Supercast

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are a top-notch team of professionals devoted to promoting the individual growth and well-being of students, teachers, staff, and families throughout Jordan School District. On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with the district's student services team to hear more about the important work they do on a daily basis, supporting the overall social emotional wellness of students in and outside of school, empowering them to achieve academic success along with college and career development. Listen in and learn about services available to support your child and your family.

I'm excited to have our Student Services department here with us today. We're gonna start with Travis Hamblin, the director of the department. Just a few years ago, this department did not exist in this form. Travis, Student Services covers a wide range of student needs and district services. Everything from maps and enrollment to behavior and other services. Services through McKinney Vento for students who are experiencing homelessness. Let's focus on talking about the health and wellness and mental health aspect of what you and your department are responsible for.

Travis Hamblin:
We have an amazing group of people that provide a countless number of resources and supports for students. We have McKinley Withers with our Health and Wellness, he works with everything from our clinical support staff to prevention. We have Fulvia Franco, who is our consultant for Guidance, which are all of our psychologists and our Jordan Family Ed. We have Stacee Worthen, who works with all of our school counselors, K-12 and the Comprehensive Guidance program and working with them to provide direct services to students. It should be noted that all three of those individuals work with professionals in the mental health field that work directly with students to help them in whatever area or need that they may have, whether it's academic, whether it's social, whether it's emotional or mental health, any of those areas. We also have student support personnel people that work with our students that have concerns with truancy or any other areas. But specifically, we work a lot with our mental health for students and staff.

Anthony Godfrey:
We talk about student health and wellness. We talk about bolstering health and wellness, but we also talk about responding to emergencies and difficulties and hard situations when they do occur. So let's talk about prevention. I think people have looked at prevention over the years in silos. There's suicide prevention, there's bullying prevention there's school safety and prevention of school violence. How does that all fit together now, the way that we're looking at things in Jordan?

Travis Hamblin:
The prevention efforts that we're doing now, look at everything holistically. We see things not just in a bucket of preventing and responding, but in a holistic view of doing that all at the same time. The example would be this, is if there is a student that's in suicidal crisis, we're not only looking at, okay, how can we respond? But we're also looking at how we can look at preventing or addressing the unknown factors that are out there. The students that we don't know about, and supporting them in a wide variety of manners so that we can address students who may be suffering in silence and those that we don't know about. So it's not just about addressing one side of an issue or another. It's about saying, okay, we do, we know we have students that are struggling in certain areas or in many areas. So how do we address it holistically, both from an adult perspective, but also from a kid-centered perspective?

Anthony Godfrey:
And I think all of those issues overlap when we address one issue, we're really addressing others, bullying, suicide, school violence, all of those are interrelated. And really, if we're addressing the health and wellness of students early on, then we're able to prevent a lot of issues rather than simply respond to them. So I wanted to go around the room and talk with each of you about some of the efforts that are in place to address both aspects of the issues that we encounter. How are we helping prevent problems in the first place? And then how are we responding to them when they do occur? Let's talk with Stacee Worthen, who works with all of our school counselors. First of all, let's talk about the expansion of school counselors in our schools.

Stacee Worthen:
Yeah, that's pretty exciting. So we've expanded to a true K-12 program. So we've been able to lower our school counselor to student ratios in the secondaries from about 1 to 350 to about 1 to 300. So we added a half-time position in every middle school. So we have a ratio of one school counselor to about 300, in some cases even 250 students per counselor. So that's actually really exciting. What that does is it allows our counselors a little bit more time to create connections. And that's really what we're focusing on is, in the secondary level, trying to build relationships with our students so that they feel like they have an adult that will connect them to the school. And so that's a prevention piece that we're really trying to focus on. Is there one adult in that building that they really feel like they can come and talk to about academics, about mental health issues, about you know, if the student’s in crisis, who is that adult that they feel like they can trust in that time of need? And in the high schools, we have about a 1 to 300 ratio with the support of our principals in lowering that ratio.
The other exciting thing is that Jordan School District has approved hiring one elementary school counselor for every elementary school. We have been able to hire 12. Those school counselors are working with their students. Anything that the teachers and the principals feel like that community needs within that school, then that's what that school counselor is focusing on. But then they're also working with those kids by providing groups. Grief groups, friendship groups you know, all sorts of different needs that these kids have. They're really working on helping them so that they fill those supports with their school counselors.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm really excited about our elementary school counselors, but we've also added some supports at the district level as well. So we're providing greater support to our counselors out in the schools, additional training. And that's a trend that's been in place for several years now. I think the role of counselor is more important than ever, and there's more access than ever to counselors for students. The elementary role really allows everyone to get a chance to do their job. I think that need has always been there, but now that there's a counselor at the elementary level, that reduces or shifts the workload on a school psychologist and on administrators so that those unique roles can be fulfilled, and the unique needs of students can be met even more effectively.

Stacee Worthen:
That's right. And we've had really great success with our school counselors working with our school psychologists. They've been really successful in providing group opportunities for students. So we've been able to really meet the needs of more kids because they've been working as a team. And also with our social workers. They really are a team of school clinicians that can provide a lot of different opportunities for our students. That really creates a connection to the school and a lot of opportunities for us to really put in a lot of preventative measures so that these kids are successful.

Anthony Godfrey:
The point that you made there is really important, I think, because we've had part-time positions here and there over the years for psychologists, and for counselors, and for assistant principals. It's very difficult to be effective in building those relationships when you're only there Monday, Tuesday, and half of Wednesday. So I'm excited to see the changes already this year in the connection that we have with students and with parents.

Stacee Worthen:
That's exciting.

Anthony Godfrey:
When talking with parents, if parents are concerned about their students, a great place to start is with a school counselor or school psychologist. Just call up, make an appointment, have a conversation. Speaking of which, Fulvia Franco, talk to us about our school psychologist and what's happening there.

Fulvia Franco:
With our school psychologists, we do do assessment, but we do direct service to students. We provide individual and group counseling. We do crisis intervention, crisis counseling with students. We do post-crisis postvention kinds of things to support children who've been impacted by a crisis in their lives. We also provide services at the Jordan Family Education Center. Jordan School District is unique in having a center like the Family Ed Center in that, that center, was established 44 years ago. We provide parenting classes, we provide intake assessments. That's where a parent, if they have a concern about their son or daughter, can come in, meet one-on-one with a school psychologist or school counselor who's trained to do clinical intake assessments to try to determine what the nature of the concern is and make recommendations to the parent. Those recommendations can range anywhere from something we'd like schools to implement, some support in mental health areas at a school level, or working with our clinical support staff in connecting families with community resources.
One of the biggest things that I've seen change with Student Services is that Travis Hamlin has been instrumental in bringing us together to be school-based mental health teams. For years, we've read in the research that we need school-based mental health services. Well, Jordan District, to me, is doing it the right way in that we put staff directly into the schools. We have full-time allocations for school counselors, K-12, as well as school psychologists. Our secondary, middle and high schools all have clinical support staff, whether they be social workers or clinical mental health counselors. We are doing so many things to support children's needs and students needs, and in that we help parents.

Anthony Godfrey:
And again, I would say it's hard for parents perhaps to imagine all the resources that are available. I would just say make that call. Connect with the professional at the school, and they can really open some doors. Stay with us, when we come back more with the incredible Student Services team.

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

Anthony Godfrey:
McKinley, let's talk with you now about some of the things that we're doing to connect students to outside resources if they need longer term care or more specialized care. Because as we just talked about, we've got a lot of great people that can help with many issues and concerns that would be facing families, but sometimes families don't know where to go next for outside services that they would seek as a family. Tell me about how we connect them to the right people.

McKinley Withers:
Over the last few years, we've established a partnership with several, I guess 19, community-based mental health providers that are partners with our district. And through our Mental Health Access program, we can facilitate access to one of those community mental health providers that have, you know, clinicians that speak a specific language that a student might need, that might provide specialized treatment that a student might need. And by being able to have an existing partnership with our community resources, we can better match a student to their need.

Anthony Godfrey:
Over the last few years, we've also added clinical support staff to all of our secondary schools and some of our elementary schools. Can you tell me what role they play in the lives of students?

McKinley Withers:
So these are individuals that have outside of school mental health experience. So these are DOPL licensed mental health clinicians who, the intent is to have them meet with students who have more severe mental health needs, and to be a bridge between those students and their needs and the community resources that would best match those needs.

