Unlocking Potential: Seyyed Sharifi on Connection in the Classroom

Teaching isn’t just a profession — it’s where dignity is rebuilt, potential is unlocked, and lives are changed forever. Today on The Stand4Kind Podcast, we sit down with one of Utah’s most inspiring educators — Seyyed Sharifi, a special education teacher and Utah Teacher of the Year finalist who is redefining what inclusion and innovation look like in education. The son of Afghan refugee teachers who were forced to flee war, Seyyed turned his family’s sacrifice into a mission to restore dignity, opportunity, and belonging for every student he serves.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Teaching isn't just a profession. It's where dignity is rebuilt, potential is unlocked, and lives are changed forever. Today on the Stand for Kind podcast, we sit down with one of Utah's most inspiring educators, Saeed Sharifi, a special education teacher and Utah Teacher of the Year finalist who is redefining what inclusion and innovation looks like in education. The son of Afghan refugee teachers who were forced to flee war, Saeed turned his family sacrifice into a mission to restore dignity, opportunity, and belonging for every student he serves. I know that being an educator is one of the hardest jobs on the planet. And you have an extra layer on top of that. And I want to have a conversation with you today about the reason you became an educator. So, first of all, thank you for being here for the Stand for Kind podcast. My pleasure. Okay, tell me a little bit about your history, where your family came from, how you ended up becoming a teacher here in Utah.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Okay, well, I think it this is how we ended up here. So this the story kind of starts in 1979 and the uh the Soviet occupation happened in Afghanistan. Uh my dad was taken to a concentration camp. He was held there for um seven months, tortured there. Um my mother had was forced to flee the country and left left to Iran. And uh luckily enough, my father spoke six languages. He's a brilliant man, uh highly educated, both of them really brilliant, uh highly educated, and he was able to get out because the Soviets used him as an asset because he could translate and he spoke six languages, so they used him as an asset there in the in the concentration camps, and that was actually his ticket out. And so he was able to get to get out of uh the the concentration camp and fled the country and met my mom in Iran. They went to Pakistan and they came to Utah. Luckily, my mom had a brother here and they made Utah home.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Wow, what an incredible journey to to come all the way to here to end up here.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Both your parents were teachers. Yes. Your mom too.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, my father was a linguist, so he spoke uh well six languages, but he uh he spoke French and he taught French. Um and my mother taught math, middle school math. So yeah, both really brilliant people. I was very lucky to have them as parents.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

That's incredible. Yeah. That transition here um to the United States, I imagine very difficult.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Yeah, my father came with $100 in his pocket and they went to McDonald's was the first meal, and uh they ordered uh they ordered a meal for him, my my mom and my brother, and you know, they spent 10 bucks and my you know, a hundred bucks in Afghanistan, you know, it's a decent, it's you know, get you by for a couple months. They spent that, and he looks over at my mom, he's like, We're dead. You know, like just kind of hit him like a ton of bricks that like he's gotta get, you know, this is yeah, life or death now. You gotta you gotta survive, man. So how are you gonna do that?

