Episode 8: Food, Athletics and PerkPals

🎙️ Inside UP: Superintendent’s Report – Episode 8

We’re excited to share Episode 8 of Inside UP: Superintendent’s Report - your connection to the people and programs that make Upper Perkiomen School District thrive.

In this episode, we hear from:

• Paula Germinario, Food Service Director, who shares how our nutrition program supports student health and wellness 
• Bobby Kurzweg, Director of Athletics, with updates on our athletic programs 
• Evan Harter, student, who gives insight into PerkPals and the impact of student connection and support 

This episode highlights the many ways we support students both inside and outside the classroom.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and BuzzSprout.

Stay tuned, stay informed, and stay connected with Inside UP!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

With your host, Upper Perk Yooman School District Superintendent, Dr. Alan Roche.

unknown 0:12

We are Upper Perk!

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to our April 2026 episode of Inside Upper Perk, the Superintendent's View Podcast. So thank you in advance for joining us today as we have three dynamic guests and updates from across the district. So no long introduction today except to put in a quick plug and an open invitation to our entire community to join us during Arts Fest. This year's festivities will take place from May 11th through May 15th. All elementary and middle school events will be held at Upper Perkyomen Middle School, while the high school events will take place at Upper Perkyoman High School. For the events that are held at the middle school, overflow parking is available at the high school tennis court area. So for your convenience, we'll have a shuttle service that'll run from the tennis courts over to the middle school on May 12th, 13th, and 14th from 5 30 to 8 30 p.m. More information on Arts Fest is available on the district website with a breakdown of the dates and times for all the concerts and for the entire art and tech ed displays that take place during the Arts Fest week. With that said, let's get to our guests on this month's episode. Our first guest today is an administrator in our district who plays a huge role in all of our students having a healthy start to each school day and in providing leadership to all five school cafeterias each and every day. Yep, you guessed it. Please join me in welcoming Mrs. Paula Germanario to the podcast today.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Hi, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Great to have you. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what led you into first food services in the school setting.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Okay, so I grew up in Monmouth County, New Jersey, kind of along the coast. I was originally a psychology major in college. But uh during my sophomore year in college, I realized how long I would need to be in school in order to actually practice psychology. So I changed my major to hotel restaurant management. I transferred out to a different school, and that's what I ended up doing. And I kind of chose hotel restaurant management because it would give me the flexibility to do hotels, restaurants, kind of anything in between. My mom was a food service, school food service director, so that's kind of what planted that seed of going in schools. So this is my 33rd year as a food service director, and it's all been in schools with the exception of running Northampton Community College when I first moved out to Pennsylvania. And also Gerrard College in Philly for a year.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Okay. So no hotels, no restaurants, uh chain restaurants, mom and pop's, anything like that?

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. I thought about it, and I like I said, I liked having the flexibility with that degree to kind of take it in whatever direction I wanted to go in. Um but once I started with schools, I was pretty much sold on that. It's how I wanted to give back to kids and the community.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

What are some of your primary responsibilities as director of food services here for a school district? Because I'm sure not a lot of people realize what you do. They just show up and think all the food's there and then it just goes. But are you coordinating all that across the kitchens as well as there's some duties that you have outside of just simply the five five schools?

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Aaron Powell Sure. Um so I I'm in the end, I'm kind of responsible for the entire program, but that encompasses everything from hiring, ordering the food, writing the menus, developing specialty menus for any of our students that might need a specialty menu, um, following all of the local, state, and federal compliance as long as and also like local board of health. Um we do catering, we just did Songfest last week, which was great. Um pretty much I end up interacting with everyone at every level, whether that is incoming kindergarten parents whose kids aren't even here yet, to our current students, to our principals, to our board, to the admin, um, to the community, open link, our nurses. I also serve on our wellness committee and our safety committee. Um, but I also want to just say that having said all that, that I am extremely fortunate to be supported by a great food service team underneath me and also besides my team, um, the team next to me and above me, including yourself, that support means everything.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah, and you've got a great staff and always welcoming and the opportunities there are are great.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Everybody's in it for the right reason, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Agreed. Uh one of the most visible parts that I'm not sure everyone realizes is the work that you do, and probably in conjunction with your uh your managers at the building is developing the um the school menu each month. And I'm not sure if you're aware that the uh the school menu on the school district website is one of the top three most popular clicks, let's say, on the website. I think the other one is probably the school calendar and um hopefully it's the podcast after that. But I definitely, definitely it's uh the the the the menus at the at the various buildings.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Yeah, and I did not know that initially until we were uh redoing the website, and that was uh that was pointed out to me, and I was I was floored.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

So what goes into making that menu each month?