Anthony Godfrey:
So that's their focus is to work on maybe some of the more severe needs. But counselors and psychologists work every day with students with severe needs and help them make the most of their school experience and help them make the progress they need to be making.

McKinley Withers:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Talk about some of the things that we're doing to prevent suicide, bullying and violence in the district.

McKinley Withers:
So again, there are a variety of efforts within Student Services and within Health and Wellness specifically. We've worked with schools to create their own unique but district supported Prevention Plan that addresses each of those topics. And the foundation of good prevention work is understanding and acknowledging that, like you mentioned earlier, prevention of suicide and what characteristics or components are essential to that kind of prevention, are the same characteristics that prevent school violence, those same efforts. So trying to connect all of those efforts under one umbrella, a comprehensive prevention plan. Where if you're making an everyday effort in your school to deepen connections with students, to notice them, to know names, to have added staff, like has been mentioned, so that there are more adults to connect with students. That's going to be prevention effort across the board, whether it's suicide, bullying, or violence.

So because prevention shares common characteristics, each school can create their own unique plan about how they are meeting students' unique needs on building skills, social skills, so they can have quality relationships with peers and adults, and building skills for emotion regulation. Those two things, those two skill building opportunities commonly are referred to as social and emotional learning. So how are we intentionally building skills, providing opportunities for students to practice skills in real time for problem solving, relationship building, emotion regulation. Those are all efforts that lead to prevention in all of those areas. So it's giving people throughout the system the skills for making an everyday effort to enhance students' skills for life.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I like the way you described that, and you described it to principals the same way in a recent meeting, that there's a school-based plan that's district supported. So there's some consistency across the district, but there's also specialization and customization based on the specific needs of a school. And it's pulling a team together around that common effort of prevention and promoting health and wellness in students.

McKinley Withers:
Yeah. And some of those district-wide systems. So district-wide, all of our schools are on the Safe UT app, which means any student in any of our district schools, if they notice something, they hear something concerning, about a friend wanting to hurt themselves or others, or they themselves were bullied. They can submit tips through Safe UT and it will get to the school staff and they can respond accordingly. So all of our district schools are on that Safe UT app. Within the app, students can connect directly with professional crisis worker. So if they themselves are feeling intense emotions, don't know what to do, they can chat or call using the app. And then also our district has implemented a content monitoring system. So on the student accounts, specifically, if a student types in an email or a document or you know, is chatting to a friend about wanting to die, wanting to hurt someone, or an incident that has happened that is concerning we are alerted of that so that we can respond and intervene.

Anthony Godfrey:
Many layers to help prevent and respond to difficulties in our schools. Travis, you've assembled an amazing team of people and it's really exciting for me to watch the progress that we've made as a district and as we referenced earlier, just how we've been able to empower every adult in this district to be a part of helping support our students and promote their health and wellness. Anything you'd like to add about the efforts of Student Services?

Travis Hamblin:
Well, I would say one of the biggest things that we operate on is that relationships don't support the learning, they are the learning. So we focus on helping the adults and helping all of the staff members to build meaningful relationships with students to ensure that we know of the needs that they have, that we can respond, that we can prevent, and that we can assist them through their journey to whatever their journey is going to end in academically, socially, and any kind of wellness activities. We are focused on ensuring that we provide the support that every student needs to succeed. At the end of the day, that's why we get up. We are passionate about making sure that our students have everything they need to succeed.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the bottom line is in the short term and long term lives are being saved.

Travis Hamblin:
Every day, every day.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thank you for your hard work everyone. Thanks for taking the time. And just another reminder, call your school, call your counselor, call the psychologist, talk with your administration, ask for help because there's a lot of help out there and a lot of great people who can support your student.

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. It was a real-life lesson in creating and marketing a new business. Some Bingham High students partnered with entrepreneurs in the community to compete in something called “Miner Tank'' based on the reality TV show “Shark Tank”. On this episode of the Supercast we take you inside Andrea Call’s CTE Business and Marketing class where four groups of students competed to get financial backing for their business ideas, which included “Germ a Phone”, “My Creature Teacher”, “Dock Hero”, and “Demon Time”. Find out which potential business was deemed best and scored some big financial backing.

We're talking now with Andrea Call, the Business and Marketing teacher here at Bingham High School, who has organized “Miner Tank”. Thanks for taking a few minutes.

Andrea Call:
Sure.

Anthony Godfrey:
This was an exciting day in your classroom.

Andrea Call:
It was a big day. Yeah. It was really awesome. All the kids were able to pitch for the Jordan Education Foundation, so it was exciting to see them realize all of their work and be able to have questions from the mentors and the Board. And I was really proud of all of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
What gave you the idea to want to make a “Miner Tank” experience? Because that's going above and beyond, that's a lot of extra work obviously.

Andrea Call:
It has been a lot of work, but I really believe that we learn best in real world opportunities. I was trying really hard to make a business and marketing lab where we could have the opportunity to give students real money and let them really try to start these businesses because when you sit in a classroom, you're really limited on the application piece. But if we can get community partners to come in, that opens the doors for us to have these real world experiences for students. So this is something that, luckily, Mike Haynes from Jordan Education Foundation was like in 100% and helped just really drive this engine.

Anthony Godfrey:
I know this is something that is aligned with what we're trying to accomplish in all of our classes. A level of creativity, real world learning. Kids can tell when an experience isn't authentic. And this is as authentic as it gets, pulling in the community the way that you did. So, congratulations on providing an incredible learning experience. It was awesome to see.

Andrea Call:
Thanks.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's obviously had a huge impact on students as well. Tell me about the impact that you've seen over the years when students get a chance to be creative in an entrepreneur class.

Andrea Call:
Yeah. I think creativity, I think the more opportunities we can give for kids to have choice in their learning and to be creative in the way that they express and demonstrate learning, the more that learning becomes very real and something that they actually remember.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, this was an emotional experience for every team. Because they're working together, and that's the other aspect of it. This is group work at its finest. And I know that you paired people up intentionally to be sure that they learned from each other and from the experience. So this is really fabulous to see because I think teamwork is something that seems to be missing in our society more and more, so for kids to get this type of experience is really valuable.

Andrea Call:
Yeah. Yeah. And it was also really important to me that they have the opportunity to work with a mentor, because I see so many kids who don't know an adult to put as a reference. They don't know another person to write a letter of recommendation for them. And so the other piece that really matters to me is that now all of these kids know all of these entrepreneurs, and have their email addresses, and can call up someone like Shaun Stevenett, who has been incredibly successful and he knows them well enough to write a letter of recommendation and help them in the future, because that network is really important.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it's not just about how it feels in this class to win and have that investment. You've paved a path forward for them through the connections they create so that they can continue to be successful as an entrepreneur or simply having support from an adult that they didn't have a connection with before.

Andrea Call:
Yeah. That was my hope. That was my hope.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, congratulations. This is fantastic.

Andrea Call:
Thanks.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's the deep learning that we hope to see everywhere and I'm just thrilled with the work you're doing.

Andrea Call:
Thanks. I appreciate it.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking with one of the mentors here who is involved in Shark Tank at Bingham High School. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your experience.

Shaun Stevenett:
Oh, man. Okay. Well, I'll give you the short introduction. So Shaun Stevenett and I am originally from Alberta, Canada. I've been here since I was nine years old. And I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My father was always self-employed, his dad was always also self-employed, goes back, and then I just caught that bug when I was 25 years old. So I've had a few different companies and I was invited with Bingham at this entrepreneur class. I didn't know exactly what it was, but as soon as I saw the passion with these students, and what they were doing and learning, real life experiences as far as like what it takes to start a business or even come up with the ideas and whatnot, I got excited and so I was on board as soon as I entered the classroom.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of the things that you offer as advice to students and others who want to be an entrepreneur?

Shaun Stevenett:
Oh, man. I think the biggest advice is get your relationships. And if you have strong relationships, and even if you've got a good business idea, there's definitely things you cannot do alone. And one of it is starting a business. So as long as you've got those right relationships, and relationships sometimes go bad, I get it. Especially like if you're best of buddies or best friends or whatnot. But you kind of keep at those relationships until you find the right ones and then you can succeed together.

Anthony Godfrey:
As an entrepreneur of many years, and, like you said, it's a tradition in your family. What do you think of a program like this?

Shaun Stevenett:
I wish they could do this in every school, not just here in Utah, but across the country.