SPEAKER_01 3:14

And how how did they? How did they get land on their feet and and get going here?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Actually, my dad, so he went for a job interview. I think he started as a bus boy. I think that's the story goes, is he was a bus boy at first. Um, but then he got a job interview as a machinist, and he went to the job interview, and he didn't spik speak any English at the time. I mean, he spoke little bits. Um, but they asked him, like, how many languages do you speak? And at the time, my dad said five. And the guy said, You're hired, you know. Yeah. So he he ended up spending the next 30 years there. And uh yeah, that was able to provide enough for the family. My mom actually ended up getting a job with him for a while, but then she ended up going to work at 7-Eleven for the ensuing years after that.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Incredible parents, yeah, hard working. For sure. Um, and and just taught you the value of hard work. For sure. You decide at what point to become a teacher and follow in their original footsteps.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Well, it was I I did sales and I did a lot of jobs that didn't that just kind of left me hollow inside. I didn't really feel a sense of fulfillment. It just wasn't my purpose, you know. It was just more to get by. Um, and I was very fortunate enough to have a friend that got me to work with some kids. And it was actually doing recreational therapy, so I was taking out kids on excursions up and into the mountains, you know, in a week at a time. Uh, but that kind of takes a hit on your social life, so I needed something to where I could maybe plant my roots here. And um, luckily I found I have a buddy that I'm currently working with now, this is one of my best friends, Aaron Beck, that got me a job as a paraprofessional at Harvixon. And I really loved it. I thought that was like, I was like, okay, this is this is where I need to be. Um, and as at that time is when I decided to go into teaching. And um literally right when I started my program, it was so very fortunate. They had somebody quit mid-year at uh Bryant Middle School. It was the um it was the child behavior therapy unit. So you've got some of the more tougher kids in the Salt Lake School District in that classroom, and they've got 12, 13 of them all in one classroom. Very challenging, very stressful. So they they had the teacher there quit mid-year. They told me in my interview, I was just stoked to get it, I get I was just stoked to get an interview because one of my best, it was another friend of mine that got me the interview and he's like, Do you want to teach? I'm like, Yeah, absolutely. So I go and they said they were more excited about the interview than I was, and I was so confused at the time because I had no idea what I was getting into. But they were like, if you can just survive the next four months, we'll give you a contract next year. I was like, easy dumb. Yeah, I could do that.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

You have any idea what you were up against?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

No, heck no, man. I was that was one of the most anxiety-ridden years of my life. I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

It was.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

For people who don't know um the type of education and the students that you work with, explain the students that you work at who what what makes up your classroom?

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Right now I work in a severe setting. So it's a it's it's kind of what we would call like a unit in the in the sense that we are a self-contained unit. So my kids aren't going into a gen ed setting. Uh it's a special school, it's a specialized school for students that have severe cognitive disabilities. So they, you know, they could be affected with trauma traumatic brain injuries, um, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, severe cases of autism. Um we we serve the whole gambit.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Okay, so did you always know you wanted to work with students that had those kind of special needs? Or how did they how did you get there?

SPEAKER_00 6:36

They found me, really. Yeah, they called me in. Um so I I had my interview at Harvixon uh with my buddy, and you know, he told me, I think you'll like this, and then I said, Okay, I'll give it a shot. So I go in for the interview, and a girl comes right up to me and gives me a huge hug, uh, one of the students, and uh I just knew then for some reason it just clicked then, like this is all, you know. So and that's where I it's not necessarily where I've been ever since, but it was where I've landed now. That's where you've landed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Did you always know that I mean, I guess once you got into that, did you always know that that's where you needed to be? You know, I think about teachers, and and I feel like a lot of them are called to that position. For sure. If you can say that, yeah. You know what I mean? Um once you were in that step setting, did you feel like I'm home? Or or what did walk me through that?

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah, it was an immediate sense of calm. Yeah, it was an immediate sense of like knowing this is where I need to be, even amongst the chaos, even when I was teaching the CBTU unit, it was it although it was challenging, I knew I needed to be there. It challenged me in a way that I felt it it pushed my intellect and and and my emotions just right to where I felt like I had to continue to grow. Um and me personally, that's what I that's what I seek is growth. And so Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Yeah. Walk me through what like a typical day in your classroom looks like because I think for most teachers, they probably or students, it doesn't look like their normal day.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

No, definitely not. Well, we actually we have the good fortune to run a coffee cart from our classroom. So we first thing in the morning we we serve the school their coffee and tea, and uh we're actually gonna start doing fruit smoothies as well. So we got that going for our students. So they're they're busy making the deliveries, doing cleanup and putting stuff away. Um and then you know, we we rotate to to the classes just like you would in just like a high school setting. They've got PE, they've got dance, they've got um uh let's see, seminary. Yeah, so they it's it's very much we try to emulate as much as as possible like a high school setting. But obviously we adapt it to those students' needs.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Um and maybe you could for me uh help explain while while that sounds like an a very um I don't know the right way to say this, like a a pretty normal schedule, it's anything but normal for these students to accomplish these tasks.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Right? Like these are these are big challenges. For sure. And when they accomplish them, that's a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

