Focus on ASD2: Mary Boarts, Jason Johns, and Ben Woody

Text us what you think of this episode!

We're joined by District 2's finest, Superintendent Jason Johns, BHP's Principal Mary Boarts, and the inimitable Ben Woody. They share all the latest, including how D2 schools are leapfrogging over those pre-COVID benchmarks, setting a shining example as a model PLC district.

But wait, there's more than just academic acumen in this episode! We've got stories. Jason is evidently a hitchhiker's Uber and also tells of his quest to rediscover a lost phone, including the fascinating folks he met along the way. Ben's eating habits become a focus as well.

After a chat with Zach on a slow sports week, we discuss and have some fun with student- proposed rule changes and new electives for the high school, and wrap things up with our usual guest entertainment and food recommendations!

Thanks for listening! Direct all inquiries to [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody.
Welcome to another edition ofthe Boone Show on MyPulse Radio.
I'm John Boone.
The boss lady is here.
Holly Harrell hello.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
It's gonna be a good night tonight.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
It is.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Bunch of guests coming in.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Yes, we do.
In fact, they're already here.
We've got District 2representing in the house
tonight with the superintendentJason Johns.
Hello, hello.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hello, john, great to be here, as always.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
All right, we've got BHP principal Mary Bortz, hello,
and we've got the esteemedmanufacturing and ag teacher,
ben Woody, here with us.
Hello, hello everybody.
Just a little bit ofhousekeeping.
Holly, I'm speaking a littlebetter this week.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I know I can hear you .
You sound so much better.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, last week or two weeks ago.
This allergy thing has lastedalmost like a month.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
I know it's been bad.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
It's been the worst I've had in like 25 years.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
It's going around for everybody.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
But lately it had been my voice.
You know it's been variousthings, right, it's been a good
variety.
I mean, it was the head, it wasthe ear.
I had to take steroids for theear to get back to normal, had
to take antibiotics foreverything else, and then all of
a sudden, it was the voice andthat started this week and I'm
like, geez, we've got to do ashow.
What do you have to do?

(01:13):
So I'm reading up on how do youclear your voice to be able to
do the show.
And what do they say?
They say stop the decongestantsand the nasal spray, which then
is going to, which, of course,is what I've been using to to
decongest my head.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
But it's worked.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yes, because your voice sounds so much better than
it did two weeks ago and fromthis morning even, I've been
drinking tons of water, whichthey say to do too and because I
was afraid I would have novoice for the show.
It's like five octaves higherthan it normally is.
You know when that happens ithey, it would have really
sounded weird when I went backto listen to it.
But at least we're somesemblance of normal for this

(01:50):
show and I'm glad that workedout.
But I'm going to need you totalk a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Gotcha, gotcha, which is usually not a problem for
you.
That's correct.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
But you've got the administrative types here are
way smarter than me, so you gotto do a lot of type typing
talking, not typing.
I've already done the typing onthe sheet and we've got plenty
to talk about uh, tonight.
Uh, some light-hearted stuff onthe way too, and of course,
zach will check in with sports.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
He told me earlier today he had nothing to talk
about oh no, so whenever he saysthat, look out well, that well,
that might be good, because youknow, I haven't picked up this
phone, I haven't done the phonein two weeks.
Oh, that's right, I never didgo back over it, you're just
supposed to hit that online.
Well, I'm going to do my best.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
I'm sure it'll work.
We'll have no problem with that, but we've got a lot to get
updated on.
We usually have the principalsand superintendents in once a
year, sometimes twice a year,beginning and the end, just to
talk about what the hopes areand then come on at the end of
the year and see what happenedand what the plans are for next
year.
And that's where we are rightnow.

(02:50):
So let's kick it off with thesuperintendent, mr Jason Johns,
and tell us how District 2 isdoing.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
It's been a great year, john.
I appreciate you asking Acouple of things that I wanted
to share with you.
First of all, we have plans.
We're in the beginning ofconversations to explore
building a unified middle school.
We've experienced a little bitof growth for our small
community.
I think we've grown by about150 students over the last three
years and our two middleschools.

(03:20):
They are the schools with themost old footage it dates back
to 1954.
And so we've met with thosefaculties and we'll hold
community meetings this springand throughout the summer to
share our plans with that.
So that's always exciting.
Looking forward to that.
We were recently recognized as amodel PLC district, and so PLC

(03:43):
stands for professional learningcommunity.
It's the only one, in one ofonly five in America that have
all the schools as model PLCschools.
And what a professionallearning community is?
It's really focused onorganizational health, and so it
is creating a culture whereyour teachers share best
practice.
They look at student data.

(04:04):
Make all the instructional andcurriculum decisions based at
student data.
Make all the instructional andcurriculum decisions based on
student data what students needto improve in, what are some
areas that they're alreadyexcelling at and how you can
kind of enrich that and thatkind of runs your whole school.
What we like about it is itreally puts the teachers in some
critical decision-makingpositions in your building.

(04:25):
They're the ones that aremaking some of the most
important decisions, includinginstruction and curriculum,
which is appropriate, so it wasa big deal for us to get
recognized as that.
We did that last board meeting,and so it's a huge testament to
the leadership of ourprincipals and our awesome
teachers.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
And you, Jason, you've got to have the support
from the district office, Inspite of me they do a good job,
Holly Harrell, in spite of me.
But you know, you've got tohave that leadership from the
top down and you've got to havethe focus, and if the focus is
not there, then they can't besuccessful as well.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
So our folks are just , they all have just such
student hearts.
One of the things we celebratedin the last board meeting is
that across the board, everygrade level and in every area
that we measure foraccountability, our students
achieve higher this year thanthey did before COVID, which is
a which is a wonderful thing,and it's that that's a real

(05:16):
blessing that we've.
Our students are just soawesome.
So those are the two kind ofserious things, john.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Those are the two kind of serious things.
John, Before we get to theother two that are on the list,
what can you tell us?
You talked about what was thelast year with the younger
students, something you weredoing with the younger students
over the summer.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Is it the books?
What was?

Speaker 3 (05:37):
that last year.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
It was a plan for younger kids.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
OK, so we just started the 3K 4K tuition
program.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, I think that's what it was and we had talked
about that last year, so how'sthat going?

Speaker 3 (05:48):
It has been excellent .
We have filled up.
I think there were two seatsthat we just had families move,
so it is a three-year-old andfour-year-old tuition-based
program.
In our small community there'svery little child care before
school before they actuallybecome school age, child care
before school before theyactually become school age, and
so it's a need that ourcommunity had, and so at
Marshall Primary, which is inBelton, and then at Honeyapath
Elementary School, which is inHoneyapath, we have seats for 20

(06:12):
students.
There's a certified teacher inthere and then there's an aide,
and so it is all day child carewith a certified teacher.
They create their owncurriculum and it is $400 a
month, which is second toregular public school.
It is the cheapest childcare onthe planet.
We looked at a couple ofColumbia districts do this.

(06:36):
One district up in York, southCarolina, does this and goodness
gracious I think BeaufortCounty also does it.
But it's been wonderful for usit has been.
The feedback we've got fromparents is awesome and so it's
kind of, you know, bringingthose students in as early as we
can to prepare them for asuccessful 5k and first grade

(06:59):
experience.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
All right.
Another question I have iswhere are you going to build the
elementary school?
It's a middle school, middleschool, sorry.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yes, it's in the school, so it would be
positioned directly behindBelton Honeypath High School.
Ok, right there.
So there's actually thedistrict owns that land as well.
There's as much land that isnot built on as the school's
actually sitting on, so OK, yes,sir, all right.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
So a lot of growth going on, a lot of good things
going on and some random thingsgoing on as well.
So you have this littlehitchhiker thing.
Is this a new campaign for you?

Speaker 3 (07:32):
It's not, I don't know where it started John, but
ever since I've been driving, Ipick up hitchhikers.

