Latest / Bearcat Chat - A Podcast about all things Scottsbluff Schools / Getting ReConnected to School and Community

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Getting ReConnected to School and Community · Bearcat Chat - A Podcast about all things Scottsbluff Schools

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Bearcat chat, a podcast for everything
• 0:04
  Scottsbluff School. Hi everyone and welcome to
• 0:12
  another episode of the Bearcat chat pod cast.
• 0:15
  That's a podcast for everything Scottsbluff schools.
• 0:17
  I'm your host Melissa price and I'm really excited about what
• 0:20
  we're going to dig into today. I have with me for students from
• 0:24
  reconnect. Hi everyone.
• 0:25
  How's it going? It's pretty good r-right.
• 0:29
  Can each of you introduce yourselves?
• 0:31
  Let us know who are hearing from today.
• 0:35
  Hi, my name is Duane Bauer. Hi, my name is Brianna.
• 0:39
  Hightower. Hi, my name is Reggie benavidez.
• 0:43
  Hi, I'm Morgan handy. Okay.
• 0:45
  Well, if you if you those of you out there listening haven't seen
• 0:48
  on social media or maybe the regular Media or heard reconnect
• 0:53
  students have been up to all sorts of things, the school year
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  and we're going to talk about all the great ways that they've
• 0:58
  been positively impacting the community, but before we do show
• 1:02
  students, look to make sure our listeners know what it is that
• 1:05
  we connect is. So to start, tell me a little
• 1:08
  bit about reconnect, you know, Of not just what it is but also
• 1:13
  what it's been for you and and how it has helped you with your
• 1:17
  high school experience. So basically reconnect is a
• 1:23
  second chance to high school. It's you get your high school
• 1:27
  diploma because you work hard on other things other than sitting
• 1:31
  in a class for eight hours a day, but it gives you that
• 1:35
  second chance because some kids can't sit in through classes
• 1:38
  like that, you know? Okay.
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  So um, Reconnect is an alternative high school on for
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  kids that need a little bit extra.
• 1:46
  Help getting through high school or just kind a through their
• 1:50
  first two years of actual High School way.
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  Usually, you attend reconnect around your junior or senior
• 1:58
  year, if your credit deficient or if there's other reasons you
• 2:01
  were kicked out of the school. But but other than other than
• 2:05
  that, it's a family reconnect as a family.
• 2:08
  I will say, every everybody here is Me just as much love as I had
• 2:12
  hoped from a family and it's a great place to be, it's a great
• 2:16
  place to spend my time and it's a great place to learn reconnect
• 2:19
  for me was also like a family, it's a good program, you go for
• 2:22
  four hours a day, you know. And you just have to do your
• 2:24
  work on a computer which you can also do at home.
• 2:28
  But reconnect for me, was I came in here credit deficient.
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  So it's kind of like scary at first.
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  But once you get to know everybody here, especially the
• 2:35
  teachers and stuff, it gets to be really like you get to be
• 2:38
  really close with everybody around you and And they
• 2:41
  genuinely care about you, your mental health and your safety
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  reconnects. It's a cool place to be, I don't
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  know. The from my time here it's just
• 2:53
  been it's been fun. Getting to learn new things and
• 2:59
  just being yourself, you'd only got to talk to anybody, you can
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  just do your own thing and you know, just finished high school
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  really. So I don't know if all the four
• 3:10
  of, you know, or not but reconnect has like a technical
• 3:12
  vision statement and that is that reconnects designed to
• 3:16
  offer. The support and flexibility to
• 3:18
  help students who have either dropped out, or at risk of
• 3:20
  dropping out get their diploma. So now, so now maybe, you know,
• 3:24
  something that you didn't know and now that we all know a
• 3:27
  little bit about reconnect, let's get into some of the
• 3:29
  things that you and the other students have been up to this
• 3:31
  year. So I understand that you have a
• 3:35
  club here, you have partnered with the Lions Club and you have
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  started what's known as a Leo's club for reconnect.
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  So can one of you tell me a little bit about that?
• 3:46
  Yeah. So I'm the vice president of our
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  Leo's club and really all we do is go around and help as much as
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  we can. That's it's the simple simple
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  part of it. But um little bit more in depth,
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  we've helped out with covering up, graffiti on, just random
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  walls around town that have been graffitied, like East Overland
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  laundromat, we covered the graffiti.
