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S1 E3 - Alumni Tell All · Inside the OSD

• 0:06
  SPEAKER1: Welcome to Inside the OSD.
• 0:08
  I'm Dr. Leslie Bergstrom.
• 0:10
  I'm the host of this podcast.
• 0:12
  Our purpose is to educate and inform you about timely topics and have a little fun doing it.
• 0:17
  We hope to give you an inside look at what life is like in our schools.
• 0:20
  And that's going to be fun because it's all about our kids.
• 0:24
  This week, we have a special treat for you.
• 0:26
  Some of our recent alumni are back for this alumni day to spend some time with students at our high school.
• 0:34
  This is one of our favorite events of the year.
• 0:37
  And today we'll talk with Mr.
• 0:38
  Ashmore, one of our associate principals at the high school who organizes this event and some of our participating alumni.
• 0:46
  I can't wait to catch up with them.
• 0:49
  Our Alumni Day is an annual event organized by our staff, and it is really a win-win for everyone.
• 0:56
  Our alumni get to visit and share valuable experiences.
• 1:00
  Our juniors and seniors get to ask important questions and hear tips from those who have gone before them.
• 1:07
  And our educators have the opportunity to hear feedback and see the impact of learning on our graduates.
• 1:14
  And I can tell you, as an educator myself, there's nothing more fulfilling than seeing the success of students who are in your class.
• 1:22
  So this is going to be a great conversation.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 1:31
  Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Dr.
• 1:35
  Leslie Bergstrom.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER1: Let's get started with you, Mr.
• 1:39
  Ashmore. Can you start by telling us a little bit about your role at Oregon High School and the purpose of Alumni Day?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER2: I would love to, Dr. Bergstrom.
• 1:47
  I'm Brad Ashmore.
• 1:48
  I'm one of the associate principals here at Oregon High School.
• 1:52
  This is my fifth year at the high school, and one of my favorite parts of my job here is helping our students to plan and prepare for their future.
• 2:01
  So I lead and facilitate with a great team here at the high school, academic and career planning and our alumni panel experience is all about getting our
• 2:11
  students back to share a little bit about their experiences, to help our juniors and seniors prepare for their future.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER1: Well, what is it about Alumni Day that is so important for our juniors and seniors?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER2: I think it's a super unique experience.
• 2:24
  I know there's probably some other high schools in the area, but I think one of the things that we really like about is that each year we try to reach out and
• 2:31
  connect with our alumni to see how they're doing and also to see how we did.
• 2:35
  So I don't know how many other high schools in the area do it, but we're able to continue to connect with our recent graduates and have them come back to
• 2:43
  share how they're doing and how things are going.
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  So we have a motto here - once a panther, always a panther.
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  And that's just something that we really enjoy each year to plan.
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  And this this year was really, really awesome because this is the first year we've been able to do it in person in a couple of years.
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  And it was just so good to see people back here in person and to hear how they're doing.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER1: I really love the idea that Alumni Day is also an opportunity for us to hear from them regarding how we did in serving their needs when they were here and
• 3:13
  how we can improve for for future students.
• 3:15
  So I love the fact that it's feedback for us, too.
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  Now, this is just one of many activities that you do at Oregon High School to help students prepare for their future.
• 3:24
  What are some of the other ones that you do?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER2: Yeah, our team and the academic and career planning team have put together a lot of really good things through our Panther Connections.
• 3:33
  Panther Connections is advisory that meets each Wednesday and at least two times a month, we focus on planning and preparing kids for their future.
• 3:41
  We've done some things called "Lunch and Learns" this year where we have different people and different industries come in to talk to our students.
• 3:49
  We've done it during lunch time and we really try to get a variety of different people in different industry to come in and share about their jobs and about
• 3:59
  how they got into those jobs.
• 4:00
  And we provide those opportunities a couple of times a month, like I mentioned.
• 4:04
  And then just a lot of other resource information, scholarship information and different information through Xello to help our kids plan for their future.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER1: Can you tell everyone who is listening what Xello is?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER2: Xello is a platform that we use here that has an amazing amount of information for our students to plan for their future.
