August 14, 2024 • 27 mins
In this special live episode, hosts Matt Palaoro, Tara Pena, and Jason Firestone kick off Season 2 of the Elevate Education Podcast with a live episode from Jeffco Public Schools’ Leadership Launch. They invite the Jeffco Student Leadership Board to share about the theme of belonging.
Join us as our student leaders share their insights on what gets them excited about returning to school, the importance of relationships with teachers, and how to make learning relevant and engaging. We also explore the challenges students face and their suggestions for improving the student experience in Jeffco.
This episode is packed with genuine stories, candid conversations, and invaluable advice for educators and students alike. Tune in to discover how schools can foster a culture of belonging and inspire every student to reach their full potential.
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Welcome to a very special episode of Elevate Education. I'm Matt Palaoro and I'm here today with my co-host Tara Pena and Jason Firestone. And we have some very special guests with us today from our Jeffco Student Leadership Board. And believe it or not, we have about, I don't know, 500 of our closest friends in the audience for this live podcast today. How's everyone feeling? Good. Excited? Yeah, good. You know, a great leader once told me that if you're nervous, it's just the courage building up inside. All right. So for our listening audience, we're excited to kick off season two of Elevate Education live from Chatfield Senior High School. Each year we welcome back leaders across the district to kick off the school year at our annual leadership launch. We thought what would be a better way to kick off the new year than with a podcast episode with our students? And we are all in for a very special treat. For our first episode of Season two, we are going to dove into the vibes of belonging and what it means to belong. Hearing directly from all of you, our Jeffco Student Leadership Board. Why don't we get some introductions for our listeners? Tara, can you get us started? You bet. I'm Tara Pena. I'm the chief of Family and Community Partnerships and one of the hosts of Elevate Education. I'm also one of the very lucky sponsors of the Student Leadership Board, and I'm thrilled to have some of our SLB students on the show today with us. But before you tell you more about J SLB I was actually hoping that we can start with a vocabulary lesson. I spent a lot of time with these young people and I have some teens at home, so I think I'm pretty HIP on the lingo. but I just wanted to try it out. All right. So how about this leadership LAUNCH ATE this year? Lunch. On Friday, it was barbecue and it was Busan. And our keynote speaker this morning, Matty ice cooked. How did I do? Okay. But more importantly, what did I say? Let me translate. So leadership launch was fantastic. It's been a good three days. Lunch, barbecue. Busan means it was delicious. And our keynote speaker, Matty Ice, did really good. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm learning the lingo. I love it. All right. So, Junko, Student Leadership Board is a group of diverse high school students representing every high school in Jeffco. student leaders were selected to serve as a voice for their peers in discussions and decision making processes that affect the Jeffco student experience You can find our student leaders throughout the year meeting with district leadership, our school board and elected officials. They are actively involved in the Jeffco community and most notably, these student leaders are responsible for planning and hosting the Spring Student Leadership Conference, which brings together high school students from all across the district. So thank you all for coming in during your summer break. To share your voice and perspective with Jeff called leaders in our community I'm excited to spend some time with you this morning. I missed you. All right. Thanks to Jason, why don't you introduce yourself and cue up the conversation for us. You know, we got some people waiting. Thanks, Matt. Got it. So welcome, listeners. Thank you for tuning in. My name is Jason Firestone and the assistant director of the Student Engagement Office and also get to support Gsb. So welcome student leaders. Why don't you introduce yourself? Hi, my name is Bri. I'm from Evergreen High School and I am a rising senior. Hi. My name is No Morgan, and I'm going to be a senior at Golden High School. Hi, everybody. My name is Hugo Renee Falco, and I'm an incoming junior at your high school. Hi. My name is Mikayla and I am a proud Columbine rebel. And I'm going to be a senior. Hi. I'm Sierra Nord Wald and I'm going to be a rising senior at Conover High School. Well, again, welcome. So I want to kick us off with a question to you all, and we'll start here. As you think about school and going back to school this year. What gets you excited about going to school? I think that what makes me the most excited about going to school is the people and like the teachers who surround me while at school, it's they're just great and make my day so much better. Something I'm super excited for is athletics being a girls flag football player myself and then reigning state champs football. Yeah. So just the games. I think going into this school year, I'm really excited for new opportunities and to learn a lot more Yeah. I am excited to be around positive people and positive teachers and our staff and excited to see some people I haven't seen in a while. I'm excited to just go back into the community, start being at those school sponsored events and start, you know, having fun. Great. Well, thank you all for sharing. What gets you excited about school? it's it's so amazing to hear that the relationships with your teachers, the activities, their extracurriculars, your community are so important to you in your classroom experience. I'm curious to learn a little bit about what we talk about rigor in the classroom, rigor and relevance. So why don't you talk to us a little bit about the rigor in your classroom and the relevancy you see and if you're learning is relevant to your lives? And if not, what would you suggest to make it more relevant? And I think we're going to start with you. So based on prevalence, I would say that I think that English and the amount of my school specifically, we put a lot of work into our English department and I believe that that specifically helps me in all areas. I have four other internships currently and I have to I have to write, I have to do emails, I have to work and all of