For sure, yeah. I mean, some some kids have a lot of trouble even just going from classroom to classroom. And so that can be a challenge. It's just knowing your students, and I have to know my students on a visceral level for them to for me to be able to serve them properly. Uh, I think that's the greatest gift that I can give my students is knowledge about the nuances they have in their communications, the the way they learn, um anything really. It's just I have to know them really well in order to be able to serve them properly, because a lot of them don't they're nonverbal. So they're not able to tell me what they need or what they want or what's hurting. So it's it's really paying attention to their communication style and and picking up on that. Because luckily I get them for four years. So by that fourth year, I've I'm pretty good at picking up on you know some of the things they're laying down.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

So yeah, I I I I saw um some of the things online about your how you work in your classroom and and how that is a key uh part of how you teach is getting to know these students individually. Maybe can you talk a little bit about um some of the students in your classroom? Like who in your classroom inspires you? And can you tell us a little about them?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

For sure. Um I'll tell you about the student that really kind of like really opened my heart in a way that I didn't think that was good was possible. Um there was a student and uh he came to us with a lot of trauma, and so he had a lot of uh armor on his heart, I would say. Like, and and he just wasn't uh I mean he was transferred from school to school. Um a lot of teachers would were they even there was one teacher, his last teacher that threatened to quit if he was gonna be maintained in their classroom. So his his needs were very high and his behaviors were very extreme, to the point where the district was like, hey, if you can if you can just work with him one-on-one, we'll do that. I was like, I'm I'm happy to. I'll I'll do that. I'll get him to the point where we can hopefully stabilize and then we'll have somebody else come in and I can go back to my my classroom. And so it was a matter of like, we I couldn't even get him to start working for even just 30 seconds. It was like it was that dramatic.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

So we're going basic needs.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Basic needs. Yeah, just basic needs. At the point when I got him, it was just like, hey, let's go on a walk. And that's what that's what it was. It was me learning him for like I I knew that if I go at it the way the other teachers did, I'm gonna fail because like it's just gonna be the same old story. He's just gonna buck whatever system I put into place, and he and and I just wasn't willing to do that. So at at that time, I was like, okay, I'm gonna lay down any idea of what I have to do, and I'm just gonna connect with him. And that's what my focus was was connecting with the student. And the way that I did was taking him on walks, figuring out what he liked, what videos did he want to watch on YouTube, what you know, what did he like to eat, how did he like to dress, what friends did he want to talk to? I just learned as much as I could about the student that I could, that I possibly could. And once I figured out what he liked, then I started to use that as motivation. So I'd be like, you know, uh Vlad was his name. I'd be like, hey Vlad, I'm gonna I'm gonna set up an hourglass for one minute. If you can give me one minute of work, I'll give you ten minutes of YouTube. And it worked. I got one minute of work from him, and that was something that I built on. Like, so you know, it it eventually went from one minute to five minutes to ten minutes, and eventually we got rid of the YouTube. And so he came to me illiterate, so I didn't I didn't he didn't he didn't know how to read, write, and he was a sixth grade student. And by the time he left, he was reading, writing, he was very caring, very compassionate person. Um I think it just took somebody chiseling away at that that the armor that he har had because of the the trauma that he that he endured um to to kind of get him to the place where he was open to learning. And and he he got there and he it was amazing. Yeah, it was just nobody even recognized who he was when he left. And incredible. Yeah, it was it was it was a beautiful moment for me, and it it just showed me the possibility of and and and told me that I'm I'm where I need to be.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

What would be your advice to maybe other educators out there who who are feeling that pressure with kids that are are are a challenge, you know what I mean, and and maybe don't have as much one-on-one time with a student. How uh when they ask you for your advice, what do you tell them? What's the first way to kind of to break down those barriers?

