Latest / The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District / Episode #54 Greg Brown, Principal, Mt. Baker Middle School

Transcript

Episode #54 Greg Brown, Principal, Mt. Baker Middle School · The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District

• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, and welcome to the Recest Podcast.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Alan Spicciotti, the proud superintendent of the Auburn School District.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: The Recess gives me a chance to share some of the great things that I see behind the scenes and introduce you to some amazing folks who do really great work for our kids, our families, and our community.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: We talk to a lot of staff members, and we also like to interview our students and our graduating seniors at the end of the year.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm glad you're with us.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: We're really excited about this whole season four and the 2026-27 school year.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm excited about our guest today because I have known him since we got to Auburn and since I started in 2015.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: My guest is Greg Brown, the principal of Mount Baker Middle School, and somebody I think probably a lot of you know as well.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: As he has a long tenure in Auburn and has been a big part of our community.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: He's going to talk about his role as a principal, what it's like to run a middle school today, some of the challenges that we're facing, and lots of other fun stuff.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking forward to this episode.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're going to have a good time.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And at this time, I will welcome Principal Brown to the podcast.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Glad to be here.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I start with the same question for each guest, and I love hearing the answers.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Who is your favorite teacher and why?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is an easy one.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: My fourth grade teacher, Mr.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Whittle, was my favorite teacher, and it's thinking back about why.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's interesting because he was definitely the most strict teacher I had, the strictest teacher I had.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but he just he made he made everything fun.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: One of the one of the standouts with him is he he was a huge um uh fan of the book The Hobbit, and before the movies and all that kind of stuff.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: And he read the book to us, but he had worked it out where he would put on a record player, uh, a record of uh kind of orchestral music, you know, and it was perfectly timed and tuned to what he was reading.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So like as he was reading, as it would ramp up, the music would ramp up.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: If we became exciting, the music would be, and like he had timed it just perfectly.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Not quite sure how he did it, but something I'll always remember.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And he read us uh, I think two or three books of The Hobbit that way, and so pretty awesome.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was just a great, great guy.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: What a great memory.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh love um to have the male role models in elementary.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: We don't get a lot of that, yeah.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, uh our teachers do a great job, but when you can can have that teacher who can connect with some of the boys, that's great.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: As you were saying that, I was just picturing like he must really have enjoyed his job, and it sounds like as students you had a sense of that, and that probably engaged your own learning, yeah.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, he was great.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I remember field trips with him, you know.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: He he lived kind of out um outside of town and he took our our class on a field trip to this kind of fieldish woods behind his house, kind of, which sounds a little creepy nowadays, but back then that was fine.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and but it was because to show us there was a like a stream literally began right there.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: It came out of the ground right there.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so he wanted to show us that and talk about the science of that.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember that very well as very good as well, so it's good.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's really cool.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, I think you um represent some of Mr.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Whittle's qualities.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: You clearly enjoy your job.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you you're middle school principal, so there are the moments that you need to be strict and you do that, but you also keep things fun.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: You you've had a great run at Mount Baker.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: How long have you been there now?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: This will be my 16th year there.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your service.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, tell uh the audience a little bit about your journey to uh your current role in ASD.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: So um I come from an educators family.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: My both my parents are teachers, my brother's now a teacher, his wife's a teacher, my wife's teachers because kind of what the Browns do.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I I actually I fought back a little bit on that as when I first got out of high school.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I I really like art, I really like to draw, and I thought at the time that I don't want to be a teacher, I want to go into graphic design.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to kind of fight that urge.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And um I did that for a year, I went to art school for a year and quickly found out that I like to do art on my own time, not on someone else's time.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I knew that, yep, okay, I do want to be a teacher.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so I went to community college um in Olympia and then moved to Central Washington University and got my degree there and started teaching in Federal Way School District, and I taught there for um seven years first grade, second grade, and special education, kind of in those seven years' time.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then while I was doing that, I did my master's degree also at Central in taking evening classes.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is before there were online classes, so I actually had to go to an evening class, and uh that made for long days, but got that done and got my administrator credentials, and I was lucky enough to get hired as the principal at Dick Scobie Elementary here in Auburn, and that was a just an amazing school to start my career as a principal in.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, really, really enjoyed my time there.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Great staff, great students, and was there for nine years.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And after nine years there, I was very, very happy at Dick Scobie, but I was starting to feel a rut.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't ever want to feel a rut in my career.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so Mount Baker came open and I said, Well, I'm gonna throw my name in the hat.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I've never been in a middle school, I've never taught in a middle school, um, but it interested me, and I said, Oh, I'm gonna throw my name out there, and I got the job, and so I was pretty excited about that.