Latest / Aired Out / Carlotta Simonds-Perantoni, principal of Waits River Valley School

Transcript

Carlotta Simonds-Perantoni, principal of Waits River Valley School · Aired Out

• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Billings still stoning spoke, the stilling, their spell stemming, run in,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the spelling out, the steaming, the king again, spell standing
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: leaning again of.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: All right, good morning and welcome to a brand new day.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: You got the aired out podcast live wherever you're listening
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: to h Maybe it's on Facebook, maybe it's on YouTube
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: from Flying the Wall Productions, Main Street Berry from Absolute
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Pleasure to have you with us tomorrow. Gee is gonna
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: be with us. I'm not sure about Rex on Friday,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: but we're going to close out the week with a bang.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Don't worry. Weatherwise, we're looking at more of the same. Yeah.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Like I said yesterday, what you see is what you
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: get here. I don't even need to look at my notes. Cloudy,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: rainy fifty. That's the way it's been, That's the way
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: it's going to be, at least through Saturday at this point.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I love chatting with this lady on Wednesdays. Deb Phillips,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: are you there? Can you hear me?
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Deb, we're looking for you. Can you hear me? Deb
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Phillips over at the world. Have we lost you? I
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: think we have? Are you there?
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  Speaker 3: Deb?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? I think we have lost her. Well, we'll see
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: if we can get her see if we can get her.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: As you know, Gary Hawesen, Deb Phillips are very busy
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: people and the world comes out every Wednesday. We've been
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: talking about this for quite some time now, and Deb
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: is a super lady who is one of the busiest
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: ladies that I've ever met in my life. And we'll
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: see if we can get her back. Debut.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: There, I'm there and we got you here.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Hey, good morning to you. I love hearing what's coming
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: up in the world out on Wednesdays, not on Tuesdays anymore.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: What do you have for us today?
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: Well, we still have our shop where you Live promotion
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: with a featured advertiser this week is Tucker Machines and Barry.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: We have a special Spring Home and Gardens section and
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: also a Memorial Day page to honor the brave men
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: and women who lost their lives while serving in the
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: American military.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, very very nice, just in time for a Memorial Day. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: and we're gonna be chatting with Ron Tollman here shortly
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: because they've got their parade coming up with the VFW
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: and the American Legion. They all do such a wonderful job. Deb,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: is there anything in there about blackflies or will there
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: be anything about black flies getting rid of them or
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: just trying to.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: Oh that's that's a good suggestion. I'll have to put
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: that in and see if we can get that in there.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Well, we have a fresh copy coming today, am I right?
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: Yes?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, fantastic h and always easy to advertise with you guys.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: All they all people have to do is just reach
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: out to you. What's the best way?
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: Oh, best way is by email or or can call
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: the world at A two four seven eight two.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: And vtdashworld dot com. Yes, excellent, So you're able to
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: have a look at the online edition. Deb thank you
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: so much. Please say hello to Gary Forrest and we'll
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: catch you guys real soon.
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: All right, thanks JD.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: You got it Wednesday? Yes, it is already and Wellness
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Wednesday is going to be underway at around four point
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  Speaker 2: thirty this afternoon. Washington County Mental Health has been doing
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: this for a long time. It is absolutely free, it's
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: not going to cost you anything. Summer Street twenty three
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Summer Street, to be exact, they're doing a Swedish massage,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: chair massages, acupuncture, accupressure. Again, everything is free. They have
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: a full long list of practitioners that are there inside
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: that Wellness building on Summer Street, and they are ready
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: to offer up their services to you and show you
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: how they might be able to get you on a
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  Speaker 2: pretty good road for changing your life in any way,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: shape or form. Mindfulness, meditation is just some of it.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Make plans be there Wednesday. They had a special opportunity
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: to keep this going through the month of May, and
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: again it's Wednesdays, and I believe this is the final one.
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  Speaker 2: You deserve it. Get over there twenty three Summer Street
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  Speaker 2: today if you can for Wellness Wednesday with Washington County
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  Speaker 2: Mental Health. Sweethearts and Heroes is what we talk about
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: on Wednesdays. And it is with my absolute greatest pleasure
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  Speaker 2: to introduce Carlotta Parentoni with me in the studio. Good morning, Love,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: how are you?
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Jagie.
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  Speaker 2: The principle of Lily's School, my daughter's school, has before
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  Speaker 2: we even dive in this morning. Has she been in
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  Speaker 2: your office?
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  Speaker 5: All of them, all the scholars have been in my office.
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  Speaker 3: Have you seen my office? Yes, of course they come
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  Speaker 3: to my office.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the reason why I'm asking is because I've asked
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  Speaker 2: her and she's only I've only ever been in Miss
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  Speaker 2: Parentoni's office just to give her candy and sallflowers and sunshine.
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  Speaker 2: Am I right?
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  Speaker 3: You are absolutely right.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely you're staying loyal to her, aren't you.
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  Speaker 3: We talked, We talked, my boy, Oh you.
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  Speaker 2: Did really listen. It is I think that you are
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  Speaker 2: somebody who walks on water, frankly, and you do so
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  Speaker 2: much for our kids. Your staff loves you, the teachers
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  Speaker 2: love you, the parents love you, the students love you.
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  Speaker 2: Anyone who walks through the doors that waits for over
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  Speaker 2: school is going to know that almost right away that
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  Speaker 2: you are friendly, you're loving, but you also naturally command
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: some respect with your scholars there at the school. There's
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: really something to be said about that.
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: I'm so appreciative. That's so kind of you to say, JD.
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  Speaker 5: It is the best world. I mean, all schools are
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: the best world. But I'm a bit biased by weight twever.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, sure, yes, and you've been there.
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  Speaker 3: For sixteen This is my sixteenth year.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Sixteen years of going over the Orange Heights.
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: It's true, as I said, right now, it's a little
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: longer route with the road construction, but we'll be able
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  Speaker 5: to travel faster with the.
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  Speaker 2: Smoother even in all those snowstorms.
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: Yes, a lot of moves. I really have experienced wildlife differently.
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  Speaker 5: There is when they have the signs up the same
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  Speaker 5: watch for they mean it.
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  Speaker 2: It's real.
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  Speaker 3: There's a reason.
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  Speaker 2: Listen you you have had such an impact just on
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  Speaker 2: one little girl that I hear about all the time,
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  Speaker 2: who I've caught many times sneaking things into her backpack
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  Speaker 2: to bring to you candy receis whatever it is, and
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I've caught her red handed before. What is this one lollipop?
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Who says for miss Parentoni. She's not the only one though.
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  Speaker 5: Is she?
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  Speaker 3: No? No, I smile. I started where I said.
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  Speaker 5: The whole reason you should become a principle is that
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  Speaker 5: there's a chance you're going to get two hundred and
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  Speaker 5: seventy cupcakes a year for each birthday. You know something's
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  Speaker 5: come in your way, so that that's kind of been
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  Speaker 5: the running joke.
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  Speaker 3: But yes, no toys, Yeah, sweets.
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  Speaker 5: There are times you know you call home and say,
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: did you mean met your coffeemaker was coming?
