Hey, everybody. I'm Doug and that's Connor, and
this is the bethel school district presents podcast
connor. It is
graduation time across our great country and here
in the district and you have been a
busy photographer. How many graduation ceremonies have you
been to personally this past week. Well, Doug,
I am happy to say I've been up.
All over them. Every single 1 of them,
and there's been quite a few, and they've
all been lovely, and I love this time
of year and shout out to the grads.
Absolutely ass of 20 24, your future is
bright. You better get some shades as we
used to say in the eighties. Now, Connor
a staple of
graduation ceremonies is that commencement address here in
Bethel. It's given by our school board president.
This year it was Marcus as young senior,
and really, he delivered a fantastic
speech and hope and inspiration to all of
our graduates. Really, really enjoyed it. And if
you wanna hear it yourself, be sure and
check out our Youtube channel, check out any
of this year's graduation. And listened to that
speech, but it got me wondering,
thinking back to your college days, even your
high school days if you could have picked
your commencement
speaker.
Who would you have picked? Now keep in
mind,
you have to pick someone that was around
during that time. So for example, I know
you by you, I mean, me would pick
Taylor Swift, but when I graduated, she was,
like, 5. So I don't really wanna a
5 year old commencement speaker. So I would
have to pick 1 of my heroes of
the day, I think. So who would you
have 1 to speak? At either your high
school or your college graduation. Oh, that is
a fascinating
little conundrum of a question there, Doug. But
you can't keep popping these interesting questions on
me and expect me to just off the...
Top of my head have a equally fascinating
answer. So I'm gonna take a moment here
to really mold that over. I'm gonna kick
it back to you. Same question, Doug. Taylor
Swift aside, and no 5 year olds at
all. Who would you want speaking at your
graduation? Well, 1, we never. Put Taylor swift
aside. But, I guess, for this particular episode,
we're gonna have to. In high school without
a shadow of a doubt, I would have
wanted Eddie van Hale to come and give
a commencement address. Yes. I was that kid
with not that long hair, but I did
have a guitar, and I wanted to be
him a so so bad. Remember days mowing
the grass, listening to Van Hale and just
day drinking that the tour bus would get
lost and pull up in my parents little
called the Sac never happened. But in college,
I would have to say Quentin Tara, I
was a huge film buff And that really
started with Pulp Fiction in 19 94. So
I would say Quentin and Tara would be
an amazing commencement address speaker in 19 97
when I graduated to college, I would just
have loved to hear him 4 letter word
his way up and down at that stage.
2
fantastic perfectly of their time picks. Those could
not have been more eighties and early nineties.
So well done, sir. Thank you very much.
So the ball is back in your court
which celebrity is speaking at your graduation. Okay.
This 1 might seem a little out of
left field, but there is a backstory, which
I'll be happy to share. I'm going to
choose...
Mister Roger Mu
himself. Oh, boy. Danny
Glover. I heard he might be getting too
old for that stuff. You heard right
apparently. And the reason I'm picking this kind
of... I don't wanna say c list actor
because he's A list in my heart always
is because mister Glover was originally supposed to
be the graduation speaker. At my college graduation
at Uc Berkeley. Wow.
Yes. I was all... I was very excited.
But unfortunately, there was a... Strike happening at
my college at the time, and mister Glover
did not want to cross a picket line,
so he opted out of that, leaving us
with no graduation speaker at all. At the
time I was actually a little upset, I
wanted to hear Danny Glover. I love Danny
Glover, but now thinking back on it, it's
actually a little more interesting than he wasn't
there because I got a little story to
tell. But he does owe me 1. So
I get to go back and pick someone.
I'm picking him. You owe me Danny because
I love it. Hopefully he's listening. He'll please.
Many many weekly listeners off the top of
your head favorite
Danny Glover movie. I'll go first, I'm gonna
go with b kind
rewind from, I think 2008,
Danny Glover, Most def and Jack Black, are
really fun movie body creativity
and really, a a great watch. If we
haven't caught up with that 1. Well, and
that is a deep cut. I have actually
seen it. It is a great movie. But
I'm gonna go with the greatest. I'm gonna
go with Lethal Weapon 1 because it's the
gold standard. He's too old for this stuff
if it's on Tb is,
And it's a fantastic movie, and if you
haven't seen it, watch it with your children.
And fun fact, Lethal the Weapon 2, the
first r rated movie I saw in theater
and he was 35 years old.
Well, I love the Danny Glover Love, but
we do have some seniors to celebrate. Let's
head out. To our high schools now and
chat with some of the students there. Jacob
Ortega guy was a very busy guy this
year, not only was Bethel Has Asp b
vice president at member of the Fc fcc
l, but he also c founded his school's
very first asian student union.
