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S1 E23 - Alumni Summer in the OSD · Inside the OSD

• 0:00
  SPEAKER1: Today, we're talking with some of our OHS graduates who are spending part of their summer working in the OSD.
• 0:07
  Tune in to hear about what they've been doing since graduating and what summer's been like and what's next.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:20
  Here is your host.
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  Lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Dr.
• 0:24
  Leslie Bergström.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER1: Welcome to Inside the OSD.
• 0:32
  We love catching up with our alumni and are excited to hear about what you're doing now.
• 0:37
  Let's start by having each of you introduce yourself and what you've been doing since graduation.
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  SPEAKER3: Hi. I am Isabel Bauer and I have been attending Marquette University for the past year.
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  SPEAKER4: Uh, my name is Blake Pankratz, and I've been attending Colorado Mesa University.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER5: My name is Blake Anderson, and I've been attending Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER1: And both of you have on t shirts that reflect your college of choice.
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  That's pretty cool.
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  So you've all returned for the summer and you're working in the OSD.
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  So tell our listeners about your job and what made you decide to apply for a position here in the summer.
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  SPEAKER3: Uh, so I am working as a summer playground leader.
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  This is actually my third year doing it, so.
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  And I loved it the first two years.
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  I get to work with kids and have just a great time outside all summer, so.
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  SPEAKER1: So what about the program?
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  Does it start after summer school and go for the whole afternoon or?
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  SPEAKER3: Yes. So it starts at 12:00.
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  Summer school obviously ends at 12:15, so we pick up the kids there and walk them to Prairie View and hang out until 4:00.
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  SPEAKER1: Wow. Okay.
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  That sounds like a lot of fun, actually.
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  SPEAKER3: It's so much fun.
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  Cool.
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  SPEAKER1: How about you, Blake?
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  SPEAKER4: I've been working as a seasonal custodian over at Forest Edge in Fitchburg.
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  Um, I -- This is my second summer doing it, so I love it.
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  It's just -- It's just work, but it's.
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  It's. It's nice to, like, kind of come back into the schools and help out where I can.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, saying hi to all kinds of people that you run across that you remember when you were a little kid, right?
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  Yep. And how about you?
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  SPEAKER5: So I'm a swim instructor at the Oregon Community Pool.
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  I think I've been doing it for about five years now.
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  And I started, um, I kind of got into it when there was a class, I think it was the first year it was actually offered at the high school where you got your WSI
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  and Lifeguard certification.
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  SPEAKER1: Oh yes, that's right.
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  SPEAKER5: So Deb trained me in, who was the old pool manager, and then I started lifeguarding working in the pool.
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  And I've been doing that every summer and since, so.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, and also you swim in college, right?
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  So it all fits together?
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  SPEAKER5: Yeah, I swim at Luther. I teach there too.
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  And I just like to kind of give back and teach the sport that I'm very passionate about.
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  SPEAKER1: Oh, that's awesome.
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  Okay, so what have you enjoyed most about being back in the OSD?
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  SPEAKER3: The people. Honestly, everyone here is just so nice.
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  And I you know, it's always really welcoming and it's just a lot of fun to see everybody.
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  Yeah.
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  SPEAKER4: Yeah. I have to go with the same.
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  I love seeing my old teachers, even though I didn't go to that school.
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  A lot of teachers, you know, came over there when it opened.
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  So I get to see a lot of my old teachers from Brooklyn and RCI.
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  SPEAKER1: Oh, that's fun.
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  SPEAKER5: I think I might have to continue on, but a lot of people are going off with the people.
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  One thing that I found really cool about working at the pool for so many years is I'm, like, teaching kids that I've had their older siblings or like, that's
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  great. I know someone who's like, related to them or like, "Oh, that was my teacher and that's their kid," or just the relationships I'm seeing people that
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  I haven't seen in a while, and it's just cool to see them grow and develop.
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  SPEAKER1: That's really nice.
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  Whenever you have the opportunity to speak with alumni -- Whenever I get that opportunity, I like to ask this question.
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  What's been the most valuable thing you've learned in the OSD that helped you prepare for the path you've taken?
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  Whoever wants to start that one, because I know your gears are turning.
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  SPEAKER3: I'll go. I learned how to advocate for myself, which is something as like an introvert is a very difficult thing for me to do.
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  But in the later years of high school, I learned how to, you know, ask for help when I need it and how to really just, you know, stand up for myself,
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  which has helped me a lot in college.
