The Nest Podcast
The official podcast of the Jefferson R-VII School District.
The Nest Podcast
Revisiting the Class of 2014
Revisit the vibrant journeys of Jefferson R-7's Class of 2014 with Superintendent David Haug, as he reconnects with Claire Johnston, Cole Lankford, and Jacob Hill to explore their remarkable post-graduation lives. Claire reveals her shift from an agriculture degree to becoming a dedicated middle school English teacher in Illinois, while Cole recounts his evolution from an athletic scholarship to discovering his true passion in teaching and coaching in New Jersey. Jacob shares his unique blend of IT and horticulture expertise, now applied in his project management role at Bayer, all while balancing family life with corporate responsibilities. Their stories illuminate how their high school experiences shaped both their professional and personal paths.
Travel back to the formative days at Jefferson High School, where the class of 2014 navigated the challenges and joys of a newly established institution. Relive the 2013 transitional period with insights from David Haug and the vital role played by Mr. Rourke in a smooth handover. Feel the excitement as Cole Lankford discusses his initial reservations about the new school, which evolved into a unique opportunity to build new traditions. From the collaborative rollout of Chromebooks to the cultural contributions of their class, this episode emphasizes the importance of mentorship and peer connections during these pivotal years.
Discover the immense benefits of early college courses and how programs like A-plus and dual enrollment paved the way for confident transitions to higher education. Hear personal anecdotes about the autonomy, leadership, and time management skills developed through hands-on projects and competitive sports. From creative video projects to unforgettable athletic successes, the class of 2014 shares memorable moments and the lasting camaraderie that defined their high school years. Join us in acknowledging the profound impact of these formative experiences and expressing heartfelt gratitude for the enduring bonds forged during their time at Jefferson High School.
Hey, I'm David Haug, Superintendent of Jefferson Star, 7th School District. It's a real honor for me today to join and meet back with some really a special class for me personally the class of 2014. As they begin to enter what they will have their reunion on August 17th, looking forward to having them back. Some of them are spread across the country. I'm so honored today to be joined by Claire Johnston we used to be Claire Welker here Cole Lankford and Jacob Hill. If you guys would kind of go through it's a little awkward sometimes we're doing a Zoom, but if you guys would kind of go through and let everybody know what you're doing right now. Claire, I'm going to kick it off with you.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, dr Haug, for allowing us to come talk about our class. I had a wonderful experience growing up in the R7 school district, so thank you for allowing us to come on here. I work as a teacher in Illinois. I actually I got my degree from I got my bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri in agriculture, and then I worked at a corporate office in St Louis for probably about it was six months or so and I realized the corporate world was not for me, and so I ended up going back to school to become a teacher. So I'm married. My husband's a police officer. That's why we live in Illinois. That's where his job is, and I work for a wonderful school district. It's the Triad School District. It encompasses three different communities and so they named it Triad, so the Triad School District. I teach English to middle schoolers.
Speaker 1:I call them sometimes hormonally challenged. So God bless you and thanks for taking that on, Mr Cole. What do you have for us?
Speaker 3:Thank you again. Just like Claire said, dr Howell, it's an honor to be back and even though it's virtual, it's nice to see some familiar faces from across the screen. It's been crazy since graduation. I can't believe it's already been 10 years. It went by like that. I feel like it was just a blink of an eye ago that I was sitting there in that room with you and Claire and some of the other graduates.
Speaker 3:But when I graduated from JHS I went on to Hannibal LaGrange University on an athletic scholarship. I competed there for two years and then I wanted a little bit of a change. So I came back to the St Louis area and I finished my last two years of both school and baseball at Fon Fon University up near Clayton. When I graduated from Fon Fon with my degree in business administration I went right into the workforce. I worked for AT&T and then I worked for afflac the the duck commercials, uh with nick saban. I worked with them for a little bit and then, um, I made the jump from missouri to manhattan and I worked on wall street with afflac for a little bit doing a lot of cold calling. I was actually right across the street from the new york Exchange. I was super out of place. Taking the subway in it was a major change.
Speaker 3:I went through some major changes going into the city, realizing that I didn't enjoy the city that much, especially Manhattan, and I didn't enjoy sales that much. So I made the transition, both a life transition and a career transition to where we moved out of Manhattan and we moved to New Jersey, where I am now a teacher. So I decided, very similar to Claire, that the corporate world was not something that I necessarily wanted to be a part of at this time, but I still wanted to make an impact on others' lives. So I became a teacher and I've been in New Jersey. Now I teach at Lakeland Regional High School in northern New Jersey. I'm a baseball coach, a volunteer basketball coach, volunteer football coach, and I teach business at the high school level and that's what I've been doing for two years now. I'm eager to get started on year three.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. Two incredible journeys, and I might have to have you back sometime talking about career path and career choices, but that's really interesting. The third member of our crew here, jacob Hill. And Jacob, you know I kind of brought this up earlier. I'm really glad to see one of you follow my hairstyle as you left high school. So, jacob, what are you up to these days?
Speaker 4:Having two under two, like we talked about, that definitely makes it pro. Makes it pro for eight, this hairstyle.
Speaker 1:I wish I'd have done it earlier, jacob. Honestly.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's, that's the thing. I joke a lot with some of the guys that I met in in college where it's, like you know, my hair really didn't start thin until I started hanging out with you clowns. I think there's definitely a correlation there with the amount of stress that you brought into my life. But so after high school I was actually able to take some of the skills that all three of us worked on and helping to drive folks towards a digital experience at R7 and parlay that to work a little bit in the IT space in SEMO down in Cape Girardeau, where I got my bachelor's of science in horticulture. I was able to take some of those IT skills, those agriculture skills, and start working for, at the time, Monsanto in St Louis.
