 Welcome to the world of, in the world of Winooski. I'm obviously not Christine Lott, Mayor Lott, who usually hosts this show, but she was kind enough to let the Winooski School Board do a mini takeover to provide our Winooski community a little bit of an update on the Winooski Construction Project. And I'm lucky here to have two guests here, but let me give you some background information because I think people have been a little bit stressed out and may have kind of forgotten where we've come and I'm hoping to have some of our students here to kind of talk, in alumni, talk about where we're going as we start finishing up on the Winooski School Capital Project. For those who were along for the ride in 2019, our community, and I'm so thankful for the community, for helping us pass a $57.8 million school bond vote to basically help us build and rejuvenate a school. And when I joined the school board, I really thought joining a school board was like talking about how do we save the arts programs. What I didn't realize was that I was gonna be asking our community to really help support the real building and renovations and construction of a new school because we had a building that was built for 600 students and we only, and we had 800 students. And that's why we needed the construction. We had roofs that were leaking water. For some reason in the 1960s, we had built buildings without insulation so that it was really cold or really hot in the winters and summers. The boiler, this is my favorite part. The boiler was still being used from the 1950s. And if we needed, if it broke, it would have cost us a lot of money to replace it right away. Or we were hoping that someone had decommissioned their boiler so that we could ebay the parts to fix the boiler. And in that way, in that spirit of things, I tell you these things because I know the last two years have been hard, especially many people may question, why in the world with the school board and the school administration and with the teachers decide to actually continue the capital project during a pandemic? And I'm not gonna lie, what we asked for 57.8 million as of today, September, August 23rd. As of August 23rd, we're probably gonna be needing about $62 million for the project. But because we did it with COVID, because I have really talented administrators and staff, we are able to use a lot of our ESSER funds to help improve the HVAC systems, which is the heating and ventilation and AC units, that we're able to apply a lot of that money so that we might, we're not actually not gonna need, probably at this moment, to borrow the full $57.8 million. We are only gonna need to borrow 55-ish million dollars, which is gonna come at a cost savings for us. Now, people will still ask, why did you do it during COVID? Well, if we didn't do it in COVID, and let's say that we started the capital project now, I have estimates that it would have cost us about $90 to $100 million to build the school of what we have now. And so even though I recognize that it was really hard for us during this time period to deal with all the movement of the students from different classrooms to do it, I really believe that come October, there's gonna be a great big celebration and we're one of the few schools in Vermont that is gonna not have to worry about their building. The Secretary of Education actually had commissioned a report and almost 75% of the schools in Vermont were gonna need to see some form of renovation or addition. And so I think we're prepared to really like excel as a community with our new building. And I wanna make sure people understand that this is not a building just for our future and our current students. This is a building for our whole community because there is a better performing arts center. We're no more sitting on those chairs that we had got donated from St. Michael's that were over 50 years old and the cushions were coming out and stuff. And I'm gonna say this is gonna be a building where we're gonna see some of the highlighted works of our great students. And that's what I'm gonna turn it over. And I have as a special guest here as Shersti here and she's special to me a little bit here because when we were doing the capital planning project and we were doing all the tours of the schools to like kinda bring in the public to see why did we need to like do this renovation project? I remember that a school board chair at that time Michael DeCarol and I came in one day and one day there were only two students who showed up for this little school tour. And one of them was Shersti when she was in sixth grade. And I kind of, you know, looking at you right now like you're now a rising sophomore in Lewinowski High School. Can you talk about like why did you come on that tour? And do you remember the tour? Yeah, I remember going to the boiler room. I thought the tour was about like what the future of this building was but like I was kind of disappointed when you guys just showed us around the building. But it was great because we got to present it to our class afterwards and I think I remember like something about Essex doing something like we were angry at it later. Right, because I mean in many ways like the school building wasn't