 My name is Michael Morris. I'm the superintendent of the Amherst Pellum Regional School District and welcome to the latest edition of Window Into Arps. Today I'm so glad to be welcoming two people I've known for quite a while from our microcracker farm days. So first, Anastasia Morton, who works in our family center and Cassonne Jordan, who's a high school student. Again, towards the end of being a high school student. It's a very exciting time as we're filming this at the end of April. So thank you for joining us and thanks for coming in to talk about student leadership at the high school. It's something that's critically important for all of our students, but particularly our oldest students, you know, our high school students to feel like they're an active part of their school community and really an active part of shaping the school community that is to come at Amherst Regional High School. So thank you both for being here. Thank you for having us. Oh, absolutely. And we'll start with just a quick introduction so you can share a little bit about yourself and your role. So as you stated, my name is Anastasia Morton. Most of the students call me Stasia. I'm originally from New York City, but moved out here to go to Mount Holyoke Community College, about community, Mount Holyoke College from LaGuardia Community College. I moved up here with my son to go to Kropper Farm. And since then, I've been working in the Amherst Regional Public Schools District as a youth leadership coordinator. Thank you very much, Anastasia. And as you stated, my name is Cassonne Jordan. I was born in New Jersey, Nork. And my mom moved up here for me to get a better education instead of staying down there. So I've been up in Amherst for about 16 years of my life. I played varsity football for two years and yeah, that's about it. Great, great. And it's nice to roll from the New York area. I was born in New York. I was born in the Bronx and grew up in New York area as well. So Patriots fans may throw things at us at the moment, but we're okay. So and a more serious note, Anastasia, you played a large role in part of your role specifically, is to organize and facilitate students to take on leadership opportunities in the school. And so actually starting with our student, can you share some of the best experiences you've had being involved in student leadership? The best experiences I've had in being involved with this group is being able to go there and like have an open mind and being able to play with other people. Like we play Uno some days and we all get to relax, but then after that we get really serious and in deep depth about life and about what after high school what we want to do and how to show people that we can guide ourselves without others telling us what to do all the time. Anastasia, would you mind like lifting the curtain on that? How do you facilitate, how do you get students to feel comfortable talking about very serious things in their lives? So I think the biggest part of it is really becoming a program that is participant centered, taking the time to get to know students. So there's a couple of different projects that I engage in over the school year. One of them is they made it so can I when I go out to the different elementary schools and get a chance to meet with all the sixth graders in the district so that when they come to the middle school, I already have a relationship with them at the middle school. I'm able to get them into lunch groups as well as Vela, which is a project that kind of started with Calvin Terrell back in 2012. And since that, it's really been able to have the opportunity to work with the students since elementary school, middle school and to high school so that I'm able to know the students individually, personally in as a person within the community so I can give them opportunities that connect to them personally. Every student is different and every student has unique needs. So really being able to say what is it that this individual needs at this time in their life and then shift something that can help them work on the things that they're good at, but also the things that they need to improve upon. Fantastic. Thank you. For either of you, what are some of the favorite activities that you've done as part of the youth leadership group? So I'm going to go first, but one of my favorite activities in that group is called the handy redote, which is it's a small, it's like it's kind of like a game, but it's so she gives you a card from a deck and if it's red and black or if you have an A sort of page, you'll have a certain job or you'll just be a high school diploma student and you'll be having a certain job at a certain amount of pay and or you'll have a degree with the X amount of money per year. So we'd have to figure out and navigate our own budget depending on what we were dealt with. So it helps us like navigate what we want to do and what kind of degree we want, or even if we do want to graduate and go just to a job right away to see what we can do after high school. Yeah, that'd be a useful thing for a lot of adults to do, let alone young people. It's a challenging experience for many people to really have to start managing their budgets and honestly it's something that across the country there's a lot of focus on schools taking a larger role in that to better prepare students for graduating high school because you know some of the academic areas we put a lot of resources into for good reason, but actually some of those life skill areas, I mean I think when I was in high school the only thing I got like that was how to write a check. That was that was it. I didn't do any of the budgeting stuff that you're talking about. So I'm so glad that you're having to face those realities. It's a very challenging time for many people to get you know the cost of living and the cost of and what people are making in terms of salary. Sometimes they're ill-aligned, they're the mega work. So how about for you from your perspective? So I would say definitely working with the students and having them work with the teachers. A lot of times for different age ranges the students come and they have a very different experience in classroom than the teachers would share and it's really about trying to get them to the point where they can get in a space and learn from each other. I've done a lot of work with students that were in the middle school lunch group and as they matured in high school they were able to facilitate dialogues with teachers during various curriculum days and we do second year teachers workshops. So really just being able to get the teachers in circle dialogue, the high school students being able to lead and facilitate workshops where teachers can really think about what is the impact that they have not just with students who often do well but for those students who struggle in school and who are openly saying throughout behavior all their words I don't get it I need help this isn't working for me. How are they able to effectively communicate that their behavior really is a different sign of something but then also say even if you weren't able to get through to me when the next generation comes in and you have these problems here are some tools that you can think about for me that's just immensely like a joy in my job. Seeing the students really go from saying this is what I'm struggling with to really embodying and stepping up and saying I'm going to be a leader instead of path for the next generation has been like one of the best parts of my job and a lot of people don't think that the students I work with are