Latest / Be A Global Citizen! / 211. GC Talks with Alejandra Valencia: Confronting Social Injustices and Educating the Next Generation of Leaders as a Daughter of Migrant Workers

Transcript

211. GC Talks with Alejandra Valencia: Confronting Social Injustices and Educating the Next Generation of Leaders as a Daughter of Migrant Workers · Be A Global Citizen!

• 0:05
  Hi there, and welcome to Be a Global Citizen, the podcast that
• 0:08
  explores the concept of global citizenship through the lens of
• 0:11
  value creating education. My name is Scott Bauer and I'm
• 0:15
  Ahsoka, researcher and educator. I hope you find the discussion,
• 0:18
  stories and insights on this podcast to be valuable and
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  inspiring as we strive to become global citizens who are
• 0:24
  committed to living a contributive life.
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  Enjoy. Hi Scott, I'm Alejandra
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  Valencia. I'm in Riverside County.
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  I am an educator. I'm actually a vice principal at
• 0:41
  an AT2 elementary school. I'm a split vice principal.
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  Wonderful, Ali, thank you so much for joining me on the
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  podcast. I'm really excited to to learn
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  more about your journey. And you know, I know you're
• 0:54
  very, very busy woman. Just what you shared about being
• 0:56
  a vice principal at two different schools sounds like a
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  lot of work. And I know that you can do it
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  because you're, you have such a big heart.
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  And I know that you have many, many years of teaching
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  experience under your belt working in various different
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  learning environments and different places.
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  And I, I want to know what brought you to that work.
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  I know that it's very difficult work.
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  And I think more and more society understands how
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  necessary the work is for future generations.
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  We're living in difficult times. And I want to know also what
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  brings you hope in these difficult times as you continue
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  that difficult work. So this is an opportunity for
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  you to really lean into the reflective space of what brought
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  you to the work, who were important influences on your
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  journey. And feel free, it's to share
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  about not only the professional, you know, like supports, like
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  different individuals and mentor figures, but also the the
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  personal and, you know, like the personal experiences and of
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  encounters with, with people who really helped you along this
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  journey. So wanted to pass it over to you
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  and and ask if you can share about your story.
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  Sure. So I knew I wanted to be a a
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  teacher pretty much my whole life.
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  It was between that or being a doctor.
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  I could never decide, like, do I want to be a doctor?
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  Do I want to be a teacher? But it always went back to being
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  a fifth grade teacher. And not only did I know I want
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  to be a teacher, but I knew I wanted to be a fifth grade
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  teacher. I was pretty sad when everybody
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  else was playing dolls and stuff like that.
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  I always play teacher and I was always a teacher and I was
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  always in charge. So I knew early on that that's
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  what I wanted to be. And we I was actually born and
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  raised in Mexico. We came to this country and we
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  were undocumented. So we were an undocumented
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  family. We were an invisible family for
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  a very long time. And one thing that was very
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  important to my family was that we get an education.
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  That education was top priority for my parents, top priority for
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  all of us. Not missing school was
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  important. My parents were farm workers, so
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  we we used to help them. We were farm workers at times.
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  It was mainly done for fun. And I remember one day I got
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  suspended from school because a student had messed with my
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  sister. I'm one of four.
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  I'm the oldest. And so I got in a fight and I
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  got suspended. And, you know, the next day I
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  had to get up and go and work in the fields.
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  And this time my dad was very adamant.
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  And he's like, don't help her, don't talk to her.
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  She got suspended. And this is not fun.
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  So he let everybody in the fields, you know, all the people
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  working like, Oh, my God, that I had gotten suspended and
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  watching like real work as opposed to the fun work, you
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  know, that we would do whenever we get tired, we would get to
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  sit down. And my dad was like, if this is
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  how you take school, then you might as well not waste your
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  time. And that was really powerful
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  because I learned how hard the job was, even though I already
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  knew that. It was like the realization that
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  if I don't get my act together and if I don't take this
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  seriously, I could do this for the rest of my life.
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  And I was not very good at it. And it was hard work because we
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  were farm workers. We grew up being part of this
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  program called the My Grenade program.
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  And I would have to say that that's the program that set the
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  trajectory in a whole new direction.
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  We met this young college kid, admired college students for so
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  much that they bring to the table.
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  But I remember meeting this college kid, he was a young kid,
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  maybe 1920 years old, and he talked to my parents about what
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  it would take for us to go to College in a 3G courses, which
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  back then was not called a 3G, but like the importance of not
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  taking homemade classes because we already knew how to cook.
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  I mean, you know, we knew how to do these kind of things.
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  And that program, I think, was the first program that set
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  things in motion for all of us and really set the expectation
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  that I could go to college, that that was something, even though
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  we grew up in poverty, that it was something we could do.
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  So I would say that was my earliest influence on going to
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  college, meeting somebody that was actually in college, because
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  even when I graduated from high school, I did not know a single
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  soul. They had gone to college.
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  I had never met anyone that had gone to college.
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  I didn't know how to fill out my college applications and my call
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  my high school counsellor told me not to apply for college,
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  that I was not good enough. But my sister and I, we
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  graduated the same year and she said that I should become a
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  cosmetologist. But if anybody knows anything
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  about me, brushing my hair is not my top priority in life and
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  I would have been a horrible cosmetologist.
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  So the people that I think Santa should support, you don't know
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  the power that you have, and the people that don't know you
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  sometimes become your strongest advocates.
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  So I grew up, went to college, I went to UC Santa Cruz.
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  I have two masters. Since I've worked in many
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  different jobs. I'm currently a vice principal,
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  but it's been an exciting career.
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  I've done this. Now this is my 32nd year as an
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  educator. That's amazing.
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  Now, thank you so much, Ali, for for sharing the, that origin
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  story, right. And so much of it, it's tied to
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  your family, the struggles of, of your family to, to move and,
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  and, and come to the US under circumstances that, you know,
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  many would say are quite, you know, precarious and uncertain.
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  And that feeling of really creating a new life.
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  And the, the understanding that your parents had, they must have
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  had right to say well, through, through being here in the US and
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  having our, our, our children get an education.
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  This will set them up for more options, right?
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  More options, meaning, you know, far more work was still on the
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  table given the lesson that you've learned.
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  But really, I think challenging you and your sisters to see what
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  else is out there and even beyond.
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  Cut the cost cosmetology, right, you said.
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  But you know, what would what ignites your passion?
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  What brings you joy? What helps you create value?
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  And I just think that, you know, that must have been such a
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  difficult, yeah, such a difficult path for for your
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  parents, your family in general to to go through.