Anthony Godfrey:
What was it about the presentation from these two in the product that made you want to jump on board? You said, I am all in, you were enthusiastic in, in your mentorship with these two. Tell me about what, what made the difference for you?

Shaun Stevenett:
I think the biggest difference was that these girls, I quickly realized that, the first time that I met them, that there was something special about them. I knew that quickly that they were friends and I asked them that. I said, are you guys friends? And they quickly said, yeah, we're best friends. And so that told me everything right there. And not only that, but they had a fine definition as far as like what each of them did as far as like how they were gonna bring their ideas together. So they, they both had their own responsibilities, and I think that was kind of cool to see that they recognized where each other strengths were early on.

Anthony Godfrey:
You're a great supporter of Jordan District. You're a member of the Foundation Board. You also, I know, are involved in a lot of other charitable endeavors. So that's an important part of a business model for you obviously.

Shaun Stevenett:
Gotta give back. So if you're not giving back, I think that you're not gonna be given to. So if you are giving back, whether it's time, money, or even introducing individuals to other relationships to help others, because you might not be as strong in that field, but you've gotta get back. I've seen it over and over again, that by just giving back other things happen in your life. You've heard karma. So karma is a real thing. And then once you catch that bug, or actually take that step, sometimes it's very, very difficult to be able to do that because you know, I did this, I made this, blah, blah, blah. But as soon as you start kind of giving back you wouldn't believe how many more doors open, especially this experience. Right? Like, I wouldn't have been able to, if I didn't give back and I didn't get involved with the Jordan Education, and I wasn't introduced through it to it, I wouldn't have had this awesome experience today.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I love that you were here to mentor them. Thank you for everything you do for Jordan, and thanks for being a great example to them. Just your being here shows them the importance of being connected to the community as an entrepreneur and as a businessman. So I really appreciate it.

Shaun Stevenett:
Thank you so much.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. We are very excited to talk with the winners of “Miner Tank”.

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:
We're here at Bingham with the two students who just won “Miner Tank.” I'm going to ask them to introduce themselves and talk about their company and their product.

Rylin:
My name's Rylin.

Mary:
I'm Mary.

Rylin:
And we're the founders of My Creature Teacher.

Mary:
Yeah. So My Creature Teacher is basically this product that we designed that's a little stuffed animal toy that comes with a book and some accessories, and it's designed to help teach children valuable lessons that they can learn through auditory and visual learning.

Mary:
So the one that we started with today for Miner Tank was Bedtime Lion. It's a little stuffed lion that comes with a book that teaches kids the major, most important steps of getting ready for bed to make parents' lives easier.

Rylin:
And make it fun.

Mary:
Yeah. Something that we did with our product that we really like is we put a special effect with it. Bedtime Lion actually has lavender in the stuffing to help your kids fall asleep. Not only with teaching, but showing, and that helps it as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
The Lavender Lion

Both students:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
I have trouble going to bed, so I should probably read this book. I think I need this product.

Mary:
We’ll send one your way.

Rylin:
I'm not even joking. I've read the book and I'm like, ‘oh, I guess I’ll brush my teeth now’. I'm like, dental hygiene .

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. So what gave you the idea to choose the book and the stuffed animal as a product?

Mary:
Yeah, so Rylin and I both work with kids. I come from a really large family, so I have tons of nieces and nephews that I'm constantly babysitting and then Rylin nannies. Yeah. And so we both are just bouncing ideas off of each other, kind of come up with something. And Rylin had the initial idea, and then we just started building on it together. We wanted a toy that just was made, made learning more fun for kids.

Rylin:
Yeah. Especially because when I do, like, when both of us take care of kids and it's time to put 'em to bed, we know how much of a hassle it is. Especially with like the two to five year old, they're like tornadoes and they don't wanna go to bed. All they wanna do is play and play and play. Barbies, dinosaurs, anything you can think of, they wanna play with it. So that's why we created this, to help us go through that bedtime process.

Anthony Godfrey:
And how did the book come together? Who wrote it? Who illustrated? It looks fantastic. I had the chance to look through it.

Rylin:
So I actually wrote it and then, yeah.

Mary:
So then I helped edit it, and then I started the illustration and then Rylin helped vet my process through it. So we just kind of worked together on both of the processes. So that just kind of was both of our child.

Rylin:
Yeah, it really is.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you didn't outsource any of that book?

Mary:
No, no, we did it all.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. It looks really good.

Both students:
Oh, thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now tell me about the stuffed animal that accompanies it. How did that come to be? It's a great looking lion.

Rylin:
Oh, thank you. So actually what we did is originally, because we did wanna do these stuffed animals, I have a connection to Minky Couture Blankets. So the way we did it is we took leftover scraps from like blankets that weren't big enough to be made into a blanket anymore. And we took those and pieced them together and we found a pattern just for our original prototype. And Mary sewed it up for us.

Mary:
Yeah. And then I went to my sister, who's just the most amazing seamstress, the most generous, charitable person I know. And I was like, ‘Hey, do you wanna help me out with this? It can be an early Christmas present. Teach me how to sew this.’ And she helped me out. And it was, it took a long time. I mean, it's kind of a complicated little pattern, but I mean, it was so worth it. And it all came together really, really well.

Rylin:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, they look fantastic and now you have a mentor who is investing in your company. So tell me what's happening next.

Rylin:
Yeah, so we had Shaun, he's literally the best mentor ever. He helped us through so many different things, and so did his brother Mark. He helped us with the name and everything for our company, which, you know, is pretty important to have a name to your product. So next, I mean, we're gonna start producing these, we're gonna get patterns, books, and everything ready so that we can start selling these.

Mary:
I mean, the first step is really just taking it to a larger scale. I mean, we're gonna start looking at graphic design, commissioning our own pattern and that kind of stuff that can really actually start us making a product.

Rylin:
Yeah. So we can actually start selling it.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you're gonna continue to work with Shaun and his brother? And they're investing in the company to get you started off. Are you excited? There's a lot of work ahead.

Mary:
Yeah. I mean, scared and excited, I think.

Rylin:
Scared, scared and excited. Yes. Cuz just these couple weeks or this quarter that we've been doing this has been insanely busy and stressful. And it's all been worth it in the end. And I think that's what's gonna get us through the next part, is we know how this victory felt. So I think it'll be helpful to know that like, if we do all this work, a new victory's coming.

Mary:
Yeah, totally agree.

Anthony Godfrey:
And it's not just the product, it's the process. It's what you've learned along the way. Do you feel like you're thinking in a different way because of approaching this project the way you have?

Mary:
Totally. I mean, I was just telling Miss Call the other day, our teacher, like, even if nothing came out of this, this is before we knew that we won. But even if nothing came out, I was so grateful for this experience because it's taught me so much about being a better, like team player and just thinking about things in a more logistic way and just, I feel like the way I think about things is so much more broadened and so much more logically put than just pure what I wanna do. And then learning to work with Rylin, like could totally be a struggle at times, but then my goodness, also, like, I'm so grateful because now, now I feel like I can work with anyone.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now that you've worked with Rylin, you can work with anyone.

Rylin:
Oh yeah. I'm the worst.

Mary:
No.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well that's a big hurdle to overcome.

Mary:
Yeah. Yeah.

Rylin:
So Shaun introduced us as best friends, and we totally are, but I mean, through parts of this, I mean, one of our documents that we used for this was, ‘I'm pretty sure we wanted to kill each other in this moment.’

Mary:
What it's titled.

Rylin:
Yean, it's what the document's titled, because that's the mood we were in. Like, we were just trying to figure out problems. And I was like, ‘Mary, just listen to me.’ And she's like, ‘just listen to me.’ And then like we, it was definitely a struggle through it all, but I'm so glad that we figured it out in the end.

Mary:
It worked out so good. I'm just so grateful, and I'm so grateful Rylin was my partner. I couldn’t have done it with anyone else.

Rylin:
Yes. Mary is the best partner. Are you kidding?

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, and Mary, I think you're the only student to have a repeat performance on the Supercast, so that's another big win.

Mary:
It’s true. Dogs and lions, kind of the same. Animal themed for sure.

Rylin:
They’re somewhat related.

Anthony Godfrey:
Animals are always involved, yes. You mentioned your teacher Miss Call. Tell me about her and the class.

