Speaker 1:

Well, welcome back to the podcast. We are honored to have Paul Luna, who is the president and CEO of the Helios Education Foundation with us this afternoon. Paul, welcome.

Paul Luna:

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here and look forward to our conversation.

Speaker 1:

Well, thanks for taking the time. I think we'd love to start with maybe just talking a little bit about yourself, tell us about yourself, and then maybe something about you that you wouldn't find if we got on the bio or your bio online wouldn't be there.

Paul Luna:

Well, I think first I would say, and again, appreciate the time and appreciate what you're doing and the opportunity to come talk about the work and especially the work we do together. But I guess I would begin by just sharing that I'm a proud Arizona native. I'm a third generation Arizonan, born and raised 80 miles east of here in a small copper mining town in Miami, Arizona. Those of us who come from those small copper mining towns feel a deep connected ... almost so they say when you're from those mining communities, you come up from the earth and from the ground of this state.

And what I would say is really what the best of what the state of Arizona has to offer, being part of that copper industry, that mining industry, and being part of a community that caress deeply about what we do as a state and what we do and what we produce and how generations of, I know my family were predominantly copper miners and they leave a legacy that then individuals like myself and children or students of our generation are the legacy to many generations of hardworking Arizonans who helped to build this state.

Speaker 1:

A lot of leaders come out of that area as well.

Paul Luna:

Yeah, that's fair to say. You think of people like Congressman Ed Pastor, Ronnie Lopez, who was a chief of staff to Governor Bruce Babbitt, Alfredo Gutierrez. My wife's from Superior, Arizona, so there's another rival community.

Speaker 1:

Go to that later.

Paul Luna:

Yeah, and so those deep-seated community spirits of both engagement and support, but also conflict and rivalries on the sports field. But also, again, I think the recognition of state of Arizona being broad and diverse and both urban and rural, and we get to be individuals that represent that vast history of Arizona.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And you mentioned your family for generations was in copper mining. Paul took a different turn. How did that happen? What happened?

Paul Luna:

Well, it kind of ties to the work that we do at Helios. I'm one of those who would always begin by recognizing and acknowledging that I benefited from parents who didn't have opportunities to pursue any type of education after high school. The fact of the matter is my parents were teen parents. My mom never graduated from high school because back then if you got pregnant in high school, they didn't let you come back. So she was never able to graduate from high school. My dad graduated and went straight to work at the copper mine. Why I say I benefited from parents in the sense that my parents, especially my dad, had a strong belief in what we now call the transformational power of education.

Speaker 1:

Where did that come from?

Paul Luna:

I don't think we know. I've talked to my mom about it. I've talked to my sister about, it's just myself and my sister, and none of us can really point a finger to say here's exactly what did it. But I will say that my dad still to this day, one of the most thoughtful, intelligent people that I've ever met, though not formally educated.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, intelligence is intelligence.

Paul Luna:

Exactly. And you get a real understanding of someone who has common sense and an understanding and intellect, though maybe not formally educated. And I really got that from my dad. And he saw and believed that his kids, his children would have what he didn't have, which was opportunities to graduate from college. And that was almost a single-minded focus of my dad. And in fact, because I'm younger than my sister, both of us were first generation college graduates.

And I can almost assure you the day I graduated from college, I think my dad said, "All right, my job's done. I fulfilled my mission in life. My kids graduated from college." But I would also tell you this, and I think this is what we all work towards when we think about this, is my dad would be the first one to champion and advocate that college degree, but he would also be the one that says, "But understand, there's still so much learning beyond that and don't think that just that your degree tells you that you have it all figured out. You learn from other people. You learn from the workers." My dad would always say that those of us who did the job for decades have a learning and understanding, and it might not be what you learn in the book. And so there's a value of all kinds of learning.

But my dad also believed that education, and this is really what he instilled in me and my sister, is that if you had a college degree, you had flexibility. You had opportunities. Because what he would say is that he didn't have options in life, and he never complained. He just said, "My future was to be a laborer at a copper mine because that's what I could do." And he said, "And I did it. And it's good work, it was honest work." He had took great pride in his work, but what he wanted for his children, what he believed an education, in particular college degree, provided, was opportunity and flexibility to do something different if you wanted to. And my dad really instilled that in us.

Speaker 1:

Well, obviously a visionary. That's exactly what happened.

Paul Luna:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:

So you went to college, graduated, then what happened?

Paul Luna:

So I went to school in California. I got an engineering degree, and I came back to Arizona. Part of it was back to these roots and what you wanted to do. And I wasn't quite sure what to do with that degree. I got a civil engineering degree and I thought, "You know what? I want to go back home." And it wasn't necessarily an opportunity to go back home to Miami, Arizona, but came back to Phoenix and was very fortunate that my first job out of college, I was able to meet, I mentioned Ronnie Lopez earlier. Ronnie was working for Governor Bruce Babbitt at the time. He hired me as a governor's intern.

