Author: communications

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.

Transcription coming soon.

Ms. Crane:
It brings it to life for the students. And it doesn't matter what they see here, they go away with an appreciation of what the pioneers went through.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you're just steering from behind right now. These are some big ruts you're dealing with.

Student:
Is this what they have to do, the whole thousand miles?

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, on the bad patches, I suspect it was.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. As thousands of Utahns enjoy parades, rodeos, fireworks, and other festivities to celebrate Pioneer Day, it's time to pack up and take a field trip for a hands-on lesson in history for some Jordan School District Elementary School students. On this episode of the Supercast, we follow teachers and their students to This Is The Place Heritage Park, where the lives and times of Utah's early settlers come alive. It is a live history lesson you won't want to miss.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking with Ms. Crane at This Is The Place Heritage Park. You have a bunch of students here today, tell us about that.

Ms. Crane:
They're so excited we've been talking about pioneers and finally they get to finally experience the stuff that we've been talking about. The hand carts and school, they're going to be able to go to a pioneer school and see what it was like.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Oh wow.

Ms. Crane:
And we get to ride the train, which is exciting for them, and go to the saddle shop, so just different things that the pioneers experienced. These guys get to see and do, and some of them will never make it up here, so this is a fun field trip for them to experience that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I have to admit, I've never been to this park myself, so I'm glad that you got me here as well.

Ms. Crane:
Yay.

Anthony Godfrey:
And this makes the learning that you've been doing in class very real. You've been doing this for a number of years. Tell me about the impact that this field trip has on students.

Ms. Crane:
It brings it to life for the students. And it doesn't matter what they see here. They go away with an appreciation of what the pioneers went through and a knowledge of stuff that we've been talking about, hands-on experience. So it brings you up to the kids.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, today this is the place because it's beautiful. It's the end of May. We're going to be playing this in July, or posting it in July, but the foothills are bright green. It looks beautiful up here. This is a great way to spend an afternoon in May with your fourth graders. So I see that they're already lined up on some of the hand carts over there, some students are. Tell me about some of the experiences they have while they're here.

Ms. Crane:
They'll get to pull the hand carts, push. At one point they'll be pushing and then they'll switch and they'll be pulling the hand cart. So they see how hard it was going, because they make it really rocky and hilly out there for them. So they experience that. When they go to the school, they will learn that they used to have to line up boys' line and the girls' line. And they had to curtsy and bow to the teacher.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, okay.

Ms. Crane:
So then they-

Anthony Godfrey:
Did you put curtsying and bowing to the teacher into your regular rotation?

Ms. Crane:
I tried that. They just laugh at me. And then they learn the Deseret alphabet of what the pioneer children were learning.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes, the Deseret alphabet.

Ms. Crane:
Way back then. And then today we go to the saddle shop. I haven't been to the saddle shop for a while. And so they'll learn how they used to do the saddles, what kind of materials that they need, where they get their materials. So that's kind of interesting.

Anthony Godfrey:
I grew up in Indiana, not Utah, so I did not get to go to any of these places. I also didn't have a Utah history class, so it's good to gain a little extra knowledge here today about Utah history. How many years have you been bringing students up here, and has it changed over time?

Ms. Crane:
I've been doing this about 30 years.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Ms. Crane:
And it's changed a lot. It's very different than it used to be. They've brought in more buildings. They've refined the experience a little better. So the kids get to ride on the train, which is a new thing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do the kids get pretty excited like they have to? They know it's coming. They're in third grade, and they know next year we get to go to This Is The Place Heritage Park.

Ms. Crane:
They're excited. One year, a couple of years ago, the water main broke the day that we were coming up, and it just devastated the fourth graders, cuz we didn't get to come. Cuz they had big problems up here that day, and I was really sad.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's too bad.

Ms. Crane:
Cuz we've been waiting for the whole year.

Anthony Godfrey:
They've been looking forward to it, okay.

Ms. Crane:
Yes, it has changed a lot. They've really made it more enjoyable. It was always enjoyable, but they just honed in and made it so much fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it's really engaging even just walking in here. There was a lot to see, a lot that I hated to pass up as I caught up with you guys.

Ms. Crane:
One of the nice things about bringing them here is a lot of times the kids will bring their parents back in the summer to see some of the stuff that they weren't able to see before. So they'll get to come up here and experience with their families.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Ms. Crane:
That's part of them coming up here and experiencing that.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that involvement.

