 Hi, I'm Michael Morris, I'm the Superintendent of the Amherst Regional Public Schools, and thank you for watching Window to Arps. Today I'm thrilled to be sharing two of our new administrators in the district, and with me today is Victoria Stewart, our new Athletic Director, and Michael Gallo O'Connell, our new School Nutrition Director. So thank you both for being here. I know for many students and families, athletics and food are two of the most important things we do in the school. We serve an incredible number of meals each year, and a high number of our students participate in evaluating our scholastic athletics, so these are critical roles, and we're just thrilled to have you on board, and thrilled to be sharing both of you with the community today. So thank you for coming. Thanks for having us. Thanks, Sam. And we are taping this right before students return, so food service and athletics are kicking into high gear to get ready for that, and I know practices are starting, but both of you have officially started your position quite recently. So we'll catch you on the front end of your tenure in the district, and so really appreciate you jumping in and introducing yourself to the community. So I'll start with you, Victoria. Could you share a little bit about yourself and how you became interested in working for the district? Yeah, so I'm from Amherst, and I love it. I grew up here, started here since I've been here since first grade, and then went to Fort River, the middle school, the high school, and then I stayed here for college, and I went to UMass. So I just love giving back to the community. Even when I was in high school, I always, you know, enjoyed doing things for the community, and now I'm back, and I'm excited to have my next job here at the high school. That's great. And, you know, it makes me feel a little old. I do remember Victoria, because I was teaching at Fort River when you were a student. I know. You were in my class, but it's a good moment for me. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about how you became interested, particularly in working in the athletic department or leading the athletic department in the district that you, you know, were a student in and were a student athlete in the past? Yeah. Yeah, I love giving back. And athletics, it just is an outlet for students. They get to go to practice and kind of put everything, what happened during their days, like, behind them. So I'm really excited to be a part of that, and I definitely think it's important for high schoolers in particular. So middle school, high schoolers have a sport to go and give, like, any of their bad energy they had throughout their day off. Yeah. I know for myself, just on a personal level, I was a multi-sport athlete in high school and college, actually. And it was, as much as I did actually enjoy school and fully appreciate the academics, having that balance was really important for me. I distinctly remember when I was in college, there was one season where I was injured and I didn't participate, and I couldn't participate in athletics. And one might think, oh, you have all this free time. That'll be your best academic semester. And in fact, the opposite was true. Yeah. And that routine, that camaraderie of the team, of being on a team, and that balance, it was harder for me. And my teammates were sort of like, oh, you have all this time. You're not going to meet on the weekends. But really, I think that kind of ideal of being active with your mind, but active with your body is hugely important for, was for me, and I know for many of our students, it is as well. And turning to you, Michael, tell us a little bit about yourself, and you're interested in joining the district. All right. Well, it's great to be here. Thank you. So I am also UMass graduate. And I lived in the area for a while. I moved to Connecticut Opener Restaurant after I got married. And we had our first child. We thought about where we want to live. And Amherst, for both of us, always kept coming up. So we decided we want to raise our family in Amherst, in the Pioneer Valley. And I've been involved with higher education food for most of my career. So I've seen in higher education food like a lack of food education, really. So it's an opportunity to correct that at an earlier stage in elementary and high schools and middle schools. It's really exciting for me. Yeah, thank you. How did you get passionate about food? Clearly, you've dedicated in multiple parts of your career to nutrition and food. What got you interested in focusing your talents and your energies in that area? I think that probably came from family. I had grandparents. My grandfather was a baker. My grandmother was an amazing cook. So that was kind of a source of comfort in our family and Sunday dinners every Sunday. So out of that, that sense grew for me of the importance of food and how it can add things to your life. Yeah, no, please take a drink. I certainly, while you're having a sip, I definitely agree with that that I think in many cultures, certainly in my family, food was a central part of when people get together. Sure, we could have fun without it, but it seems awkward not to be sitting down and breaking bread together is a pretty central part of many cultures, many people's experiences in the past. Once I started working in the food service industry, even in the beginning, I started as a dishwasher and a cook, I also appreciated the camaraderie involved in it. It's a difficult work environment. But that also helps form strong relationships and you kind of have a bond, sort of like a family. So that's also attractive to me. Yeah, fantastic. So I'll stay with you and then we'll go to Victoria. So you've been on the job, not a tremendous amount of time. But what have some of your impressions been so far? And what have you noticed as you've worked