Speaker 1:

And you had an engineering degree.

Paul Luna:

And I had an engineering degree. So he put me at the Department of Transportation and said, "Here, we have a department out there that does that engineering work." But he and others in the Babbitt administration took a liking to me and offered me a position to work in the governor's office. So for the first couple years out of college, I got to work as, I'll be real clear, a junior, junior, junior aide in the governor's office. But an opportunity to learn and to be exposed to leadership, to a governor, to a governor's administration, to get to meet people in the community, and was able to build friendships and relationships that to this day continue to be people who mentor me and coach me and guide me and support us in the work that we do. So I worked in government, I transitioned to corporate sector. I worked for IBM and Pepsi-Cola for a number of years.

While doing that work, I started volunteering at the United Way, and that's how I got grounded in community work. And one day, quite honestly, I was working, running one of the departments at the local United Way, running the fund distribution department, and we would now call it community impact. And our president, as you might know, a gentleman named Brian Hassett, left to run the Chicago United Way. And I always say two weeks later, I'm the president of the Valley Sun United Way. And that put me on a different trajectory around community work and working with community leaders.

One of those community leaders was a gentleman named Vince Roig, who was on our board, who is the founding chairman of Helios Education Foundation. And so that's how I got to know him. We got to do community work together, and I think our visions aligned to what we could do in the creation of what they had done to create this foundation that would focus on education. And that's partly how I got to Helios.

Speaker 1:

Well, what an incredible story and thinking about how it's all about creating opportunity and unlocking talent. And that's what you do. That's what you do, Paul, so tell us something about you that maybe we wouldn't know.

Paul Luna:

Well ...

Speaker 1:

We won't tell anybody.

Paul Luna:

Yeah, that's a good way. Okay. What about me that you don't know? You know what, you stumped me that with a little bit because I think for a lot of respect, I think I'm pretty transparent. You get what you get. And here, I'll tell you what's surprised folks, I am a sports junkie, so I love all sports. And my family, they tease me, in fact, because if there is something competitive on TV. I will watch it.

Speaker 1:

It doesn't matter.

Paul Luna:

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. If it's a competitive sport, I will watch it. My daughter tells a story about she and her now husband were met in high school. They went to the prom, they came home from the prom. And a good dad, I was waiting enough to make sure she came home on time, and they came home to watch me watching Australian Rules football. And they're like, "What are you watching?" I'm like, "I don't know, but I'm figuring it out right now. And I'm getting a feel for how they score points and how they kick the ball and stuff." And they just think I'm crazy because sports are my outlet.

Speaker 1:

We've mentioned Helios a few times. People are obviously familiar with Helios. Tell us a little bit more about the foundation, and first of all, where did the name come from?

Paul Luna:

Yeah, so first off, Helios was created, like I said, through some visionary leadership of individuals in our community because Helios is grounded in a student loan organization that is Arizona based. Started in the eighties. Vince Roy, who is our founding chairman, was that visionary leader who created the student loan company. And ultimately it was called Southwest Student Services. It had grown to become the eighth-largest provider of student loans by the late 1990s, early 2000s. And it only provided student loans in Arizona.

Towards the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, they were invited by the governor of Florida to also provide student loans in Florida. So in 2003, Vince and the board, many community leaders, some of our founding board members who are still board members of Helios today, they saw a changing student loan environment and they recognized that there was some opportunity to essentially transform the organization into an entity that they could sell, take the proceeds and create a foundation. And essentially the vision behind that was they asked themselves, what are we in the business in? The answer was, we're in the business to help students be successful in college and earn a college degree. The tool they used was student loans.

They really embraced this opportunity that said, if we take this path, we take advantage of these unique tax codes that exist right now, we can actually maybe create a more sustainable entity to help students accomplish that same goal, but as opposed to being a student loan company, we can be a comprehensive education foundation.

Speaker 1:

Same mission, just different tactic.

Paul Luna:

Yeah, just different way, different approach. And that's what they built. The name Helios was, quite frankly, and this is a story as it was told to me, is the board once moving down this path said, okay, we're going to create this foundation. Well, what are we going to call it? And they did make a decision early on they were going to support the states of Arizona and Florida. Those were the two states supported by Southwest Student Services, and they bantered like, well, what's unique about Arizona, Florida? Well, it's the sun, but you don't want to be called the Sunshine Foundation. That didn't sound real good. And one of the board members said, "Well, Helios is the name of the Greek God of the sun." So the sun rises in the east, so it rises in Florida, it sets in the west, it sets in Arizona. We're two sunshine states, so we're going to embrace Helios as the Greek God of the Sun Helios Education Foundation.

