S2 Episode 8: The Ripple Effect: Kelli Park on Building Confidence, Connection and Young Leaders

In this episode of Barn to Boardroom, Cory and Camille sit down with educator and FCCLA adviser and high school teacher Kelli Park to talk about the life-changing influence a great teacher can have on students, families and an entire community.

Kelli shares how she creates a classroom where every student feels seen, known and valued—and how FCCLA helps young people develop confidence, leadership skills and the courage to step outside themselves and serve others. From teaching practical life skills to helping shy students become confident public speakers, Kelli shows how consistent encouragement, meaningful connection and simple acts of kindness can create a ripple effect that reaches far beyond the classroom.

It’s a heartfelt and humorous conversation about small-town schools, unsung heroes and the teachers who help young people stand a little taller and recognize their own potential.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hey Camille. Hey Corey. How's it going? Good. Monday night out in the country. A little podcasting. Oh, a little hot July, hot July nights. Oh, you know, it's the favor my favorite month. You know, it's so many reasons why we're inside 50 days now. College football kicking off. Fall guys coming back. See you in January.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Yeah. But you love fall. I do actually love fall, and I'm fine. I'm fine by myself for several months. It's okay. I can entertain my.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

You're gonna make it. And we're gonna be empty nesters during this. This is our first craft. Really?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

No. Just kidding. What are you gonna craft? Nothing. I don't craft. I envy those that craft.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Um, so you're gonna introduce our guest.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

President of the fan club.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Yeah, I said I was worried because we usually say, oh, we have a listener, one listener. But if she's on our podcast, who's gonna listen to this?

SPEAKER_03 1:04

She can still listen. Oh, yeah. Hopefully she'll listen.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Hopefully we don't take her off in the next 20-30 minutes and she doesn't listen, and now we're down to zero.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Um yeah, speaking of fall and school, and she'll introduce herself, but we will tell like the funny one of our first opportunities hanging out with her was at an FCCLA State Was I There Conf competition conference. You were there.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Um in our group and in all the activities, there were um identical twins.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

You know how this is going. And um like the I'm about to get exposed.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

We kind of split off the city. I feel like there's been four episodes in arrive and exposed.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

And you came to you didn't come to everything, like we didn't know. It was our first time at the state thing. We didn't know exactly what we were supposed to do or how we were supposed to support, and our daughter was competing. I thought you could go watch her.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

This was like three years ago.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Yeah. And uh either.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

It's been a while.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

And um, so finally, the very last ceremony, like it's all over. Corey leans over to me and goes, Wait, there's two of them? And I was like, What? He's like, They're identical. There's two of them this whole time. He thought there was just one of them, but he goes, I thought when we were riding over to that other area, wait, how did she get over here to my left?

SPEAKER_03 2:34

So And then I would be in the elevator, and then all it was crazy. Like I'm like, I'm going crazy. Wait, I was actually really worried.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Did you take the stairs? How did she get down here?

SPEAKER_03 2:45

I think I might have got I think I might have made a doctor's appointment while I was there. Like, hey, I got a problem. Oh and then I looked and there was two of them and they look they look exact they looked exactly the same. Yep, that happened. That was me.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

I was like, Do you even go here, Corey? That was it was it was funny. It was the funny, like I think I might have been crying, laughing so hard that you were like, wait, there's two of them? Yeah. I don't know where you've been for three days, but yes. Not in our group, obviously.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Well, I felt better and I canceled my doctor's appointment.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Good. Good, good. Well, with that being said, keep things interesting.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Welcome, Kelly Park. Kelly, welcome to Barn to Boardroom. We are excited to have you. I've got to ask one question though right out of the gate. So I think a couple of episodes we mentioned that I subbed at a class at a high school for a couple of days, and it happened to be your class. And we just gotta get the elephant out of the room right now. I need to know why I wasn't nominated and didn't win a teacher of the year for the state of Idaho and nationally. What what did I do wrong? That I I mean I'm super competitive.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

You are competitive. I you know, I don't think I have ever been nominated myself. It's I I'm in the unknown classroom.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

It's such a variety that like I totally messed up too. What uh classes that you teach. I think I called it like interior, I don't know, like fashion something. So what are some of the classes that you do teach? Like what are and what is your favorite?