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  SPEAKER1: That's -- that's amazing.
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  I'm still working on that one.
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  So I'm so glad.
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  We're all a work in progress, right?
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  Oh, yeah.
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  SPEAKER3: Always. Always.
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  SPEAKER1: How about you?
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  SPEAKER4: Um, I learned a lot of, like, communication skills, I think through the school.
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  It's compared to, like, some of my friends now in college.
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  I feel like I have kind of a foot ahead of them because, um, I just know, like, how to email my teachers, how to communicate, how to make connections
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  with things.
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  And I think I picked that up here at the Oregon School District.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, that's pretty cool.
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  And how about you, Blake?
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  SPEAKER5: I think I'd have to agree with a lot has been said.
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  But another thing that I felt that I was really well prepared for, like academically, I was able to able to challenge myself through the class that I
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  was taking, like AP classes and other honors classes.
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  And a lot of my teachers pushed me and made me strive for greatness.
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  And now, like, I mean, I've been in college for three years, but immediately when I got there, I felt I was very well prepared, especially compared to some
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  of my peers who might not have been as prepared.
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  But there was a lot of skills that I learned or like my teachers pushing me that helped me feel prepared for college.
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  SPEAKER1: And that's amazing.
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  Is there any particular subject you felt that in more than others?
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  SPEAKER5: I really felt like a lot of some of the science classes.
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  So I'm a biology major, a chemistry minor, and so like, my AP classes that I took or like, my honors physics classes.
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  I felt like those classes really pushed me.
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  And then when I got to college, it was like, it's very similar.
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  I mean, there's degrees up, but I had pushed myself and had developed good study strategies that had helped me feel prepared and ready to take
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  on college. Oh, that's amazing.
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  SPEAKER3: Do you want to add to that? Yeah, it's adding on to that.
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  I also took a ton of AP classes and took a lot of math classes at high school.
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  I'm a math major and so I as well, I got pushed a lot harder in school, but I actually felt going to college was easier than some of like the AP classes
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  because it prepared me so much for the workload that like when I didn't have as much as much work in college, I was like, "Wow, that was that was great.
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  This was kind of easy."
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  SPEAKER1: I like that.
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  I want to ask a little bit about that communication piece that both of you mentioned.
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  And Blake, you agreed with it, too.
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  What -- what helped you learn to do that?
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  Just that the expectation was set that you reach out to teachers and that you communicate?
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  Or what do you think led you to be able to do that?
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  Because as you pointed out, that's a really important skill.
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  SPEAKER3: It is. It is.
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  One of the things I learned is that teachers are always super accommodating if you ask them for help.
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  And so that was something that I learned how to do and that I think is really important for everyone to learn how to do for the future, not just for college,
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  but for jobs and for future life is being able to communicate with someone and ask for help and ask, you know, whenever you need something.
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  SPEAKER4: Yeah, I totally agree with that.
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  And adding on to that, you know, growing up through the district, I've had many different educators and I haven't had any bad
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  experiences, so I always felt like very comfortable going out of my way to like make a connection or they come to me and make a connection.
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  And that, I think, is what helped me learn these communications.
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  SPEAKER1: The relationships led to comfortability, led to an ease in reaching out?
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  Yes. Oh, that's -- that's really nice.
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  So what's been the most interesting, surprising or exciting thing you've experienced since graduating from the OSD?
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  SPEAKER5: I can start with this one.
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  So Luther, the college I go to, has a lot of study abroad programs or opportunities to do that.
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  And actually this recent January or our j-term, which is this weird kind of schedule we have where in January you take one class, which is typically when
• 8:28
  people go abroad. I took a English class that we actually went to Tanzania and we learned about kind
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  of this, the conservation efforts being done there, as well as like the pastoralist and like different way of life that the Maasai people had.
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  We like lived with them and like camped out in like the wilderness and like we talked with them and shared like our experiences and theirs.
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  And it was really life changing event that I found really interesting.
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  SPEAKER1: Oh, that sounds amazing.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  SPEAKER4: For me, I just recently -- so this past semester I was going through an application process with the School for an Ambassador program, and I got
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  accepted in.
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  And basically what that is, is I kind of help with admissions.
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  I work kind of in the admissions office and I give tours and kind of show people the campus and in exchange they give me my tuition
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  back to me. So it's a great it's a great deal for me.
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  SPEAKER1: That's amazing.
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  That's great.
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  I think you'll be very good at that.