Speaker 1:

Great board member.

Paul Luna:

Great board member. Yeah, very, very smart. You had very smart board members.

Speaker 1:

And so off to the races, a lot has happened since that time. Talk about the core areas of focus right now for Helios.

Paul Luna:

Helios was founded in this vision, aligned with the student support organization of our grand goal. And as a foundation in perpetuity, we hope at some point we'll actually achieve this goal. And that is simply every student in Arizona and Florida will be successful in post-secondary education.

It's that grounding belief that we believe, and actually is now proven more and more through research, is that our economy, the jobs, the type of workforce we're going to need in the future to have the type of economic development in the state that we want to have both states, Arizona and Florida, is going to be driven by a workforce that is educated. And more and more the jobs of the future will require some type of post-secondary education success.

Speaker 1:

Some sort of credentialing.

Paul Luna:

Credentialed, yeah, I want to be real. It's that inclusive mindset of an industry license, a certificate, a credential, a two-year or four-year degree. That's what we mean by post-secondary success. And so our vision is every student will be successful in some way in achieving that goal. And the work of the organization then is to embrace community partnerships that we believe will help more students achieve that goal and to be successful across the education continuum.

I will tell you, as we've grown and built the foundation over since the 2004, 2005 timeframe, one of the things that we've tried to do is to be very disciplined in our approach, to be very focused. We recognize that there are a lot of needs in the community, very important needs that need to be addressed. But from our perspective, we stay very focused on these academic success of students, and especially quite honestly, students that maybe had been traditionally underserved by our educational institutions for any number of reasons, but maybe not as successful in achieving educational success compared to others.

So how do we make sure that every student has equal opportunity to this? So we look at our work across the full education continuum, even though our big goal, the BHAG, is every student in post-secondary success. But what we also know is it starts at a very young age. So we work across the full continuum. We have three metrics that we, because again, we're very disciplined, focused. We align to metrics that we want to achieve. And one of our first metrics is students reading at grade level by third grade.

Speaker 1:

Why is that important?

Paul Luna:

Well, it's important for any number of reasons, but research will tell you, first and foremost is that students learn to read by the time they get to the third grade. And after that, everything else is reading to learn. So if a student is not reading proficient at third grade, they're going to fall behind.

Speaker 1:

It's a tool that they need.

Paul Luna:

It's a tool that you have to have in order to be ... Everything builds off of that. So it emphasizes all of the important brain development, engagement with children and students to make sure that everything leads to their ability to read at grade level by third grade. And that's one of our metrics. And for example, and this is not a criticism, it's more just bringing data and facts to the conversation. We know for example, in Arizona today that only 41% of our students are reading at grade level. So it's a metric that we want to improve significantly.

Speaker 1:

How does that compare with Florida, given the fact that Florida's the other state that you're involved in?

Paul Luna:

Florida's a little bit higher than us right now and not significantly better, but slightly higher. But then when you start to disaggregate for low-income students or students of color, you also see some differential there. So 30% of our Latino students in our education system are reading proficient at third grade. So we start to understand where we have opportunities to improve. So we focus on third grade reading. We focus on in increasing the percentage and the numbers of students that when they graduate from high school, move into some type of post-secondary environment. And this is I know where a lot of the work that we do together and we think strategically about how we do this, it's recognizing that there are multiple pathways of success for students after high school. And we want to make sure that all of our students understand how to navigate those multiple pathways, what's going to lead to them being able to meet their specific dreams or ideas of what they want to do.

But how do we make sure that our students are being prepared for success after high school, and how do we make sure that they all have pathways that if they so desire, lead to a four-year degree or a two-year degree that keeps them gainfully employed with career opportunities for a lifetime. And the idea is we know that if we increase the percentage of students that are moving from high school where they're prepared and ready to succeed in some type of college environment, that they will be more successful in their lifetime. They will contribute more to our society, they'll contribute more to our economy. And that's what we want for every student. And then-

Speaker 1:

So ... I'm sorry.

Paul Luna:

I was just going to say, and the last metric is one that is really a statewide metric, and it is the same metric actually across both states. So both Arizona and Florida have a post-secondary attainment goal. Again, back to this idea of a certificate, a licensed two-year, four-year degree. And the goal is that of our working population ages 24 to 65, we want 60% of our population to have some type of post-secondary accreditation by the year 2030. And that's another metric that we drive towards.

Speaker 1:

Where are we today?

Paul Luna:

And today in Arizona, we're about 48%.

