Henny Nights
Henny Nights
From Thekla to Spring ft Michael Jones
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I’m joined by the one and only with Mike Jones talking about CRCP’s past, present and future during this homecoming season. From Thekla Ave to Spring Ave with love.
Follow Mike:
IG: thefreerootssociety
Register for CRCP’s Homecoming:
https://cardinalritterprep.regfox.com/ritter-alumni-homecoming-2024
Blxst ft Larry June - Keep Calling
https://music.apple.com/us/album/keep-calling-feat-larry-june/1671255794?i=1671256448
Cardinal Ritter School History and Transformation
Speaker 1yo , what's good ? Welcome back to another episode of the henny nights podcast . As always , I'm your host , your brother jay white . First things first , make sure you subscribe to the podcast . Wherever you're listening to this at , whether it's's on Apple Podcasts , google Podcasts , pandora , spotify wherever you're listening to this podcast at , make sure you subscribe to it , make sure you rate the show , make sure you share it with your people and , as always , I appreciate the support .
Speaker 1Next , the merch for the show , the Henny Nights merch . That's in the link tree in the show notes , so you click that link . It'll take you down to all the Henny Nights related stuff . It'll take you to the merch store where you can get your tees . It's about to get cold outside so you can get your hoodies . You can get crewnecks as well . And again , if you got merch or you need bro mike jones , crcp legend in here , crcp legend in here , so I wanted to get him on for one just to talk about . You know , this is the st louis podcast , so we're gonna talk about Cardinal Ritter , but you know he's doing a lot of great and dope things at the school and he can speak to a lot of the history of the school .
Speaker 1So first and foremost , bro , I appreciate you for coming on . It's always been love man , so I appreciate you , bro .
Speaker 3I always love man , appreciate you having me , yeah , man absolutely love what you're doing so are you .
Speaker 1I think you were a senior when I was a freshman .
Speaker 2Yeah , you were a freshman . Yeah , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1Okay , cool , cool . So I want to start with because we know we were spoiled . We got all four years in the new building over there off North Spring . But for everybody that you know wants a line , you know always a line , type , vibe or whatever but there's a deep , deep reverence for DECLA .
Speaker 1Yeah , absolutely . And so you know with the , you know your current role with putting together the homecoming and you know alumni , getting them to come back in the scholarship situation and just providing a totally different experience at Cardinal Raider now than you know when me and you were going there . First you gotta talk about the history . So what is it about that building on Thecla ? That's just like it holds such such a deep , you know , regard for y'all you know , in the history of the school yeah , uh , black folks love a struggle story .
Speaker 3Uh , uh , nah , thecla was . Thecla was kind of like . Uh , the Cardinal Ritter on Thecla was kind of like the corner riddle on Thecla was kind of like the roads that grew from concrete right so . I spent three years on Thecla , so we opened a new school . I still call it a new school right , right right but we opened a new school my senior year .
Speaker 3So with Thecla we didn't have heat , we didn't have air , we didn't have a football field , the gym . You couldn't pull the bleachers all the way out the window . They had these three or four big windows up against the wall . You couldn't close them . So if you had a home game in February , it was like you had to wait for folks to get in the gym before it heated up . We didn't have any kind of security . The doors weren't really locked like that . Um , it wasn't really any computers in there . Um , betcher had like a little , a little .
Speaker 3We had a keyboard in class but they don't even have that , no more , all right uh , and betcher had like a little , a little computer lab off it , off by his office or off by his classroom , um , so , and that's just framing it right . So if you think of like you know , like , like lean on me type of deal , not from like a graffiti standpoint , we absolutely took care of it , but we just didn't have a lot .
Speaker 3It was a . It started as a school , a all black school put in the north side , so it was kind of just forgotten about by the .
Speaker 3Barstown Institute and whoever else , but in that . So I'm just framing that because the story in that is it was one of the best private schools in the state . It was at one point , the only school in the country that was 100% African-American as 100% college rep accredited it was . You know we still win the state championships , such as basketball . You know we still send the cats D1 , d2 , all that . And then , because it was kind of forgotten about , it was black on purpose . So you know , whenever I tell people like Cardinal Ritter is where I read autobiography of Malcolm X , is where I read Richard Wright , where I read James Baldwin , where I read Nikki Giovanni , where I read Toni Morrison and it wasn't an African-American literature class , it was woven into the curriculum , right .
