Latest / Aired Out / Winton Buddington - Logistics & School Outreach Director for Sweethearts and Heroes brings his message of H.O.P.E and ACTION to students!

Transcript

Winton Buddington - Logistics & School Outreach Director for Sweethearts and Heroes brings his message of H.O.P.E and ACTION to students! · Aired Out

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  Speaker 1: From a good morning and welcome to the Aired Out
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: podcast live from North Main Streets in very Welcome Melissa
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: in Rutland, Steve in Lover, Rob in Saint alban some
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: of our new listeners.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: We've got a couple of birthdays this morning. Carol Blotchett,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Cindy Howorth, let's see who else, Talord plowing on the
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: birthday list today and Terry Murphy, Happy birthday and hope
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: you have a great day. It is a wild Wednesday already.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but if you are a
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  Speaker 2: very busy person who is on the go and needs
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: to eat and you want to skip that fast food
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: drive in right here in central Vermont, We've got a
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: delicious and easy option for you weekly grabb and go
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: meals that are perfect for anybody, any family, any lifestyle
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: that's on the go and made fresh, made locally prepared
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: by local chefs Melissa and Craig Locarno Locarno's to go
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: dot com. You can find them at the Hills Street Market,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Green Mountain Community Fitness, and the Harrington's Store.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Grab them on the run.
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  Speaker 2: We are looking at some clouds and pretty good chance
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  Speaker 2: for some rain showers in the forecast today looks like
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: maybe tomorrow we're gonna start feeling like more seasonable with
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: some warmer temperatures and dare I say even hot temperatures
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: that are going to be moving their way into northern
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  Speaker 2: New England. Man, there is a lot of stuff that
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: is going on in the world right now, and a
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  Speaker 2: lot of it is pretty heavy. We're watching it, we're
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  Speaker 2: paying attention to it, and we're posting up as much
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  Speaker 2: as we can about it. But do take a deep
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  Speaker 2: breath on things that you're seeing and you're hearing.
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  Speaker 3: Nationally. And I gotta tell you, last night, I was.
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  Speaker 2: We were laying down to go to bed, and I
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  Speaker 2: was like, oh my god, Look what's Look what's happening.
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  Speaker 3: Look what's happening in.
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  Speaker 2: This this crazy world of ours with Iran in Israel?
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  Speaker 2: The headlines are constantly changing, and I'm just I'm just
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  Speaker 2: buckled up for it, just like the rest of you.
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  Speaker 2: So take a deep breath. We're gonna be paying attention
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  Speaker 2: to it, we're gonna be watching things. But there's a
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  Speaker 2: lot of positivity going on right now. This is a
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  Speaker 2: very exciting week in sports. We got the Panthers winning
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  Speaker 2: the Stanley Cup last night for the second consecutive time.
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  Speaker 2: We got the Red Sox getting shut out. Last night
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  Speaker 2: we got are the Yankees rather getting shot out. We
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  Speaker 2: got the Red Sox out in Seattle. So baseball is
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  Speaker 2: alive and well, which is nice. We got our Mountaineers
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  Speaker 2: playing locally. We've got the Lake Monsters playing over in Burlington.
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  Speaker 2: We've got a lot of good stuff going and we
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  Speaker 2: have a lot of stuff that's going on in our
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  Speaker 2: community that is exciting as well. The Barry Farmers Market
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  Speaker 2: is kicking off this afternoon at three point thirty. Hopefully
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  Speaker 2: mother Nature is going to cooperate.
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  Speaker 3: With that and move.
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  Speaker 2: Those thunderstorms to the south or to the north around us.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, three thirty for the Barry Farmer's Market at
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  Speaker 2: Currier Park. The food trucks are going to start serving
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: around four o'clock. Live music starts up at five thirty
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  Speaker 2: tonight with the Rustics concerts in Curry Park. Bring a
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  Speaker 2: law chair, bring up maybe even an umbrella, put it
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  Speaker 2: in the car, just bring it with you, but enjoy
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  Speaker 2: the live music tonight. Tomorrow we got the Triple Crown
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  Speaker 2: Series for the Tigers at thunder Road. That's going to
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  Speaker 2: be really exciting. We got the Cueche Balloon Festival going
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  Speaker 2: on through Sunday that starts Friday. Yeah, there's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of stuff that's happening. Looks like a Friday is the
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  Speaker 2: next Mountaineers game, by the way, I'm just seeing against
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  Speaker 2: north Shore. So that's some good stuff that's happening in
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  Speaker 2: our community and here in Central from ot So keep watch,
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  Speaker 2: keep listening for it, and we'll be posting it up
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  Speaker 2: as much as possible. Yeah, So Wednesday morning, as you know,
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  Speaker 2: on Wednesdays, we drop the clutch and we shift a
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  Speaker 2: major gear into positivity. And it is with great pleasure
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  Speaker 2: that I introduce Winton Bunnington from Sweethearts and Heroes, who's
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  Speaker 2: with me this morning? Went First of all, what a
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  Speaker 2: cool name, man. I mean, if Tom Murphy could have
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  Speaker 2: half as cool of a name as Wynton Buddington, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I mean it's just you sound like you like you're
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  Speaker 2: you're producer in Hollywood or something.
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  Speaker 4: Well, if you throw my my middle names Robert Okay,
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  Speaker 4: So if you throw that in there, Wind and Robert Buddington,
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  Speaker 4: it yeah, seems like it should have a third on
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  Speaker 4: the end.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, it should.
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  Speaker 4: If if you didn't count middle names, I would be
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  Speaker 4: a third my dad and my great grandfather, but we
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  Speaker 4: all had different middle names.
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  Speaker 2: So, man, you know, I the feeling that I get
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  Speaker 2: every time I chat with any of the team members
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  Speaker 2: from Sweethearts and Heroes is that I have known you
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  Speaker 2: guys for a long long time. You're all just one
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  Speaker 2: big family, Isn't that right?
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  Speaker 4: It really is, and it's been great to come together
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  Speaker 4: with the team and be part of it.
