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Jordan Supercast

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Jordan Supercast episodes

  • Episode 72: Coding in the Classroom Can Launch Great Careers

    A new program in Jordan School District has middle school students preparing right now for future careers in technology. They are learning how to code in the classroom - creating computer games and perfecting a skill that could land them great paying jobs in a high demand industry.

    On this episode of the Supercast, we take you inside some classrooms where kids are learning to code. Find out why coding is making math fun in a unique way for so many students and teachers right now and how parents can support their kids who want to code.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. A new program in Jordan School District has middle school students preparing right now for future careers in technology. They're learning how to code in the classroom, creating computer games and perfecting the skill that could land them great paying jobs in a high demand industry. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you inside some classrooms where kids are learning to code. Find out why coding is making math fun in a unique way for so many students and teachers right now, and how parents can support their kids who want to code.

    I'm here in Mr. Nielsen's Creative Coding Class, where they've been learning how to do some graphics here at Hidden Valley Middle School. Eric, tell me about what you coded.

    Eric:

    Currently, I programmed a little game here. Whenever you hit the space bar, hit up the number by one and you can just get little upgrades. Took me awhile to code, fill the background, put the numbers on the screen.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, that's cool. So what did you learn by programming this?

    Eric:

    I learned how to get numbers and thoughts on the screen. That was an issue for me before I learned how to put little boxes of color words, how to get input from the player.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    How many of you, raise your hand if you want to continue with coding in some form after this class? That's great. That's a lot of you.

    Student:

    I have been interested in coding for a while now. And it's interesting in coding because you have to tell the computer exactly what you want it to do, step-by-step. If you told the computer, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it would be like okay, what do you want me to do? You would have to take out the bread, take out the peanut butter, take out the jelly. Take out two slices of bread and put them next to each other. And then each step step-by-step. So you have to think about what goes into the process.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oaky. I forgot to tell the computer to take the lid off the peanut butter. We're in trouble now. Yeah. Tell me your name. I say you may talk, Isaiah. Tell me about the project that you have going right now.

    Isaiah:

    I made this one. He lets us do our code at your own stuff. Yeah. Where we make our own code. And I made one like a game. It started by your grandmother asking me to go and get groceries. Kind of a choose your own adventure. Yeah. See, will you go and get some for me? Some groceries and I put it. So if you put yes or no, it doesn't matter. And she makes you go and get them.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So you say no, grandma. I'm not sure.

    Isaiah:

    That's not too bad. So you left to go to the grocery store, but on your way, there is a fork in the road in your path. What will you do? Go left? Go right? Or pick up a fork.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh, you pick up. So let's pick up the fork.

    Isaiah:

    We picked up the fork and pick up the fork and decide to keep going straight. In your way is a mountain range. Will you go, what will you do? Go around it, go over it, go through it or go up under the mountain.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Let's go under the mountains.

    Isaiah:

    Do you turn into Steve from Minecraft? Dig straight down and you find diamonds, but as soon as you find them, you fall into Lofa. First of all in Minecraft.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow. So I digress, but quickly say something. They programmed that so they could show me. Okay. What's your name?

    Issac:

    Isaac Lawrence.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Isaac. What do you have here?

    Issac:

    I have a pretty basic code here where I just write out all this stuff and he just prints out a basic picture.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh yeah.

    Issac:

    And I mean, he would like create images with it. It's pretty cool.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    We're here with Steve, one of the two coding teachers here at Hidden Valley Middle School. What got you interested in teaching this class?

    Steve:

    They had an opportunity to show up. I think programming has been a lot of fun over the many years. And they said, Hey, do you want to teach coding? And we have an opportunity for you. So I get to show these students how to write code. It's very a logical approach and it shows them step by step how to go from point A to point B.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What progression have you seen in these students from the start of this school year to now?

    Steve:

    Oh, they have gone so far beyond my ideas and imagination. It has been amazing. They've gone from knowing that coding exists, but not much more than that, to be able to write a code, to make a game, ask questions, do things like Mad Libs. They can draw images, which are really amazing. And they've learned a little bit on how to animate them.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, thank you very much for your time. I sure appreciate it.

    Steve:

    Yeah. Thank you so much.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell me your name.

    Kevin:

    So my name is Kevin Peterson.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    All right Kevin. What do you have here?

    Kevin:

    So while we were learning about different things, you can do, kind of like his, choose your own adventure. But for this specifically, we were learning about incorrect input. So you can miss the bus, ride the bus, or you get some driving me, but if you press like an extra option or try to press one, and then there's not one that says you get hit by the bus, your morning was ruined by invalid input.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    My morning has been ruined by invalid input more than you know. Can I see the code? Can you show me backstage here?

    Kevin:

    This is just like a little title area. These print statements are how you learn what's happening and stuff. Then there's input, which is user choice. And that's when they choose ABC or anything else. And then there's the "if then statement". So do the F and then if you choose A, you get, you missed the bus but your friend comes by just then. If you do B you take the bus all the way down, then there's our statements. Which means if none of this happens, this happens. And that's how the invalid input happens.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I see. Are you kind of amazed at how much code it takes to accomplish things? And do you think about what you see out in the world and how much work it must've taken?

    Kevin:

    Yeah.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    We're here with Ryan Nielsen, one of the computer programming teachers here at Hidden Valley Middle School. What do you teach through the rest of the day Mr. Nielsen?

    Mr. Nielsen:

    I teach seventh grade science currently.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Had you ever taught coding or been involved in coding before this?

    Mr. Nielsen:

    Yes. I have a decent background in it. I used to be a Systems Administrator for a company and did some minor coding and HTML paid webpage and stuff like that.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I'm really excited that you and other teachers have taken this on. What was involved in being trained and prepared to teach computer programming this year?

    Mr. Nielsen:

    So the company set us up with some training sessions and we basically went through the exact same programs that the kids are doing this year. And the nice thing about it is the TechSmart Program has everything laid out there so that you can get help on your own.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And how long was that training?

    Mr. Nielsen:

    I think it was two weeks in the summer. And then we've done another week here during the year. Just bit by bit.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And what is the ongoing support that's provided by TechSmart?

    Mr. Nielsen:

    Again, they have during the class help desk that I can just message and they'll get straight back to me. I've never had to wait. But also I email or message after school if I have any big questions.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So even if you have a question in real time during class, you can get a quick response from them. And the curriculum is all laid out by TechSmart. Is that correct?

    Mr. Nielsen:

    Correct. Yes.

    Antony Godfrey:

    So what have you liked about being able to teach computer programming this year?

    Mr. Nielsen:

    Some of the kids were saying it's, well, I had one student say I didn't have anything else on and I don't know how they got in here. I don't know if it was recommended by the counselor or not, but he said it's been so fun. Typically the kids love coming in here and doing their coding projects. It's a lot like a puzzle. You have a certain situation that you have to create and then they go and figure out the code, the language to make the computer understand what they're trying to say.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I could tell, just talking with a few students in your class that they really liked getting to grapple with that and think things through. And I can imagine in ways that they probably don't even realize their ability to think logically and to problem solve is greatly enhanced by going through these exercises.

    Mr. Nielsen:

    Yes. When we get into loops and conditionals, it's very easy to take a program that could be a hundred lines of code and change it into 10 and they see that you can make solutions in many different ways. I think that really helps them learn how to solve real life problems differently to be creative.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I see you have a flyer here on your desk available for students that outlines some of the companies that use Python, which is the program that's used in these classes: Google, Netflix, Reddit, Instagram, Dropbox, Facebook, everything. We use Spotify, a personal favorite of mine. And that is coding jobs. They start out at $80,000 a year. So it's pretty awesome that a seventh or eighth grade student can be starting to learn something that can lead them to such a profitable and an in-demand career.

    Mr. Nielsen:

    Yes. And a lot of these companies will take you on and help you get to where you need to be. If you've got a good foundation, they can bring you on and pay for some of your education. So it's a great area to be in. We're just expanding from the tech companies are expanding from here. So, wow.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It's a crazy year in every way. And I just want to thank you for taking on the task when so much else is going on. We have to keep moving forward and this is a big step forward for our students. So thank you very much.

    Mr. Nielsen:

    You're welcome. It's fun to teach.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Stay with us. When we come back, find out about the job opportunities for kids who code and why it's a skill that can set students up for a lifetime of success in the workplace.

    Break:

    It is one of the most prestigious academic achievement programs available for high school students. And we're proud to say, it's coming back to Jordan School District. We're talking about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, which will be located at West Jordan High School. The IB Program supports personal and academic achievement for students at the very highest level. IB Diploma Courses take place during a student's junior and senior year in high school. All sophomores are invited to consider the IB Program for next year. There are no pre-requisites for IB and interested in middle school students can start preparing now. Students with the IB Diploma have a better chance at getting into some of the most prestigious universities in the world. In order to find out if your teen is a good candidate for IB visit http://ib.jordanditrict.org, or call West Jordan High School.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Bruce Levin, the Founder and CEO of TechSmart. Thanks for being on the Supercast.

    Bruce:

    It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I have been working with Bruce and we've been working with Bruce as a District for about a year now getting the Computer Science classes in place. And I wanted to tell you, Bruce, I don't know if I've told you this story, but I saw this email from you about TechSmart. It was a brief, fairly nondescript explanation of the basis of your company and the way you wanted to approach bringing teachers to Computer Science instead of bringing Computer Science teachers to the classroom. Can you tell us a little bit about that approach?

    Bruce:

    Yeah, absolutely. So, our approach really is to work with districts like yourselves that are really committed to getting students to higher outcomes in coding and Computer Science by implementing pathways, secondary pathways in middle and high school.

    And a big part of that is really helping districts build teaching capacity by providing really in-depth professional learning for the teachers. So each of your teachers at middle schools this year, nine teachers participated over the summer in the school year in very intensive, what we are calling Teacher Coding Bootcamps. These are professional learning experiences where teachers are learning the software development skills, which are preparing them to teach the students. And the goal really is to help teachers build the knowledge and skills to teach with the fidelity of a software engineer as they're working with their kids in the classroom.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I have spoken with a few students at the middle school and I visited a couple of classes. And when I asked them, a lot of hands shot up saying that they want to pursue this more beyond this class, most hands in fact.

    And when I talk with them, they had a deeper appreciation for the games they've been planting and the websites they've been visiting now that they know all the work that goes on behind the scenes to make that possible. So it really opens up their understanding of the world around them in ways I don't think they expected.

    Bruce:

    Yeah, absolutely. It's funny, you know, this generation is really known digital natives using technology, playing games, using apps, phones. I think what these classes have really done is unlocked a vision of, what does it look like to actually design and develop the types of technology they're starting to use? So, you know, it's great. It's great to hear that and really understanding the science or the computer science behind, the technologies that they use.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I think that is probably one of the most important goals early on, and they have the opportunity to take this class if they have a passing interest, and they just want to know more. But they also, if we continue along the path that I'd like us to, as the District, we'll have that ability to move right into a job and a profession, if that's what they would like.

    Bruce:

    Yeah. Yeah. That's a really great way of looking at this. This is really a pathway to jobs. One of the things that the State of Utah really identified about a year and a half ago is the demand for software developers in the State of Utah. Specifically, there's almost 7500 software development jobs that are open in 2020. So the way that we've envisioned this pathway is really generating a great deal of student interest in getting them engaged in the coding classes in middle school. And ultimately the idea is to build capacity at the higher level at high school, with the goal ultimately of helping students compete for these jobs directly from high school.

    So the two classes that are being offered at the middle school or one class this year is the Creative Coding Class. Next year, that's going to extend to the second class, which is going to be a Python Programming Class. Hopefully at some point, that will lead to increasing the number of students at the high school level and really getting students that have higher depth of knowledge, level building portfolios, earning certifications, and really, preparation for ultimate workforce outcomes in this area, which is really in high demand.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Of the top cities in the country, I think Utah's ranked 14th in the country in terms of demand for software developers. So yeah, really important work that's being done at the middle schools. We have some international superstar programmers on the way out through this program. Bruce, thank you for your support in making that possible.

    Bruce:

    Yeah, absolutely. We are happy to partner and support the district and I appreciate it.

    Thanks for joining us on the super cast. Remember, education is the most important thing today.

    18 min
  • Episode 71: Free Services for Families at the Jordan Family Education Center

    If you ever feel like you need just a little extra support in your life or your child’s life, maybe it’s time to visit the Jordan Family Education Center.

    The center, located inside River’s Edge School, provides support services, counseling and classes free of charge for families and students in Jordan School District.

    On this episode of the Supercast, we find out what classes like “Blues Busters” or “Superhero Social Skills” can do for students and how families can benefit from the free short- term counseling offered by school psychologists and counselors.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Do you ever feel like you need a little extra support for your family or your child? If that's the case, maybe it's time to visit the Jordan Family Education Center. The Center located inside River's Edge School, provides support services, counseling and classes free of charge for families and students in Jordan School District. On this episode of the Supercast, we find out what classes like Blues Busters or Superhero Social Skills can do for students and how families can benefit from the free short-term counseling offered by school, psychologists and counselors. I'm here speaking with Fulvia Franco, Program Specialist at the District level who works with school psychologists and our elementary counselors and Sarah Robbins, the School Psychologist from Daybreak Elementary School to talk with me about the Jordan Family Education Center. Thanks to both of you for being here with me. Let's start with you Fulvia. Can you just give me a quick overview? What is Jordan Family Education Center?

    Fulvia:

    The best way is to explain the kind of services that we offer to families and children in the district, students in the district. First of all, we provide short-term child centered family counseling for families, and that's up to 10 weeks. There's no additional charge to families for participating in the services. We also have a variety of parenting classes that are offered three times a year during fall winter and spring quarter. Classes typically go for six weeks and they target a number of areas, including social skills. We have classes like Making and Keeping Friends, a class called Blues Busters for children who may be sad or worried. We have Effective Parent Training for parents who want ideas on parenting their children. We have classes for parents who might have a child with autism, and we have Anger Management Classes for elementary, middle school, high school and adults.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's a great variety of classes. Now, Jordan Family Education Center, you go way back. Let's talk about when did the Jordan Family Education Center start?

    Fulvia:

    The Jordan Family Education Center was established by the district in 1979. They initially had a coordinator there for five years and then had person, an interim person. And now I've been the coordinator every since.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Before we talk about classes specifically, let's talk a little bit more about the counseling that's available for families. Sarah, let's talk with you about how that counseling works. Can you tell me what are some examples of when a family might choose to participate in that and what they can expect if they sign up?