Speaker 5 (07:39):
I bet you.
I have picked up over 150.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Like in your personal car.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
Where else would I pick them up?
Are your children in there?
In this one, yes, in this one,yes, and so, uh, so this is a um
, so this, actually, both ofthese things happened over the
summer, this one and the nextone that I'll talk about, uh,
but I was, um, uh, coming back,I think, from uh home depot or
lowes or something, and and Iwas about to turn into the
driveway and there was this guywalking down my road and he's

(08:07):
wearing jeans and a cutofft-shirt and he's barefoot, and
it's like the middle of July,and on his shoulder he's got a
huge box of Kentucky friedchicken and he's carrying it
like you carry a boom box, justwalking on down the road.
And so, uh, my daughter's inthe back of the truck and not

(08:28):
the bed, but the backseat of thetruck, um, and she's asleep,
cause we're working outside allday and whenever she rides in
the car for a long time, shealways falls asleep.
And so I pull over and I say,hey man, you want to ride.
And he says sure, and then so hekind of he, he puts his chicken
in the bed of the truck and hestarts climbing over and I said
no, no, no, you can sit, sit uphere.
And um, and so he walks around,he leaves the chicken in the

(08:50):
back of the truck and he sitsbeside me and then I say tell
him where you're going.
And he said just keep on goingstraight.
And then so we head on down theroad.
Now he's barefoot, he's got abig box of chicken and so I
figured the house is fairlyclose where we're going.
And so the first thing he doesis he turns around and he sees
my little, and then she wasseven year old, sleeping in the

(09:11):
back and he said well, it lookslike somebody's tired from
school.
And I said man, it's Saturdayand it's July, it's, there's no
school.
Anyways, we drive for seven anda half miles and I could not
get back there if I tried now.
And then I drop him off and hekind of runs through the.

(09:34):
It looks like it's a littlealmost like a homemade RV park
kind of thing.
And the second he jumps outwith his chicken.
You start to hear people yelland holler at him, and they're
just so excited to see him.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
The chicken man.
I guess he brought dinner.
Anyways he brought it early.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
He was going to walk that chicken seven and a half
miles back to his buddiesWithout shoes On asphalt and
concrete yes.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
That's probably where he went.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
It could have been, it could have been.
You go down to the end of WestRoad.
You keep on going across likeyou're going toward where the
Wilson died.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
Yeah, yeah, he was going out towards 252 and 413.
We went forever.
I thought he was at it.
That might have been an Ivorresident.
We won't claim that.

Speaker 3 (10:17):
But anyways.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
So you have a habit of picking up hitchhikers.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
I picked up one last week you don't think that's
dangerous.
No, well, the one last week.
If I could go back, I probablywould not pick up the one last
week.
This one was actually goinginto Belton, and so I picked him
up and I've seen him walkbefore.
He actually works at KentuckyFried Chicken also and so I had

(10:43):
to go by my house, and so I cameout, and so I had to go by my
house, went by my house and asI'm, and so I came out, and then
I'm stopped at the little, thelittle stop sign that goes onto
the main highway, and we'restopped there and our windows
are down.
He's talking and this car pullsbehind me, and this is probably
six or seven houses from myhouse, and so the car pulls
behind me and then this guy putshis hands on the side of the

(11:06):
door, he's sitting, sticks hishead out and then says who's
that?
And I'm thinking dude, this ismy neighborhood man, don't be
talking to these people, sitback, get your head back in the
car.
And then so I, so, so, so.
So this is.
So he asked if we can stop at agas station because he wants to

(11:28):
get some smokes.
I'm totally against smoking,but just, you know, being nice
and trying to accommodate himand so we stop.
And then he opens the door likehe's going to go inside the
store and he said you got 75cents.
And I said, buddy, I'm notgoing to give you money for
cigarettes, I'm just not.
He said, ok, that's fine.

(11:48):
And then he walks up to thislittle white minivan in front of
the store and he knocks on theglass.
And then he asked the people inthere if they've got any money,
I guess, and they say no.
But then this boy walks around,gets out of the van, comes
around to him and he actuallygives the boy money and then the
boy goes inside so he did havemoney.

(12:10):
And then he waits the guydidn't come out and he waits, he
talks to the person in the vanand waits a little bit more and
then he comes back to the truckand he said the guy took my
money and they won't let me inthe store.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
So then I dropped off a cake for a chicken.
So do you just pick uphitchhikers in like
Belton-Honeybath area or like,ah, I'm going down Greenville
and I'm just picking up ahitchhiker?
I have Things I learned aboutyou.

Speaker 5 (12:37):
You never know, it could be an angel in disguise.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
Holly Harrell, I can't believe you waited at the
gas station.

Speaker 5 (12:44):
You know who else used to do that.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Who used to do that.

Speaker 5 (12:47):
Jeffrey.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
Dahmer.
Oh my goodness.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Hey, I actually had this one.
I actually had this one.
So I picked up this guy andthen he got in the car and then
he kind of looks at me andsmiles and he said aren't you
afraid that I'm a psychopath orsomething?
And I said that's impossible orsomething.
And I said that's impossible.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
What's the chances of there being two in the same car
?
All right, yeah, that was.
That's just just one of thecrazy stories.
So before we go to break, hitthe other one, with you meeting
some strangers in Washington DC.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
So during the summertime I took my two
daughters.
One's a junior, the mostbeautiful junior on the entire
planet, lena, and then I've gotan eight-year-old, who's just so
wonderful, her name is Farrah,and I had to go to a conference
in Washington DC, and sowhenever I go to a conference I
don't like going to very many,but I always take some of my
children anyways.
And so the first night we werethere there was a park beside

(13:46):
the hotel, so we went and tookmy little girl down to play at
the park.
And then my daughter left herphone on this railing and then
forgot it.
And then so we got back to thehotel, she realized her lost her
phone.
We're about to leave the hotel,go back down to the park, and
somebody calls my phone and sayshey, I found this phone.
No, no, they didn't.
I saw there was a message thatwas left, so I checked the

(14:08):
message and the message says hey, I'm so-and-so, I just found
this phone.
I'm going to hide it somewherein the park so you can come back
and get it.
And they hung up.
Who does that Like?
Why just not say I'm going toput it up in the trash, can?
Or I'm going to put it.
I mean so anyways.
Um, we never found the phone.
John, we looked like three orfour times, we never found the

(14:32):
phone.
Um, um, the day we were leavingI was um, uh, we, we went to get
coffee before we left and youwalk into this coffee shop, it's
real small right.
When you walk in, there's ahuge glass window that looks out
onto the road and there's somelittle chairs there.
So I've got my little notebookthat took notes on, and my
daughter's got her purse nophone but a purse and I've got
my phone and we kind of set iton that little chair and then we
walk up to the the counter andorder our coffee.

(14:54):
And then I turn around and it'sall gone, all of it's gone.
And then we'd actually, andthen I looked at the little
other coffee guy and I said didyou see any?
Did you, did you, did you seeour stuff here?
And he said no, I, I, I, Iwasn't paying attention.
Um, and so this lady who was inline, she was watching the whole

(15:16):
thing and uh, no, first Icalled um, I called my wife and
asked her if she could track myphone, and she was not able to.
And then I called.
I asked the lady who was besideus waiting in line for her
coffee.
I said, listen, this is goingto sound weird, but we're not
from here and we have to leavetoday.
And somebody just told my phoneis there any way that you would

(15:38):
use your phone to help me trackmy phone so you enter in your
Apple ID and you can find that?
And so that that took 10minutes at most and the phone
was already two and a half milesaway.
It was in the parking lot of a7-Eleven, so apparently somebody
was kind of waiting at thatwindow and you can kind of see
people drop stuff off, and theygot on a bus.