Connor, you asked him why he wanted us
start that club.
Yeah. So last year, me and a few
friends got together, and we thought we should
really try start to get our culture represented
more at Bethel High school. So we decided
to start an asian student union.
We found an advisor. We got all the
thinking things together. And, yeah, it was just
a really good experience to be able to
represent our culture and to just share it
to the student body as a whole, and
it really felt nice things
knowing that people knew more about a culture?
That's amazing. And did you get a pretty
good turnout from students here? Yeah. We did
1 fundraiser. It was a
was a Bob shop takeover,
and we got around 253 hundred dollars from
that 1 fundraiser. And, yeah, the student body
really loved our club. It and I'm really
proud to say that I was 1 of
the first officers. So you're leaving your marker
here, and I know next year, you're heading
off to Washington State University to major in
biochemistry
with them, prem med pathway, So that sounds
impressive, but back to Bethel High school, what
have you enjoyed most about being a student
here at B? Yeah. What I enjoyed most
about being a student here is not only
the community, but just the diversity that I've
seen throughout the school, you know, I'm not
just seeing that. The same, you know, a
few people. I'm I'm meeting new people every
day, and I really love that because usually,
with high schools and just schools in general,
we get used to seeing the same few
people every day, but just being able to
meet new people, meaning, you know, learning new
names, even meeting new staff is just a
great experience here at Bethel, and I definitely
gonna hope it carries on to the next
building. Yeah. Great community here. And and what
do you think it is about Bethel high
that makes it... So special. I think all
the changes that we've went, you know, not
only the mask up, but, you know, going
through Covid.
All that going through all that together has
definitely made this class not only this class,
but just the entire school more closely knit
and just the resilience of this entire student
body has definitely made us a very special.
Canadian? Absolutely. And here's here's the big question.
Here's the 1 we've all been waiting for.
If you could have anyone speak at your
high school graduation.
Anyone at all? You pick them? Who are
you gonna pick and why?
Alright. Well, I don't filipino, so you know
I gotta go with the good old Joe
Koi.
I think that he'd bring a lot of
humor, and he'd definitely give us some good
words to leave with, you know, I think
we'd definitely be Joe. Local boy, Joe Coy
who actually went to span away the guys.
School. So he'd be kind of crossing,
the boundaries here to come over to Bethel,
but I bet he would do it. A
good answer. Excellent, and thank you, Jacob, and
good luck, at Steer.
I love the Jacob pic Joe Coy very
cool to have a celebrity comedian up there.
Musicians are also popular when it comes to
picking your celebrity commencement address folks, and Lily
Ryerson is all about music. She is. She's
a member of the chamber orchestra and was
actually the orchestra. Concert master And what what
is actually a concert master. Well, I'll let
Lily answer that.
So concert mask... Is a special roll each
section or each instrument part first violin second
violin in Viola Cello All have a principal
sir and that is essentially the leader. They'll
show people physically like, where we are in
the music as all as just having, like,
traditional leadership rules.
Also additionally,
traditionally concert master is the leader or the
principle of the first violin section and takes
on the added layer of responsibility of leading
the entire orchestra as a whole. So I'll
tune orchestra during concerts. I'll help lead the
class when miss gil isn't here, and
lead larger sectional,
and so, yeah, it's a great gig. So
with all that experience, it should come as
no surprise that you are interested in person
suing music as a career. It looks like
you're gonna go to Western
and study music. And with the idea of
becoming a teacher someday? Yes. So I was
very excited to be accepted into a Western
music education program,
especially as they're only able to... Accept 30
music education freshman each year. So I intend
to go to western in the fall. I
am intending to study under grant Don Ellen
who's they credible violin professor there.
I have the wonderful opportunities in career paths
ahead of me. I'm looking into teaching at
a high school middle school or elementary level,
potentially opening my own violin studio and teaching
private lessons, and I'm very interested did in
a,
career of performance as well. Wow, that is
fantastic and.
Congratulations for that. What has been the best
part about being AGK student these 4 years.
I've owned unfortunately only had the opportunity to
be AGK student for 2 years, but I
think in those 2 years, I've really gotten
the full experience.
I'm super,
involved with the arts here. I've part of
Drama Club as well as, all my orchestra
stuff, which we've already discussed.
I love being a part of Orchestra. It's
such a family, and the same thing is
true with Drama Club well I love the
opportunities that we have for the arts here
at G k and the opportunities we have
to make lasting memories and build.
Incredible communities that... And 1 of my favorite
parts about these communities is kind of shepherd
under and showing them the possibilities of what
it will be like, as they work through
this
education system and just kind of seeing the
hope and excitement of all great levels as
they advance through
the programs.
