Supercast

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It was a huge celebration with cheerleaders, a drum line, mascots, administrators, and more gathered to welcome 450 new teachers to Jordan School District.

On this episode of the Supercast, we hear from some of those teachers about their journey to Jordan and what they are most excited about as they head into classrooms for the upcoming school year. We start by listening in as the crowd goes wild when the new teachers arrive for their first day in Jordan School District.

Announcer:
Hello guys, welcome to Jordan District! We're so excited you are here. Come on through!

Anthony Godfrey:
We're at West Jordan Middle School this morning. We have four different media outlets covering our new teacher induction. This is a return to in-person new teacher inductions after a long desert of COVID years where we were online and doing virtual inductions. So we're going to talk to the human resources department now to talk a little bit about today's event. Introduce yourself and tell us about what's going on today.

Jane Olsen:
Hi, I'm Jane Olsen. I'm the HR specialist over hiring, recruiting, and licensing for elementary schools and today we're gonna be welcoming about 450 educators.

Anthony Godfrey:
450! When I tell people that they are amazed at the number of new teachers we have every year. It's really exciting though.

Jane Olsen:
Yes, it is. Very very exciting. Ten percent of those are gonna be new graduates so we've got young ones coming in.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. Now these are teachers who are teaching everything from preschool all the way to post high school.

Jane Olsen:
Yeah, and we also have our school psychologists, our SLPs, all of those education support staff are welcome to be joining us today.

Anthony Godfrey:
And we have teachers and licensed educators from all over. Tell me about that.

Jane Olsen:
Yeah, so we ran the numbers a few days ago and it looks like we're covering about 20 states and eight different countries that are going to be represented today.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic and we've cast a wide net over the past few years to bring in as many great teachers as we can and this year we've had some really great candidates. As I've talked with elementary principals they've reported that they've had 40 or even 50 qualified candidates for every position.

Jane Olsen:
Yeah, the depth of the pools even up through last week was wonderful. We were hiring special education teachers with professional licenses even up through last week.

Anthony Godfrey:
And it's exciting to see that we're hiring at greater numbers than ever before, but we're filling those positions faster than ever before, and we're drawing from a deeper, deeper pool, as you said. So we've got some fantastic teachers here. Tell me a little bit about what we're doing for teachers today.

Jane Olsen:
So today we are welcoming them with a big clap in. There's quite a scene out here with cheerleaders and mascots and even some of our principals are dressed up today. And we're going to be providing them with a backpack from the community that is full of supplies and gifts and certificates for all different things. We could not do today without the community support that we've had and the amount of donations and generosity of their time and resources.

Anthony Godfrey:
We've had a bunch of donations from local businesses that have been eager to help and I was there when they were putting together the backpacks. It was a whole assembly line getting all of these great prizes put together for our teachers.

Jane Olsen:
It was a whirlwind of a day, five hours stuffing 450 backpacks.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is some of the information that will be shared with teachers throughout the day to help them get a great start to the year?

Jane Olsen:
Well, the first thing we'll start off with is kind of a classroom management with what we call our JBAT team, Melanie Dawson and Brian King, who are going to really help them with the classroom management aspect. Which is one of the pieces of feedback that we received last year that they really felt like they needed going into the school year. And based off of the feedback and some research that was done in-house, we targeted in on a few things that they felt were really important, which is understanding how to utilize technology in their classroom, and what student services supports that they have, APPEL, and JPAS. You can hear it getting loud out here. So licensing, anything related to licensing and evaluations, and as well as teacher resiliency. We felt like that was a really important thing to kind of end on a high note.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, I love that. I think all of those topics will prepare teachers well. And you talked about the fact that this was based on survey responses.

Jane Olsen:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you really have done your research, I know, in preparing for this. You've asked new teachers that have been new to Jordan in the past, what do you wish we'd covered. What do you wish we had provided at the beginning of the year? So this is really calibrated to the needs that were expressed by new teachers in the past.

Jane Olsen:
Yeah, in addition, Amanda Bollinger did some research for her dissertation, and so we integrated that knowledge of knowing that they want to come and feel belonging and supported. And we knew that this in-person session, as you can see, was an essential piece to that. That we couldn't miss that opportunity to give them that sense of community and belonging.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's fantastic. Well, it's really fun to hear the enthusiasm and the background, all the excitement for our new teachers here. It felt pretty awesome for me walking up, and I've been here for a while. Thank you for all your hard work. It's going to be a great day. Jane Olsen:
Yes, it will.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking with one of our principals and her newest hire. Introduce yourself and the newest teacher at Aspen Elementary School.

Suzie Williams:
Okay, I'm Suzie Williams the principal at Aspen Elementary and we are fortunate to have Jared Kosareff with us at our school. He'll be teaching fifth grade this year. He comes to us from being a substitute teacher for a while. Prior to that he was in the business world and we are blessed to have him. He'll be a great example to our kids. He's very knowledgeable. His mom was a teacher so he knows a lot about teaching and we're just grateful to have him.

Anthony Godfrey:
What made Jared stand out in the interviews?

Suzie Williams:
He has a pretty dynamic personality.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Suzie Williams:
He's a lot of fun and he'll be a great role model.

Anthony Godfrey:
That'll come in very handy in fifth grade.

Suzie Williams:
Yes, it will.

Anthony Godfrey:
Jared tell me a little bit about your journey to Jordan. We're excited to have you.

Jared Kosareff:
Thank you, I'm excited to be here. I was in the construction industry prior to this. My daughter goes to Aspen Elementary. Talking a lot about leading into this, you know, who inspired you to be a teacher. As soon as I said my mom's a teacher, my dad was a teacher. A huge inspiration for me. And then the one that really got me was my daughter's first-grade teacher, Haley McCall. When we went back to school and I walked into her classroom, I was like, this is the coolest classroom ever. I want to be in this class.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome.

Jared Kosareff:
And you know, interacting with her and then just the way kind of life works out. I needed to make a change and I immediately thought about becoming a teacher. I started talking with Suzie about it. Picking my daughter up became little interviews with Suzie almost every day. And Suzie told me about the job fair that they had last year, or earlier this year I should say, and I went in and met with Suzie and she introduced me to Jane who got me introduced into the APPEL program and the rest is history. Here I am.

Anthony Godfrey:
How are you feeling on the cusp of your first school year as a teacher?

Jared Kosareff:
Beyond excited. You know, meeting the team at Aspen, working with the team that I did last year at Ridgeview, and then now you know getting sent into the school that's gonna be my new home. The support from every individual, from every aspect of being an educator has just been overwhelmingly awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
You're gonna be surrounded by some great people and some wonderful kids. So we've tried to put on a big welcome for you here today. How does that feel?

Jared Kosareff:
It feels awesome. You feel like walking the red carpet, I guess, as close as I could feel that it would be like. Just seeing the support from the community, from the other teachers, you know, they always say teachers are the ones that are going to help you the most. They have everything in their brains and their hearts that they want to give. So when you're surrounded by people like that, it's exciting to be part of that. And I get to be one of these people cheering other people on one day too, which I look forward to.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that. Any plans for the first day of school yet?

Jared Kosareff:
You know what, I'm still running that through my head. I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate Star Wars into everything because I'm a huge Star Wars nerd.

Anthony Godfrey:
The force will be with you on your first day. There's no doubt. I'm a big Star Wars nerd myself. So it's a good go-to.

Jared Kosareff:
Yes, sir.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, congratulations. We're so happy to have you.

Jared Kosareff:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Whatever paths led you here, your parents and that experience with your daughter's teacher. I'm just grateful that you're here and that you've decided to teach in Jordan. Jared Kosareff:
Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Have a great day and a great year.

Jared Kosareff:
We will. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking with another one of our new teachers. Introduce yourself and tell me a little bit about you.

Chance Clouse:
My name is Chance Clouse. I just finished my M.A.T. at Westminster. I'll be teaching at Herriman High.

Anthony Godfrey:
What will you be teaching?

Chance Clouse:
Art.

Anthony Godfrey:
Fantastic.

Chance Clouse:
Painting and drawing.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what is it that made you want to be a teacher?

Chance Clouse:
I love art and I love being able to spread that love with my students and help them find that and I'm excited to just be out there with them.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is your favorite medium?

Chance Clouse:
I like oil painting is my favorite, but I do a little bit of everything.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oil painting is forgiving. You can kind of cover over right?

Chance Clouse:
You can go back over.

Anthony Godfrey:
Watercolor is a little less so.

Chance Clouse:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. That's about all I know about painting. So there we have it.

Chance Clouse:
You got it. That's it.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is it that you hope that your students take away from your art classes?

Chance Clouse:
I hope that they just learn how to be able to learn new things and be okay with making mistakes in that process of learning.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that's sometimes a very difficult thing to help students understand. The creative process involves mistakes. It involves kind of letting go and allowing yourself to experiment.