SPEAKER_02 5:17

So I look at it as every month's menu is like putting together like a really intricate puzzle because you need to have a mix of everyone's old old favorites that everyone likes, um, new items, you know, like introducing new items, um, because we're kind of always looking to keep the program growing and evolving. Um so we use direct input from students. Like I meet with groups of students at every one of our schools, have a very simple format of what do you like, what don't you like, and what do you want to see? You provide samples during that sometimes? Sometimes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Um items or things that just to get their ideas on.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Absolutely. And I also have monthly meetings with our kitchen managers who are you know frontline, hands-on, what's working, what's not working. We're always looking for ways to um increase our participation. Within the last year, the district made a significant investment in ovens. Um, we call them combi ovens in each of our schools that they bake, they steam, they can do a combo of bake and steam, and it's allowed us to really get a lot more creative with what we're cooking and how we're cooking it and even the quality of the food it turns out.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Um those are the ones you can program to have the cool sounds when they're done, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Yes, there's a variety of noises they make. Uh, to let you know that it's done.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

They have they can play songs and everything.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Absolutely. Yeah. So we're always looking for ways to keep the program uh growing and evolving.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Aaron Powell Right. Yeah. And I think one of those, which I talked about before, was the uh the dill pickle uh chicken nuggets. Yeah. At least when I was there at 4-5, they were going out of those. So what are the most popular school lunches that you see across the district? Are there any are there any items that are home runs right away when they go on the menu?

SPEAKER_02 7:05

I think if we didn't put chicken on, I'd be crucified because everyone absolutely loves chicken. Chicken twice a week or something like that. At least chicken is a huge hit. Pizza is a huge hit at all levels, and at the middle school and high school level, we actually buy crusts and um kind of dress it up and make our own.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Um, I've seen that.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

I went in at uh one of the shifts that I helped out out. There was a buffalo chicken as well as a cheese, as well as a chicken bacon ranch, and a barbecue chicken.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

So a lot of different uh things that it's nice to see that you know the crusts are coming in but definitely being made on site.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

And so again, some of these the uh the ovens that we have are definitely very helpful in making these creations. Um also I would say peanut butter and jelly, it's like an old standby, but it kind of never goes out of style. So we use the uncrustables, which this year we laugh because they came out with a bunch of new flavors, which is a huge hit. We have strawberry, raspberry, honey, and something that's like a Nutella, chocolatey. There's a honey apple, there's all kinds of Yeah, there's all kinds of good stuff. Um but we use them not because so much that we don't want to make peanut butter and jelly ourselves, but it decreases the chances of cross-contamination for our students that have peanut allergies. So there's no chance, even though we're very careful anyway, but there's no chance that us prepping it, it's going to get on something else.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

If it's all self-contained or individually wrapped.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

That's great.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

But on the flip side, what are some of the common complaints or concerns that you hear from students and how do you respond to them?

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Okay, so I would say um one of the more one of the things I hear more about more often is that why can't they have water instead of milk?

