Supercast

Anthony Godfrey:
Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She was a star athlete at Herriman High School with 16 state titles in track and field. Kaysha Love was also named the Gatorade athlete of the year her senior year at Herriman High. Now her drive, tenacity, work ethic and natural ability have Kaysha going for a gold medal in bobsled at the 2022 Winter Olympics. On this episode of the Supercast, Kaysha Love joins us virtually from the Olympic Village in Beijing, China. She talks to us about how her experiences at Herriman High School, along with a fierce competitive nature, prepared her for competing on the world stage. It is an inspiring conversation with Kaysha that you don't want to miss. 

We are excited to have Kaysha Love on the Supercast today, an Olympic athlete and a graduate of Herriman High School. Kaysha, thanks for joining us.

Kaysha Love:
Absolutely. Thank you. It's an honor to be even on your guys' podcast. I'm so excited to take you guys along on my journey here in Beijing.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you are in Beijing, that's pretty incredible. And you are hours away from being part of Opening Ceremonies. How does that feel?

Kaysha Love:
It's so surreal. I will say I've been out here for about a week now and like, up to this point, everything kind of just felt unreal. Like, it didn't really hit me that we were at the Olympics and yesterday I actually got my first experience to have an unofficial training. I got my first training runs on the Olympic track and that's when it finally hit me. And then this morning when I woke up, I just realized like, today's the day, it's Opening Ceremony day. This is a day I've been waiting for for so long. And it's just like one of the many steps, and one of the things that has just been in my goals and in my prayers and to actually finally have the day be here is just, it's such an exciting feeling. And then on top of it, in LA we had team processing where we were able to try on our gear and it kind of gave us a little taste of what the Opening ceremonies was. So trying on the gear there was just so exciting. So I'm very excited to be in Opening Ceremonies and wear that beautiful fit.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's exciting. And you get to keep it?

Kaysha Love:
Yeah, we get to keep it. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
One of your many souvenirs. That's pretty awesome. So tell me, what have they talked to you about leading up to Opening Ceremonies? What kind of instructions have you received about that?

Kaysha Love:
So, I mean, there's definitely lots of different things that I think that other Olympic games didn't have to necessarily deal with, with the exception of the 2020 games. There's lots of COVID protocols that we have to follow. We're constantly getting PCR tested. That's an everyday daily COVID test that we're all required to do. And then with Opening Ceremonies, we’re required to take an additional COVID test before and after leaving all of our separate Olympic Villages. And then getting there, they've also kind of broke down little sections of like, ‘Hey, we have like snack things here. It's gonna be a long day.’ But they're just really emphasizing like the mask protocols and making sure that you're remaining positive on all the COVID regulations. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us about some of the technical aspects of a run. How far do you run when you're just starting out, how fast you get going?

Kaysha Love:
So it honestly just depends on the track. So each track, like we mentioned earlier, is a little bit different than the next. There's not one track in the world that's identical to the following one. So like sprinting behind the sled and pushing the sled on Park City's ramp is probably close to only like a low five seconds versus like Lake Placid where you're looking at like six seconds. So it just kind of just depends on the actual force. Sprinting is like my background. I tend to do a little bit better on courses like Park City, where that curve appears a lot faster. Like that curve starts at like five meters versus like Lake Placid that curve, that crust comes around like 18 meters. And so just kind of differs on that. 

As far as our roles, I'm the brake woman. So for women, we only compete in Monobob and Two Man. So Monobob is just one person and that's just the pilot. And then the other discipline is Two Man and my pilot's in front and then I'm in the back as the brake woman. Basically my job and my duties as a brake woman are to accelerate the sled as fast as possible to get us the fastest velocities. The track doesn't get necessarily like faster or slower at the end of the track. Like all the speed that you've generated comes from the very top of the track. Like you can't jump out in the middle of the track, start trying to push again or try to magically find some extra speed somewhere. All the speed and all the times that you're getting is genuinely coming from that push time. So my job is to give my pilot the best opportunity with the best speeds to potentially put down some really good numbers at the end of track. 

Once I load into the sled, like then my job is basically like a relay. Like I pass it on to my pilot and she drives down our tracks. And like we mentioned earlier, each track's different. So it's her job to study all the lines of all the different tracks and to make sure that she's fully aware of what lines will be the fastest, what runners to use, how to like efficiently go about the track. And then once you pass the finish line, it's kind of my job as well, to be aware of where we're at in the track. I like to count the curves, it helps me know where we're at, so I can kind of move one with the sled and one with my pilot. At end of the course as the brake women, it's our job to pull the brakes. So there's no brakes in the front of the sled. So if I don't pull the brakes, the sled doesn't stop. So, yep, my job is to accelerate it, get as fast velocities and pull the brakes at the end.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now I never realized that you would really just be passing it off to the pilot. That you do your part of the start, and then it's up to her to guide you from there.

Kaysha Love:
Basically. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you use the brakes at all during the race?

Kaysha Love:
Absolutely not. No, no, no. 

Anthony Godfrey:
I bet you know what I would do, I would have my hand on the brake the entire time. I’d probably be like those poor kids at the water slide who get caught in between the hills  and have to be rescued down in the middle. You know, they have the sled team coming down to get me to the bottom of the hill.

Kaysha Love:
For sure. 

Anthony Godfrey:
So that's a lot of pressure. You've got to make all of that happen within just a few seconds at the start. And like you said, that's fascinating. There's no making it up if there's not a good start. You're in tough shape.

Kaysha Love:
Yeah, absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back more with former Herriman High track star and Olympic athlete, Kaysha Love.

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 you were a sprinter and a gymnast before becoming an Olympic athlete in the Bobsled and you ran at Herriman, so tell me about Herriman's role in your getting here and just your journey through those three sports.

Kaysha Love:
First, I'll say go Mustangs. Once a Mustang always a Mustang. Yeah, I'll start with gymnastics. So I did gymnastics for 12 years, it was my passion. That was just some thing that I was just, I don't wanna say, like born into, but basically like born into. When you do gymnastics that long, like that's kind of all you know. So I ended up quitting gymnastics at the end of my, well, beginning of my freshman year of high school. I kind of just was continuing to get injured a lot. And I was just going through a lot of injuries that like a lot of athletes shouldn't have to endure. I was missing a lot of seasons. Like I would go my whole gymnastics of just looking strong, getting new skills, getting recruited by colleges. And then as soon as it came time to compete and showcase all the hard work I had been doing in the fall, I would have some crazy random injury or like an injury that would keep me out for like several months. And that became frustrating having to restart that cycle of being injured, doing really well in the pre-season and then season coming and not being able to actually showcase that stuff. So that was kind of taking a toll on me and I was training like 30 hours a week in this sport. I just didn't have time for friends or a social life. 

And then starting high school, I had just kind of told my mom like, ‘Hey, I'm scared to start high school. Like, I don't have friends.’ Like all of my gym friends lived in the Bountiful area or Draper or just like Salt Lake City. I didn't have any friends who were gonna be in my high school and I was kind of nervous about it. And so she kind of just mentioned like, ‘you know, this might be like a good chance, an opportunity for you to take on a new opportunity, a new sport. So how about we just try track? I'm not asking you to give up gymnastics, but how about we just try both?’ And so I went out and tried track at Herriman and I loved it. I loved the social aspect of it. I actually liked the workouts and the competition and just running and feeling like free in that sense. And so that's when I started taking on track. Then it was my first season at Herriman when I broke the 100M state record. From that point forward, like the entire four years being there, Herriman just had a stacked track team. Like we were state champions in basically every event. We were state champions in the sprint events. We were state champions in the distance and throws events and even had some top three medalists in all the jumping events too. So our track team was just incredible, like as a whole. 

Looking back at those years, I really owe a lot of my success and a lot of like who I am as a person to my high school coach. Coach Fletcher was somebody who at that moment in time was like my father figure. He was like a coach who believed in me and was kind of being like a pillar of showing me what it was to be a successful athlete. How it was to kind of like excel in life period and also to be like a very faithful and spiritual person and to kind of just be who it is that you wanna be. Then just the support at Herriman was just unreal. Like when I look back at the high school experience, just the things that they did for not only like myself, but for like our track team and for like the athletes at Herriman was just unreal.