SPEAKER_03 4:19

How long have you been teaching? Hold on, let's let's say let's ask that question real quick.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Okay. So I taught uh for 14 years a preschool in my home while I raised my kids. And then for the last eight years, I've been teaching in the local school district as a family consumer science educator. And part of what I teach, and we live in such a small rural community that um the teacher before me, which happened to be my mom, wanted to add a little a little variety to give more electives to the students in the school district. So I it's not normal for a teacher to teach six of the seven prep classes. Um I have a different class every hour. So I start off the morning teaching early childhood education, which is something that I really love and used a lot for the 14 years I was with my kids and I love it. And then I teach a food and nutrition class. We kind of bump it under the label adult living, because along with food and nutrition, I try to teach them adult life skills, like your place in the family, um, finances, like independent living, getting them ready to live on their own as an adult. And then after lunch, I will teach an intro to FCS class, which is I we have the middle school kids come over and I teach them a little bit about food and then a little bit of sewing. And then sixth hour, I have my FCCLA leadership class, which FCCLA stands for Family Career and Community Leaders of America. And the leadership class is one that I've had your daughter in, and it's just a phenomenal class. It's something that they are self-driven. So every student has projects, and we just rock and roll the whole hour long on a million different directions. And then we wrap up the day with the first semester. I teach fashion and textiles, and then in the winter semester, yes, that's the one you were talking about. That's the one I was talking about. Fashion and textiles, which is right up his line, right? Yeah, perfect. And then and then in the spring, I will teach an interior design class. Oh, cool, okay. And I love them all.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Yeah, a variety that's very cool.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

No, it is, I mean, it is a variety, and um it's it's it'd be interesting to me to know how, you know, Kelly, you you can shift um because you have basically five minutes to change a mindset and go to a completely different subject. It's not like you're right, you're teaching math. You should get a raise. You need more money. So we need to we need to work on that like right now. Anyway, right. Um so so you know it's and I'm not I'm not downplaying, you know, the math teacher or English, but you've you've got to switch to something completely different. How do you do that?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

It is it is really difficult. In the morning after my early childhood classes, for example, I will teach that class. Um, the setup of it is the first part of the semester, the first eight weeks, I teach high school kids how to teach preschool. And then the second half of the semester, we run an eight or six-week occupational preschool where children from the community come into our preschool, and my students have developed lesson plans and a routine. We go through a preschool session with these kids for six weeks, and once that class is done, I am shot. It is exhausting because the little kids, especially when the little kids join in, they come in, it's our first time being in a school setting, and they're just high-energy kids. And by the time fourth hour rolls around, and I need to teach foods, I'm exhausted. It's really hard. But we just kind of take a lap around the classroom, take some deep breaths, and go for it again.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

I can't even imagine all the preparation that you have to do on a daily basis of just functioning like you I have seen your classroom. It is very organized, and there's a cubby in the spot for everything, which is amazing, but I don't know how I don't know how you keep it organized.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

I'm grateful that you see it that way. Sometimes I think people see it as like a chaotic mess, and to me, it's organized chaos because it is we do have a small a small school, and I move the furniture at least three times a day. I move to set up for everything, and it's it's really it's a chore that it takes all of us. I couldn't do it without the kids jumping in and moving the desks for me, and we just have a rhythm and it works really well.

SPEAKER_03 9:19

You know what I think would be kind of tough, Kelly, is you've got a nice kitchen too. How do you not make brownies every hour?