really preparing you for the future, right? Do you remember when we did the tour a little bit that like I actually said, hey Shersti I'm hoping that we're building a school not only for you to use as you develop it over time but I'm hoping that you'll kind of wanna stay in the community and have your children go to this school. Right, can you speak a little bit to that maybe? You don't remember and stuff. It's like, we're talking about having children and like going to school. I'm only a sophomore, you know? I know, but like, you know, do you think do you see yourself staying in Lewinowski? Yeah, I think so, because you know Lewinowski is a small community and I know like about almost everyone there. So I think because such a small community and it's very close so I would feel comfortable coming back and like in the future after I'm done with, you know, my studies and stuff to come back here and sell down. I would be like down to do that, definitely. Do you think you would have stayed if we kept the schools here? No, no, no. That's what I'm trying to get at, right? Like it was really in bad shape and I don't think people remember that, right? The classrooms were so small now it's like big and it's good. Well, so please talk about like some of your experiences now because we have renovated, we've added new space to certain things and so you've gotten to experience a little bit of the new space. Can you talk about your excitement, you know, of the school? We got AC, you know, like it's a lot better. I think that's the best part so far and all of my teachers had their own classrooms and so before like, you know, we have to be careful because the other teacher might not like what we're doing in that classroom but now like they have their own so we do whatever we want as long as the teacher in like, you know, the classroom lets us and I forgot the question. So I'm gonna add in because I think in some ways people don't understand like they think, oh, when I was older, like we didn't have AC, we didn't need to survive but with climate change, like you could, weren't the classrooms getting really, really hot without the AC at one point, like getting to 80, 90 degrees and stuff. Which I think one of the things that there was a lot of intentionality that when we built the school that we were gonna create an environment that was great for the learner, right? And when the school's too cold or too hot, do you really wanna learn in that environment? Not really. During the winter, I think there were lots of students who had blankets, like they would come in with the blankets and like wear them, you know, cause it was so cold. So actually during the construction when high school, high schoolers had to be in the elementary section, we had to sit in small chairs, small desks and it was so cold and like my cousin and would just wear blankets like every single day cause it was so cold. Or it was like either cause like, you know, what is it called? Ventilation. It was so loud. It wasn't that like before, but it was so loud and like it was so hard to hear the teacher and we also had mask on. So now because it's not like, we don't have the ventilation so loud cause we just have the AC there, you know? Not that cold, not that hot, just perfect. So we can hear our students, I mean, teachers as well. Understand? No, and it's important to realize how environment plays a part. And for those who are worried about like, hey, did we make this building green? You probably learned that we have geothermal in there. We have solar panels. And for those who are gonna be, there's a new article coming out about how Winooski did with the solar panels. But we're also making this very environmental green and cost efficient. I'm hoping this is a risky question. Did you learn about some of the things that we were making the building green and stuff? No. Oh my bad. Yeah, you should learn about how we're doing the greenness of that. But as we're coming to like finishing up, can you like tell the community, are you excited about the new school? Like, what are you looking forward to? Like, you know, is there any excitement or are you going like, are we just passing and going like, oh, it's a building? Well, right now, like the high school, the middle school, the elementary, all have their own sections. And the classroom, like I said, it's a lot bigger. And it's a lot easier because before the high school was like right there, the middle school was right there and some of the high school and middle school were confusing, you know, because we had to go back and forth and back and forth. But now it's just so chill because like, you know, everyone has their own place to go to. And I think the schedule right now is a lot more better than before because like, you know, now. Yeah, yeah, no, no. Well, as we finish, what are the things that you're most excited about about the building? The buildings? Okay, probably testing out the labs, you know? Yeah, because now we have like new equipment and like we have this thing which like cleans out the chemical. That means we can do more work because before it was limited. And I know that you have dreams if you all would be sharing this is that you have dreams of being a doctor or maybe becoming a