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  Speaker 2: Tell me about what you do. I mean, I have
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  Speaker 2: read your bio. I've seen what it is. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it's just incredible. You and your staff at Bay Trail
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  Speaker 2: Middle School seven years in a row. You really, you're
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  Speaker 2: really notched a couple of not just in the belt here, man,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, tell me about this.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. So I first saw Tom talk at a New
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  Speaker 4: York State middle school conference and it was just so
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  Speaker 4: engaging and the message was spot on for what we
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  Speaker 4: needed in our building at the time. And had them
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  Speaker 4: come in and just watching their reaction for the students
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  Speaker 4: and the staff, it was something that we didn't want
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  Speaker 4: it to be a one and done presentation, so I
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  Speaker 4: actually corralled Tom and made him come down. We had
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  Speaker 4: a TV studio in the school. We broadcast our morning
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  Speaker 4: announcements to the classrooms and had caught Tom come down
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  Speaker 4: on some free time that and record some public service
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  Speaker 4: announcements so that we could show him throughout the year
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  Speaker 4: and keep the message going. And then brought him back
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  Speaker 4: next year and challenged him and Rick a little bit
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  Speaker 4: because the first year they presented to all of my sixth, seventh,
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  Speaker 4: and eighth graders and we had a big building. I
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  Speaker 4: had eleven hundred kids in the building. And wow, the
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  Speaker 4: next year when he came back, I was like, well,
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  Speaker 4: the seventh graders and eighth graders already saw you, so
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  Speaker 4: we got to do something different for them. And so
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  Speaker 4: he and they did, and that was that was great,
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  Speaker 4: And that's when I just knew that, you know, they
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  Speaker 4: were great to work with. And we kept up the
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  Speaker 4: relationship and I was fortunate when I retired a couple
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  Speaker 4: of years ago that Tom called me and said, hey,
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  Speaker 4: we need somebody that knows our programs, that knows schools
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  Speaker 4: and can help bridge that because he's often in schools
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  Speaker 4: and presenting and can't connect with people all day.
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  Speaker 2: So so you were you were the principal at this
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  Speaker 2: school in New York.
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  Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, in Penfield, New York, by Rochester and the
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  Speaker 4: name of that school bea Trail middle School.
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  Speaker 2: All Right, you had you're saying that you were you
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  Speaker 2: were the principal overseeing over a thousand kids.
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  Speaker 4: Yep, Wow, we had. We had. We had three houses,
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  Speaker 4: We had great students, we had great families, we had
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  Speaker 4: great teachers, and I had a great administrative team. And
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  Speaker 4: you know, we didn't have our challenge. We had our
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  Speaker 4: challenges occasionally, but it was it was a fun place
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  Speaker 4: to go to work every day.
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  Speaker 2: And for seven years in a row, you were on
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  Speaker 2: the list of Schools to Watch. What was what's the
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  Speaker 2: notoriety behind that?
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  Speaker 4: So the Schools to Watch program, it's a national program.
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  Speaker 4: It originally started as a lobbying group for middle schools
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  Speaker 4: because middle school kids are unique and have unique challenges,
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  Speaker 4: and so it's a research based program that identifies schools
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  Speaker 4: that are doing middle level best practice. And it's a
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  Speaker 4: recognition program where you the school applies and then a
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  Speaker 4: team comes in and visits the school and if they
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  Speaker 4: are doing what they say they're doing and it aligns
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  Speaker 4: with the best research based best practices, then they get
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  Speaker 4: a designation for National Schools to Watch. And I'm fortunate
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  Speaker 4: we were initially designated in Maytrail in two thousand and
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  Speaker 4: nine as a Rising School to Watch, which meant we
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  Speaker 4: were quite not quite there. We made some changes and
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  Speaker 4: in twenty ten we got the designation and it's a
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  Speaker 4: three year designation, so we reapplied and we were redesignated
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  Speaker 4: in twenty thirteen, sixteen, and nineteen, and then I retired
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  Speaker 4: in twenty two.
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  Speaker 3: So this is amazing.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's uh, you set the bar pretty high,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, dare I even say, Tom's pretty damn
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  Speaker 2: lucky that he's got you on his on his team.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, yes, it is true that it's
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  Speaker 2: the world's number one youth leadership team, but man, he
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  Speaker 2: knows how to how to cherry pick as well. He's
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  Speaker 2: talented with that.
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  Speaker 4: He is. He puts together a very good team.
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  Speaker 2: You have seen in your career of how many years
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  Speaker 2: as a school administrator?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I was an administrator for I was an assistant
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  Speaker 4: principal for four years and principal for fourteen, so I
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  Speaker 4: was an administrator for eighteen. I taught, I was in
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  Speaker 4: the classroom for eleven, and then I did three years
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  Speaker 4: as a enrichment specialist. So I have thirty two and
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  Speaker 4: a half years I was in middle school. I like
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  Speaker 4: to say Tom and.
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  Speaker 2: Rick and all of the others with sweethearts and heroes
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  Speaker 2: have referred to this war on hopelessness. This is something
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  Speaker 2: that you have seen with your eyes, You've heard it
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  Speaker 2: with your ears. You've been forced to kind of embrace
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  Speaker 2: hopelessness with students who for a vast amount of reasons
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  Speaker 2: have experienced hopelessness, and they're walking around carrying.
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  Speaker 4: That.
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  Speaker 2: You must have known that these guys are chipping away
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  Speaker 2: at this and really making some progress.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. I saw it make a difference with kids in
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  Speaker 4: my own building, and just the way the kids reacted
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  Speaker 4: to Tom and some of the kids that went up
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  Speaker 4: to him afterwards. Our kids wanted to just connect with
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  Speaker 4: him and Rick individually were kids that we were working
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  Speaker 4: with that we knew a lot of the challenges they
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  Speaker 4: were facing and their struggles, and it was just so
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  Speaker 4: great to see them get a new perspective and on
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  Speaker 4: how they can approach life. And I think that that's
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  Speaker 4: one of the biggest things, is helping kids understand and
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  Speaker 4: that there what they think is possible. You know, for us,
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  Speaker 4: hope stands for a hold on possibilities exist and it's
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  Speaker 4: helping kids really understand that there are possibilities out there
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  Speaker 4: you can't even imagine right now. You don't know what's
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  Speaker 4: going to happen tomorrow, three days from now, six months
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  Speaker 4: from now. Those possibilities exist, but you can't even put
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  Speaker 4: it in your consciousness right now because of it's it's
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  Speaker 4: the future and it but do exist and they're going
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  Speaker 4: to be better than they are today.