SPEAKER_00 9:24

I oh, I know that's tough. The kids are always like, Can we make they want to make cookies, they want to fall back to the good things, and sometimes, you know, you just take the moment and you do that with them.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

So that's lucky. If I am ever in a lockdown situation, we're gonna survive alright.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

I mean, every time I've been there, it's like check Kelly's classroom, check Kelly's classroom. Yeah. I bet she has I bet she has this.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

Well, I have to tell you something that that I thought was actually really cool in the couple days that I spent there, um, just to show the impact that that you you have on the students. And um it's like between classes, students would come in to see Kelly, and when they saw me there, it was a sure sign of major disappointment, like I ruined their entire week. And but they would they would come in to s to say hi to her real quick between classes, and um, and and like Camille said, you know, you go into her classroom and the desks can be in a a horseshoe or a circle, but um just the way that it's set up and it's and it's very inviting. And you know, we've we've half joked, we've joked that you know Kelly's our fan club president, Camille, for the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

But yes, I am the fan club.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

Okay, okay, officially, officially. Yes, but you know, one of the biggest reasons, Kelly, and we're we're getting ready to end season two. We'll you're you're the second to the last, and then we'll have one, but we wanted to wait and do this toward the end of season two. Um, you're you have a fan club at our house, and we've watched an impact that you've had on our on our daughter, you know, and and some of the things that she's been able to accomplish as she um has left high school uh just recently and getting ready to go serve a an LDS mission mission, which Kelly, you have two sons getting twin boys getting ready to leave here in a in the next couple weeks. But um uh you've had a huge impact on on her. And as Camille and I sit down and we kind of inventory her and and the confidence that she has to get up in front of people, and it just it puts me in awe that she has no problem getting up in front of three to four hundred people and speaking. Um, and she has that confidence in we we know for a fact that what you've done has been a direct impact. So the FCCLA program and yourself in the way you represent that. Um, thank you. So you have a fan club here at the Meyer House, but tell us a little bit about FCCLA and what the impact you've had, you've seen that have throughout the years on on young people.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Well, first of all, I want to just say thank you for that compliment. Like it means a lot to me and makes me reflect a lot about that first um summer that I was thinking about setting up my classroom and the envision that I had in wanting to set it up to be a safe place for all the kids that walked in every day. And that was my goal. Um, I've had a quote hanging on my wall about being kind, and there's a couple of them that have just made an impression on my life that I try to start off and set the foundation of my classroom with every single semester, and they'll hear it every single semester they take my class, and hearing your compliment is just kind of like the teacher of the year award that I need to see, like I'm doing something right. Somebody's noticed and it's made an impact on their life. But my foundation also started from when my mom was in the class. I think the foundation for my FCCLA experience was I was such a shy high school student myself, and my mom had just gone into taking the position at the high school, and FCCLA was a brand new thing for her. And what she saw and witnessed, she knew it would make an impact on me as I was in the like with the situations that most high school kids are in, friendships change, finding who you are is just an up and down slippery slope in their life and through the high school years. And I'm always just seeking for the students that need me the most. And I love to stand by my door in the transition, the moving parts of the day, and I like to look kids in the eye. And when I look them in the eye, I try to say hello and say their name because that is very important to me also. But I try to kind of just lure them into my classroom. If you can come in and see and feel what's in here, I can I have a place for you. And that's what FCCLA does. It is a place to provide opportunities for personal development, it's a preparation for life. And I I love the values that it has, and it just sets that a really good foundation to just build these kids up when they're looking, they don't know what they're looking for, but they're searching for something to build who they are. Yeah, it's to help them reach their potential.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

And potential, you you nailed it. I think um I did have an opportunity to volunteer this last year as a judge for at the state level.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

I said, sign me up.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

I could have spent a day judging people. I'm in.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