• 4:24
  They look, there's college information, there's job information, there's interest inventory surveys.
• 4:30
  So students who really are not sure can use that tool, that platform to find out more about their interests.
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  And also, it's just super powerful.
• 4:39
  It's super powerful. There's different lessons in there, too, and it helps our kids to learn more about themselves and what they're hopefully going to do in
• 4:46
  their future.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. So now I'm going to move to our alumni guests, and we have Dakota and Paul and Sydona and Cam and Grace.
• 4:55
  And I was actually the intermediate school principal for several of them.
• 4:59
  So that's kind of exciting to see the back here.
• 5:02
  But if we could start by having each of you introduce yourself, tell us when you graduated and what you're doing now.
• 5:08
  And I'm going to start over here with Grace, and we'll just work around the table.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER3: Yeah, I am Grace Cooper.
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  I graduated from Oregon in 2021.
• 5:16
  I'm currently at Calvin University in my sophomore year and I'm studying Spanish and biology and minoring in ministry leadership.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER1: Thank you.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER2: What up, OSD listeners?
• 5:28
  It's Cam - graduating class of 2021, and I'm currently a real estate agent.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER1: Thank you.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER3: Hi, everyone. I'm Sydona Roberts.
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  I graduated in 2019 and I'm currently a senior at UW Madison in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
• 5:47
  And I'm studying strategic communications with certificates or minors in sports communication and public policy.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER4: Thank you. My name is Paul Johnston.
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  I am a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist in the Wisconsin Army National Guard.
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  I recently just got back from training and now my first duty station.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you.
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  SPEAKER4: Yeah. My name is Dakota Brown.
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  I graduated in 2022.
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  That just was last year.
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  And then I went on to my entrepreneur kind of field where I have a genetic based business J2 Genetics, where we show dairy cows across the
• 6:23
  nation and try to market their embryos, them themselves, and then have also a couple of different product lines as well.
• 6:30
  Going along with that genetics business.
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  SPEAKER1: That's an amazing spectrum of experiences at this table.
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  This is really - this is exciting!
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  So the next question is what was the most valuable thing you learned in the Oregon School District that helped you prepare for this path?
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  Hopefully it's more than one thing, but let's just let's just each of you can share something that really sticks out to you.
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  So I'll go the opposite way this time and start with Dakota.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER4: Yeah, certainly. So my experience was a little bit different because after COVID hit I went full time to being a herdsman at Ocean View Genetics.
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  And then Oregon really accommodated me and helped me through being online and given the opportunities for me not necessarily
• 7:13
  to come back into school, but still to learn.
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  And it was a very big opportunity because that kind of extended the opportunities out for my future to kind
• 7:25
  of not prolong the school, but kind of make it a little bit.
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  I don't know.
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  SPEAKER1: It was a unique thing.
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  I remember I was it was it was a unique experience.
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  It was customized to you.
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  SPEAKER4: Yeah, it was customized is the word to use.
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  It was it was kind of like I didn't have to come in to school.
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  I could learn in other ways, but I still had to prove it to Oregon.
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  And that was the main thing that I found was good, was you guys just didn't lay down and say, "Hey, you can go do this." You guys made me come back and share my
• 7:58
  experience and how I was actually benefiting from it and how it would help my future.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER1: Nice. Thank you. How about you, Paul?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER4: My career path was kind of set at 17, so most of my ACP days for my junior and senior year kind of looking into what we're doing
• 8:16
  now, like the alumni videos and kind of learning more in my job field.
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  And I remember talking to Mr.
• 8:24
  Granberg about going to service academies and how OHS really like, kind of wanted me to push myself and kind of achieve more than what I was setting
• 8:34
  myself up for and kind of getting back to that higher level of education.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER1: Yeah, I mean, both of you have spoken about high levels of expectations for your experiences.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER4: Yeah.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER1: Both of them - very different experiences, but high expectations for both.
• 8:49
  That's great. How about you, Sydona?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER3: Yeah, I would say there's kind of two for me.