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  You know, there's a lot I wanted to comment on, but maybe if we
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  can focus on your parents at this beginning part, I think
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  this would really help us better appreciate what that kind of
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  initial hardship was. And also such, you use the word,
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  you know, the undocumented, but also invisible family.
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  And I'm very curious about about those, those two different
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  terms. And because I haven't heard of
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  the invisible family part, but I kind of understand, I can intuit
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  what that entails. But yeah, could you speak a
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  little bit more about your parents and maybe the the
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  thought process of coming to the US Like what, what were, what
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  were the circumstances that they were faced with?
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  So that's the first question. And then the second question I
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  think entails again, the the status of your family.
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  And if you could clarify what undocumented and invisible
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  family really means, that would be really great.
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  So I have amazing parents. I am one of four children.
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  I'm the oldest. I have two younger sisters and a
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  brother who's no longer with us. But my parents were very
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  different. Even growing up my my dad
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  believe in educating women, which was not something that was
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  very common for part of my family.
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  So he always challenged us, always expected us to do great.
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  My mom was a strong believer in education.
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  She always wanted to go to school.
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  That was something that was not given to her as an option.
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  Her father was more traditional, so she went to school up to 3rd
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  grade and then he felt like that was too much, like she should no
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  longer be educated. So she stopped going to school.
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  My dad went to school for three months, not because they didn't
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  believe he should go to school, he just didn't like it.
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  It wasn't his thing. So it was interesting because
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  growing up, education was a thing for us.
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  They strongly believed that we should go to school.
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  They felt that it was the one thing that could help us in
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  life. So they were adamant that we
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  were going to go to college. We came as a small family, you
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  know, from Mexico. When I say undocumented and when
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  I say invisible, I remember my parents saying, don't get
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  yourself in trouble. Don't get yourself be seen like
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  just you know, like do your best job, do the best you can, but do
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  not, you know how some families say don't embarrass us?
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  Like for us it was bigger than that.
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  Like, you know, we are undocumented.
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  We can be asked to leave at any moment.
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  We could be deported at any time.
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  So like you better be on your best behavior was pretty much.
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  So we knew that. We knew that everywhere we went,
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  you know, don't do anything that's going to embarrass anyone
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  that's going to, you know, bring our name down as something that
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  is not appropriate because we knew there was a lot on the line
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  for that. So being in the US with non
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  legal status to be to reside was pretty difficult.
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  The other thing is that we were constantly, we lived in constant
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  fear that my parents could get picked up by immigration at any
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  time or Homeland Security now and be deported.
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  That was always a realization of ours.
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  Like we knew that that was always in the back of our mind
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  growing up at that time when we were farm workers in the little
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  town that we kind of grew up in at night when all the parents
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  came around 5 or 6, when the families came, it was very
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  common for some families not to come back, some parents not to
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  come back. So while everybody practice fire
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  drills and you know, we practice what would happen if my parents
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  were ever picked up by immigration and not come home.
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  And I think today, society living with everything that's
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  happening here in California, 'cause I'm here in California,
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  when I hear about what's happening with our families and
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  families being picked up, like that was that was us.
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  That was me. I remember my parents one day
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  being picked up and not coming home and what that felt like to
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  be like. Whoa.
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  And we also knew you don't say anything because, you know, you
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  can't say we're at home by ourselves.
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  My parents got picked up and we're not going to be able to,
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  you know, like we're alone because of that.
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  We never lived alone. We always lived with other
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  families, I think for two big reasons.
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  Number one, we lived in poverty, so it helped us pay the rent.
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  But I think also deep down inside, it was a good way for my
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  parents to knew that we would be taken care of if they were ever
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  to be picked up by immigration, which at one point in our lives
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  that's what happened. That has really allowed us an
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  opportunity to talk as a family when we see things that are
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  happening now because we never really talked about it growing
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  up. I mean, we knew was there.
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  We knew was something that was happening, but it wasn't until
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  now with everything that's going on in California that we're
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  starting to talk about like what, what did you do?
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  Like, for example, I never knew that my parents didn't like to
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  buy food in bulk, didn't buy detergent in bulk.
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  And you know, they were like, we didn't know that if we were
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  going to be able to use it by the end of the month, if we
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  bought it at the beginning of the month, we didn't know what
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  day-to-day look like. So we were very aware of being
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  good with our income, being good with what we had because at any
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  given time we could be deported. So I think that allowed us to be
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  that invisible family, you know, that I'm talking about the, you
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  know, just fly under the radar as much as you possibly can.
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  Don't cause a scene. Don't get, you know, don't get
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  too certain of yourself. Like be in the lookout, be aware
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  of your surroundings and be aware of anything that could
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  happen. So that's kind of what I mean by
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  that, yeah. Thank you.
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  Thank you for for clarifying that for me because that that
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  reality that you and your family faced, I yeah, I just can't
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  imagine that living under such an incredible scrutiny.
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  And in a way, right, of like what happens if we make, if we
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  bring attention to ourselves or what happens if even if you
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  don't bring attention to yourselves, things still don't,
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  you know, they go in an unexpected direction And your
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  parents, they, they did get picked up.
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  And then there's that kind of flood of emotions and that
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  anxiety of where, what, where will that leave us and how we
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  continue to be supported. And even with all of that,
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  right, though, there's this wider community that you spoke
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  of with other families supporting each other, looking
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  out for each other, but, you know, doing everything you can
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  to kind of cushion that really harsh reality of this.
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  This might not work out forever. But then what is Plan B?
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  It's, it's something so scary and so far removed that, you
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  know, I'm sure that you didn't want to like entertain it for
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  too long. And, and in a way, I think the
• 15:13
  hope that was placed on education really allowed for,
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  you know, the, the, the sacrifice that your parents were
• 15:21
  were doing for the family, for them to really say, you know,
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  this, this is like, this is what we're doing.
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  This is we're really wanting to set our our children up for the
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  best possible future, the best possible, you know, quality of
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  life. And, and my question to you is,
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  with so much expectation being put on education to save, you
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  know, the, I mean, we're not, I don't even know if it's the word
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  to save, but to kind of like guarantee, let's say this, this
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  better future. How is it like for you as a, as
• 15:53
  a young student, as a learner, to navigate the expectations and
• 15:58
  the weights of that responsibility that your family
• 16:00
  was putting on you, while at the same time being a young person
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  who is enjoying certain subjects, who is finding out
• 16:08
  that, you know, they're good at studying and that they, they
• 16:12
  have a lot to learn? I feel like these are, you know,
• 16:15
  two kind of, you know, tensions that are being put onto one
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  small, you know, young person. And for yourself, how did you,
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  how did you navigate that? And also you were the oldest.
