December 18, 2023 • 33 mins
Ever wondered what student leadership really entails and how it impacts the community?
Experience firsthand the intricate workings of student councils, and the positive impact of these young leaders through our insightful conversation with Hudson King and Spencer Cocuzzo, SCA presidents from Grassfield High School and Hickory High School. We delve into their roles and their knack for keeping students engaged with exciting school events, including the Teen Summit.
We then shift gears to the world of middle school sports, introducing three new opportunities, girls' soccer, boys' soccer, and baseball. Whitney Roberson and Abigail Swisher from the Joliff Middle School Jaguars Girls Soccer championship team, share their experiences, including the importance of team spirit, and being a part of the inaugural middle school soccer season.
You also get an opportunity to listen to the talented Deep Creek High School Orchestra Quartet provide some holiday music.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt (00:15):
Welcome to Amplified the Chesapeake Public Schools
podcast.
Richie (00:29):
Chesapeake Schools is located in the Hampton Roads
area of South Eastern Virginia.
We serve 40,000 students in 45schools and three centers.
This podcast is designed totell the stories behind our
story and to introduce andcelebrate the people and
programs that make us one of thepremier school districts in
Virginia.
Matt (00:48):
Hey everyone, this is Matt Graham here with Richie Babb,
and this is the fifth episode ofAmplified the Chesapeake Public
Schools podcast.
And at the beginning we want togive a shout out to the Deep
Creek High School OrchestraQuartet.
They did a wonderful jobrecently at the school board
meeting and it definitely setsthe sounds of the season,
(01:08):
doesn't it, richie?
Richie (01:10):
Yeah, it sets our mood.
I mean, here we are approachingthe holidays for this podcast,
or you may be listening to thisright after the holidays, but if
that's the case, you missed it,so try to keep up with you.
Matt (01:22):
But yeah it was.
Richie (01:23):
It's nice.
Matt (01:24):
It's a very nice way to set the tone for our show Right,
and last episode we talkedabout Thanksgiving and doing
something kind of cool.
What do you do for the holidaysthere?
Richie (01:34):
So my wife's family on the eve of Christmas Eve every
year have a progressive dinnerand it usually has a theme Like
if you do Brazil, then you dosome of the Brazilian customs
and people keep Brazilian foodand etc.
Etc.
So that's a lot of fun and it'snot being the eve of Christmas
Eve, it doesn't really getinvolved in all of your plans
(01:56):
and you receive.
You got kids and that sort ofstuff.
That's cool, yeah, so that'sfun.
Matt (02:00):
How about you Anything?
Oh man, we got a lot planned.
I mean, we have two youngchildren, so we definitely
spread out between the familiestrying to do this, trying to do
that, we went to the Winterfestout at Nauticus.
That was pretty sweet, yeah.
But one cool thing that I lovethat our family does and
actually I give props to my wife.
She's an excellent cook baker,and one of the nice things that
(02:21):
we do is every year we do somesort of holiday cookie.
Bring the kids together, theydesign it.
It gets messy.
Richie (02:28):
Yeah, I mean, but it's a lot of fun.
That's half the fun of it.
Yeah, yeah.
Matt (02:31):
So it's something cool that's what we do as a family,
nice, but there's definitely alot of things that go on too
within the schools.
Richie (02:37):
Oh yeah, this is a busy time of year for student
government, for SCAs.
They're working on just a lotof altruistic activities.
So we're going to talk to two.
Matt (02:48):
SCA presidents.
Right, we ended up speakingwith two SCA presidents One from
Grassfield, one from Hickoryand they shared a bunch of
things that they do not justduring this season but
throughout the school year.
That was a great conversation.
And then also something wewanted to highlight was the
first year of three new middleschool sports Girl soccer, boys
(03:10):
soccer and baseball.
We spoke with the championshipwinning coach and one of their
players from the girls soccerteam over at Jolliff Middle
School.
First up is our conversationwith Hudson King and Spencer
Cacuzzo.
Alright, everyone welcome.
(03:31):
This is Matt Graham and I'mhere with Richie Babb and we
have with us two SCA presidentson amplified the Chesapeake
Public Schools podcast.
Richie (03:41):
That's correct, we have Spencer Cacuzzo, who is from
Grassfield High School, andHunter King, who's from Hickory
High School.
As we always do, we'd like totake a minute to get to know
both of you.
So both of you been inChesapeake Public Schools your
entire school career.
Have you lived other places?
Spencer (03:57):
Since second grade.
Very, very young yeah.
Hudson (04:00):
Okay, I originally lived here, but then I moved to Italy
and then I moved back.
So I've had this whole likemoving thing.
But, when in America, I've beenin Chesapeake Public Schools.
Richie (04:10):
Alright, nice, and so that's Hudson King.
That was just talking.
So, as we identify people, thenour first person to respond was
Spencer.
Matt (04:17):
Cocuzzo.
Richie (04:18):
Because, so it's up to you now to keep it straight.
I've told you who is who, soI'm not going to do it again.
Alright, okay, so have you guysalways been involved in student
government I mean as early asyou possibly could, or is this
something new?
Spencer (04:32):
Oh yeah For me.
I've been involved sinceliterally grade school.
I've always been super type Aand I've always wanted to be
involved in some capacity.
So from the time I was puttingon my little backpack it was
really cool I had dinosaurs onit it was pretty dope Sweet.
I have been involved.
Hudson (04:49):
Yeah.
Richie (04:49):
Right, okay.
Hudson (04:50):
It's a newer experience because I only like originally
joined in sophomore year, so itwas it's very new thing, but
I've definitely like built upexperience and I've definitely
gotten comfy in it.
We do Virginia State AdvisoryBoard together.
So, it's like a whole new levelbesides our student council.
It's very nice to see all thatkind of stuff.
Matt (05:09):
Nice Spencer, can you go ahead and just tell us what the
whole campaign?
Spencer (05:13):
process is like oh for sure.
I am of the opinion that thecampaign process starts as soon
as you get into SCA.
You have to have that kind oftunnel vision on what position
you want and you have to beputting yourself out there
constantly.
Like, for example, whenever wehad events to promote.
I would go and make a fool ofmyself in the hallway being,
like come to our event, come toour event, just so people could
(05:33):
associate me with SCA and knowthat I am dedicated to my craft
and what I do.
Hudson (05:38):
For Hickory High School.
They do campaigning process alittle bit differently For our
student council, like officers,when they're voted on it's not
like the majority of the schoolwere voted just inside the
council.
And they originally had decidedthat because the student
population doesn't really seethe amount of effort that
student council members gothrough, so it's hard for them
to choose a leader.
Richie (05:59):
Right, it becomes a popularity contest.
Hudson (06:01):
Yeah.
Richie (06:02):
Right Otherwise.
Spencer (06:03):
That is very true.
And one of the things that youhave to kind of take note of at
least at Grassfield, because wedo it based on a student
population election is kind ofhitting your niche and making
sure that you are pulling fromthe right people and getting
your message out there in a waythat kind of aligns with what
people like.
Right During the campaignseason the Barbie movie was
super big, so I made a Barbiethemed poster and campaign and I
(06:26):
think that really struck achord, just because it was
culturally relevant at the timeyeah.
Yeah, so kind of being with thetimes with your student body,
making sure that they get you.
Richie (06:36):
Right.
What draws you guys to beinvolved in SCA?
What's the attraction?
Spencer (06:41):
Oh, the fame and fortune.
Richie (06:41):
Not just kidding.
Yeah, clearly you get to be ona podcast, right, I know right,
so exciting, I know right.
Spencer (06:46):
So, professional yes.
Richie (06:48):
Right.
Spencer (06:51):
But no, I was gonna say what drew me was being able to
be involved in really kind of, Iguess, put yourself out there
and make it more enjoyable forpeople, whether that's like
random, sporadic PJ days or likewatching your teacher dress up
in a pickle costume, it's justfun and it makes high school
more enjoyable.
Hudson (07:08):
It's all about like getting involved.
For me it just makes everythingbetter and if I'm bringing in
more people with me because Iknow I've met so many
relationships, I've had so manyopportunities just from the
extracurriculars that I've doneLike just being an SCA, it has
given me different opportunitiesin other clubs.
