May 28, 2025 • 24 mins
Eyota Minnesota is the home of two really good guys, Brooks and Zach. We surprise Zach with a Selfless Scholar Scholarship.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:14):
welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world with adose of the Minnesota kindness
that it desperately needs.
Yeah, we got Steve Brown in thestudio.
We got the, uh, 55-year-oldintern, Jeff Hoffman in with us
today.
Hey everyone.
Kevin Gorg.
Where are we calling you at?
I'm in, uh, beautiful on thisrainy gloomy.
(00:36):
Yeah, I'm building my arc rightnow.
I already started.
And then we have a fun guestfrom Dover, Yoda, Minnesota,
which is 10 miles east ofRochester.
His name is Brooks Anderson.
Brooks, are you there?
Howdy.
Hello, Brooks.
Brooks is one of our selflessscholar nominators, and we are
(00:57):
going to be having Brooks.
I don't know if the technology'sgonna work, but Brooks, uh,
seems we'll cross our fingers.
He's a little smarter than therest of us.
Brooks is gonna call his pal,Zach.
We're gonna merge that again.
Who doesn't know that we'recalling him, right?
Well, we don't know if he knows.
Okay.
But we, I talked to his mom.
I have kept it a secret.
You've kept it a kept a secret.
Nice.
Yep.
I have.
It's been hard.
(01:18):
I've seen him every day and I'vehad to be like, biting my
tongue.
Okay, Brooks.
So why don't you call him, mergehim in and let us, uh.
We'll, we'll take it from there.
All right, sounds good.
I'm gonna, here we go.
Calling him right now.
Calling him right now.
This is big.
It's exciting.
I hope the technology works.
I'm a little nervous.
Okay, so how about that?
(01:39):
Uh, maple Leaves game lastnight.
Jesus, 6 0 1.
It's like Lucy and Charlie Brownon the football.
It's same old thing.
Okay.
Hopefully this works.
Fingers crossed.
Uh, hello, is this Zach?
Uh, this is Hey, Zach, you areon the Kindness Chronicles
podcast.
(01:59):
Welcome, sir.
I got permission from yourmother this weekend, so it's all
cool, man.
So can't say no to mom.
Yep.
So Zach, you probably arewondering what the hell is going
on here.
So let me explain what's goingon.
Your friend Brooks.
Wrote up a beautiful nominationof his friend Zach, for a
(02:21):
scholarship that we call theSelfless Scholar.
I'm with Minnesota MasonicCharities.
we do these scholarships and weare surprising you with a
scholarship.
The way our scholarship works isinstead of asking Brooks to tell
us about what a wonderful guyBrooks is, we ask Brooks to
identify one of the people inhis life that has made a
(02:42):
meaningful difference to thosearound him.
And what's unique about thisscholarship is the scholarship
award of$5,000 is split betweenthe person who does the
nominating and the person who isnominated.
So you got a$2,500 scholarshipcoming your way, congrat.
Congratulations.
Congratulations.
Nice job guys.
His parents in the background,his parents are in the
(03:03):
background, okay?
So I always like to say 2,500bucks ain't gonna get you very
far in a modern education, butyou know, it don't matter if
you're making$25 an hour, hejust saved you two and a half
weeks worth of worth of work.
So, thank you Brooks.
So, Brooks, Brooks, why don'tyou tell us?
(03:23):
Do you have access by the way,Zach?
Um, on the line we have, uh.
If you're a Minnesota wild fan,uh, Kevin Gorg, who's one of the
sportscasters for, for theMinnesota Wild, we got a guy by
the name of Steve Brown.
Hey Brooks, uh, Brooks and Zach.
Um, and then we got Hi Zach,Steve Brown, who is, well, he's
the lead singer of a verypopular band.
(03:43):
If you were alive in thenineties, he has no idea, which
you weren't, so that's fine.
Kind of a big deal back then,especially man.
And then we have a 55-year-old,uh, intern in here with us.
But anyways, Brooks named Jeff.
Do you have a co His name isJeff.
Do you have a copy of thenomination that you wrote?
I do, yeah, I have right infront of me right now.
Lets you kindly read that forus.
Yeah, absolutely.
(04:06):
Zach is a classmate of mine whoI've been friends with for quite
some time.
Zach is the one of the mostoutstanding people I know, both
in school and out of school.
Zach volunteers on the YodaAmbulance crew as an mt, as well
as bouncing, playing soccer,being Eagle Scout, being in band
honor of Southeast Minnesota andbeing dual enrolled.
PSEO student.
Zach has liberty of making surepeople get home safety when
(04:29):
they're not able to drivethemselves home for any reason.
He would drive two hours just tomake sure you got home safely
and did not endanger yours oranyone else's lives.
It was Zach's influence that ledme to do the same and make sure
people are getting home safelyand being smart when, when doing
so, Zach, to me, speaks.
(04:52):
Phone charging station in theparks of that he built for
anyone to use for free.
Speaking to how much he loveshis community this year, he has
not only been a great friend,but outta the goodness of his
heart, was my tutor for my PSEOchemistry class that I was
struggling in.
Every week he would come over tomy house and he would help me
with whatever I needed, even ifI.
(05:15):
I believe Zachary deserves thisaward because he has all these
things, not for money or forfriends, but outta the goodness
of his heart and to take care ofhis community.
Wonderful.
Wow.
Wonderful, Zach.
What a guy.
Very cool.
So Zach, we have some, I havesome questions for you.
Brooks mentioned that you'reeating frozen pizza.
I'm assuming that he, he meantthat the frozen pizza has been
(05:35):
prepared properly.
Is that accurate?
Yes.
Don't worry, don't worry.
Okay, so tell us about your,I've really it a couple times.
So you're an EMT.
I'm currently an emr, so justone step below that, but I still
get to a lot of stuff.
Same.
Same thing.
Same thing.
Come on, come on.
(05:56):
Close enough from ourperspective.
