Episode 1: Meet the Hosts

Episode Summary:
In the inaugural episode of Inspire Shasta, the hosts introduce themselves and the podcast's mission. They share their backgrounds and experiences working with youth in Shasta County, emphasizing the importance of personal narratives in fostering empathy and understanding.

Key Points:
Introduction to Inspire Shasta: The podcast aims to inspire change through personal stories of resilience and dedication.
Host introductions: Austin Preller, Maggie Joyce, and Jenn Cobb of the Shasta County Office of Education share their experiences working with youth in Shasta County.
Podcast's mission: The podcast will explore the unique challenges and opportunities faced by youth in Shasta County and highlight the positive impact of allies and advocates.

Additional Notes:
The episode sets the stage for future episodes by establishing the podcast's focus on personal narratives and community impact.
The hosts' backgrounds provide valuable insights into the issues facing youth in Shasta County.
The podcast's mission aligns with the goal of fostering a more empathetic and supportive community.

Possible Discussion Questions:
What are the unique challenges faced by youth in Shasta County?
How can personal narratives inspire positive change in our community?
What role can allies and advocates play in supporting youth?

Transcript

Inspire Shasta, Episode One

Maggie Joyce: [00:00:00] Welcome to Inspire Shasta, where we hope to inspire change through personal narratives. Join us while we dive into impactful stories that showcase the resilience of youth and the tireless dedication of allies and advocates. 

Austin Preller: This podcast is a space where personal experiences shape a collective narrative, fostering empathy, understanding, and a call to action for positive change in our community.

Maggie Joyce: Welcome to the first episode of Inspire Shasta. We're really excited to be here and get to share this platform with the greater community of Shasta County. Before we go any further into the details of what our podcast is going to be about, we'd like to introduce the hosts of Inspire Shasta. 

Austin Preller: Thanks Maggie.

It's a privilege to be here today with the two of you and I look forward to where we take this podcast and where the journey that we get to take the listeners on. So my name is Austin, and I'm the Director of Youth Support Services [00:01:00] here at SCOE. And my background, pre coming to SCOE was actually working for Reading Recreation in their youth sports programs and coordinating youth sports leagues.

And it was there where I really developed a passion for community building and impacting positive change in our community through youth. And from there, I was able to come over to SCOE as a coordinator in the Project Share After School programs and got to experience dozens of school sites in that capacity.

And really got to understand and become familiar with all of the differences as well as the similarities between school campuses across Shasta County because each school has its own unique identity, its own unique culture, and I think that extends to the families that the school serves. And so that was a really awesome experience and then worked in our alternative education programs and really drilling [00:02:00] down and identifying some of the most significant challenges that our students face in our community and how we as educators and as adult allies and advocates can best position ourselves to help meet the need of those youth.

And then I came over to youth support services where I get a, where I got to dive in and become much more familiar with the foster youth education world, as well as as providing supports and resources for our students who are experiencing homelessness. And then more recently we've opened a door to substance use prevention education, which really grew out of the growing need for tobacco education.

And we've been able to go some really cool places with that. And so that's who I am and why I'm here and I'll turn it over to Jenn. 

Jenn Cobb: Awesome. Austin said, my name is Jenn. I'm a coordinator here at youth support services. And my main areas of focus are prevention and [00:03:00] expanded learning programs like summer programs and afterschool and intersession programs.

So I didn't grow up in. Northern California. I actually grew up in Central California in a little town called Los Banos. And that's where I played the sport that nobody in Chesapeake County knows called water polo. And so that was a really good time for me. That went into me getting my bachelors in social work.

Also being able to play my sport in college. And then the only reason I got my social work major was because I knew I liked to help people. And I knew I liked to help students in particular. And so That has been the theme of my life for the past 10 years is being in jobs where I am helping students in some capacity or another.

But it didn't end up being in prevention until I moved up here to Shasta County about five years ago. And I started working for a nonprofit in town that focused on prevention. And then there was an opening at the office of ed and I [00:04:00] decided to apply for it. And. I got it. And here we are today. So it's been an amazing journey and it's one of those things where if you asked me 10 years ago where I thought I would be, never would have thought here, but it's been one of the biggest blessings of my life.

Maggie Joyce: We're happy to have you. It's been a joy to work with both of you. My name is Maggie. I am a coordinator at youth support services. How did I get here? Like Austin. I also did some work for City of Redding. I worked in the rec department. I taught Tiny Tots Preschool for many years as well as Grasshopper Sports.

And always knew that I enjoyed working with kids. Fast forward a few years and I ended up getting my counseling credential and had the opportunity to work at an alternative education in South County where I really learned about the needs of our youth in this county. And when I say learned about it, I learned actually that many of the needs that I needed when I was that age were the same needs that this, these youth in our alternative education schools [00:05:00] needed.

