The School Connect Podcast

Being bilingual has become crucial in today's society. The 2021 Arizona Teacher of the Year, Sara Wyffels, has grown through the discovery of the Spanish language and culture. Tune in to hear from our School Connect Summit's emcee discuss her adventures abroad and how she is teaching the next generation of bilingual speakers.

How do you engage an entire village to work alongside your school this year? Our model is seeing academic achievement and collaboration efforts increase. Learn more about how the seed planted in our partnering schools in 2022 has already had tremendous growth and success.

Quincy Natay knows what it takes to change the culture of Chinle Unified School District in order to help it truly flourish. Tune in to hear how he engages his entire community, expands funding and multiplies leadership.

Franklin Police & Fire High School, the first of its kind in the nation, offers a rigorous physical and academic high school education and a head start to a career in public safety. Tune in to today’s episode to hear how Franklin partners with surrounding cities’ police and fire departments and other agencies to provide students with real world, hands-on opportunities that include internships, physical training, and special employment programs.

From grabbing his tools to construct classrooms across the state to mentoring an incoming generation in STEM, our guest is all hands on deck in helping build a better education for our children!

Life outside the city can be rewarding when the communities find harmony and support between each other. But how do these cities find sufficient outside support for their students?

Small but mighty connections are made like this...

It's another podcast Wednesday and Tracey begins the show with the story of her journey - from helping kids to starting School Connect and navigating its mission through every school we enter and get to be involved with.

In today's episode, we invite a guest who was the first person to expand the School Connect model to another city - Margaret Judson, City Director for School Connect in San Antonio. Margaret explains what made School Connect different from any other non-profit organization and why she chose to introduce our mission to Texas.

How has School Connect's mission impacted a new community? Incorporating School Connect before COVID brought many challenges, but also introduced new and different opportunities to help both students and teachers. One of the things that changed the game for them was establishing interactions and group meetings with other City Directors across the country. 

We are so excited about venturing in different cities across the country as we continue to see the power of  connecting a village of community support to every local school, so that every child has the resources and connections needed to reach their potential!

It’s that time of year - Love Our Schools Day is here! Tracey and Tim have invited Dr. Jennifer Johnson and Doreen Zannis this week. Dr. Johnson works with Grand Canyon University for their Educational Alliances team and Doreen Zannis has worked as a school nurse for more than 15 years and started the Support Our Schools AZ organization. 

This entire month, we have seen all the wonderful work that happens when a community joins our schools to work on projects on campuses across Arizona. Doreen talks about the passion and commitment of teachers and students when it comes to working on projects to improve their schools. She discusses what it takes to go from being a caring member of the community to actually taking the step to put it into action. Dr. Johnson talks about the importance of communities being part of the schools and vice versa. She describes how valuable it is when communities and schools get to know one another, becoming partners and enabling community members to come alongside schools in powerful and creative ways!

When we show our educators that they are valued and show our students that we care for them, it is a recipe for a stronger community raising our future leaders.

In today's episode, Pastor Dan Steffen, Senior Pastor at Pure Heart Church and Co-Founder of School Connect, takes the mic and is our host for the show. How do faith communities lift our schools and help be part of the change? To talk about how these communities come alongside campuses, he brings on special guests, Ryan Nunez from Palm Valley Church and Jake Hancock from Christ's Church of the Valley.

Ryan and Dan discuss the importance of being involved with schools and how building trust and relationships with them will help shape future generations within our community. Coming together for families - whether it be reaching out during crisis situations, mentoring children going through mental or emotional health or aiding families who need food and clothes - schools anywhere should feel comfortable asking for help.

How is School Connect’s integral role creating opportunities for these relationships to thrive? Learn all about the relationships that are built bring business leaders, city leaders, principals and superintendents coming together to make a better future for our next generation.

For the first guest episode of season 2, Tracey and Tim welcome Maria Cristina Fuentes, Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Youth Faith & Family in Arizona. She has worked with George W. Bush at the US Department of Labor, served in the White House Faith-Based Office and the Justice Department. Throughout her career, she has helped governors set up their own faith-based offices.

In this episode, Maria explains the three major cornerstones the office faces in today's day in time. Maria praises School Connect for their work with communities and schools - especially recognizing work with trauma-informed schools and how they skillfully pair volunteers from all areas to schools in need.

The group talks about the greater impact that churches can make by working together, sharing ideas and amplifying communication, while maintaining their own independence. Tracey closes out the show today by giving three concrete takeaways that organizations can follow to best serve those who need it.