    Sarah:

    We have families that come to seek counseling services for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes the issues are a little more acute and have just come up and sometimes they're a little more long-term. Some examples of things we see students for are maybe adjusting to a new divorce or a new move. Maybe they're experiencing some anxiety or depression and the family's not really sure how to help them, and the student doesn't really know what to do. At the Family Education Center, we can provide a little more in-depth services than we have time for at school. It's more family centered to address their specific problem. What they can expect is, if they call our phone number, which is (801) 565-7442, they can ask to have an intake. And when they do an intake, they meet with one of our school psychologists and can talk to them about what's going on and get a little more information. The school psychologist will then meet with our staffing committee and help generate some recommendations for the family. Sometimes we refer them to a specific class that might meet their needs. Sometimes we refer them for short-term counseling and sometimes, depending on the nature of the problem, if it's bigger and more long-term, we can help them find community resources. We also partner with the Health and Wellness Department and we'll make referrals. They can help us access private providers if that's something that the family needs as well.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And then private providers, for those listening that may not be aware, can be funded for a limited time through some funds that were made available from the State. So really the idea, it sounds like, is that when a family comes, they call that intake number and they ask for a consultation about their specific circumstance. There is a wide variety of resources available that they can be connected to. Maybe a class, maybe a counseling right there at the Jordan Family Education Center, maybe some outside counseling, and any of those could lead to another step, depending on how things go. So it's a great place to start and to get connected to lots of resources that families may not otherwise be aware of.

    Sarah:

    Yes. In fact, just last week I had a conversation with a parent who had come for her own child, and while she was there, she thought about a neighbor and the neighbor had been through a recent divorce. And some of her children who are school age were having some difficulty processing that it was a big move and a big change. And so she stayed after and came and talked to me for a while and said, where else can I send her? I have no idea. I've never done any of this before. And between me and two of our other staff members who happen to still be there, we were able to give her several ideas within the district and also within the community, including our own Health Services Department, because the family no longer has health insurance. So that was a place we could start to help them as well. We definitely partner with all the resources here in the district and in the community.

    Fulvia:

    We definitely partner with all the resources here in the district and in the community. One of the strengths of the program is that it is funded and staffed entirely by individuals who work for Jordan School District. As such, we're an extension of the local school. So when we do an intake assessment with a family, we're able to give them resources, not only through our center or the district, but perhaps through their school. If we identify a need for testing, we can use a Child Find Referral to make a referral to the Special Education team or develop a 504 at the school level. We send information to the school to let them know a family is accessing services through the Center and families are informed of that. So they agree to have the school be a partner in this. So we do partner together to be the most effective in providing all the services that a child or family might need.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And that's a really important point. This is a network of support that's connected directly with the school. So it's not a one and done. This is ongoing support for lots of different issues and lots of struggles that students and families may be dealing with. And as a part of that, what I referenced earlier is that the list of classes is really quite remarkable. Superhero Social Skills for grades one through four, Anger Management that you referenced, Surviving the Death of a Loved One, Calming the Storm Within, Anger Management for adults. So there are really a lot of great classes that can help with issues that may pop up. What can someone expect if they sign up for one of these classes? What does that look like? How frequently do they meet, for what period of time, and how large are those classes? Just what are some of the details of what those classes would look like?

    Fulvia:

    So our classes, due to the pandemic, we're limiting size of classes to eight participants and two instructors. Many of our children's classes like Making and Keeping Friends and Blues Busters, we have quite a few parents who want to sign up. There's a parent class that goes along with the children's class, but they meet in a separate room. We've added additional instructors so that we can reach more children. And so we now have limited numbers for the participants, but when there aren't restrictions such as with COVID-19, then we can have up to 15 students in a class.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell us about the location of these classes. Where do folks go if they want to sign up online? What's the number again to call and then tell us about the location?

    Sarah:

    So the Jordan Family Education Center is located over at River's Edge School. inside the school. And if a parent or a family wanted to sign up for either an intake or for a class, or we actually even have a parent lending library over there with several parenting books, but they would just call to register. And the number is (801) 565-7442. We actually just started our second group of classes last week, and the classes run for six week. Each class is an hour and a half long. We have some classes that start at 6:00 PM and some classes that start at 7:00 PM and we'll be starting our third set of classes the week after spring break. So if there's something a parent is wanting to sign up for, but doesn't have time for right now, or maybe a second class they'd like to, they can take it again in the spring.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Stay with us. When we come back, more on free services provided by the Jordan Family Education Center and how counselors and psychologists are supporting students and families in a multitude of ways during the day.

    Break:

    It is one of the most prestigious academic achievement programs available for high school students, and we're proud to say it's coming back to Jordan school District. We're talking about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, which will be located at West Jordan High School. The IB program supports the personal and academic achievement for students at the very highest level. IB diploma courses take place during a student's junior and senior year in high school. All sophomores are invited to consider the IB program for next year. There are no prerequisites for IB and interestingly, middle school students can start preparing. Now students with the IB diploma have a better chance at getting into some of the most prestigious universities in the world. In order to find out if your teen is a good candidate for IB. visit ib.jordandistrict.org, or call West Jordan High School.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    How has the pandemic impacted what you do? Are there some classes that have become more popular because of that? And what are some of the needs that you've seen arise out of that.

    Sarah:

    I have noticed some of our classes are more popular this year than they ever have been. In particular, the Blues Busters class has been very full every time. So Blues Busters is a class for kids who are either sad or worried. And this year we see a lot of anxiety in kids. Kids are worried about things that they never have been before, like earthquakes, for example. And we offer that class for elementary age, and then we have a second one for teenagers. That's taught by middle school and high school staff members. And then there's a third parent class that's taught at the same time. So that one has been very popular this year. We also have another one called Mindful Kids and it teaches kids relaxation strategies. And that class we have had to add a second session for students because it's been so popular because everybody needs to relax. That one's been really popular. And then Making and Keeping Friends is always a really popular class. We always have students who are struggling to make friends and it's a great place for them to learn. We started a new class just last year called Supporting Your Child with Autism. And we've had really good feedback for that class. That's for parents of children who might be somewhere on the autism spectrum, and we're able to help them have ideas of how to parent their child and also to link up with community resources.

    Fulvia:

    We've also been doing intake assessments in the family counseling. We've offered virtual counseling for those families who would prefer that. We've had very few families request that. In fact, we have had families that started that way, that said that their children did better in person. So we sanitize everywhere we can in between sessions and we've done our best to try to keep it safe. But families have let us know that they prefer to come and get the services in person.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's good to know those services are available. And these classes just seem made for some of the issues that have popped up during the pandemic. But as you said, it's been going since 1979, it's a really well-established program and carefully thought through, the curriculum and these classes. And when you've been doing it for 40 years, you get a knack for what student needs are and are responsive to those over time. I'm very proud of this program in Jordan District and how successful it is and the number of people that are helped. Are there misconceptions about the Jordan Family Education Center or questions that you get frequently? That you'd want to clear up?

    Sarah:

    The one thing that is unique is not everybody has time to attend a six week class. Most of our clients are parents with younger children and it's hard to get away. So we do offer a session called Timely Topics and that's on Thursday night and they are one session classes. So many of our instructors have other classes will come and do an abbreviated version so if a parent can't make it to a six week class, they can come for just one night and those cover a variety topics. For example, there's one for Co-Parenting through Divorce. There is one for Internet Safety. There's one for Coping with Depression and helping your children cope with depression. There's one called Video Gaming Addiction that went really well last quarter that has probably become a bigger issue during the pandemic. We also have one called Study Skills and it's for supporting your teenager. That is also a popular class because most parents can come for one night. And ultimately our goal is to help kids to be successful in school. We want them to go to school. We want them to be able to focus while they're there. We want them to graduate all of our classes and the counseling services are designed to support the family in helping their child navigate the school and be able to finish.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It's an extraordinary program. And I love the focus on students and families because families really are part of helping support students through difficult times and are an important element of student success in school. Tell us again, the phone number and the website and how we get signed up.

    Fulvia:

    The phone number (801) 565-7442. We're available from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Monday and 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM on Tuesday, Wednesday,  and Thursday. More information about our classes or services can be found right on the Jordan District website in the Guidance Department, which is in Student Services. So the website is guidance.jordandistrict.org/jfec. And the address of River's Edge School is 319 West 11000 South in South Jordan.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Great. Well thank you for spending the time. I know you're both very busy.

    Fulvia:

    Thank you for your support as well. Thank you for having us.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Thanks for joining us on the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see out there.

    18 min
  • Episode 70: What’s Inside the Warehouse?

    Have you ever wondered what it takes to store everything needed to run a district that spans 6 cities, with 64 schools and more than 56,000 students? Where do we safely store food for our kitchens and cafeterias or furniture, paper and cleaning supplies for our classrooms?

    On this episode of the Supercast we take you inside the District's Central Warehouse on a fun and fascinating tour with a man who has taken care of business there for 39 years. Find out what Randy Gray has seen come and go throughout the years.

    Audio Transcription

    Superintendent:

    Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Have you ever wondered what it takes to store everything needed to run a school district that covers six cities with 64 schools and more than 56,000 students? Where do we safely store food for our kitchens and cafeterias or furniture, paper, and cleaning supplies for our classrooms. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you inside the District Central Warehouse on a fun and fascinating tour with a man who has taken care of business there for 39 years.

    We're here at the Jordan School Cistrict warehouse with Randy Gray, the Distribution Coordinator. Good morning, Randy.

    Randy:

    Good morning.

    Superintendent:

    We're here at 7:30 AM, which is early for me, but you start your day very early. What time does the warehouse get rolling?

    Randy:

    I get here about 4:20 AM. My guys show up around 5:00 AM.

    Superintendent:

    4:20 and 5:00 AM. Why does everyone start at that unearthly hour?

    Randy:

    Because we have to get all the food to the schools before they are ready to cook. So if they need it for the schools, they need anything for the lunch that day, they have it before they need it.

    Superintendent:

    So everything starts with you really here in the morning at 4:20 AM. So tell me, you've got a stack of calendars here. How long have you been coming in to work at Jordan School District?

    Randy:

    In one form or another 39 and a half years.

    Superintendent:

    39 and a half years. And we're about to lose all that 39 and a half years of experience from what I understand.

    Randy:

    Right.

    Superintendent:

    When do you retire?

    Randy:

    December 22nd.

    Superintendent:

    And how does that feel after so long?

    Randy:

    I'm going to miss a lot of guys, but I got a lot of other stuff I want to do, so it'll be fun.

    Superintendent:

    Well, you're certainly going to be missed. There's no question about that. Your stack of calendars goes back to the nineties.

    Randy:

    Yeah, 1996. I've got another door that has the other ones on it. That's about how long you and I go back right to one of those calendars. And I saw a long, long time ago.

    Superintendent:

    We met a long time ago. Tell us a little bit more about the warehouse. What what does that involve?

    Randy:

    We do all the food supplies go out of here, every day produce.

    Superintendent:

    So that's the main bulk of the load in the morning?

    Randy:

    That's my big crew. So that's getting everything to the school programs. Anything that they may run out of, they are short on, we get it to them as soon as we can in the day, as early as we can.

    And then I have separate crews when we do the school supplies, custodial supplies and the maintenance supplies. And we picked orders every single day.

    And then we do all the receiving for everything that comes in and clean books or any non inventories that come into.

    Superintendent:

    When you say picking, is that just pulling what the order is from the inventory that you have, what the schools have requested?

    Randy:

    Yes.

    Superintendent:

    Okay. So you have regular orders and then when they run out, then you run stuff out as needed as well.

    Randy:

    Yeah. If we do run out of things, we tried really hard not to. If we do run out, it goes into a back order system and then we pick back ordered tickets as soon as we get them in. And then they go out, as soon as we can get them to out.

    Superintendent:

    How many employees do you have?

    Randy:

    We have 14 people in here.

    Superintendent:

    I know with all the PPE, there's been a big shift to get all of that out to the school. So that's probably been one of the main impacts of the pandemic.

    Randy:

    Right, right. It has really impacted us. My guys were working overtime, breaking down masks and everything and anything, hand sanitizer. Kurt was out here helping us everyday on that. So they were delivering nonstop.

    Superintendent:

    Well, I've talked with Kurt, the Director of Purchasing who's with us here today about that.

    But I just want to thank you personally for that, because that sure made a big difference when people have that the first day. And I know you guys just pulled out all the stops, so thank you for that.

    Randy:

    Yeah. The crew really jumped together. It's a good team out here. They work really well together and they just jumped on it and got it done.

    Superintendent:

    Part of what fascinates me about the warehouse is just the sheer volume of stuff that you guys have moving through here. It makes Costco look like a convenience store.

    Randy:

    Absolutely.

    Superintendent:

    Tell me about some of the volume of the items that you just have coming through here in big quantities.

    Randy:

    For instance, like if you take the white copy paper, we do around 23,000 cases of that a year. And we'll do like 12,000 to 15,000 cases of towels, toilet paper or tissue handy.

    So you know, those quantities, they rotate and they never stopped. So because we don't have an unlimited space, we have to gauge how much we can bring in at a time. And hopefully your next order hits you before you run out. And we've been really lucky. We really haven't run out of much of anything. It is a large space, but like you said, it's not unlimited. So you have to gauge when to bring it in. And then the demand hits and in the front is the beginning of the school year. Just the craziest time. You're pulling everything for the startup of next year.

    Superintendent:

    Okay. So you have massive orders.

    Randy:

    We have to get them out and into the schools because when food start ups come in a week and a half before school. Then we resupply all the schools, lunch rooms with all their foods that are frozen. And then for the next two weeks, it's all food. It's getting all their produce to them. They're frozen. They're dry. I mean, it's just chaos. But the guys are very organized.

    Superintendent:

    Stay with us. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, more of our fun and fascinating look at what's in the warehouse.

    Break:

    If you ever feel like you need just a little extra support in your life, maybe it's time to visit the Jordan Family Education Center. The Center, located inside River's Edge School, provides support services and classes for families and students in Jordan School District. Free of charge classes like Blues Busters for Children who are sad or worry. Take a Preteens Communication Class for parents and teens or Superhero Social Skills, a class that helps children with social skills. The Jordan Family eEducation Center also offers short-term counseling and all services are provided by the district school, psychologist and counselors. For information about classes and counseling, call 801-5657.

    Superintendent:

    Okay, let's walk through the warehouse. And I definitely want to visit the freezer. The freezer is really something. So let's head out.

    We have Kurt Prusse, Director of Purchasing with us here, walking through the warehouse as well. We've got gloves, just sitting here on, what is this, transformers? Why is that warming them up here? This is like a hot potato or something like that, but they put these on gloves.

    Randy:

    Yeah, the freezer, they're in there for an hour or so each time. And then you get reinforcement. So that's why there's six pair here. He's got another pair on right now and he just rotates. So when those gloves get cold, he can just grab another warm pair off the transformer.