Speaker 1:

Has that increased since you've been measuring?

Paul Luna:

It has. We've started to make some progress. When the goal was first established in around 2018 through a lot of community buy-in and support, including support from Governor Ducey's office, who was the governor at the time. And many of us were working on establishing this as a goal. We were in the low 40s. We started around 42%. So we're starting to make some progress-

Speaker 1:

Right direction.

Paul Luna:

But we still need to, now, this is where the sense of urgency comes in. So when you think about, well, what do we need to do to focus on education? What's really important to prioritize? We and many of our partners are more and more focused on how do we start to increase that post-secondary attainment rate? How do we get to that 60% goal?

We know in numeric terms, because we try to bring data to this conversation, we know, and one of our partners is Education Forward Arizona, and they are launching a statewide public awareness campaign to really put a focus on this. They call it everything to gain and everything to gain. Puts a number that says we need an additional 500,000 degrees, certificates, licenses between now and 2030 to get to that goal.

Speaker 1:

And what a great name. Because it's everything. It's everything. There's no loser there.

Paul Luna:

That's exactly right.

Speaker 1:

So my next question was, I think unfair. What's the state of education in Arizona? I don't think that's a fair question because it's such a broad one, but a lot of what you do is you're measuring these outputs and then developing a strategy around those outputs of what's happening in the state. Tell me, what are two strengths in our education system and two challenges, from your perspective?

Paul Luna:

So two strengths, I think first and foremost is a lean into, I think what is really becoming momentum and opportunity. And that is as we're starting to bring more information and data to how we think about education outcomes, what we're starting to better understand is that direct connectedness between education outcomes and the needs of the industries that we want to attract. So workforce development, economic development, and at times these two aspects of community. And we have seen at times that were separated, right? You sometimes had the industry sector needs over here on one side, and you had the education outcomes on this side.

I think what we're starting to better understand, and quite frankly with your leadership, ElevateED and the business leadership that you're bringing, I think it's fair to say that Arizona is starting to better understand that direct connectedness between post-secondary completion and the workforce that we need. And getting very tactical about saying, "Okay, well what are going to be the jobs that we have in our state? What are the jobs we want to have and how do we start to better inform and position our students to understand, here are the educational credentials you need in order to pursue these types of jobs."

Speaker 1:

The intentionality.

Paul Luna:

The intentionality, the opportunities, the multiple pathways. I think Arizona is one of the leading states that's starting to really understand how to do that well. And I think that's particularly true, and really an advantage to the state of Arizona is that when you then think about our demographics, we're a very young state. Not every state has young students in their education pipeline like we do. Now, the reality is many of those young students in our education pipeline tend to be students of color and predominantly Latino.

So there's also, I think, a focus of what we're starting to do better in Arizona is understand where our students are today, what communities are they coming from, what is their cultural background? What might be the unique needs that they have in order to be successful in education? And this is where many, many more first generation college students are going to come.

Speaker 1:

And those are two, I think, really nice strengths. I would have to say unexpectedly good strengths. Two challenging areas.

Paul Luna:

The challenges are how do you reform a system and create a sense of urgency and create a sense of change when system change moves slowly. And so part of that becomes being very thoughtful and very strategic about how we improve education outcomes. How do we thoughtfully provide solutions that are going to create meaningful systemic change quickly is a challenge for all of us, and that there's no one solution. There's no wrong and right answer.

Speaker 1:

That's such a temptation, right? [inaudible 00:22:30]

Paul Luna:

It's like, okay, so tell me what I need to do. But I'd be remiss if I didn't go back to, here's the other thing I would say that we also have to celebrate from an Arizona perspective because I don't think we give ourselves as a state enough credit for this. And that is we have great educational institutions; our universities, our colleges, our school districts. Are they perfect? Of course not.

But you know what? We have committed teachers, we have committed education leaders, we have innovative leaders. I think it's fair to say you just look at Arizona State University, ranked as the most innovative university in the country, in the world, if you ask Michael Crow. But that speaks well to what we can do. We have the ability to make those innovative changes to improve the type of outcomes that we want. The challenge is getting all of us aligned, all of us focused on it. Sometimes it is trying to advocate for the types of policy changes and resources that we need. And that's where I think we have some opportunity to do better.

Speaker 1:

And nice to have three nice strengths. And certainly there's a lot of work we can do together. And I think that segues really well into the work that we can do together. And you mentioned of the three areas, one of those is the post-secondary work. And for us, we recognize very quickly that we need to get as many kids as possible the opportunity to get some college credit before they graduate high school. I think that's where we came together. Talk a little bit about dual enrollment and why it's important for Helios.