Yeah, you are.
That's cool.
Why let the facts get in the wayof a good story, right?
That's what we always like tosay.
So the EM.
So you're, so basically he's an,okay.
So as, uh, uh, do you aspire todo something in your, uh, in
your career in the medicalworld?
(06:16):
Yeah.
So I'm hoping to become abiomedical engineer.
Oh boy.
So I can help make prostheticsor like artificial organs.
So wait a second by, so nowyou're at a different pay grade
than all the people that are onthis podcast.
What does a bio, what does abiomedical engineer, there's a
lot of syllables in those words.
I've heard all of the words, butnot put together making.
(06:38):
So give us an example of whatthat, you know, so making
prosthetics, how, yeah.
How does, so how did you decidethat this was something that
you're interested in doing?
ever since I was a kid, I'vebeen building with Legos and as
I've been getting older, I'vebeen increasing the, uh,
complexity of them.
So now I've got motors and Ialways thought it would be fun
to like build arms and stuff.
(07:00):
So that's what I've been doingwith Legos.
Been really fun.
I'm unbelievable.
Pick it up a level.
Very cool.
Okay.
So you're different than, thanwe are.
Um, I actually, in our a lotharder, that's for, well that's,
that's not a very high bar, Mr.
Wild.
Um, we happen to be in ourstudio.
(07:20):
We are surrounded by, uh, Legosets.
In fact, my son Ben, who is, uh,now a graduate of college, he's
got, let's see, I see theTitanic.
Wow.
I didn't know that was, I see ahuge, uh.
Huge.
Eiffel Tower.
Millennium Falcon behind you,millennial Falcon.
And he's got all the big ones,but, but what he doesn't have
are mechanical arms.
Nope, he does not.
So that's, uh, we're gonna haveto challenge him to ramp up his
(07:45):
game just a little bit.
Yeah.
Hey, let's go Brooks, let's goback to you for a second.
Um, how did you find out aboutthe scholarship program?
so.
Mason, scholarship.
I don't remember which one itwas, but then I went onto like
the website and I looked at itand you have to, nominate
someone else.
The store, like I have theperfect person, the most
(08:07):
outstanding, community person,kindin.
and so, yeah, honestly, I justlike looked up the scholarship.
truth be told, I'm guessing fromtalking to you're, you're a
pretty decent student.
I do.
All right.
Okay.
Because those scholarships thatyou applied for would've been
one of our academicscholarships, and they are
(08:29):
incredibly.
Competitive.
well, I will encourage both ofyou guys next year when you're
at your college, whatevercollege you're at, to apply for
our undergraduate scholarshipbecause those scholarships,
frankly, larger money-wise Sothat's just a little piece of
advice.
Brooks, what are your plans fornext year?
I will be attending theUniversity of Minnesota Twin
(08:51):
Cities.
Okay.
Uh, and studying politicalscience on the free law track
with, uh, hopefully I'd like tominor in something, psychology,
criminal justice, something inthat.
Um, and yeah, kind of up in theair of as to what I'm gonna do
for.
(09:13):
So the first question I have asa, uh, I am a lawyer, and I'm
wondering, why would you wannado that to yourself?
I mean, why Put yourself throughthat?
My God, man.
lemme ask you, Zach, what, whatare your plans for next year?
obviously biomedicalengineering.
so I'll be, uh.
(09:37):
Zach, this is Steve.
So this is a surprise for you.
I'm guessing your parents are inthe background there.
That's your parents talking.
That's the, yeah, that's, yes,they did.
Okay, What do you think of this?
You don't know who we are,you've probably never, you know,
listened to this podcast, whichyou will now, but, um, you're
gonna love it probably afterthis.
But, um, what, what's goingthrough your mind right now?
Are you, are you like, wait,what, what am I, what am I into?
(09:59):
What's happening?
Like, what are you thinkingabout this moment right now?
And what do you, tell us alittle bit about your friend
Brooks?
That was a really long question.
Well, I know it's deep.
It's.
I was still pretty surprisedthat this is all going on.
So I'm pretty happy that, Imean, getting money for college
is great and all, and I'm reallypleased that Brooks, uh,
nominated me.
That was really nice him to do,and I'm thinking I have to come
(10:21):
visit him with a diet Dr.
Pepper.
There, there go.
You're speaking my language,Jack.
So, um, Zach, real quick, wouldyou mind handing your phone to
your mother?
Oh boy.
Uh oh.
Oh boy.
Yep.
Hi.
Hi, mom.
So I talked to Mom.
Mom.
Tell us who you are.
(10:43):
I'm Vicky.
Zach's mom.
Vicky.
Vicky.
I just have to tell you this, Italked to Vicki over the
weekend.
And Vicki was concerned thatthis might be a scam and maybe
it is.
It's still early to tell.
We don't know for sure.
You know, we can, we can pullone over those people from Yoda
down there, and so we're goingfor good radio here.
Good, good podcasting moments.
(11:04):
Yeah.
This is all you're being punkedright now.
So anyway, Vicki, you hadmentioned something and I'm
hoping that you would be willingto talk about this.
It almost sounds like.
Our friend Brooks might be a,uh, a, a guy who would've
qualified as a recipient of theSelfless Scholar.
Can you tell us about yourimpressions of Brooks?
Brooks is a wonderful friend toZachary.
(11:26):
Um, very nice young man who hastaken a liking to my other.
Very welcoming and lovingtowards them and gives them high
fives every time he sees them.
So he's a wonderful individualhimself.
(11:48):
That is so wonderful to hear.
I Crazy talented and, and crazytalented.
Crazy talented.
Not just regular talented.
Crazy talented.
What kind of, what kind oftalents does Brooks have?
Steve Brown would appreciatehis, uh, work.
This guy can play.
I mean, this guy can, like, he'son drum set like nobody says.
(12:11):
So I did hear that.
I heard This is Jeff.
Did you say jazz band?