with staff, with community members if they've come in around the school nutrition program? Well, so far, my impression of the staff is that it's a really dedicated staff. Like I've met with all of my managers so far. And they were the ones coming in to me. Like it's late to be setting off with a school year coming up. So they were concerned. They were coming in saying, hey, I want to make sure we're getting the food in and make sure the kids are going to be OK. So I was really impressed with that. That's really something to build on and grow. So it was great. We're very fortunate that way. And Victoria, things you've noticed so far? Yeah, so we had the other night on Tuesday. We had fall sports night. And I got to meet all the fall coaches during the coaches meeting. The coaches are wonderful. It's great to have great coaches because those are the ones that deal with the students the most. And they're very dedicated. And then the community, I spoke to right after that meeting. And I said, hi, I'm the new athletic director of Victoria Stewart. And all of a sudden, I hear applause. I'm like, oh my gosh. I made a little joke to the coaches. I go, where was that when I said, hi, guys. I got to the athletic director. But no, the community was awesome and welcoming. And then other staff members at the high school, Rob and our nurse, everyone's been very helpful in helping me get through the days right now, these first few days. Great. Great. I'm glad to hear that. And I think that's really what new staff find when they come into our district in a variety of roles, that we are very fortunate to have a culture and climate where people are excited to have new people. They're excited for the new ideas and new energy they bring. And I think you'll find that it's not a one week or two week kind of thing that extends beyond. You know, for you, Victoria, can you describe a bit of at least what your vision is or how you feel athletics influences the student experience? Yeah, definitely. So sports in general, I think it just builds a culture. And like I said before, it's like an outlet for students. So I'm really hoping that athletics can change a little bit in terms of the whole culture. A lot of school pride. And people getting really excited to come to games. The whole community being part of the games. You know, we'll have people that are in chorus concerts come sing maybe even the National Anthem or maybe have a halftime show. Whatever it is, bring different people, a part of the community, into athletics, not just the athletes and the student athletes parents, bringing in just the students' parents and people that wouldn't go watch a basketball game or a football game or even a girls field hockey game, like go, go support. Because I just think it's really big to just support the community and all the student athletes. It is. And I think it's one area, particularly because the games happen after school where it can really bring that larger community feel. During the school day, there's certainly a community, but people are running off to their classes and doing different activities. But it is one place where the school of others, but one critical place where the school can come together and be supportive of their colleagues, their friends, and the entire community. I think one of the things I noticed, too, is sometimes it's former players, former players' parents, or caretakers. It really can bring in that whole community feel. And it's wonderful. And we have a very supportive community of athletics in general. I know we offer many more sports than many high schools in our area because of the diverse interests of our students. And so I'm excited. I'm excited to go to some games in the fall. I really enjoy it when I'm able to do that. So thinking about nutrition, particularly at a K to 12 level, how do you see that affecting the student experience or impacting the student experience? Well, I think that it has a daily impact on everybody. I think that it's a good time. I would like to try and bring restaurant quality food to our cafeterias. And I know that requires a lot of different moving pieces. I would like to the staff recognize the staff as important stakeholders, the managers, people that are in the kitchens. And so how would you, let me ask a follow up to you, Michael. So in terms of if I'm a nine-year-old student, 9, 10, Crocker Farm Elementary, how would the food that is served affect my day? What's your vision of how that child is affected by the Disco Nutrition Program? OK. Well, I know that we have a diverse student population. And I know that different schools have different flavor profiles that they follow. So I think it's important to recognize that and try and tailor the menu more to that so that maybe some of the students will find food in the cafeteria that they're familiar with and that it's nutritious, but it's also like comfort to them. I think that would be great. Absolutely. I know one of the schools, Fort River, is starting a dual-language program, Spanish-English dual-language program. And they've expressed a lot of interest of having that reflected on their menu perhaps a bit more than it, you know, I think there's been strides made in the last couple years, but particularly as they're making a cultural sift for students who are in the program or not in the program, but there's a lot more Spanish language that's going to be spoken, signage that's going to be there. And they've seen, they've expressed that the school nutrition piece can also be a place where that cultural work can happen. Yeah, I think that's very important. I think that really helps complete, you know, the mission in that regard. Yeah, thank you. So what are some, I'll go to Victoria for the next question to start. What are some of the aspirations for your role and your department? In other words, what's the vision? What would