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  How about you?
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  SPEAKER3: Well, so, I have through Marquette, have been able to make connections with the police department there.
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  I want to work in, like, data analysis within crime.
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  Wow. And so I've been able to make connections there and hope to start an internship there in the next next semester.
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  SPEAKER1: Oh, you guys are something.
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  This is great.
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  Okay, So, as you know, Summers goes so quickly and in no time you're going to be off to the next part of your journey.
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  So what's next for you when you look into the fall and into the future?
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  What's your next big thing?
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  SPEAKER3: Well, obviously-- Your internship.
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  Internship with college.
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  But in the spring semester I will be studying abroad.
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  I haven't applied yet. Applications aren't open, but I'm going hoping to go to Greece, which I think will be really cool.
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  I'm doing a lot of STEM stuff in school, but I love art and I love mythology and history and so I'm looking to study that well while in Greece,
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  because I was a huge Greek mythology nerd growing up.
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  SPEAKER1: That's awesome.
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  Either of you?
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  SPEAKER4: Yeah, I'm going back to Colorado this August.
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  August 1st, and I kind of have my -- I have a two weeks training for that Ambassador program.
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  Um, and I'm just kind of looking forward to working on that, getting started with all of that and continuing school.
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  SPEAKER1: That's great. How about you?
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  SPEAKER5: Yeah, so senior year of college.
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  So got that swim team will be my last year doing probably swimming and then I have been working on applications this summer for dental school
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  so interviews hopefully will be happening in fall for me.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, good luck with that.
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  Congratulations on knowing your exact next step.
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  Yeah, that's exciting.
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  Yeah. So finally, if you had one piece of advice to current OSD students, what would that advice be?
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  SPEAKER3: Uh, so I've spent a lot of my life looking forward to the future, not living in the present.
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  And I think I missed out on a lot of opportunities, especially in high school, but also middle school and RCI.
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  And so my advice is to live in the present and to take advantage of everything that you can in the time that you're in right now.
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  SPEAKER4: Nice. For me, it would definitely be joining clubs, sports organizations within the school.
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  I think I got a lot of value out of joining.
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  I was -- I ran cross country, did swim team, track, and I was involved in a lot of different clubs, I guess you could say at the high
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  school and even even in the middle school and below.
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  But I think that was the most one of my most valuable experiences here.
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  SPEAKER1: Thanks.
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  SPEAKER5: I think I'm going to kind of jump off what Blake said.
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  I to kind of go off the same lines, but throughout my kind of like academic career here at Oregon, I always participated in sports, the exact same three
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  sports: cross country, swimming, and track.
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  SPEAKER1: So the two Blakes had the same sports?
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  That's awesome. I like it.
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  SPEAKER5: But now that I've been in college, I mean, I only do swimming, which is, I think, one of the longest sports seasons, but it's definitely give me more time
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  to pursue other interests.
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  So I guess my advice would be -- I obviously, I recommend sports and -- but I overall recommend like extracurricular activities, like clubs.
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  I've really pursued clubs a lot more in college and wish I would have maybe done that more in high school or middle school and other stuff, just pursuing
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  other extracurricular activities.
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  It doesn't have to be sports.
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  Like I joined Burn Crew at Luther, which I don't know if obviously isn't a thing here probably, but you burn the -- like burn prairies, like conservation stuff.
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  I got really involved in conservation outreach projects at Luther and some other groups like PALS, which is kind of like a mentor-y kind of thing
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  for younger youth. So just getting involved in other activities would probably be my recommendation.
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  SPEAKER1: You know, remark -- very wise.
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  I completely agree with what you're saying and I agree with it because it's remarkably consistent.
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  Back in 2015, we had a panel of students speaking to a community members, like 150 community members, and we asked them about their most impactful learning
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  experience. And they were all the way from elementary to high school juniors and seniors.
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  And almost every experience was about something that they learned at school, but not in the classroom, right?
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  Like with their friends, in clubs, in athletics, influential people on their life, but not necessarily third hour class.
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  Right? It's the other stuff that contributed to making the experience experience even more rich.
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  So it's really wonderful to hear that all of you are moving forward with that idea, right?
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  Like it's all of these experiences that contribute to a really rich life.
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  So it's been really nice to talk to you all.
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  Thank you for for sharing your experience.
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  And I know the community will love hearing about your success.
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  Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at
• 14:53
  OregonSD.Org/Podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
• 15:01
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 15:07
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.