“Don’t Be a Bum” — Graduation Advice + Talk About Something Good Tuesday

Today on The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett and Best Friends, we celebrate graduation week across the White Mountains!

Show Low's Dave Ramsey joins us for a special graduation edition of Boo or Cool and gives his unforgettable advice to the graduating Class of 2026.

We also talk with Show Low High School Principal Ben Marchant about graduation week activities, senior traditions, the graduating class, and advice for both seniors and incoming juniors.

Plus, Jineane Ford joins us for Talk About Something Good Tuesday as we share an incredible story about a commencement speaker paying off student debt for graduating students.

And we talk with Catherine Doyle from the Navajo County Family Advocacy Center about their upcoming golf tournament fundraiser, Put It On The Tee For The NCFAC, and how the community can help support local families.

Thanks for listening, best friends!

Be nice to yourself, be nice to others, and don’t be a jerk.

Transcript

No-Excuses Graduation Advice

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Don't do what everybody had done in the past. Get off your butt, go to work, or join the military, see the world, but don't lay around and be a bomb.

Welcome To Something Good Tuesday

Boo Or Cool Graduation Trends

SPEAKER_01 0:11

That is the best graduation advice ever. That's Sholo's Dave Ramsey. You'll hear more from him shortly as we do a special graduation edition of Boo or Cool, and he gives his advice to this year's graduating class of 2026. Hello, best friends. It's me, Chris Bennett, and it is Talk About Something Good Tuesday. And we had a lot of good news to talk about today. We talked with Sholo High School Principal Ben Marchant about graduation week, the fun events happening for seniors, advice for this year's graduating class, and even some words for the incoming seniors taken over next year. We also shared some good news with Janine Ford, including an incredible graduation story involving a commencement speaker paying off student debt for graduating students. And we talked with Katherine Doyle from the Navajo County Family Advocacy Center about their upcoming golf tournament fundraiser. Put it on the T for the NCFAC at Torreon and how the community can help support that great organization. So grab your coffee, hang out with us for a little bit, and let's get the show started. Chris Bennett and the Morning Brew. On the phone, we have Show Low's own Dave Ramsey for a special graduation edition of Boo or Cool. High school graduation. Boo or Cool to that. In and out of school is cool. What year did you graduate? 76. 76? Uh nowadays they have these lock-ins, these cool parties for the kids. Uh did you do anything uh cool and special when you graduated in 76?

SPEAKER_03 1:40

We had an all-night party like on Leave It to Beaver at the high school at the country club.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Oh, heck yeah. Just like Leave It to Beaver. Were you Wally? Yeah.

unknown 1:52

All right.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

I'm gonna uh I was more in the line of Eddie Haskell, though. Oh, really? Uh all right. Uh so I'm gonna give you some graduation themed uh boo or cool, and you tell me boo or cool. Here we go. Uh money bouquets uh for the graduate. Do you know what this is? Yeah, cool. Totally cool, heck yeah. Money for the graduates, always cool, right? Totally. What about a senior sunrise, senior sunset where the students gather at sunrise before graduation? Cool. Cool. Uh graduation photo shoots? Cool. What about TikTok graduation dances? Boo. Why's that, boo? That sounds like a good time. Easy to do with TikTok. TikTok knack back. Uh what about what about gap years after graduation, like taking a year off?

SPEAKER_03 2:44

Yeah, I didn't do that, but if they want to do it, cool. All right, all right.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I'm not a fan of that. Uh how about uh graduates throwing their caps in the air? Cool. Uh how about uh air horns and cowbells at the graduation? Boo. And uh how about uh parents buying grads a brand new car for graduation? Boo!

SPEAKER_03 3:10

Get out and earn it.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

That was Boo or Cool graduation edition. What's your message to the class of 2026 this year?

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Don't do what everybody had done in the past. Get off your butt, go to work, or join the military, see the world, but don't lay around and be a bum.

Show Low Graduation Week Details

SPEAKER_01 3:32

That is the best graduation advice ever. Don't lay around and be a bum. Dave Ramsey, you are the best. You are always totally cool. I am so honored to be joined in studio on this talk about something good Tuesday with Principal Marchant with Solo High School. Welcome aboard, Principal. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Chris. It's an exciting week. It's graduation week at Solo High School.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

It's the most exciting week. Yes, it's what they've been working for for 12 years now. Well, 13 if you count kindergarten.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Right. And what's uh what's the energy been uh, you know, what's the energy like around Sholo High School?

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Really good, really, really good right now. We've got a good group of seniors, some of the some of the best that we've seen come through. And uh yeah, yeah, they're happy. We got a whole chunk of them out on senior trip right now, having a blast at California. And uh, and yeah, but yeah, vibes are good. Juniors are kind of, you know, they're starting to run the roost now. Oh, nice. They're taking over. Oh, they're taking over already. Yeah, they're parking, they're all you know, all the rest. They're taking advantage of what they can right now. So good for them.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

And what are some of the uh big graduation week activities happening uh for seniors this week?