Mary:
Oh, I mean, Miss Call is just the bomb. If I am ever having a problem with anything, I just go to Miss Call. I'm like, help me solve this. And then Miss Call, like the really, really kind of amazing thing about her is like, she's so brilliant that she does not have to be a teacher. And she was saying the other day, we were joking, we were like, well, we're just gonna hire Miss Call as our marketing director and then we won't have to do anything. And she just like, completely serious. Like, you couldn't afford me. Which is so true because she is so brilliant. She knows so many things, but she does like teaching because she wants to help us and like she's our DECA, we're both in DECA together and she's our DECA instructor. And I mean, she just goes the extra mile every single day, every single week to just help us become better people. And it's sometimes for no reward, honestly.

Rylin:
And then we also owe a lot of our project to Miss Call. She actually put groups together and  all of the other groups are three and four. And she put me and Mary just as a duo and she was like, you guys can do it, right? We were like, yeah. And I think she definitely believed in us more than we did cause we were like, this is a lot.

Mary:
She had to tell us to keep going sometimes.

Rylin:
Oh yeah. Yeah. She was like, you guys need to relax and just like get through this. And we were like, I don't know. But it's pretty stressful. But yeah, she's super helpful with all sorts of different aspects of life.

Mary:
Yeah. The most amazing teacher for sure.

Anthony Godfrey:
Having a teacher that believes in you makes a big difference.

Both Students:
So much. So much. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what advice do you have for those who are hearing this and thinking, well, maybe I have an idea and maybe I could become an entrepreneur.

Rylin:
Yeah, for sure. So something I would say is just, you gotta, it's hard to do on your own. You need backup, you need support from other people around you. Because I know if I had to do this all myself, it probably wouldn't be done for the next five years. So I think it was super helpful to have someone that was here to do it with me, with Mary, and Shaun, and Mike, and Anne, and Miss Call. We had so many different people helping us in like the, the most absurd ways. Like, it didn't even have to relate to this, but in so many aspects they were really helpful.

Mary:
I think what I would say is just like, if you have an idea and you think it's worth something and you care enough about it and you have enough passion to do it, just do it. It doesn't really, it's not gonna cost you something  to research into something and to see if this is a plausible thing, even if you don't, you know, enter it in some competition or whatever. But I mean, just do, if you care about it that much, go as far as you can.

Rylin:
Yeah. Cuz I think we were told today that one of the reasons that we did win this competition was because of our passion for this product. And I think even though all the other groups, they had amazing ideas and they were passionate about it, we had personal connections to ours, totally through kids. Like my future career I want to do with kids, Mary is with kids literally almost every day. I think since our connection was so personal, it made us have such a strong passion for it.

Mary:
The product mattered so much to us because we were like, this could help us too. This is in our favor.

Rylin:
We're not just gonna design something that doesn't help the people that we care about.

Mary:
Yeah. Exactly.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I admire your passion. I admire your bravery, and I admire that you worked so hard on this, and that friendship survived this process.

Rylin:
Yeah. I'm glad too.

Mary:
We didn't kill each other. We're still here.

Anthony Godfrey:
No. Congratulations. And I can't wait to see where it goes.

Both students:
Thank you so much.

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 is a two-time State Champion female wrestler in Utah, a five-time All-American and has placed in the top six at three national wrestling competitions. On this episode of the Supercast, meet Copper Hills High senior Anya Hatch, who is also a world wrestling top-ten champion. To make her story even more incredible, Anya joined the sport of female wrestling just shy of two years ago. How is she accomplishing so much in such a short amount of time? Let's find out.

We’re here with Anya Hatch, a female wrestler here in Jordan School District, who has been traveling the world showing people her skills. Anya, thanks for taking time to talk with me today.

Anya Hatch:
Yeah, of course.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about what got you into wrestling?

Anya Hatch:
What got me into wrestling? Well, at first I did volleyball and then my sophomore year wrestling came out for Utah, cuz like it wasn't a thing. And my dad asked me to come out, and at first I was like, “no”. And then he asked me again and I was like, “Fine, I'll come try it out”. So I went, and like I told myself I was gonna just practice for a week and like, I'm done. Like, I'm out.

Anthony Godfrey:
And your dad knowing you probably knew better than to think that you were only going to do it for a week.

Anya Hatch:
At first, I was like, no. Like there's no way I'm gonna touch someone else. Like I cannot be physical.

Anthony Godfrey:
Volleyball is not a contact sport.

Anya Hatch:
Uh huh, volleyball is like a team thing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Bump set, spike, it seems very, you know, aggressive but organized.

Anya Hatch:
It is, and just knowing that like, I had to do this by myself. I didn't want to, but a week passed and I was really interested. What caught my attention was just the moves and just making new friends.

Anthony Godfrey:
Did you feel in the very first week that you did it, could you tell that you had some talent for it?

Anya Hatch:
Yes, I did. When I first started, I didn't know what I was doing, but I'm like a really fast learner. For a lot of people it was difficult, and for me it just came naturally.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. I can tell you that athletic events for me do not come naturally. I have to think about every single move. Nothing seems natural, so I'm always envious of people like you who are able to just jump in and pick up a sport. Volleyball, wrestling, what other sports do you participate in?

Anya Hatch:
When I was seven, eight years old I played soccer. And then when I got to my freshman or sophomore year, I did track. So soccer, track, and volleyball, and wrestling.

Anthony Godfrey:
That’s awesome. Not to say it doesn't take a lot of hard work, but it's great when you have that natural ability to kind of connect with what you're supposed to be doing. So what are some of the things that you've learned? You've only done this for less than two years, right?

Anya Hatch:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about some of the things you've learned as a wrestler.

Anya Hatch:
As a wrestler, I learned it's tough. It mentally gets me stronger. I learned that like a lot because I'm mentally preparing, like by myself when it comes to a match. And I'm not used to that because for volleyball, it's like a team thing. If like, for volleyball, if I'm just playing by myself, then it's not gonna work out right. But for wrestling, like I'm mentally preparing and sometimes I warm up by myself. When I travel, I don't have a partner, so I'm just warming up by myself. And yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
When you're on a volleyball team and you're looking at other team members, you're analyzing what happened, what went right, what went wrong. But when you're on your own on the wrestling mat, all you can do is look inside. Try to figure out what you need to do differently.

Anya Hatch:
What I need to do, yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
What's your favorite move when you're wrestling?

Anya Hatch:
My favorite move is head throws. And a double blast.

Anthony Godfrey:
A double blast? Yeah. You gotta tell me what a double blast is. It sounds like a drink at 7-Eleven.

Anya Hatch:
A double blast is where like, I'm like running through their legs, but as I'm running through, I'm picking up, but I'm level changing and I'm like, double blasting.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you're running through picking them up and lowering?

Anya Hatch:
Yes, I'm lowering my level change and I'm like double blasting through.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back more with Anya Hatch.

Break:
Hello, I'm Tracy Miller, President of the Jordan School District Board of Education. There are seven members on the Board of Education, one in each voting district. We are committed to listening and serving our constituents as we work together to provide the best possible learning environment for the students we serve. As members of the Jordan Board of Education, we believe it is our duty and responsibility to: increase student achievement; provide parents with the choices they deserve and desire; recognize and reward quality in educators; empower school leaders through policy governance and professional development; and communicate with the public, legislators, business leaders, cities, and parents. We invite you to get to know the Board member who represents you in your voting district, and to please join us at our monthly board meeting held on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Or listen from the comfort of your home, on our live stream. For more information and to find your Board member, visit jordandistrict.org. With parent and community input and support we will continue our work to give students every opportunity to succeed in Jordan District schools and beyond. Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now we have your dad here so that I don't make you brag about yourself. I'm gonna let your dad brag about all of the titles and trophies you've been winning.

Jay Hatch:
Thank you. Yeah, Anya's very, very humble that way. She doesn't like to talk about herself. In fact, she gets really embarrassed. One of the funny things is being her coach and father at the same time. People always joke because whenever she wins a championship, she walks off the podium, comes right down and hands me the medal and walks off like she doesn't even care about it and tells me to put it in her drawer at home. So no, this last year was special for Anya. She became a three-time All-American last year, or this last summer, she competed in Folkstyle Nationals in Colorado Springs, Freestyle Nationals in Las Vegas, Nevada, and in the United States World Team trials in Dallas, Texas. And she placed top six at all three.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Jay Hatch:
If you place top eight, they're considered all American. So she's a three time all American this year. She had the opportunity to go down to Las Vegas and live down there for three months training with a club where they went and competed with the Mexican Olympic team where she, in about 25 seconds, pinned her Olympic opponent from Mexico.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Jay Hatch:
But they were down there for about 10 days training, and just learning, and growing, and everything. And then when she of course went to Rome. She didn't place top three, which, which she was really trying hard to do. But she placed top 10. She took 10th at the World Championships in Rome. But I think the biggest accomplishment she had there was five weeks before she went to Rome, she was in the Western States National Finals here in Farmington, Utah. And that's the double blast that she was talking to you about earlier.