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  Speaker 3: What is this?
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  Speaker 2: What's the details of your role that you play as
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  Speaker 2: logistics and school outreach director.
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  Speaker 3: What is it that you do.
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  Speaker 4: When so I'm in contact when schools want to book
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  Speaker 4: us and bring us in for a program, I'm in
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  Speaker 4: contact with the school. I usually meet with them via
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  Speaker 4: zoom and we talk about our programs and services, but
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  Speaker 4: then talk about what is going on in the school
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  Speaker 4: so that we can match which program do we have
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  Speaker 4: that really is what that school is ready for at
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  Speaker 4: that time. Oftentimes it's our you know, if it's a
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  Speaker 4: new school, it's our signature presentations with Tom and Rick
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  Speaker 4: as kind of the ignition and the motivator, the anticipatory
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  Speaker 4: set for getting things going. But sometimes the school's been
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  Speaker 4: doing other things, or we've been to a school and
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  Speaker 4: presented and they want more, and so it's helping figure
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  Speaker 4: out which of our programs and services is right for
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  Speaker 4: that school to move forward with and fits within their budget.
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  Speaker 2: And how many schools do you think we're talking about
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  Speaker 2: at this point right now? When and if you had
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  Speaker 2: to guess, maybe you know.
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  Speaker 4: Well, it's hard. I should have counted up the number
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  Speaker 4: in my email. I have a a folder for each
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  Speaker 4: school I communicate with, and I should have counted those up.
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  Speaker 4: But easily well over one hundred schools this year that
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  Speaker 4: I've been in touch with, and I mean it, and
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  Speaker 4: I've got I had three meetings yesterday with folks that
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  Speaker 4: are looking to bring us in and got a couple
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  Speaker 4: more coming up next week. And it's just people understand
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  Speaker 4: the message and they hear it. You know, a lot
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  Speaker 4: of a lot of times we get a call from
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  Speaker 4: somebody that said, hey, my kid was in that school
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  Speaker 4: and you guys presented there, and they came home and
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  Speaker 4: were talking about it at the dinner table. I think
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  Speaker 4: your your own daughter had that experience, right.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, she sure did. Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: I'm curious about what's your take is on the effects
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  Speaker 2: of covid on on your students? Was Sweethearts and Heroes
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  Speaker 2: already involved with your school at that point.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, we we had done probably we had done six
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: years in a row before COVID, and we were slated
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  Speaker 4: to they were going to come in and I think
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  Speaker 4: April of twenty twenty when we were shut down. So
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  Speaker 4: we had a break of about a year with COVID
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  Speaker 4: from being able to get Tom and Rick back in
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  Speaker 4: for that seventh time. But I really see kids. You know,
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  Speaker 4: there's different things that students learn and experience at different ages,
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  Speaker 4: and what happened in my view during COVID is that
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  Speaker 4: those students that were saved in third grade, they didn't
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  Speaker 4: experience school in third grade. They learned a lot because
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: they were home. They learned different things, but they didn't
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  Speaker 4: learn the things that we were used to having them learn.
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  Speaker 4: So when they came back to school as fourth graders,
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  Speaker 4: it was challenging because those teachers are used to having
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  Speaker 4: them have these third grade skills, and so that that
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  Speaker 4: is an effect that people are still seeing. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: those third graders are now eighth graders, and so they're
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  Speaker 4: still working on developing some of those skills that they
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  Speaker 4: didn't learn. Is third grades.
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  Speaker 3: Tom is.
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  Speaker 2: As you well know, so passionate about Circle, not only
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  Speaker 2: the experience of circle getting people together in a circle
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  Speaker 2: and really unpacking a lot of content and insight and awakening.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: And I could list off ten more words here, but
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  Speaker 2: it is such an impactful experience on anyone who's involved
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: with with Circle and circle training effectively training people under
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Tom's watch to infiltrate what he's trying to accomplish in
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Circle to others to be able to do it the
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: same way that has been proven to be so effective.
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  Speaker 2: What is your take on Circle? And also tell me
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: about the Whope classroom.
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  Speaker 3: I'm asking you both things here.
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  Speaker 4: Well, starting with Circle, if you think about, you know,
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: when's when's the last time you really sat down and
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: had just a conversation with somebody and really listen to
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  Speaker 4: what they were saying. And that's what circle is. It's
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: a conversation, it's listening. It's structured in that there's guidelines
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: so that we can listen. And when you sit down
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  Speaker 4: with twelve to sixteen people and everybody's actually listening to
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  Speaker 4: one person talking and sharing and then they get to share,
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: you go through your self regulation. You think about, oh,
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: what am I going to say? Or what do I
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: want to say or wait, I have had that same experience,
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: and you build that's all happening in your head. And
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: so often when we're having a conversation, we're interacting with people,
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: we're not really listening to what they say. And I've
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: had a number of times where I'm talking to somebody
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: and I know what I want to say, and I'm
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: rehearsing that in my head, but I'm not listening and
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: taking in really what they're saying and understanding the emotions
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: and things behind what they're saying. And that's the power
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  Speaker 4: of circle to me, is really giving kids and adults
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  Speaker 4: and people that opportunity to be an environment where we
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: can share with each other. You know, And some of
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: this used to happen. You know, I look at I
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: was a social studies team, sure, and you know, I
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: look at more kind of sociological trends and things, and
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: you think about the the decline in the bowling alleys
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: and the Elks clubs and the vfws, and these were
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  Speaker 4: all social organizations where people got together and had conversations
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: and talked about things as adults, and as we got
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: social media, those kind of went away for adults and
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: and kids. It was play it was the playground. It
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: was going out with the neighborhood kids and connecting that way.