So it has definitely maybe likebranched out across the whole
school.
Richie (07:26):
Yeah.
Hudson (07:27):
Because once you get involved you kind of see like
the opinions of multiple peopleand you see all these different
perspectives and like youbasically see, like all sides of
your high school and honestly,kind of to touch upon that, our
high schools are massive.
Spencer (07:37):
in Chesapeake, Like in Grassfield, 2300 students.
It gives you so muchperspective.
Matt (07:42):
What's one of the toughest parts of being the leader of
your schools.
Spencer (07:47):
Yeah Well, first and foremost, I think time
management is a huge thing, andalso just making sure that you
have to consider all of thosepeople, and they're all going to
have different thoughts,opinions, things they want to do
, and it's important to considerall those people and make sure
you include all of them in somecapacity.
Hudson (08:04):
I know Spencer touched on like the outside perspective
of student council, but whenyou're like the leader on the
inside, I personally have to sayone of the hardest parts is
just delegating and making surelike everyone's contributing to
a part.
Yeah, that too, because if youhave like all the work be left
on just the officers, it gets.
It's almost like you're likedrowning.
So, you really need to likedelegate out and make sure like
everyone's contributingsomething, especially so you
(08:24):
have a project that's very wellrounded.
Matt (08:26):
Okay, wow so you have a lot of projects.
I mean, y'all do a lot, a lotfor your schools, a lot for the
community, and then you also dosome projects together with
other schools.
Hudson, can you tell me alittle bit about some of the
projects that you're working onover there at Hickory?
Hudson (08:43):
For right now we're working on a citywide that
involves all the high schoolsthat come together, like the
SCAs, and I think Dr Cotton'scoming on as well for a
discussion.
But something that we'reworking forward to in January is
the teen summit which is veryhelpful for the community.
It's where all of our SCAs gettogether and we kind of like
give back to the community andlike lessons and leadership, If
(09:03):
Spencer wants to add that onthat one?
Spencer (09:04):
Yeah for sure.
Also.
Impressive segue there.
I liked it Anyway.
But yes, the teen summit is inJanuary and basically it's an
event for middle school and highschool students and their
parents and it's basically justeverything about being a
teenager and trying to navigatehigh school, whether that's
leadership, extracurriculars I'mpresenting on stress management
(09:25):
because as a kid who's takingall AP and is also SCA president
.
Stress is a big thing and thatis just something that really I
want to share and just how tomanage that stress.
Matt (09:34):
And you presented.
I was actually there at theteen summit and I was in one of
your sessions last year and youdid a great job.
Spencer (09:41):
Thank you.
Matt (09:42):
On the presentations.
Spencer (09:43):
There are middle school presentations, and then there
are also ones that are gearedtoward high schoolers.
Matt (09:47):
Okay.
Spencer (09:48):
Like, for example, peer pressure and resisting, like
you know, drugs and alcohol andall that nasty stuff.
That is something that would bemore geared toward high
schoolers and something that'salso presented upon.
Hudson (09:58):
With Hickory.
There's also, instead of justlike focusing on the students,
there's also parents that cancome in and what we're doing is
one of our presentations.
It's going to go through likethe student life and like what
their day to day activitiestowards, like everything they do
is and it's going to bepresented to, like the high
school parents, the middleschool parents, so they can see
what they're really like gettinginto.
Richie (10:18):
Life is so much more complicated than it was when I
was in high school, right?
Well, you were an SDA president.
Matt (10:24):
I was an.
Richie (10:25):
SDA president at Great Bridge actually the first one in
that building, yeah, and stillcalled the new high school 40
years later.
But, interestingly enough, butit was so much simpler.
I mean, I look at what you'reoffering at the teen summit and
it's so varied and there are somany issues that you know we
wouldn't even have thought about.
Matt (10:43):
Right.
Hudson (10:43):
Well, you may have.
Richie (10:47):
But back.
So let's talk for a few minutesabout you, talk about reaching
out to your community.
Let's talk about some of theprojects during the year, and
especially maybe around thistime of year, that you guys are
involved in in your schools.
Hudson (10:58):
One big staple in HACRE is our Hawksana, which we go out
into the community and we helpout three families and basically
like our extracurriculars, ourclubs and definitely like our
families at HACRE, they'll cometogether and get like presents
and gifts and we'll send outlike a checklist and they'll
like come help fund thisChristmas's for the family.
And it's always nice.
It's always a big turnout wealways have.
(11:19):
We always have fun likewrapping it up and giving it to
them.
It's wonderful.
Spencer (11:23):
That's awesome, yeah.
At Grassfield we just did a PJdrive for little kids in need.
And then another thing we alsodid on December 2nd was our
region to workshop, which isbasically an event for all the
SCAs to come together and bounceideas off of each other and
really learn how to perfect theSCA formula.
Matt (11:40):
Both of you have some amazing advisors at your school.
You have Alicia White atGrassfield and.
Leslie Sarver at Hickory.
What's it been like having themas your mentors or advisors?
Hudson (11:53):
Oh, it's amazing.
Miss Sarver is verywell-rounded with her work.
She corresponds with, like allthe activities, all the clubs,
like if you need to knowsomething about Hickory High
School, she will have the answerfor you in no time.
So it's definitely great havingthat mentorship for me and it's
definitely prepared me.
Spencer (12:07):
Oh yeah, and the same thing could be said for Miss
White.
She connects with her students,she is making sure that you are
on top of things, while alsobeing very gentle about it.
Richie (12:17):
It's great yeah, and anytime you get involved in
something like this, it's alearning experience.
What are some of the things youguys have learned from your
experience in student leadership?
Hudson (12:26):
Honestly, one of the hardest things that you have to
overcome is seeing someoneelse's perspective on your
school and either having to liveup for that or trying to change
that image to like what you doinside the council, and it can
be hard battling that sometimes,especially when there's such
like, a strong like certain typeof students.
I'm not like, I don't know thevocabulary.
Matt (12:44):
But maybe someone that's strongly opinionated.
Yeah, strongly opinionated.
Hudson (12:47):
And it's hard sometimes to get work done when it's
counterproductive.
But another thing that's alsohard is time management, like
managing your time, becausethese events are all scheduled.
Each event also has like ahundred different other factors.
That because you're justcollaborating and you have to
make sure that everyone'sinformed on all the times, at
all times.
Yeah.
Spencer (13:07):
Yeah, I could honestly say the same thing I was going
to say making sure you includeall those people super important
, but also incredibly difficult.
It's really important that youare kind of accounting for and
regarding all of those studentslike, for example, like
underrepresented studentpopulations, like students in
the arts, students who go to CCCand don't attend school,
(13:28):
traditionally, virtual students.
Richie (13:31):
Right.
Spencer (13:31):
There are so many people that you have to account
for and that can be verydifficult, but it's something
that you have to do as an SEA tocreate that kind of collective
culture.
Richie (13:39):
Right, and almost any organization.
It seems like there's 20 peoplein whatever, let's say 20
people in the organization andthree people do all the work.
Hudson (13:47):
Yeah, yeah, that's tough to overcome too right?
Richie (13:49):
Oh yeah, it's just a hard balance.
Hudson (13:51):
You have to.
I go in every day and you justhave to be like okay, here's my
list, what can I get done today?
What can I spread out my work?
And it's just that constantbattle I would say when you're a
leader.
Spencer (14:02):
Yeah, and speaking of leadership in general, I feel
like hierarchy in SEA.
If any SEA members are watching, you probably know everyone
kind of defaults on the officersto do things, which is what
should happen.
However, it's also importantthat we delegate out and
everyone has their ownresponsibilities, because that
(14:23):
is the way things mostefficiently get done.
Richie (14:25):
Yeah, yeah.
And you get more ownership ofthe project, right, if people
are involved in getting it done,you have more ownership.
So tell us what your plans arefor the future and how you think
maybe your SEA experience willhelp.
Spencer (14:38):
Yeah, so if you asked Spencer in junior year would
have been that poly-sci majorwanted to be a lawyer, but as I
have grown and kind of exploredwhat I want to do, I'm more into
entrepreneurship, and that's.
The thing, though, is that theskills you learn in SEA can be
applied to whatever field you gointo.