(15:58):
So I asked the lady you know,can you tell me how to get to
the 7-Eleven?
She was from there, and so shekind of drew me directions and I
kind of wrote down and then sowe got in the truck and then me
and my two daughters went to the7-Eleven.
And progressively as you got tothe 7-Eleven, the neighborhoods
became less affluent, and so bythe time we got to the 7-Eleven

(16:21):
it was you could say sketchy.
It was.
It was sketchy.
And so I saw the 7-Eleven andthere was this lady holding a
yard sale.
There's a chain-link fence thatkind of runs beside the
7-Eleven and this lady had stufffor sale like it was a huge
yard sale, and even stuff likeon the asphalt right in front of

(16:41):
it and even stuff like on theasphalt right in front of it.
And then there's a side streetand then on this sidewalk, to
the left of the building wasprobably about 25 or 30 homeless
people.
I mean, it was just a hugegroup of individuals.
And I thought, well, either thelady may have seen it or maybe
one of those folks across theroad picked it up.

(17:02):
And then so I got Lena to.
I said listen, don't, I don'twant you to park here, just take
your sister, drive my truckaround the block, keep on
driving and let me see if I canfind my phone.
And then so I walk across thestreet, walk up to that large
group of people and I just kindof walk through the middle of

(17:22):
them and I stop in the verymiddle.
I kind of look around, try tomake eye contact, get folks
attention.
They're looking at me like Igot three heads growing out of
my neck.
And then I say listen, this isgoing to sound weird y'all, but
I'm from South Carolina, I'm notfrom here, and somebody stole
my phone back in downtown.
Does anybody know anybody whomay have picked up a phone?

(17:42):
I tracked it here to the7-Eleven and they look at me
like I'm from Mars.
And then there's one lady inthe group and she says well, you
can ask those cops.
I bet they know who took yourphone.
And just then two policemenwalk out of the 7-Eleven.
So I walk over to the policemanand I explain my situation and
they look at me like I'm crazytoo, and they say your phone on.

(18:04):
And I said, yes, sir, and sothey called the phone, but it
just goes to voicemail.
So I think all is lost.
I'll never see my phone again.
So when I get home that night wedrive from Washington DC all
the way back to South Carolina.
When I get home that night myson says Dad, somebody just

(18:25):
called and said they found yourphone.
And he said and so I gave himour address and then I tracked
it and it's really at a postoffice and my phone came in the
mail two days later.
I know, I know, never met theguy.
How nice is that?
Serious yes.
So except for the, you know, Iknow, never met the guy.
How nice is that.

Speaker 5 (18:46):
Serious Wow yes.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
So, except for the, you know, so he probably kept
your daughter's phone.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
He did not strike me as the kind who would be
wandering through a child'splayground.
He seemed like a yeah, soanyways, that was great.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Well, win-win there.
All right, we're going to takea quick break and Mary Bortz
will top those stories coming upin her segment.
Next You're listening to theBoon Show on MyPulse Radio.

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(19:35):
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Speaker 10 (19:49):
Looking for something fun to do to spice up
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(20:11):
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Can't wait to see you there.

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Speaker 1 (21:02):
All right, welcome back to the Boone Show on
MyPulse Radio.
Shift gears a little bit here,although Jason, you can still,
obviously, and Ben, you can jointhe conversation at any time.
But our featured guest on thissegment is the principal of
Belton Honeypath High School,and that would be Mary Borch.
Welcome back to the program,thank you for having me.

(21:22):
All right.
So what's going on at BHP?
How's this year gone?
Give me some highs, lows,challenges, whatever.
What's going on?

Speaker 7 (21:29):
We've had a pretty solid year so far.
I can't really complain At thispoint.
We're just winding down, we'retrying to close out this.
Last couple of weeks We've gotdifferent awards, different
events, different banquet justabout every day of the week.
Sports are we're getting intostarting playoffs.
But I think we've had a prettygreat week or year I'm sorry,

(21:50):
pretty great year.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
Yeah, obviously, the football team came back this
year with a good season.

Speaker 7 (21:56):
Yes, yes, we had an amazing season.
Sad the way it ended, but itwas still a great season.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
Unfortunately only one team can win.
But yeah, it was great to seeeverybody excited about BHP
football.
Not too many down years, butlast year was kind of a down
year and to see them come backlike that was really great.
So what's going onfacility-wise over there?

Speaker 7 (22:16):
We don't have any major big facility changes in
the works.
Luckily, we're fortunate enoughthat everything's kind of in a
good state, so we're just inupkeep mode at this point.
So no big facility changes.
We're getting a new sign outfront.

Speaker 5 (22:33):
All right, I saw that .

Speaker 7 (22:34):
Yeah, that's about the extent of our facility
changes.
I mean, we're getting a newroof, but that's not something.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
It's needed, but it's not exciting, it's not fun.

Speaker 7 (22:45):
It'll be exciting when we don't have to put trash
cans under leaky areas of thebuilding.
That will be a plus, so thatwill be exciting.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
I bet that's fun sometimes.
Just go around, try to find theleaks and find the cans.
Lots of fun, yeah sounds likeit.
What is this educationalsigning day?
I see here.

Speaker 7 (23:02):
Yeah.
So you know, we do all thesesignings for our students that
are going to play sports incollege, and so we've kind of
tried to start a trend ofsigning for other things as well
.
So this today, actually this-morning we had six students that
did a signing day to go toschool to become teachers and we

(23:24):
had we had about 30 folks thererepresentatives from the
colleges, the kids, theirfriends, their families,
district and buildingadministration came to just
support these six girls as theyofficially signed to commit to
go to college to become teachers.
Obviously that's a big deal tous because we're all in the
world of education.
So we want to promote that asmuch as possible, and it was
really very exciting.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
That's cool, Holly.
Bring up another questionbefore I get to something else.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Well, it's not just us.
Everybody's looking forteachers because that's
important in the long run, butto make it seem like it's
important, just as important asathletics.
That's huge, mary, and not justteachers.
Maybe this will, down the road,feed other things as well

(24:12):
Architects, those that are goingto go on to a four-year college
, or those that don't even go onto college.
All of those things come inplace when you do signing.
So I give you kudos forbringing those teachers out,
because we all need that.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
I think there's a special loyalty also, and Mary
does such a good job with thisKind of growing your own
educators in your school being.
You know this much better thanI do.
I bet there's a huge percentageof teachers at BHP who are
graduates of BHP and that justcreates a feeling of ownership
and loyalty that you just can't.
You just can't get anywhereelse and home, so we're very

(24:48):
blessed with that.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Good.
I see BHP doing a lot ofcommunity service things.
I've seen a lot of pictures onFacebook and such Name some of
those things that they've beenup to, that you're proud of,
that students are doing.

Speaker 7 (25:03):
So we started.
Two of my teachers are veryinvolved with the Anderson
County Rotary Club and so westarted our own high school
version of that which is calledInteract Club.
And I believe we are the firstInteract Club in the county and
it, like I said, it's anextension of the Rotary Club and
they are community servicebased, so they believe in

(25:24):
helping others before helpingthemselves.
And that just started this yearand those kids are just trying
to find it's really a studentled, even though I have two
teachers helping, kind of guidethem.
But they are trying to findways to go out into the
community and and help and sothey went and packed um like
personal hygiene products andstuff project lot last week.
Um, they adopted a highway andthey're going out several times

(25:47):
of the year and cleaning um.
They're just trying to dothings to give back to our
community.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
That's great.
It's always good to see kidsdoing that.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
Create that whole student and not just a high
school graduate.
Right, right.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
And we try to do that here too.
Community service is soimportant to building their
character and just giving themperspective outside of where
they are.
Do you have any good stories totell?

Speaker 7 (26:11):
I can't talk Mr Johnson's stories.
I don't know, you didn't sendme any.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
I asked for stories, and only he sent me a couple.

Speaker 7 (26:18):
I haven't picked up any hitchhikers or anything like
that, no, nothing like that.

Speaker 10 (26:20):
I lead a pretty boring life.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
The life of a principal is not a boring life.
She had you at prom this pastweekend.