She came down kind of awkwardly. She was beating the girl from Hawaii that she was wrestling, but she came down awkwardly and dislocated her right arm so bad that we had to aircast it and we had to go to the emergency room. The doctors had to put her under to put it back in place. And so that was literally five weeks before she was supposed to get on the airplane to Rome and a lot of people were like, there's no way. She's not gonna be able to compete. She's not gonna be ready. And so just through a lot of

Anya Hatch:
Yeah. People were like, you're crazy. You're not going to, like, she's not going to.

Jay Hatch:
A lot of healing and a lot of just a lot of prayers, a lot of different things. Right? I mean, it looked like she had a baseball in her elbow. Five and a half weeks later, she stepped on the mat in Rome, taped up like no other, and just said, I'm gonna go for it. And she went out and she lost a match to a girl from Croatia who had just finished winning the bronze medal in the European Championships and she lost a close match to her. And that right there was for us was the biggest victory of all. Is that she made it. She went out. She never made any excuses and she just went out and competed hard. But outside the international and national travel, she's a two time State Champion here in Utah. She's a senior this year, so she’ll be trying to get her third.

Anya Hatch:
And I'm gonna make it three.

Anthony Godfrey:
You're gonna make it three?

Anya Hatch:
I'm gonna make it three.

Anthony Godfrey:
I like your chances. That's really cool. Now tell me about training in Las Vegas. First of all, you were there for how long?

Anya Hatch:
I was there for three months.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Anya Hatch:
Actually it ended up being four months.

Anthony Godfrey:
And so tell me why the training looks like that. Get up maybe 11:30? Watch some Netflix for a couple of hours?

Anya Hatch:
No, no. We don't have time for that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stop by In-N-Out Burger. No?

Anya Hatch:
No, I wish we had that, but we had three sessions every day and it was tough for me because usually, I'm a relaxed person and I like to watch Netflix, eat. I'm like a big snack eater, and I couldn't have that in Vegas. So like, I was cutting hard down there and it was real. I struggled. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
So tell me about what conditioning looks like.

Anya Hatch:
Our conditioning is, so first we start off with warmups and then we, like, we do sprinting drills. Like we do sprawl, sprint, and then like sprawl, shot, sprint. And then we're doing drills where we’re working a move over, and over, and over, and over, over again. And then our workouts go like go for two hours. And then we have a next session, we have three sessions and it's like two hours. Two hours. Two hours.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you do to get psyched up before a match? Is there music you listen to or something you repeat in your head or something you tell yourself? What do you do to prepare moments before competition?

Anya Hatch:
I think positive. Like I tell myself, like, I think in my head like wrestling, like when I'm wrestling, I'm winning. So I'm like, in my head, I'm wrestling.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, I like that. I like that.

Jay Hatch:
We've got an incredible lady that's over Utah USA Wrestling by the name of Geneva Gray. And she taught these girls a year ago that as they're getting prepared for their matches, what Anya's talking about, is to go through some actual matches in your head with you winning and what moves you're gonna do and how you're gonna beat the next girl.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now by doing that and going over the moves in your head and then having repeated those moves over and over, does the muscle memory kick in and when it's time to do it, you just know what to do and you, and you just click into that mode?

Anya Hatch:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me what it's like competing in Rome. Is that your first international competition?

Anya Hatch:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
It is. To take top 10 in a world competition, the first time you're competing out of the country. That's pretty special. Did they do like in Hoosiers and measure the mat so that you can see that it's the same size?

Anya Hatch:
No. Their mat was really different. It was really slippery.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, it was different.

Anya Hatch:
It was different. It was slippery. It wasn't a normal mat that we usually have at every tournament. It was like a mat and then like, it was like foam under and then like something over it, like a cover. And it was very slippery. So like when we did warmups over there, like I would slip.

Anthony Godfrey:
How did you adjust?

Anya Hatch:
I just didn't think about it. I didn't worry about it, so I just did what I had to do.

Anthony Godfrey:
Good. That's impressive. Tell me about traveling to Rome. What did you think of Rome?

Anya Hatch:
I thought Rome was really beautiful. I love the pizza. It's great. Sorry, I had to bring up pizza.

Anthony Godfrey:
Did you get some pasta as well?

Anya Hatch:
Yes. It's like amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's good.

Anya Hatch:
The best part.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's great that you got to have that experience combined with wrestling.

Anya Hatch:
Other than the food. I went on tours like about the Colosseum and it was just like amazing. Because in high school I would learn about the Colosseum and like be like amazed and like, I was just like so amazed because like I'm right there in front of it. Like it was just so cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now you were representing the country of Tonga while you were there, is that right?

Anya Hatch:
Yes, I was.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome. And were there other wrestlers from Tonga? Because I understand you're the first to achieve that level, or are you the first from Tonga to compete at all at that competition?

Anya Hatch:
I'm the first woman to ever compete for Tonga.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, congratulations on that. That's fantastic. So what's in the future? What's next for you?

Anya Hatch:
I think just, I'm still gonna be going out to like national stuff and I'm not sure what college I'm gonna go to. But I am thinking of going to college and wrestling.

Anthony Godfrey:
So national competitions for the time being and looking forward to college from there.

Jay Hatch:
There is one big competition coming up that she's still trying to figure out and to sign on, but they have what's called the Oceanic Games. Every country is divided up into a region for the Olympics. Right. So for example, not every country can just send a woman to the Olympics to wrestle, right? There's only 16 women that qualify to go to the Olympics every four years. And so Tonga is part of the Pacific Island group that includes Africa and Australia. And so in May, on May 26th, you know, in Sydney, Australia is the Oceanic Games where you pre-qualify for the Olympics for your region. And so we're still figuring that out. We're still still trying to figure out if that's something she really wants to do. But that would be the next international event if she decides to. But we've got national events in high school coming up soon in less than a month that we're excited about.

Anya Hatch:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
I was going to ask about the Olympics and see if that was something on your radar, but you’d just have to think through whether that's where you want to go.

Anya Hatch:
I've been thinking Yes, I have been thinking.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about your dad helping you discover wrestling and become a wrestler.

Anya Hatch:
He's been really supportive. And I love that about him. Just having him there when I'm here competing just really like, helps me a lot. Like not overthink. It makes me work harder because I know my dad's watching, you know, and I just, yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
How does it feel to have her competing at this level?

Jay Hatch:
It's great. I mean, I was a wrestler in high school. I had college opportunities when I was coming out of high school. When my oldest son back in 2008 came out of West Hills Middle School and said, ‘Hey dad, the wrestling team is having tryouts. Can I wrestle?’ I was a little bit surprised, I’d never really thought about it for my own kids. And so I got into coaching at Copper Hills back in 2008 and when all girls wrestling came around and Principal Veazie and others came to Scott Pace and I, and said, ‘Hey, will you guys start our new girls program?’ It's exciting for me to do a change, although I'd never coached girls before. I'd only coached boys for the last 13 years. And the first thing I thought of was, oh my gosh, if I'm gonna do this, then Anya's gotta do it.

And so when we got her in there, I was, I was hoping she'd stick with it. She never told me that she was planning on quitting after a week. She didn't tell me that until after she'd done really well. But you know, as a father, I'm super excited by her success. I mean, of course you always wanna see all of your children have success in whatever their life path is, and what they choose to do. But I think more importantly, even than her athletic successes, which Anya's one of those kids that could pretty much do anything athletically. I mean, I've had lacrosse coaches, girls football coaches, girls rugby coaches, you name it, call me and try and recruit her under their teams when she's never even done it before. But I think the most impressive thing, at least for me as a parent and as a father with her, is just who she is. I mean, she's just an amazing person. I mean, she's just a great kid. She's a wonderful daughter. She's loving, she endears people around her. She's a born leader. She just, people are drawn to her just because of her personality.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it's obvious talking to her that all of that is absolutely true. And it shows just in the way you approach your sport and the hard work that you've done. So congratulations on being who you are and on this new part of your athletic life.

Anya Hatch:
Thank you. Thank you very much.

