Author: communications

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. In this special edition of the Supercast. We want to make you aware of what Jordan School District is doing in cooperation with the Salt Lake County Health Department to plan for the Coronavirus or COVID-19 and to help prevent the spread of disease and keep students, faculty and staff healthy. This episode of the Supercast was recorded on March 2, 2020. And the information presented is current. As of that date, we'll hear from Salt Lake County Health Department, Epidemiology Manager, Eileen Risk regarding COVID 19. We'll also speak with Director of Custodial Services, Steve Peart about what's being done in schools to help prevent the spread of disease and illness. And we'll speak with Ross Menlove about the digital learning capacities that are built-in here at Jordan School District. Joining us now on the Supercast is Salt Lake County Epidemiologist, Eileen Risk. Thank you very much for taking the time. Can we just start by asking, what would you like parents to know about Coronavirus?

Eileen:
I think it's important for parents to understand that while this is a new virus and it's a novel virus, so that's scary. But the thing to keep in mind is, there are some real simple steps that parents can take to prevent spread of respiratory illnesses, including Coronavirus and including Influenza. And those are good hand-washing, frequently and thoroughly.

Anthony Godfrey:
So I know it might seem obvious to just ask how to wash your hands, but are there some specific tips on how to wash your hands thoroughly to be sure that diseases stop?

Eileen:
Definitely. It's very important when you're washing your hands. Some people sing a song in their head or out loud, depending if they can sing, but make sure that you wash your hands for 20 seconds and that you suds up. It's the friction when you're washing your hands. Make sure that you wash the tips of your fingers, your thumbs, in between your fingers, up through your watch, take off any rings, or if you're wearing them, get underneath the rings. The duration is really important.

Anthony Godfrey:
So the duration and really washing every area of your hands. How frequently should you be washing your hands or when should you be washing your hands?

Eileen:
That's a very good point. The other thing I want parents to recognize is that with hand washing is a good prevention measure, but it's also important to stay home when you are sick and it's always important to wash your hands after you've sneezed or coughed so hopefully you aren't exposing other people if you're ill. So you're in your own home, but you're making sure that you wash your hands after you sneeze or cough. It's important to wash your hands before you eat and after you use the bathroom.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wash your hands before you eat and after you use the restroom. Now you mentioned staying home. If you have symptoms, what are the symptoms that parents ought to be watching for to keep their child home?

Eileen:
That's very challenging because with Coronavirus. COVID-19 is the designation for this virus, the clinical disease. They need to watch for symptoms of fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. Those are fairly common symptoms. So a lot of different illnesses might present with those symptoms. So it's hard to know whether or not it's influenza or another respiratory pathogen, but if the child is sick it's important to contact their healthcare provider. And it's a good idea to not just show up at the health care provider if they have those symptoms, but to call ahead and then the health care provider can instruct them as far as when they're coming in. They might want to put them in an isolated room, put on a mask. If they're coughing, it's always a good idea. It's also important to recognize that right now, with our situation, as it's probably a lot more common, if they've had some sort of known exposure, that's going to change in a hurry. We expect community transmission, but for right now, as far as if a child presented with those symptoms, some of the questions that we would ask as public health is, have you traveled to any of the areas where we know there is known sustained community transmission? Have you had contact with someone who has traveled that may be under investigation as having COVID-19? Those are good indicators that would kind of ratchet up the concern level for a parent.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if a parent finds that their child has those symptoms, they should keep them home. They should call their health care provider. And one of the additional questions will be related to whether there is some level of exposure through travel or through contact with someone who has traveled. Is that correct?

Eileen:
Yes, that's correct. And then they help the provider.  With those lists of symptoms would test for a variety of more commonly seen things they're circulating in our community right here in Salt Lake County now, including influenza and other respiratory pathogens. If all of those tests negative, then depending on the risk factors associated with the child, we might move on to testing for COVID-19. But currently the testing around this virus is very stripped. And so there has to be some sort of risk-based exposure. We're not just routinely testing people who present with those symptoms.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if you have the symptoms, but there's no reason to believe that been exposed, you wouldn't necessarily be tested unless everything else was eliminated as a possibility.

Eileen:
That's correct. And that's why we do think, especially a fair number of people that have this disease don't have really severe symptoms. Some do, but a lot have very mild symptoms and so that's why it could be missed and not recognized. But that's also why we have to find that balance because of the resources we need to make sure that we have the testing capability for the people who are truly at risk.

Anthony Godfrey:
I see. So it is reserving testing capability for when you really have those populations through, right?

Eileen:
For right now, because the testing is limited. We hope in the future, there will be a commercial test and it will probably be just part of it. Right now, there's a panel of tests for when somebody presents with respiratory illness, at some point that might be added to that panel.

Anthony Godfrey:
So we talked about people being at risk. I've heard that children are less at risk than some other populations. Can you speak to that please?

Eileen:
We're not quite sure. The data around this virus is still being compiled to better understand age-specific risk factors, but there have been a handful of children that recently tested positive across the globe. Clearly, most of the cases have occurred among adults and we're especially aware of the adults that have more severe illness. Those tend to be our more senior population or people that have other risk factors or other co-morbidities like diabetes or heart disease.

Anthony Godfrey:
I started the last question with "I've heard" and there's a lot of rumors going around and there is a lot of speculation. Where would you say parents ought to go for the best, most reliable, most up-to-date information about what's happening?

Eileen:
So the best place to research information, there's a couple places and one is Salt Lake County Health Department website. The reason that's a good place is we link all of our information to the Center for Disease Control, which is he premiere place to look for information. If a parent is more interested and wants to dig a little bit deeper from a global perspective, the World Health Organization has an excellent website.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure. World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and Salt Lake County Health. Those are three sources for good information.

Eileen:
Yes. Those three, as well as the Utah Department of Health.

Anthony Godfrey:
We read about other countries where school has been closed or public gatherings have been limited. If that were to happen in Utah, and obviously it has not happened yet, but if that were to happen at some point, how would that information come out? Who would be the authority that would make that decision?

Eileen:
So we would take that information very seriously and it would be based upon our epidemiological information we're collecting. We're doing that on a daily basis. We're continuing to monitor people right now. We're looking at their factors, where they'd been, we're continuing to assess any commonalities. And so we would piece that together. And as a local health department, as far as quarantining or shutting down massive events, not going to movies, not going to church, not going to school would come is a a directive from Salt Lake County Health Department. So our local health officer would have the ability, based upon good sound evidence, to make that decision. And then that would be communicated very quickly to the right people, to the right superintendents in the school districts.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure. And I've always appreciated the process in working with Salt Lake County Health. You've always been very responsive to our questions and done a great job of providing a consistent and systematic means of providing information so that everyone has the right information and the same information at the same time. So I would anticipate that would be the same in case there's any problem.

Eileen:
Yes, we definitely would want to make sure, from a consistency standpoint, that we're all on the same page and we'd release that information at the same time with a heads-up to all of the people that need to know agencies, our partners, our health care providers, as well as provide that information to the public through the media. And we would continue to assess this as we go through it. This is not the first pandemic that we've been involved with. In 2009, you know, we were heavily involved with the influence of pandemic. And we continued to exercise pandemic preparedness on a regular basis.

Anthony Godfrey:
What would you say to families who are experiencing a high level of anxiety around the possibility of COVID-19 affecting their family.

Eileen:
Parents with a lot of anxiety? My best advice advice would be to rely on credible sources of information. Facebook, some of the social media, aren't always the most credible source of information. So I would take a deep breath and really think whether or not their children are at risk. And so far, we haven't had a single case where exposure has occurred in Utah.

Anthony Godfrey:
We talked about personal hygiene, but is there a level of cleaning that ought to be happening in the home to help prevent the spread of disease as well?

Eileen:
Whenever anyone's sick with respiratory illness, it's important to make sure, in addition to the good hand washing, the things we've talked about and self isolation, that any touch surfaces are cleaned. There's not really a magic answer for how often, but just thorough cleaning as you would typically do in your household and washing linens frequently, and making sure that any kind of light switches, remotes, anything where somebody might touch it and someone else might come along and touch the same piece of equipment, that those things are cleaned. I wouldn't go overboard because you can get pretty fanatic about cleaning, but it's just important to have things is germ-free as possible.

Anthony Godfrey:
We've been with Eileen Risk, Epidemiologist with Salt Lake County Health Department. If parents want more information, where can they go?

Eileen:
So the parents can visit http://saltlakecityhealth.org for information for Salt Lake County Health Department. And that will also link them to the Centers for Disease Control.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you very much. I'm sure you're very busy at Salt Lake County Health, and we really appreciate your taking the time to be with us.

Eileen:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, Jordan School District Director of Custodial Services, Steve Peart will join us.

Break:
Do you want ideas for being happier and healthier? I'm McKinley Withers, Health and Wellness Specialist for Jordan School District. Please join us every week for Wellness Wednesday. We do a feature on the Jordan School District website that offers free and simple tips for improving your health and wellness. We cover a variety of topics like reducing stress, better eating habits, and finding more time to build better relationships. Check out Wellness Wednesday every week on the Jordan School District website at http://jordandistrict.org For additional health and wellness resources, visit http://wellness.jordandistrict.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're joined now by Steve Peart, the Director of Custodial and Energy Services for Jordan School District. Steve, can you tell us a little bit about the routine cleaning that is done in schools of all levels?

Steve:
Okay. Well, for the routine cleaning, we have job cards for all of the sweepers and full-time staff and those job cards take them through, step-by-step what should be done every day.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's very organized.

Steve:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And is it the JCOS system that evaluates whether those procedures are being followed?

Steve:
Yes, it is. It's we call it the JCOS, which is Jordan Custodial Operating System.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's very structured, right down to the minute what's expected, how much time should be spent on each task. And there's routine cleaning that helps prevent the spread of illness and disease. Can you tell us about some of the routines that help prevent it?

Steve:
Yes. For example, what we call  light duty specialists, if you look down the instructions on their routines, number five says disinfected phones in assigned area, and it says spray disinfected on the cloth and then wipe down the phones. Number six is disinfect classroom sinks and drinking fountains. Number eight says disinfect all classroom doors, door knobs, switches, and places that the public would touch.

Anthony Godfrey:
So there's a very deliberate process to clean up those high touch areas.

Steve:
Yes. And then when we go out to inspect building, we will look at door knobs, door casings because a lot of times the kids will grab the door casing to swing around the door. So we make sure that those areas have been cleaned.

Anthony Godfrey:
I can picture that. Yeah.

Steve:
So there are a lot of areas that just get this regular routine cleaning, but when there's something more intense, sometimes when we've been concerned about a particular school, there is a fogging procedure that we've used before.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's kind of fascinating to really clean the entire school at a deeper level. Tell me more about that.

Steve:
Yeah. If the Department of Health tells us about concern, the next level of cleaning would be we'd go in and we can fog that building and go through the classrooms, go through the buses and that's the next level of cleaning. And that would be recommended from the Health Department.

Anthony Godfrey:
What particular procedures involved? Is it a special machine?

Steve:
Yeah. It's just like a handheld sprayer. We also have a backpack that we can use and it just puts out a very fine mist. As you walk into the room, you'll spray from the inner most part of the room and back out as you spray that room.

Anthony Godfrey:
And on rare occasion, when there has been an issue at a school we've been able to clean the entire school and ensure that it's safe.

Steve:
Yes. We've done that before on schools. We've also done it on buses.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that's done as a precaution under the direction of Salt Lake County Health.

Steve:
If the Health Department contacts us and says there's a particular health issue at a school, we can go into what we'd call the next level of disinfecting. And that's where we use the foggers to go in and fog the classroom or the school bus or the entire building, if needed.

