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Sal that's karela when I recognized you for the Presidential Award for Excellence in mathematics and science teaching this is a big deal it's a huge honor for everything you've done into your career and I've got a lot of career ahead of you so we're expecting even greater things out of you but in general as I always tell our staff you know you make the life is just a little bit better first is you meet them a little bit smarter we made them achieve just a little bit more and that's something I think all of us in this room across the city conspire to so congratulations and thank you for everything we've done Linda I've got a mayor's Proclamation these are a big deal really goes nothing and this is number E to you but basically you could show a cop this tonight and so as he says city everybody's property should be here by now it's wild - mayor into the CV Emery recognized caliber as a recipient the Presidential Award for Excellence in mathematics and science teaching where's today we recognize Kimberly brand the recipient the President's Award for Excellence in mathematics and science teaching and where is the chemist award recognizes the critical role that teachers play in the classroom establish and maintain either even man pimps award is a heist or given to K through 12 teachers of mathematics science in computer science the honorees are selected by panelists a mathematicians scientists whereas Kimberly is a sixth grade math teacher five-part middle school she received the word due to hard work dedication and cultivating the academic and professional development of stem students work diligently with their colleagues to prove the math program at the school and they sell results to increase test scores and more importantly student confusius so therefore figures out that AG marque that was mayor of the city of Amory here by join the entire country a Board of Education the city of dam burying honoring Kimberly Lauren we think her for her making our community students stronger sinus thirty-day another between agency all my signature the Board of Education Kimberley morning recipie of the presidential excellence award science math engineering Simon dr.
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oh all right who else anyone else okay now there's a there's a a difference of opinion on politics in America yeah who Franklin Graham okay you know it's interesting does do you want to say something up there yeah yeah Abe Lincoln Abraham Lincoln very good um yeah sister Helen Prejean fantastic wonderful woman on the death penalty yeah Maha Gandhi good Ashton Kutcher Ashton kutchner okay great okay so you know it's really interesting because I have asked that question to audiences around the United States and um and across the world and uh there are some standard people who who are usually mentioned who we're not mentioned today which I think is kind of interesting so do you want to know who some of them are like Martin Luther King that's that's one um Malala people talk about Malala um yeah so uh uh Nelson Mandela sometimes people talk about him but anyway you get the idea now here's here's the next question what is it that all these people have in common what's the qualities that they have in common thoughts about that what is it that draws them together yeah yeah they care about other people right they care about other people that's number one what else yeah they they push for what they believe in so they care about others they push for what they believe in what else they're involved in politics and in some way or in in trying to create change yeah although not necessarily running for office but but involved in the life of their country yeah go ahead equal rights for the entire for everyone in their in their area okay they're they're they're fighting for equal rights exactly they're willing who said that great really important they're willing to stand up against prevailing opinion public opinion prevailing opinion yeah they put others for themselves they put others before themselves good so um so one thing they have one quality that they have is courage right courage would you agree with that courage yeah so um so courage is made up of two things um the first thing is bravery so bravery is being willing to overcome a fear for something more important than what you're fearful of okay who here has been brave all right let me give you an example who here has ever had a test that you didn't study hard enough for okay all of you and all of you grown up stopped up not too okay now who here has actually taken that test even though you didn't study hard enough for it okay everybody so so what was that you had to be brave right you were fearful of something but you did it anyway because taking the test was more important than just saying you are sick or going home okay so that was great but courage it's not just bravery courage is bravery on behalf of other people on behalf of your community so who here has done something courageous oh good right here tell us stand up I said have you done something courageous yeah okay what that's okay that's good standing up was courageous in and of itself so that was a great thing oh well wait we still want to hear from you okay that is so great so you're working on behalf of others that's a very important humanitarian thing to do okay good yeah signing up for okay now that is really very very courageous thank you and thank you for your service appreciate can we give her a round of applause okay okay all righty okay who else something courageous guys okay so I think all of you if you think about okay who here has brothers and sisters all right who here has ever been blamed for something your brother or sister did yeah all of you okay so now who here has actually taken the blame for something your brother or sister did in order to protect your brother or sister there you go wasn't that courageous of you so this is something all human beings we all have inside us everybody is courageous all of you if you think about it at some point in your life you've done that and this is something all of us can muster on behalf of others so that's really what we do at RFK human rights and we um we work in schools all over the world and we give students and teachers lesson plans that are integrated into their school curriculum that help them understand all of