that stuff. And what I've learned from those English classes, they do help a lot. Excellent. Thank you for sharing that. It's good to hear the things that you're learning are applying to your experience outside of school. I think I was really stumped on this question. What does what does my learning have relevance to my life? And, you know, I've been out of state. I've seen other school districts. So I really saw how transformative Jeffco was and how they transformed for every student and how your life experiences, how they're going to make it relevant to your life. So let's say you don't know how to cook. We were just introduced to cooking class. You know, you want to learn tech. Ed Jeffco has that. You want to do more in tech. So it's really just personalized for every student Yeah I kind of agree with you go that just its relevance is kind of like a broad term I think the things I learn in my history classes. I'm not going to use that as I go into my career and college. But I do think the lessons that I learned in those classes and the writing skills I learned through my English classes. And maybe the more what lower level math that I learned, it sets me up and it makes it so that all of it comes together and is and is relevant in what I'm learning and what is going to set me up best for my future. Thanks for sharing. Thank you. So we've heard about the aspects of school that make you excited. Sounds like, you know, we're looking forward to a lot of the relationships, the extraordinary student experience, maybe connecting with some friends we haven't seen. You've also talked about how teachers can prioritize relevance in the classroom, but I want to shift gears a little bit, so I'm really excited to be on the stage here at Chatfield because a little secret about me is I actually went to school here so I am a proud Chatfield graduate I no go chargers Mikayla go chargers A little fun rivalry between Chatfield and Columbine and really I'm just so grateful for my time and experience here at Chatfield. I had teachers that took the time to know me by name, strength and need, but I also had teachers that held me to high expectations. They provided me with extraordinary student experiences and actually provided me experience at how meet my potential. And it was hard. And the things that I learned in high school are I can do hard things. And so I think there's a misconception for students that if, you know, school is easy, then kids are going to like it and kids are going to respond better. Or that might be their favorite class. And actually what we hear from students and from research is that's actually the opposite. And so I'm just really curious, can you think of a time when you broke a mental sweat and you were so deeply engaged in what your teacher was teaching? What was that experience, teacher or style of teaching that pushed you? And you were like, That was so awesome. Like that couldn't take it right? And it was absolutely worth my time. So, McKayla, why don't you get us started? Yeah. So this past year of high school, so my junior year of high school, I actually took AP world history. And I would consider it to be probably the hardest course I've taken throughout my high school experience so far. And what made it hard wasn't necessarily the history content itself, but it was how hard my teacher, Mr. Walsh, pushed me. Every day we had to come to class, prepared for tests and quizzes, and leading up to the AP exam, we had to spend outside of school hours every single day, every single week leading up to the AP exam, learning about the test and how it was going to work and what I had come to realize it took me a second to get there is that my teacher wasn't doing this because he wanted us to hate school and to hate learning and to not want to show up to class. Sometimes I got there, but I still went, and what I came to realize is that he if he was doing this for him, he would be at home with his wife and his two little girls. And he was spending so much time outside of school to get me and my peers ready to take the AP exam because he wasn't just showing up to do his job. He was showing up to have the success of his students, not just for an AP exam, but for the rest of our lives. And so a lot of times being on JSS or B, we get asked what can we do as teachers and staff at your school to be better for you? And the biggest thing I could say is be somebody, Mr. Walsh, be the teacher who isn't just going to school to do your job. But you were going above and beyond because you care about your students and you care about the success of your students. So by taking this class, what I learned is that I took out so many skills that I'm going to use for the rest of high school and college that I would have never been able to take away. And an easy class Me and Mikayla did not plan this, but I have a very similar story. So I also just finished my junior year, which was who and I took AP lang, which is AP language and composition. It was really, really, really hard. we had homework every single night and we had so much reading in it. Like, my brain hurt so bad. So and then we also had our AP line test, which was 4 hours of just we had an hour long multiple choice. Then we had three essays that we each had to write in an hour and it was just took some stamina, some mental stamina. But after the AP test and after a long nap, I was like, Oh, it's okay. I actually felt so relieved. And I was like, I just crushed that. I just took AP Lang, the hardest class ever in my whole life. And I was so unbelievably proud of myself that like I had written all these essays and now I look back and I'm like, Dang was a good essay. And I was like, Yeah, I did that. And it was very much thanks to my teacher. His name is Mr. Evans, I probably wouldn't be here without him. I had him my sophomore year and my junior year and he pushed everybody in that class so much. But then also was he knew that it was a hard class. He knew that we were capable of it. Um, and so he did push us and he also did something that I haven't really seen any other teacher do. He did the homework as well. he, he was like, I'm having you guys write this essay tonight. So I'm also going to write this essay tonight. And for whatever reason, not just really made it feel like he cared even more because he was taking the time to do the homework. So he knew how hard the class was for us. He cared. Got to know us, um, push me to my limit. And that was definitely amazing. You know, one thing that I heard a connection in both of your stories is not only that mental sweat, like working really hard, doing hard