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The Gold Coast Podcast
Hosted by Eric Winegard, this show dives deep into the stories behind South Florida’s most driven entrepreneurs, business owners, and community leaders.
Each episode uncovers the real challenges, lessons, and victories that define the Gold Coast business landscape. Whether you’re a startup founder, established CEO, or simply passionate about growth, you’ll gain valuable insights, strategies, and inspiration from those shaping the region’s economy and culture.
The Gold Coast Podcast
What Every Parent Needs To Know About School In 2026 | Chuck Maddox
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Most parents are asking the wrong question.
They ask:
"What's the best school?"
The better question is:
"What kind of person do I want my child to become?"
In this episode of the Gold Coast Podcast, Eric Winegard sits down with Chuck Maddox, Head of Boca Prep International School, for a fascinating conversation about parenting, education, athletics, technology, AI, college, leadership, and what it really takes to help children thrive in today's world.
This isn't just a conversation about schools.
It's a conversation about raising capable, confident, curious human beings.
Chuck shares why learning should be driven by purpose, how schools can help students discover their passions, why balance matters more than pressure, and how Boca Prep has built a unique model that combines rigorous academics with dedicated time for athletics, arts, music, entrepreneurship, and personal growth.
The discussion also dives into one of the biggest challenges facing parents today: technology.
From social media addiction and AI to screen time and the future of learning, Chuck offers a thoughtful perspective on how families can prepare children for a rapidly changing world without losing the human skills that matter most.
Along the way, Eric opens up about becoming a father, reflecting on his own childhood, and the questions every parent asks when trying to give the child opportunities they never had.
In This Episode:
- How to choose the right school for your child
- Why passion matters more than pressure
- The future of education in the AI era
- How technology is changing childhood
- Why sports, arts, and academics should work together
- The biggest mistakes parents make
- Is college still worth it?
- How to prevent burnout in young athletes
- The importance of community and belonging
- Why lifelong learning matters more than ever
Whether you're a parent, educator, entrepreneur, or simply someone interested in the future of education, this episode will challenge the way you think about learning, success, and raising the next generation.
Guest:
Chuck Maddox
Head of Boca Prep International School
Hosted By:
Eric Winegard
Thank you all for listening in on today's episode of The Gold Coast Podcast!
When you move from upstate New York, there's an arrogance up there. And it's fair. The public schools are pretty good. Yeah, they are. They're they're and where I'm from in Rochester, I like to hate on my hometown all the time because I like to put my nose in the air. Like I live in South Florida now. But I will give Rochester its its flowers here. The east side of the city, there's there's four or five main suburbs. Brighton, Pittsford, Fairport, Penfield, there's a handful. They're all in the top 1% of the country in terms of public schools. And I think I think they I think they rate them, I could be wrong, based on how many people are in the advanced classes, and then what those grades are in the advanced classes. I don't even is that AP? I don't even know what they're called. Probably. Yeah. Okay. So um so what are how would you describe education in Boca?
SPEAKER_00In what regard? Like in public school?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like no, just in general. If if if if I lived in Buffalo, New York, I'm thinking about moving down to Boca, and somebody said, What's education like in Boca?
SPEAKER_00So there's a lot of choice. There's quite a bit of variety. You can find really any school you're looking for. You can find a small Christian school, you can find a micro school of 10 kids, you can find a large private school, large public schools. There's really any kind of school that would focus on whatever interests your child has.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So so describe Boca Prep International to me.
SPEAKER_00Well, Boca Prep is a small school. We only have about 200 students pre-K to 12. But we have an athletic component as well that is unique for some families. So in the morning for grade six to twelve, there's a nice chunk of training time they have for whatever sport they choose. They could do on campus, they could do volleyball, soccer, and they have from about eight o'clock to 9 30 for training with a coach. They could go off site and do golf, tennis, hockey, whatever their choices. Real. And so they practice training time in the morning and then the classes start at 9 50, which is different than a lot of schools. The flexibility is a good idea. I like the school. I'm into it. It's different. Yeah. It's truly international. We have families from 55 different countries that represented in our small student population. So it is truly an international school.
SPEAKER_02I've just lived my life, I don't want to say with blinders on, but I just kind of focus on what I focus on. And you know, I don't I think it's just the way I grew up. I grew up with a single mom on welfare, and you know, we really struggled when I was younger. Um, but um, you know, I I I actually didn't graduate high school in time and I went into the military and I ended up getting out and getting a college degree. You know, and education hasn't really been on my mind for a long time. But now that my wife is six months pregnant, right? I'm really starting to okay, I'm I'm just forecasting where my daughter's gonna go. So take take me down, take me down my daughter's journey. What what advice can you give a boca ratone parent right now?
SPEAKER_00Some schools I've heard they start their wait lists when families are pregnant. So some people start that early because that's how popular the school is. That's the whole thing. So I there that's unnecessary, of course. But some schools are like that, you know, the super competitive ones. Yeah. So it really depends on what you're looking for. You know, some people want name recognition. They want to, when they tell friends where their kid goes, they want to be, ooh, that's the school you go to, you know, that's what they're looking for. Some want um a top-notch education with high academics, so it's just push, push, push and really helping kids excel quickly.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Someone want more of just a relaxed environment where their kids feel good and they have friends and they're happy. So it really depends on what you want for your daughter of what Boca could offer, but you could really find anything here.
SPEAKER_02Well, I kind of like this athletic thing you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. So, how would you describe uh Boca Prep International with in with this, the way you just described these other options?
SPEAKER_00I would say we are a school that has a high academics. We're an international baccalaureate school, so that's a rigorous program, uh, pre-K to 12.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00But it's not uh like a college mill program. We're not just turning out diplomas and kids are stressed to the max, it's not that kind of feeling. So they can be pushed to to work hard and to be to achieve a rigorous education, but they can also be fun, happy people, and that's what you would find about. I want to stress my daughter to the gills.