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, it's been really uh the best change in my career.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I I I liked elementary, I did it all my most of my career, but honestly, I'll never go back.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: I love middle school.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's it's my fit, and I've been there, like I said, this will be my 16th year at Mount Baker and now and I'm nowhere near a rut.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'll attest to that.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you bring just a passion and an energy and uh your whole self every day.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we're glad for that.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Glad you mentioned Central.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: You are a loyal uh wildcat.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: I am uh go back for games and all that.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, a story I like to tell is that so my wife was a cheerleader at Central and um one season, football season, I believe, um they didn't have someone to do the mascot, so she had to be the mascot, Wellington the Wildcat, for one season.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I tell people I like Central so much I married the mascot.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: That is an awesome story.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna remember that.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um you also mentioned being you know the child of educators, and it's just it's been fun for me to hear this story because you're probably the eighth or ninth person who has given a version of my parents were teachers, I wasn't gonna do that, and I did something else and I became a teacher.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's just funny how it works out that way.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we're we're glad you did.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: I was doing the math.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's 25 years as a principal.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: That is amazing.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um most of our audience doesn't get to walk in your shoes.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so explain what does a typical day look like in your role as a middle school principal.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: So a typical day at at middle school, um uh first I I uh there is no such thing as a typical day in a middle school.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: But uh most days, I mean that my biggest my biggest job at at Mount Baker is to make sure that my students are safe and and comfortable and my staff is safe and comfortable so that the learning can take place in the building.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: So lots of supervision around the hallways during the day, uh directing traffic, the flow of traffic, that kind of thing inside the building, uh, making sure that everyone's going where they need to be.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh lunchtime at uh middle school is a big deal, and that was a big change for me as well, moving from elementary to middle school, because elementary they in the classroom, middle school they have a uh lunch room.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, and you know, that's a that's a job in and of self, trying to get that many kids through lunch in such a short period of time, you know.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so we do a really good job with it, but it takes some really um really clear and really thought well thought out uh routines and st and such to to make that happen.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh lunch is a big part of my day of the supervision and making sure that that's safe and and organized.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then just kind of dealing with the the things as they come up, and there are a lot of things that come up in middle school during a day.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then people may not realize one thing I'm really proud of in Auburn is we have great opportunities for middle school students to go above and beyond.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and you see that in drama and music and clubs, uh, but especially in our sports program that I think we probably have as extensive a middle school sports program as you're gonna find at the middle school level.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you want to just kind of talk about that part of the absolutely.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and then one of the things that we tell our kids over and over and over is this middle school is the time to try something that you've never tried.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you don't have to have any experience in any of the sports to try it.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so we really push that and we try to uh tell our kids if you're not gonna do a sport, do a club.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not gonna do a club, do a music, you know, do something.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's uh extra at school.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, our sports programs are very, very popular.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, um I can tell when sports seasons begin because when I'm out at the buses at the end of the day uh getting kids on the buses, there's not many kids getting on buses because they're all in sports, and so uh it's fun to see.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Which is great, and uh I love the the experimentation and uh I won't repeat myself, but I I have an origin story that like my sixth grade experience in the band program changed my life.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I learned things about myself that I didn't know and became a part of me.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a it's a transformational age, also gonna be a challenging age.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: I know as a parent, you know, those years probably kept us on our toes the very most.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so thinking about uh you and your staff spending six and a half hours a day with upwards of a thousand kids, uh, I think we all really respect and appreciate the job our middle schools do.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's it's pretty impressive.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: How how large um has Mount Baker gotten over your time there?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: We were eleven hundred pre-COVID and and always the whole time I've been at Mount Baker, we've hovered a thousand-ish, but anyway, eleven hundred was our biggest at one point for two or three years.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, and the school was originally designed for six seventy-five.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I just want to give a compliment to Principal Brown and you know, his AP, his his dean does a great job, his office staff, classified staff, and the teaching staff.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: They have really great systems, like it amazes me how smoothly the school runs in spite of the fact that there's hundreds more kids than it was designed for.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, I could say that about all four of our middle schools right now.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Our middle schools are in a great place.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they have great leadership and systems.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: We've had some bumps along the way, but um, I'm really proud of where everybody is.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Can you talk about uh some of the you know the special uh opportunities and challenges that come along with a school that uh I think now you're right around 900, but has been at 900 1100 uh built for a 675?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's tough.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that's that's a huge part of our job every day and every year is figuring out just how to make everything flow.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, with 14 portables in our building, that that helps greatly with the class size that we have in our building, and our class sizes are pretty fantastic because of those 14 portables.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: But when passing time hits, that's where you really see it because you know the 14 portables adds classroom space, but it doesn't make the hallway any wider, it doesn't add lockers, it doesn't add any any more bathrooms, it doesn't make the lunchroom any bigger, it doesn't make the gym any bigger.