Speaker 7 (26:28):
Yes, we did have prom on Saturday and yay for us it
was a very fun time, just kidshaving a good time.
All the girls look beautiful,the boys looked handsome, also
very uneventful, which is a goodthing for us, but it was a
great, great, great night.
Very successful.
Thanks to Lindsay Wade andDaniel Bowker, who are two of
our teachers that volunteertheir own time to make that

(26:49):
happen.
It's very successful.
Thanks to Lindsay Wade andDaniel Bowker, who are two of
our teachers that volunteertheir own time, to make that
happen.
It's very appreciative of them.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
What was the theme?
Under the stars or undermoonlight?
Under something?
Yes, there were lots of stars.
No, there were stars and thingssomething along those lines.

Speaker 7 (27:05):
I don't remember entirely.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
But you're just happy it went over well.
Yes, we always hear those promstories from students, and it's
nice when we don't hear them,because that usually means
things went well.
Ben, might as well bring you inhere.
What about your year?

Speaker 4 (27:24):
I'm one of the ag teachers.
I teach more to agriculturemechanics aspects at the high
school and I've got two othersthat work with me Dion Latimer
and Eric Wilson and I couldn'task for two better people to
work with.
They're actually currentlyattending our spring ag teacher
meeting, so by being here I kindof got out of that.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
Glad we could help you there.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
That's right, you helped me, but I printed this
out because miss bort she askedfor it yesterday oh she asked
for a list of our awards,achievements or whatever and
this is all students this is allour different teams, all right.
So we had a piedmont technicalcollege souls.
The piedmont tech put on asoils evaluation contest.

(28:06):
Uh, mr latimer's team won that.
They had the soil evaluationstate, cde, which is all ag
schools.
They can sign up and compete init.
They were state runner-up.
Mr Wilson hada wildlife CDEteam.
They were state champions.
That's two in a row and which ishard to do because on these
career development event teams,if you win the state, you have
to train four new students andyou're going against everybody

(28:28):
from the previous years oh yes,so hang on, let me pause you
real quick, because I didn't, Ihad been.

Speaker 7 (28:33):
I've been opened up to the world of ag thanks to mr
woody and our two other teachers.
So, cde, these are contestsevery high school can enter if
they want, just for those thataren't aware.
And then you compete againstother high schools in the state,
and so he's reading you theones that we competed against
other high schools in the stateand and we won state or
runner-up.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
Yes, and the CDE stands for Career Development
Event.
So if they have an interest inthis career after school, they
stay after and study, or evencome before school and study, or
even come on the weekends andstudy, and they study only
specific topics.

Speaker 7 (29:02):
And if we win state, then we can go to nationals.
Then you can compete innationals we bring several teams
to nationals every year andcompete Just like our SkillsUSA.

Speaker 8 (29:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (29:09):
We compete against other teams across the nation.

Speaker 4 (29:13):
So we got wildlife.
Then Mr Wilson had veterinaryscience CDE.
He was state runner up in thatone.
Mr Latimer had agronomy CDEstate runner up in that one.
Nursery landscape CDE staterunner up in that one.
We had a student that didprepared public speaking.
She placed second in the regionand the top four go to state
and that'll be at the stateconvention in June.

(29:34):
We had livestock evaluation MrLatimer state runner up in that
one.
We had the 4-H livestockevaluation CDE.
They were state champions inthat one.
We had the tool identificationCDE.
They were state champions inthat one.
We had the poultry CDE.
They were state runners up inthat one.
We had agriculture mechanics.
We were the state champions inthat one and we had a national

(29:55):
agriculture mechanics CDE team.
The team placed silver in thatone and there were six different
sections in that and weactually had a young lady named
Lauren Phillips who was thehighest scoring individual in
one section at the nationalcontest.
It's been about 20-somethingyears, they say, since a female
placed highest in the region.
So I'm like training the RosieRiveters of the world is what I

(30:18):
feel like that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
Did you leave anything for anybody else, or
did you just say there's notmuch left?

Speaker 4 (30:24):
there.
These are all students and mostof them are teams except for
one and, like I said, if you winone and you come back you have
to get four brand new ones andtrain them, and the kids will
tell you they spend a lot oftime practicing for it.
But then it also prepares themfor skills, like we've got some
students they're going to go tolander major in vet science.
You've got a lot of them thatentered a mechanical aspect
trade.
Uh, some of them are going toclemson in the fall.

(30:46):
So but it all prepares them andgets them prepared for a career
and gives them experience withit.
Cause that's that's the ultimategoal is to get people working,
paid and dependent.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
That's absolutely good.
You sound like one of ourteachers, yeah, and you know
that is an awesome program.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Those awards and those achievements that they've
made also instills thatconfidence in them to continue
to pursue those endeavors and gofurther and further.
So again, you're making thatwhole student.
You're just not making a highschool graduate, you're making
that whole student.
You're making sure all of thoseboxes are checked.
So there'll be what we callcommunity improvement,

(31:28):
independent workers, and that'swhat we want.
Kudos.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
Thank you, and we're fortunate, like this past year,
mr Johns went to a nationalconvention with us.
If you don't know anythingabout a FFA national convention,
it's the largest gathering ofyoung people in the world.
Every year there's roughly like65,000, 70,000 students that
will attend Indianapolis and MrJohns went with us last year and
got to see, and then Ms Bortzwent with us the year before

(31:54):
that.
So we're grateful that we havethe support and they get to come
see it and experience with thekids.
And I mean it's a sea of bluejackets, is what they say.
It is Because everybody'swearing the same thing.
That's awesome, it is.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
That is awesome and that's awesome it is.
That is awesome.
And Mary, thanks for invitingBen.
We told him anybody can bring aguest to kind of honor them a
little bit and, obviously,congratulations, Great job.
It's a lot of fun when you getto see your students do that it
is.

Speaker 4 (32:26):
I mean, teachers have up and down days, but when you
see your students excel, it'sthe best feeling in the world.
Yeah, I told my.
I said told some of them I wasgoing to be on here.
They said that's good, woody,you got a good face for radio.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
I've gotten that my whole life, man, I've gotten
that my whole life.
But all right, we're going totake a quick time out here and
we'll probably have Zach on theother side.
He's supposed to be callingright about now.
No-transcript.

(32:59):
I asked my class to come upwith some ideas to push for the
high schools, so we'll see howthey react to that.
It's coming up on the BooneShow on MyPulse Radio.

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(34:49):
Hey everybody.

Speaker 9 (34:50):
It's Colt from Colt Classics and I want to make sure
you check out my show, right?

Speaker 8 (34:54):
here only on mypulseradiocom.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
Colt will be back on tonight right after this show
with his once again a replay ofhis disco hour.
So that's coming up immediatelyfollowing our show here on my
balls radio.
Let's go to the phone line.
Zach, are you there?

Speaker 6 (35:13):
I'm here.
How are y'all?

Speaker 1 (35:14):
all right, holly is excited.
She's pumping her fist.
She got you on right this time.
How are you?

Speaker 6 (35:20):
I'm good.
How are you?

Speaker 1 (35:22):
we're uh, we're making it around here, getting
over the old allergies and allthat.
What's going on in your neck ofthe woods?

Speaker 6 (35:29):
I think you said the allergies my way.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Oh yeah, really yeah, Sorry about that.

Speaker 6 (35:34):
You know, I had my seven-month-old had ear
infection and then she hadbronchitis and then she had RSV
and then she had the stomach bugthere you go four rounds going
on the last two weeks at myhouse but you've been staying

(35:54):
healthy yeah, trying to yeah,yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
so what's going on in the uh, in the world of sports
to talk of?
I know, um, right now, uh,normally across the South is not
a huge sports time becauseyou've got mainly those northern
sports the NBA, the NHL, allthat with their playoffs,
although you do have baseballgetting going.
So what do you want to talkabout?

Speaker 6 (36:20):
I guess.
Well, any time LeBron Jamesloses is always a fun time to
talk.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Especially when he gets mad afterwards.

