Author: communications

Alexa Bird:
It's just kind of been my motto now. It's like, "Why blend in when you're born to stand out?" And so I made the decision to get my eye removed. Now I have these fun prosthetics. This year I had a student, she in the middle of the year, found out that she actually had to get hearing aids. She looked at the doctor and said, "I'm going to have special ears like Miss Bird has special eyes." I just went home and cried.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She was just a teen when she lost an eye to a rare form of cancer, had to wear an eye patch, and suddenly became a target for hurtful teasing. On this episode of the Supercast, hear the incredible story of Columbia Elementary School kindergarten teacher Alexa Bird. Find out how one middle school teacher taught Alexa to be proud of her eye patch as something that sets her apart. Hear how Alexa now tells her own students to take pride in their individual differences and how that message is making a difference in their young lives.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're at Columbia Elementary today talking with Alexa Bird about her teaching and her pathway to becoming a teacher. Alexa, thanks for talking with me.

Alexa Bird:
Thanks for having me.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me first of all just about your teaching career. You're here at Columbia for your second year. Talk to me about how all that came to be.

Alexa Bird:
I went to school at Utah Tech University and I've always just wanted to be a teacher. Since the time I was little, people would be like, "What do you want to be?" And I was never like the princess or an astronaut or a pilot. It was always, "I want to be a teacher." So, I went to Utah Tech and I went through their program and then I went to the job fair. I talked to Jane Olsen there and the rest was just history. She told me, "Come to Jordan." And then I got a job interview and I interviewed here and it just felt right. And I loved the energy and the community and all the questions and just felt right. And so I said, "Yes."

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, good job, Jane, for finding Alexa. Tell me, why did you want to be a teacher when you started out at a young age? Why has this always been of interest to you?

Alexa Bird:
Well, my dad is a teacher and my grandma's a teacher. So I come from a really long line of teachers and I would go to his classroom. He actually worked at West Jordan High School.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, wow.

Alexa Bird:
And I would be like, "I'm going to be a teacher one day," and pretending like I was him writing on the whiteboards and things. And then when I was going on with my education career in high school, I was diagnosed with medulloepithelioma, which is a cancerous brain tumor in my eye. I started finding that and I had to go to California every 12 weeks because there was no pediatric ocular oncologist in Utah. And so every 12 weeks I was going to California and I just... School was my favorite place and then it became my least favorite place really quick because not for anything except kids were really mean. They would make comments like, "Jeez, Alexa, don't stand so close. I don't want to catch cancer," or, “pretending like you have cancer, that's really rude. People die from it all the time where you don't have to pretend to have cancer to get attention.” Soon it just became my least favorite place. I felt terrible. I did radiation. So I was feeling so tired and run down because chemo doesn't really work above your shoulders and it was in my eye, so radiation was the only option at the time.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you had to have radiation throughout your body and you had to go 12... Every 12 weeks you had to go to California to receive it?

Alexa Bird:
My cancer is kind of rare, what I had. And so he's like, "I'm willing to try it if you are." So it was actually this special made plaque to fit right over my tumor and they pull the whites of your eye up and sew it right over your tumor because they couldn't just remove the tumor because it would mess up with your eye pressure and things. So the radiation was the only option and it was a one-time deal. So they put a lot of radiation in it and I'd wear it for 10 days to get it fast and quick and then take it off just as fast. But then you feel the effects for a long time after. But I had to go back for checkups.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. So you said when you had cancer. So are you beyond that at this point?

Alexa Bird:
Yes. I'm cancer free as of a year ago because with childhood cancer, to be considered cancer free, it's five years.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh wow.

Alexa Bird:
I had to wait five years so I finally got it six years ago.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you have passed your five-year mark six years ago. Wow. So well congratulations on that.

Alexa Bird:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
It must have been particularly heartbreaking that your favorite place became your least favorite place.

Alexa Bird:
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me how it felt at that time.

Alexa Bird:
I just remember walking down the halls and I was like, "I have to put a huge smile on my face because at the time I thought, 'People can't see that I'm sick. People can't know that I feel terrible and I don't want to be hearing. I can't let them know that their little tiny jabs and their comments are getting to me." So I would walk down the halls with a smile on my face, walking down like I can't hear them whispering about me because at the time I could see the tumor. So I was wearing an eye patch so they would be like, "She's only wearing an eye patch to get attention." And so I would walk down and I would just like put my head down and smile if people talked to me. But I hated it and I didn't want to be there. And one time—

Anthony Godfrey:
It's exhausting to try that all the time, have to be trying to prove yourself or demonstrate to people that you really are okay even though you're not.

Alexa Bird:
I would go home and I would cry. I remember one time, after a particularly hard day, I was like, "I'm going to go home and I'm going to come up with every excuse and book and never have to come back to this place because I don't want to do it anymore." That was the day I was walking. I remember like it was yesterday, I was walking into math class and I was like, "I'm done. I'm done. I'm never coming back after today. Just get through the day." That's when my math teacher was there and she had this huge smile on her face. It's the kind of smile that's like, "You can't help but smile back." And she's like, "Alexa, just the person I wanted to see." I was like, "Oh, that's okay. That doesn't match my mood I'm feeling right now."

Anthony Godfrey:
So was this in front of the class?

Alexa Bird:
Yeah, it was right before the bell rings. So there were kids in there and it was just like the one minute before that everybody's like just sitting there waiting for the bell to ring. And I was like, I remember thinking, "Well, now I can't be grumpy if she's talking to me with a smile on her face. I can't help but it was the energy you can't help but matching." I remember looking at her and being like, "Yeah, I'm here." She had this box in her hand and it was filled with all different kinds of eye patches. They were like ladybugs and pink camo and sparkly. And it was just this whole box. She was like, "I drove all over town,” and we lived 45 minutes from Salt Lake. And she's like, "I drove into Salt Lake and I was looking everywhere for these for you." And she handed me the box and she was like, "You know, I've been thinking a lot about you." And it's like, "Why blend in when you're born to stand out? And you know, if you have to wear these eye patches, might as well have fun with them. You can match them to your shoes and your outfits and we can have a bunch of fun with this. So I bought this just for you.” I remember going, "Oh, wow." And from there, from that day, I would walk in with my fun eye patches and she'd be like, "Which one are you wearing?" And I'd be like, "They match my shoes today." Or, "They match my shirt." I remember she brought the joy coming back to school and she brought this... I wanted to be there. I wanted to go every day to show her which eye patch I was wearing in school. Some of the kids would catch on and be like, "Wow, I love your eye patch today." They still made those mean comments, but I loved going back to school again. And she was the reason. And it wasn't just because of the academics. It's because she genuinely took the time and showed me she loved me and I wanted to be there to be with her. It made what used to be this dark place, and it made me want to come back to school. And she doesn't realize how that little tiny impact impacted my whole life from that moment. It's just kind of been my motto now. It's like, "Why blend in when you're born to stand out?" I can teach kids that their differences make them special. And now I don't have to wear eye patches, but I have... Because when I was 17, the diagnosis was, "Your tumor's not responding anymore." I remember on the way driving home, because from California it's a long drive, I remember thinking, "I'm done. I don't want to go back to California. I just want to start... I want to go to college, because I was a junior at the time, and I want to start living my life. I want to be able to go with my friends." Because after these doctor's appointments, it just made me sick for weeks. So I was like, "I want to start going out with my friends, and I want to go to dances, and I want to play basketball." I remember thinking, "I'm done. I'm going to get my eye removed." So I made the decision to get my eye removed.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that was specifically so you didn't have to keep going back to California.

Alexa Bird:
Mm-hmm. I was... It kind of like...that was the vibe the doctor was giving, was like, "We're going to have to start thinking about it."

Anthony Godfrey:
So when the doctor was leading you that way, it felt like the right path. But the bonus was that you wouldn't have to keep going back to California and you felt like you could start moving on and live your life.

Alexa Bird:
Yeah. I would still have to go back, like, for my year checkup, just to make sure everything looked good. But I wouldn't have to go every 12 weeks, which is three months. So I was like, "Yeah, I want to start living my life." So I made the decision to get my eye removed. So now I have these fun prosthetics and like the one I'm wearing right now is blue and sparkly, and I have a Christmas one, and I have a gold Mickey one, and I have a galaxy one. The goal is to have one for every single occasion in my life, you know?

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Stay with us when we come back more with this amazing second-year teacher and her story of resilience.

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:
Now I understand that you actually had a student in your class with a hearing aid. Talk to me about how you connected with that student.