Ms. Crane:
And the fun thing about doing Utah history with the kids in fourth grade is they have more of an appreciation when they hit seventh grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Ms. Crane:
And really dig into it more than I get a chance to do that now.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Ms. Crane:
So.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is Utah history one of your favorite things to teach?

Ms. Crane:
Yes, I love teaching Utah history. I just don't have enough time to get everything in that I want to get in.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of your favorite things to teach?

Ms. Crane:
The mountain men.

Anthony Godfrey:
I saw there's an event in June with the mountain men up here.

Ms. Crane:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us more about that.

Ms. Crane:
One of our teachers just went to an event last weekend, Memorial weekend in Ogden. I'd never heard about it, but they have this big rendezvous in Ogden. And she went up to the rendezvous and was able to get some stuff to share with the kids.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Ms. Crane:
So that was kind of exciting. I loved when the pioneers came across from Nauvoo and the trek that they took. I like to put them in wagons. And then they draw cards every day to see what kind of conditions they're experiencing that day. They might have lost all their water. They might have had an animal die. It was great weather they get to go 15 miles ahead. So they're trying to reach Salt Lake.

Anthony Godfrey:
So that random factor gets thrown into the mix.

Ms. Crane:
Yes. So that's kind of a fun thing to do with them is have them experience that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Very cool. That's great. Well, there's nothing like being right here in the setting that can really provide that hands-on experience. There's a lot of participation and a lot of attention being paid here. They're into it.

Ms. Crane:
Yeah, some of them have never been here and this is exciting for them.

Anthony Godfrey:
There's the train in the background. There they go.

Ms. Crane:
One of our groups.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. So, speaking of other groups, you were on the podcast earlier because one of your former students is teaching. But there are others in the District that you taught who are now teachers.

Ms. Crane:
Yes, I taught Emily Crane. She's at Elk Meadows. And Kristen Clegg. I don't know exactly what school she's at right now, but they're former students of mine.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Ms. Crane:
I actually taught with Emily at Elk Meadows.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is Emily a relation?

Ms. Crane:
Nope, no relation.

Anthony Godfrey:
No relation?

Ms. Crane:
No relation to me. Except a year of teaching. I had Emily when I taught a third fourth split at Riverton Elementary. And I taught Kristen Riverton Elementary also. So it's nice to see some of my former students come on to be. They're amazing teachers.

Anthony Godfrey:
I bet they are. They had a good start. You start learning by watching your own teachers.

Ms. Crane:
They're amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Good. Well, that's awesome. Well, thank you for providing this experience for students. It's really fun for them to be up here and it's really fun for me to be up here. So, thank you.

Ms. Crane:
Yeah, we got you out of the office.

Anthony Godfrey:
You got me out of the office. That's right. That's one of the beautiful things about the Supercast. I do get to step out of the office.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back more with the students visiting This Is The Place Heritage Park.

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 following the handcarts along the course that was set up. I think to concentrate some of the more difficult parts of the trail, they had to go up and down hills that were very close to each other. So, they were racing down the hill and then struggling to get up on the other end. And then there are boards, railroad ties it looks like, but across the trail in an alternating pattern to try to make it tough and they succeeded. This was, this is difficult, but there's enthusiasm because it's very short. It's difficult, but it's short and water bottles are at the ready. So, I think everyone's gonna be all right. How's it feeling guys?

Student 1:
Hurts.

Student 2:
Not for me because mainly if you just let . . . We're only doing one thing and that one thing is just stopping We don't have to worry. Let the people in front do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. So you're just steering from behind right now.

Student 2:
Just helping steer and brake.

Anthony Godfrey:
These are some big ruts you're dealing with.

Student 1:
Is this what they have to do, the whole thousand miles?

Anthony Godfrey:
Well on the bad patches I suspect it was.

Student 2:
Water bottle.

Student 1:
There you go.

Anthony Godfrey:
Water down, water down.

Student 1:
That was fun. Let's do it again.

Anthony Godfrey:
You enjoyed that, huh?

Student 2:
I enjoyed it because mainly because when I was— Yeah, we're slow. When we needed to slow, I didn't have to worry because my feet— I just go like this.

Student 1:
Yeah.

Student 2:
Four times I've actually almost went under.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right, you gotta back it into a parking spot now.

Student 2:
Okay.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking with two of the fourth graders from Rosamond who are visiting today. Tell us a little bit about your experience so far.

Student 1:
We did a hand car pulling and it was fun. We had to go through rocks and push and pull.

