There's a game Cava Menzies plays with her students. She asks each of them to say a word — snowfall, nightmare, dragons — and then she translates it into music on the piano right in front of them. Every time, something magical happens in the room. In the tenth and final episode of our Wired to Create series, Cava — musician, educator, and founding faculty at Oakland School for the Arts — makes the case that music isn't a talent reserved for the few. It's a birthright we've somehow talked ourselves out of using. Please share this episode with anyone in your life who has decided music isn't for them.

Check out Cava and her OSA students singing Purple Rain on stage with Coldplay's Chris Martin HERE.

This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org.

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This weekend marks what would have been producer Tammy (Tiehel) Stedman's mom's 85th birthday — she passed away in March 2022.

All three of the Tiehel sisters eulogized their incredible mom PT but this one, written by daughter Amy, really sums up the way PT lived her life: always on the lookout for the person having a tough go of it, the loner, the one who needed a helping hand. This is a story about taking the time to really notice people and to help make the world a better place, one small, kind gesture at a time. (Previously aired)

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There's a body of research that says the clothes you wear don't just change how others see you — they change how you see yourself. Kelly traces this idea from her conversation with Denver high school principal Steve Day back to a foundational psychology study, and lands somewhere unexpected: that identity might be less something you earn and more something you assume.

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What if a high school student could spend their day fixing a plane, machining a part destined for a rocket launch, or building a house that a family will actually live in? At the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus (CCIC) in the Denver metro area, that's just a Tuesday. In the ninth episode of our Wired to Create series, Principal Steve Day makes the case that when you stop underestimating teenagers and give them something real to do, everything changes — for the students, for the school, and for the families whose lives are transformed as a result.

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This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org.

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Sometimes all it takes is one person asking the right question at the right moment. Listener Christina Bonvouloir was fourteen, grieving the loss of her beloved father, and quietly falling apart — until a gruff Latin teacher with a twinkle in his eye pulled her aside and asked what was wrong. She never forgot it. Neither will you

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In a speech to high school graduates, Kelly shared her take on the things only we know about ourselves — and how keeping our internal dialog honest sets the table for a good and happy life. Please share with all the 2026 graduates in your life. (Previously aired)

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There's a version of education that produces brilliant test-takers and has very little to do with learning. Aditya Vishwanath, Stanford-trained education researcher and co-founder of MakerGhat — a nonprofit makerspace network operating in thousands of schools across India — knows that version intimately, and has spent his career building the antidote. In this episode of our Wired to Create series, he and Kelly make the case that what kids need most might also be the thing we've neglected to give them.

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This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org.

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Some people teach us things. Others show us how to live. Kelly's cousin Lena writes beautifully about her godmother Linda — painter, cook, creative force — and what it means to be shaped by someone who savors all of the beauty life has to offer.

Check out Lena's Substack "Cooking with Littles" https://cookingwithlittles.substack.com/

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Kelly's cousin Kevin Corrigan has been coaching the Notre Dame men's lacrosse team for decades — and this weekend his team is playing (yet again) for the national championship. In honor of that, we're sharing two clips from Kelly's longer conversation with Kevin about what it really means to lead, what it takes to build something that lasts, and why winning is so much harder than it looks from the outside.

Check out Kelly's longer interview with Kevin HERE:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-kevin-corrigan-on-great-coaching/id1532951390?i=1000727017947

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Fred Rogers (aka "Mr. Rogers") looked at television and didn't see it as a danger for kids — he saw it as a door. Sara DeWitt has spent her career walking through it. As Senior VP and General Manager of PBS Kids, she has devoted decades to asking what children's media can be when the people making it are optimizing for something other than revenue. In the seventh episode of our Wired to Create series, Sara makes the case that the right story at the right moment can do things nothing else can — and that the most powerful screen in a child's life might be the one a caring adult is watching alongside them.

To connect with Kelly and get a list of her weekly takeaways, join Kelly's free Substack.

This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org.

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