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Mine, I have it's a math equation I've kind of set up in my classroom. It's really just my idea, the idea, it's an idea in my head, it's connection over everything. Your connection with the student. Do not burn your connection with your student for academics or whatever. Those they'll they'll be open to that eventually, you know. So focus on the connection. Focus on what what makes you different than AI, which is, you know, connecting with our students on a personal level. That's what really makes us different. I mean, otherwise, there could be a robot just doing what you're trying to do, just shove academics down their throat, you know, especially those challenging kids that come in with a lot of trauma. If you could just focus on connecting with that student on a on a level that they're probably missing out on, you're they're probably gonna grow in ways that you'd you'd never even imagined, really.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Yeah. I mean, I I even think back to my own, you know, experience. I went to Granger High School in West Valley City, and the teachers I remember the most are not the ones that that shoved the education down my throat. Yeah. They're the ones that I connected with before class or after class or in the gym, or in, you know, they were the ones I knew cared about me.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Really just genuinely cared about me, and to this day still will send a message here and there checking in.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

For sure. I mean, how much do we really I sometimes I think back to my own experience in high school is how much do I really remember from those classrooms? And what do I really remember?

SPEAKER_01 14:53

And it is important. It is. Don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

I'm not saying push it to the side.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

But you're right, that that foundation is what is so key.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Is knowing the and that that trust.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

And for you, maybe talk a little bit about that, the trust that you have to build with these students and their families.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Oh, oftentimes it's it's I have to I think I have to exercise that more so than if I were teaching in a Jet Ed Ed setting, which I've had I have done. I've taught in a Gen Ed setting, but in this setting, I I have to kind of get to know just that student's environment at home as well as just their their dynamic between the parents. Sometimes that's just really informational for that. It's great information for me, because then I can see where some things might be coming from and just building off of that knowledge, you know?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

You know, something that you you talk about a lot is dignity in education. Explain to me what you mean by that, because I think that that can apply across all forms of education, all levels of education. But what does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 15:52

I think it just piggybacks off the connection over everything is just making sure that you're not sacrificing uh a person's dignity because of the academics or because of the plan that you might have in place. Um making sure that you maintain their humanity through your plans. Um and that that's that's the that's the goal of my classroom, anyway, is I try to maintain um their dignity in a way that you know they're not always gonna want to work. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

And you meet them where they are.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Yeah, you just meet you're just meeting them where you're and they're and that is okay. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And they're in they're in my setting for a reason. And I and I've taken that into full full account. And uh when I was even teaching in a Jedi setting, when I was teaching some of the behavior classrooms, it they're with me for a reason. Yeah. And it was because what what they were doing in the other classrooms wasn't working for them. So I gotta find a way to make it work for them in my classroom, and that's usually really just folk. Honestly, it just boils down to connection, connecting within the student.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

We were talking before the podcast started that I saw this video of this student who was graduating from Hartson. Um am I saying it right? Yeah, you're good. It's the hardest school name to say. Um, Dastin. Yeah. Uh he graduated in 2024, I think.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Um, nonverbal.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

But his graduation speech, the technology allowed him to give a speech. Yeah. And in it, he it had me in tears and watching, I don't even know this student. Right. Um, but he was saying how he's gone through so many schools where he was underestimated. Yeah. And as a student with special needs, that happens so often that they get underestimated because somebody can't look past their needs. Yeah. Um, and that was so inspiring. And so I I he wasn't one of your students, but you get a lot of students.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Um, who else inspires you uh at your school or or a student or a teacher?

