Juan Arambul comes from a family of educators. He works as an educational leadership consultant with the ANEW Project, an organization centered around thoughtful progress and positive change. Listen to learn more about Arambul's mission to inspire students and disrupt the stagnancy that often characterizes schooling in the 21st century.
Please note that this episode was filmed. You can find the video here.
Juan Arambul comes from a family of educators. He works as an educational leadership consultant with the ANEW Project, an organization centered around thoughtful progress and positive change. Listen to learn more about Arambul's mission to inspire students and disrupt the stagnancy that often characterizes schooling in the 21st century.
Please note that this episode was filmed. You can find the video here.
Welcome to the Superintendent's Hangout, where we discuss topics in education, charter schools, life in general, and not necessarily in that order. I'm your host, Dr Shredda. Come on in and hang out. Welcome everybody to the Superintendent's Hangout podcast. This is our first video version and I'm very grateful to the new project located here in beautiful Temecula, California Wine Country, for the use of these studios that we're sitting in for today, Juan Arambo. Juan has a fascinating story and he's going to share that with us today, and we're going to get into some topics around professional development and leadership and many other things. So thank you, Welcome, Juan. Well, thank you for having me on the show. I appreciate it. David, I thought we could start with well, so typically I start with asking about an origin story, but I'm going to throw you a curveball. What would be your walk-up song if you were a professional baseball player, and why?
Speaker 2:They're a classic walkout song. Oh, my goodness, what would be my walkout song? What's the what's that? Gundam style song that was going on for a while. Gangnam Style song that was going on for a while. I heard I just saw a video recently that it was still in Korea going off like still famous selling out shows, and when I saw that song for the first time I was like this is a great song. There you go.
Speaker 1:I'm going to choose that song for my walkout song there you go. And that's the ultimate one hit wonder, because the guys tried to do a follow up to that and it just didn't work. I agree up to that and it just it just didn't work. I agree, and I'm hoping I hit a home run on that first bat. There you go, there we go. Um, so with gangnam style out of the way, um, can you share your origin story personally, professionally? What's your journey been to the present moment? And and you know what led to what you're doing today? Thank, you.
Speaker 2:well, it's been a journey, for sure, and I think anyone who is in education understands that. Most of us, you know, we get in good education for good intentions, right? I did not want to be in education. My story actually started with wanting to pursue film and to do video production full time. But, coming from a big family of educators, my mom took me to every afterschool program, every summer school program I mean the list goes on and on of different programs I had the opportunity to be a part of. She actually just retired this past year after 32 years of being an educator, and it just runs in our blood, right. So my, my sister's a special ed teacher, my aunt's a principal, my uncle's a school site psychologist and I have five other cousins who were all teachers at one point as well school psych psychologist, and I have five other cousins who were all teachers at one point as well. And so I think my story really starts there. It starts with understanding classroom dynamics, understanding kind of this idea that we are all called to be something in our life.
Speaker 2:I grew up in a very small town called Nuevo and growing up to less than 5,000 people I think it's bigger now, but I didn't have the opportunities that I wish I could have had growing up, so I had to sort of seek those opportunities elsewhere. 18 years old, left to Santa Barbara, took a job as a camp counselor and my whole life was transformed. I found myself at that point developing different programs, team building and leadership stuff for both the retreat center as well as the summer camp, doing everything from the camper and leadership training programs. And, before he knew it, fast forward. You know, 10 years later, here I am right. We run a team building and leadership organization called the, a new project, and we have the opportunity to do some incredible things around motivational speaking, leadership conferences, workshops, professional developments and so much more. And so I think my story is a unique one, because I didn't think I would be here to this day.
Speaker 2:Right, when you grow up in a small town, there's a lot of times when maybe you have this imposter syndrome or you have these self-doubts in your life to say, oh well, that's not my gifts or my talents, or maybe that's designed for somebody else. And I think that as time has gone on, um, I have felt more and more like I do belong in the room and that I have the opportunity to do things that are really special. And here we are, in old town, temecula. You know we have about 3000 square feet beautiful views. I gave you a walk through before we started, uh, and, and we have an office in Santa Barbara, we have an office in Nuevo, which is a home office, and, yeah, it's been absolutely incredible. This journey of starting the new project was something that I didn't know I needed as much as I do, and so it gets me up every day and motivated.
Speaker 1:So what is the official mission of the new project you mentioned, professional development, team building, leadership. What's the official mission?
Speaker 2:And then tell me a little bit about some of the specific work that you do, yeah, so our mission really is to inspire and empower individuals to reach their highest potential, and the way we do this is through a series of like, low ropes, prop, non-prop games. We realized that I grew up I mean, we all had to grow up way too fast. It's like, before you know it, you're a young kid and you're expressing your dreams of all the things you wish you could do in life, and then, before you know it, you're an adult just trying to pay your bills. Right, and it goes so quickly that sometimes we tell me about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we lose sight of what it means to be a child again, and I think what I, my vision was really to create something that would be really special around education, that would open people's eyes through challenging group dynamics, finding ways to communicate, to collaborate. We thought that it was being so important to have intention before content, because when you're intentional with the things that you do and you're intentional right, so that connection before content piece for us is so important and we just lead with intention. We say that everything we do with the Anu Project is centered incorporate and infuse fun and exciting team building leadership activities into inspiring messages that really get people out of their chairs, smiling, having fun, working with people that they may have never thought they would work with within their school, and, you know, just good old fashioned fun too. We got to get back there, yeah.
Speaker 1:So an organization, a school district district, a charter school organization, a private company they reach out to you, they tell you they have a need. Um, you design a program, you go in, you lead a day, a weekend, a week, whatever, whatever the sessions look like in person virtually hybrid get rave reviews and then you leave yeah, because you're going on to your next project, to inspire the next group of people. How do you ensure that that initial spark, that that ignition, actually holds and permeates throughout the organization, and do you come back later and augment it? Talk to me about kind of how that works, so that you don't just turn into a one-off type of an experience, the flashy kind of sexy thing going on. And then you moved on. You're on the East Coast now.
Speaker 1:Like my intro song Exactly Gangnam Style, gangnam Style, gangnam style, yeah, uh, yeah, gangnam style, professional development, wonder, wonder or vanilla, ice, yeah exactly that was my second choice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say that that that was something that I really focused on in the very beginning, right, because I realized that there were really, uh, three things that I could do, right, so I could be this great networker, right, which I always knew back in my old job. I could do right Galas, different events, parties, whatever it was. I can network a room any place. In fact, we probably have to share how I met you right, so like the connection there and how random that was. But I've always been a good networker because I'm a people person. I also knew that I could really focus on creating a marketing plan that was like let me just create the most unique marketing plan around education. But even then, education is very tough. The budgets, everything, the highs, the lows you're having to navigate so much is really challenging, right. Or I could focus on culture and I could focus on branding really challenging, right. Or I could focus on culture and I could focus on branding. And so I think that's kind of where it starts with me is that when people see the a new project, they realize that it's not just another gimmick. Is that we have built such a unique brand around the work that we do, that when you walk into one of our events, you feel like you're transformed to a different space. I mean I don't want to go as as far as saying that it's like you feel like you're transformed to a different space. I mean I don't want to go as far as saying that it's like, kind of like you walk into a gymnasium and it's like American Ninja Warrior, but these kids get this experience where they walk in and they're like look at these low ropes, look at these non-prop games, they the the activities, the look like all the things that we do around leadership. You walk in and you're like that's incredible. I mean we do everything from mobile escape rooms to reflection booths I mean the list goes on and on things you would only see at a massive warehouse or a giant retreat center we bring to your campus.
Speaker 2:Now to get to your question, to answer it is that I think one of the biggest things that we have done to not be this gimmick is I'm always I believe that honesty is the best policy right, and so I always tell superintendents or principals or just teachers in general, I say, hey, if you're looking for a bandaid, we're probably not your bandaid, because if you think we're going to come in for one day and change the culture around your campus, I mean we'd be fooling ourselves, right. So the way we build relationships and partnerships is we make every single one of our clients or our schools feel like they're the only ones we work with. I mean, from our director of operation to our lead facilitators, to our creative directors, those who are behind the camera right now filming this podcast. Right, it's with so much intention that people can't help but to want to have us back. And the biggest struggle that I had when I first got started was here. Here I am. I want to be this motivational speaker and I want to step on stages, because that's how I started, right, and I realized that that wasn't going to help transform lives, because as quickly as I step on stage and they're inspired a week later, where does that go?