SPEAKER_02I'm just kidding. No, I I mean I'm joking. Um I mean, but I don't know. I I uh I'm only going off of my childhood. Yeah. You know, and and I wish I wish I was a slow starter professionally. You know, today I'm 45 years old, and you know, we have a we have a wildly successful business, you know, well north of eight figures, etc. But dude, I didn't become an entrepreneur until I was 40 something. And I was a great salesperson at an at another marketing firm for a long time. And but there's I don't have any regrets, Chuck. But you know, sometimes I wish that I wish I started a little earlier. I wish I had taken life a little bit more serious earlier. Yeah. You know, so I I think I but that doesn't have to start at three years old in like pre-K. Okay, all right. This is gonna turn into like a therapy session for my my parenting, but it's really on my mind now. Yeah, of course it is. Yeah, so I'm excited to to to talk this through with you. Um okay, so I really like this. Like, I was a really good athlete.
SPEAKER_00You would be shocked. Let me guess. You'd be shocked, trying me. I mean, first I would say football, but if I'm supposed to be shocked, probably not.
SPEAKER_02It was my second sport, but I was the quarterback. I returned the punts, I returned the kicks. I was a strong athlete. Basketball. I was gonna say soccer. Okay, yeah. You'd be shocked at how I can move and dribble a ball and everything. But um, like I played varsity basketball in ninth grade, so so I just I love sports, and I'm not as neurotic as I was when I was younger about them. Yeah, like I don't freak out if my team wins or loses. I'm like, gosh damn it. But my my daughter is gonna grow up wanting to play sports, right? It's just she just is, so I really like the sports component to it. I think it's really cool because I was I was a very good athlete. I think I could have gotten uh scholarship opportunities if I had started a little earlier. Yeah, you know, um, I really didn't start till I was about 10 or 11 years old. I kind of wish I had a dad that put a football or basketball in my hand at six or seven. Is that how early Boca Prep is? Some families.
SPEAKER_00So the flexibility in the schedule really starts in grade six, okay, where they have that training time in the morning.
SPEAKER_02Grade six.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sixth grade.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So elementary kids are just in their traditional elementary program eight to three.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And we have enrichments after school. We have soccer, we have volleyball, swimming is starting up. Uh, we have kids across the street, they walk to Everett Tennis Academy. So we have options for families, but it's not a unique schedule for the younger kids.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00But we do have some who are quite dedicated athletes. They just practice after school.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So sixth grade is really where the what is that? Oh, 12 years old. About 11.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, this is um but you have to start young if you want her to be a successful athlete anyway. You start young.
SPEAKER_02You know, I uh do you have kids? No. No? How old are you? 38. 38, okay. Yeah, you couldn't get it. Yeah. No, trust me, I feel like that right now, too. Okay, so I'm I'm a late, I'm a late uh once again, I'm late, a little late to the game. I'll be 46 when she's born. I'm not I'm not old, but but I'm gonna be 70 when she gets married. Right. You know, I better stay young and youthful here, Chuck. You know, I gotta but you know, keep my game tight. It's funny because I'm you're really catching me at a really unique time where I'm just really trying to forecast her path. You know, do you think that I'm just going based off of me. I wish someone would have showed uh introduced me to sports earlier on, but I don't know, you know, she might not gravitate to a certain sport too. And I don't you always hear these horror stories. I have a friend, a very close friend of mine. His daughter went to one of these schools in Texas, they're from San Antonio, and the daughter was on track to be an Olympic caliber gymnast. On track. I mean, her 13-year-old body looked like almost masculine. Yeah, she still looked feminist, she still looked pretty, don't get me wrong, but jacked, right? And I was watching her do these uh, you know, in some of these events, and I was blown away that she was 13. Once she got to 14, 15, because she had been doing it for 10 years, she she hit burnout then and she said, I'm done. She didn't want to do it anymore. Do you ever see uh where a child is burnt out pretty quickly, too?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've had some on golf golf players who they feel like they've been training all their lives from they were maybe four or five, and then they get to a point and they they're just tired of it. They want to try something different. So I think it's you want to have them dedicated to a sport early on, but also give them exposure to lots of things and let them try a variety of things so that they're well-rounded. Because you could have a strong athlete who's a strong golfer or basketball player, whatever they are. Yeah, but I think if you let them also do art or do whatever else they're passionate about, it'll feel a little bit more holistic to them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, I think I think as a parent, you probably listen, I'm not claiming to be an expert here. You probably have to let them try art, let them try an instrument, let them try a sport, and and you kind of see what they gravitate to. Exactly. Yeah. I remember when I was uh, this is the cool thing about sports for me personally. You know, I remember my mom said this to me, and this blew my mind as a young man. So I liked uh G.I. Joe's, I liked Transformers, I liked the Ninja Turtles, and like every year I had a new obsession. It was like a new different thing. And vanilla ice was one of them too, by the way. And Michael Jackson, right? So I had like a new obsession every year. And I remember I started playing backyard football. I was probably 11 years, 10 or 11 years old, and I really liked it. I liked tackling and I liked being tackled, and I just loved the physicality of it. Right. And then these guys showed me how to play basketball, dribbling a ball and shooting three-pointers. And I wasn't good, but I just remember I loved playing. And all of a sudden, now over the next few weeks, I'm playing football every day and basketball every day. And I came home and told my mom, I said, Mom, mom, I'm I'm playing football and basketball. And she goes, Oh, she was like, You know how you like these things every year and it changes? She goes, You're gonna like this forever, it's never gonna change. And I remember when I was young, that was like like it, it was really cool to like ingrain yourself into something that was like lifelong. Yep. Um, and I think that was just my coming to realization of I love this, I do, I I love it, I have a passion for it. So so hopefully, hopefully I can find that in my daughter at a young age.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's what we try to do with learning. We try to help students be passionate about learning early on so that they can be a lifelong learner and never give up and feel like they're always wanting to grow and to find a new challenge or to find some more information or to stretch a little bit further. And you can apply that to anything. It could be applied to a sport, it could be applied to uh an instrument, anything that they're learning, a new hobby or skill. So if you focus it around learning, I really think that could spread to a lot of different things.
SPEAKER_02Spoken like a true educator. I was trying to take you down like you're a coach, like you're a no, no, learning's learning's gotta be fun. Learning's gotta be fun. Um I don't know. I God, man, I feel like I'm I'm just I've been reflecting on my childhood a lot lately, just trying to think about how it shaped me. And because I I I don't want to I want the same good things for my children, yeah, but I want to avoid some of the the poor things, right? Um you know, learn learning is interesting because how do you how do you make someone or how do you make a young child enjoy learning?