Speaker 4:The buyout occurred where Bayer bought Monsanto, and I've been working there ever since. I am a project manager of early science prototyping. So I do a lot of the early science work and talking with customers in the United States, in Canada, in Europe, a little bit in Australia and whenever they're not having me run the corporate rat race which I am still firmly entrenched in, even though you both were able to get out of it. I'm actually right up the road in Herculaneum in my late great-grandparents' house that we bought and refurbished. And we've got our two kids here, Eden, my daughter, who's two, and Walden, our son, who is six months old. Married my high school sweetheart, Enjoy the work that I do, still hang out with a lot of the folks that I grew up with on a pretty regular basis and we're getting bids on the white picket fence to put outside, because it's very much a white picket fence type of life.
Speaker 1:Well, jacob, I will say this you know, I know the skill set that you brought to us as far as the IT stuff and the technology and I'll get to a little bit more of that in a minute but I know when you chose to go to SEMO, I called my brother in law, who was kind of in charge of things. I said I don't know what you could do for this kid, but he will make your life so much easier and I know my family sure appreciated having you at SEMO as well. So that was kind of neat to hear all that. Carry on. But I will kind of skip ahead here. Here's why I always want to be careful about these conversations, because people talk about the best classes ever.
Speaker 1:I will just say the class of 2014 at Jefferson High School. It means so much to me personally. That was my first year as the high school principal here. Being at Jefferson at that time was a very unique experience because you did have a new high school, um. So I think a couple paths. That was also the time.
Speaker 1:What I remember about the spring of 2013 was this I was transitioning into the principalship. Mr Rourke was golden to me, was turning things over to me and just handled me with with such respect in that transition. But we were also trying to graduate the first class, which was really a lot of fun. But you guys were behind the scenes working on this transition because we were also switching to at the time. It was a big deal to everybody have a Chromebook in their hand. Basically, I know there were iPads at the elementary, at the lower levels, but that's a huge deal and the impact that you had on them with the video you put together you guys went down and talked to those kids had such a tremendous impact.
Speaker 1:I don't know that people could completely measure what's what this group right here and the group in general did for us. So I just want to express how much I enjoyed you guys as people. The one thing I mentioned here some of the questions. I just wanted to see where the conversation was going because you guys were never short of words. But I will ask you this this is the first question is what was it like to be the second class at Jefferson, graduating class at Jefferson? There you go first.
Speaker 2:I need a little bit of time to form my thoughts. So if someone has an initial thought, then go ahead and take it.
Speaker 4:Cole, you do it or I'll suck all the oxygen out of the room.
Speaker 3:Sure, I'll butcher it, I'll mess it up, so you guys can have a nice smooth, transparency.
Speaker 1:It's not a test.
Speaker 3:So going into Jefferson High school as the second graduating class or prospective second graduating class was kind of bittersweet it's kind of difficult to describe emotionally because there were so many different emotions involved. Because, um, the jefferson r7 community has always been so tight-knit and family-oriented, and so I had always heard from older people in the community or older kids that were at the high school level. I got to hear their experiences and I had a lot of close friends and family members that didn't have the honor of graduating from JHS. So I was very familiar with the transition process to where, when the students that had graduated from Danby, in eighth grade they had the option to go to Herculaneum or Festus or Crystal City or whatever it may be, and I was like kind of excited about that as a sixth grader and a seventh grader I was like, oh, where am I going to go? Where are my friends going to go? And it was super exciting.
Speaker 3:And then all of a sudden it was like this bomb was dropped on us there's going to be a high school in the Jefferson R7 community and all of the emotions shifted to where. Ooh, I don't know if I want to go to JHS. It's brand new, but what about all the traditions at these other schools? They have these traditions of winning programs in sports and great programs in the arts and in music and everything like that and I'm like, oh, maybe I'm going to miss out on these opportunities. So I was excited but I was a little bit hesitant.
Speaker 3:But when we made it to the high school level it was kind of an opportunity for my mindset to shift a little bit to where I was actually like, oh, this is actually a tremendous opportunity. We don't have to follow the traditions of a Herculaneum or a Crystal City or a Festus. We get to create our own traditions and we get to break our own ground and we get to create our own culture. So it was very unique stepping into a high school that really didn't have a culture yet or a tradition yet. So we were just kind of flying by the seat of our pants and coming up with the culture and tradition as we went.
Speaker 3:And for me personally, my feelings of kind of accepting the idea of the fact that the Jefferson R7 community had a high school. I became much more comfortable with that idea as I transitioned from year to year, from freshman year to sophomore year, junior year to senior year, so on all of those. Each year I got more and more confident in the community's decision and my decision to go to Jefferson High School and, like I said, it was really invigorating, being a part of something new and kind of setting our own traditions and customs like that. So it was a whirlwind of emotions at first, but I jumped on ship more and more as the years went on with that decision.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna tell you this, cole, I don't know how the other two gonna follow you. That was outstanding. It was a great perspective and I think that's why I want to do these podcasts, because you know, it is something to be a sixth grader seeing what's ahead of you. You know, I know what it was like for me as a sixth grader, thinking about what the future was and knew where I was going to high school. That's a very interesting perspective. Who wants to pick up the second of the three of you? Let's pick up that next piece of that the second of the three of you.
Speaker 4:Once we pick up that next piece of that, I'll take this because I think that I look at it from a slightly different lens, where whenever I was going through classes there, I really didn't think and perceive and pontificate and kind of understand the culture as it was happening around me, because we were so inundated with it Like it was happening.
Speaker 4:And looking back, I can see that there were things that we probably did as a group that set the stage for other students to follow us, and how the community wants to self-regulate itself, look at itself and understand itself.
Speaker 4:The community wants to self-regulate itself, look at itself and understand itself.