Speaker 2:And so, creating a program, creating both in-person as well as online resources, we do two things very well we engage students and maximize their potential, and also minimize teacher burnout. I mean, think about it, right. I mean not to say that our teachers should do less work. I have so much respect for our teachers. I mentioned the beginning of this podcast how my family's completely in education, but I'd be denying the fact that, like working in this landscape now with with students and and and everything that's, it's hard right.
Speaker 2:I mean I tell students all the time like, listen. We got to give our teachers a little bit of grace, give them a little bit of a break, right and so, and at the same time, we got to allow teachers to be the best version of themselves, because if they're excited, if they're happy, if they're motivated, then they walk into that classroom and deliver content very differently than if they're overwhelmed, burnt out, filled with anxiety. So the way we create a support system for them, oh it's, it's. You have to come back. And from the very first client that we had, which is mission college prep in San Luis Obispo, big shout out to them. They were my very first client post leaving my job full time and we still work with them to this day, at least four times a year. So just goes to show like there's people who've been working with me for the last five, six years and they're not going anywhere because we built, you know, a culture around their campus as well.
Speaker 1:I was just listening, listening to an interview with Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, and he said something really interesting.
Speaker 1:He said Netflix and he said something really interesting.
Speaker 1:He said culture trumps strategy every time, and they just exactly what you said.
Speaker 1:Right Is you know you could have a strategy that you're going to try to make some change within your organization, or you you've identified a problem and you need to bring in a group like yours to address that problem. That's very different from taking a look at the culture and trying to shift the culture and doing it in a sustained way over time and coming back and iterating and building relationships in that way. Yeah, the story of how we met was interesting because I was walking down the aisle in the exhibit hall at the California charter school association conference in long beach and I typically don't make eye contact in the exhibit hall because I don't need another stress ball and I don't need, uh, to earn another point for some drink ticket or whatever, and a lot of the offerings that are there are just a rehashes right, then retreads, and I know people who have worked with a long time and vendors and I'll stop in and say hi to them, but most of the time I got the blind pass on, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I was walking and I saw your colleague drinking something and I thought it was a Diet Coke, that's right, and so I'm heading towards it, thinking that the soda bar was behind her. And then you made a comment about my jacket, yeah, and so I got you reeled in. You got me reeled in.
Speaker 2:We had a great conversation Because you just bought the jacket.
Speaker 1:I had just bought it and I thought it was a nice jacket. You know, everyone has an ego and I had just bought the jacket and I got a good deal on it. There you go, shout out to levi's uh outlet store, long beach, across from the convention center. It was a cold, it was a cold morning. So, um, you know, sometimes the, the, the serendipitous uh meetings are the most important, um, you know, for networking, but also just for friendships, and so I really appreciate, uh, you know how it's that's led to me me coming here and I was having this conversation, um, reflecting on your time with your organization, what accomplishments, what specific accomplishments, stand out as the most significant for you?
Speaker 2:oh, my goodness, that's that. That's a good question. Uh, there's many. There's many that I can say. I mean, I'll share two things. The first one's very short. Um, my mother would come home uh, every you know right when they're getting ready back to school, and she'd go to the professional developments, right, and she was like man, we just sat in the classroom and it was so boring we listen to someone speak and she told this joke one time. It wasn't even a joke, it was real, which is the worst part. Worst part is that she said, um, that the videos that they'd been watching for four years straight was videos that were done basically look like the 90s, and the person who was doing those pds for their school has been passed away for like five or six years. They were literally 90.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm like, what, like? So what do you do? And I was getting so many ideas and this was in the beginning stages where I was like I have to do something different for educators. Right, I have to do something. So I think the first one is that it brings me so much joy and not just me but my entire team to know that we can walk into places, always be the new kids on the block, always be looked at like, oh gosh, what are they going to do? They're going to have us participating and do it because adults let's be honest we're as we're as bad as the kids are sometimes right, I just did a pd day yesterday and all the adults the first thing they did did was sit in the back of the room. That's right. No one wanted to sit in the front row with their friends. Yeah, and they're all talking when we're first starting to get taught, you know. And so it became this thing where I remember thinking to myself like gosh, so to hear people say that that was the best professional development that they've done in 30 years or 20 years or or ever like that brings me so much joy and confident that we're doing something right, I think, to touch, to shed light on the moment that keeps me going, is one specific moment that I I can't look past.
Speaker 2:I just got started my career. This was about five years ago and there was, uh, I got invited back to my old high school. I graduated from heritage high school, medify, california, first ever graduating class, which was a unique experience in its own right. So, brand new school that's a part that's really growing. Oh, yeah, yeah, big time. I think Menifee is one of the fastest growing cities in America, like top 10. And so I grew up near there and I went to this brand new school. Amazing experience. Teachers are wonderful. Still have great relationships with my former principal counselors. Anyways, I got invited back. The counseling team said hey, would you be willing to come back to speak to the juniors who are at risk of their their failing on their credits? Would you come and just share your story about what you're doing? You're a young business owner. At the time I was maybe 24, 25. I just started. I started my company when I was 24. So I was very young still at the time, didn't really know what I was doing, but I said, if you want me to come back and speak to these juniors. Sure I could do that.
Speaker 2:So I I, before I step on stage anywhere I go, including my PD days, something I learned very young I walk around the crowd before the event starts, I shake hands, I say hello, allows me to sort of like loosen up and kind of get to know people. So there was this young man, had his hoodie on, had his AirPods in his ear, was like not talking to anyone, wasn't sitting next to any friends, and I walked up to him and I tapped him on the shoulder and I said, hey, you know young man, like would you be willing to help me out with something? And he looked at me like I was crazy. He was like what do you need help with? And I was like, well, I'm going to. I'm actually the speaker, I'm going to get ready to step on stage and I would I'd like your help, like halfway through, if that's okay. He's like what do you need me to do? I said I'd like for you to come up on stage. I said, if you do, like I'll give you a prize. I promise Right, like I don't know me.
Speaker 2:Clearly I step on stage and halfway through I say okay, and this is the point where I'm going to stop and I'm going to invite someone up on stage. Is there a Caleb? His name was Caleb. I said is there a Caleb? And so he gets up, goes to the side of the stage kind of starts coming up. As he was coming up, I kind of paused and I said well, you know, I just want to take the time to acknowledge the fact that I remember sitting in a lot of these seats because I went to this high school and I remember doing this and all the kids were kind of enamored by it and were like wow, like that's really cool, such a great testimony. So they were actually really listening. So I think that's why Caleb was more, you know, willing to kind of come up.
Speaker 2:And so, as he was coming up, I remember saying, just randomly you know my mom, her name is mrs arambor, she was a third grade teacher at newview elementary for many years and as I as I say that he's like he's now next to me, closer than we are right now, and he's looking at me dead in the face and I'm like, oh goodness, and he goes. Do you remember me? And I I paused, I mean there's 500 people into this, like theater, and he goes do you remember me? And I was like and I was, I was shocked he goes, your mom's mrs aramble. And I said, yeah, her name's mrs aramble. And it was just two of us having conversation and everyone's looking at us on stage like what is going on, and he says do you remember me again? And I say, and he says, do you remember me again? And I say, and he, I was like I don't remember. And he goes I was in your mother's class when I was in the third grade and you would come once a week to play basketball, tetherball and Legos with us when you were in high school. And this is true. I told you I grew up in every afterschool program, every summer school program, and I get chills to this day thinking about it. And he looked at me and he goes my name is Caleb and I was never going to forget you and it was this craziest experience that I've ever had.
Speaker 2:This was early, early on in my career. I think I was like one year into my career and a year later he got his grades up, getting ready to graduate and he graduated and super sad story, but he ended up overdosing and I don't know if it was a senior year or right after I think it was a senior year and that fall I took my mom his senior year to come back and we took a photo together and she got to see him and we, we hugged. That was the first time, my mom, and it was like a whole year later. And then, I think maybe six months later, before he graduated or right after he graduated, he um, he overdosed and I I share that moment because I think, like that's so many people's stories that we, as educators, we have so much impact that we don't hear that I got lucky, I got really.