Wow Lily is really impressive. I'm sure we're
gonna hear big things from her in the
future. Absolutely. And... Speaking of impressive students. I
also got a chance to speak with challenger
high school senior, Lance Garcia. Lance has a
really diverse set of interest said engineering. Art,
El and contemporary world issues. When he wasn't
in class, he was out shooting photos or
winning awards for his scholarship.
And you asked him about his plans after
graduation.
Well, I'm wanting to doing the trades and
maybe work with Boeing.
Excellent, Boy. That's a that's a great 1
to get into, and we're lucky to have
them so close. So challenger is such a
great school. I absolutely love this school. What
do you love most about challenger. I like
that the teachers have enough time to actually
care about the students and actually help us
when we need to ask for help. Just
It's an easier environment to ask for hope?
It's not as a nerve wracking to ask
for help here. And what makes this school
so special? How's has it been special to
you during your? Years here. It's helped me
a lot. Before I transferred here, I did
not get very good grades, and there was
not, you know, the honor student that I
am now. 3 but I was able to
actually
become the honorable student that I am and
work on my grades a lot better and
become better version of myself. That's so cool.
And I love the challenger
has such a supportive environment and does nurture
students into becoming the best versions of themselves.
So this is the question that's kinda goofy
question, and I I popped it on the
last minute. So take your time if you
need it. If you could have anyone celebrity,
non celebrity person. Throughout history,
anybody at all,
speak at your graduation. Maybe give you a
good motivational speech
who would you choose and more importantly why?
Jensen and.
He's he's been a favorite celebrity mine for
years, should it be very inspirational? I am
old and out of touch I don't know
who that is. Can for for the other
old out of touch people like me Can
you explain who that is. He stars in
supernatural as the main character Dean Winchester. He's
also in the boys as
soldier boy, and many other, like, early 2
thousands
movies and stuff,
Connor, I can't believe you didn't know who
Jensen
is. You don't really know Jensen and is.
Do you? No. I have no idea So
let's move forward with our final senior feature
here. Span Lake High school senior Zen later,
has the interesting perspective.
Of being both a star basketball player and
a member of her school state champion cheer
leading squad, of You talked to her about
some of the highlights of competing in both
of those sports.
1 highlight for me from...
Basketball is that we went to playoffs, and
I got to, like, know my team better
and experience
different
relationships. And then 1 for chair would be,
of course, we won't state, but, also,
chair camp, when I got nominated for all
American,
and I got a leadership board. Yeah. Those
are awesome big things right there. Do you
also have some big plans for after graduation.
You wanna study biology and go on to
med school to eventually become an Ob g.
Where did that goal come from? It was
a goal that I started off when I
was young. I think like 10, but I
think it mainly came from
the shows and, like, movies that I grew
up watching.
I love criminal minds and grey's anatomy, and
I kinda got my interest from there, but
also the fact that I love children,
and I love helping others, so it just
all worked out for me? Yeah. That's amazing.
Good career choices for helping people. So what
would you say you have enjoyed most about
being a student that's. Ban Lake High school.
What I have enjoyed most about being a
student at Sp Lake High school would be
all the bonds that I, Created, especially because
it's only my second year here. So when
I first came here, I was little nervous,
but, like, after getting to know everyone I
just kinda started to fit in, and I
especially think my peers and my teachers
because they made been a lake, like, a
second home for me. And my teachers pushed
me past, like, my limit and knew what
I could handle. And it just helped me
for when I go to college?
And you talked about it a little bit
right there, but what what else would you
say make Span or Lake high school so
special?
I would... Say just the fact that the
teachers
prepare you for life outside of high school
and not like inside high school, like, they
push you to do more than what you
think you can do as far as, like,
whether it's not with activities or with school
work or just like, other things that you
may have to do with outside school like
jobs.
They just put in a lot of effort
and they care, and they wanna make sure
that everyone is in the right position to
succeed. Okay. And... Here's the Goofy 1. If
you could choose anyone in the world. Famous,
not famous, live dead, someone from history, the
to speak at your high school graduation, maybe
give you a motivational speech, who would you
choose and more importantly, why?
I think I would choose Jay Cole
because
Jay Cole speaks a lot of
life, like, in his music, and he speaks
a lot of, like, facts and
things that actually pertain to the world, and
that just send out a big message. So
I think it would do great with
sharing a message
out with not only me, but everyone else
Well, that is gonna wrap up this week's
show, Connor, thank you for going out and
interviewing those seniors really great here for from
our students, and we wish them and all
the other
1300.
Bethel School District graduates this year, the ver
very very best best wishes to them and
their families, and we will chat with you
all next week.