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  So it was even more expectation because all of yours, you know,
• 16:28
  family was looking to you. Well, you know, I think that in
• 16:33
  general I like school. Like I really enjoyed school.
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  There was, you know, I mean, at the beginning it was hard
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  because that's when we spoke Spanish, but I enjoyed school.
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  I enjoyed being at school. It was a good, it was a good
• 16:50
  place for the most part. I excelled my, you know, my
• 16:56
  siblings excelled in school. We like, we all like school to a
• 17:01
  different degree. Like, you know, some of us like
• 17:03
  the actual learning, some of us like the socializing of it.
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  Some of us liked just the opportunity that it it could
• 17:11
  bring. So we all like different aspects
• 17:14
  of of school. But I think in general we liked
• 17:17
  every one of us liked school. My parents liked school.
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  We also saw them go to school in the evenings and try to learn
• 17:25
  English. So it was just we just did that.
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  It was something that we did. You know, my parents were not
• 17:33
  farm workers forever. Eventually we became a
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  documented family. That opened up the door to a lot
• 17:40
  of things. My parent, my dad, had his own
• 17:42
  little like gardening business that he would do.
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  So, you know, then I became a gardener.
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  I went from a farm worker to becoming a gardener with my dad.
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  I would do that on the weekends. I would do that at spring break,
• 17:55
  even in college, you know, during my breaks, I would help
• 17:59
  him out. My sisters would help out.
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  My brother would help out. Brother was the youngest, so you
• 18:04
  know, he did as much as he could.
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  It was just, I think we just felt like that was the one thing
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  we were good at and that was the one thing we were that came easy
• 18:15
  to us. It came fairly easy.
• 18:19
  Yeah, No, I mean, I think that's I, I really like how you
• 18:23
  describe the, the educational experiences of, you know, each
• 18:26
  one of you were, were different and at the same time it was
• 18:30
  bound by this, this, this desire, this, this interest to
• 18:35
  continue in their education. And I think it must have stemmed
• 18:40
  from the the values that your your parents put on education.
• 18:44
  I think so much of what we see in like the home environment and
• 18:49
  how that then carries into the school environment is, is really
• 18:54
  important to take note of, especially, you know, as
• 18:56
  teacher, as a vice principal, right school leader.
• 19:00
  There's there's this really important need to be on the same
• 19:03
  page, I think, with with the parents and, and I think that
• 19:08
  being able to feel like that ongoing support that, you know,
• 19:13
  you are on the right track. That.
• 19:15
  And, and then also, I would say too, that the fact that you were
• 19:19
  doing your education while also still helping out with the
• 19:23
  family business, right? And, and you were kind of
• 19:26
  getting, you know, exposed to these two different worlds.
• 19:29
  One more in the abstract, right, because of the studying
• 19:32
  component and learning different subjects.
• 19:34
  But the other one in a very kind of grounded way, you were
• 19:39
  learning with with your hands and you were outside, you were
• 19:42
  not inside a classroom. And what were some of the kind
• 19:45
  of learnings that happened when you were when you were helping
• 19:49
  out on the farm, when you were helping out in the garden?
• 19:54
  Yeah. What are like the biggest kind
• 19:55
  of like takeaways that you had through that experience working
• 19:58
  with your hands? You know, I think the biggest
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  thing that I was learning was the power of social justice
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  working in the fields. You know, my my uncles were
• 20:11
  involved with Cesar Chavez and the, you know, farm Workers
• 20:15
  Union that happened, you know, California, mainly Arizona.
• 20:19
  But so I was seeing that social justice.
• 20:22
  I was seeing, you know, hearing about my uncle who was marching
• 20:25
  and doing certain things. So I knew about that.
• 20:28
  And then seeing my parents, how hard they work and how much
• 20:33
  money they made and the injustice in that as my dad, you
• 20:37
  know, became a gardener, doing all this work.
• 20:40
  And then people not paying him or saying, you know, that's not
• 20:44
  the work that I wanted, but wouldn't pay him but didn't want
• 20:48
  him to take down the work that he had done.
• 20:50
  And I could see because, you know, we would see other houses
• 20:55
  around because you usually tend to do houses in the same
• 20:57
  neighborhood. And people would be so proud of
• 20:59
  their lawn and how beautiful their lawn was.
• 21:01
  But yet they didn't pay my dad because they claimed they didn't
• 21:04
  like the work and take advantage of him for that.
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  So I got to see the injustice of what that meant.
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  And it filled me or fueled me to do better in school because I
• 21:15
  needed to have a voice. I needed to be educated enough
• 21:19
  to stand up and to be like, no, that's not fair.
• 21:22
  That's not what you're doing is not just so that gave me a new
• 21:27
  found profound impact on like you got to speak up.
• 21:33
  You got to know how to speak up and you have to be knowledgeable
• 21:39
  and give yourself the value that is needed.
• 21:43
  Because, you know, my dad didn't know how to say like he was
• 21:48
  upset and we were all upset by it.
• 21:49
  But it kind of just, I saw that happen often, not just to my
• 21:54
  dad, but to other people. I saw that injustice.
• 21:58
  And also the thing that was really weird is that going to
• 22:01
  college and meeting people, I remember before I went to
• 22:06
  college, I was part of this group here in the in this area.
• 22:10
  I kind of grew up around this area, but I remember going to a
• 22:14
  camp. It was called Future Leaders of
• 22:16
  America. And I clearly remember a young
• 22:20
  girl around my age high school, and they wanted people to come
• 22:24
  and talk to us about their education.
• 22:28
  So she started by saying that her, you know, her parent, her
• 22:32
  dad worked at a hospital. Well, I'm a farm worker, right?
• 22:36
  We're like, we're poverty driven.
• 22:39
  So I'm assuming that wow, her dad finally made it like he's he
• 22:44
  must be a custodian. Like that's what I was thinking,
• 22:46
  right? Like he must be a custodian
• 22:47
  Because to me that was like, wow, that dad is a custodian.
• 22:50
  Doesn't have to work in the fields.
• 22:51
  He doesn't have to work when it's raining, when it's sunny,
• 22:53
  when it's hot, when you know all that.
• 22:56
  So then she said that her dad was a doctor and it's this
• 23:00
  Latina girl, right? Just like looks like me.
• 23:04
  And I'm just so I remember being so upset that she was ashamed to
• 23:10
  be able to say that her dad was a custodian.
• 23:14
  I was like, or a gender. I'm like, be proud of your dad.