Speaker 4:But I think that at the time the biggest thing that I thought about, and I still think about, is the people that I was able to make a connection with as mentors, as friends, as someone who could push me personally at that point in my time, as people that had skills that I wanted to emulate. So I mean, looking back, there are a few things that I could tell you if I remember learning this particular thing in this particular class, or I remember this particular test or dance or whatever, but I remember very clearly the way that other people made me feel, the way they inspired me to be, a little bit different than maybe who I was at that time and how I could, in turn, do that for other people. So I think that focusing on that present right in front of you is what I was doing at the time, and I'm glad that I did, because I feel like it has really crystallized the way that I feel about it, looking back at those experiences as an adult that now has much more time and grade just being a person.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you guys both had such eloquent responses. Dr Howe, go ahead and take some time to respond to Jacob, if you had a thought.
Speaker 1:I did and I just wanted to share this perspective. Like, I remember how busy it was in the class of 2013, the spring, to get ready, like all the people in the gym getting ready for that. It was such a big deal. And I remember at the time I pulled Tom Shirley aside in 2013. I said you're not going to talk about this next year at this time for the class of 2014. And we're going to have a conversation about how it looks setting up for graduation at that point. And I remember a year later it was just he and I in the bleachers. Basically it was him and his crew and me and some kids we pulled like out of your class to get ready. It was Me and some kids we pull out of your class to get ready.
Speaker 1:It's a completely different atmosphere and I think that that for me, kind of summarized things about how much focus is on the first class, which wasn't a bad thing, that's the way it should have been. But then there's sort of that drop off. But you guys as a group, for me I always think about I don't think people understand up and down that class. You guys had the impact you had on our building, but really district-wide. You set the bar so high for so many people that other classes have either tried to get to or surpassed in different platforms, and there were new opportunities presented to you all. But to give some perspective, at least from my standpoint, was the excitement and everything in the first class and suddenly you have the second class. You guys couldn't have done a better job. In my opinion. There's nothing I look back, that I was aware of, that you could have done any better as people.
Speaker 1:I think the one thing that I think as I go on in this business and Cole and Claire, you'll sense this more too that sometimes people do things in your environment and really there's not a better place to make a mistake in life than in high school that people look at you like do you remember the? I don't really remember bad things about people, but I will say this about this class there just was a level of exceptionalism for me, just what you did for this district. That I will always appreciate. And I don't know if that provides any insight to what you guys were going through at the time Because, again, I didn't know what a Jefferson R7 was and probably until you guys were freshmen I got a call from the AD here at the time looking to get you guys in a tournament down at North County.
Speaker 1:I had to go online. I'm like what is a Jefferson R7? Where is this place? So you know, I came into this completely cold and have just loved it ever since. But, claire, I'm going to let you kind of capitalize on that, and I know that you have a lot of insight on other things. So if you don't want to spend a lot of time on this and it's not something comfortable we can get to something else.
Speaker 2:No, I think so. You're asking you know what it was like to be the second class to graduate, to be a part of class of 2014. Like to be the second class to graduate, to be a part of class of 2014. Now that you know, years have passed, it provides, you know, just a little bit different of a perspective on. You know, growing up, where I grew up, the school I went to, and I would say, like, hands down, the community, the culture at that school is, I mean, it's excellent, it's what, like there is a reason why families want to move into the school district. It's like what we, as you know, people just starting, families just starting out it's what we look for and I think the standard of excellence that was set before us and that you know we tried to continue to meet or reach or exceed. I think I don't know, I don't know Now, I lost my train of thought, but I will say so.
Speaker 2:The first class versus second class not that they were ever reversing each other. I thought it was actually kind of fun to have that little competition. I think it added to the culture between the two classes. I thought it was, you know, fun academically to compete, athletically to compete, and what I will say, similar to what Jacob had said.
Speaker 2:Since we were smaller classes at the high school and I don't know what the numbers are like now we had a unique opportunity to form relationships and cultivate relationships with our teachers and our administrators that not every single person at high school like I mean not every single person at any of these big high schools would ever get. And I think we had a unique opportunity the fact that there were only two classes there our freshman year to have those special relationships with our teachers that I still have today. I mean, I rely, I can think, probably of three teachers and even you as an administrator. I know that if I ever needed anything, I could reach back out to those people and they would help me. They would help me get a job, they would help me if I had a parenting question, they would help me professionally, personally, and so I think that is one of the biggest takeaways from, you know, just being at R7, being the second class.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are three outstanding answers. Like I'm getting a little choked up thinking about that. But I will say this for the class of 2013 and 2014, when you're in the class of setting the bar, that's not always easy, Um, cause you don't know what the bar should be or could be, and I think we couldn't have had two better classes start us off. Um, I think that just one thing here I'm going to bring up is kind of what happens in schools, and I think part of this is if schools are doing their job, these things happen naturally. But let's talk about the college credit stuff. So the first graduating class 2013, had access to I think it was only like five or eight hours of college credit when you guys, from your junior to senior year, we put in the program with Jeffco and since then we've had students graduate with their AA degree. You guys couldn't do that at the time because you had needed the two years, but of the three of you, how much did you guys take advantage of that and did that help you moving forward?
Speaker 3:I guess I can take the lead on this one that help you moving forward.
Speaker 3:I guess I can take the lead on this one For me.
Speaker 3:I was able to take at JHS I think it was an English credit, a history credit and maybe one other, so I was able to go off to school with six to nine credits and I also had what was the A plus program Is that what it used to be called?
Speaker 3:I was able to take advantage of that and I took two summer classes at Mineral Area College before I actually went off for my freshman year. So I was able to start my freshman year with a total of 12 to 15 credits with the help of JHS and Mineral Area College A-plus program. That allowed me to where, when I finally reached my senior year my last spring semester, senior year for my business administration degree I was actually able to just play baseball and not take any classes because I had already finished my degree. Because of that opportunity that JHS had provided me, allowing me to take an English and a history while at JHS and then me taking advantage of my A+. The combination of those two things allowed for me to really enjoy my last semester of college where I was able to play baseball and I really didn't have to take any college classes, so I really benefited from the opportunities that were presented to us.