    Superintendent:

    Let's go check out this freezer. When you come here, people say, well, have you seen the freezer? Because it's really something. How cold does it get in the freezer?

    Randy:

    Usually around minus 12 to minus 15, I tried to keep it in the 10 to minus 10 range.

    Superintendent:

    And how many pallets can we fit in the freezer?

    Randy:

    We're about 900 right now. 900 pallets and 900 talents shopping at Costco. They're 900 pounds.

    Superintendent:

    Oh my gosh. And you gotta be a real good operator and make this work.

    Randy:

    Yeah, you do. You're not really happy if you don't know what you're doing.

    Superintendent:

    I could see that I will never drive a forklift in here. Tell you that. That would not be a good idea.

    Randy:

    I'm very picky about who brings in forklifts in here. And I have to say we haven't made it here very long. That cold kind of slows your heart down.

    Superintendent:

    Yeah. So what are we looking at here? What do we have?

    Randy:

    Oh, this is why a lot of your produce stops right here. This would be government that the Nutrition Services Director has had processed, breaded chicken chicken nuggets, you know, items like that. So it's like a lot of chicken. We tried to keep this together.

    Superintendent:

    So this is going to be all your process. And then we have to purchase and we have just regular government contracts, like  Kung Pao chicken.

    Randy:

    They're right here. They taught he's one of my top operators as far as the uprights and reconstruct. And that's why he's in here. I trust him in here.

    Superintendent:

    So he does me a very good job and he does the right stuff and tips the button. Oh, there we go. Now there's a frozen bag of chicken fajita. All right. Hungry working in here? All you do is work with food all day.

    Worker:

    Yeah. Once in a while, I gotta say you are ready for the Arctic band, your iron chop. That is a refrigerator where you don't last long, especially when you're grabbing boxes. Even with these six gloves on five, six times, pick your time up. You're out changing. We got two different sets. Your brand of Coke has the word refridge in it. That means that you are set to work in the freezer.

    Superintendent:

    Yeah. Wow. This is something. Wow.

    Randy:

    Even in the winter, the guys will go out of here and they'll go outside in the snow to warm up.

    Superintendent:

    That's a lot of paper. That's probably not a lot of paper to you, but we're walking by pallets and boxes of paper.

    Randy:

    This is all the colored paper right here. This is really our small volume paper right here.

    Superintendent:

    That may be more paper than I've seen over the course of my entire life.

    Randy:

    All the paper that we buy, we buy it on a reverse auction. So I kind of have to gauge how much space I have, what my need is. And then I'll average 840 cases a month.

    Superintendent:

    You guys have a great reputation for just having things on hand, just making things available because schools do have emergencies and we can't really shut down. We've got kids sitting there waiting for a lesson or a meal.

    Randy:

    Yeah. And I've been doing the requests.

    Superintendent:

    You know these warehouses.

    Randy:

    Pretty much. I started there as a driver. I drove for seven years and then started moving up.

    Superintendent:

    So have you been in the warehouse Most of the time that you've been at Jordan?

    Randy:

    The entire time. I started over there under a Superintendent Wittenberg.

    Superintendent:

    Oh, wow. So, you've been under four superintendents.

    Randy:

    I have.

    Superintendent:

    I think you started in the Reagan era.

    Randy:

    I did. Yeah. A lot of our drivers, we sit and talk and they go, you started at like a Lane one? Oh, us Lane three. And then some of them say, yeah, I wasn't born yet. I said, well, Reagan was not just president. He was a new president. He got voted in, which makes me is really old.

    Superintendent:

    Now you've mentioned the reverse auction on the paper. That's fascinated me when you've talked about that in Board Meetings before, tell us about the reverse auction for buying tapes.

    Kurt:

    Right. It's  something that we do as a cooperative purchase with other school districts. We've had the opportunity last two years to do that. What a reverse auction is, is kind of what you think of when you were at an auction, the prices go up and in a reverse auction prices go down. So everyone has the opportunity to outbid the lowest provider until someone says uncle. Basically, he says we can't go any lower. And that's the winner. And typically there's a lot of time. There's some rules with the reverse auction, but it's something we have done in the past. And it's been very successful in that you ensure the lowest price because really the competitors or the vendors really can compete with each other in real time.

    Superintendent:

    And that's just one of the ways that the Purchasing Department works hard to save money and the Warehouse Department, you know, when you've got the right quantities and they move out at the right time, that saves us a lot of money as well.

    Randy:

    Right. And when they send it, you know, I'll get a paper. Right now I'm getting them from Brenda, one of our buyers. And it just says, okay, here's three months. How many trucks do you want for this month? And then I just look at what I've used, what I have on hand, and then how much can I bring in? How much can I house? And it's worked out great.

    Superintendent:

    I can't even do that with my family. I cook way too much or not even close to enough when people are coming over. To do that for 58,000 students is something else.

    Randy:

    Yeah. If I run out, I'm not very popular. So I try not to run.

    Superintendent:

    Well, you are very popular and you do a very good job. So are people surprised when they come through here and see just the scope of what you do?

    Randy:

    You know, they come in and a lot of them say, don't you have time to do this. And I say, well, no. And you know, when they come in and they look and they say, we just didn't understand that. We didn't understand what you guys do. And we will give anybody a tour through here. And they come through and they're just absolutely baffled by how big it is, the amount of products we carry.

    Superintendent:

    Thank you so much for all your years of service, your decades of service. They just don't have any idea this is back here.

    Randy:

    Yeah. They just say, we never knew this was behind the building.

    Superintendent:

    Right. So this is behind the scenes in every way. Thank you so much for all your years of service, your decades of service. And we'll sure miss you, but we wish you the best.

    Randy:

    Oh, I appreciate Jordan District. They helped me support my family the whole time. It's been great. When I started here, I had one child.  had four kids and now I have six grandkids. So it's offered me a great opportunity. So I appreciate it. And I've always had a job. I've never been laid off. So it's been great.

    Superintendent:

    Well, congratulations on your retirement and I wish you all the best.

    Randy:

    Thanks.

    (15:48):

    Thanks for joining us on the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you.

    17 min
  • Episode 69: Understanding New COVID-19 Guidelines & Quarantine Procedures Impacting Our Schools

    As we head into the new year 2021, Jordan School District is following some new State COVID-19 guidelines, quarantine procedures and plans for students who want to participate in athletics and other extra-curricular activities. On this episode of the Supercast, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey helps students, teachers, staff and parents understand the changes in COVID protocol that will impact our schools moving forward.

    Audio Transcription

    Superintendent:

    Welcome to the Supercast and to a brand new year, 2021. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. As we begin the new year, Jordan School District is following some new state COVID-19 guidelines, quarantine procedures, and plans for students who wish to participate in athletics and other extracurricular activities. On this episode, I'm joined by several colleagues involved in our ongoing COVID safety plans together. We hope to help students, teachers, staff, and parents better understand the changes in COVID-19 protocol that will impact our schools moving forward. All right, we are here with Caleb Olsen, our Planning and Enrollment Consultant, Brad Sorenson, the Administrator of Schools over High Schools, and Mike Anderson, our Associate Superintendent to talk about moving forward and where we stand with the pandemic in a new calendar year. It's amazing that we're in 2021. And there's just been a little bit of a mind shift as we look toward the remainder of the year.

    There've been some changes in procedure at the District level and at the State level, since we last talked about this on the Supercast. So I invited these gentlemen back to talk about some of the changes and how they're impacting students, families, and employees. Caleb, let's start with you and talk about the Dashboard.  First off, the Dashboard has been very popular. We have a lot of visits to the Dashboard, that updates case counts and quarantine counts. Tell us about that.

    Caleb:

    Absolutely. We've had the Dashboard up since about the end of September. And right now we're seeing between 1,002 thousand views a day of patrons and community members coming to get information on their schools altogether. The Moving Forward site with the Dashboard and all of the Districts COVID-19 information has been viewed just under 370,000 times since it went live in August, that's a higher level of engagement.

    Superintendent:

    And I really appreciate all the work that goes into providing and updating information on that site. There have been some changes to the way we report that. And one of the big changes that we've had questions about is the reset after we've been out for two weeks for the holiday break. Can you tell us about the reset and some of the ways that the information on the Dashboard has evolved?

    Caleb:

    Absolutely. The reset happened because of our return from winter recess. And I think everyone in the District needed that winter recess and that time off to kind of recover and recharge. But what that winter recess meant is there were no classes being held. So there were no opportunities for students to interact with those who might've had positive cases. There were no situations where we needed to quarantine new students.

    Because of, and at the direction of the Salt Lake County Health Department, when we came back from winter recess, we reset all of our quarantine and our case totals to zero because any of the existing quarantines would have ended and any of the existing positive cases would have run through their course. It would have been more than 14 days and they would have been able to be back in school or back to work. So when we returned, we reset all of those numbers to zero. That meant the Dashboard had a few changes in the way it looks, and it may be a little different to people. But the main information is still there prior to winter recess, because we had schools who were going to virtual learning for a two week or a 14-day period. There were two sets of numbers on the Dashboard, one for current cases and one for the last two weeks.

    When a high school or a middle school came back from virtual learning, they may or may have had cases that have been active in the last two weeks. But just like with winter break and our districtwide reset, there were no active cases at that moment because they would have run their course. So we showed on the Dashboard those two different sets of information so that patrons and schools could see what was happening right now, and  also a little bit of the history of what was happening since we've reset as a district. That last two week section has gone off of the Dashboard because it doesn't need it. Everyone's at the same starting level. Everyone went to zero on Monday and we've had a few cases and a few quarantines come back since then. So it's a little more simple, a little more clear to see the information about your school, but the same information is there and the same information is available. And as you said, hat reset comes countywide at all of our schools in any district in the County, because that comes from the County Health Department who reset protocol.

    Superintendent:

    Now you've talked about the changes to the Dashboard. What are just some of the things for people to keep in mind when to check when it's updated? Those are not live updates by the way. The Dashboard is updated once per day.

    Caleb:

    Absolutely. We don't update in real time, although our school nurses do and they are inputting information and reporting information to the District all the time. And they're hard at work, making sure those numbers are reported, but the Dashboard only updates once a day. We will always have it updated by 1:00 PM, but our goal is to have it done as soon as possible each school day. And as soon as we've been able to get the morning's information from the County Health Department and verify it and make sure it everything is correct and that it will display correctly, we push it out. So it's visible to all of the schools and all of our patrons.

    So it will be available on the District website, jordandistrict.org, and at movingforward.jordandistrict.org everyday by 1:00 PM. As soon as it's ready to go, we push it out live. You'll be able to see the date and the time that it was updated last so you know how current and how accurate the information is you're viewing.

    Superintendent:

    Well, thanks for your hard work on that. I'm glad that you mentioned the nurses. Our nurses have worked constantly to get that information updated and to help coordinate quarantines that are put in place through the Health Department. And many staff members are working really hard at the school and district level to make those numbers available and to take the appropriate action. So thank you for that. One of those numbers that we talked about that's reported is quarantine numbers. We expect those to go down dramatically, based on the new procedures that were put in place just before the holiday break. Mike Anderson, Associate Superintendent, talk to us about that change to the quarantine procedure.

    Mike:

    Yes. Quarantines have now changed from 14 days to 10 days. And the reason behind that is because the schools started implementing the seven day test and return protocol. In other words, a student who was on quarantine could test after seven days. If they were negative, they could come back to school. The County has been crunching all of that data and they realized that less than 1% of the student population was being impacted with a positive COVID test after being quarantined. It's a very low number. And so based on that, they reduced the quarantine requirement. They count from 14 to 10 and that's going to significantly impact our quarantine numbers. In addition to that, you don't need to quarantine if there was a school exposure that was mask on mask.

    In the past, you would have to quarantine if you were exposed to anybody that was positive for COVID-19 within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes. Now, if you're at school and you have mask to mask exposure to someone that has COVID-19, you do not need to quarantine at all. There are two important things to remember with this. It only is pertaining to school related exposures, and it's only pertaining to those exposures that were mask on mask. Any instances at lunch or participating at in athletics or in certain classes where masks aren't worn, there could still be quarantines as the numbers that we've seen previously. But mostly, this should dramatically reduce the number of quarantine.

    Superintendent:

    Yeah, it really should.

    Mike:

    And you'll see some quarantines on the Dashboard because of non-mask exposure. Some of those may happen also at lunch where students have removed their masks to eat. But we should see a significantly overall reduced number for quarantines. And hopefully that also translates into a lower absenteeism. There were also some changes at the District and State level concerning the threshold at which a school would be considered to be moved to virtual instruction and the process for doing so. Right before the Thanksgiving break, the Jordan School District Board of Education voted to change that process so that the District Administration and the School Administration have a conversation when the school meets one of three thresholds for two school days in a row. That means not over a weekend or over a break, but for two school days in a row.

    The three thresholds are as follows:

    1. If there are 15 cases at the elementary or middle school level or 1 percent of cases at the high school level.
    2. If 10% of the student body is on quarantine.
    3. If 20% of the student population is absent.

      4. And those are the thresholds at which there's a conversation about moving the school to virtual instruction. After that decision was made in December, the State threshold actually changed to match those.

      Superintendent:

      Would you describe that if you don't mind?

      Mike:

      Yes. Our patrons shouldn't notice much of a difference at all because they are the same protocols that our Board had implemented prior to Thanksgiving. And that is for schools with more than 15 of 1500 students, you would have to reached 1% of the population testing positive for COVID-19. Before, a school would be considered to go virtual for schools less than 1500 students. The threshold remains at 15 days before you would be considered to pull virtual. And that includes all of our elementary and middle schools.

      And if a school reaches one of those three thresholds on a day where they could have a second weekday where they meet that threshold, then they'll receive a notification for what's called an alert day and be made aware that they've met that threshold one day. If they meet the second day, they would be seriously considered to be moved to virtual instruction.

      Superintendent:

      Stay with us. We're going to take a short break and when we come back we will discuss what you need to know about new COVID protocols for students involved in athletics and other extracurricular activities.

      Break:

      If you ever feel like you need just some little extra support, maybe it's time to visit our Family Education Center. The Center located inside River's Edge School. We provide services and classes for family and students in Jordan School District, free of charge classes, like Blues Busters for children to help them worry less. There is a Pre-teen Communication Class for parents and Super Heroes Build-a-Plan that helps children with habits.  Jordan Family Education Center also offers short-term counseling and all three are provided by the District School Psychologists and Counselors. For information about classes and counseling call (801) 565-7442.