• 23:17
  And she kept saying that her dad was a doctor and nothing there
• 23:21
  was like, I could not accept that because I had never seen
• 23:24
  that anyone that looked like me who was educated.
• 23:28
  And I was like, why does she have to be ashamed?
• 23:29
  Like, why can't she just be honest?
• 23:31
  Like, I couldn't accept in my brain that someone that looked
• 23:36
  like me, their parent could be a doctor.
• 23:39
  So we ended up having, you know, the parents come and visit us,
• 23:43
  and they had a panel of all these, like, strong Latinos.
• 23:47
  You know, they were giving their presentation.
• 23:49
  And she's like, oh, my God, my dad's here.
• 23:52
  And I'm thinking, like, good, you should be proud that your
• 23:55
  dad is here, you know? And so he introduces himself as
• 23:59
  a doctor. And I'm like, what?
• 24:03
  Like, he really is a doctor. Blew my mind that one day I
• 24:08
  could be educated and my children could possibly be like,
• 24:13
  that is a doctor that's a teacher, that's a lawyer.
• 24:16
  Like, you know, that that could happen.
• 24:18
  That was, I remember that I was being blown away.
• 24:22
  So then going to college and meeting kids and different
• 24:26
  students my age and introducing me to their families and their
• 24:30
  doctors, their lawyers. Some look like me, some don't
• 24:33
  look like me. And all of the sudden I realized
• 24:36
  that couldn't be me. Like that really is a
• 24:40
  possibility. But it took me going to college
• 24:43
  to fully believe that I was capable.
• 24:47
  Or it was. It was an option.
• 24:51
  Wow, yeah. So seeing being exposed right to
• 24:55
  to other other Latinos with very different backgrounds and and
• 25:00
  understanding. Wow.
• 25:02
  You know, there's like the the whether the thought was they
• 25:05
  made it or it was this feeling of like, I can do that myself.
• 25:11
  I think there must have been, you know, this excitement,
• 25:14
  right? Maybe maybe, you know, this
• 25:16
  feeling of encouragement that like suddenly even more pathways
• 25:20
  we're starting to emerge. And I think, you know, having a
• 25:22
  program like that is so amazing because whether it's meeting a
• 25:26
  college student, being on the college campus, being in a
• 25:29
  program, having, you know, even the briefest of interactions,
• 25:33
  maybe it was even just like a short conversation where there
• 25:36
  was that mention. I think that's really, really
• 25:39
  beautiful. But I also, you know, it's going
• 25:41
  back to the, the learnings from, you know, being out and seeing
• 25:46
  your, your, your father work in the field, being there yourself.
• 25:50
  You talk about social justice. And I really want to like sit
• 25:53
  with that point because I think it's so profound what you were
• 25:56
  talking about this, this ability to question, right, your
• 26:00
  reality, right, to ask these questions and to understand
• 26:05
  that, you know, the way that certain structures are set up in
• 26:08
  society are, you know, like not favoring certain populations and
• 26:14
  in fact serve to further push them down in a way crush their
• 26:19
  spirits, right? Or try to crush their spirits.
• 26:22
  Because, you know, there's so much of I think the, the worth
• 26:27
  that a lot of people operate from is the kind of financial
• 26:30
  incentives of like how much they make, right?
• 26:33
  Because that affords, you know, how much they can provide for
• 26:36
  their family, for food and for like shelter and all these other
• 26:39
  things. And I don't think, you know, I
• 26:43
  don't think people really stop to really understand just.
• 26:46
  Yeah, what that level of injustice means compounding over
• 26:49
  time and across generations. And for you to come to an
• 26:55
  understanding, right. I think a profound realization
• 26:58
  that from being exposed in that way to the work and the
• 27:03
  interactions that what was happening with your father and
• 27:07
  various employers, right people around the neighborhood, that
• 27:11
  it, it fueled this strong desire, right?
• 27:14
  Because that anger could have been taken out in many, many
• 27:16
  different ways, but you chose to channel it towards education.
• 27:19
  And I really, I really like what you said about how that through
• 27:23
  studying, you know, more knowledge leads to the sense of
• 27:27
  like, OK, I, I have the stronger voice to be able to call out
• 27:32
  things, right, when injustices happen, to be able to, you know,
• 27:36
  perhaps influence others so that they can, you know, kind of see
• 27:40
  things from a more broader perspective to change policies,
• 27:46
  right? You know, so many different
• 27:47
  avenues. And and then it ultimately comes
• 27:50
  down to what is the value of the work that's being done or the
• 27:54
  value of the person who's doing the work.
• 27:57
  And I think that there it gets to a deeper conversation of just
• 28:01
  even basic human rights in terms of how are we really treating
• 28:06
  individuals with a level of dignity and respect and how much
• 28:10
  of their time and energy they're committing into the work.
• 28:14
  And yeah, and like you said, right, You really looked at your
• 28:19
  both your parents and saw just how hard working they were, how
• 28:23
  dedicated they were to the work. And and that probably, you know,
• 28:27
  give you this sense of, you know, tremendous pride that, you
• 28:32
  know, they were able to they were able to support a family of
• 28:35
  four under incredibly difficult circumstances.
• 28:40
  And then and then here comes along this Latina girl with a
• 28:44
  father who is a doctor in some ways, you know, her response.
• 28:48
  I don't know, did it conjure up this feeling of I mean, I know
• 28:50
  that you it was overwhelmingly a positive experience, but I don't
• 28:54
  know, was there's the sense of like, I don't know, injustice of
• 28:57
  like that, that kind of like that.
• 29:00
  You felt that like why, why didn't your father have like a
• 29:04
  certain like, why couldn't he have become a doctor instead?
• 29:07
  Or, or you would just kind of like, no, this was like very
• 29:10
  much like, you know, just opening up new possibilities.
• 29:14
  Because I know sometimes there's like the jealousy component that
• 29:16
  can come into no. I think it was a realization
• 29:21
  because I honestly at first thought that she was ashamed to
• 29:26
  say my dad is a custodian. Like, you know, like that she
• 29:33
  would have to lie and say, Oh, my dad works at a hospital.
• 29:36
  And I was like, I knew that I felt like that was right.
• 29:39
  Like, you know, that, that, that that was real.
• 29:42
  But the fact that she was like, and he's a doctor, that's the
• 29:45
  part that I felt like, why you have to lie?
• 29:50
  Why can't you just say my dad is the cook at the, you know, at
• 29:55
  the hospital or the custodian at the hospital?
• 29:57
  Because in my mind that seemed like, wow, that she's arrived.