you like to see? How would you know if the athletics department is going on all cylinders and affecting that student experience in the way that you'd like? I would like to see more girl teams. So there's definitely an even amount of sports, but it's like JVA and Freshman, you know, our soccer, our boy soccer team, they have a great turnout every year. It's awesome. You know, they have a varsity JVA and Freshman team. I would like to see that across the board. So it's going to start with the youth, you know, continuing them wanting to keep playing sports at a young age and then all of a sudden the high school should, it should happen for the high school. So it's definitely going to take time. I'm hoping that the high school will go and volunteer more with the youth programs. And that will tailor, you know, the amounts and the numbers of attendance of student athletes in the future. I know, and I know one of the sports did an event last week like that. And you know, if you're, again, I could use my eight-year-old example. If you're eight years old and you've got a 17-year-old high school athlete, that's going to be, frankly, more important than probably anything that people our age would say to them, you know? Because you see that role model. You see the jersey or the uniform. And people can get into that aspirational mindset. And that's what we want our kids thinking. And the kids look, they really look up to like these students, you know? Kids at Fort River, Crocker Farm, Wildwood, they see a middle school high schooler and they see them playing on the field or whatever court or whatever it is, right? And they're like, oh my gosh, I want to be there one day. And then they may even fall you to college. And that's one of my proudest moments. Like, as playing at UMass even, I had a student that, you know, she's in the high school now. So I can't wait to watch her play high school basketball, but she came to most of maybe all my home games at UMass, which was great. So I think that's what we should go to. Yeah, fantastic. My daughter definitely agreed with that. I'm an 11-year-old daughter and she has had coaches that were on UMass or, you know, other teams and she really looks up to them and it does give her a vision of the future. Like, that's a place for me to go. Yeah, it's great. Yeah, there's a lot of, it's actually a lot of research that I've read a while back that said, you know, basically at 10 years old, having that clear aspiration, whether it ends up happening exactly the way you think it is or not, but actually having those role models and having aspirations, whether that's college, you know, attending college or being an athlete has long-term implications of whether you're successful. In other words, we set self-fulfilling prophecies for ourselves and we need to give our kids all the narratives, they can do that and they can be the examples, the positive examples they see we can and I think your point's really well taken. Yeah. Michael, thoughts about your vision? You talked about it a little bit, but your aspirations for food service? Yeah, well, you know, I think sustainability is really critical issue right now. I think that local sourcing is important. As much as we can, you know, and then being creative with the food we're getting in and make sure we're using it correctly and processing it and, you know, trying to increase participation rates so that, you know, we can have more room in the budget so we can bring in another person possibly and then, you know, we're getting fresh stuff and fresh vegetables every day from local farms and using that, that would be my main big goal, I think. So let me ask a question because I'm not as knowledgeable nearly, you know, certainly as you. So we live in New England, our growing season's not quite what it is in other areas, south and west of us, so how do you maintain local produce given that we have a pretty lengthy and sometimes harsh winter, you know, and that our school year, the 10 months, at least four months of them are in winter? Yeah, so some of that comes down to, like, I mean, really eating seasonally is important, so certain points in the year in the fall or in the winter you're eating root vegetables. Okay. You can also process things when they're in season, you know, tomatoes, you can, if you have the, you know, equipment you can flash freeze things, you have the storage space so that you're creating your own, you know, frozen vegetables like flash frozen that you use later or, you know, turning things into like a pesto, basil into a pesto or things like that. That's helpful because I've always wondered that question because even in local restaurants outside the schools, you know, they talked about, you know, farm fresh and then, you know, it's like 20 degrees out and snowing and I'm thinking, I don't think the farms are, yeah. Yeah, so, yeah, one of those two things probably didn't dig it up that day, but yeah, I mean, sort of things in root cellars and, you know, have enough to get through the winter because really, if you are eating seasonally, then you're eating root vegetables in the winter. Yeah, well, that helps. That makes sense to me. So Michael's sticking with you for a second. What are some challenges that your department's currently facing and, you know, how are you looking to approach them? I know you've just started, but certainly staff, I'm sure staff as eager and motivated as they are have let you know some of the barriers that are going on right now. Yeah, so my initial challenge is just, we have some vacancies and staffing. So I'm trying to fill those quickly, but I'd like to bring in like, you know, the right people, people that I feel like are invested, will be invested in the program and will be willing to grow. And then next, just, I would like to build a relationship with the managers and the staff, get them more