Supercast

Anthony Godfrey:
We started in September on construction. When will we be ready to open?

Scott:
We plan on turning over the middle of August.

Ross Menlove:
We reach kids across the entire District and across the state, but this new location is going to be one central location for us. We're super excited to have one place where kids can come. Kids are going to be doing science experiments and doing creative projects. Just haven't been done before. Making things, designing, being able to be creative, be innovative.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is an exciting new addition to Jordan School District, using a cost-efficient approach to provide a growing number of essential and specialized educational services to families in a centralized location. On this episode of the Supercast, find out what Jordan School District is doing with the former Walmart space across from Elk Ridge Middle School off of 9800 South in South Jordan. It is a space that's being transformed into the Jordan Learning Center, or JLC, and excitement is growing for students, teachers, staff, and the programs which will soon call the remodeled space home.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here touring through, taking a look at the construction that's underway to create the Jordan Learning Center here. We're with Scott and Ian. Introduce yourselves and let's talk a little bit about this building.

Scott:
Yeah, like he said, my name's Scott. I'm with Engage Contracting. I'm the project manager on the Jordan Learning Center. We're excited to push this thing through to the end.

Ian Roberts:
I am Ian Roberts with Jordan School District, the Capital Outlay Manager. As it's been said, this was a Walmart building at one point and it's made quite a transformation into what it is today, just a little under 41,000 square feet. We'll house our Child Development Center, our Jordan Education Foundation, and our virtual schools.

Anthony Godfrey:
The Jordan Credit Center is going to be tucked in this corner where we're speaking from right now. So these are programs that have had multiple locations, changing locations, locations that weren't large enough to accommodate their needs. I'm really excited about this central location across the street from a school. Just so happens that a crosswalk is going in and the light is going in so there will be easy access to Elk Ridge Middle School when we need a gym and those sorts of services. I have to tell you, I am amazed at how much larger the building feels now that there are walls in here. I know that sounds strange, but you have made incredible use of this space with MHTN as the architects designing this. We've worked closely with them, but you and your team have done such a great job. Tell me about this project.

Scott:
Yeah, so we started it. It was about September of 2024. It was just boots on the ground. The project was already designed. So we came in, bid the project and got started right away. I think one of the most exciting parts is just seeing all the new designs. K through 12 construction was new to Engage Contracting specifically. We've done higher education. We've done work at Weber State. But this one introduces some new elements to us that were exciting to us, like I say, with the different art elements, colors, the millwork and things like that, that's been exciting. Some of the other things that were neat about this project is the number of skylights they put in for the energy efficiency and also just to kind of bring the outside in type deal as you can see already. Well, you can't see because we're talking, but there's a fair amount of windows. The windows are large and kind of bring that inside element. But the light that those things are going to bring through those 16 skylights shining down through various parts of the building, whether they be through open ceiling spaces or drop ceilings or hard lit ceilings, it's really going to bring that daylight in and connect with the outside.

Anthony Godfrey:
That design element and the work you're doing there makes a big difference. We know that kids learn better and people work better and everyone's happier when there's a little bit of daylight involved. That's only one of the reasons that this no longer feels anything like the Walmart that it used to be. Tell me about the work out on the front. There's been a lot of concrete work that looks really good and it doesn't look anything like it used to. It's a very welcoming entry even at this stage.

Scott:
Yeah, so the concrete is exciting. The cool thing about that is there's really no straight edges out there. Everything kind of curves and winds around. And in fact, what you can't see now is we have some precast benches that follow those same design elements and shapes, so we'll have some curved benches. There is a long straight bench out front just kind of next to the parking area to utilize as well. The other exciting element that you're going to see out front is the structural steel entrance canopy. You can see that now that'll end up getting painted. And then we'll have a plexiglass sitting on top of that to just kind of go along with the design. There is some lighting underneath the hard canopy immediately outside the entrance doors right there.

Anthony Godfrey:
The little half door that they used to push shopping carts through is long gone. No longer. We started in September on construction. When will we be ready to open?

Scott:
Plan on turning over the middle of August. We're on track to do so. You guys moved in and get these last few elements wrapped up.

Anthony Godfrey:
The thing that this accomplishes is not only does it create space for these programs, but it opens up space where the programs were previously housed and allows us to make full use of the schools and facilities where we were trying to make everyone fit previously. So, it opens up space for others and creates space for these programs. So, thank you all for the work that you've done to make that possible. Now, I understand that you have a connection to Jordan previous to this.

Scott:
Yes. So, I grew up just across the street in Glenmoore. I went to Elk Ridge Middle School the first year it opened. Me and my siblings were raised in the Jordan School District.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome. Did you gaze across the street and say, “One day I will build there?”

Scott:
I never thought about it. It was a field back then.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it's pretty cool to have you here. When Elk Ridge opened up, I was teaching at West Hills. So Elk Ridge pulled students from West Hills. So that's very yeah, you were you were in middle school when I was teaching middle school. So, Ian, this is a very different project from what we normally have going in the summer. But this is not new for us, making use of an existing building, purchasing that and then making it into what we want it to be. Talk about that process and how this is a unique building.

Ian:
Yeah, every project, especially existing, comes with its own little set of challenges. We deal with different construction methods as we purchase a building versus what we do when we construct a building from new. MHTN has worked really great with us and been able to create a design and be able to bring this building up to those standards that we typically have with our elementary or high schools or middle schools that we build from the ground up.

Anthony Godfrey:
This is a building that is intended to welcome members of the community for the Foundation, students of all ages, for the CDC, with our virtual schools and with our credit center. So we're really going to be pulling people from across the District. So it's exciting to have such a nice building in such a perfect location. Well, Engage has been doing a tremendous job. We're excited to be working with you on this project. So thanks for everything you're doing. Talking now with Ross Menlove, one of three principals in our virtual schools, you're over the elementary school, Rocky Peak. Tell us where you've been, what locations you've been using, and why this is going to be a step forward for you.

Ross Menlove:
So, yeah, for the last few years, we've been using the Majestic Elementary portables in the back and then combining with Bluffdale with Hidden Valley Middle School out in Bluffdale to be able to provide our program because we reach kids across the entire District and across the state. But this new location is going to be one central location for us. We're super excited to have one place where kids can come. Yes, we are a virtual elementary and our instruction is online, but kids come in and we get together to learn STEM projects. We get to do art, to do a bunch of fun activities and also get together, go on field trips, go explore and go do a lot of fun things and have the complete school experience virtually.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you're across the street from Elk Ridge Middle School. So if you need school amenities, you're going to be close by to be able to access that.

Ross Menlove:
Oh, it'll be so great. We've always partnered with our great schools. We've been with Hidden Valley and Elk Ridge. We've already chatted with them and they have a great location and they have a lot of space. We can do all of our fun activities. We do activities each quarter as not just as a school, but as a whole virtual academy and get everybody involved from kindergarten up until they graduate.

Anthony Godfrey:
And just as a reminder, we have elementary, middle and high school, three distinct virtual schools where you can learn synchronously in time with the teachers. Or you can learn by watching a recording and participating after the fact. It's a very successful school and enrollment really is booming at all three levels. There's space available, but we've also had record numbers this last year.

Ross Menlove:
That is so true. We provide all our families an opportunity to learn what works best for them. At our elementary, we have kids that learn on their own with their families, with their parents. We partner with the parents to provide a great curriculum and the best learning experience for each kid in the middle, the elementary, middle school and high school.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I think this building shows the Board’s and the District's commitment to continuing to provide virtual learning for every student who wishes to access that. And describe this space here. We're going to have a very unique space that was informed by our visits to some big tech leaders and how they have their offices organized and I think it's really going to be conducive to virtual teaching.

Ross Menlove:
Yeah, not only for kids coming in and activities, but you're going to have learning booths and teaching booths for teachers to come in and work together. You're going to have spaces that used to be just one big room. Now you're going to be able to consolidate that down into different learning spaces that accommodate different needs and different styles of teaching and learning. But also we have an amazing maker space. Kids are going to be doing science experiments and doing creative projects. Just haven't been done before. Making things, designing, being able to be creative, be innovative, and it's a space that allows for that. A space that has openness, that has the feel of being creative and being innovative and be able to learn at high levels.

Anthony Godfrey:
And there are lots of teacher workstations here as well. Talk about that.

Ross Menlove:
Oh, yeah. So, we have. It's really fun. There's silent kind of recording booths or even a teaching booth where you can go and you can teach your class and you have a space that's quiet. But you can interact with your kids online, interact virtually, but also you can have them come in. You work with them one-on-one. It's an environment that kind of best fits the needs of each kid's learning styles.