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm going to tell you and we're going
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: to dive in here on what Sweethearts and Heroes has
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: done just for your one school. But before I do,
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: I gotta say, you know, when Chriylyn and I were
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: new parents and we were shifting through those early gears
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  Speaker 2: where it was time to go to kindergarten, it was
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  Speaker 2: really massive for us. We are older parents, we have
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: one child. This is not our second rodeo, this literally
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: is our first. And we were intimidated. We were scared
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  Speaker 2: on many different levels. We didn't know anything about our
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: local school really, and we remember day one meeting you
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: out there holding signs, waving to the students who were arriving,
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  Speaker 2: hugging students getting on school buses, moving around, directing traffic,
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  Speaker 2: welcoming staff. I mean, you juggle so much and wear
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  Speaker 2: so many different hats, and right away we were like
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  Speaker 2: we got a touchdown here. I mean, this lady, if
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: she's like that, she's got to be running a great
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  Speaker 2: ship here at this school. So I just want you
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  Speaker 2: to know that that was right away. It was a
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  Speaker 2: big takeaway for us. You're always moving around, you never sit.
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  Speaker 3: Still, It is true.
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  Speaker 5: One of my favorite stories is a parent who said
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  Speaker 5: her son said, you know, mom, she's everywhere. Every time
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  Speaker 5: you turn around, there she is, which he was having
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: a conversation as a compliment, like, you know, I know her,
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  Speaker 5: but I smile because yeah, I am very visible, very present,
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  Speaker 5: very much part of.
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  Speaker 3: Their world, all of them.
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  Speaker 2: And these assemblies, these school assemblies, it's like hurting cats.
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  Speaker 2: You're dealing with millions of people, parents who don't know
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  Speaker 2: where they're going, they don't know where to sit, they
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  Speaker 2: don't know what's happening, and you're out there and you've
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  Speaker 2: got this megaphone. Sometimes it is true.
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  Speaker 3: I do love voice amplification. I do love it.
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  Speaker 2: You're just telling me real quick, you've always had a
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  Speaker 2: microphone in your hands. Oh, what's the deal? Well, what's
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: the story about that one? Did you just tell them?
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  Speaker 5: I was saying that when I was in college, I
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: worked at then Rich's department store in West lab summers
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: as a cashier, and you know, it's some of the
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: best years I've I would highly recommend retail for everybody
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: at some point in their life. But anyway, at that point,
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: they had microphones and it was every other register, and
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  Speaker 5: very early on in our relationship, they would only put
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: me on registers that didn't have a microphone because I
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: use them so excessively, and I really can be pretty
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  Speaker 5: straight up in my tone and such, and you know
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  Speaker 5: they were like, okay, all right, all right, yes, shut
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  Speaker 5: it down, girl, you.
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  Speaker 2: Got fifteen minutes to shop and then we're closed out
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  Speaker 2: the doors.
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  Speaker 5: I had, I did the service, I had those I
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  Speaker 5: had those scripted pieces.
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  Speaker 3: You had twelve minutes, and here you are today.
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  Speaker 2: You're on the intercom, you're on the microphone, you're on
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  Speaker 2: the megaphone, you're really driving the bus for so many things.
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  Speaker 2: And during these school assemblies and holiday concerts and talent
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  Speaker 2: shows and everything, you're just you've completely taken control of
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  Speaker 2: everything and your your your you're choreographing things on the fly.
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  Speaker 3: It's true.
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  Speaker 5: I don't I think it would be new information to you, okay,
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  Speaker 5: and I hope I don't have you drop off your
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  Speaker 5: stool with this.
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  Speaker 3: Uh. I spent years as a school mascot and clowning
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  Speaker 3: after that. Really really, this is a true.
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  Speaker 2: Story, like literally clowning around like like professional clown.
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  Speaker 5: Well I would have considered myself a professional, but but yes, uh,
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  Speaker 5: you know, the parades, the face makeup, the suits, the horns,
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  Speaker 5: the attempt at a unicycle.
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  Speaker 3: I did it all, man. I know. My senior portrait
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  Speaker 3: for high school is in a clown costume.
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  Speaker 2: Oh wow, it was.
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  Speaker 5: Done by Barry Photo here, which was a big deal.
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  Speaker 5: Then that's one hundred years ago. I'm kind of elderly,
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  Speaker 5: so yeah, work in the crowd. Yes, being visible that
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  Speaker 5: theatrical piece has has always kind of been in my Yeah,
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  Speaker 5: in my character.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: And your voice carries you're You're up and down the
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: hallways and we can. I mean I've walked into school
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  Speaker 2: events and you're like you right, then get over there,
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  Speaker 2: shit down, Come on, guys, we got to keep things
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  Speaker 2: on time here and you're it's incredible and everyone listens
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  Speaker 2: to you. Wow.
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: We're a family by all means, we're a team, the
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: scholars there, it's all about relationships.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Waits River School is K through pre K through eight. Okay,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: how many kids total time?
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  Speaker 3: We're at two hundred and seventy.
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  Speaker 2: All right, and staff.
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: Total staff would be fifty five, including you know, every
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  Speaker 5: amazing human being that drives in in the day that makes.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: It all work.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Yes, and you have many, many members of your team
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  Speaker 2: that without them, your job would be just impossible.
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  Speaker 3: It would be impossible without any one of them.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, Wow, takes all.
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  Speaker 4: Of us.
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  Speaker 2: And the students out there in the hills of the
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  Speaker 2: Waits River Valley. But an amazing bunch of little.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Kids, amazing outstanding humans.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: You you have to have a relationship with.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: You said, how many kids now, total two.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Hundred and seventy kids coming into your domain every day
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  Speaker 2: and there's two hundred and seventy different stories there.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and.
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  Speaker 2: It's the full gamut from wonderful stuff to not so wonderful.
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  Speaker 2: And you've got to be celebrating. You've got to be
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: happy for students. You've got to be empathetic to them
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: to what's going on behind the scenes in their life,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: which they're bringing with them to school, and they're carrying
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: that weight around all day. You've you're like, you're direct
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: in traffic, stop and go, stop and go. I can't
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: imagine this.
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: It is, yes, exactly as you describe it, which is
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: why that big team is so necessary. But yeah, it's
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: about meeting their needs in the moment so they're available
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: to learn, so they can let go or feel supported
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: and move forward.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: When I was in elementary school, kids were not hovering
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: around the principle and surrounding her like bees to honey,
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: loving up on our principle. I've seen not just commencement ceremonies.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: But I've been at the school and I've seen kids
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: are just surrounding you. I see their faces, they light
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: up when they're around you, and their teachers too. You're right,
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: you said it right. You guys are one big family there,
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: and it sounds two hundred and seventy kids, and that
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: intimidates me big time.
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  Speaker 3: A lot.
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  Speaker 2: There are incredible moments of great triumph at your school,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: lots of camaraderie, lots of happy events. Just your field
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  Speaker 2: days alone. I think you guys should sell tickets to
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: the community and have them come and have water balloon
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: fights and whatnot. You guys put on such a great
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: experience at Waits for River School, which is so far
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: beyond just learning about math, science, English and social studies.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: You guys embrace those students literally as if they are
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: your own. It's very obvious.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: It's true.