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  That was on. That was all over that wall and
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  we're starting another one here soon and gearing on the back of
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  the gearing Baker Baker. Hurry.
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  Okay, so I've already participated are all of you a
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  part of the club. Yes.
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  Okay. So does anyone want to share
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  what they like best about participating in it?
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  I like the feeling I get when I help people because you know,
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  making other people happy and makes and I think you know, it
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  may be a time that you're not thinking about it right now, but
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  another part or portion that you get from being in that club is
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  kind of a leadership component, right?
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  You guys get to go out and You know, kind of take some
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  leadership roles in the community and regardless of what
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  you do when you leave high school, that's going to be
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  really useful for all of you. So now let's talk about some
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  other things that you're involved in.
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  I understand that students are delivering meals on wheels once
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  a week. If you guys send that, someone
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  want to tell me about that experience.
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  So, basically we go around and we go to the place first to pick
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  up the meals in a cooler and then we go.
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  And we But off to multiple houses in that area and we have
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  like a set list of people that we go through and then we give
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  them their meals and it's basically doordash gold people.
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  Anybody else participated in that that wants to share a
• 5:32
  little bit about like what that experience has been like for
• 5:34
  you? I didn't get to do that.
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  Unfortunately though. I wish I would have in my time
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  at reconnect. Um, I participated in Meals on
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  Wheels and really all it is is taking meals to senior citizens
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  that are either. Either low income or they're
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  just on a lot of, a lot of help in the government and stuff like
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  that. It's really, it's really just
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  the like the boxes food. It's just one meal instead of
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  that whole bucket food is. So I know that, you said, well,
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  all we did is deliver meals, but I'm sure it's really rewarding
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  for the individuals. You know, oftentimes, the people
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  who receive those, they're not, sometimes they're not physically
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  able, you know, they can't drive, they're not able to leave
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  their homes. Very much or maybe sometimes at
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  all. And so I think it's really
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  rewarding for them often times to not only be able to know that
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  they receive a hot meal at a certain time but also the just
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  the social interaction and getting the chance to you know,
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  meet with somebody especially somebody younger.
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  So I'm sure your presence really brightens their day.
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  There's another regular project that you guys do Weekly, right.
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  Being the Riverside Discovery Center.
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  That's kind of a Newer things. You guys want to tell me a
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  little bit someone, tell me a little bit about that.
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  So basically we go up to the zoo and we just do kind of like
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  whatever they need us to do. When I went, we cleaned up the
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  um, the little children's museum by the petting zoo and we just
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  kind of clean that up and then we got to hang out with a couple
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  of. We got to see a snake and a
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  lizard. It was pretty cool.
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  I got a few to Turtle lettuce when you when I went to the zoo.
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  All we did. Smoke break up the leaves around
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  the around the zoo. And then we went and we went to
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  a chimpanzees birthday party that day.
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  Pretty cool. Yeah.
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  Hey, I've never been to a chimpanzees birthday party.
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  So, I think I'm actually a little bit jealous.
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  I didn't get an invite. I gotta admit, though, I love
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  seeing all the pictures of you guys on social media with all
• 7:38
  the animals were. You surprised about how much
• 7:40
  work goes into taking care of the animals?
• 7:44
  Not really? Yeah, not not as much as I
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  thought I was. Gonna be like because he's
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  definitely you think that it's going to take a lot of work, but
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  it didn't take as much as you think that's probably because
• 7:56
  though, we were only doing like half of the work that the actual
• 7:59
  leg zoo workers do. So doing, like the work that we
• 8:03
  did, doesn't really surprise me that.
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  It takes that much, but I can imagine that it's a lot more
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  when you're actually taking care of the animals, like feeding
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  them cleaning their enclosures and stuff.
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  But nonetheless, it was a great opportunity.
• 8:15
  Yeah, it really is because I think it's really that kind of
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  Constant, you know, every day they have to, you know, they
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  require a lot of care and they had to eat certain things and
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  and all those things that go into that, you guys have also
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  done a whole lot of other service projects in the
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  community. I know that you helped I'm on
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  the board of United Way and I know that you've helped you
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  shouldn't have helped unite away with stuff the bus and doing
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  some other distributions. So this is my opportunity, you
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  know not only as a school district person but also I'm
• 8:47
  half the United Way to say thank you to all of you for all the
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  work that you do a stuff. The bus.