Speaker 3So we're taking biology and in biology we're learning about how our ancestors brought over like remedies and like inoculation for like smallpox and this and whatever . So they had like like they were the , the inventors of the original vaccines , right . So we're learning that , not in black studies , I'm learning that in biology , right ? Um , so so we had this . It was . It was a very special experience that all of these beautiful things and beautiful people that are going on and going on and do these amazing things all come from this school . Uh , that physically , uh , was , was , was , was shut aside or like put aside , um , so I think just being able to start . We had a heat schedule .
Speaker 1Y'all don't know about it no , no , no , yeah , so for the first , because we didn't have earth .
Speaker 3so for the first month of school we got out at 12 o'clock Because it would get so hot in there you couldn't stay in there .
Speaker 3So we had , so like we could wear polos the first month of school instead of like a certain time . So just being in that area and having that experience it just kind of made y'all closer Because you really were . You know , we was all we had . You know what I'm saying . We in this , we in Walnut Park , which has a lot of had a lot of stuff going on , but here we are , we kind of this , we kind of this oasis Again . We went in football games Our sophomore year . The football team was undefeated . We ain't we ain't have a football field . We played our home games at Herbert Hoover . You know what I'm saying . So just being able to have all this greatness and all this excellence and all this love come out of such a place that just couldn't find the resources , yeah , I think you know kind of a .
Speaker 3I'm Greek , so it's kind of like a pledging process .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , yeah , absolutely For sure . So when y'all they told y'all y'all were getting , we were getting a new building and we're gonna be moving , now , looking at it in hindsight , it's a brilliant move , right , because you're exposed to the arts , you know you're right there by slew , you're by um , you know music on the intersection was just on washington avenue . You know , this weekend when y'all are hearing this or whatever , and you're around all these art centric and exposing you to different things . But you know , when you're coming from the environment of , like you said , being in , uh , in walnut park and whatnot , and you're like we move into the city , we're going over there by the fox and the symphony for y'all , how did that make y'all feel ? Was it like something like he's like you know what ? Okay , this might be something . It was like man , we good where we at . You know , because you get , you're in that environment , you get used to being in that environment .
Speaker 3You know what I'm saying so , nah , we definitely wasn't like we good where we at nah man it was , it was well , we didn't even think we was gonna get to be in it oh , okay , cause it was supposed to be opening like 02 or something like that so really , class was supposed to get it . Okay , the class of 03 for real was supposed to get it .
Speaker 1But it just you know construction you know , whatever , whatever , yeah , yeah , yeah , delays it .
Speaker 3So we weren't even sure we were going to get to be in it for real and then it was crazy . So what's wild is , when we moved into it , compared to where you compared to where it looks like now , it really wasn't a whole lot in there Facts , but we came from such a physically limiting building that , you know , we thought we had moved into John Burroughs . You know what . I'm saying so , like we going in the gym , we looked at the parquet wood Right right Having a weight room .
Speaker 3Like having a weight room was crazy , the weight room they got now is nuts .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 3I'm going gonna get to that . Yeah , but we had like a compared to weight room .
Speaker 3Now we had like a little closet , but I'll tell you we were like oh , it's a weight room , you know what I'm saying . So just having that , um , having air conditioning , um , you know , we , we , we kind of knew it was , it was something special and we knew that . You know , we were blessed to have that opportunity and we only got the opportunity because of all the sacrifices that uh former students and faculty made , to make carton of ritter uh itself , because it didn't it just its reputation , that's all it had . Right , making the carton of ritter reputation , uh , such a a1 pristine thing that folks you know thought we deserved in new school .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , for sure . And being talking as one of the spoiled ones , you feel me being in there all four years . I don't think it's like we had the biggest freshman class at that time I don't think that .
Speaker 1I think they just topped that like this class yeah but the class that I came in came in where was the biggest freshman class , you know period into that time or whatever , and it definitely was . It was kind of segwaying into from the to from me , the traditional style , like you know chalkboard textbooks , blase , blase to like technology and making sure we were , we're up on that .
Speaker 1Social media really bubbled over you know , like I think around my , my sophomore junior year or whatnot , but we were , you know , with it like you were saying . You know the curriculum itself . It wasn't just tailored because y'all are black students . This is what we feel like black students should be learning . It was just woven into it so so seamlessly . You know , we , we had calculus and algebra and all of these things .
Speaker 3Yeah , all of that , all of that um , I'm missing .
Speaker 1I'm forgetting the name off the top of my head right now , but uh , uh , I think not hannibal . Um , never mind anyway . But like you said , betcher , you know making us right , right , right it wasn't just like something to get by .