Paul Luna:

Yeah, thank you for that. And again, thank you for your partnership in that. And I know we would both acknowledge that many other partners as well, the colleges, the universities, high schools, the Education Forwards, the high schools and such. But here's what I would, I'll just start with the power of dual enrollment is that when you think about the opportunity we have as a state to reach out to a population of students that might, in fact, as I've said before, be that first generation college graduate.

So you're talking about students that haven't navigated an education system before, haven't migrated across the whole continuum of education. And so part of the question that folks get asked are, well, are you a college bound student or are you not? Well, think about the power of dual enrollment is if you make dual enrollment, which is essentially giving a high school student an opportunity to take a college coursework for credit and earn credits both as a high school student and as a college student, you're eliminating that question right from the beginning. It's like you reinforce to that student, you are being successful in this college course. So you are a college student.

Speaker 1:

The answer is yes, right?

Paul Luna:

The answer is yes, there is no question. There is no doubt. And think of the power of students, especially from low income communities or first generation backgrounds, the ability to earn college credit while they're in high school, to begin to then shorten what the time it might take in order to earn some type of license certificate or a degree, or to save on the cost of college because you're able to at a much more affordable rate, take college coursework and start to bank those credits to some type of degree while you're in high school. We're just moving students forward in a more meaningful, thoughtful way.

And the key that, and again, I know what we've been working on is how do we make those opportunities for dual enrollment accessible to many, many more students? We know today that less than 25% of our high school students are taking advantage of dual enrollment. So to put incentives in place to help the schools themselves provide more dual enrollment courses, to work with the colleges and universities who are at the table working with us to get more students into dual enrollment. What we're doing is we're really priming the pump for more success of students moving seamlessly into that college environment. Our research says a student that takes a dual enrollment course is two times more likely to go to college than a student that doesn't.

Speaker 1:

Well, and especially when you run into a kid who will say, well, college isn't for me. Like, why not? And for them to understand that absolutely it can be for them and to start down that road and discover that they absolutely can do that and go to college in California and come back back and maybe work for a governor. It's such a powerful thing, for kids to be able to do.

So when you were talking about the fact that you're very focused and very deliberate, I can attest to that because I think we started talking years ago and you were very gently guiding us towards really needing to focus on the core work that has to be done. What made you finally say, "You know what, this partnership with the chamber makes some sense and the Chamber Foundation"?

Paul Luna:

Well, part of it is just the work that we did as you just described. So it's a thoughtful partnership and it's built on not just one party or the other saying, "Here's what we're going to do." What we really appreciated in that process of building it out is I think early on we became thought partners together. We shared ideas, we made sure we were grounded in what we were both as organizations trying to accomplish. And we worked really hard and in a very disciplined manner to get there. But then when you get to the question of, so how does this really come together and why does it come together? I'll tell you first and foremost, what we look for and we see is leadership. You look for organizations that have leaders like yourself, and I know you have a great team of leaders that work with you, Jennifer, and many others.

You see not just what organization you're working with, you see who you're working with and do those individuals and does that organization share the same commitment, the same values, the same commitment to all students being successful. And when you start to get aligned with those types of principles, then you can start to more strategically come together and say, okay, what are your strengths? What are our strengths? What do we bring of value that might help you be more successful? And in turn, you are helping us be more successful by bringing your skillsets.

You and the Chamber have the ability to bring the business community to the work in ways that very few organizations can. And from an education foundation perspective, I would say to you, there's no more powerful voice to be advocates and champions for education and education outcomes than our business community, because those voices will drive the strategic direction of the state. And when business community leaders, your members and understand then that importance of student success and post-secondary success, and become the champions and the advocate for that, then it's more likely that elected officials are going to come to the table, other partners are going to come to the table, and we will then be successful.

Speaker 1:

It has been really great to watch the work we've been able to do so far. And when you mentioned elected officials, one of the things that the biggest wins in my opinion from last session was the appropriation by the legislature to provide at least six credit hours for kids who wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise. But some people might say, well, six credit hours, what does that get you? What would you say to that, Paul?

Paul Luna:

Well, and it goes back to creating a college going culture. When a student gets to see that they can earn college credits and be validated in their ability to do so. And just as importantly, when we as a community are doing the work to make sure that the student understands the direct connectedness between what they're learning in those courses and how that leads to workforce and gainful employment, and more than that, not just a job, but a career, then how do you put a value on that?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely.

Paul Luna:

How do you put a value on something that changes the mindset of a student? To actually dream bigger than maybe their world, or limitations of what they think they might have, is you enable a student to dream beyond maybe their own perceived limitations.