Like I remember there was a time where our head coach, Coach Garlick, he created a photo shoot. And that was just so like kind of unheard of for the high schools at that time. Nobody was doing photo shoots for the track and field athletes. Like for football, of course, like basketball, sure. Those are like our big revenue sports. But for a photo shoot for track athletes, it's kind of just like a different thing. So we did this photo shoot and we show up at Herriman like a week later and draped from the football stadium is this huge, like 50 feet by 50 feet, track and field banner that just had our whole track team showcased on this huge banner on the back of the football stadium. They just made it so memorable and then for us to be like a fairly new high school when I was there, it was like, the experience was incredible and I wouldn't have changed it for the world.

Anthony Godfrey:
Exciting to hear what a great influence those coaches were on you. It's no surprise, but you know, they don't know in the moment, just the impact they have. The lasting impact in the life of a student and in the life of an athlete. So that's exciting to hear.

Kaysha Love:
Yeah. Like I'm still in very close contact with all the coaches that I like worked with in high school. I still communicate with them to this day. Like I get weekly text messages from nearly all of them that coached me. And it genuinely just means like the world to me, because they were like huge, impactful people to me. And just to know that they continue to support me no matter what journey and endeavor I take them on, whether it was gymnastics or track or now bobsled. They've just been like very supportful people and villages and pillars in my life. It takes a village to accomplish some of the things that I'm trying to accomplish and going back from family to high school coaches to the school and Herriman as a community to my colleges, like people have just been like incredible support systems for me.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the support you felt as you found out that you were going to be competing in the Olympics and just leading up to that. From Herriman, from coaches, from friends, from family. Tell me about what that support's been like.

Kaysha Love:
Well the whole journey, like people were just very excited and very hopeful and wishful from like the second I was starting my rookie camp. They were just like, ‘oh my gosh, we're trying this Olympic sport. Like you get a chance to be around like the Olympic USA bobsled team. Like you could have a chance of being in the Olympics one day.’ And like back in October, I was just kind of like, ‘yeah, I've never been a bobsled’, but yeah, it's exciting. It's an honor to be around all these athletes, but we're just gonna kind of take it day by day. And then as the World Cup started to progress this season, I just started seeing so many like family and friends just kind of come out of the woodwork, and family and friends who have been there through all just kind of telling me like how proud they were and how excited they were. And just kind of like enlightening me on the type of growth that I've had as like a person and an athlete and like the experiences that I was sharing with them and how like I was handling things and the things that like God was paving for me. It was just a very emotional and very exciting experience. 

Especially for like my mom who's been there from everything. My mom never missed one gymnastics meet. She really didn't even miss any gymnastics practices. Like she was juggling her full-time job, my 30 hour practices and somehow magically able to go to work and watch my practices and go to the competitions and just never, never missed a single thing. And then for us to go into high school track, she was at every track meet. Rain, shine, snow, whatever it was. She was out there with a little heater buddy and her blanket, her and my grandma, just everything. They didn't miss a single thing.

And they were also there for all the downs that we've had too. And there've been so many things in just my life as a whole that I had to like learn to get through and conquer. There were a lot of journeys and stuff that I had to figure out what it is I wanted for myself. And there were a lot of down moments and my mom and my grandma were always there for all of it. So for them to see like all of our hard work, like it wasn't even just my hard work, it was theirs too. Like my whole family made sacrifices and like this dream became our dream. So for me to call them just in tears, when I figured out I was going to the Olympics is probably very, so emotional for all of us. We just cried and cried and realized that we were like one step closer to like achieving the things that we all felt and worked so hard for. 

Then coming back to Bobsled, like people are surprised like,’ ‘oh, like a year and a half of being in the sport. That's such a short time to now magically become like an Olympian.’ And the way I see it is like, I've been training for this for the last eight years, for sure. Because I feel like track really transitions really well into bobsled. And I just didn't realize I was training for bobsled in these eight years. I just thought I was running track and trying to be the most successful track athlete I could be. Little did I know that all of those experiences and journeys and lessons were not for that moment, but they were for the moment I'm doing and living in now.

Especially like being in the moment today, I look back and yeah, all those things that I wondered why this happened or how did it happen like this? Or like I wanted it to plan out like this and it didn't, I couldn't figure out why. And now looking back, like I'm like it had to work out like that. Like God had to plan because things had to fall in motion and had to be prepared for the moment I'm living in today. And those family and friends, especially like my mom and my grandma, but my whole family, honestly, they were there for every step of it. So they, for anybody, genuinely knows how hard and all the sacrifice and emotions and things that it took for us to get here.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that you found your Olympic path in your third sport. I've always thought, you know, those three sport athletes, can you just throw me one of them? You've got one to spare, give me one. How proud are you to be walking in the Opening Ceremonies representing the United States of America?

Kaysha Love:
So proud. Honestly, our country is incredible and the amount of just hard work that not only the athletes, but just like the people who keep our country afloat and running and just all those things are just incredible stuff. That I can even put myself in that category of representing our country. And I'm not just representing our country as a whole, but I'm representing myself and my family and my friends and the cities that supported me. And like all these, all these people, like it's a village that got us here and it's just gonna be like a very overwhelming feeling. And I'm just incredibly proud that our selection committee has selected me to be that person that represents our country and the sport of Bobsled. Like it's honestly just an honor. And to just be like a part of this incredible experience is just something that I can't even like fathom to put into words.

I will say that coming into Opening Ceremonies is like, I'm not even like allowing myself to kind of put up like, ‘oh, it's gonna feel like this, or it's going to be like this.’ Like I genuinely just wanna take it in for what it is. Whether that emotion is like excitement or like tears of joy or just like straight proudness. I don't know what I'm gonna feel in that moment, but whatever it is, I'm going to feel like I just wanna have that genuine feeling of, ‘okay, I'm not putting any expectations on it. This is how this is meant to feel. And this is, this is where I'm meant to be.’ So I'm very excited to feel whatever emotion it is that I feel when I walk into that stadium tonight. But I'm excited for whatever is to come.

Anthony Godfrey:
It is a moment that's just gonna take over. It's gonna be what it'll be, cuz it's gonna be powerful.

Kaysha Love:
For sure. It is. It's gonna be so powerful.

Anthony Godfrey:
There's a lot that's led up to this. You've got a lot of people cheering you on. I will be screaming at the top of my lungs, that's for sure. So we're all really excited for you and I'm thrilled that you took the time to talk with me today. It's just so exciting to talk with you as Opening Ceremonies are just a few hours away and big moments for you are coming in just days. So congratulations on everything you've done to arrive at this moment and for who you are and all the support you have. Is there anyone you wanna shout out to before we finish?

Kaysha Love:
Honestly, just my whole family and I have to shout out my puppy. My puppy Angel she's she's been holding me down the whole eight years I've had her. She's incredible. She's my like emotional support puppy. I actually took her to like school with me and she came to some track meets. She always came to practice and yeah, she's doing great. My mom’s watching her right now.

Anthony Godfrey:
Could you outrun her? Can you outrun her?

Kaysha Love:
Actually, my puppy is fairly fast. There's times where I'm a little surprised, like, ‘okay, I'm kind of, I'm moving at a good pace and your little legs are keeping up’. Like she's impressive. And plus she's like 14 years old. So for her to be like, as old as she is and just killing these track workouts I take us on. She's  incredible. 

Anthony Godfrey:
That's cool.

Kaysha Love:
My puppy, my mom, my grandparents, my dad, my sisters, my sisters have been great role models and they've been amazing and yeah, just and all the other people that have supported me. Like I can't do it without any of them. Like all my friends, family.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I wish you the very best. Have a great time and we'll be watching, that's for sure.

Kaysha Love:
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Anthony Godfrey:
You can cheer Kaysha on as she goes for gold in Women's Bobsled this Friday and Saturday, February 18th and 19th in Beijing. 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:
Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent, Anthony Godfrey. Each and every day students count on school counselors for support. This week, we celebrate the important work carried out by school counselors because this is National School Counseling week. On this episode of the Supercast, we highlight the tremendous positive impact school counselors have on helping students achieve success and plan for future careers. And, find out how parents and students can connect with their counselors in meaningful ways, especially during challenging times like a pandemic. 

We're here with Stacee Worthen, our Secondary Counselor Consultant. Happy National School Counseling week Stacee. 

Stacee Worthen:
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stacee does an incredible job. If you've listened in to Board meeting at all, she's talked recently with the Board about our plan for moving forward with providing great counseling for all of our students and just great support in our schools. Tell me, during this National School Counseling week, what are some of the things that we're focused on in Jordan School District counseling?