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

Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Students throughout Jordan School District work tirelessly in the month of December, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to help others in their annual holiday charity drives. On this episode of the Supercast, we head to Riverton High School where students are about to reveal the total amount raised during Silver Rush for their charity, the Children's Justice Center.

It is Silver Rush Day at Riverton High School, and it is one of the most exciting days of the year. Introduce yourself and tell us about what's happening today.

Katie Borgmeier:
My name is Katie Borgmeier. I am the SBO Advisor, the one kind of over all of Silver Rush.

Ella Gillespie:
And I'm Ella Gillespie, I'm the Senior Class President.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you have a water bottle strapped to you with Christmas lights taped around it. Tell us about that. And we're at the drafty front door of Riverton High School. Why is that?

Ella Gillespie:
So right now, all of us officers are standing at all the doors and we carry around these water jugs and that's how we collect our money throughout the month of December.

Anthony Godfrey:
I said water bottle, but it's a water jug, like a jug. It's the water cooler that you gather around and talk about last night's TV shows. So is this an effective method of getting cash and raising money for the cause that you've chosen?

Ella Gillespie:
I think it definitely is, especially because they're so big and everyone decorates them, they're really visual. So students, as they see us, they see the jug and they know that they want to donate.

Anthony Godfrey:
And do you think that some of them root through the change in their car and at their house so that they're prepared to give money when they walk in?

Ella Gillespie:
Oh, definitely. I know a lot of times too, we’lll go stand out in the parking lot and that's a great time to get their change because they're all just in their car, so they'll do it that way or they'll bring them during lunch. We have like penny wars and so each class is like competing to see who can bring the most change, so people get really involved with it.

Anthony Godfrey:
In other words, Riverton High School may be single-handedly responsible for eliminating the coin shortage in the United States.

Ella Gillespie:
Exactly.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Very good. Tell us a little bit about how all this got started.

Katie Borgmeier:
So when Riverton first opened back in 1999, you know, they wanted to do something different than the usual Sub for Santa. Sub for Santa is amazing, right? But they wanted to do something that could have a change and impact on the entire community. So they kind of started like, Hey, we're gonna find some sort of social issue maybe, or some sort of medical need that we can address and teach our student body and our community about that. That's a big part of Silver Rush is education. We want to educate everyone about something. So like this year we chose the Children's Justice Center, so we're teaching our community about ways to prevent it, how to help it, and just spread awareness about what abuse might look like, here's how you go about reporting it, and things like that. And every year it just gets bigger. Everybody wants to be involved and they find ways to get involved. They're so, so creative.

Anthony Godfrey:
And when you say everyone, you're talking about every student, but you're also talking about a lot of people in the community who want to be part of it.

Katie Borgmeier:
I am. You know, we had every year there's like alumni jazz band members that go downtown and they'll start playing songs on a corner of a street and collect donations and bring it to us. So it's something that lives on forever. You know, in our Riverton High student body.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, it's exciting to think about all the alumni who still want to be part of this and can. It's a way that, you know, there is a way for people to connect to it because people throughout the community are helping raise money. Everybody knows about Silver Rush. What is important to me, I think, is that the student government is so intentional and thoughtful about who they choose.

Katie Borgmeier:
Right? It's quite the selection process. I do get applications every year from charities that want to be a part of Silver Rush, but I still make my officers go out and research it. Like, what does your community need? No one knows it better than you guys do. So how can we help them? So they all go research it, find charities that could help our community. We bring it together, we talk, we discuss, we narrow it down to our top 10. Those top 10 come in for an interview and we learn more about those charities. And then from there we narrow it down to the top three and we present it to our admin. The rest of the student council kind of get their ideas, their feedback. And then from there we take it to the top one. So it's not something we do lightly. We really look at how we can help this charity, how this charity can help us as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, high schools, I think have patterned what they do after what Riverton High started in the nineties.

Katie Borgmeier:
I would agree. I mean, you know, you just look at what other schools are doing. I get emails and phone calls and tags, and when we go up to our leadership camp in the summer, ‘What do you do? How do you do it?’ I'm like, ‘I don't know. But I think kind of the biggest part is your community.’ And our community loves it. And they're here to support our students in what they do each December.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love the way you described the layers of impact that you hope this project and this drive will have on students thinking about abuse, preventing abuse and raising money to help those who've suffered from it.

Katie Borgmeier:
Yes. You know, it's a great thing. As we said, we're a school, we're here for the education purpose and if we can teach them something that they can use throughout their lives, that's what we're here for, right?

Anthony Godfrey:
Exactly. Now, I've never seen a school more heavily decorated than Riverton High School today.

Katie Borgmeier:
And can you believe it? It's been three weeks, 21 days, and all of this is still up. There's not much missing from the first day.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. It's pretty remarkable. And it's palpable. You can feel the excitement about the reveal later today. Yes. And that last push, you might even call it everyone experiencing a Silver Rush this last day.

Katie Borgmeier:
Yes. I love that. Yes. It's a Silver Rush.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes, tell me, how has it felt for you to be part of this this year? I know you've been part of it in other years, but as a senior, how does it feel?

Ella Gillespie:
It's been, oh, it's been really special as a senior, it's like knowing it's your last year, you just wanna give it your all. And it's been really cool seeing, especially like sophomores as they come in their first year or juniors, how they had the previous year and seniors, it's like our last year. So it's really cool to see all the different dynamics and just see how those people are all working together and it's my favorite thing ever.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I know there's a lot of work left to do, a lot of fundraising left to do in the final hours.

Ellie Gillespie:
Yep.

Anthony Godfrey:
So I'll let you go, but thank you very much for spending time with me this morning. Can't wait to be with you this afternoon.

Ella Gillespie:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Earlier you told me the total so far. What was that again? I can't remember.

Katie Borgmeier:
Ha ha. You are a funny, funny man.

Anthony Godfrey:
Am I? Yeah. I just can't remember what you told me.

Katie Borgmeier:
You know, quite honestly, I don't know, it changes by the second on this day.

Anthony Godfrey:
It does change by the second. I have no idea and it's a big deal. I do not have the type of power required to find out that number in advance.

Katie Borgmeier:
Yeah. If you did, I'd make you tell me. But know this way our principal will find out seconds before we tell our artists and our finance officers and they'll go make it 30 to 60 minutes before the assembly. So, like I said, it changes by the second on this day.

Anthony Godfrey:
You've described a lot of impact that the fundraiser has. So the final total is really exciting because it's the amount of money that you've raised and it shows the result of your hard work. But there's a lot more to it than that, as you've described.

Katie Borgmeier:
Right. We like to say it's not about the money, it's about the change. And, you know, that can kind of go a couple ways. Like pennies, nickels, dimes, they all matter just as much as the bills do, but also about the change that it makes for whoever uses the services of the charity and the change that we get from within. Like, we just heard Riley and Charles, like their odd job experiences will change them forever. And if you ever talk to alumni, the things I remember most are what they did during Silver Rush and during our odd jobs time. So it really does leave a lasting impact and a change in our lives. And after 12 years, I would like to think I'm changed for the better. But you know, I still learn things and I still have change in every year, every time I do this.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking now with two of the students who've been involved in the myriad activities that have been scheduled and organized around this fundraiser. Introduce yourself to start.

Charles:
I'm Charles Smith, I'm a junior.

Rhylee:
I'm Rhylee Tatton and I'm a senior.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about some of the activities you've been involved in this year.

Charles:
One of the biggest activities is odd jobs. They do it every day after school and I went pretty much every day. And you just go door to door and ask for donations.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's a lot of your time. Tell those who may not be familiar with that, what odd jobs entails.

Charles:
So you have your group with a student body officer and you're just going door to door to every house in Riverton boundaries and you tell them what Silver Rush is. Tell them about the charity and ask them if they're willing to donate or if they have any odd jobs that they want you to do.

Anthony Godfrey:
Are there some pretty odd jobs you've been asked to do over time?

Charles:
Yeah, there've been a couple of weird ones.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Tell me about them. Just don't give the address where they were requested.

Charles:
So there was one time where we had to, it was last year actually, we painted the horns of a goat purple.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh really? Yeah. You painted the horns of a goat purple. Was there music playing in the background? No candles lit, anything like that?

Charles:
No, it was kind of just in a dark backyard.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Yeah. What are some of the other odd jobs that you've been involved in? More, some of the more conventional ones.