Speaker 1:

And I think some of the practical applications, too, that were part of that were teachers, we know that they're doing a lot these days, they're overworked, overtaxed, and we're able to provide some help for them as they get certified to be dual enrollment teachers. So I just think that really worked well, and hopefully, I know I've gotten calls from other states, from friends in other states who are looking at this as well. And hopefully we can expand this into the next year as well.

Paul Luna:

Without a doubt. And to your point, I think that it is fair to say that the work that we've all been doing in creating expansion opportunities for more students in dual enrollment is on the radar screen of many other states to see how we've done that.

Speaker 1:

Well, and I think that leads me to my next point because one of the things that I admire and I really enjoy is that you all are talking about your mission and you have tactics associated with all of that, but you also have really strong data behind it. It's not a hunch or a wish. Well, here's the facts, here's the data. Talk to us a little bit about the data component of the work you do and how that drives what we're doing today.

Paul Luna:

Yeah, that's a great point. And it's one that I think we take pride in, and I'll speak from our chairman's perspective and our board, we have these conversations beginning with our board leadership. And our board chairman likes to make the statement that says we respect the right that everybody has the ability and the right to have their own opinion. And people can have many different perspectives.

Speaker 1:

Kind of a thing there.

Paul Luna:

Yeah, you can, and you should. And we should be open and listen and understand where people are coming from. But what you don't have the ability or the right to is to bring your own facts. The facts are the facts. The data are the data. And we think it's powerful to be able to bring data to the conversation that we can all look at together and then provide us a platform with which to say, okay, if this is what we're learning through data, then how do we work together to improve?

Now we're in the spirit now of community problem solving. And with data intact, you also then have an ability to track progress. So it's about accountability as well. So Helios wants to be a data-driven, results-oriented organization, holding ourselves accountable to what we are striving to deliver, and that's where the learning comes from. And we're not going to be successful in every aspect, but there's almost as much value if maybe not more to when you don't succeed in a particular approach, now you learn how to do something better. And without the data, then you can't take that strategic disciplined approach to how you want to improve outcomes.

Speaker 1:

That can be rocky.

Paul Luna:

It can.

Speaker 1:

Especially when you have a board and people are out there watching and you've committed to just showing the facts.

Paul Luna:

Well, it can be, but we feel it's how you position with an authentic voice to community work.

Speaker 1:

And part of that is something called Decision Theater. And I want to touch on that for a minute because it's such an important tool, and I think the business community found a lot of value in having the ability to look at the data in a different way. Can you talk about it a little bit?

Paul Luna:

I would love to. So we're very proud of a partnership that Helios has with Arizona State University. And you referenced a Decision Theater, and it really was a big idea concept that we were able to engage with. And it's in the spirit of a true partnership where ASU and Helios have partnered together to create a new center that's called the ASU Helios Decision Center for Education Excellence. And it is a broader partnership because we have data sharing agreements with the Department of Education, with the board of Regents, we bring in census data, we bring in workforce data, we get as much big data that we can.

And we have the ability then to partner with ASU and really as bright and talented data scientists as you could probably find anywhere. And we're able to work with them to create what we call visualizations and modules that help us to better understand how students are performing across the education system. So we have the ability to showcase in a room that's got seven screens, and that's what we call the visualizations. So we're able to, for example, pull up data around high schools across the entire state.

So how are every public high school in Arizona performing when it comes to graduation rates, college going rates, how are they doing with their academic preparedness? How do those students perform when they go to college? So bringing informed information and data to all of us to then be able to make better decisions. So we're able to share this information directly with schools who will come in and see this data that talks about their performance. And I want to be real, this is a really important point. It's not in the spirit of finding or pointing a negative finger at anybody. This is not finding fault. This is about using data.

Speaker 1:

Eliminating.

Paul Luna:

Yeah, this is just saying this is where we're at and we know we can do better. And how do we position to share best practices? How might we bring two communities to the table and share their data and their communities that are very similar and say this community's doing much better in FAFSA completion or a college going rate, or how their students are performing when they get to high school versus another. Well, now you share that information and now we're improving education across the state.

I think that's where the power of data comes. And we would not be able to do that without our partnership with ASU, without the data sharing agreements with the Department of Ed. And we've been able to do this with multiple administrations. So it's not a political thing. We've worked with all of the most recent superintendents of public instruction who view this as a very beneficial way for all of us to be able to understand how we can improve education outcomes.

Speaker 1:

Well, it's incredibly powerful and relevant, and I know we all have preconceived notions. Was there ever a time that you saw some data come out that really surprised you or maybe changed the way you looked at education?

Paul Luna:

There are, because you have your own inherent biases or assumptions. And these are positive because when you look at some of our highest performing high schools in terms of their college going rates, many of them are our border communities. So you look at the high schools in Yuma, in Douglas and Nogales, and when you compare them to all of the other high schools across the state, there are some of the highest college going rates are coming from these border communities.