Chance Clouse:
To learn something new you have to be willing to fail and get up again.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's got to be one of the fun things about being an art teacher is that you're having students try things and do things that maybe they never have done before, never thought they could do.

Chance Clouse:
Yes, sir, and then they also get the benefit of like quick feedback and responses.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that's true. As a student, I took art classes of course and I remember some of the very specific projects that I was involved in. I remember pots that I made and a painting that I did because it's meaningful when you put yourself into that project.

Chance Clouse:
Yes sir.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you think of all this hoopla?

Chance Clouse:
It's pretty amazing. I was a little shocked walking in.

Anthony Godfrey:
And have you been teaching elsewhere? Did you just finish?

Chance Clouse:
This will be my first teaching in public schools. I've done a lot of community stuff for various outreach programs in Youth City and things like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you've been involved in teaching but this is your first all day I’m a teacher.

Chance Clouse:
All day, I'm in a school, teacher.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are your thoughts about the first day and your first week of school?

Chance Clouse:
I'm really excited I've got a lot planned already. I’m happy to get in there and get to know my students and build those relationships.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it's gonna be a great year we're excited to have you thank you very much.

Chance Clouse:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back more with some of our amazing new teachers.

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

(upbeat music)

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking now with the new JROTC teacher from Herriman High School. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Sergeant Wilson:
I'm Sergeant Wilson. I've been teaching Junior ROTC for 10 years. I'm transferring over to Herriman to get this program going.

Anthony Godfrey;
We're really excited to have the JROTC program here in Herriman. We've been hoping to have that for a long time. Tell me about the value of that JROTC program for any student who signs up.

Sergeant Wilson:
Well, from the parents' point of view, it's a life lessons class. It's a bunch of life skills as the parents see it. For the students, it's a new beginning for them. It's a chance for some to fit in. It's a chance for some to excel. It's a chance where– it's an opportunity for students to actually be a part of what happens because the students run the program.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is it that made you want to be a teacher?

Sergeant Wilson:
I think it goes back to the 20 years I served in the military I always taught. From the very beginning of my career, I was teaching other soldiers and leaders and it just became natural. I loved the ability to see that light come on when they grabbed that concept and it's just something that I've always wanted to do.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, we're really excited to have you here and have you bring your experience in the program to the new program in Herriman High and this is available for any student in Jordan School District.

Sergeant Wilson:
Any student from 8th grade to 12th grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're excited to see what happens and thank you very much for being part of Jordan School District.

Sergeant Wilson:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Kathryn Berry:
So my name is Kathryn Berry and I will be working at West Hills Middle School and I come from residential treatment. I taught eighth grade through twelfth grade in the residential treatment and I'm looking forward to working in the Jordan School District because the people are awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the work that you did previously.

Kathryn Berry:
So I was teaching eighth grade through twelfth grade all subjects except English and Social Studies. I was also doing the administration duties and some of the registrar duties as well. So it was a heavier load and I'm happy to be–

Anthony Godfrey:
You get to focus a little bit more. You have a long list of a wide range of different responsibilities. Tell me what you're looking forward to most about this school year.

Kathryn Berry:
I think I'm looking forward most to being able to focus on helping the kids know something about science. I think for me science is a, I've been doing science stuff for 25 years. So to me getting the kids able to focus on and maybe decide a kind of science that they would like to be more interested in so that when they do make that transition to ninth grade and through high school they can actually focus on their you know the things that they like rather than the things that are maybe required.

Anthony Godfrey:
Give them a chance to try out lots of different aspects of science study and see what interests them the most.

Kathryn Berry:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you love about teaching?

Kathryn Berry:
I think the opportunity to spread the love, spread knowledge, and the power that knowledge can give to students. Knowing that they have that knowledge and that they can then share it as well or increase their knowledge or expand their knowledge to other aspects and how they can grow and learn.

Anthony Godfrey:
You're going to be starting out at West Hills, you said, that they've told you that it's the best hills.

Kathryn Berry:
Yes, absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
I taught there the first year it was open myself. So congratulations on coming to Jordan School District and we're thrilled to have you.

Kathryn Berry:
Yes, I'm so excited. Thank you so much.

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

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a way to enhance the student learning experience and to help support teachers in their work. We're talking about using artificial intelligence in the classroom.

On this episode of the Supercast, learn about a pilot program which has Jordan School District partnering with a local company to support the responsible use of artificial intelligence in our schools. And hear from teachers who say AI will help them become better at their craft and more connected with students in the classroom.

We're here with Jared Covili from our Teaching and Learning department. He's an administrator that works with digital learning. Jared, thanks for joining us.

Jared Covili:
It's great to be here, thanks.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us a little bit about School AI. I've been really excited about this.

Jared Covili:
School AI is a program that we piloted over the summer to help our students and teachers use artificial intelligence in a way that works for us, kind of in a guarded system so that they don't get out on the internet with everything. It helps the kids and the teachers prepare lessons, it helps them prepare, potentially, assignments for kids to work on with a peer tutor that's kind of a chatbot.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the chatbot is an interactive way to help coach students through learning activities and actually offer learning activities that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

Jared Covili:
Right, the way I like to describe it is for a teacher, it's like having a teaching assistant. So it'll give you ideas about things you can do with lesson plans or activities. For a student, it's kind of like a peer tutor. So it can give you ideas of how to write something or how to think about maybe something that's going on in class. It can give you some, just some guidance as you move through that process.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what school AI has been able to do is first of all, kind of create a fenced-in area, a safe playground within which we're able to work and learn and experiment and be creative without worrying about being out on the broader web and using maybe versions of AI that aren't exactly tailored to teachers. And the other thing is these prompts that teachers can use to really get the most out of artificial intelligence, getting accurate information, and getting helpful information.

Jared Covili:
That's been a big deal with our pilot this summer because a lot of times our pilot group was really instrumental in helping School AI to think about what prompts, what things do teachers need to do most often, most regularly, so they don't have to hunt and peck or learn how to prompt engineer those things. They provide a lot of those on their website now - like the, "If I only have three minutes and I need to do something, what's one of those prompts?"Our group provided a lot of that information to the company and it kind of customized the interface to help us get more out of it.

Anthony Godfrey:
So in a lot of ways, school AI is customized to Jordan School District because the hundred teachers that were so eager to be part of things over the summer have really helped shape the way that it operates.

Jared Covili:
There's no question about that and I would say, you know, whenever you're an engineer you think you know the way a teacher wants to use it or you poll the parents or teachers that you know and ask them. But when you get a group of practicing teachers who are in the trenches, they'll give you the real information about what would be most beneficial to them and to their classrooms.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now tell us a little bit more about the pilot this summer. We had 100 teachers that were involved, very eager teachers that I think surprised School AI with their level of enthusiasm.

Jared Covili:
Well, you can imagine that when we pitched the idea of this pilot we were telling people this is going to be during your summer we don't have stipends for you. We're looking for people who are interested in really developing this kind of technology and using it as a classroom teacher. So the group that came were pretty invested, right? And not only invested for– they like the technology but invested in what it could do for their classrooms. And so they just took it and ran with it.

Anthony Godfrey:
And we have a couple of those teachers here with us. Introduce yourselves and then let's talk a little bit about what this experience has been for you.

Jill Firkins:
I'm Jill Firkins. I teach at Jordan Hills Elementary in sixth grade.

Andrew Holmes:
I'm Andrew Holmes. I'm a ninth-grade science teacher at West Jordan Middle School.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me what has this done for you and what have you been surprised that it's able to do, maybe better than you thought it would be able to.

Jill Firkins:
I've really liked the lesson plan aspect of it, just in the amount of time that it saves me. I was pretty new to AI when this started and excited to kind of see, so it's really exceeded my expectations.

Andrew Holmes:
I've been able to enhance a lot of my pre-existing lessons. I had it the other day- I teach a lot of different organisms for one of my high school science classes, like about 80 of them, and they're all based on different categories, and I have trouble eliminating my own bias on which organisms I prefer to teach versus the ones that I probably should teach, but forget about. And I had it help me completely balance out all of the different topics that I have to teach and create a timetable for me to be able to teach those topics.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I love that it's saving you time and that it's also maybe expanding the options that you're considering for students to learn, because I remember as a teacher I kind of went to my favorites as well, and maybe it helps you break out a little bit of the things that you're used to presenting to students. What would you say to teachers who are considering trying this out but maybe aren't sure about whether this is a direction they want to go?

Jill Firkins:
I really like that it's a good rough draft of things and so to recognize that you can pick and choose what you want to take from it. That it's just giving you ideas and that it's not, well I have to do it like it says or you know. You can work with it instead of just having it replace what you were doing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Having a starting point I would think is very helpful whenever I'm writing an email or writing a letter many times I like to read what someone else has started and worked from there instead of stare at a blank screen for a long time.

Jill Firkins:
Exactly. Yeah, that's what I've done with it a lot.