Speaker 1You know you had to make three , four revisions to this , this legendary , you know , term paper or whatnot . Um , and mr fray , like you know , breaking down sitting structures , and you know why . Why are you using the words that you're using in the structure , in the manner you're putting them in , like you know it was exposing you . It was challenging too , you know it wasn't .
Speaker 1You just couldn't skate by just because you know they like you no , you know , you were , you were one of the favorites or whatever you had to put forth the work , but in that , like you said , community was a big , was a big part of that , like we're . I think all the classes , for the most part you know , are still tight and still close to this day . You know you spend four years every single day , monday through friday , waking up with these people and experiencing these different things and small .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , it's small on top of that it's small on top of it all walks of life , though , because people uh , shout out to my , my girl , taylor , one of my close friends . She was coming in from eureka all the way down there to the to the city , you know , but she , her family , and she wanted to have that experience of being around you know , peers and things like that . And then you fast forward to what it looks like now today . Yeah , it is taking on a life of his love of his own , like the things that I see them doing , like you said , the gym and then celebrating the achievements and just being voices for the community and speaking up for themselves .
Speaker 1You know , with injustices and you know , you know being more involved with political things and you know it's just like you said , it is literally a oasis . So when you made the decision to come back and for the alumni thing , you know , for the alumni situation or whatnot , what were some things where you're like , okay , they're kind of they can do this better or what can I bring ? Because you have , you have a background of like putting life into things you know , into your projects , you know , just outside of that . So what was that like for you ?
Speaker 3yeah , oh , so
Building Alumni Engagement at Lincoln
Speaker 3man shout out . I want to give a huge shout out to eric cooper . Uh , eric cooper at the time was director of admissions and director of marketing for corner . Um , talented , talented , brilliant dude . Um , he's not a head of school at St Louis Catholic Academy . Um , so cool . And I have friends . Uh , shout out to his wife , jazz me and jazz , real good friends too . Uh , so Cooper had approached me actually . Cooper approached me , um , approached me actually . Coop approached me , um , and he was like yo , like I want to get the alumni involved , but I'm not alone .
Speaker 3Coop with the east side , yeah , yeah and then he went to lincoln so , but he's building . Like I said , shout out to coop and bk and they're building the lincoln young alumni program . Uh , so coop was like man , I want to get this .
Speaker 1I want to get this popping like cardinal readership function , like an hbcu which we've all said alumni have all said before , and I even hesitate to say that it's just like , because I don't want to , you know , pigeonhole it to like , oh , you know the HBCU experience , but it is legit family . Yeah , that's what I'm saying .
Speaker 3And when we say HBCU , it's excellence and it's black .
Speaker 1Yeah , for sure .
Speaker 3So you know what I'm saying . So my man was like , you know , would you be willing ? And at first I was like , nah , I ain't gonna hold you , bro . I got so much going , you know what I'm saying . Like I just really got the time and he circled back around and asked me again , didn't beg me , but just asked me again . And I was like man , if I got a dude who's not even alone telling me Because the role didn't exist . So he was like I want to , like I'm picturing you in this role . So I was like , all right , man , I'll take the meeting , so me him .
Speaker 3President Armstead Shout out to Teresa Martinez . President Armstead is also class of 91 . So she's alone . So we sat down and we talked for like two hours and so the conclusion I was able to voice was that , you know , alumni want to feel like they can come back home , right ? So like we do walk around this , courtney Ritter . Pride , this , courtney Ritter , you know the sense of pride , the sense of togetherness . Pride , this partner-ritter . You know the sense of pride , the sense of togetherness , the sense of unity . But it always has to happen in our own interpersonal relationships , right ? So when it comes to the school , we didn't really have an on-ramp for alumni right , so it wasn't really like you could call up there and find somebody .
Speaker 2Yeah , right , right , right .
Speaker 3You know what I'm saying . So whoever works in schools y'all know this like everybody wears a million hats . So to take on the alumni task , it just wasn't fair to the people up there . But for alumni , they want to come up and they want to donate , they want to take tours , they want merch , they want this , they want that , they want to feel connected to the school . So we talked a lot about that just kind of being that on-ramp , and so for me personally , we had the meeting . It was a great meeting , and then they were kind of starting to talk salary and I actually stopped them . I was like I don't want to be paid for this . They were like why ? And I was like , well , you know , like you know why . And I was like , well , you know . So the first reason was I want it to be more than just a job .
Speaker 1Yeah , right , right .