SPEAKER_00How do you do it? They have to know the why, because kids will always ask why. Why are we learning algebra? Why do we have to learn the Pythagorean theorem and a triangle? You know, it doesn't matter to them. And so they want to know why. And if you can't validate the reason why they're learning what they're learning, then I think you have to ask yourself, why am I teaching this? Like, what's the point of this information? How is this going to serve them in the future? And the why is always changing in education, especially now, because we have computers in our pockets, we have information accessible to us all the time. And so when the facts we used to learn that were historical back in the day when you and I were in school, I don't know if kids need to know that anymore. Like we have to know where we came from, we have to know the history of the country, the whole thing. But I don't know if we need to know that in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Like, I don't know if that is important anymore. So if we if we give a curriculum that is intentional and relevant to the setting that they're in, to the 2026, to uh AI coming to play and allowing them to see the reason we're learning this is because of this. I think it keeps it interesting for them and they see the value and how it'll help them in the future apply to whatever unknown future they might face.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is what what a every generation says this is every generation says um, you know, technology's moving so fast, and what you're learning today isn't gonna be as relevant in a few years, or you know, what you're learning today at age 10 isn't gonna be as relevant when you're 25.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But now it's it's even more so. Even more so, yeah. And it's like what you learned yesterday might not be relevant tomorrow, almost, right? Which is kind of which is a scary time for educators. I could ass I could have to be able to do that. It can be it's gonna be unsettling. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Do you think fast forward to college a little bit? How how do you would you recommend that every child goes to college?
SPEAKER_00I think so. I think it's beneficial more than the academics. I know myself, I learned so much about myself when I was in college in my undergrad. Uh, first time living alone uh without my parents, exploring any kind of curiosity or passion I had, finding uh a new uh path for educationally or a new path socially. You know, I joined the rowing team, I was a on the crew team in college. I would have never done that if I didn't go to school. So I do think it's beneficial. It really broadens people's horizons and lets them really explore what they're passionate about and see. But on the at the same time, you're also getting good education and you're you're preparing yourself for a future where you can be successful and you can have a career. So I do think it benefits society, but also benefits yourself.
SPEAKER_02I'm just asking you questions, I'm not challenging you. No, I understand yeah, yeah, I'm not challenging you at all. I'm just genuinely asking questions. Yeah. Because a lot of these, just so you know, the question format sometimes gets a lot of views too. I'm like a short for you. Yeah. I'm gonna make you famous, Doc.
SPEAKER_00I take it out of here.
SPEAKER_02All right, but in a good way, right? Not in a goofy way, right? So what you just said to me, I heard a lot of social things that you learned about yourself. Yeah. Couldn't I um move to Europe and get a job bartending at a Spanish restaurant on an island somewhere and learn a lot about myself?
SPEAKER_00You could. You wouldn't have the same benefits or the same outcome. I think that's the benefit of college, is you do learn a lot about yourself socially, but you also are prepared for a future where you can be successful and you can make something of yourself in the future.
SPEAKER_02How would you say, how would you say this compares to joining the military? Can't you learn a lot about yourself joining the military?
SPEAKER_00You can. Yeah, you can. And then often uh military grads or people who rotate out, they'll go to school, one because it's free. So that's one of the perks. So it's it's in a different order, but I do think that's a a good route as well. Yeah, military save my life.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and and I'm not like one of these, you know, beat it on my chest military people. For me personally, I was a very misguided. I wasn't misguided, I was unguided. Yeah, I was basically just imagine a human just waking up, I don't know, trying to think of this. Imagine a five-year-old. Uh the parents leave them, and the five-year-old just kind of raises himself. You know, somehow there's TV dinners provided for him, but you just eat TV dinners and you raise yourself. What would you be like at age 18? That's kind of how I was. I mean, I'm really over exaggerating, but I was very, I wasn't guided. My I didn't have a father, and my mother didn't really provide much guidance. She wasn't around. Like she she really she was a nurse and she worked, you know, 85 hours a week and she was just never around. I basically raised myself. And um, but for me personally, you know, the the military was great because it gave me that structure, guidance. Um, and for me, it really helped me build these work ethic, uh, work ethic habits. And I think the best thing it taught me, which I don't know if you can get in college, is it's really how to be part of a unit and how to be part of a team. And even though I was like a talented like quarterback and and basketball player, and and even though I was liked socially, you still have to learn how to be a great follower before you can be a leader. Right. And and I think that's really tough for some people. So I think, you know, I I think I I learned just to be candid, I think I personally learned more in the military than I did college, but that's that's unique to me. That's unique to me. You went to college after the military. I did, yeah, I did, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And and to be fair, you know, um, everybody told me I I needed a degree. Listen, I'm not poo-pooing, I'm just talking about my journey. Yeah. Right. Everybody told me that I needed a college degree. So I felt the societal pressure to go get a degree. And but now I had this crazy work ethic instilled in me. I got a four-year degree in two years. So when I went to college, it wasn't social. Yeah, it was like I was a young man on a mission getting this degree, and I got a degree in psychology. And to be candid, I was I was actually really interested in pursuing it, especially the clinical side I found fascinating. Uh, part of me wanted to learn hypnotherapy and work with athletes, hypnotize a pitcher who, you know, is throwing wild fastballs, right? And and and hypnotize them into uh, you know, throwing it straight down the, you know, uh straight down the plate. I don't know baseball that good. I'm not a baseball guy. What was that what you would say? Straight down the plate. I think so. Okay, that sounds right. Uh but um no, I and uh, but you know, I I started looking at the jobs available with this degree and how long I'd have to continue to go on to college to actually make any money, and I didn't come from a family of any money, so that's when I was like, you know, I I gotta I gotta go get a job, and and I got a sales job. And I ended up, you know, becoming a high earner that way. Um, you know, what do you say to people in this because listen, if you're 22 years old today and you just graduated college, do you think that we're we're preparing people completely, or do you think some of these graduates are a little unprepared? I'd be curious to hear your take.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I definitely don't think we prepare them completely. And I don't know if we'll ever get that to that point. And when you're 22, you really don't know what you want to do, honestly. And so I think we do the best we can in society with with college or the military or getting a career right outside of high school. But I we you need life experience to feel prepared, and so it just it takes time, and I don't think you can rush that. You know, when I first got my first teaching job, I was 22, fresh out of school, teaching at a Christian school in in Palm Beach Gardens.