Anthony Godfrey:
What substance is used in the fogger.

Steve:
The fogger has a disinfectant in it. It's designed to be able to disinfect around surfaces. So for example, if I was to hold my phone here and spray it, it would also wrap around and hit the back of the phone. So it can go places that would take hundreds of hours to physically wipe down. It can cover the entire room.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you've done this, like you said, with classrooms, entire schools, buses as necessary. How do we protect custodians and sweepers from getting sick themselves, as they're cleaning up?

Steve:
Each task that a custodian or sweeper is assigned to do, we'll have a level of personal protective equipment that is required for that task. And the district provides that equipment for each one of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Depending on the task and depending on the chemical that's being used, there is equipment to help keep the employee safe from infection themselves.

Steve:
That's correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
All the cleaning that you've described and all of the procedures you've described from disinfecting to fogging clean up, what's already there, but really the best preventative measure is hand-washing.

Steve:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And so there's going to be a lot more hand-washing hopefully because that's what's being encouraged, 20 seconds, at least. And we want more and more people to be washing their hands more frequently. That means we need more supplies. How are we for paper towels and soap and supplies in general for cleaning?

Steve:
The warehouse generally keeps stocked with several months ahead of what we need. But in addition to that, we've ordered even more for to stockpile.

Anthony Godfrey:
So we already have plenty of lead and we've ordered even more. We appreciate Steve Peart taking the time to join us up next. We'll talk about our online curriculum and ability to provide instruction to students staying at home, if necessary.

Break:
In Jordan School District, the possibilities are endless for anyone looking to grow with a team of professionals, working together to provide the very best for students in education. If you're looking for a great job with great pay and benefits in a supportive environment, head to http://workatjordan.org and find your future career in Jordan School District. People come for the job and stay for the adventure. Explore the many options apply today at http://workatjordan.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
Welcome back to the Supercast. We have with us today Ross Menlove, Administrator over Digital Learning in the Teaching and Learning Department. And he's here to talk with us about how the District has prepared to provide digital learning, if that's necessary, in case of an outbreak in Utah of the Coronavirus. But really, in lots of other circumstances, just to provide flexibility to parents and students, if for some reason students were required to stay home because of a Coronavirus outbreak, or some other issue, we're well positioned to provide deep, meaningful learning from home.

Ross Menlove:
Exactly. We're pretty much, I would say, one of the most prepared Districts in the State to be able to provide continued instruction to students and students wouldn't would not miss a beat of that core-level of knowledge that they need to progress in their learning. They would have that right there at home and teachers are trained enough to be able to do that right away.

Anthony Godfrey:
And in addition to having that Digital Specialist at each school, we also have a variety of digital experts at the District level that can provide additional support to teachers.

Ross:
Exactly. My team works really closely with every school, providing interactions with every principal and all the teachers. And we could easily push out content within a matter of minutes and hours to be able to train teachers easily on what to do and how to go about providing that content.

Anthony Godfrey:
Ross, can you just give us a little bit of an overview of kind of the training that's happened and some of the options that are available to teachers that can allow them to teach remotely online?

Ross:
Yes, that's a great question. This last year, when we had the previous snow day for 2019, we provided a blended learning course for teachers and pretty much every teacher in Jordan District participated in that course. And as we looked at that, what we decided for this year, we have transitioned our professional development to be more of a school-based professional development. So we are currently, we have a teacher at every single school in Jordan District that is a Digital Teacher Leader. They're a specialist in digital learning. They come and get trained from us each month to be able to use different digital learning and blended learning techniques and teaching tools within the classroom. And we've seen a huge jump in the number of people that are trained in digital learning. An example would be, we have hundreds of teachers every month that are currently participating in training that could be used if students were not at the school physically, but they could still continue their learning at home.

Anthony Godfrey:
So every teacher received blended learning training through a Blended Learning Course last year as a baseline. But we also have hundreds of teachers and more and more teachers receiving additional, advanced digital learning support and training so that they can expand their use of digital learning. And beyond that, we have a teacher that's assigned to every school, that's a specialist.

Ross:
Exactly. And about half of our school principals at all levels have participated in a Blended and Digital Learning Course for Administrators. So they're able to lead different activities for teachers to participate in faculty meetings or different trainings that they're providing to their staff. So pretty much every teacher in Jordan District is participating currently in some form of blended learning, either through their school, through the District trainings, whatever it might be, they've all have examples of using it. And they've all participated as a student and also as a teacher.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that's a good point. Participating as a student and as a teacher gives you a different perspective, what the student experience is like and what the teacher experiences.

Ross:
Exactly, they're able for themselves to evaluate on their end. What would good teaching look like if it was completely online and what is good teaching looks like if I use different parts of blended learning and technology within the classroom.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now we have a number of different platforms and programs that are available to us to help enhance online learning. Can you describe a few of those?

Ross:
Exactly. We use a couple of different learning management systems, there's Google Classroom, and then also Canvas within each of these learning management systems. There's ways for students to interact with a teacher and also for students to interact with students. The great thing about çanvas and a learning management system is we're allowing kids to be able to design and create their own content. They're not just getting on and consuming more content. They're being active creators of their own content. Being able to share their learning, being able to provide feedback in real time. A couple other tools that we really focus quite a bit on this year is Adobe. Every one of our students in Jordan District from seventh grade up has free access to Adobe.

Anthony Godfrey:
And Adobe is not just creating PDFs. Adobe as a way to provide interactive instruction. Can you describe that a little bit more?

Ross:
Yeah. So they all have access to the Adobe Creative Suite. So they get Photoshop, they get Illustrator and they can go on and create their version of the content that the teacher is asking, but do it in their own way and create that and be able to get trained in a product that they could use those skills in different areas, not just only at school, but also in their own life, in their own interest.

Anthony Godfrey:
You talked about Google Classroom and Canvas, which are two ways to create courses and classroom experiences online. I know we also have access to Nearpod as a District. Can you tell me what Nearpod is involves?

Ross:
Nearpod, what they've done is taken a traditional PowerPoint and now they've made the students an interactive piece within that PowerPoint. So instead of the student just sitting there watching the teacher go through the PowerPoint slide, the student now is an active participant in that PowerPoint. So the teacher might share some information. And then the next slide, the student participates in an activity where they either, they might draw their thinking or they might respond to a question. A great example would be like with math. So the teacher might teach them like a math concept. Then the next slide they have to draw their thinking.

Anthony Godfrey:
They have to draw. What would that look like for them or with reading?

Ross:
They have to read a passage and highlight different parts within that text. So Nearpod allows for creativity. And we just, this last month we did a Nearpod, a Palooza for Jordan District and we had over a hundred teachers come one day and all of them were trained on Nearpod, not just the basics. But also just advanced and how to use that tool to interact with students. So students are active participants in their learning.

Anthony Godfrey:
You talked about Canvas earlier and one of the aspects of Canvas that I like, and perhaps this is true of other programs as well, parents can get involved and they can be logged in right along with the student and be very involved in their child's school.

Ross:
Exactly. You know, we have Canvas and parents can see what's happening. They can see what's being what, whether students are doing the same with Nearpod, all the Nearpods. We would push out parents get access to those Nearpods and see what the learning is. And they could be active participants with their child in being able to go through the content and be able to ask them questions. And the wonderful thing is that with technology and with Canvas and as parents work with that, with their kids, the parents were able to see the type of questions and the type of learning so they can help. They can take those questions and use them in other areas of life and other times where they have conversations with their children.

Anthony Godfrey:
Allowing parents to be involved at a deeper level in a child's learning rather than simply logging on to a Skyward and looking up grades and that sort of thing. Parents can really be involved in the content and see where a student may be struggling and provide some help.

Ross:
Exactly. It allows parents to be right next to them, and also learning with them. That's a great thing with the digital content is the parents can also participate in it.

Anthony Godfrey:
We appreciate the work you've done in the last few years, Ross, moving us forward in digital learning and in our capability and helping provide that flexibility for students and teachers. And hopefully we won't need to use it a districtwide in the case of an emergency, but if we do, we're well-prepared to do so.

Ross:
Well, thank you. You know, I think the message that we communicate to teachers every time we meet with them is we want students to become active creators, using technology right. Not just passive consumers. When they use technology, when it comes to learning and teaching here in Jordan District, they're actively creating. They're showing their learning in different ways and in ways that have never been done before. But in ways that are needed as they continue through their life, especially with the increases in technology and what's expected of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great way of putting it. Active creators versus passive consumers. Thanks very much, Ross.

Ross:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks to everyone for being part of this special edition of the Supercast and thanks to parents for supporting our efforts as Jordan School District works to keep students and staff healthy in a productive learning environment. And remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Today, I get my hands dirty as part of a race car pit crew. When we stopped by the pathways to professions, career expo, thousands of students in Jordan school district and other districts attend this event over the course of two days, it's similar to a job fair where they get to meet local business and industry leaders looking to hire students sometimes on the spot. So who's hiring, let's find out We're at the mountain America expo center with our CTE director. Jason Skidmore. Tell us about this event today. We have all kinds of people here.

Jason Skidmore:
Yeah. This is our annual pathways to professions where students and industry get together from all over that region. We've got just over about 80 some different industry partners represented here to kind of a career fair on steroids and a lot of energy going on, kids looking at all different kinds of career options and job options and places they can get started.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's really amazing. Just how many opportunities there are here. How, how many representatives you have from a really wide range of industry?

Jason Skidmore:
Oh, it's just incredible. The industry's been so supportive and this is one of the things they've, this is now our fifth year and they look forward to getting in front of students and showing them what opportunities are available to them. We'll have over the course of these two days about 7,000 students will come through and get the opportunity to, to get a little taste of what's going on out there in the workforce.

Anthony Godfrey:
These are high paying careers that don't always require a college degree and many times pay for the training. And so it's a no cost. You just have to be interested in willing isn't that right?

Jason Skidmore:
Exactly. It's almost like you say a scholarship. A lot of our industry refer to that. They, you hire on in an entry level position, or even above entry level with some of these companies based on the classes you're taking at your local high school. And so, and then these guys will pay for you to go back and finish your degree and any training that you might need along the way. So great opportunities for kids and even, even they might find something, you know, might not do it for the rest of their life, but it'll give them a skill set that they can always fall back on to as they pursue whatever they do throughout the future. So,

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure. It's great to have options. There are amazing opportunities here. Let's walk over. I see this huge looks like a cement mixer, but I don't know. I don't know my big trucks. Well, you know,

Jason Skidmore:
You're, you're right. You've, you've hit it just right on. This is Clyde Companies. They are one of our biggest sponsors over the years. They do a lot with the heavy equipment operators, as well as the construction industry. And certainly it's a need in our growing state and they have phenomenal opportunities for kids. So let's talk to them.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm Anthony Godfrey, Superintendent for Jordan School District.

Clyde:
Nice to meet you at your new restaurants. I work for Geneva Rock Products as an Assistant Supervisor for the shop.

Anthony Godfrey:
Describe what some of the opportunities are for students in high school.

Clyde:
When it comes to diesel tech, one of the biggest opportunities is, and I really drive this in, we participate in it as a job shadow. So several things that the opportunity offers. One of them is concurrent enrollment, that's where they can pick up college credits at a high school level that gets paid for by the District. Huge savings to a parent or a student that is something that they should take advantage of. One of the things that all of us are doing, and I'm actually one that does it for Geneva Rock, is we invite the kids out for four hours on a day with us. They come out to our facility, we take them and show them Margaret Kanipes. We show them what we do. We let them visit with our mechanics and it just exposes them to what a mechanics does. So it gives them the first line on here's a mechanic. He's actually working on stuff,  so talk to him about whatever his tooling is, whatever his jobs are, whatever his experience is that works out well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Student interests aligned with a Diesel Tech Program, what would draw a student to a Diesel Tech Program? What sorts of skills, what they want to have?