Alumni Engagement at Cardinal Ritter
Speaker 3So , when it becomes a job , people take shortcuts . People , you know , feel resentful about being there . People feel like they're not getting paid enough money . People feel like you know what I'm saying , like , oh , you know , know , I can't wait to get up out of here , right , right . So I was like you know , I want , I don't plan to be in this position forever , you know , really not even two , two too much longer , um , so I want to always be somebody to volunteer . So when they're up there , they know they up there to work , they're up there because they want to be up there . Yeah , um , so that that was that . And then too , you know , I didn't work for myself for years at this point , so I can't , I ain't fed out a pto slip and I don't know right , I don't know how long . So I like , bro , I don't know that's what he was really hitting .
Speaker 3That I'm good you know , I , I've , I've been blessed to be able to , you know , be successful at certain stuff and do certain things , and you know that allows me the flexibility to , you know , pour into something like corner ridder , right , um . So so the the main thing , my main focus that whole first year , was just getting alumni up in the school . Whether I'm giving a tour , whether we doing a basketball game , whether we doing homecoming , whether we doing this , whether we doing that , want y'all to feel like y'all can come up here anytime , look around , feel . You know I'm saying feel like family , people gonna see you , people gonna greet you . Um , you know , if you need something , if you need to use the facilities for something , uh , we got the weight room for alumni for free , so that that was huge for me . Uh , just to put that good , that good faith , and like y'all can come up here , this is still home .
Speaker 3Yeah , so it's not just , it's not just a memory , yeah , yeah so even if you didn't go there , because a lot of them went to thekla .
Speaker 1So this is still something you can come up in and enjoy an experience yeah , and I , when we , when I came last year , obviously , to the game which was a vibe in itself or whatnot um , previously I had kind of heard those same sentiments of like you know , you got the old , you know the old school versus , versus the new school , and even with me going to the new school , like I stayed in town to go to go to school because , news break , I wasn't the best when I was at corner , like I had stuff I gravitated towards which was obviously like writing and literature . So , like Mr Betcher , you know , mr fray , they playeda huge you know role in that for me and whatnot . But even after , like we , we graduated , yeah , and we , you know , when you , when you get people come back , people come back in town for various reasons and we would go up to the school , whatnot . It was kind of like what's happening up here .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , it's kind of like what you're doing up here and like things kind of like pass you by and it's like yo I got like memories and like my , my friends that I made here are like family yeah to me , you know and so , like you don't want to just come back for , like you know , mr henderson's , you know , uh , homegoing celebration and things like that , you know .
Speaker 1Or you know you , you want to actually go up there and talk to , like , a miss hall . Go up there and actually talk to uh , uh , not a blades betcher , or you want to go up there and talk to uh I'm forgetting his name right now , but is he's ? But he's one of the figures that you think of when you , you know , go to carter and ritter and stuff like that . And so I feel like you did a really great job of helping curate that .
Speaker 1Like last year it was somebody , it was every decade up there for the most part , you know it was crazy to see like it was a true homecoming where you got to eat with vendors and you know food and just the on the field experience you had mugs on the field .
Speaker 1Yeah , like it was really dope , so I want to , you know , give you kudos to that for that , for , you know , putting that and creating that environment . And then you had stuff that was outside the game too . Yeah , you know which ? We would definitely be in the brunch this year . I wanted to
Cardinal Ritter Homecoming Event Schedule
Speaker 1put that out there . But when you look at the things that they're doing now , how does that , how does that make you feel in terms of , like , the student body ?
Speaker 3and administration . It's uh , I , I be talking heavy , boy , you can't . You can't tell me nothing about real I love it . Man , I'll be talking heavy and I , I know , so I'll get this out of the way , because I know sports and with every school sports is the headline factor , right .
Speaker 3So if y'all are winning . You know it makes everything that much more exciting . So you know , four state championships in boys basketball in five years . Football team that lost a game in three years . Girls track has won four straight state championships . Girls volleyball won a district championship last year . We just started a wrestling program and two kids with the state , so so we have all this athletic success that we can post . Uh , which is , which is , which is phenomenal , and those kids work really hard my daughter's one of them . Um , so those kids work , work , work extremely hard . Uh , what you might not know if you're not in the school is just the diversity of talent . If you ever go on Carton Ritter , my favorite part of giving a tour is the upstairs hallway because all of that is student artwork . Every time I tell people that , I get the same reaction . Every time they be like for real .
Speaker 1It was me . We went on a tour . When I came up there , what was it ?
Speaker 2Literally last year Shout out to .
Speaker 1Geron . Shout out to Gmo His class and whatnot , and you took me up there and it was like you said . It was literally artwork that was done by students and it looked great .