Student 2:
I liked it because it was full of adrenaline because when we went down that, when we went down the bump, we went all the way through and it was so fast. Me and Briggs had to stop as soon as possible because if we didn't, we would have just went, "Meow," right down the hill.

Anthony Godfrey:
What did you like most like learning about Utah history in Ms. Crane's class?

Student:
She let us work on a back page on the newspaper. So it was just fun because it was a word search and it was just fun because it just was activity and it taught us a lot.

Student:
I love learning about the different people that survived in Utah and what they did to survive and it's just fun learning every week.

Anthony Godfrey:
I really feel like I'm in the time period right now because we've got four pioneers singing along with a guitar out there in the distance. We're going to go into the leather shop here. Let's take a look.

Presenter in Leather Shop:
Monkey. Monkey, right. So you notice how I didn't say no to any of those animals, right? Because any animal that has skin can be turned into lettuce. So the first thing is, do you think I just walk up to a cow and I say, "Hey, give me all your leather." No? No? Okay. So that brings me to the first job. In getting leather, the first job would be a hunter, a trapper, a farmer, or maybe you came upon a dead animal, right? And then you need somebody to get the skin off and that person is called a felmonger. A felmonger is a compound word. Fel means it's an old time word for skin and monger is an old time word for seller.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what interested you in there with the leather work they described?

Student 2:
There was a lot of different animals and the color of the skin didn't always look like what the animal would look like and that interested me.

Student 1:
There was lots of different varieties and it was hard to guess them because it's hard to tell which animal came from, which fur came from which. A moose looks like it came from something else, definitely not a moose.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're kind of distant from the things that we use and how they're created. I don't always know where my food comes from or where the things I use every day come from so it's interesting to see what that was like. I have loved being here with you today and I've learned a lot. Tell us one thing that you love about Utah history.

Student 1:
I love learning how where we live used to be and how they, pioneers had to live and how it's changed over a thousand years.

Student 2:
I like learning about all the ways they lived and all the music and food and how they prepared stuff and how they traveled to just learn about anything.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it's been a great day with you. Thank you very much for taking time to talk with me and have a great remainder of the school year and tell everyone happy 24th of July.

Student 2:
Thank you.

Students:
Happy 24th of July.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right, thanks guys. Have a great day.

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.

Talon Hatch:
Even some of these younger kiddos as young as third grade, they're already building websites with HTML.

Matt Linford:
It creates this environment where tools like Skill Struck, tools like Adobe, can all come into one course of a kid and the kid can engage with these various content and curricular resources in one space.

Casey Nuttall:
Getting them in as early as possible on some of these tools to prepare them for the future.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are giving every student an opportunity to learn at higher levels in ways many never imagined. On this episode of the Supercast, we talk with companies igniting curiosity in the classroom with the use of technology; technology which is bringing better education opportunities for students, enhancing what teachers teach, and impacting education in some incredible ways.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking with Jared Covili, the grand poohbah, the grand marshal of UCET, but also the administrator over Digital Teaching and Learning in Jordan School District. It is always a great way to mark this time of year by coming to talk with you at UCET, Jared.

Jared Covili:
It's the end of winter. We're moving into spring, so what better time to talk Ed Tech?

Anthony Godfrey:
You can smell hope in the air. There's sunshine out there. It's a beautiful day.

Jared Covili:
It could be power cords and things.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's right. We're going to have three guests on that are partners with Jordan School District. Talk with us about those three.

Jared Covili:
Yeah, so today you're going to be listening to three different partners that work with us in the Ed Tech department. You've got Skill Struck, who represents a group that works primarily with our K-6 computer science group. Each of our elementaries has a computer science leader that works with the kids, helping them integrate not only computer science projects, but also computational thinking. So, Talon Hatch will be here from Skill Struck with us. And then we've got Casey Nuttall from Instructure, and our District is kind of an Instructure district. We use a lot of different products from them, but primarily most of you in the audience will know them as Canvas. So that's our learning management system that we use to connect students to their homework and to turn in assignments and do assessments. For us on the back end, it is the way that we do a lot of our grading and a lot of our assessment of students and what they're learning. So that's Instructure. And then our third partner that we're going to hear from today is Matt Linford from Adobe. Probably a lot of you have driven past the Adobe office on I-15 but wondered kind of what's going on up there. Well, they're a great educational partner of ours, and they provided all of their software to all of our students and teachers from K through 12. So that's a big part of what we do. And they're a great partner that we work with, not only at UCET, but throughout the year.