      Superintendent:

      Now, another the impact is on athletics and there's been a big change there. So let's talk with Brad Sorenson, Administrator over High Schools. This is athletics, extracurricular activities, anything that involves practice or rehearsals outside of the school day. Can you describe that procedure to us? And it's been very efficient at our schools. I must say, people have really jumped in and worked really hard to make this protocol work effectively.

      Brad:

      Yes, since just after Thanksgiving break, it's been required that students in all of our extracurricular activities be tested within a two week window. That testing continues every two weeks for all students who are participating in an activity that is more than just a one-time event. So that includes all of our athletics. It includes a lot of our performing art groups. It includes dance. It includes any groups that are meeting after school. And now, each school has set up a protocol and a process by which those groups would be tested every other week. Our schools do testing mainly on Fridays, but we've also had schools testing on different times during the week in order to accommodate all of those groups. So it's been a huge effort by the schools, and support staff. And again, the nurses who now have come in. They're the ones actually swabbing our students as they go through the testing. And those testing results determine kids' abilities to continue in those extracurricular activities.

      Superintendent:

      I happened to be at one of our high schools when that testing was going on. Large numbers of students moved through that process very quickly.

      Brad:

      School staff have been very organized and have worked hard to make that process go smoothly. And there had been some positive test results, but it's also allowed for safe continuation of extracurricular activities.

      Superintendent:

      And that's a Statewide protocol that's in place with an expectation. We continue to receive shipments on a regular basement basis of tests from the State. They are the rapid tests. It only takes about 15 minutes to get a result.

      Brad:

      Yeah, correct. Students will come in and, based on their assigned time, are usually in and out of that testing in 15 minutes at the longest, and they'll know their results through the system that sends them an automatic notification after the test has been confirmed positive or negative.

      Superintendent:

      Well, a lot of families and a lot of employees at the School District and State level working very hard to provide the best experience possible for students. Things are shifting all the time. We encourage you to visit the District website for updates. We'll continue to send out emails, as we did this week, to provide the latest information that we have available.

      Thanks to the three of you for joining us. Thanks to families and employees out there who have been working so hard. We'll continue to follow these protocols and provide the best education and experience for students, employees, and families that we possibly can.

      Thanks for joining us on the Supercast. And remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see you.

      16 min
    4. Episode 68: Herriman High Teacher Shares Incredible Story of Defying the Odds

      Jessi Morton-Langehaug is a passionate educator, athlete, ultra-marathon runner, and parent.

      On this episode of the Supercast, the Herriman High School teacher talks about inspiring students by sharing her personal story. Jessi went undiagnosed with Lyme disease for ten years and was told she would never run or compete in another ultra-marathon again because her body was too damaged.

      Hear how Jessi defied the odds, not only competing again but recently winning the Moab 240 with the 4th fastest time in history.

      Jessi’s story is one of hope and inspiration as we begin the new year.

      Audio Transcription

      Superintendent:

      Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Jessi Morton-Langehaug is a passionate educator, athlete, ultra-marathon runner and parent. On this episode of the Supercast, the Herriman High School teacher talks about inspiring students by sharing her personal story with them. Jesse went undiagnosed with Lyme disease for 10 years and was told she would never run or compete again because her body was too damaged. Hear how Jesse defied the odds, not only competing again but recently winning the Moab 240. That's right, 240 miles with the fourth-fastest time in history. Jesse's story is one of hope and inspiration as we begin the new year. Jesse, I'm just going to ask you to kind of list off some of the amazing things that you're up to. Let's start with teaching.

      Jessi:

      I teach chemistry, AP chemistry, honors chemistry, regular chemistry, and yoga at Herriman High School. And a hobby is I love to run. I like ultra-marathon the most, but I've run the Boston Marathon three times. I've done Chicago. I've done New York. I ran my first marathon four months after my daughter was born. She's now six and a half. And I've just kept going further and further since then and just finished a Moab240 three weeks ago.

      Superintendent:

      Yeah. This is a long list of accomplishments in a very short amount of time, but I'm going to start with chemistry and yoga. That is perhaps a combination I'm going to use in the future. When I'm talking about difficult teachers to replace, it used to be French and math as the combination, but I think chemistry and yoga is going to take over as the new example of a difficult position to replace. Why chemistry and yoga?

      Jessi:

      Well, chemistry because really, chemistry is the fundamental science of everything. So like biology, if you break it all down, it all has to do with chemistry. And then yoga, it's just become a passion of mine. I started practicing yoga and then went to yoga teacher training and then spent three years in India and in three summers, my students actually were the ones that knew that I had gone to India. I would talk about meditation with them and things like that. And they asked me to bring yoga to Jordan School District. They said if we would go around to get enough signatures, will you write the program or get it to Jordan School District or get it to the high school catalog to teach here? And so I said yes, go get signatures. We'll see what I can do. So they did. I went to the District and presented yoga and they got it on the catalog and now we have yoga. So, I'm kind of a "Jack of all trades".

      Superintendent:

      Well, that's very impressive. And it's exciting that the students were the ones that were behind adding yoga to your schedule.

      Jessi:

      Yeah. I give them the credit. Absolutely.

      Superintendent:

      Well, you've had a wide variety of experiences and like I said, a wide range of expertise. I want to talk a little bit about the running nap. You said that you started just after your daughter was born, just a few months after. So you've been running for about six years. Is that right?

      Jessi:

      Well, I ran cross-country in high school. But then I got Lyme Disease and it wreaked havoc on my system. So I stopped running for a lot of years. Then I would do like little runs here and there. I got more into cycling. It was easier on my joints. I got more into yoga because it was a lot gentler on my body. Then I kinda was always told I wouldn't be able to have children and so when I was pregnant and I had my daughter, I started running. I got up to 10 miles and I thought, if I could do 10 miles, I just think I'm going to do a marathon. If I can have a child, I can run a marathon.

      And the Boston Marathon bombing also happened during that time. And it like ignited something in me. I'd never wanted to run a marathon before that. This sort of runner in me, like runners united just created this emotional thing inside of me that made me want to run the Boston Marathon. And so I started. I was running with my daughter, when I was pregnant and then she was born in January and I ran my first one. I believe it was like June 14th.

      Superintendent:

      Okay. Again, you just jam packed a whole bunch of things into that short little conversation, because most people, in my experience, me included, don't say I just reached this 10 mile goal. If I can do that, I can for sure do more than double that. And I can for sure do it after I just had a child, but no one thought that I could have and overcoming Lyme disease. I mean, there's a lot of things that you've overcome in your life. Many people probably don't understand Lyme disease. And I understand that years went undiagnosed for a long time. So can you just tell me about that obstacle first?

      Jessi:

      Sure. Um, so it went undiagnosed for probably about 10 years. And I never had a bite. I just started to have a lot of digestive issues, the weight loss, the arthritic pains, the chattering in the mind, the constant headaches. It kind of felt like I was hit by a truck all the time. And it was just a struggle just to go from A to B. And then I got to the point where I was kind of feeling like this isn't living. I didn't feel good. I felt like I didn't want to go on. And that's when I found yoga and yoga brought me to India and their approach was different. Their approach was, you spent so many years breaking down, breaking down, breaking down, trying to kill all of this.Now we need to build your system back up. So there were herbs and treatments to open up the energy channels in the body, replace it with herbs to build the systems, rebuild the organs, get you strong again.

      Superintendent:

      So tell us about coming back to running after all of that.

      Jessi:

      Running has always been what I love. So even in high school, I was top of the Cross Country team and I started running in middle school and it's just always been a stress relief. It's mental happiness. It's my love, running is my level of self. And before I was diagnosed with Lyme's they said my body is so damaged, you'll never be able to run a marathon. I used to drive down the street and see people running and be so sad because that's all I wanted to do. So when I had my daughter and I started running and then when I ran my first marathon, my first marathon was a big joke. I was on par to get a bike and I just didn't take the electrolytes that I needed to. And I bonked really bad. I made it to the finish line, but it was not a pretty finish, but I learned a lot. And I know that this is going to come back.

      Superintendent:

      The technical term for hitting the wall.

      Jessi:

      Hitting the wall biking. Yeah. And I know it'll come back to this, but I am an educator and I am really real. At least I want to be with my students. And like I tell them all the time, don't be afraid of failure. Failure makes you better. And I learn way more from my failures than I ever did any of my successes.

      Superintendent:

      So true.

      Jessi:

      I learned so much from my first marathon because I realized, even though I'm a chemistry teacher, you know what you learn in a classroom, you don't necessarily take out of the classroom. And I knew about electrolytes, but for some reason I thinking, I'll get enough, I'll get an off on the course, so I didn't. And so, like that first marathon, I bumped it really bad. And that was my first marathon, over four hours. And then I learned a ton from it, you know? And then I went to Boston, I think the following year. From my first ultra marathon, my first hundred miler, I made some really, really, really big mistakes. And I went back the following year. So that same one shaved five hours off of my time and got third place, female.

      Superintendent:

      Five hours off your time?

      Jessi:

      I tell my students all the time, failure is good. You fail and you learn. So this last summer, I had some of my issues. My Lymes kind of came back. And in June, I almost hung up my racing shoes. I ran the Wasatch course on my own. I had some pacers and a wonderful crew, but it was just me because it was canceled this year. So I ran it anyway and I didn't throw up. I always throw up the last 33 miles of that race and I didn't throw up. It gave me the confidence that maybe Moab will go well. Moab was really, really hot this year. And I got behind on my hydration because I read the water chart wrong and I didn't have enough water. So I got behind and I started to get really sick on that first day.

      Superintendent:

      So you weren't in the race where you set a record. Is a record perhaps for you the only record that counts? But to me, fourth overall of all time, that's pretty freaking awesome.

      Jessi:

      Thank you. I got really sick that first day and I problem solved it and I didn't let it destroy my race. I said, I'm going to slow down. I'm going to walk. I'm going to try to get this under control. When I made it into my first crew station at mile 72, I wasn't going to sleep, but I slept for half an hour. And then I woke up and I threw up everything and I felt great. I didn't have any other issues for the rest of the race. I think what changed as I made that decision, I'm not going to keep pushing, I'm going to sleep for 30 minutes. I'm going to tell my body if you feel bad, I'm going to rest.

      Superintendent:

      So the thing that's remarkable to me as I listened to overcoming the illness and overcoming obstacles, even within the day. In a race is that you're always thinking about what does this obstacle mean? How can I solve it and how can I get around it and just keep moving? And I do think that's a great lesson for your students. You're the embodiment of just continuing to try, even when things don't go your way.

      Jessi:

      Oh, absolutely. 100 percent. I'm not a good teacher because I'm awesome in my content. I know my stuff, but I value relationships and I share a lot of my life experiences, especially with my yoga kids. I tell them if you become more flexible, awesome. If you become stronger, awesome. But what I really care about is that you have more tools in your toolbox for when life gets hard, because it will, and you can pull stuff from that. I want to teach them to learn, to have a relationship with themselves, to gain some mental strength because that's what's going to help when life gets tough.

      Superintendent:

      When you finish this race, you're running along at a 10 minute mile clip, is that correct?

      Jessi:

      There might have been some sections at the end that I was definitely pushing. I wasn't able to hold that pace for the whole race, obviously. But I was super impressed with how my body was able to continue to push some pretty fast miles when I came into the eighth station at 37 miles. They said, wow, good job. You're the first female. And I though, yeah, it's 37 miles in. There was a long race to go. I don't even tell me that at mile 200 miles. So the whole time I was thinking I don't want to know what place I'm in because I was doing my race and I told my crew that this is my race. There were definite lows, but I had a lot of fun and I know people that's crazy.

      Superintendent:

      Like how can you have fun running 240 miles?

      Jessi:

      I had a lot of fun. I was cracking jokes with my crew. I was like singing, belting out loud with my music. I had a lot of fun. I had some lows. I felt like crying at the very end. I felt like swearing a few times. There were some bad times, but I always knew that at the bottom of a low, there was always going to be a high because that's life. When I say ultra marathons are like life, and for anyone listening,  if you are in a really bad place or if life isn't going super well, it will get better. You know? So I just always knew that if I was in a really bad place that eventually it was going to turn around.

      Superintendent:

      Well, it's good advice. It's obvious that you have a lot of hope and just that you're able to say it's going to get better and you're able to see past that difficult time, which is something that we're all trying to do right now. And I do think that important component of not just saying it is going to get better, but also I have a hand in trying to do that and I need to think about a lot of different ways I can attack the problem. I just, I really admire that. And I'm so glad that your students are in your class and able to get that message.

      Jessi:

      Thank you.

      Superintendent:

      You also wrote a book? Tell us about the book that you wrote.

      Jessi:

      It was in my head for a while. When I run, it's kind of my meditation time, when I just sort of let thoughts flow.

      Superintendent:

      Do you run with a little notebook in your hand and a pencil?

      Jessi:

      I should run with a notebook and a pencil. I would sort of write in my head as I was running. I'm a pretty private person. or I used to be, especially in terms of my health. I didn't tell people that I had Lyme disease, just because I always kind of viewed or people would see me and think I was a weak individual. So I didn't ever tell people. I didn't want people to look at me differently. So writing took a lot of courage. I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to put it all out there. And then one day I just sat down at my laptop and I started writing. I would just write all day long. Chapter one, after the prologue, took so much out of me that I needed to go for a run, just to kind of get off of this table. I had felt like I had just run an ultra marathon. I was so tired because of all this stuff I had been holding onto for so long. I just put on paper. It was just like this heaviness, you know? I just kind of felt like I just kind of felt like it was time. And I always say, if I can help one person then I've done my job. I know that there's been a few of my students that have read it and they've reached out to me to say, I looked up to you before and now, but I just respect you and you've taught me a lot. I've had other people write to me and say that I've helped them.

      Superintendent:

      Obviously, you have some great accomplishments in your life, but there are a lot of great accomplishments to come. And I'm just thrilled that our students here at Herriman get to know you and get to know the attitude that you've brought to life.

      Jessi:

      Thank you.

      Superintendent:

      Thank you very much for spending time with us.  Thanks for joining us on the Supercast. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. And remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

      19 min
    5. Episode 67:  JSD Students Share “Sounds of the Season”

      It is music that will make you smile and warm your heart. On this episode of the Supercast, we share some sweet sounds of the season performed by Jordan School District students. Wishing you the happiest of holidays and a safe, prosperous new year!