Anthony Godfrey:
That plus all the home bases for each teacher is really, really going to make it nice to be able to accommodate all of our virtual teachers and great work. And if students of any age want to sign up for virtual schools, where do they go?

Ross Menlove:
They go to jordanvirtual.org or in your search, you can search all the schools. Rocky Peak Virtual Elementary, Kelsey Peak Virtual Middle School and King's Peak High School.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thank you very much, Ross.

Ross Menlove:
Well, thank you. This is amazing. And thank you to the Board. And we're so excited to move into our new space.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, we'll be speaking with more of the leaders who will be a part of some of the programs here at JLC.

Male voice:
Never miss an episode of The Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Female voice:
Does your student want to become a veterinarian, commercial pilot, programmer? Maybe they want to make a difference as a dental assistant. These are just some of the programs offered as part of Career and Technical Education. CTE in Jordan School District. CTE provides the technical skills needed to prepare students for future employment or for a successful transition to post-secondary education. Career and technical education provides work-based learning opportunities. We partner with industry experts to offer apprenticeships and internships with students working in the real world at real jobs while going to school. The CTE experience starts in our elementary schools with the kids' marketplace and grows through middle and high school. To explore all CTE has to offer in Jordan School District, visit cte.jordandistrict.org today. And let's get your child started on the pathway to a profession.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking now with Mike Haynes, the director for the Jordan Education Foundation. This is going to be a very different space from what you've had before, Mike.

Mike Haynes:
Yes, thank you, Superintendent. This is super cool. We have space to accommodate donations. So right now, we've got them spread all over the District.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, you'll find an empty classroom, half of an empty portable, whatever it takes to be able to store what's donated.

Mike Haynes:
You're exactly right. And probably people listening to this have been one of those who have offered some help by letting us use a room or two. But we'll have a dock. We'll have space to accept donations from vehicles as they drive up. We'll have plenty of space to store things in the warehouse. And it'll be a central place for us to help provide those donated goods to students or teachers in need. It'll be really centrally located. It'll be really helpful

Anthony Godfrey:
We've had to turn donations down before because we did not have enough space. It's rare, but we've had to do it.

Mike Haynes:
You're right. And it's painful when we know that we can use those donations six, eight months down the road, but we have nowhere to go with them. So this will really be nice.

Anthony Godfrey:
And with the high ceilings here, you have shelving that is planned to really make the most of this space and also allow for some assembly to take place, putting together backpacks, putting together weekend food packs so that it can all be set up, volunteers can come in and we can make the most of their time.

Mike Haynes:
You're exactly right. I was going to bring that up as well. This space will accommodate those tables. That's one of our plans is to help engage some of the community to come out and help build those weekend packs, snack packs, hygiene kits, things like that. And, you know, when people get in and help, volunteer, serve and donate time, this will be a great way to accommodate that.

Anthony Godfrey:
This is at the back of the building, but you also have a nice office space plan where meetings can take place and also a wall where donors can be honored. Those who are not familiar with the Foundation may not realize just how many events are going on and how many donations you're processing. So this space will really make a difference in that.

Mike Haynes:
You're right. There is a lot. We also have 32 volunteer board members. So, accommodating everybody at one time has been a challenge. This will be really nice to have a place that will be beautiful, accommodating and support the needs as we work with the community, the schools, the students.

Anthony Godfrey:
If people have an in-kind donation, will they be able to drop that off at this building?

Mike Haynes:
Yes. Day of Service, September 11^th, is always a big day where people line up to donate big packets of food that they prepared. This will be a great place for that. They'll just pull right in. We'll accommodate that, unload them and whether it's food or other items, this will be a great location for that.

Anthony Godfrey:
If anyone wants to make a donation, where do they go to do that?

Mike Haynes:
Jordaneducationfoundation.org “Donate Now” button. We'd love it.

Anthony Godfrey:
OK. Thanks very much.

Mike Haynes:
Thank you, Superintendent.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking now with Beth Lewis, who works in the newly created Jordan Credit Center. Thanks for talking with us, Beth.

Beth Lewis:
Thank you for having me.

Anthony Godfrey:
This is the space where actually you're going to start the Jordan Credit Center. I know the operation started this summer and this winter, really, but this will be the first designated location for the credit center. Tell everyone a little bit about what's involved.

Beth Lewis:
So the Jordan Credit Center is a place where students who need credit to graduate can come to us. We provide four different options. They can take competency tests. So if they have had the course through homeschool or they just know the information really well, they can come and test out of the class or they can do original asynchronous credit with us. They can do grade replacement credit with us, and they can do credit recovery with us.

Anthony Godfrey:
Credit recovery, grade replacement, all of that, the level of work and the type of course and what we offer will vary. So if you fail the class, but you need to make up that credit, that's different from never having taken the class, but wanting to earn credit without taking the traditional brick and mortar or virtual class that you might find elsewhere.

Beth Lewis:
Correct. Our credit recovery program enables students who have had classes before, but they have failed to get the information that the state and the District have deemed necessary for them to show competency in the class and so it is an abbreviated course. Then grade replacement is the same as if they took the course brick and mortar. It's a full class. It just replaces their grades that they earned before. Then the original credit is just like taking a class in the brick and mortar. It's just all online and it's asynchronous. It provides opportunities for students who want to accelerate their program, get through classes faster, or for students who need a little bit of extra time. If a nine-week quarter doesn't work for them, they can take 12 weeks if they need to.

Anthony Godfrey:
It also works for acceleration. You already know the material from the course and you want to demonstrate that you know the material and really shouldn't have to take the course. We provide an avenue for people to earn credit that really already have the knowledge we'd be covering in class.

Beth Lewis:
Yes, we do have that. That's our Demonstrated Competency Program and we do that for students who are coming to us through non-traditional routes. Or like you said, have the knowledge already and sitting through that class at school is not necessary for them because they already know the information.

Anthony Godfrey:
How would they contact the Jordan Credit Center if anyone's interested in earning credit through you?

Beth Lewis:
If you're interested, we have our information on our website. If you search Jordan Credit Center, it's the first link that shows up. You do need to register for our programs through your counselor, so you do need to talk to your counselor at your boundary school in order to register with us. They also have information for you and can direct you to the right locations for testing or for courses.

Anthony Godfrey:
We'll talk with you more in a future podcast because there's a lot to unpack there. Tell us about why this location will work so well for the JCC.

Beth Lewis:
The number one reason is because it's central. It's in the middle of the District, so students from the south can get here just as easily as students from the north end of the District. It's a great location because students need to have a space to test and they need to have a space sometimes to get extra help and we provide that for them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, we're really looking forward to it and I know great things have already been happening this summer with thousands of students being helped earn credit. Otherwise, they'd have to find other places outside of the District and we're really excited for teachers to have the opportunity to work and do that this summer, those who are interested, and for students to earn credit that they need. So thank you for all your efforts getting that up and running with the others who've been working on that.

Beth Lewis:
Thank you. It's been a pleasure doing this for our students and for our community.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today.” We'll see you out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are the negative impacts that you see, especially in youth, as a result of vaping?

Dr. Blagev:
The analogy was smoking. It took decades for us to be able to understand kind of the longer term COPD, lung cancer, heart disease risk. The other category I worry about is the lifelong addiction.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Do you know the signs to watch for if you suspect your teen may be vaping? Do you want to talk with your teen about vaping but don't know where to begin? On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with a physician from Intermountain Health Riverton Hospital, who gives us some strategies for approaching the subject of vaping. Find out why it's a conversation that could save your teen from serious health complications now and in the future due to what doctors say are the real dangers of vaping.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with Dr. Blagev, the chief medical officer at Riverton Hospital, to talk about vaping. Thanks very much for taking time.

Dr. Blagev:
Thanks so much for inviting me.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, what are the negative impacts that you see, especially in youth, as a result of vaping?

Dr. Blagev:
You know, one point overall for negative impact is that we're still learning about them. So if you think about the analogy with smoking, it took decades for us to be able to understand kind of the longer term COPD, lung cancer, heart disease risks. So I would say that we're still learning about these longer term effects. In terms of the more immediate effects, we do know, we know that there's a range of kind of immediate severe effects and that would be where e-valley, so e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury, would be in that category. That was in the news a few years ago where young people otherwise healthy vape, and then have really devastating lung disease and even might die from that. And that's one big concern because of the severity. Not the most common concern actually, but quite severe. The other category I worry about is the lifelong addiction. And that's really when you think about a broad population getting children hooked on this and more than even the nicotine or the THC per se, it's also teaching them kind of coping skills for life with this thing. And that's the thing that makes it sort of lifelong for them. You know, we did a study of people who had lung disease, you know, e-valley, right? Like the most severe consequence of vaping, the most immediate, you're not talking about lung cancer in 20 years, life changing, right? Like in an ICU, super sick, directly linked to vaping. And when we followed these people out a year or two later, you know, only about 40% were able to quit all vaping and smoking. So you think about how ingrained that is for them and how challenging it is to quit. That's kind of what they've reached for or how they've learned to cope or to deal with anxiety or with life. And I think that's sort of the big question, is how do you address those underlying issues to help people not pick it up?

