Latest / Aired Out / Peru (NY) High School Principal Matt Berry delivers powerful testimony about the impacts Sweethearts and Heroes has had on his school

Transcript

Peru (NY) High School Principal Matt Berry delivers powerful testimony about the impacts Sweethearts and Heroes has had on his school · Aired Out

• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Basta.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: All right, here we go head first into a Wednesday
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: morning Sweethearts and Heroesday the middle of the week. Happy
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: hump Day, Vic Candias on the birthday list today. My
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: buddy Vic went to high school with him. Man did
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: we have some good times? Yahoba Jose Garcia Torres. Also
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: on the birthday list today, Denise Garcia, Shannon Gets, Bethany Kim,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: and Amber Hayley all celebrating birthdays. Good morning, everybody, and
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: welcome to the Air Now podcast from Flying the Wall
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Productions North Main Street in Barry aired out VT dot
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: com and streamed everywhere you get your podcast. Shout out
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: to Locarno's to go right here in central Vermont.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: Deliciously easy.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Just looking at the Mountaineer schedule and I'm like, uh, yep,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: that's gonna be a Lacarno's night weekly grabbing go meals
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: perfectly prepared for you and made locally, made fresh from
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Melissa and Craig, the chefs, the owners, wonderful people. Grab
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: them at Hill Street Market, the Meals that Is Green
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Mountain Community Fitness and Harrington's Stores. Lacarnosdgo dot Com. Red
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Sox fell to the Angels three to two last night,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: They're gonna be back at it today at four oh seven,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Yankees lost to the Reds five to four the final.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: They're going to try it again tonight seven to ten.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Racing time has come for the action packed second annual
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Superstars of thunder Road, the Big Double Future Night, Community
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: College and from the great people that are presenting that,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: it is going to be fantastic, the fan favorite kids
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: rides starting at three point thirty. It is going to
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: be a great Thursday. Depp Phillips with us from the
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: World this morning. Good morning, Depth, Good morning, and how
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: are you today? Yeah, well, listen, we're gonna get some
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: relief seventy five right now in the Granite City, but
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: sun clouds later eighty five. Maybe not a whole heck
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: of a lot of relief. But anyway, love the World
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: paper and it's coming out out today.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: What can we expect in their depth, Well, we have all.
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: The schedules for the fourth of July events. We have
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: the Waterberry not quite Independent today, that's coming up this Saturday.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: We have mont Pilier Third of July. Uh that is
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: on the third of July. We also have Cabage and Randolph.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Here you got the train going by in the back
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: you guys, and you guys are like right on the
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: track step, yes, yes we are.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: And then coming up the following week we will have
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: the Wooster Fourth of July events in the paper.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Wooster is always I mean, that's one of the go
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: to places for Fourth of July celebrations most definitely.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: Yes, it's always well attended.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Any something else we should be keeping a particular eye
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: out for in today's today's edition.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: Well, that's the major stuff that we have. And like
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: you said, the papers coming out today, we're getting actually
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: loading up and getting ready to deliver them. So that's
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: that's it.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Well, I hope Chris is going to stay well hydrated.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: He is one of several people that are moving how many.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: Papers ten thousand every week?
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: That's crazy, that's crazy. And your partnership, of course with
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: the Times Argus, how's that going? Are we is this
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: still in the process?
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: Actually, we are going really well. We just came out
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: with the Summer Explorer and it's loaded with summer things
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: to do at thirty six pages, glossy magazine and it's
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: absolutely beautiful. And that was both the both World and
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: the Times Argus working together on that and it looks great.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: I know that you're always keeping tabs on what's going
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: on over at thunder Road as well and keeping us
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: well informed and listen. If you have any projects at
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: home that you need help with anything landscaping, plumbing, heating, electrical, anything,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: you can find always a list of local contractors right
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: there in the world for those summer projects, Deb, which
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: I think is wonderful that you guys always are.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: Putting that in there, that people find that very helpful to,
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: you know, track down, because you'd never know when you're
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: gonna need a plumber or someone like that. So it's
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: good to have their names out there when you're when
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: you're in need, they're there.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Give our best to Gary and I am so excited.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Always look forward to grabbing a fresh copy of the
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: World out today. Deb Phillips, thank you so much.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: Thank you, jab.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Pleasure chatting with her every Wednesday morning, seventy five again
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: right now here in Barry, we have sun, we have
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: clouds and eighty five. A little bit later on today,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: clear skies tonight fifty six degrees. There we go. Might
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: even be able to shut the AC off for a
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: night Tomorrow, clouds and sun to start the day and
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: then mostly cloudy with some rain showers that are going
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: to be moving in seventy three for the daytime high tomorrow.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: I know, big change up. This is that cool front
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: that we were telling you, promising you that it would
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: becoming sixty five for the high on Friday, I know,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: rain showers and the weekend first half of it is
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: especially looks like a rain and seventy on Saturday and
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: then Sunday cloudy skyes and eighty degrees. I'm going to
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: bring on right now a special guest who I am
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: so excited to introduce, Matt Berry.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: And you know it's funny, Matt.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: I'm almost like saying Matt Berry from Sweethearts and Heroes.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: But technically you're not a staff member, am I right?
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: No, I'm not.
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: I'd love to be, as much as I do love
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: my job, I would love to be on Tom's staff,
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: but I am not. I am the principal of Peru
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: High School in upstate Peru, New York.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: And this is your school that has been very, very
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: active with Sweethearts and Heroes.
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: Yeah, they came by I want to say seven years
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: ago now through a sponsorship that one of our old counselors,
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: Tom Bull, got through a Chevy dealership and it was
• 9:00
  Speaker 6: one of those things where we're like, well, we're going
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: to have a We're going to have a assembly. And
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: I was the middle school dean of students at the time,
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: an athletic director, and I told Tom m'd help out
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: because he's a friend of mine. And met Tom and
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: for the first time and had some quirky exchanges. I
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: know that's been your same experience, JD. And we went
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: down and they had this assembly that was absolutely amazing, tears, laughter, seriousness,
• 9:33
  Speaker 6: faculty and staff alike, middle school students, high school students,
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: and that's where we were really sold. And then after that,
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: if nobody wants to talk about this, but I playfully
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: call it the Other Sea word. Sorry if that's inappropriate
• 9:49
  Speaker 6: for your your show, but not at all. If I
• 9:52
  Speaker 6: remember correctly, you're you're a guy who enjoys that kind
• 9:55
  Speaker 6: of banter, Yes, sir, So the Other Sea word COVID
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: hit and we were reeling with our kids. They were
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: they were struggling, and I called Tom out of the
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: blue Murphy and he and I just had this this
• 10:10
  Speaker 6: really good exchange, and you know, I think we we
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: just kind of hit it off, and I said, what.
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: Are you doing?
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: And there was just this level of common understanding about
• 10:20
  Speaker 6: humanity and dignity and some really you know, common backgrounds.
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: I was never a professional athlete like he was, but
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: athletics and dedication, loyalty. So we really hit it off.
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: And he did a virtual assembly for our students, and
• 10:37
  Speaker 6: I think he would admittedly say it wasn't as powerful,
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: but I do remember he said, you know, I'd like
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: to come meet you in person again and sit down
• 10:46
  Speaker 6: now that I had.
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: Evolved into the principle.