Clyde:
Engineering is a big skill. Working with their hands. Hand coordination is obviously a big deal in equipment. One thing we try to do, when we bring our students out to our facility, we show them obviously the mixers and the concrete, the construction world, the graders. I work at the point of the mountain in the sand and gravel pit. So we get to deal with the bulldozers and the great big, heavy equipment. Every kid loves that. That's why I did it. Kids of all ages. Absolutely. I've been doing this for 31 years now for Geneva Rock. I did the same thing when I was a senior in high school, I was in the Diesel Program. I hired on at Geneva Rock at 18. Been with them ever since, but my attraction was the big equipment. I loved equipment. Still do. I mean, that's one of my fascinations.

Anthony Godfrey:
You love big equipment, love working with your hands, interested in engineering? This is maybe something that students ought to investigate. Come talk to me. And it sounds like there are great opportunities for them too, like you said, to work below, alongside the mechanic, look at how that goes and kind of see what it's going to be like if they decide to pursue it as a career.

Jason Skidmore:
Absolutely. If you love mechanics, something that you might want to do.

Clyde:
I mean, I love building things. I love repairing things. I love the feeling of having something brought down. You take the pride in getting that fixed and fixed right. That the doors that opened up after that for 31 years of working with Geneva Rock. I'm now a State Highway Safety Inspector for them. Geneva Rock does all their own safety inspections. I'm one of the inspectors for them. That's an awesome job to have.

Anthony Godfrey:
So describe to us a little bit about what that entails.

Clyde:
So just like your own personal Safety Johnny, Utah doesn't do it anymore. But what we used to doin our state for your car, you do inspections. UDOT requires the companies to still do State Inspections. Geneva Rock does their own. I'm one of the inspectors. So we'll pull the example. We'll pull that truck in and we go through it from bumper to bumper. We check the steering, the tie rod, and if the ball joints, the brakes, the air systems, the lights, everything that falls underneath the realm of safety, we do that. And then, obviously, our shop mechanics find a problem or something that fails in inspection, we fix it onsite.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if someone is interested in this, what's the chance of getting a job? There are lots of job opportunities aren't there?

Clyde:
Absolutely.

Clyde:
In fact, all of that's what everyone here, we're all here trying to get these kids interested in working for us.

Jason Skidmore:
Five companies help us. We've got Sun Rock, WW, Clyde, Geneva Rock. We're all trying to get these students to come work for us. So that's what RAF.

Clyde:
So whether it be me, specifically, we're trying to get all the kids here to come talk to us. Whether it be in construction, crushers, driving the truck. I try to single out the mechanic side of them. And then I put the angle on and hey, we need to get you into Salt Lake Community College or UVU, or one of these Mountain Land, one of the tech schools as a mechanic. And let's get you set up going. Then when you graduate from there, come see us. We'll get you in as an intern, we'll get you work.

Anthony Godfrey:
Good for us. And all these huge trucks do grab your attention. You have a really good show and tell game here.

Clyde:
Well, I appreciate it. You know, it works out well. We've actually brought a driver of this truck. The interesting thing about this truck is the day we set up here, not yesterday day. Before we brought this truck right off of the job site, delivering concrete, sprayed it off and drove it in here.

Anthony Godfrey:
And so this is the real deal. These are not props.

Clyde:
That's the truck that actually makes the money for us. So yeah, it's pretty cool. And we actually brought a driver with that truck that the students want to go check out. They want to get in it. They want to sit in the seat. They know what it's like to sit in the mixer truck. We can do that for them. So it's pretty cool hands-on kind of thing.

Jason Skidmore:
When I was part of that inaugural Diesel Tech Program or the launch of the program, I got to talk with some folks from industry and hear about some of the opportunities. And I just started to think about members of my family, even that I wish had known about this earlier on, because they're good with their hands but they haven't pursued a career like this.

Anthony Godfrey:
If someone's interested in this, what do they need to do now?

Jason Skidmore:
So the very best way now, with the day and age we're in, now is go to our website. We have got a pamphlet, there's information on the website. It has got all of our companies. They post all of the job openings and coming into the spring time, right now we're going to be slamming the postings because of all the construction sites that are going to start ramping up. And when they start ramping up the sand and gravel, the crushers, all of that, the asphalt paving starts coming up. Postings are going to start flying. So we've already got a ton of driver openings right now. We can't get enough drivers. So wherever you start, there are lots of places to go from that, lots to learn, get your foot in the door. And yeah, there's a job for you. There's the website, clydecareers.com. You can go to that, you can look it up and that'll pull up all of our companies and all of our job postings will be there.

Clyde:
So yeah, clydecareers.com and it tells you how you need to be to apply. We can start them out at 18 at an entry level position. Some of the positions, I believe like being a mixer driver and stuff, they gotta be 21, but that's a rule there, right? But at 18 you can get your foot in the door and get things underway. Get you on a crusher. We can get you in the shop. We can get you on a construction job site. I started there at 18. I've been there ever since. So now I'll be 50 this year. And the man has a smile on his face. These three decades have gone well. It's been good for me. Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, Geneva Rocks. Thank you very much. It's so nice meeting you. Thanks for your time. Good luck.

We're going to take a break. And when we come back, I find out if I would make the cut as part of a race car pit crew. And we discover, to no one's surprise, that everything's better with bacon.

Break:
We stopped by to hear about the opportunities for students in culinary arts and sample a bacon wrap date. Wasn't my very first date. Find out after in Jordan School District, the possibilities are endless for anyone looking to grow with a team of professionals, working together to provide the very best for students in education. If you're looking for a great job with great pay and benefits in a supportive environment, head to http://workatjordan.org and find your future career in Jordan School District People come for the job and stay for the adventure. Explore the many options apply today at http://workatjordan.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now let's head back to the Pathways to Professions Careers Expo, where we find out what's cooking here from students who are trying to get the upper hand in landing a good job that could become a pathway to a successful career. Hello, I'm Anthony Godfrey, Superintendent for Jordan School District.

Jeffrey:
Pleasure to see meet you. I'm Jeffrey Coker, Associate Dean for the Culinary Institute at Salt Lake Community College.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what have you been demonstrating?

Jeffrey:
Well today we have a couple of different things that we've been working on with the students in attendance. We're teaching students to just have fun with some classic knife cuts. So one of the cuts that we're making is a tornado potato. So a tornado potato is a classic French knife guide that you would use to garnish different dishes. And then the other thing that we're going to get going here in a little bit, we have some delicious wraps which Vanessa is going to make.

Vanessa:
We have some delicious bacon wrap dates. So once the bacon starts cooking, your nose will lead you to the pan and you will be happy, happy. A crowd will gather here. So our job today is just to kind of expose people to what we do. I'm fortunate enough where I get be on the FAC as Advisory Board for Granite and Canyon School Districts. So I love getting out and meeting with the faculty members and the students at the schools. I also work with the ProStart organizations through the Utah Restaurant Association. I serve as a mentor and a judge, so I try to get out to as many schools that participate as possible to help them become better at what they do, and try to expose people to good food, great technique, and develop a passion for this field.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if a student is interested in something like this, they can enroll in classes at Salt Lake Community College and pursue what sorts of careers.

Vanessa:
Absolutely. So at Salt Lake Community College, we're open enrollment. We have a an Associate of Applied Science and Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management with our Culinary Arts degree. Our students can either earn a degree in baking and pastry or culinary arts, savory food. And for us, when our students leave, we have students in all different aspects of the industry. So everything from prep, cook and line cook at resorts, hotels, small restaurants, food truck, on the hospitality management side, front desk, food servers, all kinds of stuff. And the great thing about it, if you want to learn more about our programs, slcc.edu/culinary arts or hospitality management. And we'll be happy to help you out if you're interested. There are lots of jobs out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Are there plenty of jobs? The unemployment rate in Utah, Salt Lake County is so low.

Vanessa:
We have students that are not hurting for finding jobs and great jobs at that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now I see these dates wrapped in bacon as a professional. Can you tell me, is there anything that does not get better when it's wrapped in bacon?

Vanessa:
No, that is the biggest myth. It has to be wrapped in bacon. That's an industry standard.

Anthony Godfrey:
You can't see this on the podcast right now, but this is not called fat. This is called experience. And for those who can't smell this through the microphone, the bacon is now cooking and the happiness is flowing through the air as you predicted.

Vanessa:
Yeah. You should get the microphone closer to the sizzle of the pan.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's get a little sizzle. That's good. So this has started cooking over there. I haven't thought about putting dates wrapped in bacon, so you can pretend it's healthy.

Vanessa:
You have the salty and the sweet mix together. So it's a great combination. So these were wrapped and then they were baked or roasted in the oven, just until they were about halfway, done cooking. Most of the fat is rendered off and then you bring them out here and you finish them off in a little saute pan like this, over a medium heat. And that finishes them, not to mention when you start smelling it, your mouth starts watering pleasure meeting. Right?

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Let's try this date. Hmm. That's a great first date when it's wrapped in bacon.

Vanessa:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Where are you from young man?

Student:
Hunter High.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hi, tell us about your experience here today. Your answer has been so far really good.

Student:
I really liked this culinary Salt Lake City Community college right here, because that's what I'm trying to go into. Right now I'm going into Culinary for Hunter High. And this is just another step up for me, trying to go into teaching French cuisine.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is it attracts you to the idea of preparing French cuisine?

Student:
Most likely I look at it as kind of a beauty of art because the more beautiful it is, the more tasty. So it's about the presentation and putting together something beautiful and as a result tastes great.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now let's head to one of the automotive booths sponsored by Salt Lake Community College here at the Expo. So tell us what setup you have here.

Exhibitor:
Basically ,it's a cutaway fiberglass car. And it's kind of like a set up of a NASCAR-type event. So it's just for fun to try to get the young people excited about what we do. Give me automotive and automotive might be automatic transmission, teach students how to do automatic or manual transmission reader. First thing we need to do is evaluate where we're going to have your target. So let's take a look at the leaderboard and see you. Obviously you can see kind of evaluate where your target is. We've got a loop pay from Horizonte School, had a 12.3, seven seconds to do all four and full attire off. And so that's your target if you want

Anthony Godfrey:
To get number one is the fastest. I'd like you to kind of size me up, just by the looks of me. How do you think I'm going to do?

Exhibitor:
You're going to be, I'm going to say probably about 35, maybe 38 seconds. That's what I'm thinking.

Anthony Godfrey
I've just said to be an honest evaluation.

Exhibitor:
I'm an evaluator. This is what I do is assess.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm not going to be any time soon. What I feel bad about is that's a low enough bar that if I don't even meet that, I'm really going to be embarrassed.

Exhibitor:
You're going to do good. So we've got the walk here. So we're going to push this button. That's going to be removed. I'll have that set for you, but we're going to go in.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is this device?

Exhibitor:
This is an impact branch electrically. Yes. Electric batteries, 20 volt.

Anthony Godfrey:
There's one. Name one impact wrench. I mean, is this like we could call the steady or is this the beetle?

Exhibitor:
That's correct. We're going to go on there. We need to align it first. So you got it aligned with the lug and you're going to go ahead and release that. And it's got to spin far enough out that all five lugs are going to spin out and we hold it straight and you spin them all the way out. Now the tire will come out. It'll go back and we made our tire chains. We pushed the button to change direction and we need to go back.

Anthony Godfrey:
So I'm fine to loosen them all up, take the tire off, put it back on and pat me down?