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just a real challenge to get um kids to and from class.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um they do a great job.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm super proud of them.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: They they step up every single year and they do what they need to do, um, and we train them up well to do that.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's hard and and the the flow in the lunchroom, we just have to get really, really specific there to what down to which door they can go in and which door they can go out, you know, and to just make it all flow so we don't run into each other.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then little things like at Mount Baker, we we don't allow them to carry their backpacks with them because we realized, you know, when you're when you have a when you don't have a backpack on, you're only so wide as a as a human being.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: But when you have a backpack on, you're almost double the width of your of your body.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that just makes it even more crowded in the hallways.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so um little things like that that we have to think of to try to make it work.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean I've been there obviously numerous times at passing time, and we'll stand in that intersection right outside the library.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you kind of can't move for five minutes.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's honestly impressive, uh, as you said, how well trained the students are, how civil they are, and how to how to say that.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: And uh just people make it work, so we do we do appreciate that.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um talk about those 14 portables, uh, because they they serve a purpose, they can be a good tool.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they do have some some challenges and drawbacks.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean the biggest drawback is obviously um you know the fact that kids have to go in and out of the building in order to get to and from them.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's no bathrooms out there, there's no sinks or water out there.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um so those are some of the challenges, especially if we have science classes and things like that out there.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, there it's it's it would just be much safer for our uh everyone for kids to be inside a you know an enclosed building.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we have good pr routines and processes in place to make it safe out there for the portable.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's not unsafe out there, but it would definitely be safer for them to be in a in an enclosed building.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And they're meant to be temporary structures.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um and they have kind of felt permanent.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, yeah, yeah.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Several of them have been there my whole 16 years.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think we've only added four since I've been there.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: So exactly right.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: So your your your your main impact is that uh you can add that classroom space, but it just doesn't make you know the school facility size, the you know, the cars that are backed up onto 37 in in front of the school at arrival and dismissal and all those those pieces that you don't necessarily think about.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um anyway, I talked about the opportunities for athletics and and other uh clubs and so forth.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we've made choices not to cut, uh but then you have what did you have like six basketball teams at one time and they're they're playing before and after school if I recall early morning practices just to because of gym space to make it work, yeah.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and that gets really early on on some uh preteens and and young teenagers.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: So um thanks for sharing all that.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um just to give a little bit of information for our listeners.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if you're not aware, we have a bond on the ballot that would build a fifth middle school as well as replace Cascade, which is coming up on 60 years old, and Alpac, which is uh not our oldest elementary school, but it uh in terms of its condition assessment uh is is most in need of being rebuilt.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um can you like is your perspective as a as a principal just talk about how uh a fifth middle school would affect all four of the current middle schools and what the impact would be?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well it that's the that's the important thing first is that you know, even though this school will be built in the south end and cascade in the north end, um this this is gonna these both these buildings will impact every middle school.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna help all of us.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the biggest thing I I think about every single year we have a we have a handful of kids who just really, really struggle with how crowded the hallways are and and um anxiety builds up, and I see it in their face, and I see it, you know, to to to have a year when we don't have have that would be fantastic.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's just a small group of kids.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a small little little aspect of it.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: But for all our kids, you know, to not have to be worry about being bumped into in the hallway, um, to not to be able to get to class and not have the stress of of trying to make it through this massive crowd, um, to to have a drill, to have an emergency uh in the building where um where the flow is really, really smooth because the hallways aren't so crowded.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think about those things.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then I think about you know the fact that I know two of our middle schools right now can't fit their whole population in their gymnasium for an assembly.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're lucky, we're right on the edge, we can do it, but barely.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think about things like that.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think about the lunchroom.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And um honestly, there are years um recently, uh last year included, where we didn't have enough seats in the lunchroom for every kid.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: We counted on the fact that the kids who got in line first would finish their lunch by the time the kids at the end of the line got their lunch, and so it's a free up lunch, you know, the lunch seats, and so it's all those things I think about.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh just the other day I heard Rainier is at 40% over capacity.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you've got to be close to that without doing the math here.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's a lot.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's a lot.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so across the district, we have 45 portable classrooms.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So really, honestly, every middle school is in similar uh status to to Mount Baker, as you've heard.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and what I like to tell people is we have the kids today.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't like, hey, let's you know get ahead of it.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: We we've honestly we've probably had enough kids that fill middle school for the last eight to ten years now.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so that that's a little bit of information about uh the bond and and hearing it from a practicing middle school principal.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Can I add one more thing?