Alexa Bird:
Okay, so this year I had a student and I got her parents' permission to give her a little shout out, Miss Bailey, but she in the middle of the year found out that she actually had to get hearing aids. And, you know, as a six-year-old getting told that, you have to have hearing aids, that's kind of scary. That's a big thing. That's a big thing that impacts their lives. And we had a conversation, like her mom came, and she's -- her mom's awesome. And so she was always working with me, and she came and was like, "We're going to get her hearing aids." And I was like, "Oh, okay, that's awesome." So the first thing I did was -- Bailey is this most enthusiastic little girl I know. And she came up and she's like, "I have to get hearing aids." And I was like, Oh, and we made it special. Like, we talked about it as a class because at this young age, like, you have this opportunity to impact them and teach them how these differences make them special. So we talked about how she has a hard time hearing, and so the kids were like, "Oh, so we have to be quiet." And they were -- I was like, "Yeah." And they were, "So how can we help her?" I was like, "Oh, she's going to get these things called a hearing aids, and they're going to go in her ear, and they're going to help her hear." And they're like, "Oh, that's so cool." So her mom would send me pictures of the whole process. So she would send me pictures, and we'd talk about it in class, and I would be like, "Oh, Miss Bailey had --" She called them like these bubblegums in her ears, and which was the molding for the hearing aids. And so we talked about it the whole process. So, like, as a class, we felt like we were in this process with her because she's a part of our family. Her mom later came and told me, it was field day, and so she was telling me, like, "They can get wet." And so -- and she goes, "Oh, I just want you to know, like, at the doctor we were talking about how, you know, they're going to help her hear, and they're kind of -- some people might say something, or they might stare." And she looked at the doctor and said, "No. I'm going to have special ears. Like, Miss Bird has special eyes. Like, we're going to be special. Only the specialist people have things that make them special. I have pink, sparkly hearing aids, and she has a sparkly eye, and we're going to be twins." And so it just -- so her mom came and told me that, and I was like, "Oh, that's so cool." I went home and cried because that's exactly what I wanted, is I want these kids to know that their differences make them special and to embrace them because that's what makes them stand out.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the impact, you know, your math teacher who made this difference.

Alexa Bird:
Miss Williams.

Anthony Godfrey:
Miss Williams, have you talked with her about the impact? And does she know that you're a teacher?

Alexa Bird:
Yes. I -- last year when I was on the interview for the new teacher, my dad recorded it and sent it to her, and she was like, "Oh, my gosh. That just makes me so happy. I'm so proud." And it's crazy to think that at the moment it didn't seem like it was very big. Like, she went and got me a box of eye patches, and she didn't know. Like I said, I put on a really good face. A lot of people don't know how hard it was and how much it impacted me because I'm really good at putting on a show, I guess. So she didn't realize how much I was struggling and how much I needed that, and she gave me this box of eye patches, and she has no idea how much it impacted me because now I can teach the kids and the kids to come, and it's crazy that this cycle is just going to keep going. And she -- it just started with a little box of fun eye patches.

Anthony Godfrey:
You said she traveled around and went to Salt Lake to do that, but the effort that she made to find the eye patches is not equal in the time that it took to all the trips to California, all the teasing and bullying that you suffered from, all the time that you spent thinking about this, and all of that was counteracted, and your whole trajectory was changed through an effort by this teacher to do something very personalized and individual that she didn't have to do. Nobody expected her to do that. Like you said, it's the last thing you were thinking was going to happen, and even just her greeting changed your outlook, and there are so many students in Jordan District who are going to benefit from what she did for you.

Alexa Bird:
Yeah, like I have said, this is my second year, and my first year it was really hard, but I saw how much the kids just -- they needed somebody to -- they have hard lives. Like a lot of the time we don't even know how much -- what's going on outside of school. So making the choice to be the person that they want to come to school for, and they want to -- you can be the person that shows them a smile and shows them love that some of them they don't have, like they don't have it. And so like her impact doing that for me has really showed me that, you know, it doesn't have to be -- you don't have to go out and buy a box of eye patches. It can really be like seeing that they need a hug or somebody to talk to, or just even a smile. That's kind of the theme in my classroom is everybody's loved. We'd -- at the end of the year it was a race to tell each other, "Oh, I love you" at the end of the day before we walked out. It's the last thing I say to them every day is, "I love you. I can't wait to see you again." And so then they would be like -- we'd line up and they'd be like, "Oh, I love you, Ms. Burton." It became our game. Like who can say it first?

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it is so important for students to feel like someone is looking forward to seeing them, and that's what Ms. Williams did for you, saying, "Just the person I wanted to see." It's really exciting that you're able to carry that forward and carry that on, and especially in kindergarten, where they are learning how to be in school, and to learn that they belong right from the start is really, really important. So thank you for everything you're doing. Thank you, Ms. Williams, for being out there and making this impact on Alexa so we get to benefit from your teaching and your positive impact on students. So thank you very much for taking the time to talk with us and for being a teacher in Jordan School District.

Alexa Bird:
Thanks for having me. Thanks for giving me a job. I love it.

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.

Katie:
It was very intimidating. I was not used to painting something this big. I've never done it before.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, doing it at scale is a little bit more difficult, I would guess.

Katie:
Yeah, 100 percent.

James Myers:
What's awesome about this specific fundraiser is that we're going to be using all the funds specifically for this fundraiser, for the senior class.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is an impressive sight to see in the student parking lot at West Jordan High School. On this episode of the Supercast, find out how a paint and park project is raising money for senior class activities throughout the school year. It's a project where some students were able to paint and personalize their parking stalls in creative works of art you simply have to see to believe.

Anthony Godfrey:
We are here at West Jordan High School with one of the student government advisors. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about how these parking spots came to be.

James Myers:
Alright, so my name is James Myers. I've been an educator here at West Jordan High School for almost nine years. Student government for the last five and with the senior painting and park, this idea, it's been about half a year in the making. So what had happened was that Principal Hutch, over winter break, he had shown me this picture of some kids that have painted their parking spots. And for charity season, one of the activities that we do is that we actually will sell parking spots to the students and they get to have that spot for the rest of the year. And so Principal Hutch sent me this picture of some students that have painted their parking spot and said, "Hey, wouldn't this be cool if we did this for our students?"

Anthony Godfrey:
So these were pictures from another school?

James Myers:
Yeah, from another school.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

James Myers:
That got me thinking, because you can’t really do that during the winter because you’ve the the snow and the ice against you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure.

James Myers:
What if we figured out a way to actually take advantage of the summer and actually do this during the summer? And so I started doing some research, looking around, seeing what other schools were doing. And it really, really picked up, I guess, in May. And then over the summer, I was just working on getting the designs from the students, seeing who all was interested. We started off with 47 spots over here. It was going to be 48, but we didn't take into account that light post over there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Darn light post.

James Myers:
Oh, I know.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you call it the senior paint and park?

James Myers:
Yeah, the senior paint and park.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's better than park and wait by a long shot.

James Myers:
Oh, it definitely is. And it's much nicer to look at, too.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you decided there were 47 spots available. And how did you decide who was going to be able to access these particular spots?

James Myers:
That was a little difficult to figure out at first. But in the end, what we decided was that we sent out a mass email, multiple emails , out to the seniors and also sent out on social media to see who was interested. We had a form that they could fill out and such. And in the end, we said, OK, you need to send a confirmation saying that you're indeed interested in order to get one of these 47 spots. And you also have to submit your design for approval or to receive feedback, at least. And so of the first 47 students that both sent in their confirmation and their design so that we could actually start to review it and make sure that it would meet our standards. Once they were able to do that, they were on the list. And we quickly got our 47. And I think we ended up still having like another 40 that we're still contacting wanting to be involved.

Anthony Godfrey:
So did you take the first 47 or was it based on the designs or how exactly did you decide?

James Myers:
The first 47.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

James Myers:
These students, they're smart. They have a pretty good idea of what's going to get approved and what would instantly get rejected.

Anthony Godfrey:
Were there any duplicate designs or did everyone have their own idea?

James Myers:
We had two. We had two. Apparently Red Bull is very popular.

Anthony Godfrey:
It gives you wings, I hear.

James Myers:
I have heard that as well. And I reached out to them and I went, hey, you know you're doing the same design. And they went, yeah, we both know.

Anthony Godfrey:
So we have two Red Bull designs out there.

James Myers:
We have two Red Bull designs out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Have the people at Red Bull been contacted? They ought to be sending you a swag of some kind.

James Myers:
I know. That would be amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. That's the next step. That's the next step in this. See what you can raise for charity. What's being done with the funds that you raise? How are you going to use those?

James Myers:
What's awesome about this specific fundraiser is that we're going to be using all the funds specifically for this fundraiser for the senior class. So the seniors that paint it, they will get to reap the rewards of their actions. So we're going to make sure to use it for like the senior dinner dance, senior sunset, senior sunrise, and other activities like that that we love to put on for our seniors.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you think this has meant to the students to get to personalize a spot during their senior year?

James Myers:
Oh, for one, it was just exciting to see them all before the school year started and just seeing them be so excited for this, their last year of high school. And they were just talking and hanging out and having so much fun. We had music going on and everything. And just being able to leave a part of themselves out here for everyone to see, I think that was just something really special. And it was just wonderful to be a part of it.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome. Well, I can't wait to see them in person. Photos and the videos are what drew me here because they just, it looks fantastic.

James Myers:
Yeah. We were able to get some awesome drone footage from one of the parents of one of the students. He was also a resource officer over here, Officer Gray. So Detective Gray, he was actually the one that got all that footage of the drone.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, cool. I do hear it's caused some problems though, because other schools are now getting pressure to do the same thing because you guys are setting a trend. And other principals are saying, hey, now everyone wants us to do it as well. So you may see this spread to other schools next year.