Speaker 1:Great answer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and just to backpack off of what Cole said, a more general answer.
Speaker 2:Being exposed, like just taking the college course, and being exposed to, like the learning management system, whether it be Blackboard or Canvas, learning how to communicate with professors, you know, those are all very useful tools that high school students, especially high school seniors, should have the opportunity to do and to learn and grow from.
Speaker 2:And having that opportunity a little bit earlier than, say, some of my peers, my freshman year at Mizzou, I think, benefited me. I already had an upper hand as far as the technology and how to approach this situation with a professor, or you know what type of quality work that I should be doing as an entry level, you know, as a freshman in college, but I was doing that in high school. So, just having that experience, I felt more confident in my ability, my academic ability and my ability to advocate for myself as far as you know navigating, my ability to advocate for myself as far as you know navigating. You know the college system, because it is difficult when you don't have, you know, when you don't have that type of experience, just to navigate. You know what a credit hour is, how much it costs, why do you need three credit hours versus five credit hours. So learning those terms, learning that terminology, having that academic experience before I went away I was by myself, I think really benefited me and just my overall confidence.
Speaker 1:Claire, if I could throw this in there, because I you know, like I said, I had experience at other districts before I got to Jefferson and I think the unique opportunity for me personally and Mr Johnston and Mrs Richardson was that we were, we had worked at other districts and I had worked at smaller rural districts in Missouri where kids went away to college but they were right back because they couldn't handle it.
Speaker 1:I think the college experience, what you're saying is a great thing, because one of the things it's not really a measurable thing, but I don't see many kids just washing out and not able to make it, coming back to Jefferson Now. They may change colleges, but they're still. They're doing it for a purpose. Maybe it wasn't the right fit, but they're still moving forward. Does that make sense? And I really appreciate what you're saying there, because I think that's one thing that we kind of look at the college thing for is that it does give you that experience, and I'm going to turn it over to Jacob, I'm one of the folks that I don't know if I took advantage of some of those college level courses.
Speaker 4:That being said, I believe that some of the things that happened during our junior and senior year of being at R7 arguably helped prepare me for life in college and life in the professional world more, because it was a microcosm of what are you, as an individual, going to do if you have a degree of freedom and autonomy to be able to deliver on this task that is being asked of you. That's what we all did whenever we helped folks drive towards digital with the Chromebooks. There was no playbook that we could utilize. We didn't really know what we were doing. Nobody really knew how this was going to look at the end of it, but we used the best judgment we had and the best ways that we could to manage our time and create something that was valuable.
Speaker 4:That skill set was huge for me coming into college and having more freedom as an adult than you do as a student going to high school and that was huge. Being able to build on top of that experience going into the workforce already. Knowing this is how to balance work and life. This is how to make sure that you can lead with the skills that you have andabilize what you're doing in the path that you're on. So I didn't take any of those classes that I can remember, but the experiences that I was able to have in that place and in that state, they were definitely well worth the time and they were an investment that I was able to see dividends back on.
Speaker 1:A couple of things. Jacob, I think I do distinctly remember you either taking one or no college courses, but I also know you were doing some different projects for us into, even to your senior year, beyond your junior year. So I'm going to step something that the video you guys put together for the one-to-one I have to ask, because we kind of turned you guys loose. We weren't in there with you. I said here's the camera, you guys figure this out. You guys' creativity was. I hope people are sensing this is maybe sometimes in education gets a bad rap about different things. But I think, as an adult, when you're able to connect to students who are just exceptional and we see it every year here at Jefferson, we'll see it in different areas and different people connect to different, connect to different things. But how much fun, what? How much fun was putting that video together?
Speaker 4:It was a lot of fun. I think I don't know what the other two think, but I think that it was a lot of fun to be able to take something that I mean. You guys all know that I am a creative person. I'm still a creative person 10 years later as an adult. It was fun to be able to have a blank creative slate to be able to say this is generally the shape that we want something in. We don't really know how to get there. You three figure it out with these tools that you have in front of you. I think that that has happened to me more times than I can count professionally. So the fact that I got to experience that so early in life and we got to collaborate as three different people with three different processes and three different ways that we look at things, that that's huge. Not a lot of people get to do that and it's a very useful experience.
Speaker 1:Jacob, I'm going to ask you a quick question because I've thought about this. Sometimes you're cutting grass and just thinking about things, right? I thought the stroke of genius in that video was the fact that you were talking about the ghost of ghost from the halls past high school, past right, but Jefferson hadn't even had its first graduate class. Was that intentional or was that how did like was?
Speaker 4:sometimes you just walk into, uh, into theatric irony. But sometimes you just stumble into theatric irony like that and looking back I can appreciate that you know what that was. Uh, that was something that fit pretty well, even if maybe I didn't have the cognizance to realize how well that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as time goes on, I don't, you know, I don't look, watch that video. I haven't seen it in many years but it does pop in my head and I do think about the, like I said, the importance you guys have had on our district. But that little I always. I always wanted to know did you guys consciously do that or did it? Was it just something because I was like you know, there's no ghost because there's no graduating class yet, but anyway, I have history that's right, claire what. What was your impression of that?
Speaker 2:I thought it was like I couldn't believe that you were like. You gave us this creative freedom to create, you know, this video that you would be showing to the entire school district, like students, adults, parents. Even now, thinking about that, I don't know if I could give that much freedom to my students, nor would I trust them ever to be able to do that. So, um, what a cool experience that you trusted us three with that task. Uh, kind of also, you know, just reiterating what Jacob said, the fact that we had a project and three of us got together all different types of talents, all different types of visions, perspective, you know lived experiences and we put our minds to something. We organized it. You know we delegated and we were able to create like an actual product for you to use, for the school district to use.
Speaker 2:I think what's more real world than that?
