or working in our schools can do to minimize the possibility of injury. Bonnie Brennan:Well, I think the most important thing is to just be aware of your surroundings. Pay attention when you're walking in. Watch for that black ice. Make sure you're going into the entrance that's been plowed and salted. Brandon Conti:Yeah, I just think we always need to be aware of our surroundings. I mean, that's why I deal with all. We come through the buildings and check everything regularly. But especially this time of year with winter weather, our biggest concern is always slips, trips, and falls. And understanding what door to use, like you said and just being aware of all your surroundings. One of the big things we push is proper footwear. How many people are wearing such horrible shoes for winter weather? Just even high heels. Shoes with no tread at all. Some of our hugest concerns right there. Anthony Godfrey:I've been guilty of that. I have noticed. You slip a little bit. You look and I guess I have worn these dress shoes beyond their natural life. Brandon Conti:So one of our big concerns right now is when students are being dropped off, we want to have one path of entrance really clear. So we're really pushing that towards the custodians to have the main entrance of the school cleared first. So that everyone knows that's the entrance to the building. Anthony Godfrey:So when you pull up and it's been snowy, you may have to adapt. Brandon Conti:Exactly. Anthony Godfrey:You may not be able to take the same route that you normally take. Walking in or driving in. And that goes back to what you said earlier, building some time so that you can adapt and adjust and not be in a hurry. Tell us about some of the other things that are involved in helping avoid risk and keeping people safe in Jordan District. Bonnie Brennan:If you see something, say something. Our custodians can't be everywhere. So if you see something that's been spilled, hang around there until someone is able to get a sign up. Anthony Godfrey:A…

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Episode 283: Building Character Through Basketball at Herriman High School Feb 06, 2025

Show notes

They are in it to win it on and off the basketball court at Herriman High School. On this episode of the Supercast, it’s “game on” as we talk to players and coach Doug Meacham about their love of basketball and how it builds character in a culture of teamwork and camaraderie. Audio Transcription Doug Meacham:Players see me getting rattled and riled up. It's a natural tendency for them to start to lose focus and I'm trying to look for every advantage for us to win a game. Carlo Mulford:Culture has really become a tight-knit group of friends and success that the school has never seen in basketball. Cale Barclay:We made it to the semifinals last year and now, right now, we're on pace to hopefully win the region. Stockton:Confidence is the biggest thing. [Music] Anthony Godfrey:Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are in it to win it on and off the basketball court at Herriman High School. On this episode of the Supercast, it's “game on” as we talk to players and coach Doug Meacham about their love of basketball and how it has built character and a culture of teamwork at Herriman High School. [Music] We're here at Herriman High School today to talk with the boys' basketball coach Coach Meacham. Thanks for taking time to talk with us. You're a counselor here, a coach here. It's a very busy season with class changes and the season well underway so thank you very much for taking the time. Doug Meacham:You bet. I appreciate having the opportunity. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me about what you love about coaching basketball. Doug Meacham:There's probably easier to talk maybe what I don't love because there's so many things that are just awesome. I think just listening to these guys talk about their experience in terms of how they approach things and their leadership qualities, to just watch young men grow, is to me the biggest satisfaction. To get some of those emails back after things have happened in their life there are great accomplishments. That to me, that's the reward. Basketball is a part of it, but you know I think molding young men has been the biggest thing. As former coaches have had such a huge impact on me, you know, I hope to do the same. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me about some of those coaches in your life that have had an impact. Doug Meacham:Well, I go back to my high school coaches Coach Knight, Coach Eccles, guys who always would say things like, you know, “The things that you're learning now will impact you later in life” and they do. And how they handled their business with their families with just them as individual people was impressive to me. I was fortunate to be a walk-on at the University of Utah with Coach Majerus for a few years. I was a grad assistant with him and so I was around just a phenomenal team and a staff that I just learned so much. It was just amazing to experience that part of it and when I was sitting there sitting at some of those practices is where I thought you know I probably need to do something along the lines of coaching basketball. Anthony Godfrey:That's fantastic I love that you've built on those experiences and are now providing those to so many other students. When I mentioned to your principal that I was going to be interviewing you for the podcast, other principals overheard that and said “Oh yeah, he's the guy you want to talk to.” So your reputation is really out there for being such a great coach and a great support to these students. Tell me what is your how would you summarize your approach to coaching? Doug Meacham:My approach to coaching is how I would want my