James Myers:
I would be, I'm looking forward to it because there's just so many creative ideas out there and I want to see them painted. And I just hope that they all share their pictures as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's exciting. Now, from a technical standpoint, tell me what type of paint you use because when I first saw this, I thought, well, the first rain, we're going to be in trouble. So does the paint come off eventually or are these seniors now, they'll be able to come back when their children attend West Jordan High and park in their spot?

James Myers:
Oh, if that's the case, we're going to be running out of parking space.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes. Yes.

James Myers:
So I went to Home Depot to get our paint. Got the cheapest stuff that they had. I mean, it was still like twenty twenty-five dollars a gallon of paint.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

James Myers:
Yeah. Except for the white paint. I was able to get the five-gallon buckets of that. So, you know, bulk paint a little bit cheaper there. We probably went through 90 gallons of this house paint. So it's house interior paint. It is washable when it's wet and you can wipe it clean. OK, at least that's what it says on the can. And so we're hoping that it will last, you know, through most of the school year. I am really interested to see what will happen come winter once all the elements and you got the rock salt and the ice scraping and everything.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure.

James Myers:
And the plan, I guess, for next year, we're going to have to do some testing because, you know, this is the first time that we're trying this out here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

James Myers:
With our climate would be to get some pressure washers out here to see just how effective that would be for removing it if we need to put on another base coat.

Anthony Godfrey:
But yeah, you can always paint over it.

James Myers:
Yeah, we can always paint over it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. OK. Well, it's really exciting. It's a creative and fun way for people to feel a greater connection to their school and to raise money. Yeah. So congratulations on blazing the trail here in Jordan.
Thank you. Stay with us when we come back more with the students at West Jordan High School who got to paint a parking spot just for them.

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:
Are you looking for a job right now, looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District, we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking now with Jada and we're walking over to her spot. Jada, introduce yourself.

Jada:
Hi guys, I'm Jada. I go to West Jordan High School.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell us about your spot before we get to come see it.

Jada:
Yeah, so it's a pretty detailed spot. I'd say it has a little sun. It's kind of ocean themed. Definitely more of an abstract ocean. It's not really realistic. And if I had more time, it would have been a lot more detailed. But four days seems like a lot. But when it gets down to it, it's definitely not enough time.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's actually a lot of space as I approach the parking space. It seems just right for the car, but it's a very large canvas for you to be painting on.

Jada:
Definitely. It's a lot more than I expected personally. I came in with a huge idea. I was like, yeah, this is going to take like maybe 13, 14 hours. Definitely not 13, 14 hours.

Anthony Godfrey:
A lot more than that.

Jada:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. And your car is actually parked there. So while we walk up, how great is it to have your own reserved spot and not be watching for a spot and all of that?

Jada:
Oh my gosh, I can't even explain. Last year I was half online, so I was kind of fighting for a spot to come for my second period or my third period. Because we have so many kids going to the school and kind of a smaller parking spot, I'd say. I mean, it's pretty big. But this year, you know, I can just I'm a senior. So I have like two classes at the high school and then two classes at JATC. So I can just come here and you know, I'd have to worry about finding a spot. It's genuinely just a relief.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you're right by the light post. This is great. And I can only see the edges because your car is parked there, but I see Jaded 2026 there at the front. That's fantastic. And the edges look really cool. I love the color combinations, but I can't wait to see the whole thing. So we'll let you pull out and then let's talk about the let's talk about your design.

Jada:
For sure. Let's do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. It is a little dirty, as you said. But I love this.

Jada:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
So why don't you describe this for those who are listening?

Jada:
Yeah, for sure. So it's a lot of colors here. We got light purples, dark purples, light blues, dark blues, a light green. We have a little gradient supposed to look like the ocean, which will move up into some like more abstract-looking waves into a little sunset. Then it goes up into a sky. It's a lot of a lot of details here.

Anthony Godfrey:
the waves are very curly. They look almost like tentacles coming up out of the ocean. And you've combined pink and purple and sky blue and cerulean and blue, navy blue and violet. It's just all these great colors in these patterns. And then the sun, the rays of the sun really are more like flames.

Jada:

Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
I think it looks fantastic.

Jada:
Thank you. I appreciate it.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you've got the gradient color, almost an hombre sort of look to the sun as well. How did you do that with house paint? That looks really difficult.

Jada:
I've been in art since like third grade. I've been doing I've been painting my whole life. It's not that hard. You just take a roller. You get like your orange and your red. I use orange and red on that sun up there and then a light blue and a dark blue. You get a roller. You pour a lot more than you think because you need it wet. You pour that on there. You start rolling until you're satisfied and eventually it'll blend together nice.

Anthony Godfrey:
That was my next question. Looking at this, how long have you been interested in art and producing art? Because it's obvious this was not your first masterpiece.

Jada:
I love art. It's such a good way to express yourself when you don't have the words for it. I've been doing art. I've been taking art classes since I was like, well, I mean, elementary school, of course, but I took it serious starting in seventh grade. I was doing ceramics, painting, drawing. I'm in sculpture right now.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a shame that it's not permanent, but at least you get it for the whole year and it's very, very well done. Very compelling. The color combinations, the design. Bravo. Great job.

Jada:
I appreciate it. I will say it wasn't just me. Definitely. I had a bunch of people come out. My family members, my grandma, my grandpa, my uncle, one of my best friends. She paid her spot. She helped me. So if any upcoming seniors want to come and do this next year, I recommend bringing people. It's a good time to hang out with friends and to get time to paint. But just bring some friends along.

Anthony Godfrey:
OK. Fantastic. Thank you very much. We're talking now with Liam about his parking spot. Liam, this is instantly recognizable for someone who came from the nineteen hundreds like I did. Tell us about your Van Halen parking spot design.

Liam:
Yeah, I just really took inspiration from the album, The Best of Both Worlds. I really enjoyed it. So I just did the spot.

Anthony Godfrey:
I think it's so awesome. This is 80s guitar pattern with the black and white stripes scattered across a red background. I just I can hear the guitar licks as I look at your parking spot. Now tell me, the lines always look random and somehow these lines look exactly like the guitar. Is this patterned after a part of the guitar or do you just did you just know how to channel the look of Eddie's guitar?

Liam:
Well, we actually took a long time analyzing and trying to figure out where to put the tape and stuff. So it turned out pretty nice.

Anthony Godfrey:
For those who don't know, it's its crisscrossing lines in especially in the bottom three quarters of the parking spot. And it's wider lines, more narrow lines, black and white lines on the red background, just like Eddie Van Halen's guitar of Van Halen.Best of Both Worlds is your favorite album.

Liam:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, why is that your favorite album?

Liam:
Pretty much if you hear good Van Halen song, it's probably going to be on that album.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that's true. That's true. That is a great album. I like 1984 as well myself, but I was around for 1984. I was, you know, a young man at that time. So I'm impressed at your appreciation for Van Halen. Is that your main focus musically or are there other bands that you like as well?

Liam:
I don't know. I enjoy a lot of rock, but Van Halen's a pretty good one. One of the main ones, if you ask me.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, this is an epic parking spot and I think Eddie would be proud. This is it's clear that you analyze things and took this very seriously. Are you pretty proud of your design and the outcome?

Liam:
Oh, yeah, it was real fun to do. Me and my buddies were so proud of it. When we were painting it, we actually pulled out a grill and had a barbecue right along here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, that's awesome. Great memories as well. That's fantastic. And I think you got the closest spot of anyone. How did that happen?

Liam:
Oh, I don't know. It just happened by sheer chance. When I got here, there was already quite a few people here, but I this one was originally actually taken. So I took the one right next to it. But I guess someone changed their mind and left that spot open for me to snatch up.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, things have aligned very nicely for you. The lines have aligned very well. But the fact that you were able to get this parking spot and a design that you can be proud of. Very impressive. This one's going to stick with me. In fact, I'm taking a picture to show my friend who's a huge Van Halen fan. He's going to appreciate this. Well done, sir. All right. We're talking now with Katie right in front of her parking spot here at West Jordan High School. Katie, describe for the folks listening what we see here.

Katie:
OK, so for my parking spot, the tire spot is blue and in the middle of it is a cat that I painted to look like mine with big empty eyes. This is very important. And I added text that says “no empty head thought” because this is based off my cat who has no thoughts behind her eyes. Just none whatsoever.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, that's better than a scheming cat. Some cats when they do have thoughts behind their eyes, they're evil thoughts. So it's good to have a cat with a you know, with a with a with a blank brain.

Katie:
Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what's your cat's name?

Katie:
Her name is Luna.

Anthony Godfrey:
Luna. And what kind of cat is Luna?

Katie:
I'm not sure. We just got her at the shelter.

Anthony Godfrey:
She's a black and white cat.

Katie:
Yeah, she is a black and white cat and she has like some brown spots. So.

Anthony Godfrey:
How old is Luna?

Katie:
I say she's about 14.

Anthony Godfrey:
Have you brought —14 years old? Wow!

Katie:
Yeah, she's pretty old.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you you are honoring your elders here.