Speaker 6 (36:27):
Right, yeah, I guess just the continued tear that
Clemson baseball is on.
Yeah, they dropped two or threefrom NC State last weekend, but
they took two or three thisweekend from Pitt.
They got a top 20 matchupagainst Georgia tonight and
there Georgia has in theirlineup I forgot the guy's name,

(36:48):
but he's batting like 435 with26 home runs.
He leads the nation in home runs.
So it'll be a tough test forthem tonight.
And then, if you're a hockeyfan, the Greenville Swamp
Rabbits.
They are up two,0 in theirseries.
They're playing Orlando.

(37:09):
They'll go back there for games3, 4, and 5 and then come back
here for 6 and 7 if necessary.
There's a bunch of golftournaments going on.
It's funny.
I played one time on BlackFriday and now I'm hooked,
supposed to go to the drivingrange with a guy from work
Friday after work.
Uh, so, uh, you know not reallymuch to talk about, you know.

(37:33):
I will say you know, I know wetalk about it every week.
It's a good time to be aprofessional wrestling fan.
I mean it is.
It's just the way thestorylines are going just the
way that you that you know.
Just hey, it's a male soap opera, but this male right here loves
it.
So does my four-year-old.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
And in a couple of weeks they'll be in Greenville.
Right, yep, and you know me,I'll be there I know you will,
and that's on Monday night, soI'm sure you'll be reporting on
Tuesday night.

Speaker 6 (38:04):
Oh yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Did I tell you?
Did I tell you that I went toone of the little tiny little
house, small rasslings, uh, thatyou know this got people that
do that on the side, and I tookmy four-year-old and she was
crying because all the bad guyswon.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
No, no, where was that at?

Speaker 6 (38:23):
it was was at now.
Seriously, I'm serious when Isay it was at a church.
Of course it's off of 253,tampa's First Baptist Church in
Greenville.
Carson was sitting there.
Daddy, is this the good guy?
Is this the bad guy?
She says that when she'swatching Raw and Smackdown with

(38:45):
me.
She loves Jey Uso, she lovesRoman Reigns and now she likes
Cody Rhodes.
Well, anyway, these guys wouldcome out and they already know
who's going to win and who'sgoing to lose beforehand.
I'm telling you, mr Boone, whenthe bad guys won I think every

(39:05):
one of them won it was lasturdaynight, saturday night, a week
ago, and when they all won andyou would have thought she, she
got in trouble because, I mean,she just started crying at the
blue.
My dad asked her what was wrongand she said I didn't want him
to win and then the next one,and it was just over and over
and over again.

(39:27):
And then, uh, so we got in atthe intermission, they all come
out, you can go meet them andstuff.
And I told him, I said, man,you upset my, I told one of the
superstars, you upset her whenyou, when you won.
He was like, well, that's whatyou know, you don't talk to me,
you talk to them.
They're the ones that told meto lose.
You know, but talk to them,they're the ones that told me to

(39:48):
lose.
You know so.
But but, uh, but I just thoughtmaybe you'd get a kick out of
that, because it was the.
I sent tiffany a video and shegot a kick out of it.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, it's kind of scary too that you're she's so
young and you're raising herlike that I can't sit down on
the couch without her wanting towrap and then my wife, my wife
all over me now, honey, you know, she's four years old.

Speaker 6 (40:09):
I said I know, but I'm a trained professional I
know what I'm doing.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Oh my gosh, does she have um entry music yet?

Speaker 6 (40:17):
no, we're still working on that yeah, okay, I do
not have.
I will say, though, before Ilet you run um, we didn't get a
chance to tell you this lastweek.
Have you heard of the flowerman in weddings now?

Speaker 1 (40:31):
No.

Speaker 6 (40:33):
Instead of a flower girl, people's having flower men
.

Speaker 8 (40:37):
And what?

Speaker 6 (40:37):
they're doing is flower men are the entertainment
.
In other words, if me andTiffany was getting married
Saturday, I would have one.
And what it is.
They come out to crazy music.
They're the entertainment ofthe day, and so, with all that
said, I was a flower man in awedding Saturday.
Oh really so, and I come out toRoman Reigns.

Speaker 1 (40:59):
Of course you do.

Speaker 6 (41:01):
So you know it was.
It was.
It was OK, I grew I'd done itfor the groom.
It was one of my best friendsfrom elementary school.
He turned around but he wasjust so that day you're nervous,
you're about to throw up.
He turned around maybe fiveseconds and turned right back

(41:22):
around because it was a surprisefor him.
But yeah, I come out and romanraises music because we grew up
watching wrestling.
I mean, that's who got me intowrestling one hour man, and so
you know so.
But uh, but it was kind of aneat experience, um, but yeah,
my four-year-old being into it.
You know it's kind of neatbecause I was into it at seven,

(41:44):
eight years old.
So hopefully one day she'll getto go with me if I could talk
her mama into it.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
Yeah, I'll be praying for Tiffany.

Speaker 6 (41:54):
Praying for her.
I'm the one that needs it.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
All right, man.
Well, we'll catch up with younext week.
Get our usual update.
You have a good week and geteverybody healthy in that
household.
Yes, sir, you too.
Talk to y'all later.
All right, bye-bye, that's Zach.
Any of you guys into prowrestling?
No, no, mary, I had you peggedas someone that was really into

(42:20):
that.

Speaker 7 (42:21):
Seems like it Since.

Speaker 4 (42:22):
Stone Cold left, she doesn't watch it anymore.

Speaker 7 (42:26):
She can't move on.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
It's tough.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
I did see a flyer in Anderson somewhere, but it was
like a tough man contest Likeanybody off the street can come
and you can fight each other.
That's scary, it is.
And it even said on the bottom,no professionals allowed.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
Oh wow, so he's stopping by taking all his
hitchhikers over here.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
You got your beat.

Speaker 10 (42:50):
You can earn some money.
Just say meet me here.
I guess I guess.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
Oh man, and like every month or so, they have
wrestling at the WilliamstonAuditorium.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
They do a lot, but those are.
I think those are paid, aren'tthey?
I?

Speaker 1 (43:03):
don't know I those are paid, aren't they?
I don't know, I always see thesign for it, but I've never
heard of it.

Speaker 4 (43:05):
Yeah that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
They are professional .

Speaker 4 (43:13):
I won't say who, but there was an ag teacher who went
before his superintendent andeverybody and tried to pitch the
idea of midget wrestling atErskine for a fundraiser and it
got shot down.

Speaker 7 (43:20):
Yeah, I don't know why.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
Rightfully so he knows who he is.
That, but he knows who he is.

Speaker 1 (43:24):
That's.
That's actually a big thing too, for for the little people
there's actually shows on TV.

Speaker 4 (43:29):
He was going to get the people in the show on TV.
Come down here.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
It's got to make money somehow, right?
All right, let's move on tothese proposals that the
students have made.
I gave you the long sheet andobviously we don't have time to

(43:59):
go over all of them, but I amwondering which ones that
perhaps you were struck by, andwe'll go with all of you here,
with Jason and schedule and youknow maybe more interesting
things to take and if you haveany questions about because I
just kind of listed them thereif you have any questions so I
can clarify for you, please ask.
But, jason, what do you think?

(44:20):
What struck you as maybe onenew elective you'd be interested
in having at the high schoollevel?

Speaker 3 (44:25):
Well, I think doing your taxes and just
understanding that would be verybeneficial for the students.
I don't know exactly how youcould, you know, legally offer
MMA.
I just struggle withvisualizing.

Speaker 7 (44:41):
Teenagers fighting.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
I can't even.
I've got nothing Like in anoctagon.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
Yes, Give them some release, then you don't have to
worry about all that stuffthat's going on at school.