Stacee Worthen:
So some of the things that we are focused on is our theme, which is ‘Better Together’. So with school counseling week the entire national theme is Better Together and we really want to make sure that everybody knows that better together means better together. Working with students, working with parents, working with teachers and administrators, to do everything that we can to help our students be successful. How we can actually advocate for our diverse students, our students who just really need that little extra push to get into concurrent, to get into AP classes, but also just to help them find the classes that they need to be successful. As well as deal with some of those mental health issues that we're seeing; stresses, anxieties. Just working together with everyone involved to help their children be successful.

Anthony Godfrey:
Our counselors do a great job of providing a wide range of supports like you just described, which include social, emotional wellness. You know, the old term is Guidance Counselors, that's a term we don't use anymore, because that defines so narrowly what the role of the counselor used to be. It has expanded a great deal to the great benefit of students.

Stacee Worthen:
That's right. Right now we are just known as School Counselors. What many people don't understand is that our background really is about 95% social, emotional, and mental health training. And then we just get a small portion of that academic training when we become school counselors and go back to get our masters.

Anthony Godfrey:
So connecting students with opportunities and helping with class schedules and helping manage schooling is absolutely a part of the counselor role, but it is so much more than that. And it's a great support to students through social, emotional wellness, through issues they may be struggling with. Just with feeling a connection and having an advocate there at school. So I guess what I would say is when people think about school counselors, I hope they're thinking very broadly because there are so many supports available through our school counselors.

Stacee Worthen:
That's right. And really what we're doing in Jordan School District is we're trying to focus on the whole child. So really what we try and do first is look at, okay, are there any barriers to helping that be successful? And if it is anxiety, if there are some social, emotional things, obviously that child's not going to be successful in their classes. And so we really need to take a look at what we can do to help. Maybe it's a better sleeping routine. Maybe it's talking to parents about some supports with anxiety or MHAP referral, where we look at some outside mental health assistance to try and get that student, so as a whole child, they're successful mentally, physically, then they can actually move that into their academics.

Anthony Godfrey:
When I have friends and family members contact me and say, “Hey, my child's going through this. What should I do?” Almost every time my advice is to call their counselor. Connect with the school counselor, see what they can do. They know the resources and they can talk with your student and they can really help.

Stacee Worthen:
That's right. We start there first and they really are the experts in all of the supports that we can use to get that child to be successful. And, you know, if it's a referral to a social worker, if it's a referral to the school psych you know, if it's just us working, you know, one on one with that student, they really are your best place to start.

Anthony Godfrey:
And it's in partnership with parents. There's a lot of communication with parents just as really a support.

Stacee Worthen:
Yep. That's right.

Anthony Godfrey:
I do just wanna say I'll stack our counselors up against anybody, anybody in the country, because there's this focus on supporting students and that's been happening particularly in the last few years where we really track the time that we're spending with students. To be sure that we maintain that focus on that one on one interaction, the group interaction with students, connecting to students to be a direct support to them.

Stacee Worthen:
Yep. That's right. And I would actually put my counselors up against anybody in the nation. They really are working smarter, not harder. They're using data to really drive all the decisions that they're making in their buildings. They really are working to try and get all of their students on track for graduation, trying to give those supports. They're doing BRISC training. So if they have that additional mental health training, they really are amazing. And not only that, but they have swept the state in awards for the last little bit. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Listeners, we did a podcast on that and we did sweep all the awards. We have incredible counselors in this district.

Stacee Worthen:
We do.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I would say they work smart, but they work really, really hard. And they are so dedicated and just looking for every way they can to support their school, students, families, provide great opportunities and help, like you said, remove those barriers to success.

Stacee Worthen:
Yeah. They just love kids and they will work so hard to help them be successful. They're amazing, amazing people.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if you're listening and you have students in school in Jordan School District, and you haven't talked with your child's counselor, give 'em a call. Shoot 'em an email. It's a great connect.

Stacee Worthen:
Yep. Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
When we come back, how to have healthy conversations with students on the safe use of social media.

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:
We're here with Alyson Law, a counselor at Fort Herriman Middle School to talk about what middle school students are experiencing right now. We're all experiencing things we haven't before, the world has changed, the world has shifted. How has the world shifted for middle school students lately?

Alyson Law:
Well, I think in a few different ways, it's mostly social, right? This is such a time for adolescents to explore who they are, but we're seeing students who are behind a few years in social norms and appropriate behavior. Sometimes our seventh graders are acting more like fifth graders because they didn't get that training of how to behave appropriately because we were masked and we were quieted and we were seated. And so a lot of the typical fifth grade kind of rowdy behaviors that would typically be addressed in fifth grade are now coming out in seventh grade because we had this little bit of delay. So I think one of the biggest socially is them learning how to interact with each other in an appropriate level at the right time, in the right place.

Anthony Godfrey:
You make a really good point. And I think fifth grade to seventh grade is a great example of how large an expanse of two years is for a young person, as opposed to an adult. For me this last two years seem like a really long time because of everything that we've gone through, everything we've had to deal with, but for someone who goes from the age of 10 to 12, that is a huge leap. There are all kinds of changes that happen. And the interaction with, with students and going from having one teacher with a few rotations to having seven teachers is a really big change to go through, given that there's a pandemic happening all at the same time.

Alyson Law:
Right? And if you think of like the percentage of their life that that two years has taken up, right, that's a large percentage compared to the percentage of my life or your life. And there are so many skills that we as adults have mastered. And sometimes we just assume that the kids also have. We forget how much our teachers teach our children about behavior in social settings, because they have them for those eight hours.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you're right. They've been attending school and interacting with each other in a very different way. And I want to go back to the percentage of their life. I mean, I'm more than four times as old as a seventh grader. I don't like to point that out frequently, but I'm quadruple their age. So the impact of those two years for them is a lot larger and it feels like a much longer time to them than it does to me, even though, as I said, it feels like a long time.

Alyson Law:
Yeah, I agree. And I think like something to keep in mind as adults, as I've been talking to a few of our youth, is that we talk about like, ‘oh, I know this has been really hard.’ There were a lot of parents who were upset about things being canceled and their kids weren't able to experience certain things that they had experienced when they were in school. And one of the kids I was talking to said, ‘this is normal for us.’ They didn't know any different, right? And so I think as parents and as adults, sometimes we're making a bigger deal of, ‘oh my gosh, you're missing out on all of this. And there's so much that you're not doing’ and to the kids, they don't know any different, and then we point out that there's something lacking and then they feel like, oh, well, something's lacking.

Anthony Godfrey:
What you just said is a really good reminder of just how influential we are as parents on how our kids react to certain things that are happening around them and happening in society. Probably more than we even realize. I have a seventh grader and sometimes it feels like I can never set the tone for how he feels about anything. But I think it's something that I probably need to think more about is making sure that I'm doing my best to frame things in a way that's productive.

Alyson Law:
Right. And mimicking, right? Mimicking is such a big part of learning. Our teens are in this second, this resurgence of brain development, similar to their toddler years. And when they were toddlers, we were teaching them, hold my hand, you know, and we were constantly teaching them. We have that responsibility to do that now for their development, but it does look different, right? We don't want to helicopter, but we need to be involved. Trying to find that mix, I think, is tricky. But when they see, and we can have those conversations with them, and they see how we've handled hard situations or things in life, that aren't always the best situation. And we mimic that for them, or we teach them and they can mimic, or we give them opportunities to do that. That's the most helpful teaching that we can do, that interactive teaching.

Anthony Godfrey:
I don't do it nearly enough, but every once in a while, I do actually talk through some things that I've had to deal with at work or with other things in personal life or whatever else, rather than hiding what I have to go through to problem solve. I've tried to talk through some of my own problem solving, not in response to anything that he's going through, but just so that he's a part of what I'm doing as well. And like I said, it's rare, but it's been rewarding for us to talk about it, because he asked some questions and he's interested. I'm also amazed at how much he hears, you know, that I didn't think he heard, but that's another story.

Alyson Law:
Well, one of the things, my mother was a brilliant school counselor as well, my mother-in-law. One of the things she always said was the best way for a teenage brain to grow, any brain to grow, is to spend time with an older, more mature brain. That exchange of perception is how our brains grow and mature. In adolescent years, they wanna be with their friends. They wanna tell their friends all their problems and rely on a 13 year old brain to solve a 13 year old brain problem. And that doesn't always help. So having those chances at the dinner table or in a car ride, it seems to be a car ride with my kids where they bring that stuff up, but having a chance to have those exchanges of perceptions and realities is the best way to help our kids move through and develop and mature a little bit faster.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that concept of bringing some experience to bear on an issue, because if it's only discussed among a group, that's the same age and with the same level of experience, then they may be missing out on some solutions. As important as those interactions with peers are, it's nice to have that additional experience brought to bear. Social media is something that is constantly talked about. And it's of particular concern in the last few months where there have been TikTok challenges and it's always a source of potential bullying or difficulties for middle school students. First of all, it's difficult for everyone, social media's creating issues for everyone regardless of age. What are some of the impacts that you're seeing and what are some things that you've seen work to mitigate those impacts, the negative impacts on youth?