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: And then from there we just we just took our
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: program to where it is.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: Now, which is massive, and we're talking about a school
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: that is many students.
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: Again, Matt, we have five hundred and forty seven in
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: the high school in district wide, they're just short of
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: two thousand. Not a giant school, but it's also not
• 11:11
  Speaker 6: what I would consider a small school either.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: No, you know, the thing is, and you and I
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: both know this that once you meet Tom, especially if
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: you experienced one of his assemblies with Sweethearts and heroes,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: the guy is just infectious. He just brings about positivity
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: and wears that right on his shirt sleeve. And the students,
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: of course, I mean, the faculty definitely picks up on
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: that your administration, but the students feel that more than anything, The.
• 11:54
  Speaker 6: Students love him. You know, our people love him. He's
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: just been such a backbone to what we've done because
• 12:01
  Speaker 6: he believed in us. And I think that's the thing
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: that I really appreciated appreciate about Tom is you will
• 12:07
  Speaker 6: know where he stands, and he will never be rude
• 12:10
  Speaker 6: to anybody. That's just not his style. But you know,
• 12:13
  Speaker 6: when he believes in you, and he believed in us,
• 12:15
  Speaker 6: and he saw what we had as potential, and then
• 12:18
  Speaker 6: he brought his other team members are our way. Pat Fish,
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: who's spent for two years, spent monthly visits with us.
• 12:26
  Speaker 6: We didn't have him this past year and and we
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: just noticed how much we miss him. So we're actually
• 12:30
  Speaker 6: working on trying to get him back into our school
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: next year. So just the connection, you know. I know
• 12:36
  Speaker 6: Tom has visited thousands, tens of thousands of schools. He
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: and Rick, who is another amazing person and part of
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: their team. I know that, but I feel Tom to
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: be part of our community. Our kids know him, they
• 12:50
  Speaker 6: know who he is, they know that when they go
• 12:51
  Speaker 6: down the hallway, they are safe, but they are going
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: to have to interact with Tom.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: They just know that that's going to happen.
• 12:59
  Speaker 6: And I think most people know that when they meet
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: Tom is you are you are going to have an
• 13:03
  Speaker 6: interaction and you don't know what question he's going to
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: ask you, and you're you're You're going to be put
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: into place to be a little bit vulnerable.
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: And I think that in a good way.
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: And that's what we are trying to teach our kids
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: is there is such a fear right now among students
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: to show vulnerability, to show to really recognize their own
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: dignity and others dignity and a drop of empathy mental health.
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: Mix that in with the you know, and I hate
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: to say it out loud, but mix that in with
• 13:31
  Speaker 6: the gigantic increase in suicide rate in the last twenty years.
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: We have.
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: We have a situation that we as school adults are
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: responsible to deal with. And Tom has really paved the
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: way for us here at Peru to have a a
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: plan beyond an assembly to address that problem.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I have asked this question before, even Carlota Carlotta Parentoni,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: who was on Waite River School principle. And I'll ask
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: you the same thing. What do you say to schools
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: anywhere who are unfamiliar with sweethearts and heroes.
• 14:14
  Speaker 6: I would say it would be the most unique experience
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: you could bring to your school. It would be the
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: most unique experience in the realm of social emotional learning,
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: self awareness, empathy and emphasis on empathy, understanding how to
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: empower students to help others. And I'm gonna say this,
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: And it might be controversial JD.
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: Maybe not.
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: I'm not on podcasts very often, so maybe I'm being
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: a little bit careful, But my.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Man, you can get as controversially it's called the aired out.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: You go.
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: Well, I'll tell you this.
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: The kids may the kids will never bring a bullying
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: problem to someone like me, maybe time to time, But
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: I find out when they come to someone like me,
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: a principal, an associate principle, they almost one hundred percent
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: of the time say, I don't want you to call
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: them in your office. I don't want them to know
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: it was me. I don't want you to tell my parents.
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: As we know those are impossibilities for me, and at
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: the high school level especially, they know that those are
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: impossibilities for me. And therefore so many of these things
• 15:23
  Speaker 6: go unrecorded, excuse me, unreported, and what we try to
• 15:29
  Speaker 6: what Tom brings to the game, and what we have
• 15:31
  Speaker 6: tried to do through systematic programming, through bully drills, through
• 15:36
  Speaker 6: other programs such as our STEP program, which I can
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: speak to briefly. We get our high school students, after
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: being trained by Sweethearts and Heroes and going through curriculum,
• 15:48
  Speaker 6: they go down and they run actual bully drills with
• 15:50
  Speaker 6: elementary school students being you know, hence the name Sweethearts
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: and Heroes being the hero trying to get somebody out
• 15:57
  Speaker 6: of the situation. And it's not like you should walk
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: up to that person and fight them. That's not the message.
• 16:03
  Speaker 6: It is walk up to the victim many times and
• 16:06
  Speaker 6: say I need you to come with me.
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: Why don't you come?
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: You know, let let's go see mister Armstrong and work
• 16:13
  Speaker 6: on our algebra. If they're they're in a situation, that's
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: that that they're sad in, you know, or just a sweetheart.
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: You see somebody with their head down crying, don't leave
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: them there. That's a wilted flower. That that flower needs
• 16:27
  Speaker 6: some some water, that flower needs some attention, and even
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: just saying hey, I you know, I don't know you
• 16:32
  Speaker 6: real well, but I can just go talk to your
• 16:35
  Speaker 6: counselor for you and say you're in trouble, I can
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: I can bring you to another space.
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: How can I help you?
• 16:40
  Speaker 6: Even just doing that and getting an answer from that
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: person in distress might be oh, thank you, but I'm good,
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: or just you know, I just need to be left alone.
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: At least they know someone cares about them, and that's
• 16:51
  Speaker 6: what we're trying to infuse in our culture with our
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: high school students, trying to affect change with our elementary
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: student students, but also amongst their high school peers.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Matt, we're living in a world and you know this
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: where man, there is so much stuff going on that
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: we are almost wired, We're almost programmed in a way
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: to if it's not your problem, don't get involved. If
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: you do get involved, it's going to be your problem
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: and you're going to get caught up in this web.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: It's best to look the other way. It sounds like
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: you guys are doing the opposite of that. At Peru
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: High School.
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: We are trying.
• 17:45
  Speaker 6: You know, I can't I'm not gonna be I'm not
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: going to stay on air here that we are perfect,
• 17:49
  Speaker 6: that this is just.
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: Completely fool proof, and so on and so forth.
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: If I had the recipe for what is completely fool
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: proof about humanity, because that's who we deal with, right,
• 18:01
  Speaker 6: we deal with humans. Yeah, and if if I had
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: that answer, you know, I think I'd probably not be
• 18:09
  Speaker 6: sitting in the chair that I am right now. And
• 18:12
  Speaker 6: I don't have those answers. But I can tell you
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: one thing that I think that I believe personally, and
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: i'm and I think we're trying to get this message
• 18:19
  Speaker 6: out to our students. If you aren't part of the solution,
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: you are part of the problem.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Wow, so well said, and what a great way to
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: live your life. And just to have that in the
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: back of your mind. I mean, my little girl and
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: we had this chat yesterday where you know, she's she
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: just wants to be everyone's saving grace. She wants to
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: be the hero every time. But there's there's some parameters.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: And I think Tom and all of Sweethearts and Heroes
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: defines that very well of protocol that you should go about,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: and it's it's not necessarily the same way that you
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: or I did when we were in elementary school. Being
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: a hero, which was done a different way, you know
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: what I'm talking about. But there's protocol, there's there's the
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: right way to be that hero, and there's there's the
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: wrong way.
