Latest / The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District / Episode #33-Sir Naomas Failautusi, West Auburn Senior

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Episode #33-Sir Naomas Failautusi, West Auburn Senior · The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District

• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Recest Podcast.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Alan Spacotti, the proud superintendent of the Auburn School District.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: The Recest is a place where we tell the stories of the district and take you behind the scenes.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: It gives me a great chance to share some of the wonderful people that are making things happen in Auburn.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: We've done a lot of staff members, but this time of year we concentrate on our graduating seniors, and I look forward to having conversations with uh a soon-to-be graduate from all four of our high schools.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Today's guest is Sir Falatusi from West Auburn High School.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he's uh got a great story, and uh I've enjoyed getting to know him a little bit.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh without any further ado, we're gonna bring Sir into the conversation.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Recess Podcast.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, man.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's good to be here.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's great to have you.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um tell me about your your first name, sir.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is that short or is that uh that's your name?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's my name.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's just sir.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: My parents were gonna name me Mr.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Mr.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Namas.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but you know, because uh the Namas part, that's my dad's older brother, and Namis is Samoan backwards.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's like anyway, yeah.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's super cool.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're glad you're with us.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the folks at West Auburn s just rave about you and your presence at school and all you've accomplished, and uh just the kind of person you are.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm happy to share you with the community a little bit and uh also get to know you better myself.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we're just gonna dive right in.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a question I ask all my guests.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Who is your favorite teacher and why?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And since you've been in our system uh since elementary school, uh if you have more than one, that's fair game too.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um I definitely have more than one, but like my main favorite teacher, I'd say, is uh Miss Peter.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, she's at West Auburn.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason I say that, like my why is because when uh I haven't really been into school like since middle school.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like I never I wasn't really going to school at all.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: I was like making a lot of poor decisions.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then in the beginning of my freshman year, I got I got into some bad, bad trouble with the law, and uh I couldn't go to Mount View anymore.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: They sent me to West Auburn.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when I I meet the this old lady named Miss Peter, and you know, she just she just put me on the right path.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I wasn't uh I wasn't on the right track to graduate.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: I had like two credits going into my uh the ending of my sophomore year.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: I only had like three or four credits, and uh now I only need two more to graduate, and we're getting into like three more weeks uh until we graduate.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: She really helped me a lot.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's beautiful, that's what we're looking for.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um you went to elementary, middle, and high school.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: So can you just share the schools that you attended?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I attended Leahill for elementary, and then for middle school, I went to Rainier, and then high school, I went to Mountain View, and then I transferred to West Auburn in my freshman year.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I love how you like explained your your why and just share that with everybody.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's great.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've had I think you're the third guest I've had who has a been a student at West Auburn and uh you guys just have so much passion and love for the school.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And can you just talk about like what what's West about?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: I f West is is about it's about being able to learn and I feel like also for the teachers being able to teach and like just the cool environment.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like the teachers don't really um they don't really ask much of us, but to just respect the rules and get your work done, that's really it.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: As long as you're respecting their rules and getting the work done, there's there's not really much that can go bad at that school.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And they're really um they're really in contact with the students, like there's a lot of one-on-one work going on.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: And the the connections that we can make with the teachers is different because there's not like too many students to go around and talk to.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: So when you do talk to a person, you get to connect on a deeper level.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it really resonates for kids.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I just have so much respect for our students at West, um, many of whom are overcoming something in their life, and it's just really remarkable um how they find their place and thrive at West and um all kinds of you know challenges that for whatever reason didn't resonate at one of our large high schools who which work for a lot of students obviously.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um sometimes you have students like with anxiety who that that smaller atmosphere just creates enough of a comfort that they can focus on their studies and and do the academics.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And um I also think our students at West, and this is something I like to just really get out there, is are tend to be more mature.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I know a lot, and you seem to fit this uh a little bit, like kids who you know have learned a lot from life already and figured out like no, I don't want to be that kid I was as a eighth or ninth grader.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's really what it is making bad choices like actually I want to have a future and I'm ready.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: That wasn't even in my vision at all, starting my freshman year.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: And now I'm totally different.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we'll get to college in a minute.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but let's let's keep going about like your time in school.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: So what extra crack extracurricular activities have you done throughout your school career?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so since my freshman year, well actually my freshman year, I was kicked off the football team.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's like that adds on to like, yeah.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then my sophomore year, once I met, like started meeting more of like the West people, I kind of like got like a sense of I don't know, like discipline, I guess.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's you shouldn't be doing all this extra stuff and you don't need to be.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I ended up getting to be the captain for the football team for the next three years, like one of the captains for the next three years, and I did wrestling for the last two years as well.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: So just so everybody understands, students at West Auburn can play for their home high school.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Did you play for Auburn Mountain View or Auburn View?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: I played for Auburn Mountain View.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, good.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, congratulations.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So you ended up playing uh you picked it up and played through your senior year.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: What position did you play?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: I played running back and linebacker.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Which one do you like better?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmmbacker.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: I get to hit people more.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: I also do rugby as well.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: I forgot to say that.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so wrestling, football, and rugby.