Katie:
I am. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, has Luna seen the parking spot?

Katie:
I don't think so. I've been tempted to bring her before.

Anthony Godfrey:
I think Luna will connect with this parking spot. It's very beautifully done. Very nice design. Have you been interested in art for a long time?

Katie:
Oh, yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about that.

Katie:
It's something I've been doing for a long time. There's just like sketches, paintings, I mainly do watercolors. It's just something I like to do my free time.

Anthony Godfrey:
And how did it feel to paint something this large and out in the open? It was open air as the artist used to say.

Katie:
It was very intimidating. I was not used to painting something this big. I've never done it before.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, doing it at scale is a little bit more difficult, I would guess.

Katie:
Yeah, 100 percent.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love how the hair just kind of curls up at the sides and she looks very fluffy.

Katie:
Oh, she is very funny, but she's also very fat. So.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, now that you say that, I can kind of see that too. So you've really captured the spirit of Luna.

Katie:
Yes, I have.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I do see the brown on top of this.

Katie:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
So I noticed it when I first came over. It's you painted the cat black, but then you put the brown tones over it.

Katie:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about that. Was that difficult with house paint?

Katie:
Not really. So I did something called dry brushing, which is when you get a paintbrush and you put paint on it, you wipe most of the paint off and then you just kind of just paint it on. And it gives you that look that you're going for where you have some color on it, but it's not like overpowering the color underneath.

Anthony Godfrey:
And is the uneven white right in between the eyes kind of matching the pattern?

Katie:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
I can see that was pretty intentional right there.

Katie:
It was.

Anthony Godfrey:
That was not haphazard.

Katie:
No, no, no. That was intentional. That's the markings on her face.

Anthony Godfrey:
Luna. Well, I think Luna needs to see it. I think that's the next step.

Katie:
I agree.

Anthony Godfrey:
Luna needs to experience it and take a picture of Luna with it. Yes. I mean, she's 14. She is 14. You need to make the most of these moments.

Katie:
I do. I do.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I just noticed that you have a cat on your shirt as well.

Katie:
I do. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is Luna your only cat?

Katie:
No, I have two other cats.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do the other two cats feel bad that they are not painted in the parking spot?

Katie:
Well, I haven't told them, but they're not my cats. They don't like me very much.

Anthony Godfrey:
So they got what they deserve. They don't deserve to be in this parking spot.

Katie:
No, they don't. They don't come say hi. My cat does.

Anthony Godfrey:
They live in your home and yet they treat you this way.

Katie:
Yeah, exactly.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, that's for another parking spot, another time.

Katie:
Yep.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. But I'm glad you told the happy story of Luna instead.

Katie:
Yes.

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.

(upbeat music)

Sarah Elliott:
If we all did what we were supposed to do, the world would be a better place. But it doesn't always work that way. There are distractions and things happen and you've just gotta be aware, no matter which side you're on.

Matt Alvernaz:
What we're looking at is more than just how can we get the kid to school. It's what is the safest route?

Sarah Elliott:
Nothing's more important than keeping these kids safe.

Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It's the time of year when thousands of students are making their way to school, walking eagerly through neighborhoods along established safe walking routes. On this episode of the Supercast, find out how we work together to better protect young pedestrians and to make sure their travel to and from school is safe.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here in front of Oquirrh Hills Middle School to talk about safe walking routes. Introduce yourselves and let's talk about being safe getting to school.

Sarah Elliott:
My name is Sarah Elliott. I'm the crossing guard coordinator for the Riverton City Police Department.

Matt Alvernaz:
I'm Matt Alvernaz, the school safety coordinator for Jordan School District.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sarah, tell me how many crossing guards do you have in Riverton City?

Sarah Elliott:
We have about 46 on our payroll right now.

Anthony Godfrey:
And many people misunderstand this, but actually the cities have the responsibility for coordinating the efforts of crossing guards, not the school districts. Tell me about how all of that works and if someone's hearing this and they're interested in applying, how they do that?

Sarah Elliott:
Right, so usually we're coordinated through the police departments of each city. So usually if you just Google it, you can find it pretty easily. But each police department will have their crossing guard jobs listed.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us a little bit about the training that goes into becoming a crossing guard.

Sarah Elliott:
So UDOT has some really great training materials that we use, videos and things, and then mostly just on the job training. Shadow a couple of shifts and then get ready to get out there and keep those kids safe.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are the best tips for students who are crossing the street? Let's start with the students to make sure that they're doing that safely, whether there's a crossing guard there or not.

Sarah Elliott:
For sure, being a responsible pedestrian is super important. The kids need to learn to make eye contact with drivers. Looking both ways obviously, but really trying to make eye contact with the driver to make sure that the driver sees them before they step out into the road.

Anthony Godfrey:
Should they point at their eyes with their fingers and point at the eyes of the driver, Robert De Niro style, I'm watching you?

Sarah Elliott:
It would probably help us out a little bit maybe. Yeah, I might put that on my guard's responsibility.

Anthony Godfrey:
But I have heard that over the years, make eye contact with the driver so you know that they see you.

Sarah Elliott:
Exactly, yeah. Then of course if it's a staffed crosswalk, kids need to wait until the crossing guard will vocally tell them to cross and also signal them to cross and they just need to be sure that they're waiting and paying attention.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now let's talk about drivers. What tips do you have for drivers to be sure that they are safe as they approach and ultimately go through a crosswalk?

Sarah Elliott:
Paying attention, that really being aware of your surroundings is important for both sides of this coin. Get off your phones, pay attention to where you are, notice the lights, make sure you're going the speed limit and just don't let other things distract you because nothing's more important than keeping these kids safe.

Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely. Now, when you see the crossing guard walk out with the stop sign, you stay stopped until they and every child in the crosswalk has made it to the curb.

Sarah Elliott:
Right, right. Don't start going just because the kids are out of the road. The crossing guard needs to be safe too. So you need to wait until they're totally onto the curb and have put their stop sign down and then you can go ahead and proceed through the crosswalk.

Anthony Godfrey:
Any cautionary tales to share, things that you've seen happen that it's really what you kept repeating is just kind of the need to pay attention as a driver, but anything specific in the past that has happened?

Sarah Elliott:
I mean, we unfortunately have had kids get hit and a lot of close calls and it really all just boils down to being aware and paying attention. And like I said, on both sides of the coin, the pedestrians have to pay attention too. Just because you have the right of way doesn't mean you can just go. You still have to pay attention and make the right choice.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is the illusion sometimes. Well, I'm in the crosswalk and you're supposed to stop, so I'm gonna walk. You do have to think, I wonder if they see me? I wonder if they're paying attention?

Sarah Elliott:
If we all did what we were supposed to do, the world would be a better place. But it doesn't always work that way. There are distractions and things happen and you just gotta be aware no matter which side you're on.

Anthony Godfrey:
There are different types of crosswalks I know. There's the Beatles crosswalk on Abbey Road.

Sarah Elliott:
Yeah, yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
There's the school crosswalk and then there's the normal crosswalk. So talk to us about the difference between, I can recognize the Beatles crosswalk. But the other two, let's talk about the distinction between those two.

Sarah Elliott:
So they go by lots of names, but the zebra striped or school zone crosswalk. If somebody's in that crosswalk and with a crossing guard or without, if you've got a zebra stripe crosswalk, as a driver, you need to wait until that person is completely out of the road before you go. They need to be on the curb on the other side. The ones you see at more major intersections that are just the two parallel lines, those you're gonna wait until that person is off of your side of the road and then you're safe to go ahead and proceed.

Anthony Godfrey:
So they start on your side and they've crossed the median and now they're on the other side of the road, you can drive through.

Sarah Elliott:
If it's the parallel lines.

Anthony Godfrey:
If it's the parallel lines, but the zebra stripe, you wait curb to curb.

Sarah Elliott:
You wait the whole time.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, all right, that's a good distinction. Now I'm gonna notice all the zebra stripe versus the parallel line crosswalks.

Sarah Elliott:
Being aware, it's part of safety.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, all right, very good. With Matt Alvernaz, our school safety coordinator for Jordan School District. Matt, what other tips do you have for drivers and pedestrians?

Matt Alvernaz:
You know, one thing that we were talking about beforehand was the parents. Teach your kids, don't just park somewhere and say, “Hey, run across the street over to me” because this is convenient. Teach them to go to the right way, show them the right way. And if you're gonna get out and walk with them, just because you're an adult, doesn't mean you don't have to go to the crosswalk either.

Anthony Godfrey:
We've all thought, I can think of moments when I was with my kids and I'm like, do I show the example of going to the light or do we dart across the street, cuz we can probably make it? And it's about setting the example at other times as well.

Matt Alvernaz:
Right, you wanna emulate what you want them to do when you're not there. So sure, you could make it, you're an adult, you can make it, you're safe, all that stuff, it's actually not because you're teaching them bad habits. You're teaching them, this is okay when I'm with my parents, why not when I'm not with them? And they don't usually make the best judgment. And to be honest with you, a lot of adults don't either, whether they're driving or walking.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right, Sarah, you used the term responsible pedestrian. It made me feel like sometimes I have not been a responsible pedestrian.