Speaker 3 (44:51):
You know that's unsanctioned yeah, I would need
more explanation.
Settled in the ring, I wouldneed more explanation on the
pirate class I want to knowabout that's what I was gonna
ask about as well.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
What does that?
One student said that theywould they kind of split it up
between the thievery andteaching how to rob people of
things and just generally actlike a pirate, like you're from
the Caribbean or something.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
I would not support that elective.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
Yeah, I don't know about that.
He's a real dramatic.
He's in drama, so he likesplaying roles, so maybe you know
.

Speaker 4 (45:32):
I think the news one More importantly, how to
interpret news, Because I'm notsure we have real journalism
anymore.
But we have people pushingpoints and if you actually
showed somebody how to look at astory, research it for yourself
and determine the point thatthe narrator is trying to get
across and allow them to thinkfor themselves and become
independent.

Speaker 7 (45:52):
Yeah, y'all have a journalism class over there, we
offered journalism this year,yes, last semester.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, cause that is really.
You know, it is importantnowadays with all the different
platforms and ways to get newsout, but also, what is news
anymore?
It's not just somebody'sopinion on something.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
How do you present news?
It looks different now thanwhat it did 10 years ago.

Speaker 7 (46:17):
Absolutely.
It looks totally different Likea quick, short tweet is news.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
Right, right, or you get your news from TikTok yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Where is it actually coming from?
Reels or something that's right?

Speaker 4 (46:28):
Or people have a point of why they're telling you
this news.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
Yeah, there's narrative, or how they're
telling it to you, yes, or whatthey're leaving out yes.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
There's a goal to why they're telling you certain
things and not others, andyou're right that nowadays most
of the kids are on TikTok, atleast until they ban it, which
is a possibility.
We talked about that in classas a matter of fact, but that's
just the only place they'regetting news.
They take everything as factand you know.
There has to be a way to youknow.

(46:58):
Tell kids that you know as youform your belief systems.
Don't do it based on TikTok.
Mary, what do you got?

Speaker 7 (47:06):
I am really here for the Ninja Warrior class.
Yeah, I think that would beamazing to watch.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
See, that, I think is good because, in clarification
of that, the student thatproposed that wants to be on the
TV show, yeah, and wants thisto be like part of PE, where
they can learn the course andthen go compete.

Speaker 7 (47:24):
Let's build a course.
I'm here for it.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Maybe you could use it as some kind of punishment
too, if you had to.

Speaker 4 (47:31):
Mr Johns was about to be in an urban, one of those up
there in Washington.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
He became the wrong person.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
Mad at him getting out of there.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
That ninja warrior was going to come out there, but
luckily things worked out there.
Holly, what do you think?

Speaker 2 (47:42):
You know we were talking about this beforehand
and I don't know why BHP can'thave a nap, a sleep class.
I mean, come on.
Yeah 15, 20 minutes.
No credit, let's just do it.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
They say, one of the major problems high schoolers
have is they don't get enoughsleep and therefore they're not
ready for class.
And all that and never reallyawake.
So why don't we teach them howto sleep?

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Let them have a little power nap during the day.
That might come conflict withthe new rules and where it says
oh get to that leaving early andmoving ahead well, that's the
funny thing.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
Um, yeah, and we'll get to that, because that's
funny.
It's like, yeah, we need tostart later.
Oh, we need to leave earlier.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
It's like, okay, well , whatever and put an app in
there and put an app in there.

Speaker 7 (48:26):
But that whole nap and yoga thing that you brought
up, mr johns, that could be goodfor teachers too it was good I
did have a teacher earlier inthe year doing yoga during our
flex time and kids could sign up.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
Yeah, that's good.
I mean, sometimes you do haveto have things that are going to
de-stress them a little bit.
I mean we found that a lot thisyear that we we have a really
busy program.
We do a lot of different thingsbetween both sides of media
broadcasting, with the, theaudio and radio, and then the
film side.
They're working a lot ofdifferent projects at once and
normally you know, the kids thatare in the program are the ones

(48:59):
that are already really busy atthe high school.
They're already doing sports,they're into like FFA, they're
into some fine arts, they'reinto everything.
And then when you pile thatstuff on top, we don't realize
sometimes that although thereare some students that aren't
doing a whole lot, some of yourbest students are really getting
stressed out and burn out.

(49:20):
How do we deal with that?
And that's one of the thingsthat we've been juggling
nowadays.
I mean, what can we do to kindof calm them down a little bit,
get them back to theirequilibrium where they can
handle everything withoutgetting all stressed?
And especially this time ofyear we talk about the seniors
checking out, but at the sametime they're really stressed
about the next step in theirlife.

(49:41):
When I bring up how many daysit is to graduation, they're
like Mr Boone, don't tell methat, don't tell me that I uh,
when I bring up how many days itis to graduation, they're like
mr moon, don't tell me that,don't tell me that, I don't want
to know because it representsanother big step.
So you know, seriously, what dowe do to uh, help our students
relax a little bit maybe that'sthe question.

Speaker 7 (49:56):
So one of the things I really like is how we've
utilized our flex time this yearso that 45 minutes we have in
the middle of the day four timesa week.
Last year it was strictlyacademic and we kind of saw that
there is a large group of ourkids that maybe don't need the
extra tutoring every day ordon't have to retake a test or
make up that work.

(50:17):
And how can we utilize thattime to maybe give them some
freedom to do things they enjoy,or should just relax, or
because they need a study hall,because they play a sport and
they take every AP class weoffer and they don't have time
to do homework.
So not right now, so muchbecause we're in crunch time end
of the year, but earlier in theyear, more mid-year, our
teachers would offer some of themore fun relaxing things, like

(50:39):
we would have coloring time,which if you would have asked me
a year ago I would have said noway, but you would walk in
there and it was just Zen forthose kids and for some of those
kids that was just a 45 minutebreak from the chaos of high
school.
We had them listen.
One person would be listeningto Taylor Swift on a weekly
basis Taylor Swift listeningparty.

(51:01):
I think someone did do nap timeand they'd play like Zen music
one day a week and once again,the kids that were failing.
They didn't the way our systemworks.
They don't have theopportunities to do things like
that.
But it's for the kid that oursystem it's a website knows it
has like a priority system.
So so if it isn't a kid thatneeds that extra help or that
time they have the ability tosign up for these things that
may de-stress them.

(51:21):
We had a guitar club, we had anastronomy club, just things to
take them away their brains awayfrom just the stress of school.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
Yeah, I mean, that's great I mean especially for, you
know, those that that need theextra time, the subject they've
got that.
That's why flex time is itworks, and then those that don't
.
Because they are achieving oroverachieving, they have time to
relax a little bit and notworry about the constant pushing
on the gas pedal all the time.

(51:49):
So, yeah, that's pretty cool.
Now related, we had them askabout some rules revisions and
I'd like to hear what your ideasof you know.
One more thing before we moveon.
You'll see, even under that listof new electives, they said
radio.
And of course we have radiohere and you know, radio is not

(52:10):
a big job thing anymore per se,but it's a vehicle and it's a
vehicle of communication.
And what the kid was sayingright there, which is obviously
in my class, she answered thequestion.
But she was saying to havesomething at the high school
where you can just get on andtalk with people and talk about
issues and do stuff like that isanother form of stress relief.

(52:31):
They can do it appropriatelyand they have that opportunity
here, but just have anopportunity to sit down and talk
, get their views out, see whatother people think and have more
conversation.
We don't have to go any furtherthan just look at the news
headlines to see that peopledon't talk much anymore.
They're just all stuck in theirbeliefs, and there's no

(52:54):
compromise anywhere that if wecan teach a new generation to do
that, that'd be pretty cool too.
So let's move on to the newrules.
What's stuck out to you, mrJohns?