Anthony Godfrey:
And that is what we focus on as district is trying to help connect families and students to resources that can help address the underlying issues that drive a student to vape. And it's chilling what you've pointed out that once a student starts, once a child starts to vape, there can be severe medical impact. And despite that very clear evidence that vaping is damaging their lungs, making their quality of life go down, stepping away from vaping is just very difficult. And Jordan School District has actually been involved in a class-action lawsuit and was successful in receiving a settlement, as many other districts did nationwide, in fighting the advertising and marketing to teens that had happened with Juul and other and other manufacturers. So we've been actively working against that. The interesting thing is we do have some detectors out there, but they're, like you said, it's so new that there aren't even reliable detectors. But we really do try to identify the students who suffer from that addiction and really try to address not just that issue, but the underlying issues and the access, where are the access points, how are they able to get this. Now some parents listening may not know the varieties that are available or all the ways that vaping is made enticing to teens. Can you describe how flavors and devices and all of that factor into the allure?

Dr. Blagev:
Yeah, you know it's so interesting because if you look at the uptick of vaping, it really follows kind of the blueprint for how smoking cigarettes was made into a thing, right? Like down to the, it's sexy to be smoking. So now, you know, there's regulations around cigarettes and movies and social media and advertising and really vaping exploited the lack of regulation. So you would have social media influencers and others where people are vaping. It's the cool, hip, new thing. It's for young people. I think one of the things about vaping is it often gets sold as this kind of harm reduction intervention. So you have someone who's, you know, they've started smoking when they were nine buying cigarettes for their dad and now they're 70 and they've been smoking their entire life and it's so hard to quit smoking. The vaping is this harm reduction we can switch to. And that's fine if it's effective and it depends where you are and what the nicotine content is and the context on whether or not it's effective. But that's not their big market. The big market is getting a bunch of young people to start vaping because it's hip, it's cool, their friends are doing it, celebrities are doing it, it looks modern, it has all kinds of appealing flavors and that's the thing that drives it, right? And it's high-tech, right? It's not this old thing. It looks, you know, like USB ports or technology.

Anthony Godfrey:
Paper is not involved.

Dr. Blagev:
Yeah. So it's really, and it's not this, you know, it's kind of like the cartoon characters that were selling cigarettes in the old days, right? It's not this accidental thing where adults are making a rational choice. It's really pretty targeted, effective advertising to children. Like that's when people start and build these habits that make their life love.

Dr. Blagev:
And we're better at impacting behavior than we've ever been. There are more methods of doing that, more points of access through social media and just through the internet. Yeah, and you referenced if you can get someone started when they're young, then you have a lifelong customer and the advertising has been pretty targeted at teens or it was before more regulation came into place.

Anthoy Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. More information about vaping from Intermountain Healthcare.

Male voice:
Never miss an episode of The Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Female voice:
In Jordan School District, we like to support students in and outside the classroom along with their families. That's where the Jordan Family Education Center comes in, offering support services and a wide variety of classes for students and their families free of charge. You can take a class called Blues Busters for children feeling sad or worried. Just Breathe is a class that helps students reduce stress. Or how about a class that supports parents in helping their children make and keep good friends. There are also support groups and free counseling, all provided by Jordan School District school psychologists and counselors. To find out how you can benefit from free family support services offered by the Jordan Family Education Center, call 801-565-7442 or visit guidance.jordandistrict.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are the trends you're seeing lately as a medical professional?

Dr. Blagev:
Yeah, and I'll specify, you know, I'm an adult pulmonary critical care physician and so we are certainly seeing people who vape who come into the intensive care unit. And we certainly know that vaping increases your risk for pneumonia, bronchitis and other kind of lung problems. We are not seeing the levels of kind of acute lung injury related to vaping that we were seeing back in 2019. So that's positive.

Anthony Godfrey:
Good. That's good.

Dr. Blagev:
So that's great. We still see it occasionally, so it's still a thing. It's not, you know, it's not that vaping is safe. And then, you know, some of the surveys out there are coming out that maybe indicate that kids are not continuing to go up enough in terms of vaping. But I think it's hard to know what the data is really telling us whether we had less reporting with COVID and what the, you know, whether that's kind of validated. But I don't know, what are you seeing in schools? Is there a sense that there's fewer kids vaping or is there a sense that it's still increasing?

Anthony Godfrey:
It depends on where you are. And it also is difficult to get good data on that. Like you said, they're always getting it secondhand. They're never buying it directly. So we don't have statistics that way. But, you know, you're always worried about the student that you know is vaping. And so I don't know that I could say anything more broadly about that, just that it's an ongoing issue for sure, something we worry about. And we hear specifically from parents about the bathroom. My child goes into the bathroom and their kids vaping in the bathroom. So that's where we've tried to have detectors. We're still looking for the right detector that we can deploy more broadly. We've piloted them in some schools. But more than anything, we have more mental health support in schools than we've ever had. And we have that starting at the elementary level. We've really bolstered that. We have a full-time counselor at every elementary school, full-time school psychologist as well. And nurses spread throughout the District so that we can try to address problems early on, help students who are dysregulated when they're very young, and teach every student the skills to get recombobulated, if you will, if you're feeling so discombobulated that you can reconnect and get back into balance so that they're not relying on vaping or other harmful methods of trying to feel better.

Dr. Blagev:
Yeah. I think that is so critical and so important because those pathways that you establish early on are really kind of what gets ingrained. And it's hard, you know, we can all change. It's a lot harder to change when it's something you've been doing your whole life. And, you know, vaping has subtlety. So, you know, we sort of have this big umbrella of vaping. But you can vape THC and you can vape nicotine and then you can vape all kinds of other stuff. And if you think about vaping THC so that is not legal in every state, it's not legal in Utah. And so how you're acquiring that and what's happening with that has a particular network effect. When we were seeing patients with e-valley, that was 85% people that were vaping THC. Nicotine is distinct. So, nicotine is the one. So, vaping nicotine is what gets sold as harm reduction for cutting back on smoking. In the UK where they have data that shows that in some cases that can be successful, the nicotine amount in vapes is regulated. And so you can't have, you know, more nicotine in your vape than you would in a regular cigarette. So, it's limited and regulated and nicotine is the thing that gets you really addicted. In the US, it's kind of the wild west. And so you have nicotine vapes that have high levels of nicotine that really get people addicted to the nicotine and the vaping that then drives that behavior. And in our kind of American studies, we're not seeing, you know, this great reduction in smoking. If you vape, we just see that people do both. They smoke and vape.

Anthony Godfrey:
Really? So, it's not a replacement. It actually increases the amount of nicotine in your system as a result of the amounts being unregulated. I didn't realize that.

Dr. Blagev:
And that's the other big issue, I would say, with even understanding the harms from vaping or the effects from vaping is it's sort of completely all over the place, you know? And even, you know, people can have vapes that they stuff with whatever and they're vaping all kinds of stuff. And so, even when you study what's the effect of vaping, you end up saying, you know, am I inhaling a bunch of like metal fumes from the heating element? And that can cause lung disease. And it's sort of like, well, it depends on which brand and what heating element and to what temperature and what all of that. And so, it becomes hard to know, you know, it's this big umbrella of junk that people are breathing in that has a variety of negative effects that we're going to be understanding for a long time. But maybe if nobody vapes, we don't need to understand them and we can just not see them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure. What are some of the misunderstandings out there, the misconceptions about vaping? You've talked a little bit about, first of all, the safety that this is a safe alternative. Well, you've talked about all of the harmful effects of vaping. What are some other misunderstandings or misconceptions around vaping?

Dr. Blagev:
I mean, I would say that's probably the biggest one that people look at it as it's like it's pretty safe. It's definitely safer than cigarettes. It's not a big deal. You know, we don't think of vaping as something that's necessarily hard to quit, right? Like where I feel like we're pretty aware that heroin's really hard to quit.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're pretty aware that there's no debate about that. I think there's some consensus around that.