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  I guess since I'm in the journalism school, I would say a lot of the English classes I found that those were kind of my favorite here at OHS.
• 9:03
  And I mean, all the teachers are wonderful, but I was really able to connect with some of them, and they help me with like, my college applications and
• 9:10
  things like that. So that was super beneficial.
• 9:13
  But also just kind of those relationships as well.
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  I was really involved in athletics here and kind of learning how to communicate with, you know, people that are older than you and
• 9:26
  growing confidence in that way with leadership skills and stuff like that.
• 9:31
  I found that that's really benefited me.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. Cam?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER2: Oh, man, there's honestly OHS has done so much for me and it contributes so much to who I am as a person.
• 9:44
  Honestly, I think the biggest impact the school had for me was it sounds really simple, but it's teachers making sure that I did my homework.
• 9:53
  You know, they hold me accountable.
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  You know, I was kind of had to turn a lot of late stuff early on here, you know.
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  But later on I got on myself to do it, you know, And in real estate, there's no it's really all like you
• 10:11
  do your own work.
• 10:12
  I have a team I can consult with, but at the end of the day, I'm responsible for for like, my business and what I can bring to it.
• 10:20
  So, you know, something as simple as making sure that students do their work to the point where they
• 10:29
  are on themselves about doing it, it's actually very beneficial.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER1: You're going to make a lot of people happy.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER2: I hope so.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER1: Okay, that's great.
• 10:42
  How about you, Grace?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER3: Yeah, I think the biggest impact that Oregon had on me was the teachers.
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  Mr. Dierks was one of my physical education teachers.
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  I started taking his classes my sophomore year to prepare for West Point, the military academy, which I had decided my sophomore year that's something that I
• 11:01
  wanted to pursue.
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  And so he would help me out a lot in class, just trying to get stronger and prepare for the physical rigor that West Point would require.
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  And then going into my senior year, he started training me individually, which was super helpful and just something that I felt was super valuable knowing
• 11:21
  that a teacher would take time out of his day and like, make something special for me, which yeah, it was just super impactful for me to know how much he
• 11:31
  cared and was willing to help me out.
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  And just I worked towards West Point for three years and I didn't end up going because of medical reasons, but I worked towards a long term goal for a
• 11:42
  long time and was able to push myself and have other people be a part of that journey.
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  So.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, I bet you learned a lot from the process, even if you didn't end up at West Point.
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  The process itself was an amazing learning experience.
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  SPEAKER3: Yeah, there are so many things that I learned from that and a lot of things that I did that I didn't expect from myself.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER1: Wow. So as I'm listening to all of you, I'm hearing high expectations, accountability, but kind of wrapped up in relationships
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  and feeling like people really cared about you and went an extra mile for you.
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  So that's pretty cool.
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  Now, what's been interesting or surprising or exciting since you left here?
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  I would just love to hear that a little bit of something from each of you on that, and I'm going to really shake it up.
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  I'm going to say, Sydona, you go first.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER3: Okay. I will say, I mean, I've loved my college experience so far, but probably the most exciting experience that I've had since I'm a
• 12:40
  senior last spring, I was able to actually study abroad in Barcelona, Spain, which was, I mean, the most wonderful experience.
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  But I said I kind of develop my love for Spanish and that culture here, actually at OHS.
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  So that was the best experience.
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  I think that will be in my top five like life experiences for a very long time.
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  So yeah, that was awesome.
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  SPEAKER1: That's great. How about you, Paul?
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  SPEAKER4: So I was in training until about a month and a half ago, so I was, I'm fresh out of training.
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  So when I got home
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  it was more or less like kind of a side of the school.
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  So athletics now, I'm one of the JV coaches with the hockey team.
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  So kind of getting back to that and getting back to giving back kind of was really good for me.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you.
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  SPEAKER4: Dakota? Yeah, I would say like Ms.
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  Schmitt told me when I left, like, you're going to try so many different things and you never know where you're going to end up.