Exhibitor:
Correct. I know there's definitely a lot of pressure. It's NASCAR. I mean, the team is counting on you. Our sponsors and NASCAR can do it in about six to seven seconds. F1 does it in three seconds, but they don't just change one tire. They change all four. So you can change four tires in six to seven seconds, or you can change four tires in three seconds. So there's no real big pressure.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, my, my, my pit crew is on the line.

Exhibitor:
That's correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Well, I don't want to let the sponsors down. Here we go.

Exhibitor:
Alright, here we go. Spit them all the way. Here we go off back. Push them out and push. There you go. There we go. It's going to be a new world. Awesome. That's awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hey, thank you very much. I was so excited. I just kept holding on to the impact wrench.

Exhibitor:
Yeah. We're trying to get them excited about what they're doing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Yeah. That's the point. That's more adrenaline than I normally experience. It's an afternoon of work. So that's 40 Noon. Nice to meet you. Who do you represent?

Exhibitor:
I represent UMC, which is Utah Mechanical Contractors.

Anthony Godfrey:
And why are you here talking with students?

UMC rep:
We're here to talk, working with students to let them know that there are more options for them besides these high technical careers, and to let them know that trades people are very important people in our community. It's a great way to earn a living and become great at what they do. That's what we love to do, which are the trades that we represent. We represent both HVAC and Plumbing, which is heating and air conditioning and plumbing.

Anthony Godfrey:
So have you had some interest here today, some kids stopping by?

UMC rep:
We really have. We had quite a few stop by and ask us about what it takes to get into the trade. There's so many programs with us, paying for apprenticeships and everything like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a debt-free scholarship for them to get into the working class. So if parents know that their child likes hands-on work, like plumbing, or might be interested in HVAC, what should they do to help get their child connected with these programs and these opportunities to get training at no cost?

UMC rep:
Oh, there's a lot of outreach programs that try to get youth into the trades and you see it all across television. You see it all across everything, trying to get good young people back into the trades. I think the best thing to do would be to just contact a local plumbing or mechanical contractor. They would help them get in place with these things because most of all of them, I believe, have apprenticeship programs. So if you're interested in doing some hands-on work, lots of companies are going to help pay for the training that's required for you to be properly licensed.

Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely. Let's try something out here.

UMC Rep:
Yeah. Well, this is a pipe threading machine. This is what we use to run gas lines. This is what we use to run stainless steel pipe, some plastic tubing and stuff like that. So what it does is actually create the threads onto the pipe so that you can join it together.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, to someone with my level of mechanical training, it just looks like something out of a horror movie.

UMC Rep:
So this is called a bias to select that centrifical bias. So I'm going to cut this off real quick so we can start from scratch here. All right. So I'm going to put threads on the end of this pipe. I'm gonna explain this to you. This is the foot pedal. It's got a protective guard on it, so you cannot accidentally step on it while you're using the machine.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's a good idea.

UMC Rep:
This is the thread set. It comes right down. This lever actually engages the threads. This is the push lever right here. So what you want to do is go ahead and close this down right here and engage the threads once you to step on the pedal to rotate the bias. It doesn't matter if I put the left or right. It's not there. Now. What I want you to do is gently force this into the pipe.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Do I just push it on there until it starts to thread?

UMC Rep:
No, it's going to do it by itself because it's actually threading.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh yeah.

UMC Rep:
So you just want to wait for the pipe to get to the end of their teeth, then release your foot off the pedal.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. I think I can do that.

UMC Rep:
Perfect. Wait for it to come to a complete stop, release the threads. All right. Grab the lever and pull it towards you. The black, the long line. There you go. Then grab this and flip it up out of the way, the whole thing. There you go. Now we can just grab this right here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. And then we can release it and that's all there is to it. All right. Nice threads, man. Nice threads. Hey, that's great. It does give you a sense of accomplishment. It really does not get that always in my day today, sending an email doesn't give the same sense of satisfaction.

UMC Rep:
That's right. And the best thing, you know, being a tradesman is you get done. You step off your ladder, you look back, you appreciate what you've done and what you give to the community, because this is how we built this, how would we live without tradesmen.

Anthony Godfrey:
We take tradesmen for granted. That's for sure.

UMC Rep:
Yes, exactly.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you. It's really a pleasure meeting with you. That's awesome.

Students:
So tell us your names. Sam Springer, Cole Jenkins, Jacqueline Marsh, Daisy Miller, Chloe Fixit.

Anthony Godfrey:
Been here all day today, traveling around, checking out the booths. What have you seen that you like?

Student:
I saw that there was this game where you drive dump trucks. It was pretty dark.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you had a simulator where you were having driving a dump truck. Does this make you want to drive a dump truck?

Student:
Probably not, as those things are pretty big. It was a little intimidating.

Student:
Well, there were lots of cars and trucks and those are pretty cool. I changed a tire on one. Did in less than a minute.

Student:
I spent a minute.

Anthony Godfrey:
I did it in less than a minute as well.

Student:
The medical stuff is something really cool. And like this kind of exam stuff, preschools, I was going to let me teach you how to set a new CPR on a baby.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks you guys.

Students:
Thank you. Nice to meet you.

Anthony Godfrey:
As you heard, the kids got a lot out of this experience and so did I. It's impressive just how many careers are available and how eager employers are to hire students. Thanks again for joining us on the Supercast. And remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Today, we hit the road with an episode we hope will help parents navigate all the nervousness and stress that may come with new drivers. Riverton High School Driver Ed Instructor, Steve Galley invited us along inside the car for a driving lesson with two students. What we learned can help keep everyone students and adults alike safer on the road. We are here at the North parking lot of Riverton High School with Mr. Steve Galley. Steve, introduce yourself a little bit to the listeners of the Supercast. You've worn a lot of hats in Jordan District.

Steve:
I am in my 21st year here at Riverton High, and I've also spent five years at West Jordan High and that's where I got started in Driver Ed. And I've done a lot of coaching as well. And I've been the Department Chair of Driver Ed here at Riverton High, since we opened the school.

Anthony Godfrey:
Are there some misperceptions on the part of students and even parents?

Steve:
I think one is sometimes parents think is that they will learn everything about driving in the Driver Education Course, and that we will teach them everything about driving in three hours in the car.

Anthony Godfrey:
So three hours in the car, is that how long the driving time is offering  on the range?

Steve:
Yeah, that's the road time. And then they have range time.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's less than I remembered. It seemed like a lot longer than that at the time.

Steve:
You may have been struggling behind the wheel at that time.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is absolutely true. I continue to struggle.

Steve:
We don't get very much time with them. And so it's critical that parents help them get in their practice time, the 40 hours that they need to do with the students. It's critical that there's a connection between teacher, parents and students so the things they're learning in class are being practiced and worked on with the parents. And when that happens, then we see we see a huge difference when we get in the car with him.

Anthony Godfrey:
If the student wants to start driving and get their license on their 16th birthday, at what age should they start driving?

Steve:
We encourage parents to wait a couple months after their 15th birthday to get their permit. A lot of students are anxious. They get it on the 15th birthday, but it will expire one year from when they get it. Many students turn 16 before the end of the quarter. And so they end up having to pay another $19 and renew their permit. So we encourage them to wait a couple of months. But I think if the student is eager and wants to practice, I like them getting their permit a few months after their 15th birthday so they can start experimenting and practicing. It's not perfect because obviously, you would want them to learn some things from the teacher and from the class that they don't get. We're hoping that parents are not forming a lot of bad habits but that they're becoming more comfortable behind the wheel. You notice a difference with the ones that have had a good number of hours before they get to the class.

Anthony Godfrey:
What advice do you have for parents on being patient with their child in the car?

Steve:
This happens a lot. It's interesting. When you ask students, do you have a freakout parent? They just start chattering and my mom did this and my dad did that. And I ask them who do you like to drive with? I like to drive with my dad because he's calmer. And some say, Oh no, I don't want to drive with my dad. He just yells the whole time. So there's two things we emphasize. One is talking and planning the drive as much as possible. That can't always happen because there are spontaneous drives, but if they can talk about, these are some things that we've learned in class. These are some things that I need to practice. These are things that are going to be on the road test and you can go into the drive with a little bit of a plan. Students tell me the stress level will drop considerably.

And then the other thing is we use a strategy that's called commentary driving. I've taught this for almost 15 years. I really started to emphasize it the last few years. It simply is the student, talking in conversational tone about what they are seeing, what they're predicting, what they're planning on doing. They're going through the whole driving task mentally, but they're talking out loud. This does a couple of really good things. It forces the student to focus on the concepts that they've been learning. They get to repeat terms. They get to emphasize things that their parents may not be talking to them about, but the teacher wants them to do right. And then, the absolute awesome byproduct of commentary driving is that it usually lowers the stress level of the parent, because instead of trying to read the student's mind and guess what they think is going on, they can hear what the student is thinking. And instead of like, if they see the little girl on the bike, instead of arguing about the little girl on the bike, Hey, watch out for the little girl on the bike and you're like, I saw the little girl on the bike  and then you're arguing about that. It's when she, or he says, I see the little girl on the bike. Okay?

Stress level goes down, I'm approaching a stop sign. I'm going to put on the brakes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes. So they're really narrating their own driving.

Steve:
Yeah. It's just commentary, driving. It's narration. I know in our classes, we show examples of it. We show videos of it. When we're with students, I don't do as much of it, mainly because we're more experienced, it's easier for us. We're in a marked car. We have shakes. We've had thousands of hours of this so we're really used to it, but parents you're in their car. They don't do this all the time. They may be arguing with their son about cleaning his room. I never have to have that argument with them. We  just focus on driving.

Anthony Godfrey:
There's no baggage you bring to the drive.

Steve:
If a student is really struggling with something, for example, intersections, they're hesitant, they're making wrong decisions. I'm having to intervene and prevent possible crashes. Then I'll have a use commentary driving and within seconds, and parents can do this too, within seconds you will be able to identify what they are not doing, because you'll know what they're thinking. And then you have a better chance of fixing it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. I would imagine that if you are along for the ride on a lot of commentary driving, you start to hear your own voice in your head as you're driving.

Steve:
Yes, it can get a little annoying. I've had parents tell me, it's okay, she's really doing the commentary driving. It's been great.

Anthony Godfrey:
But do we have to do it for an entire hour?

Steve:
Probably not.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what are some of the things that students struggle with the most?

Steve:
I would say spend time with your parallel parking, first of all,  because I think that's a skill that I've not developed. Most people don't want to develop that. And it's funny, you mentioned that. I personally think it's the least important thing on the road test, but it's the one thing that's talked about and feared so much. In fact, I just read a report this past week. Nevada has dropped parallel parking from their State road test because you don't find very much of it. In downtown areas, I guess, but people don't like to do it. People are more willing to actually drive around the block for a half hour.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'd rather walk six blocks in the rain than parallel park downtown. But I will tell you, there's one thing that I've really noticed last few years. I think driving is more challenging. There's a lot more at stake. It is obviously very dangerous, but we have a lot of students who are just absolutely terrified of going on the freeway.

Steve:
Yeah. we have a lot of parents who are equally terrified to be a passenger on the freeway with their son or daughter driving. So we work on strategies to help them to overcome that fear. I think if you have teachers that are really explaining the road test and we have a really high pass rate here at Riverton, but we also don't test any students. The idea is success and so if they need to work on things, we will slow it down a little bit so they can get better. But I don't think we have so many students that after the fact say, I don't know I was getting so worked up about that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Yeah. Do you find a lot of students wait to get their drivers license more than in the past or not?