things, and then feeling really good through that experience. But it was also a deep connection to the teacher who sounds like both of them created a culture of belonging. And so I'd really love to hear from each of you what belonging means to you and how you know your schools, what your schools do to create that culture of belonging for the students in your school. So belonging to me is very similar, just having a community and especially like at Columbine. I think the biggest thing to me is obviously at every high school, you have your cliques, you have your people, but every year we do day of service and we really come together as a community. So belonging to me is just those little things that we do in the school year that even though everybody has their own groups and their own cliques, we're able to come together and make sure everybody has a place to do something for our school. Yeah, to me, belonging really means having that welcoming safe space that I know I belong in and can really have some people who can, support me, like walking into school every day and seeing my vice principal welcome me every single morning and going to classes and having teachers who are really, truly invested in my learning but also my life in what's going on outside of school. And just having the people who surround me who make me feel like I'm meant to be where I am and who are really going to lift me up. I would say that belonging for me is finding people in places that make you feel comfortable to be yourself and have that self-expression. I grew up mostly in Evergreen. I'm originally from Peru, and being in a predominantly white space, I definitely think that there has been a sense of belonging that has been created and being able to have that and being able to express my culture without the fear of other people looking down on me for it is a very strong thing that I'd like to see. Oh, that was good. So, you know, we all know the feeling of not belonging and just feeling like you're a total outsider. And so I think, my feeling of belonging comes from me, showing other people that they belong. So I'd say, an unbiased, wholehearted connection where you don't feel like you're an outsider and you feel like Oh, I have a place and exactly what I'm doing. And you feel accepted by the people around you. but also it's important to help and make sure other people feel like they belong to. That was perfect. So as our leaders, you know, we have assistant principals, principals, instructional coaches, district leaders all here ready to head back to their buildings to prepare for students return in a couple of weeks. Also, really curious what we could do to improve the student experience And so Cierra, would maybe you can get us started, really curious if you have any advice or suggestions on how we can improve the student experience here in Jeffco? Yeah, I think my biggest piece of advice for all of you is really to see technology as a tool instead of as a weapon. And as the leaders in these buildings and really the head honchos, if you will, that's my biggest piece of advice is technology is here to stay. So let's not, criminalize these students and punish them, but let's capitalize on it and just, use it for better. Yeah, let's roll. That's right. So Mike drop moment right there. But anyone like to comment on that? I agree. Okay. We got an. I agree. We got it. Yes. Getting a lot of thumbs up to the listeners. Yeah. You know, Jason backstage, you had asked here and I really enlightening question. I'm wondering if we can get that into the room today. Well, I do appreciate that you think that I am so brilliant. So but I do want to recognize that we have the most brilliant young people, probably in the nation up here on stage with us. So I'd like to pose that question to them. Yeah, let's give it up to these young people. They're amazing, incredible, incredible. And so I really want to put this question back to you all. You have the head honchos of our of our school buildings, leading buildings, and really thinking about how they're going to make this this year. COOK And so what what advice do you have for them or what what something that you want them to know? I think just to teach kids, you know, leadership isn't one thing. You don't have to be the best. Leadership comes in so many different arrays of people, and it can change from people to people. And teaching kids that leadership isn't just one cookie cutter. You don't have to be the student body president. You can be the leader of your club. You can be just a student. And teaching them that leadership can be the greatest and can be the best thing. My biggest thing to say, it's very similar to the story I told. Just make sure you're forming relationships with your students. And I would say I've had teachers in the past who barely even know my name throughout the whole year. But I've also had teachers who get to know me on a personal level and ask me how I'm doing every day. And those are the classes that I look forward to going to, even if they're boring or hard. If I have a teacher in that class who's making the effort to get to know me and have a relationship with me, I'm excited to go to school and I'm excited to learn and I'm excited to go to their class, even if I'm like, kind of not so. So I just encourage, make sure that you're taking the time and the effort to get to know your students and form relationships with them. Because also talking about belonging, I definitely feel like I belong and I have a strong relationship with the staff at my school. So yeah. Thank you. So thank you. Thank you. Jeffco Student Leadership Board members for sharing your experiences and insights. This has been an incredible opportunity to hear from all of you and I'm so excited to see where this next school year takes you. But. I love it. All right, leaders, this is an opportunity for all of you to lean in, listen and learn from our students today. If you have a question or something up here was shared that resonates with you, we would love to give you the opportunity to ask our student panel some questions. But we heard one response about what you would improve or ideas for improvement. Is there anyone else up there that wants to share? Because that was a very interesting question for me. And I would like to hear from as many of you that want to share about what we could do to do better. Hi. I would say make a personal connection with your students. I had my my AP, US history teachers, my overall favorite teacher in my sophomore year. I took ten classes and I don't know if you know this, but your schedule only allows for