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  Speaker 4: And that's that's gone a way. So where that's where
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  Speaker 4: the power of circle is. I mean, kids have said
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: to us when they come out of circle, that's the
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: first time someone's listened to me. Yeah, because their their
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: families aren't even you know, listening to them or recognizing
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: that they have thoughts and opinions and and things. You know,
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: when you just ask somebody who's your who's your hero,
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: who's somebody you look up to? And why? What are
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: what have they? What do they do that inspire? Shoot,
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: people don't ask that conversation in normal conversation.
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  Speaker 3: It is so it's so easy.
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  Speaker 2: What you're saying right now is making me think of
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  Speaker 2: myself because especially when I'm home, I'm probably the worst
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: listener ever. Whether it's my wife that's talking, whether it's
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: my daughter that's talking. I want to jump right in there.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: I got to be the dad. I got to solve something,
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  Speaker 2: I got questions to ask, you know, whatever it may be.
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  Speaker 4: In half the time, they probably just want you to listen. Yeah,
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  Speaker 4: they don't need you to fix it.
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  Speaker 2: I'm so so guilty of that. And if my wife
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: is watching right now, she's nodding her head. I'm a
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: better listener when I'm on the air. We all have
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: a lot of a lot of work to do in
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: that department, but Circle when forces listening. And you know,
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: I was just up at Peru High School and I
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: did a little bit of podcasting up there and I
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: said to the kids, and Tom's probably cringing right now,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: but I said to him, I'm like, I encourage interrupting
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: and encourage that engagement, which can be razor sharp. I mean,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: that's what I do here on the podcast. And Tom's
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: nod in his head, like no. With Circle especially, and
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: when they podcast up there at the Fish Perspective, one
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: person speaks at a time, and when they're done, they're done,
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: and they're not done a minute earlier than when they're done,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: you know, and it's like I'm sitting here, I'm like,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: oh my god, I got questions, I got follow up stuff,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: you know, I've got comments here. And Tom, you know,
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: we chatted afterwards and he told me, yeah, that's that
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: that's challenging for him as well. I mean he's you know,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: he's taken taking what he's hearing and trying to remember
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: it and and put it in his pocket so that
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: he can pull it out later. And sometimes it's it's
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: it's too much. We just have to go back and
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: either re listen to that podcast episode of what they do,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: or we just have to walk away and very quietly
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: digest and process what we've heard. And that's that's not
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: easy to do when no.
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: And you know, one of the things that that shares
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: in the Circle training and is, you know, we talk
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: about thinking about listening. You know that in school the
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: teachers that really teach listening or your music teachers right there, Wow, there,
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: you know. And but what one of the things we
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: say in the in the Circle training is if you
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: say in your head the words that I'm saying when
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: I say them, you will find that you're really listening
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: to what I'm saying and you can't be thinking about
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: what you want to say. Yeah, and then if you
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: do it too weird, too often, it gets weird. But
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: when there's been so many times I've had a podcast
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: on or and listening to something and my mind is
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: thinking about three or four other things, it.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Has got to be challenging for you. And I was
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: sitting on the couch last night and reading a little
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: bit of of your bio, and I was thinking to myself,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: it's got to be tough when a school reaches out
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: to you and says, hey, tell me more about you. Guys,
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: what are you about? I've had a glance at the
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: website here, but what is this all about? I mean,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: there's a ton of stuff that's going on with the
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: sweethearts and you growths, and you've got to answer that question, man.
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I love answering that question because we really
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: want to have a multi year relationships with a school
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: to build in sustainability.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah right.
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: You know, our goal is to equip the students and
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: staff and a school with the skills to run circle,
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: to build a positive community, to have empathy with each other,
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: and to build those connections. And we do that through
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: our programs, and we can have that multi year relationship.
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: We can do circle training with teachers, we can do
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: it with kids. We can have the STEP program that
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: trains the high school kids, and you've heard from you know,
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: some wonderful high school kids go and present our message
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: to the elementary kids. So our programs are designed to
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: embed that sustainability within a school district and then have
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: those high school courses where it becomes part of what
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: they do. And that's really the message I communicate to people,
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: and I, you know, coming back to the whole classroom question.
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: Our online resources in the whole classroom give teachers that
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: ability to continue the message and work with kids on
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: what's perspective? What does it mean to really understand somebody
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: else's perspective? Through some different activities and our wonder questioning
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: techniques getting people just to question. You know, you take
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: an object and just say, come up with ten questions
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: just about this object, whatever it is, you know it,
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: and you start to work with those questions and just
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: to get us wondering about the world around us, you know,
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: even things like what we're doing right now. The amazing
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: part of being virtual and having this conversation. There's so
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: many questions in my head about about it all that
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: I don't understand. I'm glad it works, but that it's
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: beyond my comprehension of how all of those systems work together.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: So the four.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Words that I've kind of hung my hat on here
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: at the air to podcast over the last seven years
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: is real, raw, relevant, and relatable. And I was asked
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: about a year ago, which of those four words is
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: the most important, and I think it's relatable. Relatability is.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: I think.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: Holds more water than anything else. You've got to be
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: able to relate to your listeners, relate to your audience.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: They need to be able to relate to you too.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: That connectivity is essential. How do you How have you
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: done that when you were a principal, when you were
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: an administrator to your kids? What what was your youth
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: You're growing up like Whinton, Were you able to really
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: connect in with your kids and say maybe even behind
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: closed doors? Yes, I really understand, Been there, done that.
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean my challenge in my building was I
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: had eleven hundred kids. So I really looked at you know,
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: there was a group of probably about twenty or so
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: thirty kids that I got to know pretty well and
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: worked with. And they weren't just the kids that were
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: in the principal's office. They were the student council kids
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: and other kids as well. But I worked with my
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: staff and I really saw a big part of my
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: role was supporting my staff and helping them have everything
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: they need in order to work with the kids.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: What do you say to a teacher who is getting
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: ready to close the book here on the school year,
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: graduation is right in front of us for schools everywhere,
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: what do you say to a teacher went and gosh,
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: I wish Tom was with me, because I would love
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: to ask him the same question right now, who might
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: be very quietly behind the curtain.