SPEAKER_01Cool.
SPEAKER_00And I, you know, I didn't know what I was doing. Yeah, I just made it up as I went day to day, and I figured it out and I got better and I worked at it, and I think you just have to do that as you're going through your as going through life. When a problem comes up, you have to handle it. And you won't ever really be prepared sitting in a classroom. You need like the practical experience, and that's what life gives you. Do you remember your first day on the job at all? I do, yeah. I was a January higher, so mid-year. Someone had left mid-year, so I came in, which is tough. You don't have a relationship building with kids, you know, you're brand new, young. I I was teaching middle school, so they were probably 14, and I was about 22. And I walked in and just figured it out. Like I put routines in place, I told them who I was, why we're gonna have a good year, and I was teaching Spanish, so it wasn't like a crazy difficult subject, you know, it was more of a fun class where you can do a lot of activities and there's no testing, nothing like that. Yeah, so it was an it was an experience, but I definitely uh had some some crash and burns in that first couple months and got better and better, and then uh just was able to progress along through my career. But it was you you have to kind of have those rough moments to start.
SPEAKER_02For sure. Yeah, you gotta you gotta throw yourself in the fire at some point. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_02So I'd be curious to hear your kind of career trajectory. So, how long were you at that school for? In the gardens, you said?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, at St. Mark's Episcopal School. I was there for four years. Cool. And then I transferred to the Benjamin School in North Palm Beach. Okay. Uh same position or kind of. So at St. Mark's, very small, pre K to eight school, and it was a combination job. I was teaching history, writing, and Spanish. And I wanted to be a Spanish teacher. So I found a full time job at Benjamin. So I switched to that school to be a full time Spanish teacher. And while I was there, I knew I wanted to be an administrator at some point, to be someone. Sort of leader and a position came open for the academic dean. So I applied for that and got that. And uh really worked on my leadership when I was at Benjamin. I was there for about seven years, and then found a the next level up would be a division head. So that's kind of like um a principal, but out of a certain level in private school. So you could be a middle school division head, you could be lower school, you could be high school. So I found an opening in Tampa, so I moved over there to Carroll Day School and was the middle school division head for four years.
SPEAKER_02And then you're basically the principal of the middle school. Exactly. Okay.
SPEAKER_00So there's a head of school who's in charge of the division heads. Okay, gotcha. Um it's kind of like superintendent principals in public school.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00So I did that for four years. And the next level would be head of school. So uh so I knew I wanted to be a head of school at some point. Was looking for different jobs, uh, wanted to get back to this side to be close to my family. So this job came open at Boca Prep, and it seemed like a good fit. So I came over. It's my first year, so I just started in July. Oh, this is. Yeah, I just came over. So I came back, started in July, and it's been a good transition. You know, the first year there's a lot of ups and downs. People aren't quite sure of me. You know, I'm coming in as a new leader, different ideas, you know, there's some change, but it's been a good adjustment. I think it's been a good fit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's uh well, kudos to you for taking it on. I mean, it doesn't matter who the leader is. You could be the CEO of Pepsi, you could be the uh president of the United States, you know, there's always gonna be a little yeah, you know, we like him, we support him, and there's gonna be I'm not sure about him. Exactly. And it just takes time. Yeah, it does.
SPEAKER_00You know, it just takes time. It does. It takes time to win over people. Yeah, I definitely believe relationships are the most important in leadership. If you don't have people who believe in you and who trust you, you're not gonna get anywhere.
SPEAKER_02On your first day, did you come in cracking the whip? No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00No, I l I wanted to listen and kind of learn about the school, see you know what they do well, learn the culture, get to know the teachers and the students, and then start to make small, small changes until like they gradually got bigger.
SPEAKER_02I don't want to put you in a compromised spot asking questions, but I am genuinely curious. Do you think um, because you're people are gonna watch this that you know you want to or that you that work with you and stuff? Do you find that are are most teachers just in it for the paycheck? Do you think most teachers um is it just a job or is there a real passion behind it, or is it a mixture like anything else?
SPEAKER_00I think it's a mix. I wouldn't say anyone's in it for the pay because the pay is not you know fantastic.
SPEAKER_03Fair. Okay.
SPEAKER_00It's not bad, you know, especially in private school. Uh, we generally have better compensation than public school. So that's one of the perks. Private, okay. Yeah, at least in Florida and this in South Florida.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00So I wouldn't say they do it for the check. I think some teachers are extremely passionate about what they do. And whether they're in a low-funded Title I school in a bad part of town, or they're in my school or fantastic school in Miami, they're gonna be excellent no matter where they go, just because that's the kind of teacher they are. And they give so much. They give their whole heart, they teach with 110%. You know, they're just fantastic educators. I think some teachers are have taught for many, many years and have just gotten comfortable with teaching. You know, it's a good schedule, the calendar is nice. Once you teach the same thing over and over, it gets pretty easy. You know, it doesn't take a bunch of prep. So I think they're just kind of, you know, some are coasting through till retirement, which is the same in any career or in any profession. So there it definitely runs the gamut, but I would say the majority of teachers that I've worked with are extreme professionals, they're passionate, they love what they do, they love kids. I mean, it's not the kind of job you're gonna keep going back to if you don't love kids and you don't love what you do. Because it's not easy, it is tough. We have tough days.
SPEAKER_02So uh and and sorry to make you repeat, but Boca Prep is K through 12? Yeah, we have pre-K3 all the way to 12.
SPEAKER_00All the way to 12, and there's 200 kids. So one class per grade, basically. Wow. Yeah, so it's small. We're a small school.
SPEAKER_02So how many people is that per grade?
SPEAKER_00There's maybe 15 to 18. Wow, yeah. Okay. It's like our graduating class is 17 this year. Wow.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay. Is it considered an affluent school?
SPEAKER_00It is. We're not the most expensive. Okay. So we uh we aren't on the high high end. You know, there's some schools that are up to 50,000, 60,000, and we're not there, but we're not the most affordable either. So we're in the middle. We also take state funding, which is unique. A lot of schools around here don't take state funding. So the state offers a scholarship to families for school choice, and we accept that, uh, but some schools don't. So that helps our families too. Damn, 50, 60 grand for the top schools. Can you believe it? Wow. Yeah, and they have like four kids in the school, so you multiply that by four, and it's year after year. I mean, it's more than college. It's wow. Yeah, some schools are they've gotten up. It's about to get expensive.