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: Yeah, they're they're, they're like And maybe I'm a little
• 19:40
  Speaker 6: bit cliche, but I try to hang myself on some
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: of these words that I run through my head over
• 19:45
  Speaker 6: and over again. It just kind of guides my behavior.
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: You know, before I said, if you're not part of
• 19:49
  Speaker 6: the solution, you're part of the problem. And that just
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: reminds me of you know, I'm sorry, JD. I lost
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: my thought at you.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: No, just just that when when you and I were
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: were young, not not that we aren't young, but we
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: were the hero at the playground, or we're in the gym,
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: or when in the parking lot after after high school,
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: in a in a in a different kind of way
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: that wasn't necessarily super beneficial.
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you got me right back on track.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah right, it's different. Now it's different. Now there's there's
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: no call.
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: And I guess I'll just you know, again the cliche
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: sayings is nothing extreme is sustainable, And you know what,
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: what we probably did and I'll probably talk to a
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: lot of people out there who like this saying I
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: like this saying I might be Tom might call me
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: a little bit of a generational narcissist. But the nineties
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: kids are the kids I think you're talking about, like
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: the nineties kids.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: And eighties, eighties, two.
• 20:53
  Speaker 6: Eighties, yeah, absolutely, seventies six that these generations, you know,
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: you know, I think of my father and some of
• 21:00
  Speaker 6: the stories that he told me. Yeah, that that that
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: was justice, so to speak, looked a little different. And
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: I think what we've found out as generation to generation
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: passes on is that's kind of extreme behavior and it's
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: not really healthy and it doesn't make the situation better.
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: It only makes it worse. Yeah, divide things.
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: It divides people, and therefore I think we've seen some
• 21:25
  Speaker 6: of those extreme behaviors poke out of the nineties. If
• 21:29
  Speaker 6: you know, not to be too I was a former
• 21:31
  Speaker 6: history teacher, but not to be too historical. You see
• 21:34
  Speaker 6: the extreme behaviors maybe because of the extreme approach to
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: trying to handle something.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Sure, you know, the thing is you not only have
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: to have students know how to react, what the best
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: way to respond and react to this, but also your administration.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: They've got to be trained and man, Tom does, and
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: you do such a great job with that that they're
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: not reacting in a way that's exacerbating things.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: It is such a hard thing, you know.
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: I'm actually happy to that you brought up that question
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: because it is a daily struggle.
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: I can probably relate.
• 22:24
  Speaker 6: Maybe this comment will probably resonate with many of the
• 22:26
  Speaker 6: principles and associate principles out there, or people who have
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: to make a decision. You have a code of conduct
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: in your school, you know, at least in New York State,
• 22:35
  Speaker 6: that's what we are charged with have to have. You
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: have a code of conduct in your school. Everybody who
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: puts their feet on your campus are subject to that
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: code of conduct. Well, that code of conduct does say
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: things such as you know, for example, and this isn't
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: word for word, but let's well we can talk about this.
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: So if you're caught with a vape at Peru, you
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: get one day of ISS as the book, So that's
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: a nicotine vape. That's not you know, and I don't
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: want to get too deep into this, but that's not
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: a THHC vape. That's a nicotine vape. You automatically get
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: one day of ISS, which is in school suspension for us,
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: and you're in a room for the day, and your
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: teachers bring you your work, and you get a couple
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: of bathroom passes, and that's in our code of conduct.
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: But what people don't.
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: Know is the conversation that I have with that student
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: beforehand about you know, maybe catching that student in my
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: school and having the conversation with how they're surrounded by
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: their own family by addiction and that this is the
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: thing that they've learned and this was given to them
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: maybe by an uncle at eight years old. Sure, who's
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: who's now this student at fourteen sure is completely addicted, right,
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: And that one day of in school suspension is not
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: going to knock the addiction away from this student. We
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: do have other policies in our code of conduct. I'm
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: glad to say that there's an automatic referral to a
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: prevention counselor in our code of conduct. Therefore it's what
• 24:07
  Speaker 6: the student is expected to do. But I use that
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: example because it is so hard sometimes when you see
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: there might be an egregious break of your code of
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: conduct or just egregious behavior, you are having a conversation
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: with this student, You see the remorse, you see the
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: devastation you're talking with the family.
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: This is going to destroy the family.
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: This might even be the the you know, the mistake
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: that a high school student neede that puts them in
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: a different house. So it is about the tightest rope
• 24:38
  Speaker 6: to walk upholding what your community basically votes on. You
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: know that they vote in New York State anyway. You
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: vote on the Board of Education to make fiscal decisions
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: and policy decisions for the community. And when they adopt
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: the code of conduct, that's what the expectations of the
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: administrators are. And that code of conduct, like any code
• 24:59
  Speaker 6: of conduct, do not take in the narratives that are
• 25:02
  Speaker 6: out there that really exist. And a boy, it's heavy,
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: it's heavy, and it's such a hard thing. I'm really
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: glad you brought that question up.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: Matthew Berry is the principle of Peru High School. He
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: is with us, our guest on a Wednesday morning. This
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: is when we talk about sweet hearts and heroes every
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: single Wednesday. Matt is again the principle of Peru High School,
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: which has been very actively connected and involved with sweethearts
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: and heroes now for how many years.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: Matt, I think we're going on seven, okay, six and change.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I gotta tell you, man, When I was just over
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: there a couple of weeks ago, I was struck by
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: a lot of things in a positive way. First of all,
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: I haven't stepped foot in high school in a long time.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: During school hours and seeing all the kids and my wow,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: just the technology and everything was just amazing. But the
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: positivity in the hallways, just in the short time that
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: I was there, coming in from the outside and knowing
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: that you know, you guys aren't walking around saying, hey,
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: we've got an outsider coming in. Everyone on their best behavior.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: But the camaraderie among the students and respect was very
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: different from my high school. The students that I talked with,
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: and I don't know those probably maybe fifteen ish ten
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: or fifteen, man, did they have nothing but great things
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: to say about you, words like he's the real deal.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: We love him, we respect him, he doesn't fool around.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Your students really speak quite highly of you, Matt, even
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: with regard to and it was having some fun with
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: them a little bit about the whole cell phone thing,
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: which I want you to tell us about, because.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: Please tell us about the whole cell phone thing.
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: Okay, So they love you.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: They love you, though Matt Well.
• 27:31
  Speaker 6: I that honestly, I got goosebumps because of that. And
• 27:34
  Speaker 6: you know, to be honest with you, you might have talked
• 27:37
  Speaker 6: to the right fifteen kids, because I'm sure there's just
• 27:40
  Speaker 6: like anywhere else and you know there's fifteen kids who
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: would probably like to see me go elsewhere. Yes, however,
• 27:47
  Speaker 6: you know one thing that you know, I'm very happy
• 27:50
  Speaker 6: and I and I will say this without with trying
• 27:52
  Speaker 6: to be as humble as possible.
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: You're probably the fifth, sixth or seventh.