And so that just propelled me into really trying to connect those supports to students. I primarily grew up here in Shasta County, although we did move around a lot now learning what the McKinney Vento definition. I definitely would have been identified as a McKinney Vento student in my youth.

And so I started working in support with homeless and foster youth in the alternative education school I worked with. And I started learning about the different things that youth support services department did and supporting not only our youth, but the educators that work with them and their families.

And there was an opportunity that came out. And I decided to take the leap and move into coordinator for your support services. 

Austin Preller: Awesome. Thank you both for sharing a little bit about yourselves and who you are. And I think that the listeners will get to know you along the journey as you share more about yourselves and we all get to know each other a little bit better as we dive in on this new podcast journey [00:06:00] together.

But that brings us to our next. discussion, which is really why Inspire Shasta, right? Why start a podcast? What is our intent behind this? And I think I'll start and share my perspective and then Maggie and Jenn can jump in behind me with all of the things that I missed. But I think that the idea of inspire Shasta came from a place of kind of twofold reasons.

And the first reason is to provide a space to amplify youth experience in our community. And when I say youth experience, youth experience in the educational system and their journey through education in Shasta County. Because we all, I think, perceive education from the lens that we experienced it or that our children experienced it or that those that are close to us experienced it But there are so many different experiences that happen in that journey across this county from our far [00:07:00] remote rural school districts that might serve 10 kids on a K-8 campus to some of our large I say large, large for our region Comprehensive high schools where you may not know the names and the faces of all the students that you're going to school with, right?

You might meet somebody your senior year. Hey, and you've never met them before, right? And so just providing that platform for youth to be able to share their experiences and for others to be able to get a peek behind the curtain of what a student experiences in Shasta County from those specific lenses.

And then the other piece for me, I think is, There's so much good happening in education, right? And I think I think one of the things working in education right now is like looking at all the headlines and seeing all the things that divide us and all of the areas where we don't have common understanding or areas where we can come together and agree, that [00:08:00] those are dominating the headlines.

And I think that providing a platform to be able to put a spotlight on the incredible things going on in schools in Shasta County. And some of the incredible stories of resilience, right? I think that those stories need to be as much of the focus or more than some of the things that are currently dominating the headlines.

And so we want to bring the good news. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah, I think you said something that I connected with storytelling. I think the intention behind this is to learn through storytelling, right? Learning someone's story, learning what happened to them, how they navigated that and came out the other end, what they learned from it.

And that can be anywhere from our youth and giving them a voice and a safe place to be able to tell their story to the educators that dedicate their lives to helping youth. And I think sharing those things, Within our county will only create a stronger [00:09:00] relationship between Our youth the adults that support them and the members of this community So I think it's really important that we have this opportunity to be able to shed a light on that and really Educate people on the great things that are going on in this county And maybe some think acknowledge some of the missteps that we've taken and what we can do better for the future I think that's what i'd like to see with this podcast 

Austin Preller: I think the only thing that I would add to that, which also came from what Maggie said, would be that it would be my hope that Anybody in our community could listen to this podcast from a career educator who's been in education for 30 years to somebody who's never worked in education never had kids that they could come to this podcast and Walk away with an aha moment.

Like I never thought about it that way or wow, that's really cool I didn't know that something like that existed right and to share those things where we can have some collective learning [00:10:00] and looking at things maybe through a lens that we wouldn't have approached it before. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. Collective learning.

I like that. Sometimes we have discussions, we talk about things, but we don't have that aha moment where we step back and say, okay, let's get a more global view of what's going on in this county and really see the impact of the work that's being done. 

Austin Preller: Yeah. 24 districts, a lot. To keep, a lot to keep tabs on, right?

There's a lot going on out there. And that's a little nugget that maybe you'll walk away from episode one. I didn't know shots. County had 24 school districts, 

Maggie Joyce: 15 

Jenn Cobb: charter schools, 

Austin Preller: 15 charter schools, 

Jenn Cobb: all part of the family. So with that, you're going to see some common threads throughout the episodes.

We'll always have our signature icebreaker and we'll always have our signature closing question. So before we get into talking more about the schedule and the upcoming episodes, let's start for the first time with our inaugural [00:11:00] signature icebreaker. The question goes to you first, Maggie. Since we're all working in education, we want to have this be education related.

So if you could go back to any grade in school for a day, which one would it be and why? 

Maggie Joyce: That's a great question. I think I would go back to Bass Elementary in Mountain Gate. Where I spent many of my grade school years to Mr. Liddell's science class. He was an educator that always made you feel like his classroom was home.

He supported you in if you needed help with something. He was always there. He taught science, which was not always a strong subject for me, but ev But everything in his classroom was interesting. It didn't matter the subject he taught. He just made you want to learn. And I can still remember the smell of the Bunsen burners in his classroom.