Sarah Elliot:
Well, we preach responsible driving. I've got two teenagers that just got their driver's licenses and so we're harping on them all the time. But the responsibility for safety falls on everybody.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. We'll walk you through the process of how safe walking routes are established through the entire school this week.

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:
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:
Let's talk a little bit about the safe walking routes and how those are established. That's a partnership with the city and you're involved in each of those.

Matt Alvernaz:
Yeah, so I review every safe walking route with the schools. Each individual school begins that process and then we go over it with the city and the city has the ultimate say on it. But what we're looking at is more than just how can we get the kid to school. It's what is the safest route? And the safest route is not always the most direct route. We gotta look at all sorts of possibilities. Where are the lights? What kind of intersections are we looking at? Is it roundabout or if we walk another block, do we have a controlled intersection? Where are the crossing guards placed? And again, it may not be the most direct route to get there the quickest and the least amount of distance, but it is the safest route. The other things we consider [are] open trenches, canal ways, things that pose hazards to kids depending on the type of school, especially elementary school, construction sites, things like that. It's a long process, believe it or not. We finish them in spring for the following year. So we work on it all year long and we continue to review it. We continue to work on it. We make adjustments as we need. But it's a process that actually begins with the School Community Council, the parents, the community going to the principal, talking about it and the school staff and then it comes to me. And then we meet with the city and we all rally together and have these meetings that dial it down very specifically. Not just like, hey, just kind of get down this road. We talk intersection by intersection from neighborhood to neighborhood on where these kids are from and it's a process, but it's worth it.

Anthony Godfrey:
I like the way you describe it. It's involving the city, it's involving the School Community Council, which includes teachers as well. But parents are at the center of it and there are a lot of eyes on it to make sure it's as safe as possible. But like you said, it's not the shortest distance, it's the shortest safe distance. And it's the shortest safe route rather, because the theme here is when you're in a hurry and not paying attention is when you risk getting hurt. And sometimes kids, but adults too, like we talked about, want to take the fastest route and want to just dart across the street instead of going to the corner or just drive quickly through that crosswalk instead of stopping and waiting and so we all just need to know that to be safe, it might take us a little extra time. The requirement for busing is that we're required to provide busing for any elementary student that lives more than 1.5 miles from their elementary. And for secondary, it's two miles. But the safe walking route may actually be longer than that in rare instances because the driving route is longer than or shorter than it would be to qualify for busing, but the walking route may be longer than expected. That's a common misunderstanding, I think.

Matt Alvernaz:
The buses can safely navigate the roads where kids can't walk. So that's a big difference there. We want to make sure, since they're within that range and this is guidelines set by the state that we still, even though they may have to go a little bit around about, they get there safely. And that's really the biggest, most important piece of all this is just the safety and not about convenience, which we do include that when we can. We want things to be convenient and easy. We're not out to make things difficult, it's not fun. But safety is really all that matters.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's our first priority. What else would you add, Sarah, about parents and students and drivers just making sure that everyone gets to school safe?

Sarah Elliott:
I mean, just be aware of your surroundings. I sound like a broken record probably, but just be careful. Teach your kids to be careful and wave at your crossing guards, cuz they're out there trying to keep your kids safe. They're doing the best they can.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wave at them.

Sarah Elliott:
Wave at them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes, all right.

Sarah Elliott:
Have a smile.

Anthony Godfrey:
A thumbs up. A salute. Whatever.

Sarah Elliott:
Sure, whatever you got.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, all right. Pull up, roll down the window and hand a donut out the window. I don't know, that might be suspect.

Anthony Godfrey:
Matt will take the donut, all right, if you see him out there. So we've talked about the process for a safe walking route. What if a parent's listening and says, “Hey, I have questions about my safe walking route,” or “I think there's a better way for us to do this.” What, who would they contact first?

Matt Alvernaz:
First, let's begin with the school. Talk to your school administrators and find out who your School Community Council members are and reach out to them. They’re parents in your community, talk to them and figure out if there's an opening on the board. If you want to get in on the Community Council, get out there, get involved. And these meetings, they're not exclusive, so to speak. You can still come out and be a part of these things. But it begins right here locally with the school because they know the most about their neighborhoods, right? They're your neighbors, your family. And having a district from afar try to oversee that when we don't do with the day to day stuff right here, it doesn't make as much sense. So start right here at the school and see what we can get accomplished here at the local level.

Anthony Godfrey:
And we know that ideally everyone would qualify for a bus. We'd be able to bus everyone. It's the safest way to get to school. But given the limitations in the funding that we receive and the specific requirements at the state level, there are a lot of students who do not qualify. And we just want to be sure that whether they're carpooling or they're walking, that everyone gets there safely. We've revamped a few parking lots this year. We revamp a few every year to make sure that they're as safe as can possibly be.

Matt Alvernaz:
Walking is safe and it is a healthy activity. Get outside, take advantage of it. Look at the bright side of it. Yeah, you didn't get on the bus. You get a nice joyful walk.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm feeling a little targeted right now, Matt.

Anthony Godfrey:
Walking from my car to the office is not enough exercise.

Matt Alvernaz:
Yeah, you got stairs to get to your house.

Anthony Godfrey:
There are stairs involved, that's true. That's true, all right, I'm gonna give myself credit for that. Well, thank you for everything you're both doing to keep our kids safe. Close calls and accidents are very rare, but we have to stay vigilant. We have to make sure we're doing everything we can to make sure kids get to school safely, so thanks for everything you're doing and let's hope for a great year.

Matt Alvernaz:
Thanks.

Sarah Elliot:
Thank you.

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.

Hope Bevelheimer:
I play para, I talk to you about …. we’re in a sled.

Anthony Godfrey:
No one has beaten you at net in international competition.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Correct. I'm a three-time world gold medalist. Living, breathing, sweating hockey from all year. Amputation wasn't the end for me, it was just the beginning. But it could have been the end for me if I chose to have a PDN.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She is a motivational speaker, an amputee, an athlete, a humanitarian, and a goalie for the gold medal-winning USA para ice hockey team. On this episode of the Supercast, we meet West Jordan High School graduate Hope Bevelheimer. We hear Hope's inspirational story of tragic challenges in life, leading her to hard-earned triumphs. And you'll find out what happens when we hit the ice with this elite athlete.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here at the Accord Ice Center to talk with Hope and Austin about hockey. Introduce yourselves a little bit and let's get into it.

Hope Bevelheimer:
My name is Hope Bevelheimer. I played for the para ice hockey women's team. So I play in a sled and I'm a three-time world gold medalist.

Austin Facer:
I'm Austin Facer. I've never won a gold medal in anything. I do a podcast called SLC Puck and just a local hockey content creator doing all kinds of goofy stuff with hockey here in Utah.

Anthony Godfrey.
Hope, how did you get started in hockey?

Hope Bevelheimer:
It was prior, I'm an amputee, it was prior to my amputation. I was born with club feet so I had more braces. I couldn't walk much. It was a lot of pain and stuff like that. And so my roommate at the time, she was a recreational therapist actually for the Salt Lake County. And so she had an adaptive program that they were starting and piloting back in 1999 and wanted to see if I wanted to participate. So I got in a sled of September 1999.

Anthony Godfrey:
Playing hockey since the 1900s.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yes. For us, older generation, yes, the 1900s.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's right. And you went to West Jordan High School.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
Talk to me about your time at West Jordan High.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Well, I was a little different student. I had 29 surgeries before I had amputated. So all my high school, junior high and school years were spent in and out of the hospital. And so I had a lot of support from the school teachers and things like that. They would show up at my house on a Monday. I wasn't homeschooled. I called it hospital schooled. They would show up at my school/house on Monday, give me a load of the work, teach me if they needed to teach me, and then come back on Friday, pick up all the work, and then give me tests and all that stuff. And then when I was in school, very supportive. I had to be in a wheelchair sometimes. I know-- I don't know if West Jordan still has it, but there was an elevator. So I had a key to the elevator, like all sorts of things.

Anthony Godfrey:
There is an elevator, yes.

Hope Bevelheimer:
So I was an elevator rider, all those things, but they made accommodations for me. And it was difficult because we didn't have Google. We didn't have all that stuff back when I was going into school. I graduated in '95, so none of this technology we had then. It was just more difficult to try to learn on your own. Because I had support from the teachers, but I was mostly in the hospital most of the time.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about World Cup competition. You're a three-time gold medalist. Just in November, you beat Canada in Norway.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's really exciting. Talk to me about that trajectory.

Hope Bevelheimer:
We have, I've played international competition for a decade. USA Hockey took us over in 2019, so we were privately, they were trying to get this going back when I started. But 2019, USA Hockey took us over, and then that's when we started doing bigger international competition. Then COVID took over. And then we got put on hold for a little bit, but I went to Czech Republic, I've been to Norway twice, I've been to all the places in Canada, but I have not lost an international competition. When I've been in net, nobody has won against me.

Anthony Godfrey:
No one has beaten you at net in international competition.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Correct. I have beat all international competitions for a decade.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's amazing.