Speaker 1:

And people probably wouldn't expect that.

Paul Luna:

And people wouldn't expect that. One of the highest is a small community of San Luis, which is south of the central part of Yuma, honestly, predominantly low income, Hispanic minority community. Many families are migrant farm worker families, but with a strong college going culture and one of the highest college going rates in the state of Arizona, and the students are performing and showing, and I don't want to suggest this is a surprise. We fundamentally believe every student has the opportunity to be successful.

But when you see a community like San Luis and a high school like San Luis whose students are just performing and going to college and changing for themselves and their families and their own community, what the future will be, that's what gets really exciting. And then there are some surprises where you would say, wow, some of the other communities we think would maybe be doing better. Well, maybe they're not doing as well. So why is that? And what do we need to know and what do we understand? Some of those aha moments are really, really powerful.

Speaker 1:

I think I remember being there one time. There are a number of high schools in Arizona, they don't send kids to college or don't have any kids going from high school to college. Is that correct, Paul?

Paul Luna:

That is true. And that's why data becomes really informative, again, and being very clear not to cast a negative light on anyone, but to acknowledge that where can improvement come from? And if anything, you look at this and say, "If we could just get all of our high schools and all of our communities to increase a little bit," and this is where things get very tangible. We look for example at currently, it's fair to say that the college going rate of all of our high school graduates is just under 50%. I mentioned earlier we have a 60% post-secondary attainment goal. So those numbers don't add up. If we're only sending 50% of our high schoolers to college, general college, how do you get to 60%? Well, because our actual goal for college going rate in the state is 70%. So we want to get from 50% to 70%.

And you start to say, "Okay, well what will it take to get there?" Well, what we learn in our Decision Theater, our partnership with ASU, is that it actually feels very viable for every high school to do their part, like from my hometown. So Miami, Arizona, you look at a couple years, 47% of our high school graduates go to college. And you say, well, what will it take to get 10% more of those kids to go to college? Well, over the next four years, it's four additional students. And you sit back and go, we can find four more students to go to college, and we're already having a 10 percentage point increase in our college going rate. So we can do it. We believe we can do it. And then it becomes how do we make it sustainable, and how do we replicate that across the entire state?

Speaker 1:

Where different communities can learn from each other using these data points.

Paul Luna:

Yeah, and everybody does their part. So it's not incumbent on any one community or any one high school to do the major lift. We're helping the entire education system, all of our high schools, to increase a little bit. That's very doable. And then we're going to see the impact. And then to put a finer point on that, so everybody's like, "Well, why will that matter? What impact does the state of Arizona have if we increase our college going rate?"

Well, we've had a partnership with Education Forward Arizona, and we released earlier this year in March, a report that's called Billions to Gain. And Billions to Gain focuses is very specifically on what is the economic impact to our state if we get more students to be successful in college. And it's not just to the individual, though that comes out. What we know for example, is if a student earns a bachelor degrees, they will earn three times the amount of lifetime earnings compared to a student that only has a high school degree. So clearly there's an impact financially on the individual, but just as importantly, if we can increase the college going rate of our high school students to that 70%, the researching model tells us that that contributes 5 billion a year to the state's economy by getting to that college.

Speaker 1:

A lot of Super Bowls.

Paul Luna:

A lot of Super Bowls.

Speaker 1:

That's amazing.

Paul Luna:

Yeah. And so you recognize it's not just about the individual student, though that's important and their families-

Speaker 1:

That cumulative effect.

Paul Luna:

But it's this cumulative effect. It says this is the power of the economic impact to our whole state by increasing our college going rate, increasing our degree completion rate. This is the direct impact to what the future of Arizona will be.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Well, as we wrap up, you talked to a lot of people. I think you see a lot of people looking at education and just not knowing what to think. What is the one thing you want people to know about the system and education and the future?

Paul Luna:

I think what's important for all of us to know and understand is that when you look at us as a state, and this may be as grounded as I began with saying being an Arizona native, you feel this sense of pride and you recognize that Arizona is well positioned to lead the country in education attainment. And I truly believe that. And part of that is because we're not huge in size. We're not as big as Texas, we're not as big as California. We can get our arms around education improvement as we talked about earlier. We have a young diverse population of students that are coming through our education system that can be that future workforce. That's where the talent will be. That's where our future leadership will be.

So if we look at ourselves, and what I would want is everyone in our community embrace this idea that says we can lead the country in education outcomes for all of our students can look like. We can lead the nation in what the demographic future of the country is going to look, like Arizona. But we can showcase what success looks like. We can build the talented workforce that we know we all want to drive our economy forward to support the industries we want to attract, to have the type of economy that we want for our future. And I think if we can get everyone committed, focused, engaged, that's how we'll get there.