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think I thought about you know, we talked about sports, that's another big thing.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: I you know, we it's it's just a smaller school will give more opportunity for every kid, you know.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right now where sports are are it's great, they're packed, I love that, but it's just less opportunity for kids to shine when there's so many kids, you know, and so that would be another benefit.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: That is a great point.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh appreciate you bringing that up.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um tell me about we didn't prepare this, but I I I I think you probably have a lot of answers that that you would like to share.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: What's something about Mount Baker Middle School that people don't know about but that you want them to know about?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think the people who have been at Mount Baker know this, but I I I I hope they know this.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: I hope they feel this.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, the staff at Mount Baker is second to none.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's I've been I've been very blessed to have the staff that I have there.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um they are they are people who truly care about kids.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it show it shows in the fact that I very rarely have to hire, do much hiring in the summertime because people stay at Mount Baker.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Staff stay at Mount Baker.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that that I think that says a lot about the the culture that we've created there, the culture amongst the staff that we've created there.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um our staff are always there to cheer on their kids.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I see them at the sporting events after school.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have no shortage of clubs after school because our teachers care so much about these kids and their interests, and and our clubs are all student-driven.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: We teachers don't create the clubs, students say, hey, I want to have this club, and and then they find a teacher that wants to facilitate it.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And um the fact that we have so many shows that our staff really truly cares about our kids.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just a fun place.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and we have fun.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll I'll uh vouch for that.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: I I also think you know, I I uh sometimes I get on social media and I see the post.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I wish our schools still had shop classes.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like our middle schools all have large, well-equipped, functioning shop classes.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: They have some really modern current, you know, printing and and computer generated CNC machine routers.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's pretty amazing what our kids can do.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's pretty amazing.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I was the music kid, so great band program, great orchestra program, great choral.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they're doing a lot with drama.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you have an award-winning like newspaper and you know, just a lot of things happening that I don't think everybody thinks about.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Good stuff.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us about a favorite success story you've had with a student.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, there's been so many over the years.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, I I can't think of a soup one specific right now, but one thing that I'll share is that I love is is I love middle school can be a really tough time for some kids and and you know, I I we work hard.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: There are some kids that we really have to work hard to help them to thrive and succeed in middle school 'cause it's just hard for for some kids.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's a hard age, it's a hard time in your life, you know.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um but my favorite m in my success story that I like is I love it when kids come back uh when they're in high school or when they come back when they're near graduation or after they've graduated and and to see someone who really, really struggled in middle school come to me and just with the maturity and with the it just blows my mind every time and um and sharing their success and um the fact that they want to come back and tell us that it just it it's very heartwarming and that's that's what I love about my job.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for sharing Greg.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: What is your favorite part of your job?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's the people.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it's it's the people meaning the the students obviously number one, the teachers, the families, this community.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like in my job I get to connect with a whole lot of people inside inside my building and outside my building.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, every day obviously with the kids and the and the students parents occasionally throughout the year, you know, not as often as every day.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: But then I think about the the community members that come into our school and you know throughout the year and um just getting to know them.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's it's that community that I love best about my job.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: We really appreciate everything you've done for 16 years at Mount Baker and nine years at Dick Scoby and into the future um and you know now kind of mentoring other leaders and doing some amazing stuff and still showing up every day with the same energy.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean if it were for the gray beard I would think that you're just starting out in this job you just bring it every day.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let's shift gears to my final question that I actually love hearing uh from all my guests what was your favorite thing to do at recess?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny my favorite thing to do at recess is something that I don't think any of our schools have anymore and that's the swing set.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: The swing set was a big deal at my school and I remember doing doing uh you know over-unders you know running under them pushing them and running under and um I remember trying to do the backflip off of them where you hold onto the chain the whole time and backflip off and um but then it's funny that that's my favorites but my favorite thing at recess but I also remember the time I had the old fashioned braces headgear you know on with that that had the big and I did an underdog under somebody and it cut their hoodie thing and ripped my whole thing out of my mouth.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was not a good experience but it still was one of my favorite things to do at recess.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh what a great recollection I love that okay well my guest has been Greg Brown uh the principal at Mount Baker Middle School uh just a great part of this community and uh as he said really gets to work with some amazing people uh over there in South Auburn.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Greg, thank you so much for being my guest.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: If you know somebody who knows Mr.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Brown which I'll bet many of you do, please share this podcast.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: We're trying to get the word out we are spreading uh the joy that is the Auburn School District and trying to um help the community see what happens in our schools and just understand a little better.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: So please help us share the podcast and we will be sharing more stories.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I will see you next time on the Recess Podcast