Hope Bevelheimer:
So that is a feat that I'm very excited about.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that is impressive. So you started in 2019, and then everything was put on ice during COVID, or off ice during COVID, and then back on ice after COVID.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
Never defeated. That's incredible.

Hope Bevelheimer:
The last one we just played, we went to Canada to do a border battle. We call it the border battle, it's just us and Canada. We just go head-to-head, play a three-series. It was a close game, it was four to three. So yeah, I let three goals in, but they still didn't beat me.

Anthony Godfrey:
Are Canadians polite even in hockey?

Hope Bevelheimer:
No, they don't like us.

Anthony Godfrey:
They don't think so. And they definitely don't like losing.

Hope Bevelheimer:
No, and then I like chirping in their head, so that makes it worse for them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, it's the trash talk. Is there a hockey trash talk?

Hope Bevelheimer:
There is plenty of trash talk.

Austin Facer:
Chirp is the term for trash talk in hockey. It's a big part of the game. A good chirp, yeah.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Because as a goalie, your skill is about 15%, your body is another percent, but it's a lot of mental. You have to be in your game when you're in goal. You have to have your head space on. If you don't, it's going to be a mess. So I like to get into other people's head space, so they have a messy game.

Anthony Godfrey:
Austin, tell me about how you got started in hockey.

Austin Facer:
Yeah, when I was younger, I was really into hockey movies, and The Mighty Ducks was a favorite of mine. I talk about that quite frequently on my podcast. I could probably recite the whole movie line by line. Around that same time, being like eight or nine, the Olympics were here, and there was a bigger conversation about hockey. I remember I just would beg my mom to take me to public skate at the old Bountiful Bubble Rec Center, which no longer exists. But that turned into playing and then playing all throughout high school. Kind of got out of the hockey scene for a little bit, just as an adult, just working in sports and different kinds of jobs. Kraig Williams, who is actually on your team at the Jordan School District, was a boss of mine at the Salt Lake Bees. So did a lot of sports-related jobs there. And then when the hockey club came to town, I just kind of put everything together with my sports background and love of hockey as a kid and built SLC Puck, which is a podcast that I do twice a week now.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. And where can people find that?

Austin Facer:
You can find it way too easily. That's kind of the goal. It's on YouTube, Apple, Spotify. I have all the social media handles too at SLC Puck. So I try to put stuff out and bother people on their phones as much as possible.

Anthony Godfrey:
Perfect.

Austin Facer:
Yeah, I'm easy to find.

Anthony Godfrey:
I see that USA on your shirt stands for unity, sacrifice, and attitude. Talk to me about that.

Hope Bevelheimer:
It is that. You have to have a close-knit team. You have to sacrifice many sacrifices. For a decade for playing, I was telling my friends and stuff like that, I haven't had a real vacation because all my vacation hours go to USA Hockey because I have a regular job. So you have to dedicate. It's off-ice training. It's on-ice training. I’m living breathing sweating hockey all year. They're like, "When's your season off?" I'm like, "It's not off." On the off-season, we have to still condition and do all the things.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me what has been the greatest positive impact that hockey's had in your life.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Oh, it has saved my life many a time. It just has given me... It's given me hope. It's given me things to look forward to. I never thought I would be starting back in '99. Did I ever think I would be at this level of competition? No, it never crossed my mind. But the ability to just be able to participate in something that's a team effort and a group effort and you're all friends and off-ice, on-ice, all those things, the closer the team is, the better it turns out.

Anthony Godfrey:
How about for you?

Austin Facer:
I think there's just so many great life lessons that can be learned with hockey. Probably just all sports in general, but I think hockey really amplifies these attributes you need to be a successful adult. You can learn as a kid. I think there's a certain assertiveness that you learn in hockey. There's teamwork, problem-solving. Never say never. Never surrender kind of attitude. There was a game last night in the Stanley Cup final where the Edmonton Oilers were trailing by three goals in the first period. They came back and scored four unanswered goals to win four to three. I think there's a lot of mental fortitude that you can take from that and apply to everything.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm sure Hope has seen that in her life, just the skills that she's learned on the ice. I feel that way too, apply to anything you do.

Hope Bevelheimer:
I know with hockey, what I love about hockey is every second counts. Every second, it could be .4 of a second and somebody can score. It's such a great game. That's the thing about football, the last two minutes, if they're up like whatever, the game's pretty much over. Two minutes and they could be up three, it still doesn't matter. We've got two minutes to make this happen.

Anthony Godfrey:
It happens fast.

Hope Bevelheimer:
It happens fast.

Austin Facer:
It can happen.

Hope Bevelheimer:
The team comes together. If you just don't have that positive attitude, everybody will just . . .

Anthony Godfrey:
When you think about it, the penalty is that you don't get your whole team. The penalty is that when you say every minute counts, it's that you lose minutes with a teammate.

Hope Bevelheimer:
It makes a more interesting game, I think, when there's penalty minutes. I have played many times three on my side and they've got the power play and I've had to play hard. You just got to be on your skill in your game and just have a good game. Every game's different, too. It not, I'm going to go walk out here and play and it's going to be exactly like the last game. Nope, it's never the same game. You can score in the corner, you could get a penalty. I've not played two games that have been the same.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. We're on the ice going for a goal.

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:
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.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Just telling him the irony is I think I started here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh really? Did you?

Hope Bevelheimer:
At the Accord in 1999.

Anthony Godfrey:
'99?

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yeah, because I played at the Accord in County Rec, but the County Rec didn't open until late '99.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I read that County Rec is how you got started in hockey.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yeah, it was the recreation program, adaptive sports.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Yeah, fantastic. Tell me about your equipment here before we head out on the ice.

Hope Bevelheimer:
So I play para ice hockey and what that is is we're in a sled and we have to have sticks. Regular, we call the regular players, the forwards or the defense have two sticks that have these picks on the bottom. So they propel with those picks.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, so they use …?

Hope Bevelheimer:
They use those picks and they kind of skate with both of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it's two sets of three spikes that are on the end of the handle of the stick.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you use this to propel yourself?

Hope Bevelheimer:
Correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Hope Bevelheimer:
But because I'm a goalie, I can't hold another stick. So we stick spikes on it. So when I propel on the ice, I push with this.

Anthony Godfrey:
So and this is your, this is the glove.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yeah, just normal glove. Standard glove. We just take a shoe.

Anthony Godfrey:
It doesn't look standard. It looks like it comes from a horror movie or something.

Hope Bevelheimer:
It does. It can be a horror movie.

Anthony Godfrey:
You know?

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yeah, so.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow, because it's just very complex. It's got all these spikes on it.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And wow, can I try it on?

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yeah, go ahead.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm left-handed. So normally that would be.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yeah, you would yell back. And this is just a standard one. There's nothing special about the back. Yeah, throw that one on.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's actually kind of heavy.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yeah, they're heavy a little bit.

Anthony Godfrey:
Even just holding it. Okay.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Now try to close your hand in it.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm not even going to try. Yeah. That's wow. Okay.

Hope Bevelheimer:
So yeah, we play a little different than we call them standups. So standup hockey plays a little different than we do.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Hope Bevelheimer:
But yeah, you propel yourself with two picks and then the goalies have spikes. And the regular players have blades like standup players do on the bottom of their sleds. The bottom of my sled has plastic blades.

Anthony Godfrey:
So why does the bottom of your sled have plastic blades?

Hope Bevelheimer:
So I can go slide side, front, and backwards all over the place.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Hope Bevelheimer:
So I can propel in circles. I can do all sorts of things.

Anthony Godfrey:
Huh.

Hope Bevelheimer:
So if I had standard blades like the regular, like the rest of the players do, I would only be able to go forwards and backwards. Because they're in a sled, they can't pick up their foot to step over.

Anthony Godfrey:
So goalies have different equipment head to toe.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Correct. Yep.

Anthony Godfrey:
Different mask, different.

Hope Bevelheimer:
No, masks the same.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, the mask is the same.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Exactly the same.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Chest protectors are the same.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Gloves are the … glove and blocker are the same. The only thing is that we have to have is add spikes, the spikes on the glove. Yeah, we have to add spikes. So everything else is the same. You ready for this? I told him not to be nice. He doesn't have to be nice.

Anthony Godfrey:
Austin's going to go full out here. Let's see what he's got. Let's see what he's got. You have spikes and he doesn't. So, you know …

Hope Bevelheimer:
He's fine. I'll just hit him in the shin guards.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hit him in the shin guards. All right. Well, at least you warned him.

Hope Bevelheimer:
I did. It won't be that violent.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're watching these shots on goal from Austin right now. And I'm going to ask Hope about this, but it looks like the sled doesn't block any of the shots in and of itself. But she's blocking every shot as it comes in. There it goes. He did get one past her just then. You can see the spikes on the back of her glove really are an important part of her being able to move. We just came off the ice. Impressive work. Austin, you just tried out the sled. How did that go?

Austin Facer:
It was hard. I mean, like the upper arm strength that you must have to push yourself around and the balance is like pretty, pretty outrageous. But yeah, it's so so impressed by what you can do. It's I mean, learning how to skate is hard enough itself. But learning to skate in a sled is like another level.