Anthony Godfrey:
Again, thank you for making this opportunity available to so many and for being the mascot mayor, grand poohbah, and grand marshal of UCET. Long may you reign.

Anthony Godfrey:
So, let's start by talking with each of you. Just introduce yourself. Tell us who the company you're working with and generally your connection with education.

Matt Linford:
So, my name is Matt Linford. I'm with Adobe and I am actually the engagement manager that covers the state of Utah including a lot of what we do within the Create Utah program. So my role is just to really support districts and make sure that they have what they need.

Casey Nuttall:
Yep, and then I'm Casey Nuttall. I'm with Instructure. I'm a regional sales director for Instructure. So kind of like Matt, I work with the state of Utah in every LEA in Utah on how they utilize Instructure platform tools to engage student learning, to increase student outcomes, and really to be a tool to use to facilitate the education for Jordan School District.

Talon Hatch:
And I'm Talon Hatch. I'm part of Skill Struck, a Utah-based company. We work with the school district on computer science education. So, we work particularly with a focus on the elementary schools and how they're utilizing computer science to enhance learning and increase computational thinking for all your students. So, we really enjoy that and I'm just a regional partnership. I work with all the different partners throughout the state of Utah and helping districts do what Jordan's doing so well.

Anthony Godfrey:
For it for those parents who are listening, most of you probably did not benefit from the work of these three folks because in the last ten years there's been a lot of progress, a lot of movement forward, and education changes rapidly in the right direction, giving more personalized learning opportunities for students and different levels of support for teachers. I mean it's really exciting the level of creativity that's possible because of the support that your three companies give us. So let's talk about Skill Struck's connection with computer science at the elementary level, which for some people just sounds kind of crazy that we start that early. But that's exactly when we ought to be starting. Talk to us about what that looks like.

Talon Hatch:
Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. So, we love working with the District on that part. The larger part of what it stemmed from is about four and a half, five years ago, the state created the Utah Computer Science Master Plan. Obviously, with the growth of tech in our state and the legislation, the USBE came together and said, "Hey, we need to support our schools in making sure that every kid K through 12 is getting access to high-quality computer science curriculum, resources, and professional development for teachers." And so they actually created a grant program where districts could collaborate with other partners like Skill Struck and throughout the state in creating a plan of “this is what computer science is going to look like in our district,” to make sure that every kid has access. So, we really love working with Jared and Tracy in your district and seeing what does that vertical alignment look like at each school, across each grade level, so you can ensure that even as long as, like you said, as kindergarteners, they're engaging with the standards from the state and really getting that technology foundation that is so critical in the digital world that we live in.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a very hands-on, very concrete STEM education from a very young age and really it comes down to problem-solving.

Talon Hatch:
Exactly.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I also think there's customer service and empathy built into that because you are programming for an end user, and if you can't put yourself in their place, you aren't going to be an effective programmer.

Talon Hatch:
Exactly, and the beauty of what the District's doing is throughout this curriculum is they're doing computer science with computational thinking, those problem-solving skills, the basics of coding. But beyond that digital literacy, digital citizenship, keeping all within one platform so these students can really be strong stewards of technology regardless of what path that they end up taking. The nice part is they're getting a really strong foundation in the elementary already where we work with a number of the junior highs in the District as well, and the teachers are coming to us and saying, “hey, these kids are knowing way more than they did a few years ago,” and they're having to level up their game. That was the whole plan of the master plan is we would need to level up what we were doing with technology in the classroom.

Anthony Godfrey:
Kids are pretty amazing and teachers are amazing and when you put great tools in front of them, you really can be blown away by the results.

Talon Hatch:
Oh, I mean I was just talking with one of your teachers. A shout out to Colleen Pepper over at Falcon Ridge. She's one of the teachers, the STEM teachers, that takes and teaches Skill Struck weekly across all grade levels of the school. So she's seen every class, every student, are coming to her once a week for about, you know, 45-50 minutes. She was just sharing with me even some of these younger kiddos as young as third grade, they're already building websites with HTML. They're already learning text-based coding with JavaScript. A lot of teachers are always saying, “those third graders can't do it that young,” and they're always shocked when they start excelling and they go fast and go way beyond what we give them credit for. It's exciting.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thanks for your support and making that possible. Stay with us. When we come back, we’ll talk with Instructure and Adobe about how they are impacting the student and teacher experience in Jordan School District.

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 at Jordan District. We can't wait to connect.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk with you about Instructure, Casey.

Casey Nuttall:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Most people would not think, “Oh, Instructure, I know what they do.” Of course not. So let's talk about that.