own son to be coached. I want to give them a hundred percent. I don't want to ask them to do something that I wasn't willing to do myself. I loved being around teams that understood how to play for the team. Those are the special players and sometimes that takes a few years to break some habits of looking for their own. The generation we live in now is you know you get on these AAU teams and it's all about I've got to figure out how to get my shots and I got to get my opportunity. To combat that with your success will grow once your teammates are thriving. I think as you look at you know Carlo, his last game he had six assists and one turnover. He's a guy that can go and make a basket anytime he wants but he's understanding that it all comes back to him when he puts his teammates first. He'll carry that message into his life. Anthony Godfrey:Right, that sense of teamwork is so important and it translates into so many other situations well beyond high school basketball. Tell me about the impact you've talked about watching young men grow. Tell me about the growth that you've seen and the changes that you've seen in these student athletes who've been part of the program. Doug Meacham:These guys– for me, it's they've had a work ethic. This is one of the first groups that I have to kick them out of the gym. It's one of those things where if they can't get into the gym here they go find a church. They understand that that's part of it and they've learned to fall in love with the process. Every time after a win I'll say that this maybe isn't how you imagine this win went but it was awesome. Because the expectations for each individual are all slightly different sometimes but they can always have that feeling of you know we did it. It was accomplishment. That's what's fun to watch, is the little switch go over to my role might be that I take three shots this game but I'm gonna make them the best three shots and do my part with the little things that don't get a lot of attention. Anthony Godfrey:Figure out your part and make the most of that. How do you set a tone during the game? I always admire how coaches are able to contain themselves and make the most. I mean there's only so much you can do during the game, the preparation comes before that. Talk to me about that sideline mentality. Doug Meacham:Yeah, I always tell our parents and players I'm gonna be on the refs for about five percent of the game the other 95 I'm gonna be coaching and teaching. I think if players see me getting rattled and riled up it's a natural tendency for them to start to lose focus and I'm trying to look for every advantage for us to win a game. If I lose focus with one of my players because they think the ref is taking it to us then they're losing the big picture of it. So I think having some experience has helped me with that but I also know that you know I always tell these guys before a game “Hay's in the barn”. Some of them I had to explain what that term meant but they understand we did our work and now let's go and enjoy the rewards. Anthony Godfrey:You mentioned hay in the barn. Have you ever run the picket fence? Doug Meacham:Similar versions, just haven't called it the picket- Anthony Godfrey:Look, I want to be assistant coach for one day for two minutes and I want you to let me call ‘run the picket fence.’ Doug Meacham:Well, the problem is some of these guys haven't even seen Hoosiers. Anthony Godfrey:They haven’t? That's required. Doug Meacham:I agree there are some I've shown them scenes and we'll finish Hoosiers Anthony Godfrey;I think UHSAA has a requirement in the rulebook that you have to watch Hoosiers. Doug Meacham:I agree. Anthony Godfrey:Well, I can't thank you enough for coaching here at Herriman High School and for the tremendous positive impact you're having on these boys. Doug Meacham:I appreciate it. Thank you. Anthony Godfrey:Don't go away. When we come back players talk about how they play hard and learn together and support each other as a team with basketball helping them learn lots of life lessons. Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org. Break:It's something all parents need to know in the event of an emergency in one of our schools. Hi, I'm Matt Alvernaz, a former law enforcement officer at Army Ranger, now school safety coordinator for Jordan School District. We're talking about the Standard Response Protocol, or SRP. Knowing SRP will help to keep everyone safe and informed if there is an emergency in one of our schools or buildings. Standard Response Protocol provides consistent, clear, shared language and actions for all students, staff, first responders, and parents. It is language that can be applied to any emergency situation. The SRP actions now used in all schools statewide are HOLD, SECURE, LOCKDOWN, EVACUATE, and SHELTER. To educate yourself and your children on these actions, visit schoolsafety.jordandistrict.org. Anthony Godfrey:Coach tell us about these three players we're going to talk with. Doug Meacham:These are our three captains and they represent our team and program and they were selected by teammates and coaches. They embody the word student athlete. When you have leaders that go out not only say they get out and do you know what's needed to be done. This is Stockton. He's a senior and he's got an offer to go play at Green River. It'll probably be some others you know down the road but just a great student. He's our sharpshooter on the court. This is Carlo Mulford he's been starting here since he's a freshman and he's just a gym rat. And gym rat in basketball terms is awesome. Just means he wants to stay after as long as possible. Anthony Godfrey:Right. Doug Meacham:And it's it's why he's where he's at. Anthony Godfrey:He keeps Kobe hours. Doug Meacham:Yes, he does. He understands that