Anthony Godfrey:
How about for you?

Andrew Holmes:
I started treating it like I'm talking to a person. I have my conversations, I write my sentences to it as if I'm talking and having a conversation, and I found that I can bounce ideas off of it. I'll tell it I don't like this idea and this is why maybe we can try something else and so I'm able to have instant feedback with myself about topics that I can use to enhance in my classroom.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is this something that you're eager to use with your students as well? Not just for preparing for class but also giving them an opportunity to be part of it?

Jill Firkins:
Yeah, we didn't get a lot of chance to do it with students since it was all in the summer. But the stuff that they have is like that the students can talk to AI and it can give the teachers an idea of where a student sits with a particular subject. You know, these are students that understand. These are students that are still struggling and kind of do some of that groundwork as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it gives you the chance or it will give you the chance to really do a quick assessment of where students are with their learning, how they're feeling about their learning, and I think that's the exciting part of it.  It really multiplies what a teacher is able to do and I can't wait to come to your classrooms and see how this is working. Tell us, Andrew, about how you plan to use it with students.

Andrew Holmes:
One of the big things I'm looking forward to is using it with student feedback. I mean, I've got, my class sizes are average. Some are larger than others, it's just what happens. But giving meaningful feedback to those students in a timely manner, that can be really challenging. Especially as I'm trying to find ways to make sure the students have met a standard. And what do they truly know? Sometimes the best and highest quality assessments make more time for the teachers. It takes more time to gauge the true quality. And using AI is starting to, I've been able to kind of test around with it over the summer and give it prompts and say, "Hey, if I've got these students responding to this prompt or doing this type of skill that they're testing, can you help me grade that?" And so students are able in my class, theoretically with this new program, to be able to drop in their work and get real-time feedback based off of the parameters I've set. So that when I go and do my true grading, they've already had feedback before I get to them. And so I'm really looking forward to how this can expand the students' skill sets and their knowledge because by the time I've graded, I'm not the first set of eyes that have laid eyes on their work.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's really exciting and I love how you've both described that I think what students will be able to do is have a better sense for their own learning, have some interactive experiences that prepare them to get the most out of their interactions with you. You know, we've talked about what School AI can do and I'm really excited at the idea that it can be a coach for students, not a replacement for learning because there's this worry, well, they just say, "Hey, write an essay for me," and now they aren't writing the essay anymore. But it can be a coach alongside a student who's trying to get past their own writer's block or not knowing where to start or not knowing what to do next. So I just commend both of you for diving in over your summer no less to make the most of this opportunity for your students and I know they're going to benefit and your colleagues will benefit from your examples. So thank you very much for being willing to do this.

Jill Firkins:
Thank you for letting us be a part of it.

Andrew Holmes:
Of course, we'll love to continue the pilot.

Anthony Godfrey:
So Jared, where do we go from here? Tell everyone what's going to be happening next.

Jared Covili:
So the next process is we're going to start the RFP process where we're going to let School AI and other companies who do similar things bid on being an artificial intelligence solution for our district. During that time, more teachers who want to get involved with School AI will have that opportunity. We're going to extend the pilot so teachers can apply to be part of that extension. And then hopefully within the next few weeks, we'll have a solution that will be more of a permanent solution for us throughout the year.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're really excited to continue that trial because I know teachers are eager to make the most of this. No one's required to do it, and we'll be sending home parent permission slips for students to be involved. But we want to do this in a way that provides a safe environment within which to experiment and with a lot of support. School AI is going to be providing that support to teachers along the way and I just appreciate your leadership in moving us forward in this area.

Jared Covili:
We're excited to give as many teachers as would like the opportunity to use this in their classroom. I think, like we heard from our teachers today, once you get using it, it really sparks ideas of how else you can use it and how else it can benefit you. The biggest thing teachers need is time and we hope this will give them back some time.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thanks again for all your hard work. Thanks to both of you for your example and I can't wait to see where this takes us.

Stay with us. When we come back we'll hear more from the local company partnering with Jordan School District, School AI.

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

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking with Kevin from School AI. Kevin, tell us a little bit about how School AI got started. This is a local company in Utah and about the passion that drives your interest in AI.

Kevin:
Yeah, I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me on. School AI, we're based here in American Fork and the majority of our team is made up of all former educators, either teachers, principals, or student success or school leaders. With the exception of a few areas, for example, our CTO was the founder of DevMountain here in Utah. And the CEO of our company worked at Apple on the Everyone Can Code project and worked in a lot of the education in areas of Apple. And my background has been largely in supporting the student experience and student success for adult learners in boot camps.

And so where we got started was, you know, as education and technology nerds, when the latest advancements in AI came out last year, we saw this huge opportunity to adapt that technology into some of the most challenging areas of education to truly free up teachers and administrators to be able to do more in their capacities.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're excited to be part of it and to be partners with you in all of this. Talk us through some of the capabilities that have been added to school AI based on the pilot project that you've done with Jordan School District this last summer. Kind of describe that for folks who aren't familiar with it, and then talk about some of the features that have been added as a result of the input you've received from teachers.

Kevin:
You bet. So early on working with Jordan, it ended up being one of the best opportunities that we could have ever had as a newer company, because the teachers and the administrators that we've been paired up with to work on this pilot with, they don't pull any punches. They give great feedback. They've been engaged. I mean, just over the summer for teachers to tune in and be present and involved.

So, in that process, as we would highlight, here's how you do X, Y, and Z inside of our platform. For example, using generative AI chat, you know, Chat GPT Alternative, we would have a lot of inputs on, “Hey, can it do this? Can it do that?” So we ended up adapting a lot of the pre-built prompts based on specific inputs that the teachers on those calls gave.

And then one of the areas of our product is this formative assessment check that teachers can quickly use to get a pulse on where students are at. And it was, I forget the name of the pilot user, but they planted a big seed in our head. They asked a question around, “Hey, this is such a fun experience to use for a formative assessment check. What would this look like, you know, for maybe a bell ringer or an exit ticket or something like that?” Or that it's this conversational interaction between the student and this chatbot. And then that eventually evolved into what we now call Spaces, which is this kind of adaptable environment that a student can go into to explore a subject or to do, you know, answer a few questions about how they're feeling. I won't get into all the details for the sake of time, but just a lot of the specific UI, the usability, where to go, where to click, where to do things. We had just so much input and feedback from the pilot users that it made the entire product more usable.

Anthony Godfrey:
There are some really exciting things that I know are happening. The bell ringer and the exit ticket are particularly exciting to me because this is not just answering a question, it's an interactive conversation that you have with the bot to really kind of process your own learning at the end of class or to prepare to learn at the start of class. What it essentially does is it multiplies the teacher, but it also gives the teacher input that they can use to inform their instruction and inform their engagement with students. And what I like about the way that you've described artificial intelligence of using school AI is that it really kind of clears the deck for teachers to have more meaningful interactions with students. There's no way this comes even close to replacing a teacher. It enhances what the teacher is able to do.

Kevin:
Exactly. I mean, one of the things that I'm always inspired by in working with teachers is when I see examples of a teacher meeting a student where they are. When they find out where that student's at and then they do whatever they can to support that scenario, that individual. And one of the huge upsides of using AI is that it helps you meet a student where they are. And it may be that a student in a bell ringer is just having a friendly conversational interaction, whereas the alternative is typically a multiple-choice question, or a slip. And when you have a student that is, you know, engaged and enjoying the process of something like a bell ringer, and there's the novelty of, you know, AI being involved in that, you end up getting really rich information out of that individual on how they are actually feeling and they're going to type things and do things that they wouldn't do if it was just a multiple-choice question in that scenario. So yeah, it's really exciting on how that actually can help a teacher get more teed up to know where a student's at and be able to support that scenario.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, what would you say to a teacher who is maybe hesitant to delve into AI and to to start using School AI. We're gonna be expanding the trial to teachers. We've had a ton of teachers who've been really excited about it. And then teachers who know those teachers are now asking, how do I get involved? So if someone's maybe a little bit hesitant, saying, “I'm not sure how this can help me” or exactly whether this is gonna be worth investing the time and trying this out, what would you say to a teacher who's thinking about it, but not sure?

Kevin:
Great question. I think it's just absolutely fair that a teacher in, you know, it's such an involved capacity being a teacher, and you know that. And so a teacher when it comes to taking on a new technology and having some apprehension or concern, or maybe just, you know, having the time to do it, I think that's just fair. I mean, it makes sense that that happens. So one, I hear you. I hear you that that's a thing and I empathize with that.

Two, I would urge you to keep an open mind because teachers are often one of the biggest examples for students and a teacher that has an open mind towards new technology, especially a profound technology that's gonna be a big part of everyday life, an open-mindedness and a willingness to use and explore and adapt, I think sets an incredible example for students.