Alyson Law:
I think the biggest thing that I'm seeing, and this might just be because I had a group on this earlier today, is body image issues, not just for girls, but for boys as well. There's so much comparison. And there's so much, now there's the filters and such an altered view of reality that as adults, our brains can understand, that's a filter. That's not real. But teenage brains, even my 10, 11 year old daughter, we were looking at something and she's like, ‘oh, she's beautiful.’ And he’s like, ‘that's fake. That's not really who she is.’ And that concept was hard for her to grasp onto that that wasn't reality. So I think body image and comparison issues on one end, obviously there's some, some deviance that comes with it. But I think the bigger thing is that they're now exposed to more content that is more suitable for adults, not like triple X rating, adult content, but just things that adult behaviors that kids don't understand, that they can't quite grasp concepts and make sense of it. And so in their eyes, that's just what you do. And, and so they're doing it not fully grasping consequences or things like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
So, they may not have the context to properly process what they're seeing. 

Alyson Law:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
And will view adult postings through a 13 year old lens and the two don’t match up and some misperceptions of the world and how it works result.

Alyson Law:
Yes, and I think like if you go back to when we were teenagers and there was a sports player you idolized or an actor or something, right. You could, you could see yourself wanting to be like them, but also realizing they're a basketball player, but ‘Hey, maybe I could be a famous basketball player too.’ Right. And you kind of go through that stage of, this is what I wanna do.

Anthony Godfrey:
I always knew that was not going to work out for me, but there were other famous people I was looking for, but yes.

Alyson Law:
Right. Actor, whatever it is, someone famous, but you know, and we think when we’re that age, like I'm going to be this famous person. And then as we go through those developmental years, we're like, okay, that's probably not realistic. I don't know that that's happening because the kids are constantly, that's not going away. Right. Like the exposure to the perfectness of social media, there's always someone new to step into that and to compare themselves to and it's so broad versus those small niches.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. You used to know a lot less about people, and you used to know a lot fewer people, even celebrities. We probably know more celebrities than ever before. 

Alyson Law:
Right, and different types of celebrities. There's now YouTubers and influencers, right? There are different types of celebrities that gather these amazing, huge followings.

Anthony Godfrey:
How do you approach a middle school age child about social media as a parent?

Alyson Law:
When we are asking our kids to form an opinion and express their opinion to us as adults, whether it's our own personal kids or our students, I think that gets intimidating for them because they don't want to be wrong. Right. Even though we create a safe environment in our classrooms, in my office, even at our homes, there’s still that fear of rejection because that's the developmental stage they're in. And so having that opinion versus what they've experienced is a little trickier

Anthony Godfrey:
You know, that does make sense because sometimes when I ask my son something, and I really am trying to find out the experience or perspective, he's looking at me to see what's the right answer here, what am I supposed to be saying? As opposed to let me think about how I can accurately convey what I'm going through.

Alyson Law:
One of the rules in my office actually comes from my husband and what he's set up with our kids, is I'll have a lot of kids say, ‘oh, I don't know.’ And I'll say, “you know the I don't know rule. I don't know is not an answer. It shuts down your brain. You can say, ‘let me think about it. Or I need more time. Or I haven't thought about that yet’. But quickly we accept ‘I don't know’ as they don't wanna talk to me or they really don't know, where it's just, they might need more processing time to really think about it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. That language is really important. ‘I don't know’ is a dead end. Like, oh, dead end, end of the road. But that's a really good point. It’s been awesome having a chance to talk with you. I have new ways to talk with my seventh grader now. And it's always a process just to continue to connect with our students, our kids, people that we know, especially through these difficult times, but thank you very much for your insight and advice and for everything you're doing to help the students at Fort Herriman. 

Alyson Law:
Well, thank you. I appreciate it. 

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 out there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It was an opportunity to immerse and educate the community in the art, culture, food, music, and language of China. For the first time ever, all Chinese Dual Language Immersion and World Language students and teachers in Jordan School District came together for a special Chinese New Year celebration at Herriman High School. They invited the public as well. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you inside the celebration where there was music, traditional lion and dragon dancing, Kung Fu and delicious food. All in honor of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the Year of the Tiger.

We're here at Herriman High School for the Chinese New Year event. This involves elementary, middle and high school students. Is that right?

Kimberly Chen:
That's correct. 

Anthony Godfrey:
So Kimberly Chen, you're in charge of this whole event? 

Kimberly Chen:
Yes I am.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right, tell me about what gave you the idea to do all this.

Kimberly Chen:
This is the first year that we have the Chinese DLI students. We have from the first grade all the way to the 12th grade. So we have all the students. And so we actually would like to celebrate their success and then showcase their achievement.

Anthony Godfrey:
This is not just a language night, it's a language and a culture night.

Kimberly Chen:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about some of the activities going on tonight.

Kimberly Chen:
Okay. In front of you right here, these are the middle school students. So they are here to do their cultural display. So various kinds of culture such as calligraphy and Chinese instruments like ehru and right here we have origami, paper cutting and back there we have face painting, and we have Chinese medicine, and Kung Fu and Chinese yoyo, Chinese jianzi, all kinds of activities.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I see that the Mustang here at Herriman High School is decorated with a Chinese lantern, so you've really gone all out.

Kimberly Chen:
Yes, we have. 

Anthony Godfrey:
So you teach here at the high school?

Kimberly Chen:
That's correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
Are you pretty impressed by the time students get here to high school?

Kimberly Chen:
Of course I am, yes. That is the reason why I actually taught third grade, fifth grade, middle school, and now I'm in high school. So It's very impressive to watch students progress from elementary all the way clear up to high school and because of seeing their success I just felt like very impressed. I want to showcase their achievement.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, after starting out teaching third grade, it must be kind of fun to see where they end up and how much progress they're able to make.

Kimberly Chen:
Exactly. Yes. 

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you think is the best part of dual language immersion for students?

Kimberly Chen:
I think one very important thing is they actually become very broad minded, very open minded to see all those differences between people and they're very accepting of others, of, you know, all those differences. And then also understanding the language really broadens their way of thinking. And also, from what I heard from other parents or students, it actually helped them to pick up another language very quickly. It's just a very, very good training to broaden their mind.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it gets your brain firing in a different way and it gets you thinking about things from a new perspective. I think there's a lot of value in that. I've heard from parents, they're thrilled with this program. They love seeing the progress their students make. They take the AP test, for those who may not know, once they get to, I believe it's 9th grade, when they're prepared to take the AP test. 

Kimberly Chen:
Oh yes. They would take the AP test when they are in 9th grade and then they can continue in 10th grade if they have to.

Anthony Godfrey:
And for those who don't know, what are the classes that are available at the high school level?

Kimberly Chen:
At the high school level for the Dual Language program we have AP class, and then we also have Chinese Bridge program which is for people that have passed the AP test. So they can take the college courses in high school. And in addition to that, we have World Language classes. We have World Language 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, we're thrilled to have you here. Thanks for all the work you've done through all the grades to help students get to this point. And thanks for organizing this exciting night. There are a ton of people here and it's a blast. So thank you very much.

Kimberly Chen:
My pleasure. 

Emcee:
We would like to teach the audience a simple greeting. We're gonna teach you how to say hello. Everyone say néih hóu.

Audience repeats:
Néih hóu.

Emcee:
One more time say néih hóu.

Audience repeats:
Néih hóu.

Emcee:
All right, so for the first program, we will now begin with performances by students from Eastlake Elementary.

Eastlake students singing

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me your name.

Carly:
Carly.

Anthony Godfrey:
And Carly, how long have you been studying Chinese?

Carly:
For about 11 years. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Since first grade? And what was it that made you and your parents decide to put you in the Chinese program initially?

Carly:
Well, since my mom is Chinese, we kind of speak Chinese already together. So we decided that it would be good if I was in the program already, so I could get my skills better.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what have you liked most about being in the Dual Language Immersion program?

Carly:
Well, I really like that I can get my Chinese better and like, I can be involved in something. And then I can already automatically have a bunch of friends, like since first grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a great feeling to have that group of friends that you've been so close with for 11 straight years, going together to middle school, going together on to high school.