I want to be judgy.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Okay. Um, but it was so interesting seeing the um lower level kids come in and they're nervous and they're moving their eyes around. And then you get to the upper level, those juniors and seniors, and how confident they are. And I I as the judge, I wanted to go, just hang in there, you little young one. Like you'll get yeah, you'll get there. And it was it's cool to see though. It's cool to see. You can tell those that have been in it for years, and you can see the ones that are just coming in. It was pretty cool to see that, just the difference in the levels. So what an amazing program and and the dedication that you um give to it, because you're the one coordinating it and leading it and telling them what to do and how to be confident and look people in the eye. And not everyone's not everybody that's a leader does that to their to their team.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Yeah. I love just those simple things can add so much of looking people in the eye, addressing them by name, and just it's partly you feel so awkward when you're when you're so shy and unsure of yourself too to do that. But what the more you do it, the more confidence you gain. And that will help you so much in the long run.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

So one, you know, you well, you mentioned the little things in consistency and and man, we're missing that in this world so much in in the things we do, we we look for the the outcomes rather than what we need to do today to get to the outcomes. One of the things that I noticed um the last couple of years and be able to, you know, go watch our our daughter um compete is that not everybody can do it. And when you look at these schools and as they bring students at small numbers, because I started thinking, well, it's it's really hard to do. It's really intimidating. And Kelly, you you and I and Camille, we we all know that um public speaking is is if not the top fear, one of the top fears of anybody. There's things that they would rather do than public than speak publicly. And we watched it, uh, you know, I we've been able to see several people that you've worked with just changing fact this past year. One young lady um, you know, uh get get the highest score of any of the group at state, go on to nationals and whatnot. But what do you do when their heads are down and they're like, I I I can't do this, and they get upset. How do you how do you work through that with them?

SPEAKER_00 17:22

You know, the thing that I think works the most like a little bit more about the program is public speaking is just a part of it. It's a kind of eyes up, forget yourself, and kind of go to work. They're spotting out and looking, if you they're they're looking out for a need in the community, their life, the school, something like that that they can work on and improve. And there are highs and lows with every project and everything that you go through throughout life. And if somebody's got their eyes down, I always think it's a great time for them to pause. Um, this year I adopted like a little dump it page, and they sit down and they can dump all the things that are just running through their head to an instrumental song. They just write on a paper, they fill it, a dump it page, and then they can go back and sort through what is something that to take with them, other things that they need to just drop and walk away from. But I think an important part is just the time that that allows to stop and think to think. They um if they can write five thank you notes and reach beyond their own fears and worries, I think that they have eyes up to do the work. They have the eyes to see something else that they need to see, something else they need to learn, something to be ready to be taught. If they look if they look and think about how somebody else is helping them.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Yeah, and I think yeah, to point out too more of what FCCLA does is that um is the other things besides getting up and explaining their project or what they did, like you said, the service projects, that's um what our daughter did the most of. But I judge the repurpose and reuse, and those kids have to spend that whole year making something out of something else and and coming up with it. Most of them did it as a group, some did it by themselves, but there was, you know, in their presentation, and we asked them what didn't you like about this, you know, there was times like I just hated painting, or I, you know, they would pick one little part out that you could tell, like you said, when they're hanging their head down or when they're like looking down, that was the tough part for them. But the program pushes you to get past that.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Right. Yeah, there's just a lot of ways for them to look outside and see, you know, maybe it's someone else like searching for someone else to be a part of the, you know, maybe you need to find somebody else to come along with you and find a friend that is kind of hanging their head down too and help them lift themselves up too, out of the ground out of the, you know, whatever muck they might be in at the time, or just looking beyond just themselves.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

The other thing too that I gotta think, Kelly, in in in answer to this question, is um we know the FCCLA uh kit, we'll call them kids, students, students say go and and they they spend their year doing these things, whatnot, but that's gotta have an impact on the rest of the student body because now they come back and the things that they learn and the things about themselves and the the confidence that they build, now they bring that into the hallways and they bring that into the classroom. And so I've got to think it has an impact back to the school too, as far as from a leadership standpoint and being able to get through tough things and helping other students kind of coach them through. Would you would you say that that's a a true statement?