      Concert Program

      • “Snow Carol”- South Hills Middle School Advanced Women’s Ensemble
      • “Sing We Now of Christmas” - South Jordan Middle School 9th Grade Concert Choir
      • “On Thin Air” - Hidden Valley Middle School Percussion Ensemble
      • “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” - West Jordan Middle School’s Combined Choirs
      • “Rock Ye Merry, Rest Ye Very” - Sunset Ridge Middle School Symphonic Orchestra
      • “Santa is the Man” - Ms. Madsen’s 6th grade class at Eastlake Elementary School
        • Audio Transcription

        Superintendent:

        Welcome to a Holly Jolly edition of the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is music that will make you smile and warm your heart. On this episode of the Supercast, we share some sweet Sounds of the Season performed by Jordan School District students. While you listen, just know we are wishing you the happiest of holidays and a safe prosperous year. Let's start with "Snow Carol", performed by South Hills Middle Schools advanced women's ensemble.

        Song

        Superintendent:

        Now enjoy South Jordan Middle School's ninth grade Concert Choir performing "Sing We Now of Christmas".

        Song

        Superintendent:

        Up next, Hidden Valley Middle School's percussion ensembles performing "On Thin Air" by John Wilmarth.

        Song

        Superintendent:

        Now taking the stage is West Jordan Middle School's Combined Choirs performing "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" arranged by Carol Straumer.

        Song

        Superintendent:

        We have Sunset Ridge Middle School Symphonic Orchestra with “Rock Ye Merry, Rest Ye Very” by Brian Beaumont.

        Song

        Superintendent:

        Finally enjoy Ms. Madsen's sixth grade class at Eastlake Elementary School singing “Santa is the Man”.

        Song

        Superintendent:

        Thanks for listening to this episode of the Supercast. Happy Holidays and have a wonderful break. Remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see you out there.

        18 min
      • Episode 66: Students Teach Superintendent Art of Cast Iron Skillet Cooking

        Have you ever wondered what is the best way to cook a perfect steak? Some students in the ProStart Culinary Program say it’s by using a cast iron skillet. In this sizzling episode of the Supercast, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey heads to Mountain Ridge High School with his brand-new cast iron skillet in hand, ready for a cooking class like no other. The Superintendent was inspired by one student’s idea of having a “Steaksgiving” for Thanksgiving.

        • Here are the recipes that were used:
          • Ribeye Steaks
          • Brussel Sprouts
          • Mashed Potatoes
            • Audio Transcription

            Superintendent:

            Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Have you ever wondered what's the very best way to cookie perfect steak? Some students in the ProStart Culinary Program say it's by using a cast iron skillet on this sizzling episode of the super cast. I head to Mountain Ridge High School with my brand new cast iron skillet in hand, ready for a cooking class like no other. I was inspired to learn the art of cast iron skillet, cooking by one student who appeared on a previous Supercast and said he was having "Steaks-giving" instead of Thanksgiving. Let's start in Ms. Anderson's classroom kitchen, where we prepare our skillet. Tell me about seasoning a skillet. Obviously yours is over 50 years old, so it's well seasoned. Tell us about that process.

            Student:

            For that process, what we do is we heat up the skillet with just some oil and to kind of rub oil all around the inside to make sure that the oil absorbs within the skillet a little bit and allows it to be more non-stick and it just allows food to cook better on it.

            Superintendent:

            So I asked Mike Anderson, our Associate Superintendent, who is here with us. Say hi to everybody.

            Mike:

            Hi everybody.

            Superintendent:

            He seasoned mine, it was pre-seasoned. And then he seasoned it at home because it needs another layer. So tell me why yours is so much blacker and shinier than any others I've seen.

            Ms. Anderson:

            My husband's cast iron skillet, I believe he got it from his grandparents, and it has just been used throughout the years. And it's just insanely smooth for cast iron, but you really have to use it in order for it to get that way.

            Superintendent:

            And we have a couple of students here with us as well. Tell us your names.

            Student:

            I'm Aaron Butterfield and I will be cooking the steaks for you today.

            Superintendent:

            What do we have set up here?

            Student:

            So it's basically getting all your recipe and all the equipment you'll need and the food you'll need. We've got our cast iron skillets, and then we'll preheat those in a minute. Then we have butter, garlic, salt, pepper, and the oil we will be cooking with. We have a thermometer to watch the temperature of our meat, so we don't over or under cook it. And then, just some other utensils that we will be using.

            Superintendent:

            Now, this really is a nice way to approach just about anything. You have everything right in front of you that you need so that you're not in the middle of trying to cook something on a particular timeline and then find yourself scrambling for what you're missing.

            Student:

            Yes, exactly.

            Superintendent:

            Tell me a little bit about the cut of steaks that we have here. They look absolutely gorgeous. I want to spray shellac on that and just put it on my desk because it looks so delicious.

            Student:

            All right. So we have some ribeye steaks. We opted for the boneless version and purchased them last night. We salted them and then put them in the fridge overnight, uncovered. It helps the moisture to kind of evaporate. You don't want any moisture when you sear them. And so if you leave them uncovered, it helps with that really nice crust. And then we just salted them, both sides and have just left them uncovered, refrigerated. We've just pulled them out so that they can get to room temp. So in about 10 minutes, we'll be ready to cook.

            Superintendent:

            Those are important tips. I love the attention to detail. So, the seasoning looks pretty sparse. There's not a lot required beyond that. Okay.

            Student:

            Yeah. Beef, I mean really good quality beef is going to have a great flavor. So you don't really want to mask that. We have decided to do a little bit of butter and Rosemary and garlic and salt and pepper. But honestly, that's really not necessary with a good steak. You could just do salt and pepper and it should taste absolutely amazing.

            Superintendent:

            Talk us through as we take the next steps. Are we doing a side dish as well?

            Student:

            Yeah, we're gonna do some caramelized honey Brussel sprouts for you today. I used to not be a big fan of Brussels sprouts, but I learned that because I just never had them cooked correctly. Once you cook them correctly, they're absolutely delicious. So we're going to do a caramelized honey pepper flake and vinegar glaze on some Brussels sprouts. We're going to roast them in the oven, I believe for about 20 minutes to 425 degrees. It's a really hot oven and they will be absolutely soft, but tangy, salty but hot. They're kind of everything.

            Superintendent:

            I'm excited to try it. The word you added in the mix before and after Brussel sprouts, I think are going to make me like them for the first time.

            Student:

            I honestly hope so.

            Superintendent:

            I am expecting good things. I think it's going to be awesome. So tell me some of the health and safety precautions that you teach students in the kitchen.

            Ms. Anderson:

            So here at Mountain Ridge High School, we have different levels of foods classes, and each year we usually add a little bit to their knowledge. Foods I actually offers the food handlers certificate. Students learn everything safety and sanitation wise that they need to know to be able to work in the restaurant workplace. From there we just add on a little bit of knowledge with Foods II, applying it more. Honestly, just practice makes perfect. And then in ProStart we actually run a restaurant at our school. We learn the applicable skills in our commercial kitchen and lab space.

            Superintendent:

            Walk us through.

            Student:

            So first, we're going to cut up this garlic real quick, just so it's ready. You're just smashing it, really putting your weight on it and leaning into it with the side of the knife you just crush it, and then you'll cut off the end of it because you don't really want that part. Then you just peel the garlic right off. That's the good stuff on the inside.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. And is this a career from what you aspire and wanting at this moment in time?

            Student:

            I'm not really sure what I want to go into quite yet, but it's definitely an option. Come over and we're going to start preheating the cast iron.

            Superintendent:

            When do you put the oil in?

            Student:

            Once the pan is hot.

            Superintendent:

            What do you watch for, how do you know?

            Student:

            As soon as the oil hits the pan, you want to start watching to see it smoking and then you're ready. It's hot enough.

            Superintendent:

            So you will look at the pan and you turn it up on the highest heat or do you pretty high, just enough to get the whole thing hot. Okay. Aaron, is there a preferred oil you use for a steak like this?

            Student:

            Different oils have different smoking points. So you want to use a canola oil or avocado oil, both with about the same smoking point. You know, it's up to temperature. I thought I detected notes of canola.

            Student:

            Yeah. Now the reason we're here, of course, is because of our Steaks-giving episode Thanksgiving episode, which I now remember as the Steaks-giving episode because of the term you introduced me to, how was your Steaks-giving?

            Student:

            Our family Steaks-giving was amazing. We had a really good time. And even though it was a smaller family gathering than normal, we had a really good time and the food was amazing.

            Superintendent:

            And remind me, what portion of the meal were you responsible for?

            Student:

            So I cook the steaks and I did roasted garlic roasted potatoes. I was in charge of the skewer member that did cook the steaks for everybody.

            Superintendent:

            Yes. Well, I hope to be able to, after I watch the master at work. That's going to start smoking now. It starts to smoke. He dropped the oil in. Okay. I just got goosebumps hearing a steak.

            Student:

            This is one of I think the easiest ways to make a steak. The one issue with it is that middle can be really rare still in. So we're trying to get it to medium rare.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. Now you're holding it on the side, searing the sides as well.

            Student:

            Yes.

            Superintendent:

            That is something that I have not done. Does that sear from the side as well?

            Student:

            Yeah. It just gives you an idea of how thick you are as well.

            Superintendent:

            Yeah, probably not immediate.

            Student:

            Yeah. If you were doing sirloin steak, it's probably already cooked all the way through.

            Superintendent:

            Stay with us. When we come back, it's time to be cooking a steak in our cast iron skillet, create a savory side dish down there.

            Break:

            Hello, I'm Stacee Worthen, Secondary Counseling Specialist for Jordan School District. Do you know all the ways or the school district counselors can help you and your students? School counselors play such an important role in our school. They provide parents with resources to help guide their children in academics. They provide support with the mental and social well-being of students in our schools. And if you were in the process of preparing a student for college or just beginning, the conversation of higher education now is the perfect time to reach out to your child's counselor. We can assist with college applications and college readiness. I encourage parents and guardians to schedule an appointment and get to know your student's counselor together. Counselors and parents can help develop plans and strategies for students to succeed long after they leave during school district. rReach out. We're always here to help. You can find us and learn more at counseling.jordandistrict.org.

            Student:

            We're going to go for 130 degrees internal temperature. Okay, 70 degrees. We've got a little ways to go. Ms. Anderson, take over. That one is a little bit thinner, so it might be done.

            Superintendent:

            So once we turn it, we turn it back down to a low heat, until we can get that internal temperature up to what did you say, 130 degrees?

            Student:

            Yes. It depends on what you're going for. If you're going for medium or well done.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. Well, while he continues to get the internal temperature up, tell us the range for rare, medium and well done.

            Student:

            Rare is about 120 to 125 degrees. A medium rare is more like 130 to 135 degrees, and you probably shouldn't cook your steak anything above that.

            Okay. Now you sear both sides and then you sear the edges and now you turn the heat down just to bring that internal temperature up. Now we're going to add some butter to baste with the garlic rosemary, and a little extra salt finishing. And that'll just give it flavor and time to cook.

            Superintendent:

            What are some common mistakes, if you will, that people make when they're cooking this?

            Student:

            Probably the biggest mistake is just over cooking it. Occasionally under cooking it, right? It's really hard to get that perfect medium rare.

            Superintendent:

            The steaks. No dude. Before knowing the roasted garlic in butter and those are ingredients to a magic potion. Okay. Lexi's here from the yearbook. Am I right about that smell or what?

            Lexi:

            Oh, you're right about that.

            Superintendent:

            We're coming back to the Brussels sprout conversation here. Are you zesting right now?

            Student:

            Yeah. So I'm zesting a lemon and we've diagonally sliced some scallions or green onions. And this is going to be a little topping that we use on the Brussel sprouts. Once the steaks are resting, I'm going to start making my caramelized honey glaze. And then we'll just kind of toss that all together and we'll have a wonderful Brussel sprouts side dish.

            Ms. Anderson

            Aaron has made his famous mashed potatoes for you guys today.

            Superintendent:

            Oh, well, awesome.

            Student:

            There's two keys to making mashed potatoes. The first is using Yukon gold potatoes and the second is using a ricer in order to basically mash your potatoes. A ricer is a contraption where you basically squished potato through small holes and it leads to really smooth texture. But right now the Brussel sprouts are getting really nice and brown. They're still not quite ready. They're a little too greenstone. So we're going to leave them in for about five more minutes just to get them really nice and tender. That's always the tough part for me is knowing just by what they look like if they are ready or not.

            Superintendent:

            Now we came back from the Brussel sprouts and caught Aaron tasting the mashed potatoes. Oh, he's going to let me do the same. They look awesome. They're warming right now. They're still a little bit cold, but they're warming up. I'm going to give it a try. That is incredible. Those tastes so good.

            Student:

            How was your Thanksgiving?

            Superintendent:

            My Thanksgiving was great and I actually, emboldened by my conversation with you and the rest of your class, I actually did make mashed potatoes. But I'm going to tell you, they were nothing close to this. I was pretty proud of them. Those potatoes tastes so good and they look great. Wow. So these are Yukon gold mashed potatoes. What are the other ingredients you throw in here to make them a perfection?

            Student:

            Heavy whipping cream. And then we did some butter, a lot of salt. When you start the potatoes, you want to salt the water really well.

            Superintendent:

            So we're just going to do some mashed potatoes. Then the Brussel sprouts is out here, on fire.

            Okay. Ms. Anderson, some people may be hesitant but interested. What would you say to those who are considering taking one of your foods classes?

            Ms. Anderson:

            I would say that foods is a really fun class to take. You learn both career skills as well as life skills. A lot of my students may not choose to be in the restaurant industry, but they do develop a lot of skills that they use in college and beyond. I've had some students tell me that my class really helped them be able to cook in their dorm room better. And so that's always kind of a rewarding thing to have some more skills so that you're not always necessarily eating out, but that you're able to make a nutritious meal at home. We have a lot of fun. We cook a lot of different foods. We try to have a huge variety so that students feel that they're able to have a lot of different skills across the board.

            Superintendent:

            They're trying to stake now. All right, here comes the crust. Oh, that is soft and delicious Aaron. This is a masterpiece. It turned out very good. Lexi, how do you like your meal?

            Lexi:

            Mashed potatoes are brilliant. I've never had Brussels sprouts before.

            Superintendent:

            These are amazing. This steak is so juicy and Brussel sprouts. I'm going to try them right now. Oh, you can taste the zest and the citrus. It's incredible.

            Student:

            And I saved the Yukon potatoes for last because I know it's like dessert. How are those Brussel sprouts?

            Superintendent:

            Wow. It was Brussels sprouts. First of all, they have kick, but it's an appropriate kick. I've never had them as good before.

            Thanks again to Ms. Anderson, Aaron, to Lexi for being here from the yearbook to document and to Mike. Anderson for bringing his cast iron skillet and his skills to the kitchen as well. And I'm going to go back to the meal, but thank you so much for letting us join you as always.

            Thanks for joining us on the Supercast. And remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out.