You're hoping for next year?
yeah, possibly depends on, um,how my track season end.
We have a whole bunch musicianshere.
Love.
We got bunch of drummer nerds.
Here we go.
Here on the podcast.
Now we're, now we're gettingsomewhere.
Oh God.
That's really cool.
Yeah, this is it.
Why don't you guys take over?
How long have you guys knowneach other?
(12:32):
Zach and Brooks?
oh God.
Uh, we went to, we went todaycare together.
Wow.
Wow.
Oh wow.
Childhood friends 16 years ago.
That's my wife got together.
That's cool.
Yep.
And we were friends allthroughout elementary, middle
school, high school.
We've gone through so manydifferent phases of like, it'll
be like six months completelylocked in on doing a certain
(12:52):
activity and it'll be the nextactivity.
I caught that Zach was an EagleScout, uh, or at least his
working on his Eagle Scoutproject.
Brooks, are you in scouts withhim?
Nope.
Never a scout.
We have another Eagle Scouthere.
Zach.
Fellow Eagle Scout here.
And tell us a little about yourpublic phone charging station.
What would, what's that allabout?
one of the things that we hadnoticed was there was not really
(13:14):
any place to charge your phoneor devices out at our park.
So we basically built,, chargingstations and we installed them
at the parks for people to use.
So, wow.
Solar application.
So, wait a second.
They require electricity.
I would assume.
I'm not great at math, but Iwould assume that this requires
electricity.
(13:35):
So, I mean, were you likedigging holes and looking for a
wire to connect it to, or howdid that work?
they're completely powered bysolar.
So we have a large solar panelon top.
It feeds into the battery, whichpower our charging cords and our
wireless charging, uh, station.
We're in over our skis here.
Boy, that's cool.
I love it.
I have a feeling that somedaysoon we're gonna be walking down
(13:57):
Nicolet Mul and we're gonna seea guy with a Lego arm and we're
gonna know who's responsiblefor, uh, putting that together.
We're gonna say, looks like Zachwas here.
another quick question forBrooks.
are one of you guys a lacrosseplayer?
No.
I just happened to have alacrosse ball in my room for
(14:17):
whatever reason.
it's a good weapon.
Good weapon.
Well, because here's why I saythat as this is the Kindness
Chronicles.
I watched a lacrosse match theother day.
We have a, a neighborhood ladwho my son grew up with, who's
in his fifth year at Notre Dame,and he is, uh.
A lacrosse player, and I'venever really watched lacrosse.
(14:37):
There's not a lot of kindnessgoing on on lacrosse fleet.
Oh yeah.
It's rough.
It's the only games.
It's fast where you can, it'spretty physical.
You can whack people with thestick and it's like allowed.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's physical.
I mean in hockey, K, it's on thedraft.
What's that?
I'm sorry.
Hockey on the grass.
But you're not allowed people inhockey kg, come on.
(14:58):
Well.
Couple years ago.
Oh, that's true.
Some of that stuff gets let go.
But no, lacrosse is incredibleto watch.
Yeah.
I just, I can't believe therearen't more injuries.
To your point, John, it'sextremely physical.
I just heard lacrosse ball and Ithought, okay, maybe these guys
aren't as smart as I thoughtthat they were.
(15:18):
You know, that's, uh, they'retoo smart for that.
We're we, we have a baseballfamily over here and that's
where, you know, the cerebralpeople spend their time in the
spring of the year.
Hmm.
Um, did are for sure, did I hearone of you as a track person?
Yeah, that's, that's, uh, that'sme.
Brooks.
Brooks.
So Brooks, what, uh, what do youcompete and track?
I'm only a high jumper.
(15:40):
Oh.
Oh, wow.
And he's really good at that.
What's your personal best?
six foot five inches.
Okay.
Wow.
Holy god.
Wow.
That's incredible.
Does it go that high in Yoda?
we try to make it.
I, my goal is to, uh, high jumpat the U of M next year.
Oh wow.
Like where I need to be to jumpv1, um, I guess, sorry, big 10
(16:02):
d1.
But, um, I mean, it's my goalto, uh, high jump next year at
the University of Minnesota.
I assume you're not gonna be,commuting from Yoda to, the Twin
Cities every day?
Are you?
Oh, do you know where you'regonna be living yet?
I won't know until the last weekof July.
Oh, no.
Do you know who your roommate'sgonna be?
I do know who my roommate is.
I've known him also for about15, 16 years.
(16:25):
He's like my, he's one of myother best friends.
Uh, he's from a little towncalled Chatfield, Minnesota,
which is about five miles.
You know, Chatfield?
They got one heck of a wrestlingprogram.
Oh yeah.
Yes.
On behalf of your parentswrestling and football, on
behalf of your parents, makegood choices young man.
Is your, uh, is your Chatfieldbuddy a wrestler?
(16:46):
actually he's a basketballplayer.
Oh, okay.
And player.
So he was never really into theguys since you are both., Uh,
recipients or will be recipientsof this award?
Um, yeah, the check is in themail.
Yeah.
No, but, uh, I just wanna know,what's your influences?
(17:07):
What, why, why are you, the wayyou are?
What's, what brings you guys tothis spot in, in this modern
world with all the things that,go on with social media, all
that kinda stuff.
What creates your dispositionand uh, is it your friendship
together?
Do you inspire each other?
Gimme a little of that.
I'd say we just kind of buildoff of each other.
I mean, I try to keep smartdecisions happening and he kind
(17:30):
of reinforces that and we justkind of build off each other in
that sense.
That's great.
Huh?
Eventually it all comes back.
You know, I believe in karma.
You know, you do good things,good things that come back to
(17:51):
you.
It's also a little bit of a bethe change you wanna see.
You know, I see there's a lot ofhate in this world.
You know, you see it on the,the, the age of social media and
how it's changed, how weperceive things, how much hate
is going around.
And I think that if I try tobring more good in this world,
hopefully it'll spread around topeople around me and then, you
know, kind of change thedirection of how.