Dr. Blagev:
Or like cigarettes, you know, like nicotine really hard to quit. But vaping, I don't think people view in the same way where that, you know, it's sort of like a thing I can do for fun. Like I can chew bubble gum and I'm not addicted to it. So I can vape, you know, some bubble gum flavor and it's not the end of the world. I'm just rebellious for a little bit or it's a cool thing to do, but it doesn't have the same, I would say, awareness about how it sets you up kind of down the road and that it's pretty hard to quit. And there's pretty good survey data about young people that try to quit and have a hard time quitting. So I would say that that's maybe the other big one.

Anthony Godfrey:
Which is a common misconception about a lot of things. My willpower will just allow me to stop. I can stop whenever I want to stop. But the best way for a teen to stop is never to start.

Dr. Blagev:
Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk about being a pulmonologist. What started you down that path for those parents who are listening? When did you decide this is what I want to do?

Dr. Blagev:
I think there's two kinds of people in the world. I mean probably more than two. But there's people that are like, I was born and I was put on this earth to do X. And then there's people that are like, I don't know. I like everything. And at this point in time, these were fun people to hang out with and I thought I like this.

Anthony Godfrey:
It kind of took me down that path. Yeah.

Dr. Blagev:
And you sort of opened to doors opening. So I would say I was in that latter group. The reason I picked pulmonary critical care, which is a really broad specialty. I mean you're anywhere from sort of clinic where you can see bread and butter asthma, COPD, emphysema to weird infections, to tuberculosis or other unusual kind of infections to autoimmune disease. So some of the unusual lung diseases we talked about or rheumatoid arthritis can have issues in the lung and inflammation. So you can see all of that in the outpatient setting to ICU where, you know, in the intensive care unit are people who are sort of on life support, breathing machines, that kind of thing. And so I think I just was interested in everything.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Dr. Blagev:
And this was a broad specialty.

Anthony Godfrey:
But curiosity brought you here.

Dr. Blagev:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I really appreciate your time. This is great information and we'll list some resources for parents in the show notes for where they can go if they're looking for help in helping their teen move away from vaping and eliminate that from their lives. Thank you for everything that you do to support our community and to help us be healthier. So I really appreciate your time.

Dr. Blagev:
Oh, thank you so much for having me. This was great.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today.” We'll see you out there. Bye.

Anthony Godfrey:
You talk about the relationships with students. Did you feel like music drew you closer to students and allowed you to make maybe a faster and deeper connection with them?

Lydia Theobald:
I think music definitely enhanced everything we did in the classroom and specifically our relationships for sure. It's fun to have songs to show my students. I would always show them songs before they came out and they always gave us feedback and loved them and we would do dance parties sometimes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She has been a teacher at Riverside Elementary by day and by night on weekends has performed live concerts throughout the state. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to a weekend regional music festival in American Fork. That's where we catch up with teacher Lydia Theobald, who is a vocalist and keyboard player with the very talented local folk rock band, Seaslak. Hear firsthand about the history of the band and how Lydia's love for music has spread to students in her classroom over the years.

Anthony Godfrey:
We are in American Fork at the Fork Fest Music Festival and we're talking with Lydia Theobald about being in the band Seaslak and she just finished up her time at Riverside Elementary School. So a lot going on for you right now.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, it's been a busy week for sure.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, thank you very much for talking with us. So you're a member of the band Seaslak. Tell us a little bit about that and about the performance today.

Lydia Theobald:
So my friend from high school, Mick Rudolph, started the band about three years ago and I joined the band two years ago and it's just been super fun to be in that while being a teacher at Riverside. It's been a really fun balance. I sing in the band and I play keys. We perform probably every couple months and so tonight we're playing here on the Forest Stage which is a really fun location to be in.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now the Forest Stage for those who have not been to Fork Fest, and until today that included me, is in a forest at a park in American Fork and it's the coziest, most welcoming venue I've ever been to. I'm a big concert guy. Red Butte is very welcoming but I've never been surrounded by trees quite like this for a performance. Have you performed here before? Have you watched bands before? And what are you thinking going into this?

Lydia Theobald:
We performed here the last two years and I was here last year and it was such a fun show. So going into tonight I'm just excited. I feel great. I'm really, really excited for our performance tonight.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you think your music is particularly suited to this stage?

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, I think so. I think we have a little bit more of a folk vibe and so I think it does well with the colorful banners on the, you know, strung between the trees and the lights. It feels like it suits us really well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about juggling being a teacher and a performer musician at the same time.

Lydia Theobald:
It hasn't been too bad. The only hard thing is that we practice down in Springville and so we get home pretty late the night before you know a school day. So Thursdays I was always a little more tired at school, but it was always fun to have songs to show my students. I would always show them songs before they came out and they always gave us feedback and loved them. We would do dance parties sometimes and I do a lot of music with my students as well. So it just felt like a natural extension of who I am.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now I talked with one of your parent fans from Riverside Elementary and apparently there are a number of them that came to one of the Seaslak shows. She told me that you write songs that you teach the kids songs that you've written. Talk to me about that.

Lydia Theobald:
So my second year, I had a student who had some pretty big emotions, and I thought I just needed to give him some kind of tool. I know there's something I can do to help him and I just kind of started thinking of this song. I don't know if every school uses the zones of regulation or if that's just a Riverside thing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Not everyone. I've heard of it.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Which would be another name for a band that really turns out.

Lydia Theobald:
The Zones of Regulation. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
And now ladies and gentlemen, the Zones of Regulation.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah totally. So the zones just describe how ready you are to learn. Blue is sad and tired. Green is ready. Yellow is a little too much energy and red is out of control and so the song basically kind of goes through when you're in the blue zone what does that feel like, when you're in the red zone what does that feel like, and then the chorus is you being your own friend and talking to yourself and encouraging yourself to get back into the green zone. I've taught my students that song every year. One of the moms at school said, “you have to get your students together before you leave, all the students that know that song to sing it.” So on Thursday we all we all came to the gym and they all sang it. It was so sweet to see. A lot of the moms have said. “we still sing that you know. Anytime we're having a hard time, we just sing that chorus, “so you can do this you know you're so loved take a breath and look inside” and so that's been really meaningful.

Anthony Godfrey:
We expect to hear a recording of that as a rare Seaslak B side, maybe Japanese import flexi disc or something?

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah. I think I think that's a good idea.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm watching for that. Let me know I want to be one of the people that gets a limited edition copy. So talk to me about the set list tonight. Did you guys set it up in rehearsals or did you plan that out well in advance? Talk to me about that.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, so we have a pretty short set it's only 30 minutes which flies totally flies by. So we're playing mostly songs that we've performed a lot. We have one new song tonight that we've never performed before and then we have a song that isn't released yet.  I think all the other ones have been released but The Funeral is the one that hasn't been released that will be coming out in the next month, hopefully, so we're excited to sing that one for sure.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well once I heard that you were in the band, I started listening and here's some great stuff really.

Lydia Theobald:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
People, I feel like, I overlook local bands, and I was really glad that your recordings were drawn to my attention because of this interview. I really like If Only in My Mind. I mean that there's some great lyrics there and just really really good music. So I'm looking forward to the performance separate from just the fact that I get to talk with you and record this. Talk to me about what's next. You're done teaching at Riverside after five years, is that right?

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, so I'm hoping to just do a lot of little things kind of exploring my options and I'm starting out teaching piano lessons and doing some tutoring teaching voice lessons. I'm gonna work at a garden, you know, just little fun things but I am excited to have more time to work on music stuff, both Seaslak and then also just my own music stuff. I don't have anything released, but you know just some different stuff.

Anthony Godfrey:
A little solar stuff on the side.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah nothing crazy but it'll be nice to have some time.

Anthony Godfrey:
You heard it here first. This is the exclusive from Lydia with the Zones of Regulation as an early EP title. That's really exciting. What turned you to music? When did you first want to record music, and then when did you first realize you had some talent in that area?

Lydia Theobald:
I think it's been a part of my life as long as I can remember. I took piano lessons from the time I was probably eight and started singing probably I mean I was singing my whole life. My mom says I sang more than I talked to as a kid, but I think it wasn't until junior high when I found my sister's old guitar in the closet and thought, “oh, this seems fun and not too hard,” so I kind of taught myself a little guitar. I sang in the junior high talent show Fix You by Coldplay.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah yeah.

Lydia Theobald:
A classic for sure. That's when I realized like, “oh, this is something that I really like and it seems like I have some talent for it.” So since then I've been doing a lot of singing playing guitar piano stuff and so joining Seaslak has just been so fun to feel my talents magnified. Everyone in our band is so good. I would say they're all better than me musically, they're all more accomplished, you know. You've got a music major, someone who's done guitar their whole life and teaches guitar, they're all really talented. So it's been really fun to feel myself stretched by how good they all are.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm gonna ask you two questions about music. First of all, you mentioned earlier that you know these other local bands. Tell me what are one or two local bands that everyone ought to know.

