Latest / The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District / Episode #50-Donivin Brooks, Senior at West Auburn High School

Transcript

Episode #50-Donivin Brooks, Senior at West Auburn High School · The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to the Recess Podcast.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Alan Spacotti, the proud superintendent of the Auburn School District.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: The Recess gives me a chance to share behind the scenes so you can meet some of the students and staff members that I get to and learn about our great programs.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: We love finishing the school year with four podcasts that represent a graduating senior from each of our four high schools who are members of the class of 2026, aging me a little bit more every year.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: But uh we love it because they bring great energy and they just are filled of uh talents and hopes and uh they represent our future.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: My guest this episode is a senior at West Auburn High School, Donovan Brooks.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: And Donovan's gonna tell his story and a little bit of what he's looking forward to after graduation.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so at this time, welcome, Donovan.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for inviting me.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: All right, super glad to have you on the podcast.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um I have a tradition with this podcast, and I I love hearing the answers, uh, of asking a first question: who is your favorite teacher and why?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, that's a hard pick.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, maybe between Mr.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: LeBaire and Miss Barnes and Mr.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Foster.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Mr.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: LeBare, probably because he's the first person I see each and every single morning.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And he him and me have like an odd relationship, um, where we like to talk about our like games that we used to that we always play.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of have the same interest in games, um, movies and shows.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And he's he's he's always like a very jolly guy, so it's it's pretty nice to hear about like the stuff he does.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And since I have uh his civics class, it's um he's a pretty leaned teacher when it comes to you know the stuff that he talks about.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's nice just seeing him each and every single day.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: He makes my uh school experience like a little bit a little bit more fun, you know.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So you had three names, so go ahead and put it out there.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us about the other two.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Ms.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Barnes, she is a very supportive teacher when it comes to stuff you want to do after school, um your you know, like your emotions, how you're feeling, or uh if you just like need a little bit, need uh need somebody to talk to for advice.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So um it's pretty nice seeing her uh every single day as well, because she can always help me when I have some issues, uh or if I just need some advice or help with what I'm about to do after high school, like what colleges to pick, um, what pathways to take.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, she's a pretty helpful teacher.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: She always knows what to say.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Mr.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Foster?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Mr.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Foster.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's kinda like Mr.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: LeBaire.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: He's pretty fun.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he's you know, he's kind of like Mr.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: LeBaire and Miss Barnes.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's kinda like a m he's like both of them combined.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: He's helpful, he's funny, he always knows what to say.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you need like any advice, any help with math, then you just know always to come to him.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I love this because we do a lot of work as a school district um to try to be a more welcoming environment for students.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um when we came out of the pandemic, it really shined a light on all of like the need to support students in their mental health and all that.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: So like it sounds like Mr.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: LeBaire really is like greeting you, making you feel welcome.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Miss Barnes is you know, that has that part of really, you know, supporting your uh mood and emotions and just making you feel like you you got an advocate and an ally at school, and Mr.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Foster sounds like he does all the above and helps with the advice because that's what we're here for is to help you like you know obviously succeed through school and then uh get to where you're going, where you want to go.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we're gonna do all that uh uh as best we can, and it sounds like you have three great great examples of that at West Auburn.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Super, okay.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Want to get to know you a little bit, and I'm curious what extracurricular activities have you done through your school career?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: What ways have you been involved in school?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, we have the leadership program where it brings a bunch of students together from West Auburn and we help make events and like the like prom homecoming we help with what we're gonna do the after we do the student awards for the assemblies.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like sometime like one time we did like Hunger Hungry Hippos, uh where student like two students, uh two students I remember that game.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, two students both teamed up together to collect the most um balls that were on the floor, and whoever won got to win a meal of their choice.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And another one is we had a bike program where it taught students who signed up how to make a bike, like a a bike from scraps, like like not scraps, but like like all the tools that you need.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: You just you made the bike yourself, you learned how to ride the bike, how to stop, all the directions, and then after all that you get to end up keeping the bike and the helmet and the light and the lock that it came with it.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I really like that West Arbourne has these activities that you can that uh you get to sign up for like just a little bit after school activities.