(18:12):
Nice.
Well, I can tell we got noquestion.
I know.
And, and when I talked to, uh,Zach's mom, she mentioned that
Brooks, definitely can hold hisown when it comes to a
conversation.
And as you can tell by thatanswer, I think that a, that a
courtroom might be a perfectplace for you.
That's pretty cool.
Also, maybe we should, maybe weshould consider, maybe, is Vicki
a little bit of a, uh,inspiration as well?
(18:34):
I mean, you, I would assumethat, gotta throw a little to
the parents, right?
Mom and dad, right, Zach?
The proper answer is, well, it'smy mom and dad.
Dad.
You go, yeah.
But you know.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, if you want extradessert tonight, I might go down
that road.
Brooks, I have a, I just had aquick question for Brooks.
Tell, tell me like, did.
You, you said you, you alluded alittle bit to the US or this
(18:56):
with, uh, the, the scholarshipopportunities, but what, what
was the catalyst that made youdecide to write about your
friend and some of the thingsthat we heard about in the
opening story as we werereading, as we were hearing
about the nomination I don'tthink I can really contribute to
one specific thing.
It's been over the course of,15, 16 years.
(19:18):
People have come and gonethroughout my life, people have
been nice, people have beenmean, but I mean, there's been a
single constant factor throughthe entirety of my life, and
that Zach has been the kindestperson I know.
I think that he deserves to getsome recognition for it.
I love that.
Yeah.
And maybe even Zach shared hisjuice box with Brooks back maybe
when they were two or threeyears old.
(19:40):
No.
Started their comradery.
Yeah.
Zach has, Zach's brought memany, many, uh, food, um, in
class.
And, uh, actually this, so meand Zach played soccer together
this fall, and I, I was playingfootball at the same time as
soccer.
I always forget.
And so, uh, Zach always brought,I had, he had these granola bars
(20:02):
and they're just delicious.
And he always brought one for meand he always gave one to me.
So, I mean, I like, there's justanother, you know, reason of why
Zach's just one of the greatestpeople in the world.
And Dr.
Diet, Dr.
Peppers, apparently Brooks, oneof the things, yeah.
Diet Dr.
Pepper Brooks.
It's Jeff again.
One of the things that it, um.
My attention was that Zach willdrive two auto, two hours out of
(20:24):
his way for, to get people homesafely.
Is there a, a story behind that?
Could you talk a little, talk alittle bit more about that?
Is there a Yeah, an example orwhy, why did Zach start doing
that?
high schoolers will be highschoolers and they'll make bad
choices, put way choices, uh,not great decision.
Um, and so Zach is known inspecifically my grade as the
(20:45):
designated driver.
And so I was talking to Zach oneday.
I was like, how far would youdrive, like to get someone home
safe?
I'd probably drive like twohours.
Especially if it was you.
Alright.
Alright, that makes sense.
And so that, I mean that just,you know.
Might be a business willingnessto make sure everyone's safe.
There might be a businessopportunity in there if there's
(21:06):
a ride board or some kind of aposter you could put up in your
school.
Don't, don't worry, Zach.
Zach has taken, taken up alittle bit of business
opportunity on it, and me andZach have done a couple, uh, we
did a wedding together thissummer and we got paid for the
wedding plus tips.
That was, that was pretty sweet.
That is a brilliant idea.
And I, I just wanna mentionsomething that as you lads go
(21:27):
off to college.
There will be plenty ofopportunities to make bad
choices, and I've already talkedabout this a little bit, but let
me give you some advice, somefatherly advice is a guy who's
got three kids that have gonethrough college.
There is nothing more fun.
I.
Than being the sober guy arounda whole bunch of drunk people.
And then you can judge them andmake fun of them behind their
(21:50):
back.
Oh geez.
I know, I know.
This is the Kindness Chronicles,but deep down inside, there's
nothing wrong with being the guythat's taking notes and say,
Hey, do you remember when you,you know, whatever, you know,
fill in the blank.
25 years down the road, you willhave that on those people and
you might be able to use it toyour advantage.
(22:10):
That's right.
Just a thought.
I, I think me and Zach havealready used that one.
A couple.
Okay.
Very good.
Well, we just wanna thank youguys.
I will tell you that, uh, you'llbe receiving some information if
you haven't already, from, uh, awoman named Elizabeth Zerus and
she is our, uh, scholarship.
administrator and she will takecare of making sure that your
(22:33):
school gets the money and thosetype of things.
But again, so grateful that youguys took the time.
Thank you so much, Brooks, for,uh, making this a surprise.
Vicki, I swear it's not a, ascam.
Um, not a scam.
And in addition to that, Iencourage you guys next year
when you're away at college toreapply, you know, tell a story
(22:55):
of somebody.
In your school for the SelflessScholar, but in addition to
that, apply for those undergradscholarships because now that we
know your name, we might pushthat one aside, if you know what
I mean.
Say, yeah, we got a leg up here.
Let's pay a little extraattention to these two.
Yeah, I like the fun of that.
And those ones are like$12,000scholarships.
(23:15):
Now we're getting into the bigmoney now.
Big.
The best burgers in the state ofMinnesota don't.
On, uh, Josh White's, uh, tabdown there.
He's got a nice open tab.
I get a tab, do the Masoniccharities, they'll take good
(23:37):
care of you.
Just make sure that the house iswell stocked with toilet paper.
Why would I go there?
Why would I say something likethat?
I, I, come on man.
I just wanna say thank you, bothof you, gentlemen, and, and
Vicki, uh, and even Vicki'shusband and Vicky's husband.
I don't know who that is, whothat is.
He's back there somewhere.
Um, I just wanna say thank youfor, uh, for applying for this,
(23:58):
but also more importantly,thanks for being out there and
continue to, to be kind peopleout in this world.
We need you guys.
Keep going, keep pushing it and,uh, we really love that you've
been a part of this.