like six with a study hall. So I took I had two classes and two periods and it was the most stressful thing I was trying to do, student Senate, junior class and my AP as history teacher saw me putting up posters in the hallway, took me aside and sat me on a bench. And he was like, I have to tell you this from the bottom of my heart, because you remind me so much of my own daughter. And he gave me an hour full of, advice, like it was really good. And I was like, thank you. Thank you so much. And then I went to the bathroom and I cried. But it was it was so touching to know that someone someone at someone is noticing you out of you know, tons and tons of students. I would say also just being able to communicate with your students effectively is going to make the utmost difference in your guys's relationship in the classroom and out of the classroom. Being able to communicate with your students what your needs are and what your students needs are will help tremendously. And I know I get frustrated a lot when I'm not being able to communicate effectively with my teachers and my administrators. All right. Oh, go ahead. I don't actually know how you guys said it all. I would just say, yeah, getting to know your student on a personal level in teachers, I feel like your my teachers at least have always done a really good job of getting to know me as a person. But I always like no hate on you guys. But I think the disconnect is with the administrators and the top people in the buildings. And I feel because you guys aren't with us in the classroom every day my advice to you is form those deeper connections with your students and try to get in the classroom. And when I was little, I thought the principal was maybe the scariest person in the entire world. because I just felt not connected. And I feel I still feel kind of not connected to the administrators in my building. And I think you guys, as the people in those positions, you can do a better job of connecting. Good. That's a great response. You know, in the time that I get to spend with these young people, one thing that emerges is they talk a lot about the consistency of their day. And there does tend to be sometimes a little bit of disconnect. Like each classroom teacher has different sets of expectations and some have. Respectfully some rigid policies around tests retake and late assignments and, you know, getting things turned in on time and others maybe are like, you know, the opposite end of the spectrum and that that maybe disconnect a lack of consistency in the classroom and different schedules every day. And the routines like y'all show up every single day with a different schedule, different teachers, and every classroom has a different set of expectations. I just wonder if maybe one or two of you can talk a little bit about, you know, a little bit of the impact in in your day and how you navigate through that I would say There is. I mean, there is such a change and it's school and I just hope that teachers do keep in mind that while we are you know, we are young adults and we're going off into college or secondary school or trade school or whatever, we have plans. We're all still like 16 to 17 years old. You know what I mean? I can choose to wake up early and do everything for school, but it's not that I also, you know, I want to live outside of that and I want to have experiences in life and I want to go driving and, you know have fun with friends. I think of that. Teachers keep that in mind because so often we are expected to act like adults while still being treated like children. I believe that, you know, we just need to remember that that's powerful. Thank you very much. And how about one more question from the audience? Come on, guys. It's summertime. Talk to us. So you guys seem super engaged in school. I would like to hear what you see in Piers that you're representing. Better not. And what do you think could really pull them in to be as excited about school as you are? I think for me, I'm a student who actually loves school, but there's plenty of kids who hate school. And I think the disconnect is they just don't want to be there. And I think a way that you guys and other teachers and stuff can bring them more connected is bring in things that they think we've talked about relevancy and like. Having those things. Like if kids are really into car mechanics having more things in a class that ties to why that's important to them. something that's going to bring a student more engaged in it into the classroom by relating better to them in their own personal needs and what they're interested in. So I've seen a lot of great ways that staff handle this and a lot of not great ways that staff handle this. So I have some classes where the teacher sees all the kids are actively engaged and know the answer to the question and of course, do not pick on them and they choose the kid who is in the corner on their phone, not paying attention. And while sometimes that is helpful and it's kind of not going to really pay attention, it's embarrassing. And that is not going to make a kid listen to your class by calling them out and embarrassing them. So but some things I have seen that do work is if there is that kid who's doing that, you can pull them aside outside of class. And that is a better tactic to get a kid to want to listen to your class and engage in your class than calling them out and embarrassing them. So yeah, that's what I would say to add on to that. Okay. To add on to that, I think it just comes back to the communication and personalization. I think if you communicate with what your student needs and what you need in your classroom, that's really going to make it the most effective way to have your student engaged. Thank you, I'm just adding on to the conversation. I would say that the teacher dictates what the vibe or how people are feeling within the classroom. So if someone is in a bad mood, if nobody wants to be there or talk, that's how the students are going to react. And if you do really think about it, I mean, our schedules are a bunch of randomized kids in a class. So in my math class, I have Maybe 2 to 3 friends. Some kid I had, like a project with a middle school and maybe like an ex-boyfriend, you know? Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's. It's a randomize class, and it's not like, you know. Yeah, every school has their clique, and it's not. No one's going to be, like, best friends in the class and you know, you have your issues and stuff like that. But the teacher's job is either either way or trying to, you know, still bring about that sense of community, still bring that classroom together, no matter the interpersonal, whatever that people have. It's just bringing that in so teachers do dictate the vibe. So if you yeah, you can be energetic, but if you're moving around the classroom and you really are relating it and trying to be personable to the students, I see that help. Thank you. Can we get another round of applause for these amazing student leaders? Thank you all so much.