Rhodes Scholar and stuff. Do you feel like we're building the space that allows you to accomplish those dreams? Yeah, right now, because I'm only a sophomore, I'm not there yet, you know? But like so far, everyone's been helpful and probably because I don't, I'm not really trying that much because I don't know much, but in like maybe when I'm junior or senior, I think I would be like ready because there's always someone in the community always like being like where you wanna go, what you wanna do, you know? Like if you need help, like you, you know? There's always someone trying to do that, just a student. So that's great, yeah. No, and I'm so happy that, you know, that I actually first met you when you were in sixth grade on that tour. I thought it took a lot. You were the only two students that took. And I gotta admit like, you know, and I hope you respected this that Mike and I didn't treat you like students. We took to you as any regular tour because we knew that you were our equals and the community member. And I'm really glad that we're being able to build this school and we can share it together. And I'm looking forward to the day when we really open and bring up the whole school when it's completely done, that you'll be there for the celebration and stuff. But I actually wanna kind of shift a little bit because when our community built this school, it was important for me to know that we weren't just building a building for the sake of a building. We were building a building that was gonna be integrated with our curriculum. And one of the things that I was proud about before I came on the school board that the school district actually worked hard on changing the curriculum. And one of the things that I realized when I'm in like Winooski is that like, we can't play the same game as some of the larger school districts because we have a smaller population. So we can't be offering all the AP classes. And that's why I was really proud when Vermont moved to flexible pathways in proficiency education. And I gotta admit, my doctorate's in education so I kind of understood this bigger picture, right? And when I heard about it, I was like, oh my God, this is innovative and this is gonna be more inclusive and more accessible to more of the population. But the hard part was, do I have proof that it worked? And that's why I brought this second guy here, Hussein Amari, who's a rising sophomore at the university of Washington who just finished his first year there. And I kind of wanted to talk to you, Hussein, about like, so, didn't we prepare you for college? And please, if you're not gonna brag about how well you did, I will. So I'll let you do the bragging here. First of all, thank you for having me, Alex. And I think growing up in Winooski and having, you know, when they're for four years, the big kind of argument being made by a lot of my peers and people that went to Winooski was, you know, it is preparing us for college. Like, we're not taking any AP classes, okay? Like, we're not doing the big thing that a lot of college kids usually do before they go on and do their study in college. First of all, I just wanna say that, you know, being a second year college student right now, I would say that the hardest thing about college, okay? It's really not about the academic, the study, okay? In many ways, it's about the balance, okay, of life, okay? Like in the struggle that comes with that, okay? And in many ways, a lot of times, like, you know, mental health is a big problem for a lot of, like, you know, college students. And for me, personally, I go back to one of, you know, my graduation expectation that I had to take, that being the well-being, you know, GX, where I was all about learning a lot more about, like, my social, emotional health. And how, in many ways, going into college, that was a big, big aspect for my life. For me, the more I had to manage that, okay? Okay, because again, like, you know, the struggle of, you know, being like, you know, of course, you're trying to kind of, like, you know, learn what's really happening and do your study. You know, it's hard, especially the study, you know, more work, more commitment, okay? Okay, so having that, you know, sort of, you know, cushion of, like, you know, hey, you know, let me take care of myself first, okay? Like, my mental health, what's going on, okay, okay? Then that's gonna help me succeed, okay? And being on that campus to this day, okay? You know, I have a lot of kids, you know, who went to, like, private high schools, okay? You know, schools that, you know, had the resources, like, they didn't have that, you know? When, you know, schools, it was hard, you know, when mental health was just kind of, you know, crushing them, okay? They didn't really have that sort of, like, you know, background of, like, you know, here's what you do when you're struggling, okay? Here's, like, you know, you know, for me personally, you know, I remember, like, one of the best classes I ever took in high school was this class on, like, you know, meditation, okay? I'm not big into meditation at all, you know? So, you know, I love playing basketball, soccer, but, you know, I remember, you know, just, you know, a few, you know, times back, you