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: It makes it makes you feel like they actually want you to, you know, be a part of something.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's pretty nice that they give um us the opportunity to do that.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's really cool.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you explaining that.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think some people have an it maybe an outdated conception of West Auburn and maybe don't understand that there's all that going on, all that school culture.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because West Auburn I think really has been a place that has resonated with students, and I've had a number of West students uh interviewed now, and and I know a lot through my advisory and everything, and just hear about wow, like you know, we really connect with the school and we have all of this, you know, social life and and student life that we can do at school.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: I know a little bit about it also because you've presented at the Rotary Club.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: So the Rotary in invites student leaders in to share.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And two other things that I remember that you mentioned uh were the blood drive and the Valentine's photo booth.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: You want to just talk about those?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's just cool stuff.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the blood drive was an event that we had where students could sign up and they were able to donate blood um for the blood drive.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it was pretty good.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: It helped students like think uh help students be involved in this something like oh, this blood can go out to somebody who actually needs it.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it made students feel pretty good about themselves, and it was a new experience for us too.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So some of us was like, Oh, we never had our blood taken before for um for a blood drive.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it was it was a pretty it was a pretty interesting experience hearing all the students come back from after getting their blood taken, it was like, oh, that was odd, that was an odd feeling, but it felt pretty good since uh since you know that it's going to someone in need.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the Valent the Valentine's photo booth was also pretty good, you know.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: You all you see is like a bunch of students lined up with their friends and stuff to take a nice little photo of the uh of each other, and you got you actually got to keep the photo, like a little photocopy of it.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it was pretty good seeing all the students, you know, participate in some fun activities during the Valentine's.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's fun.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh have you been to prom in previous years?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the proms are really good.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Explain that because I love that there's a prom experience, but it's also like what the West Auburn students wanted.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a little different, but I think it's beautiful.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Explain it.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the leadership students come together.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: We we all come up with at least four or five uh different themes to the uh for prom and we do a little voting thing, we go around to all the students, uh, second period classrooms with a little slip of paper with all the themes for prom and the uh theme with the highest vote got to be the topic for prom.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: So for example, we had Northern Lights as a topic, and it won.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: So all the students from leadership got to go online, look up stuff that's northern lights themed, and we all gave it to the teacher for the class to buy that stuff, and we set it all up for prom and it was pretty nice because when prom started, all the students came dressed up in like northern lights type uh clothing, like purple, blue, green, and it was it was it was a pretty good experience and the food was great.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we all the food um we got to go and look up like places that um do catering and it was and it was it was pretty nice.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty nice food.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's really cool.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love how they have some other activities, and I know like a lot of kids they go to prom, they they're excited about it, obviously.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they do a dinner, they get dressed up, but maybe dancing isn't their thing, and uh and you guys have just some really cool stuff that you know just is entertaining in different ways.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's great.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, um so of all these things or other things, what was your favorite extracurricular activity?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Probably the bike one.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: The bike one was pretty nice because I got to see the same students each and every single day, and some of the students for the bike program I actually never talked to before.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: So and now I actually talked to them on a daily basis after the bike program.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: So not only did you get to learn how to make a bike, it brought a bunch of students together that you that have never actually talked to before, and seeing them every day after school, you just built that connection with each other because we all helped each other um build the bikes because some of us was like, Oh, where does this part go to?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Cause I see that you have that part connected to your bike.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Can you help me with this part?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it built that connection between students that have communication um issues that like sometimes don't want to talk to other people because they're afraid.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: So now we all you know talk to each other on a daily basis.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it was pretty nice.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty nice talking to a bunch of students.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds like an awesome project.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: So good.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Glad you liked it.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh glad it's bringing like students together.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's a bonus.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: All right, speaking to a wise graduating senior, right?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: We're recording this a little before graduation, of course, but uh you're you're almost there.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: What advice would you give to a middle school student who's entering high school next year?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: I know that the thought of the like, oh, this is the real deal, this is when you gotta start being serious.