Welcome to a very special episode of Elevate Education. I'm Matt Palaoro and I'm here today with my co-host Tara Pena and Jason Firestone. And we have some very special guests with us today from our Jeffco Student Leadership Board. And believe it or not, we have about, I don't know, 500 of our closest friends in the audience for this live podcast today. How's everyone feeling? Good. Excited? Yeah, good. You know, a great leader once told me that if you're nervous, it's just the courage building up inside. All right. So for our listening audience, we're excited to kick off season two of Elevate Education live from Chatfield Senior High School. Each year we welcome back leaders across the district to kick off the school year at our annual leadership launch. We thought what would be a better way to kick off the new year than with a podcast episode with our students? And we are all in for a very special treat. For our first episode of Season two, we are going to dove into the vibes of belonging and what it means to belong. Hearing directly from all of you, our Jeffco Student Leadership Board. Why don't we get some introductions for our listeners? Tara, can you get us started? You bet. I'm Tara Pena. I'm the chief of Family and Community Partnerships and one of the hosts of Elevate Education. I'm also one of the very lucky sponsors of the Student Leadership Board, and I'm thrilled to have some of our SLB students on the show today with us. But before you tell you more about J SLB I was actually hoping that we can start with a vocabulary lesson. I spent a lot of time with these young people and I have some teens at home, so I think I'm pretty HIP on the lingo. but I just wanted to try it out. All right. So how about this leadership LAUNCH ATE this year? Lunch. On Friday, it was barbecue and it was Busan. And our keynote speaker this morning, Matty ice cooked. How did I do? Okay. But more importantly, what did I say? Let me translate. So leadership launch was fantastic. It's been a good three days. Lunch, barbecue. Busan means it was delicious. And our keynote speaker, Matty Ice, did really good. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm learning the lingo. I love it. All right. So, Junko, Student Leadership Board is a group of diverse high school students representing every high school in Jeffco. student leaders were selected to serve as a voice for their peers in discussions and decision making processes that affect the Jeffco student experience You can find our student leaders throughout the year meeting with district leadership, our school board and elected officials. They are actively involved in the Jeffco community and most notably, these student leaders are responsible for planning and hosting the Spring Student Leadership Conference, which brings together high school students from all across the district. So thank you all for coming in during your summer break. To share your voice and perspective with Jeff called leaders in our community I'm excited to spend some time with you this morning. I missed you. All right. Thanks to Jason, why don't you introduce yourself and cue up the conversation for us. You know, we got some people waiting. Thanks, Matt. Got it. So welcome, listeners. Thank you for tuning in. My name is Jason Firestone and the assistant director of the Student Engagement Office and also get to support Gsb. So welcome student leaders. Why don't you introduce yourself? Hi, my name is Bri. I'm from Evergreen High School and I am a rising senior. Hi. My name is No Morgan, and I'm going to be a senior at Golden High School. Hi, everybody. My name is Hugo Renee Falco, and I'm an incoming junior at your high school. Hi. My name is Mikayla and I am a proud Columbine rebel. And I'm going to be a senior. Hi. I'm Sierra Nord Wald and I'm going to be a rising senior at Conover High School. Well, again, welcome. So I want to kick us off with a question to you all, and we'll start here. As you think about school and going back to school this year. What gets you excited about going to school? I think that what makes me the most excited about going to school is the people and like the teachers who surround me while at school, it's they're just great and make my day so much better. Something I'm super excited for is athletics being a girls flag football player myself and then reigning state champs football. Yeah. So just the games. I think going into this school year, I'm really excited for new opportunities and to learn a lot more Yeah. I am excited to be around positive people and positive teachers and our staff and excited to see some people I haven't seen in a while. I'm excited to just go back into the community, start being at those school sponsored events and start, you know, having fun. Great. Well, thank you all for sharing. What gets you excited about school? it's it's so amazing to hear that the relationships with your teachers, the activities, their extracurriculars, your community are so important to you in your classroom experience. I'm curious to learn a little bit about what we talk about rigor in the classroom, rigor and relevance. So why don't you talk to us a little bit about the rigor in your classroom and the relevancy you see and if you're learning is relevant to your lives? And if not, what would you suggest to make it more relevant? And I think we're going to start with you. So based on prevalence, I would say that I think that English and the amount of my school specifically, we put a lot of work into our English department and I believe that that specifically helps me in all areas. I have four other internships currently and I have to I have to write, I have to do emails, I have to work and all of that stuff. And what I've learned from those English classes, they do help a lot. Excellent. Thank you for sharing that. It's good to hear the things that you're learning are applying to your experience outside of school. I think I was really stumped on this question. What does what does my learning have relevance to my life? And, you know, I've been out of state. I've seen other school districts. So I really saw how transformative Jeffco was and how they transformed for every student