Speaker 3Yeah , all of it . So you got it's a whole gallery . So you got that . We got a debate team that kills it . We got a mock trial team that went up to state last year . We got a STEM club . We got a stock market club . We got a robotics thing jumping off . We got a social justice club moving in our moment . So shout out to them . We still got the brotherhood going . We got the sisterhood going . Scholarships are crazy and not just athletic . They get $36 , $39 million a year in scholarships for the senior class , but our senior class be like 65 kids . So , yeah , keep that in mind too . It ain't 300 of us walking around right , right , right .
Speaker 3You know we're talking full ride after full ride after full ride after full ride . So you know just the academic um , just the academic and just extracurricular brilliance that happens um , I'm always so , so thoroughly impressed um , with a lot of the kids and I'm always , um , I'm always low-key , honored . I kind of kind of I'm up there enough to where I've kind of ingratiated myself . Um patty said , they call me onk , so I'll be like , but it's cool because I I really do um revere a lot of those kids . Man , they , they are , they are better versions of us , which is what you want you know you always want them to , to to be higher and go harder .
Speaker 3So , uh , you know , the fact that I'm able to just , you know , be looked at as somebody that they can rock with or somebody can uh tell news to I had a couple kids come in and tell me where they got accepted into college , and just for me to be part of that excitement , um , you know , it's definitely a blessing yeah , for sure .
Speaker 1So what will give you allow you to give them the full slate for next week ? Yeah , next week . Well , no , it's a full week , yeah , it's a full week of stuff . So , for those of y'all who are listening to this because it'll obviously reach people that are familiar with the show , but it obviously reach people that you familiar with the show , but it obviously reached people that you know are familiar with Mike as well Go ahead and give them , like , the full slate of what they can expect for homecoming .
Speaker 3So so yeah . So next week is our homecoming . The theme is called school day , so if you ever seen the Spike Lee joint , like everything's kind of themed after that . So Monday we'll have our . We got our open house , so we call it reorientation . So alumni can come . If you're pre-registered , you can pick up your wristband and your shirt and then you can take a tour of the school led by student ambassadors . I gave the tour last year , which I ain't got no problem doing , but you know , I really want that bridge to be connected , so I really want you to . When I had the meeting , a young lady gave me a tour . She was head of the family . I can't remember the baby girl name , but along with being impressed by the school , I was really impressed by her . I was just really , really , really impressed by her . Who she was , what she was about ? Just a dope young lady . So I want others to have that experience . So that's on Monday . Tuesday we got a car wash , a fundraiser . It'll be at Elite Detailing . Shout out , mike .
Speaker 1G Shout out .
Speaker 3Mike Shout out . Mike G so , elite Detailing so , and brought CBC in the building to make it happen . So now my boy Mike , so they'll come up there . If you come up there , get your car washed , proceeds will go to our marching band . So we got a band . We're growing now .
Speaker 1Okay .
Speaker 3Dope , dope , dope . We got Mr Smotherson , a Lincoln alum HBCU guy , getting them right . So the money will go towards that . So that's on Tuesday . Wednesday is game night . So it's like a chill , set , kick back , fall through . We call it fourth period because that's when we used to eat lunch . So come up , man , in the evening it's BYOB , byof , we'll have the games . Bring whatever games you want to bring , but we'll have games . So you know , spades , uno , domino , you know , we getting to it for the culture , jingle , scrabble , whatever you want to play , we're going to have . We're going to have light appetizers . We're going to have my man , my bro , dj Doss , spinning you know what I'm saying in the background . So we'll have some music for the ambiance to be there . So that's cool music . So the ambiance will be there . So that's cool . Thursday we're going to have a yard show , mainly for the students , but feel free to stop by too . The D9 will come , set out some strolls , do their thing , be able to talk to the kids , just get the kids that kind of experience . So that'll be love .
Speaker 3Friday , of course , is the tailgate . So come , man , we got folks . You know , come kick it . That's really all I can say , man , come kick it . We got folks , folks on Bring Grills .
Speaker 3I know 04 Grilling , I think 94 Grilling , 83 set out something crazy last year so they supposed to come back . We got Mav Vendors , so it'd be a bunch of vendors selling all kind of stuff , all black . So support black businesses , they'll be out there . This is for if you're not even alarmed . I just come kick it . We're gonna have plenty of food , we're gonna be hospitable . Like I said , vendors they coming out , they'll be out there . Some , probably some , of your favorites . We got about 60 registered , so so you know that's going to be crazy . I made the vendor registration free just because you know I wanted to be community impact , because partnerhood is all about community impact . So we got a chance to help out all these black businesses . We're going to do it . We play Live for Life . We're going to dog walk them , but shout out . I love Live for Life . Shout out to Live for Life . Yeah , we ain't lost a game in three years , though it ain't going to happen again .