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yep, so we got a lot of that done last week already. Uh want to shout out a lot of our helpers for senior day that we have kind of a traditional day that we did last Wednesday. Uh, but the house donated all the food for that event. It was incredible what they do year after year for that. Um and uh and yeah, just just had just had a great great day. We had um uh Perkin Sinders donated the concrete, and Outwest Construction did all the labor of pouring the concrete slab. And if you didn't know this, Sholo has a tradition of all the graduates sign a sign a chunk of concrete out in the in the property. Oh, yeah. All the graduates went through and signed that, and so did a lot of fun stuff for them last week, had Cougar Day as always for all grade levels. But uh this week, yeah, they're they're just out on a senior trip, and we'll have breakfast for them Thursday morning. And then then we've got a motorcade. If anyone wants to go and support the graduates without having to sit through an hour plus graduation, uh they're they're welcome to line Old Linden Road between Fool's Hollow and uh and the high school. And at 4:30 on this Thursday, they're gonna depart from there. And you can line that line that road and cheer them on and or go watch the graduation if you have a ticket.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Yeah, limited tickets uh for the graduation. I have a daughter graduating this year. Congratulations. Each family gets 10 tickets. So if you're not able to make the graduation, you can make the motorcade and cheer on those graduates. And then graduation starts at 6 p.m. sharp. 6 p.m. sharp. But if you don't have a ticket, there's another way to watch the graduation ceremonies. How's that?

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah, absolutely. We have uh we have the event live streamed every year, and so you can watch that at any of our social media platforms at SLHS Cougars. Um and yeah, so it'll be live streamed, you can watch that, or it you know, it'll be recorded and you can find any of our past uh graduation ceremonies on YouTube after the fact and watch them watch them again if you if you enjoy doing that. But uh but yeah, if you got it, if you got a ticket, hopefully you got a ticket and uh can get in and watch it live. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

I have a ticket, my daughter's graduating this year. And uh what message do you have for the uh graduating seniors as they they enter the real world? Yeah, the real yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Like this world has been fake the whole time, right? So um, yeah, so my my message to graduates all the time is don't wait. Don't wait. Give yourself the summer if you need it, if you need a break, because I'm sure you're tired by at this point, but but don't wait. If you if you take if you take a year or two years and think, oh, then I'll go to school, then I'll, you know, it's then then you're gonna be out of rhythm and it's gonna be even harder in the first place. So uh give yourself the summer if you need it, but uh hop right in. And uh and and you'll have a much more successful transition if you do it right away.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Act now, don't act later. Correct. Awesome. Uh well, thank you so much, Principal Marchant, for joining us and congratulations to all our graduating seniors. And what's your advice to the juniors entering their senior year?

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Oh gosh. Uh behave, just show up. That's step one. Just show up, please. Come to school, and uh, and then yeah, you got big shoes to fill. This scene this senior class was pretty incredible across the board. Um, but I like these juniors too. They're they're a good group, and I have I have faith that they will replace their shoes just fine. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Well, class of 26. Uh, congratulations to you guys, and uh, I'll be there at your graduation ceremony, and then they have a fun little uh graduation night party as well, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Absolutely. So, afterwards, we encourage every graduate to bring a guest. Uh, it's the same thing for like coming to a dance, just bring a guest that's at least high school age and under 21. And uh yeah, if you didn't sign up early, you can still just show up at the door at 10 p.m. on graduation night, and it's a lock-in. Uh that's the whole purpose. Right. We don't we want you there and locked in and safe and having a good time, and we always have I don't know a final number, but we always have over like$30,000 that was raised from this community, this amazing community. Um and uh yeah, so all that money, every penny will be spent in in giving away to the graduates and their guests on on this fun night. So yeah.

Good News Plus Fire Safety Reminder

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Well, sweet. Well, thank you so much, Principal Marchant, for joining us. Janine, you there?

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Yes, I am. How are you, Chris?

SPEAKER_01 9:27

I'm doing awesome on this Talk About Something Good Tuesday. Yeah. We have a lot to talk good about. What uh do you have for us today on uh Talk About Something Good Tuesday?

SPEAKER_02 9:37

Yes, and we we are so proud of all of our grads in the White Mountains. They've done such a good job. We have, you know what, we have great youth. It just gets you so excited. There's good kids all over the place. It's such a blessing. And big thanks to all those great teachers out there, Chris.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

All the great teachers, we love them too. And also, it is Memorial Day weekend. That's another thing to be happy about, good news. But let's all remember that we're in stage one fire restrictions as of this morning. Everyone, stage one fire restrictions in Navajo and Apache. Please tell your relatives that are trying to race up the hill to go camping. Be sure they know. Okay. Yes, to be K Sarah. And then the other thing I wanted to talk about good news too, is I don't know if a lot of us realize this, but our kids, speaking of kids, 16 years and older, can be a pole worker and earn$150 in July for working the polls and again in November for working the polls. Oh. So I'm going to talk about that on my iTalk show tonight, 106.7 FM, the voice of the mountains.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Nice. Great way to uh make some money and serve your country.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Yes, uh great. Do your civic duties and the kids learn so much. It's a ha and they get an excused absence from school to do this. There you go. There you go. Yeah. Heck pole worker. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