SPEAKER_00 17:51

There's a there's a kid that I've got right now who makes our morning announcements, and it's so funny because he always airs my dirty laundry. Because like I, you know, sometimes I'll just say things in the classroom and like he'll just go on there and be like, We're out of French vanilla, Mr. Sharifi forgot about Walmart. But just his like, just the way he carries himself in the world, I'm like, dude, you are awesome. I wish I could just be that honest and that just like straightforward all the time, like he is. Because yeah, that that's one kid that like I get jazzed about just hearing his the whole school is just stoked to hear his I don't know about the whole school, but a majority of the people have approached approach me and they're like, I look forward to his announcements. I'm like, I know. It's like I don't know who knows what he's gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

I have to be careful about what I say in my classroom because you all might know what I had for dinner last night, but that's okay. Right, right. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Yeah, he's he's somebody that's just like he's kind of blown me away in just his candidness. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Let me ask you this a little bit more serious note here. How, and I think a lot of teachers will probably relate to this how do you not get burned out in the classroom? Because you you do deal with a a lot of heavy, harder education cases. Um and uh that can be hard. For sure. You know, day in and day out. So how do you not get burned out or weighed down or just tired?

SPEAKER_00 19:08

I've been really fortunate in that I work with some of the most awesome people that I've ever met. I've got one buddy named Jason Tackett, and he's just like a soul brother. I just love him so much, and he I always leaned on him. You just lean, uh it's just leaning on your community. You've got a community for a reason in the school, and there's a lot of people with a lot more experience that teach a lot better than I do. And uh I I lean on them when I when I have those times of you know doubt or guess second guessing some of them at decision making, and uh, you know, I just use resources for me. It was just a matter of using my resources and knowing that I wasn't alone. And luckily, Harvix, we got a great family there, man. It's it's amazing. School, it's amazing people there. Some of my best friends work there, and um yeah, I think it's it's just leaning on your community.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Yeah, and I I would say that would be probably your advice to other educators out there maybe feeling that way.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

100%. Go find somebody that's got more experience, that's been there, done that, because trust me, they have. And yeah, lean on lean on their advice, you know.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

And and the truth is, you're not the first person to feel that way.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

No, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

And I think that's a key to thing to remember. Yep. If somebody else has felt that way and figure, you know, probably leaned on somebody else to figure out how to get through that or to to improve on it.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Yeah. Uh you're known for being very innovative in your classroom. Uh, I've seen the videos, you're bringing VR into the classroom, giving these kids an experience maybe they haven't been able to have. What led to that and how are you using that in your education? And did you ever get any pushback for that? Because it's almost like you're playing a video game in the kid in the classroom, but it is very educational.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Oh, for sure. Even today, I had the same student that makes the announcements today. He was like, I gotta climb this ladder, so he starts standing on the chair. I'm like, bro, I don't think that's what they're asking you to do. He's like, No, no, we're still in the class. Yeah, we're still in the mountain. Yeah, exactly.

unknown 21:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Um, but yeah, no, the idea started with my cousin. He came over to our hat, my hat while we were living together, and he came over and he's like, Hey man, I got this VR headset. You should put it on. I put it on and didn't think much of it. It was amazing. It was a completely immersive experience. It was like, you know, you're traveling to a different dimension, really. And then uh I had the idea. Uh it kind of clicked later and later in my career, like two years later, I was like, oh, you know, like I'm not able to take these kids all the places I want to go, or I'm some of them count mount, they'll they'll never experience mountain biking, like a golf trip or anything like that. So I just want to show them what that's like. Because you know, sometimes I was a little reserved in telling them some of the things that I do over the weekend because you know there's a little bit of guilt or just because not all of them can do that.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

That's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the response has been great.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

It's been good. The the trouble that I'm having is just the uh the joysticks. It's jarring for me even to try to use the joysticks.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Like I can. I can't do it.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Yeah. No, that that's the that's the the issue that I'm kind of bumping up against. It's just the the joysticks, but the YouTube 360 and the 180, that's working great. So the kids will they'll gobble that up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

That's amazing. Yeah. All right. Well, I know that you're super humble, but this guy has the most longest list of awards that you've received for your work. Um including most recently, you were in the running for America's favorite teacher.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Okay, I know you're shy about it. Well, what was that? I saw that online.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

It was just something you get nominated and then to just, yeah, people just vote and see where you go.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Okay, but you ended up fifth.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

I'm in the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals? Yeah, yeah. That minute fifth.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

It's still a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Yeah, it's pretty good. It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

How does that feel?