Lydia Theobald:
Local Kin is a band who we are really good friends with, and we're crazy about their music so definitely look them up.

Anthony Godfrey:
Local Kin okay.

Lydia Theobald:
Local Kin. Then another one I would recommend is the band Farin. I actually don't know if they have any music released but they're amazing. I really really like this.

Anthony Godfrey:
Ferrin, like F-E-R-R-I-N?

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, they're really fun

Anthony Godfrey:
What music has inspired you? What are some of your favorites that people might know?

Lydia Theobald:
When I was in high school, Regina Spector was my idol.

Anthony Godfrey:
She's coming August 1^st.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah. I saw her a couple years ago. Yeah I think she music musically influenced me quite a bit and these days I'm listening to a lot of Fieste, Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear. I'm trying to think who else.  There's some great The Steve's, Kishi Boshi.

Anthony Godfrey:
I don't know Kishi Boshi.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, he's a Japanese American artist. He's really cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
I saw Grizzly Bear years ago in New York. They're awesome and I'm a huge Vampire Weekend fan. I saw them.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah they're so fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
They played some of their songs twice at the first show and I saw them because they didn't have enough to fill the whole concert.

Lydia Theobald:
So cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
Good taste, good taste. I'm gonna check those out.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, awesome. You talk about the relationships with students, did you feel like music drew you closer to students, allowed you to make maybe a faster and deeper connection with them?

Lydia Theobald:
I think music definitely enhanced everything we did in the classroom and specifically our relationships for sure, both the song that I described which was so I think important to kids, and then also other songs that were fun. I got caterpillars and got to watch them transform into butterflies, and we ended up doing a song that goes through the different stages of a butterfly's life from its perspective. There were just so many giggles and just so much laughing, and I know the kids learned that better and are gonna remember that forever. I do feel like it was a really special bonding experience that the kids for them to experience that, for us to laugh together and sing together, so I think music has really enhanced the relationships I've had with my students.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. It sounds like a really engaging, really fun classroom. Have you noticed in your students some of the same things that you noticed in yourself in terms of musical talent?

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah, it's been really fun as we've learned different songs to hear some voices that I think, “oh, they're having fun but they might not ever do anything that, right?” Then some that I definitely I would love to somehow work with again because their voices are beautiful or they have natural rhythm. It's really fun to see. I believe anyone can learn to sing, anyone can learn to understand music but it is fun to hear who kind of already is interested in that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that's exciting.

Lydia Theobald:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now that you are just days past your last days teaching at Riverside, reflect on those five years. Tell me what you liked most about being a teacher, and what it was like being a teacher at Riverside.

Lydia Theobald:
I have really loved my journey as a teacher. It was really hard to walk away because of the relationships with the kids and the parents and the faculty. I think the relationships with the kids were by far the most important thing, the most rewarding thing. Seeing the transformation of the kids from the beginning to the end. Academically for sure, that was rewarding. But seeing how their emotional regulation skills improved and even just our relationship because you would see at the beginning of the year these kids that really struggled regulating themselves and were prickly and cold and then at the end of the year were glued to my side. I knew like okay, my efforts to love you were not in vain. That was really rewarding to see every year.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well thank you again for taking time before your performance today. Thank you for everything you did at Riverside. I wish you the best going forward. I can't wait to hear your live set today and I'll be listening to Seaslak and watching for your solo work.

Lydia Theobald:
Thank you so much.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, hear Lydia perform live with Seaslak.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Sandy Riesgraf:
Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, director of communications for Jordan School District and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict. org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @Jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, we're just entering the golden hour here at American Fork. We had a huge audience here in the forest line up ready for Seaslak, so we're excited to hear this concert. I understand that there are going to be a couple of songs that they haven't performed before in addition to their newest single. It's just really exciting to see the support that they have even though there are other bands performing at the same time. You look at in the forest,  and first of all, the stage itself has a lot of cool kind of antique frames and lights that look like candles and lamps. The backdrop is shutters and doors and it's just a really cool setup. Then out in the crowd in the forest, you can set up a camp chair but there are also just random couches and other chairs and things set up in the forest, and it's really, really a cool vibe. Strings of lights in between trees, just really exciting to see the success that Seaslak is enjoying. We're looking forward to hearing it.

Announcer:
All right, Forest Stage, how do we already arrive at the second to last act on the stage? Our penultimate act of the night has been compared to Miller Khan and Shaky Creams but that, that undersells their rock solid research and harmonies that would make Crosby, Stills, and Nash jealous. Last year, this band hit the road for a string of dates with our friends the National Parks. Please put your hands together for a personal favorite of mine, Seaslak.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today.” We'll see you out there.

Logan Youngblood:
People describe rugby as a hooligans' game played by gentlemen. It's really demanding on the body.

Jeff Wilson:
When I started this program, I heard from those Georgia people, "You can't win national championships and compete at this level at a single school, public school." I take great pleasure in proving people wrong.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are a fiercely talented team and a force to be reckoned with.

On this episode of the Supercast, meet the Herriman High School Boys Rugby Club Team and find out how they have risen to become one of the premier programs in the country. In fact, this year they were competing at the highest level, falling just short of a national championship.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're at Herriman High School today talking with three members of the Herriman Rugby Team who just took second in nationals. Introduce yourself and tell us how many years you've been playing rugby.

Logan Youngblood:
I am Logan Youngblood and I've been playing rugby for about nine years.

Ryker Seidel:
I'm Ryker Seidel and this was my seventh year of playing rugby.

Lucky Fishiipeau:
And I'm Lucky Fishiipeau and I've been playing rugby for 12 years.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the journey to taking second in the nation. When does your season start and how many region and state games did you have to play to qualify?

Ryker Seidel:
So our season starts about the end of February, kind of the beginning of March. We have our first tournament down in St. George. That's more preseason stuff so it's not super effective on our real in-season schedule. But right as we get back from that we start our season and then each Saturday we play a game against other single school teams in Utah. And we pretty much have like I'd say eight weeks of games and then the week following that we go into the playoffs. And then you play two playoff games and then to make it into the finals. But this season we actually lost the first round in playoffs so we just use that as motivation throughout practice before we went to nationals just to really work hard and better ourselves for the national tournament in Oak Heart, Indiana.

Anthony Godfrey:
How many games did you play at the national level? How does that work?

Ryker Seidel:
So we played three games. It's kind of like a single-round elimination. It's pretty much you play your first game and then you advance to the next day. It's a game each day in three days. But yeah, I know it's hard. I've never been so beat up from a tournament before. Games alone actually. But yeah, you just got to keep winning, fight to live another day.

Anthony Godfrey:
You talked about single school teams. Are there some teams that come from multiple schools just so that they can get an adequate number of players to compete?

Logan Youngblood:
Yeah, so actually a lot of the teams in our league this year they were not single schools. They were a bunch of club schools so we have Lane Christian Academy, American Fork and those are like teams full.  All together, I think there's eight teams between those two teams. So there is a Nationals for the club division and that is multi-school.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now rugby is a club sport here but there are other pockets in the nation where you're going to see a lot more rugby. So I would assume it's a little bit intimidating to go to the national level and a really big deal to place the way that you did.

Lucky Fishiipeau:
Yeah, it's exactly as you said. It is a really big deal just to go to Nationals. It's the top eight teams in the nation based on rankings from a couple of sources and one is Goff Rugby. And it's a hard thing to do, to rank that high in the nation especially as a single school because you only have so many kids to choose from. Whereas multi-school, you have plenty of kids from different schools. I know a couple examples of where there are teams that go out and recruit players from different schools to play for them and they don't actually have to go to that school to play for them.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it's kind of stacked and it's difficult to go up against that but you guys have been very successful. Why do you think you've been so successful this year as a team? What is it about this year?

Ryker Seidel:
I would say it's the bonding we’ve had and our coaches. A lot of us have been playing with each other since our sixth grade year so we're all best friends. At the beginning of the year, we didn't really start as best friends but towards the end of the year we really built together and we really built up the connection that we have with each other. So I feel like that's a big part of how we play and why we play so good together.

Logan Youngblood:
Just to add on that, I think part of the motivation on the field is just having such a good bond with your brothers that it's like you know you're going to battle with each other. And when you love your brothers enough it really just, you'll put your body on the line for each other and it makes you play harder for one another.

