Hey, everybody. I'm Doug. That's Connor and this.
Is the Bethel School District presents podcast. We
are talking summer school today. Connor is gonna
pack up the recording gear and head on
over to Span Way lake High school to
talk to a teacher and a student About
an amazing trip. They just took as a
class to the museum of Popular, culture in
Seattle, Connor, have you ever been up to
the museum previously known as the experienced music
project. Sharp.
I have not. Even though I lived in
Seattle for a long time. 1 of those
things I never got to. Always wanted to
go. You actually would probably really enjoy. In
my favorite part they actually have a a
science fiction museum that's tacked onto it kind
of, but they have what I've heard is
a pretty incredible nirvana exhibit. And you are
quite the fan. A I am quite the
fan. I actually
mentioned this on the show before, but I
was looking enough to see Nirvana live,
19 93,
I believe,
what a show what experience love that band.
So that's 1 more reason to get up
there, and it could be argued.
Nay, it should be argued
that Kurt cob is the voice of his
generation. I have heard this argument.
So many times. I'm sorry. I'm gonna keep
making it. I come in talking about it.
I leave talking about it. It's a bit
of an obsession of mine. So
let's see here, Doug. We come from different
generations. You'll give me that once you. I
will not... Really 4 years apart. But they're
very important for you. So in your eyes,
who is the
cultural
voice, of your generation. What do you got
through
Buster Keaton?
Foster Keaton. That's a really good pull. And
for our younger listeners, Buster Keaton is a
fantastic silent film star right alongside Charlie Chaplin.
Go check it out. That's your homework. For
everybody else, the voice of my
generation I think this question is pretty tough
actually because it's not who my favorite artists
are. We're talking about millions of people in
my generation. So I'm gonna... My bets here,
and I'm gonna give you 3 with no
explanation because I think they speak for themselves.
Whitney Houston.
Prince
And
for me, we're at all yank quebec. Wow.
That's a diverse
list and bizarre
I have no arguments against any of those
pigs. I love it. Fantastic. Didn't think I'd
sneak weird a by, but he did just
have a new song come out. So... Still
relevant. Well, I'm gonna head over to Span
High school right now where I will ask
our teacher and student who they view, as
the cultural voice of their generations.
Joining us today is Span Lake, High school,
summer school teacher, Chris Williams, and Chris during
the regular school year, you teach a host
of Ct courses here especially the High school.
Tell us what you teach in the summer.
Social media mark. And part of that summer
class, we're in our second session of that
right now. But part of that in your
first session, you guys are all able to
head over to the mop opted a museum
of pop culture in Seattle. Can you tell
us how that came to be? We try
to find field trips that actually
help students
the experience something that they haven't experienced before
and expose them to career opportunities that they
maybe have ever been exposed to. And so
what we did is we reached out directly
to the director of marketing for the mop
pop and and just asked if we could
create a program where we
had them speak to our students, and then
give our students a challenge.
Our students created some social media content for
them. They judge those,
awarded prizes for winners, and then we got
to go on a field trip there. And
Alexis is also joining us. She is an
incoming freshman at Span Way lake High school,
and you are actually in both of these
courses you were in the first session that
got to go to Mop pop and you're
in this current second session right now. What
was Mop pop like for you? Had you
been there before? I've never been to mop
pop before. And
it was a fun experience because I'm younger,
and it was just cool to see things
that are, like, as old as me or
older than me, and I was able recognize
them. And 1 of the cool things about
Mop pop is
it is cutting edge, You know, and that...
That's across the board. They... I mean, it's
a it's a beautiful facility,
a lot of really talented people work there,
and I assume that carries over into their
social media department.
What were some of the things it's that
your students were able to learn, because I
understand you actually got to spend some time
with their social media team. What was some
of the things that your students were able
to learn from their social media team. Yeah.
That's a great question. So 1 of the
big things that kind of stood out to
a lot of our students was how their
social media directors and and some of their
employees got their their start because they walked
through their...
You know, how they got into social media
and how they ended up with mop. And
and they give them some great advice. 1
of them was just their go out create
content for free for local businesses,
and that's what led
On
into
getting networking into and getting her job. It
it really is something you could start as
a high school and get that experience. Is
this something that has any interest to you
at all? Entering the world of social media
or marketing? At first know, but then when
she started talking about how she got started
with her career and started making money, it
wasn't at first, Like, she wasn't making money,
and it was kinda inspiring to me because
usually, kids my age and including myself. We...
Wanna start out making money and just get
money, like, right away. But seeing that, like,
she was starting out, like, differently on a
different path, and she worked her way it
was really cool. So Chris and I we
come from a generation where I assume we're
roughly the same age where... We grew up
there wasn't
Twitter. There wasn't Facebook. There wasn't social media.
Whereas Alexis, your generation, this is all innate.
From... I'm... I imagine from the time you
can remember there were these social media things.
So I imagine you're already pretty good at
this. What were some of the things you
learned in your social media marketing class that
you can use in your personal? Wife. Probably
just being intentional with your content that you're
making.
I always thought that it was just to
make a video and then hope for the
best. That it will go viral, but there
was, like, a lot more thinking
behind it? Like, what's your target audience? And
what's your intent with it? Like, are you
making an impact on the world or not.
And it kind of reflects something, like, my
life, like, am I making an impact with
the things that I say or not.