SPEAKER_00 21:15

I would, and I have an example that I thought of when you were saying that. Um, your daughter part of her project this last year was a tradition, a tradition that was started several years ago, called we call it cougar compliments, where we take the the whole listing of students that are enrolled at at our high school, and we make little cougar paws and we write their name on it, and we try to think of a very specific compliment to extend to that student. And then these cougar paws go on the wall and with a a little explanation, and the kids, the students walk by, they search for their name and they look at the compliments. And I love the last couple of years, we haven't put them as a big group. We've put them individually on each student's locker. And I've had several of the high school teachers say this is like one of our most loved traditions. And I look at it and I told your daughter as part of the feedback on her project, think about if we hadn't done this. Like you call the student by name and you give them a compliment and they wonder who gave it to them. And I feel like they square their shoulders, they walk a little bit higher, they might treat people differently in a better way. They might have that desire to serve and turn around and do something. One of the big things I think is important for leadership in our school is to mentor other students. And so maybe they'll do that. And that's my hope is that they'll turn around and mentor someone else. And I think it's just so valuable that, you know, I think the students kind of look forward to it come around. Like I think we did it this year last year in November. Sometimes it's in February. But I think the kids know it's coming. And I know the teachers understand it so much, and they love to see that ripple effective kindness go throughout the school and watch kids just act differently because of that.

SPEAKER_03 23:24

Yeah, and even I we we were saying that I was even thinking um it it spilled over, if I remember right, to a neighboring school this year, too. Um where they went and they they did it with uh they did it uh anonymously to a school that's just up the road, if I remember right.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

So and it hit the newswaves even. I tell a story in my classroom about how your your acts of kindness will go ripple from the classroom down the hall, out, you know, spread from the community across the world as our kids go out to be in places and serving missions for the next couple of years. It's gonna go around the world, and someone is gonna know where Firth Idaho is just because of these kind acts that ripple around. And the project your daughter did was, you know, caught on East Idaho News, and we got to see it, and it was so much, it brought so much joy to my heart to be seen. And they didn't know who had done it, and that's the part like let thine alms be in secret kind of thing. But we knew someone knew that we were doing good.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

And and you're right. I mean, now it's a it's infectious, it's an act of kindness and whatnot. So I have to tell you something that I thought was was cool. Uh, I was there, I when I was there, it was Homecoming Week, actually. And um, so we got to see some of the I I mean it it you know, we got I I kind of felt like a student again to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

But I mean even Did you put did you get your Letterman jacket out and like try it on?

SPEAKER_03 24:56

It could it was really tight in the armpits and everywhere else. But uh I think I think they even had our I think the FFA had a rodeo. We went over to the road with the rodeo grounds, and there was steer wrestling and and and chicken chasing and wild steer riding and it was it was cool and and whatnot. But um uh the thing too is you know, and we mentioned kind of how we it kind of brings it kind of brings everything together, but um I think I think the other thing, Kelly, that I've gotta I've gotta say is that this has to have an impact on on the teachers as well, right? And Camille and I had an opportunity to come and spend a little time in your classroom. I think it's probably been, I don't know, two years ago. Was it two years ago we went and talked about no BCD and then a little bit of that? Then we came and I love that. And then we talked, um, then we came back part of Sales Project, and and uh but um you could just tell you could tell that the teachers and the administrators and the staff love the students, and um I think you know a lot of the different programs help bring all that together, but this is one that I I think is kind of that unsung hero as well, too, because um it's teaching it's teaching leadership from the students back into the into the teachers as well, and they've got it, they've gotta love that. And so, and I tell people all the time, um I guess I'm biased, but um it's really cool that the teachers know your kids. And so continuing to push these programs and doing those things, I think, is is twofold, not just for the the students, but also for the teachers. It's a great job.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