often leaders but I have this quote that really shapes up leadership for me so it's from John Quincy Adams and it says if your actions inspire others to dream more learn more do more and become more than you are a leader and that's one thing that all the students I work with everybody watches them everybody is looking at them and whether they're good role models or bad role models to the person kids follow what they do and they want to be like them when they grow up so really being able to say how can you work with these students but then also get them to embody the leadership that they have and do the right thing with it is just a joy every single day. That's great and I'll say as someone who sees the feedback forms that our staff fill out from those sessions the sessions where we involve students in the professional development are consistently the highest rate among the highest rate or the highest rated of any of the PD that we do it feels much more real when we have student voice involved and as you know we had student voice at the beginning of our last PD day for everyone in the district to talk about you know what was working for them and and what are some challenges and what could all of us collectively as an organization how could we better meet their needs so thank you for your work and organizing that because it's one thing to work as you said directly with the students which is fantastic but to to affect the larger changes a more challenging thing I think. Well can I just say something as well so you know one of the biggest things in the schools that's very difficult is a lot of the students they put in work outside of school so it may be a vacation they're showing up three days out of the five to really work on planning for the professional development after school they may show up in between practice after studying for classes and these are students that are trying to balance sports in homework and a lot of times they're not getting the best grades but they show up and get extra time just in this thing that they don't get paid for but they really love to engage in it they show up on days when everybody else is off but they're at the school working from and I'll tell them it starts at nine we at the school at eight so they're like an hour early they're prepping and then they leave so it's like this extra time that they just like put in and nobody sees it's like really something that I cherish and it's like even now K-San's out of school we have other students here this is just what they love to do. Yeah absolutely so K-San what makes this program different from the other things that you're involved you clearly are involved with sports athletics academics what what what makes the student leadership piece feel different to you? I feel like so growing up I didn't have a father and not having a father figure it makes you lose yourself at some some way you'll lose yourself eventually and when I met Stasia I just came out of a bike car accident so I was in a really bad space and after a while getting to know Stasia and her son I grew up with them and then she eventually started helping me once I got to middle school and I feel like she's been like that figure I've always needed and she's really helped me navigate my way over to where I can be my best self so like I feel like she this program and her have helped me develop my personal ability to be who I am today and to develop all my skills to help other people so I feel like it's a great thing that she's doing this and helping other people because without her I don't know where I'd be. Yeah thank you I must feel powerful to hear it's powerful for me to hear and I'm glad you're getting hearing that acknowledgement first hand. Thank you K-Song. You think of a specific time that you felt the group helped you learn something or helped you in some other way and not necessarily specific to Stasia because I think you stated that very powerfully but I think one of the things that I've seen from other members who are involved in student leadership the group dynamics are as important as anything the adults do the group within the students can you think of how that's affected you or anything specific? I think that has made me a better decision maker on my own which like I mean for me I really don't know how to like describe it but like I feel like she's very like the program itself and all the activities have shaped me so like I know what to do more rather than not knowing and choosing a worse decision than what I would so I feel like it's helped me become a better decision maker and whoever else I'm pretty sure to so yeah and how do you um what motivates you I mean it's really challenging work because you talked about the students being there after hours but I know when I leave the office sometimes it's not just the students who are there after hours it's it's you too so um and I don't leave very early in my office I know I see you there on my way out so what motivates you and what um inspires you to be doing the work that you're doing? I think honestly for me it's where I grew up coming from New York you're not really given a lot of chances but more or less you're not really having people to show you the way you have people who show you a specific way and you have to make your decision on your own to say I'm going to go and set another path be willing to make mistakes and just really I say dream with your eyes wide open a lot of times when we sleep we have the best dreams but you know it's really hard to be fearless which your eyes just open and that's really something for me that I wish when I was younger not only did I have people that really encouraged me in that way but also I listened so to be able to be in a position now where I can do something like that one thing I love to do is just say you know how can I really think about what do the individual students need to hear for them to get the courage just to say even if other people don't think I can do it I can be strategic about how I go approaching it and even if I don't get the result that I think or I want to have I still went for it I'm still able just to go for and I think a lot of times even when adults we let fear hold us in a space of not even trying and with children or at least youth they have the time to change so really try as many things as you can while you don't have kids why you can't like not pay any bills you know why you can travel and do all these things so that when you get to adulthood you're really able to say you know I can really say I try this and I know I don't like it or I try that and I do like it but you're able to make a decision that's based on due diligence and information versus just fear if you were talking to another student let's say a younger student's watching this or their their parent what are what would you tell them about you know being involved in student leadership what would be you know things that you would tell them that they might be benefits for them to get involved with Stasia and student leadership more generally I would tell them that if if you don't feel comfortable enough uh at least talk to Stasia herself because she will you will slowly be involved with it and she'll slowly get you into it but once you're into it it's it'll help you like honestly really will uh she goes she takes you guys to trips and those are beneficial for you to know about other schools about how they work uh and just be there and feel like if you really want to be there like that's the atmosphere that you're going to be there for like two four years so you got to enjoy it right so she'll help you