Casey Nuttall:
Yeah, I mean I'll piggyback off of the conversation with Talon. Instructure was a catalyst with their product Canvas, right, that helped kind of bring technology of various forms and modes into one place and allow that facilitation of the curriculum and instruction be handled in one place via technology. I'm sitting here listening to Talon and I'm just thinking of my own experience of even computer science courses when, and this is gonna date me, but I remember my school was fortunate enough we had computers. Our computer was in the lab and our computer time was spent on typing the “quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.” That was it and then  . . .

Anthony Godfrey:
I do remember that fox.

Casey Nuttall:
Yeah, there's that. There is that and Oregon Trail and that was our technology was playing that game and typing that, and then you go back to your classroom. So now I've got kids in the system and I get to see all the exposure that they have and all the experiences they get to have because of the technology and all the skills that they're acquiring because of that. It's just insane. That's why it's so cool to be part of this experience, being a vendor and being with Instructure because of our product Canvas. That's our flagship product that everybody knows us by. It creates this environment where tools like Skill Struck, tools like Adobe, can all come into one course and the kid can engage with these various content and curricular resources in one space instead of being taken all over the place.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right.

Casey Nuttall:
But it fits in a mode that's going to really help increase student engagement but increase student outcomes by the way that they're engaging with this content curriculum, and increase their skills overall to be able to have more advanced skills and more proficiency in ways that, unfortunately, our generation didn't have those abilities to have there. So yeah, it's really cool. So, with our partnership with Jordan, we've been fortunate enough to have a multifaceted kind of pronged approach with Jordan. It is the District that uses quite a few of our tools. They use Canvas as that curriculum resource tool as an extension to the classroom to be able to have access 24/7 to all the content curriculum that's being deployed. They also have a product called MasteryConnect which is a standards-based proficiency-based assessment tool to help gauge where kids are mastering certain skills.

Anthony Godfrey:
We've been part of MasteryConnect for a long time.

Casey Nuttall:
From the get-go.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's like having a Netflix subscription when they have to send physical DVDs. I mean, we've been around for a while.

Casey Nuttall:
That's more true than most people probably think because it used to be a physical test and then you would have to just bubble sheet and scan it. Now it's all online. You've got all sorts of items, so it's crazy to see how technology is advanced. Like I said, being a parent now of kids that get to go in and use all these types of tools and have exposure to it makes me feel like I got ripped off.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I think everyone listening to the podcast is familiar with Canvas. It's amazing that the classroom is available 24/7.

Casey Nuttall:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Those resources are there and what I like to tell people, it's an added layer of transparency for sure. Parents who are interested in knowing, “hey, I wonder what my child is learning in this particular class,” it's a chance for them to engage with that but also to reinforce it. So I view it as a tool to connect with families, to connect with parents, to reinforce learning. Because of Canvas, a parent can watch the video and say, “Well, okay, now I'm up to speed. I'm gonna help you with this assignment.” Yeah, it's amazing and for us to have access to Canvas before the pandemic, for it all ready to be up and running in Utah throughout the state, I think we were miles ahead. Miles and miles.

Casey Nuttall:
You have no idea.

Anthony Godfrey:
You know, one of the first questions we ask when we're looking at another vendor or another opportunity is, “How well does it connect to Canvas? How does it link to Canvas?”

Casey Nuttall:
We love that because you keep that method.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is our methodology because it we want it to be one-stop shopping where parents can really get access to everything they need to stay connected to their student and to their learning.

Casey Nuttall:
But also promote the best of breed, right? Like that's something I want to convey to you. People know is Intructure, we have tools like the assessment tool MasterConnect, right? That's one tool of a bevy of assessment tools. If it's not the right fit for the District, we want to be able to help facilitate “what is the best tool for your learners?” So, like if Adobe is the best tool for a creative aspect, let's allow Adobe to come in. If Skill Stuck is the best for computer science let's allow those to come in and live. Like it is really truly promoting an openness and a best of breed approach. Unlike others where it's like, “nope, we're gonna lock you into our ecosystem and if you want to try and use something else, we're gonna make it more difficult.” Why? We need to all be in it for the learner. That's what I love about the vendor partnerships we have is we know, we recognize Skill Struck has a unique tool offering. Adobe has a really unique offering in the marketplace. Why would we ever prohibit our students from having access to those if it's gonna be the best fit for them?

Anthony Godfrey:
Exactly, and it gives us access to the widest range of right best tools connecting to that foundational Canvas connection. And speaking of PDFs, let's talk about Adobe.