know, this school year where, like, I was, like, okay, like, I really need to take care of myself, okay? So that's, like, one thing, like, you know, the academic of, like, you know, you know, college is very prioritized by a lot of people for good reasons, like, you know, you're there to study, okay? But it's a whole sort of, like, you know, structure of, like, you know, knowing yourself, okay? Doing the little things, okay? Of taking care of yourself, like, asking questions that kind of, you know, help you out, that kind of, you know, help you out in many ways. That's, like, the base on the foundation, okay? And for me personally, I can say that, you know, in many ways, that, you know, Windows did a great job in kind of, like, you know, giving me that, okay? Especially through, you know, that well-being GX. No, I appreciate hearing that, because as you know, I do work at a university and that mental health is the number one issue that's coming out, and how do I work with this next generation? I mean, a lot of this generation's coming out of COVID now, dealing with all that pressure, and the fact that our school is actually doing that is a big step to actually succeeding academically, right? Exactly, and like, you know, I feel like, in many ways, you know, our curriculum that we have at Windows Key, foresight of this whole thing coming before anybody did, okay, like, you know? Because again, like, you know, I think when, you know, we went about kind of creating it for students, it was not only about, like, what's really happening right now, what's happening in the future, okay? I don't think anybody knew what, you know, COVID was coming, but I feel like, you know, there were a lot of signs, okay, okay? You know, growing up now, like, you know, social media and all that kind of stuff, like, you know, there's this whole, you know, pressure of, like, you know, what's really going on. And I know, like, you know, I don't know, you know, having me here, you kind of, you know, want me to talk more about that kind of academic side of, like, you know, of college, okay? And, you know, one thing that kind of reminds me very vividly in Windows Key was this idea of, like, you know, we don't only do good at math, you know, like, you know, okay, you know, or math classes and that as well, and not going to lie, that was kind of, like, you know, a very, like, kind of hard concept for me to get rid of, you know, going to my first year in college. One of the many classes that, you know, you at the first year need to take, and my school is, like, you know, college one, you have to take that before you graduate. You know, for me personally, I did very well in, like, you know, math classes in Windows. You know, I had a really great teacher that were there for me and kind of, you know, gave me the help that I need, okay? But compared to a lot of, you know, kids that go to college, okay? It was not, like, the way that I, you know, went about learning math was that it was not in a very traditional way, where, like, you know, you're sitting in a class and somebody's just talking, okay? And in college, that was, that's kind of how they went about teaching, okay? But back in Windows, it was kind of, you know, very, like, you know, personal, like, it was personalized. It wasn't me kind of, you know, running my own agenda, okay? And in an environment where, like, you know, the teacher just, you know, gives you lectures, like, he talks to you, okay? That's really big. And I don't think a lot of people kind of, you know, understand that, like, you know, the ability to be able to kind of, you know, ask questions if you need to ask questions, okay? You know, write down stuff if you need to write it down, okay? But also being able to, you know, problem solve, okay? Like, that's a really big aspect of college. I feel like a lot of, like, you know, people don't really understand it, because, like, you know, we have this mindset of, like, you know, the old traditional way of teaching where it's better, you know, sit in a class, just memorize stuff, like, and repeat it. But in an environment, like, you know, I don't know, where, like, you kind of, like, being given information, you guys learn how to kind of, you know, I don't know, not predict it, but kind of, you know, find ways to, you know, eat it, okay, and be able to, you know, digest it, okay? And I think the best way that I, you know, I think Gwinozki was able to, you know, help me, you know, find success in that one class, like, it was just through, like, you know, being able to just, you know, not memorize stuff, but kind of, like, you know, apply it, apply it to kind of, you know. And you don't understand how much that warms my heart to hear you say that, because I know so many people, teachers and parents, or more parents and students are gonna be like, I don't have algebra one, I don't have algebra two, I don't have geometry, I'm learning about patterns, right? And I remember looking at those proficiency base, and I know I said I have a doctorate in education, but most people know I'm also got a BS and MS in electrical engineering, right, from Georgia Tech. And so when I looked at them, I was like, oh, yeah, they may not have geometry or, you know, like