SPEAKER_02Now, what school is uh I I'm just really genuinely trying to learn. Yeah. What schools in Boca cost $50,000, $60,000?
SPEAKER_00I'd say the highest school in Boca is probably Pinecrest. They have a Fort Lauderdale campus and they have a uh Boca campus.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Or excuse me, a um I guess it is in Boca. It's East Plantation, maybe. Um, so that's they're pretty up there. Uh Miami schools are are about that much. They're they're more expensive than we are.
SPEAKER_02Miami private schools in general.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like Miami Country Day, Gulliver, uh the schools in Coconut Grove, you know, they're all pretty expensive. Okay. Yeah. Is it worth it? That's hard to say. You know, it's I mean, if you got the money, like like exactly like the facilities are unmatched, you know. It's they're nicer than some colleges, these schools. So it's quite impressive. But you have to ask yourself, like, does my six-year-old really need that? Like, do they need a state-of-the-art gym and fitness center? I don't know. So I guess it depends on what you value.
SPEAKER_02Well, I guess, you know, here's where my brain goes is obviously any parent who has let's say five grand a month to hopefully you can pay monthly. I don't know because you got to stroke a $60,000 check. I don't know. It is what it is. But um, I guess I can't be golfing. Um, but obviously they're networking with other, you know, affluent families. That's almost worth it. You know, I pay a lot to be at a lot of these conferences that I go to, and yeah, you know, some of them are, you know, just so you know, I I stroke $40,000, $50,000 checks all the time, but it's to be in the rooms with the right people that can stroke those kind of checks. So I do understand the value of that alone, right? It's like a filter or a qualifier. Yep. You know, um, it's interesting, you know, when you think about, and this is just my brain going crazy right now. I don't know why I went here. But if you think about a school like Harvard, it's really their like I wonder if their education is that good. And just hear me out why. And I don't know, I could be a total buffoon here. But what are the standards to get into Harvard? It's all valedictorians, right? Yeah, like is anybody not a valedictorian? They're probably all are. I don't even like they're all 4-0s. I don't know what SATs are SATs out of 2300 now or something, but everybody is a high performer, right? Correct? Yep, I would say so, right? Um, and obviously, to be a valedictorian or to get a damn near perfect on your SATs, obviously you have incredible work ethic, incredible desire, incredible commitment. You're locked in. Yeah. So it's do you believe that Harvard education is really about the education you get there, or is it their is it the evaluation process?
SPEAKER_00Right. And then because you're surrounded by like-minded people, they push you up even more. Right. I think that's part of it. I do. It's a huge part of it, right? And you're guaranteed professors who are dedicated, who know what they're doing, versus uh maybe a school that doesn't have such quality professors, and it's kind of hit or miss. Yeah. So that's I think that's part of it as well. It's a standard, right?
SPEAKER_02So it's the standard itself, it's the qualification process alone. Right. That, you know, and I'm not saying it's bad education, I don't mean that, but but it's just a fascinating thing to really think about. Is it really the education there or is it the qualification process? And it's just something that me as a business person, you know, I I try to instill into my business because if I'm hiring people, it's it's it's less so about what I provide here than it is what they're bringing right to the company.
SPEAKER_00Right. The qualification process. Right. I think a lot of it is intrinsic. You know, you could go to any school, you go to Palm Beach State, you could go to FAU, and if you're really motivated and you are dedicated to what you're learning and you want to soak it all up, then you're gonna have an excellent education, maybe better than someone at Harvard who's just kind of checked out and isn't really interested in what they're learning.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, what's what's FAU's education like? Is that oh it's good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Florida schools are definitely on the rise.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00They're much more competitive than they used to be. It's really hard to get into Florida, Florida State, it's tough. There is yes, their acceptance rate is it's almost unmatched to some other schools, especially bigger schools like Harvard or the Yale. Like they're not as as um, it's not as hard to get into, but it is tough. A lot of kids who grew up here still can't get in. So that's they're definitely on the up. And FAU is following right behind them. So all the all the state schools and the private schools here are are quite quite high.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so where I'm from, the air that's what I was talking about. There's kind of an arrogance in upstate New York, like, oh, we our education's way better than the south. Right. This it's interesting. This isn't where we live is not the south. No, right? No. Like the south is Gainesville, right? The south is Jacksonville, yeah. Maybe I don't even know if I consider Tampa the South. There is a southern element to it. More than here, but more than here for sure. Yeah. But I don't know if I consider it the South. No. South is Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Carolinas. Um, yeah, no, I could go on and on with education. So what what's um if I'm if I'm a really good basketball player, do I go to Boca Prep? You could.
SPEAKER_00I mean, we'd be happy to have you.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Do you have a team? Not for basketball. Okay. So ours, because we're so small, our set our school's set up more for training, less for competition. Okay. So a lot of our students will be part of a club team outside of school, and that's where they compete, is with their club team.
SPEAKER_02See, this is foreign to me. I just think you play. Okay, so if I'm a stud golfer, I could go to Boca Prep, get my golf practice in, and then I don't necessarily play for high school team.
SPEAKER_00Right. So we have a partnership with Don Long. It's an academy out of Osprey Point, which West Boca.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And our students will go in the morning, they get dropped off there by their parents, or they drive, and they golf for a couple hours, and then we have a bus that brings them to our school. Like a van will come pick them up.
SPEAKER_01Cool.
SPEAKER_00They get to us around 10 o'clock, they have uh school all day long till three, and then they go back and then golf more. So that's usually their schedule. They golf two times a day, and that's how they get to be as good as they are.
SPEAKER_02I love Boca Prep.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It really can churn out some good some academic and athletic kids. This is interesting. Okay, so what other sports do we have? Tennis is a huge one with our population. So we're across the street from Everett Tennis Academy, so kids will just walk back and forth. Uh we have So same thing. What time what time are they swinging the rack at? So they're they start there usually around seven, depending on the the time of year with how dark it is. Okay. Uh and then they're training a couple hours in the morning. Uh they'll come over, take a shower, get ready, go to school. Um, so they're in class till about three. Some leave a little early, 2:30, and they go back and they train till 5, 6. So there's a lot of training, which is good and bad. You know, you want them to be kids and to have time for friends and you know the whole thing. But they're doing it because that's what they love. That's their passion, is their sport.