Speaker 2:I'm grateful for that interaction, but because of that interaction it has shaped and transformed everything I do from here on out. I will never forget that moment. So when I get tired, I'm exhausted and I'm burnt out and I'm overwhelmed and I don't want to work with kids because they're being rude. I remember Caleb and I remember how much that changed my life because I wasn't even trying, I was just naturally helping out young kids, even when I was in high school, and that's the reason why I started the Anu Project. That's the reason why we're doing these things today, because it's moments like that that give me chills to this day that remind me of why I do what I do.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing that. I thought you were going to give me an example of a school district that did this big, flashy thing and that was your greatest success, but I much appreciate the intimate story and the real grassroots story. I didn't even have a happy ending either.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think that's like, even like just meeting you, right, I, I could see it like even in your, your, your, your facial expression, your eyes, like you're a good person, right. And so I think when we meet and encounter people in our life, like there's something that just clicks sometimes and, uh, I think those are the moments that are the most special, not the ones where I'm getting an award or I'm stepping on stage in front of 2000 people, like that doesn't matter as much to me than having a one-on-one conversation with someone and getting to know their heart, because that's the reason why I think most of us get into education is to have those little moments where we have a profound impact on someone's life.
Speaker 1:So what's been one of your biggest challenges, both organizationally and then as a founder? I mean, you started as a kid. I still think you're a kid. Okay, that's me. You hear that team, that's me as the old guy, all these gray hairs, they're coming back, not like these gray hairs.
Speaker 1:So starting a business is never easy. People who think that they're going to start a business because they get to have all this free time and they can control their time for the first five, 10, 15, 20 years of starting a new business yeah, you're doing everything, soup to nuts. You're not doing it. You're not. You're not hiring an accountant right away, you're not. You're figuring it out fresh books or whatever with clients. Where you're, you're young, you don't have 20, 30 years experience as an educator, yeah, so how, what are the? What are the challenges been like? Kind of making inroads, david, one things, one one things, one things. Being a good networker, yeah, but I know my profession and I know how hidebound if that's the right word districts and charter school organizations and can become, yeah, tradition, sure, oh, no, no private sector coming in, no flashy young kids coming in, and absolutely you know liability, liability yeah, people work with who they, who they want to work with, that's right.
Speaker 2:Who they know right, who they, who they know right, who they can trust. Yeah, that's the biggest thing. I may butcher this, but I remember someone saying this, as they said oh goodness. They said when people first work with you, it's for for what you could provide them right, like a product or service. Then they'll work with you for what you know right. And that's where I'm at. I'm at the consulting side and I'm even at the third stage.
Speaker 2:Because the third one is people work with you for who you are, who you are, and that's the key is, I think that when people get to know me, they I just am honest, I'm authentic, I'm genuine, I'm not trying to be anyone, I'm not. But to really get to your question, that's a loaded question because I can go in so many different directions, so I'm going to try my best to kind of like, keep it narrow is, when I first started the my my, before I even started the new project, I started speaking and I started traveling and I started doing, you know, team building and leadership events, small events. I was 24 years old, 24. And if you're 24 years old and you walk into a district that you graduated from or a high school that you graduated from and you see your counselors and teachers and principals. Six years later, they don't treat you as someone who has developed and matured and grown, and I think that happened a lot. You know, when I first got started I am it was a blessing and a curse, right, in a lot of ways. I mean, on one end, yeah, they were wanting to come back because they knew I was doing good work, but on the other end, it's like, but you're going to do this for free, right, because you know. And so it became this thing where it's like, that's you can't do everything for free, then, right, so they just saw someone who was maybe wise beyond his years, who understood education more than a lot of educators, because I not only grew up in education but in my time and work working for a nonprofit in Santa Barbara, my job was to actually be in the inner city school, so I started working in like Watts, south Central, compton, nickerson Gardens, southgate, huntington Park. I mean I worked in areas of LA no one else wanted to work in and I was like I wanna go there, I wanna work with those kids. I wanna work in those communities, that's where my heart's at, and so those principals, those teachers, they taught me a lot, the ins and outs of education, and they're still some of my biggest support systems to this day.
Speaker 2:But education moves slow, like you know this. It's like hurry up, hurry up, hurry up to wait to get board approved, to like different, and so I have always struggled in a lot of cases because I move fast, like I run a business, right At the end of the day, like, sure, we are a team building and leadership organization, we're in the business of helping our youth, helping our adults, but still, I mean, think about it, everything we do in terms of budgets has to run through a process depending on if it needs to get board approved or if it doesn't need to get board approved. If it's still, you know, there's so many hands that have to see it and there's so many people who could deny it because they're like, well, yeah, let's not do that because of tradition or because we've never done that before. We don't know what it's going to look like. So I think the biggest challenge overall in just starting a company is that it's forever changing and the landscape of education is tough, because it doesn't matter how many cold calls I make, how many stop-ins I do try to pass out brochures, flyers, how many conferences I go to try to pass out brochures, flyers, how many conferences I go to. Uh, how many email merges I send right, uh, it's not like regular, it's a different beast.
Speaker 2:I could, I we're in old town, temecula, right now. I can walk all of these streets. Let's say there's a hundred different businesses here and I would say that more than 50. I can get a sit down meeting with more than 50 of those business owners who say, hey, hey, I want to do something for my staff. Or hey, let's do video production. No problem, the numbers for education I can reach out to a hundred schools and maybe two will reach back to it.
Speaker 2:It goes straight. The emails go straight to trash, or they've got their blockers on, they're overwhelmed, they're overworked, they're burnt out, they're like, oh, one more thing I have to do and the reality is a lot of programs are hey, now we're going to implement this program, and then the teachers have to take on more responsibility and some of it is just death by PowerPoint. And so now we sit in this situation. Where can we develop things that are different for education, that once again maximize student potential and minimize teacher burnout. And I mean sometimes, you know, I was just meeting with the district yesterday and they're like this is crazy, because we're building out a new platform to do what we talked about earlier, which is we want to support people even when we're gone right. So but that's once again the task of trying to convince people in getting an education.
Speaker 2:I'd be lying to you if I said there were many times I wanted to take another career path. Let me just do corporate PDs, let me just do corporate video production, because if I got to work with schools and deal with that ecosystem and how we got to navigate that it's so challenging. But once again, my mom always tells me she goes, if not you, who else? Because I think that we have to dispel the narrative that we can do everything in house, because there are many schools that are trying to do everything within a district and let's say they have seven or eight schools within that district and they're like no, no, no, we don't want to contract out with you know the new project or some other organization because we can handle it in house. But can you handle it in a house, sometimes, like in the corporate world, right? How much do they outsource everything, everything from graphic design, video production, marketing, you know.
Speaker 2:And yet in education we're so far behind the market, regular business, that, like, we still think what worked 20 years ago is going to work now. It's like post COVID, right? We think, like you know. You know, you think everyone's going to come back to the well that they've been drinking up forever. And then we realized, wait, no, they're not. We got to do zoom and we got to do this and we got to reach them in a different way, because everyone has so much exposure to the real world with social media and everything else, that I'd be lying to you If I said that I don't go and learn something new every day running a business.
Speaker 2:Every day I'm learning something new and I'm like, goodness gracious, like how do I? How is it changing so fast? And then you know, with the budgets and education, you're always having to track what's being, you know, set down and what's how it's affecting schools and then how it's going to end up affecting you. So that's a long thing. I'm sure I'm missing several things that I'd love to talk about, but that's just the short of it. It is challenging, it's not easy and I'll be like I said. There are many times I sit with people and they're like I want to start a business. I said are you ready to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week? If you're not, don't do it. Don't put your family through that, because it's tough. I started at 24, right, I started young. I didn't know what I was doing, but if I had a family at that age and I was doing all I, there's no way I could have done it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's no way and it's. It's also the willingness to fly without a net for years. Right, and I think, when you think about traditionally education and and public, public, even maybe private schools, but you know, there's such an infrastructure that's been in place and and traditions that are there and and it actually lends itself to be, to have to a culture that's very risk averse. I never forget this experience. I think I can tell this story because it doesn't have any names attached. But several years ago we were, I was frustrated because our fingerprinting for employees. We had to go through the local county office of education. They had a clearing house so you'd come in, you you had been hired or we were about. We were about to hire, you were in the process. You have to, we have to do a background check on you. You come in, we send you to the county, you take your fingerprints, get into the system, they approve you, you have a clean background, you can be on our staff. I would get emails from the county saying hey, here's a list of employees. Um, that may have you know, someone got arrested or whatever the situation is, are they your employees? Now this is a county that's sending out an email to the whole county and I'd look at the dates and the dates were like two and three and four weeks ago and I'm thinking so someone gets arrested for something bad that could should mean that they're removed from the classroom while we're investigating it or whatever I'm finding out a month later. So someone could get arrested, bail out, come in work, right. And so I said there's got to be a better way.