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  Speaker 5: The celebrations are so necessary because they work really hard
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: all day every day being a kid and learning, and
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: the way that they're learning, and the exhaustion on their
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: strain and their hearts and the social pieces. There's just
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: so much work involved in managing a day as a
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: youth that taking those times that allow them to celebrate
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: being a community and working and achieving goals together in a.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: Fun way, and us meeting them always.
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  Speaker 5: Where they're at, whether it be in social pieces or academic,
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  Speaker 5: you know, just puts a level of respect and up
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  Speaker 5: in the bigger entity.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, with all two hundred and seventy kids,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: there's life in school and life outside of school, and
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: some of some things are getting better and some things
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: are getting worse. Maybe things are getting better at home,
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: but you're getting worse at math. And there's some some
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: friction there, some some frustration, yes.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: And.
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: It's you're right, it's a it's a roller coaster, sure,
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: you know, and it's unpredictable and uh and it all
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: plays a part in their success as humans. But mostly,
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: I mean, each of us can look and think back
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: to our school days. Across the board, we have our
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: earliest and our latest memories of when we were in school,
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: but we have specific memories that about a teacher, about
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: a moment, about a year, and.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: So that's what we focus on.
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: What are the memories that we want them to have
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: of us when they're thirty, When they're thirty and they
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: think about you know, Sally sue, what's the memory they're
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: going to have. And those memories sometimes are hard, or
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: those moments are hard, but it's important for us to
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: put the time into changing the memory so that you know,
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: when you're fifty and you meet Sam on the sidewalk,
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: you have a variety of things to think about and
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: you're excited to encounter the human because of the work
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: they put into you.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean just a few days ago, I'm fifty four,
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: and a few days ago I was telling Well last
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Thursday a story about when I got in trouble in
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: third grade and with Missus Rockwell, and I can see
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: it and hear it and everything just like it was
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: literally yesterday, and that was third grade. But you know,
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: it was not just getting in trouble, but it was
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: also remembering the way she reacted to it and the principal.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: And we take these things, we remember them for the
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: only thing I remember in high school is that Missus
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Gledhill was dropped at gorgeous and seriously. But the elementary school,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: I remember teachers that had an impact on me, right,
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: and I remember the principal as well.
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: Right, And you also can remember moments both with your
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: peers and with teachers that made you sad.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Yep, very true.
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: And so those are the memory pieces that you know,
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: we resonate on and saying, Okay, what's the memory we
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: want them to have of us?
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Sure?
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: You know, how is this going to sustain in their heart?
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: There is so much that a student empowerment and epathy
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: team like Sweethearts and Heroes can do. But you, guys,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: are you and Sweethearts and Heroes, Tom, Murphy.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: And Rick and others Amazing humans.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Amazing literally superhumans, superheroes.
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: You all are.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Doing something that I don't really remember too well. When
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: I was in elementary school. What I remember is that
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: if something happened, it happened. If something was said, it
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: was settled at the playground or whatever. But this is
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: a whole different world, man. This is a different elementary
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: school experience than when you and I were in elementary school.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: And Tom and you all know that. I mean, this
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: is a different world. This is different life. We've got
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: social media, we've got cyber bullying, we got stuff going
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: on behind the scenes. But after school, before school, and
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: how you guys are all able to get a good
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: grasp of this, try to keep it within parameters try
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: to keep it contained, keep kids first of all, safe
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: above all things, and then happy and then educated, maybe
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: not in this order, learning things, flourishing, becoming a better
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: human being, learning not just math and sciences, but also
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: how to share, how to respect others even when they're
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: having a hard time, dealing with and coping with what
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: they're dealing behind the scenes. All of this, I mean,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: just the core curriculum. There is just a small piece
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: of everything that you must all be dealing.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: Yes, I think too.
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: I mean I think about Sweethearts and Heroes that I
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: can't say enough of the amazing work that they do.
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: It's very empowering as an adult, you know, to sit
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: in trainings with them and have them validate you know
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: that the human part of our world with children.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: Has equity. You know is important, is necessary, and that
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: we do have to teach.
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: We have to teach the pieces that we expect. You
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: can't assume, you can't assume people have the skills. You
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: have to pause and teach it and then model it
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: and practice it and celebrate it. And Sweethearts and Heroes
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: is so good, amazing with their work with adults, but
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: specifically with youth because you bring a level of trust,
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: you bring a level of respect, You bring an instant
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: level of relationship where you really want to engage with
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: someone that you're interested in, You really want to learn
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: from them, and you don't want to disappoint them, and
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: so you work hard at what they're teaching you because
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: you want to be celebrated by them. And sweethearts and heroes,
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: you know, ways of a Valley school with the partnership
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: of sweethearts and heroes just brings that to every day.
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: As a culture.
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: You know, you have to have that foundation of consistency
• 26:41
  Speaker 5: in your cultural pieces and that makes the family. You know,
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: and you have blips, but you have to stop and
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: work through the blips together.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: The amazing thing about Tom and his team is you're
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: right the impacts have on adults, but just to get
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: all of us to rethink the way that we're going
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: about our day and our lives, the way to rethink
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: the way we think or the way that we react
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: to certain things, because life's not fair and we're going
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: to be bullied. We're going to be mistreated in some capacity.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's on the playground, maybe it's outside of school,
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: maybe it's at the cafeteria. And maybe just maybe it's
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: during a time when a teacher or an administrator is
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: not observing it behind the scenes, right, And that's what
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: we really need, these tools, all of us to not
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: only learn, but also practice.
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: And take care of each other. Take care of each other,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: support each other, have a voice.
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah, build the skills so that when as we age,
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: there's no parent that doesn't want their child to be
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: independent and to have be curious about the world, but
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: in support of the human beside us, right and the
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: human in front of us. And so that takes years
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: of practice, but it takes all of us teaming together
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: and giving the same message.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Lily, when when Sweethearts and Heroes was at waits for
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: over school, I don't know how many times they've been.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: There, but they've been there a few times.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Lily came home right away and was NonStop talking
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: about it. Yeah, a bottle. Maybe a week or two later,
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: she had a situation, you know, little girl drama stuff.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: And I was like, I'm listen, I remember, like it
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: was yesterday. I was washing the dishes. She came in.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: She came in, She's telling me about this, and I'm thinking,
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: right away, I hope she reacted this way. I hope
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: she reacted that way. My mama, defend yourself, and the
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: way she described how she responded and reacted was absolutely
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: amazing to me. Frankly, I don't know if I could
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: have done it, And she told me. And I learned
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: this from those guys, those guys. Of course, I played dumb.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: What are you talking about? The sweethearts guys.
• 29:42
  Speaker 5: Yes, they have an instant ability to bring excitement and
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: wonder two of them.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: Sure, they also ask some pretty different kinds of questions.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: Oh yes, tough stuff, tough stuff that make all ages
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: stop and think right.
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: And they're the same things that you, as a parent
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: and we as educators are continually instilling in them. Sure,
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: but they they come to think that's just us, you know,
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: that's that's dad, that's missus Pantoni. When they hear it
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: from others, and specifically sweethearts and heroes, they really own it.
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, it's it's like, Okay, my my parents have
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: told me, the school tells me.
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: But I get it. This is real stuff, This is meaningful,
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: This is important.