SPEAKER_01 8:48

So they have to take a certain amount of things on the tray. Correct. Is it five still? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

It's five. They have to take a minimum of three of the five, and one of those three has to be a fruit or vegetable. So there's that. But really, in the eyes of the uh the government that lays out our national school lunch program rules, there is no substitute for milk, um, only if you have if it's a medical condition.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Right. Chocolate milk's an option? Yes. Yes. Strawberry too. Strawberry as well. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

So I would say uh that's a question. How why do we limit condiments is another question, and it has to do with the sodium that's in condiments. There's like a sneaky large amount of sodium and condiments, and we need to actually account for not only what we have in the school meals, but also um we have to factor the condiments in. So it's it can't be like a free-for-all like it used to be years ago.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

So there's no like pump ketchup and all that. It's all individual packages and mustard, those type of things. Yes. Yeah. Well, I always thought the limit was potential waste and then potential not great outcomes with having extra stuff that you don't need.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Sure, yeah. And that's that is it too, but definitely it comes down to the sodium levels. And I would say maybe the third thing would be um us changing our menu format so our menus don't look the way we they used to look online, but we changed them so that they're ADA compliant. Um so obviously we want to make sure everyone can access our menus as well as everything else on our website.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yeah, that's the goal.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Yes. So uh we're hoping that in the future, probably the near future, since this isn't just an upper perk thing, this is a nationwide type of a thing, that there will be companies that come out that will let us be a little more creative, but the more important thing is that everyone can access it. So that's exactly what we're doing.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

So is there something about school food service that you wish families and s and students understood better? Like they they make assumptions about things, and you're like, you know what, you really I wish everybody knew this.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

I would say the amount of regulation involved, I think maybe the assumption is that you know we just throw this menu together any old way and we just put on any old thing. But there is an awful lot of regulation involved from how much protein needs to be served every day to fruits, to vegetables, to grains, to milk, and have to be able to account for certain amounts, not too much, not too little, not only on a daily basis, but on a weekly basis. It's it's extremely regulated. Um the example I always love to give is the vegetables. Like you can't just pick any old vegetables to put on. Like, for example, in a five-day week, I have to hit a red-orange vegetable, a dark green vegetable, a bean, a starch, and day five can be what they call other. Oh, okay. Um but it it's not just like, oh, let's just put whatever on the menu in any each any certain service.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Corn. Corn.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Although broccoli, broccoli is gaining some gain some steam, which is great. Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

I would say steam broccoli. Yeah, no pun intended. No pun intended. Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Yeah. Um if I could actually uh two other maybe quick things in the same vein would be um something that I wish families understood better. Breakfast is free right now, right? And there is no strings attached, there's no paperwork involved. You show up, we will feed you. I think that is a great resource for every family. So um, if you're not taking advantage of it, maybe take a look into it. And I guess also applying for free and reduced meals. Um even if you think there's just a remote chance you might qualify, it can't ever hurt to apply.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Right. Well, thanks again, uh, Ms. German Air, for joining uh me today on the podcast. Any final thoughts? This is your first podcast, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:34

No, this is great. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.

unknown 12:38

Great.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Thanks. And stay tuned for our next guest on the episode on Inside Upper Perk, the Superintendent's View, as we have a chance to speak with another Upper Perk administrator. Stay tuned. We are our next guest is our Upper Perk director of athletics, Mr. Bobby Kurzwig. Welcome to the podcast. Yeah, thank you for having me. It's great to see you. Tell us, uh, tell our listeners a little bit about your background and what led you to become an athletic director and your pathway here at Upper Perk.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Sure. So this is my tenth year as the director of athletics at Upper Perk. Uh prior to coming here, I was the director of athletics and facilities at the Brandywin Heights School District for 15 years. Uh Branywine Heights is a smaller school district, so when the position opened here, I decided to apply at a chance to lead a larger athletic department with some more sport offerings and better facilities. Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Great. Well, we're glad to have you. Um, what do you enjoy most about working with your student athletes and the coaches in our district?

SPEAKER_00 13:34

I love uh seeing each as each season begins to see where our student athletes and coaches are at the start of the season and being able to see what each of our teams can accomplish by the end of the season. Some of the best seasons we have doesn't always mean we're winning the most games, but seeing how far our student athletes and our coaches grow from the start until the end.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

What are some recent highlights or accomplishments from our teams? I know we just had a big group from our winner being recognized at the board level. Um any other highlights or things that that you're super proud of for our kids?