Leadership, communication, timemanagement All of those things
(14:58):
are incredibly important andthings that you will take with
you for the rest of your life,regardless of your career.
Hudson (15:04):
Yeah, For me when I was always young.
I would constantly be gettinghurt.
My parents would always comehome and I'd be hurt or my dad
would be away like stationedsomewhere, and I would get hurt
and I'd be in the hospital, sothat, like me always getting
hurt, kind of wanted me to gointo the medical field and.
I've always just had thatinterest of like helping out
others and my experience in SEAhas really like helped me expand
(15:26):
that, because I'm likeconstantly looking at different
perspectives, helping peoplewhere they need, and then, like
Spencer said, any skills thatyou learn in SEA can be applied
to any job you want.
Time management, delegatingstuff is very important,
especially in your adult life.
Matt (15:41):
What would be something you would say to maybe somebody
that's thinking about joiningSEA or thinking about getting
involved?
Hudson (15:49):
I would tell them to get involved, because you meet so
many people, you have so manyopportunities that open up to
you.
Personally, one of my favoritethings about school is getting
to know my teachers, becausethey're the most interesting
people that you will ever meet.
They're so fun and just gettingto know them like your advisor
in the club.
They all offer differentopinions.
I constantly go to my AP Langteacher for advice and I'm in
(16:12):
two of her clubs.
Right now it's just getting.
It's Miss Napperella.
Shout out, but she is she'swonderful, but I think that
getting involved definitelycreates like a very good and
rich high school experience foryou and you can leave high
school knowing that you did thebest that you could.
Spencer (16:31):
Yeah, I think you should so totally get to SEA
simply for college applications.
Yeah, don't do that.
It's a lot of work, but I thinkif you want to get into SEA,
you have to have a strong senseof yourself and of your
community and you want tocontribute to that community.
I personally think that beingable to make it more enjoyable
(16:55):
in the small and simple waysreally allows you to move on
throughout the day.
Matt (16:59):
Then even if you can't get involved in SEA, I mean, it
just seems like your message isto get involved in your school
in some capacity to make it thebest that it could possibly be.
Richie (17:09):
But we definitely appreciate your coming in so
interesting talking to you guys,I feel every time we talk to
students, especially high schoolstudents, I feel so much more
secure about whose hands oursociety's going to be.
Matt (17:21):
Absolutely correct.
Richie (17:23):
Yeah, it's encouraging.
Well, we want to take just aminute to shout out and
congratulate all of ourChesapeake Public Schools
teachers of the year.
We especially want to highlightour category winners.
Chelsea Nash was our elementaryschool teacher of the year.
She's a deep creek elementary.
Kathy Mustain was our middleschool teacher of the year.
(17:45):
She teaches at the ChesapeakeVirtual Academy.
And Maurice Frazier was ourhigh school teacher of the year.
He's at Oscar Smith High School.
Our overall teacher of the yearwas Alyssa May from Brutts Road
Primary.
Congratulations again to all ofour Chesapeake Public Schools
teachers of the year.
Matt (18:10):
All right, everyone Welcome.
This is Matt Graham and I amhere with Whitney Roberson and
Abigail Swisher or Abby Swisher,she goes by Abby and they are
representing the Jollif Jaguarsgirls soccer inaugural
championship winning team.
Is that correct?
Whitney (18:27):
Yes, number one, number one.
Matt (18:30):
All right.
So, whitney, tell us a littlebit.
You're the coach, yes, so goahead and tell us a little bit
about yourself.
Whitney (18:36):
So this is actually my well, I would say year and a
half in coaching.
I coached JV at Grassfield HighSchool and this will be my
second season in coaching withChesapeake Public Schools.
Previously I graduated from theVirginia Military Institute
where I played division onesoccer.
I'm a teacher, first grade.
(18:57):
Love those kids.
Matt (18:58):
And where do you teach?
Whitney (18:59):
At Deep Creek Elementary.
Matt (19:00):
Okay, so that's cool.
So you're teaching at DeepCreek Elementary, but you come
over here to Jollif to coach.
How's that back and forth going?
Whitney (19:08):
It actually worked out perfectly because it's not too
far.
As soon as I left work, I wouldjust come straight here, you
know, put on my soccer stuff,get my cleats on and I was ready
to roll.
Yeah, it was pretty exciting tostart the season off.
We actually started over thesummer.
We started with conditioning.
So, we did that in the morning,so it was like eight o'clock,
were you there.
Abigail (19:28):
No.
Whitney (19:29):
I didn't come to any of them.
She had club soccer.
It was during a high schoolsoccer when I found out that
middle school soccer was goingto be a thing.
I was really excited because Icame through Chesapeake Public
Schools there was no soccer whenI played.
I went to Hugo Owens Middlethere's no soccer and I had to
join the JV team, which was areally good opportunity for me
(19:49):
in eighth grade.
But sixth and seventh gradeyear I didn't get a chance to
play soccer in middle school formy school.
So I was really excited whenthat happened, More excited for
the players, because you get topractice and play with the
people that you go to schoolwith.
Those are like your bestfriends.
So it was pretty exciting tofigure all that out, so I jumped
on it immediately.
Matt (20:11):
So, Abby, what was it like joining the middle school
soccer team?
I mean, like you heard yourcoach say she didn't have this
opportunity.
Abigail (20:18):
I was super excited to get to play for the school.
Then became closer friends withthe girls on the team.
Before those girls I was justlike, oh, they go to our school.
But now they're like my bestfriends, we're all seeing them
in the hallway giving them a hugand they'll see you in the
hallway.
He's like great job last night.
So when you're going to club,no one from the school knows
what you're doing outside ofschool.
(20:39):
But when you're doing it forthe school, they all understand
and they all see what you'redoing and how good you are.
Matt (20:44):
Right, well, that's cool.
And so you're, in what gradeagain?
Eighth grade, eighth grade, andwhat did you do in the meantime
, with those two years whensoccer wasn't around?
Abigail (20:55):
I was still playing for club, but I was also doing the
field hockey because that'sclosest to soccer.
It's basically just soccer witha stick.
Matt (21:02):
Gotcha, gotcha, and so did that help prepare you for the
season here, or was it easytransition?
Abigail (21:09):
I would say because for field hockey there are so many
different levels of talent whenwe came to the school, and same
with our team too.
There was a bunch of differentlevels of talent, so you just
have to adjust to the level ofplay.
Matt (21:21):
Do you plan on still playing field hockey, even
though that you did soccer thisyear?
Abigail (21:26):
Yes, I do.
There is this award.
That's the, I think it's called.
It's like the student athleteaward.
And you have to do two sportsto get it and good grades.
Matt (21:36):
So that's what I'm trying to do Okay, go ahead, go get it.
Aspirations and that's right.
Abigail (21:41):
I've been playing soccer for nine years now.
I started at church when I wasfour, and all my siblings
they're all at least five yearsolder than me, so they've all
played.
I'm the only one that stuck toit, but also my stepdad played
and he kind of pushed us out ofplay, is he pretty good at
soccer.
Yeah, he's pretty good.
(22:02):
He's pretty good, I mean he wasmy main coach, Like I had other
coaches, but throughout thiswhole time he's been my main
coach.
Matt (22:09):
All right, so, whitney, tell us about this first season.
Whitney (22:12):
So to start the season, it was definitely I wouldn't
say difficult, but it was achallenge that I had to overcome
because I've never coachedyounger players.
So at the high school all of myplayers were pretty much they
had a feel for soccer, like mysixth graders and seventh
graders.
This might have been theirfirst time playing on what we
(22:34):
consider the big field.
Hudson (22:35):
So 11 be 11.
Whitney (22:37):
I did have a big number of people trying out, students
trying out so that was alsodifficult as well.
And, like Abby alreadymentioned, the talent level is
there's so many different girlswith different talents.
So throughout the process oftryouts it was like, okay, what
am I looking for exactly?
(22:58):
Because I'm not necessarilylooking for the best players
I've ever seen, like we're inmiddle school, so I have to
remember that.
I have to take it back ifyou're not just like this isn't
college, like I only graduatedtwo years ago.
So, sometimes I am very, verycompetitive, yeah.
So I definitely had to remindmyself okay, what exactly am I
looking for in a player?
(23:18):
So throughout the tryoutprocess, I was just looking for
players who worked hard.