the traditional form pre-Calc and all this, but they're learning concepts that kind of prepare them for college, and to hear that you, and can I brag about your grade? I mean, I know you're not happy with it, but you did get a B plus in Calc one? Yeah, I mean, it was not the best grade, like. But it's a solid grade, and I know having studied higher ed and doing the numbers that a lot of people struggle in Calc one, and to hear that math not being your favorite subject, I know that you're like a few, I was telling both of these folks that like, this might be a famous video that's gonna come out, that I talked to a future Supreme Court justice at the bar. For her, for her. And a future, you know, medical school dean here, but it was excited for me to hear that you did well because I know that there's been a lot of complaints about the math program sometimes, right? And I agree with you about like the proficiency base education is like, it's about the student taking ownership of their learning. And that's what college is about because I often tell folks when early on, when we were talking about proficiency base education, what's the quadratic formula? And half the population won't be able to tell me what it is. And then if some did, they recited to me and go like, so what did you use it for? And that's where I lose most of the people, unless I talk to an engineer who's like, you know, love quadratic formulas and finding the zeroes and all that. But, you know, we can talk about the credentials, but like tell me like, I mean, what are the other successes? Like, I mean, I've seen you critically think. I've read some of your editorials that you did that have like mixed writing and, you know, write that. And what impressed me about all that work that you did was that I know that a lot of Winooski students early on when I was on the school board, they tell me, man, Alex, this proficiency base education is great. We do well in these like problem-based classes and all this, but we suck at standardized testing. And that scares me because that's not what education to me is about. That's not what it prepares you to be in a community. It teaches critical thinking. Like, can you talk about a little bit more about that? Yeah, yeah. One of the best class that I ever took out of Winooski was, you know, the coaching community engagement class where it was all about kind of learning how to, you know, you realize, you know, the skills that you're learning in a class and apply to, you know, real community issue. Like, you know, we did a lot of work in that class from, you know, having the mayor command and just talk about, you know, some of our work doing a lot of projects that are very community based. And, you know, I feel like, you know, the whole, you know, conversation about, you know, SAT, ACT, like, it's all about like, you know, test, test, test. But in many ways, education is all about kind of like, you know, putting that into perspective, you know, putting that into practice. And personally, I love writing. That was one of the many, you know, sort of like, you know, criteria that I had to, you know, complete in high school. So kind of, you know, finding that bonds of like, you know, here I'm learning about like, you know, you know, racism, black kids or like, what does that mean to me? Okay. So having that kind of, you know, route of like, where I can just, you know, put that in perspective and apply it like, you know, some, like in a setting that's outside class that was very powerful. Cause again, that's how education works. That's how education works using where you're learning in class and applying it to outside issues. Okay. You know, for me, like some of the proudest moments like that I, you know, that I've had for my college career right now, so far, it's just being able to talk to a lot of my professors and not about my grade or my, you know, kind of like, you know, assignments in that class. But the way that I'm kind of you're realizing, you know, some of the topic that I'm learning in that class into, you know, some of the, you know, the stuff that I'm into, like, you know, social justice, you know, community engagement and all that kind of stuff. Cause in many ways that's literally like, you know, that's what's gonna, you know, take you, you know, foreign life, like, you know, being able to kind of use those skills to, you know, try and make change in the community that, you know, you're residing in. So you know why I'm grinning, right? I'm grinning because like, what you're talking about is a famous Vermonter, John Dewey, educational philosopher who believed that education and action was democracy. You learn in action and I feel like you are truly embracing your inner Vermonter. Like, I hear, you know, I'm doing that thing and really doing that critical thinking and learning. And one of the things you talked about the community class, right? The culture and community. And I'm glad that you're here so you can hear some of this wisdom is that I've sat through a lot of those presentations. And one of the things that I'm always proud of is that when I go in there, I can ask questions. And I don't ask simple yes, no questions. I ask questions to see if you thought. And yes, I get my