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: Guest guest that we've had to Peru High School who
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: said the exact same thing.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 28:02
  Speaker 6: Loudon, who works for Tom said this. He said, you
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: guys must have coached these kids up. I'm like, and
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: be honest with you, I don't have time to coach
• 28:08
  Speaker 6: kids up. We had a graphics designer who did some
• 28:13
  Speaker 6: of those new graphics that you probably saw when you
• 28:15
  Speaker 6: came in to our school, who said, I had one
• 28:18
  Speaker 6: of your students offer me lunch. So I'm very proud
• 28:23
  Speaker 6: of that, and I'm glad that you brought it up.
• 28:25
  Speaker 6: I do think it's part of we don't emphasize anything
• 28:31
  Speaker 6: but human dignity and empathy. We emphasize it. Do we
• 28:35
  Speaker 6: all drop it sometimes? Yes, myself included, But that's our emphasis.
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: We repeat it over and over again. And I have
• 28:42
  Speaker 6: a great staff here who is polite. And I'll tell you,
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: I try to be polite. And I know I have
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: my moments and I'm a principal. I have to have
• 28:51
  Speaker 6: my moments. I gotta I have a little bark when
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: I need to. I believe I could be wrong, maybe
• 28:56
  Speaker 6: it's too much or whatever. But at the same time,
• 28:59
  Speaker 6: I try to say hi to every student. I try
• 29:01
  Speaker 6: to meet their make there an acquaintance with them where
• 29:04
  Speaker 6: I know more than just their name. Most I'm there.
• 29:07
  Speaker 6: I got some work to do, however, I do. I
• 29:11
  Speaker 6: do think that our programming through speet, Arts and Heroes
• 29:13
  Speaker 6: has been a big catalyst for that.
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: So phones.
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: New York State has put a bell to bell ban
• 29:24
  Speaker 6: on cell phones in schools in New York State. I
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: am in disagreement with many people on this, as I
• 29:32
  Speaker 6: think it is a terrific move. Many people, many other
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: administrators are saying they want it to be a local
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: decision and they will manage it locally. And how we
• 29:41
  Speaker 6: do those things because we know our schools and our
• 29:44
  Speaker 6: community I disagree.
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: I do.
• 29:47
  Speaker 6: I flat out disagree with them. We did it for
• 29:50
  Speaker 6: two weeks here, two weeks, a two week pilot at
• 29:53
  Speaker 6: the end of the school year when it was our time,
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: where we did have some tests inserted here and there,
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: so we didn't have you know, we probably got a
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: seven to nine day trial on it. We had a
• 30:05
  Speaker 6: few issues, when when I say a few, I mean
• 30:10
  Speaker 6: to to two issues where students just were not going
• 30:14
  Speaker 6: to give up their phone and they couldn't make it
• 30:16
  Speaker 6: through the day. However, and Tom has some video evidence
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: of this, and I have some video evidence of this.
• 30:22
  Speaker 6: He randomly went around and he interviewed students and they
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: expressed some from frustration from time to time. And but
• 30:33
  Speaker 6: for the most part, the underlying issue is I feel better.
• 30:38
  Speaker 6: I don't have to check it. I'm not chasing it.
• 30:41
  Speaker 6: I'm not worried about, you know, what's going on in
• 30:44
  Speaker 6: social media. I'm not worried about missing something. I'm not
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: worried about catching up with the Jones. I'm not making
• 30:50
  Speaker 6: this up. And people out there, you know, you can
• 30:52
  Speaker 6: say he's not telling the truth. I am telling the truth.
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: I got video evidence. I will also tell you that
• 30:58
  Speaker 6: I don't And here's another, maybe a little bit of
• 31:01
  Speaker 6: controversial one. I don't think the problem lies with the kids.
• 31:05
  Speaker 6: The problem lies with the parents who want to speak
• 31:07
  Speaker 6: to their kids all day long. That's part of the problem.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: Wow, that's a bold statement, Matt.
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: I'll say it in any arena.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: I happen to agree with you. But it is a sticky,
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: sticky subject and something that we're not everyone is gonna
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: a cree hunt. But the bottom line is, as if
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: we don't have enough distractions going on during our day
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: at school. At school is the place where we're supposed
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: to be learning. We're supposed to be learning a lot
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: of stuff, not just in the classroom, but we're supposed
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: to be engaging with the administration, with the staff, with
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: other students, which is all part of the learning process.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but I mean so many
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: of us could spend an entire day easily wasted eight, nine,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: ten hours looking at her phones. I mean there's always
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: going to be something on that phone that is going
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: to be asking for your attention.
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: Absolutely, I don't live in a glass house. I scroll
• 32:23
  Speaker 6: through it too. I'm not any I'm the only reason
• 32:26
  Speaker 6: I'm on Instagram is to follow my daughters in their
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: basketball endeavors, and because a lot of things that they
• 32:32
  Speaker 6: do are posted. Actually Vermont based team Lone Wolf Athletics,
• 32:36
  Speaker 6: I actually coach for my daughters play for. They're amazing
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: for those basketball people out there. That's the only reason
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: I have Instagram and I don't have Facebook. But I
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: do understand the utility of social media. My wife probably
• 32:52
  Speaker 6: hates this, but I'd like troll her social media because
• 32:55
  Speaker 6: I don't have it. But I also want to be
• 32:57
  Speaker 6: in tune. So therein lies the absolute issue. You know,
• 33:01
  Speaker 6: that that we have is even something I don't have.
• 33:04
  Speaker 6: I want to look at it. It's like the you know,
• 33:06
  Speaker 6: when you're when we were probably coming up in your
• 33:09
  Speaker 6: neighbor got the PlayStation two or PlayStation one. You wanted
• 33:12
  Speaker 6: to go over there and play it. It is very similar.
• 33:15
  Speaker 6: It's very similar. But I'll say this about the phones.
• 33:18
  Speaker 6: And you know, I am a sports guy. I've done
• 33:20
  Speaker 6: a lot of coaching. However, I think these rules lie
• 33:26
  Speaker 6: not so much rules, but guidelines lie tried and true
• 33:29
  Speaker 6: for all aspects of life that the fundamentals drive the
• 33:34
  Speaker 6: biggest success. The fundamentals of basketball, the fundamentals of playing
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: the flute, the fundamentals of being a nurse, the fundamentals
• 33:42
  Speaker 6: of education. And I think when this phone is out
• 33:46
  Speaker 6: of our hands, it allows us to take a trip
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: back to the fundamentals, like going to a restaurant with
• 33:52
  Speaker 6: your family possibly or or friends even and not being
• 33:56
  Speaker 6: locked in on a phone, or having one kid locked
• 33:58
  Speaker 6: in on a phone three others talk, or mom and
• 34:02
  Speaker 6: dad talk, or mom and dad are on the phone.
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: You know, for me when we grew up, and again
• 34:07
  Speaker 6: this is soapbox high horse stuff, but when for me
• 34:09
  Speaker 6: when I grew up, if I was going to go
• 34:11
  Speaker 6: out to dinner with my family, we were.
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: Going to talk.
• 34:12
  Speaker 6: I didn't have the option of the phone. I totally
• 34:14
  Speaker 6: understand that. But that's a time where you engage. And
• 34:18
  Speaker 6: I think you mentioned that when you were at our school.
• 34:20
  Speaker 6: Jd that and to me, that's the version of the layup.
• 34:26
  Speaker 6: That's the version of the fundamental that we need to
• 34:29
  Speaker 6: get back to.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: Tom wants me to ask you about the white board
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: behind you.