involved in the process, because they're at the front lines every day. So they, you know, if I'm telling them, I'd like you to put this on the menu, and they're thinking that's not gonna work, or they'll do it, but they might, like I'm missing out on their knowledge. Right. And then maybe we come to a compromise somewhere in the middle, we've got support. What are, I mean, with some of the laws and rules around school lunch, nutrition guidelines, and things like that, does that, do you find that limiting? I know we're just starting in the role, but or is that those guidelines broad enough for, you know, you do feel like your staff has a lot of flexibility? It is a challenge. So, you know, right now, we're doing some taste testing with Project Bread, we're trying some different recipes for some breakfast in the classroom items. So the chefs that were working with Chef Sam and Chef Jamil are fantastic. They have recipes, and then they have to take the recipe and kind of fit it into the guidelines, which is possible, but it takes them adjusting. Yeah. So some people might know what, not know what Project Bread is, so do you mind sharing a little bit of, at least your initial interactions with them and how they support the food service, the school nutrition program, excuse me? Well, we received a grant from Project Bread that's helping us set up our breakfast in the classroom program. So they have a chef, Sam Nicklin, that is working with us. Well, so we have Chip Jamil from Amherst College who's coming in and they're doing taste testing and they're working with our staff, figuring out which things are gonna be possible for them to do. And then, you know, we're just getting input from the kids. We'll continue doing that throughout the next few months. Great. So once we implement the program, we'll kind of have a good idea of what's gonna work for them. Great. Anytime you need a taste tester, you know where to find me. I was just gonna say that. I'm like serious, I love food. I do that very well. So yeah, and I've proven, I have some track record from the past couple of years, but Chef Sam is great. He knows where my office is and he'll find me, and so did a lot of work with him on smoothies the last couple of years getting the right mix. But it was to your point, and that's really where the question came from the right mix of fruits, vegetables, and other items as opposed to, you know, a commercial place where they might dump a bunch of sugar in that. You know, we both ethically, but also nutritionally can't do that. And so how do you get that mix right? And I'm always impressed with what I taste and what I see. Right, because we really don't want to do that. Right, it's not just the guidelines. Right, and the tricky part is, you know, we're getting kids, so it's also, you know, what they want, but you know, we're gonna try and take the things that we know that are good for them and try to like figure out how it'll be palatable for them. Or sometimes just introduce it a couple of times, you know, to get them past their initial barrier of I don't eat broccoli, so, you know. Yeah, very good. And Victoria, for you, what are some challenges that you think the athletic department's facing and what are some ways you're working on them? Yeah, so similar to like what I've aspired to do, female sports is definitely a challenge right now and trying to get the numbers up in that regards. And I think I said before, we're probably gonna have to go and hit the youth programs, LSEC, and whatever else there's out there in the community. And then the other one is, you know, paying to play. That's not gonna hold the kid back, but not everyone knows that. So I think that's really important for people to know that you can still play a sport even if you can't afford to play it. I know it's an issue that comes up every, you know, a lot. You know, I can't do this, I can't do that. That's not a concern, you know. If you guys, if anyone wants to play a sport, like they can at Amherst, and people need to know that. Yeah, no, I know I sent an article last night. I mean, both in terms of youth sports and then beyond that, you know, even if cost isn't a barrier, there's a perception that cost is a barrier and then you've got the same barrier even if it's not actually what the barrier, you know, functionally is. So I think that communication piece is huge that you spoke about. You know, I think the other thing I'll speak to a little bit because you're just jumping in, is just we continue to work collaboratively with our Department of Public Works on our fields that there was a major study done between the town and the district last year. And our fields, our athletic fields are not in the best of shape. My, I went out yesterday and I think they're in the best shape since in my tenure here. Thanks to our DPW, I wanna say that really publicly for taking on, we've purchased some water cannons and some different technology, technological advancements that are helping our fields be better and knock on wood. We don't have 99 degree temperatures coming up to make our fields really brittle. So the weather, Mother Nature's helping us some as well, but I know long-term, we're gonna need to be doing a lot of work on what our plans are in the future for fields and there's a study on our website, you know, that was done by Wes and Samson, but I think the next steps will be for the school committee and the community to say, you know, what can they afford and what do they value and to take those next steps, so. Yeah, DPW is very responsive too. Yeah, they're fantastic. They're doing great. Well, I wanna thank both of you for coming in and sharing a bit of your background expertise and thoughts moving forward with the viewers and thank you for watching. And we'll be back soon with the next edition of When Do Into Arps and we will see you then. Thank you.