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: Feeling.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: I don't know how much longer I can do this.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: I'm not so sure of the impact that I have
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: had on this past school year. I'm trying to teach,
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: trying to do my job, teaching the essentials of what
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: I need to do, whether it's math, English, science, social studies, whatever,
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: But I'm not really having the impact that I'm looking for,
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: hoping for, and frankly, I'm discouraged and I don't know
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: how much longer I can do this. I don't even
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: know if if I'm going to come back next year
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: as a school teacher. I'm burn the hell out. What
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: do you say.
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: That? You know, the hardest thing about education is we
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: don't get to see the finished product, you know, the year,
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: and especially being in middle school only seeing kids for
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: three years. That I say to that teacher, you know
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: you make an impact on every kid that you contact
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: with every day. You may not see it, the kid
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: may not give you that feedback, but you do because
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: you're there and you're showing up for them every day,
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: and their behavior is a form of communication about where
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: they are. But the fact that you know you're there
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: every day. And I really look at education is about
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: the curriculum is our vehicle to teach kids how to
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: work together, how to be together, how to be a society.
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: And and we used the curriculum as that vehicle. And
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: that's the teachers that have been with kids all year.
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: Thank you because you've made an impact on all of
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: those kids every day. And it's exhausting. I used to
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: stand up at the end of my and the year
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: faculty meetings, and teachers actually had a bet on how
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: quickly I was going to get emotional wow wow, because
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: I knew how much they put in to what they did.
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: I spoke with a teacher one time, and I spoke
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: with a superintendent one time, probably separated by two or
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: three years, but I'll never forget that they both it
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: was here on the air, said the same thing to
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: me that more often than not they would get in
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: their car to drive home at the end of the
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: day and not even realize that they were home. Yet
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: you're not in your head that that is that something
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: you've experienced.
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you just have. You have so much that you're
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: processing from the day. I mean, teachers make over ten
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: thousand decisions a day, and you're processing everything and your
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: commute becomes automatic. You know you're doing it, you're conscious
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: of it, but you're not. It's not in what you're
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: thinking through. You're thinking through what what Tom said or
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: what JD said, or how you reacted to that parent
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: or that kid, or that that colleague, and you know,
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: and where what's gonna what are you gonna do tomorrow?
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: Where does you're working through that because you had your
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: plans for tomorrow, but today went a certain way and
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: maybe that leads into the plans you had or maybe
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: you need to shift your plans for tomorrow. So you
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: start processing all of those things.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: Well said, were you what was your what was your
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: take on some of the team players when you you
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: first met them? For example, let's go with Rick, who
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: was was just on with me last Wednesday sitting here
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: in the studio. One of the biggest takeaways that I
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: have on Rick is probably perspective and to you know God,
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know Rick. At the end of the day,
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: I was driving. It was actually in my motorcycle. Don't
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: tell Tom because he doesn't like motorcycles. But I was
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: thinking in my head what Rick was saying, which is,
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: there's going to be things that happen in your life
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: that absolutely, flat out completely suck. Allow yourself the respect
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: to experience that pain or whatever it is, and to
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: let that run its course, but have the self respect
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: and discipline to try and keep things into perspective that
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: it could always be worse. I mean, here's a guy,
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Look what's happened to him. And if you missed that
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: episode last Wednesday, please go back and watch. Rick's been
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: on a couple of times now. But here's a guy
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: who has experienced unspeakable what's the word winning it's beyond pain.
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think that the impact that Rick has
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: in a presentation is exactly what you're talking about. You know,
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: kids that are are in adults that are in their
• 38:40
  Speaker 4: own yes, their own tragedy, their own tragedy of trauma
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: and tragedy and struggle, and they look at Rick and
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: it's like Holy cow, My problems are nothing.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: Sixty percent of his body burned, his ears burned off,
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: his nose burned off from an ied explosion, roadside bomb
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: in Iraq, covered in diesel fuel, pretty much deemed a
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: goner and lost his leg. I mean, here he is,
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: and his freaking attitude is unbelievable. He's he's got, his
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: spirit has not been damaged. His personality, his character is
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: right there.
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I and I think that's he has worked
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: very hard on that. He's and he's also taken that
• 39:52
  Speaker 4: energy back from the kids. He's given hope too.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: Well said wow, Yeah, who else has shaped the direction
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: that you've gone in? Who else has helped you do
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: your job better?
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: From a Sweethearts and heroes perspective?
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: Or yeah?
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: Well, I mean, Brian's incredible just with the work that
• 40:29
  Speaker 4: he does and pulls together. And at some point I
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: want to I want to go see his workspace because
• 40:37
  Speaker 4: I'm sure he's got like ten monitors up that because
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: every time I'm talking to him, he's looking somewhere else. Yeah,
• 40:43
  Speaker 4: And but the amount that he keeps track of and
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: the the work that he's created with our Hope classroom
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: and pulling the resources together in the substack articles. With
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: working with Tom on those, it's just so impressive pulling
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: that together and helping me kind of get where I
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: am with what I'm doing because he used to do
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: a lot of that on top of it. So he's
• 41:13
  Speaker 4: just been a great a great resource for me. And
• 41:16
  Speaker 4: and Tom's available anytime I call him and and working
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: through kind of helping me with you know, what do
• 41:25
  Speaker 4: we do in that district before? You know, because we've
• 41:27
  Speaker 4: been to places that are in twenty nineteen that now
• 41:30
  Speaker 4: want us back. So Tom's just been great to work with.
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: And you know, I mean you've talked with Tom multiple
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: times and it's working through his mind and everything that's
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: going on in there is phenomenal and where it can
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: shape and and just you know, I'll be talking to
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: Tom and all of a sudd I'll just the thought
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: will come to me and He'll be like, oh, that's
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: a piece where you know, because he just starts to
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: create the perspective and the picture and then you can
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: you can look at that and say what are we missing?