Carly:
Yeah. It's really fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Tell me your favorite word in Chinese.

Carly:
Bu yao. It means ‘I don't want to’.

Anthony Godfrey:
Bu yao. So you just say bu yao when you've had enough and you don't want any part of it.

Carly:
Yep. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. I'm gonna remember that. That's good. I may just say it in my mind, but that's a handy word to have. Bu yao. So tell me about preparing for the AP test. Did you take that in 9th grade?

Carly:
Yeah, it was different cuz of COVID. Instead of all like speaking and writing and reading and everything, instead, we just had to do speaking and we could just do it at home, like on our phones and so it was like, it was different. We took like all of 9th grade to study a bunch of different topics so we would know what to say once the test came up. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Now the Bridge program earns you college credit. So is that something you plan on continuing on with? Do you plan on getting a degree in Chinese?

Carly:
I think I'm gonna get a minor in Chinese cuz once I'm done with high school, I just have to take two more classes in college and then I'll have a minor. 

Anthony Godfrey:
That's a pretty big head start. That's really exciting for you to have that in place. Good work. I know it's not easy learning another language. Has it brought you closer to your mom to speak Chinese better and better?

Carly:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you have a secret language now?

Carly:
Yeah, a lot of times me and my friends can like go out in public where no one speaks Chinese and we can just like gossip and no one knows what we’re saying.

Anthony Godfrey:
Teenagers always have a language of their own, but you guys are taking it to another level.

Carly:
Yep. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Well congratulations on a job well done. 

Carly:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks. We're talking with Jack who has just started Chinese this year as part of the World Languages classes that are offered here at Herriman. What do you think so far?

Jack:
It’s pretty fun to learn a new language and get to experience that and get to like be part of the new culture and stuff, learning everything.

Anthony Godfrey:
What year in school are you?

Jack:
I’m a Sophomore, 10th grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. And do you plan on taking Chinese after this year?

Jack:
I'm hoping so. Hoping to go into the new classes. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's always a question of finding space in your schedule for that. What is your favorite word in Chinese so far?

Jack:
Love, which is ài nǐ.

Anthony Godfrey:
Ái nǐ? Okay. Very good. Well, thank you very much, Jack. Great talking with you. 

Stay with us. When we come back we'll talk with some middle school students participating in the Chinese New Year celebration.

Break:
Do you simply love learning online? We can't wait to have you join the amazing teachers in our brand new Jordan Virtual Learning Academy. In Jordan Virtual Learning Academy schools, we offer innovative, fun, and flexible online learning with daily real-time instruction from teachers. Enrollment is currently open for all K-12 students in Utah. Start on the path to personalized virtual learning success now at connect.jordandistrict.org. That's connect.jordandistrict.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with Mr. Lu, the Chinese teacher at Mountain Creek Middle School. I see you have a lot of middle school students here. Tell me what they're up to.

Michael Lu:
They're here to show what we learn from school to the real world. In our Chinese Culture Media History class, they learn a lot about Chinese culture, history, art and stuff like that. They learned so much, they did a lot of great job and they made a lot of nice stuff here. So they would like to communicate with the students from the high school and also the students from Eastlake students.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what are some of the projects that they’re doing tonight?

Michael Lu:
So we have the Chinese New Year section where they made some posters which introduced Chinese New Year tradition, the legend. We also have the sport section where the students show the kids how to use traditional Chinese sports like Chinese yoyo. We call it wánjù. And also there's a Chinese Medicine section where, you know, my students can tell the kids, you know, the visitors, how the Chinese people keep healthy by using some massage pad, some other, you know, traditional way to keep people healthy.

Anthony Godfrey:
How long have you been teaching at Mountain Creek?

Michael Lu:
To be honest, this is my second year here. I graduated from the University of Utah and started teaching the DLI Chinese program at the Mountain Creek Middle School and got full support from my principal and my admin, so my students can progress in their language proficiency each day. I'm so proud of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
And learning a foreign language, it really does build confidence because you start out not knowing it at all and then you realize what you're capable of.

Michael Lu:
Yes. So basically we can have free communication with each other, which is so awesome. And whenever I see my students outside my classroom, we talk in English, we talk in Chinese, which is so awesome. And everybody around us is like, “Wow. So amazing. You're speaking another language, we don't know anything about it.” My students, I’m so proud of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it's exciting and it's an honor meeting you. Thank you very much.

Michael Lu:
Thank you so much.

Anthony Godfrey:
Logan, what grade are you in?

Logan:
I'm in 8th grade.

Anthony Godfrey:
Are you in Mountain Creek?

Logan:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And how long have you been learning Chinese?

Logan:
Since 1st grade, so like eight years about.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you think is the best thing about being in the Dual Language Immersion program?

Logan:
Well that you can learn a second language because I think it's really cool, all the new stuff I learned.

Anthony Godfrey:
What would you say to a parent listening who may be considering putting their kindergartner into a Chinese Dual Immersion program next year?

Logan:
I would tell 'em it's a great idea because it will help them learn better and they'll become a better student.

Anthony Godfrey:
So what have you guys been doing tonight? What's been part of your activity?

Logan:
Okay, so my group has been displaying like the Chinese sports. So like we got Chinese chess, Diabolo, which is like a Chinese yoyo. And then we got something called Jianzi where you like, it's kind of like a hacky sack. You kick it up and juggle it. And then there's Kung Fu. We have some posters over there that display kind of that stuff. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Now are these the yoyos over here that the kids have out in the commons area?

Logan:
Yeah. That they've been spinning and stuff.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's very large and there's a string that goes between two sticks and then the yoyo is on that stick that kind of swings it back and forth. Is that right? 

Logan:
Yeah, you can get it going up and down and then you can do tricks.

Anthony Godfrey:
Can you do tricks?

Logan:
No, I'm not that good.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Well, it looks very difficult, actually. He has practiced a lot, this young man over here in the ball pump shirt. What's your favorite of the activities you guys have been putting on tonight? 

Logan:
Probably the Chinese yoyo.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. And I've heard of Chinese checkers, but this is Chinese chess.

Logan:
Yeah, Chinese chess. It's really similar to actual chess.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. So there's a lot of culture that you've learned beyond just learning the language.

Logan:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Great. Well thanks very much. Good luck. 

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

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It's a course called “We the People” and it's giving students a unique opportunity to learn more about constitutional history, law and civics. The class and “We the People'' competition enhance knowledge of the Constitution while allowing students to defend beliefs, rights and roles as U.S. citizens. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you inside West Hills Middle School to learn more about "We the People" and find out how students consistently use their skills and knowledge to compete and rise to the top in the statewide "We the People" competitions. Let's start in the classroom with teacher Austin Wrathall.

We're here at West Hills Middle School with Austin Wrathall to talk about the "We the People" competition. First of all, I have to tell you, I got walked down to my old classroom. When the principal showed me your classroom, it's actually the classroom I taught in the first year this school was open and it was a little trippy to walk down the hall. And I'm like, she's getting closer, that's the turn. And it's pretty wild. So how's it holding up?

Austin Wrathall:
It's holding up pretty well. I think.

Anthony Godfrey:
I hope that I left good vibes in the classroom for you. 

Austin Wrathall:
I think so. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Okay, good. Tell us about the "We the People" competition.

Austin Wrathall:
Yeah. So the "We the People" competition is a competition for students to learn about the Constitution. So these students hold a simulated congressional hearing. And if anyone's unfamiliar with what that is, sometimes the U.S. Congress will call in expert witnesses and ask them questions. And this is something that the students will get to experience, except in a real congressional hearing the topic could be anything, but for them, the topic is the U.S. Constitution. So they get to study the Constitution in depth and display their knowledge in front of a panel of judges.

Anthony Godfrey:
How long do you prepare for this competition and what's involved in the preparation? 

Austin Wrathall:
So it takes several months and the students study from a textbook in addition to other online resources. So they have to prepare a four minute speech that they deliver as a group, and then they have to be prepared to answer six minutes worth of judge questions. These questions could be about republicanism versus democracy or how the Constitution was influenced by things that happened in the Colonial and Revolutionary War eras and things like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
It sounds like these students who are in 7th, 8th, 9th grade?

Austin Wrathall:
8th grade, yep. 

Anthony Godfrey:
These 8th grade students may know a lot more about the Constitution than most of us. Is that accurate?

Austin Wrathall:
I think so. And in trying to teach them all this stuff, I have had to learn more about the Constitution than I knew before this as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is there something surprising that you learned about the Constitution that you didn't expect?