Speaker 1:We went through this process. We decided to contract directly with the private company that does fingerprinting. By the way, this company does fingerprinting for the state of California, for the California Department of Education, which has I. What it meant for all of our employees was they all needed to go to that private company and get fingerprinted so they could be in the system with that private company. If that makes sense, we were going to pay for it. We brought the private company on site.
Speaker 1:So literally all you need to do is you got your coffee in the morning and then you went in and just that generated such a flurry of questions, complaints, concerns about stealing identity and about and and. On the one hand, I understand that you know we need to be careful about information, but on the other hand, the county of edu office of education had your fingerprints forever, right? No one ever complained about that, and we're using a company that the state uses, and what that taught me was that, um, anything that smacks of the private sector in in education kind of intruding or or trying to come in I think there's just an inherent front-end bias. Yeah, against it.
Speaker 1:Now, if you were affiliated with a county office of education doing this work, I think your marketing would be easier Big time, right, right, I don't know about the product, I don't know about the flexibility, all those other things, right? So that's just something I really reflect on and that's why I'm so intrigued with the work you do, because you're breaking past those stereotypes of of what someone in the private sector is like and you're just. You're just all about the work.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you know, and so, and as you say, if you get to the level of repeat customers for who you are, not for just the knowledge you have, I think that that's that's very special they'll want you to come back year after year.
Speaker 2:yeah and that, and that's just to kind of, you know, say a few things on.
Speaker 2:That is is that is always the hardest part that I don't think people know.
Speaker 2:I think most people like me because I I get a lot of people who come here right, a lot of other motivational speakers, people who want to start organizations or non-profits and get in the educational and and we sit, we talk as friends and I'm like, hey, listen, this is the good, the bad, the ugly, like I'll just be honest with you, right, if you're ready for that, then great, I was just sitting with um, uh, uh athletic director who is an athletic director, uh, for a school here in Marietta and uh, I won't say what school or his name, I don't want to you know, but he's great, he's amazing, he's also a motivational speaker and a poet and phenomenal guy.
Speaker 2:We had breakfast or lunch last week, in fact, and we were just talking about it and he was like man, the things that you've seen outside of just being in the institution, like is incredible. And so we're talking through that process because he's already successful in his own right. I was just helping them to be an extra support system, but it's, it's true, like we have those conversations because a lot of people don't know these things that you're talking about.
Speaker 2:They get into it and they're like oh, this will be easy, right, because I'll do one event and that'll lead to another event and that that leads to another ted talk yeah, yeah, before you know it, and they're like then they're like me, who's been in this for seven years now and barely starting to make it, because when I walked into meetings at between 24 to 30, people were like, ah, you don't know much, yeah, and it's like, wow, really, you know, and that's the hard part is that you do have to dispel a lot of those narratives around whether or not, like, we are willing or ready to take that next step forward to introduce new things into education that aren't of the norm.
Speaker 1:So how do you, you know, extending that idea of the, the structure, the inherent structures that you're working with in education, how do you work with, navigate through, move past the caste system that exists in in institutions of of learning, right by that I mean, you know, do you have a teaching credential or not? Do you have an administrative credential or not? What's your title? Do you have a doctorate? Are you in the central office? Are you at the school site? Uh, can I be honest in this professional development, because my boss might not be there but my boss is, uh, um, someone who works in the same office as my boss is here. Is it going to get to my boss? Or, uh, in the reflection room, someone writes something on the wall.
Speaker 1:If the superintendent's part of that process, are they is, does that have a chilling effect Like? These are all really important considerations that you know. Even I'm 18 years in my current position and I still sometimes I'm surprised by the little pockets of fear or resistance that are tied to like the written and unwritten rules of how we do things. So how do you navigate that? You're this outsider?
Speaker 2:Right, I think there's always going to be naysayers. There's always going to be people who are going to walk in and doubt. I've developed a lot of thick skin over the years, right, because going back to being on the outside, not a traditional teacher in the classroom, that was never my experience. Sure, did I get my undergraduate in communications of business? Did I get my master's degree in leadership and organizational studies? I've had the opportunity to do a lot of things where I take a graduate level studies and I bring leadership theories and concepts and best practices down to a level where even your ninth graders can understand what that looks like how to be a better leader, I think. I think to dispel a lot of those naysayers has been the, the students being the biggest champions for us. So once, once again, it goes down to like we could say as adults and say, well, that's not going to work. Or how do we have the quantitative or qualitative data and this and that and the other? Right, but like if the students are wanting more of it and they're engaged and they're putting their cell phones down and they're making eye contact and they're being respectful, and this is all happening within an hour long workshop, they're sitting back and they're like wait, I've been trying to get that class to be quiet for three months now and they won't even listen to me and you did it within an hour.
Speaker 2:I still think that there's a lot in education, because just as much as education can have a gripe in an outside independent consultant like me, I got a lot of gripe with education right, and so I could look at from a different lens. Because people say, well, this is what we've done for 20 years, and I'm like well, I just worked with 20 different schools in 20 days. Let me tell you all the secrets to the pockets the good, the bad, the ugly. Once again. Did you know that this is what this school down the street's doing in that school, and then this school, and then that school, in this school, in this, and you put together this giant web of success. And then people were like, oh my gosh, I didn't think about it that way. Why? Why? Because you've been at a place for 20 years and because you think that's the only way, you know how to do it. And so I think we're really lucky that we get to learn from a lot of people, we get to go in and see the way things are being done up and down the coast of California.
Speaker 2:And then we get to go to all those clients that we work with and build relationships with, who trust us. When they go into a room and they're creating their, their, their LCAP right, their plans and their goals for this coming year, whatever's going to happen, we sit down with them, especially these new principals we're working with who, as an AP, they never knew what that was, they weren't had, they weren't in charge of creating that Right. So now they become a principal and that falls onto their shoulders and they're like well, where's this funding coming from? How do I have extended learning opportunity funding? Where? Where's the the, the 80 recovery funding?
Speaker 2:You know are I'm a title one school, I'm a CSI school, right, like, I have all the and so I get to talk the language because, and then very quickly they start to understand oh, okay, wow, you actually know a lot about the ins and outs of education, the structure, the funding, every single thing. You're not just a motivational speaker, right, you're actually a legit educational consultant. And there's not. I wish there were more people out there like me. I really do. Like people always say well, but if there was another, a new project, wouldn't you be scared that they're running? You're going to take over your business? No, there's like 1200 schools in California alone. That's right, and and I'm not going to get to all those schools.
Speaker 2:What we need is more people who are on board, because the problem within most districts or institutions I'll just be blunt and honest here is that when they do figure out the recipe for success, they don't want to share that secret sauce with somebody else. That's right. And yet we say, oh, we got to do what's best for kids. But do we really mean that if we're not willing to share what the other school down the street's doing, because we're like, but they're going to get some of our kids and they're going to you know this, that and the other, it's like I.
Speaker 2:I encourage people to step into space that I'm playing in.
Speaker 2:They will, one, realize it's very hard and, number two, they'll realize that they have to have the best of intentions for what's best for kids.
Speaker 2:And if they don't, they'll be weeded out very easily. Because you can't do this job, including being a teacher, if you do it for the money, if you do it for your own ego, because you're going to get your ego shot down constantly, and I know this because I step on campus daily sometimes and I'm always looked at as the new kid on the blocker. What is this guy going to teach me? And maybe I teach him something, maybe I don't, but regardless, I think one of the best things we could do to dispel those naysayers or like people who doubt us or anyone in general, to kind of like embed that trust is, um, you know, just doing what we do best as a leadership organization and as people who know the ins and outs of education. We really want what's best for kids and adults and I think people see that very quickly we could probably do one or many episodes just on the concept of what's best for kids.
Speaker 1:Uh, that's, that's, that's a a whole multi-layered oh yeah appeal big time. I, you know. Every year I hear people say, oh, I'm you know so and so is too nice to kids. That's the problem as a teacher or as a staff. But they're not, they're too nice to kids. They take the kid's side, or, uh, my philosophy is I don't smile until october, like, oh gosh, so how would I live? How would that be? Wow, for for an adult going into a place of employment that, by the way, they go to voluntarily, not because they're obligated by by the government, sure, uh, and no one is nice to them for the first two to three months on the job, like that's just so. There's a lot of of that.