If you can work hard, we candevelop technical skills, we can
develop tactical skills.
So I was looking for thoseplayers that worked hard and
were running hard.
Playing off the ball, playingon the ball, talking, things
like that were my main focus.
Then, once the season started,I told the girls I was like you
(23:42):
don't have to be the best playerout here, I just want you
working hard.
If we can outwork the otherteam, we will be successful.
And that's what I think thecourse of the season went.
If we worked harder than theother teams, we were successful.
Matt (23:54):
Right and did y'all go undefeated?
Abigail (23:56):
No we actually lost the first round to Great Bridge and
Hickory.
Matt (24:02):
Okay.
Abigail (24:03):
But then the second time we came back in one.
But I remember coach saying shesaid everyone was crying after
we lost to Hickory because I wason second loss and she said why
are y'all crying?
We're going to beat them in thefinals.
Matt (24:16):
So what was it like?
Tell me about your teamcamaraderie.
Abigail (24:19):
I think we all got along really well, like there
wasn't ever really any dramathroughout us.
Which is one of the strongestpoints of soccer is you have to
have a strong group, and notjust physically but mentally, if
the better we all communicateoff the field, the better we
communicate on the field.
So that's by calling for theball when we're open and that's
(24:40):
also by like knowing wherethey're going to go off when
they don't have the ball.
Just all communicating off thefield goes into communicating on
the field.
Matt (24:48):
Right, so y'all were like one cohesive unit, yeah we were.
Whitney (24:53):
I told the girls as well, like Abby was saying, the
Closer we are off the field, thecloser we're gonna be on the
field.
So we started the season doingsome team bonding activities.
We tied Dutch shirts at onepractice.
Abigail (25:06):
That was fun.
Whitney (25:07):
It was really fun and we played a lot of competitive
games also to get the girls tocompete against each other at
practice, because if you cancompete hard against your own
teammates at practice, wasstopping you from competing that
hard against teammate or theopposing team?
Matt (25:22):
in a game.
What was one of your mostmemorable times of season?
Abigail (25:27):
I would say well, of course, like after we won the
championship and we were allhugging each other and it was so
nice and also probably justlike every day at practice
because we would all just comeout, be all in good moods, talk
about our days at school and all.
Oh my gosh, did you hear whatRad said Like all that stuff.
Matt (25:47):
So just having that opportunity to kind of, you know
, hang out.
Yet you're being competitiveAbby.
What are your goals for yoursoccer career?
Abigail (25:55):
I'm looking to keep playing soccer until college.
So I'm trying to get intocollege for soccer.
So if I have good grades, andgood at soccer, then I can get
at least, hopefully, ascholarship.
That'd be amazing, right Intosome school and then after that
we'll see how it goes.
Matt (26:14):
So next year you're gonna be at what school?
Abigail (26:16):
I'm trying to go to.
I wanna go to Deep Creek forthe SMA program.
Matt (26:23):
Okay, that's awesome.
Now, if she gets accepted andgoes, you might have to compete
against your coach at Grassfield.
What's that gonna be like?
Abigail (26:32):
A little scary, I think , but I'll be looking to fight.
We got it we got it and we gotour goalie, our goalie from this
year, is also trying to go tothe SMA.
Academy.
So, and I've also been talkingto a lot of my teammates trying
to convince them, but I don'tthink I'm going very far.
Matt (26:51):
I feel like this is like one of those things in like the
NFL, where people are trying toget trades happening things, so
there's some things going onbehind the scenes.
It's kind of crazy.
It's cool, though.
What did it mean to you torepresent your school and not
having to wait until high schoolto do that?
Abigail (27:08):
It felt great because, instead of doing the JV for high
school, you're competingagainst seniors and girls that
aren't even close to being yourage, but for middle school, you
could compete with people thatare your age and we would do the
team victory walks and we wouldwalk around the school and
everyone would cheer you on andit was just a great experience.
(27:30):
And we do all those victorywalks by Mr Waddell.
He's our athletic director.
He's our athletic director andhe comes together and does all
the special things for us.
Matt (27:41):
And that's awesome To be able to start a middle school
program basically from scratch.
What was that like?
Whitney (27:49):
Yeah, it was definitely difficult, especially at the
beginning of the season.
Even during conditioning timethere was no playbook to look
back on to see what previouscoaches, what previous teams,
did.
I had to come up witheverything myself, but my soccer
background definitely helped meout a lot.
(28:09):
I use practices that I've donein the past from previous
coaches, so shout out to themfor getting me through a lot of
the season.
But even when it came to gear,that was our first time having
to go through uniforms and picknumbers and making sure that we
have soccer balls and the goalswere up and the fields were
(28:29):
aligned.
So that process from the, Iwould say, managerial standpoint
was definitely difficult.
But bringing a group of girlstogether to play soccer, that
was the easy part.
For me at least, that was thefun part, the part that I
enjoyed the most being a coach.
It kind of took me back to whenI was playing At a lot of our
(28:52):
practices I jumped in and played.
So I will put on my cleats andplay with them because it just
brought out the fun in it.
They loved when I played, Iloved when I played.
Matt (29:01):
So soccer part was easy All the other stuff behind the
scenes was difficult.
Yeah, cause you're like yousaid, you're starting it from
scratch.
It seems like there was like acertain level of excitement.
Whitney (29:12):
Yeah, they were really excited to start and I was
really excited.
So I'm like, okay, well, Iguess we can play full field.
We have enough players, but dowe have a goalie?
That was always.
The next question Is thereanother goalie.
So it was very exciting to getthe girls started.
I could tell they were allsuper excited.
They were a little bit shy.
(29:32):
They didn't really know eachother that much.
Like Abby said, they all theymight have played club, but I
don't think any of them playedfor the same club team.
Yeah the bonds on our teamdefinitely grew a lot.
I can tell a difference betweenthe friendships, even between
the grade levels, the eighthgraders and the seventh graders
the sixth graders.
They're all like on the samegrade.
(29:54):
I get confused.
I'm like wait, you're inseventh grade, are you sure?
You're in sixth grade.
Really yeah, so the bondsdefinitely grew, which is the
part that I loved.
Matt (30:03):
Awesome.
What is something that youthink that our community should
know about these new programsthat are available?
Abigail (30:09):
I think that they should know that.
Just to try out, even if youthink you're not gonna be good,
just try out.
Who knows, you might make theteam and just have a fun time.
Whitney (30:18):
I would say for girl soccer.
A lot of girls are afraid totry out for school teams because
their club teams are like youhave to be a club practice.
You have to be a club practice.
I was one of those players thatsometimes had to make the
difficult decision Okay, do I goto high school practice or do I
go to club practice?
So what I did this year withthe middle school team was, if
(30:42):
you have club practice, go to it, because I know you're still
somewhere playing soccer.
It's not like you're skippingpractice.
So I allowed my team if youhave to leave early or you have
to miss my practice, to go toclub practice.
It's okay.
I don't want you having to makethat difficult decision at such
a young age and plus, theydon't drive it's up to their
parents.
So I allow them to kind of havethat freedom and I think that
(31:05):
that's why we were verysuccessful, because I didn't
make my players choose.
I still want you on the team.
I still want to see what you'reabout, your work rate, your
effort, because, like Abby hasmentioned a lot, that bonds grow
when you play for a school team.
Matt (31:20):
What would you say to a student or a middle school
student that is interested intrying out for a girl's soccer?
Abigail (31:28):
Work Hard is basically.
The moral of the story isthey're not looking for the best
skilled players, they'relooking for the ones that work
hard on and off the field.
You might be at home jugglingin the backyard, running in the
backyard, like that's finebecause you're beating all the
kids that aren't doing that.
So as long as you work harderthan anyone else, you're gonna
(31:51):
win.
Whitney (31:52):
I just want to give a shout out to Jolliff Middle
School staff.
They were very welcoming to me.
I kind of felt like an outsiderbecause, I mean, I was an
outsider at first coming in andbeing the coach, but they were
amazing.
At the end of our season or ourfinal game, when we won, it
felt like a family and I lovedevery moment of it because I
(32:12):
felt like Jolliff was my family.
So shout out to them and shoutout to all of my players Eighth
graders, I'm gonna miss y'all.