Matt Linford:
The King of the PDF.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's right, we all know your logo better than anybody else's. I think that's fair to say. I know that you always provide the leadership opportunity, that leadership training for our principals, but so much more support in Jordan District. Talk about what Adobe offers. I think people would be surprised at the range of services that are provided to the District.

Matt Linford:
Yeah, our offering is definitely morphed and changed over the last few years a lot with what Utah has been doing over the last few years with these larger partnerships, with people like Skill Struck and Instructure. It's been an honor for a lot of the Adobe folks, and if anyone's been here in Utah, you know you drive along I-15 you see our building down there in Lehi. I mean, we're kind of a mainstay here even though we're based out of California. We have a lot of folks that are involved in this Utah community. We feel it, we want to be a part of it, and so our partnership has definitely evolved from just “hey, we offer things like Photoshop, illustrator, PDFs,” that type of stuff. What most people know us for is the evolving kind of scope of Adobe Express which more and more people are becoming aware of over time. We put a lot of effort in making sure that parents and the communities are aware of what Adobe Express is and does, and how that connects to the broader scope of K-12. That has been an honor and actually just a privilege to see that grow with the partnership. For example, specifically with Jordan and other districts here in the state, but Jordan specifically, we've done a lot of work making sure that there's professional development made available at, of course, no cost for any of the teachers that want to figure out, “well, listen, I you know Adobe is too hard. I use PDFs occasionally but I don't really see how Photoshop's gonna have anything to do with an elementary kid or elementary student.” Where we come in, we say. “No, there's Adobe Express that actually provides full scope of creativity and digital literacy advancement for those kids. Getting them in earlier, as Skill Stuck was kind of mentioning there, getting them in as early as possible on some of these tools prepare them for the future.

Anthony Godfrey:
Creativity, it's bringing creativity to every subject. When you bring creativity, you bring engagement. So really what you're doing is you're connecting with students, teaching them essential skills that you're also teaching the adults in our District now; but our students are getting an earlier start on that, and I just love that. The professional development support has really been key. Our digital learning team has really appreciated that. Give me a couple of examples of the sorts of things that Adobe Express can do for a classroom.

Matt Linford:
Yeah, it's the range has grown substantially. It used to be you could create maybe a video or do a little graphic here or there. It's broadened out quite a bit. Our video technology is really fantastic that can work on a Chromebook. For example, web-based stuff most of us are known for like Premiere Pro, which is an industry standard that is used in Hollywood all the time in that type of area. But for a Chromebook and being able to be able to do like, for example, animate your voice which has become such a big part for those younger students, where they can pick a character, just record their voice in a very simplistic and easy way, and they can tell their story. Again, that goes back to that idea of creativity in every aspect that you can possibly imagine, allowing that student to tell their story in multiple ways, to engage them more by having a video tool like that. We also go all the way into the PDF space, like we talked about, where we have actual really easy drag-and-drop PDF-kind of editing capabilities with an Express that work in conjunction with something like Acrobat. So, it can go into those spaces and then, of course, we have tons of graphic design tools. We also have our new Adobe Podcast that is being used heavily here in the state now, so tools like we're on right now, a podcast like with this. It's meeting people where they're at in a web-based format so you don't need to have like, for example, here we're using Adobe Audition which is a really great tool. Shout out to the fact that we're using that right now because it's an awesome tool but that's not going to be user-friendly for a teacher trying to create a new kind of audio recording technology within, say for example, middle schools or even late elementary. Adobe Podcast is open the door that it makes it super simplistic to do that now.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's such an important aspect of what you're doing. It's Adobe, it's Adobe Express. It's making it accessible so that once students and teachers get connected to it, then they can explore beyond that. But it's making that point of entry so much easier to get to by lowering the wall and lowering the concerns about, “oh, this is kind of beyond my range.”

Matt Linford:
The Express stuff is all free to everyone in the state of Utah. This is coming from our kind of high-ups within our company to make sure that we just want as many creators out there in the world as possible. So by doing it this way and working within the current systems that are out there, we're really trying to again meet those teachers where they're at.

Anthony Godfrey:
Fantastic! Well, you're all three incredible partners that have helped us really propel education. Well, thanks everyone, and good luck at the conference.

Group:
Thank you, thank you, appreciate 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.

(upbeat music)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anthony Godfrey:
OK. Thanks very much.

Mike Haynes:
Thank you, Superintendent.

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

Beth Lewis:
Thank you for having me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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