Speaker 1It ain't going to happen again . Not expecting it to happen again .
Speaker 3Yeah , yeah yeah , and so Saturday we got our Love , not Brunch , which if y'all was there last year , y'all saw pictures . It's all the way over again .
Speaker 1So you know it's a soul food brunch If y'all rock with me at yeah .
Speaker 3So it's the same menu , so we'll have all the breakfast food little waffles , potatoes , bacon , sausage , all that kind of stuff . We'll have sweet potatoes , mac and cheese , catfish , fried chicken . It's buffet style , so it's pretty much all you can eat . So you know , definitely fall through . And then Saturday night we got our party actually downstairs from where we are now Okay , so fall through , rock with that again , that's not alumni exclusive and yeah , and then you know that's the week and then y'all need to leave me alone for a while .
Shared Memories of Cardinal Ritter
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , yeah , he's like I'm done .
Speaker 3This is a busy time for you . For sure it's a crazy time , but yeah , man .
Speaker 1So I'll make sure to put the registration info , the link for that , for anybody that wants to , you know , pop up .
Speaker 1You know , he's opening the doors , like you said . So I'll make sure to put that in the show notes for y'all to you know . Check out next week , because it's going to be a good time for sure , and I'm looking forward to it . We did the tailgate last year Friday game or whatnot so we want to do the brunch this year , so you know . You know mugs got kids and stuff like that , so like we had to pick and choose what we was going to pop up to or not , so for sure but the tailgates kid friendly .
Speaker 1So so if y'all if y'all can't make a decision if y'all , I heard word .
Speaker 3I can't confirm yet , but I heard , I heard word It'll be bouncy houses in play .
Speaker 1Okay , so cool , so there'll be something for them to do . Yep , yep , yep . So uh , yeah , before we get you out of here , give me your favorite moment or memory from the Thackler building and then a favorite memory from the new building .
Speaker 3Oh , um . And then a favorite memory from the new building , oh , um , favorite memory from Thackler , uh a favorite memory I could talk about .
Speaker 3I'm gonna say that you can actually talk about uh , probably the year after , uh , one state , not the year , the year we won state . The year we won state , the Lunatics came . Okay , I was a junior but they played the seniors . So Nelly Kiwan , murphy , lee Slowdown , ali , who's actually an alum , pulled up and hoop . So that was love . Also , that 10-0 football team sophomore year , that was crazy . And even , just to , even , and god , really just to , and y'all will remember this if y'all was on theclet man just sitting on , just sitting on on them back stoops , like just sitting on them back steps , man , like that was . It wasn't really much uh , like a one thing , as much as it was just like just being able to kick it , just uh , you know , being with your people , um , yeah , so like that was love . Um , on spring , on spring , on spring , great , getting up out of there you was tapped out by the time you moved on there .
Speaker 1Yeah , you know I'm playing ball .
Speaker 3I was student body president the whole nine , so , uh , so probably walking into school the first day and it's smelling new yeah , like everything , like everything smells new .
Speaker 1It was different . Yeah , it was different yeah everything smelled new .
Speaker 3and then , you know , just graduated . I remember walking in the gym , I remember Mr Bischoff saying you know , please hold your applause until you know , whatever , whatever , whatever . And then walking in the gym and just black folk , graduation . You know , everybody starts screaming nobody follow that , yeah , exactly so but yeah , man , I mean just , it's so many fond memories but it's like day to day stuff like again shout out to Mr Betcher yeah his class was a trip , yeah , always , always man shout out to Mr Henderson really had a huge impact in making me who I am today .
Speaker 3that's what I was thinking of . Mr Henderson really had a huge impact in making me who I am today .
Speaker 1That's what I was thinking of , mr Bischoff , with the Berks , yeah .
Speaker 3Michael , why am I writing you a pass to class ?
Speaker 1Raspiest voice ever , but he meant business , but he cared about you .
Speaker 3But I cared about you . I'm going to tell you a true story . When I launched my lawn care service , he's my first client .
Speaker 2Okay , he was the first person to hit me up .
Speaker 3Nice lawn care service . He's my first client . Okay , he's the first person to hit me up . Nice , literally he hit me up on on facebook . I didn't know he's on facebook . He's scared . Yeah , he was like this is richard bischoff and you know I'm looking to have lawn service and I know he gave me the business just because you know , he knew you . Yeah , so just you know , talk about people caring about you like that's , that's . You know , that's 20 years later yeah for sure yeah , for sure , yeah like .