Thank you.
And go, Yoda.
And with that, off we go.
welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world with adose of the Minnesota kindness
that it desperately needs.
Yeah, we got Steve Brown in thestudio.
We got the, uh, 55-year-oldintern, Jeff Hoffman in with us
today.
Hey everyone.
Kevin Gorg.
Where are we calling you at?
I'm in, uh, beautiful on thisrainy gloomy.
(00:36):
Yeah, I'm building my arc rightnow.
I already started.
And then we have a fun guestfrom Dover, Yoda, Minnesota,
which is 10 miles east ofRochester.
His name is Brooks Anderson.
Brooks, are you there?
Howdy.
Hello, Brooks.
Brooks is one of our selflessscholar nominators, and we are
(00:57):
going to be having Brooks.
I don't know if the technology'sgonna work, but Brooks, uh,
seems we'll cross our fingers.
He's a little smarter than therest of us.
Brooks is gonna call his pal,Zach.
We're gonna merge that again.
Who doesn't know that we'recalling him, right?
Well, we don't know if he knows.
Okay.
But we, I talked to his mom.
I have kept it a secret.
You've kept it a kept a secret.
Nice.
Yep.
I have.
It's been hard.
(01:18):
I've seen him every day and I'vehad to be like, biting my
tongue.
Okay, Brooks.
So why don't you call him, mergehim in and let us, uh.
We'll, we'll take it from there.
All right, sounds good.
I'm gonna, here we go.
Calling him right now.
Calling him right now.
This is big.
It's exciting.
I hope the technology works.
I'm a little nervous.
Okay, so how about that?
(01:39):
Uh, maple Leaves game lastnight.
Jesus, 6 0 1.
It's like Lucy and Charlie Brownon the football.
It's same old thing.
Okay.
Hopefully this works.
Fingers crossed.
Uh, hello, is this Zach?
Uh, this is Hey, Zach, you areon the Kindness Chronicles
podcast.
(01:59):
Welcome, sir.
I got permission from yourmother this weekend, so it's all
cool, man.
So can't say no to mom.
Yep.
So Zach, you probably arewondering what the hell is going
on here.
So let me explain what's goingon.
Your friend Brooks.
Wrote up a beautiful nominationof his friend Zach, for a
(02:21):
scholarship that we call theSelfless Scholar.
I'm with Minnesota MasonicCharities.
we do these scholarships and weare surprising you with a
scholarship.
The way our scholarship works isinstead of asking Brooks to tell
us about what a wonderful guyBrooks is, we ask Brooks to
identify one of the people inhis life that has made a
(02:42):
meaningful difference to thosearound him.
And what's unique about thisscholarship is the scholarship
award of$5,000 is split betweenthe person who does the
nominating and the person who isnominated.
So you got a$2,500 scholarshipcoming your way, congrat.
Congratulations.
Congratulations.
Nice job guys.
His parents in the background,his parents are in the
(03:03):
background, okay?
So I always like to say 2,500bucks ain't gonna get you very
far in a modern education, butyou know, it don't matter if
you're making$25 an hour, hejust saved you two and a half
weeks worth of worth of work.
So, thank you Brooks.
So, Brooks, Brooks, why don'tyou tell us?
(03:23):
Do you have access by the way,Zach?
Um, on the line we have, uh.
If you're a Minnesota wild fan,uh, Kevin Gorg, who's one of the
sportscasters for, for theMinnesota Wild, we got a guy by
the name of Steve Brown.
Hey Brooks, uh, Brooks and Zach.
Um, and then we got Hi Zach,Steve Brown, who is, well, he's
the lead singer of a verypopular band.
(03:43):
If you were alive in thenineties, he has no idea, which
you weren't, so that's fine.
Kind of a big deal back then,especially man.
And then we have a 55-year-old,uh, intern in here with us.
But anyways, Brooks named Jeff.
Do you have a co His name isJeff.
Do you have a copy of thenomination that you wrote?
I do, yeah, I have right infront of me right now.
Lets you kindly read that forus.
Yeah, absolutely.
(04:06):
Zach is a classmate of mine whoI've been friends with for quite
some time.
Zach is the one of the mostoutstanding people I know, both
in school and out of school.
Zach volunteers on the YodaAmbulance crew as an mt, as well
as bouncing, playing soccer,being Eagle Scout, being in band
honor of Southeast Minnesota andbeing dual enrolled.
PSEO student.
Zach has liberty of making surepeople get home safety when
(04:29):
they're not able to drivethemselves home for any reason.
He would drive two hours just tomake sure you got home safely
and did not endanger yours oranyone else's lives.
It was Zach's influence that ledme to do the same and make sure
people are getting home safelyand being smart when, when doing
so, Zach, to me, speaks.
(04:52):
Phone charging station in theparks of that he built for
anyone to use for free.
Speaking to how much he loveshis community this year, he has
not only been a great friend,but outta the goodness of his
heart, was my tutor for my PSEOchemistry class that I was
struggling in.
Every week he would come over tomy house and he would help me
with whatever I needed, even ifI.
(05:15):
I believe Zachary deserves thisaward because he has all these
things, not for money or forfriends, but outta the goodness
of his heart and to take care ofhis community.
Wonderful.
Wow.
Wonderful, Zach.
What a guy.
Very cool.
So Zach, we have some, I havesome questions for you.
Brooks mentioned that you'reeating frozen pizza.
I'm assuming that he, he meantthat the frozen pizza has been
(05:35):
prepared properly.
Is that accurate?
Yes.
Don't worry, don't worry.
Okay, so tell us about your,I've really it a couple times.
So you're an EMT.
I'm currently an emr, so justone step below that, but I still
get to a lot of stuff.
Same.
Same thing.
Same thing.
Come on, come on.
(05:56):
Close enough from ourperspective.
Yeah, you are.
That's cool.
Why let the facts get in the wayof a good story, right?