with that and like honestly if you feel like you need it do it like there's no regret for me I have zero regrets for me because it's helped me it's helped many other people that I know who are now in college doing great so I feel like it's very beneficial to anybody this isn't body and Stasia what would you see as you think about the future and kind of expanding the work and and I know you've started over the last couple years doing that expanding you know what would be your vision or what would you hope um to see five years from now in terms of theater leadership oh well that's a tough question so for me I would have to say this year one of the most challenging adventures that I took on was working with the seniors because I've been working with them throughout like I said elementary school to high school it just naturally came that they're all seniors this year really let's just try to get them in a place where they can go for it and it was a lot of work from common apps to fast to really saying I don't just want you to apply to a school but I want you to apply to a school that fits you fits your dreams fit what you want so really having to get students to really think about what do I want in life what are my dreams where do I see myself long-term you know really having to be able to do that work and then also say how can I make sure that not only are they able to get into school but really set them up for graduation so taking students to the historically black college fair that was in new york taking students to visit the different schools throughout the years having people from the schools come here I did a career day a couple weeks ago that was just amazing it was so many people in the family center I didn't know what to do it it was just like every minute I was like I need more tears so really just being able to do more things like that even though it was difficult it was very rewarding because a lot of students in the beginning felt like there was a limit to where they could go in life and you would just see them after every encounter just like you know what I have more options I have more options and there's more things that I want to choose to do with my life and we have a big group of six graders that will be in the high school soon that I would love to see them in that same boat it's fantastic so sometimes when we do these shows someone from the community wants to reach out to a staff member to either say hey I could help out or I have these resources I had to find out more would you mind sharing the best way to get in touch with you if someone said oh I see this and I think I could help with this work that's an excellent question it's email phone what works better for you I feel like the family center is one the phone at the family center should I say the number I should say four one three three six two eighteen seventy five would reach me and I'm Morton ad at arps.org would be my email and um right now really seniors is a big deal really just trying to say stuff that they might need to go to college if anything um middle schoolers I just took a group to Hampshire college to tour the school so really even saying you know just being able to get them on campus is another thing so reaching out to me for that um I think scholarships is another big thing as well a lot of students that was a big thing this year really just trying to get them to think about scholarships apply for scholarships really even seeing that they're worthy of something like that so even if there's people who know about scholarships I would say this would be something that your students should go for those are things that would be very helpful fantastic anything else either of you would like to share pretty close out you don't have to you've been so both of you telling you know weaving together just they're pretty um you know insightful um retelling of the impact of the program so okay I got one more thing all right uh so I forgot to mention that and you forgot to mention too during our uh groups uh she brings in you are like college students and college students actually we they help us a lot like they so they could be guides for us too because some of them apply for what we want to go into and we can talk to them because they're like they're every Thursday basically so they are really helpful and they help us with homework they explain stuff to us that we don't understand from our teachers so we get better information and like it's just a great resource to have another student that went through your shoes but is now in college that is able to help you and like put you on a path that they were on so fantastic thank you yes and evidence of the leadership because you see he's prepped yeah he knows and he's like Stasia you forgot that come on see like the program so this is again the proof and the pudding but yes I have to let it be known all the colleges in this area really really help there are my Holyoke always sends a student UMass sends classes of students him sure I always have several students but not only do they bring the kids to the school but they give us access to their colleges whenever there's different cultural events we always get tickets they help us with um transportation pay for food so just being able for the students to see somebody who's walked down that path and really have those informal conversations I would say I'm one of the biggest things that we have is building community because a lot of the students I bring them together and I think building community is very important but when they're in the high school they're like secret friends who was talking about this I'm like y'all don't even talk to each other but we hang out so like a big way that we'll um bring that together as we'll play uno we play spoons I'm a big person with the circle nobody sits out of my circle I will hurricane a million times but everybody's gonna sit in the circle and then everybody's gonna play uno just because it's a way for all of us to laugh together for us just to join in the game and a lot of people are like you know I'm nervous but then after 10 minutes they're talking they're like what's the rules no no draw two no you draw 20 and then by the end like everybody's like just calm so these things are wonderful when MCAS has come in you know finals are right around the corner everybody's filling out things for fast for you know I'm waiting for my letters back what are ways that we can all come together but also in a positive way burn off steam so somebody walking by might think like oh they're not doing anything they're just wasting time and it's like no these things are very integral to what we need to do next because the pressure's just going to get even more intense but if they don't have a time just to like let it go and just be kids again we really can't get past this point so really just being strategic so uno cards is enough well thank you thank you both for joining us today this was I think you were able to describe in really great detail both what what you're doing and the impact it has on students I thank you for taking time out of your busy end of school year challenging time as you're trying to wrap up the year to come in so we really appreciate you and this has been great on a personal level since I've known you both since probably first grade or something like that to see the change and see the development is really fun for me on a personal level so thank you both thank you and to the viewer thank you so much for joining us for this episode of window into ARPS we'll be back soon with another episode and hope you enjoy the rest of your day