Speaker 1And then they remember you too . Yeah , like as many people as walked through there you know , mr henderson , you know , after a few , you know being away for a few years , recognized me . Mr bischoff , miss reed , mr , mr , like you said , mr fralick , uh , miss spain . Yeah , you know miss spain still locked in , so so it's crazy .
Speaker 3So so spain is still there yeah oh , and we had , we had parent teacher conference there last year , so my daughter's a senior , yeah , yeah right , and so she had spain for the first time oh , really , yeah , and so , uh , and she , she , she did well , but we sat down at parent teacher conference . There's me , my daughter and miss spain and , uh , I was like man . It's crazy and she's like what I'm like man the fact I'm sitting here .
Speaker 3She was like yeah , she was like for her , because that ain't her first rodeo . She was like it's crazy every time .
Speaker 1Yeah , so she was like , even because miss ain't her first rodeo .
Speaker 3She was like it's crazy every time . Yeah , yeah , yeah . So she was like , even because , miss Payne , her first year was my freshman year , oh , okay , yeah . So she , I think my class , she was really locked into because it was her first year . So just being able to like have that legacy is that's something else , something I want .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1I'll cherish for sure , all four years too . Both of y'all went through all four years . That's what's up For me , from one freshman year , for sure , the student-faculty game . I actually got to play in that game , which was crazy or whatnot . So that was a crazy thing . And another memory for me , I mean , I kind , I kind of like was all over the place . You know , it was in the damn corollaries with ms jackson or whatever as an excuse to like get out of a class , but it was actually a class or whatever . So , yeah , the and talent shows , um shoot , like I said , my boys you know still my boys to this day , just being at the table and actually joning on each other yeah , and getting into the to the point where , like they was like , yeah , if we catch y'all joning like y'all , it's detention , like it's automatic but see , y'all class , y'all class was , y'all class was wild yeah
Speaker 3and not and not in a bad way , y'all was . I just remember y'all being characters , y'all characters , y'all was super y'all being characters bro . Y'all were characters , y'all were super energetic .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 3It was like the energy and it wasn't like just because y'all freshmen , it was like y'all class in general , y'all were like gremlins .
Speaker 2It was like , if you get them , like If you feed them a little bit , if you feed them , they go crazy .
Speaker 3So just having all of y'all just running around , like you , like I said , legit like Gerard AC , stephon Chubbs .
Speaker 1Yeah , facts , yeah , nah , just , and it's so crazy now because , like you said , we had that energy now . But you look at us now , you wouldn't even be able to tell .
Speaker 3I mean , but y'all were never . Y'all were never . I'm not surprised . You know what I'm saying Like it wasn't , like I said when y'all was all over the place I don't mean it in no bad way , like y'all was just characters , like y'all were confident , like y'all were a lot of freshmen come in trying to figure it out , like trying to . You know lay in the cut , you know figure out . I don't know if I want to like nah , y'all came in and like this is us .
Speaker 3Yeah , like you know , like , like we in here , we're gonna we're gonna do everything . We're gonna be in the talent show . We're gonna all y'all freestyling all the time .
Speaker 1That's what I remember yeah , yeah , all the time by the trash can , yeah , all of y'all freestyling all the time yeah just y'all .
Speaker 3Y'all were , uh , I'm proud of y'all man yeah , man , it's , it's love man .
Speaker 1And then like everybody's , for everybody , not even not even saying this to like exaggerate everybody is doing well yeah like , and whether they're in medical field , law , entrepreneurs . Public engagement , like everybody is , is flourishing and you can attribute that to like the building blocks of being at , you know , carter river you never , bro .
Speaker 3Everywhere you go , even in the higher up you go , the more likely you are you're going to find somebody that's in a long yeah . So I done been in rooms and like you can even tell , like you can kind of look at somebody and be like I feel like he went to Ridge , yeah , and then you get to know him . You're like , hey , I'm class of 85 . And I'll be like I'm class of 2004 .
Speaker 3So the thing they do to y'all they do . So I met Cori Bush . Okay , cori Bush is 90 , don't give me the line 90 , maybe 93-ish , I think . But I met Cori Bush and so you know , I got introduced to her and so I was like , like man it's always good to meet a fellow alum , he was like , oh , you Ritter . I'm like yeah , so he was like I seem like what year ? I'm like 2004 , and so all old Ritter does is they do the math in their head .
Speaker 3They're trying to figure out where you went to school and so like she did that , so I was like no , I spent three on faculty . She was like oh okay , but I was like , but I was like , oh , you calling Ritter for real though all the OG's do they mad ?