• 30:44
  Speaker 5: And I have a job to do, and my job
• 30:48
  Speaker 5: includes taking care of other human beings to make sure
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: that I do my part in making the world a
• 30:54
  Speaker 5: better place. And and and they stand tall and they walk.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: The walk as if you didn't have to just think
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: about things like payroll, hiring, you know, administrative stuff, all
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: of that stuff, coordinating the day, planning, field trips, all
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: this stuff. Look at what you have to be. You
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: have to be a mom and a dad to a
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: lot of kids who This is the foundation, man, This
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: is make it or break a time. This is the
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: beginning of a fabulous, productive, successful individual. We're either taking
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: a left or we're taken a right. And let's be honest,
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: a lot of what we're learning isn't always being taught
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: at home by two parents who never learned those things themselves.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: Whatever they may be, none of us are perfect. But
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: these kids are coming to you. And you, guys, when
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: I say that, your whole staff and sweethearts and heroes
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: trying to make sure that these kids are walking away
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: with some real tools in their pockets on how to
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: think about things and how to react and respond to things.
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: I know that you know this.
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: I would never say anything to you that wasn't the
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: straight up fact, and the straight up fact of it is,
• 32:34
  Speaker 5: and I feel confidence in every school. I can only
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: own what's at Waite River because I experience that every day.
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: But there has never been a day that a staff
• 32:48
  Speaker 5: member in any capacity has said I don't want this.
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: I can't, I won't, I need.
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: There are many days all of us, including myself, will
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: say I'm overwhelmed, I'm sad, I'm frustrated those pieces, but
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: not a soul has ever even implied that there was
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: a human being that came onto the grounds in a
• 33:14
  Speaker 5: day that they weren't going to embrace and guide and
• 33:18
  Speaker 5: help and do everything in their power to make sure
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: they had an impact on how they made it through
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: their day. And that truly is magical. It's the best
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: profession on earth. I've heard you say that. It is
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: the absolutely I have never once in thirty eight thirty
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: nine years said gosh, what am I doing in this job?
• 33:41
  Speaker 5: And it's you say, walk on water, And I think
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: it takes all of us, you know, to make this
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: world go round. I don't think about that. I just
• 33:52
  Speaker 5: purely love it and loved them and truly hope that
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: they know how amazingly intelligent and skilled and strong and
• 34:08
  Speaker 5: passionate and what an impact they have on my life.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Speaking of which, the impact on your life when when
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: you leave school at the end of the day. I
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: can only imagine what time it is, but at some
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: point you're walking out of that building and you're getting
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: in your car. Now I know for a fact that
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: you don't have any cell service from Waits River School
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: to the top of the Orange Heights, which is about
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: at least a good ten minutes, maybe more than fifty.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: Oh goodness, I'm a very slow driver.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Twenty let's go with twenty then, so there's you know,
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: I want to know, like what happens to Carlotta Parentoni
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: when all of a sudden you're in the vacuum bubble,
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: you're in that car, everything stops. You're not able to
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: check your texts, your email, receive phone calls, make phone calls.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: Are you listening to the radio for that twenty minutes
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: or are you quiet? That's one question. Another question is
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: have you have you ever purged? Have you ever you know,
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden things come to a screaming halt
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: and you're flushed with emotion and maybe you got tears
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: running down your face between the school and the heights.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: Yes, what do I do? First?
• 35:47
  Speaker 5: I have this really amazing, beautiful family outside of school,
• 35:53
  Speaker 5: and so the first thing I always think about is
• 35:57
  Speaker 5: that next step of being with them.
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: Shift right.
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: But but I but they are so connected to my
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: day world. I mean in, I mean in that they
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: know how I'm connected to it, that I'm gonna I'm
• 36:18
  Speaker 5: gonna be able to share hypothetical funny stories.
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: I'm the best. And I say this all the time.
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: I can always cry on the way home, but I
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: can always turn it into a laugh too, which is
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: why it's such a great world. The So I don't
• 36:37
  Speaker 5: I never let go of the job. It'd be really
• 36:40
  Speaker 5: easy to say you did, but I think when you
• 36:42
  Speaker 5: work in the social sector, it's hard to say. You know,
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: I'm not thinking about them, But I do. I do
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: do family time, which is, you know, the best. And
• 36:58
  Speaker 5: I do listen to the radio. I like country music,
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: so I listen to that. I am My daughter recommended
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: an audio podcast book.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: I don't know the lingo.
• 37:14
  Speaker 5: I kind of start with that too, kind of drops
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: on the way you have limitations. But so, yes, and crying,
• 37:24
  Speaker 5: I cry. I'm a crier. It's annoying to me how
• 37:28
  Speaker 5: much I cry. I mean, please, you know I'm not like,
• 37:32
  Speaker 5: but all of my emotions, I can be embarrassed, happy, sad, overwhelmed,
• 37:38
  Speaker 5: and I'm a teary person for.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: All of them within the same hour, right.
• 37:42
  Speaker 5: Right, right, But as far as emotional overload, yes, we
• 37:46
  Speaker 5: have a file room in the office that has you know,
• 37:52
  Speaker 5: a door that weighs ten thousand pounds, and missus Thompson
• 37:55
  Speaker 5: in the front office. She'll know because I just go
• 37:58
  Speaker 5: in and shut the door and I just need to
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: let it out and then I come out again, and
• 38:04
  Speaker 5: you know that, And that's you know, probably five six
• 38:07
  Speaker 5: times since I'd been at Ways River COVID. You know,
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: that was overwhelming emotionally, you know, to take care of
• 38:16
  Speaker 5: to feel the weight of taking care of their health,
• 38:20
  Speaker 5: keeping them safe, healthy, and keeping them safe socially. You know,
• 38:25
  Speaker 5: there were some tears then, but there's a lot of
• 38:27
  Speaker 5: laughter enjoy too.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: Lily was upset because she couldn't see your smile with
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: that mask off and told me that she had to
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: pay more attention to people's eyes. And this is from kindergartener. Yeah, yeah,
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: heavy stuff.
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: Heavy stuff, but you got through it. You did. We
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: did amazingly amazing not just take.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: And care the kids and trying to teach them, but
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: also trying to console them and explain to them and
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: tell them it's going to be okay while everyone's wearing
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: a mask for not just a little while, for a
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: long time.
• 39:16
  Speaker 5: When we have and that's a big part of needing
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: the support of sreethearts and heroes and the entity of
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: each other. That there were a number of years there
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: where we socially withdrew and you know, for worry and
• 39:33
  Speaker 5: and some a lot of it were required, and a
• 39:36
  Speaker 5: lot of opportunities for our youth kind of diminished because
• 39:40
  Speaker 5: there were a couple of years that things didn't happen,
• 39:43
  Speaker 5: and so the numbers so you really have had to
• 39:46
  Speaker 5: spend a lot more time teaching how to be a friend,
• 39:51
  Speaker 5: how to engage in group activities, how to hear each other,
• 39:56
  Speaker 5: how to listen.
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and so that really, you know, became part of
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: our more intense world.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: How did you find out about Sweethearts.
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: And Heroes years ago?