SPEAKER_02You know, I I remember I don't want to say this. Um kind of had some I don't want to say animosity. But let me re- let me just say this in a gentle way. I could also see a child having resentment towards the parent for not pushing them more. Yeah. Right? I can see that. Right? Like, so isn't it is it the parent? So what's the balance between that? Because you don't want the child to say, you know, dad, you push me so hard. I'm all screwed up in the head because you burned me out, versus, you know, dad, I wish you would have pushed me harder. All my best friends are D1 athletes, and I'm not. Right. Like how how do you how would you, and I know you're not a therapist, yeah, right? You're part of my job. Right. Okay. How you know what what what advice would you give a parent on that?
SPEAKER_00I think you have to have check-ins with your kid because you're the one who knows them the best. And you're gonna know if they're close to being burnt out and as too much, or if they have more capacity. So it's just like with teaching, if the teacher in the classroom, you check in with your students and you know, can I push you a little bit harder? Could we go a little bit further, or is this too much and we have to slow down? And so you're gonna know if if you are sending them to practice six hours a day, if they're loving it and they're killing class and they're killing practice and they're training and growing and getting strong, or if they're just on the brink of of it being too much.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And having that open conversation and dialogue early on and saying you we have to talk to each other about how we feel. And it's not just what I want for you, it's also what you want for yourself. And by having that conversation, I think you could really get far.
SPEAKER_02Okay, good answer. Good answer. Um your parent coaching me right now. This is good. So, what what other sports?
SPEAKER_00Like, so a basketball player, like we have uh kids who will go to LA Fitness, okay, um, and they do basketball with a coach over there in the morning. He rents out the gym. Uh, we have hockey players who do hockey in the morning. Uh, there's a rank in uh Lake Worth, and I think there's one um at Pompano they go to, they go to both.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Uh we have some. And these are club teams. Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So club teams better than high school teams?
SPEAKER_00Uh generally, yeah. Okay. The caliber is usually higher.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. We have club soccer players. So they we have soccer on campus with the coach, but they also are part of a club, so they do both. Uh we have some swimmers uh who do swimming, year-round swimming. Equestrian, we have a few equestrian horse riders. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Is this is this so this is cool. This is this reminds me of like Friday Night Lights. This is this is not what they do up north. Right. Or not not as abundant as this. Right. Is this common in Florida?
SPEAKER_00I don't think the flexibility is common. To find a a school where you can come and start class at 10, I think that's hard to find. So it gives them time in the morning where they can train and then because there's it's rigorous, but it's not over the top. So they're not loaded up with homework either. So there's things to do, but they also have time after school to go and to continue to train. So that helps them out when they're if that's what they're passionate about. But we don't only have athletes. You know, we have we have artists, we have uh thespians, people who are in drama, we have musicians. So they can do that in the morning if they don't want to be an athlete. So we meet kids where they are.
SPEAKER_02So you go do improv from 7 a.m. You can.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we have a theater class that meets from 8 to 9.30. Uh, you can learn an instrument and be part of a band. Uh, you can do visual art with drawing and ceramics and all the things. Uh, we're gonna add coding and robotics next year. So, you know, there's all kinds of offerings to help kids. We'll take them. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Her name's Sophia. She's she'll be born August 19th. I'll give you a deposit afterwards.
SPEAKER_00I'm an August kid, so that's a good, that's a good month. Awesome.
SPEAKER_02I I like no, this is this is I've always dreamed of something like this. I I really didn't even know it exists down here in South Florida. Because I think like in Texas, it's it's pretty intense too. There's a lot of schools that have, you know, uh similar type programs and they feel more uh common and prevalent. Um okay, so if I'm a okay, so if I'm an what type like artist is a general term, but is it like painting and sculpture? It varies throughout the year.
SPEAKER_00There's different units they focus on or modalities they focus on. Okay. So they do sculpting, uh, they do painting, printmaking, um, they do there's a kiln, so they'll do ceramics, um, all kinds of stuff for art.
SPEAKER_02See, I feel like this is really cool because I could see where um I like how it's broken up. I really do. You know, I I think working out in the morning, like if I'm an athlete, yeah, I do think exercising in the morning is great. It's a great routine. Yep. And I bet the kids are all buzzing at 10 o'clock.
SPEAKER_00They are, yeah, they're ready to go.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's like, all right, you know, it's probably hard to settle them down a little bit, you know. Yeah. Especially if they just went horseback riding or exactly, you know, like it's so fun. And and I could see them, because I know for me, I'm more alert when I work out in the morning. Yep. Way more alert. Um I could see them being tired in the evenings, though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, I so how much homework do the kids have?
SPEAKER_00So they get home at 5 30, 6, would you say? I would say so. Yeah. How much homework do they have? It's not a crazy amount. You know, there's always things to do, but it's usually long term, so they can plan out their days. Okay. So they might get an assignment on Monday, but it's not going to be due till Thursday. So they can plan out. Maybe I have a busy Tuesday, so I'm going to do it on Wednesday. So they we teach them organizational skills, which can be tough for some kids, especially the younger ones, and help them navigate their time and manage when they should do what. But it's not an absorbent amount of homework. They're not for hours upon end. There might be reading if they're reading a novel in English class. There could be finishing an essay they started in class. It could be um working on a project that they're doing for a science fair, you know, things like that. But it's not just pages of worksheets or things like that. That's not helpful.
SPEAKER_02How many uh like you have 200, 200 students? How what's max capacity?
SPEAKER_00We can grow to I'd say about 225, 230. We can't get that much bigger.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00We have a large campus, we have a full-size pool, we have uh a lot of facilities, full-size gym, weight room, but classroom. Yeah, so we we could go to about maybe 18 kids per grade, about it'd be tight, but that's probably as big as we can.
SPEAKER_02Is there ideas of expansion? No, uh if you're not allowed to say right.
SPEAKER_00Well, we're kind of tucked away in in uh like in a community. It's called Mission Bay. It's Gladys in 441. So there's not a lot we can't build and and expand our acreage and you know buy land. I guess we could try to go up, but you know, the building's been there since the 70s. So there's we're pretty much set away. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Element to it.