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  I know you participated in the Polar Plunge with the
• 8:55
  Scottsville, High School circle of friends, you've helped out
• 8:58
  potter's wheel and I went and saw some of you early in the
• 9:02
  school year, when you and we talked about this a little bit,
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  you painted over that graffiti at the East Overland laundromat.
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  So, did any of those things, kind of stand out as like, a
• 9:12
  memorable experience. You want to talk about any of
• 9:14
  those things? Oh yeah, the Polar Plunge was
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  like my favorite thing to do. I did it both years.
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  I was at reconnect but I mean the first time it wasn't too
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  bad, you know, excels wearing pants but then I wear shorts the
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  second time. So my legs kind of felt like ice
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  cubes but it's a great experience and if you can take
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  the experience, I do suggest you do it at least one time within
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  your lifespan, because it is so much fun and it's for a
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  fantastically great cause yeah, the Polar Plunge.
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  It it's wonderful. Everybody pulls together.
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  It's really just a big, big hangout and then you jump some
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  cold water and then you just hang out some more.
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  It's, it's all the much and it's there's a, there's a great
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  meaning behind it. And there's a great great thing
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  that we're doing. And is just fine.
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  I just be in talking to people that you don't really talk to
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  them daily basis and just get to have conflict conversations that
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  you don't you normally have during your, you know, your
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  lives and what's going on the community and take advice from
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  people whose either done it for ever and they just know new
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  people every time and it's just fun to be around.
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  And welcome people, people that want to help out and ask for us,
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  people and help out the community as much as possible.
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  And yeah, well I didn't get to go this year.
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  Some years I'm in town and some years I'm out of town on the day
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  that it falls. I went and watched last year
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  although we're going to have to talk a little bit about your
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  definition of fun, because it looks like it's freezing, is it
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  is it, as bad as it looks. It's a little shocking at first,
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  but you get used to it through seconds just like oh and then
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  you just You're just you're there and you're like, freaking
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  out a little bit. So you get all the water in a
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  hot tub and it's all good, right?
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  And then you get out of the hot tub and then what?
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  It's a little cool again, but it's all right, and it's not,
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  it's not that big of a deal. You know what I mean?
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  It's like a yeah, but when you realize that you're doing
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  something for that, great of a, cause the amount of fun that you
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  have is determined on how you see the cause and how you see
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  yourself in the world really? And that's a really great answer
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  for those of you out there who maybe aren't familiar, Earlier
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  with the Polar Plunge on the Polar Plunge, is an annual event
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  where people come together and jump in the North Platte River
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  and it supports Special Olympics of Nebraska, which is really
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  again like all the students have said or really great cause.
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  So I don't think we'd be doing reconnect Justice.
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  If I didn't give all of you an opportunity to talk about the
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  staff. I think the staff here are
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  really kind of the lifeblood of the program there.
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  You know, what keeps everyone excited and engaged on the
• 11:57
  day-to-day? Do you have Anything that you
• 11:59
  want our listeners to know about any of the reconnect staff
• 12:02
  members whether that's individually or as a group Kyle
• 12:05
  is a boss bro. Kyle.
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  Because the best. Yeah.
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  Cuz really cool but really, really big props to mr.
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  D, mrs. D was there for all of us?
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  It sucks to hear that he passed away, but he was, he was really
• 12:21
  there for all of us who made a big impact and he was, he was
• 12:24
  like, grandfather. Do a lot of us.
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  It was It was great having him around.
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  Absolutely, I can 100% agree with that one.
• 12:32
  You know all of the reconnect stuff here.
• 12:34
  They're kind of listen. I'm gonna tell you this right
• 12:36
  now, they're kind of weird. Okay, so you're going to come in
• 12:39
  here and you're going to see, this really energetic guy and
• 12:42
  he's gonna be like, hi. My name is Kyle and he's just
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  going to bounce around the walls all the time.
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  He's very odd. And so is mr.