• 40:14
  Speaker 5: It's Tom and I have talked Tom from Sweethearts and Heroes,
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: and we don't directly agree on when they came, but
• 40:22
  Speaker 5: I remember that the first two years I was at
• 40:24
  Speaker 5: Waite River, I was a special ed director for the
• 40:27
  Speaker 5: school and Student Services director, and so I know for
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: a fact that I first encountered with Sweethearts and Heroes
• 40:37
  Speaker 5: was during those two years because there was another administrator
• 40:40
  Speaker 5: in the building and we co planned some evening things
• 40:43
  Speaker 5: with families. So that was my first meeting with them.
• 40:48
  Speaker 5: And then since then, and I was overwhelmed with excitement
• 40:54
  Speaker 5: about their hearts and their relationships and their messages which
• 41:01
  Speaker 5: equally make you sad, just like that ride home that
• 41:04
  Speaker 5: you talk about. But then I've had the opportunity to
• 41:09
  Speaker 5: do a few professional developments summers Wells Rivers Chevrolet is
• 41:15
  Speaker 5: just amazing at sponsoring and supporting the schools and the
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: professionals in learning more. And so that's at least two
• 41:25
  Speaker 5: summers that they Wells River Chevrolet have sponsored these teacher
• 41:30
  Speaker 5: training opportunities and we've gone as teams and then as
• 41:35
  Speaker 5: well had Sweethearts and Heroes due to their sponsorship come
• 41:40
  Speaker 5: and spend time with us. I hope that you know
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: any school that can looks into that sponsorship because it
• 41:47
  Speaker 5: brings magic.
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: And it's so many Chevy Dealers.
• 41:51
  Speaker 5: Yes, I'm sure, yeah, my particular story, I do you, yes,
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: but it is overwhelmingly I mean, I say that in
• 42:00
  Speaker 5: pride at the commitment they have to helping our youth
• 42:09
  Speaker 5: of all ages become the best humans that they can.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: Bingo. Yeah, you know, I'm sitting here listening to you,
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: and I'm like, I'm thinking to myself, the next time
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: I make a run for Woodsville, I think I'm going
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: to swing in there to Wells River Chevrolet. Just pop in,
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: find out who the GM is.
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: That's a great idea, and just say just a.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: Quick hey, not here to buy a car right now.
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: Maybe it will be someday, but I just want to
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: just take five seconds to just say thanks for sponsoring
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: sweethearts and heroes and bringing them and giving them and
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: giving Waites River School the opportunity to receive them, Yes,
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: bringing them to our town in the hills. Man, we
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: need it so badly.
• 43:02
  Speaker 5: And even I mean, I know it sounds kind of hallmarkers,
• 43:05
  Speaker 5: but even people who don't necessarily have youth in a
• 43:10
  Speaker 5: school that are listening and hearing the amazing work that's happening,
• 43:13
  Speaker 5: you know, they are stopping and giving them that high
• 43:17
  Speaker 5: five of saying, you know, thanks for your commitment to
• 43:20
  Speaker 5: our communities and to our kids and to our schools,
• 43:25
  Speaker 5: and you know, all the positive stuff you're doing. Sure
• 43:30
  Speaker 5: that has nothing to do with salesmanship of a vehicle,
• 43:33
  Speaker 5: but has to do with your wanting the world to
• 43:37
  Speaker 5: just spin around a little better.
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: Sure. Yeah, I know that when Sweethearts and Heroes comes
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: through your doors, I know that you're able to take
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a deep breath. And I know
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: your staff is able to do that too, because you
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: guys know what to expect, right, you know what they're
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: going to do, and they cater things to certain age groups,
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: which is what a craft that is. And the thing
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: about Tom and his whole team at Sweethearts and Heroes
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: is they're able to keep that edge sharp all the time. Yes,
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: I got to know what to say and more importantly,
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: when to say it to these kids.
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was. I called Tom a bit ago. I
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: had a question. I felt like I needed help to,
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: you know, some ideas and thoughts on you know, how
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: to move forward. And I talked with him.
• 44:43
  Speaker 5: I mean, he picks up the phone first of all,
• 44:47
  Speaker 5: and that alone, that alone is huge because they're very
• 44:51
  Speaker 5: busy people, but they're so committed to anyone who calls
• 44:55
  Speaker 5: or works with them. Sure, so he picked up the
• 44:58
  Speaker 5: phone and I talked through the p and what I
• 45:01
  Speaker 5: was going to do and where I was headed and
• 45:04
  Speaker 5: my thoughts. And it was such an overwhelming compliment to me.
• 45:09
  Speaker 5: And I'm not when I don't need compliments, you know,
• 45:12
  Speaker 5: but we all need. Ah, it was so overwhelming to me.
• 45:16
  Speaker 5: He said, Carlotta, you've got this.
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: You did it.
• 45:19
  Speaker 5: You've got everything in place. You don't you don't need
• 45:23
  Speaker 5: sweethearts and heroes. You know you this is the way
• 45:26
  Speaker 5: you should be moving. Or I would recommend they don't
• 45:29
  Speaker 5: tell you what to do, or this is what I
• 45:31
  Speaker 5: you know, his pride and in the steps we were
• 45:34
  Speaker 5: moving and and and I remember saying, it isn't that
• 45:40
  Speaker 5: I need to teem with you. I need to know that.
• 45:44
  Speaker 5: You know, I've got a side car and I've got that.
• 45:48
  Speaker 5: We you know, have people who can come in and
• 45:51
  Speaker 5: the kids. They respect you and they value you, and
• 45:55
  Speaker 5: they need to hear your voice and see you. You know,
• 45:58
  Speaker 5: it's not about us taking a book and doing the practice.
• 46:03
  Speaker 5: It's about extending our family and bringing in more and
• 46:08
  Speaker 5: more people who form relationships with kids.
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: But it was just I care I.
• 46:17
  Speaker 5: In bed what they teach so much in my being
• 46:22
  Speaker 5: that for him to say that I was doing the
• 46:26
  Speaker 5: right thing and that you know, it just it had
• 46:29
  Speaker 5: such a moment of pride for me, like I was like, Okay,
• 46:33
  Speaker 5: I'm this is great Tom. Tom and Sweethearts and heroes
• 46:38
  Speaker 5: think we're on the right page and no school needs
• 46:42
  Speaker 5: that piece. I'm just trying to establish how important they
• 46:46
  Speaker 5: become to us and how important their opinion is to us.
• 46:49
  Speaker 5: And kids feel the same way.
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: Tom's also jumped in his car and said.
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: I'm coming, I'm on my way. Yeah.
• 47:00
  Speaker 5: Yes, and he would anytime I could call now unexpected,
• 47:04
  Speaker 5: unexpected and then and worked with kids, just said I'm here,
• 47:09
  Speaker 5: let me do some circle work. And you know it's
• 47:13
  Speaker 5: kind of I mean, Tom doesn't know this, but we
• 47:16
  Speaker 5: were recently talking about, you know, eighth grade graduation is approaching,
• 47:20
  Speaker 5: and so I said, who, who would the eighth graders,
• 47:23
  Speaker 5: you know, are they thinking about having for a speaker?
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: Wow?