That's what we always like tosay.
So the EM.
So you're, so basically he's an,okay.
So as, uh, uh, do you aspire todo something in your, uh, in
your career in the medicalworld?
(06:16):
Yeah.
So I'm hoping to become abiomedical engineer.
Oh boy.
So I can help make prostheticsor like artificial organs.
So wait a second by, so nowyou're at a different pay grade
than all the people that are onthis podcast.
What does a bio, what does abiomedical engineer, there's a
lot of syllables in those words.
I've heard all of the words, butnot put together making.
(06:38):
So give us an example of whatthat, you know, so making
prosthetics, how, yeah.
How does, so how did you decidethat this was something that
you're interested in doing?
ever since I was a kid, I'vebeen building with Legos and as
I've been getting older, I'vebeen increasing the, uh,
complexity of them.
So now I've got motors and Ialways thought it would be fun
to like build arms and stuff.
(07:00):
So that's what I've been doingwith Legos.
Been really fun.
I'm unbelievable.
Pick it up a level.
Very cool.
Okay.
So you're different than, thanwe are.
Um, I actually, in our a lotharder, that's for, well that's,
that's not a very high bar, Mr.
Wild.
Um, we happen to be in ourstudio.
(07:20):
We are surrounded by, uh, Legosets.
In fact, my son Ben, who is, uh,now a graduate of college, he's
got, let's see, I see theTitanic.
Wow.
I didn't know that was, I see ahuge, uh.
Huge.
Eiffel Tower.
Millennium Falcon behind you,millennial Falcon.
And he's got all the big ones,but, but what he doesn't have
are mechanical arms.
Nope, he does not.
So that's, uh, we're gonna haveto challenge him to ramp up his
(07:45):
game just a little bit.
Yeah.
Hey, let's go Brooks, let's goback to you for a second.
Um, how did you find out aboutthe scholarship program?
so.
Mason, scholarship.
I don't remember which one itwas, but then I went onto like
the website and I looked at itand you have to, nominate
someone else.
The store, like I have theperfect person, the most
(08:07):
outstanding, community person,kindin.
and so, yeah, honestly, I justlike looked up the scholarship.
truth be told, I'm guessing fromtalking to you're, you're a
pretty decent student.
I do.
All right.
Okay.
Because those scholarships thatyou applied for would've been
one of our academicscholarships, and they are
(08:29):
incredibly.
Competitive.
well, I will encourage both ofyou guys next year when you're
at your college, whatevercollege you're at, to apply for
our undergraduate scholarshipbecause those scholarships,
frankly, larger money-wise Sothat's just a little piece of
advice.
Brooks, what are your plans fornext year?
I will be attending theUniversity of Minnesota Twin
(08:51):
Cities.
Okay.
Uh, and studying politicalscience on the free law track
with, uh, hopefully I'd like tominor in something, psychology,
criminal justice, something inthat.
Um, and yeah, kind of up in theair of as to what I'm gonna do
for.
(09:13):
So the first question I have asa, uh, I am a lawyer, and I'm
wondering, why would you wannado that to yourself?
I mean, why Put yourself throughthat?
My God, man.
lemme ask you, Zach, what, whatare your plans for next year?
obviously biomedicalengineering.
so I'll be, uh.
(09:37):
Zach, this is Steve.
So this is a surprise for you.
I'm guessing your parents are inthe background there.
That's your parents talking.
That's the, yeah, that's, yes,they did.
Okay, What do you think of this?
You don't know who we are,you've probably never, you know,
listened to this podcast, whichyou will now, but, um, you're
gonna love it probably afterthis.
But, um, what, what's goingthrough your mind right now?
Are you, are you like, wait,what, what am I, what am I into?
(09:59):
What's happening?
Like, what are you thinkingabout this moment right now?
And what do you, tell us alittle bit about your friend
Brooks?
That was a really long question.
Well, I know it's deep.
It's.
I was still pretty surprisedthat this is all going on.
So I'm pretty happy that, Imean, getting money for college
is great and all, and I'm reallypleased that Brooks, uh,
nominated me.
That was really nice him to do,and I'm thinking I have to come
(10:21):
visit him with a diet Dr.
Pepper.
There, there go.
You're speaking my language,Jack.
So, um, Zach, real quick, wouldyou mind handing your phone to
your mother?
Oh boy.
Uh oh.
Oh boy.
Yep.
Hi.
Hi, mom.
So I talked to Mom.
Mom.
Tell us who you are.
(10:43):
I'm Vicky.
Zach's mom.
Vicky.
Vicky.
I just have to tell you this, Italked to Vicki over the
weekend.
And Vicki was concerned thatthis might be a scam and maybe
it is.
It's still early to tell.
We don't know for sure.
You know, we can, we can pullone over those people from Yoda
down there, and so we're goingfor good radio here.
Good, good podcasting moments.
(11:04):
Yeah.
This is all you're being punkedright now.
So anyway, Vicki, you hadmentioned something and I'm
hoping that you would be willingto talk about this.
It almost sounds like.
Our friend Brooks might be a,uh, a, a guy who would've
qualified as a recipient of theSelfless Scholar.
Can you tell us about yourimpressions of Brooks?
Brooks is a wonderful friend toZachary.
(11:26):
Um, very nice young man who hastaken a liking to my other.
Very welcoming and lovingtowards them and gives them high
fives every time he sees them.
So he's a wonderful individualhimself.
(11:48):
That is so wonderful to hear.
I Crazy talented and, and crazytalented.
Crazy talented.
Not just regular talented.
Crazy talented.
What kind of, what kind oftalents does Brooks have?
Steve Brown would appreciatehis, uh, work.
This guy can play.
I mean, this guy can, like, he'son drum set like nobody says.
(12:11):
So I did hear that.
I heard This is Jeff.
Did you say jazz band?
You're hoping for next year?
yeah, possibly depends on, um,how my track season end.
We have a whole bunch musicianshere.