and how your life experiences, how they're going to make it relevant to your life. So let's say you don't know how to cook. We were just introduced to cooking class. You know, you want to learn tech. Ed Jeffco has that. You want to do more in tech. So it's really just personalized for every student Yeah I kind of agree with you go that just its relevance is kind of like a broad term I think the things I learn in my history classes. I'm not going to use that as I go into my career and college. But I do think the lessons that I learned in those classes and the writing skills I learned through my English classes. And maybe the more what lower level math that I learned, it sets me up and it makes it so that all of it comes together and is and is relevant in what I'm learning and what is going to set me up best for my future. Thanks for sharing. Thank you. So we've heard about the aspects of school that make you excited. Sounds like, you know, we're looking forward to a lot of the relationships, the extraordinary student experience, maybe connecting with some friends we haven't seen. You've also talked about how teachers can prioritize relevance in the classroom, but I want to shift gears a little bit, so I'm really excited to be on the stage here at Chatfield because a little secret about me is I actually went to school here so I am a proud Chatfield graduate I no go chargers Mikayla go chargers A little fun rivalry between Chatfield and Columbine and really I'm just so grateful for my time and experience here at Chatfield. I had teachers that took the time to know me by name, strength and need, but I also had teachers that held me to high expectations. They provided me with extraordinary student experiences and actually provided me experience at how meet my potential. And it was hard. And the things that I learned in high school are I can do hard things. And so I think there's a misconception for students that if, you know, school is easy, then kids are going to like it and kids are going to respond better. Or that might be their favorite class. And actually what we hear from students and from research is that's actually the opposite. And so I'm just really curious, can you think of a time when you broke a mental sweat and you were so deeply engaged in what your teacher was teaching? What was that experience, teacher or style of teaching that pushed you? And you were like, That was so awesome. Like that couldn't take it right? And it was absolutely worth my time. So, McKayla, why don't you get us started? Yeah. So this past year of high school, so my junior year of high school, I actually took AP world history. And I would consider it to be probably the hardest course I've taken throughout my high school experience so far. And what made it hard wasn't necessarily the history content itself, but it was how hard my teacher, Mr. Walsh, pushed me. Every day we had to come to class, prepared for tests and quizzes, and leading up to the AP exam, we had to spend outside of school hours every single day, every single week leading up to the AP exam, learning about the test and how it was going to work and what I had come to realize it took me a second to get there is that my teacher wasn't doing this because he wanted us to hate school and to hate learning and to not want to show up to class. Sometimes I got there, but I still went, and what I came to realize is that he if he was doing this for him, he would be at home with his wife and his two little girls. And he was spending so much time outside of school to get me and my peers ready to take the AP exam because he wasn't just showing up to do his job. He was showing up to have the success of his students, not just for an AP exam, but for the rest of our lives. And so a lot of times being on JSS or B, we get asked what can we do as teachers and staff at your school to be better for you? And the biggest thing I could say is be somebody, Mr. Walsh, be the teacher who isn't just going to school to do your job. But you were going above and beyond because you care about your students and you care about the success of your students. So by taking this class, what I learned is that I took out so many skills that I'm going to use for the rest of high school and college that I would have never been able to take away. And an easy class Me and Mikayla did not plan this, but I have a very similar story. So I also just finished my junior year, which was who and I took AP lang, which is AP language and composition. It was really, really, really hard. we had homework every single night and we had so much reading in it. Like, my brain hurt so bad. So and then we also had our AP line test, which was 4 hours of just we had an hour long multiple choice. Then we had three essays that we each had to write in an hour and it was just took some stamina, some mental stamina. But after the AP test and after a long nap, I was like, Oh, it's okay. I actually felt so relieved. And I was like, I just crushed that. I just took AP Lang, the hardest class ever in my whole life. And I was so unbelievably proud of myself that like I had written all these essays and now I look back and I'm like, Dang was a good essay. And I was like, Yeah, I did that. And it was very much thanks to my teacher. His name is Mr. Evans, I probably wouldn't be here without him. I had him my sophomore year and my junior year and he pushed everybody in that class so much. But then also was he knew that it was a hard class. He knew that we were capable of it. Um, and so he did push us and he also did something that I haven't really seen any other teacher do. He did the homework as well. he, he was like, I'm having you guys write this essay tonight. So I'm also going to write this essay tonight. And for whatever reason, not just really made it feel like he cared even more because he was taking the time to do the homework. So he knew how hard the class was for us. He cared. Got to know us, um, push me to my limit. And that was definitely amazing. You know, one thing that I heard a connection in both of your stories is not only that mental sweat, like working really hard, doing hard things, and then feeling really good through that experience. But it was also a deep connection to the teacher who sounds like both of them created a culture of belonging. And so I'd really love to hear from each of you what belonging means to you and how you know your schools, what your schools do to create that culture of belonging for the students in your school. So belonging to me is very similar, just having a community and especially like at Columbine. I think the biggest thing