Speaker 1:I think that the, the, this mantra of what's best for kids is is a, you know, I think it's way, way, way overused. But I wanted when, as you were speaking and you were, you mentioned the student who had, who overdosed, um, and it kind of connects in my head. I, I had a great conversation with rocky heron. Rocky is a retired dea agent and shout out to rocky, he's a super inspirational speaker, motivational speaker, um, employed by the san diego county office of education, and his singular focus is to talk to kids about the dangers of fentanyl. Oh, wow, and you know, we took, we said he's certainly not the only drug.
Speaker 1:Uh, uh, um, you know, resistance educator or whatever you want to call them, uh, in in san diego or in the, in the state or in the country, but what he has that is that he's authentic with kids, love it, and he's not a trained educator, but he's a very engaging storyteller. You listen to the episode and and he's got fascinating stories, but he just goes in there and he's like, he's honest. Great, like this is it? I think that honesty, as you say, that flashed in my mind when you were talking about how you can push past naysayers is just by by being honest and then being consistent and and keep up, keep up the work and focus on the positive Cause if you're positive and you're smiling and you're kind, even when people aren't to you, I mean you're still.
Speaker 2:You'd be a hard person to dislike, right, Like. Even if they like, don't like you at first, they're like man, there's something about that person. I just kind of like them in the end, Right. So, yeah, it's just got to come with kindness sometimes.
Speaker 1:Where do you envision your organization in 10 years time? That's the big question.
Speaker 2:I was having a conversation with a good friend last night about this. I'd love to be a national organization someday. I'd like to be able to partner with state superintendents, the California Department of Education uh, obviously I have a big love for california. This is where I was born and raised, but I think that having ties in washington state, um, texas, you know where I have some family there too, uh, and just all over the country, I think, would be an amazing step for us in 10 years. I think that we've got a long ways to go if we're going to get there. Uh, I think one of the biggest things that we're doing right now, uh and I've is we're building out kind of like a netflix of education.
Speaker 2:Okay, uh, it is mailing dvds no I'm just yeah, we are yeah because that's vhs.
Speaker 1:You can keep it as long as you want, but don't lose it. You got one morning and then you got to pay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, um so we, we, uh, I mean, clearly we have to look at a lot of different platforms, right? Uh, I would. I, I got a funny story to tell you. So many people know, probably, linkedin learning. Um, what they don't know is that before it was linkedin learning, uh, it was called lyndacom. So I don't know, did you know? I did not know, okay, so I, I followed this and I'm gonna be wrong on my date, so nobody quote me out there. Look it up for yourself.
Speaker 2:I think they sold, for like two billion dollars, cash to linkedin linkedin. So when I was 18 years old, I would drive past this place called carpinteria on my way to santa barbara. Yeah, so it's right after, like ventura and in between, like right before Montecito, there's some onion fields there. Yeah, there's a lot of fields and different stuff. Yeah, there is, yeah, and so you know, I drive past carpentry and on the left-hand side I would always see this big company, lyndacom. And lyndacom, I think, was started like 1999, 20 years later, she sold it to LinkedIn learning for like 2 billion, like Linda. Linda sold it, linda, she sold it.
Speaker 2:And what Linda did is she did something so unique, I think, which was ahead of her time, before anyone else was doing it is. She said why don't I pull together the smartest people that I know, who are great at different career fields, and let's record these people talking about what they do? Right, and this was before, I think, like YouTube even took off, right? So I mean, you think about when YouTube really took off mid two thousands, late, two thousands, let's say, 2007, 2008.
Speaker 2:Right, I think what's incredible is Linda actually had the ability to kind of oversee who she worked with. I'm sure and I'm not trying to put words in her mouth, but, like she said, like you and I right, you've been in education for 20 plus years. Oh, my goodness, let me bring David on board and let me have him do a full series. This is before masterclass. This is before some of all these other ones. She was like the originator, but I absolutely fell in love with that concept and idea and I would follow it because I had a subscription when I was 18 years old to lyndacom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I bought a subscription. It was it was 399 a year. Wow, and this is before people really like got into youtube and doing tutorial videos and all these other things. Where would you go? There was no other place. You go to lyndcom. I went to lyndacom before I would even go to YouTube to figure out like video production editing, cause I'm self-taught with everything. I didn't go to school for video production.
Speaker 2:And yet you know, besides the new project we run, every video that we do, including this podcast, is all done within our studios. Between all three studios we have over 7,000 square feet of production space. That's incredible. Right From Santa Barbara to Nuevo to now here in Old Town, temecula, we do all of our videos in-house. In fact, last year alone, based on what we produce for clients as well as in-person, I think we hit like 177 videos that we produced. Wow, that's a lot.
Speaker 2:And yet what we're doing and these are not short forum videos either, right, these are we're launching a new series called the new project, leaders Academy. So the leaders Academy is like 35 minute videos. These are videos designed for classroom style, teaching that if your teacher is not the most dynamic teacher in the world, they can have the new project in their back pocket. That helps substitute that maybe lack of excitement that they bring to the classroom. And yet they have challenge cards, worksheets, inspiration cards, they have downloadable stuff, you know stuff that they can print out. And then there's videos from our trained professionals talking about leadership theories, concepts, best practices, practical, you know application, challenging group dynamics, things that kids actually really like, and it's all done in a way that is like a combination between Bill Nye, the science guy, and Mr Rogers Nice, and it's so fun, it's engaging, it's a lot. So I've been piloting this over the last two months and it's been receiving incredible I don't even think we're done yet and districts want to buy it.
Speaker 2:Districts want to start implementing it into the curriculum around, like innovation and technology for some of the schools, and they want to start doing for their leadership classes. We're working with a few charter schools. We're working with a few public schools, these schools that are like I want to use this for ASB, lean Crew, national Honor Society, ffa plus programs. I mean the list goes on and on. We're doing athlete development retreats and these are great for coaches to be able to bring together their athletes because they realize you may be a leader in your sport, but are you a leader in the program and how do we get there right? So these are things that we've got to really think about and consider.
Speaker 2:So we're building out this platform that I think in the next 10 years is going to get us nationwide, and it's just time. It takes time, it takes effort and it takes down, like you got to continue to like knock down walls right, like we're kicking down walls every single day, because, even as great as you know we're, we're doing the these 170 videos and we're doing 300 events a year no one ever heard of the anew project. Yeah, and that's to us is pretty wild. So I guess we're still the best kept secret would you ever?
Speaker 1:would you ever uh take on investors?
Speaker 2:I thought about it part of the conversation I was having with my my friend yesterday, right, because we were talking about lyndacom and we were talking about different startup companies and education. Um, I'm also really fascinated right now with, like credit recovery. So when a lot of the students who are, you know, and I'm gonna just say this out loud, right, I work with a lot of continuation schools, I work with big shout out to like Coombs, alternative Education, love them up in Banning, california, paris Lake, their principal, lee Alfred's absolutely amazing, that's a continuation school in paris union high school district. Uh, so we're working a lot of different continuation schools. When I go to either the main campuses or the satellite campuses, that is the most boring stuff I've ever seen.
Speaker 2:We should be ashamed of ourself that we're putting out those credit recovery style stuff and I mean that with all love, because I know people are trying their best, right, but when, if anyone wants to go and watch those things that are being put out I'm not going to mention any of the the platforms or programs out there but it's, it's appalling that these kids who are supposed to graduate with 180 credits or something like that, now only have to do 125 and they're being. They have to watch these videos that are not engaging and they're just just passing them along and that and once again this goes back to a whole nother conversation of gripe that I have in terms of some of the things that education does, things that are really good, things that are really bad. But I'm really fascinated with that space right now because I think there's a better way to do it and if we can figure it out here at the new project, you better believe we're going to do everything we can in the next three or four years.
Speaker 1:I you know everyone's talking about chronic absenteeism now that's the concern in the last year or two years, but the part that I think is still hasn't come to the forefront is the engagement piece. So this is a very interesting. This is a kind of an inside, behind the scenes how the sausages are made. But school leaders will. This will resonate with them. During COVID, every LEA local education agency in California had to document engagement of students in whatever format we were educating our students, so that for most LEAs that was entirely remote. Most LEAs had no experience with remote learning prior, so they went from kids there to a week later, no kids there and trying to cobble together some combination of you know for pay platforms, google Docs, sometimes nothing Wild, wild, wild. And so we had these engagement forms. We had to fill out and send them into the state. I'm sure at some level. Some legislator said, in order that this gets approved, we need to make sure that LEAs are actually able to verify engagement. I can tell you that, um, that's pretty, pretty slim argument, right, that that form actually documents engagement. The research on online learning, um, certainly post covid, bears that out right. But the thing that people aren't talking about is how much of chronic absenteeism that is persisting is tied to lack of engagement.