Love.
We got bunch of drummer nerds.
Here we go.
Here on the podcast.
Now we're, now we're gettingsomewhere.
Oh God.
That's really cool.
Yeah, this is it.
Why don't you guys take over?
How long have you guys knowneach other?
(12:32):
Zach and Brooks?
oh God.
Uh, we went to, we went todaycare together.
Wow.
Wow.
Oh wow.
Childhood friends 16 years ago.
That's my wife got together.
That's cool.
Yep.
And we were friends allthroughout elementary, middle
school, high school.
We've gone through so manydifferent phases of like, it'll
be like six months completelylocked in on doing a certain
(12:52):
activity and it'll be the nextactivity.
I caught that Zach was an EagleScout, uh, or at least his
working on his Eagle Scoutproject.
Brooks, are you in scouts withhim?
Nope.
Never a scout.
We have another Eagle Scouthere.
Zach.
Fellow Eagle Scout here.
And tell us a little about yourpublic phone charging station.
What would, what's that allabout?
one of the things that we hadnoticed was there was not really
(13:14):
any place to charge your phoneor devices out at our park.
So we basically built,, chargingstations and we installed them
at the parks for people to use.
So, wow.
Solar application.
So, wait a second.
They require electricity.
I would assume.
I'm not great at math, but Iwould assume that this requires
electricity.
(13:35):
So, I mean, were you likedigging holes and looking for a
wire to connect it to, or howdid that work?
they're completely powered bysolar.
So we have a large solar panelon top.
It feeds into the battery, whichpower our charging cords and our
wireless charging, uh, station.
We're in over our skis here.
Boy, that's cool.
I love it.
I have a feeling that somedaysoon we're gonna be walking down
(13:57):
Nicolet Mul and we're gonna seea guy with a Lego arm and we're
gonna know who's responsiblefor, uh, putting that together.
We're gonna say, looks like Zachwas here.
another quick question forBrooks.
are one of you guys a lacrosseplayer?
No.
I just happened to have alacrosse ball in my room for
(14:17):
whatever reason.
it's a good weapon.
Good weapon.
Well, because here's why I saythat as this is the Kindness
Chronicles.
I watched a lacrosse match theother day.
We have a, a neighborhood ladwho my son grew up with, who's
in his fifth year at Notre Dame,and he is, uh.
A lacrosse player, and I'venever really watched lacrosse.
(14:37):
There's not a lot of kindnessgoing on on lacrosse fleet.
Oh yeah.
It's rough.
It's the only games.
It's fast where you can, it'spretty physical.
You can whack people with thestick and it's like allowed.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's physical.
I mean in hockey, K, it's on thedraft.
What's that?
I'm sorry.
Hockey on the grass.
But you're not allowed people inhockey kg, come on.
(14:58):
Well.
Couple years ago.
Oh, that's true.
Some of that stuff gets let go.
But no, lacrosse is incredibleto watch.
Yeah.
I just, I can't believe therearen't more injuries.
To your point, John, it'sextremely physical.
I just heard lacrosse ball and Ithought, okay, maybe these guys
aren't as smart as I thoughtthat they were.
(15:18):
You know, that's, uh, they'retoo smart for that.
We're we, we have a baseballfamily over here and that's
where, you know, the cerebralpeople spend their time in the
spring of the year.
Hmm.
Um, did are for sure, did I hearone of you as a track person?
Yeah, that's, that's, uh, that'sme.
Brooks.
Brooks.
So Brooks, what, uh, what do youcompete and track?
I'm only a high jumper.
(15:40):
Oh.
Oh, wow.
And he's really good at that.
What's your personal best?
six foot five inches.
Okay.
Wow.
Holy god.
Wow.
That's incredible.
Does it go that high in Yoda?
we try to make it.
I, my goal is to, uh, high jumpat the U of M next year.
Oh wow.
Like where I need to be to jumpv1, um, I guess, sorry, big 10
(16:02):
d1.
But, um, I mean, it's my goalto, uh, high jump next year at
the University of Minnesota.
I assume you're not gonna be,commuting from Yoda to, the Twin
Cities every day?
Are you?
Oh, do you know where you'regonna be living yet?
I won't know until the last weekof July.
Oh, no.
Do you know who your roommate'sgonna be?
I do know who my roommate is.
I've known him also for about15, 16 years.
(16:25):
He's like my, he's one of myother best friends.
Uh, he's from a little towncalled Chatfield, Minnesota,
which is about five miles.
You know, Chatfield?
They got one heck of a wrestlingprogram.
Oh yeah.
Yes.
On behalf of your parentswrestling and football, on
behalf of your parents, makegood choices young man.
Is your, uh, is your Chatfieldbuddy a wrestler?
(16:46):
actually he's a basketballplayer.
Oh, okay.
And player.
So he was never really into theguys since you are both., Uh,
recipients or will be recipientsof this award?
Um, yeah, the check is in themail.
Yeah.
No, but, uh, I just wanna know,what's your influences?
(17:07):
What, why, why are you, the wayyou are?
What's, what brings you guys tothis spot in, in this modern
world with all the things that,go on with social media, all
that kinda stuff.
What creates your dispositionand uh, is it your friendship
together?
Do you inspire each other?
Gimme a little of that.
I'd say we just kind of buildoff of each other.
I mean, I try to keep smartdecisions happening and he kind
(17:30):
of reinforces that and we justkind of build off each other in
that sense.
That's great.
Huh?
Eventually it all comes back.
You know, I believe in karma.
You know, you do good things,good things that come back to
(17:51):
you.
It's also a little bit of a bethe change you wanna see.
You know, I see there's a lot ofhate in this world.
You know, you see it on the,the, the age of social media and
how it's changed, how weperceive things, how much hate
is going around.
And I think that if I try tobring more good in this world,
hopefully it'll spread around topeople around me and then, you
know, kind of change thedirection of how.
(18:12):
Nice.