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: I was slacking a little bit this year, but this
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: is this, This was in starting in the school year
• 34:44
  Speaker 6: of twenty three twenty four. This was the number of
• 34:47
  Speaker 6: circles that I that I engaged in with either students
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: or faculty, and I just kept track of it because
• 34:55
  Speaker 6: Pat Fish was here one day and he talked about
• 34:58
  Speaker 6: being in seven hundred.
• 34:59
  Speaker 5: I remember the number, and this is what made me
• 35:00
  Speaker 5: do it. Seven hundred.
• 35:01
  Speaker 6: I think it was seven hundred and forty three circles
• 35:03
  Speaker 6: at the particular point in the year. And I'm like, well,
• 35:05
  Speaker 6: I'm gonna start keeping track. So I have in my
• 35:10
  Speaker 6: twenty four to twenty five circles. You can see it
• 35:12
  Speaker 6: even got e raised a little bit because that's where
• 35:13
  Speaker 6: my shoulder.
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: Is on my chair. I don't have.
• 35:18
  Speaker 6: I didn't make my one hundred, and I'm I'm I'm
• 35:22
  Speaker 6: not ashamed to say that, but I'm gonna go back
• 35:24
  Speaker 6: at it and we're gonna get my one. So that's
• 35:26
  Speaker 6: my goal, one hundred circles per school year. And I
• 35:30
  Speaker 6: do start July first, for you know, just full disclosure.
• 35:33
  Speaker 6: So next week I will be restarting my circle count
• 35:38
  Speaker 6: for twenty five twenty six and I'm hoping to get
• 35:40
  Speaker 6: to one hundred. I did slack this year, and yeah,
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: I'm coming back. I'm coming back with a vengeance.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: Listen, man, for the for for folks that are maybe
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: just tuning in the first time on a Wednesday, or
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: they're not familiar with sweetheartshed heroes, or they've never caught
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: one of our episodes. In the asked about circle. This
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: is an ancient I don't want to say ritual, what's
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: the word. It's just an an ancient.
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: An ancient common practice of yes.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: Of getting people together in a circle so we can
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: all see each other's face and going around the circle
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: and communicating, whether it's an open ended question, idea, sharing,
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: whatever it may be. And I was part of that
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: experience for the first time that my first circle experience
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: at Peru High School a couple of weeks ago with
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: your students and Tom, and it was amazing on so
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: many different levels. Right away, Tom was like, what you think?
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: And I was like, extremely difficult for me to not interrupt,
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: not interject something, follow up questions, which that's what I
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: do for a living, that's who I am, just a
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: curious guy intrinsically, and I was just like, man, I
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: need to find out more. I need some follow up here.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: And Tom's just got the and that was one of
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: the hardest parts for me, but to be forced to
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: listen and by the time we've gone around the full circle.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: I'd forgotten all my follow up questions that I had.
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: For that guy at the beginning.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: But what an impact to listen to to people in
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: a circle who are free to speak without any parameters,
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: and free to speak for basically as long as they
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: want to. And there were some students who had some
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: pretty long pauses in there where there was maybe some hesitation,
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: But to sit and listen to that, it was incredible,
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: and there was laughter, and there was there were tears,
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: all within probably an hour's time.
• 38:33
  Speaker 6: Matt, Yeah, it's amazing. I had to say a similar experience, JD.
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: I was the old ball coach who you know here
• 38:42
  Speaker 6: I am, I'm here to drill and I coach basketball,
• 38:47
  Speaker 6: I teach social studies and full disclosure. I said them
• 38:51
  Speaker 6: in that order for a reason, and I hate to
• 38:53
  Speaker 6: say it out loud, but it was the truth. I
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: sat in my first circle because a friend of mine said,
• 38:59
  Speaker 6: you got to try it, and ever since that day
• 39:02
  Speaker 6: when I also had laughter, tears and total seriousness and
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: everything in between in about an hour. I also wasn't
• 39:10
  Speaker 6: a believer, and it said we need to bring this
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: to our students. I can't imagine you know, being in
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: high school when I was being willing to being willing
• 39:23
  Speaker 6: to do that. Here, our kids love it. Our kids
• 39:29
  Speaker 6: for the most part. Now it's not for it's not
• 39:31
  Speaker 6: for all students because they're not there yet. And maybe
• 39:33
  Speaker 6: it is for all students because there's so much There's
• 39:36
  Speaker 6: so much that I could say about this, but we
• 39:38
  Speaker 6: talked about fundamentals, and we talked about an ancient practice.
• 39:40
  Speaker 5: Well, there you go.
• 39:41
  Speaker 6: It's a fundamental and what a way, what a way
• 39:45
  Speaker 6: to balance the power of a space, right, because students
• 39:50
  Speaker 6: have some students have more power than others.
• 39:53
  Speaker 5: They may know what, they may not, but they do.
• 39:56
  Speaker 6: It's a it's it's just reality. And this is a
• 40:00
  Speaker 6: way to balance that power, to take in all perspectives,
• 40:04
  Speaker 6: to force people to listen, and I don't want to
• 40:07
  Speaker 6: use the word force, but to allow them to listen,
• 40:11
  Speaker 6: allow their brain that freedom to listen.
• 40:14
  Speaker 5: It's kind of liberating.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And frankly, and let's just be real blunt here. Frankly,
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: I think more of us need to practice and maybe
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: even that home with our families and or our spouses.
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: If my spouse was on sorry, I had to say that.
• 40:38
  Speaker 6: That absolutely and you know, maybe I need to get
• 40:46
  Speaker 6: make sure I get my one hundred. So I continue
• 40:48
  Speaker 6: to keep that perspective.
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: My wife.
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: Is always after me about listening and maybe I should
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: have a shirt that said yeah but but anyway, five
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: hundred and forty seven students at Peru High School. That
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: is remarkable. And to think that your seniors designed, constructed,
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: with the help of sweethearts and heroes, a program called
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: Community Days where they're designing a fun, full day that
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: is filled with obstacle courses and all kinds of team
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: building events. That they're designing this and putting this together
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: for younger students for the elementary school unbelievable.
• 41:51
  Speaker 5: Matt, Yeah, it was.
• 41:53
  Speaker 6: I mean it came out of the summit attached to
• 41:56
  Speaker 6: sweethearts and heroes who ran a leadership They called it
• 41:59
  Speaker 6: the Summit. It was a leadership what I would call
• 42:01
  Speaker 6: leadership workshop. However, you know, we had we had schools
• 42:06
  Speaker 6: from around New York State and I believe there was
• 42:08
  Speaker 6: one school from Vermont there and these we had about
• 42:10
  Speaker 6: twenty students for me school come together. That's where the
• 42:13
  Speaker 6: training started. When I talk about a powerful three days,
• 42:18
  Speaker 6: when I have my students saying to me, I wish
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: it was longer, you know. They I saw things in
• 42:26
  Speaker 6: those three days out of students that I never think
• 42:29
  Speaker 6: thought I would see as a principal, addressing one hundred
• 42:34
  Speaker 6: and fifty students about some really traumatic events in their life,
• 42:37
  Speaker 6: address in front of a campfire, addressing one hundred and
• 42:40
  Speaker 6: fifty students sharing their stories and not not for attention,
• 42:46
  Speaker 6: but really a level of perspective and sharing. And you know,
• 42:53
  Speaker 6: that was just one piece of that event, plus the
• 42:56
  Speaker 6: actual specific training that Tom and Rick and his entire
• 43:00
  Speaker 6: team put forth.