Speaker 1:I just spoke with Hedy Chang last week on the podcast. She's part of a national organization that that's all they do is. They look at chronic absenteeism, they do research, they do they, they come up with policy proposals, white papers, work with entities all over and she said, you know, she said something really fascinating to me, which was that the, the schools that have career tech programs, um, where the kids actually have something concrete that they're learning. So you go, you're going in and you want to become a, uh, nursing nurse's assistant. Yeah, you're like gotta take this, got a physiology, blah, blah, blah. I know I need to do my internship in the hospital, whatever. That looks like one step, one step, and that can look ahead and see that someday I'm going to be wearing that uniform and I'm going to be with my badge and I'm going to be going. I'm going to be earning a living doing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those places have less of a problem with chronic absenteeism than the entities where the kids just the purpose is not even clear to kids, and I think what happened during COVID is those tendons that were binding us historically to schools. I mean, when I think about how hard it was for me to take a day off from school, from the time I was in preschool, all the way up through 12th grade, I needed like congressional resolution to take a day off from school. From the time I was in preschool, all the way up through 12th grade, I needed like congressional resolution to take a day off. I had to be missing a limb, you know, yeah, yeah. And even then my mom would be like well, I'm gonna go to school for you, right, and I'm gonna take notes in your class. I'm like that's so embarrassing so no tribute oh no, I'm like that's that.
Speaker 1:You just ruined my friendship forever. So i'm'm going to. I will go to school, right, right, right. But now you know schools, school feels kind of optional and I think that we have to come back to that engagement piece you talk about, yeah, about the credit recovery. I mean what? What skewed logic that is to think that kids who are already struggling with passing and getting enough credits we're going to force them to just watch a bunch of stuff and kind of go through that they may graduate, but for what? To what end?
Speaker 2:Right and you get to that point. Where is that really going to make you feel good about teaching kids? And I get it. You're not taking complete ownership of their inability to focus in, sometimes some kids, so it's not to blame the teacher.
Speaker 2:just so anyone understands we're not sitting here blaming, but what we are saying is that there can be a better way to engage students. Right, I was not if it. If I knew that spirit week was happening, I probably wasn't missing that week, right? Right, if I knew that there was a pep rally happening on Friday, I would probably be showing up for that day. Yeah, if I know, on Wednesdays was consistently, we were watching Bill Nye, the Science Guy or some other science experiment or something in class. I was probably showing up a majority of Wednesdays. That's right.
Speaker 2:So what happens is we go through where it's like we are, and this is where we could talk about, you know, student, uh, you know school culture and things like that as well, because we think about it. At what level are we doing things? Or, once again, just putting band-aids on? Right, because then we're talking about well, kids aren't wearing the spirit t-shirts like they used to, or kids aren't wanting to show up to school dances, or kids aren't wanting to do this, or they're not wanting to participate. They're not. They're not what kids used to be and it's like.
Speaker 2:But yeah, we also need to find ways to get back to what it means to have fun and to enjoy and to kind of let your guard down. That's something I think that needs to start being put back into education, the engagement piece, and we need to start looking at it that way. So I know that that's the things that we're looking at. We're tracking some of those, some of that data too, and just looking at like, wow, okay, what do we need to do better to be more consistent on that basis?
Speaker 1:Are you familiar with the hole in the wall experiment? I can't say yeah. So Dr Mitra, fascinating. I talked to him a few months ago. It's a very highly viewed ted talk, you can check him out. But basically his experience he was a computer scientist in india. Wow, and he, he would walk to his office every day and walk past this really impoverished area in in new delhi or something, and you'd see these kids playing in the streets and then you'd go in and you'd teach computer science in his nice lab. And then you'd go in and he'd teach computer science in his nice lab, and then he'd go home and one day he decided to take a computer. This is like in the late 90s, so internet a thing, but not wireless, probably not wi-fi yet.
Speaker 1:Um, so he takes this computer and he embeds it in the wall of the this like impished area, like these slums, facing where the kids were playing. When there's a mouse there, that's it and he takes off and he comes back like a month later and the kids are all huddled around this thing and he's asking them you know what they're doing? And they're answering him in English, which was not their native language. So he's surprised and he says how'd you learn English? And they said from the computer. And so he starts talking to him and they say he goes, well, you know, do you have any complaints? And they're like well, we wish we had more RAM or whatever ROM or whatever on the computer. This is too slow. And they taught themselves how to use the actual hardware, but then how to surf the internet. That's incredible. Download at the time this is before smartphones. Okay, yeah, uh, download, uh pretty rudimentary programs, but download things and they.
Speaker 1:And so, anyway, he started this whole experiment. You can look it up. It's super cool. But basically he got to this theory of that students, under certain conditions, like groups of three or four working together, can basically teach themselves anything, especially with access to technology. Super fascinating. But I asked him so why, like, why isn't this? What are the constraints? And he said he said you know, the constraints are not that teachers don't want this learning to happen. It's not an individual teacher decision, it's not a conspiracy. It's just that the system in much of the world and certainly in the united states, the system is designed and has evolved or devolved in such a way you look at the incentives, you're going to be able to determine what the results are going to be. Incentives are, you know, certain state testing, certain time, but time and seats, uh, for kids, all these structures that you know, bell time, you know all these ratios and credential all this stuff. And so what does that do? It just narrows the range of, of willingness for creativity, for spontaneity.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say yeah, I mean, I feel like I feel like we've really stifled creativity. I, I really do, I, and as a as a person who I and I don't know, maybe since my mom is, uh, you know, retired I haven't been on much of an elementary school campus too much this past couple of years. But I remember growing up, and you remember this, like someone asked a young person what they wanted to do and their dreams were so big. They were so, I mean, you jump on a jungle gym and next thing you know that was like a warship or that was a rocket ship, right, you know, it was something else than what it really was.
Speaker 2:And I think, like, partially with social media too and other things, it's like you know, we're doing so much scrolling that that that's that's the another topic that we could get into. But but, once again, that there's so much scrolling, it's like there's so much nonsense, right, that's like some stuff just isn't productive, right? Those kids that you were talking about for the whole the wall experiment, like they were probably really eager to learn English, or they thought about, what if I learned about this, if I only I had the opportunity to do that? I'm going to maximize that opportunity because I have interest in it. And then those four group of you know kids, they fed off their each other. They were motivated like, oh, I found this out. Did you find this out? No, but I have this and that's the creativity and that's the collaboration that we need to get back to. Uh, I think that that's what's going to help education in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1:I think we you- know we, we see these school even in great climates like ours. Right, kids don't spend much time outdoors. Even if you say, hey, you can take the kids to the park, and you know, under these conditions, walk the kids, just make sure they're crossing at the crosswalk and it's safe, but take the kids to the park, do this. There's this feeling of I'm going to lose control and I don't want to get in trouble, and you know, we live in a very litigious culture, and so that's another piece too. So I think there's so many ways we could look at this. I kind of mourn my, or I guess I'm grateful. I should say that mourning is probably not a great way to look at this, but I'm very grateful for the way I grew up, that I still had the opportunity to have exposure to nature, yeah, and I think we have a lot of students who don't even know they're missing time outdoors, for example, right, just messing around. I knew, I know, as a kid, if I ever said I was bored, my mom would say I'm gonna, I'm gonna find something, yeah. Or you can go outside. Yeah, exactly, I don't want to clean. Yeah, I'm going outside, exactly, you know.
Speaker 1:I think we need to get back to some of that and we have a huge obstacle, which is our screens. It's our screens, just screens. You know the, the ipad? Someone recently with an infant said you know what parenting advice would you give me? And I said you know, I, I don't, I don't, I'm not sure I could give you any, because parenting is is, uh, nuanced and complicated and obviously you need to love your kid, but really be conscious of the screen stuff and I'm not saying that your kid should never be exposed to a screen, but are you using it as a babysitter? Right, you see families out to dinner and three, four parents, two kids they're all on a screen. Save yourself 200 bucks, man. Get Uber Eats, go home. Everybody could lock themselves in their own room and just be on their screen. What's the point? And you know the founders of, you know our tech founders, for example, the inventors of these devices.