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: Where where can this go? Or I will have just
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: had a conversation with a school district about something and
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: it triggers something that you know, and it's just that
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: dynamic and I don't know what the word is, but
• 42:29
  Speaker 4: being able to play off that and and have it
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: be a dynamic situation where it's not just hey, this
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: is what we're doing and here's how we're doing it.
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: It's you know, this is where we need to go,
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: but the how are we getting there is really a
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: team effort.
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: And you know this, this Youth Leadership director Pat fish Man,
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: this guy is he's just an animal. I enjoyed having
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: him on the air so much. I would love, I
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: mean love to have several of you, if not all
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: of you sitting sitting down together.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: Man.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, I mean if we have to go to
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: you know, South America or whatever and sit on the
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: beach and do this, that's fine, But to be able
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: to have us all together would be amazing. I mean,
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: all of you bring so so much to the table.
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: It's just remarkable.
• 43:24
  Speaker 4: Pat and Josiah and the work they're doing with in
• 43:28
  Speaker 4: schools with kids every day is you know, they're they're
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: building those connections and they're helping kids see the perspective
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: and understand their their colleagues and peers. And you know,
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: you hear their stories about You know, we don't know
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: oftentimes how the things we say to somebody impact them.
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: And they get to experience that they have kids coming
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: up and saying, hey, I want to give you this
• 44:05
  Speaker 4: because of this reason and just that circle we did
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: made an impact on me. And here's how. And that's
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: a phenomenal experience to have, you know, as as a teacher,
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: you don't. I've been fortunate that I've had a few
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: kids come back and I've actually had kids of former
• 44:28
  Speaker 4: students in my building.
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: So wow, where you get.
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: To connect with those people that you taught previously and
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: and you realize, oh, I did make that difference and
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: and there was an impact for the things I did.
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: Let's uh, let's open up the uh, the old the
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: old man fold here, which I am inside of for sure.
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: But I think all the time I can't imagine being
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: either a young adult or a child in the world
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: that we've got right now in front of us. And
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: I don't mean to sound like a broken record because
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: I've said this several times before, but man, it's like
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: it was just such a different world.
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: There was so much naivety and just innocence. I mean,
• 45:29
  Speaker 3: we just.
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: We're running around, climbing trees, riding bikes, and being kids.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: Not that that doesn't happen anymore, but now kids have
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: to contend with so much. And it's not just the
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: cell phone and devices, but there are so many distractions
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: now that can pull us away from our families, literally,
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: our friends who are sitting maybe in the same room.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: There's so much that the waters are are moving quickly
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: that you've got to paddle against. You guys are doing
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: that with sweethearts and heroes.
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I would reframe that though. I think that
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: I don't feel that we're paddling against the waters. I
• 46:31
  Speaker 4: don't feel like we're paddling upstream. I think what we're
• 46:35
  Speaker 4: trying to do is within the waters as they flow,
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: create little eddies, oh yeah, where we can have those
• 46:43
  Speaker 4: those pockets of connection. It's not about trying to make
• 46:49
  Speaker 4: things the way they used to be. Yeah, it's about
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: recognizing that there used to be places where these human
• 46:58
  Speaker 4: skills were learned and practiced, and those places don't exist
• 47:04
  Speaker 4: the way they were before. We still need those human skills,
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: so we've got to create these news spaces for those
• 47:11
  Speaker 4: skills to be learned.
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think about I think about the
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: concept of circle, but then I also think about and
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: so well said, by the way, when but I also
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: think about the family of four or five or six
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: that's sitting at the restaurant and they've all got their
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: phones out and they're all looking at their phones and
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: nobody's talking with one another. It's like that is the
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: extreme opposite of circle.
• 47:48
  Speaker 4: Yep, yeah, and it those are those are part of
• 47:57
  Speaker 4: the challenges. But it you know, what, what can we
• 48:03
  Speaker 4: affect and how can we effectively do that to make
• 48:06
  Speaker 4: that difference? Yeah, you know, help, That's that's where it's
• 48:12
  Speaker 4: you and you see it like with the the kids
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: from Peru that you were just up visiting with their
• 48:19
  Speaker 4: fish podcast, And we've work to empower kids to make
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: a difference and give help kids see those skills that
• 48:29
  Speaker 4: they have and that they can make a difference and
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: help them realize that. And and when you do, I
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: mean kids they're incredible. Yeah, they just can do some
• 48:40
  Speaker 4: amazing things. We need to give them the structure and
• 48:45
  Speaker 4: the freedom to do that.
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: I said to Tom after Peru. Of course you know
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: he wants to call me right away and what was
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: your take on it? How did you what was your
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: what do you have to say? And one of the
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: first things I I said to him is that I
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: was most of my drive back in the car for
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: a couple of hours. My biggest takeaway was, frankly, the
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: level of maturity from those kids that I met. I mean,
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: I wasn't half as mature as they are at seventeen
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: and eighteen years old. Especially man, that Liam guy, he
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: just really impressed me. But they all did though. I mean,
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: they're just I think, Tom, I think what you guys
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: are doing with sweethearts and heroes is you're pulling out of.
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: Youth.
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: What's you know, what they've got in there that's that's
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: maybe dormant, and it's it's being brought to the surface.
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: And that's that's massive, man. I mean, that's you guys
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: are really doing something profound here.
• 50:15
  Speaker 4: We all everybody likes to be seen and heard, and
• 50:20
  Speaker 4: having that opportunity with kids create is is huge and
• 50:27
  Speaker 4: it makes that it makes the difference. And that's that's
• 50:33
  Speaker 4: the heart the piece. You know. The biggest challenge for
• 50:35
  Speaker 4: me is I'm talking to schools, is helping them realize
• 50:39
  Speaker 4: this is the work that we really should be doing. Yeah,
• 50:43
  Speaker 4: and you know, we can use. There's there's places that
• 50:48
  Speaker 4: we can make adjustments to how we do school to
• 50:51
  Speaker 4: make this happen.