Hope Bevelheimer:
And for your mind to be blown, goalies have six-inch blades. Regular players have an inch.

Austin Facer:
No kidding.

Hope Bevelheimer:
So you're on an edge.

Austin Facer:
I can't imagine.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yes.

Austin Facer:
Wow. That's crazy.

Hope Bevelheimer:
So mine are further apart so I don't tip so much. I can control the tip. They're like way smaller than I am.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now you're strapped into the sled, like you said, so you don't fall out of the sled. But I saw you take some of those dives and you just popped right back up. It would be 15 minutes for me to get back up on that.

Hope Bevelheimer:
That's usually a new player. You'll see them because they don't know how to control the sled. It will just slide underneath you. The idea is just to ….. that's the core pop. You just push yourself up and swivel your hips out.

Anthony Godfrey:
So the blades are in place and constructed so you can slide when you want to. But then you can control that you're not going to slide when you don't want to.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that will never happen for me.

Austin Facer:
OK, so it's pretty impressive.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me one more bit of slang from what's another hockey term that we probably wouldn't know.

Austin Facer:
So many good ones. Usually call like the sweat like the jerseys like a sweater or like the real lingo is like a tarp.

Anthony Godfrey:
A tarp.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yeah, you got your sweater, your tarp.

Austin Facer:
Yep. But the helmet is a bucket.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. OK.

Austin Facer:
The way you stick handle, I guess like in basketball, maybe you'd call it like a crossover, but you call it like a dangle in hockey. There's a whole language.

Hope Bevelheimer:
And then in a goalie world, I call them all ringers or dingers when I get hit in the head so hard, it sounds like bells are going off in my head. Ringer dinger.

Austin Facer:
The post or the pipes.

Anthony Godfrey:
The pipes.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Yeah. None shall pass in the way of the pipes as long as I'm in there.

Anthony Godfrey:
None shall pass. You just kind of put your stick down like Gandalf. You shall not pass.

Hope Bevelheimer:
None shall pass in the way of the pipes as long as I'm in there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now, Hope, you do public speaking as well. Tell us about that aspect of your career.

Hope Bevelheimer:
I do that just because I have gone through a lot of adversity in my life. There's the feet. There's all sorts of things that have happened in my life. But I often feel that individuals get a little down on themselves and life can be hard and life can be troublesome. I just want to inspire and give people hope that they will be able to at least go on. I mean, amputation wasn't the end for me. It was just the beginning. But it could have been the end for me if I chose to have a BDM.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Hope Bevelheimer:
I just like to want to give word out to the community and people that there is hope and there is resilience in this world. And it's not all, you all have a life. We've all had problems in our lives and things have happened. And it can get hard. But as long as you have a great attitude and positive attitude about it, it works great for you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thank you both for taking the time to talk with me today, even just taking the time to gear up. I know it takes a while to get ready to be on the ice. So thanks for taking your morning with us. And it's inspiring and exciting to talk with both of you.

Hope Bevelheimer:
Well, this is a great opportunity. I just think it's great that we all be able to get out here, get on some ice. You know, I love the ice. You love the ice. Like, it's just a new home. This has been an awesome opportunity and I appreciate the Supercast. I appreciate Austin. So this has been great.

Austin Facer:
Let's do it again. Absolutely.

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-bye.

Cadence Ivins:
Like getting to know Arnetta as a professional trumpet player was just really inspiring.

Alex:
We were the big finale.

Cadence Ivins:
It was definitely scary knowing that it was going to be such a big performance. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you didn't want to miss.

Beckett Brunson:
Standing in places that some of my favorite performers have been in, it just made me feel inspired.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are internationally known recording artists who have made it to the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100. The American pop band AJR recently performed in Utah, and guess what? They invited the Copper Hills High School marching band to take the stage with them. On this episode of the Supercast, find out what the high school students are saying about their experience and this incredible opportunity of a lifetime. Then listen as Copper Hills High takes the stage for a mic check with members of AJR prior to the big show.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here at Copper Hills High School talking with the Director of Bands. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what got you here.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
My name is Chris Kuhlemeier. I've been here for just over three years at Copper Hills and loved every moment of it. Over the past couple years, we've been developing our program to get to a higher level of musical excellence and with that, we've just had phenomenal buy-in from our students, families and community, which allowed us to grow to this point and seize such fantastic opportunities like this.

Anthony Godfrey:
I've been over and talked with your students a couple of different times on various occasions. They're impressive and an energetic and enthusiastic bunch. Let's talk about your experience most recently with AJR and being able to perform with them. First of all, how did all of this come about?

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Oh man, it was a pure stroke of luck just a few months ago. I, along with a few other directors, it sounds like in the Salt Lake Valley, got an email from one of the producers for the band AJR.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's pause right there. AJR, they're no small band playing the Velvet Room, although great bands play the Velvet Room. This is a large-scale operation. They have sold out the Delta Center. They were at USANA. This is a huge venue. So you get contacted by the producer of this well-known, rather quirky, engaging and energetic band.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about your email and what happened after that.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Just a few months ago, we received an email from them just toying with the idea of, "Hey, we're going on tour, this multi-million dollar national tour where we're trying to figure out ways that we want to close the show with a bang." They're notorious for doing some crazy stuff to close out each of their performances. They were toying with the idea and consulted me and others about the logistical challenges faced by bringing out a local marching band at each stop along the way. It was cool planning that out and talking some specifics and logistics with them, but we seem to be the best fit for the job as one of the earlier stops on the tour. They definitely felt that we were a well-organized program enough to be able to put this together with limited experience on their end being so early in the tour. Luckily, I was able to hop on that email very quickly and respond first. It definitely helped our case that we're one of the largest bands this close to the performance venue as well as we're one of very few bands that are as active as we are over the summer. We are constantly rehearsing and performing.

Anthony Godfrey:
You have access to kids over the summer, and you are super close. I've popped over to a USANA concert after work. You know what? I can make that work. I can grab a last-minute ticket and get over there. I love that. You were fast, quick on the draw. You've got a ton going on, and you're close by.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
The perfect storm for the perfect opportunity.

Anthony Godfrey:
How long ago did they lock it in with you and say we want you?

Chris Kuhlemeier:
It was back in early April, if I recall properly, that we received that activation email. At that point, we had no confirmations. It was all speculative until we got a confirmation just a few weeks later. It was no small task. We had a lot of preparations to do logistically before we even told the kids. In fact, we waited well over a month hiding the secret as a staff that we were doing such a big performance with our students just to figure out if we could pull it off. Bringing so many students together, getting them fitted for uniforms far earlier than we're accustomed to, having them learn and memorize music in addition to what they're already working on for their upcoming band classes, their summer parades, or even their fall show. Figuring out from an educational and pedagogical standpoint how we're going to incorporate this while demanding as little time as possible from our students so that they can enjoy some semblance of a summer. After our planning phase, we locked it in with the producers of the band, and we're able to put together a loose schedule. The beautiful thing about this year is our student body has just been so proactive and so eager to succeed, which we haven't seen culturally in this program for a long time. We're really excited to be back on the cusp of student-driven success because that's the nature of the beast. That our students were able to learn and prepare that music all by themselves all summer. Believe it or not, we got by with just a single three-hour rehearsal the day before the performance. Getting together, having the music all memorized across our group, 105 strong, got together for those three hours, polished it up, and then the next day we went out and performed.

Anthony Godfrey:
Over a hundred kids.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Yes, 105 this year, and that was including a few eighth graders that we brought in for our summer marching band from our local feeder schools.

Anthony Godfrey:
What a recruiting tool.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Yes, exactly, and we would not have heard the end of it if we didn't let the class of 2025 join in for one last hurrah.  So some future Grizzlies and some recently graduated Grizzlies got to take part of this huge ordeal, and I'm sure it's one for the books.

Anthony Godfrey:
And of course you didn't say former Grizzlies because once a Grizzly, always a Grizzly. Yes, of course.

Chris Kuhlemeier:Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, what a thrill, and how exciting that you were able to make this happen. So many logistics involved in getting over a hundred kids ready, or even earlier than normal.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I love what you said about still giving them a summer, so you took on as much of it as you could before announcing it and giving them that opportunity. Leading up to it, you announce it, you give them the music to memorize. They do that on their own, and you come together the day before for the practice.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Yes. Now, that wasn't ideal, but logistically it made the most sense to give everybody as much of a summer as possible and not start too soon and forget things. We went out on a very, very tedious limb, to say the least, giving them that much time and that little margin of error. But considering the scale of things and the state of the program, we as a staff, while nervous, were relatively comfortable trusting our students to prepare, and they definitely showed up.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that you had that trust in your students. We can do this. It's tight, but we know we can pull it off.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
And that's show business. We're getting them ready. They're, in this capacity, they're professionals. We were a band for hire, and we got to perform with the pros on a professional stage, and they gave one heck of a professional performance.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk with them. Let's pull them in, and let's hear what that experience was like.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Okay.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. We'll hear from the students of Copper Hills High 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.

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:
We're talking now with three of the students who were part of the band that performed with AJR. Tell us your name and what year in school you are, and what instrument you play.