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's true, but you can be a little lenient sometimes um during your high school experience, even though it's a little bit stressful, don't think about it too much.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: All you gotta do is pass all your classes, come to school on time, go to your classes on time, don't try to get involved into anything that does that's not necessary for uh school, like get into drama, anything that can put you behind, because in the end that's just gonna mess you up and you're gonna be like, Oh, I wish I should have paid attention, I wish I wasn't involved in this.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and it's it's it's gonna be hard, but you gotta remember that your teachers are there for you, and they they're there to help you succeed and pass all your classes, and they're even there to help you um find out what you want to do after school, after uh after high school, after you graduate.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: So just make sure you have your resources and ask for help when you need it.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Good advice, no drama.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh teachers are there to help you.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a real compliment to your teachers.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh to hear you say that.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I think ideally that's what we want our students to feel.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'm glad that you had that experience and you're setting other kids up for success.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, all right, Donovan, what are you looking forward to after graduation?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have a few options.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: I kinda wanna start getting into video gaming, like the video game business, making games.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm thinking about m music and games, like making a game that involves like making music to progress, like a rhythm game type stuff.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh had like a little idea of a fighting game, but to do the combos in the game, you have to make music uh to have those combos connect.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that and coding.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I also want to do a little bit of coding.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we've been fighting with the microphones uh today for some reason, and uh Donovan was he jumped right in, he asked what kind of software we're working on and uh helped me try to find the levels, and it it's at least a little better than it was, so got a little knack for the uh the audio side of life at least.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um alright, so uh I know you shared this with me, but uh tell the audience what do you like to do outside of school?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: I like to hang out with my friends and stuff.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: And if I'm not hanging out with my friends, I like to stay home, do extra work for my classes, uh, after I'm doing my work, start practicing more coding.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm trying to figure out how to edit for like edit videos and stuff, because that's also another thing I want to do.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: I want to edit videos and maybe um like for movies and shows, like special effects, and I'm gonna start learning how to like m get into more music stuff.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I want to start learning how to get to the guitar, piano, flute, um, because that would be pretty good to learn when I'm trying to make my games and stuff.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that sounds fun, and uh uh uh it's pretty cool today, like how much you can do, how many opportunities there are to learn like from do you like do you look watch YouTube videos or how do you learn to do that stuff?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, YouTube videos.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: I like to watch YouTube videos and that stuff because it can give um pretty good um advice and tools that could help you when you're trying to figure out like different stuff, like editing softwares, for example, uh sound softwares, video softwares.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then you were telling me also when you're not at school, uh, you got a job.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: You want to just share a little bit about that?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I recently got a job for Fred Myers.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I make about$17.30 an hour.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh work 21 hours a week, so after school, I go to work and push carts around uh for four hours a day.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a pretty stressful job because you got all the people coming in to get the carts and stuff, and you've set up all the carts, and you got all the carts ready, all filled out, and then in a in a blink of an eye, they're all taken again, so you gotta go run around the parking lot looking for the carts all over again.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like it's pretty stressful, but it's a pretty good paying job, and it keeps me pretty active.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: I get about like 20 steps in each and every single day.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: So wow, so you're you're moving, and I know that Fred Meyer, like that parking lot is busy all the time.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's always busy.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: The traffic and the carts and everything.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, good for you.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you're you're making a little money and uh you're working on that responsibility, and uh that'll lead to things.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: So uh let's talk about what things are going to.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you talked about your like your passions, your interests.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have any plans for next year?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what you're thinking about doing?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking about going to Redon Tech College.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have somebody this is pretty good.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: We have somebody coming into West Arbourn to talk to students that are interested to go to the Renton College.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm one of the students, so I'm it'll be pretty good to get that information so I can start getting to the next steps in my life.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think West has done a really good job like trying to connect students with a variety of educational opportunities, like not just you know, a college or whatever, but all the different pathways.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I know written tech is a part of that.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: I went to some kind of a like a career fair last year.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: So there were employers there, there were like, you know, technical colleges, maybe Green River was there, I don't know, it just to see different different routes that you could go, maybe unless some like training, job training, apprenticeship.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think they do a good job with that.