• 43:01
  Speaker 5: Pat you know, it.
• 43:04
  Speaker 6: Was just that's where it started back in September, and
• 43:06
  Speaker 6: then our students who were at the summit went to
• 43:10
  Speaker 6: Tom and said, we have an idea, and that's where.
• 43:14
  Speaker 5: The Fish podcast came out of.
• 43:17
  Speaker 6: Yeah, but then we have this whole continuing work on
• 43:22
  Speaker 6: the community day, and I think a lot of people
• 43:23
  Speaker 6: were nervous. And I'll tell you about a little experience.
• 43:25
  Speaker 6: I went over to the elementary school and I could
• 43:27
  Speaker 6: see some teachers who are concerned because they have an
• 43:31
  Speaker 6: elementary school teacher as a special job, and that's you know,
• 43:34
  Speaker 6: thirty thirty people she has to care for, you know,
• 43:38
  Speaker 6: twenty to thirty people that they have she or he
• 43:40
  Speaker 6: has to care for regularly, and there are so many
• 43:44
  Speaker 6: more concerns than just two plus two. And I went
• 43:47
  Speaker 6: in with our students and I said to them and
• 43:50
  Speaker 6: to try to bring some ease before the event. I'm
• 43:54
  Speaker 6: very confident when I say this to you. All my
• 43:57
  Speaker 6: students are trained for this. And that came out of
• 44:02
  Speaker 6: the class, out of some great work by some amazing
• 44:05
  Speaker 6: teachers here at Peru, Adam Carter and A Stitt Michelle
• 44:10
  Speaker 6: paul hemis Jen Gay who worked for Sweethearts and Heroes
• 44:14
  Speaker 6: and works for Sweethearts and Heroes now but is a
• 44:16
  Speaker 6: former teacher of ours and coming back to our team.
• 44:21
  Speaker 5: Mister Pete McCormick.
• 44:24
  Speaker 6: Carry Pearson, I know I'm probably forgetting somebody, and I
• 44:27
  Speaker 6: don't want to. It's not intentional for all of these
• 44:30
  Speaker 6: who are listening out there. But so these people came
• 44:33
  Speaker 6: together with the students and did an amazing thing in
• 44:34
  Speaker 6: that community day. And then and here's the greatest part.
• 44:38
  Speaker 6: We got to stack of letters from the fifth grade
• 44:42
  Speaker 6: and a call from the one of their teachers, mister Dupree,
• 44:44
  Speaker 6: saying this was the most fun we've ever had at school.
• 44:51
  Speaker 6: We've had some teachers walk up to some of our
• 44:53
  Speaker 6: student facilitators after the event, not knowing them and saying,
• 44:56
  Speaker 6: whatever you need, whether it's a letter of recommendation or
• 44:59
  Speaker 6: a job recommendation, whatever you need, you have my name.
• 45:03
  Speaker 5: That was amazing.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: I'm almost jealous that something like this wasn't happening when
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: I was in the elementary school.
• 45:12
  Speaker 5: Bad Yeah, really yeah.
• 45:17
  Speaker 6: I look at a lot of things like you know,
• 45:18
  Speaker 6: just because I live in education. The opportunities and the
• 45:22
  Speaker 6: things that schools are doing for children right now really
• 45:26
  Speaker 6: are amazing. It's not just Peru High School, It's it's
• 45:28
  Speaker 6: schools in general. They understand I think for the most part,
• 45:32
  Speaker 6: by and large, on average, schools understand the need for
• 45:34
  Speaker 6: these sorts of things, and especially the building. I'm so
• 45:37
  Speaker 6: fortunate I point this way because right up that that
• 45:41
  Speaker 6: road is our elementary school. I can walk to the
• 45:43
  Speaker 6: elementary school in less than five minutes. We are our
• 45:46
  Speaker 6: school is the center of our community. So we have
• 45:48
  Speaker 6: some advantages in that respect. We don't have a spread
• 45:50
  Speaker 6: out school district across the road.
• 45:52
  Speaker 5: Here and there.
• 45:53
  Speaker 6: We're all right here, so we have to take advantage
• 45:56
  Speaker 6: of that. We have to know, we have to have
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: our high school students involved with our younger students, and
• 46:02
  Speaker 6: you know, and this programming, the Step program that came
• 46:05
  Speaker 6: out of the summit.
• 46:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah, boy, you hit that out of the park.
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: Let's let's go there, because I wanted to ask you
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: about the well, of course you want to ask you
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: about freshman orientation, but tell me more about the Step program.
• 46:17
  Speaker 6: So the Step program, A few of those students who
• 46:19
  Speaker 6: went to the summit, the Step program allowed some of
• 46:24
  Speaker 6: our teams of two to go over to our elementary
• 46:28
  Speaker 6: students and basically put on the presentation a different version
• 46:34
  Speaker 6: of the presentation that Tom and Rick do about being
• 46:37
  Speaker 6: a sweetheart, about being a hero, about interjecting into bullying.
• 46:41
  Speaker 6: And so we had two two students pair together and
• 46:47
  Speaker 6: do these presentations in the second grade. And it was great,
• 46:51
  Speaker 6: it was.
• 46:52
  Speaker 5: It was really moving. Again. We have some video footage
• 46:55
  Speaker 5: of it that's amazing.
• 46:57
  Speaker 6: That I know, Sweethearts and Heroes has that footage, and
• 47:01
  Speaker 6: I can tell you it just it moved the teachers,
• 47:04
  Speaker 6: it moved the students. And now what I'm hoping happens
• 47:07
  Speaker 6: is again the fundamentals we can probably all name that.
• 47:12
  Speaker 6: You know, I heard Tom, you know, on a podcast
• 47:15
  Speaker 6: the last week say we can probably all name the
• 47:17
  Speaker 6: student that was picked on and bullied in high school.
• 47:20
  Speaker 6: We can all name them, right, We can also name
• 47:23
  Speaker 6: that person that we all looked up to and wanted
• 47:27
  Speaker 6: to be like, who.
• 47:28
  Speaker 5: Is just a few years older than us.
• 47:30
  Speaker 6: Sure, and that's what we're trying to create, is a
• 47:33
  Speaker 6: system that's out there that creates that. Mine was Ben Saber,
• 47:36
  Speaker 6: and I can I can tell you this day. He
• 47:37
  Speaker 6: was about my size. We played all the same sports,
• 47:40
  Speaker 6: we played all the same positions. He ended up being
• 47:42
  Speaker 6: a good friend of mine. But he's a little bit older.
• 47:45
  Speaker 6: But I wanted to be like Ben Saber.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: Roger Getz, I mean, I mean here here, I am
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: fifty four years old. And by remember that literally like
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: it was yesterday. It's not amazing that this kind of
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: stuff sticks with us forever.
• 48:06
  Speaker 5: Matt, absolutely.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: And I gotta tell you, man, with all the amazing
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: things that you guys are doing, to think that you
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: got a staff member, John Mitchell, whose responsibility is to
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: capture everything, not only so that we can go back
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: and relive it in social media and on and on
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: the web, and uh just for our eyes and ears
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: only in the staff or or in the school, but
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: also for at times for the community to be able
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: to see the impactful work that you guys are doing
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: and and not just with sweethearts and heroes beyond.