Steve:
Not necessarily. A nationwide trend since about 2012 is there are fewer, and this is in every state, fewer students getting their licenses. Some just don't take Driver's Ed. Many take the classroom phase, but don't actually finish all of the driving. And the major studies that are linked have looked at this research. They've linked it to the cell phone, the smartphone. We used to go knock on our friend's door to play. We used to in high school, we would put $5 of gas drive and you'd go to your friends. And of course they still do that stuff, but they have instant connection to not only their friends, but the world on their phone and driving is scary and driving can be. And also, it can be expensive for fuel, car insurance, everything. So not as many students want driver licenses.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's interesting. So let's say someone is listening to the Supercast right now, driving in their car. What mistakes are they probably making if they're listening right now? Talk them through it, what they need to be thinking about, what they're not thinking about.

Steve:
Well, they actually could be distracted by the Supercast.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, you know, it's very engaging content.

Steve:
Yeah. It is audio, so that is better. But distraction is a huge thing. Put your phone down. There's obviously the people that do some major violations of the law, but here's something that you would say, I'm not going to go to jail for this. I'm not a bad person, but you probably should make a complete stop. I see a lot is violating on a right turn on red, which is illegal, unless it's posted that you can't. But you're supposed to stop first. Most people treat it like a green light rather than a red light. Is your seatbelt on right now?

I would ask you, is your seatbelt on? And if it's not on, I've got a question for you. If you're not going to wear it for you, will you wear it for the people that you love? Will you put that seatbelt on?

Anthony Godfrey:
Great, great. And speeding?

Steve:
Speeding, speeding is number one. There's a lot of five over, nine over, my friend's a cop. He said, you can go seven. I mean, you hear all these stories and speed is the number one risk factor in all crashes. It's the most common risk factor that you were going to have.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Do you have any horror stories? Are there some crazy things that have happened out on the road that just kind of surprised you?

Steve:
Most of the really crazy stories are actually not driving related. I haven't been coached, I have an upset stomach, but they usually say it a different way.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Gotcha.

Steve:
Yeah. They're usually things like that, as far as actual driving stuff. When I first got into Driver's Ed, I thought every day was going to be a brush with death. I thought, the kids are just going to be up on people's lawns. It really is pretty tame. We're in a really controlled environment. Our biggest surprises, at least for me, my biggest surprises rarely come from the students. They usually come from other drivers and they are usually adult drivers.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it's not that the students are driving poorly. It's that when you're on the road so much, you see some terrible behavior from it.

Steve:
Yeah. And that's their biggest challenge. One reason why they get in a lot of crashes is an experienced driver is able to react to those things because they've been around it longer, whereas a student may not be doing anything wrong or making a minor mistake, but they are not able to predict and react to what is happening to them. And so then they don't avoid the crash or they panic and do something that contributes to the crash. So that's what I mean. That's why all the practice hours are so critical. They can't get enough practice.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Oh, wow. I'd never thought of it that way, that it would be the adults reacting to the bad behavior of adults and the mistakes of adults around them that's the difficult part. What do you like most about teaching Driver Education?

Steve:
What is really awesome is that it's different from being in the class with 30 to 40 kids. You're in the car with two or three kids and you're stuck together for two plus hours. Right? You get to know the kids better. I enjoy being with kids and talking to them. And then there's just the real rewarding aspect that what you're doing can be a life and death thing. This is a practical skill that they're going to use probably almost every day of their life. And so there's some personal pride that I want them to be confident. I want them to be skilled. I want them to be safe and we do the best we can with the limited time that we get.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. I was always envious when I worked at the high school level of the Driver Education teachers, because you got to know so many kids when you had them only for a quarter, and you got to know them as sophomores, so then you know them the whole time. You're there, you got to know so much of the student population. I think that's a real advantage. It is awesome. Any advice for when people are driving along and they see a Driver Ed car? What should they do? Any advice there?

Speaker 2:
Be patient keep a good distance. One of our most frustrating things is when we're tailgated, the teacher may actually be giving that student a, an official road test, but on a road test, if there's no danger of, you know, a crash or anything, the teacher may is not going to say anything there. Right? Cause the student has to make the decision. The teacher will jump in. If there's some real danger,

Anthony Godfrey:
It's been a long time since I was involved with Driver Education. But when I worked with the high schools, I learned that there is extra equipment installed in the car. So when you're riding with the student, you have your own break on your side. How frequently do you end up using that?

Steve:
Way, way less than you would ever expect? Not that often at all.

Anthony Godfrey:
Riding with my mom, she thinks there's a phantom break there and she would stomp the bottom of the floor of the car, thinking that I wasn't stopping fast enough. So you have the actual break.

Steve:
I do that in non-Driver Ed cars when I'm in the passengers. It's just natural because we just rest our foot so you're ready to go.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, hey, let's hop in the car.

Steve:
Okay.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks to Driver Ed instructor, Steve Galley for sharing some important, safe driving tips for teen drivers, and for those of us who have been behind the wheel for decades.

Anthony Godfrey:
Up next, we'll talk to Maddie and Jane, two Driver Ed students who are learning to be safe and responsible young drivers, thanks to their instructor, Mr. Galley.

Break:
Do you want to know what's going on in Jordan School District? Maybe see your child or a friend featured in a school story? Check out our website at http://jordandistrict.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at Jordan District. Let's connect today. We are here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you name these cars, Mr. Galley?

Steve:
No, we don't name them. We're in car #71955.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, okay. Oh ladies, tell us your names.

Maddie:
Maddie and Jane.

Anthony Godfrey:
Maddie and Jane. Jane's at the wheel. Jane. How much driving have you done?

Jane:
Oh, you're in safe hands. Don't worry.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm not worried at all. I'm quite excited actually. So what do you guys think about getting your driver license? Are you pretty excited?

Maddie:
I actually already got mine and it's way fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is there a new sense of independence?

Maddie:
Oh yeah, for sure. It's kind of overwhelming, but I like it. Okay. Jane, where are you going to take us?

Jane:
Well, that's Mr. Galley's decision.

Anthony Godfrey:
Mr. Galley tells you which way to go? Have you done the commentary driving we were talking about?

Jane:
Not in this car, but with my parents, yes I did.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what do you think, does that help you think through the driving?

Jane:
Yeah, a lot. It really helps actually.

Anthony Godfrey:
So when will you be 16? When will you be eligible to get your license?

Jane:
Next Wednesday.

Anthony Godfrey:
Next Wednesday. Are you prepared to get it on your birthday?

Jane:
I hope so. Yeah.

Steve:
Yeah. When we're done, she's going to be taking her test today.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, wow. Dynamite! Well, thanks for waiting. You guys. I enjoyed talking to Mr. Galley so much. So, all right, I'm ready.

Steve:
Okay, Jane, let's go left. We're going to go out of the parking lot. We're going to go actually drive. She's doing great. So far. We got out of the parking lot. Well, Jane's focused, but relaxed. Jane, tell me what you see. What's happening in front of us.

Jane:
A lot of kids on the sidewalk.

Steve:
What else is gonna see to your right Jane? Do you see those two lights? We've got to be under 20 when we hit these lights. Not under 20. There we go. We're now under 20, stale green light, that was stale. Four seconds left on the clock.

Anthony Godfrey:
Did you just call it a stale green lights?

Steve:
A light has been green a long time. Let's see if Maddie knows the clues. What are some of the clues to know if a green light is fresh or stale?

Maddie:
You look at the crosswalk signs and see how much time is left on them.

steve:
And what if we approached a green light and you saw a white pedestrian signal, that's fresh. That is a fresh green light. So this helps them to make a better quicker intersection decisions. If you know the light is fresh and you're within seven seconds or so, then you're going to be going through that light. So now you can start focusing on other things. If it's a stale green light then depending on how far away we are, we're looking for what we call the point of no return, which we use the second arrow or the end of the left turn lane line, whichever one is closest to the intersection. Instead of being surprised by yellow, instead of reacting late, instead of panicking, we are trying to teach them to prepare for that in advance,

Jane:
The light just turned green so it was fresh. And so I can go straight through the light and then blind spot check and speed up.

Steve:
Yes, we work on actually using our turn signals. Do you think this is good following distance? Explain this.

Jane:
It should be a two second gap.

Steve:
So how you check?

Jane:
You pick a landmark like a light post or a pole, and when the car in front of you passes that object, you start counting and it should be two seconds away.

Steve:
So how far away from this suburban are we?

Jane:
For about five seconds guaranteed. I'm going to be paying better attention to my driving after that.

Steve:
What are you doing right here Jane?

Jane:
Load is excellent. Habit 14 is when you come to a stop behind a car, be far away enough that you can see the back of their tires.

Steve:
Excellent.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I don't do that. That's good. You're supposed to see the back of their tires, Jane, is that right?

Jane:
Yes. That makes sure you have plenty of space in case something comes up.

Steve:
You can react last track check and make your turn into the first corresponding lane. Excellent, great speed. Limit 35 car pulling out right in front and a school zone.

Jane:
Yeah.

Steve:
Okay. So earlier when we talked about adults doing wrong things, the driver that just pulled out should have never pulled out right there. And it did surprise Jane a little bit.

Jane:
Yeah. I did see them pull through.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you like most about driving?

Jane:
Just like the freedom, I guess.

Anthony Godfrey:
Did you drive with your parents?

Jane:
Yeah, before I got my license.

Anthony Godfrey:
How much driving did you do with them?

Jane:
Definitely more than 40 hours.

Anthony Godfrey:
I have to narrate a little bit here that Jane did an amazing three point turn. The thing that you always worry about when I'm making a 3 point turn is that it becomes a six point turn and she did great. There was a big brick mailbox right in front of her. She just eased right up to it, knew just how close to get. Nailed it.

Jane:
Thank you very much.

Anthony Godfrey:
No, the maneuver didn't nail the mailbox. Completed a well executed three point turn.

Steve
There was one maneuver that Dr. Godfrey said was his favorite to our right. Do you see the one to our right here?

Jane:
The blind spot or the handshake?

Steve:
No, this maneuver here.

Jane:
Oh, the parallel parking. Yeah.

Steve:
He loves it.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love it?

Steve:
He constantly working on it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes. I'm refining my skills always.

Steve:
Do you want to practice it now?

Anthony Godfrey:
It might be kind of funny. Let's practice it. Let's try it.

Steve:
So let's get set up for it properly. Let's do a straight line backing so we can approach while she gets ready. I think parallel parking is the least important maneuver. And this is what I would say to Jane. I would much rather that she is an All-American intersection, a decision-maker driver than to be the world's best parallel parker.

Anthony Godfrey:
I think that's good advice going into this. By the way, Jane is testing today. And so I admire that she's willing to ride around with me on test day. But she should be very confident going in. She's done great!

Steve:
Okay. Let's do this. I'm just going to talk you through this and  I'm only going to jump in if I think you need a little bit of help. So for the listener, we're looking at two tall orange cones. We've got two red painted marks on the curb. And so we're not really parking between cars and we have a big tree planted in the middle. Okay. So signal, rear view mirror, blind spot. And we're going to pull over somewhere about three feet away from that cone. And we're going to get it parallel in, that's good, signal popped off and Jane's putting it back on. Right. Here we go. We turn it hard right, and then we just go very slow. This is a good speed. We want to get about halfway in and this is good. Okay. We may be a little close to this cone. When most people back in, they rarely actually do the backing perfectly. So at this point, correcting straightening, centering if you can do that. It really doesn't matter if you make some minor mistakes on the initial backend. So what do you think you need to do here?

Jane:
I moved back a little bit.

Steve:
Yep. This is one of our hybrid cars too.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. I can tell it keeps shutting down, which would have thrown me in Driver Ed.

Steve:
Yeah. If we take 17 minutes to parallel park, it will shut down. Okay. Now we are just inside the gutter. This is legal parking straightened centered. And with the pressure of a microphone, you did it right.