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Yeah, as you said, this past winter we had some great team and individual success. Uh our girls' wrestling program, which is in their third season of existence, won the pack wrestling championship as well as the district one championship. In addition to those uh team success, we had five girls win their weight class at the PAC individual championship. We also had two sets of sisters, Amy and Sarah Roll and Eve and Eliana Smith, win the PAC swimming championships in the 200 Freestyle Relay. Sean Murray, who's a junior wrestler on our boys' team, won the PAC and District 1 championship, placed second at the Southeast Regional, and was an eighth place medalist at the PAAA Championships. Uh we also had the the fortunate of bringing back our boys indoor track program, which we've not had for several years. Uh, and two of our athletes did very well at the PTFCA championships. Grayson Riggins won the 60-meter hurdles, and Darius Reid placed second at the high jump.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Yeah, it was it was for me one of the largest groups that we've had here recognized at the board level. Uh so I know that that's a that's a that's great. How many uh let's talk specifically girls wrestling? How many pack schools now have girls wrestling? Because we know we are part of that first 100, although we just squeaked in and the 100. Yeah, yeah, we but how many how many are there?

SPEAKER_00 15:14

We have six right now, uh, but there's some uh interest from other schools potentially adding teams for next year. Springford was one that was talking about potentially adding one, so we could be up to seven or eight next year.

unknown 15:25

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

That's great. It's glad to see it's it's growing.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yeah, it's uh one of the biggest growing sports uh in the area. It's it's been going great.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Yeah. Uh recently, as as obviously I know you're aware, the school board approved upgrades to our turf fields and track. Um, so what can you share about uh what the project includes from your lens as the athletic director?

SPEAKER_00 15:42

Yeah, we're very excited and thankful for the support of the school board to approve the project. Uh this summer we'll be getting two brand new turf fields, both in Keeney and Tribe Stadium, as well as they'll be doing a new overlay of our all-weather track.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Great. How how do you think these upgrades are going to enhance the experience for our student athletes, our coaches, the community, visiting athletes?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Yeah, I think once the project is done, our hope is done. Our hope is that it'll bring great pride to not only our school district and our student athletes, but our overall community. Uh we're very fortunate to have the two synthetic fields that our student athletes can utilize. And uh, you know, we're one of a couple schools this summer who are getting new synthetic fields in our league, so I think it'll be a neat thing for our league overall.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Do you think that'll increase uh the use of facilities requests from outside groups and you know local youth groups and those type of things that really want to utilize the facilities?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Yeah, I do. I think uh we we do a good amount of rentals now, but seeing a new facility and and and all that is gonna be a positive for the school district. We also have the the luxury and fortunate to host the PAC Field Hockey and Girls the Cross Championship. So to be able to kind of utilize and show off our facilities uh on those two events will be a great thing as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Right. And then when you get to the final four, there's games going on, I think, on both fields at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Yeah, correct. Us and O and Jay are the only ones at this point in our league that can do that. So they host the boys and girls soccer championship. So you're right, on the first night we had the semifinals going on at the same time, and then the the championships is just one one game. Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

And as we had a rough summer last year with the with the uh abatement project going on at the high school, this summer I'm assuming will be another challenge that we won't have access to the fields and the track. Um so how do you think that's going to impact our our our team schedules? Your planning probably preseason workouts and I'm sure the date is August 5th or someday like that when we're ready for um the start of the season.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Yeah, that's correct. So both stadiums will be closed during the duration of the project as they are considered active construction sites. Uh we've already begun to look at alternative areas for our teams that are traditionally doing summer workouts to use. The teams will still be able to get all the things they do in the summer. Uh they'll just be doing on grass areas instead.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

So the alternative areas you're thinking about are beginning the plan are still on campus. Correct. Last year with the no access to the building, we know the YMCA helped us out with some access to the to the gym there. Yeah. To their weight room in the gym facility.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Yeah, correct. The YMCA was a was a huge help last year with us not being able to be in the high school, and a lot of our teams took advantage of using that gorgeous facility up there and getting workouts in.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Right. Well, one of the exciting ideas that we had recently at our innovation fair uh was came out of your office and the uh the new athletic sponsorship program. So uh can you explain what that's about?