Speaker 2:I did the, you know, I think I was prepared to go to Mizzou where I'd be working with people I had no idea about, you know, very different types of students and the teacher would assign, you know, groups and she'd be like all right, meet your class or meet your group members and go to the library and get this done and it's like where do we even start?
Speaker 2:Well, I knew where to start, I had done something like that before and I would kind of be able to lead that group, something like that before, and I would kind of be able to lead that group and then now taking that same idea into, like the professional, you know the world of education, you know the professional world of education. I do that same type of thing here at school. You know you get assigned to a group of teachers. You have to come up with this curriculum for seventh grade reading. How are we going to do it? What's it going to look like and what's the final product? It's just the same type of process and I can't even believe we were doing that as seniors, juniors I guess we were juniors in high school and the opportunity to work with you three was I mean now I'm thinking back to it it was really a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:It was brilliant. And I will just say this If I learned nothing from my dad as a head football coach and teacher was that you know, make sure that you put the parameters around, but when you see talent and he used to let his quarterbacks we used to call our own plays, we just ran the offense when we were on the field, but then there was always those moments when he would pull us to the side and we would go through why we should or shouldn't do things, and it was a very teachable moment. And I do remember sitting down with the group and saying we're going to watch this together and if I critique this, understand it's coming from a good place to protect you. And there were probably like three or four edits we needed to make by some a little bit of a language or something that was in there, but you guys listened and fixed it and and and I think that's part of it it is the ability to come back and not criticize and say, well, you guys shouldn't have done this.
Speaker 1:It is, yeah, I'd rather you not do this, but this is why and I think it's just kind of the way you handle it, claire, and I think that sometimes you know, the one thing I like about being in education, the one thing I kind of miss not being a principal, is kids are genuine. You can't. They will know if you're genuine or not, and I do always love that about being around kids. And you guys were as genuine as a group, but Cole, I remember, was dressed up as like the basketball player, with the headband and everything. So, cole, what were your thoughts on the video?
Speaker 3:the.
Speaker 3:The video is honestly an awesome experience that I think back to, because that kind of set the groundwork for kind of Jacob and Claire and I's educational and professional journeys.
Speaker 3:Because, like, like Claire and Jacob both mentioned, to that point in our lives we really hadn't been put into a kind of a vacuum of, in a way, to where we were kind of just like, hey, here's three people with three different talents, or with many different talents, but three different backgrounds, that, okay, we're going to be a project that's actually going to have real world influences for students, family members, parents, teachers, administrators, the whole community.
Speaker 3:And I look back at that and I'm like, wow, that was an awesome experience. And I want to thank you, dr Howe, because if it wasn't for you setting that up, we wouldn't be able to get our feet as wet as we were able to, and I really think having that opportunity as high school students really prepared us for the things that we've encountered in our lives. And I hope Claire and Jacob don't mind me speaking for them a little bit here, but for me as a teacher now I try to provide opportunities to my students like that, to where they actually get to work on things that are going to improve their lives or the lives of others and they can actually make a difference. And it doesn't always have to be that traditional classroom setting for achievements to be made. Sometimes you can take a step out into a little side office in Jefferson High School and really make a big difference for many, many different people.
Speaker 1:I appreciate the kind words, but you guys were deserving of all the trust we gave you. On that I will say this Ms Lori Holdinghausen and I you know just really just somebody I admire so much we worked so well together. That was our first year together and we would sit there and kind of listen to you guys. We weren't listening in, but we could hear you guys laughing and doing things. I said could you imagine being in high school? They have to be having a ball back there. We would kind of laugh at different things. We would hear, just knowing that you guys were having a great time, we're like, oh my gosh, what are we going to see coming out of this thing? So it was a great moment for me and there's a reason that this is a special day for me as well too, to do this. So I do want to kind of touch on. We talked about the college credit stuff on um. We talked about the one, the college credit stuff, um, actually, athletically, you guys were I think it's hard and um I'll maybe give an example Um, like when I was in high school working out, I felt like you know, I had friends I was working out with in the high school weight room.
Speaker 1:My dad was my coach. I thought I worked hard. But then you go to college and you go to a college locker room. You're like man, I didn't realize how hard, how I was not working very hard, if that makes sense, and so on that on that scope. Building an athletic program, uh, at a high school is not easy. Um, claire, your group did win the first district title in our, our school's history and track. You're really close in volleyball, cole. I know in basketball you guys made a lot of strides. The football program was coming into its own, transitioning out of JV football and playing modified schedules and everything. But can you give me some insight on just the process of getting to that point where you are able to compete and have some winning seasons there, if that makes sense?
Speaker 3:I'll speak to basketball first. Like a lot of what took place at JHS it was kind of during our time anyways. It was kind of like flying by the seat of your pants in a way, because there were so many changes taking place. Just for example, in my four years of high school basketball at JHS I had three or maybe even four different coaches, if you count Koenig's interim year. So it was Wellerman freshman year and then we had I don't even I feel so bad, I don't remember his name from North County.
Speaker 3:He came for a half of the year. I don't actually I don't feel bad. He left us halfway through the year and we had Koenig and then we were able to have Zinker, but it was just a real struggle. I remember my freshman year. We would go up and we were playing in tournaments in St Louis and we were just absolutely getting our butts kicked. Oh my gosh. I'll never forget some of the scoreboards when they were like 90 something to 20 something and we were just a bunch of little freshmen out there competing against juniors and seniors from big schools and we got our butts kicked and we learned a lot and we got our butts kicked again and we just kept getting back up. And I think it really shows because from the transition from my freshman year until senior year, we started adding a few wins. We had never had a winning season my freshman, sophomore, junior year, but then senior year it really came together and we were able to have our first winning season in JHS history, which was really nice.