One of the the it made me think of at the beginning of the school year, the student council will always do an assembly to welcome the students back to school, and they give an opportunity for each teacher to be introduced or say a few words. And our ag teacher always stands up and says, I don't care what you do, whatever, choose something, be a part of something, find somewhere to be involved. And I I love that he says that, and I wish more kids would choose FCCLA, and I think the reason they don't is because of the small school district and the size and the timing of our four-day week. We so many of our leadership activities conflict with athletic practices and games and different things like that that coaches just don't want you to miss. And um, and so that's kind of the hard punch, but I always just take confidence in the fact like I get the kids that need me the most and I try to look for those. Like I said before, that I'm reaching those kids, but if they get involved, it's get involved with something, but I love it when they come to me and then they go to another organization because I can see the leadership in action. Um, your daughter, like I got to see her in the in my classroom. I got to see her use those same skills to just speak in front of the entire school as a student body president. And that just makes me feel like I just feel like bursting inside rock star moment because I get to see how she's gonna use this in her adult life to plan to pursue different things in her career or you know, her life, anything. She's gonna go so much farther because she has these foundational leadership skills to take it anywhere. And now she can address a crowd of people with lots and lots of people.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Yeah, that's we we've always said it takes like a village to raise your kids. And I just love the impact that that you've had on her. I you might have already touched on it. I was gonna ask, what what is the toughest part of trying to coordinate and organize um all these activities that you do through FCCLA or just being a teacher in general besides naughty kids?

SPEAKER_00 29:11

With FCCLA, it's kind of difficult because it requires so many hours. It, you know, I don't want to downplay another organization, but sometimes they when they go to competition, they can pick up the competition the night before and be able to practice it overnight and go compete in that thing. With FCCLA, we are as soon as the school year starts, I'm encouraging them to figure out what they want to do because it takes hours and hours. You have to go through and thoughtfully plan your project and to get some of these projects to come together, it takes the whole entire family. And that's what FCCLA is it's making a difference with families and the multiple role roles that we play in the family. And it takes that that collaboration with families, with teachers, and sometimes with the youth groups that they're involved in to get this project done. And it's amazing. I know, like with your daughter, again, like her project, looking back on her project, it took her her student council avenue, it took the opportunity to work with you both and your with your um with the things that you do with leadership. The the name just escaped me. I I apologize, but you came and did that um assembly for us. And then we did a lot of things with our FCCLA group to pull off the entire week of activities. And then from there, she creates a speech and a project board, a display board to visually show all the work that she's gone through. And it's a lot, it's a lot to do, and sometimes a lot to do is the turnway for kids, but sometimes those kids really want that creative outlet, they like the communication, it's practical knowledge, it's helping them prepare for careers. And when kids really get that and all those pieces lock in, they are they're unstoppable. Yeah.

unknown 31:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Well, as we kind of wrap it up, Kelly, um, again, thank you so much for what what you do for so many. And you know, we we get to be on the the winning end of it with with um with with our youngest. And it's interesting. I uh we went and spent time, I spent time with both my girls uh last week. And my oldest was also involved in a similar program in high school. In fact, she was the president of of it, and and it wasn't easy, you know, uh as well to be part of the future business leaders uh uh group of America. And and I was thinking about as we were getting ready, I knew we were gonna be connecting on Monday night for this. I was thinking about, you know, um the world today and and the pressures that these kids have that I didn't have, you know, growing up. I I I was like, when am I gonna get a nap? Get make sure my homework gets done, and what am I gonna eat and when's practice? And that was about it. And um, and so I was as I was sitting there spending time with both my girls that you know have have done amazing things and we're so proud of both of them, but it takes it takes those leaders. And so thank you, Kelly, for all you do for our community. Thank you for what you've done for our family, and um, we really appreciate you and we want you to know that.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Well, thank you. I can I just for a minute, I when I learned I was gonna be on the podcast, I reached out to some of my students that have volunteered graciously to come back into the classroom to help because of what it has done for them. They come back and they listen and help students do their best. And I asked them for a response, and one of the gals that I reached out to said, FCCLA will always hold a special place in my heart. FCCLA became more than just a club I joined in high school to pass the time. I will always be grateful for lessons it taught me, for the people I met because of and through the program and the confidence it gave me to always stand tall and proud. But as much as I loved FCCLA for what it's done for me, I love it even more after watching what it's been able to do for the kids in the program now. FCCLA is a place where anyone can belong, and if you will let it, it will change you for the better. So I just I I wanted, you know, there's more, there's more people too that once they love it and they feel that acceptance, they just want to turn around and give back with it too. I thank you for the the compliments. I appreciate it so much.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Well, thanks for deserved hours and late nights and bus rides. Oh, the bus rides on the high all the good times, all the good times, and uh yeah, I think it's just amazing. Thank you so much, and thanks to your former students for sharing that testimonial about it. I think if if people out there could know the value that it brings, they would the classroom would be overrun. They'd have to have two or three of you.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