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  Klein and mr. Genie, I think, yeah, Kyle eat
• 12:51
  sardines in class. But yeah, but, um, I think like
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  the Calmest to of this teacher group here at a staff group here
• 13:00
  that we have is Miss Emma and Miss feet.
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  They are definitely two of the common people though that I'm
• 13:05
  sure they both have their quirks.
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  This is not not a tall column displays her own, but it's great
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  having everybody around Klein Klein, has been there a lot for
• 13:19
  me this year, especially, he's pushing me real hard and it's
• 13:23
  just great to have them as a, it's a really big support system
• 13:26
  because Everybody. It doesn't matter who it is even
• 13:28
  miss stains, which a lot of us aren't connected with.
• 13:30
  She'll always be here for us. All of them.
• 13:33
  They're always looking out for us in school out of school.
• 13:37
  Well, I'm really glad that you guys got that opportunity to
• 13:41
  kind of be able to forge those relationships and with all of
• 13:45
  our staff members because I think that is an important part
• 13:48
  of the high school experience and I think you'll take some of
• 13:51
  that with you. When you go on, we have another
• 13:55
  graduation coming up soon after What I understand to of you have
• 13:58
  maybe already graduated because we also just had one about a
• 14:02
  month ago. So those of you who've graduated
• 14:05
  already when tell me a little bit about graduation and what
• 14:08
  that meant for you, it was on March, 23rd 2023 on 23rd Street
• 14:14
  which I thought was pretty cool. Um we went into the hallway and
• 14:20
  we had this pep talk right? And literally nobody understood
• 14:23
  what Kyle was Satan. So we were so confused and we
• 14:26
  were Into there. And we were trying to do our
• 14:28
  thing and we just like, we just kind of winged it.
• 14:32
  Honestly, I think the graduation ceremony was probably like, my
• 14:38
  proudest moment of my life so far, because like, that's
• 14:41
  something that I always told myself, I would never be able to
• 14:45
  do. So, having the opportunity to
• 14:47
  come here and actually graduate was awesome, and the ceremony
• 14:50
  was great and I was cried because I was just so happy to
• 14:55
  finally be done with high school.
• 14:56
  A school and move on to bigger and better things.
• 14:58
  However, I do miss my reconnect friends and I missed through, I
• 15:01
  missed the building. I love being here.
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  Unfortunately, I work all the time.
• 15:05
  So my here a lot anymore. But if I didn't, I would be here
• 15:08
  every day of my life. Well, you the fact of the matter
• 15:12
  is, you know, you you can graduate and I think all of you
• 15:17
  and all of the reconnect graduates who come before you
• 15:20
  were kind of that, living proof of that.
• 15:22
  So I'm super excited for those of you who have graduated and
• 15:26
  I'm super excited. For those of you who have
• 15:28
  graduation coming up here in just a few weeks, do each of you
• 15:32
  want to share with me kind of what your plans are and what you
• 15:35
  think you're going to be doing after you leave here?
• 15:42
  I want to do some type of trade school, I want to do, I want to
• 15:47
  learn about something. If there's something that I
• 15:49
  don't really know about or just something that I want to
• 15:53
  explore, Yeah, I own. I'm gonna go to Omaha and look
• 16:02
  around for some culinary schools and I'm going to try and
• 16:04
  complete my culinary school and I'm just going to try and cook
• 16:08
  for the rest of my life. That's it.
• 16:10
  It's that simple. I actually just got done
• 16:14
  registering for my wincc classes yesterday and I plan on becoming
• 16:18
  a high school teacher. So everybody at the high school
• 16:21
  please beware, I will be there, I'm energetic.
• 16:23
  I'm spunky and you're not, you're probably not going to
• 16:25
  like me very much, but you'll learn to love me.
• 16:27
  I promise I got some news yesterday about some stuff and
• 16:33
  I'm hoping I can graduate from WC soon.
• 16:38
  I started in August with her. So A wonderful.
• 16:43
  I would I want to wish each and every one of you the best of
• 16:48
  luck with your plans, you know, everyone has a different path
• 16:51
  but it sounds like the important part is that you have a path,
• 16:53
  you have something that you want to do.
• 16:55
  And I think that is probably the most important part.