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but did you pl do you play that outside of how does that work for rugby since it's not a school sport?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um so for rugby, there's clubs, and the clubs are kind of like by area.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so for our club, we practice at the Auburn Memorial Field, and it's like the Auburn area, Kent.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a bunch of different guys from all around that like don't have nothing going on during this time of the year, and we just play for a club.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's really cool.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've had some really talented rugby players come through.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and unfortunately, like we don't get to watch as a part of the school thing, but uh, I remember watching Calvin Liamulung play football for Auburn High, and man, like he was an amazing quarterback, you couldn't tackle him.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then I know he went to central, and then I saw his first round draft pick for the pro rugby team in Seattle.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: That was really cool.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's an alumni for my team right now.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, cool.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Good for you.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: All right, we'll talk a little bit more about rugby when we talk about what you're doing uh with your future, but um just so everybody knows, we're we're recording this um a little more than a month before graduation.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so uh sir, I wanted to ask, what are you looking forward to in you know the last several weeks of your high school time?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just really trying to get ready for what I got planned after high school, like just getting prepared for uh the move, you know, like all of the all the things that come with going to you know college.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh West Auburn has its own prom.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh do you plan on attending that?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, we'll see.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we'll see.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh West Auburn has uh a graduation.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh they do that in the Performing Arts Center, and I love it.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: I like I think it's it's the most intimate and personal of all four.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um you know that stage is full of graduates.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And when I started it wasn't, they've done a really nice job at uh West Auburn building up graduation pathways, making sure the credits line up and doing some amazing things.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: We've had some really inspirational speakers uh in in the past, you know.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: I this will be my tenth um that I've seen, and it's just very moving.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I hope to see you there.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be fun and you'll have your family in the audience.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um and they don't hold back, which is really fun.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's just uh it's very authentic and uh it's gonna be a great time.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Great time.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to graduating.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: What advice would you give to a middle school student who's entering high school next year?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: The advice I have for any middle school students coming in high school is just get your get your work done when your teacher tells you to get it done.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, don't make homework homework, get it done in school.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so that way, like, once your senior year comes, you're just chilling.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's really it.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: As long as you're getting your work done on time, going to school every day, not don't not skipping no classes, you're just gonna be straight.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's really it.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's just tendency.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Attendance is key, it's gotta be there.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do you mind if I ask how's your senior year shaping up?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Are you are you making up credits or are you uh chilling?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm making up I I was making up credits for like the first part of it, but right now I'm chilling.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm chilling.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: My my my counselors and all my teachers got me to where I needed to be.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, good.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Good, good.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well that's great advice.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so let's get to know you outside of school a little bit.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what do you like to do when you're not at school?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um outside of my sports that I play, uh I like to play instruments.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because yeah, like my in my family singing and like music is like huge in our culture.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I like to play instruments.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: I like to sing with my family a lot.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us about your family and culture.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm I'm Samoan and Tongan, so God is a like a huge, a huge, huge, huge part in our in our family and culture.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of things that we do, it really surrounds around like God.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you have s brothers, sisters?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have three brothers and one sister.
• 11:38
  unknown: Okay.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we all play sports.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's doing things right now.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think it's really cool.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: You music and culture is a part of your life.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: What instruments do you play?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: I can play the youke, the guitar, and the piano.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's really great.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's it's like I love doing these things because you know, I get to just hear these things that you know, if I see you in in school, like I might see it, you know, learning something, but I don't get to know you like that.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's a lot of talent.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so I've been teasing it, uh, but let's go ahead and talk about next year.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: What are your plans?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I was offered the chance to play rugby at at Doon College, Grand Canyon University.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I I I I I chose to accept that and I'm uh pursue rugby and I gotta do uh communication.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do that for my degree, communications.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Boy, that is just awesome.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh have you been to Grand Canyon?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, they took me on a visit, a free visit about two months ago.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they just showed me around.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: They got me some food.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it was a good experience.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's good to get away from home.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful campus.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I've I've known a lot of kids who have gone there and have great things to say about it.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then you get to play your passion, rugby, and communications, which is great.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, obviously, you're a strong communicator, and I think you do really well as a communicator in whatever field.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can take that a lot of different directions, or go into business or whatever, and use it.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: So or go into teaching.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm on a shilling for teachers, so if you ever think that's a good path.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was thinking about going for music and trying to pursue being a music teacher, but if I was to do choose music as my degree, I would have to be in the pet band for a credit, and that don't line up with my rugby schedule, so I couldn't do that.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you'll you'll navigate those things or you're a young man, you can you know, you can always add on.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of teachers who, you know, get their masters in teaching.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: So they did a content uh in their their bachelor's degree, and then they learn the teaching side of it.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: So if that interests you, I'm not like twisting your arm or you know, I I'm kind of shameless about that.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: But if that interests you, there's just all kinds, you just I can tell by your personality that you have a passion and uh connect with people, and that's what I hear from from the West Auburn team.