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had that recently come up, a uh career fair.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: We had a bunch of different people and from different jobs come in and colleges and pathways to talk about their experience and what you can gain from it and the steps to go into that type of path.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it was it was pretty interesting and pretty cool to see.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um we might have covered this already, but uh I had it on my list to ask you.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have a dream job?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like if if you could do anything you want, what would that be?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe a game, a game developer.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: That that seems like a pretty good job that I wanted to do.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of games are you into?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh fighting games, rhythm games, um, adventure type games.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Games that have pretty puzzling games that have like pretty interesting um ways to progress.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh alright.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that sounds like a fun dream, and uh you got a whole lot of passions and interests, and it'll be fun to see where you go and just follow those and uh see where life takes you.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, cool.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: But before we move on, do you is there anything else you want to tell me?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh is there do you want to give shout-outs to anybody at West Auburn, uh, your family or anything like that?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, shout out to all the teachers at West Auburn.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm grateful that you guys are there for me.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty nice to see you guys each and every single day.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to say that you guys are really good at your job.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you might not hear it a lot, but y'all are pretty great teachers.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I glad that I was able to spend uh a lot of my uh young years with y'all, you know.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and thank you guys for being there for me when I thought that nobody else would ever be there for me.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's very sweet.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we've got amazing folks at West Tobern.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think one thing that sets them apart is just like how much heart they have for the students and really are really committed to connecting.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, they do all the academics too, and there's it's a you know, it it there's there's some really strong programs there, uh, but it always comes down to like how can I connect with a kid, support a kid.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I'm proud of them too, and it's really cool to hear you shout them out.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, we're gonna finish with a question that I like to end all episodes with and learn a little bit about you, maybe when you're a little bit younger, or you could you can play now too.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um Donovan, tell me what was your favorite thing to do at recess?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, elementary recess was pretty fun.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh for elementary, I was at uh Kent Elementary for a while.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was it was pretty interesting over there.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: All the time I was over there during recess, there was like a little bush that had a hole in it, and I'll go to through the bush and it led to the fence of the little playground, and I'll just stare at all the cars, just watch the cars drive by, count them all, uh count how many colors there were of each and every car.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty sure one time I count about like ten red cars, five yellows, and seven blues.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it was it was it was pretty fun way to, you know, pass the time.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: I had friends, but I kind of I kind of like being alone.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're a little bit of a break, maybe from from the you know, everything going on at school.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, we talk about you know, somebody's an introvert or an extrovert, and you know, if you're an introvert, you get charged up by having a little bit of alone time or just changing your focus.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that sounds like a a ri a really uh fun memory for you.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And uh do you do you play anything now?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like do you get out and play uh or is it all on the video games?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: I like going out with my dog, um, take her out for walks.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I bring my I tag my sister along and we do like a little a little fun time at the park while I live next to the uh Green River and the park over there.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: I forgot what the park is called.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually by Cascade Middle School, my old name.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Brennan Park, probably.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Brennan Park.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I go over there with my sister and my dog, and we kind of just hang out, play around with each other.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty nice.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds great.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, this has been a fun episode.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Donovan, I want to thank you.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: My guest has been Donovan Brooks, and uh he's getting ready to walk across the stage at the PAC uh where West Auburn graduates.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll tell you, you have you been to graduation before?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, I went to my brother's DeMontes um graduation.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's so much fun.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Just I I think West Auburn, there's just so much joy and hootin' and hollering and celebration.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so I always look forward to that, and uh, that'll be here before we know it.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Donovan, thanks for joining me.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: All right, my guest has been Donovan Brooks, uh senior at West Auburn High School, uh, and a proud member of the class of 2026.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining and and learning a little bit about our seniors because each one has their own story.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I could do like 1200 of these interviews because it's just it's really interesting to me and getting to know the kids.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um but thanks for joining me for this one.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we got more coming, so uh until next time, uh I'll see you on the Recess Podcast.