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  I mean, I went to orientation for going to UW Platteville, and then they asked me if I was excited and I said, Well, I don't think I'll be coming here, but
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  so, so but it was kind of like it was kind of like not nothing against college.
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  And I think college is great, but it just wasn't right for me.
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  And a couple of different teachers at Oregon had told me, you know, that's all right.
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  If that's not right for you, that's not what you do.
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  And so they kind of opened up a mindset that I can try anything that I want and just put yourself in successes way and work
• 14:16
  hard and you'll get through it.
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  And so I've I've had plenty of different ideas.
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  And then I all ended up down in Evansville, Wisconsin, about like 15 minutes away.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER1: Which might be the surprising thing right?
• 14:28
  Yeah, I was planning on going out to California, which is across the country, and then I ended up 15 minutes away.
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  So thank you.
• 14:38
  Grace?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER3: Yeah, When I was at Oregon, I was involved in a lot of different clubs and different things in the school that I had like different leadership roles in and
• 14:48
  things in my church.
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  I just had a lot of different leadership roles.
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  So that was something that I have continued to pursue in college this year.
• 14:57
  I'm what's called a worship apprentice.
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  So we have - it's a private Christian school and we have chapel every day that's optional.
• 15:05
  But I get to lead chapels with my worship apprentice partner, and so we'll pick out the music and arrange it and lead rehearsals.
• 15:13
  Then for anybody who comes to chapel, we get to speak to them and lead them in that way.
• 15:18
  So that's been really cool for me.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER1: Yeah, And for those of you who just heard bells, yes, we are in school, so bells happen.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER2: Cam?
• 15:27
  I guess I can share a story that was pretty exciting.
• 15:30
  This was a couple of months after I got my license and we were working with this family that wanted to move here from the Middle
• 15:40
  East. And I know the the mother, the wife, she really she really liked it here.
• 15:50
  And she - it was difficult.
• 15:52
  We couldn't quite find a place for her because in the summer, the real estate market was just the craziest that's ever been.
• 16:01
  And she was really torn between waiting indefinite amount of time to find a place or start renting.
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  And in the long run, renting will be more expensive.
• 16:14
  It's more cost effective to buy a home and it feels better to buy a home.
• 16:18
  And after after a couple of weeks, we ended up finding her a place and just - Her smile just meant
• 16:27
  everything, you know? She was so grateful, so happy to have found a place.
• 16:33
  And this was her first time looking for houses.
• 16:36
  And that's our specialty. We do first time buyers.
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  And yeah, that that feeling.
• 16:42
  I'm going to remember that forever.
• 16:44
  Like I helped a family find their forever home.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER1: Thanks for sharing that.
• 16:49
  Now, the last thing I'll ask all of you is what advice do you have for current high school students who are preparing for their future, just like you were a
• 16:57
  couple of years ago yourself?
• 16:59
  Cam, why don't we go back to to you right away and go around the circle this way?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER2: Yeah. I'd say the most important thing is to have an open mind about about anything in life, but especially for your for your
• 17:12
  next steps, whether it be towards a career or going to school or maybe, maybe you still don't know, be open to anything.
• 17:21
  Because if you told me on the day I graduated that I'd be a real estate agent, I would have never have believed you.
• 17:28
  So it's important to be open to whatever comes your way.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER1: Thank you.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER3: Sydona? Yeah, I would say on one end, you know, it's really important to kind of, you know, look with within
• 17:42
  yourself and kind of it was external resources to kind of try and figure out what you want to do with yourself.
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  But also on the other end, I mean, I look back and I'm back here now at OHS I would say, like don't take advantage of it.
• 17:56
  Like really develop those relationships with your teachers and the staff and it's such a special place and so have fun.
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  And I mean, obviously there's the aspect of preparing for your future and that's really important.
• 18:09
  But also it's also important to kind of develop those relationships and colleges - er college - high school is only four years.
• 18:18
  So yeah, just don't don't take it too seriously.
• 18:21
  Have fun and develop those relationships because obviously we're back here now and those can be long lasting.