Lucky Fishiipeau:
And even to add on to that, Ryker mentioned us all being brothers. That's one thing that's special about Herriman Rugby is we all consider each other a brother and all of us would go to war for each other on the rugby pitch.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, what have you learned from your coach this year and through the years that you've worked with him?

Ryker Seidel:
Honestly, just to trust one another. He puts his trust in us through these years. He puts the trust in us to start the games and go to battle because we don't have a coach on the field telling us what plays to do, how to do things. We have a practice Monday or Tuesday through Friday and then Saturday it's on us to perform what they've taught us.

Logan Youngblood:
Yeah, I'd say the biggest thing I've learned from these coaches throughout the years is just how to keep going through and persevering when times really get hard because I mean rugby is hard alone but life is also probably harder.

Anthony Godfrey:
If you don’t know, you'll find out probably. I don't know how hard rugby is.

Lucky Fishiipeau:
Building off of what both of them said, we're given the tools but we have to use them ourselves and then they've really taught us how to be men in life and just champions.

Anthony Godfrey:
That doesn't happen automatically. Just because you're in the same place at the same time doesn't mean that you suddenly become brothers and you rely on each other and you look out for each other. That's coaching and that's the heart that you bring to the game, so that's really exciting to see that that's happened. You talked about sacrificing your body for each other. Rugby just seems, to someone who's never played it, I've watched it a couple of times, it seems absolutely chaotic and very primal. There's no protective equipment, you just get in there and do whatever you have to do. Am I correct about that? Tell me a little bit about what it's like to play.

Logan Youngblood:
People describe rugby as a hooligans' game played by gentlemen. It's really demanding on the body. It's a really rough sport but just the respect that comes out of it, after one of our games at Nationals, we actually had a meal with the opposing team that we just beat up on, which just goes to show that it's bigger than just a sport. It's like a way to bring people together and just have fun and just be boys.

Anthony Godfrey:
What made each of you, what drew each of you to rugby initially with all the sports that are available out there, why rugby in particular? You like the shape of the ball, you thought. This is different from the shape of others, I'm going to go with this one.

Ryker Seidel:
It's actually funny because before I started rugby I was so set on playing football but I actually have an older brother who played rugby and I just remember watching him play and it just looked so fun to me. Being at that age you're not fully developed but I felt like I really had developed a love for this sport. Just throughout the years my love grew and grew for this sport and I've never been able to drop it.

Logan Youngblood:
It's actually funny because I used to live in these apartments and there were these two dudes, named is Gabe and Mafi. They're just tossing a really funny ball in the air and I was like, "What is this?" Little me went up to them and was like, "What is this?" They're like, "Rugby, you should come play. We played for Herriman." Ever since then my older brother and I, we've been playing since we were little kids.

Lucky Fishiipeau:
I really have to thank all my success throughout rugby to my older brother. He started playing I think when he was in eighth grade. I'd always been a kid who played soccer so I was far from rugby but he really kept pushing me but first couple of years I always denied it and then finally I just gave it a try and then fell in love with the sport.

Anthony Godfrey:
You're all seniors, what's next? Rugby wise or otherwise?

Logan Youngblood:
Honestly, either going to school or trade, not sure if rugby is in the future but maybe if I go to BYU that's where I'll play.

Ryker Seidel:
Yeah, pretty much same as Logan, I think rugby as of now is kind of unrealistic but I would love to see it in my future.

Lucky Fishiipeau:
Just like them, I'd love to see rugby in my future but right after high school I'll be serving a mission and then hopefully college.

Anthony Godfrey:
To a rugby friendly country, I hope?

Lucky Fishiipeau:
Hopefully in New Zealand.

Anthony Godfrey:
Up next we'll talk with the coach of the Herriman High School Boys Rugby Club Team.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Sandy Riesgraf:
Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at JordanDistrict.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @JordanDistrict. We can't wait to connect.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk with your coach. Tell us a little bit about your time here, introduce yourself and your role at Herriman High.

Jeff Wilson:
My name is Jeff Wilson. I am an OG at Herriman High School. I was hired actually before the building was built. So I've been here from day one and was an assistant football coach, which I'm now back to being an assistant football coach again. And in my interview I asked Mr. Birch, actually Mr. Park, at the time I asked Mr. Park about starting a rugby team here and wanting to spearhead that. I had coached for 10 years previously with the old Highland program and had kind of decided it was, that next challenge was to start a program of my own and see what I could do with it. So I got that going year one and it's just grown ever since. So this will be, they all run together now. I think it's year 25 or 26 coaching.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're thrilled to have you. Herriman Rugby's had a great reputation from day one.

Jeff Wilson:
For whatever reason, our league decided this year that we as a single school team should play in a league with the club teams. Which it makes about as much sense as saying, well your high school soccer or volleyball team is going to play in a league with the club teams because we're tired of beating up on all the school teams. Which you know, so it's, you're playing against really what would have become all-star teams with the multi-school club teams. And we'll compete well with them and we'll win a lot of those games and so forth.  But it's certainly different with your kids winning from one school, right? But I think one advantage that that gives us is that I think it means a little bit more to them to represent their school and to feel like, and they play other sports together and they grow up together and that definitely helps strengthen that bond. And then when we get to Nationals, really every school there's a private school. Which means they have artsy status at their school. They're extremely well funded. All three of our opponents that we've played, Gonzaga, we beat the first round who's the seven time champion. And Xavier who's won some national championships and then St. Ignatius in the finals. All three of them have a very similar structure. They all have 20 plus paid coaches. Myself and all my coaches are volunteers. They all have these massive budgets, not only for operating their team, but for travel. They all three went and toured Europe during the season with just, again, their private school money. Which I mean, good for, I'm not, you know, criticizing, it's great for them.

Anthony Godfrey:
You didn't tour Europe?

Jeff Wilson:
We went to Montana.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, well, you know, Montana's prettier in some ways.

Jeff Wilson:
It is, it is. They're both beautiful. We don't use any of those things as excuses but we do use those as motivation and maybe have a little chip on our shoulder to want to prove ourselves a little bit and say, "Hey, we don't have all of these advantages and we're still competing with you and in a lot of cases beating you." So, because our starting point is a little bit different, it makes it that much more special to see what these kids have accomplished for sure.

Anthony Godfrey:
Having a chip on your shoulder as standard equipment isn't a bad thing that motivates you, that moves you forward.

Jeff Wilson:
Absolutely, absolutely. I, you know, I have a coaching chip on my shoulder because I grew up with a coach and my father is a very good coach who I learned a lot from but I do have a little bit of chip on my shoulder to try and prove myself as well to be me and not just somebody's son, right? So, that certainly drives me.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm curious, what is it about this team that's so special?

Jeff Wilson:
Well, these, I think it starts with these three guys as captains and the leadership they provide and really that closeness, that brotherhood is something that we do preach and is a big part of our culture but that culture is only as good as the custodians of that which are our young men. So, really that brotherhood is intentional from them. Just a kind of a quick example of the impact they have. So, I have two sons in the program, one's a ninth grader, one's a tenth grader and they've grown up around these guys and they've hung out with them at practice and now they play on a team with them which is, it makes me feel old. But they will talk about all three of these young men in terms of, only how much they look up to them but in terms of they're the first guys to make them feel welcome and to make them feel like they are part of something and that they belong and it doesn't matter whether you're a superstar player, whether you're the last guy on the bench, anything in between, these three and their teammates as well go out of their way to make sure that this feels like a family. At some point, really for us to be successful, they have to take over, they have to be responsible for what the team culture is and there's a lot of that stuff that happens outside of practice as well, things like team dinners and team hikes, community service projects, all that kind of stuff and so really having guys like this lead the way is huge.

Anthony Godfrey:
It must be very rewarding to see these great captains, who they've become, and how that gets to impact your own family.

Jeff Wilson:
Absolutely, it is, you know, these three, I've literally watched them grow up in front of my eyes. Lucky, I've probably known since he was probably like six or seven. So over half his life, as he said, he had an older brother that played and his dad is also on our staff and he's an excellent coach as well. Riker's dad is also on our staff as an excellent coach as well as doing all our medical. He's a doctor. So these guys, as they mentioned, they all have older brothers that played and so I've known all these guys for a long time. I watched them play in Little League and I got to know them as they were growing up and to see the young men they've become, it's like being a proud papa, it's like watching your own kids grow up.

Anthony Godfrey:
Speaking of coaching for 25 years or so, you coached one of the teachers here at Herriman. Tell me about that.

Jeff Wilson:
I actually coached two of them. I coached Randy Cameraman in football at Murray High School and he was my TA for like five periods too, so we were pretty close.