Sixth and seventh graders can'twait to see y'all next year.
Matt (32:26):
Thank you for listening to this episode of Amplify, the
Chesapeake Public Schoolspodcast.
Make sure you subscribe orfollow this podcast wherever you
listen to them, and we're gonnasign off with a little bit more
music from the Deep Creek HighSchool Orchestra Quartet.
We hope you have a greatholiday season and happy new
year.
Welcome to Amplified the Chesapeake Public Schools
podcast.
Richie (00:29):
Chesapeake Schools is located in the Hampton Roads
area of South Eastern Virginia.
We serve 40,000 students in 45schools and three centers.
This podcast is designed totell the stories behind our
story and to introduce andcelebrate the people and
programs that make us one of thepremier school districts in
Virginia.
Matt (00:48):
Hey everyone, this is Matt Graham here with Richie Babb,
and this is the fifth episode ofAmplified the Chesapeake Public
Schools podcast.
And at the beginning we want togive a shout out to the Deep
Creek High School OrchestraQuartet.
They did a wonderful jobrecently at the school board
meeting and it definitely setsthe sounds of the season,
(01:08):
doesn't it, richie?
Richie (01:10):
Yeah, it sets our mood.
I mean, here we are approachingthe holidays for this podcast,
or you may be listening to thisright after the holidays, but if
that's the case, you missed it,so try to keep up with you.
Matt (01:22):
But yeah it was.
Richie (01:23):
It's nice.
Matt (01:24):
It's a very nice way to set the tone for our show Right,
and last episode we talkedabout Thanksgiving and doing
something kind of cool.
What do you do for the holidaysthere?
Richie (01:34):
So my wife's family on the eve of Christmas Eve every
year have a progressive dinnerand it usually has a theme Like
if you do Brazil, then you dosome of the Brazilian customs
and people keep Brazilian foodand etc.
Etc.
So that's a lot of fun and it'snot being the eve of Christmas
Eve, it doesn't really getinvolved in all of your plans
(01:56):
and you receive.
You got kids and that sort ofstuff.
That's cool, yeah, so that'sfun.
Matt (02:00):
How about you Anything?
Oh man, we got a lot planned.
I mean, we have two youngchildren, so we definitely
spread out between the familiestrying to do this, trying to do
that, we went to the Winterfestout at Nauticus.
That was pretty sweet, yeah.
But one cool thing that I lovethat our family does and
actually I give props to my wife.
She's an excellent cook baker,and one of the nice things that
(02:21):
we do is every year we do somesort of holiday cookie.
Bring the kids together, theydesign it.
It gets messy.
Richie (02:28):
Yeah, I mean, but it's a lot of fun.
That's half the fun of it.
Yeah, yeah.
Matt (02:31):
So it's something cool that's what we do as a family,
nice, but there's definitely alot of things that go on too
within the schools.
Richie (02:37):
Oh yeah, this is a busy time of year for student
government, for SCAs.
They're working on just a lotof altruistic activities.
So we're going to talk to two.
Matt (02:48):
SCA presidents.
Right, we ended up speakingwith two SCA presidents One from
Grassfield, one from Hickoryand they shared a bunch of
things that they do not justduring this season but
throughout the school year.
That was a great conversation.
And then also something wewanted to highlight was the
first year of three new middleschool sports Girl soccer, boys
(03:10):
soccer and baseball.
We spoke with the championshipwinning coach and one of their
players from the girls soccerteam over at Jolliff Middle
School.
First up is our conversationwith Hudson King and Spencer
Cacuzzo.
Alright, everyone welcome.
(03:31):
This is Matt Graham and I'mhere with Richie Babb and we
have with us two SCA presidentson amplified the Chesapeake
Public Schools podcast.
Richie (03:41):
That's correct, we have Spencer Cacuzzo, who is from
Grassfield High School, andHunter King, who's from Hickory
High School.
As we always do, we'd like totake a minute to get to know
both of you.
So both of you been inChesapeake Public Schools your
entire school career.
Have you lived other places?
Spencer (03:57):
Since second grade.
Very, very young yeah.
Hudson (04:00):
Okay, I originally lived here, but then I moved to Italy
and then I moved back.
So I've had this whole likemoving thing.
But, when in America, I've beenin Chesapeake Public Schools.
Richie (04:10):
Alright, nice, and so that's Hudson King.
That was just talking.
So, as we identify people, thenour first person to respond was
Spencer.
Matt (04:17):
Cocuzzo.
Richie (04:18):
Because, so it's up to you now to keep it straight.
I've told you who is who, soI'm not going to do it again.
Alright, okay, so have you guysalways been involved in student
government I mean as early asyou possibly could, or is this
something new?
Spencer (04:32):
Oh yeah For me.
I've been involved sinceliterally grade school.
I've always been super type Aand I've always wanted to be
involved in some capacity.
So from the time I was puttingon my little backpack it was
really cool I had dinosaurs onit it was pretty dope Sweet.
I have been involved.
Hudson (04:49):
Yeah.
Richie (04:49):
Right, okay.
Hudson (04:50):
It's a newer experience because I only like originally
joined in sophomore year, so itwas it's very new thing, but
I've definitely like built upexperience and I've definitely
gotten comfy in it.
We do Virginia State AdvisoryBoard together.
So, it's like a whole new levelbesides our student council.
It's very nice to see all thatkind of stuff.
Matt (05:09):
Nice Spencer, can you go ahead and just tell us what the
whole campaign?
Spencer (05:13):
process is like oh for sure.
I am of the opinion that thecampaign process starts as soon
as you get into SCA.
You have to have that kind oftunnel vision on what position
you want and you have to beputting yourself out there
constantly.
Like, for example, whenever wehad events to promote.
I would go and make a fool ofmyself in the hallway being,
like come to our event, come toour event, just so people could
(05:33):
associate me with SCA and knowthat I am dedicated to my craft
and what I do.
Hudson (05:38):
For Hickory High School.
They do campaigning process alittle bit differently For our
student council, like officers,when they're voted on it's not
like the majority of the schoolwere voted just inside the
council.
And they originally had decidedthat because the student
population doesn't really seethe amount of effort that
student council members gothrough, so it's hard for them
to choose a leader.
Richie (05:59):
Right, it becomes a popularity contest.
Hudson (06:01):
Yeah.
Richie (06:02):
Right Otherwise.
Spencer (06:03):
That is very true.
And one of the things that youhave to kind of take note of at
least at Grassfield, because wedo it based on a student
population election is kind ofhitting your niche and making
sure that you are pulling fromthe right people and getting
your message out there in a waythat kind of aligns with what
people like.
Right During the campaignseason the Barbie movie was
super big, so I made a Barbiethemed poster and campaign and I
(06:26):
think that really struck achord, just because it was
culturally relevant at the timeyeah.
Yeah, so kind of being with thetimes with your student body,
making sure that they get you.
Richie (06:36):
Right.
What draws you guys to beinvolved in SCA?
What's the attraction?
Spencer (06:41):
Oh, the fame and fortune.
Richie (06:41):
Not just kidding.
Yeah, clearly you get to be ona podcast, right, I know right,
so exciting, I know right.
Spencer (06:46):
So, professional yes.
Richie (06:48):
Right.
Spencer (06:51):
But no, I was gonna say what drew me was being able to
be involved in really kind of, Iguess, put yourself out there
and make it more enjoyable forpeople, whether that's like
random, sporadic PJ days or likewatching your teacher dress up
in a pickle costume, it's justfun and it makes high school
more enjoyable.
Hudson (07:08):
It's all about like getting involved.
For me it just makes everythingbetter and if I'm bringing in
more people with me because Iknow I've met so many
relationships, I've had so manyopportunities just from the
extracurriculars that I've doneLike just being an SCA, it has
given me different opportunitiesin other clubs.
So it has definitely maybe likebranched out across the whole
school.
Richie (07:26):
Yeah.
Hudson (07:27):
Because once you get involved you kind of see like
the opinions of multiple peopleand you see all these different
perspectives and like youbasically see, like all sides of
your high school and honestly,kind of to touch upon that, our
high schools are massive.
Spencer (07:37):
in Chesapeake, Like in Grassfield, 2300 students.
It gives you so muchperspective.