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Yeah, we're really excited about this. Uh for several years, even before I started here at Upper Perk, the athletic department organized the banner sports and uh sponsorship program in the fall. Local businesses could purchase a banner to help offset athletic budget, which supports our student athletes. Our new athletic community sponsorship program expands the expre the uh previous offerings to allow different levels of sponsorships and to help increase community engagement with the hopes of continuing to expand the experience of our student athletes. All right.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

So you see this as generating potential revenue as we're always talking about budget and how we can improve facilities and opportunities for kids. So there's a potential for revenue increasing.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Yeah, correct. That's our hope by offering different levels of sponsorship. We're hoping to attract different businesses within the community. Uh our smaller, very important community-based businesses will still have the opportunity to support the athletic program uh if they choose. But by introducing the additional levels, we'll hopefully be able to attract some larger or corporate businesses in the community.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

And the the uh additional businesses that should help strengthen the connection for our schools and the local community and continue to build those bridges.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Yeah, correct. It will allow local businesses to make a direct connection with not only the athletic department, but also directly affecting our student athletes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

So let's think broadly now. We're we're sitting here, it's April. What message and and information do you want to share with our current student athletes, coaches, families as you look forward to the end of the school year and anticipate a strong summer off season?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Yeah, we had another successful athletic school year this year with many of our teams and individual individuals accomplishing their goals. Uh, we still have a few weeks of our spring season left, so we're hoping our spring teams can add to that success. Uh two of the events that we have coming up on April 29th, we have our college signing ceremony for our senior athletes who will be continuing their athletic careers in college. And on May 27th, we have our annual blue and gold ceremony where we op uh where we honor our senior athletes, which is kind of the culminating uh event of the of the year for the athletic department.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

And if I'm correct, the uh the signing also includes uh not just that student athletes but also student musicians that may be going on in in college and playing another marching band.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Yeah, correct. Last year we we started including our music department in that, and I think it was a really neat event for those students that may not always have gotten that recognition. Uh so you're correct. We do our student athletes and our our students that are going to continue their music careers.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Yeah, I look forward to to both of those events.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Great. Yeah, we're excited.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Yeah. Well, thanks for your time today and then sharing uh some of the updates. I'm excited to see how the sponsorship program rolls out. Obviously, the upcoming summer work at the turf is is exciting for for us, and hopefully, if all fingers crossed, things are on time.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah, we're hoping that it's uh it'll be a big neat night when we have our first football and field hockey and soccer games. So uh we're looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Yeah. Any last thoughts here? Is it your first podcast? It is my very first podcast.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Thanks for having me. I I just want to say a big thanks to all our parents, grandparents, and community members who show up to support our student athletes daily. Uh, our student athletes and coaches put in a ton of time and dedication to our teams, and having support of our at our contest means the world to them. So thank you very much to everyone who's round applause for that one.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Yeah. Well, thanks again, Mr. Kurzweek. Up next is our third and final guest on the episode of the podcast today, and we have a student leader coming from Upper Perk High School to close out. So stay tuned. I'm always excited to have students on the podcast, and today is no exception. Please join me in welcoming Upper Perk High School senior, right? Yes. Yes. And president of the Perk Pals, Evan Harder, to the podcast today.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Yep. So tell us a little bit about yourself, your grade, interest, and what you enjoy most about Upper Perk High School.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

So I'm a senior and I mostly enjoy like video games, weightlifting, sports, hanging out with my friends, I feel like very typical.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Have you headed to the esports area at all? No, no, no. I'm very casual. Very casual.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

I enjoy like football, like playing football with my friends, like going to play pickleball, when it's nice out, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Nice. Nice. Um I was gonna say, what activities or clubs are you involved in at the high school? I think you're a swimmer as well. I am so anything else that you're involved with at the uh uh separate from Perk Pals?

SPEAKER_03 22:44

So I was a part of the water pool team in the fall. Uh I'm involved with FBLA, NHS, and Link crew. And off the top of my head, I think that's it. All right.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

I'm sure you don't have a whole lot of extra time.