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no question that it's important to learn the basics,
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: and it's important to be educated, know how to do
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: a little bit of math and know how to read,
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: know how to write, but to be surrounded by by
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: sweethearts and heroes staff that understands that there might even
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: be something more important than that, because if you've got
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: this foundation, then you can go on and maybe be
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: successful in your life even if you're horrible at math.
• 51:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, And I can think of a number of
• 51:48
  Speaker 4: students I had conversations with where you know, they had
• 51:54
  Speaker 4: a lot of these skills and it frustrated some of
• 51:57
  Speaker 4: their teachers because they we're practicing these skills during class
• 52:02
  Speaker 4: when the teacher was trying to teach. And part of
• 52:06
  Speaker 4: the conversation I had with the students is, you know,
• 52:08
  Speaker 4: you're going to be phenomenal once you get out of school,
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: once you graduate, because school is putting you in this
• 52:15
  Speaker 4: box and you're already outside of that box doing incredible things.
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: Wow, what's next for you? When give me a give
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: me a typical day for you with what you do well?
• 52:32
  Speaker 4: A typical day. I don't know that any day is
• 52:37
  Speaker 4: necessarily typical. But it's working, connecting with schools, setting up meetings,
• 52:46
  Speaker 4: follow up on meetings, making sure our systems are updated,
• 52:51
  Speaker 4: making sure our calendars are updated. From the sweethearts and
• 52:56
  Speaker 4: the hero side. And the part I appreciate most is
• 53:03
  Speaker 4: that it's I can schedule that, you know when I
• 53:08
  Speaker 4: need to do it. So actually, like right now, I'm
• 53:11
  Speaker 4: in Chicago. My wife's part of a group Shackley, and
• 53:17
  Speaker 4: there's a conference, so we're here out here for the conference,
• 53:19
  Speaker 4: and I can I can do a lot of what
• 53:21
  Speaker 4: I do remotely, which I appreciate. So it's it's a
• 53:27
  Speaker 4: lot of that. It's connecting with people, it's connecting with schools.
• 53:30
  Speaker 4: It's following up with Tom and Brian and keeping looking
• 53:36
  Speaker 4: at the system and saying where are we going? And
• 53:38
  Speaker 4: now we're starting to build our calendar for next year,
• 53:41
  Speaker 4: and it's looking at the schools that have want us
• 53:45
  Speaker 4: to come in and do programs and present, but how
• 53:48
  Speaker 4: do we schedule it on what days so that we
• 53:50
  Speaker 4: don't have you know, Pat fish out in Buffalo and
• 53:54
  Speaker 4: up in Plattsburgh the next day. Uh, you know those
• 53:57
  Speaker 4: type of things.
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: So you guys put so much into it. You're so
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: dedicated all of you. Tom knows this, Rick knows this.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: You guys live and breathe what you do and that's
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: so obvious and not everybody is like that when and
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: you guys are just the epitome of that. I can't
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: thank you enough. I hope to meet you someday. I
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: hope that's going to happen. I just adore you guys,
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: all of you, and support so much what you do.
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: My partnership with you in bringing more of what you
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: do Sweethearts and Heroes to my airwaves to share with
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: the aired out audience is really special to me and
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: it means an awful lot. And I want to thank
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: you for everything you do. And I want to thank
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: everyone at Sweethearts and Heroes for what you guys do.
• 54:59
  Speaker 3: This is not a nine to five Monday through Friday
• 55:04
  Speaker 3: job that you have.
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: No, No, it's not, but it it is. It's it's
• 55:12
  Speaker 4: so fulfilling and knowing the difference that you're making. And
• 55:16
  Speaker 4: we can't thank you enough for the opportunity to be
• 55:19
  Speaker 4: sharing our message and sharing our ideas with you and
• 55:22
  Speaker 4: your listeners because it's in circles, not just for kids,
• 55:27
  Speaker 4: circle for adults, and Tom's doing circle with alignment and
• 55:32
  Speaker 4: it's it's incredible. And the things we're talking about are
• 55:37
  Speaker 4: things that often everybody needs to hear, and that message
• 55:42
  Speaker 4: of hope and perspective and know that whatever challenges you're
• 55:47
  Speaker 4: facing right now, there's there's hope out there, possibilities exist
• 55:52
  Speaker 4: for those to be changed and be different. And it's
• 55:58
  Speaker 4: not it's not a permanent sitution situation, whatever situation somebody's in,
• 56:02
  Speaker 4: just know that. And the only way oftentimes is through
• 56:07
  Speaker 4: some of the challenges you just and that's that's what
• 56:10
  Speaker 4: Rick demonstrates so much, is just that working through whatever
• 56:16
  Speaker 4: your challenge is, one day at a time, one step
• 56:18
  Speaker 4: at a time, and the sun will come up tomorrow
• 56:22
  Speaker 4: and things are going to look different and we know
• 56:26
  Speaker 4: that and holding on to that understanding is key.
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for all of your words, for
• 56:35
  Speaker 2: all of your time this morning, Wining, and God bless
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: you for what you do every single day. And again,
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: I hope to meet you at some point here real soon.
• 56:46
  Speaker 4: Likewise, Thanks, thanks for the opportunity, j D. I appreciate it.
• 56:50
  Speaker 2: Thank you, brother, And I'm not sure who Tom Scott
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: lined up for for next week and Leon, whoever it is,
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: I know it's gonna be it's gonna be good.
• 57:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks buddy, appreciate you. Yeah wow.
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: Sweethearts and Heroes dot Com encourage you to have a
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: look at their website. This group of people who are
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: empowering kids, administrators, adults everywhere and making great strides in
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: the classroom and far far beyond. Sweetheartsinhrooes dot com. Check
• 57:41
  Speaker 2: them out to learn more and I can't wait to
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: chat with them again every Wednesday morning. It's what we do,
• 57:49
  Speaker 2: it's what we feature right here on the airwaves tomorrow morning.