            18 min
          • Episode 65: Excitement Builds as the International Baccalaureate Program Returns

            It is one of the most prestigious academic achievement programs available for high school students and it is coming back to Jordan School District. We are talking about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program which will be located at West Jordan High School.

            On this episode of the Supercast, find out if your teen is a good candidate for IB and what the program can do for students determined to have a successful future after high school.

            Audio Transcription

            Superintendent:

            Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It's one of the most prestigious academic achievement programs available for high school students. And it's coming back to Jordan School District. We're talking about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, which will be located at West Jordan High School. On this episode of the Supercast, find out if your teen is a good candidate for IB and what the program can do for students determined to have a successful future during and after high school. Let's start by finding out what IB is all about with Chandler Bishop and Natalie Nielsen. I'm very excited that we have this program coming back to Jordan School District. And I'm just going to ask Chandler to tell us right out of the shoot. What is International Baccalaureate?

            Chandler:

            Well, thank you for having me. The International Baccalaureate Program is a diploma program. So it's a diploma that you get in addition to your high school diploma that is both nationally and internationally recognized. It's an extremely rigorous academic program that takes place over two years. So your entire junior year and entire senior year, you'll be part of the program. And in addition to the classes that you take, which are very similar to AP classes, although they take place over the two year period, you also have the core of the IB program, which includes an extended essay that you research on your own. Over the course of about a year and a half, you have the CAS Program, which involves what we might think of as extracurricular activities, as well as a service component. You will put together a service project and the Theory of Knowledge class, which you don't get college credit for if you take individually, but if you want the diploma, you have to take the Theory of Knowledge class, and it's sort of the secret sauce of IB. It's the class that ties all of the other components of IB together. And it's a class where you look at what is knowledge, how does knowledge relate to me? And how do I understand knowledge in all the other classes that I'm taking? And that's sort of a brief overview of the International Baccalaureate Program.

            Superintendent:

            In other words, a very rigorous academic program, but a well-rounded program that prepares students for all kinds of opportunities after they've completed that diploma.

            Chandler:

            Yes, absolutely. It's actually the program that best prepares students for life in college. So, just a statistic here for you, diploma students have a higher graduation rate of 80% at a four year college. Compare that to the national average of 40%. So a student coming out of the IB program is graduating college at almost twice the rate of the average college student. And it's because the preparation is so rigorous in their high school that they have no trouble transitioning to college.

            Superintendent:

            Natalie, tell us about your perspective on what does the International Baccalaureate Program bring to West Jordan High School and anyone who wishes to participate, because it's a districtwide program.

            Natalie:

            Well, I think the neatest part with the IB program is the emphasis on global mindedness. So, it's reaching out into the community and West Jordan is a very diverse school, so we always have embraced diversity here. And we have an amazing staff that really pushes students out of their comfort zone, getting them to take risks. And that's what this program is all about. And so it would just be really neat to get to that next level.

            Superintendent:

            Natalie, tell me your role with the International Baccalaureate Program.

            Natalie:

            So I am the CAS Coordinator at Western High School. I'm over the creativity activity and service. I am also a teacher in the IB Program, would be dance career.

            Superintendent:

            So it really has a well-rounded program, obviously with all those components and Chandler, what is your role?

            Chandler:

            I am the IB Coordinator. I take care of registering students with IB and making certain that everything in the program is moving smoothly, in terms of assessments and making certain all our teachers have the proper workshops and credentials. I also teach theTheory of Knowledge class, which is one of the most important classes, as I said earlier, that connects all the different classes together.

            Superintendent:

            I've always been fascinated with that title, The Theory of Knowledge, and it makes me really wants to take that class. So I may have to drop by one of these days. I've talked with students about it that have taken that course over the years. And it really is, like you said, at the heart of things. It's thinking about thinking, it's thinking about knowledge and looking at things at a deeper level that students haven't maybe experienced before. What is the relationship between West Jordan High school and the International Baccalaureate Program?

            Chandler:

            First of all, this is open to students throughout the district. So it's not a West Jordan High sSchool centric program, but it benefits the school as a whole as well. So IB's approach to education is great and it's that our school has been moving towards anyway. And I think that's why we felt like it was such a good fit for our school. You know, one example is the Theory of Knowledge class really focuses on how do we know something and what does that have to do with me? Right? So we always learn things in isolation. And I think that IB does such a good job of that. We want to see this permeate throughout our school, making the connection between the knowledge that's presented in class and what that has to do with each individual. How do I think about this and how does this affect the world that I live in, right? To make those connections. I think through IB and the IB training that all of our teachers are going to have, we'd like to see that mindset really permeate throughout every aspect of our school, whether it's an IB class or not.

            Superintendent:

            Stay with us after the break, we'll talk about what this program can do for students hoping to attend prestigious colleges and universities around the country, the advantages of having an IB diploma.

            Advertisement:

            Hello, I'm Stacee Worthen, Secondary Counseling Specialist for Jordan School District. Do you know all the ways during school that district counselors can help you and your student? School counselors play such an important role in our school. They provide parents with resources to help guide their children in academics. They provide support with the mental and social wellbeing of students in our schools. And if you were in the process of preparing a student for college, or just beginning the conversation of higher education, now is the perfect time to reach out to your child's counselor. We can assist with college applications and college readiness. I encourage parents and guardians to schedule an appointment and get to know your student's counselor together. Counselors and parents can help develop plans and strategies for students to succeed long after they leave during the school district. Reach out, we're always here to help. You can find us and learn more at counseling.jordandistrict.org.

            Superintendent:

            First of all, what can a student expect as part of the International Baccalaureate experience? And then we'll come back and talk about what results they might expect after high school for an International Baccalaureate. Chandler, what can they expect as part of the experience?

            Chandler:

            Yeah, that's a great question. So, you know, our high schools have a lot of different options for earning college credit. You have AP classes, you have concurrent classes and now we'll have the IB Program. I think what sets the IB Program apart is that you get an entirely well-rounded education. So in AP you kind of pick and choose, and maybe your strength is in science. And so you want to take an AP science class and that's great. But with IB, all of your classes are in depth, broad, rigorous classes. And so you can get a very well-rounded experience in the classroom. Then, if you're going to try and get the diploma, you also get the other parts of the IB, where you're getting theTheory of Knowledge class. You're doing the research paper, the essay, that's on your own. And the essay is a self guided. You pick the topic, you create the research question and then you research it and write it on your own. And it's structured where you have support through an advisor, but you are doing that on your own.

            Superintendent:

            Natalie, from your perspective in your role, what experience would an International Baccalaureate student expect?

            Natalie:

            You know, we always want teachers to emphasize authentic learning, and that is what the experience and project is all about. It produces the well-rounded students. So the neat part with the CAS program, if you are focused on creative pursuits, something that you want to have interest in, you can go out and take an art class or go to a paint night and that would fall into the creative pursuits. Then you also have activities which focuses on healthy lifestyle and building this healthy lifestyle. If you want to go rock climbing and try that, or if you want to participate in a sport at the school, that's highly encouraged where you can use some of your basketball experience on the team for the activity portion. My personal favorite is the community service aspect because you're finding an authentic need inside your immediate community and really speaking to that need. So students are getting out into the community, getting involved as well.

            Superintendent:

            I love that approach that involves educating the total student. Chandler, you mentioned before that the University of Utah and other in-state colleges accept International Baccalaureate and will grant 30 hours of credit. What impact does International Baccalaureate have on admissions to prestigious universities?

            Chandler:

            Yes, that's a great question. It's incredibly impactful. So certainly our State colleges all recognize it, but throughout the entire country, they recognize it. In fact, IB students are accepted at Ivy league colleges at a very high rate and other prestigious colleges that may not be Ivy league like NYU, for example, because they all recognize that not only is the rigor in the academic classes very high, but what you're asked to do outside of class is also very high, right?

            So Natalie talked about the CAS Program. I've talked about the extended essay. But in addition, they all recognize that the skills these students come out with are incredibly important. The critical thinking skills are the biggest emphasis in any of these classes, right? This is not rote memorization. This is, can you discuss this in written form in an intelligent, critical way?

            Natalie mentioned the time management skills, right? This is one of the things that I think is the hardest transition for students moving from high school to college in high school. We have these very long classes. The majority of your classwork is done in class. And then you go to college and it's the exact opposite. You sit through these lectures and then you're asked to do all this reading and this work outside of class. Some kids are able to make the transition, but some kids who really excelled in the high school model have a hard time transitioning to that college model. The kids don't because they've been asked to do all of this stuff outside. So they learned that time management skills. So I think that's one of the main reasons that colleges really recognize IB as important. Not only are you doing all this stuff in your community, but they recognize that you have all these skills and you've been through very rigorous classwork as well.

            Superintendent:

            What would you say to someone who's wondering whether this program would be a good match for them or for their children?

            Chandler:

            I think IB sometimes gets a bad reputation, that it's an elite program, right? And certainly students who are coming out of ALPS or coming out of honors classes, or maybe you've taken an AP class prior to the junior year, they're going to do well. The IB grades on a 1 - 7 scale. Only 1% of the students in the world get a seven, right? So there's a high ceiling to do well and to be challenged in IB. But you don't need to be an academic superstar to get the diploma, right? If you get straight fours on your exams, you get the diploma. I've looked at the rubrics and I've seen examples and a typical student can get a four. If they're willing to work hard to learn the skills that their teachers are teaching, you can get a four, right? So this is not necessarily an elite program. Regular students coming out of regular classes can definitely do well in IB. Having said that, elite students also will get a lot out of this. Like I mentioned, the time management skills, and there's a lot of skills beyond just your typical academic skills that IB offers.

            Superintendent:

            In other words, no one should count themselves out because of some preconceived notions about IB.

            Chandler:

            Yes, that's definitely right. Now, you will have to work hard. And there is a heavy workload in terms of the classes and in terms of the core requirements with the extended essay and the service and activity hours. But you can do it.

            The program is the also encouraged students whose primary language is not English to get involved. They have tests in other languages. And so even if you're a secondary language learner, you still have the opportunity to thrive in an IB program.

            Superintendent:

            Natalie, tell me, what are some of the misconceptions about the International Baccalaureate?

            Natalie:

            There's a myth that you can't be as involved with the school because of the academic rigor of the program. And that's not true because again, it's focusing on the well-rounded students, so you can still do football or basketball.

            One thing I think is kind of interesting is this is something that the military does now. They have a different term for it. They call it a cultural competency, right? So this idea is that you need to understand the world in order to excel in the world, whether that's in business, whether that's in government work, that is right. And it's not to diminish your own culture in any way. It's to understand your own culture and its place in the world. And to understand this idea that my culture can be right, but other cultures can also be right. Just understanding that. One of the fascinating things about one of the lessons I saw was, there are 30 foreign words that have no English translation, right? You would have to put together an entire sentence to explain what this word means in this other language. So that's one concern. I think people need not worry about is this idea of international mindedness. Really it is something that is a very positive thing. And it's no way meant to diminish our own culture, or have a skewed view of our own culture. It's just to understand our culture's place in a global world.

            Superintendent:

            If someone is interested in being part of the IB Program, how do they go about doing that?

            Chandler:

            You can go to ib.Jordandistrict.org for more information on how to contact the school. If you're outside of the West Jordan High School boundaries, there's also information there on how to permit into West Jordan for the IB Program.

            Superintendent:

            It's been great talking with Chandler and Natalie about the IB Program. It will begin pending final approval in the fall of 2021. And we're just really excited to bring this experience back. Chandler and Natalie, thank you so much for spending time with us.

            Chandler:

            Thank you very much.

            Superintendent:

            Thanks for joining us on the Supercast. And remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see you out there.

            18 min
          • Episode 64: A Labor of Love for CHHS Students in Peer Tutoring Program

            Some students at Copper Hills High School are the best pals anyone could ask for. They participate in the Peer Tutoring program and CH Pals Club. On this episode of the Supercast, we find out how Peer Tutors and CH Pals are changing lives, supporting students with special needs and making life-long friends in the process.

            Audio Transcription

            Superintendent:

            Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Some students at Copper Hills High School are the best pals anyone could ask for. They participate in the Peer Tutoring program and CH Pals Club on today's program. We find out how peer tutors and CH Pals are changing lives, supporting students with special needs and making the lifelong friends in the process. Let's start with a visit to Jackie Sheppick's classroom at Copper Hills High School, where she teaches students with special needs. Just describe, first of all, what is this class? It's exciting to be here already. If I can tell a lots going on.

            Jackie:

            Thank you. Yeah. So I teach this severe Special education class here at Copper Hill High School. We're a life skills class, so I'm really focusing on the essential elements of math, reading, and science. We also have to do things like health history, social studies, social skills transition into adulthood and just basic life skills.

            Superintendent:

            So how much of a student's schedule is involved in this class?

            Jackie:

            Yeah, so they have a full schedule. My students are typically with me three days, three class periods, and then they go out to a mainstream.

            Superintendent:

            Okay, great. So three classes with you, one mainstream class.

            Jackie:

            Yeah.

            Superintendent:

            What are some of the other things that you cover? I heard today, you talking about job applications and thinking about the right job. What are some of the other life skills that you covered throughout the year?

            Jackie:

            We cover a lot. I mean, things that you and I just do out of common courtesy or just because we were raised with social skills, my students need explicit instruction. And so we're working on things like self-advocacy, what's an IEP, why do I have an IEP? Do I have a disability? We work on job skills, restaurant skills, theater skills, transportation. We actually go out and use UTA. And that's always a fun unit. They get to experience going on a bus and riding the TRAX for the first time. We do things like foods, unit housing, how to pay bills, how to find an apartment to live in.

            Superintendent:

            It sounds like the type of skills that a lot of people could use some help with.

            Jackie:

            It's a lot. My peer tutors say it's actually funny. You say that because they'll come to me, you know, we'll be working on our restaurant unit and one of them will say, thank you for teaching us how to leave a tip because I didn't know how to leave a tip. I say, you're welcome. So now when you go on a date, you know how to leave a tip.

            Superintendent:

            I think, especially lately, there are just a lot of things that we don't end up doing and we don't do for ourselves until we absolutely have to. And so these are great skills for everyone to learn, right?

            Jackie:

            It's just so fun for me to see them, you know, come in as a sophomore and realize, wow, I'm in high school. I have to be an adult here soon. And by the time they're a senior, they are ready. They're independent. They know how to do money. They know how to be adult and how to function in society. And that's my greatest reward is to see them move and get jobs.

            Superintendent:

            And you had a student last year get his driver's license, which was amazing. That's great. So, can you just see the self-efficacy or the self-confidence grow when they realize, I can do this? There's something I couldn't do and now I can do it. And not only that, it's something I'm going to need to be a successful adult.