• 18:27
  So yeah.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER1: Great.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER4: For students here at OHS, take the opportunities that we have here to broaden your horizons.
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  There's a lot of variety here at OHS and the types of classes that are offered.
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  Build relationships with your teachers.
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  Like Sydona said, we have some of the best in the state.
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  They're willing to go the extra mile for you, ask questions always, always do, kind of like, more research y
• 18:59
  ou think you should do because there's some - there might be something that's hidden and it can come back and kind of bite you.
• 19:05
  But other than that, just finish it.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER1: Thanks.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER4: Yeah, I would say networking is going to be a huge thing, like finding somebody that and we talked about this in the panel, finding somebody that kind of
• 19:19
  is related to whatever field that you want to go in, whether that would be college professor, a teacher, whatever, whatever that might be like.
• 19:27
  I went to a different farm and kind of threw myself at them and said, "Hey, I will work for free." And I really learned a lot there.
• 19:35
  So like internships, networking, I mean, there are so many different things that you can go about in college is not the only option.
• 19:42
  If if you don't go to college, it's not you're not going to be a failure.
• 19:46
  And I think that's one thing that we're kind of getting away from, not getting away from college.
• 19:50
  But college might not be the future for everybody.
• 19:54
  And I think that's one thing that Oregon has really done good is making that known.
• 19:58
  Like in the recent years, they've made that known.
• 20:00
  Like college is not - we're not pushing it down everybody's throats anymore.
• 20:04
  We're we're giving opportunities to other people making that known.
• 20:08
  And I know from other schools, they've kind of like pushed college over onto people.
• 20:15
  And I don't think that's the right idea.
• 20:17
  I think people need to be comfortable.
• 20:19
  To me, success is being comfortable and I will stand by that.
• 20:24
  I love that it's not all about money.
• 20:27
  So if you're going to college to get a job that makes a lot of money, rethink it.
• 20:32
  Like if that's not something that you are comfortable doing on the daily basis.
• 20:37
  I mean, I don't feel like I work every day.
• 20:39
  And that's the biggest thing to me is I want to go down to the barn and I want to be happy with what I have.
• 20:47
  I mean, to me, it's it's working with family.
• 20:50
  They might be four legged family, but it's working with family.
• 20:54
  And and and then and then with that hard work, when you're comfortable and you're liking it, that hard work eventually turns over to money and
• 21:03
  then it doesn't.
• 21:05
  I mean, money's not a problem anymore, and that's a very, very comfortable place to be.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER1: Well, I think it's more about making sure schools are providing you with the skills and the opportunities for anything that's ahead of you.
• 21:16
  Right? Right. Yeah. Yeah.
• 21:18
  How about you, Grace?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER3: Yeah, I think it's been said, but just building relationships with people at OHSU.
• 21:26
  Getting to know your teachers and staff and even the friends that you make.
• 21:31
  I don't have a ton of people that I talk to from high school anymore, but from my high school years, the people that were in my life, they are like my biggest
• 21:38
  support system right now.
• 21:39
  And just even the people that you meet really investing in them and trying to get to know people because people want to be a part of your life and want to
• 21:48
  help you through whatever you're going through.
• 21:50
  And it's important to have people to lean on when things are hard and to celebrate when things are going well.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER1: Well, people matter, right?
• 21:57
  As a matter of fact, it's almost the only thing that truly does matter are the people in our lives.
• 22:02
  So thank you all.
• 22:03
  I feel so proud just to be a part of a school system that served all of you.
• 22:09
  I mean, just already where you are and how you think and the the empathy and care that you show.
• 22:17
  I'm just really proud to be connected to anything connected to you guys.
• 22:20
  So thank you all for coming back for an alumni day and for spending a little extra time with us.
• 22:25
  You already had a big morning of this.
• 22:27
  Just share your experiences with our broader podcast audience.
• 22:31
  Thank you. I want to remind our listeners you can find links to Inside the OSD on our website at OregonSD
• 22:41
  .org/Podcast. It is also available on podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music.
• 22:50
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 22:56
  Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about our kids.