Charles:
There was a lot of snow shoveling. We did weeding and a couple of decorating for Christmas. Christmas trees and all that. Putting up Christmas lights.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, great. I wish you'd knocked on my door. What are some of the things you've been involved in this year?

Rhylee:
Along with Charles, just odd jobs almost every single day. I also have gone to all the afterschool activities like Silver Swap, if you know what that is.

Anthony Godfrey:
I don't know what Silver Swap is.

Rhylee:
So what it is, is they make all the dance and cheer girls play basketball, and the basketball boys wear the cheerleaders uniforms and cheer, and the girls basketball team does a halftime show, and it's just this really fun event where you can donate money.

Anthony Godfrey:
What would you say about the student body here at Riverton High School based on what you've seen?

Charles:
They're definitely very involved, and they like what they do or else they wouldn't be doing it every day. I feel like they always have a good attitude about what they're doing.

Anthony Godfrey:
How about for you?

Rhylee:
I'd say that especially regarding Silver Rush, everyone has this deep desire and like dedication to it because odd jobs are four hours every day and it's just like really cold. And if you didn't have like a big desire to make a change, then you wouldn't go. So just Riverton’s student body, we're all very like, connected in that way where we just wanna make the change.

Anthony Godfrey:
Are you excited to find out this afternoon? The final total?

Rhylee:
I'm so excited. I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited.

Anthony Godfrey:
Any predictions?

Rhylee:
I'm hoping we go above $200,000 this year. I think we can do it.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. We'll see what happens.

Did Riverton High break a school record in fundraising? Stay with us to find out.

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 are here just in the hallway outside the gymnasium where we're about to have the assembly to announce the final number and to celebrate the culmination of this fundraiser. Silver Rush. At Riverton High School, we're talking with Sim Gill, who is here for the assembly and was here for the, for the launch of, of the fundraiser. Sim Gill is the Salt Lake County District Attorney. Now you were at the kickoff assembly for Silver Rush and shared the experience with your staff. When you returned to the office, what moved you about that experience and Riverton High School student efforts to support the Children's Justice Center?

Sim Gill:
Well, first of all, just to see the passion, and the excitement, and the commitment, and this camaraderie that was created by the students. It was incredibly moving. As I was sharing with you earlier, you know, when I think about the world, we have a lot of reasons to be cynical about it, but seeing these young adults care so deeply about their community and for a cause like the Children Justice Center was nothing short of just inspiring. It certainly filled my cup and we went back and we shared that enthusiasm because if this is the future of our country, then our country's in good hands.

Anthony Godfrey:
I agree completely. We are in good hands in the future with these students. How will the support of Riverton High’s Silver Rush make a difference at the Children's Justice Center?

Sim Gill:
Oh, it's gonna make a tremendous difference. Every year, you know, your community may not know that the Children Justice Center was created specifically to work with children and families who’ve undergone often some horrific trauma in terms of either sexual abuse or physical abuse. And we roughly help about 1500 families each year. So, it's not just the individuals, but it's their families. So, these resources will help us to lean into that space to create a safe place for these survivors of these crimes and their families to be able to go through this experience and then transition on. So it's about getting access of services to get them the resources that they need, but more importantly, to let them know that there is a community that cares and is there to help some of our most vulnerable victims in our community.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right. What would you like to say to the students and community members who've been involved in Silver Rush this year to help support the Children's Justice Center?

Sim Gill:
I want them to know that they are making a difference. Sometimes we question what I do, is that gonna make a difference? I can assure them to every student who committed and supported this, that individual action is being amplified and multiplied and it is going to make a difference in the life of some child, some family, and they are actually helping us solve this problem. And they can be absolutely proud of that fact.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you very much for being here and for all the work you do with the Children's Justice Center.

Sim Gill:
Thank you. Thank you for the invitation. What a great event to be a part of, especially during the holiday season. It just warms my heart up and so thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you very much.

We're talking now with Susanne Mitchell, Associate Division Director for Victim Support Services. Tell me, how does it feel to see students supporting the Children's Justice Center like this? Have you ever experienced anything like this?

Susanne Mitchell:
I've had the fortunate experience of working with a lot of schools on cool projects like this. I had no idea Riverton students could reach new heights above and beyond my wildest dreams. It really makes it extra special for me because my children went to Riverton High School and graduated from here. So I have a special place in my heart for what's going on here, and I love that the students rallied and embraced this concept of making a safe community for victims to come forward and speak about abuse. So not only did they try and raise funds, but they've been really proactive in raising awareness and creating a beautiful place for their students to feel safe with each other.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's really cool that your own kids were a part of Silver Rush years ago. How did that impact them personally?

Susanne Mitchell:
I told my daughter what was going on and right away she said she has the happiest memories, and she knows the excitement that builds up for something like this. And I really think it creates an opportunity for the students to experience leadership that they will use in the future. I mean, what's happening here through this project is above and beyond just a donation.

Anthony Godfrey:
I agree completely. There are layers to the impact this has on the students and community members who are involved. Now you have a guest with you here as well?

Susanne Mitchell:
Yes. Let me introduce, Colby Wilcock is the President of the Friends of the Children's Justice Center nonprofit, dedicated to supporting the program with a mission of empowering children to speak up and feel supported.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you very much for being here. What are some of the impacts that these funds that the kids have raised will have?

Colby Wilcock:
One of the greatest ways that these funds get to be used is that when a child comes into us at the situation of having to face a trauma that they've been through there are certain rules that have to be followed in the justice system and in the legal process. And so our government friends cannot do certain things like provide comforts or experiences or even relief to these children and their families.

Anthony Godfrey:
Because of the role they play in resolving the situation.

Colby Wilcock:
That's right. And so because what would happen is they end up being considered tampering with evidence. Right? So what we can do is come in as a third party entity. We have no rules holding us back and we can do anything we want to help empower both this child and their family. And this is something that we've been leaning really hard into this year as a nonprofit, is to not just focus on the victim, but also the family. Because there are so many other people that are involved in the process and in the experience that live with the trauma and sometimes don't have that rehabilitation happen in their lives.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thank you for the work you do and I think there's gonna be some really exciting news about the outcome here. I just keep hearing about how impactful this particular cause has been for students. So I'm excited to celebrate with students here and with all of you and I think we're gonna be really, really excited about the results.

Colby Wilcock:
Thank you so much.

Anthony Godfrey:

Thank you. Let's go into the gym now, and we're going to participate in that assembly and the reveal of the final amount that students have raised here at Riverton High School through Silver Rush 2022.

SBO President Skyler Anderson:
Thank you all. Thank you so much for being here. I’ve really enjoyed being able to thank all of you for allowing me to be in a position where I have been able to experience Silver Rush in such an incredible way. Thank you all for the bottom of my heart. You guys are the ones who make this possible. You guys are the ones who've done all of this throughout all the years that Riverton has been around. So sorry, this is getting repetitive, but for one last time, for all the students who gave time or donations this year, all the organizations who ran events and activities, the teachers and faculty of our school, including janitors who stayed at the school for many late nights, to our community and local businesses who fully support us, and everyone else who has been a part of the incredible experiences that Silver Rush provides. Can I please have you give a loud cheer to those who made Silver Rush successful this year?

Before we start the video, a message to the seniors, our last Silver Rush is over, but the change will never end. In fact, it is still going. Since the banner was made less than 30 minutes ago, we have just been informed that an additional $50,000 has been received that will not be on the banner. Always keep charity in your heart for a little help to have pure love for all that you need in your life. Congratulations, Riverton. Now without further ado, please start the video and turn off the lights.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. We have pretty much every phone in the place is aimed at the banner. It's about to go up. And they announced right before the banner went up that there was an additional $50,000 that will add to this total. The air is electric here. The kids came running out of the bleachers onto the floor. It's so exciting. So the banner announcing the amount is about to be hoisted up in the gym. They're hoisting the banner. Wow. $212,000 with an additional $50,000. $262,000! Wow! That is a record. That is a record at a school that raises so much money every year. $212,000 plus $50,000. $262,000. Tears and excitement everywhere. I cannot even hear myself. This is incredible. What an effort by the school and community. It's something for everyone to be proud of. Incredible.

We're gonna track down the student body President Skyler Anderson, and try to pull him from the thongs of students who will be celebrating with him and talk with him about what this means to him.

We were able to track down Skyler Anderson amidst the throngs of celebrating students $262,000. How does that feel?