• 30:04
  But when she said he was a doctor to me, the only thing I
• 30:07
  could think of in my narrow mind, because I'd never seen
• 30:12
  anyone that I didn't know a single.
• 30:14
  So they had gone to college. So to me, I felt like, why are
• 30:19
  you embarrassed? It was more that.
• 30:22
  And then when he was, you know, turned out that he was a doctor,
• 30:26
  it was just a sense of like it is doable.
• 30:30
  This is a possibility. Not not jealousy, more like wow,
• 30:36
  because remember, I I I was titter tanning between being a
• 30:40
  doctor or being a teacher. So I was like, I could do this.
• 30:44
  Like he just proved I can't do this.
• 30:47
  I have my parents support. I have, you know, like it.
• 30:50
  I mean, I just have to study a lot, but it it's doable.
• 30:53
  So I felt like it's not too far from reality.
• 30:57
  So it was more of that the you've got this, you can do this
• 31:02
  if you set your mind to it, everything is doable.
• 31:05
  It's hard, but it's doable. So it just brought that to me.
• 31:10
  Yeah. And now I feel like you know
• 31:12
  where where you're at in your career and in this stage of
• 31:16
  life, you're able to offer that example to many others who maybe
• 31:22
  in a similar sense. Couldn't.
• 31:25
  Even imagine what possibilities lay before them because of maybe
• 31:30
  the, the, you know, kind of more immediate circumstances telling
• 31:34
  them this is, this is all that you can hope for and just this
• 31:38
  kind of small space and the small kind of realm of
• 31:40
  possibilities. And so now I want to, to ask a
• 31:44
  little bit more about, you know, you as as a teacher, as an
• 31:47
  educator. I know you said that you, you
• 31:50
  knew from a very young age, right?
• 31:52
  It's going to be teaching 5th grade.
• 31:55
  So could you, could you share a little bit more about like,
• 31:58
  well, what was it like? What was it like when you first
• 32:02
  started as a teacher? And did you feel like it was
• 32:06
  just this kind of like very natural progression that it just
• 32:10
  everything kind of clicked and it was, it was really wonderful.
• 32:13
  Or did you, were there any particular standout challenges
• 32:16
  that you you faced maybe that you hadn't anticipated that
• 32:19
  allowed for for new growth opportunities?
• 32:23
  You know, I had, I mentioned early on the migraine program,
• 32:27
  the migraine program is a federal funded program for
• 32:30
  students who work in the fields or cannery or stuff like that.
• 32:34
  Because we were farm workers, we belong to the migraine program.
• 32:37
  The beauty of the migraine program is that the program kind
• 32:40
  of follows you throughout your trajectory as an as a, as a
• 32:44
  student. So they were part of my college
• 32:48
  life as well. Because once you go to college,
• 32:51
  then they place you in schools because because they have the
• 32:55
  strongest pipeline to people that want to be bilingual
• 32:59
  teachers. So unbeknownst, I have strong
• 33:03
  faith. I'm a Christian.
• 33:05
  So I believe that everything happened for reason.
• 33:07
  I believe that God had everything placed in the right
• 33:09
  place for me. So that's, you know, important
• 33:13
  to state, but I remember when I went to college, I was now part
• 33:20
  of the college mini coral my grenade program.
• 33:24
  And in that program they said, if you want to be a teacher,
• 33:28
  we'll place you in classrooms, We'll place you with teachers,
• 33:30
  We'll place you with mentors of people that are like you will.
• 33:36
  That program had a lot of Mexicans.
• 33:39
  I'm a Mexican, but it had a lot of Mexicans.
• 33:41
  They were teachers. And then I was like, wow, this I
• 33:44
  can do this, like this really is something I could do.
• 33:46
  I was invited into their classrooms.
• 33:48
  I was invited to teach lessons. Then they have an outdoor Ed
• 33:52
  program where I became one of their, my grenade instructors.
• 33:57
  So it's kind of like a teacher, like a young person learning to
• 34:00
  you had your, there was 2 of you and you were with a kid for a
• 34:03
  week, a group of kids. And then the following week you
• 34:06
  got another group, new group. So you have to learn about, you
• 34:09
  know, classroom management, lesson planning.
• 34:11
  So you were really doing all of these things throughout the
• 34:14
  summer. So I was doing that.
• 34:18
  I was working, I was learning all this.
• 34:21
  So when I finally got accepted into a teaching program, I
• 34:25
  wasn't afraid to teach. I wasn't worried or afraid that
• 34:29
  I was not going to know what to do or that I was like, I wasn't
• 34:35
  afraid of kids. I already knew how to manage
• 34:38
  kids. I, I knew classroom management
• 34:40
  and knew how to do lesson plans and that came at a very young
• 34:44
  age. So when I had to do my student
• 34:47
  teaching and everyone's freaking out because they have to do
• 34:49
  their student teaching, I was like, I've been doing this for
• 34:52
  years. I've been doing my own student
• 34:55
  teaching. I've been left in charge of a
• 34:57
  classroom. I've been having to write lesson
• 34:59
  plans. I already know how to do this.
• 35:01
  So I felt, wait, prepare. I mean, I was still scared
• 35:05
  because, you know, it's like being left with the classroom
• 35:09
  all by yourself and now you're really responsible for it all.
• 35:12
  It's like bringing home a baby and then you don't know what to
• 35:14
  do with them. I've never had babies, but it
• 35:16
  just kind of feels like that. Like it's fun in the hospital
• 35:18
  and then you have to come home and then now they're all yours.
• 35:21
  You have to do all that by yourself.
• 35:22
  So it kind of felt like, Oh my God, these are all my babies.
• 35:27
  I am now responsible for all of them.
• 35:29
  And you know, I'm responsible for report cards and lesson
• 35:34
  planning and all of that. So that was pretty scary, I
• 35:38
  would say, but it was also really hard to feel like, do I
• 35:47
  have what it takes and do I have the right preparation?
• 35:52
  And then another thing that was really cool, because I was doing
• 35:55
  this outdoor Ed program, I got exposed to kids from all over
• 35:59
  the place. So my first job, the first job I
• 36:03
  ever took, I remember being in the school and then someone
• 36:08
  yelling from across the campus, Alejandra.
• 36:12
  Alejandra. And I'm thinking why?
• 36:14
  First of all, they would not be calling me Alejandra.
• 36:16
  They called me by my new teacher name, so that can be me.