• 49:00
  Speaker 6: Ye, we're so fortunate to have people like John Mitchell
• 49:03
  Speaker 6: and a tech department like we have and the willingness
• 49:06
  Speaker 6: to go above and beyond. You know, we have a
• 49:09
  Speaker 6: podcast that Peru called the We Are Peru Podcast, and
• 49:14
  Speaker 6: you know, from time to time we get different people
• 49:16
  Speaker 6: who play different roles at the school on there or
• 49:19
  Speaker 6: Tom's been on there. Yeah, just just talking about, you know,
• 49:22
  Speaker 6: the work we're trying to do. Because I will say
• 49:25
  Speaker 6: this that there's no more powerful thing in our society
• 49:31
  Speaker 6: than the narrative.
• 49:34
  Speaker 5: I think you can see this in the media.
• 49:35
  Speaker 6: I think you can see it in in not only
• 49:38
  Speaker 6: the large scale media, but also social media, and then
• 49:42
  Speaker 6: the narrative drives it. And you know, unfortunately you can't
• 49:46
  Speaker 6: as much as I'm a non social media person, you
• 49:50
  Speaker 6: can't sit back and not engage in it. And that's
• 49:53
  Speaker 6: where the the kind of opposing sides of the cell
• 49:57
  Speaker 6: phone thing come in. Is technology, what technology to use?
• 50:01
  Speaker 6: When is it okay? And so on and so forth.
• 50:03
  Speaker 6: But I will will say, like we aren't when we
• 50:06
  Speaker 6: put our social media the Fish podcast that we are
• 50:10
  Speaker 6: Proof podcast, having you buy JD. When we do those things,
• 50:13
  Speaker 6: it's not to create a narrative. It's to tell what's
• 50:17
  Speaker 6: going on. And I bring up the narrative because so
• 50:20
  Speaker 6: many people might be disgruntled with the school and maybe
• 50:23
  Speaker 6: some decisions they made or or a bad experience, and
• 50:27
  Speaker 6: we we understand that more than they may think. But
• 50:30
  Speaker 6: at the same time, we as an institution can't sit
• 50:33
  Speaker 6: back and allow narrative that's in place.
• 50:35
  Speaker 5: That doesn't exist.
• 50:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: Amen, Wow, I want to ask you about back to
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: to Tom, back to Sweethearts and Heroes. I remember, Matt,
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: the anxiety that I had leaving middle school and going
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: into high school. Thank god I had an older brother
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: who was kind of helping me along with encouragement. But
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: I remember, I remember very well, this would have been
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty four.
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: What do you do?
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: What do you do with incoming students who, let's be honest,
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: are seemingly anyway plucked from one reality and reborn into
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: another reality very quickly, instantly, And that transition for so
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: many can.
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: Be so easy, so easy.
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: They're excited, they're anxious for it, they look forward to
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: it they can't wait. And then there's others who are
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: walking around, maybe with a smile on their face, but
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: so unsure of themselves their roles that they play. This
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: is where there's a constant learning curve here, there's a
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: you're your own planet inside of a high school teching order,
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: if you will, is kind of learned. This is something
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: that can be unbelievably intimidating for kids coming out of
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: middle school. How is Tom helping out with that?
• 52:43
  Speaker 6: You said so many things that we have so many thoughts,
• 52:45
  Speaker 6: but Tom has been instrumental in on that. First on
• 52:49
  Speaker 6: those freshmen orientation days. There's one day in our freshman
• 52:52
  Speaker 6: orientation over the summer where we just simply tell the students,
• 52:56
  Speaker 6: these are where the things are, these are the people
• 52:59
  Speaker 6: who help you with the thing, these are the places
• 53:01
  Speaker 6: to go to.
• 53:02
  Speaker 5: Eat the food.
• 53:03
  Speaker 6: You know, we we we do go through the basics
• 53:05
  Speaker 6: and allow them, you know, like a like a typical orientation. Sure,
• 53:09
  Speaker 6: Day two though is you know, we've we've had time there,
• 53:11
  Speaker 6: we've had pat fish there.
• 53:13
  Speaker 5: Day two is bully drills.
• 53:15
  Speaker 6: And again, the key the fundamental that student, that student
• 53:19
  Speaker 6: mentor that's a little bit older than the students who
• 53:24
  Speaker 6: are coming in. We connect them with them. They take
• 53:27
  Speaker 6: a group, we allow them to do circle. They talk
• 53:31
  Speaker 6: and we tell our our student mentors, you've got to
• 53:34
  Speaker 6: be very careful about what you say.
• 53:36
  Speaker 5: However, you can get a little bit real. They need
• 53:39
  Speaker 5: they need to hear a little bit real.
• 53:40
  Speaker 6: They need to hear when you show up to late
• 53:42
  Speaker 6: mister Barry's class, he's going to write you up.
• 53:44
  Speaker 5: They need to hear those things. So we do circle.
• 53:49
  Speaker 6: Then we take them apart in those same groups, and
• 53:51
  Speaker 6: they put together a bully drill skit and then they
• 53:55
  Speaker 6: come up in front of the stage and actually do
• 53:58
  Speaker 6: it in front of their peers, and it judged and
• 54:02
  Speaker 6: by teachers. They give and there's an award and a prize.
• 54:05
  Speaker 6: It's really a cool thing. And again showing the vulnerability
• 54:11
  Speaker 6: trying to be you know, even all the adults try
• 54:13
  Speaker 6: to show some vulnerability at that time. And you know, yeah,
• 54:16
  Speaker 6: there's so many things going there, but going on there.
• 54:19
  Speaker 6: And I'll say this, you had that anxiety about moving
• 54:23
  Speaker 6: from middle school to high school.
• 54:24
  Speaker 5: I had the same anxiety.
• 54:25
  Speaker 6: But here you are running a show on the air
• 54:27
  Speaker 6: in which you talked to, you know, tens of thousands
• 54:30
  Speaker 6: of people so I do think there is something to
• 54:32
  Speaker 6: be said for a healthy coping mechanism and a healthy
• 54:37
  Speaker 6: dose of anxiety.
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: Do you have a favorite among the sweethearts and heroes staff?
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: Please don't say Tom.
• 54:51
  Speaker 5: Well, Tom and I are buddies, like we hit it off.
• 54:54
  Speaker 5: But Pat's my man.
• 54:56
  Speaker 6: Pat Fish has become part of our school cult. Sure,
• 55:02
  Speaker 6: we want him here more. He's just he's just amazing,
• 55:09
  Speaker 6: And uh, you know, maybe maybe for many different reasons,
• 55:12
  Speaker 6: but those two have really changed my life and so
• 55:16
  Speaker 6: many ways about how I think about things and my
• 55:20
  Speaker 6: perspective on parenting, my perspective on coaching, teaching.
• 55:27
  Speaker 5: They just really have impacted me.
• 55:28
  Speaker 6: And and two have them around, it just changes the
• 55:35
  Speaker 6: aura in the room. And they're both amazing. So yeah,
• 55:38
  Speaker 6: I know, please don't say Tom. I get it just
• 55:40
  Speaker 6: makes his head bigger and already is. But you know,
• 55:44
  Speaker 6: they're tied.