Austin Wrathall:
Yeah, I would say so. There are little bits of constitutional history that surprised me and also things that were in the amendments, particularly amendments that we overlook a little bit sometimes. And it's been interesting to learn all of that. We also have a team of students who is studying judicial review and the independence of the judiciary. So they and myself have been able to learn a lot about that topic as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Any specific examples of an amendment or history of the constitution that you found particularly interesting?

Austin Wrathall:
So the kids are really good at asking questions and when they ask a question that I don't know the answer to, I have to go out and try to find it, or I give them the opportunity to do so. One interesting thing that we learned was the Founding Fathers gave us two ways to amend the Constitution. You could do it through Congress and State Legislatures or through National and State Conventions. And we learned that the National Convention method has never led to any amendment in all of U.S. history. And there's only been one amendment that was ratified through State Conventions, and that was the 21st Amendment. Actually Utah was the final convention needed to ratify that amendment. So it's even linked to our own state's history, which is pretty cool. 

Anthony Godfrey:
And which amendment was that? 

Austin Wrathall:
That amendment would be the one repealing a previous amendment and making alcohol legal again in the United States.

Anthony Godfrey:
And so Utah was the vote that made that happen?

Austin Wrathall:
Utah was the last vote needed to make that happen, yes. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Fascinating, I did not know that. So I'm already walking away with more constitutional knowledge. It feels good. Let's see what else. So there's a competition and that happens every year about this time, and I guess because it's 8th grade students who compete, you always have a fresh batch of students that you're working with?

Austin Wrathall:
Yeah. So this is actually my first year coaching the competition. I had a wonderful teacher who worked with me to prepare this. She has done the program before, so it's fresh this year for everybody. But yeah, we always have a fresh batch of 8th graders who are working on this. And the good news is they also have a high school program. So if anyone is wanting to do the competition and they miss out on it in middle school, there is an opportunity to participate at the high school level.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now, do students participate as part of a class they enroll in or do they do it after school? How does that work?

Austin Wrathall:
Good question. So at our school, it's part of our honors level class. There are other schools who offer it as part of the regular U.S. History 8th grade class. So it really depends on the school, but if anyone is interested in it, I would highly recommend they talk to their Social Studies department at their school, or get in touch with the main office or even contact someone at the program itself. It's run by Law Related Education, I believe it's called.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that our students are becoming more closely engaged with the Constitution. I'm sure that they reflect on the news and their personal responsibility as a citizen in different ways because of their experience with you.

Austin Wrathall:
Yeah, for sure. And it's been really great, especially in the past few years, as we have had a lot of events in the news related to the Constitution. I was even looking at my inbox today and there was an announcement in the New York Times that a Supreme Court Justice is going to retire. And now we can talk about, you know, what does that mean? What's gonna happen? What's gonna be the new process if we see a vacancy in the Supreme court? And they are able to form opinions on that. It's really great to watch them engage with these, you know, this process of government.

Anthony Godfrey:
So that's really exciting. I'm sure that the curiosity you spark with these conversations will continue for a long time in their lives. And, they'll engage in civic life to a much greater degree than they would if they didn't get the chance to have this experience.

Austin Wrathall:
Yeah. That's definitely the hope. And the hope is that it's not just a fun experience this year. The hope is that it will help them to be good, responsible citizens to share their knowledge with other people. And then when it comes time to do things like vote and participate in their communities and, you know, teach their own families, that they'll be able to carry this with them and make a big difference wherever they end up.

Anthony Godfrey:
So then do the 8th graders that you teach end up looking through these school code of conduct and district policies with a different lens where they start to nitpick your disclosure, perhaps a little more than they did before they got into the Constitution?

Austin Wrathall:
Not so far, but I did ask, one of the questions they had to study was what rights they have as a middle school student. So maybe.

Anthony Godfrey:
A classic 8th grade question. What are my rights as an 8th grade student, have you had to amend your disclosure statement? That's a really important thing.

Austin Wrathall:
We have not had to amend anything and we haven't had to lawyer up so far to take these kids on which maybe we will.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, you're a brave man, and this is a great way for students to be just more engaged with the world around them and more connected to the Constitution and their country. So it's dynamite. Thank you for doing this. 

Austin Wrathall:
Thank you.

Break:
Do you simply love learning online? We can't wait to have you join the amazing teachers in our brand new Jordan Virtual Learning Academy. In Jordan Virtual Learning Academy schools, we offer innovative, fun, and flexible online learning with daily real-time instruction from teachers. Enrollment is currently open for all K-12 students in Utah. Start on the path to personalized virtual learning success now at connect.jordandistrict.org. That's connect.jordandistrict.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with three students at West Hills Middle School, part of the "We the People" team. I told your teacher, this was my classroom, the first year the school opened. So I was a teacher here, back in the 1900s. Does the 1900s sound like a long time ago? 

Mazze:
Yeah. Depends on what year.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. We won't talk more about that, but I'm really excited to talk with you today about "We the People" competition. Tell me your name.

Mazze:
My name is Mazze.

Anthony Godfrey:
Just preparing for this competition. Tell me what that has meant to you.

Mazze:
Well, it's taken a long time. And some of the days I felt super pumped and prepared and then some of the days I was just distressed and that's also because of outside life. But having the ability to have a group and help you work with your teams makes it so much easier. Easier and better than just having to do it by yourself.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it's not just about what you learn about the Constitution, not just preparing for competition, but it's the opportunity to work with the team and learn with peers. 

Mazze:
Yeah, I agree. And just growing friendships that I don't think I would've had these people in my life if I didn't do this competition. And it's made me thankful for the people that I have in my life.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you think you'll have some lasting friendships from this experience?

Mazze:
Most definitely.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome. That's a big part of what we hope happens in middle school for you. Tell me your name.

Emma:
I'm Emma.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about your experience being on "We the People" team.

Emma:
"We the People"  has really been a probably a great decision that I made. I was super excited about it. And so that's why I chose to be in History Honors, cause I knew that I would get this opportunity and just like Mazze said, I have grown, met some people that I thought I would probably never be like in a group with. And even though some days it's really hard in the assignments, you feel like you can't do it, your team is there to help you if you need it. And it's also a really cool experience because I get the opportunity to do this competition that I thought I would never have the opportunity to. And I think it's just gonna be a blast when we do the competition next week.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you made some great friends as well. 

Emma:
Yes I have. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Not everyone can say that they made closer friendships by talking about the Constitution. So I'm glad you've been able to accomplish that. Tell me your name. 

Ben:
My name is Ben. 

Anthony Godfrey:
And what do you think of all this? 

Ben:
I think this competition has been fun so far. It's been fun to be able to learn more about the Constitution. And also, as they've already previously said, being able to go with groups and participate in these things. Also working together, it's made more friendships and yeah, it's just been very fun. Another thing is also learning more about the Constitution and really being able to dive further into it and like going farther than what I've learned previously in other classes.

Anthony Godfrey:
So tell me something that you learned about the Constitution as a part of this project that is really interesting or important to you.

Ben:
So our unit that we're doing is basically about citizen rights and responsibilities. So it's been fun to sort of learn about those different things and what we can and can't do as citizens.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the rights and responsibilities go hand in hand, and that's a really important concept. I love that. What have you learned that's really stood out to you?

Emma:
So my unit is, we've learned kind of more about like the English Bill of Rights and the Intolerable Acts, the Sugar Act and all that part of coming up to when they did create the Constitution. I got to learn more about the British side of the story that I didn't know before. I was always, just since I was born here in America, I just always knew the American side of the story and knowing more into depth of the story and knowing what the British went through. That's probably the biggest thing I learned and it's really cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
So learning another perspective, the British point of view, and the history of how the Constitution came to be, and what factors were involved has given you a deeper appreciation for it.

Emma:
Yeah, it has.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's great. How about you? What are some of the things you've learned and felt about the Constitution as a part of being involved in this?

Mazze:
Well, my unit, we are talking about due process rights and just being able to see what kind of due process rights there are. Who gets the certain due process rights, what amendments go with the rights, and I thought one was really cool. So juveniles, they don't actually get the right to parole. And one of the judge questions that we get to answer is something along the lines of should juveniles have the same rights as adults? And it really makes you think because are there types of rights that are needed in a juvenile case that you don't need an adult case? It just makes you think. And making your brain wrap around the question is, I honestly think it's fun, because you get to learn about so many different things. And kind of like Emma said, you get to go through different perspectives because we got to see different cases that used different process rights. I think that just being able to learn more about the Constitution makes it super cool, because I don't think I would've learned more if I didn't do “We the People.”