            Jackie:

            Yes. Actually that's one of my most favorite things is transitioning them to realizing what can I do, functionally? What can I really do academically? And then what can I do out in the real world? How can I be a functional citizen that isn't just existing, but adding to our community and making it

            Superintendent:

            What is the role played by peer tutors in this class?

            Jackie:

            Couldn't do it without peer tutors. I started the Peer Tutor program and I really just needed help. My first year, I had a lot of students. I didn't have enough hands to help me. And so I started having peer tutors come in and they would just start assisting with the reading, the math, the life skills. And then they actually helped take my students out to their mainstream classes so that they're not alone. I don't necessarily feel good about sending them by themselves to a full class with a teacher who has to give their attention to 45 kids. My students really needs a little bit more assistance and instruction and preparation. So I send them with a peer tutor and they go and help them out in that class. And it's absolutely amazing. You should see. There is something special at Copper Hills High School. I don't know what it is. The student body here is just top-notch and everyone welcomes my students and wants to help them and wants to see them succeed and treat them just like everyone else. And I love that. So peer tutoring has been a huge aspect of not only my job, but their lives because they have friends and they see them in the hall, they wave to them, they're buddies. And it's just so fun for me to see actual relationships form.

            Superintendent:

            It's encouraging and exciting, but not surprising to hear that Copper Hills Grizzlies are treating each other really well and taking good care of each other.

            Jackie:

            It's truly amazing. Peer tutoring started some ideas in my head about a club. it's called CH Pals and I just was getting so sad cause my students would come and hear the morning announcements we have and say, "Well, I wish I could go to the basketball game". But they wouldn't be able to go do.  What other high school kid has their mom come and babysit them during the basketball game? So we started CH Pals, positively affecting lives. And my students are just able to go with their peer tutors. And we had around 240 kids in our club last year. And they would all just take my whole class to a basketball game, to a football game, just so they could experience high school life. They all took them to a dance. We took them to prom. It's just so fun to see my students really get involved. And you know, the first year with CH Pals, we really kind of had to say," Hey, we're going to do this. We're going to try this." And now I have clubs and the SBOs and teachers coming to me, "Hey, will CH Pals be a part of this assembly? Will CH Pals do this?" And it's just so cool for me to see my students really accepted here. Inclusion is working at Copper Hills and it's amazing.

            And it's a lifelong learning experience for the peer tutors and for the students. They're learning that people with disabilities have personalities too. They have likes, they have dislikes. They're human. They're not just people I should look and be say, "Oh, there's that kid. I can get to know him and see who he really is and learn about him." And maybe we have common interests and this sparks relationships and it's just so fun. Hopefully this helps my peer tutors realize, even in the future, people with disabilities aren't to be feared. They're to be embraced and to really be accepted into whatever community there is.

            Superintendent:

            Very, very valuable lesson, especially to learn at this age. No, this is not like any other class.

            Jackie:

            I will have students come into my class and you say, "Oh, Ms. Sheppick, I just need to talk to you about this life situation." And it makes me feel good that they trust me to get help. But also that my class is teaching them principles that they need to problem solve.

            Helping others always helps us learn more about ourselves. And I really see that with my peer tutors. They'll come to me and tell me, this happened. But I thought about when I did this with this kid and I knew I could try that for myself. I'm seeing them apply principles that I'm teaching my students. Our communications lesson, how to communicate with others. One of my teachers came to me and said, "A actually asked me on a date, face to face, not through text". And I was like, hurray! People together. You know, that's awesome.

            The the change in students when they leave this room, because I think they realize, "Yes, everyone's got stuff. Those who have severe problems are the happiest. And I think it's kind of a shift in your own attitude when you're in my class because you see if they can be so happy and enjoy life to the fullest.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. That's pretty quick. Well, it's been a delight talking with you and I'm thrilled to have you here at Copper Hills doing the great work you're doing. Thank you. Stay with us up next.

            We'll catch up with Megan Dean,President of the CH Pals club and find out how her labor of ove is impacting lives at Copper Hills.

            Advertisement:

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            Superintendent:

            All right. I'm Anthony Godfrey. I'm the Superintendent. Tell me your name.

            I'm Alex Mane. I'm with the CH Pals.

            Superintendent:

            Tell me about CH Pals, Alex.

            Alex:

            CH Pals is with with kids that have special disability.

            Superintendent:

            And what do you do?

            Alex:

            We do activities. We go different places. We have a party after school.

            Superintendent:

            What party do you have today?

            Alex:

            We have a Halloween Social Party after school.

            Superintendent:

            And do you sometimes go to school activities as well?

            Alex:

            Yeah, we do.

            Superintendent:

            What do you like about CH Pals?

            Alex:

            The one thing I like about it is that we get to hang out and talk to our friends.

            Superintendent:

            And you make a lot of friends in CH Pals?

            Alex:

            Yes, we do.

            Superintendent:

            What do you like most about being in high school? IsCH Pals one of those things?

            Alex:

            Yes. That's one of them. What else do you like about high school? I love high school because we get to go our classes. We do assignments. We get to listen to our teachers.

            Superintendent:

            What's your favorite class?

            Alex:

            Choir class.

            Superintendent:

            Very nice. What are you guys working on right now?

            Alex:

            We just did a performance on Tuesday and then we just did our worksheet today.

            Superintendent:

            It sounds like you got a lot of good things going. I see that you are an M and M today.

            Alex:

            That's right.

            Superintendent:

            All right. So at the Halloween party, we'll have M and M's for sure now.

            Alex:

            Yeah.

            Superintendent:

            And you're red. That is a good flavor.

            Alex:

            And my favorite color also.

            Superintendent:

            Oh, that works out very nicely. Are you looking forward to graduation?

            Alex:

            Yes. I'm looking forward to graduation.

            Superintendent:

            What are your plans after graduation?

            Alex:

            I may go to post school. It's called South Valley post school. I can go there first, then go to a college.

            Superintendent:

            Yeah, great South Valley's an awesome transition to the whatever's next after that.  And then stop by now and then just say hi to Ms. Sheppick, right?

            Alex:

            Yeah, that's right.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. Very good. All right. It's great. Talking to you. Go to the party and we'll come down and join you. We're here in the Tech Atrium at Copper Hills High School, where the CH Pals are setting up for the big Halloween Party. Ms. Sheppick will bring her students down shortly for the grand entry. We have all kinds of Halloween theme decorations, and everyone is in costume. It feels very festive, especially in a COVID year.

            We're going to start making pumpkins. Megan, you are the President of CH Pals. Tell us a little bit about that.

            Megan:

            The CH Pals is the club where we take the students with severe disabilities and we involve them into the mainstream student life. We hold socials for them. We take them to a bunch of school events like football games, basketball games. This month, we're having a Special Needs Carnival. Most clubs at the school are going to come up with an activity, just for them. And it's going to be their own Halloween Party. I believe next week, we're having a Halloween Social where we have our club members come and celebrate Halloween with them and we'll have different activities. It's really just a way for them to get involved and make a ton of friends.

            Superintendent:

            It's really exciting that you're doing this. What got you involved in CH Pals and then Peer Tutoring.

            Megan:

            So I kind of found this class by accident a little bit. I dropped a class and I was just looking for a new one. So I went to my counselor and just asked him what was up and what I could take. And so he's reading off the list and he said I could do peer tutoring. And I'm like, what's that? So he explained it to me and I went on my first day of school and I fell in love with the kids and just the environment. So I've been doing this since my sophomore year and then my junior year. The end of my sophomore year, I applied to be an officer for CH Pals and I got that. So my junior year I became the Public Relations Officer. And now this year, I'm the President of it.

            Superintendent:

            What does it mean to you to be a peer tutor and to be involved with CH Pals?

            Megan:

            Well, honestly, it's just something, a very selfless thing. I've really raised above myself and met some of the most beautiful people on this earth. Just to meet them and become friends with them. It's meant the world to me. I know this isn't about me. It's really about them.

            Superintendent:

            What would you say to someone who's considering being a peer tutor or being part of CH Pals?

            Megan:

            I would tell them to 100% go for it because it's the most incredible experience. It's definitely made my high school career that much better. It's been amazing.

            Superintendent:

            Do you think it's made permanent changes in the way you view other people?

            Megan:

            Oh, for sure. I think it's helped me to realize that like everybody's beautiful in their own way. And even on the surface, you can't, you don't know they're struggling with something because you can't tell that all of these students have severe disabilities. And I think it was a good reminder that everybody is going through something and it was just a good realization that it's better to be kind to everybody and be friends with everybody. I know a lot of people can be freaked out, getting involved with this severe disabled people, but they're really some of the most beautiful people. You just got to get to know them.

            Superintendent:

            And the experience of working with students with disabilities has not just changed your outlook towards students with disabilities, but really toward everyone.

            Megan:

            Yeah. It's just really taught me to the importance of growing connections with everybody, because really, you can be best friends with everybody. If you just learn to love each other for who you are and not what you look like or who you associate yourself with. That was a big lesson for me, that being friends with everybody is possible.

            Superintendent:

            Well, you're doing great things. You're a great example. And it's really a pleasure to talk with you, Megan.

            Thanks for joining us on the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see how.

            19 min
          • Episode 63: Reimagining Thanksgiving 2020 – Happy Steaksgiving!

            What will your Thanksgiving table look like this year? For some it will be the traditional table with turkey and all the trimmings. However, for others Thanksgiving 2020 will look a little different.

            On this episode of the Supercast, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey talks to some students in the ProStart Culinary Program at Mountain Ridge High School. They share their ideas on how to reimagine the Thanksgiving meal, trading the traditional turkey and the number of seats at the table for something else. Listen as these talented student cooks and bakers share their culinary best.

            Audio Transcription

            Superintendent:

            Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent, Anthony Godfrey. What will your Thanksgiving table look like this year? For some, it will be the traditional table with turkey and all the trimmings. For others, Thanksgiving 2020 will look a little different. On this episode of the Supercast, we talked with some students in the ProStart Culinary Program at Mountain Ridge High School. They share their ideas on how to re-imagine the Thanksgiving meal trading, the traditional turkey and the number of seats at the table for something else. Listen, as these talented students cooks and bakers share their culinary best. We start with a visit to Kyley Anderson's virtual classroom Zoomers.

            Kyley Anderson:

            Hey, how's it going Dr. Godfrey?

            Superintendent:

            Nice to see everyone. Thanks for letting me join your class this morning.

            Kyley:

            Thanks for being here.

            Superintendent:

            We're excited. You guys are interested in ProStart.  So tell me what's the assignment we talking about today?

            Kyley:

            We are basically re-imagining Thanksgiving. So, with COVID going on, most of our celebrations are much smaller this year. And so these students chose a protein, a couple sides, a roll, and one dessert, and just kept it super simple. And they're basically able to take it wherever they want. So it's kind of their dream Thanksgiving menu.

            Superintendent:

            There will be three people at my house for Thanksgiving this year. So that's exactly what we have to do is re-imagine Thanksgiving. Adrian, you just gave me two thumbs up. Let's hear about your re-imagined Thanksgiving.

            Adrian:

            Well, I've never really had a big Thanksgiving, but one of the difficulties I ran into this year was the fact that my dad has developed an allergy to salt. So he can't have that much without pretty much passing out. And then my step-mom is developing a sensitivity to gluten. So she can't have that either. I had to do some research on how to make Thanksgiving eatable so no one will get sick from whatever they eat. So I was able to find some recipes that have salt substitutes for turkey. It's in her butter turkey, and primarily uses rosemary to replace the smell because it brings in that good flavor. And then ,along with a gluten-free pumpkin pie. I wasn't sure how it would work, but actually it's pretty good.

            Superintendent:

            How did you make it gluten free pumpkin pie.

            Adrian:

            So pretty much, instead of using Graham crackers, you crush up some crackers and then added some seasonings along with that for the pie crust. And it turns out that in pumpkin pie filling there's really no gluten.

            Superintendent:

            Great. So you have made a custom meal for the allergies and difficulties that your family might experience if they ate traditional Thanksgiving fare. That's great. How about you, Aaron?

            Aaron:

            So normally I have a very like traditional Thanksgiving, whole family, big gathering, turkey, stuffing, everything. So I really had to rethink it because it's just going to be my immediate family that lives with me. So I did like a kind of Steaksgiving. Steak will be the main dish I am going to do.

            Superintendent:

            Uh, now Aaron here coined a term. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I'm in love with that term. I want a shirt with that term on it. Will you say it again please?

            Aaron:

            Steaksgiving.

            Superintendent:

            Steaksgiving. I think I'm too late to make my Thanksgiving a Steaksgiving, but that is in my future. Okay, go ahead. Sorry. You just blew my mind.

            Aaron:

            Yeah, sounds really good. So I'm doing a rib-eye with a garlic butter. So cook that, and then, for my sides, I was gonna do garlic roasted potatoes and corn salsa to spice it up and then just some soft bread rolls. And I'm going to do a chocolate sheet cake with dessert with that chocolate ice.

            Superintendent:

            How many invitations have you had to Thanksgiving? I would imagine that the everyone who heard that menu would want that to be a part of their day.

            Aaron:

            Just immediate family.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. Well, they're in for a treat.

            Aaron:

            Yeah.

            Superintendent:

            Michael, how about you? What do you have planned?

            Michael:

            So, I did more of a classic Thanksgiving. We actually raised the turkey this year, so I just did a classic roast turkey with rosemary and garlic and onion with some lemon. And then, the garlic mashed potatoes with a fruit salad. My mom always called it fluff. It's like a creamy, fluff for a salad.

            Superintendent:

            I applaud you. I think that's really cool that you did it start to finish raise your own turkey. That's very cool. Where did you find all these studentsMs. Anderson? I'm only on the third student and I'm blown away by every single one of them.

            Kyley:

            They're very creative. They come up with a lot of great ideas. They're super dedicated. I know all of this makes me re-think my own menu plan.

            Superintendent:

            Moving on. Olivia, tell me about your Thanksgiving plans.

            Olivia:

            Well, I kept it pretty traditional. My family just loves turkey and we loved the leftover turkey sandwiches. So I did a traditional roasted turkey. And then for my side, we love mashed potatoes. So I paired that with some garlic and some chives. For my dessert I chose to do a key lime pie. Not all of my family likes the same kind of pie. I don't like apple. My sister doesn't like pumpkin. So I chose to spice it up and make something different.

            Superintendent:

            Do you like getting to control a little bit? What pie everyone's going to eat? Guess what? It's key lime everybody. It's kind of a surprise to them, but they're going to eat it anyway.

            Olivia:

            Yes, they will. And like it.

            Superintendent:

            Do you make gravy for your mashed potatoes?