• 47:27
  Speaker 5: And you know, and I said, I bet they bet
• 47:30
  Speaker 5: they come up. I bet they put Tom on the
• 47:32
  Speaker 5: list or you know, any of the team that teams
• 47:36
  Speaker 5: with him. So I haven't seen the list yet, but
• 47:38
  Speaker 5: I'm betting it would be. But it's that powerful and
• 47:42
  Speaker 5: that meaningful.
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: You know, it's also powerful is. Last night, I was
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: at a softball game. Lily was playing, and I look
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: up and there's this girl who I don't know walking
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: around the side of the field wearing a Free Hugs
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: sweatshirt on. These guys are really having an impact on
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: your school?
• 48:10
  Speaker 5: Oh yes, absolutely, and the you know, on all of us,
• 48:16
  Speaker 5: you know, the adults, you know, and there's so many capacities.
• 48:20
  Speaker 5: I get their newsletters or their email, and you know,
• 48:27
  Speaker 5: I get excited about reading and seeing, you know, what
• 48:30
  Speaker 5: their impact was, what they've done. You know, what they're
• 48:33
  Speaker 5: thinking is Thirteen Pillows a great book.
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: And and.
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: You know Pat Fish was just in here. The fact
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: that they you know, Tom quickly, I think got to
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: a point where he's like, this cannot be a one
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: man band. I need people who embody and embrace this
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: belief system of pushing hope and empathy ahead of all things.
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: And he's got He's surrounded himself with a team of
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: people that really do that, and they're they're echoing him.
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, they can hop on a plane or jump
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: in a car and head to a school and take
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: the wheel and do exactly what he's what he's doing.
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: And I referred to it as an empire, and.
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: You're thinking as you I was thinking as you were speaking,
• 49:33
  Speaker 3: how amazing that is.
• 49:37
  Speaker 5: Because it's really easy for us to think that there
• 49:41
  Speaker 5: aren't enough people who are out there working on the
• 49:46
  Speaker 5: heart and soul of our youth and our people, and
• 49:50
  Speaker 5: the empathy and the hope and resilience and curiosity. But
• 49:55
  Speaker 5: they prove the opposite. There are lots and lots of people.
• 50:00
  Speaker 5: We just have to open our eyes and we have
• 50:02
  Speaker 5: to talk to each other and instant like yourself, as
• 50:05
  Speaker 5: we talk, it's instantly, I'm instantly aware that we're like
• 50:09
  Speaker 5: thinkers with our hearts, you know, and that we want
• 50:12
  Speaker 5: the best for every human on earth, that we embrace
• 50:16
  Speaker 5: every human on earth, and we look for a way
• 50:19
  Speaker 5: that we can help them to know they're important. So
• 50:24
  Speaker 5: having those conversations and stepping out of the box is
• 50:28
  Speaker 5: the first step. And Tom does that all the time.
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: He does, and a lot of these kids are leaving
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: that school at the end of the day having something
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: crawling around in their head that is a positive impact
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: of what they heard, what they maybe felt. We always
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: remember what we feel. We rarely do we always you know,
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: verbalize that. But these kids are packing up getting the
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: backpack on getting in the bus or whatever driving home,
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: and at some point they're going to be revisiting or
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: reliving what they saw, what they heard. Maybe it was
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: just five seconds of the day that was a takeaway
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: experience for them. And it's not like they're saying to
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: their friends, oh this, And maybe they do. But a
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: lot of these kids, like Lily, came home and verbilized it.
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: But it's the ones that don't that you've positively impacted
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: that you may not be able to observe and see
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: that right away. I mean, look at the poker faces
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: on so many of these kids. You don't know what
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: kind of impact you're having, right But you've also seen
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: kids at your school locked in tight to paying attention
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: to what's being said when sweethearts and heroes take and.
• 52:03
  Speaker 3: You know we focus on kindness.
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I see it everywhere. I see it
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: on your walls everywhere. That's your priority over all things, right.
• 52:12
  Speaker 5: Which which we see are always and it's real. You
• 52:18
  Speaker 5: know that they the youngest of the oldest, yes, will
• 52:22
  Speaker 5: pick up their friend and make them, you know, feel better,
• 52:27
  Speaker 5: or celebrate them. Sure or not, their kids are not
• 52:34
  Speaker 5: as self they they don't They're not looking for self celebration.
• 52:43
  Speaker 5: They really really want to see group celebrated, and they
• 52:46
  Speaker 5: work hard to do to do that and to embrace
• 52:50
  Speaker 5: each Other's such a different world.
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: You know, as a principal, I can't imagine being in
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: your shoes to have to to have to define what's
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: what's normal banter, what's normal drama for that age versus
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: where is this? Is this kind of shifting into an
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: unwelcomed bullying type of experience and you have to make
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: that decision is this changing now? What do I have
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: to do? How do I as a principle, what do
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: I say to the to the teacher who's dealing this,
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: or what do I have to say to this this
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: this child, either the bully or the victim. Hey, look,
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: I've noticed that this is kind of changing a little
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: bit into something and I'm gonna nip it in the
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: butt right now and take care of this. That's that's
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: got to be difficult.
• 53:53
  Speaker 4: For you to do.
• 53:54
  Speaker 5: It is and it isn't because they're constant conversations. Yeah,
• 54:00
  Speaker 5: you know, where we do not you know, make think
• 54:06
  Speaker 5: saying something is funny. Yeah, you know, there's nothing. Don't
• 54:10
  Speaker 5: make assumptions about other people's feelings. Don't make assumptions about
• 54:14
  Speaker 5: other people's hearts. Stay in your personal space. Yes, wow,
• 54:19
  Speaker 5: take care of each other. Whole eye contact you know,
• 54:22
  Speaker 5: have those. Don't just say I'm sorry. It's so easy
• 54:25
  Speaker 5: to say i'm sorry. You have to explain what you're
• 54:29
  Speaker 5: sorry about and what you do differently.
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: Improve it right, prove that you're you're sorry to Tom
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: and sweethearts and heroes. Fascinating that they they not only
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: get up there and we'll preach this, but then they
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: have students practice right and role play. Wow, I know,
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: I know, And some of it.
• 55:02
  Speaker 5: I smile because it seems like the volunteers are the
• 55:05
  Speaker 5: ones you would always think are the least you know,
• 55:09
  Speaker 5: that wouldn't put their hand up and don't want to
• 55:11
  Speaker 5: be in front of a whole school and do something.
• 55:14
  Speaker 5: And then they do it, and that in itself, he
• 55:17
  Speaker 5: builds this instant It's almost like he can pick them
• 55:20
  Speaker 5: out and then he just builds up their confidence and
• 55:24
  Speaker 5: suddenly they're flying. You know, they're just so excited about
• 55:28
  Speaker 5: engaging in this and learning and the message at the end.
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: Are there troublemakers? Are there students who are misdirected and
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: who are struggling because they're constantly getting into issues.
• 55:49
  Speaker 5: I think there's not a human alive at any age
• 55:55
  Speaker 5: who doesn't struggle with moments. Our emotions are big, and
• 56:04
  Speaker 5: our hearts. When we are sad, we're sad, and it's helping. So, yes,
• 56:11
  Speaker 5: the troublemakers know there there are behavior, is communication, you
• 56:17
  Speaker 5: know what's going down, what's needed, there's you take care
• 56:23
  Speaker 5: of each other, but in the right way. You have high,
• 56:25
  Speaker 5: high expectations of people. You don't have a lower your expectations.