Speaker 2:They didn't let their kids use them and I think they had no idea that it would be what it is I don't think I think you're right.
Speaker 1:I think most of them were had you know, no idea that people are so absorbed into them yeah, and I that's right, because when the the first iphone came out, even, uh, there was this idea that no one's going to ever want to type on a screen that doesn't have that tactile experience, for example, that the Blackberry had, or that you know so and look, I know look what's this ancient phone.
Speaker 2:That is what's yeah. Yeah, and now I don't even have the time I talked to text yeah, which isn't 100% accurate yet. We can work on that, yeah, but you know it's pretty close.
Speaker 1:I heard this thing about a guy who was in prison for a long time and I don't know if he was in solitary or something. He didn't get to see images of people at all. First he got out and they were driving around and driving home or whatever, and he asked his family members how come everyone's walking around? What are they holding in their hands? Oh geez, has everybody walking down the street?
Speaker 2:yeah, walking campuses too average. We just did this, we just did this great, uh professional development yesterday and, uh, about 40 staff members uh, a little bit smaller than what we normally do, right? Normally our pds are, they could range between two, three hundred, mainly in between, let's say, like 75 to 150, like our, our normal size pds. But this was such a great group of staff that we worked with yesterday and we did this activity called the great race and I gave him this series of obstacles, right, and it was very simple. It was a spoon on top of a ball, right, and we said, okay, we kind of set the stage for this great race. We said, all right, this is a race, here's a couple of different rules, here's what you have to do. And you know, teachers, right, like we were, we we tell them something and a lot of them were task oriented. So they're like all right, I'm going to, I'm going to win this. And then you know, you get a little competitive too. So then we take off and they're all doing this race.
Speaker 2:And the message behind this great race is, as they're focused on the ball on top of the spoon and they're so focused on completing, getting around all the cones when they get back after their first lap, we say hey, how many of you noticed? Uh, all the signs on the walls, and more than half of them every time, are like wait, what signs? Because we put inside the hallways or inside, whichever way they're going for their route. We put words of encouragement You're amazing, you're beautiful, you're incredible, you're talented, you're gifted, keep going right.
Speaker 2:But yet we're so focused on this, because we've been given that task, that we lose sight about the most important thing, which is all the other beauty of the world and everything else around us. And I tell them that if we could just take that spoon and take that ball and throw it off to the side, it looks no different than our cell phones, that's right. We are walking on campuses, we are walking to the grocery store, we're we're walking different places and we don't even I. I could have been on my cell phone, david. I could have been on my cell phone while you were looking for your, your pepsi, that's right. And before you know it, if it wasn't for the fact that I was like actually being observant and wanting to communicate and talk with people, I made eye contact with you, I said hello and then it was from there. But yeah, we just think about those things and how many opportunities we're losing out on having genuine, authentic connections because we're so focused on the screens it's crazy?
Speaker 1:yeah, it's, you know, and at some, at some point, someone will do research on this and and there'll be a screen generation and you know, um, we'll see what, what impacts that had. Um, you've been very generous with your time and I I just have a couple more questions. Sure, um, sure, um 4-4-48. Yeah, okay, so I was in preparation for today, going on your website, I was like looking through videos, there's a 4-4-48, so what do you tell us? What that is?
Speaker 2:oh gosh I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna kind of laugh um one of our creative directors and an amazing videographer, but more than that, he's my cousin, daniel. He's behind doing all the filming and stuff. Today. He, him and I, a couple of years ago, sat down for a podcast and very similar to this. Before I did it, he asked me he goes, tell me about this, and at the time, I'll be honest, I hadn't done it yet, so I was just kind of in the preparation to doing it. It is a challenge created by this crazy guy named David Goggins.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know David, and so I don't know him but I know of him, yeah, so we couldn't have him on here because he drops the F-bombs. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So, but this guy former Navy SEAL, in short he does really hard things Right. And so I've always been the type of person to kind of like choose your hard, right. Like life is hard in general, right, choose your hard work. I mean, working for someone else is hard, working for yourself is hard, right. Like having money and trying to do your best to make money is hard. Not having any money is hard, right. Like you could look at everything in life, right. Being a good friend is hard. Not being a good friend is hard. Say that you look at everything you got to choose your heart. And I've kind of always thought about what it means to do hard stuff, because then everything else in your life seems a little easier.
Speaker 2:And so I hear, within the new project we do a series of documentaries every now and then this one happened to be the four by four by 48, which is I would run four miles every four hours for 48 hours, for a grand total of 48 miles. And so what happens is you started like 4.00 PM. You do 4.00 PM, 8.00 PM, midnight, 4.00 AM, 8.00 AM, 12.00 PM, 4. 4 PM, and it keeps going like that for 48 hours. So you start on the fourth hour and you run. So, however long it's going to take you to run four miles, you may finish. You may start at 4 PM and it may take you an hour, right, maybe less, depending on how fast you're running. So then you stop, you, cool down, you stretch, you ice bath, take a nap, take a nap, try to eat some food, but then by 8 PM you're on the road again running four miles I would say loop or something right in a loop, one of the hardest things I have ever done in my entire life. In fact it was so hard I think I had like a tendon injury for my Achilles for for really ever since I did it and what's wild is it never healed. And in fact about eight months ago, during the summer, I actually completely ruptured my Achilles eight months ago. So I, over the last eight months, have been recovering and healing from that. And it just so happens to be that the documentary that I sent you was like a year and a half, two years ago now. But I just did a new documentary called the 45 by four, by 48. So I go to this gym. It's called F45. So what we did is we did a F45 workout for every four hours for 48 hours.
Speaker 2:So I just did this new documentary and that sounds worse than the running was. It was brutal. It was because at least you could run you. If I was running, I was probably, on average, finishing each mile within like eight minutes, right, which is still pretty fast, but not super fast. We're not trying to not, I'm not trying to do a sub, yeah, I'm not trying to do a sub six miles, right, so on average, between eight to ten minutes. So we'd be able to get done.
Speaker 2:But the fact that you had to work out at the gym mean that there was commute time added to it. Uh, you know, it disrupted your sleep patterns. You know, sir, there was times I actually slept at the gym. There were a few people who slept at the gym so we wouldn't have to go between the midnight workout and the four am workout. So I actually just did a new document, or I'll have to send it over to you. It's not done yet, but when it's done I'll send it.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I just like hard stuff, I like being able to do things that are difficult and challenging. When you walk into that with the mindset that's like I don't know if I'm going to be able to complete it and when you do. It's so rewarding and then I think it's also encouraging to other people. I mean the responses that I got from that film. We actually premiered it, like I said, two years ago, at a school.
Speaker 2:This spring we're taking on 40 interns.
Speaker 2:So we're actually working with, we're doing an internship program that we're doing for a pathway school you were talking about that earlier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the CTE programs and the pathways that they're choosing. We're doing actually two pathways. One is the business entrepreneurship pathway and the other one is the film video production pathway. We've got 20 and 20 students, so about 40 students. It's an internship that was approved and we were able to launch and get off the ground with Riverside County Department of Education, so RCOE and we are working with this school in Menifee actually and we are starting to do more documentaries, more different things like that with those students. But I just share that because I realized that some of those film students who saw that when they were sophomores and they're all now seniors were like, oh my gosh, I remember that film that you did and they they didn't forget it and it was two years ago and we talked about the connectivity piece. Constantly. It's like what are we doing to encourage and inspire people? And it's just another thing that's a part of our platform called the new project tv.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was inspiring. I kind of stumbled upon it and and you text me you said I'm motivated yeah, let's go for a run.
Speaker 1:Let's do this I. There's a concept in in and I can't remember the name, but I read about it recently where people do they attempt to learn or do something new every year. That's super challenging, that pushes them outside of their comfort zone A lot of times it's physical, not always. Pushes them outside of their comfort zone. A lot of times it's physical, not always, and depending on your own condition and state and whatever. Not everybody can run like you did. But to get into that space where you're doing hard things, yeah, because for many of us, we face hard things. Hard things come in life, right, but we don't often seek out things that are hard to test ourselves, uh, and so that that was one of the things. I thought. This is inspiring. Like these young guys don't need to do this. Uh, you know, and um, yeah, the david goggins is a different, a different breed, he's a different animal, for sure. He, uh, he's, um, and you know there are limits to it too.
