 Hi, my name is Wally McSuskey, this podcast was recorded at Lugmont Public Media. Today, we have two guests with me, John McSuskey and Liz Tucker. We are talking about motivations with some advice from Border Valley School District, principles, some of the information in the podcast didn't record, so I'm just going to share my intro in some content for this podcast. Now, we will let John McSuskey share some advice and motivations for ninth graders. This is who I want to take. What am I interested in out there in the world? Every time you have a big change, you get to notice more and more about who you are and who you want to be. I think that's a really fun opportunity and gives you a chance to be more introspective. John will make students really nervous about the workload and all those kinds of things. It turns out that teachers don't want to overwhelm students. The workload isn't as scary as people think it is. Having a good summer and making sure you're rested and ready and not being too worried about being overly prepared. Do the work that's being put in front of you and learn the systems. It's not as much of a stressor as I think people put on. I'm trying to think of other items that might be important is to think about other ways you want to attach to school clubs and activities and sports, things like that, ways that you want to be involved in school that aren't just classwork. I know where I'm the principal now at New Vista High School. We just have lunch clubs and after-school clubs and just so many different ways for kids to get involved and stay interested in. My first question is for both of you is which role models do you advise? I have this really fantastic teacher in fifth grade and I also had her in eighth grade. Her name is Mrs. Giverd Lever and I also care really hard about everything that you're doing and about the people that you're working with. So if you have a balance of those two things, leaning in hard to what you need to do to get it done. As a kid and through adulthood, I've always kind of been a bit of a worrier and worried about long-term things happening, you know, long-term projects and breaking things down and it's kind of an interesting metaphor but he used to always say to me, how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time? So you know, you just got to kind of chip away at the work and you'll get there. You just kind of got to get started and take it piece by piece and that's serving really well. That's something that I tell kids too because a lot of times I think our worry kind of eats us up and then we freeze and so this is a good way to kind of just jump in and do what you need to do. I had an aunt that reminded me on a regular basis that while you might be, you might know a lot of things, it's important to listen to just hear where people are at and make connections and build relationships and then, you know, see where you can contribute. So her idea was always to stay right sized, to kind of not be less than you are and not try to be more than you are, but just be who you are. Yeah, one more because I did take out earlier but I'll say it again, this one is, but is it like to be a first-time principal at a 10-year-old school? The great question. I had a really fantastic mentor for the last few years. His name is John McCloskey. So I feel like in a lot of ways I'm really prepared and I feel like I know a lot of what I'm going into and I'm able to just kind of go in with confidence that I know kind of what's ahead of me, but it's also a little scary. At the end of the day, I'm the person that answers all the questions and is the person that has to come up with all the things that we're doing and I'm the person that is at the front end whenever something goes wrong or goes well and so that's been a layer of pressure that I'm kind of working through right now, but overall I've been really happy and it's been really fantastic and I feel so lucky that I'm out of school that I've already been at working under someone that I really looked up to and just continuing a lot of that work that's already been done. Thank you. Now we will do some inspirational quotes. Oh, I forgot that part. No, it's okay, I got mine. Oh my gosh. Do you want to feel like Abraham Lincoln? I'll give you one. Well, I think I said that one. So, you know, the one that also says, I do have an Abraham Lincoln quote that I keep around that I like it says, I might be a slow walker, but I never walk back. That's a good one. I always appreciated that one. Yep. You can always rely on John to have a quote on hand for any situation. My favorite is from my Angelou and it's a really, really famous one. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. That's an important one to me because I think, you know, people have really strong connections to how you make them feel and I always want to make sure that kids, especially when they're coming through middle school, feel supported and feel seen and appreciate it for who they are. Great. That's a really good one, Liz. Thank you. I'm going to say, don't stop believing in and thank you both for coming in. Well, we appreciate you for drawing attention to schools and schooling and school leadership and it means a lot to us that you decided to highlight this in your first podcast. Thank you. Thank you so much, Riley. It was such a delight to be here with you. Oh, sweet. Thanks.