Well, I can tell we got noquestion.
I know.
And, and when I talked to, uh,Zach's mom, she mentioned that
Brooks, definitely can hold hisown when it comes to a
conversation.
And as you can tell by thatanswer, I think that a, that a
courtroom might be a perfectplace for you.
That's pretty cool.
Also, maybe we should, maybe weshould consider, maybe, is Vicki
a little bit of a, uh,inspiration as well?
(18:34):
I mean, you, I would assumethat, gotta throw a little to
the parents, right?
Mom and dad, right, Zach?
The proper answer is, well, it'smy mom and dad.
Dad.
You go, yeah.
But you know.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, if you want extradessert tonight, I might go down
that road.
Brooks, I have a, I just had aquick question for Brooks.
Tell, tell me like, did.
You, you said you, you alluded alittle bit to the US or this
(18:56):
with, uh, the, the scholarshipopportunities, but what, what
was the catalyst that made youdecide to write about your
friend and some of the thingsthat we heard about in the
opening story as we werereading, as we were hearing
about the nomination I don'tthink I can really contribute to
one specific thing.
It's been over the course of,15, 16 years.
(19:18):
People have come and gonethroughout my life, people have
been nice, people have beenmean, but I mean, there's been a
single constant factor throughthe entirety of my life, and
that Zach has been the kindestperson I know.
I think that he deserves to getsome recognition for it.
I love that.
Yeah.
And maybe even Zach shared hisjuice box with Brooks back maybe
when they were two or threeyears old.
(19:40):
No.
Started their comradery.
Yeah.
Zach has, Zach's brought memany, many, uh, food, um, in
class.
And, uh, actually this, so meand Zach played soccer together
this fall, and I, I was playingfootball at the same time as
soccer.
I always forget.
And so, uh, Zach always brought,I had, he had these granola bars
(20:02):
and they're just delicious.
And he always brought one for meand he always gave one to me.
So, I mean, I like, there's justanother, you know, reason of why
Zach's just one of the greatestpeople in the world.
And Dr.
Diet, Dr.
Peppers, apparently Brooks, oneof the things, yeah.
Diet Dr.
Pepper Brooks.
It's Jeff again.
One of the things that it, um.
My attention was that Zach willdrive two auto, two hours out of
(20:24):
his way for, to get people homesafely.
Is there a, a story behind that?
Could you talk a little, talk alittle bit more about that?
Is there a Yeah, an example orwhy, why did Zach start doing
that?
high schoolers will be highschoolers and they'll make bad
choices, put way choices, uh,not great decision.
Um, and so Zach is known inspecifically my grade as the
(20:45):
designated driver.
And so I was talking to Zach oneday.
I was like, how far would youdrive, like to get someone home
safe?
I'd probably drive like twohours.
Especially if it was you.
Alright.
Alright, that makes sense.
And so that, I mean that just,you know.
Might be a business willingnessto make sure everyone's safe.
There might be a businessopportunity in there if there's
(21:06):
a ride board or some kind of aposter you could put up in your
school.
Don't, don't worry, Zach.
Zach has taken, taken up alittle bit of business
opportunity on it, and me andZach have done a couple, uh, we
did a wedding together thissummer and we got paid for the
wedding plus tips.
That was, that was pretty sweet.
That is a brilliant idea.
And I, I just wanna mentionsomething that as you lads go
(21:27):
off to college.
There will be plenty ofopportunities to make bad
choices, and I've already talkedabout this a little bit, but let
me give you some advice, somefatherly advice is a guy who's
got three kids that have gonethrough college.
There is nothing more fun.
I.
Than being the sober guy arounda whole bunch of drunk people.
And then you can judge them andmake fun of them behind their
(21:50):
back.
Oh geez.
I know, I know.
This is the Kindness Chronicles,but deep down inside, there's
nothing wrong with being the guythat's taking notes and say,
Hey, do you remember when you,you know, whatever, you know,
fill in the blank.
25 years down the road, you willhave that on those people and
you might be able to use it toyour advantage.
(22:10):
That's right.
Just a thought.
I, I think me and Zach havealready used that one.
A couple.
Okay.
Very good.
Well, we just wanna thank youguys.
I will tell you that, uh, you'llbe receiving some information if
you haven't already, from, uh, awoman named Elizabeth Zerus and
she is our, uh, scholarship.
administrator and she will takecare of making sure that your
(22:33):
school gets the money and thosetype of things.
But again, so grateful that youguys took the time.
Thank you so much, Brooks, for,uh, making this a surprise.
Vicki, I swear it's not a, ascam.
Um, not a scam.
And in addition to that, Iencourage you guys next year
when you're away at college toreapply, you know, tell a story
(22:55):
of somebody.
In your school for the SelflessScholar, but in addition to
that, apply for those undergradscholarships because now that we
know your name, we might pushthat one aside, if you know what
I mean.
Say, yeah, we got a leg up here.
Let's pay a little extraattention to these two.
Yeah, I like the fun of that.
And those ones are like$12,000scholarships.
(23:15):
Now we're getting into the bigmoney now.
Big.
The best burgers in the state ofMinnesota don't.
On, uh, Josh White's, uh, tabdown there.
He's got a nice open tab.
I get a tab, do the Masoniccharities, they'll take good
(23:37):
care of you.
Just make sure that the house iswell stocked with toilet paper.
Why would I go there?
Why would I say something likethat?
I, I, come on man.
I just wanna say thank you, bothof you, gentlemen, and, and
Vicki, uh, and even Vicki'shusband and Vicky's husband.
I don't know who that is, whothat is.
He's back there somewhere.
Um, I just wanna say thank youfor, uh, for applying for this,
(23:58):
but also more importantly,thanks for being out there and
continue to, to be kind peopleout in this world.
We need you guys.
Keep going, keep pushing it and,uh, we really love that you've
been a part of this.
Thank you.
And go, Yoda.
And with that, off we go.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.