Speaker 3 (53:10):
the new rules.
What's stuck out to you, MrJohns?
Probably the one that caught myattention the most, just
because I like it is everybodygoes to a school sports game or
extracurricular event.
I think it's just.
I know Mary does this with herparents so well, the more just
encouraging her kids that themore you're engaged with things
at your school that is outsidethe classroom, the better school

(53:33):
experience you're going to have.
When I went with Ben and hisFFA teams to Indianapolis, I
remember waking up it was kindof early, it was probably 7, 15,
7.30, walking down to the lobbyand he had a group of his kids,
probably half a dozen, thatwere just huddled over this
table or this bar area actuallyjust studying, I mean, as if it

(53:56):
was a final exam that theirlives depended on because they
liked it because, they wanted todo well, and so anytime you can
add play into your day, that'sa very powerful motivator.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
And this go ahead.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
I mean and you know, loves a four-letter word,
t-i-m-e.
And so you know, if you spendthe time at your kids' events,
that's because you care aboutthem and they know that.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
And this particular student was also the one that
entered under the electivesports journalism.
He wants more people to comeout and watch him and his
teammates play, and that'sreally important to him, whether
it be family members or hisclassmates and such.
Just to come out, he said, evenif we make it so they just come
to one event a semester, justcome out and see it.

(54:44):
You might like it and it wouldmean a lot to the people that
are actually competing.
So, all right.
By the way, you can look underthe rules and the changes.
They're basically the same,because we don't have time to go
three different things anyway.
So, ben, what strikes you?

Speaker 4 (55:02):
I mean some of them, the pajamas, all the time you
know.
I mean of course a studentwould say that, but as an
employer let's put it this way Itell my kids this.
Sometimes I say, if I go toIngalls and there's two lines
and they're both the same andone person is wearing pajamas
and dragging their feet, youain't going on that line.

(55:23):
I'm not getting in that line.
I'm avoiding that.
You know I'm going in the nextone, even if it's a little
longer.
So that one I'm not so sureabout that one.
The one down there aboutoutdoor classes, I will say this
that we're fortunate in ourprogram where we get to take
students outside and educationdoes happen outside, and I
understand that a lot of ourstudents they will wind up

(55:45):
working outside.
I worked in the forest industryfor about 10 or 12 years before
I became a teacher and, um,outdoor classes are good, but uh
, how do I put it?
When I did, I used to do treework.
People don't realize that it'snice and sunny, it's great.
It's raining and snowy and cold, it's not great.
So I mean, that's both good andbad, but everybody loves to go

(56:06):
outside, or you should so Ithink that's definitely a good
one, but I mean, uh, I don'tunderstand some of them of the
rules.

Speaker 1 (56:13):
But I mean we do have parking spaces, so we're check
well, I think that was more ofpeople stealing parking spaces
or where the parking spaces areand stuff like that these are
students that are not just fromour high school.

Speaker 4 (56:26):
yeah, yeah, these are from all the high schools, so
some may not apply.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
I tried to pick ones that would apply to everybody,
but I'm not quite sure myself,mary, what you got.

Speaker 7 (56:37):
I mean in this, like you said, these kids were from
every high school.
So the leaving for lunch, Idon't know where our Belt and
Honey kids think they're goingto go, I only got my four
restaurants, kfc right, andthere's 1,100 of them.
So the lines would be long andthere's no way they'd be back in
time.

Speaker 1 (56:54):
Right, right and.

Speaker 7 (56:54):
I know, like Powdersville area there's plenty
for them, but yeah, there'sjust nowhere for them to go in
our two small towns.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
Well, tied into that, though, is better lunch food.

Speaker 7 (57:08):
I think our food is.
We really changed the game thisyear and I've heard nothing but
compliments.
Even my eight-year-old comeshome and just like I ask her
about her day and all she wantsto tell me is how great lunch
was that's good they have really, mr johns has really pushed our
cafeteria staff to kind ofchange the game this year and
offer more fresh, different food.
um, and so it's caused somelearning curves on our cafeteria
staff because they're preparingmore fresh food and less like

(57:29):
pre-made frozen stuff and it'scaused us a little bit of
adjustments because lines arelonger, because they're offering
more options.
But overall, I mean, our kidsare eating and we're fortunate
enough that they applied for agrant.
Is it a grant?

Speaker 3 (57:40):
For four years.

Speaker 7 (57:41):
Yeah, for four years for our kids to eat free.
So our kids as a parent, we'reHallelujah.
For my two children I'm nothaving to pay for lunch, but
also as a leader in my building,I'm getting to see that these
kids get to eat, no matter what.
Some of the kids whose parentswould not have been able to
afford it otherwise.
And there's no label of I'm onthe free lunch list because

(58:02):
everybody's on the free lunchlist.
So that's been really nice forthose kids because for some of
them breakfast and lunch are theonly meals they get.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
So it's important to provide that kids, because for
some of them, breakfast andlunch are the only meals they
get, so it's important theyprovide that.
You're right.
Of course, lunch lines was oneof the complaints that it was
taking too long and they didn'thave enough time to eat lunch.
But you can only do so muchthere and I don't think the food
was a complaint per se.
With bhp I'm trying to rememberwho did what, but I don't think
it was so much bhp students.

(58:30):
Um, all right, holly, what'swhat's yours?

Speaker 2 (58:33):
well, I like the outdoor classes as well.
I think it's importantsometimes to de-stress, um, even
if it's just to take a walk,because you did a really hard
test and you just need to giveyourself a break.
So I'm all for, um, a change ofscenery or outdoor, even if
it's just for a small, limitedperiod of time yeah, just get
out of the the cement walls andenjoy the outdoors and hopefully

(58:54):
not get all the allergies.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
So, like I told my mom now, since I got these
allergies from ohio, that I'mnever visiting her in the spring
again, that's my, that's whereI'm from, oh really yeah, um,
because that's where I think Igot all this, because it was
different things blooming thanwhat I'm used to and are at
different times, and so now Itold her it'll be Christmas time
, maybe Thanksgiving, wheneverything is dead.

(59:18):
I'll be up there, all right.
Finally, today, what we alwaysdo is we get guest
recommendations and we'll goaround real quickly to get
either an entertainmentrecommendation a book or
something you're streamingbinging on TV, a movie, whatever
, some kind of entertainmentrecommendation a book or
something you're streaming,binging on TV, a movie, whatever
, some kind of entertainmentrecommendation and then a food

(59:39):
recommendation, a recipe thatyou've tried and you really like
, a restaurant, a dish at thatrestaurant, whatever and then
we'll wrap things up.
So let's go in the oppositedirection there.
We'll start with Mary overthere, since Holly's given
plenty of recommendations overthe year.
Entertainment what are youwatching, reading?

Speaker 7 (01:00:00):
So I have been watching I don't know the full
title of it.
My husband and I have beenwatching the show called
unlocked on Netflix.
I just finished it.
Yeah, and I just finished it aswell and the premise is this of
men that are in jail andthey're hardened criminals.
Some of them are in there forlife, Some of them are in there
for 20 years, but it is a groupof it's one section of the jail

(01:00:25):
and the warden basically comesin and lifts all rules.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
Oh, it's a social experiment.
Yes, I've heard of that.

Speaker 7 (01:00:31):
And in and lifts all rules.
Oh, it's a social experiment.
Yes, I've heard of that.
Figure it out on their own andit's kind of the story of it's
real.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
Yeah, oh yeah, it's a documentary it's.

Speaker 7 (01:00:36):
They've got camera crew inside and it's kind of
them navigating.
Ok, how are we going to do mailtime with no rules?
How are we going to do,commissary, without like,
without the guards making and soit kind step up, and then the
younger inmates are resentfuland then there's there's still
some fights and things get takenaway and added back and they
kind of have to navigate and thefear is that the warden will
take it away from them and lockthem back up because they they

(01:00:58):
have to.
Typically, they're in theircells 23 hours of the day and
they open the doors 24 hours.
They're.
They're open and to do whatthey want, not to like, leave
the jail, but right within thatarea.
It's it, and these are hardenedcriminals and they get to call
home as much as they want.
So they they realize that, oh,I'll get to talk to my family as
many times as I want, If I, ifwe don't fight or we don't argue

(01:01:19):
.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
So, and it's them just trying to navigate like
cultural differences and socialdifferences and the sheriff and
the warden work together tofigure out that, in order to
make these criminals notre-offense, not come back in,
that that family support of theoutside is so important and

(01:01:39):
realizing that you've got to dobetter, you've got to make
better choices in order for youto get out and succeed.
And so very interesting,because I just finished it and
it was amazing, it really wasgood.