Speaker 3:So basketball was very, very interesting. Like I said, it was a challenge. A lot of it was flying by the seat of our pants, but I think a lot of what made a big difference for us was when um coach zinker came in and he really was the first one that I remember actually setting up um a little bit of traditions and customs and and the blue jay way of life and and kind of showed us how things were um supposed to be done and what the expectations were. And so we really made major strides from the time that we were underclassmen until we were upperclassmen. But baseball was a little bit different. Baseball my class in particular when we were freshmen, we started seven out of the nine positions just from our freshman class and we competed for a district title that year. We actually as a group of freshmen, we started seven freshmen and we went to the semifinal game in the district championship that year and that was kind of the theme that we took year after year.
Speaker 3:I think we had a winning season freshman, sophomore, junior and senior year for me and a lot of that has contributed to Coach Kandig and Coach Coonley and Coach DeSalle really coming in and showing us how things were to be done and what the expectations were. Because, like we mentioned earlier in the video, we didn't have those juniors and seniors, those upperclassmen leaders, to look up to for guidance. All we had to look to was our coach and the guy next to us that were at the same level as us. So I thought it was really cool and I'm really grateful that I got to be a part of it a real sense of family, both on the baseball field and on the basketball court. There weren't always a lot of wins, but I can't even put into words the lessons learned and the struggles that we went through that. I think that has made all of us involved better individuals today.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say, as far as the female sports at the high school, they're definitely now that Cole says that about the different coaches, I think the female sports there was some stability in the coaching staff for the different sports.
Speaker 2:I participated in volleyball, basketball, track, and so I'm very thankful for that.
Speaker 2:I remember being, you know, r7 athlete and going and playing select sports with students from other school, girls from other schools, and I remember thinking, wow, we must work really, really hard at our seven compared to these other schools, because these other I mean not everyone I played with was like that, but I remember, you know, myself and Kristen Keeney, we played with some girls and I'm like, wow, we must really work our tails off compared to these other schools, because what they do is totally different than what we do.
Speaker 2:And I think female sports at our seven taught me the value of working hard and, like Cole said, we may not have won everything but we did value hard work and I think that made me a better competitor, it made me a better student competitor, it made me a better student and I think it made me just a better person overall. The value of hard work at our seven was definitely untouched. It was. I definitely carry that with me even now. I coach track now and I can see that value in some of my track athletes now, and you cannot sometimes teach someone to be motivated to be competitive, but you can kind of shape them into better athletes, hardworking athletes, and to teach them the value of that.
Speaker 1:And so I think that's what my athletic experience at R7 taught me just the value of hard work, and good things come to those that work their butt off yeah, and I think sometimes in sports we've gotten to a point in this country where it's like if you're not number one, you're kind of like a, and I think that's where where we've kind of missed the boat. Some point in our country is that I don't want to sound like it's some sort of kumbaya thing, but sometimes it's the value of learning how to compete, learning how to work hard. Claire, you and I have talked about my daughter a little bit. There's tennis matches. She'll play that. She will dominate the opponent and not really get much out of it, but then she'll play somebody really good and walk off the court and have lost and said I played well and I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I think sometimes we miss that sometimes in our society. And it's great to hear two of our graduates teaching and kind of taking that mindset of betterment, work ethic, and it's not easy, like anything you do in life is not easy, and I think somewhere we've lost that in our country a little bit, that things are supposed to be handed to you. My goodness, I know what I've been through in my career. I've been an administrator. If I go public ed for 30 years, 29 will have been as an administrator and I can tell you there's been some difficult challenges at many different places, but I think I'm better for it and I think you guys it sounds like you guys are experiencing the same thing and are able to kind of have dealt with that a little bit.
Speaker 1:In high school. You know it wasn't easy. There was nobody ahead of you. I mean, I get there was one class ahead of you, but there wasn't years of tradition to say this is where you need to be, and it's really a credit, like I keep it's easy to say. You guys really set the bar in a very good place for the school district and, along with the class of 2013 and each class since then. So, um, jacob, I know that I don't think you played any sports and I don't, but maybe as a student, peer um, and I know that your adversities were were different going through. Do you have anything to comment on the athletic part of that?
Speaker 4:no, and it's probably a really good thing that I didn't play any sports, because a lot of it was hand-based and I feel like that probably would have been to everybody's peril if we were throwing balls back and forth. That being said, um, I do think that it is very, very important and one of the reasons why I agreed to do this podcast because if you're a student in high school, you can look at something like being able to make it for the varsity team or winning a championship or winning a particular tournament, and that can seem like it is the biggest thing that there will ever be in the entire world. And, regardless if that happens for you or if it doesn't, it can be a very, very galvanizing force on a young person emotionally, and I think that it's important from our perspective, for the three of us and for anybody listening to this that is at the school right now, that is going through that process of growing up right now, to say, hey, right now, the things that are in front of you are very, very important for your view. There's a lot of life that is yet to be lived. There's a lot of opportunities to work with a team and to compete and to be able to push yourself mentally and physically and where you think that you can go in your path in life.
Speaker 4:It's not all going to be within the bookends of these four years. There are things that happen here, but it's four years in a very, very long life. So don't take anything that happens here, don't take it too much to heart. It is something that will pass, for the good and for the bad. It will pass and you will be able to bring in new experiences, new challenges, new opportunities as a person.
Speaker 1:Those are three great answers, and, Jacob, you're spot on, and I think that's something that is hard to convey at times is that and I think I alluded to it earlier we get caught up in the winning and losing of it. Sometimes You're not really understanding that really, what you should be learning is how to deal with adversity. And that was really a great answer. I hope people at home are really listening to this and I hope people can see yes, you guys have I can tell you've grown in your careers, but we were having these in-depth conversations as high school maybe not in the same manner, obviously, with reflection, but you guys were truly an amazing group. I wanted to segue to something else, though.