Cadence Ivins:
I'm Cadence Ivins. I am going into my junior year of school, and I played flute in the AJR concert.

Beckett Brunson:
I'm Beckett Brunson. I'm a junior, and I play snare.

Alex:
I'm Alex. I played sousaphone, and I'll be a junior.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about what that experience was like. First of all, you received the sheet music. How did it feel to find out that you were going to be able to perform with AJR? Did you know AJR? Did you know about them?

Alex:
Yeah, I knew about them beforehand. It was just a really cool experience to be able to get chosen out of all the high schools that there are in Utah to be able to go and perform with them.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a big vote of confidence for the program that you were selected. How about you when you found out, how did that feel?

Beckett Brunson:
I was honestly extremely excited. I don't listen to a lot of AJR, but I knew how big they were, and I knew how important going on that big stage as our program would be, and how influential it would be for us to just get out there and get our message out.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a huge venue. It's enormous.

Beckett Brunson:
It was crazy.

Cadence Ivins:
It was honestly a huge ego boost. There were so many people in our band that were so inspired by AJR beforehand. There were multiple people that I talked to throughout the course of the AJR concert that expressed how insane it was to be there as somebody who started playing trumpet because of AJR.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. So there were some students who started in music because of AJR, and now they get to be part of it. That's a dream come true. That's fantastic. So tell me about, let's go to, first of all, you get the sheet music and you just work independently to be sure that it's memorized, that you're good to go. Did practicing for a performance like this feel different from other practicing that you'd done on your own?

Beckett Brunson:
Yeah, it felt different. Obviously, we weren't completely separated the entire time. We joined together for a few times in our individual sections, and then we came together for one big rehearsal with the whole band. It was definitely hard. It was something difficult because we're not used to this sort of individual practicing, but we definitely overcame the odds and showed them what we're made of.

Alex:
Yeah, it was a lot of, I did, I would look over the music. I tried to actually figure out, because immediately what we played, I tried to figure out what songs we were playing by them and listen to them to kind of get the feel of what it was. And then I kind of brought that to my section when we were doing sectionals to practice together as a group so they could help understand.

Cadence Ivins:
Yeah, there were some ways that it was definitely the same as any other rehearsal. We sat down and we looked at the music and we figured it out and we listened to whatever references we could find online and in our own knowledge. But it was definitely scary knowing that it was going to be such a big performance, definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity that you didn't want to mess up.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that's a ton of pressure. Tell me what was the day like. Talk me through it, because I always wonder, I'm a huge music fan. I have three concerts I'm going to this week alone. I love going to see live music. So to be part of it, I have gone to dozens of concerts at USANA. It would be hard to count how many I've gone to. And just imagine being on the same stage where Ringo Starr and Radiohead and all these huge people have performed. Must have been incredible. How did it feel that day? Talk me through what the schedule was like and how that felt.

Cadence Ivins:
Yeah, we got here not too early in the morning, but early enough that we had time to prep ourselves. We got to the venue and incredible to be back there just as our group without the pressure of ‘they could be listening right now.’ We got to warm up together as a group behind the scenes and then we got to meet up with Arnetta, their trumpet player, who took us out to the stage and gave us our placements and told us where we were going to be performing and what groups we'd be performing in. And getting to know Arnetta as not just a performer, but as a person, and this person was so incredible and so friendly to this huge group of people that I'm sure it was so hard to keep track of was awesome. She was so powerful for that and getting to see that up close was awesome.

Beckett Brunson:
Waking up in the morning, I was ready. I was excited, but I was also pretty nervous and as it just kept ramping up until we got to the venue and strangely enough when I got to the venue, all my nerves were gone because I was like you said, standing in places that some of my favorite performers have been and it just it made me feel inspired and it pushed all the nerves away. We were practicing with all the lights and everything that we were going to be doing. Arnetta told us what everything was going to be like, where we were going to be going and everything to expect. So I had no nerves until right when we were about to perform and then it just came rushing in and I was so, so nervous.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm feeling nervous right now just thinking about you guys on that.

Alex:
My experience was, so when we got here in the morning, I was feeling real confident in the performance because from our practice the other day before we were sounding really good and had prepared it well and it was cool being back there to see like where all these other groups have come and performed and I'd never been to USANA before. So being my first time walking into there because I've just seen like passing it on the road. I started getting like a lot nervous when I saw it.

Anthony Godfrey:
It looks huge to you, I’ll bet.

Alex:
Really big. But throughout the day just started getting more calm and I thought about it like this is just really genuinely cool experience that we get to have.

Anthony Godfrey:
And how long was the performance itself?

Beckett Brunson:
Our portion of the performance was only about three and a half minutes. We were the big finale that they teased and then big surprise at the end. AJR set was about an hour and a half long and naturally all of our band students are huge fans of the group, despite some of our staff members not really knowing who they were. They find their niche audience. But our group actually only got to see about one or two of their songs at the beginning before we had to go backstage, get changed into our uniforms and on deck for the performance. So the majority of us witnessing their performance was just from what we heard backstage, which was a really cool experience in and of itself.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Beckett Brunson:
And you know about an hour and a half of just waiting and waiting and waiting each second feeling longer than the last as we gear up for this big performance at the end. And then just going out with a bang for the last three and a half minutes was truly breathtaking.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's what an incredible experience. Did you get stickers like “working crew” or “backstage” or —

Beckett Brunson:
We got wristbands.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let me go anywhere I want. Oh wristband. OK. We had the wristband. If I had a wristband like that, I'd just be walking around with my fist in the air like “check me out. I got a wristband. Look at me.” What was your favorite part of the experience?

Cadence Ivins:
My favorite part of the experience was getting to see what it was like to be a real performer, like getting to know Arnetta as a professional trumpet player was just really inspiring. As somebody who would like to pursue music at some point in the future, it was really great to stand there and see what it was like as somebody who does this every day of their lives.

Beckett Brunson:
It was great to see how as a group we could come together and make an absolutely amazing show that everybody's excited to see and work together as a group instead of being that individual person like when we were practicing. We didn't have very many group rehearsals, but we still managed to sound together like a group. And it really was awesome.

Alex:
I really liked it being able to be able to play again with a lot of the seniors who had graduated the year before. We allowed them to come back and being able to experience playing like one last time with all my friends that I had been able to build a relationship and bond with over the years. It was a great like last time to play with someone experience.

Anthony Godfrey:
I heard about this and I was on vacation and unable to go. It was killing me. And I got a text from someone who was at the show, “They sound incredible. Did you know Copper Hills is here?” “Yes, I know. And I know I'm not there. And it's killing me.” But everyone was super impressed with the performance. And I hope you guys are feeling great about it because everyone else in the audience did.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me a little bit about being Director of Bands. I think it's difficult for anyone who isn't directly involved to understand the scope of work you do as a band director.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Well, indeed at Copper Hills, we have quite the depth and breadth of ensemble opportunities here. I myself oversee seven class periods of music-based ensembles. We have two percussion ensembles here that meet during the day at Copper Hills, as well as three concert bands and two curricular jazz bands. On top of that, after school, of course, we have our pep band, which can be seen and heard at football games, basketball games, assemblies and more. And of course, our fantastic marching band, which doubles and rolls as a parade band all throughout the summer and then as our show band all throughout the fall. In addition to that, I work closely with our two middle school feeders as their Director of Jazz Bands before and after school. We have a lot of fun with that, but quite the wide scope of musical opportunities here in the instrumental world. And that's just getting started with band.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is there any point at which there are five consecutive days in the calendar year where nothing is going on with any band?

Chris Kuhlemeier:
I'd like to say the week between Christmas and New Year. We kind of have to keep free, but beyond that at Copper Hills, we are busy every week of the year.

Anthony Godfrey:
And if you wanted to play a basketball game during that time, you probably could.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Correct. Yep. Yep. We make it happen.

Anthony Godfrey:
There's always something going on, which just means a lot of work for you and other staff members, but also a ton of opportunities for students and great chances to be a part of something.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
And in some cases, to show their talents and in other cases, to learn something they've never tried before.

Chris Kuhlemeier:
Absolutely. We have quite the diverse student body, from students who have been playing their instruments since they came of age to be in school. Or others who are just trying to learn something new while they're here in high school. We have educational opportunities for these students to flourish at a musical capacity. It's really cool seeing the different levels of engagement and styles from student to student all coming together regardless of individual context to really make something cool with all of their friends and making more along the way. Next week, we're actually headed for five days, four nights down to Wasatch Academy boarding school in Mount Pleasant with 82 of our kids, where they're going to undergo multiple team building activities and such as we put together our field show and such. So it's kind of a summer camp paired with band camp galore where we kind of deal with each other for five days straight. It's a really cool opportunity for these kids to get together and just flourish socially well beyond the craft, but also integrating it and making it even more of a part of their lives by separating themselves from any distractions and really getting into it. We're going to carry that momentum all year long.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thank you very much for talking with me and for representing Copper Hills and Jordan School District so well and congratulations on the job. Very well done.

Cadence Ivins:
Thank you.

Alex:
Thank you.

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