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: So uh whatever you do, you'll be um really successful.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna stop putting uh words in your mouth and ask you, what is your dream job?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to get paid to eat, like you know those dudes that just go around the world on like the food channel and they just travel, yeah, and they just eat new food.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to just do that.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: That is a good gig.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: They just record you.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, the cool thing today is like there's people who do that, like self-product produce, they you know, on YouTube or there's a lot of different pathways.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but anyway, one of the things I tell high school students is, you know, it's fun to ask these questions.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know, you just don't know because you haven't been exposed.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um we give as many classes as we can, but we don't have the range of electives that a college does, yeah, or the range of majors, and you're gonna be exposed to things that you don't even know about that might change your life and define a direction.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it's fun to talk about this.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you ask me that next year, my my answer would probably be so different.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Very wise.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Just keep growing and uh keep those options open.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: That the advice you gave to an incoming high school student, it's great advice for an incoming college student.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think you know, doing a sport is gonna help you also stay focused.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's like the commitment, the weightlifting, the practices, there's not a lot of free time uh and you gotta really buckle down on the yeah on the academics, but uh it also helps because it keeps you dialed in.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's like a another reason why I didn't choose uh Western Washington, because I felt if I was closer to home, I would be able to stay home.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: And if I was like staying home, there's too much distractions going on around me.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: If I was to just to get further in Arizona, I can just focus on school, focus on rugby, just stay out the way.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Get my get my my job done.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: What season is college rugby?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like a fall or a spring?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: It goes from September all the way till March, which when I come back.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's long.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Or April, it goes all the way to April.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um like I asked you what position you play in football, but I don't know rugby well enough to ask you that.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: So can you explain which one you play?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: I play center.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: I play the 12 and 13 positions, and if I was to compare it to another sport, I'd say like we're like the running backs, I guess.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're like the running backs of rugby.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you carry the ball?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I carry the ball a lot.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: What do you like better playing with uh like a helmet and pads in football or without that stuff from rugby?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: I did wrestling as well, so I I'd say without without the pads and stuff.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: You can run like quaker, less less sweat, like you don't you don't smell as bad.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um I guess I I can understand the game better.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's more rules to it, and like I feel like I can use the rules to my advantage better than other people can.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: All right, well, thanks for teaching us all just a little bit about rugby.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Wish you the best.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Look forward to hearing about your success.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um before we start to wrap up, is there anything else that you want to say or cover?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to thank you guys for having me, you know.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's good, it's good to come out here.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Get to practice communicating for when I go, you know.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: And uh Mr.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Miller and them, I just want to thank them for for uh getting me to where I'm at right now.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Mr.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Miller's the assistant principal at West Auburn.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh any other you you you mentioned uh Miss Peter and Mr.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Miller, any other shout outs to the staff or to your friends or any of that?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh just everybody at West Auburn, man, all the staff, man.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: They got me, they got me to where I'm supposed to be.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm about to graduate, so sure.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's really all I can say.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is exciting.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to be at your graduation and to see all the families up close.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the stadium's a great vibe too.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's fun, but inside, like you're just right there.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the teachers always take it hard, man.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because my I think I think you were there when my brother graduated, like three years ago, maybe.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: He graduated, and that was deep.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: We were we had a lot of our family there.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so you've been on both sides of it.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, well, I'm gonna finish up with one last question.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you might want to think back to when you're younger.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: What was your favorite thing to do at recess?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: I love to do sports.
• 18:51
  unknown: Cool.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember what sports you would play at recess?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Kickball.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Kickball.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Kickball.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is awesome.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's two weeks in a row uh that I've interviewed somebody who kickball is their favorite.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: That was my favorite.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, kickball is deep, and I I took it so serious.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I was in elementary, dude, I was like trying to pick the best people on my team.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: And there was like a lot of, a lot, a lot of like kid drama that was caused over kickball.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, man, if you weren't good, dude, you're gonna get talked about.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, I love kickball.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: You ever play kickball today?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh with the older guys, it gets deep.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you throw the ball too hard, someone's not gonna take it well.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we like we play softball sometimes with my family.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's one of our trists.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we go play softball on the weekends.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, good.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, my guest has been Sir Phylla Tusi.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and he's just an outstanding young man from West Auburn High School.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: He'll be graduating in June.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I really want to thank you for telling your story and uh just representing West Auburn a little bit.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks for being on.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be back again with one more of these senior interviews.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'd like to thank Vicky Alonzo and Communications who puts this together.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh for the rest of you for listening, if you enjoyed this episode, if you uh have friends who are passionate about West Auburn or rugby or kickball or any of the things we talked about, uh please spread it around.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: We want to get these stories out because we've got amazing kids in Auburn and amazing schools supporting them.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that's it for this time.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, I'll see you on the Recess Podcast.