• 56:30
  Speaker 5: You help them to grow and learn and develop as
• 56:33
  Speaker 5: they go. But but you know, there's no age where
• 56:38
  Speaker 5: we're not on emotional overload at times.
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: Sure, and.
• 56:44
  Speaker 5: You know it's it's knowing. It's knowing when to ask
• 56:48
  Speaker 5: for help and when to take a walk and catch
• 56:52
  Speaker 5: your breath, but also when to be held accountable. Sure,
• 56:56
  Speaker 5: you know some things you just have accountable to because
• 57:02
  Speaker 5: you know. As a consequence.
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: I have.
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: I've had direct contact with bus drivers and staff at
• 57:18
  Speaker 2: your school who have told me that if there's a
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: situation on a bus, that you step right onto that
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: bus and look out at all those students and get
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: control of whatever that is and let these kids know, Hey,
• 57:51
  Speaker 2: you're here at this school right now. If you want
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: to step off this bus and come into school and
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: be a good person and learn something and have a
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: positive experience here in a great day, you're welcome to
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: get off the bus. And if you don't, let me
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: know and I'll bring you home. And I'm not trying
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: to speak for you, but you you've made students feel
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: like I'm lucky to be at the Waites River School.
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: I'm lucky to this is a privilege. I'm glad to
• 58:30
  Speaker 2: be here where there's some structure and some parameters. And
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: you've also done this at the backside of the day too. Look,
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: not going to tolerate it. We know what you're doing.
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: You're riding home in this bus. Behave yourself because I'm
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: watching and I'm listening and I'm paying attention and I
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: care and I love that about you.
• 58:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah, though it's of course I don't know if I
• 58:57
  Speaker 5: mean I could never be a bus driver. Well, I
• 59:01
  Speaker 5: say that because it is a very stressful job, sure,
• 59:05
  Speaker 5: and has the highest level of responsibility you get, taking
• 59:10
  Speaker 5: sixty kids and being responsible for them, you know, And
• 59:16
  Speaker 5: after seven and a half hours of sitting in a
• 59:19
  Speaker 5: classroom and finally having social pieces.
• 59:22
  Speaker 3: So yes, it's really.
• 59:24
  Speaker 5: Important to instill in them following the directions and helping
• 59:29
  Speaker 5: and being accountable to all adults in our lives, which
• 59:33
  Speaker 5: includes bus drivers. But most importantly it is I think
• 59:39
  Speaker 5: it's come to Waits River and again I only can
• 59:44
  Speaker 5: own Waits River. It's most important that they come excited
• 59:50
  Speaker 5: and confident, sure and comfortable and feel like it's safe
• 59:55
  Speaker 5: to take academic risk. They'll be heard and they'll be respected,
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 5: but that there are it is structured. Everyone thrives on structure.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: And it's expected that they're going to return the same right.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 3: And and they do that.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 5: You know, I've had times where I say, Okay, would
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 5: you say this at the dinner table tonight? Would you
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 5: you know, if you were at the doctor's office, you know,
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 5: would you say they? And so helping them to see
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 5: that generalized skill piece is important.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: Lily has said to me, miss Parentoni says that if
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: it happens again, she's gonna call you or mom. I
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: hope she calls you.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 3: Parents are amazing.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I became It was easy for me to assume
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 5: how parents could do a better job of it before
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 5: I had children. And you know, it's a hard job.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 5: It's the best job on earth, the best job I've
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 5: ever had, still have, but it's hard, and so teaming
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 5: and collaborating and working with families is I mean, it's
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 5: just magical.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: That was not really happening when I was in elementary
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 2: school in the mid and late seventies.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 5: It was.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: The kids are at the school, and then the kids
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: are not at the school, and that's it. There wasn't
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 2: a whole lot of There wasn't email, There wasn't phone
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: calls going back and forth between mom and dad. What's
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: going on over there, what's happening, you know, little Johnny
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: did this or what. There wasn't a lot of that.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: It was the bus dropped us off and the door
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: closed behind us. On the other side of life. Now
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: everything is merged together.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 3: It is true.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 5: And being as rule as we are, you know, you know,
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 5: it's two communities tops them in current that combine to
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 5: one school. And those communities are so supportive of their school,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 5: their kids. You know, they have high expectations for the school,
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 5: but they will help and guide and support and participate
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 5: and advocate.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: Not just the sporting events either, no, no, everything, the dances,
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: the fields.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 5: The music, the world language pieces. Sweethearts and Heroes, that
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 5: cultural uh building, the character development.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 3: You know that anything.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 5: You know, they they want to prepare, They want to
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 5: make sure their children are prepared for their future and
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 5: that they have high expectations of themselves.
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 3: And they set goals.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 5: You know, they want their youth to be excited about
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 5: setting goals and achieving them.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: I see here about two thousand elementary school students and
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: about one hundred high school students from six North Country
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: schools right here in our area are participating in community
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 2: days during May and June with Sweethearts and Heroes. They're
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: doing age appropriate obstacle courses, team challenges similar to the
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: Spartan event that they did during that Youth Leadership summit
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 2: last September. Sweethearts and Heroes is there's no fool around
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: with these guys. They take what they do and what
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: comes off of their lips very seriously.
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 5: Yes, I'm hopeful that our next step with them, and
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 5: we're just starting conversation. And they have a program where
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 5: they train middle school high school scholars to facilitate and
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 5: support the younger classes in the school around that circle piece,
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 5: that character building, that leadership to be a social hero
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 5: and that is really not mine but our hope, you know,
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 5: for our next steps with them.
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've got a senior from tay Konderoga High School
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 2: who is doing just this, just got certified in their
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 2: K through two step program and you know, having massive
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 2: impacts on young children who look up to these older students. Yes,
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 2: big time. So she's going to be coming on the
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: air with me, Haley, It's going to be coming on
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 2: the air with me shortly. Is that something that's going
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: to be incorporated at Waites River School?
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 5: I think that what will be incorporated is our next
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 5: steps about building the capacity and building the commitment that
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 5: well there is the commitment, but building the middle school
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 5: mindset of taking helping them to learn what their role
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 5: can be, and that would be with the support of
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 5: sweethearts and heroes by all means. The more youth leadership
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 5: that can be provided in a school around character development, hope, empathy, kindness,
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 5: you know, you can't you couldn't possibly ask for more.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 5: They need they listen to each other, They need to
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 5: support each other, guide each other, learn from each other.
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 2: With empathy comes a very difficult part of empathy is
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 2: and involves listening and shutting your own thoughts off for
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: a little while and just being quiet and listening with
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: an open mind and let someone tell their full story
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: before you interrupt him, which I'm guilty of because I
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: have so many questions. But just to be quiet and
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 2: listen to others. We all have unique experiences in our
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 2: lives after school, before school, to teach for tom and
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: sweethearts and heroes, to be teaching other kids to become
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: people like this, he's creating a monster.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 3: And yes, to feel heard is.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you don't have to feel agreed with, but you
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 5: need to feel heard. And teaching children to hear the emotions,
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 5: the personal stories, the connection, making connections they didn't ever write,
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 5: and not making judgment. Sure, just being available to hear
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 5: and let someone release what they're feeling.