SPEAKER_00And I think the small school feels what some families really like. Yeah. They we know everyone by name, we know families, we know um their siblings, we know if they're out of town, uh, when their birthday is, you know, all the things that you would expect to have a real community feel. That's what we have because it's only 200 kids, you know, it's not that hard.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um, I I don't I'm gonna stay out of politics because you probably have to stay out of politics. Okay, I'll stay out of it. I'm not gonna torture you. Delete, delete, delete. I guess, I guess this is what I was gonna ask, right? Is do you do the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning? Oh, yeah, every morning. Okay, yeah. Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_00Is that political?
SPEAKER_02No, I mean, unfortunately, it's it shouldn't be. Yeah, I don't think it should be at all. You know, something that's really cool about South Florida is that there is I bet where you're from too. I'm talking about pride in the country, like pride in your community, even. You know, where I'm from in uh upstate New York, it's there's not really a lot of pride around where they're from, or you know, there's a couple of sports programs that are, you know, the there's this community called Fairport, and I feel there's a lot of pride there around their sports teams. And and maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, maybe there's some other schools that are, but just in general, I feel like there's not a lot of pride. And if you go to um I don't know, if you go to a sporting event, uh people aren't humming the national anthem along, but when you come down to South Florida, like I went to a Panthers game when I first moved down here in 2020, and when they're doing the national anthem, the whole crowd is humming. The whole crowd. I I I'm a big Buffalo Bills fan. I went to a sports bar down in Lighthouse Point called Packies, I think. It's a Buffalo Bills bar. So during the national anthem, I'm having a beer and chicken wings, everybody stands up and sings along. Okay, right? And it's and I've noticed that a lot of people down here in business meetings companies will do a pledge of allegiance.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_02Yes. I've never experienced that. Oh, no, no, for sure. Oh, for sure. Like networking groups. Really? Oh, absolutely. Okay, yeah, absolutely. So I just I'm not once again, I'm not trying to get political with it. I just I like it. I I really do. I I think we I think we've lost touch of you know, of being proud of where we're from. Like it's like it's like you should be proud that your last name is Johnson. Yeah, you should be proud that you're from Fort Lauderdale, you know, you should be proud you're from the state of Florida, and you should be proud you're from the USA. Yeah. And I just think a lot of that's been a little lost. Um so I bet your kids are proud to be from Boca Pratt.
SPEAKER_00They are, yeah. They we have a uniform, of course. They wear it out in the community and they they're happy to tell their friends where they go to school. So I I think they like their school and they're proud of it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's cool.
SPEAKER_00That's part of the goal.
SPEAKER_02So walk so this is cool. I mean, I have so many questions. Are there any other sports that off the top of your head? I think my brain keeps it.
SPEAKER_00No, that's okay. I think that's pretty all the ones that we would cover, because you can do we have the on-campus offering, swimming, volleyball, soccer, but you can do any sport you want off-site. You get your own coach, you do your own training, it doesn't matter to us. Uh we'll check in a couple times throughout the month, but then it's really on you and your family. So they can do any sport that they wanted. I guess if like esports, you know, are a thing. We don't really have kids doing that, but you could if that was your sport. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02How do you handle um, you know, I saw this guy in uh I guess he was testifying to Congress about the decline in education stance. Not standards, but uh grades.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Whatever the however whatever the metric is state by state to evaluate how education is doing. And it looks like a lot of these numbers have have dropped, and he's blaming it on the computer. And basically, a child's learning, you know, they got the iPad at the home, now they got the computer at the house. And me as a parent, soon to be parent, now I'm freaking out about it. Right. You know, how do you guys that this is an obvious change in the way our youth is learning for good or for bad? And let's be honest, dude. It's an experiment. Yeah. Like so this whole social media thing really isn't even that old when you think about it. It's 20 years old now. It's kind of a we're kind of all experimenting on each other with this. What's kind of your take in your and I'm not trying to put in compromise. No, I'm physicians. I just genuinely am curious what your take is on the use of technology and and if that's ever a discussion at your school.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we talk about it often. You know, I think education's in a tough spot because we're reading books like The Anxious Generation and hearing what tech is doing to kids. And so we want to put phones away, we want to keep kids as secure and insulated as possible at school. But at the same time, we're told AI is here, we have to learn how to use it and teach kids how to use it. So then we're back on the other side. So you can't have your foot in both in both worlds. So it's tough as educators. So Book of Prep, we have phones away during the day because I think social media is the big, it's not the phone, I think social media is the problem. So we don't want them to access that during the day. So phones are away, they're supposed to be in their bag, um, just out of sight, turned off. We have laptops, so we're one-to-one. So they all bring a device of some sort, an iPad or a laptop, but it's limited the amount of time they're on it. So they're not on it all day. There's not a lot of learning that happens. It it supports the learning and enhances the learning, but doesn't replace the teacher. So the teacher is still the guide in the classroom and is facilitating instruction, but it's there to support because it is a resource and I think it should be used, but we have to teach kids how to use it appropriately. So if we were to go back to basics and say we're just paper and pencil and books, I don't think that's the answer. That's not the future. The it's not going anywhere. The tech is always gonna be here. So we have to teach kids how to use it and how to be safe, but also how to balance it and still go outside and enjoy nature. You know, yesterday's Earth Day. So we are outside planting trees with kids, they're rolling down the hill in the grass, you know, they're just having a good old time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you can't get that if you're on a screen.
SPEAKER_02No, no, no way. You know, sometimes my my wife and I, the best, the best moment of my day every day, is my wife and I's nightly dog walk. Uh-huh. And as corny as it sounds, we leave our cell phones behind. There's obviously no laptops. Right. We're walking our dogs, sunset, sun's beating on us. We're in nature, kind of, sort of, right? And we're just walking, and all of a sudden, our conversations, they get so thoughtful and intellectual and meaningful. And that 35-45-minute dog walk is truly the most enlightening part of my day. And I don't know how spiritual Boca Prep is. I don't know if that's you know discussed or if it's a religious school. I have no idea. But there is something very spiritual to putting the technology down. Whatever your whatever your idea of spirituality is, it's definitely healthy to get away from that stuff. I agree.