Anthony Godfrey:
The only time I've been scared on the whole drive with you is when I thought Mr. Galley was going to make me parallel park.

Steve:
I actually thought about it. But then I remembered that technically you are my boss.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed this. This has been awesome, Mr. Galley. Thank you so much for talking with me and taking me on a drive, Maddie and Jane. Congrats on having your license and Jane, I have every confidence you are going to pass this test with flying colors.

Jane:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for a great drive you guys. We had a lot of fun with Jane and Maddie and their instructor, Steve Galley. Hopefully you heard something here today that will help you as parents navigate all the anxiety that may come with having new teen drivers in the house. Thanks to everyone for listening. And remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. On today's edition of the Supercast, we get a look inside the agricultural program at West Jordan High School. It's a program that looks nothing like Ag classes of the past. Here, high-tech combines with live farm animals, like Winston, the pig and the greenhouse to teach students where their food comes from. For students who may never have set foot on a farm before, it is a learning environment they love. All right, we're here with Cody Gull, in his classroom. There is an enormous skeleton of a horse with no name, apparently. And we also have several rabbits, floral arrangements, a number of juniors and seniors, and who knows what else he has because he teaches a wide range of classes. Cody, very nice to meet you.

Cody:
Nice to meet you.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do we have going on here today?

Cody:
This is my equine science class and we are talking about nutrient deficiencies in horses.

Anthony Godfrey:
So I hear we might be snipping, some buttons.

Cody:
Some rabbit nails, too. Trisha, do you want help with that? Do you want me to hold her?

Anthony Godfrey:
Trisha are these bunnies names?

Speaker 3:
That's Bruce and Karen,

Anthony Godfrey:
Is that based on some kind of obscure pop culture reference I'm not aware of it?

Trisha:
She wants to talk to the manager.

Anthony Godfrey:
I see. Karen wants to talk to the manager.

Trisha:
I'm going to help you clip them. April, come on over. So Trisha's going to hold them and I'll tell you where to clip.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is it kind of scary to do that. Is it hard? Which is the harder job holding the rabbit or clipping the nails?

Student:
Holding it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is it a rabbit?

Student:
Yes. The technical term is a rabbit. Bunnies are babies. And so you want to make sure that when you're clipping you are clipping gray. That's where the light part of the nail ends. So about right there because there's veins inside of there. So you don't want to clip too high up and hold tight in case he doesn't like it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Is this Bruce or Karen? Bruce seems very calm about this, like he doesn't know what he's in for. Oh wow. It's kind of like a whole punch that is just coming around the rapid toe. Is there anything lucky about rabbit toes as opposed to rabbits feet or rabbit toe nail?

Student:
I think the lucky part is not getting scratched as you are pulling them out of the cages and holding them. That's lucky.

Anthony Godfrey:
Why do you clip the Bunny's nails?

Student:
We do them so that when students get them out to handle them, they don't get scratched because they're super, super sharp and they draw blood very easily.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you ever do a manicure?

Student:
No.

Anthony Godfrey:
For a bunny-cure. That doesn't exist?  Just  a buff and clear polish.

Student:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Can I touch Bruce?

Student:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Can I like, oh wow, Bruce is very soft. Bruce has gray and white, very big dark eyes. I like Bruce. Bruce is very chill. Does someone take equine science if they have been around horses or they're just interested or who signs up? Who's mostly has interest in that sort of class?

Cody:
Ag kids So a lot of these kids took my animal science class or floriculture class. And so it was basically through recruitment. I only actually have one student in here that has horses at home, in this class. She's a barrel racer. So she has extensive experience with her own horses. But other than that, everyone else just, they were able to take this class because of word of mouth, through my other animal science classes that I teach. And just something that they were interested in.

Anthony Godfrey:
And how long have you been teaching here now?

Cody:
This is my second year at West Jordan High School and second year teaching.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great. So you teach equine science. What other classes?

Cody:
I teach equine science. I teach animal science one and then animal science two, which is just a more advanced animal science. We go into a little more detail. It's a little meatier, but it's also quite a bit more hands-on because the kids are able to take that animal science one class, that gives them the science part of things. And they learn all the terminology. And then they're able to apply it in animal science to two specific things. I also teach a floriculture and greenhouse management class and that class is super fun and also super hands-on. All of my classes are very hands-on, but the floriculture class is the most hands-on. We make a monthly floral arrangement that we are able to sell to faculty and staff and community members. And it's all student work. They choose the arrangement that they make every month. They choose the flowers that go in that arrangement. They choose everything. They learn the business end of things. They learn how to run a floral business the first half of the year. And then the second half of the year, starting in January, we are working in our greenhouse.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if they're behind on getting a flower arrangement together, do you tell them to put the pedal to the metal?

Cody:
That's a great one. I've never used that one, but I'm going to start using it now.

Anthony Godfrey:
I was just checking. I think I've never met a teacher who teaches a wider range of subjects than you do. I know they're all kind of outside and nature related, I suppose, but floral arranging and equine science. That's quite a wide range. What made you interested teaching those subjects?

Cody:
I come from a background of agriculture, fairly extensive. I'm from Spanish workers and so I was able to kind of grow up on the farm, doing all these sorts of things from having my own horses and cows and pigs and all sorts of different animals. And through high school, I was able to be involved in an agriculture education program and in the FFA. And it was something that I knew when I was a sophomore. I needed to be an Ag teacher and I wanted to be an Ag teacher. And so I just followed the plan and the rest is history. Here I am.

Anthony Godfrey:
I like the way you say that I needed to be an Ag teacher.  You just knew that's what you needed to do was what I needed to do by my sophomore year. That's fantastic. Well, I have to admit that everything you teach is way out of my range of talent and ability. So I'm thrilled that you're here and that you're teaching.

When we come back, we'll introduce you to Winston the pig. He's just one animal playing an important role in Ag Education at West Jordan High School.

Break:
Hey, you okay? Yeah. I just have a lot of stuff going on in my head. You need to talk, dude, stop hiding behind the happy face. Talk with no filter, get the safeUT app. Download it now. Available on the Apple app store, Google play or safeUt.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
Welcome back. Now it's time to find out what goes on in the greenhouse and small farm setting behind West Jordan High, as part of the Agricultural Program. Walked out behind West Jordan High School. I thought, there are facilities available to students here for this program.

Cody:
For the Ag Program right now, we have our full production greenhouse, where we were able to grow all sorts of different flowers and a variety of different vegetables. We also are in the process of creating a mini-animal lab. We will be getting a barn, just a small 20 by 20 foot barn to put out here by the end of this month. Students are able to purchase a market, go and market lambs to raise for the Salt Lake County. Fair. A lot of the students that we have here in our program don't come from an agricultural background. And so with it being a more urban area, we need to, I really believe in the importance of giving students these hands on opportunities like exhibiting an animal at the Salt Lake County Fair. And so providing a place for that animal and providing the entire learning experience from when they get the lamb or the goat to the time they get to sell it and make money on that end.

Anthony Godfrey:
I think it would be surprising to a lot of kids exactly what is involved in raising the animals that provide food for them ultimately, at the end of the line. And I'm excited to see what's going on. I think I heard a pig in the background.

Cody:
Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
What does that noise from the pig? It's an oink, but what does it mean?

Cody:
He's trying to escape you. That means leave me alone.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is your name?

Student:
Brendan.

Anthony Godfrey:
Brendan, do you consider yourself a pig master?

Student:
Not really.

Anthony Godfrey:
I liked dogs, but you like pigs and what's the pig's name?

Student:
Winston

Anthony Godfrey:
Winston. That's a very sophisticated thing. I liked that. Have you handled pigs before this class?

Student:
I have not. He's actually a miniature pig, not that that's actually a thing. There's no such thing as an actual miniature pig because he could grow up to be 300 pounds, but he's about five or six months old now and weighs right around 40 pounds. You just have to be very careful what you feed them and how much, because they can grow up to be big pigs.

Anthony Godfrey:
So the ultimately, size of the pig depends on what you feed it.

Student:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And so how does the pig interact with students in your classes? How do you use the pig as part of the instruction?

Cody:
So when we are talking about different animals behaviors or different training, we can incorporate him into that. We can also talk about the confirmation of the animals when we're doing livestock judging and things like that. Pointing out specific things on the pig or on any animal is always a really, really valuable tool to use. If the students can see it and touch it, it's usually very valuable and they're able to remember that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, no, Winston wanted to eat the microphone. We're going to keep that from happening. What are you feeding Winston?

Cody:
Right now we are giving him just some mini-pig treats and they are blueberries and cream flavored. But in general, we feed him an 18% protein hog feed.  We just give him about a half a pound a day, and that is what he eats. And then he also loves marshmallows. Those are his favorite.

Anthony Godfrey:
He loves marshmallows, blueberries and cream. Is he a millennial pig? Does he eat only organic?

Cody:
Probably.

Anthony Godfrey:
You talked about animal behavior earlier. Can you tell about Wilbur's behavior and what there is to learn about behavior from Wilburn?

Cody:
Yeah. So when we were getting him out of the pen, when he was making that noise and it sounded really aggressive, that sounded like it was forming syllables.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes.

Cody:
That was his way of saying, I would really prefer if you don't bother me. But obviously, once he was out and he's getting treats, he's singing a different tune.

Anthony Godfrey:
So like many humans, he's resistant to change, but once he settles in, he can see the benefits of being out and having some blueberries and cream.

Cody:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. So is it difficult for students, once they've raised an animal in your program to then sell it, knowing that it's going to become food?

Cody:
That is a great question. Diana here was one of the very first to experience that just last year.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us about your experience last year. What did you raise?

Student:
I raised the lamb.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what was the lamb's name?

Student:
I didn't give him a name until I sold it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Until you sold, then you gave it a name, as you said?

Student:
Yeah, it's because I didn't want to get too attached. I thought that naming it would, you know, I'd be too friendly with it. And then it'd be harder for me to sell him.

Anthony Godfrey:
Did you feel like even without a name, you gained this close connection to the animal?

Student:
Yeah, butI knew it was for food and I didn't want to get too attached to it.

Anthony Godfrey:
You'd be able to have that experience without this class.

Student:
Definitely not. I don't think I would've been interested in purchasing a livestock animal and raising it just because I've never been interested in lambs or goats or anything.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is it that made you want to take the class?

Student:
It was my last science credit I needed, to be honest and I thought, okay, I'll just animal science. I don't need any other credits. So with animal science, I'll be able to stop. And then he introduced the idea of having lambs and I thought, yeah, what the heck? I've never done it before. You know, this should be an experience,

Anthony Godfrey:
But that's a good thing. That's what happens sometimes is those high school requirements make you take a class you might not otherwise take and you learn some things about the world and what interests you.

Student:
Yeah. So I got my animal science credit. All my science credits are complete and I'm in his animal science II..

Anthony Godfrey:
So what would you say to parents and students who are maybe considering this?

Student:
Oh, definitely do it. It's so much fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
You learn a lot?

Student:
Yeah. A lot.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you care more about animals having taken this class?

Student:
Yeah, for sure. You know how to take care of them correctly.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you feel like you could live off the land now?

Student:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Well, that's good. Brendan. I think you experienced the circle of life, a little bit earlier, didn't you? What happened earlier with Winston?

Student:
It looked like he was sniffing my boot and either something came out of his mouth or his nose, but he moved away. And there was, there was just something on my boot.

Anthony Godfrey:
So something came out of Winston and onto your boot, these things happened. I'm wearing one of my favorite pairs of dress shoes, so Winston and I are probably not going to get very friendly right now. I'm not dressed for Winston, but Winston is grateful. He is not paying me much attention. He's rooting in dead leaves and who can blame him. So you know, this is part of the bargain, right? I guess that sometimes things come out of animals and land on you. And you're good with that.