Anthony Godfrey:
Murray's pretty easy going about that TA thing.

Jeff Wilson:
Oh yeah, sometimes those senior schedules, right? And then helped Randy get to college, get an opportunity to play football which actually started my love for helping with that process as well. One of the things I teach here is college athletic recruiting so I love helping kids find those opportunities. But Randy was really the first one that I was really, just because I cared about the young man, really tried to help him find a place and was able to do that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well done on that front. He's a great teacher and a great asset here.

Jeff Wilson:
He is fantastic. And then Nic Redd, who actually coached before Randy. Nic, I coached my first year out of high school. I took a year between high school and college to try and get bigger to go play college football. So I ended up coaching Nic Redd, who was a sophomore at the time, coached him in football.

Anthony Godfrey:
These guys were really complimentary of just as a great teacher.

Jeff Wilson:
He is wonderful. And like Randy, he started off in the business world and came to teaching late but he was a captain in football and a captain in rugby. He was a rugby player as well. And a good pound for pound, Nic Redd is one of the toughest players I've ever coached in my life. He'd go at you. He is the nicest guy in the world but you get him on the field and watch out. But it's been wonderful to have those two guys around and just be able to see them more. Once a guy plays for you, they're always your player. You always have that relationship, that bond, so forth. In fact, I still have to watch myself or I still call “Nic's a great kid. Randy's a great kid.” Obviously they're not kids anymore but they'll always be your players.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that. Well, obviously the lessons and the relationships continue for a long time. Congratulations on a great team, great captains, a great career and a fantastic season.

Jeff Wilson:
Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today!” We'll see you out there.

Creed Jensen:
I feel like it really has united this school and I feel like it's just been a fun time seeing our peers work together and just competing in a friendly way.

Aly Law:
Our main goal was “how do we take this unique little spot and still have a positive school culture?”

Zachary Workman:
I love that we have gradually turned the reins over more and more to the students. It's really flourished under their leadership.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are putting school pride firmly in the hands of students and building strong connections at the same time at Fort Herriman Middle School. On this episode of the Supercast, hear why Battle of the Grades has become a huge hit throughout the entire year at Fort Herriman. It is a battle resulting in a big win for everyone and students taking care of one another and taking greater pride in their school.

Anthony Godfrey:
We are at Fort Herriman Middle School talking to three members of the faculty on a very big day here at Fort Herriman. Introduce yourself and tell us why we're here.

Aly Law:
My name is Aly Law. I'm a counselor and today we have our big Battle of the Grades assembly.

Madi Feist
I'm Madi Feist, the SBO Advisor.

Zachary Workman:
I'm Zachary Workman, a humble Spanish teacher but somehow involved in this shenanigans.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell us, for those who are uninformed, I just walked in on it last time and I had to be part of it this time around. I texted the principal to find out exactly when it was happening again because it looked so fun. Tell me about what's involved today.

Aly Law:
This started a few years ago with a student engagement committee that was formed in our leadership meeting that was designed to help kids feel a sense of belonging to the school to find their place. And we figured some friendly competition within the grades would be a great way to do it. So today's assembly is all about some fun games, competition between grades to build some culture in our school.

Anthony Godfrey:
And as I noticed before, it seems like there's a lot of preparation that goes into this. Can you tell us, Madi, a little bit about some of the games that are included today?

Madi Feist
Yes, I'd love to. Today we are doing a lot of games. Our theme for the day is ‘Cars.’ Disney Cars. Our school theme this year is “you're in the driver's seat” helping students realize that they drive their own life. So our student body officers decided that ‘Cars’ was so fitting for that. So we will start our day with a mattress slide called the Lightning Speedway, “which I believe you will be participating in.

Anthony Godfrey:
First, I thought I was going to get to kind of warm up a little bit. I will be wearing the suit. I was going to wear more athletic shoes for it, but I thought, you know, I need an excuse for if things go badly. Well, it was.

Madi Feist
Blame it on the shoes. Blame it on the shoes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right. Exactly.

Madi Feist
You are fourth in the relay. So you will have some . . .

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, so I get to watch the technique. Does fourth in the relay mean that I'm on the tail end?

Madi Feist
That does mean that you, yeah, that's a big spot.

Anthony Godfrey:
I didn't want to say anchor, but yes, I'm the anchor. Okay. Well, I'm excited. The adrenaline is pumping.

Madi Feist
Oh great. As it should be.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now tell us about some of the other events.

Madi Feist
Another game that we're going to do today is a spinoff of Keepy Uppy or keeping the balloon up in the air, but instead.

Anthony Godfrey:
Keepy Uppy

Madi Feist
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
I know what kind of name. Now I know.

Madi Feist
Well, that was coined by.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is that, was that a Bluey reference?

Madi Feist
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, my kids are beyond Bluey age, I'm afraid.

Madi Feist
Such a bummer.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Madi Feist
So Keepy Uppy, but instead they'll be holding up boxes with road signs in them and you're trying to knock down other people's road signs while keeping up your own road signs. So our final four standing, we'll all get points. So that'll be great. And then we have a Wiggle Grand Prix. Have you ever seen those Wiggle cars?

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, yes.

Madi Feist
So we have four of those. And so that'll be a relay as well across the gym.

Anthony Godfrey:
You know, I'm feeling really good about being part of the mattress relay. Wiggle car, I think would be disastrous.

Madi Feist
Okay. And then the pit crew pin challenge, we'll have some inflatable bowling pins set up. They're giant. And then a student or in the teacher's case, a teacher will be on a, what would you call that? It was like little four-wheeled carts.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh.

Madi Feist
They're using gym class.

Anthony Godfrey:
The well-known gym class.

Madi Feist
So tiny. And they will be on that and the teammate will push them into the pin.

Anthony Godfrey:
I sure remember running over my finger in middle school holding onto that cart. Is anyone run over your hand on that cart? Right there. Right there. Painful, right? You'll never forget. Now, tell me your involvement. You're trying to pretend like you're an innocent bystander, but I think you're more involved than you're letting on.

Zachary Workman:
Just to Ali's point from the get-go, our main concern as a school is “how do we get more buy-in from more students?” There are a lot of social demographics that we don't typically reach. I think schooling can often cater to a certain group of straight-laced, well-behaved, academically inclined kids. And we wanted everyone to feel seen and valued. So as a member of that committee, we just did a lot of brainstorming a few years ago. What kind of things can we do to get this kind of competitive participation that would get everyone excited? I love that we have gradually turned the reins over more and more to the students. I think that was really the goal that we began with. We had to start it as faculty, but as you can see from this room full of students, they've really bought in and it's really flourished under their leadership.

Anthony Godfrey:
They have dressed in the right colors. They have handprints of paint all over their bodies. Mustaches that I think are fake, but maybe he grew that over the three-day weekend. I don't know. But they're geared up. Oh, there's another mustache. Who knows? It's everywhere.

Aly Law:
Middle school is such a unique place for students. There is a lot of culture development that goes into the high school that a lot of students cling to their high school. A lot. And even our students cling to their future high school because those are the sports teams they play on. That's what they're excited about in the future. Elementary school has a lot going on because it's their first experience with school, but middle school is this unique little spot. Our main goal was how do we take this unique little spot and still have a positive school culture and still have school pride?

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, I love that. Being very intentional about it, saying this is a need. This is something we know is missing. How do we make everyone feel connected to the school? You've touched on it a little bit, but what is the outcome that you hope? What is the result you hope for for students after doing this throughout the year?

Aly Law:
I think the biggest goal is just that they take pride in a few areas. One is their grade and their peers and the group that they belong to. The second would be their school. This started in the height of some TikTok famous vandalism. We had kids that were just being a little too free in the bathrooms with some vandalism. We really wanted them to feel pride in their school, physically, academically, just be involved. So pride in themselves, pride in their grade, pride in their school, pride in their community, and just belonging.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I was impressed at how intense the focus was during that event when I wandered into it. I was here for another event, for another meeting, and walked down and couldn't resist it. I had to stay in and I was late for my next event because I needed to see as much of it as possible. I did get to see the mattress race. What's it called exactly? What is my fate today?

Aly Law:
Today we are calling it Lightning Speedway.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, the Lightning Speedway.

Aly Law:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, very good.

Madi Feist
I'd like to add into that. I think another goal is for them to see their teachers in a different light. We out food the teachers in every competition. We get to have fun with them and engage in them in a different way. And I think they get to A, know teachers so that they wouldn't have classes in and see their teachers in different ways.

Anthony Godfrey:
And how do teachers and students get selected for this opportunity?