SPEAKER_00And it's a battle because some kids are addicted to it, like legitimately. And it's hard for them to be away from their phone or to be away from their laptop. And so when we tell them to put them away during the school day, to have those organic conversations with their friends and with their teachers, it's it's uh they have a reaction as if they're losing something that's attached to them. And it's tough, it's hard to combat that. So it has to be a partnership with the family and with the school, which we have, thankfully. Our families are very supportive, but it's tough. I mean, if it if a student has their device from three o'clock when the day ends until 11, you know, with no supervision or no time off, and then they come to school and we say we're not gonna use it, it's a withdrawal. And so that it's a challenge for some of them.
SPEAKER_02No, I can't and listen, uh, I I don't I don't uh envy your position with this at all. It's it's I I know this situation is or not situation, there's gonna be a lot of discussion, there's gonna be a lot of there's gonna be a lot of talk around this for the next few years for sure. I think so. Do you ever do you ever think there's gonna be an a a world where you know, just like you moved from Beaver Creek, just kidding, uh Dayton, right? Dayton to South Florida, just like I moved from New York to South Florida, um, there are people that I know have left South Florida because it's gotten too busy. Yeah, they want to go live up in northern Florida, maybe what, maybe somewhere it's a little slower, um, not as uh could not as congested with traffic. And people pick certain communities based on what their perceived value or lifestyle is, and it's fine. Yeah, we have a we have a big ass country and it's kind of cool. You can there's a big difference between South Florida and Montana. Right. Huge difference, right? Do you think it's possible? And this I'm getting kind of off track here as you being the head of uh Boca Prep, but do you think there's a possibility that in the future there's communities that don't allow AI, and there's communities and schools in the middle of Kansas that don't allow computers in the in the rooms, and maybe you know, there's communities of 50,000 people that just want it like it's 1999, right? Google and only Google is allowed or something like you know it am I out of my mind to think that it's a little dystopian, it's like uh yeah, like a movie you would see in the theater.
SPEAKER_00I think schools for sure. I could see schools, and I'm sure there are some who don't allow any tech, and it's all just basic non-tech learning. I could see that, and I'm sure it happens, and it might serve those kids who are in the school for an entire community. I've never thought about that. To be in like a, you know, there's tradition in Port St. Lucie that's like a planned community, to be in a development where that's not allowed. I've never thought about that.
SPEAKER_02I think it's gonna happen. I do, I really do. Um, and you know it's interesting. Now, now what you're I don't know, I'm dating myself here, but there was this movie called uh have you ever seen Twins with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito? Yeah, I used to be a huge Arnold Schwarzenegger fan. So Arnold Schwarzenegger grew up on this like island, and then when he went to I think it was Los Angeles, like he was totally out of place, right? But what's gonna happen in those communities is it's almost like I'm not knocking Mormonism or any of these other religions, but if you grow up a certain way, like in a cult-like community, that would be kind of cult-like because you're isolating yourself from the rest of society and AI. Your kids, I don't want to say are gonna be weird, but if they but if they go to South Florida, they're gonna be kind of weird. Yeah, right. So that's I think that's the caveat, is you know, yeah, we might like it, but our kids might be our kids might not be accepted anywhere else.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I think that's true. It's like the pictures you see of like a pale-faced kid exposing themselves to the world and they haven't seen the sun before. That's what it would be like, but with technology, just like there's groups like that now in the middle of the country and Utah, wherever they live, and they don't have TV, you know, they don't have anything, and then they escape and they they can't handle it, you know, they lose their minds. So I don't think I don't think that's the answer, honestly. I think balance is the answer, and I think it's being intentional about how we live our own lives and we model that for the next generation. Yeah, you know, we have it's not it's not the answer to say, well, I'm not I'm just not gonna have a phone and I'm not gonna be reachable and I'm not gonna use the internet because there's so much benefit that can come from it. Yeah, but I think we have to show, especially the younger generation, how to use it thoughtfully and how to receive the benefit without all the negatives that are possible.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But we as leaders or as adults or the next the future have to lead them and help them realize that. And I don't think that's really happening in the nation right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. One last question Do you think there's a possibility that down the road a school like head of or school, a school like Boca Prep, like some kids are preparing for being a musician, some kids are preparing to be an artist. Maybe you see some young girl is actually a real solid tennis player and she's got a shot to have her education paid for. Yeah. Or or maybe professional, right? Do you think there could ever be a situation, a world where some of your kids go and work with business people throughout the day and there's like an entrepreneurial.
SPEAKER_00I do, yeah. I think an internship would be fantastic. Yeah, you know, the IB, the International Baccalaureate Program, really lends itself to that. We are seniors and our juniors and seniors take a course called business management. And so part of it is learning about how to run a business and what that means and the metrics you would look for, but it's also the real world experience and the internship opportunity. So if there is someone who's into marketing and that's where they want to go, then to spend a couple hours here and to learn about it, I think that'd be fantastic.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And giving them that real world experience, it not only bolsters their college resume and gives them a leg up for admissions, but I think it also gives them the life experience they need and it helps them realize maybe this is trash. You know, I hate being in marketing, I don't want to do this all day. Or it solidifies what they thought they wanted to do, and it helps them learn that this is where I want to spend my time, and I see how this could be better or different, and that internship could really help. Yeah, I think that's it. Yeah, that's cool.
SPEAKER_02This was fun, man. You you uh I I tried to ask you uh a variety of questions and you and you answered them all really well. And I and and I am going to take a look into your school. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00I mean, seriously, yeah, come by for a tour, yeah, whatever you'd like.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm dead serious. I uh, you know, I know my child is um only not even born yet, right? But I really, you know, I need to start planning and thinking, and and if I got to give you a deposit early in this. No, we're not one of those schools. We don't, yeah, okay. But this was fun. You know, do me a favor. Uh take that handsome face and beard of yours. You got a better beard than me. Take a look inside of that uh camera. And if if there's a parent or parents uh out there considering um looking at various educational opportunities, you know, why should they consider Boca Prep? And if they are interested in Boca Prep, where can they find you?
SPEAKER_00I think Boca Prep is a school that is tight-knit, community-based, and also provides a rigorous education. It helps students uh learn their passions and what they're interested in, but also is a place where they're known and where they're understood and where they're welcomed. So if you want to learn more about Boca Prep, look us up online at boca prep.com. Come by for a tour, we'd happily show you around and share a little bit more about what we do every day.
SPEAKER_02Guys, thanks again for tuning into the Gold Coast Podcast. I'm your host, Eric Weingard. Make sure to like and subscribe. We'll see you again.