Speaker 1:I think he's running, he's, he doesn't run with your marathon he runs with broken legs, yeah, you know, a thousand pull-ups, whatever, till his arms fall off and stuff like that. But yeah, yeah, but I think there's something about this, the camaraderie, too that is built up with doing the challenge that you did with friends or with family. Yeah, that's a pretty cool thing.
Speaker 2:It's cool, I think you know it's just a part of who I am too Like. I grew up playing sports my whole life, so football, basketball, volleyball my dad was my coach pretty much my whole life until I got into high school. And you, just, you learn right. You learn that through. You know athletics. You learn that through failing right, and that's just what I've realized is that life is filled with failures, and the more you become comfortable with failing, the quicker you learn to develop thicker skin and to realize that nothing's ever going to be perfect. And so the more we can do that, the easier it is to navigate and opt through life when there are tough times that come your way, because then you realize, well, that wasn't as bad as it could have been Right, and maybe it was horrible, but it's a perspective, it's the mindset that you have. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Somewhere out there there's a somewhat grainy video because it's now what, 14, 15 years ago. But when I turned 40, I ran 40 miles on my birthday. You say last year, last year, yeah, last year, and it was kind of a joint thing. We're turning 40. But then also we had gone up 40 points in our at the time you had a school api ranking where it was a ranking and that was a big nice. So I told the kids I'll run a mile for each, each point, that we went up, so that a whole thing lined up.
Speaker 1:And I remember, yeah, I did, you know, I did four times 10, right, I ran 10 miles and then I would nutrition, have a cup of coffee, whatever, and do another 10. And I I met my buddy, uh, at mile 30 and the goal was he was going to run the last 10 with me and um, and I remember we got about halfway through the 10 and gps wasn't what it is now and he's like, hey, bro, uh, I think we took a wrong turn. Oh good, and I'm like you know, I'm 30 something miles into this. I'd been up running since three in the morning, my brain's fried. Yeah, I'm just like, I'm following you, just give me gatorade and I remember thinking and he's like, you can stop at any time I'm like the only way that I'm gonna stop this is in an ambulance.
Speaker 1:Dang that and I don't yeah, and I'm not saying I had some, I have some amazing physical ability. I'm not we're gonna run a two, two and a half hour marathon or anything, wasn't that? It was just the mental toughness right to just be like pushing through that. And you know, then when I turn 50 people are like you're gonna do it again, you're gonna do 50 miles? No, I might run five.
Speaker 2:Well, that's, that's where you know. With this last documentary, we started with 36 people who were, uh, doing this challenge, yeah, and we finished with 36 people incredible, I mean, when you think about a community that's gonna pick you up when you're down, that's, that's that community. So the the workout one, the workout one, yeah, because I mean don't get me wrong after the four by four by 48, I thought, well, what's going to get harder than that? And the 45 by four by 48 was definitely harder, and so I think it's a full body, full body.
Speaker 2:And then you just don't rest and you're lifting heavy weights and you're not taking a day off and you got 36 people pushing and competing and like so, but in the end it was, it was. How can you do that? And, uh, when people are tired or they're they're, they're like barely getting up in the morning, like get up, let's go, we're gonna do this together. So when you're around those people, yep, you get up yep, you get up.
Speaker 1:I think that's what part of the success of like the crossfit gyms has been. I don't know if this is a crossfit gym that you're doing, but it's similar.
Speaker 2:It's similar. Right, it's like a hit, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's the community that's around it, right? Like you start taking too many days off and people start texting you. Yeah, they do. Come on, man, where are you at? Don't get lazy. I did this too when I. I just have a couple more questions for you. What advice would your 30-something, 20-something I think you're around age 30. I don't want to out you, but I outed myself 32. What advice does your 32-year-old self give your 17, 18-year-old self who's finishing high school? Looking out there in the world? Wow.
Speaker 2:The advice that I would give myself as a 32 year old looking at a younger version of myself would be don't be afraid of what other people think. I share that with you because once again I looked at myself. You probably see a very confident person sitting here in front of you today, right, when I was with my friends. Very confident when I was around my sports teams. Very confident. When I was alone, not so confident. And when you're getting ready to graduate.
Speaker 2:And at 18 years old, when I graduated, I moved. A week after, I moved straight up to Santa Barbara to take a job as a camp. I left my small town, I just got it and it went and I was so nervous, I was so scared. But every couple of years I took a big jump again, right. So then, post-college, I moved up to Santa Barbara full-time. Right, I'm alone, I'm figuring things out. A couple of years being up there, I start my own company.
Speaker 2:Right, like, it seemed like I was alone quite often in the beginning, early stages of college starting my own company. I mean, the list goes on and on of these moments where I sat in the mirror and I looked and I was doubting my ability to keep doing what I was doing, and a lot of it had to do with how I thought people perceived me. Right, I used to always be so scared of what people thought of me, because being a people pleaser it's. It's one of those things where it's like you get into your head thinking, oh my gosh, what it's. It's one of those things where it's like you get into your head thinking, oh my gosh, what? What if? What if they don't enjoy it? What if I? They don't like me? Right? And um, I developed this mindset right.
Speaker 2:That helped me for a little bit and it was about I wanted to prove people wrong. Like, how do I prove people wrong, people who don't believe in me, the naysayers, those, this and that? And then I woke up one day and I said, well gosh, that only gets you so far. And so I started developing this mindset that it's so important to prove people right. So proving people right essentially is this is this concept in this idea that, like when I think about my small circle, my family, all those things I think about all those who do believe in me and all those who want me to succeed.
Speaker 2:And so I, I would just tell my 17 year old self. Keep going. Don't be afraid of what people who don't like you say, or people who don't think you're going to succeed, especially when you're young and you're starting a business and you're getting into a space like education, where people are constantly looking at you with like I've done this before. You don't move over, kid, you don't know what you're doing, so keep going. Yeah, keep pushing forward and be careful of how you perceive yourself when you look in the mirror and realize that, as long as you're doing good for others and you're waking up day in and day out, you've got this and don't read your social media comments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Exactly so. Media comments.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, exactly so. To wrap up, this is a hypothetical. You're given the opportunity or maybe this will actually come true and it was your career trajectory to you're given the chance to design a billboard for the side of the freeway. I guess the closest freeway is the 15. Okay, here you get that. You get the full on. We're going big. We're going large, nice. It's a busy freeway. You get the full on. We're going large, nice. What does your billboard say to the world about what you hold most dear in this life?
Speaker 2:Whoa, that someone cares for you, that your life, your thoughts, thoughts, your ideas are valuable. Uh, I think we, as connected as this world is, we are still very disconnected and I think because we fail to really get to know people's real heart. You know, there's a, an incredible book called crucial conversations and it says chapter three, it says it starts with the heart and in that chapter it says before you can get dialogue right, you first have to get your heart right. Because if I'm going to enter into the conversation with anyone, including yourself when you look in the mirror, uh, you have to be willing to be in the right state of mind and in the right space in your life. And I think, as people are going down the 15 freeway and they're probably stuck in traffic early in the morning or coming back, especially coming from Temecula, they have to look up there and understand and know that somebody cares for them and that their ideas, their life, those moments that seem tough, that someone's thinking about them and hoping and wishing the best for them. Because as I continue to just spread positivity I know that may seem like a very shallow and easy thing to do is like all you just run an organization that has like positivity written all over it and that's all you're doing. I hope that people get to understand too of who I am a little bit more and just to the level that we take this very serious, because it's not just we're coming in and playing a bunch of games. It is transforming lives.
Speaker 2:And I remember not what I learned in, you know, ap chem or ap bio, uh, or what I learned in my social studies or math classes. I remember the teachers who took the time and said you know what? Put down your paper, put down your pen. How are you doing? Yeah, are you okay, you know? That's what I remember the most and that's I hope that any teachers watching this, any principal superintendents, that they remember that sometimes you got to put down the the phone, put down the laptop, close it up and just connect with people on this level, because that's what they're going to remember you by.
Speaker 1:I think that's a great place to wrap today's conversation. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for coming in. Actually, thank you for having me come into your studio. It's your show, fantastic setting here and great tech support behind the scenes, and so I hope to do it again soon.
Speaker 2:Thank you, my friend. I appreciate you having me on your show and I can't wait to see what you more of the exciting things you do in the future. Yeah, likewise Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Superintendent's Hangout. You can follow me on Twitter at DVS1970. Please be sure to share this show with friends and family on social media and in the real world. Thank you to Brad Backeal for editing and production.