SPEAKER_03 22:59

I make it ha I make it work.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Right. So PerkPals, you're you're the president of the club, right? Yeah. I know this year we were able to get uh in our in our our world the official club status to open up that door with uh fundraising and things. So what are your responsibilities as the president of uh PerkPals and what do you enjoy most about being the leader there?

SPEAKER_03 23:19

So my responsibilities, I'd say it's very relaxed. Like I'm there to guide, I'm there to support, I'm there to like create ideas. I'm trying to like I'm the leader of foster like fostering the community, like trying to guide everybody in the right direction. Like somebody who doesn't want to join doesn't know what to do, how to act, I can help them out. I'm paired with a student with a disability, they're also a president, so I'm there to guide them as well. They have co-presidents and then to try and support them, to try and help them know how to act in a leadership position. Yeah, for give them experience as well. Yeah, know what it's like. I'd say the club, it's around like 50. Okay, but the IE is very different. The reason we became a club is because the IE space is very limited. So when we become a club, we can have basically anybody. Right. Because IE seniors get top choice and it's junior. Right. So but since pock perk pals is such a popular choice, it's the IE's challenge, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:20

The IE time that's built into the school school schedule at the high school that that's used for a lot of things. Club opportunities, absolutely. If you need some help with a teacher or if you're um other club opportunities, those type of things.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

Plus that limited 40 minutes with it as a club, we can get much more time.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Yeah.

unknown 24:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

So what are some of the activities and events that Perk uh PerkPals organizes throughout the school year?

SPEAKER_03 24:40

So throughout the school year, from what I can think off the top of my head, is Fall Fest, Polar Plunge, and Special Olympics. Those are the big three.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Yeah. Special Olympics are coming around the corner. Um I'm sure you know that event has grown over the course of time. We're now as a as a full faculty and staff, we invite everyone to come out for the pre-one. And I know that then I know you guys go still at Springford?

SPEAKER_03 25:03

I believe so. And then we have that Puget send off right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Yep. Last year it was at uh Springford. But we have one in-house as well. And to me, that's the epitome of what we do. That's why we're here. We're here for the kids and the students, and and really it's a it's a great opportunity to uh to support them.

SPEAKER_03 25:17

Yes, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Um so PerkPals this year is hosting a new event called Stars of the Night. So tell me a little bit about that. If someone had shared that you definitely are a lot of work behind this. Yes. So what inspired the idea? What is it for our listeners?

SPEAKER_03 25:30

So, first I do want to say PerkPals, this is a separate from PerkPals. I just happen to be the PerkPals president and planning the event.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:38

But the goal of the event is to eventually broaden it. Like it was we took a lot of inspiration from Tim Tebow's Night to Shine. Okay. Where it's like a red carpet event. People with disabilities come and it's their their day, their moment to have fun, to be like recognized. Right. So we want to try and bring that into our area because they have I know there's one kind of near us, but it's pretty far. Right. So having one recognition?

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Is it a someone had said it's like a prom, it's like a dance, an event, getting ready, all of that.

SPEAKER_03 26:11

Yeah. I would say it's closest. If you to choose the school event to describe it, it would be prom. Okay. But uh it's completely independent for Perk Pass. It's just this year, it's for Perk Pass. Right. So we're trying to this is a stepping stone. We want to broaden it to like Miss Willett move to Perk Valley. So we want to hopefully get her kids next year. Sure. And hopefully move it to the Y with Dr. Carpenter's help. But that's the goal. So we just want to do a bigger thing.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

So right now year one is let's try it in-house, see how it works, see how it goes, what can we improve on, and then uh have additional students in local school districts, connections that you have, maybe connections we don't have yet, but maybe interested in that as well.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

So I'd say that's the main goal. The main goal this year is to have fun and go well.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

So who's in who's invited? Who are the invitations for or who's who's able to attend?

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Right now, we invited just everybody in Perk Pals because we know the people, the people in that club are truly like some friends. So we invited them. They're attending Miss Banford students, Ms. W uh, Miss Dunn students, Mr. Thrush's students, they're all they're all attending. Plus the uh regular education students that are involved in PerkPals. Right. Plus any teachers and staff that like are special to like that have really supported PerkPals, they're they're allowed to attend.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Right. That's great. And what's the goal and hope that uh the students when they walk away from the event, what what's what do you hope that they walk away with and at the end of the night what are they what their feelings are?