Speaker 1:So one of the things that I think really improved at Jefferson after you left was our kind of commitment and focus to like the ACT, because our staff has a saying that you know, no test score will ever define a student, but great test scores can create opportunities for students, and that's how I looked at it, specifically with college entrance tests. We really started to embed a lot of ACT prep into our daily lessons after you left, so you guys kind of missed that. I'm saying that because you guys still have one of the strongest ACT scores of any group. So academically, what was your sense coming through? Did you guys ever, did it ever kind of like dawn on you as a group, like as fifth graders or fourth graders high school, that hey, we're pretty strong academically? Or were you even aware of that?
Speaker 4:I think that a lot of high schoolers ourselves probably included probably thought that we were the smartest people on the planet, for a lot of different reasons, as high schoolers are are wont to do um, I don't know. I I think a lot of that comes from kind of something to claire said about being able to have a small and more um, in-depth and interpersonally related class where we all were able to kind of learn and work and grow up together, and I think that having that good intrapersonal connection lends itself to wanting to learn more about how the world operates, learn more about how things click together and the mechanisms in which we're being tested on at that level. So I think it's a byproduct of the community. If I had to take a wild stab at it, I think the quantitative data that you see from our class is a result of the qualitative experiences that we had.
Speaker 1:That's a much deeper answer. That would take a lot of time. But there, jacob, you're spot on so.
Speaker 1:I think we do a great things here at Jefferson for our kids, but it is the sense of the I understand. I think that it's not just what the school does, if that makes sense, it is a sense of family that still exists in Jefferson, r7. You know, I kind of have taken a different approach. You know, I think sometimes in education we get a little bit too caught up in, well, the parents and they're not having listen. At the end of the day, if your parents aren't passionate about their kids, that's the bigger problem. And I think I really work with our staff to understand that, to say, you know, I'd rather have their passion and explain why we're doing certain things and have them be passionate about their kid. If they're not passionate about their kid, what else are they really passionate about? And I think R7 really exemplifies that. So, jacob, great answer on that. Claire or Cole, would you like to interject anything on that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would probably agree with what you said. Yeah, I think in high school I realized that a lot of my class was smarter than me. I think that was, I would say, and I say that in like an intelligent like. They were very, very bright minded. A lot of my classmates were very, very bright. Whether you know, we all applied ourselves the same way. That's different. But I think, like early on I realized, I think even from a very young age, that I was with a class of very, very smart people and I probably was somewhere in the middle. And so I think that honestly, like motivated me to kind of work a little bit harder because I wanted to be with those students who were very smart academically, I wanted to be right there with them. I feel like I realized that early on. Maybe not, I don't really know the early on, maybe not, I don't really know the quantitative numbers. So if you have some of those, that would be great.
Speaker 1:I don't have them with me, I just know, as I left the principalship you start thinking about things and about kind of a career, and it extends beyond Jefferson for me. But just there were about three classes in my mind that were just rock solid top to bottom, and you guys were one of them at Jefferson. I've been fortunate to have been part of it in other districts as well, but I just didn't know. It was just a question. Over time you start looking back at data and you start to realize that was a pretty special group, Cole. What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, my thoughts are very similar to Claire. It was about halfway through fourth grade that I realized that I was not at the top of my class, that I needed to figure out what my classmates were doing that allowed them to reach success. And I kind of just mirrored that and I kept that standard all the way from fourth grade until I graduated. I realized that, hey, I'm not the brightest person in the book. Sometimes I'm a little bit better at thinking outside the box or I have a little bit more street smarts than I do book smarts. So I use my street smarts to make the decision.
Speaker 3:Hey, I'm going to follow these people and kind of replicate what they're doing and the things that they're doing well, and, like Claire said, it was kind of a motivator.
Speaker 3:It was kind of that stick behind us pushing us on the treadmill to run faster, because we didn't want to fall behind. We realized we had smart classmates and that they were doing the right things and we're like, hey, why can't that be us? And so we kind of just emulated what they were doing and follow along with them and and I realized, hey, maybe I don't always need to be the one speaking, but maybe I need to take a step back and listen a little bit, because there are a lot of really great insights that my classmates are providing and have provided. So again it was. It was kind of just that that push behind us to say, hey, these other people are doing it, why can't we do it? And I'm very grateful that I had really smart classmates because they helped motivate me. I can't say if my classmates were not as intelligent and bright as they were, I don't know if I would have been able to kind of turn my life into what it is today. I just followed their footsteps.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to shift gears here a little bit again. Whose concept was it to cage the high school?
Speaker 2:I think uh is this a trick question.
Speaker 1:No, I I'll. I'll share my side of it here in a little bit.
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't want to. I don't want to rat anyone out, okay, okay.
Speaker 4:After a decade you don't want to rat anyone out? I?
Speaker 2:would say it's another very bright student from our class that I looked up to, since I was in first grade.
Speaker 1:So, claire, I'm going to ask it this way what was the concept of caging the high school? That way, we don't have to use anybody's names.
Speaker 2:And explain what happened, because it was kind of neat. So how I remember it, you know granted, this is my own perspective is a female student who shall not be named, a very bright female student who shall not be named. I think she had seen it somewhere, this concept of caging a school or, you know, putting Nicholas Cage posters around someone's office or the school or someone's vehicle, and she was like that's funny. So then she sent it to a bunch of us and was like that's funny. So then she sent it to a bunch of us and was like we should do this. This is funny, no one gets hurt, it's all in good fun, it's a little terrifying, but in a safe way. And I think we could pull this off. And I think we were like I think the more it spread, the more we were like, all right, well, why not? So I don't really under. I don't know the idea behind it. I think it was just a funny thing to do at the time and so, claire, I'm going to ask you this question.