Speaker 1they all look up and try to figure out figure out where the school is , cause they look at the new campus and be like what the you know or ?
Speaker 3not , but you know that's one of my things like I always wanted . I do want . That's one thing I always preach to older Ritter , thackler , ritter . I should say but you know , y'all had the experience we y'all , y'all , deserve to have . Like you know , I'm saying like , like I , I we done like we had . We had to do what we had to do yeah now y'all get to do stuff and that's a test . That's what you want to happen .
Speaker 1You already want the next leave it better yep to you .
Speaker 3You know , have it a lot less hard than like we had it . So you know , like I said , even like I said , the new weight room .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , yeah right .
Speaker 3I'm so proud of them , like I'm so proud that we got our football team right now 22 starters 13 of them hold Division I scholarships off . So just all the things they're able to do , all the money we got school buses now . Just all the things they're able to do , all the money we got school buses now yeah , yeah , definitely they had that .
Speaker 3We was catching Metro so just so you know when you look at it . I always tell people don't look at it like oh , they got like . Look at it like oh , they got this , like cool , you know because you did your part to make sure . You know absolutely and they come back .
Speaker 1This is what comes from here ?
Speaker 3yeah and come back and tell your story . They'll listen to you and I'm living proof . They ask me stuff all the time . They , when they got the old yearbooks and looking for me and they for a while they started calling me Mr you Got Served because of what you know how we used to wear .
Speaker 1we had braids and all types of stuff , big clothes , big hoes , big jerseys , headbands , yeah , yeah yeah , but they'll sit and they'll listen .
Speaker 2They're all good kids .
Speaker 3They'll sit , they'll listen , they'll ask questions and they'll give you that . They will give you that OG respect . Yeah , for sure .
Speaker 1Definitely . Well , man , go ahead and tell them where they can hit you up .
Speaker 3Anywhere . Dog for real Phone ring . I listen close . They money call . I'm following through , yes sir .
Speaker 3So I'm on Facebook mainly my name , michael Jones . I've got Instagram , the Free Roots Society . That's also a mutual aid project , so we do fundraising for the community there . If y'all need your grass cut , y'all need fall cleanup , y'all need winter snow removal , clayton Park lawn care , y'all need mobile detailing , hit up us at Elite Detailing that's me and Mike Joint . Shout out to them . If you need what did I say ? If you need project management , third , son management I got that popping . If you need help running your hotel and or restaurant , jones Hospitality Consulting , everything . If you're looking for a place to stay , I got some rental properties and some land acreage going on there , just acquired a cleaning company , so look out for that to drop . Got a candle company dropping this winter as well . We also got a property management group . So any of y'all real estate developers or investors out there , if y'all need y'all stuff ran a line care , cut , house , clean out , general maintenance we got a company for that as well . So yeah , man I'm , you know everything we get literally everything , man .
Speaker 3So yeah , I'm , you know Everything , literally everything , man , I'm blessed to be able to . I'm blessed to win more than I lose .
Speaker 1Yeah , for sure , for sure , man . So again , I'll make sure to put the registration info for the homecoming in there , and then also his social media handles , because you heard literally everything you need . If you're serious about it , will will tap into tap into it with you .
Speaker 3Yeah , he helped getting your stuff off the ground . Whatever holler at me . Um uh , I do life coaching too , so business consultant , all that kind of stuff , yes sir , yes , sir , well , appreciate you sliding through , bro , man , this is .
Speaker 1I was been waiting to get you on and I know this is the perfect time , with everything that's going on , before you have to really really put your head down and lock in real quick . So , yeah , man , make sure y'all .
Speaker 2Tap in with him until next time . I'll holler at y'all later peace .
Global Ambition and Confidence
Speaker 2Never heard of this watch , but I still got a cop . I just touched down through a surprise party for cops Back in the field . You know I'm smarter to plot . I ain't even checking the scoreboard . I stopped what for ? Double up on this world tour , then drop again . Why you looking for a block to spin International blast ? You can't box me in A circle full of elites . You cannot be them . But a lot of folk in position , guess I gotta be him . If it's real , let it be known . We ain't gotta pretend Long as we got respect . We ain't gotta be friends . You know , I just don't sleep . I embody the trend .
Speaker 2Maybe that be the reason she could call it . She could call it again . Keep callin' , keep ballin' . Baby I'm standin' on business , I'm flawless , baby , my diamonds still hitting they flawless . Yeah , they keep calling . Keep on balling . Baby I'm standing on business , I'm flawless , baby my diamonds still hitting they flawless .