I can see our lab tables. It was just a great time. He was a great educator and at the [00:12:00] foundation, he was just about his relationships with students. And I think that's what matters most. So for me, third grade, Mr. Liddell's class. 

Jenn Cobb: I love 

Maggie Joyce: that. 

Austin Preller: I'm going to take us back to early foundations preschool, which I realize I'm playing a little bit loose and fast with the rules of take us back to a grade, preschool is becoming more 

Maggie Joyce: universal.

Austin Preller: Thank you. 

Maggie Joyce: I'm surprised you can remember preschool. 

Austin Preller: Yeah, no. And then there's only one reason that I can remember it. Because nap time that back then we did nap time during preschool and I was not a napper, right? Like I'm a hundred miles per hour as a kid, Jenn and Maggie have met Coleman. And so if you can imagine trying to put Coleman down for a nap midday, it's probably not going to go very well.

So I really struggled with nap time and that could have been something like looking back on it and knowing what I know now that could have disposition me to like really not like school from a very young age. And I had a preschool teacher. I don't even remember the preschool [00:13:00] teacher's name.

But I had a list of chores that I had to get accomplished during nap time. And if I got my chores done, I could spend like the last ten minutes outside on the playground with all of the big wheel bikes to myself. And I just still remember laps on laps on that big wheel. And that was like the most important thing, most special thing to my, in my day and something that could have gone towards like a resistance towards school.

Some bright preschool teacher turned it into something that I actually looked forward to each day and I was helping clean up the messes, probably doing some of the chores that the teachers were probably going to normally do, be doing during nap time. So it was a win situation. And so early foundations, big wheels, 

Maggie Joyce: that nostalgia, those big wheels, that teacher gave you a job, made you feel important.

That's right. Yeah, that's right. I love that. Yeah. 

Speaker 4: Yeah. 

Maggie Joyce: I think I've seen it done throughout this county. If you've got a busy kid [00:14:00] that needs something, give them a job, give them a task and they are usually turns around their behavior in the classroom. It's one small thing you can do. 

Jenn Cobb: So cool. I will be in the same grade as Maggie.

I'm going to go back to third grade and that would be Mrs. Sturgeon. For it, for anybody who knows me, I love to have fun and I feel like after I left third grade. education just became hard work and kind of my teachers lost that sense of fun. But I always remember in Mrs. Fishback's class or sorry, not that was my fifth grade teacher.

I always remember in Mrs. Sturgeon's class. I 

Austin Preller: mean, it's easy to get confused. You've got Sturgeon, you've got fish back. It's like all kinds of, who was fourth grade? Salmon? No, 

Jenn Cobb: yeah. Trout. Wilkin. Anyway, I always remember anything we were doing. It was always interactive.

It was always fun. It was all, it always felt play, but we just had a lot of fun. So one of the things that we did, I remember, I can even remember the smells. We [00:15:00] dissected a fish in third grade. And so this Sturgeon's class, yeah. 

Austin Preller: Is this where you go? 

Jenn Cobb: And we like, she just went through and it was, she just went through the whole thing and it was really fun to do that.

Another thing she did was when we were learning cursive, she would go and she would pick up the pencil out of our hand so that she would make sure we didn't grip the pencil too tight. Because she said, if your arm hurts and your hand hurts, you're not going to like writing. So it was all always this thing of she'd come around and try to pick up the pencil.

If she couldn't, she'd say, Hey, remember to relax. It's okay. It's just writing. And it was like, I don't know. She was just so intuitive with her students. Another reason just to be completely and totally honest with you that I could have liked her was because I did get straight A's and for the kids who got straight A's, they did get to ride in her like 1950s like classic car across the street to foster freeze and get hamburgers and milkshakes.

But also she made [00:16:00] learning fun. That's what I want to put the biggest emphasis on. You 

Austin Preller: know, burgers and milkshakes help. 

Maggie Joyce: Nothing like classic car and an old fashioned milkshake. Heck yeah. So now that you've got to meet all of us and you have learned what our why is for Inspire Shasta, I bet you're on the edge of your seat wanting to know when can you hear the next episode?

So our episodes are going to be Sent out on a monthly basis, recorded on a monthly basis. And you can find those episodes wherever you stream your podcasts. We'll also be linking the episodes to our Youth Support Services webpage. The link can be found in the episode notes. 

Austin Preller: So speaking of upcoming episodes we've got a pretty big one scheduled.

We've got friend of the program, Rocky 

Herron, coming to join us. Rocky is a former DEA agent who spent decades working to put the most hardened drug dealers and [00:17:00] drug organizations behind bars, spent a lot of time traveling the world. in those endeavors, chasing those bad guys. And he's got a unique perspective from the law enforcement side of the impact that the drug industry has on our communities and most significantly on our children.