Student:
Yeah. Just an adventure, really.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. It is an adventure. You can't say that about every class, it's an adventure. I liked that. Do you think Wilbur has a pretty good life here?

Student:
Yeah, I think he does because it helps us learn new things about pigs and animals. So yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Winston seems to be enjoying himself. Do pigs wag their tails because he kind of seemed to be a minute ago.

Student:
Yeah, it seems pretty happy.

Anthony Godfrey:
What about the chickens? You turn and look around and suddenly there's another animal.

Cody:
Okay. So the chickens are one of my students SAE projects, Supervised Agricultural Experience. And what that means is when a student enters any of my Ag classes, they are required to fulfill an SAE project of some kind. That project includes anything involving agriculture. So it can be something as simple as researching careers in agriculture and then writing about what they learned. And that gives them that career exploration, part of an SAE. They can purchase a chicken coop with chickens and that's their project. Caitlin owns these chickens. They obviously are housed here at the high school because she's not able to keep them at her own house. But she has five hens. Each of them lay about an egg a day and she's able to take those eggs home to her family. And she's actually started selling some to close friends and relatives as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. That's exciting. So chickens, pigs, rabbits, what else? What's next?

Cody:
Chicken, pigs, chickens, pigs, and rabbits are what we have right now. If you were to come back in April, we will have 10 to 12 lambs and 10 to 12 goats that kids will have purchased to raise at the camp.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fair. So I love the, how, how students talk about a project. You know, we talk about project based learning, but if you look at raising a goat or sheep or a pig and seeing that whole process all the way through, that's true project based learning, It's really cool to watch all of their hard work pay off because in the interim, my hard work pays off.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. And when you put it that way, you really do get to see the difference and see the result of your work. The sense of efficacy must be very high for participation in this class when you really know that the effort you put into something brings a result.

Cody:
Along with that, the program here, when I started two years ago, had about 30 active FFA members and we've more than doubled. We've got about 75 active FFA members now. And I went from having maybe 150 to 180 kids in my classes to having over 200 this year. And so I'm seeing that program grow and seeing other kids hear about that from their friends, from their family. Having them come, be involved, it is really a great feeling for me. But it's even better and more rewarding for the kids.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, classes grow like that when there's a great teacher. So thanks for being a great teacher and providing an awesome experience for kids. Appreciate it. We'll be back in just a few moments. Stay with us.

Break:
You want to know what's going on in Jordan school district, maybe see your child or a friend featured in a school story. Check out our website@jordandistrict.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Jordan district. Let's connect today, Kim. Nice to see you. Nice to be with you. Tell everyone a little bit about yourself.

Kim:
My name is Kim Newbrough. I am the Career and Technical Education Coordinator at Mountain Ridge High School. I'm a former Agriculture teacher. I taught Ag at West Jordan High School for 19 years before I moved over to being a CTE Coordinator.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us some about the Agricultural Science courses that are available throughout the District and the experience students can have.

Kim:
We're lucky in Jordan School District. Every high school in our District and our two JATCs have an Agriculture Program. Some of them are budding and growing and some of them are thriving. We teach, as you heard, the wide range. We have flora-culture, greenhouse management, equine science, small and companion animal programs. We have a landscaping program at the JATC South. At the JATC North we have a Vet Tech program. It's just huge, all the different offerings that we have in our District.

Anthony Godfrey:
And we're standing in the greenhouse behind West Jordan High School. You told me, as we walked in, you said this was your favorite place. Tell us about why.

Kim:
Well, I actually had this greenhouse built when I was here teaching. I had a smaller one and they it tore down, my barn and my greenhouse, to expand the football stadium and then built this beautiful greenhouse. This is my happy place because we start with this tiny little seed and then we get to see things grow. Kind of like with our agriculture students, they come in with no knowledge and then it grows and expands, which is really important because we live in a day and age where people are agriculturally illiterate. Yes, we're so far removed from the family farm that people think, Oh, I can just go to the store and get my food. Well, I had a saying on a bulletin board in my classroom that said "Agriculture, without it, you would be hungry and naked." And I truly believe that because people think I just go to the store and buy my clothes.

It takes the farmer to raise the cotton to make their clothes. And it takes a farmer to raise their food. And people often think that agriculture is just growing a food and crops, but it's so much more. We're the largest employer in the United States. You've got to have somebody who comes up with new seeds and new strains of seeds. So you've got science. You've got people who have to transport your food from point A to point B, so we've got truck drivers. We've got food scientists. We've got marketers, everything that we do ties back to agriculture.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, when you said agriculturally illiterate, you kind of looked at me like you could tell that's exactly me. You know, you get joy out of seeing a seed grow. I get a full-grown plant and I end up with dead leaves and a flower pot of death. So I should have taken your class. I should have taken your class in high school. I wish I could go back in time and do that. What do you wish that parents and students who might be considering a class knew about Ag Science opportunities in Jordan?

Kim:
That they're the best classes for students to take because we teach students how to work. I think that parents need to understand that their kids are going to learn so much more than you know. Everybody thinks, Oh, they're just a farmer. Farmers are the smartest people we have because they have to understand the weather. They have to understand when to plant. They have to understand when to harvest. They have to know when to water and fertilize. If parents knew how much their kids could gain and know about themselves for agriculture. I had an amazing agriculture teacher when I was a student in high school who made me want to be an Ag teacher. And I have a former student who is now an Ag teacher. It's awesome to know that you can touch and have that influence in students and watching your students, who never thought that they would be involved in agriculture, pound on your truck window when you're buying sod and saying Kim, guess what? And I said, you're working in agriculture. It's like, yeah. Who would have thought? There's so many opportunities for students to grow. And the leadership opportunities through the FFA change kids' lives.

Anthony Godfrey:
You had me at kids learn how to work, because I think it's so easy to spend time on a screen or doing other things. But when you're out here, Winston needs attention. There's nothing else you can do. You have to take care of him. So I think this is awesome. Thank you very much for talking with us and thanks for all you've done over the years to continue Ag Science.

Kim:
It's a pleasure. Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks to everyone who took time to give us a closeup look at what Agriculture Programs look like in our schools today. They provide a wide range of opportunities for students interested in agriculture related careers, and they build excitement about learning. Now, any of you listeners out there who realized that I called Winston Wilbur later in the program, get extra credit and you really get extra credit. If you know that I called him Wilbur, because that's the pig in Charlotte's Web. Thanks to those of you who joined us today. And remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see ya.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. School counselors make a difference in young lives throughout Jordan School District every single day. But do you know what they really do? Let's head to the halls of West Jordan Middle School and see some middle school students.

Student:
School counselors help with any kids that have a problem, emotionally or physically. They also discuss many things for our future and education. They are someone that could probably change your classes, the school counselor. like if you have problems, you can go to school counselor and talk to them. Counselors are someone that helps you get through class. Go to the school counselor to take honor classes and AP classes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Today we're celebrating school counselors. If you've ever wondered what they really do, how they can help parents and students, this episode of the Supercast is for you. We're about to dispel the myths and explain all the ways counselors can help you and your students. Here to tell us about the important work being done is Secondary Counseling Specialist, Stacee Worthen. Stacee, welcome to the Supercast.

Stacee:
Thank you Superintendent.

Anthony Godfrey:
So all of us have been to school. We've been to middle school. We've been to high school. We've met with counselors at various times, but things change over time. And many times, as adults we think, well, I went to high school. I know what high school was like. And so we may all think that we know what counselors do, right? Can you help us understand better what does the modern middle and high school counselor do these days? How do they help kids?

Stacee:
That's a good question, because counselors wear many hats. A lot of parents will just assume that counselors are academic advisors, scholarship advisors. But what counselors do is so much more. We actually are trained to look at the whole person. So as that student comes in, we might be doing a schedule change, but we're looking at that whole student as an individual, as we're looking at their schedule. We're looking at why does this child want a schedule change? Do they need to be challenged? Do they need to be put into AP courses? Do they need concurrent? Is that a better fit? Are they having some learning issues that maybe we need to work with the teachers to see if there are some interventions that we can put into place? Maybe we need to implement some Special Ed testing because we see some disparities in how they're doing in specific classes.

We also do groups. We run groups. We look at anytime a student is struggling with stress, anxiety, suicidal ideation, where that mental health support within the school that can really start meeting in a responsive, quick way to get that student some help. Initially, maybe we're doing some cognitive behavioral training, some techniques with that student to try and get them back into class to be successful. Or maybe we're calling the parents to work with the student to maybe implement something that's a little bit more involved. Maybe we're giving some references to some counseling that might be more long-term and beneficial for that student. Maybe we're referring to our in-school LCSW to give them some supports that way. There's just really a lot of things we're doing now that I think weren't done when we were in high school.

I never saw my school counselor. I didn't even know who that person was. I just went there for schedule change. Now, there's a framework that's in place. We were able to look at the whole child. Start with where they're at. If they're struggling with social or emotional behavioral, we start there. If they're being successful and they have a career path that they're interested in, we're supporting them by giving them some more opportunities for classes for our JATC South or JATC North, Concurrent Enrollment, those types of things. So really, we do a lot more than most people would think.

Anthony Godfrey:
Not only is a counselor able to connect students to other resources that might help them, whatever their situation may be. But I think we underestimate the resource that the counselors themselves can be to students beyond just a schedule change or scholarship information. They can provide support in crisis or just to bounce things off of so we don't get to a crisis. And I know that counselors have worked very hard to structure CounselingCenters so that they are constantly availability for someone who drops in and has an immediate need.

Stacee:
Right. And I think that what you're going to look at statistically is that support school counseling is what students say. If they have one adult in the building that they can go and talk to when they are struggling, then it's timely and they're responsive to that child's needs. Then they are much more successful longterm in school.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what's nice about the position of a counselor is that it's a unique position to be able to help a student. I've been a teacher, I've been an Assistant Principal. I've been a Principal. I've never been a counselor. But in each of those roles, I relied on counselors to reach kids in a way that I wasn't able to in the role that I was playing.

Stacee:
Right. Right. Because nothing that school counselors are doing is punitive, right? We're there to support, empower, just be a listening ear, get to know the student. That's one of my favorite things in working with kids is just getting to know them. Sometimes counselors say, I'm not just a schedule changer, but this is one really awesome opportunity for me to get to know kids. So, you know, they come in wearing a cross country tee shirt. Hey, are you on the cross country team? And once that student has that connection, like I'm interested in their life, I'm interested in getting to know them, then they know that they have one more adult that if they're having a bad day, maybe they broke up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or maybe they failed a quiz. I'm that one adult in the building, you know, that this is a safe place for me. I can just go, I can take a deep breath, step away for a second, have an adult who's just there to listen. And then I can go back to my everyday.

Anthony Godfrey:
Why not? What would you say are some of the myths around school counselors? What do people misunderstand about the role of the school counselor would you say?

Stacee:
I think that we're just schedule changers. We're just there to build a schedule, that we're just there to to do academic advising or that we know everything about college and universities and scholarships. I think that that's kind of a myth. I think that another important myth is that we don't provide mental health services to students. That is most of our training. If you look at the University of Utah, their actual program for school counselors is 90% mental health based training. And I think that's one of the biggest myths we're encountering is that school counselors don't do mental health. We actually are trained and we do that. It's just not long-term. It's not something that we can do an hour a week, every week for 10 weeks.

Anthony Godfrey:
And if there is a need beyond what a School Counselor is immediately able to provide, we're able to refer parents and students out to other resources and have a lot of connections to allow us to access help.