And third, I would say, pick one thing. I often tell teachers this, but pick one thing in your day-to-day life. You know, a question I ask is, if you could, you know, wave a magic wand right now and change one aspect of your job, what would that thing be? Is it administrative? Is it outreach to family, you know, guardians? Is it dummy questions on a quiz? Whatever it might be, pick that one thing and then see how AI can help alleviate certain aspects or that complete thing and then go from there. But just start with one thing and see where you can get with that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I could talk with you about this for hours, but I want to thank you for your time and thank you for getting things kick-started for us in the world of AI. School AI has been a great partner and we're excited to be working together to help move each other forward.

Kevin:
Yeah, and I just wanna commend you all for being incredible folks to work with and for being proactive in this area of utilizing AI. That's an excellent opportunity for us to partner with folks like you.

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

(upbeat music)

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are parents who wanted to make a difference by getting involved, supporting their students in the classroom. On this episode of the Supercast, find out why some passionate parents at Oakcrest Elementary School fell in love with the classroom, so much so that they decided to pursue a career in education to become teachers themselves.

We're here at Oakcrest Elementary with Veronica Holyoke, one of the administrators here. You're the assistant principal at Oakcrest. Introduce yourself a little bit and tell us why we're here for the podcast.

Veronica Holyoke:
Well, I joke that I'm Veronica Holyoke at Oakcrest Elementary on Hilltop Oak Drive. So, a lot of oaks.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh wow.

Veronica Holyoke:
Yes, yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that's right. The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

Veronica Holyoke:
Right, that's right. Yes, exactly. Exactly. We're here because I was noticing my instructional coach and I, her name's Marla Daniels, shout out to Marla. She and I spend a lot of time looking for the good that's going on in our school. And we have this draft of all the good things that our teachers and our aides and our support staff are doing all the time. And then we make a weekly shout-out video that we share with everybody to highlight all the good things we're doing.

And in doing that this past year, we noticed that we had so many aides that were pursuing education. The more we got to know them, the more that we created a community of teachers. And so I felt like that was so powerful that I wanted to share that with you, because now we're up to seven aides that are pursuing or have graduated with a career in education, and two, we've hired to teach at our school for this next year.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you emailed me, I think it was back in February to tell me about this story.

Veronica Holyoke:
It was on a snow day, one of our virtual snow days.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, hey, there's another silver lining to that snow day. There was time for you to pause and send me that email.

Veronica Holyoke:
I had time that’s right. Yes, correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
And we've been thinking about this story ever since and I know it has evolved even since you emailed me in February.

Veronica Holyoke:
Yes, 'cause I think it was only maybe five or something like that and now we're up to seven.

Anthony Godfrey:
And we are now in the media center here and there's nothing quieter than an elementary school media center in the middle of July.

Veronica Holyoke:
Yes, it's a little eery.

Anthony Godfrey:
And so we're here to talk with three of the employees here at Oakcrest and we want to talk with you about your path forward and your connections to Oakcrest. So just introduce yourself.

Natalie Slack:
My name's Natalie Slack. I'm connected to Oakcrest by my children go here. And then I started here last year as a math aide. I'm currently going to school to be a teacher. I've got about a year and a half left of school. Before this, I had been interested in education, but had never pursued past where I am now.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great. And tell us about your connection.

Natalie Osborne:
My name's Natalie Osborne. My kids go to Oakcrest, and I would volunteer in their classes. I had a different career, and I had a couple days off. So I would come in, and I just absolutely fell in love with elementary schools. So I decided to go back to school. I graduated in December and then was hired by Oakcrest to be a critical needs aid in December as well. And I did that throughout the year, and then I was hired to teach fifth grade at Oakcrest next year.

Anthony Godfrey:
OK, tell me about your path.

Megan Grossaint:
Hey, I'm Megan Grossaint. And when the boundaries realigned in 2020, my kids started coming here. My youngest was in first grade that year, and there was an opportunity to apply to be a literacy aid. And so I did that and I worked as a literacy aid. And within probably two months, I knew that it was time to go back to school and finish my degree and pursue elementary ed.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now tell me about those two months, because I'd love for lots of people to have that exact same idea dawn on them, that yes, I need to go back to school and I need to be a teacher. Tell me what happened there. What made you want to do that after two months as a literacy aid? Tell people a little bit about what the job is like as a literacy aid and then why that led you to wanting to be a teacher.

Megan Grossaint:
So the first, we hadn't started the Walk to Read program that year, so that year I would just work with three classes and work with individual students that needed some extra help with literacy and I just fell in love with it. I fell in love with being with the kids, with helping them to grow. And I was always constantly trying to think of new ways to help. And I wanted I just didn't want to leave. I wanted to be with them all day. So it led me to jump right in and get my degree. And now I get to be with them all day.

Anthony Godfrey:
Your brain and your heart, it sounds like, just started firing and you couldn't turn it off. That's really what happens is you get with the kids and you can't turn it off.

Megan Grossaint:
You can't.

Anthony Godfrey:
The teachers that you worked with had an impact on that as well.

Megan Grossaint:
Oh yeah, the teachers here are awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now tell me, you have now been hired as a teacher for the coming fall. What is on your mind? It's July, they're coming next month. So I remember the feeling. It was a long time ago, but I still remember it.

Megan Grossaint:
Yeah, I'll be teaching sixth grade in the fall. And so right now there's a lot in my brain from what my classroom's going to look like to what I'm going to be teaching. So I'm just trying to get it all on paper and organized and look at the curriculum and really kind of try and break that down and figure out what I'm going to be teaching this year.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I'm sure you're thinking back on your student teaching as you prepare for next year. Tell me about the student teaching experience.

Megan Grossaint:
Well, I student taught in second grade. So the curriculum is much easier for me to grasp than the sixth grade is. So I did my student teaching in second grade and it was awesome. It was just being with them all day and getting to really dive into different subjects and figure out different ways that I can teach and introduce them to a curriculum. And we did a lot of fun things together and it was a good time.

Anthony Godfrey:
I've always admired elementary teachers' ability to keep kids going for the whole day. I was a secondary teacher and I had to make it work for 50 minutes. And I just, you know, the last 15 minutes, if it's tough, we struggle through and I get a fresh batch the next hour. But that whole day with students, and I know there are rotations and there are some other things happening, but it really takes a special person and a unique approach to make sure that you're connected throughout the day and effective throughout the day. But you also have deep relationships that you don't get when they leave every hour. You really get to know them in a different way throughout the day. You've experienced that as an aide and as a student teacher, I'm sure.

Megan Groissant:
And those relationships, it actually, your day goes really fast because you have the kids that finish faster and the kids that don't finish as fast and you find time to fill in those last 15 minutes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh yes.

Megan Grossaint:
You're working with different students on different things.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I'm excited for you and I'm really excited that you've pursued a career in education. And you did your student teaching here, right? You were an aide here, your children are here, and you're teaching here.

Megan Groissaint:
I'm here for life.

Anthony Godfrey:
You are here for life. All right, I'm going to hold you to that.

Stay with us. When we come back, we'll talk with Natalie Osborne and Natalie Slack.

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

Anthony Godfrey:
Now let's talk with Natalie, this Natalie, not that Natalie, this Natalie for right now. Tell me about your path. You said you had a previous career as you started volunteering. You had some time available. Tell me about that career.

Natalie Osborne:
I went to college for one semester, and I was working at a title company. And I fell in love with title, doing closings on homes. I'm licensed to still do that. I worked for the best title company in Utah. But I just kind of got bored with it. I felt like I needed a different challenge for myself. And I felt like I needed to make a difference. I was watching all these choices. I was watching all these teachers and the difference they were making in my kids' own lives when they would come home, and watching the growth in my children. And when I would volunteer, I wanted to be part of that. Just to see the light come on in a student is the most amazing thing. It's like parenting, teaching so hard, just like parenting. But those little glimpses is what makes everything worth it to me. So I worked full-time and went to school full time and finished up. I did my student teaching at Fox Hollow, so just around the corner. Shout out to Fox Hollow. I still love you guys. And then I got hired here. I was on the School Community Council, so I kind of already had some connections here. And my kids have always attended here. So it was just a great opportunity for me.

Being a critical needs aid, I felt like I learned so much about behaviors and behavior plans. And I fell in love with my student that I worked with. And he was difficult sometimes. But you just learn so much. And you learn to create those relationships. And I could see the difference in him when I created that bond. So it's something that I plan to do with my own students. It's really important to cultivate that relationship so that they'll learn from me.

Anthony Godfrey:
You described what it feels like to be a teacher very well. That's exactly how it feels. And I love the idea that you saw the impact on your own kids. Tell me about that.

Natalie Osborne:
Yeah, my kids, I have two– well, they just graduated from sixth grade. I have twin girls and then a son in first grade going to second grade. And my girls struggled in kindergarten and first grade and it was really hard because as a parent I felt like, "Man, I don't even know how to help them. We read at home or we do this at home." I didn't know. Their teachers, when I would go to parent-teacher conference, the care that they had for my kids, they really wanted to help them. It wasn't just a job, right? I don't know any teacher out there, that it's just a job to them. If you're going to do this, you're going to care.