Matt (07:42):
What's one of the toughest parts of being the leader of
your schools.
Spencer (07:47):
Yeah Well, first and foremost, I think time
management is a huge thing, andalso just making sure that you
have to consider all of thosepeople, and they're all going to
have different thoughts,opinions, things they want to do
, and it's important to considerall those people and make sure
you include all of them in somecapacity.
Hudson (08:04):
I know Spencer touched on like the outside perspective
of student council, but whenyou're like the leader on the
inside, I personally have to sayone of the hardest parts is
just delegating and making surelike everyone's contributing to
a part.
Yeah, that too, because if youhave like all the work be left
on just the officers, it gets.
It's almost like you're likedrowning.
So, you really need to likedelegate out and make sure like
everyone's contributingsomething, especially so you
(08:24):
have a project that's very wellrounded.
Matt (08:26):
Okay, wow so you have a lot of projects.
I mean, y'all do a lot, a lotfor your schools, a lot for the
community, and then you also dosome projects together with
other schools.
Hudson, can you tell me alittle bit about some of the
projects that you're working onover there at Hickory?
Hudson (08:43):
For right now we're working on a citywide that
involves all the high schoolsthat come together, like the
SCAs, and I think Dr Cotton'scoming on as well for a
discussion.
But something that we'reworking forward to in January is
the teen summit which is veryhelpful for the community.
It's where all of our SCAs gettogether and we kind of like
give back to the community andlike lessons and leadership, If
(09:03):
Spencer wants to add that onthat one?
Spencer (09:04):
Yeah for sure.
Also.
Impressive segue there.
I liked it Anyway.
But yes, the teen summit is inJanuary and basically it's an
event for middle school and highschool students and their
parents and it's basically justeverything about being a
teenager and trying to navigatehigh school, whether that's
leadership, extracurriculars I'mpresenting on stress management
(09:25):
because as a kid who's takingall AP and is also SCA president
.
Stress is a big thing and thatis just something that really I
want to share and just how tomanage that stress.
Matt (09:34):
And you presented.
I was actually there at theteen summit and I was in one of
your sessions last year and youdid a great job.
Spencer (09:41):
Thank you.
Matt (09:42):
On the presentations.
Spencer (09:43):
There are middle school presentations, and then there
are also ones that are gearedtoward high schoolers.
Matt (09:47):
Okay.
Spencer (09:48):
Like, for example, peer pressure and resisting, like
you know, drugs and alcohol andall that nasty stuff.
That is something that would bemore geared toward high
schoolers and something that'salso presented upon.
Hudson (09:58):
With Hickory.
There's also, instead of justlike focusing on the students,
there's also parents that cancome in and what we're doing is
one of our presentations.
It's going to go through likethe student life and like what
their day to day activitiestowards, like everything they do
is and it's going to bepresented to, like the high
school parents, the middleschool parents, so they can see
what they're really like gettinginto.
Richie (10:18):
Life is so much more complicated than it was when I
was in high school, right?
Well, you were an SDA president.
Matt (10:24):
I was an.
Richie (10:25):
SDA president at Great Bridge actually the first one in
that building, yeah, and stillcalled the new high school 40
years later.
But, interestingly enough, butit was so much simpler.
I mean, I look at what you'reoffering at the teen summit and
it's so varied and there are somany issues that you know we
wouldn't even have thought about.
Matt (10:43):
Right.
Hudson (10:43):
Well, you may have.
Richie (10:47):
But back.
So let's talk for a few minutesabout you, talk about reaching
out to your community.
Let's talk about some of theprojects during the year, and
especially maybe around thistime of year, that you guys are
involved in in your schools.
Hudson (10:58):
One big staple in HACRE is our Hawksana, which we go out
into the community and we helpout three families and basically
like our extracurriculars, ourclubs and definitely like our
families at HACRE, they'll cometogether and get like presents
and gifts and we'll send outlike a checklist and they'll
like come help fund thisChristmas's for the family.
And it's always nice.
It's always a big turnout wealways have.
(11:19):
We always have fun likewrapping it up and giving it to
them.
It's wonderful.
Spencer (11:23):
That's awesome, yeah.
At Grassfield we just did a PJdrive for little kids in need.
And then another thing we alsodid on December 2nd was our
region to workshop, which isbasically an event for all the
SCAs to come together and bounceideas off of each other and
really learn how to perfect theSCA formula.
Matt (11:40):
Both of you have some amazing advisors at your school.
You have Alicia White atGrassfield and.
Leslie Sarver at Hickory.
What's it been like having themas your mentors or advisors?
Hudson (11:53):
Oh, it's amazing.
Miss Sarver is verywell-rounded with her work.
She corresponds with, like allthe activities, all the clubs,
like if you need to knowsomething about Hickory High
School, she will have the answerfor you in no time.
So it's definitely great havingthat mentorship for me and it's
definitely prepared me.
Spencer (12:07):
Oh yeah, and the same thing could be said for Miss
White.
She connects with her students,she is making sure that you are
on top of things, while alsobeing very gentle about it.
Richie (12:17):
It's great yeah, and anytime you get involved in
something like this, it's alearning experience.
What are some of the things youguys have learned from your
experience in student leadership?
Hudson (12:26):
Honestly, one of the hardest things that you have to
overcome is seeing someoneelse's perspective on your
school and either having to liveup for that or trying to change
that image to like what you doinside the council, and it can
be hard battling that sometimes,especially when there's such
like, a strong like certain typeof students.
I'm not like, I don't know thevocabulary.
Matt (12:44):
But maybe someone that's strongly opinionated.
Yeah, strongly opinionated.
Hudson (12:47):
And it's hard sometimes to get work done when it's
counterproductive.
But another thing that's alsohard is time management, like
managing your time, becausethese events are all scheduled.
Each event also has like ahundred different other factors.
That because you're justcollaborating and you have to
make sure that everyone'sinformed on all the times, at
all times.
Yeah.
Spencer (13:07):
Yeah, I could honestly say the same thing I was going
to say making sure you includeall those people super important
, but also incredibly difficult.
It's really important that youare kind of accounting for and
regarding all of those studentslike, for example, like
underrepresented studentpopulations, like students in
the arts, students who go to CCCand don't attend school,
(13:28):
traditionally, virtual students.
Richie (13:31):
Right.
Spencer (13:31):
There are so many people that you have to account
for and that can be verydifficult, but it's something
that you have to do as an SEA tocreate that kind of collective
culture.
Richie (13:39):
Right, and almost any organization.
It seems like there's 20 peoplein whatever, let's say 20
people in the organization andthree people do all the work.
Hudson (13:47):
Yeah, yeah, that's tough to overcome too right?
Richie (13:49):
Oh yeah, it's just a hard balance.
Hudson (13:51):
You have to.
I go in every day and you justhave to be like okay, here's my
list, what can I get done today?
What can I spread out my work?
And it's just that constantbattle I would say when you're a
leader.
Spencer (14:02):
Yeah, and speaking of leadership in general, I feel
like hierarchy in SEA.
If any SEA members are watching, you probably know everyone
kind of defaults on the officersto do things, which is what
should happen.
However, it's also importantthat we delegate out and
everyone has their ownresponsibilities, because that
(14:23):
is the way things mostefficiently get done.
Richie (14:25):
Yeah, yeah.
And you get more ownership ofthe project, right, if people
are involved in getting it done,you have more ownership.
So tell us what your plans arefor the future and how you think
maybe your SEA experience willhelp.
Spencer (14:38):
Yeah, so if you asked Spencer in junior year would
have been that poly-sci majorwanted to be a lawyer, but as I
have grown and kind of exploredwhat I want to do, I'm more into
entrepreneurship, and that's.
The thing, though, is that theskills you learn in SEA can be
applied to whatever field you gointo.
Leadership, communication, timemanagement All of those things
(14:58):
are incredibly important andthings that you will take with
you for the rest of your life,regardless of your career.
Hudson (15:04):
Yeah, For me when I was always young.
I would constantly be gettinghurt.
My parents would always comehome and I'd be hurt or my dad
would be away like stationedsomewhere, and I would get hurt
and I'd be in the hospital, sothat, like me always getting
hurt, kind of wanted me to gointo the medical field and.