• 55:46
  Speaker 3: Man. I'll tell you.
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: I hope that I can come back up to Peru sometime.
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: I would love for my ten year old little girl
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: to see and to meet some of your students up there,
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: like Liam and all of the others. The level of
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: maturity at seventeen and eighteen years old, just from what
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: I witnessed in perspective that they were able to verbilize
• 56:27
  Speaker 2: if I was, if I was half as mature at
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: seventeen and eighteen as just those kids.
• 56:34
  Speaker 3: In that room that I met.
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, they're all, every single one of them is
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: geared for success in whatever it is that they decide
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: they're going to do.
• 56:47
  Speaker 3: Guaranteed.
• 56:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, hope. I wish I was that mature when I
• 56:52
  Speaker 5: was thirty.
• 56:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 56:53
  Speaker 6: Right, I'm still working on it, and I think the
• 56:56
  Speaker 6: thing to be said about that. First of all, you
• 56:58
  Speaker 6: and your daughter are welcome at our school anytime, and
• 57:03
  Speaker 6: I would also say that with our students. We got
• 57:06
  Speaker 6: a great compliment from Kensey Whitmarsh what you also met,
• 57:09
  Speaker 6: who was on on your podcast. She said how this
• 57:12
  Speaker 6: program gave her the confidence that she lacked in so
• 57:15
  Speaker 6: many different things, such as articulating herself and from the
• 57:18
  Speaker 6: other people.
• 57:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah wow, what's what's the deal? Now?
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: As principal, you get what two and a half months
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: off to sit on a beach and think about absolutely
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: nothing other than when your next beverage is coming and
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: how much sunscreen you need to apply. Is that all
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: you're going to be thinking about for the next two
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: and a half months.
• 57:47
  Speaker 5: Well, in New York, it's more like two months.
• 57:51
  Speaker 6: And if I get a couple days to do that,
• 57:53
  Speaker 6: I'm gonna take advantage. However, I'll be I'll be at
• 57:56
  Speaker 6: work on Monday.
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: So what's the day in the life of Matthew Berry?
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, what's what's a typical summer day?
• 58:05
  Speaker 3: Your day? You're there all the time?
• 58:08
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I but I full disclosure. You know, I'm I'm
• 58:11
  Speaker 6: gonna work a lesser day in the summer. I Am
• 58:14
  Speaker 6: going to find the golf course. If I don't, my
• 58:15
  Speaker 6: brain feels like it wants to pop off my shoulders.
• 58:19
  Speaker 6: You know, I will find time to to make sure
• 58:23
  Speaker 6: I exercise and do some of the things that I like. However,
• 58:27
  Speaker 6: what a typical day looks like at work here is
• 58:29
  Speaker 6: we meet with our counseling team, myself and my associate
• 58:31
  Speaker 6: Prince Principal, mister Joha Batten. We meet with the counseling
• 58:34
  Speaker 6: team and we are mostly scheduling, planning calendars and looking
• 58:42
  Speaker 6: at programming at our high school and how to you know,
• 58:46
  Speaker 6: make a schedule. We we build the master schedule. Most days.
• 58:49
  Speaker 6: It is it is a lot of work. It is
• 58:50
  Speaker 6: a heavy lift, and we have in. Another reason why
• 58:54
  Speaker 6: it's a heavy lift is we have a pretty robust
• 58:57
  Speaker 6: course catalog. We offer AP courses, we offer for advanced
• 59:00
  Speaker 6: placement courses, we offer college Advanced Place course courses partnered
• 59:05
  Speaker 6: with Clinton Community College.
• 59:07
  Speaker 5: So there's a lot of opportunity.
• 59:10
  Speaker 6: With a lot of opportunity becomes, there becomes a lot
• 59:12
  Speaker 6: of different pathways, and you have five hundred and forty
• 59:15
  Speaker 6: seven students to funnel in different pathways and make it
• 59:17
  Speaker 6: all work with sixty teachers. So that that's what our
• 59:21
  Speaker 6: summer entails. For the most part. We planned freshman orientation,
• 59:25
  Speaker 6: first days of school. There might be some leadership conferences
• 59:28
  Speaker 6: sprinkled in there, but that's you know, that's what the
• 59:32
  Speaker 6: summer looks like.
• 59:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, listen, I want to close out this morning.
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: I would be remiss if I didn't mention palm are
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: our thoughts and our prayers going out to this young
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: lady in Chasey who a student, high school student, lost
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: her life right in your neck of the woods, right
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: down the road from you, guys, how her school and
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: her fellow students are coping with this, and how that's
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: going to affect their summer and the coming school year.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: I can't imagine, not just the students, the staff, the
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: whole community. I'm not sure if they've incorporated Sweethearts and heroes,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: but what do you say they have?
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 5: And I can't believe. I have no words.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 6: I have no words other than empathy. And if the
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 6: Chazy community is listening out there, you've got friends at
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 6: Peru and anything you need, we are here. I can't
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 6: imagine what they're going through the family, and we have
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 6: some students well connected to Chazy students. They play on
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 6: common teams and so on and so forth, in particular
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 6: the student that you mentioned, And.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 5: I have no words. I can't imagine my thoughts and prayers.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 3: Matt.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for coming on with us this morning,
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: for saying everything that you've said, and living everything that
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 2: you've said this morning, every single day of your life,
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: for what you do, what you bring, and for your
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: partnership with Sweetheart scen Hearoes. You are a fantastic testament
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 2: to the great impacts that this organization has had just
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: on your school alone.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 5: Those are kind words. JD.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 6: I'm a work in progress too, but thank you for
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 6: the kind words and any time I can help you
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 6: out as well.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 5: This is an amazing show.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 6: I've been starting to listen to it now that I've
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 6: been exposed, and I appreciate you having me on the
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 6: pleasure's mind.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Matt. We'll catch you soon, all right,
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: thank you. Right there is Matt Berry, Principal Peru High School.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 3: Listen.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: We have so much that is on our page on
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 2: what's going on today. Police are looking for people of
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: interest in that attempt at robbery at Hanaford's. We have
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: that story up there. We have the heavy police presence
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 2: and that active situation in Rutland City yesterday. Vermont Stay
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: Police investigating another deadly drowning, this one in Virgens. These
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: stories are all up on aired out and a man
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: in critical condition after being hit by a car at
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 2: North Beach. There is some heavy, heavy stuff that is
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: in the news today. Please go about your day, tread
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 2: lightly and take good care of one another. Another hot
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 2: day today, seventy showing about seventy nine right now, we're
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: gonna get up to about eighty five. Checking your neighbors today.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: Stay well hydrated if you can, of course, I'm talking
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: about water. There are a little lemon juice in there
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: and make you feel better. Thanks Matthew Berry from Peru
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: High School principal this morning, joining us live representing Sweethearts
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 2: and Heroes, which is where we go every single Wednesday.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 3: Right here on aired out.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 2: Tomorrow morning, we're gonna be turning up the heat literally
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: with g back in the saddle. Friday, we close out
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: the week with Rex. Have a fantastic rest of your Wednesday,
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 2: and thank you so much to our presenting sponsors.
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 3: Right there.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: In front of your eyes, you well, stay cool. Don't
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 2: forget to check on your neighbors and your friends today.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 2: Make sure they're all right. Kitchens bomb right here aired
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 2: out aired out ft dot com a