• 36:19
  So that's not me. But the voice kept coming closer
• 36:24
  and closer and it was some of the students that I had had for
• 36:28
  my summer camp. So they were like, what do you
• 36:31
  need? We'll help you set up your room,
• 36:33
  We'll help you. I'm going to call my mom and I'm
• 36:35
  going to tell her to come. So I had these advantages that
• 36:39
  no one as a first year teacher, I felt had.
• 36:43
  I had the advantage of having grown up with teachers as
• 36:48
  parents because this, my grenade program prepared me for that.
• 36:52
  So I had kids that were helping out.
• 36:53
  So of course, my principal was extremely impressed with how
• 36:58
  fast I made relationships with kids, not knowing that I had to
• 37:01
  have these kids at summer camp. I didn't build the relationship
• 37:05
  the day I walked on campus. I already had those
• 37:08
  relationships with those kids. So it was just, I felt like,
• 37:13
  again, I felt like that's, you know, that's where God placed me
• 37:16
  right where I need it. So yeah, wow.
• 37:20
  That's so beautiful. And I, I just love listening to
• 37:24
  the stories like, you know, the, the early days, right, of what,
• 37:28
  what, what transpired as you kind of started to learn the
• 37:32
  ropes of teaching and, and use the word, you know,
• 37:36
  relationships specifically with your students and how it takes
• 37:39
  time doesn't just happen immediate.
• 37:42
  But I also think that the relationship that we have to the
• 37:46
  work of being a teacher also takes a lot of time because I
• 37:49
  think it's, it's safe to say that at some point early on and
• 37:55
  for varying lengths of time, we are faced with imposter
• 37:59
  syndrome, thinking, am I really the one to be, you know, taking
• 38:03
  on this, this level of responsibility?
• 38:05
  And do I really know what I'm doing and what I'm saying and
• 38:09
  how I'm acting? And, and you just scrutinize
• 38:11
  everything and it becomes so much noise and it's
• 38:13
  overwhelming. And now I'm, this is, you know,
• 38:16
  probably me, you know, revealing more of like what my experience
• 38:19
  was like. But the exposure to other
• 38:22
  teachers that you have through this program, the the, the
• 38:26
  support and the training, right, really of fun, kind of, you
• 38:29
  know, going into the classroom being asked to take on this
• 38:32
  Lesson plan. It almost feels like there were
• 38:35
  various, it's like training wheels, right, of saying, go do
• 38:39
  this, do this, do that. And you start believing in
• 38:43
  yourself that, yeah, I can take on this part of it.
• 38:45
  I can take on this part. I've had success in this.
• 38:48
  I didn't do so well in that you brush it off, you keep going and
• 38:52
  then soon, soon you realize, wow, I've just amassed this
• 38:56
  incredible toolkit of skills and I have this treasure trove of of
• 39:02
  experiences and then now you're on to the next stage and it
• 39:06
  still can be scary, right, right.
• 39:08
  The new baby coming home for the first time, but you know that
• 39:12
  you'll, you'll be fine, right? You'll, you'll get through it.
• 39:15
  And yeah. And I just think that's, that's
• 39:17
  really lovely. The, the relationship side of
• 39:19
  things, I think is really important.
• 39:20
  And it sounds like you really, really valued that.
• 39:23
  And, and so now, you know, you've spent many, many years as
• 39:27
  a teacher. And then what was like school
• 39:29
  leadership like for you entering into that?
• 39:32
  Was it natural? And what role did OK?
• 39:35
  And what role did relationship building play into that?
• 39:38
  Because I'm sure that certain skills of yours did help you to
• 39:43
  navigate a very new kind of professional terrain, so.
• 39:47
  That that's when for the first time I felt that imposter
• 39:50
  syndrome that you're talking about.
• 39:52
  It was once I became an administrator because I felt
• 39:57
  like it would teaching was my domain.
• 39:59
  Like I knew how to do it. I had had many years of
• 40:03
  practice. I was very comfortable as a
• 40:06
  teacher. Like that is what I felt like.
• 40:09
  Man, I was made for this. This is what God created me to
• 40:11
  be like. I knew that very well.
• 40:14
  But I remember even going to college, when I got accepted to
• 40:19
  the teaching credential program, I met this man like in the
• 40:22
  middle of college. He had no connection to me.
• 40:27
  And we, you know, we're talking to his daughter was on UC Santa
• 40:31
  Cruz campus where I was at. And he approached me and he
• 40:34
  said, you know, whoa, what are you going to do after college?
• 40:38
  And I said, I'm going to be a teacher.
• 40:41
  And he's like, well, have you applied?
• 40:44
  Because it was my senior year. So he's all like, well, have you
• 40:46
  applied? And I, of course, don't know who
• 40:48
  he is. And I'm like, I don't know,
• 40:50
  weirdo. I don't have to tell you.
• 40:52
  But something in me was like, you know what?
• 40:54
  Just be honest. And I said, I haven't applied,
• 40:59
  but I know I want where I want to go to school.
• 41:01
  And I was set on where I wanted to go to school.
• 41:04
  So he said, we'll have you consider going to SAC State,
• 41:07
  Sacramento State. And I was like, oh, no, I don't
• 41:10
  like that campus. I'm not interested.
• 41:11
  I've never even heard of the campus.
• 41:13
  I didn't even know that that campus exists.
• 41:15
  So he said, well, I'm responsible for the program.
• 41:20
  You know, here's my number, call me and, you know, I could help
• 41:24
  you get into the program. And I'm thinking I'm not giving
• 41:27
  you my number because it was weird, right?
• 41:30
  So I get, I was working at the college office.
• 41:33
  So I gave him that number. And on Monday I told everybody
• 41:36
  in the office. I said, hey, I met this man.
• 41:39
  I don't know about him. He's kind of weird, but he
• 41:41
  wanted my number. I think he may be somebody that
• 41:45
  could get me to college, but I'm not sure.
• 41:47
  He says he'd give me a scholarship.
• 41:48
  I'm not sure. So I gave him this number if he
• 41:51
  calls, say you're my roommate was pretty much how it went
• 41:55
  down. And sure enough, he called our
• 42:00
  our college. They used to call him preceptor,
• 42:02
  which was like the president and ends up picking up.
• 42:05
  You know, I'm like pick up the phone, talk to him.
• 42:08
  So they end up talking. He ends up telling him, you
• 42:11
  know, like she lied. This is not her dorm.
• 42:13
  This is just she was a student worker here.
• 42:16
  So they start talking and he bits him for me and says he's a
• 42:20
  good guy. Listen to him apply.