I've always just had thatinterest of like helping out
others and my experience in SEAhas really like helped me expand
(15:26):
that, because I'm likeconstantly looking at different
perspectives, helping peoplewhere they need, and then, like
Spencer said, any skills thatyou learn in SEA can be applied
to any job you want.
Time management, delegatingstuff is very important,
especially in your adult life.
Matt (15:41):
What would be something you would say to maybe somebody
that's thinking about joiningSEA or thinking about getting
involved?
Hudson (15:49):
I would tell them to get involved, because you meet so
many people, you have so manyopportunities that open up to
you.
Personally, one of my favoritethings about school is getting
to know my teachers, becausethey're the most interesting
people that you will ever meet.
They're so fun and just gettingto know them like your advisor
in the club.
They all offer differentopinions.
I constantly go to my AP Langteacher for advice and I'm in
(16:12):
two of her clubs.
Right now it's just getting.
It's Miss Napperella.
Shout out, but she is she'swonderful, but I think that
getting involved definitelycreates like a very good and
rich high school experience foryou and you can leave high
school knowing that you did thebest that you could.
Spencer (16:31):
Yeah, I think you should so totally get to SEA
simply for college applications.
Yeah, don't do that.
It's a lot of work, but I thinkif you want to get into SEA,
you have to have a strong senseof yourself and of your
community and you want tocontribute to that community.
I personally think that beingable to make it more enjoyable
(16:55):
in the small and simple waysreally allows you to move on
throughout the day.
Matt (16:59):
Then even if you can't get involved in SEA, I mean, it
just seems like your message isto get involved in your school
in some capacity to make it thebest that it could possibly be.
Richie (17:09):
But we definitely appreciate your coming in so
interesting talking to you guys,I feel every time we talk to
students, especially high schoolstudents, I feel so much more
secure about whose hands oursociety's going to be.
Matt (17:21):
Absolutely correct.
Richie (17:23):
Yeah, it's encouraging.
Well, we want to take just aminute to shout out and
congratulate all of ourChesapeake Public Schools
teachers of the year.
We especially want to highlightour category winners.
Chelsea Nash was our elementaryschool teacher of the year.
She's a deep creek elementary.
Kathy Mustain was our middleschool teacher of the year.
(17:45):
She teaches at the ChesapeakeVirtual Academy.
And Maurice Frazier was ourhigh school teacher of the year.
He's at Oscar Smith High School.
Our overall teacher of the yearwas Alyssa May from Brutts Road
Primary.
Congratulations again to all ofour Chesapeake Public Schools
teachers of the year.
Matt (18:10):
All right, everyone Welcome.
This is Matt Graham and I amhere with Whitney Roberson and
Abigail Swisher or Abby Swisher,she goes by Abby and they are
representing the Jollif Jaguarsgirls soccer inaugural
championship winning team.
Is that correct?
Whitney (18:27):
Yes, number one, number one.
Matt (18:30):
All right.
So, whitney, tell us a littlebit.
You're the coach, yes, so goahead and tell us a little bit
about yourself.
Whitney (18:36):
So this is actually my well, I would say year and a
half in coaching.
I coached JV at Grassfield HighSchool and this will be my
second season in coaching withChesapeake Public Schools.
Previously I graduated from theVirginia Military Institute
where I played division onesoccer.
I'm a teacher, first grade.
(18:57):
Love those kids.
Matt (18:58):
And where do you teach?
Whitney (18:59):
At Deep Creek Elementary.
Matt (19:00):
Okay, so that's cool.
So you're teaching at DeepCreek Elementary, but you come
over here to Jollif to coach.
How's that back and forth going?
Whitney (19:08):
It actually worked out perfectly because it's not too
far.
As soon as I left work, I wouldjust come straight here, you
know, put on my soccer stuff,get my cleats on and I was ready
to roll.
Yeah, it was pretty exciting tostart the season off.
We actually started over thesummer.
We started with conditioning.
So, we did that in the morning,so it was like eight o'clock,
were you there.
Abigail (19:28):
No.
Whitney (19:29):
I didn't come to any of them.
She had club soccer.
It was during a high schoolsoccer when I found out that
middle school soccer was goingto be a thing.
I was really excited because Icame through Chesapeake Public
Schools there was no soccer whenI played.
I went to Hugo Owens Middlethere's no soccer and I had to
join the JV team, which was areally good opportunity for me
(19:49):
in eighth grade.
But sixth and seventh gradeyear I didn't get a chance to
play soccer in middle school formy school.
So I was really excited whenthat happened, More excited for
the players, because you get topractice and play with the
people that you go to schoolwith.
Those are like your bestfriends.
So it was pretty exciting tofigure all that out, so I jumped
on it immediately.
Matt (20:11):
So, Abby, what was it like joining the middle school
soccer team?
I mean, like you heard yourcoach say she didn't have this
opportunity.
Abigail (20:18):
I was super excited to get to play for the school.
Then became closer friends withthe girls on the team.
Before those girls I was justlike, oh, they go to our school.
But now they're like my bestfriends, we're all seeing them
in the hallway giving them a hugand they'll see you in the
hallway.
He's like great job last night.
So when you're going to club,no one from the school knows
what you're doing outside ofschool.
(20:39):
But when you're doing it forthe school, they all understand
and they all see what you'redoing and how good you are.
Matt (20:44):
Right, well, that's cool.
And so you're, in what gradeagain?
Eighth grade, eighth grade, andwhat did you do in the meantime
, with those two years whensoccer wasn't around?
Abigail (20:55):
I was still playing for club, but I was also doing the
field hockey because that'sclosest to soccer.
It's basically just soccer witha stick.
Matt (21:02):
Gotcha, gotcha, and so did that help prepare you for the
season here, or was it easytransition?
Abigail (21:09):
I would say because for field hockey there are so many
different levels of talent whenwe came to the school, and same
with our team too.
There was a bunch of differentlevels of talent, so you just
have to adjust to the level ofplay.
Matt (21:21):
Do you plan on still playing field hockey, even
though that you did soccer thisyear?
Abigail (21:26):
Yes, I do.
There is this award.
That's the, I think it's called.
It's like the student athleteaward.
And you have to do two sportsto get it and good grades.
Matt (21:36):
So that's what I'm trying to do Okay, go ahead, go get it.
Aspirations and that's right.
Abigail (21:41):
I've been playing soccer for nine years now.
I started at church when I wasfour, and all my siblings
they're all at least five yearsolder than me, so they've all
played.
I'm the only one that stuck toit, but also my stepdad played
and he kind of pushed us out ofplay, is he pretty good at
soccer.
Yeah, he's pretty good.
(22:02):
He's pretty good, I mean he wasmy main coach, Like I had other
coaches, but throughout thiswhole time he's been my main
coach.
Matt (22:09):
All right, so, whitney, tell us about this first season.
Whitney (22:12):
So to start the season, it was definitely I wouldn't
say difficult, but it was achallenge that I had to overcome
because I've never coachedyounger players.
So at the high school all of myplayers were pretty much they
had a feel for soccer, like mysixth graders and seventh
graders.
This might have been theirfirst time playing on what we
(22:34):
consider the big field.
Hudson (22:35):
So 11 be 11.
Whitney (22:37):
I did have a big number of people trying out, students
trying out so that was alsodifficult as well.
And, like Abby alreadymentioned, the talent level is
there's so many different girlswith different talents.
So throughout the process oftryouts it was like, okay, what
am I looking for exactly?
(22:58):
Because I'm not necessarilylooking for the best players
I've ever seen, like we're inmiddle school, so I have to
remember that.
I have to take it back ifyou're not just like this isn't
college, like I only graduatedtwo years ago.
So, sometimes I am very, verycompetitive, yeah.
So I definitely had to remindmyself okay, what exactly am I
looking for in a player?
(23:18):
So throughout the tryoutprocess, I was just looking for
players who worked hard.
If you can work hard, we candevelop technical skills, we can
develop tactical skills.
So I was looking for thoseplayers that worked hard and
were running hard.
Playing off the ball, playingon the ball, talking, things
like that were my main focus.
Then, once the season started,I told the girls I was like you
(23:42):
don't have to be the best playerout here, I just want you
working hard.
If we can outwork the otherteam, we will be successful.