Anthony Godfrey:
I love this more and more. I wish I'd had the chance to be part of it, hearing the experiences that you've had. Tell me do you engage with current events and the news in a different way because of your new found understanding of the Constitution?

Mazze:
Yeah, we definitely do because when we are writing our speech and our judge questions answers, we put it into parts and the last part is current event or personal connection. It's allowed me to see how much that our history is to now and being able to make that connection has been really cool. And something I probably wouldn't have recognized before.

Anthony Godfrey:
Awesome. So are you all on different teams?

Students:
Yes. 

Anthony Godfrey:
You’re rivals? Is anyone the Patriots? No. Do you name the teams? 

Students:
No.

Anthony Godfrey:
The Whigs? Any Tories here? No. 

Ben:
No. Just units.

Anthony Godfrey:
No. Okay. Just units. Okay. So tell me how it's organized.

Ben:
So there's just six units throughout the whole “We the People” and since there's two U.S. History Honor classes, there's two of both teams. So there's two Team 1s, two Team 2s, two Team 3, 2- 4, and so on until Team 5 and 6. And I'm on Team 6, I believe she's on Team 2, and you're on Team 5.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you're not in competition with each other? You’re part of the overall team. 

Emma:
For the school-wide competition, we'll be going against the first class sixth period. And certain units will be chosen to go statewide, and then those six units from the two classes will go against the whole state and will go from there.

Anthony Godfrey:
I see. So it'll be unit by unit, whoever wins each unit at the school level will then form a team to go on and compete at the state level.

Emma:
Yeah, kind of. So it's basically like since I'm Team 2, I'm going against Team 2 in sixth period. Whoever has the high score out of those two, our teacher will determine that, will get to go to state, which will happen I think on the 16th of February.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Great. Well, I think you guys have a great chance of moving forward. I'm really impressed with what you've learned about the Constitution. I need to go back and do a little reading myself. So congratulations on enjoying some really deep, meaningful learning as an 8th grader here at West Hills. 

Students:
Thank you. 

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

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She's had a genuine love of dogs all her life. Now, that love is leading a Bingham High School student to follow her dreams to compete professionally in the sport of Dog Sledding, also known as Dog Mushing. On this episode of the Supercast, we meet 17 year old Mary Christensen and her dogs, and find out what goes into getting these dogs to work as a team, racing to the top in competitive Dog Sledding.
We're here with Mary Christensen in her backyard in South Jordan, Utah. And Mary's gonna tell us why we're in her backyard. Mary, you're a student at Bingham. What's your hobby that brings us here today?

Mary:
You know the thing that keeps me going is dog sledding. That's my thing. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Dog Sledding. Now in my mind driving over here, I'm thinking she's a musher. Is that a term? Is that a thing?

Mary:
That is the right term, yeah. The term comes from the word to go, ‘marche’, which is a French word that is traditionally used with mules. We don't really use that word anymore, but the term musher still applies.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now you pronounce it a little more, you know, with a little more French flare than I did. Tell me again how you pronounce it.

Mary:
A musher.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, so you are a musher, let's go back to the start. We got the dogs in the background and I wanna meet them in a second, but tell me, how did you get started with this? How did this pop into your mind that this is what you wanted to do?

Mary:
Yeah, I mean, you know, it all started when I was six years old. I've always loved animals, but I watched this movie called Iron Will. It's an old Disney movie from when I was six. And I just became enchanted with this idea of being out in the snow with dogs. My mom, you know, didn't wanna crush my little girl dreams. And she was like, “oh, you know, that's such a cute idea. Let me learn all about it.” But you know, we live in Utah and we didn't really think that was an actual thing to do. But for my 12th birthday, excuse me, my parents found a kennel that did dog sledding up next to Park City. And they got me like a kennel tour and I went up there, fell in love with it. They kind of thought it might turn me off a little bit. You know, they're like, “okay, it's been six years. Maybe we can end this a little bit.” And I just, even more, I went to summer camp and now I can't be done with it. I just keep going.

Anthony Godfrey:
So they were thinking maybe we can scare her straight if she sees what it really involves and she'll move on.

Mary:
Yeah, exactly. Especially that summer camp. They're like, “oh yeah, a week with dogs, with strangers, no way she's gonna make it.” And I came back with like the biggest grin on my face. My dad's like “you are covered head to toe and mud, and I've never seen you so happy.”

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me what it means to be a musher. Do you compete? Do you go to competitions? What does that look like? 

Mary:
So, I mean, there's just different levels of it. I kind of started out more of a recreational musher, which is just, I had two dogs. Well, I mean, obviously I had one first, just kept growing from there, and I just took 'em out like on a little scooter and I'd be like “woo dog sledding!”. And then as I got more dogs, became more advanced, I just became more of a competitive musher. So I still do a lot of recreational mushing, but now I do a lot more races. And then there's like the touring side of dog sledding, which I do sometimes. I go and help out at my kennel, but I don't know, tours are not the most appealing aspect of dog sledding. So I consider myself competitive.

Anthony Godfrey:
So let's talk about all three aspects of that. You talked about recreational dog sledding. What does recreational dog sledding look like for you? Is that something you're able to do frequently and where do you go? And what's that like?
Mary:
So recreational is just like a really kind of like, not slowed down, but I mean, you just have a couple dogs. People use it with all sorts of dogs. I mean, they've got hounds out there. They've got Australian shepherds, they've got everything. There doesn't really need to be a set breed for recreational. And there's different parts of it where you can do like the cart aspect, the sled aspect, or even like a skiing aspect. There's all these different parts that can make up recreational mushing. But yeah, for me, when I do like recreational, it all kind of feeds into my training schedule. But that's kind of just when I wanna take a break and I don't really push the dogs super hard, just go for like a quick seven mile run. They just kind of go as fast as they want or as slow as they want. It's just kind of a training thing for them. We go up to some slow roads up in Park City, Peoa, Oakley, that kind of place.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it's good for the dogs, it sounds like too. To just kind of get a break and just go out and run for fun at whatever pace they want, rather than going through a particular training routine.

Mary:
Yeah, they’re definitely, definitely not as on point when we do a little fun run, but they love it. I mean, when they come back their spirits are just so much happier. I don't know. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, good. Now you told me about skiing behind them, sledding behind them and carting behind them. Tell me how all those three differ. I have a guess, but tell me what that means.

Mary:
Yeah, so I mean the traditional one, traditional dog sledding, and really like the only term for it is when you have a sled and then in the summer you use a cart. That's kind of a big old rickety thing. It's like a tricycle, but it's a little more bent up.

Anthony Godfrey:
So is it a tricycle with skis on it? 

Mary:
No it just has big wheels, rubber wheels. 

Anthony Godfrey:
So the sled is like a sled, it has skis under it. The cart has wheels and are you able to do that in the summer? Is that what you said?

Mary:
Yeah. So the cart you use during the summer and fall and spring. Usually you try to stay more in the summer because in spring and fall it gets muddy, you wanna use a four wheeler. Sleds are only available when it's snowing. So yeah, a cart's a good alternative when you don't have snow.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the skis does that mean you just slap on some skis and let them pull you along? Cross country skiing at its best?

Mary:
Yeah. I admire everyone who does, it's called skijoring, and I cannot do it. I tried it once and kept face planting. I mean, those dogs are just fast, you have no control. But some people just live for it and there's like really competitive skijoring. So skijoring is more put in like the mushing category where dog sledding is just like on the sledding.

Anthony Godfrey:
How far do you travel to compete?

Mary:
It just depends. There's like a Colorado circuit. That's really, really nice. There's like a professional world like sled dog organization, I guess, racing organization. So if you wanna start going professional, you get your professional points from the Colorado circuit or there's like the Indiana circuit, just that kind of places. But I usually go up to Colorado sometimes, but Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, and there's one in Utah. That's kind of just where I center.

Anthony Godfrey:
And so do you have a trailer that you load the dogs and the sleds into? Tell me how that works.

Mary:
Yeah, so I have my dog trailer. It's just like a huge wooden box on a big trailer, kind of like a flat trailer. And it's just screwed in and each has boxes in all of them, and then it's got like air holes and everything and they can touch each other through the top of it. They just go in there and it's really dark and really warm and they just love being in there. My sled just slides right on top and you just strap it on and you're good to go.

Anthony Godfrey:
You've got it down, it sounds like. 

Mary:
Yeah, a lot of taking off my sled for sure.

Anthony Godfrey:
So how many in a year would you say?