to me is obviously at every high school, you have your cliques, you have your people, but every year we do day of service and we really come together as a community. So belonging to me is just those little things that we do in the school year that even though everybody has their own groups and their own cliques, we're able to come together and make sure everybody has a place to do something for our school. Yeah, to me, belonging really means having that welcoming safe space that I know I belong in and can really have some people who can, support me, like walking into school every day and seeing my vice principal welcome me every single morning and going to classes and having teachers who are really, truly invested in my learning but also my life in what's going on outside of school. And just having the people who surround me who make me feel like I'm meant to be where I am and who are really going to lift me up. I would say that belonging for me is finding people in places that make you feel comfortable to be yourself and have that self-expression. I grew up mostly in Evergreen. I'm originally from Peru, and being in a predominantly white space, I definitely think that there has been a sense of belonging that has been created and being able to have that and being able to express my culture without the fear of other people looking down on me for it is a very strong thing that I'd like to see. Oh, that was good. So, you know, we all know the feeling of not belonging and just feeling like you're a total outsider. And so I think, my feeling of belonging comes from me, showing other people that they belong. So I'd say, an unbiased, wholehearted connection where you don't feel like you're an outsider and you feel like Oh, I have a place and exactly what I'm doing. And you feel accepted by the people around you. but also it's important to help and make sure other people feel like they belong to. That was perfect. So as our leaders, you know, we have assistant principals, principals, instructional coaches, district leaders all here ready to head back to their buildings to prepare for students return in a couple of weeks. Also, really curious what we could do to improve the student experience And so Cierra, would maybe you can get us started, really curious if you have any advice or suggestions on how we can improve the student experience here in Jeffco? Yeah, I think my biggest piece of advice for all of you is really to see technology as a tool instead of as a weapon. And as the leaders in these buildings and really the head honchos, if you will, that's my biggest piece of advice is technology is here to stay. So let's not, criminalize these students and punish them, but let's capitalize on it and just, use it for better. Yeah, let's roll. That's right. So Mike drop moment right there. But anyone like to comment on that? I agree. Okay. We got an. I agree. We got it. Yes. Getting a lot of thumbs up to the listeners. Yeah. You know, Jason backstage, you had asked here and I really enlightening question. I'm wondering if we can get that into the room today. Well, I do appreciate that you think that I am so brilliant. So but I do want to recognize that we have the most brilliant young people, probably in the nation up here on stage with us. So I'd like to pose that question to them. Yeah, let's give it up to these young people. They're amazing, incredible, incredible. And so I really want to put this question back to you all. You have the head honchos of our of our school buildings, leading buildings, and really thinking about how they're going to make this this year. COOK And so what what advice do you have for them or what what something that you want them to know? I think just to teach kids, you know, leadership isn't one thing. You don't have to be the best. Leadership comes in so many different arrays of people, and it can change from people to people. And teaching kids that leadership isn't just one cookie cutter. You don't have to be the student body president. You can be the leader of your club. You can be just a student. And teaching them that leadership can be the greatest and can be the best thing. My biggest thing to say, it's very similar to the story I told. Just make sure you're forming relationships with your students. And I would say I've had teachers in the past who barely even know my name throughout the whole year. But I've also had teachers who get to know me on a personal level and ask me how I'm doing every day. And those are the classes that I look forward to going to, even if they're boring or hard. If I have a teacher in that class who's making the effort to get to know me and have a relationship with me, I'm excited to go to school and I'm excited to learn and I'm excited to go to their class, even if I'm like, kind of not so. So I just encourage, make sure that you're taking the time and the effort to get to know your students and form relationships with them. Because also talking about belonging, I definitely feel like I belong and I have a strong relationship with the staff at my school. So yeah. Thank you. So thank you. Thank you. Jeffco Student Leadership Board members for sharing your experiences and insights. This has been an incredible opportunity to hear from all of you and I'm so excited to see where this next school year takes you. But. I love it. All right, leaders, this is an opportunity for all of you to lean in, listen and learn from our students today. If you have a question or something up here was shared that resonates with you, we would love to give you the opportunity to ask our student panel some questions. But we heard one response about what you would improve or ideas for improvement. Is there anyone else up there that wants to share? Because that was a very interesting question for me. And I would like to hear from as many of you that want to share about what we could do to do better. Hi. I would say make a personal connection with your students. I had my my AP, US history teachers, my overall favorite teacher in my sophomore year. I took ten classes and I don't know if you know this, but your schedule only allows for like six with a study hall. So I took I had two classes and two periods and it was the most stressful thing I was trying to do, student Senate, junior class and my AP as history teacher saw me putting up posters in the hallway, took me aside and sat me on a bench. And he was like, I have to tell you this from the bottom of my heart, because you remind me so much of my own daughter. And he gave me an hour full of, advice, like it was really good. And I was like, thank you. Thank you so