Madi Feist
Just one specifically, this battle of the grade, we sent out a Google form and students could elect and then they were chosen. Same with teachers. In the past it's just been raise your hand if you're interested or we've tried a bunch of different methods. So they're still selected.

Anthony Godfrey:
As the momentum continues though, you have to modify those methods. So who's going to win today? Which grade?

Madi Feist
Sweet.

Students:
Ninth grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, it's clear. I don't know who's going to win. Let's say, I think it's going to be the faculty. Stay with us when we come back. More from the students and staff at Fort Herriman Middle School.

Male voice:
Never miss an episode of The Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Female voice:
Does your student want to become a veterinarian, commercial pilot, programmer? Maybe they want to make a difference as a dental assistant. These are just some of the programs offered as part of Career and Technical Education. CTE in Jordan School District. CTE provides the technical skills needed to prepare students for future employment or for a successful transition to post-secondary education. Career and Technical Education provides work-based learning opportunities. We partner with industry experts to offer apprenticeships and internships with students working in the real world at real jobs while going to school. The CTE experience starts in our elementary schools with the Kids' Marketplace and grows through middle and high school. To explore all CTE has to offer in Jordan School District, visit cte.jordandistrict.org today and let's get your child started on the pathway to a profession.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk with some of the Student Body Officers here at Fort Herriman. Tell us your name, grade, and your position, and what you're most excited about today.

Creed Jensen:
I'm Creed Jensen. I'm an 8th grade SBO and for the position of this assembly, I was told to choose the games for this one and the past assembly. I think I'm most excited for the mattress slide. Kids get really passionate about it. To get super competitive in just a fun environment to be in.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, great. No pressure. How about for you?

Addy Simmons:
My name is Addy Simmons. I'm a 9th grade SBO and I'm really excited just about being able to end this year with a bang for this assembly. Having all the students cheering each other on, having school pride, and just having a good time.

Harrison Whittle:
I'm Harrison Whittle. I'm a 7th grade SBO and I'm really excited for this assembly. I think my favorite game that we're going to do is the Wiggle Grand Prix, which is the wiggle cart one. My position in this assembly was making some height videos and instructional videos along with a lot of other people.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is there a lightning race instructional video? There really is? Okay, I'm going to watch it.

Harrison Whittle:
There is.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, this is my time to shine. What has the impact been of seeing these competitions throughout the year and throughout your time at Fort Herriman? What has it done for you and for other students?

Creed Jensen:
I feel like it's really just showed me that even though middle school can sometimes be like a hard time, I feel like it's showed me that you can just bring all the kids together over like small games that don't mean very much and it just like, I feel like it really is united the school and I feel like it's just been a fun time seeing our peers work together and just competing in a friendly way.

Anthony Godfrey:
Be united is one part of my theme, my motto for the District ever since I became superintendent. So I love hearing that, that it makes people feel connected with each other.

Addy Simmons:
I just feel like even though a lot of times the students leading up to the assemblies don't seem super excited because you know they have to act cool for their friends, but when it starts you can see that all of them start getting into it and they want their grade to win and they're peeking around each other's heads so they can see what's going on and it's just fun to see everybody kind of being kids and having a good time.

Anthony Godfrey:
I like the way you describe that. I saw people losing their cool when I was here before, just going nuts for their team so I can't wait to see it again.

Harrison Whittle:
I personally think that especially at the end of the year or over the start of Christmas break when we did our Denvac kid backwards, it helps them want to come to school and want to have fun since they know it's coming and they don't want to miss out on any part of it.

Anthony Godfrey:
They don't want to miss out. You want to be here, you want to be a part of it and that's really important. We've got you eight hours a day, every weekday almost. I really love that this is something to look forward to and something really exciting. I also love your mustache I have to say. The mustache and the green vest, you really look like a construction worker I just ran into it Maverik when I stopped for a drink. This is a good look for you. You ought to consider growing that mustache over the summer. Stay with it. Stay with it. Well, give me predictions. What's going to happen in the competition today? What's the analysis?

Creed Jensen:
I don't know. I feel like ninth grade is definitely coming in with the upper hand, with being up with the points. But I feel like eighth grade, we got a pretty strong roster for these games. I feel like we can come back. Seventh grade, they're just far behind. I just don't see the comeback in them. I don't know. It's like they got lots of hard competition.

Anthony Godfrey:
You acknowledge your current position but there's hope.

Creed Jensen:
Yeah, for sure.

Anthony Godfrey:
But you've written off the seventh graders. I don't know. I think that could be dangerous.

Creed Jensen:
Yeah, I don't know. Seventh graders, huh. I don't know.

Anthony Godfrey:
These are advanced seventh graders. They're at the end of their seventh grade time. They're almost you. What do you thinks gonna happen?

Addy Simmons:
You know, the ninth graders, as Creed said, we are in the lead and we actually won as eighth graders last year. So eighth graders have a chance seeing as eighth graders won before. But we got to keep the title going. We got to just leave the school with our reigning championship.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if you won last year, nobody puts the thumb on the scale for the ninth graders every year. I mean, I've been at schools where the ninth graders just automatically won every year, but that sounds like that's not the case.

Addy Simmons:
Yeah, I mean, we kind of expected it last year as far as I can remember, but us eighth graders pulled through and we're doing it so far for this year too.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Well, I'm glad you took off time as a general contractor to be here today for competition. So what's your prediction today?

Harrison Whittle:
I want to take the title away from the ninth graders and have some graders win because you should always bet for the underdog. But personally, I think the ninth graders will probably win because a lot of the games are based on some strength and they have a lot of that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. All right. I like the clear-eyed analysis. Now let me ask you this. Next year, though, when you guys are in eighth grade, do you think you have a chance to topple the ninth graders?

Harrison Whittle:
Yes, we're not. Next year, we are going to win.

Anthony Godfrey:
I didn't realize that the points accumulated throughout the year. Are there even enough points available today for you to surge and make a comeback?

Harrison Whittle:
Yeah, I think they're all pretty close in points. From ninth grade to seventh grade, it's probably around like a hundred-point difference and you can get that in one assembly.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. All right. It's anybody's game right now and I'm really excited to be in on the ground floor and to be able to talk with you guys in advance. Thanks for talking with me. Put in that psych up music, whatever you're going to listen to, to be ready and we'll see you out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm standing now with the relay team for the mattress slide or the Lightning Race. All right, team members, introduce yourselves.

Jaby Segura:
Jaby Segura.

Zach Wurthmann:
Zach Wurthmann again.

Levi Parsons:
Levi Parsons.

Anthony Godfrey:
Has anyone here prepared or done this before? You've done this before?

Zach Wurthmann
I was involved in last assembly's mattress slide.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you don't have any butterflies at all? You're good to go.

Zach Wurthmann:
It's just a blast. Just enjoy.

Anthony Godfrey:
What's your advice?

Zach Wurthmann:
Slip and slide technique as if you're like summer on the lawn.

Anthony Godfrey:
Close to the ground.

Zach Wurthmann:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. That's been a while since I was on a slip and slide, but I'm going to try to access that memory. How about for you? You haven't practiced, you told me.

Jaby Segura:
I have not practiced. I'm just going for the quick tuck and roll after I slide to allow the next person to their slide.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh. It's getting out of the way quickly.

Jaby Segura:
Getting out of the way quickly is my advice.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's actually really good advice. Okay. Because if I don't hurt myself, I'll kind of stand up and just like celebrate. But what I need to do is get out of your way.

Anthony Godfrey:
How about for you? What are you thinking?

Levi Parsons:
I haven't done it before, but there's no choice but to win. So we're going to win.

Anthony Godfrey:
I am on the right team. All right. Let's see how things go.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with the principal of Fort Herriman Middle School. Introduce yourself and assess how my team and I did in the Mattress Slide Lightning Race.

Glenn Richens:
I am Glenn Richens, principal here at Fort Herriman Middle School. The Mattress Race is one of my favorite events. Dr. Godfrey was the anchor in the first round. In the second round, he decided to go first and ended up being a good personal move there, where they were able to beat the other team in that second round. So quite amazing performance there.

Anthony Godfrey:
You know, principals are always able to put a good spin on things and this is no exception. I never should have anchored, but it was really, really fun and got to participate with some great teachers. So what a great vibe. What a great feel here today at Fort Herriman. Congratulations on creating a wonderful culture with the help of some incredible teachers and students.

Glenn Richens:
We appreciate all the support. We have great people here at Fort Herriman and they do a great job putting things like this together. Great students that are bringing the juice every day.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great staff, great students, and a great time. Thank you very much.

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today!” We'll see you out there.