Speaker 1:You're, you and somebody else popped your head in the gym and saw me sitting there. Do you remember this? No, and you guys took off, and so what happened is we had graduation on a Tuesday night and you guys wanted to come back into the school and basically cage the high school. So when we walked in the next morning there was Nicholas Cage everywhere, which I agree I thought was kind of clever or funny. It didn't really hurt anybody, it was a pretty clever thing. But I remember you and somebody else popping your head in and I just wondered at that time. And so you guys know you guys went to Mark Williams and said, hey, well, you led us in, right?
Speaker 2:But I do love Mark Williams. I knew he would always come through for us.
Speaker 1:So Mark came, came to me. He came to me right after today. You asked that he goes, david, what do I do? And I said what are they wanting to do? So we talked about it. I said, well, go find out exactly what they're wanting to do. So I knew the whole time, and what scared.
Speaker 1:What scared me that night, though, claire, is that the people taking down some of the stuff for graduation. I wanted to be out of there so that Mark would be in there with you alone, and I was. It was like I didn't know, but these people were forever taking this stuff down, and I don't know if you got there a little bit early, but it was pushing Like I think you're supposed to be up there like 11 o'clock and about 10 40, I see you and somebody else popped her head in. You guys take off running.
Speaker 1:I went and ran you down because my biggest fear is that kids would get back in their cars and somebody would get in a wreck. That was my thought, like I don't want these kids to anything to happen. So it ended up being kind of a cool night because I was able to send mark home at that point. I just stayed with you guys and nicholas cage was everywhere. I know some people weren't super happy about it, but I thought it was pretty cute and clever and couldn't have been a better way to leave things. But uh, um anyway that's quite the.
Speaker 4:That's interesting that anybody that is listening to this Claire is going to listen to this and be like oh my gosh. A decade later and she's still loose lip sync. Ships like what a ride or die. What a ride or die. What a ride or die. Move. Good for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I know who that. I know who that person is. I'm just not going to share it either.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, interesting she who shall not be named, we'll leave it at that.
Speaker 1:Very intelligent. Yes, exceptionally intelligent. Agreed A criminal mastermind, if you will. Yes, exceptionally intelligent.
Speaker 2:Agreed.
Speaker 4:A criminal mastermind someone.
Speaker 2:If you will, yes.
Speaker 1:So that moment for me. Those are the things too in education. You talk about coming to school every day. There's a few things you remember. I remember that distinctly and as my last prom as principal. We didn't have enough bus space so I had to stay behind with about 25 kids. The bus came back, we had a ball. I let them play hide and seek in the building and I had like two rules. If I come on the intercom and say you need to come back, you got to come back because I'm being serious, I'm not going to play games and we had a great time. We were waiting for the bus to come back, those two things kind of after hours and and just great being around kids. But anyway, is there anything else you guys want to bring up while we're here?
Speaker 2:No, I will say now I feel like I sound kind of nerdy. You know, we got permission to do our senior skip day. We got permission from the school and the school helped plan it. And then we got permission for our senior prank.
Speaker 4:You're right, that does sound pretty nerdy. Yeah, but you didn't know, I've always been a rule follower.
Speaker 1:I think it's pretty neat that we kind of let you do that, because it was pretty classy and some kids some other classes have done some kind of neat things on the way out to kind of working with staff and it it's been a good, respectful environment. We've been very blessed at Jefferson. I think the one thing and I go back to last year's podcast of the class of 2013 that mr Rourke always said make it about the kids. The, the graduation ceremony that you had yes, it's outdoors now, as long as it doesn't rain is about the kids. It's's very meaningful. The speakers are still kids. It's a great night for our community.
Speaker 1:I just enjoyed the class of 2014, top to bottom and what is a very unique time. Starting a high school is not easy and you guys are a big part of that and everything we're doing now and, believe me, every day, there's very few days that don't go by and I think about some things that happened that year because it was such a monumental year and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I want to thank you all for joining me today. I'm really looking forward to having this group back on our campus on the 17th of August Anything else to close it out.
Speaker 2:No, I think I was going to say something, but now it kind of escaped me. But yeah, thank you for having us on. I feel so fortunate that I got to work with Jacob and Cole and you throughout my high school experience and you guys gave such top-notch answers today. People today are still very surprised and interested to hear about you know going to a high school. That was brand new. Like even the people I meet today, the people I work with, the friends I make. They're like wait what? There was no upperclassmen. I'm like no, not for a while.
Speaker 2:You guys were the uppercmen we were the upper classmen, yeah, and my husband always kind of gives me a hard time, like my sister, I guess drove by the the track record board the other day and sent me a picture and I was like look, um, I still hold the record for something. He's like, of course you do. There was no one there before. I mean and I laugh at it now, it was just, it was just truly a great experience yeah, you guys.
Speaker 4:You guys made it a great experience, jacob, anything no, just to echo some of the things that that Claire said, it was fun to be able to kind of stroll down memory lane and see kind of where our trajectories put us, based on the place that we started. I appreciate you having us on. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jacob, and I will say this personally to you you know I got to spend a lot of time just with those projects. Your senior year after that, just the impact you had on me as a principal being able to get some things done in the building, your creativity was um creativity, your sense of humor, your passion for it is greatly appreciated by myself. Uh, and I just want to share that.
Speaker 4:I definitely appreciate that sentiment. It's easy to be somebody who is creative and can bring their authentic self whenever you've got people to set up the framework and the environment that that can happen. So kudos right back at you. Thanks, sir Cole.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me, claire. Jacob, it's been an honor. All right, I still think Mr Haug, I still think Dr Haug, I still think back to those days when we were in that classroom, to where, whether we were having a good day or a bad day, it was just a great opportunity to be with strong-willed people with good hearts and good intentions and again, I'm just very grateful for the experience then and now.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm really proud of all three of you. Thank you for joining me today and I'm really proud of the class of 2014. Like I said, I'm really looking forward to seeing you guys in a couple of weeks and I can't wait to get this podcast out to our community. Thank you all, and, stevie, you can shut her down.