Speaker 1 (01:01:51):
Well, that's an interesting approach, right?
They say one of the thingsabout prisons a lot of times.
They just let the guys sitthere and rot and they still
know how to act when they getout.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
So and when you get out you gotta figure it out
right to live in society.

Speaker 7 (01:02:04):
I think it was really empowering for a lot of them,
because they had for so manyyears that the ones that have
been there for a long time feltlike their all power had been
stripped, and so I hope theyhave a season two.
I'd watch it, me too Unlocked,unlocked.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
Do you have any food recommendations?

Speaker 7 (01:02:20):
We took our Administrative Professionals.
Day is tomorrow, so we went aday early today.
We took them to Earl Street indowntown Anderson and it was
wonderful.
I had the mahi-mahi shrimp andgrits and it was wonderful, I
had the Mahi Mahi shrimp andgrits and it was wonderful.
Banana pudding, wonderful.
Definitely go there Get theirbanana pudding.
It was the best ever.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
All right, all right.
My wife is always looking forshrimp and grits places.
Oh, it was good, check that out.
Yeah, all right, ben, what yougot entertainment-wise.

Speaker 4 (01:02:47):
Well, I don't have the internet, I don't have cable
TV, I got the digital TV andthat's it.
So I'm going to tell you aboutBonanza and what's going on.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
You really don't have internet at your house.

Speaker 4 (01:03:06):
Wow, it comes up to the school.
Do you have children?

Speaker 7 (01:03:08):
No, Okay, he's living the simple life, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
All right, then give me a good food recommendation,
because I know you eat.
You don't want to know whatthis?

Speaker 7 (01:03:17):
movie is I'm simple, every day is the same thing In
the morning.

Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
It's this little protein shake two hard-boiled
eggs and that's it All right.
Lunchtime rolls around.
You get the rice, you put it inthe microwave.
You get it out, you open thesardines, you put the sardines
in the rice.
Oh my.
No way you mush them up.
I tell the kids I can go toVietnamese prison and I'll be
like all right, what's on themenu?
Cuz.

Speaker 7 (01:03:39):
Let's eat.
So my custodian during lunchshift is the nicest man in the
entire world, will not bat aneye to do anything.
He is above and beyond thegreatest man ever works his tail
off.
I've never heard the mancomplain, except for when Ben
started eating sardines atschool because he would throw
the can with the juice in it inthe trash.
Oh, no it is the only time I'veever heard poor Mr Pruitt
complain is having to take thattrash out.

Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
You eat sardines every day at lunch.

Speaker 4 (01:04:03):
Every day.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
For how long?

Speaker 4 (01:04:04):
I don't know.
It's five, six seven years, butthey're good for you.
You can't get the ones with themustard, you've got to get the
ones in water.
And then the rice is good foryou.
You get your carbs, you getyour omegas, you get your BCAAs.
You get all that from thesardines, and then you could eat
them one at a time or just putthem together, because they're

(01:04:24):
going to wind up there.
And then you get some Greekyogurt and you eat some greek
yogurt with it because that'sgood for you.
With it, you mix your rice,your greek yogurt with it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
Okay, I'm not opposed to that if I'm just saying so
when it comes to like cuisinechoice or the tvs or the movies.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
So do you eat sardines and dinner?
Yeah, should we ask for dinner.

Speaker 4 (01:04:47):
I mean pretty much the same thing all the time.

Speaker 7 (01:04:51):
You eat, like when we have staff meals.
You eat that stuff.
Yeah, I mean I'll eat that,yeah, yeah, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:04:56):
But you got to think like when I told you I did tree
work for years.
Whatever you're doing at thetime when you take lunch I climb
.
For years you might be in thetree.
I mean you're not going to stopand sit down and bake you a
cake or whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
Sometimes they tie it on a rope and you pull it up
and eat it A sandwich, a turkeysandwich.

Speaker 4 (01:05:13):
But see everything I've got.
I don't have to get up and doanything, I just put it in a bag
and I take it there and I openthe sardines and I open it right
, Jesus.

Speaker 7 (01:05:21):
It works.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
I'll tell you this.

Speaker 4 (01:05:34):
I went and something right, yeah, it's gotta work.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
But then yeah, so the movies, the tv.

Speaker 4 (01:05:36):
Sardines and rice, yep, but that's yeah, all right.
But now if you want to knowlike people kids always say what
are you doing?
What are you doing?
Well, I bought a mini chineseexcavator, so I've been trying
to understand chinese hydrauliccontrols in the evening time so
last night I was working on thattill late, you know so what are
you gonna?
that's what you're binging, whatyou're gonna do with it um,
it's a mini skid steer okay uh,I'm gonna use it and then my

(01:05:58):
parents gonna use it some, sobut the problem is they're
they're chinese, or copyrightand all these things, and
they're coming over here fairlyheavily and you can buy them at
good price.
But you've got to go in andknow how to fix them really
before you use them, or they'regoing to break a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Is it one of those Sanyo?

Speaker 4 (01:06:13):
No, this is a Dig it.
Yeah, dig it, it's a BobcatMT-85.
Copyrighted is what it is.

Speaker 8 (01:06:22):
You can find things to do without the cable and
internet.

Speaker 1 (01:06:25):
Life goes on.
How do you think?

Speaker 4 (01:06:26):
civilization got here .

Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
Sardines and rice.
They did that too all right,jason, what you got
entertainment wise, food wise Idon't have any current energy.

Speaker 3 (01:06:42):
Yeah, I will not be able to follow that, but this is
for our younger audience.
So back in like the mid or late80s there was this tv show
called the Greatest AmericanHero.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
Oh, yes, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
Yes, I highly recommend any of these
youngsters listening to.
I think there's like four orfive seasons.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
Can you see that now on TV?
It's got to be somewhere.

Speaker 3 (01:07:02):
So like 10 years ago, my brother bought me a DVD of
all four or five seasons.

Speaker 7 (01:07:09):
It must be streaming somewhere.
It's got to be streaming.

Speaker 3 (01:07:12):
Anyways.
But yeah, when you first lookat it you're like oh, my Lord,
who watched this?

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
But once you get into it, yeah, yes, it's funny, it's
a good feel good, Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:07:24):
And then I guess my food choice would be this is not
as interesting as Ben'ssardines and rice, but I love
spaghetti, I love it.
I have probably eaten it fouror five times a week for 10
years.
I love it.
I make a huge batch on Sundayand I'll eat it all during the

(01:07:45):
week.
My kids love it not as much asI do.
Halfway through the 10 years Ithought I'd get tired of it.
No, no, I like it more now thanI did 10 years ago.
I make it good too.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
I was making it good.
What kind of sauce and stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:07:57):
So usually I'll do the half ground turkey and then
half ground beef and I'll doprobably three or four diced
tomatoes.
I start to put jalapenos inthere.
I like that.
On that, I put basil, I putbasil, I put oregano, I put a
lot of pepper, so you make yourown sauce.
I'll cut up probably two onions, two or three bell peppers and
I'll cook it for a while.

(01:08:18):
I love it, man.
It's so healthy.
It's got your vegetables, it'sgot your protein.

Speaker 4 (01:08:23):
Throw a little sardines in there.

Speaker 5 (01:08:24):
Ah A little Greek yogurt for dessert.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
Too much salt, I hear you we are out of time, but
what a great time it's been withyou guys from District 2.
Always great to have you overhere and we're always here for
you guys whatever you need, andjust appreciate you coming in
and giving us an update JasonJohns, mary Bortz and the one

(01:08:50):
and only Ben Woody.