            Olivia:

            Yeah.

            Superintendent:

            I'm imagining it right now and I just need to imagine what type of gravy you have there, if your gravy, is just the runoff.

            Olivia:

            Oh yeah, we just do super traditional at my house.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. Olivia, do you make a well, when you put the mashed potatoes on your plate? Do you form a well or a volcano of gravy in the center to hold the gravy in and then strategically break the wall on the side of it so that it can flow onto your plate at the appropriate time?

            Olivia:

            You can't do it otherwise. It's the way to do it.

            Superintendent:

            Thank you, Olivia, for backing me up on that. I feel very connected to all of you right now. Let me just say, food connects people. And I feel like I'm part of the group now because we're talking through it together. Tell me about your menu for Thanksgiving, Adrian.

            Adrian:

            The traditional, but with extra things. So for the turkey, classic turkey because we like to have leftovers, like Olivia said. And then for the stuffing, I decided to do a Durrito cornbread stuffing. So instead of the bread, it's a jalapeno corn bread and there's spicy Durritos in it. So it's not just one note. It's adds new flavor to Thanksgiving.

            Superintendent:

            That sounds awesome. I've never heard of half of these things that you're doing. Adrian, replacing salt with rosemary. I mean, right from the start I haven't heard of these things. There's a lot to learn. Okay.

            Adrian:

            For my other side dish, I did a kale and olive oil mashed potato.

            Superintendent:

            Kale is angry spinach in my mind. Any dessert?

            Adrian:

            Yes. I actually tried making this dessert already. It's a caramel apple cheesecake. My family loved it. It was super good.

            Superintendent:

            I think I've just got goosebumps. Caramel apple cheesecake. Okay. They all get an "A" right Ms. Anderson? I mean, this is a work even just thinking about the way they're describing it is a work.

            Kyley:

            They do a good job.

            Superintendent:

            Okay, Jordan, tell us about your menu.

            Jordan:

            We're going to be doing a smoked turkey and my sides will be a stuffing and mashed potatoes. And then I will have pumpkin bread and mini cheesecakes for dessert.

            Superintendent:

            Mini cheesecakes.

            Jordan:

            Yes.

            Superintendent:

            Like pop in my mouth mini cheesecake? I'm just trying to picture the size of the cheesecake. Are you solely responsible for this or is your mom or dad? Your sous chef?

            Jordan:

            My dad.

            Superintendent:

            Your dad is your sous chef. So does he execute pretty well? What you tell him to do? What do you have planned?

            Ariana:

            So every year for Thanksgiving, my family's pretty small. So we usually go over to someone else's house and we have Thanksgiving with them. I'm cooking Thanksgiving with my mother this year. We plan on having a bit of a blended Thanksgiving. So it's going to be some traditional recipes from Mexico, where she's from and some nutritional things from here that you would normally find. So we're going to have the normal oven baked turkey, but, I don't have much yet.  I know for sure we're going to do some dessert tamales,  and some desserts to my list.

            Superintendent:

            So dessert tamales. Now, wait a second. You don't mean like hot tamales, like Mike and Ike type stuff? So how else can a tamale be a dessert?

            Ariana:

            Started like this I guess, flour these breaded. It's difficult to describe.

            Superintendent:

            What's the filling?

            Ariana:

            Filling is typically one layer would be chicken and some sauce. But for a dessert one you would typically just put strawberries, pineapples, just sweet fruits.

            Superintendent:

            Yeah. I've had the regular, or as you would call it, the savory tamale. But I have not had the dessert tamale before. That's something else. Um, wow, that sounds fantastic. What are some of the other recipes from Mexico that you'll be using?

            Ariana:

            I'll probably be using a recipe to slowly a soup that is made in Mexico.

            Superintendent:

            I love the blended idea. An international Thanksgiving recipe list. That's awesome. Maddie, what's on your menu.

            Maddie:

            Also pretty traditional because my family likes to keep going. We do have a perfect turkey. And then for the first side dish we have cheese potatoes. They are covered with an onion crunch stuff at the top and lots more cheese, lots of cheese. For dessert, we're doing a hot fudge cake with a Vanilla Bean ice cream on it. And then it's going to be covered in blackberries and blueberries.

            Superintendent:

            You were very precise in the way you described your dessert. You did not say it was going to be Vanilla ice cream. You didn't say it was going to be Old Fashioned Vanilla. You didn't say it was going to be French Vanilla. You said it was going to be Vanilla Bean. Is that a conscious choice?

            Maddie:

            Yes.

            Superintendent:

            Why is it going to be Vanilla Bean?

            Maddie:

            I just has like a more rich flavor.

            Superintendent:

            That sounds wonderful. Bryce.

            Bryce:

            Sorry. I have a little nephew running around here.

            Superintendent:

            No problem, Bryce.

            Bryce:

            Thanksgiving will be actually nice. Let's see. So I don't really know a whole lot about what actually we're doing. I just saw that I'm in charge of a dish. Then the side that I am going to be making for my family's Thanksgiving is going to be a smoked mac and cheese with the smoked gouda and smoked cheddar. Hopefully I can put it on our smoker for a little bit. And then the other one I did was butter bread pull aparts. It's a recipe that I got from my aunt. Just get Rhodes rolls and put them into a little bundt pan drizzled with butter.

            Superintendent:

            I love when the name of food tells you what to do with it.

            Bryce:

            Exactly. These are pull aparts. This is what's happening. You will pull them apart.

            Superintendent:

            I can totally taste the smoked macaroni and cheese. You can make it and then put it in the smoker.

            Bryce:

            Yeah. So the way that I make it is me and my sister have done this Mac and cheese recipe. It's really easy. Then what you do at the end is you put breadcrumbs on the top and then toasted in the oven and then we throw it in our smoker. Our smoker has been starting up recently.

            Superintendent:

            Yeah. Let me just say that sounds fantastic. And I marvel at what every single one of you are doing.

            Stay with us. When we come back, what is the ProStart Program and what does it do for students hoping to pursue a culinary career? We'll find out next.

            Commercial:

            Hello. My name is Steven Hall. I'm the Director of the Jordan Education Foundation. Every year, the Jordan Education Foundation, together with magical volunteers, helps provide Christmas for students who might otherwise go without during the holiday season. While many things have changed since the pandemic, one thing does remains the same. That's our desire to help students. Thanks this year to three major donations from Larry H. Miller Charities, Discover Card, Kennecott Rio Tinto, and many other individuals together with the support and the generosity of Walmart in South Jordan, we will provide Christmas for at least 400 students in Jordan school District. We need your support. We need you to help actually go to Walmart and collect the gifts that the students have chosen online. This will allow us to offer a safe curbside delivery for kids and their families. Join us in bringing smiles and love to students in need. During this holiday season, please sign up to volunteer to shop for these students on December 7th, 8th, 9th or 10th, between the hours of 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM. The website sign up is jefchristmasforkids.org. There you can sign up as a volunteer and you can choose a date to shop. Spread the word for others to sign up as well. Be one of Santa's helpers this holiday season and provide Christmas for kids. Thank you so much from every one of us here at the Jordan Education Foundation.

            Superintendent:

            I'm here with ProStart students from Mountain Ridge High School. Aaron, describe for listeners who may not be familiar with ProStart what it is.

            Aaron:

            Prostar is a foods class. It's the highest foods class that you can take in high school. So first you have to take foods one and two, and then you can take Prostart. ProStart is just a really great class. You get to learn a lot of new skills, get to meet new people. You get to compete in a few different competitions and it's a really fun class.

            Superintendent:

            Tell me about the competition. What does that look like?

            Aaron:

            Um, so basically you have a team with knives from the kitchen. It's not like that. It's a cooking challenge where you make a main dish and a side and a dessert, and then you compete against other ProStart schools. So we actually got fifth in State last year. That's pretty awesome for a brand new school, particularly in the first year.

            Superintendent:

            So I've watched a few cooking shows and some of them are more related to cooking and others are more related to a game show. What type of, what is your competition look like? I've heard a little bit about it. Do you get a recipe that you then have to execute or do you have to come up with your own? How does that look?

            Aaron:

            So we get to come up with our own recipe. We talk about as a team and there's usually, I think there were four of us with one person outside of the ring that kind of just talks us through it and helps us and has the recipe in his hand or her hand.

            Superintendent:

            So you go against other schools and just compete with them and see who has the best dish?  Is the person who's just reading the recipe, flipping out because they can't touch anything? I think that would be really hard. They can't touch anything so they can test taste.

            Aaron:

            So, say we like give them a spoon of something to try. They can test it, but they can not touch our food. We could get disqualified if they do.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. Do you learn about careers in ProStart related to food?

            Aaron:

            Yeah, there's a lot of different careers that we get to learn about. We get to learn about like restaurant creators and photos, careers to do with food. And there's a lot of opportunities in the food industry.

            Superintendent:

            Are you looking at any of those opportunities for yourself?

            Aaron:

            Um, I think it'd be pretty cool to work on a cruise ship and cook and get a trial. That would be nice in the future.

            Superintendent:

            Yeah, isn't really the way to go yet, but give it a little bit. By the time you're ready, the cruise industry will be ready for you.

            Aaron:

            Yup.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. Sounds great. Kezia, what made you want to take the ProStart class?

            Kezia:

            I just really like to cook and bake and I wanted to learn how to make more new things. I feel like I have expanded the list of thing I know how to make now.

            Superintendent:

            Had you been cooking much before you took the ProStart class?

            Kezia:

            I love to bake. I bake a lot. And also it's between baking and cooking. Once I get bored of one or the other, I can switch.

            Superintendent:

            Oh yeah. So what's your go-to, baking or cooking? If you were on Tik-Tok and it said baking on one side and cooking on the other, which direction would you walk?

            Kezia:

            Probably baking.

            Superintendent:

            The baking side. Okay. I got you. Um, what's your specialty? What's your go-to, your signature dish or signature creation?

            Kezia:

            I don't really have one. I like to make pies. That's one of my favorite things to make.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. Fantastic. Jordan, what made you want to take ProStart classes?

            Jordan:

            Uh, Kezia. She brought up the idea and then Ms. Anderson, I had her last year. So I thought it'd be fun to do it again.

            Superintendent:

            What do you like to make most to bake? Do you cook?

            Jordan:

            Um, I like cooking.

            Superintendent:

            Tell me, now there are certain terms I've heard earlier. We were talking about this. What are some of the things that you've learned in ProStart that you did not know how to do before?

            Jordan:

            Um, definitely the knife cuts. We have gone more into plating and need some flaws.

            Superintendent:

            The knife cuts.

            Jordan:

            Yes.

            Superintendent:

            Knife cuts sounds a little redundant. Tell me what are the knife cuts.

            Jordan:

            Um, it helps you measure your food so you can cook everything evenly. So when we get told to have our potatoes cubed, we know what size we should have.

            Superintendent:

            Jordan, you mentioned plating. What have you learned about plating?

            Jordan:

            Um, we've learned how the odd numbers look best and to keep it clean and simple. And there's many different ways you can have a certain food look good just by the way you plated it. Uh, there's the artistry to do drizzle stuff and that sort of thing.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. An odd number. You put an odd number because that feels good on the plate.

            Jordan:

            It just looks good and it just makes everything complete.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. Very nice. Um, now, as you've been learning art, is there something that you have wanted to make that you haven't made yet? Like your white whale, your Mount Everest? Aaron, tell me, what is your white whale?

            Aaron:

            Um, it's called a Baked Alaska and I've wanted to make it for awhile. I've just never gotten around to doing it. It's a kind of a complicated dish, a dessert dish, fire is involved. You get a light it on fire once you're done.

            Superintendent:

            Is that really the appeal? Anything that's set on fire?

            Aaron:

            Yeah, it's very pretty.

            Superintendent:

            Okay. So a Baked Alaska is in your future perhaps. And how appropriate that Alaska is your white whale. Okay. Um, let's see. Kezia what is your Mount Everest? What is the thing you want to cook that you haven't made yet?

            Kezia:

            Um, I would have to say I really want to make macaroons.

            Superintendent:

            Macaroons. I do love a good macaroon and it seems like it would be very difficult. The cookie has to be so light.

            Kezia:

            Yes. Yeah. I've heard it's difficult.

            Superintendent:

            But have you tried it at all?

            Kezia:

            No, I haven't tried to make it yet. I want to.

            Superintendent:

            I see Ms. Anderson writing a list of these goals. So perhaps I would like to be invited to that class when those come out. Baked Alaska to Macaroons, I'm all for that. Uh, Jordan,  what is your goal? What would you like to make that you haven't made yet?

            Jordan:

            Honestly, I'm down to make any pastries.

            Superintendent:

            So all desserts. Yeah. I did see pictures of each of you in your home kitchen and you're all smiling wide. When you're in your own kitchen, you all seem very happy. Is that kind of a happy place for you Jordan, to be in the kitchen?

            Jordan:

            Yeah. That's where I feel like I learned how to cook. Good memories.

            Superintendent:

            What do you have on the stove there in the picture? Do you know?

            Jordan:

            Right then we were making caramels. So it probably is something to do with carmels.

            Superintendent:

            Oh, very nice. Homemade caramels, my wife loves that. And Aaron, I saw you had a plate of chocolate chip cookies or a tray of chocolate chip cookies. Is that a specialty?

            Aaron:

            Uh, yeah, it's actually my great grandma's recipe. It's a really good cookie.

            Superintendent:

            Oh, wow. And what's the secret ingredient? That's okay. You don't have to. I understand. I understand. I'll just have to try them for myself sometime. And, uh, Kezia, we have a picture of you with a fantastic looking cake. Tell me about that.

            Kezia:

            Actually, that's my caramel apple cheesecake from my Thanksgiving project. I tried that out before Thanksgiving and it was really good.

            Superintendent:

            That sounds wonderful. The caramel apple cheesecake, and I love the dessert thing. That's kind of developed through our conversations. I definitely think I'm going to be indulging in something inferior to what you guys make, but whatever I can get my hands on because now I can't get my mind off the dessert side of Thanksgiving. Let's finish by just asking everybody what you're thankful for. Uh, let's start with you, Aaron, what are you thankful for?

            Aaron:

            Um, just being able to have my family around for Thanksgiving.

            Jordan:

            I'm really thankful for my family and my friends.

            Kezia:

            I would have to say my family and that I get to spend in quarantine with them.

            Superintendent:

            And Ms. Anderson, how about you?

            Kyley:

            I'm grateful for my family, food, and adventure.

            Superintendent:

            That's a great combination. Well, I'm thankful to have had the chance to talk with all of you. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. I know your families will because they'll get to benefit from your skills.

            Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Happy Thanksgiving. And remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We will see out there.

            27 min

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