All right, Janine, it's my turn to share some good news today. And uh with graduation season in full force, I thought I'd share a little uh graduation good news. Uh over 200 students graduating from North Carolina State University's Wilson College of Textiles thought they were just showing up for a normal commencement ceremony until the commencement speaker shocked everyone. Businessman and former student Anil Kochlar stepped up to the microphone and announced that he and his wife were paying off every graduate's final year of student loans for the class of 2026. Yes. It's so cool. Instantly, 176 bachelor's students and 26 master students had a huge financial burden lifted off their shoulders. And Kochlar said he just uh wanted students to leave graduation with greater freedom to pursue their goals, take risks, and build the lives they've worked so hard to achieve. And he made the donation in honor of his uh late father who immigrated from India 80 years ago to study textiles at that same university. And now uh that's uh something good, and uh congrats to those graduates. I'm jealous.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Oh, those kids. That's a lucky, that's amazing, amazing.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Yeah, what a great way to start uh yeah, start off. Heck yeah. So that's our good news on this talk about something good Tuesday. Hope you have a great rest of your day, best friend. You too, Chris.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

Love ya.

NCFAC Golf Tournament Fundraiser

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Love ya, bye. It is talk about something good Tuesday, and we're about to talk about something great. We have our friend Katherine Doyle with the NCFAC, the Navajo County Family Advocacy Center, on the line to talk about their upcoming golf tournament. Put it on the T for the FAC. Good morning, best friend. No way, how are you? I'm doing great. Uh, for those that might not know, what exactly is the Navajo County Family Advocacy Center?

SPEAKER_04 12:41

So we are a place where kiddos that have experienced some really hard things like physical and sexual assault, domestic violence, trafficking, things like that can come and they receive services and they receive everything in one building instead of having to travel all over and it's completely free of a service.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Are you helping everyone in Navajo uh County, Apache County? Who who do you uh exactly help?

SPEAKER_04 13:02

Yeah, so we cover all of Navajo County, Apache County, and then Navajo Nation, White River, Hopi. So we cover pretty much the upper quarter of the state.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

So events like this upcoming golf tournament, they really make a lot of the support, a lot of the things that you do for the community possible, right?

SPEAKER_04 13:18

They do. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year, so this is just super important to us.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

And uh, how can people get involved? Do you still have spaces available to golf? And are you looking for sponsors?

SPEAKER_04 13:30

Yes to both. So we have five team slots available. We still have room for sponsors, and we are also having like silent auction gift baskets and raffle items if there's any local artisans that are wanting to be promoted at the tournament.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

And if people want to help, maybe they want to be a local artisan and and donate items for uh the silent auction and fundraisers. Uh, how do they uh get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_04 13:54

They can call my cell phone at 928-414-1198, or they can go online to our website and that's ncfac.org, and there's a contact box on there as well.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

And how much does it uh cost to uh to golf and uh how do people sign up for that?

SPEAKER_04 14:14

It's$200 a golfer and it's a four-man scramble, so it's a really, really fun tournament. It's not super high stakes or high stress, and they can sign up online or they can call my cell phone as well, and I can get everything set up over the phone.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

And the$200 uh per golfer includes golf, cart, dinner, and a swag bag, right?

SPEAKER_04 14:35

And lunch. So it's even it's a full day of snacking.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Heck yeah, and I've done it before, and it is so much fun. And you're back at Torreon this year, and it's such a beautiful uh golf course. So it's it's always a great time for a great cause.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

Absolutely. We're so excited and we can't wait to see everybody there.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

All right, let's help out the Navajo County Family Advocacy Center. They do amazing work uh in our community in the Navajo and Apache counties. Uh, and uh they need your help. So go ahead and go to ncfac.org slash events to sign up for this golf course and for more information on how you can help out or if you just want to donate money uh to help this great cause. Thank you so much, uh Catherine, for talking about something good on this talk about something good Tuesday.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.

Congrats And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_01 15:24

You too. Bye. Bye. Thank you so much for hanging out with us for another Talk About Something Good Tuesday here on the Morning Brew with Chris Bennett and Best Friends. Big congratulations once again to all the graduating seniors across the White Mountains. We're so proud of you, best friends. Big thanks to Principal Ben Marchant over at Sholo High School, Janine Ford, uh Sholo's own Dave Ramsey, and Katherine Doyle with the Navajo County Family Advocacy Center for joining us on today's show. If you'd like to support the Navajo County Family Advocacy Center or get involved with their upcoming golf tournament fundraiser, put it on the T for the NCFAC. You can find more information at NCFAC.org. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to follow, subscribe, and share it with a best friend. We'll see you next time. Until then, remember be nice to yourself, be nice to others, and don't be jerk. Bye.