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 3: You don't.
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 5: You can't always fix things. Sure, you shouldn't judge things,
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 5: but you can walk out feeling safe that you are
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 5: able to release.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah something, I mean, it's magical.
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: Man, It's so easy to judge. Though it is easy,
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 2: we're all guilty of it. We see something. There is
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 2: a huge difference between listening and hearing, and hearing is biological.
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 2: We need to listen more.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 5: Yes, I work. I try to use the word curious.
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 5: I try to, which isn't easy for me. I too
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 5: work constantly on pausing and listening, and sometimes I need
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 5: reminders the but I'm I'm curious. I have a picture
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 5: in my office that's a reminder for me to pause
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 5: and be curious. If we heard another way, or we
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 5: did something differently than the way that we're accustomed to.
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 5: How I'm curious to know how it might come out,
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 5: how it might end, and then and then go from there.
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 5: So yes, teaching them curiosity in other people's thinking, sure.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 3: Is important.
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 2: We all have different interpretations of what's being said to us,
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 2: a different way of listening to it, different way of
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 2: understanding and absorbing what it is. This way sitting in
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 2: a circle, which is you know as Tom is always pushing,
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 2: is frankly ancient, goes back to when caive mean I
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 2: don't know, but to be all sitting in a circle,
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: we can all see each other, we can all hear
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 2: each other, we can all listen to one another. While
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 2: someone's talking, we're observing the look in someone else's face.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 5: Is talking stick, Yes, magical. I don't know if you've
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 5: seen his talking sticks, but you know that it's a
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 5: great opportunity that you if you have the talking stick,
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 5: then you're speaking and everyone's listening. It's an easy reminder
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 5: because just it's so easy to jump.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you What is the thing that you do?
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 2: You come into the gymnasium where there's billions of people
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 2: and you do something. You're like, oh, yeah, what the
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 2: power is that?
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 5: It's a clap once if you can hear me, clap
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 5: choice if you can hear me, And usually at the
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 5: start and you start and you're talking just like I am,
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 5: and so once someone hears one clap, then you know,
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 5: it rolls into It's sort of like the wave. You
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 5: know when you go to I don't know, you go
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 5: to things that people do the wave. I act like
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 5: I know, I've never been to anything where people did
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 5: the wave. I've just seen it done. Yes, really not
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 5: a wave kind of person, but so yes, when I
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 5: taught fifth grade for a number of years, and that's
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 5: that was the.
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 3: Thing someone taught me. Now they have chimes, they have
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 3: all kinds of different things. Do you.
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 2: Do you remember cheech and chong? And I do.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 5: Sister Mary Ellis, I don't remember Sister Mary Elephant I
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 5: never had television as a child.
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 2: I'm just telling you this, that's the opposite.
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 3: That's funny. I'm gonna have to look it up.
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 2: When when is Sweethearts and Heroes coming back to Waits
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: River School?
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 5: Well, I hope in the fall, for sure. I think
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 5: it's We had them in January as a full group,
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 5: and then Tom, well Rick came back and worked individually
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 5: with some circle work with the younger grades, and then
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 5: Tom came back and work did some individual work with
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 5: the middle school. So I'd really like to have us
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 5: look at the fall for a start off, you know,
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 5: sort of that jump off for the beginning of the year,
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 5: and then go from there.
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to try to disguise myself as a
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 2: student and and penetrate the perimeter and get in there
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 2: so that I can be uh, you know, so I
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 2: can observe this somehow. What do I have to do
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 2: hiding a duffle back?
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 5: I have a lot of costume please pieces in my
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 5: office as well, So don't ever ever pause about swinging
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 5: in and just being able to be in disguise quickly.
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 2: All right, all right, you get big duck duck boots.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 3: Oh, I have really big clown shoes.
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 2: All right, good, all right. I would just love to
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 2: experience anytime. I'm jealous that these kids get to hear
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 2: these presentations and experience these impacts from Sweethearts and heroes.
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 2: Having them in here is great, but I would love
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 2: to see them in their elements well, and I.
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 5: Think too, it's good you say that. Another piece that
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 5: they bring it that we haven't done in a long
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 5: long time is to have a nightly commune component. Bring
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 5: the families in and have them here and see and
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 5: experience the work of Sweethearts and Heroes huge and they.
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 2: I'll say this again, adults, even kids, take the make
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 2: the time, and take the opportunity if you're passing by
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 2: one of these Chevy dealers to even just shoot them
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 2: an email or drop something on their social media if
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 2: you can, to just thank them for supporting Sweethearts and
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 2: Heroes and allowing this amazing organization to get into as
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 2: many schools as possible.
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 5: Agree, I'm so appreciative of them, and of the Welthiver
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 5: Chevrolet and the Chevrolet as a whole, because they're it's
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 5: interesting and I know, you know, again it's going to
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 5: sound kind of goofy, but my original experience training with
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 5: Sweethearts and Heroes as a summer institute. I signed up
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 5: for it simply because someone out sponsored it and I
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 5: wasn't going to have to use my professional development funds
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 5: for it, and I could, you know, just go and
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 5: check it out. And I went and I experienced it,
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 5: and I have forever, forever been altered by my learning
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 5: and integrated into what I do in a day. So
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 5: if I'm so appreciative of people sponsoring this work.
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 2: And look at all these different schools that they have
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 2: been to right here in central Vermont, Waits River is
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 2: only one of them. Yes, but I'm going to see here,
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 2: and I know I've got it somewhere.
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 3: Recently in Washington.
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 2: Weren't they in Orange in Newberry?
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 3: I love Newberry.
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Ludlow Elementary, Woodbury Elementary School, Lakeview Elementary, Brookside Elementary,
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 2: Orange Center School. Hopefully more schools will get in touch
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 2: with them and say we need you hear when can.
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 3: You come agree?
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 5: I can't stress as the staff, the scholars, there's no
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 5: one who doesn't instantly connect with them and value what
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 5: they're doing.
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 2: I can't wait until I see him again. I don't
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 2: know when that's going to be. I can't wait to
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 2: talk with Haley from Taekwonder Roga High School. And I
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 2: can't wait to have these boys in here in the
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 2: studio again, all of them. Louden was in here, Brian, Pat,
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 2: the list goes on, and I can't wait to get
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 2: Rick back in here too. And what an absolute pleasure
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 2: it has been to have the principle of my daughter's
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 2: elementary school, Carlotta Parentoni, here in the studio with me,
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 2: giving great testimony to the great things that Sweethearts and
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 2: Heroes not only has done but continues to do. And
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 2: thank you for taking time out of your insane schedule
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 2: to be here with me today.
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you. I am so honored to be here
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 3: with you. I mean that, Yeah, genuinely.
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 5: It's it's been magical and I appreciate being invited.
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 2: Will you come back? I'll come back, yes, got it,
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 2: And hopefully I'll be able to sneak into the next
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 2: Sweethearts and Heroes School assembly.
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've got the perfect outfit for.
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 2: You, all right. Awesome, Thank you Carlotta so much.