• 42:24
  This would be a great place for you to be turned out to be the
• 42:28
  best place. And so he said after so many
• 42:32
  years, I'm coming back for you because I think you should be a
• 42:35
  principal. And I was like, I am certain I'm
• 42:37
  never going to be a principal. So we don't ever have to have
• 42:40
  that conversation, but I always felt really special.
• 42:44
  So when we got accepted to the program, I was like, oh me, this
• 42:48
  special person is going to, you know, tell everybody how this
• 42:52
  man, you know, my mentor is so amazing.
• 42:55
  But turned out he was amazing to everyone.
• 42:57
  He was this loving and this amazing to everyone he met.
• 43:01
  I was, there is nothing uniquely special about me.
• 43:04
  Like he was just an amazing mentor, an amazing man.
• 43:09
  His name was Hero Morai. So I realized, Oh my God, like
• 43:12
  he's just awesome and he's like loving and humble and this is
• 43:18
  his passion. So I didn't want to disappoint
• 43:22
  him. So I went back and got my admin
• 43:24
  credential thinking I'm never going to do anything with that.
• 43:27
  I'm just going to hold on to it. But because of him, I'm going to
• 43:30
  do it just to honor him. And then one day I got a call
• 43:34
  from my Superintendent asking me to move to the middle school,
• 43:37
  which I didn't want to go to the middle school.
• 43:39
  I loved elementary. I went to the middle school.
• 43:42
  And then from the middle school, I got a call that said, we think
• 43:45
  you should apply to be a vice principal.
• 43:48
  And I just felt like you can't say no to the people that are
• 43:53
  writing your paycheck. So I applied for the job just
• 43:57
  thinking I don't have what it takes.
• 44:00
  They're never going to hire me. But I at least told her I would
• 44:03
  do it and, you know, told them I I would apply.
• 44:08
  So I end up getting the job. It's something that I have grown
• 44:14
  into, but it's definitely something that I constantly
• 44:18
  struggle with because now I'm no longer in charge of my little
• 44:22
  world, which is like my 30, some kids.
• 44:25
  Now I'm in charge of teachers and, you know, students and
• 44:30
  parents. And I often wonder, you know, am
• 44:35
  I making the right decision in my, you know, am I being a role
• 44:39
  model in my modeling to someone, you know what it is to go to
• 44:45
  college? Am I modeling what you know,
• 44:48
  like, like what compassion is like?
• 44:52
  Did I make a good decision, you know, or I didn't?
• 44:56
  Those were not my wonders as a teacher.
• 44:58
  I felt pretty confident. And, you know, I've been an
• 45:02
  admin for many years and continue.
• 45:04
  Every day is new. Every day is a new struggle,
• 45:07
  Every day is a new thing. You learn about kids stories and
• 45:12
  you learn about family stories. Some they were similar to mine,
• 45:17
  others that you just wonder like how did the kid wake up the next
• 45:20
  day and how does he come to school every day when I know
• 45:24
  what's happening in the family. And so I wonder, you know, like
• 45:29
  that's when I'm it's all my doubts, all my wonders.
• 45:32
  Like you were talking about, those all come out as an
• 45:35
  administrator. Never did they come out as a
• 45:37
  teacher. I was pretty good as a teacher.
• 45:40
  I'm sure you were the best as the teacher, but I also think
• 45:43
  that you know, the kind of maybe it was the the reticence that
• 45:48
  you you felt like of like going into admin.
• 45:52
  I think that's a sign of a good leader as well, right, That you
• 45:59
  really wanted to like understand like what what you were getting
• 46:03
  yourself into. But you also kind of knew that
• 46:05
  there was a certain leap of faith from, you know, the
• 46:08
  employers write your school. I'm kind of encouraging you in a
• 46:11
  certain direction. Thinking back to, you know,
• 46:14
  mentor figures that you had who really saw potential.
• 46:19
  Maybe you didn't understand at that time what they possibly saw
• 46:24
  or how special you really were. But at the same time, I think it
• 46:27
  left these important imprints on on you.
• 46:30
  And and you said that you this is, you know, something that you
• 46:34
  grew into. And I think that's also another
• 46:37
  aspect of it. You know, the worst thing
• 46:39
  probably a school can face is having hired a brand new
• 46:43
  principal who thinks they know it all.
• 46:45
  And then, you know, it could actually turn out to be quite
• 46:48
  disastrous, right? Because it's again,
• 46:51
  relationships don't get built over a day.
• 46:53
  And don't assume that, you know, what's actually happening in the
• 46:56
  lives of these these young people and their families.
• 46:59
  And, and it shows that, you know, to really make change, I
• 47:03
  think you have to not only walk the walk, but deeply listen and
• 47:08
  care for others while fully expanding your capacity because
• 47:12
  there's so much more that's being put onto your plate.
• 47:15
  And it can feel like a lot, I would imagine, but you, you
• 47:19
  know, have built to these muscles over over the many
• 47:23
  years. And, and so now you know, the
• 47:25
  question I have is, and this is, you know, just to kind of hide
• 47:29
  into the, the broader theme of, of this podcast, but you know,
• 47:32
  you've, you've clearly made tremendous impact on the
• 47:35
  students that you taught, and you've also made tremendous
• 47:40
  impact on the families and the, the, the wider school
• 47:43
  communities that you serve. How is it that global
• 47:47
  citizenship kind of resonates with you?
• 47:51
  Or how does it kind of manifest in, in the work that you do as
• 47:55
  an administrator at this particular moment?
• 47:58
  You know the work that you're doing right now as a vice
• 48:00
  principal. Yeah, Well, I do believe that in
• 48:05
  my school or in either one of my schools today, we're preparing
• 48:10
  the next president. We're preparing the next person
• 48:15
  that is going to come up with a cure for cancer that is going to
• 48:20
  change lives in ways that are unbelievable.
• 48:24
  I believe that I'm going to have that teacher that is going to
• 48:29
  change the world. I believe I'm going to have that
• 48:31
  parent that is fighting battles that are going to make things
• 48:34
  easier for my students. I believe that I have the kids
• 48:39
  that are going to change laws that are going to impact.
• 48:45
  So I believe that. And I always feel proud of the
• 48:48
  fact that like I could one day be like, that was my kid.
• 48:54
  You know, I know that I'm not going to please everyone.
• 48:57
  I think that's also really hard for me as an administrator that,
• 49:01
  you know, I'm going to upset people because my view of the
• 49:06
  school is bigger than just them in their classroom or them and
• 49:10
  you know the situation. But I also feel like the power
• 49:15
  of being in charge of all those kids, you know, with the support
• 49:20
  of my principal, because that is something that I'm certain I'm
• 49:23
  never going to be a principal like that.