And just seeing all the growth that I would work with the teachers and be like, hey, what can I do at home to help these guys be more successful in school? And they were always there to be like, try this, this, and this. And we would work on it. And it was just a team effort. And the growth in my girls from not being on grade level to now being on grade level and being set up for success in middle school has been amazing.

And I mean, my son, literally the snow days that we talked about earlier would cry because he couldn't go to school. He had the most amazing teachers so far.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. That's a great endorsement.

Natalie Osborne:
Yes, like he-- his first grade teacher was amazing. So he absolutely loved it. And just to see them grow, not only academically, but socially too. His first grade teacher taught them so many social emotional skills that I did not think I would deal with in first grade. All the drama.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure.

Natalie Osborne:
But it's just amazing to see your kids grow and to have a community that cares about them, right? It's not just their parents that care about them, but everybody here at Oakcrest, all the aides, the administration, their teachers, it's amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
It is an exceptional school, that's for sure. Tell me about being a critical needs aide. Some might not understand exactly what that involves.

Natalie Osborne:
I was assigned to help a student that needed an aide with him at all times for behavior reasons. So we kind of set up our own curriculum. Marla Daniels had some work that we could do together. We worked a lot on his reading and math skills. One thing I noticed for him is because he wasn't on grade level, we have a Hot Reads Challenge here, and so I just let him choose whatever book. And he was able to earn pins for that and the difference it made for him to feel like he had achieved something was huge right? It didn't matter that it wasn't on his grade level but it made such an impact on him and I think to the aids that worked with him. We all just cared about him and we rallied around him and it just made such a huge difference in his life. I hope. I hope it made a huge difference in his life.

Anthony Godfrey:
I have no doubt that it made a permanent impact on his life in a positive way. Thank you for that. That's awesome. Tell me, what are you teaching next year?

Natalie Osborne:
I'll teach fifth grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
Fifth grade? Okay. And how are you feeling right now? Mid-July, looking forward to next month?

Natalie Osborne:
I'm like excited because I'm ready to just get in there. Right? Like I'm like Megan, where I've thought about things a billion times over and over and over and now I'm like, I just need to do it. Like I just need to do it.

Megan Grossaint:
We've been hired since February. It’s time to teach.

Natalie Osborne:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow, that's a long time.

Natalie Osborne:
So we're just like ready to get in the classroom and meet our students.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's a lot of anticipation. Yeah. Now, it'll be great to have a week under your belt. And you know, I got week one, we're set and here comes the month. Next thing you know it'll be Halloween, then it's Christmas, and then it's February again, you know? But that's awesome. Okay, Natalie too. Now, not Natalie T-W-O, Natalie T-O-O, you're also Natalie.

Natalie Slack:
Exactly.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about your path forward.

Natalie Slack:
So my path is kind of one of those where I started college right out of high school, and I knew I wanted to be a teacher then. I used to, in high school, I went to the elementary school for one of my classes. And I actually went to Welby Elementary and her name was Miss Loeffler. She made me want to be a teacher. That lady was awesome. I helped her all year for first grade. She was my host teacher, loved it. And I was like, this is what I'm supposed to do. I got out, started college and I got married, bought a house and life kind of got in the way.

And then I was like, I was done. I didn't like the job I was in. And so I was like, I'm gonna try something new. And I talked to Mr. Westwood and I got hired on here last year. And as soon as I did it, I was like Megan, you do it for two months and you're like, “I'm not leaving, I am staying here. I love it here.” And so I started going back to school. And working here while you're going to school, I think, is a really huge advantage. Because when I have questions, what better group to ask than the teachers here?

Anthony Godfrey:
Right. You're surrounded by experts at all times.

Natalie Slack:
Yes. So it's been amazing to have all the support. They egg you on when you're like, “Oh, I don't know if I can do this anymore.” And having my children here, being able to work and see my kids more, and be, like Natalie said, be able to participate in my kid's schooling. Where before when I worked I didn't get to do that all the time you know. Some jobs you just it's that nine-to-five thing and you're stuck there. I don't feel like that here and I love what I do. Being a math aide. I was a little hesitant to do that because I'm like, I don't know if I'm an expert at that, but I have definitely learned a lot over the last year. I feel like I have an advantage where I get to work with all the kids first, second, third, the whole shebang, so I get to meet all these kids and experience all the curriculum and it's just been, it's very eye-opening.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you're a celebrity walking down the hall then. Lots of thumbs waving.

Natalie Slack:
Yeah, yep, or in the grocery store.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that's right, in the grocery store.

Natalie Slack:
Everywhere, the gas station.

Anthony Godfrey:
Everywhere you go, yeah. When I was a high school teacher, I was always envious of the driver ed teacher for the same reason, because he had every student for one quarter. And as a result, he knew everybody in the school. And I was always envious of that, walking down the hall with him. He knew everybody. He was a central part of the school, and that's you getting to be a math aide as well.

Natalie Slack:
When these guys got their list for next year, it was like, "Look! Who are these kids? Can you tell me about them? Who's this?"

Anthony Godfrey:
'Cause you knew all of them.

Natalie Slack:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome.

Natalie Slack;
It's nice to, like I said, it's a good place to learn while you're in school.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell me about your school. Where are you going?

Natalie Slack:
So right now I am going to– I just graduated with my associates. So now I'm going to Western Governors University, which I had a lot of the teachers, including these two, suggest because it's online. So I'm able to work here. It works with my schedule. And I've had a lot of teachers here say that's the path that they went down. I've only been there a few weeks, and it's been great. So I'm looking forward to progressing through.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you have some friends here that are paving the path a little bit ahead of you. So now you get to talk with them and learn from them as they start teaching this fall.

Natalie Slack:
Yes, Natalie is actually my next-door neighbor.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. The web of connection is deepening here.

Natalie Slack:
It's deep, it's deep. It's nice and Megan doesn't live very far away. And so it's nice, like I said, to have all these resources at your fingertips. And they're really great about, you know, look, you should try this while you're in school or this. And it's just nice to have a path.

Anthony Godfrey:
And by the time you graduate and you're hired as a teacher, you're just gonna be exactly like they are right now. Get me in that classroom, I'm ready to teach, let's go.

Natalie Slack:
Yeah, there's not a doubt in my mind.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that's awesome. So tell me, if someone listening is thinking, you know what, I wanted to be a teacher and I've thought about that. I’ve volunteered or I've been an aide and maybe I should do that. What advice would you give them? What would you say to them?

Megan Grossaint:
Just do it, just go for it. I went through Western Governors University too and it's awesome because you can go at an accelerated pace because I'm not getting any younger and I wanted to get it done. I was able to push through it really fast. I mean if you're at the school, if you're volunteering, if you love it, if you love it, I just say go for it.

Natalie Osborne:
I also went to Western Governors and I can't say enough good about it. It was amazing. I was able to work full-time and then in the cracks of my life, go to school full-time. And like Megan said, you can really accelerate it, which helped get through school faster for us. I feel like it prepared me as much as you can be prepared for your first year. But yeah, go for it because I was so worried. I used to think that I couldn't make it through college like I was too busy or I was not smart enough or all these things and it's not true at all. Go for it and it's amazing. It pays off in the end and you get to teach amazing little humans.

Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely.

Megan Grossaint:
What kind of stopped me for a while is I kind of felt like I was too old. I'd missed the boat starting a new chapter.

Natalie Osborne:
It's never too late.

Natalie Slack:
Yeah, if you're willing to apply yourself to the group, the atmosphere for this, for teaching, it's totally worth it. And if you have that, I don't know, the feeling inside that this is where you're supposed to be, then you need to do it, 100%.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that, I love that. So dive in, cast the fears aside. And if you're excited about it, then do it. And obviously, it's energizing to do something you didn't expect to do and something new that maybe you'd written off and thought was no longer available to you. Thank you for taking the time today. This has been, it's been awesome talking with you and getting to know you and I'm definitely going to drop in a few months into the school year and say hi.

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We’ll see you out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Join us as we visit a program driving students to find success in the car care business.

On this episode of the Supercast, we stop by the Auto Mechanic Shop at West Jordan High School. That's where we meet the Auto Shop teacher and a student who just placed among the best in the country in a car repair competition. This truly is a class that is jump-starting careers.

We're here in the West Jordan High School Auto Shop to talk about the SkillsUSA competition. Thanks for taking time. Introduce yourselves and let's talk about the competition.

Bryan Liddell:
I'm Bryan Liddell, Mr. Liddell, the automotive teacher here at West Jordan High.

Eli:
I'm Eli Atwood.

Anthony Godfrey:
And Eli, tell me about the competition. What does it involve and how did it go?