• 16:59
  And hopefully the time that you spent here and the time that you
• 17:03
  spent learning about the community and providing, you
• 17:06
  know, some that service to the community will help you along
• 17:09
  with those plans. So if you listen to To podcast
• 17:12
  this podcast were called the Bearcat chat.
• 17:14
  You can you know, let your family or friends.
• 17:16
  Whoever is important to you know if they want to listen to it
• 17:20
  it's available on both on Apple music and Spotify.
• 17:23
  There's also a link to it on the school district website.
• 17:26
  So I like to thank all of you, especially the two of you who
• 17:29
  don't even go here anymore for taking the time to come back
• 17:32
  here and have a conversation with me.
• 17:34
  So, any last parting advice or words for students who were
• 17:41
  still Lynn students that are still in.
• 17:45
  All I can say is keep pushing. Definitely, it's going to feel
• 17:49
  like you're just dragging and it's going to feel like you're
• 17:52
  slowing down a lot more even though it's only four hours.
• 17:55
  It's going to feel like a long day.
• 17:56
  Just keep pushing and don't stop because I did I did I'm not
• 18:01
  gonna lie I stopped and now I'm going to I'm going to be cutting
• 18:05
  it close to graduation and it shouldn't have been that way.
• 18:09
  I had every opportunity just handed to me and you just got to
• 18:12
  keep pushing because you can, you can do it.
• 18:15
  Don't let anyone tell you that you're not going to graduate?
• 18:19
  You gotta believe in yourself because that's all that matters.
• 18:24
  I'm on the same boat as Brad. J.
• 18:26
  I kind of I had every opportunity handed to me to be
• 18:29
  able to graduate on time, you know, or even a little bit
• 18:32
  earlier and I never took them. So just remember that even in
• 18:37
  your lowest moments when you're here at reconnect or when you're
• 18:40
  at this Gospel of public schools there's always somebody who's
• 18:43
  going to be behind you regardless of whether you think
• 18:45
  that Or not. Somebody's always going to be
• 18:47
  there to help guide you through those rough times.
• 18:50
  But even if you think you don't, you got this man.
• 18:53
  It'll be. All right, your big kid.
• 19:00
  Enjoy your life and be responsible.
• 19:02
  Yes, and stay out the way and just, I don't know.
• 19:07
  Enjoy your high school career because you never know where
• 19:11
  it's going to take you and wherever you go just have fun
• 19:16
  and just enjoy. What you do in life is you got
• 19:22
  people that look down on you every day and they want to see
• 19:25
  you succeed and if you're not keeping them people up.
• 19:29
  And just have to. Try and just enjoy life.
• 19:40
  I personally want to thank you for letting us giving us this
• 19:42
  opportunity, to talk to the students, to talk to the staff,
• 19:45
  talk to the parents of Scott's Bluff, and our friends,
• 19:50
  Scottsville high school. But this is, this is a great
• 19:52
  opportunity for people to hear us.
• 19:54
  Absolutely, it's a great opportunity to get the reconnect
• 19:57
  program, you know, a little more spread out and let people know
• 20:01
  that it may seem scary and it may seem like it's not really
• 20:05
  like something you want to do. But definitely, I think if this
• 20:08
  is like a last Sort option. Go for it because it has really
• 20:14
  impacted my life and really made a big change on who I was, when
• 20:18
  I came in versus who I am. Now, as I'm coming out, you
• 20:21
  know? Yeah, well, I want to thank you
• 20:24
  guys all so because all of our conversation that we've had
• 20:27
  here, it's been very authentic and very real.
• 20:30
  And I think a lot of people a lot of students and a lot of
• 20:34
  families are going to be able to relate to that a lot.
• 20:36
  So I hope everyone enjoys listening to this episode as
• 20:39
  much as As I've enjoyed interviewing you as a reminder.
• 20:42
  If you're a new listener, you can always find archived
• 20:44
  episodes on the spps website, Spotify, or apple music.
• 20:48
  Thanks for listening and we'll see you next episode.
• 20:39
  As I've enjoyed interviewing you as a reminder.
• 20:42
  If you're a new listener, you can always find archived
• 20:44
  episodes on the spps website, Spotify, or apple music.
• 20:48
  Thanks for listening and we'll see you next episode.