• 49:25
  I don't ever want to be in my life and I know that I love
• 49:29
  being second. I love having that team that I
• 49:32
  could work on and ask them like, hey, I've got you, I will
• 49:35
  support you, I will stick by you, but I don't want your job.
• 49:39
  I'm not after your job, right? But I love working with
• 49:42
  teachers. I love teaching and hiring good
• 49:47
  people. I love working with people that
• 49:50
  love kids and I think that social justice or comes with
• 49:57
  being OK with your part and not feeling like you have to do
• 50:01
  everything. Like I'm OK being responsible
• 50:04
  for my little section and being the best I can in my section and
• 50:08
  letting everyone else be OK with their section.
• 50:12
  Being OK with the gifts that they were given.
• 50:15
  I know mine and I want to roll everyone else.
• 50:21
  'S Wow, that's so inspiring to hear a school leader really
• 50:26
  believe in each and every one of their students.
• 50:29
  And I think, you know, even though what you were saying
• 50:31
  about your, your skills is that you want to become the best and
• 50:34
  this is what you have here. But in terms of like from those
• 50:38
  efforts that the future possibilities and like, you
• 50:41
  know, generations forward, that's, that's unlimited.
• 50:45
  And, and, and that's, I think what, what school leaders should
• 50:50
  really kind of like carry forth with them that that spirit of
• 50:54
  like, you know, I'm, I'm doing the best that I can, but I'm
• 50:56
  also doing this beyond just for my own self.
• 50:59
  Like this is not about me. Actually, it's about the the
• 51:02
  young person in front of me. It's about what will they do
• 51:06
  when they're, they're my age, right?
• 51:08
  Or what will they be able to achieve and then set their own
• 51:11
  children up, you know, beyond them?
• 51:14
  And I think that the kind of perspective taking that that
• 51:18
  entails, right? I mean, I think we all know as
• 51:20
  teachers, it's a long term project, right?
• 51:22
  To educate one child. It's not like necessarily this
• 51:27
  this just happening in this one semester.
• 51:29
  And then you can forget about them forever.
• 51:30
  But to really, you know, you know, hopefully create the kind
• 51:34
  of relationship where you can keep tabs and they can come and
• 51:39
  visit you. You can go and visit them.
• 51:41
  There's this sense of goodwill that, wow, you're really going
• 51:44
  out into the world. And, yeah, becoming the next
• 51:46
  president, becoming that groundbreaking researcher that
• 51:50
  discovers a cure for cancer. I think that really ties into
• 51:55
  this notion of global citizenship because it's
• 51:58
  expensive. It's in a way altruistic, right?
• 52:03
  I mean, through one's achievements.
• 52:04
  Yes, right. That's it's important and you
• 52:07
  get recognition, but it's a bigger purpose, right?
• 52:10
  And each one of us has a unique, you know, purpose that we play.
• 52:15
  You know, you, you brought in the faith elements of of God and
• 52:19
  having a plan for you and really trusting in that.
• 52:22
  And you also mentioned about, you know, things happen.
• 52:26
  There's no coincidence. As a Buddhist myself, I actually
• 52:29
  think very, very similar terms that nothing happens, you know,
• 52:33
  just out of chance. And I think really, you know,
• 52:38
  having this belief in ourselves and then like you said, belief
• 52:42
  in others, especially young people, that's what's going to
• 52:47
  to make the world a better place.
• 52:50
  And so I think, you know, what you shared was really valuable
• 52:53
  and inspiring. So thank you.
• 52:55
  Thank you, Ali. And, you know, I wanted to ask
• 52:57
  one more question and it's a book or movie or just any
• 53:02
  recommendation that you might have for for the listeners, you
• 53:05
  know, I was. Thinking about this question
• 53:07
  with my husband, I was like, I'm a reader, I love reading, but I
• 53:11
  think a book that I would recommend is a book by Francisco
• 53:15
  Jimenez is called The Circuit and he has like 5 books.
• 53:19
  And I always tell people, if you want to know what my life could
• 53:23
  have possibly looked like growing up, you got to read The
• 53:26
  Circuit. Because even when I met him,
• 53:28
  I've had the privilege of meeting him a few times.
• 53:30
  When I met him, I was like, somebody wrote my story and you
• 53:35
  wrote my story. There's a lot of similarities in
• 53:38
  the way that he writes the story and the way I grew up.
• 53:41
  So he's an amazing person, an amazing human being.
• 53:47
  And again, it goes back to those times where you feel like
• 53:52
  someone else. You can write your story in
• 53:55
  someone else. Struggle is what paved the way
• 53:59
  for someone like me. And I just my prayer is that I'm
• 54:04
  used in a way that paves the the way for someone else.
• 54:08
  So the circuit recommended. Wonderful.
• 54:12
  Thank you so much for that recommendation.
• 54:14
  It's it's so it's so cool that you found a book that seemingly
• 54:19
  was, was written about your, your journey.
• 54:22
  And I feel very honored that you've joined me in this, this
• 54:27
  space on the podcast to speak your story, aspects of it that I
• 54:32
  think really help us to understand the, the depths of,
• 54:36
  of, of an educator, right? Because so much of your, your,
• 54:41
  your parents story, your upbringing and you know, the
• 54:45
  work that you did and kind of going from teacher into
• 54:48
  administrator. I think all of it's rooted in
• 54:50
  these deeper values of, of hard work, social justice, really
• 54:56
  compassion and empathy for others and envisioning better
• 55:02
  futures, right, happier futures, futures with lots and lots of
• 55:06
  possibilities for them to choose and make their own.
• 55:10
  And, and, you know, also, I think the relationship side of
• 55:13
  things, building relationships, regardless of what they go on to
• 55:16
  do think, you know, having that play an important role in and
• 55:21
  how they contribute to the communities around them is
• 55:24
  really important. And so with that, wanted to give
• 55:27
  you the last word. Any final thoughts or send offs
• 55:30
  as we wrap up this this wonderful conversation?
• 55:34
  I just want to thank you. Thank you.
• 55:36
  This has been inspiring. It's, it's been good for me and
• 55:41
  a very selfish note to go back and remember why I'm doing what
• 55:44
  I'm doing. You know, it's always, it's
• 55:47
  always good. But I'm inspired by young people
• 55:50
  like yourself. I'm inspired by young kids like
• 55:54
  the ones I work with because nothing is impossible.
• 55:58
  They, they're dreamers and they believe and I'm like, it's
• 56:02
  contagious. So thank you for rubbing that
• 56:05
  out. That's it.
• 56:07
  Go out and change the world. Music.