• 57:53
  Speaker 2: Of course, we're gonna throw a little bit of gas
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: on the fire as always on Thursday's. Gie comes in
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: here and just shakes it right up and sets us
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: up for the weekend. So we're gonna have plenty of
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: goofy laughs tomorrow morning, right here on the airwaves. Yesterday
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: I was and I want to thank Facto Holmes yesterday,
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: yesterday morning, I was over at Fecto Holmes being part
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: of a company, a local company that has been putting
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: Vermonors into their forever homes since the seventies. Was is
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: such an honor and yesterday to be there and to
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: see the quality of craftsmanship of what can be available
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: to you as a first time homeowner or second or
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: third time homeowner. These homes are beautiful. This modular home
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: that I was in yesterday, sitting there doing my podcast
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: yesterday on the couch of this beautiful modular home in
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: front of the electric fireplace, it is amazing.
• 59:21
  Speaker 3: It's amazing.
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: Couldn't wait to get home and share that with Sherilyn.
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: Just how beautiful this home is built by local families
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: for local families. It is fecto homes and I want
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: to thank them for being a presenting sponsor of the
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: aired Out podcast. Also quick note here July seventh is
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: coming really really soon. That is the next CDL course
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: for JERU General Transport, also presenting sponsor of the aired
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: Out podcast. So if you want to see America and
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: get paid to do it, this would be your opportunity.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: This is your ticket to getting your CDL license, and
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: the place to do it is JERU General Transport. Don't
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 2: wait on this. You need to get your permit before
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: taking the first class, So get on it, get in
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: touch with them and make it happen. Two seven nine
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: thirty three, twenty five. That's Tracy Haynes over at Jeru
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: General Transport. There's so much happening in our community this
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: coming weekend. You'll you'll be seeing the posts, you'll be
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: hearing me talk about it. The various things that are happening.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: One of them is over at the Northeast Slopes. They've
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: got their summer solstice at the Slopes on June twenty first,
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: that is Saturday.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 3: Crafters.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: They've got a flea market, they've got a wellness day
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: that's going on. It starts at nine in the morning,
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: goes to three pm right there in East Corinth. If
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: you would like to be a crafter, or you would
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: like to get involved in the flea market, if you
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: would like to be a vendor, if you'd like to
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: have some space, get in touch with the Waits River
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: Store or the gathering place in Wes Thompson. And the
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: way to do that is, well, you just stop into
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: the Waits River Store or give them a call over there, Heather.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: It'll take good care of you. And I'm gonna I'm
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 2: gonna see if i can swing in there and chat
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: with them a little bit. In the near future, it
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: is Wednesday. Good morning to you, and thank you so
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: much for tuning in today and experiencing Wynton Buddington from
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: Sweethearts and Heroes with us this morning. What an amazing
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: experience it is to chat with these guys and gals,
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: amazing mountaineers playing on Friday night. There's so much happening
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: this Friday night. I'm not sure where I'm gonna be
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: what I'm gonna be doing. I want to be at
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: the Mountaineers game. I also want to be at the
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: Queche Balloon Festival for the launch the balloon launch hot
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: air balloons this coming Friday night. Maybe I should clone myself.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: I don't know. There's just a lot of great stuff
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: happening in our community. We're gonna chat with Deb Phillips
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: from the World tomorrow morning. First thing right at nine
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: o'clock and then bring g in. But don't forget the
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: Barry Farmers Market. We were talking about this right off
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: this morning. It starts at three point thirty this afternoon
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: at Curry You Park. The food trucks begin at four.
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: They're serving up dinner until seven pm. Live music with
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: the Rustics from five point thirty until seven o'clock it's
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: every Wednesday in Curry Park right here in the Granite
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 2: City thunder Road. Tomorrow the Triple Crown Series for the
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: Tigers will be talking a little bit about that tomorrow morning,
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: and of course recapping things on Friday morning when Rex
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 2: comes in. Let's see, Saturday, we have graduation from Spaulding.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: So many schools are going to be graduating this weekend.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: Congratulations to all of the seniors and frankly their families
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: who have supported our youth in getting to this point
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 2: in their lives where they can graduate from high school.
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 2: But it's going to be a busy weekend. Yeh, Saturday
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: is the VFW Breakfast. I'm hoping to get to that.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: I think it starts at seven in the morning on
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: Saturday over at Post seven to ninety. Rusty Dewez is
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: going to be on the air with me, I think
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: on the twenty seventh, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: sure if he'll be in the studio or if he's
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 2: going to be by phone or whatnot, but we're going
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 2: to be talking about the big cancer walk going on
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: at People's Academy. That Rusty is going to be the
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 2: keynote of Let's see looking ahead here. What else? Yeah,
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 2: north Shore for the Mountaineers on Friday night, that's who
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 2: they're playing this coming Friday night, and then Saturday night
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 2: against Sanford and Sunday against Valley. So, man, there's a
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: lot of great stuff. Please don't sit home and do
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 2: nothing this weekend. Get yourself out and have some fun,
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 2: experience life and embrace your community, engage with your neighbors
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 2: and yeah, and mostly just take a deep breath. Man,
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: if you're having a rough week, you'll get through it.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: We'll get through it together. Love to bring you the
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: serious stuff. Love to bring you the insightful stuff that
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 2: we can talk about that we can relate to. Love
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: to bring you the news and what's happening in and
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: around our state and our nation that's relevant to us.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: Keep watching the page. There's a lot of stuff that's
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: going on in our state and in our world. The
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 2: vermonta Legislature is wrapping things up. There's a lot, there's
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: a lot of stuff happening. We keep it raw for you,
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: we keep it real for you, and we also try
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 2: to incorporate a lot of laughter and entertainment. We're going
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: to try to do that tomorrow morning because laughter is
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: so important. Let's get Goofy together might just help our
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 2: mental health and get us through the final push of
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: the week tomorrow with Gee. It's going to be a
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: good time. I promise you that be well everyone. God
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: bless and thanks to all of our presentings and supporting
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 2: sponsors that make what I bring to you each and
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 2: every morning my time that I get to share with you,
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: make it possible, and I'm so grateful, so blessed by
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 2: all of my supporting and presenting sponsors.
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 3: God bless you all.
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 2: Will see you tomorrow morning at nine o'clock right here
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: on the aired out podcast.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: Staff