Stacee:
Absolutely. We have a long list of mental health providers available to all of our Jordan School District students. We also have the Jordan Family Ed that we can refer to and they can receive services there for mental health. We have a lot of access points for students and parents as school counselors that if we feel there's something, in addition, to what we're doing that a child needs, we can absolutely do that for that parent and for that student.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if a parent is worried about their child and would like a counselor to meet with them, what's the best way to make sure that happens?

Stacee:
The best way is to call and schedule an appointment to meet face-to-face with that counselor. I wouldn't drop in. I would absolutely call first and schedule an appointment. You can call, or you can email. Just contact that counselor and ask them to make it contact with your student. And I would think that they can make it routine. They don't need to say your mother called and would like me to meet with you. They're counselors. They know how to make that smooth transition, and make that point of contact and get that started.  Because of course, you know, if you say, Oh, your dad called, and he's saying that you're struggling with this and that, or you broke up with your girlfriend, right now. Absolutely we're going to just say, Hey, I just wanted to check on you, see how you're doing? Like, how are you transitioning to Copper Hills High School? Or how are you doing here at Riverton, whatever, wherever they are, right?

Anthony Godfrey:
The helicopter of anxiety is flying around. But once the student gets in the counselor's office, there is a landing pad for that anxiety to find a rest spot. I think that our counselors are awesome. You just get a student in there with the counselor and that opportunity is going to be created for the student to kind of unload, make a connection. So I guess I would just say to parents listening, I would encourage you to contact the school counselor and have them reach out to your child and just call them down and say, how are things going? If you're worried about your child at all, it's a great way to get some support.

Stacee:
Yeah, absolutely. Counselors go into the business because they love kids and they want to see them be successful. And you develop connections with those kids because you love them and want to see them succeed . And Jordan School District counselors are amazing, and they're really doing some really great, amazing, cool things. We've got some schools with some Wellness Rooms, we've got groups that are going, we've got all sorts of supports in place that counselors have access to that they're working on to try and help these kids be successful because they love kids.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we head out to West Jordan Middle School and West Jordan High School to talk with a few counselors.

Break:
If you're always looking for opportunities to learn something new, why not join us for the next Jordan Parent University? Jordan Parent University is an opportunity for parents to better understand issues that impact their own students and education. It's an evening class designed to help parents with things like planning for the road beyond high school, better understanding students' social and emotional health and wellness. And knowing who to call when there are issues involving a school or a student. Jordan Parent University is free and open to the public. For a list of upcoming classes, times and locations go to http://jpu.jordandistrict.org. See you there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Mark Jones at West Jordan Middle School for National School Counseling Week. First of all, happy National School Counseling Week.

Mark:
Thanks. It's a good week.

Anthony Godfrey:
It is a good week. How long have you been a school counselor?

Mark:
About 10 years.

Anthony Godfrey:
10 years. Where have you been?

Mark:
I did two years in Davis County, and then I chose wisely and headed down this direction and have been at West Jordan Middle ever since.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're glad you're here.

Mark:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what do you like most about being a school counselor?

Mark:
Just all the different jobs, meeting, all the different people, constantly moving and changing. And you get to see a lot of the success stories, which is fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you wish parents and kids knew about being a counselor?

Mark:
Oh, just so many resources are available to parents and students. And the first thing that comes to mind is he'll change my schedule and you know, four weeks a year, that is what we do. But the rest of the time, there's so many free college programs and free community programs. And, you know, we all could use some help with one thing or another. It's available. It's there, just reach out. There's a lot that we do down here, a lot we can help.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are the ways that you interact with parents as a school counselor?

Mark:
Well, we certainly host a few nights during the school year where we bring them out and introduce them to some of these programs. We invite them for the four-year planning meetings we do with the students where we go over colleges and career options and different pathways. Those are probably the two biggest in middle school.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if a parent wanted to contact you, is it better to call, email, just drop in or schedule an appointment? What's the best way?

Mark:
All the above. You can just drop in, you can call. If you go to our website, you'll see our smiling faces. If you click on that, it brings up a form, you fill that out, hit submit and it comes right to our screen. And then we'll touch base and set something up.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Now we're here with Rochelle Watson at the West Jordan High School Counseling Center. All of the offices I ever go into, counselor offices are very inviting. And  you have Kermit the Frog with the light saber and Ms. Piggy as "Pigcess Lea", a pink princess. However you wanna say that.  Very nice. Tell me, how long have you been a counselor here at West Jordan?

Rochelle:
This is my seventh year.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what made you want to become a school counselor?

Rochelle:
I had a really fantastic school counselor when I was in high school that I never forgot. He did a lot to help me and my whole life and the trajectory of my life. And so I always thought this would be something that I would like to do myself.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wonderful. What do you like most about being a school counselor? You just like working with the kids?

Rochelle:
I love being able to get to know them and their families and really helping them in meaningful ways.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's great. Thanks for everything you're doing.

Rochelle:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with Karen Williams at West Jordan Middle School. How long have you been a counselor here at West Jordan Middle?

Karen:
This is my seventh year all here at West Jordan Middle.

Anthony Godfrey:
Seventh year as a school counselor?

Karen:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I understand you had a career before school counselor.

Karen:
I did. I was a Sandy City police officer.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what are the differences between being a Sandy City police officer and the school counselor?

Karen:
Well, one of the biggest differences that I'm not arresting kids. I'm working with them, and people are generally happy.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes.

Karen:
I did five years in the Youth Unit. I was assigned to two elementary schools where I taught DARE and then three years as a middle school officer. So that started the idea that working with kids in this capacity is a little bit more fulfilling than just arresting and taking them out of school.

Anthony Godfrey:
So rather than on the enforcement side, you're more on the encouragement side, being able to help students earlier on, perhaps in that process. I know that our police officers are very helpful and encouraging with students. And there's been a real focus on connecting with communities and families and being a positive influence on students through the DARE program and some other things. What do you like most about being a school counselor?

Karen:
There's a few things I like. Forming the relationships with the students and letting them see adults on a different level and joking around with them, having fun with them. The other two counselors I work with, I know it's the same for them. We all have these kids that we just have connected with. There might be a bad weekend, but they know when they can come in Monday morning and see us  and walk out, hopefully, feeling a little bit better.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for talking with me. It's really nice to meet you.

Karen:
Oh, you're welcome.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. We're here at West Jordan Middle School with Wendy Petrovich, a counselor, and I just realized that we have something in common. We have both visited all 50 States. You're quite the traveler.

Wendy:
Yes, I am. I love to travel.

Anthony Godfrey:
Where else have you been besides all the other 50 States?

Wendy:
I have traveled to Asia a couple of times. Jordan, that country is a biggie. Quite a few trips in Europe and Australia.

Anthony Godfrey:
What was your last state visited?

Wendy:
North Dakota.

Anthony Godfrey:
North Dakota. Last on your list.

Wendy:
Nobody goes to North Dakota on accident. You have to go to North Dakota.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes. My purpose was we were driving cross country in a station wagon in the eighties. What do you wish parents and students knew about school counselors?

Wendy:
You know, there are a lot of kids that don't know even to come into us. So I wish that they all knew we like to talk to them and that they are always free to contact us and come and visit.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it's great talking with you. Thanks for everything you do. I appreciate you very much. We're here with Brent, who has been a counselor here at West Jordan High for a year. This is his first year here. He was at Herriman High School for a couple of years before that. Happy National School Counseling week.

Brent:
Right. Thank you so much. We appreciate you coming out here.

Anthony Godfrey:
How do you like being a school counselor?

Brent:
I love it. It's different than I thought it would be. There's a lot of stuff that comes with education that you just didn't really expect. A lot of tasks that have to just get done, like scheduling and helping students graduate. But I think the biggest thing for us is we get to help a lot of students just reach their potential. We get a lot of students that are doing really well and also students that are not doing well and we get to help both of those kinds of students really reach the goals that they have. And that's really rewarding.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you wish parents and students knew about school counselors?

Brent:
That our training is about the whole student. It's really focused on helping the whole student be successful. So we do have training in mental health and as school-based mental health. We also have a lot of resources and we can help students that way as well. We couldn't run groups and do individual counseling along with all of the other stuff that's really important, like looking at graduation requirements and being prepared for college and career readiness and making those plans as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for being one of those adults that has a huge impact on student lives. Thanks to our school counselors who took time out of their busy schedules to visit with us. We appreciate all the wonderful work they do for students and families stay with us. Up next, Stacee Worthen gets to lie to the Superintendent in our version of Two Truths and a Lie.

Break:
In Jordan School District, the possibilities are endless for anyone looking to grow with a team of professionals, working together to provide the very best for students in education. If you're looking for a great job with great pay and benefits in a supportive environment, head to http://workatjordan.org and find your future career in Jordan School District. People come for the job and stay for the adventure. Explore the many options. Apply today at http://workatjordan.org

Anthony Godfrey:
We're back, we're here with Stacee Worthen and celebrating National School Counselors Week. Happy National School Counselors Week to all the counselors out there. As I've told Stacee before, I have a soft spot in my heart for counselors because my mother-in-law was a counselor. And that's how I met my wife. She actually set us up, but she set us up two years after we'd been working together. So it was the longest job interview of my life. But at least I passed. Tell us, first of all, just very briefly about your counseling background.

Stacee:
Initially, I started as a secondary teacher. I taught history and English language arts. Then I moved into an ESL teacher coordinator and my principal said, Hey, you'd be a really good school counselor. And I took his advice. I got my Master's. I started out helping. I helped in St. George, open Desert Hills High School as a counselor there. And then I moved here, started at Sunset Ridge Middle School, and then I moved up to Copper Hills High School. And now I'm Secondary Counselor Specialist for Jordan School District.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you've been a counselor at the middle school and high school. What have you liked about being a school counselor?

Stacee:
I love everything student centered. I love learning about the whole child, learning what we can do to empower them to be the best individual they can be, learning about their strengths, their weaknesses, how we can build them up, empower them to talk to teachers, to talk to parents, to be successful. And then learning how to deal with some of their own inner issues like stress, anxiety. At the end of the day, watching them leave your school as this amazing young individual who is coming into their own or excited to experience life and what it has to offer. It's really rewarding.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with Stacee Worthen to hear her Two Truths and a Lie, her chance to lie to the Superintendent. What have you got Stacee?

Stacee:
When I was seven, I was a bucked off of a horse named Humphrey Bogart.

Anthony Godfrey:
The horse was named Humphrey Bogart. Yes. Wow. Okay.

Stacee:
I was the homecoming queen at Fairfield High School my senior year.

Anthony Godfrey:
You're giving a lot of detail in all of these. That's very deceiving.

Stacee:
Right. Okay. And my second favorite person, after husband, is my dog, Charlie.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Okay. Boy. To involve animals, but homecoming queen, I don't know. You kind of lit up when you said that. I'm going to say homecoming queen is the lie.

Stacee:
No, that is true.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is true. All right. Wow. I was right. But you were lighting up for that one.

Stacee:
It's funny, because you know who cares? It's just, there were 200 kids in my High School, so hey.

Anthony Godfrey:
So Charlie, tell me about Charlie.

Stacee:
So Charlie is actually my dog. He's a soft coated Wheaton, and he eight months old. I love him, but he's not your second favorite person? No, my dog, Sammy, who is a Havanese.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Okay.

Stacee:
He's a tiny little princess dog. My husband and I actually had that discussion just last week. Like, who's your favorite person after me? I'm like, hmm, Sammy.

Anthony Godfrey:
Does Sammy ever pass your husband up and take the number one slot?

Stacee:
Most days.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Fair enough. All right. Does he know which days those are?

Stacee:
It's pretty clear.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Thanks again to Stacee for being here to celebrate Counselors Week. We love our counselors. Stop in and say hi, or ask them to say hi to your students. And remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you.