Eli:
So during the competition, we did brake inspection, we did tire inspection, we looked up service data, did a job interview, electrical stuff. So we diagnosed an electrical circuit, we had to build an electrical circuit. There's a written test and it went pretty well. I got 14th place out of 30.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Where was the competition?

Eli:
It was in Atlanta, Georgia.

Anthony Godfrey:
Atlanta, Georgia. And your competition was from all over the country?

Eli:
Yeah, there was one person from every state. Well, not exactly, but there was-

Anthony Godfrey:
Roughly.

Eli:
Yeah, roughly one person from every state.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's interesting to me that they add all of these other layers to it. It's not just about working on the vehicle, it's also about the interview and the written test, tell me about that part of it.

Eli:
Yeah, so the interview, you're pretty much interviewing to apply for a shop or something like that. And then the test is just an ASC test that they take. There's 50 questions and you got 20 minutes to do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Twenty minutes to answer how many questions?

Eli:
50.

Anthony Godfrey:
50? Well, I would get three of them answered and they'd all be wrong. That’s how much I know about auto mechanics. Tell me what got you interested in auto mechanics. I know from personal experience just how good you are at this.

Eli:
Thank you. So I've just always been interested in tinkering at home and then I came here to the high school and Bryan really got me involved in it. I've just been interested ever since. I'm working at an auto shop right now and I love it.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what type of work do you do at the auto shop? Just whatever comes your way?

Eli:
Everything, yeah, just automotive repair.

Anthony Godfrey:
And is that what you want to do as a career? You want to continue with that?

Eli:
Yeah, I'd like to be a mechanic and then one day own a shop.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic.

Eli:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
So tell me a little bit about this program. What do students do to qualify for this national competition?

Bryan Liddell:
We have a district competition, and then we go to the state competition. And each state gets to take one student in MLR, which is what Eli went in, which is Maintenance and Light Repair. And then there's also the ASE test. So you can take two students in the competition from each state. So for him to get to that level was amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the ASE test.

Bryan Liddell:
The ASE test is actually what they use in the industry. All of the mechanics that get ASE certified have these tests, and they're all automotive-based tests. And they're mechanic A and mechanic B tests. So there's a lot of tricky questions. And it's something that he did really well. I'm master certified. I owned a shop for 18 years. So I try to run it like a shop and make it so that they understand what they're getting into the industry.

Anthony Godfrey:
And did this prepare you well? This program and this competition for working in an actual shop?

Eli:
Yeah, it definitely did. So Bryan, in the shop here, we'd be working, doing live work. We do stuff in the classroom. They really prepared me for what actually we're going to see in the real world.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is the hardest work that you do on a vehicle? What's the most difficult thing to do?

Eli:
Diagnostic for sure, and electrical stuff.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Eli:
Trying to figure out electrical.

Anthony Godfrey:
Just figuring out what the problem is to start with. Tell me what vehicle this is.

Eli:
It's a Chevy Tahoe.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Talk me through the elements of the engine and the different components you would be working on in the light maintenance competition.

Eli:
So on something like this– So we had a car that we needed to pull a code on, and it had something with a crank signal. You had to pretty much take the code, you had to run through the diagnostic sheet on when you put it in the service data, and you test certain components on the engine with a multimeter and stuff like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
The multimeter, is that the little device that–tell me about what the multimeter is.

Eli:
Yeah, so the electrical device, you could test voltage with it, continuity, just different things like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it was an electrical issue?

Eli:
It was, yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Are you trying to solve the problem as quickly as you can?

Eli:
Yeah, so you only got 10 minutes, yeah. You have a worksheet, you have 10 minutes to do all that, so you gotta fill out the worksheet, diagnose the thing. Usually, you don't get through the whole thing, but–

Anthony Godfrey:
It would take 10 minutes just for me to do the search on YouTube to try to figure out what I'm supposed to do. So does everyone have the same problem that they're trying to solve? Everyone in the competition?

Eli:
So each time they reset the station and you gotta figure out the same thing. So it's all even.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, and what are some of the other aspects of the vehicle that you had to understand in order to be successful in a competition?

Eli:
Se we had to do tire identification, so you had to use a TPMS tool, the tire pressure monitor, and you had to trigger the sensor, see what all the pressures were at. You had to look at the tread on the tire, look if it's good or not. You had to measure the tread depth. You had to check brakes, you had to measure the brakes, look if they were good, check if they were warped or anything.

Anthony Godfrey:
Did you get to meet some people from around the country that were kind of fun to get to know?

Eli:
Yeah, I got to know some kids in my competition. We had a deep– like before the competition, we did a thing and I got to meet some of the kids and just met them. There was a kid from Oregon, got to talk to a little bit. There's kids from all over the US.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me all the different sounds that people make when they come in and describe what's happening with their car.

Eli:
Probably a--

Anthony Godfrey:
It makes this thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk sound or what are some of the others?

Eli:
Clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk.

Anthony Godfrey:
You're trying to diagnose, initially at least, I know it's all computerized for many vehicles, but you're trying to get the best description out of the customer also.

Eli:
Yeah, yeah for sure.

Anthony Godfrey:
So now you said that there's a mechanic one and mechanic two aspect to the competition. Tell me about what that means.

Bryan Liddell:
The difference is in high school level we teach MLR and at the college level they teach the AST, so each state gets to send two competitors.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, so it's a college level competitor and a high school.

Bryan Liddell:
And a high school level competitor, yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Bryan Liddell:
This is my first time going to nationals, so seeing all of the competitions. And I mean it's everything that is– you know from cutting hair and doing nails all the way up to building homes, automotive I mean there was–

Anthony Godfrey:
So all all the SkillsUSA competition is at the same time.

Bryan Liddell:
It's at the same time.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Bryan Liddell:
Yeah. There’s so many people at the competition that we have the Staples Center full. I mean, there's, I think, 430,000 SkillsUSA members across the country between advisors and students.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I think it's really exciting for us to be represented at that national level in various categories. And like I said, this is so far out of my realm of expertise that I'm very impressed at your skills and just your passion for the work.

Stay with us when we come back more at West Jordan High School.

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

Anthony Godfrey:
What would you say to a student who's thinking about getting into a program like this?

Bryan Liddell:
It was really great to hear Eli say that he enjoyed being in here, he loves working on cars and that he wants to own his own shop one day because that's exactly how I started out. I was sitting on the fender well of my grandpa's truck while he was doing stuff to it and I just decided one day I was going to own my own shop, and luckily all the cards were laid out right and I ended up owning my own shop for 18 years. And then I got the opportunity to come and help train technicians for the future, and I jumped on that. So I would say, even if it's something you're not into, you should take Intro to Auto because that's going to help you maintain your car a little bit so you're not spending a lot of money in the future. And then just take the more advanced classes and work your way up. There are a lot of students who take my class because mom or dad says you don't get a driver's license unless you take Auto.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh yeah.

Bryan Liddell:
And then they find out that they really like auto.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love the idea that you get to drive a car only if you know how to maintain and repair one.

Bryan Liddell:
Yeah, well I think that's, you know, the basic maintenance, you know, being able to change a tire or something like that is very important.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Bryan Liddell:
Even if this isn't something you want to do for a career. You should want to do this for a career. It's an awesome career and we can't all do the same thing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure.

Bryan Liddell:
You know, so.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, and it's a skill that, I mean, most people are going to end up owning a vehicle at one time or another and all of those vehicles need maintenance and they're going to need repair. What is it that made you want to go into education?

Bryan Liddell:
That one's kind of a funny story. When I was in high school, I took auto mechanics and I fell in love with it. I mean I already was because of my grandfather getting me into it and everything. But I ended up my senior year, I was able to take three of my periods were Auto Mechanics and on A day and then on B day I had Auto Mechanics for two periods and then I had woods and then I had work release. So I spent a lot of time in the shop my senior year. And when I graduated, my teacher actually wrote me a three page letter about how I should go to school and be a teacher. I kind of laughed at him. And then here I am, oh, I was 40, 42, I believe, when they came. When one of the teachers here, who I happen to work on her car all the time at my shop, came and said, "We need an auto teacher." And I thought about it, and then I came down, and this has been probably one of the best decisions I've ever made. I love my job.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love hearing that. That's a great story. And did the teacher who wrote you that letter find out that you ended up teaching?

Bryan Liddell:
No, it's kind of sad. He had passed away already, but that was pretty neat. I never even saw that in me back then, but it was great that he could.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's amazing that he saw that potential, and ultimately, that's where you ended up. And how long have you been here at West Jordan now?

Bryan Liddell:
Next year, I think, will be my seventh year or eighth year. You know how the years are different.

Anthony Godfrey:
The years blend, yes. All those COVID years contract. After students graduate from this program, where do they end up? What are some of the things they do with the skills they've learned?