Skyler Anderson:
It makes me speechless.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's emotional for me, just being here and being able to witness the enthusiasm from the crowd. They love seeing you come on stage, but they're so unified in this effort. It's just obvious.

Skyler Anderson:
It is so incredible what we're able to do here at Riverton. How we can have all 2000 students that go to our school come together for one cause and to help so many people. And I really just hope that it changes who each and every one of us are as people, so that once we're done with high school and this is all over, that we keep giving and that we just be better people than we are today.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you think it says about this student body that you represent, that they're able to unite around an effort as important as this and have results as incredible as this?

Skyler Anderson:
Honestly, it's just amazing. The community that we have here in Riverton that has been cultivated throughout so many years. And it says so much about who the people are that live in this community and that they're willing to give of themselves to help people that are in need.

Anthony Godfrey:
And to see high school students around a cause like this is inspiring to every single person here.

Skyler Anderson:
Thank you so much. It definitely is.

Anthony Godfrey:
I hope that you can get some rest over the break. I'm sure you haven't had much for a very long time.

Skyler Anderson:
I'm excited. I get to go spend some time with my family and it'll be great.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, you deserve it. Thanks for your leadership and for giving a huge boost to my holiday season.

Skyler Anderson:
Well, thank you. Thanks for all that you do for us.

Anthony Godfrey:
It is such a thrill to have been here at Riverton High School. What a wonderful effort. And I know that schools throughout the district have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit others. It's really inspiring and I'm really proud to be associated with all of these efforts throughout our district. Congratulations to everyone who's been a part of that, and I hope everyone has a wonderful winter break. And thank you for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. And remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It was a magical night of holiday music at Herriman High School as students from across the district gathered for a Christmas concert like no other. On this episode of the Supercast, we invite you to enjoy music that is bound to put you in the holiday spirit, performed by some really talented high school students. What makes this concert even more incredible? The show went on despite a school-wide power outage. It didn't stop students from singing their hearts out for the holidays.

Speaker 1:
Good evening, this is Riverton High School. Great to be with you. We'd like to sing for you first, an African American spiritual called Children, Go Where I Send Thee. It is an old familiar one, often sung with Christmas. The composer did some fun things to bring it into 2022, so you'll hear a rap and you'll hear an Audra McDonald type soloist. So that is Kate on the solo and Peter on the rap. We’ll have them come way forward so hopefully you can hear them. And we’ll ask the choir to go way down on their solo, we'll adjust. Thank you.

Soloist Singing:
Children, go where I send thee
How shall I send thee?

Choir:
Children, go where I send thee
How shall I send thee?
I'm gonna send thee one by one
One for the little bitty baby
Wrapped in swaddling clothing
Laid down in a manger
That’s born, born, born, born in Bethlehem

Children, go where I send thee
How shall I send thee?
I'm gonna send you two by two
Two for Paul and Silas
One for the little bitty baby
Wrapped in swaddling clothing
Laid down in a manger
That’s born, born, born, born in Bethlehem

Children, go where I send thee
How shall I send thee?
I'm gonna send thee ten by ten
Ten for ten commandments
Nine for the nine that dressed so fine
Eight for the eight that stood at the gate
Seven for the seven that went up to heaven
Six for the six that never got fixed
Five the for gospel preachers
Four for the four that stood at the door
Three for the Hebrew children
Two for Paul and Silas
One for the little bitty baby
Wrapped in swaddling clothing
Laid down in a manger
That’s born, born, born, born in Bethlehem.

Peter (rapping):
The story that I’m writin’, seed to sow is never ending
everlasting to everlasting and you know it’s on to heaven,
You get the God message in the aim is a lesson
and quit the instant messin and the messages are festerin’
Softening our hearts and it’s reachin’ all the people.
We do this in the streets and underneath the steeple.
Rather talk the talk but the young ones walk the walk.
They are crawlin’ in the dark but my voice it is the torch.
Drink the milk, eat the meat, fallin’ at the Savior’s feet.
The sinner take a peek, everybody take a peek
at the heart of the matter he’s the King of Kings.
Married to the church I got the Lord of the rings.
Gold streets where I’m dancin’, Father got mansions,
beauty in God imagine. What do you fathom?
You heard this story to grow. Hey! So it’s time to go!
Hey! Hey! You heard this story to grow.
Love and light so it’s time to go!
Hey! You heard this story to grow.
Love and light so it’s time to go!

I'm gonna send thee ten by ten
Ten for ten commandments
Nine for the nine that dressed so fine
Eight for the eight that stood at the gate
Seven for the seven that went up to heaven
Six for the six that never got fixed, and he never got fixed, and he never got fixed, so he never got fixed, so he never got fixed.
Five the for gospel preachers
Four for the four that stood at the door
Three for the Hebrew children
Two for Paul and Silas
One for the little bitty baby
Wrapped all up in swaddling clothing
Laid down in a manger.
That’s born, born, born, born, born, born, born, born!

Soloist singing:
Children go where I send thee.
How shall I send thee?

Speaker2:
Hello, this is the Herriman High School A Cappella. Tonight, we'll sing for you First I Met Thee from Home Alone, actually Home Alone II, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, and Somewhere in My Memory by John Williams.

Choir Singing:
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for the glorious season.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for a happy new year.
Sing merrily, merrily, loud and strong,
Welcome the wintry season.
Just follow along with the holiday song.
Santa is here again, yes!

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for the glorious season.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for a happy new year.
The reindeer fly, if you need any proof.
It's merely a matter of reason.
Just listen, you'll hear when they land on the roof.
Santa is here again, yes!

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for the glorious season.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for a happy new year.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for the obvious reason.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
It’s a magical, miracle, annual, lyrical,
sing-along now, sing a song for a happy new year!

Sing merrily, merrily, loud and strong,
Welcome the wintry season.
Just follow along with the holiday song.
Santa is here again, yes!

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for the glorious season.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for a happy new year.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for the obvious reason.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
It’s a magical, miracle, annual, lyrical,
sing-along now, sing a song for a happy new year!

Choir Singing:
Candles in the window
Shadows painting the ceiling
Gazing at the fire glow
Feeling that gingerbread feeling
Precious moments, special people
Happy faces, I can see
Somewhere in my memory
Christmas joys all around me
Living in my memory
All of the music, all of the magic
All of the family, home here with me

Somewhere in my memory
All of the music, all of the magic
All of the family, home here with me

Speaker 3:
Good evening. This is a Legacy Choir from Mountain Ridge High School. We are pleased to sing Ola Gjeilo’s Tundra, conducted by our beloved student teacher, Bryce Hammond.

Choir Singing:
Wide, worn and weathered,
Sacred expanse
Of green and white and granite grey;
Snowy patches strewn,
Anchored to the craggy earth,
Unmoving, unmoving;

While clouds dance
Across the vast, eternal sky, eternal sky.

While clouds dance
Across the vast, eternal sky.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back the sweet sounds of Christmas from Copper Hills High and Bingham High School.

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 life and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org

Anthony Godfrey:
Welcome back. Now we'll hear from the Copper Hills High School Choir.

Speaker 4:
We are performing Niño Lindo by Julian Wachner.

Choir Singing:
Niño lindo
Niño lindo
Niño lindo
Niño lindo
Niño lindo
Niño lindo

Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.
Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.
Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.

Esa tu hermosura, ese tu candor
El alma me roba, el alma me roba
Me roba el amor

Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.
Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.
Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.

La vida bien mío, mi alma también
Te ofrezco gustoso, te ofrezco gustoso
Rendido a tus pies

Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.
Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.
Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.

Adiós, tierno infante
Adiós, niño, adiós
Adiós, dulce amante
Adiós, dulce amante
Adiós, niño, adiós

Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.
Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.
Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Niño lindo, eres tú mi Dios.

Niño lindo
Niño lindo
Niño lindo
Niño lindo
Niño lindo
Niño lindo

Speaker 5:
Hello everyone, good evening. We are Bingham High School A Capella choir, and we'll end with a perennial American favorite, Jingle Bells.

Choir Singing:
Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle.
Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle.
Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.
Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle.
Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle.
Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.

Dashing through the snow,
in a one-horse open sleigh.
O’er the fields we go,
laughing all the way.
Bells on bobtails ring,
making spirits bright.
What fun it is to ride and sing
a sleighing song tonight.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride
in a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride
in a one-horse open sleigh.

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon, Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side,
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
He got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride
in a one-horse open sleigh. Hey!

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride
in a one-horse open sleigh.

A one horse open sleigh.

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.