And that's what I think thecourse of the season went.
If we worked harder than theother teams, we were successful.
Matt (23:54):
Right and did y'all go undefeated?
Abigail (23:56):
No we actually lost the first round to Great Bridge and
Hickory.
Matt (24:02):
Okay.
Abigail (24:03):
But then the second time we came back in one.
But I remember coach saying shesaid everyone was crying after
we lost to Hickory because I wason second loss and she said why
are y'all crying?
We're going to beat them in thefinals.
Matt (24:16):
So what was it like?
Tell me about your teamcamaraderie.
Abigail (24:19):
I think we all got along really well, like there
wasn't ever really any dramathroughout us.
Which is one of the strongestpoints of soccer is you have to
have a strong group, and notjust physically but mentally, if
the better we all communicateoff the field, the better we
communicate on the field.
So that's by calling for theball when we're open and that's
(24:40):
also by like knowing wherethey're going to go off when
they don't have the ball.
Just all communicating off thefield goes into communicating on
the field.
Matt (24:48):
Right, so y'all were like one cohesive unit, yeah we were.
Whitney (24:53):
I told the girls as well, like Abby was saying, the
Closer we are off the field, thecloser we're gonna be on the
field.
So we started the season doingsome team bonding activities.
We tied Dutch shirts at onepractice.
Abigail (25:06):
That was fun.
Whitney (25:07):
It was really fun and we played a lot of competitive
games also to get the girls tocompete against each other at
practice, because if you cancompete hard against your own
teammates at practice, wasstopping you from competing that
hard against teammate or theopposing team?
Matt (25:22):
in a game.
What was one of your mostmemorable times of season?
Abigail (25:27):
I would say well, of course, like after we won the
championship and we were allhugging each other and it was so
nice and also probably justlike every day at practice
because we would all just comeout, be all in good moods, talk
about our days at school and all.
Oh my gosh, did you hear whatRad said Like all that stuff.
Matt (25:47):
So just having that opportunity to kind of, you know
, hang out.
Yet you're being competitiveAbby.
What are your goals for yoursoccer career?
Abigail (25:55):
I'm looking to keep playing soccer until college.
So I'm trying to get intocollege for soccer.
So if I have good grades, andgood at soccer, then I can get
at least, hopefully, ascholarship.
That'd be amazing, right Intosome school and then after that
we'll see how it goes.
Matt (26:14):
So next year you're gonna be at what school?
Abigail (26:16):
I'm trying to go to.
I wanna go to Deep Creek forthe SMA program.
Matt (26:23):
Okay, that's awesome.
Now, if she gets accepted andgoes, you might have to compete
against your coach at Grassfield.
What's that gonna be like?
Abigail (26:32):
A little scary, I think , but I'll be looking to fight.
We got it we got it and we gotour goalie, our goalie from this
year, is also trying to go tothe SMA.
Academy.
So, and I've also been talkingto a lot of my teammates trying
to convince them, but I don'tthink I'm going very far.
Matt (26:51):
I feel like this is like one of those things in like the
NFL, where people are trying toget trades happening things, so
there's some things going onbehind the scenes.
It's kind of crazy.
It's cool, though.
What did it mean to you torepresent your school and not
having to wait until high schoolto do that?
Abigail (27:08):
It felt great because, instead of doing the JV for high
school, you're competingagainst seniors and girls that
aren't even close to being yourage, but for middle school, you
could compete with people thatare your age and we would do the
team victory walks and we wouldwalk around the school and
everyone would cheer you on andit was just a great experience.
(27:30):
And we do all those victorywalks by Mr Waddell.
He's our athletic director.
He's our athletic director andhe comes together and does all
the special things for us.
Matt (27:41):
And that's awesome To be able to start a middle school
program basically from scratch.
What was that like?
Whitney (27:49):
Yeah, it was definitely difficult, especially at the
beginning of the season.
Even during conditioning timethere was no playbook to look
back on to see what previouscoaches, what previous teams,
did.
I had to come up witheverything myself, but my soccer
background definitely helped meout a lot.
(28:09):
I use practices that I've donein the past from previous
coaches, so shout out to themfor getting me through a lot of
the season.
But even when it came to gear,that was our first time having
to go through uniforms and picknumbers and making sure that we
have soccer balls and the goalswere up and the fields were
(28:29):
aligned.
So that process from the, Iwould say, managerial standpoint
was definitely difficult.
But bringing a group of girlstogether to play soccer, that
was the easy part.
For me at least, that was thefun part, the part that I
enjoyed the most being a coach.
It kind of took me back to whenI was playing At a lot of our
(28:52):
practices I jumped in and played.
So I will put on my cleats andplay with them because it just
brought out the fun in it.
They loved when I played, Iloved when I played.
Matt (29:01):
So soccer part was easy All the other stuff behind the
scenes was difficult.
Yeah, cause you're like yousaid, you're starting it from
scratch.
It seems like there was like acertain level of excitement.
Whitney (29:12):
Yeah, they were really excited to start and I was
really excited.
So I'm like, okay, well, Iguess we can play full field.
We have enough players, but dowe have a goalie?
That was always.
The next question Is thereanother goalie.
So it was very exciting to getthe girls started.
I could tell they were allsuper excited.
They were a little bit shy.
(29:32):
They didn't really know eachother that much.
Like Abby said, they all theymight have played club, but I
don't think any of them playedfor the same club team.
Yeah the bonds on our teamdefinitely grew a lot.
I can tell a difference betweenthe friendships, even between
the grade levels, the eighthgraders and the seventh graders
the sixth graders.
They're all like on the samegrade.
(29:54):
I get confused.
I'm like wait, you're inseventh grade, are you sure?
You're in sixth grade.
Really yeah, so the bondsdefinitely grew, which is the
part that I loved.
Matt (30:03):
Awesome.
What is something that youthink that our community should
know about these new programsthat are available?
Abigail (30:09):
I think that they should know that.
Just to try out, even if youthink you're not gonna be good,
just try out.
Who knows, you might make theteam and just have a fun time.
Whitney (30:18):
I would say for girl soccer.
A lot of girls are afraid totry out for school teams because
their club teams are like youhave to be a club practice.
You have to be a club practice.
I was one of those players thatsometimes had to make the
difficult decision Okay, do I goto high school practice or do I
go to club practice?
So what I did this year withthe middle school team was, if
(30:42):
you have club practice, go to it, because I know you're still
somewhere playing soccer.
It's not like you're skippingpractice.
So I allowed my team if youhave to leave early or you have
to miss my practice, to go toclub practice.
It's okay.
I don't want you having to makethat difficult decision at such
a young age and plus, theydon't drive it's up to their
parents.
So I allow them to kind of havethat freedom and I think that
(31:05):
that's why we were verysuccessful, because I didn't
make my players choose.
I still want you on the team.
I still want to see what you'reabout, your work rate, your
effort, because, like Abby hasmentioned a lot, that bonds grow
when you play for a school team.
Matt (31:20):
What would you say to a student or a middle school
student that is interested intrying out for a girl's soccer?
Abigail (31:28):
Work Hard is basically.
The moral of the story isthey're not looking for the best
skilled players, they'relooking for the ones that work
hard on and off the field.
You might be at home jugglingin the backyard, running in the
backyard, like that's finebecause you're beating all the
kids that aren't doing that.
So as long as you work harderthan anyone else, you're gonna
(31:51):
win.
Whitney (31:52):
I just want to give a shout out to Jolliff Middle
School staff.
They were very welcoming to me.
I kind of felt like an outsiderbecause, I mean, I was an
outsider at first coming in andbeing the coach, but they were
amazing.
At the end of our season or ourfinal game, when we won, it
felt like a family and I lovedevery moment of it because I
(32:12):
felt like Jolliff was my family.
So shout out to them and shoutout to all of my players Eighth
graders, I'm gonna miss y'all.
Sixth and seventh graders can'twait to see y'all next year.
Matt (32:26):
Thank you for listening to this episode of Amplify, the
Chesapeake Public Schoolspodcast.
Make sure you subscribe orfollow this podcast wherever you
listen to them, and we're gonnasign off with a little bit more
music from the Deep Creek HighSchool Orchestra Quartet.
We hope you have a greatholiday season and happy new
year.
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