Absolutely. And that's really interesting and good way
to look at it. I think, a healthy
way to look at social media. So, Chris,
a lot of these students, I'm sure are
expert. In their own right, probably some of
them have thriving social media channels. Were there
things that you learn from students that you're
like, oh, in that wasn't in my, kind
of repertoire and maybe I'll add it into
another session. Yeah. Not so much in this
session, but in the past, I've had a
student that right now has a half million
subscribers on Youtube, and it just opened my
mind up to, like, there's this whole niche
that she's targeted
that is a huge and it's exploding and
it's relevant to teenagers in our in our
school system right now. And so it's There's
been a lot of those that happen over
time. Let's take it back a little bit
because this is a really interesting field to
get into as a teacher. What made you
wanna be a teacher in the first place
and what led you into the Ct. Field.
Yeah. That's a good question. So my background
I had 0 interest in being a teacher
when I graduated high school, degree was an
economics
went off, ran hospitals,
started a company sold the company, did a
bunch of investing,
got into profit work, ended up in the
Philippines, because I I lived there for a
couple years, and there was a big typhoon
that went through there.
And
while I was there, we we re helped
rebuild after the typhoon, and
And for the Nations, we help put together
their livelihood recovery plan. And part of that
was
because the coconut trees had all been leveled
by the... The tsunami that came through at
the beginning of the
the storm,
they
they don't reg grow for 10 years. And
so half of the population on Island had
no career for no work for 10 years.
So we... 1 of the things we helped
is to build a computer science. Island program
where
kids could go through and learn it an
early age and then start working for companies
abroad.
So when I came back to the Us,
I started consulting with
colleges and school districts, and I... This was
1 of the school. I was advising.
But the challenge of teaching was something that
was really exciting and really interesting to me.
And so so I've been here for
9 years, I think now. And and I
love. And I get to I've had a
lot of latitude to help bring programs to
the district. And so a lot of the
computer science programs I brought to the district
and the social media, project management course, those
that I thought. We've created those all ourselves,
and and they've had some really awesome impact
with those. That's 1 of the best teacher
origin stories. Because... We asked that question a
lot on the podcast, and we get a
lot of, oh, I wanted to be a
teacher since I was in second grades. And
so it's it's always nice to see people
come from the private sector and have kind
of a different route, but it's the same.
We all get the same place. So, Alexis...
Let's talk a little bit about summer school
versus
regular school, and you're in an interesting position
because you have not been to a regular
high school yet. So how would you compare
the summer school course to your regular school
last year at Span way middle.
I think it's a lot more different because
at Span away middle. I was... Going to
different classes, and it wasn't even for a
full hour, and I really got to focus
on, like, a bunch of things, but that's
summer school, I can focus on 1 class
and
just continuing to
brainstorm ideas that will just keep coming coming
because I'm in that class and in that
space. The whole time. You're young. You got
your whole high school career ahead of you.
But we do like to ask students if
they have plans for post
graduation. If you have some ideas for what
you'd like to do when you're an adult
out in the world. Honestly, I have no
idea in time is ticking. So if I'm
gonna start thinking about that like now. Well,
it's never too early, but I would say
time isn't ticking that fast. I mean, you
got plenty of time, so I wouldn't worry
about it too much. Speaking in a summer
school. In the media, at least, summer school
is always kind of this punishment. It's for
the bad kid the kid that screwed up,
how do you make your sessions exciting and
worthwhile for your students and not punishment. Yeah.
That's that's a great question because it starts
with making sure we have engaging talk... Epics.
So social media,
slightly engaging for the students.
After that, it's lots of relevant hands on
experience for them. So they're making content, they're
testing different strategies out, and then it's
and really backing up even more. It's about
tying what they're about to learn to their
own lives. So it's helping them see the
relevance of it so that as they...
Start down that path they're able to really
connect with the subject.
And then lastly, you know, it's it's
you know, making sure it's in a field
where there's lots of opportunities. So social media,
there's millions of things they can do. They
can create content for other people, create their
own content,
be consultants, all sorts of stuff. So it's
a fun class to teach. Yeah. I'm sure
there there are probably some classes that are
at a disadvantage math class, things like that.
Where you definitely have a a leg up
here because I'm sure the kids are interested
from the beginning. So let's take it back
to Mop pop. 1 of most popular areas
at the mop pop is the Nirvana exhibit
and it could be argued that Kirk Bean
was the most culturally significant musician of his
generation. My c host, Doug and I've been
arguing about this all morning,
Question is, who do you think the most
culturally significant musician of your generation and wine,
Alexis, I'm gonna start with you. Goodness.
Honestly,
I don't know. There's just a lot and
I feel like the simple answer would be
like Beyonce or something.
But, I don't know. I feel like Lady
Gaga is, like, pretty impactful because she didn't
have style like other people and it wasn't
playing based. Big.
Absolutely. And and Lady Gaga, also, you know,
touching many different genres. She's a musician. She's
acting just fashion. Know this So hard to
argue. I mean, that's a that's a good
argument. So Kris, what about you? So who
do you think is the most culturally impactful
musician of your? I'm gonna put that between
hendrix?
And Bob Marley. But I think I'd go
with Bob Marley. Okay. Now defend yourself. Why
Bob Marley. I think he made a movement
that was really significant
for a whole
population,
and brought to light and educated on... Something
that's really important to a whole generation,
in a in a positive and uplifting way.
Now, let's do a little experiment here with
a younger generation. Do you know who bob
Marley is? Yeah. What about Jimmy Hendrix? Yeah.
Okay. So they both passed the test in
that they have filtered down to the younger
generations? Well, thank you both so much for
being with us today. Really appreciate your answering
these questions and telling us about your awesome
experience at Mop. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.
Well, great interview, Connor, and fantastic Picks Bob
Marley and Lady. Gaga. You know weird out
does a fantastic parody born this way it's
called perform this way. Of course, she is
highly recommended. And Bob Marley 3 little birds
1 of my favorite songs all time. Absolutely
2 great picks and thank you again to
Alexis and Chris for chatting with us today.
We will see you next week.