So right.

SPEAKER_03 34:27

Kelly, again, thanks so much, and we appreciate you, and we'll talk soon.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 34:33

Bye-bye. Well, Camille, great final guest for season two. Um, we love we love Kelly. We live with their family, right? We've become good friends with their family. Um we talked, we've talked about the impact. So, punch list, so real quick. Um, we never did get deep in me being uh being Yeah, we that just got bypassed this teacher of the year of the nation of the world of the galaxy. I would think two days of subbing would get me that. I mean where did I go wrong?

SPEAKER_02 35:08

Well, if you listen to Kelly talk, obviously you didn't do enough.

SPEAKER_03 35:14

I believe I did.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

Showing up was enough.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

I believe no I believe this guy can show up and it changes a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:22

Or usually the worst. But well, it was, you know, I I mean I don't I don't say like she's she's awesome, she's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

Teachers are the was the unsung heroes for sure.

SPEAKER_03 35:34

Oh yeah, absolutely. And you know, we we we have joked about um we we fully joked actually about her needing an increase, but teachers, you know, our first responders, there's a group there that just so underpaid.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

What stuck out to you?

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Um just her passion to want to connect with people. And I think we're missing that so much in the world today. Like with social media and just everything, you know, just our distance from each other. Um her passion to connect with the students, with um the community, in her outreach in the program. Um it's just amazing to me that that's in a lot of areas that I think that we're lacking. I I get really uh blindered as an accountant and like at a computer screen all day that I don't want to talk to people sometimes. Just email me, don't talk to me. Just kidding. But that does happen. You you get you get comfortable in the non-communication of things, and it gets easier not to connect with people and look people in the eye. And I think that's the my big takeaway is today this week. I'm gonna look more people in the eye and try to connect more with people.

SPEAKER_03 36:55

I feel like I get you looked me in the eye, it's stern.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

Like uh Stern. That's a I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

Uh I I think my biggest Stern. Come on. I think I think the the biggest takeaway for me is that um she keeps really good energy about it and um it's infect it's infectious, right? And and so you talked about her ability to want to connect with everybody. Well then she teaches those her students to do the same thing and then they go do the same thing. And we talked a lot about FCCLA, but um, you know, all kidding aside, it when I spent time um last year in her classroom for a couple days, I saw it in all the classes. Um, and so yeah, it's it's it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

I hope all small town schools feel that way. I think we felt that way.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

So Kelly want to thank you again for being on. Um Camille, July's coming tune in. We mentioned at the beginning of the show. Um we've got season three coming up. We've got an amazing guest that's gonna open season three for us with us. Um some and some good surprises in season three. Lots of cool things to talk about and people to talk with, but there's a sunset about to happen. We're gonna go catch it here in here in southeast Idaho. Yeah. Enjoy 'em. Enjoy those sunsets. Hey, thanks everybody. We'll see you next time.