much. And then I went to the bathroom and I cried. But it was it was so touching to know that someone someone at someone is noticing you out of you know, tons and tons of students. I would say also just being able to communicate with your students effectively is going to make the utmost difference in your guys's relationship in the classroom and out of the classroom. Being able to communicate with your students what your needs are and what your students needs are will help tremendously. And I know I get frustrated a lot when I'm not being able to communicate effectively with my teachers and my administrators. All right. Oh, go ahead. I don't actually know how you guys said it all. I would just say, yeah, getting to know your student on a personal level in teachers, I feel like your my teachers at least have always done a really good job of getting to know me as a person. But I always like no hate on you guys. But I think the disconnect is with the administrators and the top people in the buildings. And I feel because you guys aren't with us in the classroom every day my advice to you is form those deeper connections with your students and try to get in the classroom. And when I was little, I thought the principal was maybe the scariest person in the entire world. because I just felt not connected. And I feel I still feel kind of not connected to the administrators in my building. And I think you guys, as the people in those positions, you can do a better job of connecting. Good. That's a great response. You know, in the time that I get to spend with these young people, one thing that emerges is they talk a lot about the consistency of their day. And there does tend to be sometimes a little bit of disconnect. Like each classroom teacher has different sets of expectations and some have. Respectfully some rigid policies around tests retake and late assignments and, you know, getting things turned in on time and others maybe are like, you know, the opposite end of the spectrum and that that maybe disconnect a lack of consistency in the classroom and different schedules every day. And the routines like y'all show up every single day with a different schedule, different teachers, and every classroom has a different set of expectations. I just wonder if maybe one or two of you can talk a little bit about, you know, a little bit of the impact in in your day and how you navigate through that I would say There is. I mean, there is such a change and it's school and I just hope that teachers do keep in mind that while we are you know, we are young adults and we're going off into college or secondary school or trade school or whatever, we have plans. We're all still like 16 to 17 years old. You know what I mean? I can choose to wake up early and do everything for school, but it's not that I also, you know, I want to live outside of that and I want to have experiences in life and I want to go driving and, you know have fun with friends. I think of that. Teachers keep that in mind because so often we are expected to act like adults while still being treated like children. I believe that, you know, we just need to remember that that's powerful. Thank you very much. And how about one more question from the audience? Come on, guys. It's summertime. Talk to us. So you guys seem super engaged in school. I would like to hear what you see in Piers that you're representing. Better not. And what do you think could really pull them in to be as excited about school as you are? I think for me, I'm a student who actually loves school, but there's plenty of kids who hate school. And I think the disconnect is they just don't want to be there. And I think a way that you guys and other teachers and stuff can bring them more connected is bring in things that they think we've talked about relevancy and like. Having those things. Like if kids are really into car mechanics having more things in a class that ties to why that's important to them. something that's going to bring a student more engaged in it into the classroom by relating better to them in their own personal needs and what they're interested in. So I've seen a lot of great ways that staff handle this and a lot of not great ways that staff handle this. So I have some classes where the teacher sees all the kids are actively engaged and know the answer to the question and of course, do not pick on them and they choose the kid who is in the corner on their phone, not paying attention. And while sometimes that is helpful and it's kind of not going to really pay attention, it's embarrassing. And that is not going to make a kid listen to your class by calling them out and embarrassing them. So but some things I have seen that do work is if there is that kid who's doing that, you can pull them aside outside of class. And that is a better tactic to get a kid to want to listen to your class and engage in your class than calling them out and embarrassing them. So yeah, that's what I would say to add on to that. Okay. To add on to that, I think it just comes back to the communication and personalization. I think if you communicate with what your student needs and what you need in your classroom, that's really going to make it the most effective way to have your student engaged. Thank you, I'm just adding on to the conversation. I would say that the teacher dictates what the vibe or how people are feeling within the classroom. So if someone is in a bad mood, if nobody wants to be there or talk, that's how the students are going to react. And if you do really think about it, I mean, our schedules are a bunch of randomized kids in a class. So in my math class, I have Maybe 2 to 3 friends. Some kid I had, like a project with a middle school and maybe like an ex-boyfriend, you know? Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's. It's a randomize class, and it's not like, you know. Yeah, every school has their clique, and it's not. No one's going to be, like, best friends in the class and you know, you have your issues and stuff like that. But the teacher's job is either either way or trying to, you know, still bring about that sense of community, still bring that classroom together, no matter the interpersonal, whatever that people have. It's just bringing that in so teachers do dictate the vibe. So if you yeah, you can be energetic, but if you're moving around the classroom and you really are relating it and trying to be personable to the students, I see that help. Thank you. Can we get another round of applause for these amazing student leaders? Thank you all so much.
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