SPEAKER_03 27:43

I hope they walk out having a core memory, something that they'll never forget. We're truly trying to make this like event great, like the best it can possibly be, which is difficult, but we really want it to leave an impact on the people involved. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

So any specific activities taking place during it that are that'll be memorable?

SPEAKER_03 28:02

Uh there'll be like a photo booth, there'll be obviously dance station, there'll be food, and there'll be friends. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

That sounds the recipe for success. Yes. No question. No question. Uh let's go back to you as a as um an Upper Perk High School student. What any any favorite memory from being a member of anything at the high school? Something you can think about.

SPEAKER_03 28:24

Favorite memory.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Um month and a half, you're I know, oh my gosh. And new things on the horizon for sure.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

I honestly can't pin one. It's just I've had a great experience at Upper Perk. Just the community, like my friends, like the people. The people I will never forget. Right. That's I have like met so many people that have impacted me in my life in positive ways. I'd say I honestly can't pin one favorite memory. Right. It's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

That's great. That's great to hear that there's so many. Um, because if it was the opposite, we couldn't think of one at all, then different conversation. Right. So back to the event, back to stars of the night. Um, how can the school community or local community support Perk Pals and or that same event? What can they do?

SPEAKER_03 29:09

I mean, we've already had so much support. We asked basically we asked a lot of businesses, a lot of people for their help, and they showed up. We made a lot of money so we can make this event happen.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

So we asked for donations. Yes. And then I'm sure there's probably some physical things, not just money, but other things that may have been donated. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 29:27

Yeah. It's the the support has been great. Uh if anything, I would make sure to look out for this event next year to support them again. Because what this this event is, I really hope it goes, it's great. Right. Like it it leaves an impact for time to count.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

So if I was a student and let's say next year's incoming freshman class or a current freshman or sophomore, and I heard about PerkPals, what would you say to someone that was thinking about joining?

SPEAKER_03 29:53

I would say join. There's no pressure. There's there's like there's a lot of like there's I there's no pressure. Like you just go there and you hang out, you talk to people. It's just about fostering community. You're making friends. That's it. You're just there to hang out.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

Events you shared, Special Olympics, yeah. Uh Fall Fest, all those things are very similar. It's about those experiences and supporting your friends and making new friends.

SPEAKER_03 30:18

Like I think Fallfest is a great example. Like you're just there and you're playing games, you're coloring, ping pong, bocce. It doesn't matter. You're just there to hang out. I would say just join. It does not hurt at all.

unknown 30:30

Right. Great.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Well, thanks so much for uh for sharing about PerkPals and the exciting events and experiences that are taking place at our high school. Is there anything else that you'd like to share as we're wrapping up our time here?

SPEAKER_03 30:39

I would like to shout out two people if that's okay. Sure. I would like to shout out Miss Austin. Actually, three people. Miss Austin, for she was the one who approached me with the idea last year. Okay, I have some.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Okay. Who else?

SPEAKER_03 30:52

Uh Angel Lee. She's been doing a lot of work behind the scenes as well.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Is this the vice president?

SPEAKER_03 30:57

No, she's not. She's not involved. Like what I was saying, it's not a Perk Pals thing, it's just for Berk Pals. So she's been helping out. And then I like to thank Ms. Bamford.

unknown 31:07

Ms.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Bamford.

unknown 31:08

Awesome. Great.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Well, thanks for sharing that. Thank you. Appreciate it. This is your first podcast? This is my first podcast. There you go. Three rookies today. Oh, nice. Great. Well, thanks so much. So thank you, Evan, and thank you both to Mr. Germanario and uh Mr. Kurzwick for joining us today on the episode of the podcast. I hope to see everyone at some point in early May at the Arts Fest, uh, where we get a chance to experience the talents of our students and teachers on display. Thanks again for joining us, and as always, I am proud to be UPSD.