range of things, but the thing that I love about that class is that the students are starting to learn how to be empowered that they can make change in the world. Am I crazy for thinking that or, you know? No, no, no, not at all. And I feel like, you know, going back to some of those, you know, pieces that I wrote up, you know, in that newspaper, like they're a very hard piece to write. Like, one of them was about, you know, Islamophobia on campus during a time where like a lot of, you know, Muslim students were feeling unsafe due to an issue that took place. Like, you know, being able to be like, hey, Islamophobia is bad, and standing where like a lot of people are like, you know, well, you know, maybe we should not, you know, be welcoming to, you know, Muslim people, which is really, which is a really awful office. It's really bad. But like, having that knowledge, okay? Okay, and, you know, the action-based empowerment, okay? That did not come from me, you know? I feel like that was me and many of my, you know, I had practice with that, you know, and that practice goes way back to my, during my time, you know, Awinowski, where like, you know, I'm in a class with two teachers, surrounded by a lot of like, you know, bright, you know, young people who are my classmates that were able to kind of like, you know, I don't know, empowerment in many ways beyond that class to college. So, and something that's like literally like, my favorite part about being a college student is, I love going to class, I love doing all that, but it's when I get to kind of like, you know, interact and me, some other bright, you know, young people on campus who are passionate about the stuff that I'm passionate about, and that's literally, you know, how it will make change, because I feel like if you're just sitting in class, you know, listening to a lecture and, you know, writing down notes and just not going to bed, you know, the next morning, you know, you're not really doing anything, you know? I feel like, you know, education should be applied and not memorized. Good, so can I brag a little bit? I'm gonna brag, like, because people, people out in the audience want to know that, okay, who's saying, what was your GPA? Like, I hear all this good stuff, but what is your GPA? My GPA? I have a solid six, 3.6 right now. Oh, that's good. Which is, you know. I know you want to do better, but that's still a good GPA, right? Yeah, you have to have, you know, three more years left and obviously I can improve it. I'm sorry, I'm gonna promote because, you know, I know that some of our legislators are watching this, so I'm making sure that they know to be on the lookout and actively looking out for you for your summer internships, but aren't you on the SGA for there? And then aren't you an editor of the newspaper, or a writer who will soon be a sports editor? Yeah, I'm doing all those things. You know, I'm currently serving as a senator on the school student government, which is a very, like, you know, proud moment for me because I've always kind of, you know, been passionate about helping people and, you know, driving change and I get to do that during my time in that space. I have always, you know, loved writing, so currently I'm serving as a sports editor for Campus Newspaper and, yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I'm hoping that the Wanooski community can be proud of the students that were producing coming out here and because I am just, like, smiling so hard, like, and it's great because this is the time we're gonna have a building, we're gonna have the pedagogy together and really, and what's more amazing is that you actually want to come back to Vermont, right? And that's how we're gonna grow as a state. And I really do believe that, and I'm hoping that the community got a little insight on this about how we're, I really believe that we're gonna be a little, like, beacon of light for the rest of Vermont and stuff. I do want to say on a more national, more at the local level that, like, it's been six years since I've been on the school board and I'm a little bit tired and, you know, it's been a long ride and so I'm gonna be not re-running so if anybody is interested in running for a school board, you know, please don't hesitate to contact me on this because I think we're gonna lead the school in a good district and I hope that you're looking at two, like, you guys are excited. I'm not only the school building, but the students that we have. I joke in many ways that our Winooski page is gonna be start fluttering of, like, these great leaders and we did a good job. So thank you for those at Winooski for coming to in the world. I'm sure, hoping Christine Lott really got to enjoy her vacation and was all right for this little school board takeover and I hope the community really got to enjoy listening to our students. I also just wanna make a shout out to David Klinker for his shirt. These are the other rules of our students who are, you know, making their own companies and designing their own shirts. So I don't have just doctors. I don't have just future lawyers. I also have future business and entrepreneurs and fashion designers. So a lot to be proud of in Winooski. Thank you, y'all. Thank you.