Speaker 1:

Well, and I think you do such a good job of making sure that you bring everyone to the table.

Paul Luna:

Well, I think it's important. We all have a role to play.

Speaker 1:

You do, even people who are detractors. And you have to; otherwise, you can't get anywhere. Well, thank you for leading that work for Arizona and all the work you do and for being here today. Before we end, we're going to do a quick lightning round with you, Paul. Easy, I promise. First job, what was your first job?

Paul Luna:

First job, I laid tile with my cousin's tile company.

Speaker 1:

What did you learn?

Paul Luna:

I learned it's really hot outside in Arizona in the summer. No, I really actually loved that job. I can't do it as much anymore as I'm getting older, but I really did like this idea of laying tile. It fit with my mindset.

Speaker 1:

Were you good? Could you get it straight lines?

Paul Luna:

Not at first, I got better over time. My cousin would make me do the stuff in the corner that nobody could really see. Yeah, truth be told. But that was a great learning experience and you got to build something and that felt really good.

Speaker 1:

So if not Helios, because I think it really is a dream job, not Helios, what would be the dream job for you?

Paul Luna:

I am not sure I have a particular dream job. And to your point, I am blessed to have had the opportunity to come work for an organization like Helios and to work with a board and a team that is truly committed to the work that we do. I think for me, it's just being in a position that helps our community get better. And I say that grounded in this idea that I benefited from, as I said earlier, of my parents giving me opportunities that they didn't have. And I never take that for granted.

If we can provide the same type of support, and in my mind, every student deserves that same type of support that I received, principally from my parents but from many others as well, teachers and others who took of active interest in helping me see opportunities that I would've never seen for myself. So hopefully in a type of role or position that is helping individuals fulfill that in themselves.

Speaker 1:

You're usually the first guy to raise your hand.

Paul Luna:

Try to be, yes.

Speaker 1:

So what would your dad say now if he could see his mijo?

Paul Luna:

You know what? But honestly, what my dad would probably say is, "Why didn't you ever do anything in engineering? I really, I think to this day, I lost my dad to cancer a handful of years ago, actually early on when I started at Helios. Although I think I always say I think he was proud of me. I think he always just struggled that I got an engineering degree and never was able to really make that a pursuit or a career. I think he always thought, "Why didn't you do engineering?" But here's what I always tell people as well. I was a civil engineer. We in Arizona are all much safer when I wasn't doing any engineering.

Speaker 1:

We heard about your tile [inaudible 00:46:50].

Paul Luna:

Yeah, exactly. My tile wasn't real straight, so my bridges probably weren't as straight as they needed to be. So probably where I need to be.

Speaker 1:

Okay, you mentioned sports. Favorite sport. You got to pick one.

Paul Luna:

Well, my favorite sport to watch is I just love college football.

Speaker 1:

So not Australian rules football.

Paul Luna:

Not Australia. Although I enjoyed that a lot. I like how they do their points and they do things that are funny. But no, I love watching college football. I just think it's so exciting to see that.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome.

Paul Luna:

And you say that every game is different, but in my heart, I grew up really playing baseball. And so we're talking about playoff baseball in the diamond. To me, there's nothing quite like playoff baseball in particular, that excitement of every pitch matters, every at bat matters and anything can turn the game. And so I still in my core, I try to think I'm a baseball player at heart.

Speaker 1:

Well, going back to the World Series, right, against the Yankees, epitomized exactly what you just talked about.

Paul Luna:

Without a doubt.

Speaker 1:

That ninth inning, right?

Paul Luna:

And I'll say on a personal, but maybe one of the greatest. Game seven of the Diamondbacks winning. And a credit to my wife. Provided two tickets to go to the game and my wife, Hema, gave up her ticket so I could take my dad. So full circle. And my dad was like the kid that night, he kept saying to me, "I can't believe I'm at a World Series game." It was over and over. He said, I never believed in my life I would ever come to a World Series game, much less game seven at home. So special moment-

Speaker 1:

Special wife.

Paul Luna:

Special wife, without a doubt. I thank her all the time and she loved my dad, so I think she knew how special that would be. And so nothing will ever change that. I had many great times and moments with my dad, but I'll never forget game seven together, being there. It was special.

Speaker 1:

I can't think of a better way to end this. A little teary here. Thank you, Paul. Appreciate it. Thanks for everything you do for Arizona. Thanks for the partnership and we'll have you back soon.

Paul Luna:

I would love to. Thank you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you. All right.