Bryan Liddell:
There are a lot of shops out there hiring right now. Eli works at a great shop, but there's also post-secondary. You can go to, there's a bunch of technical colleges that you can go and get some degrees in. I know that because of the competitions that Eli has some scholarships to go to college also.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now you've got a variety of vehicles here and it catches my eye that you've got a golf cart up on a lift. Tell me about what's going on there.

Bryan Liddell:
That one is the baseballs.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, baseball's golf cart.

Bryan Liddell:
Baseball's golf cart.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if it has wheels, they're going to bring it into you for repair.

Bryan Liddell:
Well, and I love that, especially when we teach the oil changes. I send out a thing to the teachers, and then they're able to come in and have their oil changed. And the kids get to work on live work. And it also makes them happy, because they can go to math and say I'm the one that did your oil change.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now that does not hurt your grade if you're able to help out a teacher's car. Eli, have you found that to be true?

Eli:
I have found that to be true.

Anthony Godfrey:
(laughing) Suddenly they're relying on you and that doesn't hurt when they're calculated grades. (laughing) And you know what, you probably will have to protect yourself the rest of your life from people who say, “Hey, Eli, you're a mechanic, any chance you could come over and take a look at this?” How do you handle that?

Eli:
I just try to help out people. If I know them, good. Might as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome.

Bryan Liddell:
That is something that's great about this, because at the current moment, I have three cars sitting in my driveway because it's summer and everybody knows I'm not here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Bryan Liddell:
So yeah, and it's great to be able to not only have a skill that helps you pay your bills, but also to be able to help out friends and family who are in need.

Anthony Godfrey:
My dad was a mechanic in the summers. He was a university professor, and in the summers, he worked as an auto mechanic at Sears in their automotive. And it's been really awesome that I can always call my dad and say, “Hey, my car's doing this or my car's doing that.” And people have come to him over the years for some help. So that's a nice thing. And it's a nice connect with people in your neighborhood, family, and friends that they know they can rely on you for some help. I think it's awesome. Well, you're going to make a lot of friends with these skills, Eli, and have a great career ahead of you. I've known you for a long time and it's really exciting to see you at this stage and see all your accomplishments. So congratulations.

Eli:
Thank you, appreciate it.

Anthony Godfrey:
And thank you, Mr. Liddell, for providing such a great experience for our students here.

Bryan Liddell:
You're welcome. Like I said, I love my job. Keep 'em coming.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm grateful for all those circumstances that brought you here.

Bryan Liddell:
Me too.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right, thanks guys. Thanks for the time and good luck with everything.

Eli:
Thank you.

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

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She has taken the Bingham High School girls' softball team to multiple state championships in her time as head coach. But when the state title proved elusive for years in a row, someone close to Coach Jackson, didn't give up.

On this episode of the Supercast, find out how, despite his own battle with Alzheimer's, Coach Jackson's dad stood by the team and was in the stands cheering them on to victory once again at the last game he would ever see. It's an inspiring story you don't want to miss.

We're here with head softball coach, Mikki Jackson at Bingham High School. Mikki, thanks for taking the time.

Mikki Jackson:
Thanks.

Anthony Godfrey:
We are now up to nine championships for you here at Bingham in softball. Is that right?

Mikki Jackson:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about why this particular year was so special.

Mikki Jackson:
I think there's a lot of reasons. I have personal reasons and then I have the actual coaching reasons. It's been, it feels like a long time since we've enjoyed being on top and having the escort home, all the excitement of that.

Anthony Godfrey:
When was your last state championship?

Mikki Jackson:
It was 13 years ago.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Mikki Jackson:
We've been in several state championship games since then but we just didn't get over the top. And so to finally get back on top feels awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I understand you've had eight close calls, right?

Mikki Jackson:
Yeah. (laughs)

Anthony Godfrey:
Eight close calls where you're almost there.

Mikki Jackson:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell me about this team this year, what happened over the course of the season

and what got them over the hump finally?

Mikki Jackson:
Yeah, I think this group, you know, there's always that mix of talent and effort, but then there's gotta be that, I call it the magical ingredient, and that's loving each other. And this group definitely grew close. They came in close, but they learned to care and take care of each other in different ways as the season went on. Plus they are young and so they were maturing. The more experience they got, understanding that their character is not, who they are isn't based on an error or a success. But that's icing on the cake, but who we are makes us the results that we get.

Anthony Godfrey:
Softball is of course a team sport, but it's a team sport where your individual errors or shortcomings are on full display. (laughs) Tell me about some of the things that you've had to overcome, some close calls in the season maybe, where you really saw what the girls were made of.

Mikki Jackson:
I think you're right, that the focus is on those individual successes and failures, but overall, you know, all of those come together to make that. And we had some times when we didn't get over the bump. You know, we are one strike away against Riverton in that first game this year.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Mikki Jackson:
And our sophomore pitcher's on the mound and she's doing great, fouling off, and they got the better of that at-bat and they end up on top. That's, you know, it's a game of inches, you know, half an inch fair foul. And just from that game on, just helping the kids understand how to work through those moments and that maturity that kept growing stronger and stronger. Sometimes those failures make that strength later on. And I think we saw that with this group. They got stronger because of it.

Anthony Godfrey:
What was the makeup of your team? You said that they're now more experienced than they have been. Did you have a lot of seniors this year?

Mikki Jackson:
We had three great seniors. Shelbee has been on the mound for us. She pitched almost everything last year for us. This year we had Brecka come in as a sophomore and she took some of that load off of Shelbee so Shelbee could play elsewhere. And then we have Braxtyn who can play pretty much anywhere on the field and is primarily a middle infielder. And then Charity, our catcher and left fielder. So all three of them are significant players. Beyond that, we had one junior that was playing most of the time and the rest of them are sophomores and freshmen.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh wow. So there are great things ahead for being a sophomore.

Mikki Jackson:
Yes, and the kids that played behind those guys got a lot of time this year. Behind Charity is a sophomore, now a junior catcher, and Braxtyn has another kid sitting right behind her that's been working into her spot as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Good, that's great.

Mikki Jackson:
I can't say they're all perfectly replaceable, but that group coming up is working hard and has the ability to do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's great to hear. Tell me about how the tournament works for those who may not be aware. It's double elimination. Tell me about the journey this year.

Mikki Jackson:
Well, it's double elimination, but they do break it out into the brackets. We have a four-team pool, and then there's a second four-team pool. We went in as the four seed with Riverton being the one seed and we had PG in there. The seeding is how that's all broken out.  So you play the same teams three or four, it's almost like the women's college World Series. In fact, it is. You have your seedings through the regionals and then if you drop that game you're going to come back to that person that sent you to the losers bracket. That team is going to come back at you.

So we had PG and in that game, even more opportunities to grow because our backs were against the the wall multiple times with runners. Our pitching helped us a lot. Hitting kind of came around. Then we had Riverton, who had already beaten us two times several years in a row.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now, psychologically, that's pretty tough to face down someone who's beaten you in this situation more than once.

Mikki Jackson:
Because they've had great teams for years down there. And there's been a mutual respect of our two teams in that we know that we've got two great teams coming at each other each time we play. And so, you know, I just watched, it just felt like the kids were different this time. I think the two losses earlier, they were like, okay, we're done, we're done with this. But then they will have five to one on us. And we clawed our way back, oh, and the second game, I guess it was. But getting through that one.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you're down five one in the second game. What was the final score?

Mikki Jackson:
Seven to six.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, wow. (laughs)

Mikki Jackson:
Five to one, I think it was five to three.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. I can't remember exactly, but I know we were still down one, 'cause I remember thinking, do I want to give up this out and bunt? Or do I want to bring them around? We bunted and we brought two around and we scored two more in the next inning and we had to hold them that bottom half of that inning, 'cause we were visitors the entire way through the tournament 'cause of our number four seed.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's been 13 years since you had a state championship and we've talked about why that was exciting this year for the team. Let's talk about why that was exciting for you personally.

Mikki Jackson:
My dad has Alzheimer's, and we've been going through the late stages with that. And especially about– I guess it was the second week of May, he was pretty close to leaving us. He was in really rough shape. I spent about five nights with him by his side in the hospital. And I kept thinking, we're so close, Dad. Hang on. I just want you to see us play again one more time. And our game times for the afternoons don't work with somebody with Alzheimer's, with the sundowners. And I knew that an 11 o'clock game in the championship was the way he was gonna be able to come.  But unfortunately, those couple of days ahead of time, he wasn't drinking or eating anything, they couldn't get him to wake up. It just wasn't looking like it was gonna happen.

Anthony Godfrey:
And he's been in the hospital all this time?

Mikki Jackson:
Well, he went back to the care center that he was in. We got him healthy enough. He had a few infections and things that week that he was there. My sister happened to be in Europe at the time. Finally takes the family trip that is overdue by years and about four or five days after, I'm thinking he can't pass while she's gone. We've got to keep him alive long enough. And we got him to where she got home just a few days before state and she said “Well, we'll try. Let's do everything we can to try to get him there.”