and he's got an offer to SUU and some other junior colleges and others are interested in. He’s only a junior so he'll have others coming down the road. And Cale Barclay here he's committed to SUU and 4.0 student. You know, all the teachers when they talk about any one of these guys they always say “Hey, they are great in their classes” and they understand that. They take that as a priority and it's really easy to coach these guys. Anthony Godfrey:Introduce yourselves guys and tell me about being part of Coach Meacham's team. Stockton:I'm Stockton. Just since Meach has been here, it's been two years that I played for him now. It's my second year and just the culture change has been such a big thing for me. The confidence I've gained from playing with him and his belief is just so big for not only me but our team in general. Anthony Godfrey:Tell me you're the sharpshooter so what are the elements of great basketball shot? Stockton:Yeah, I mean just gotta get your feet, gotta get your elbow under. I mean, confidence is the biggest thing. if you're struggling with confidence you're not gonna be a good shooter so always believe in yourself. Anthony Godfrey:Yeah. Is there some self-talk that you do during the game or is it all just happening to you and you're in the moment? Stockton:I feel like sometimes it's in the moment. You don't ever want to tell yourself you're not gonna make a shot. You always want to have that next play mentality like coach says a lot. Anthony Godfrey:The next play mentality. That's great. I love that. Carlo Mulford:I'm Carlo Mulford and playing for Meacham has been a great experience for me. These past few years have been great for our program and he just really helps build our confidence. Our culture has really become a tight-knit group of friends and we really want to see each other succeed. He takes a lot of time he takes a lot of sacrifices time out of his day to come help us prepare and get better and you know time out from his own job. I really appreciate that and it's been a great experience. Anthony Godfrey:He says you have a great work ethic. Talk to me about the hours you put in. Is it ever hard to stay at the gym longer? Carlo Mulford:It's definitely hard, but it's just you know, motivation will get you really far but discipline will just get you even further. There's a lot of days where I'm too tired, or feel like I'm too tired. I don't want to go put in the extra work but it's just a discipline that will just keep you going. Keep you in the gym to continue to get better. Anthony Godfrey:I feel the same way about clearing my email inbox. Ten more emails, come on ten more. Let's do it. Okay, how about how about you tell me about your experience. Cale Barclay:Yes, I'm Cale Barclay and the last two years, basketball has been the best basketball that I've ever been a part of. First two years here our team struggled. Didn't have a lot of camaraderie or like team togetherness and then Meacham came in and a culture change. Just a huge like energy boost really was the biggest thing and we've seen success that the school has ever seen in basketball. Made it to the semifinals last year and now right now we're on pace to hopefully win the region. That's never been done. Our biggest goal is a state championship and that's what we're looking forward to right now. Anthony Godfrey:I love the sound of that. You talked about teamwork. Tell me about how you've learned to rely on each other and talk to me about leadership as a team captain. Stockton:Yeah, so I think the biggest thing is just like being friends along with being teammates. Like, we all the time that we're spending outside of school and outside of basketball is usually together. We're all hanging out all the time. So we enjoy each other's presence. Coach says a lot to find guys that you like to work with so the coaching staff that he has he loves to be around. And that's the same with like the players. I just love these guys so it makes it makes it easy to go to battle for ‘em and want to want to do things to make each other better. Carlo Mulford:So like he said, we're all best friends. If we're not in the gym together then we're out you know messing around, hanging out with each other at someone's house. So I mean, we've all grown up together so what Meacham has done for us, you know really pushing our culture for a team environment, team basketball. Being able to play for each other and not just ourselves and wanting goals for our team to succeed. Cale Barclay:Yeah, I mean there's always been a friendship between all of us. I mean most of our rotation and players we've all played together since second grade. We've all had really tight like not only friendship, but we believe in each other and we know what we're all capable of. So if we're not performing to that standard then we know how to what things to say or what certain things to just keep us motivated and keep on going. I think that's the biggest thing too. Anthony Godfrey:I love that. How has being a part of this program changed you? Coach talked about you being student athletes and being really strong students. What's the relationship between being a student and an athlete and have you been changed in this program? Stockton:Well yeah, I mean like Cale said in the first two years here it was it was a struggle. Obviously, we're all good, good friends before, but the sense of togetherness wasn't to the standard we would have wanted it at. Ever since Meach came here he just kept that togetherness. I mean we all struggled at the start but ever since he's come in we've really just took that role to a whole other level. Carlo Mulford:I mean yeah, what it's done for me personally, a lot. He introduced the “Eyes Up, Do The Work!” program which…

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