Mary:
I mean, it varies. I I don't race on Sunday, which is kind of hard because Saturday, Sundays are really easy because they're always two days, at least. So that's like a really easy weekend. So last year I did three. This year I'm only planning two. But yeah, it just varies. I mean, sometimes worlds are in question, sometimes Colorado circuit works out, sometimes it doesn't. So it really just depends. There's not an average I'd say. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Where does it go from here? Do you continue what you've been doing or is there another level you're aspiring to? What's next?

Mary:
I just wanna grow my kennel. I'm probably good with the dogs I have right now until I graduate high school. I mean, I spend hours out here with them every day. I don't know if I could throw another dog on top of that. I mean, I'm trying to get on the journey to World Championships, which is in Canada one year and New Jersey the next. And so that's kind of, my hope is to get up to there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Canada, New Jersey. That's where it alternates.

Mary:
Yeah. It switches off. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Interesting. Now you also talked about touring. Talk to me about that.

Mary:
Yeah. So touring is a lot of where dog sledding money comes from, just because, I mean, you look at it and you're like, wow. You know, dog sledding people aren't like bidding on that. There's not really like a huge market for that, but so touring is really where it comes from. There used to be a really, really, I mean, there still is a problem with ethical touring. But actually, just recently in Park City and like Summit County the kennel I work at got a bill passed that makes sure that everyone's at the same standard. So Utah is actually like just excelling with our standards right now. But yeah, so, I mean, that's just something that everyone really has to do. You can't be a musher really without touring. I mean, I can, because you know, my parents are awesome and they're like, oh yeah, we'll pay for your food. 

Anthony Godfrey:
So the touring is when you take other people on a ride?

Mary:
Right. So it's like my kennel up in Park City that we do it at. We have like our touring dogs and our racing dogs and our racing dogs are, they kinda look like these guys over here that are just super fit and thin. And then the touring dogs are more like Husky looking dogs and they're just, they're just troopers. They'll take you around on a three mile loop and they're really strong. A lot of people will really like it and it's a really good experience for a lot of people.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. That sounds fun. 

Stay with us. When we come back, Mary Christensen will introduce us to some of her sled dogs and tell us what it takes to take care of the pack.

Break:
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Anthony Godfrey:
In the background we've heard a number of dogs, Blue in particular, who has been pining for some attention. I think. You talked about the hours that you spend with dogs every day. Tell me about what it involves just day to day care and training of the dog. 

Mary:
I'd say, if I was just to go the most basic I can, I've got my dogs down well enough that I can do a complete dog job in like 30 minutes. But usually I spend an hour, hour and a half out here at least. You clean up all the poop, that's the main job. I'm a professional poop scooper. You clean out bowls, you give them more water, you exercise 'em, fill up straw, give them food, just let them play. Sometimes I have to get between their arguments and just help them figure it out. There's really never a boring day with the dogs.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's a lot of responsibility because they rely on you every day for all of that. And that's a long list.

Mary:
Yeah. I mean, that's why my parents were really smart in doing this by not just throwing me into the mix. I started with one dog and it was my little puppy and they're like, okay, if you can do this then we'll move up a little bit. So I started with my one dog and once they saw that I was just really in it and I just really wanted to have him grow, I got my second dog and then my third dog and fourth and fifth, and just grew from there. So it doesn't really seem like a responsibility to me anymore. It just seems like, kind of like a privilege to have this.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's exciting. Well, and Blue is really upset that I'm not interviewing him right now. 

Mary:
Oh, he's a diva, that's for sure. He thinks he's all that.

Anthony Godfrey:
I could see that. So let's have you introduce us to the dogs. Maybe I'll have you go in with the dogs and kind of introduce them to us right here by the fence.

Mary:
Yeah. We’ve got three of the dogs out here and then two are put away right now. So I've got my Siberian Husky right here, his name’s Blue. He's the power of the team, but he gets distracted like none other. All the dogs just play into each other and you have to really balance their personalities. And then this one right here is Shelby. She's my newest one. I got her this summer, more like early spring I guess. She's a little older but she kind of has helped teach some of my younger dogs what dog sledding is. She's a Seppala Siberian Sleddog and she's the queen bee. I mean, she just sits on her house and all the dogs respect her. And then this one, who is loud when I'm around, this is Sage. She's really, really tiny and she has the tiniest little voice, I think. But yeah, she's a Seppala Siberian Sleddog too. And she is just a little wiry thing and she’s just, she's crazy. I don't know how to describe her. They all just have the most like intricate personalities that is really kind of a hard balance, trying to figure out where they all fit. Then she has a brother, Tuck, who is put away right now because he didn't really feel like coming out. But yeah, it's just, it's kind of like a puzzle piece. That's each one you have to fit together and find where they like to be, who they like to be hanging out with, what they like to do, what they don't like to do and that kind of stuff.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about where you get these dogs. Are they all pups? It sounds like Blue, you got as an adult. So tell me about how they came into your life.

Mary:
Yeah. Okay. So my first dog I got her when she's a little puppy. I bought her off KSL. That's where all the good dogs come from, I'm convinced. But I bought her from a family that she was too excited for, and I was like, I want an excited dog. I want a dog that's ready to go. And so that's where I got her. And then my next dog, Molly, was abandoned at my kennel and I just clicked with her and I just said, let me take her home. And that was that. She’s just been with me forever. And then Blue, he's had kind of the hardest story of all. When he was a puppy he was really severely malnourished and abused. A neighbor actually came and took him to the pound, which he was then adopted by a really nice family that just couldn't really care for him the way that he needed. So I was like, “oh, sweet’. And it actually was just crazy, the story of getting him because I was planning on getting a completely different dog. Then that night I just felt like that dog wasn't right. And I just texted this random number out of the blue that said he was gone, he was sold. And I was like, I don't know, like this dog just really feels right and I went and met him and he was crazy and it just felt right. But he's the one that I'm probably most proud of because he's come super far. Then Tuck and Sage, I actually bought from a really good friend of mine named Allan Berge in Wyoming and he raises Seppalas, he races 'em. I met him at a race and he usually sells each of his puppies for $600 and he sold both of them to me for $500. So I was really happy about that, because he just likes helping people who are kind of up and coming. Then Shelby, she was another dog that was surrendered at my kennel. And I was like, you know what? I've always wanted a more white dog and she's more white than the other ones. And so I took her home and she's just the best fit.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it's great to hear you talk about your dogs with such passion and love and obviously a deep connection to every single one of them. How long have you been away from them since you got 'em?

Mary:
It's really hard for me to be away from 'em like when we go on trips and stuff. I usually try to bring up to my kennel, but I sometimes have a lot of siblings that I have watch 'em. I'm sure they hate watching 'em cause I'm like, ‘you have to do this and this and this’ and it's in this exact order and I call 'em four times a day. ‘Have you done 'em yet? Have you done them yet? Do they look happy?’ You know? And I have them FaceTime and send pictures cause I just like really worry. My family when we’re on the trip, they're like, ‘no Mary. It's okay. Like they're just dogs.’ But it's hard for me to get away. And I don't really let anyone else go in or even take care of 'em cuz even if I'm like on my deathbed, I'm like, ‘no, you don't understand. I have to feed them.’ 

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it's a lot for you to balance. You're a junior at Bingham right now. Is that right? That's a lot of work to be a high school junior and take care of these dogs and to keep this hobby up. But obviously it's a passion for you. So when you talk to people about this, do people at school know about this first of all? And how do they react when they find out that you're a musher? 

Mary:
There's a lot of different reactions. At school I don't really ever hear my name. I just hear Mar-dog. That's kind of my nickname. It's on my SBO jacket. I mean it's got everything. Everyone just calls me Mar-dog. So usually that's kind of a dead giveaway. But when I tell people who really don't have any idea it's either usually like, ‘oh, I don't believe you, like that's a lie’ or they just wanna see pictures. And I'm like, oh, don't worry, I have millions.

Anthony Godfrey:
They wanna see the receipts.

Mary:
Yeah, exactly. People are like, no you don't, I actually do. But yeah. I try to bring it up kind of naturally, because it's a little overwhelming when I'm like, guess what guys, I can talk about this for three hours. Let me tell you about each one of my dogs.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I am a dog person. We have three dogs at my house right now, but nothing like you do. Nothing like the work that you put in and I admire it. Now Mar-dog. Thank you for letting us talk with you. And boy, it's great to meet you and the dogs and I'm just so impressed with your level of dedication and the passion that you bring. These dogs are lucky to be in your life.

Mary:
Thank you. That means a lot to me. 

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Well, take care and best of luck this year.

Mary:
Yeah. Thank you.

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