SPEAKER_00 22:41

It felt good. Yeah. I mean, it's always nice to get recognized for sure. I think it would the the benefit that it is that I see in all of it and the recognitions is that it brings more light to my school and my students. And they're often uh, you know, marginalized or overlooked. And so I think uh any attention I can bring to them, whether it be an award, whatever it is, uh I'd love to do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

What would you like people to understand about your students that perhaps they don't understand?

SPEAKER_00 23:11

That's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Because I think we all get a little busy in our lives, we all get busy in our own areas with our kids and our schools, but these kids are working just as hard.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

For sure. I think it I think once you can get past the the body mechanics and just the the functionality of uh what they're able to do in the in the in the three dimensions, and just see them as like um, you know, I'm a spiritual person, so I see them just as their soul as a soul. I got past all that. You know, I got past the the illusion of what this is, that that they're makeup. And and once you see that, I think I think they really appreciate that, uh being seen as just a person or you know, just a human being having this experience that they're having. And so yeah, exactly. You know, and it's just different functions, that's all it is. Um, but it's the same spirit and same whole and same soul, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

I love that. I love that. Um, you know, I've seen you talk a little bit about it online, but the why, the why behind why you teach, why you choose to go into the classroom every day, when people ask you what is your why, what is it?

SPEAKER_00 24:27

I guess you know, it shifts, but I think primarily it is to heal, it is to heal my family lineage. Um given that you know that opportunity to teach was taken from them. Uh me stepping into the profession was a reclamation of sorts to to get back to my lineage what was it kind of taken. Um yeah, I think it it it's been healing for me in the sense that I I was I'm able to provide for my family. Like there's just so many things. I'm able to provide for my family, I'm able to do that work, the you know, the restorative work on on my ancestral lineage, and uh I'm able to help, you know, students that that need it, you know. And uh for me, it's like their needs are so obvious that it it that's the that's the thing that really keeps me going is that I don't really have to guess what their needs are, you know. So I I I really like that. And that's that's my why. It's just you know, they need me. I need them. That's that's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

If if your students could describe the impact that you had on them 10 years from now, what would you want that to be? What would you hope that they say about their time with you?

SPEAKER_00 25:43

This particular population that I'm working with now?

unknown 25:46

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

I think it would just be that I cared. Yeah. Uh just you know, again, they they are marginalized, they are overlooked. A lot of the times people sometimes people don't even know they exist or the school like ours exists. And so I would hope that they they knew that I just cared that I cared. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

That's that's a great message. And I I I can tell just by the way that those kids react to you. They they come up and hug you and they just want to be near you. That's amazing. Um, for those who have been listening to our conversation today, what would your parting message be to them about being an educator? About um not only being an educator for special needs kids or students, but just in education in general.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Find your people.

unknown 26:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

Yeah, find your community, connect with them. Um lean on them. It's important to have people around you. Important pe people that that care about you, that have your your best, your best uh that just want the best for you. Um yeah, lean on their lean on their expertise because it'll come in handy. You don't want to be doing it alone. It's hard alone.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

It's it's much easier with you know 15 people back in you.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Yeah, I love that. Yeah. Say thank you so much for being here for imparting your wisdom on us, for introducing us to your students and to your school. And we wish all of you their the best of luck and can't wait to see what these kids do in the future because I know the sky's the limit for them and for me as well. So thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Absolutely. Thank you for it.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

All right, so yeah. Thanks for joining us on the Stanford Kind podcast. You can learn more about Stanford Kind on our website, standforkind.com. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok. We also hope that you'll subscribe and share this show with your friends and family. We'll see you next time.