Maggie Joyce: Yeah, we're really excited to have him back in Shasta County. It was quite an event last year. 

Austin Preller: Yeah, and for those of you out there maybe parents that are listening maybe students that are listening maybe just community members, that are concerned This is incredibly timely conversation that we're going to have with Rocky because of the rise in fentanyl in our community and the way that the recreational drug landscape has shifted where students need to be more aware of the risks that they're taking because the risks have much worse consequences than they have in [00:18:00] previous generations.

Jenn Cobb: I also love Rocky's perspective because he is a parent and so he's a dad of three girls and so he can really speak through that lens and talk to parents and. A really unique way. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. I think in last year, watching him, even with our youth, that how engaged they were and his storytelling and what he has to share really does matter.

Jenn Cobb: And if you need any hook about listening to the second episode, we'll tell you now that his best friend caught El Chapo twice. So cliffhanger. Yeah. He'll probably give more info on that. Cause it's a great story. Love storytelling. Fantastic. We're excited to have them come. So as we wrap up, you may remember me talking about how we are going to have a signature icebreaker question, and we're also having that signature closing question.

And so I will ask that signature [00:19:00] closing question now. So at the Shasta County Office of Education, One of our core values is focusing on being hopeful and helpful. So we have a two part question. Either of you and I can choose to answer one or both, but the two part question is, what is your hope for the next generation?

Or, and or who is someone that has been helpful to you in your journey? 

Maggie Joyce: Maggie, go ahead and take it away. Those are two really great questions. I am going to go with the, who is someone that has been helpful to you in your journey? First and foremost, my family has been helpful with this journey along the way.

And with that, I think the most significant person that has been helpful to me from being a youth and until when he passed would be my grandpa. He actually was an adopted grandpa. He wasn't, but grandpa by blood. But he came into our lives at a time of need [00:20:00] and really helped bring us together as a family and teach, Me, the importance of working hard and being who you want to be, being a, being authentically yourself and standing up for what you know is right.

And yeah, he just always supported me along the way when I graduated high school and want to go to college. He was right there with me to help me with that. He helped me purchase my first vehicle. He gave me a lot of opportunities that I wouldn't have had if he wasn't in my life. And so I think that without him, I don't think I'd be who I am today.

Austin Preller: I'll jump in there and talk about my hope for the future generation. And I think that we face some incredible challenges as a society, as a country, as humanity over the next, several decades and That's gonna require the next [00:21:00] generation to be willing and ready to rise to the occasion and For them to be ready to step into those leadership positions To be able to lead us to be able to unite us And I just think about what's coming and that We're going to need to have people ready for that moment.

And that's going to require us as adults pouring into this next generation to recognize that they are, the future leaders and that all of the time that we spend with them, preparing them is an investment in our future too. And my hope would be that we have prepared them and that they're ready to own the moment.

Maggie Joyce: Yeah, I agree with that. Jenn, how about you? What is your hope for the next generation or who is someone that [00:22:00] has been helpful to you in your journey? 

Jenn Cobb: I think for me, my hope for the next generation in prevention, we talk a lot about like refusal skills. We talk a lot about owning your why and knowing why you're making those decisions.

And I think that I really hope for the next generation that they would. In that lane of peer pressure that they would own their why and know exactly the choices that they're making. And with a lot of things nowadays, social media is such a big factor in students lives.

And a lot of students base their opinions off of opinions that are fed to them. And so I just want them to be able to get all of the information and then make those decisions for themselves whatever they may be and just really own that for their future. 

Austin Preller: And I think one of the common threads between all of the who's and the hopes for the next generations that we shared here [00:23:00] is.

It takes a village, right? Nobody's out there treading these passes alone without any help next to them. And I think that going back to the hope for the next generation question too, then like one of my biggest hopes for the next generation is that any student that graduates from Shasta County school, Could be asked that question about identifying somebody who made a big difference in their journey And that they would be able to identify someone Yeah, because that positive influence of others particularly adults It doesn't have to be an educator.

It could be a grandparent. It could be somebody at the YMCA. It could be a teacher But it should be easily recalled for people and it should be a happy moment when they're thinking about people that help them along the way Yeah, and that they're able to recognize and have people who help them along the way.

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. Yeah. The impact of one caring adult. And oftentimes that adult doesn't even know the impact they're making, right? Like until never or years later, or [00:24:00] they hear it on Inspire Shasta podcast. Yeah. The views and thoughts and opinions shared in Inspire Shasta podcast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Shasta County office of education.

Jenn Cobb: Any content provided by our guests reflects their opinions and is not intended to align with any religious, ethnic group, school, organization, company, individual, or entity.