So we start the game and then I heard my sister's voice in the stands. I couldn't see where she was, but I could hear her, and she stood up and waved her arms and she pointed down. My dad was right there, and so my dad got to attend that game. She told me later that that morning the nurse called and said “You're not going to believe this but your dad got up this morning. He ate his breakfast, he drank his juices, he's sitting in the chair. If you want to come get him I think we can make it work.”

And so after the game I went back up to him, I ran up to talk with him and I said, "Hey Dad, it's Mikki." He didn't really respond too much, you know, a little bit of his little quirk that he acknowledges you there. And I said, "Dad," I said, "my girls are champs." I leaned down to his ears. I said, "My girls are champs." Just like everything you've always taught me to be. And his eyes came open. He smiled. The first smile, the first acknowledgment. And he reached out for me, grabbed my hand, and then put his other hand over the top of mine. And that is more purposeful movement than we've seen in the last three months from him. It's a moment that I will never ever be able to replace.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's miraculous that you were able to have him there. It's the time of day it worked and he held on through that. How's he doing right now?

Mikki Jackson:
Unfortunately, we're probably going to take him home tomorrow to California. I'm going to do the parade with the girls and then I'm heading out. We don't know how much longer we'll have, but we got through that game. We got through a happy moment for him. I could see him watching and scanning the field at times, even from down at third base. I'd look up there. A couple times, he was sleeping, which is fine.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure.

Mikki Jackson:
But a couple of times I could see him scanning and my sister said, "Mik, he's not been that alert the whole time she's been back."

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Mikki Jackson:
And it's been great. So, you know, we don't know if we have days with him next week or if we have a month, we don't know, but we're gonna bring him home.

Anthony Godfrey:
But an additional moment of pride in his daughter and her accomplishments.

Mikki Jackson:
Oh yeah, and he was the kind of dad, I mean we know, as educators, we know how much parents put into their kids. And you can appreciate this, when we moved from Southern California, we moved to a town of 200 people. It had a K-8, one-room schoolhouse in this town.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow, wow.

Mikki Jackson:
And so at that time we lived 20 miles out of town. I'm too young to drive still, and I'm doing a pentathlon, so he built me a long jump pit, and we did a bunch of mattresses, and then we have a high jump pit. That's the kind of dad-he was always making ways for me to be successful and my siblings as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
So he really went out of his way to create opportunities where in a small town they weren't just available around the corner.

Mikki Jackson:
Yeah, yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about some of the other ways that he impacted you as a person, as a coach, as a teacher.

Mikki Jackson:
I think he always had an expectation that we would do our best, but it wasn't a pressure, it was just the way he lived himself. And he was so selfless that I personally, I can't even think of things that were his love. Things that he liked to do because everything was always taking us to. Like we have this lake that we go to. My sister and I run a youth camp up in the mountains by this lake, or my sister does and I help her out sometimes, but the family is up there. And my dad, when we go to this blue lake, he's always the one fixing their campers and boats and stuff like that. He's just always doing for others. There was a joke- we were out there celebrating his 70th birthday and one of the persons got up and said well you know he just travels around to all the widows and he's always taking care of all the widows in town. He had this little circuit that he would drive around he was just he's just a very selfless person. I think that you just internalize that when you live around it, you just internalize it and I think that's the biggest gift he's given me personally.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's amazing. How did he impact you as an athlete and as a coach? Are there some philosophies that you bring to coaching that came from the way that your father has lived his life?

Mikki Jackson:
I think probably some of it is. Like I like to break skills down to teach them and I think that comes from him. He was a mechanic and so you know, this part goes with this part, goes with this part, and maybe that's why my mind is a science mind too. But I think, you know, I'm the one that tries to see what skills need to improve and how to fix those. And then I think the way he was always patient teaching us how to do something, like even fixing a car or something like that, which I'm not very good at, 'cause he always did it for me.
(both laughing)

Anthony Godfrey:
But his patience in talking you through that and teaching you has translated into the way that you interact with your athletes.

Mikki Jackson:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes I'm probably not as patient as my dad was with me. (both laughing) But I try to remember that every one of those kids out there is someone's daughter. And that person is a kid that's growing up, that may not understand the game. I look back at things that I know about the game now that I never even thought about. There's a maturity that goes on and what we're ready to learn. It's like in math, like in science, some brains are ready for this right now. Others are gonna take three more years before their brain's ready for that. And you just try to take wherever those kids are at that time and build the best you can inside of them. And I think that comes from my dad and my mom. My mom's pretty wonderful too.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, I don't doubt it.

(soft music)
Stay with us when we come back, more with Coach Mikki Jackson.
(upbeat music)

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

Anthony Godfrey:
What got you started in softball? What got you interested in softball to begin with? I assume you played when you were younger?

Mikki Jackson:
I did when I was younger. I wasn't in a big city area where we had summer and travel ball. I just played and I loved it. My mom was one of my first coaches when I was little and the funny thing is the first team I ever played on, I found out later we won one game by forfeit. I was a catcher, yeah I had no idea about stealing even was. I I didn't even know stealing existed. I didn't know what it was.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, sure

Mikki Jackson:
I kind of have a goofy start to that whole thing, but I was in Southern California at that time, then we moved up to another area. I actually played other sports too. My parents encouraged me to do other things. I played soccer and I have to think I must have been pretty good because I was scheduled to go to Japan and Europe and stuff like that as a fairly young kid and then we moved so I didn't. And then track, I ran pentathlon I was a miler when I was in elementary. And then through middle and high school, I did the pentathlon. So I was a multi-sport athlete. I heard somebody say once when she figures out softball, her thing, she's going to go a long way. And I guess-- I don't know if that influenced my decision to go that way or not. I actually did not play softball my junior year in high school, or my senior year. I actually wrecked my ankle my junior year playing, but I went back to track in my senior year. And then I came out to BYU as a walk-on.

Anthony Godfrey:
For the softball team.

Mikki Jackson:
Yeah  and tried out and got to play.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great. Tell me about your teaching career. Where have you been throughout the years?

Mikki Jackson:
I actually was headed to medical school and I was accepted to medical school and my husband wasn't quite done with school yet, so I requested a deferment. I also had some family reasons to stay. I got it. I started here at Bingham. I did my student teaching here and then I just loved it. I loved being in the classroom and when I was in high school, they had a cross-age tutoring program to kind of prepare kids that they thought had leanings toward being great teacher material. And I was invited to be in that class and I think that was where some of those seeds were sown, that it was there. But then from there I've been at Bingham. I taught at Copper Hills for a little while. Over there primarily chemistry, anatomy, physiology, biology. I have zone now so I've had a little bit of everything. My favorite though probably was action chemistry when I had the kids that had one foot in the court system and one foot supposed to be in the classroom but not quite there. That was early in my career and I really loved that experience with those kids

Anthony Godfrey:
So how many years have you been at Bingham now?

Mikki Jackson:
At Bingham itself, I started in 89-90 with my student teaching and then I was trying to figure that out earlier, someone asked that. In the middle stretch I was gone for about five years.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, okay. What do you hope your girls take away from the experience of being on your softball team?

Mikki Jackson:
I think particularly this group, the relationships are the things that last. That trophy will always be special to them and it's just really special to be able to say you're a state champion. But every year my hope is that they walk away proud of having been a Bingham Miner, but also that those relationships are the ones that they're sending the invitations to each other's weddings. That they're following up. Our 2009-10, that was the three-peat. Those guys still are so in contact with each other. They still are friends with each other and other groups too.

I also kind of find it exciting, I don't know if you're aware of it, but Herriman had three previous Bingham players on their coaching staff this year. Nicole just graduated a few years ago. Heidi and Pam played for me in the 90s on state championship teams. And I kind of hope that the impact of having to go through challenges and lead yourself, and be an example to others grows in the long run. Mylei Zachman is an administrator from the Davis District. She's out of our program, she came through our program too. I look around and I see so many people that have come through and they're successful. And I'm not saying our program made them successful because I feel like they also made the program successful because of the traits they brought, but you look at that and you're just excited to see them being happy and successful in their life. And you hope that you have a little bit of a piece of that.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that. Well, thank you very much for taking the time and thank you for all the time you've invested in these athletes over the years. I have no doubt it's a lasting positive influence on everyone that's been on your team.

Mikki Jackson:
Yeah. They've been an influence on me too. I'm who I am because of the things I've learned from the families and the kids that I've been fortunate to have crossed my path along the way. And I just hope that they know how much I love them. And there's been people that have been happy, sometimes people not so happy, but I love one of them regardless of what experiences they had.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm sure they know that without a doubt. Well enjoy your parade, enjoy that victory and my best to you and your family. Thanks for the time.

Mikki Jackson:
Thanks for everything you do for us too. I feel like you really engage with us and you really appreciate us in our district.

Anthony Godfrey:
You guys are amazing, thank you.

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