these Concepts about empathy for other people about um creating a difference identifying things in your local community or in your school or in our country that you think need to be changed on a societal basis and then creating change on those things that's that's the that's one of the core things we do at RFK human rights and I'll tell you two other things we do and then maybe take any questions if there are any um so one of the one of the things we do is hold governments accountable for human rights abuses so um we have about 35 cases at any given time so I give you an example of a case okay so in Uganda a few years ago Uganda passed a law which made homosexuality punishable by life in prison without parole so we partnered with lawyers on the ground in Uganda and we sued them and we overturned that law so we do we take cases like that all over Latin America and Africa we have about 35 cases at any given time and we've never lost a case in the United States we work on mass incarceration immigration issues and Farm Workers issues and then we also hold corporations accountable for human rights abuses through the investors in those corporations so I'd be happy to talk to you more about it any of those things somebody okay somebody coughing everybody all right okay good good um so that's it that's the type of work we do I was supposed to speak here uh last spring and I I wasn't able to come at the last minute and I wasn't able to come because I was on the border with Venezuela um and we were we were investigating twin massacres that were perpetrated by the government of Venezuela against indigenous people so we have one more film shall I show that film to you of that and then we'll uh take any questions so Venezuela is a country that used to be about 15 years ago was the wealthiest country in Latin America and now it's the poorest and it's had a a series of of two basically dictators who have taken control of the country and um and this is one piece of it so you'll see thanks it was a massacre of innocent indigenous people from one of the world's most repressive regimes and you almost definitely didn't hear about it on February 22nd in 2019 at least 50 Soldiers with the Venezuelan military approached the community of kumarakapai on the Venezuela Brazil border where many indigenous people live without warning the soldiers soon opened fire on unarmed men and women [Music] Venezuelan Armed Forces violently repress any aid from entering the country and punish those who protest most ports of Entry have been blocked by the Venezuelan government Nicolas maduro's authoritarian regime has destroyed all Democratic institutions in Venezuela photopina in NGO in the country that works against arbitrary detentions and in favor of human rights has registered more than 15 000 politically motivated arrests since 2014.
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audit committee chair yeah your short report Marshall went through the status I've been in constant communication with Marshall for about 12 hours now we're in good shape Marshall keeps me informed when it's time for the audit committee to get involved with the with the team and get the draft we will do so but last year was smooth this year seems to be going smoother and I am very curious about where the FEMA ends up but from from my understanding everything's going quite well and keeping closer touch as we get closer so I know no other reporter lose man thank you sir any questions or comments thank you we have no matters of all business to discuss first item of new business we have a police outside service fund request for a total of 100 I move to approve the recommendation of the Board of Selectmen to approve the appropriation for 25100 from the police department outside service fund to purchase police department wireless network upgrades and three patrol tablets to be installed in the police patrol vehicles second is there anything sir that you'd like to add I see chief Purcell and attendants to explain this one no there is more than we had 37 and June 30th plus an accrual for the work they've been doing don't like it 137 there's plenty of money in the outside services fund and this is exactly what it was meant for and we always appreciate the police commission in the police department using that instead of coming to the town and putting in our capital and they've been very careful as thoughtful and I would suggest that you approve this sir Brianna I mean any discussion freaking good and no more discussion I call the motion to a vote all those in favor indicate by saying aye aye aye motion carries six if you have that okay there was another item of new business struck at this time before we do that can I say one thing apologize no before you go the request to go to executive are we voting with your vote every so on yeah before we go if they have the numbers for December I'm going back to the Board of Ed that's where I might is going can we have a joint meeting with the Board of Ed in January to really sit down and look at these numbers and really understand the monster we got a face for yeah one just strictly for special ed cost overrun I know we can't get into details of our overruns of because it's a big nut by then Marsha will have her numbers on where we stand we can Steve can understand what we can do and what we can't do to pass over the money to the Board of Ed and not have be distracted with ten other items of the thing if we could all get together one day in January with the Board of Ed it's too big a number it is and the normal I mean the one you were talking about is 2mr plan for next year this is director fine and it should be done before the budget meeting so we know what we have and what monsters so we could set up that meeting in January I think it would help us all in the process now I don't want to be bothered with the I don't want to be here for five hours discussing something so important I want to come focused with a mission that we're gonna tackle $800,000 possibly of expenditures that we haven't budgeted for the next time put that request in motion and get it drawn up for ya for the January meeting sure make sure they're for a special January meeting that's not saying I don't you know so we can focus solely on this not we can commit to a meeting now but that doesn't mean they're gonna show up hey shake that but I'm just saying I well if they don't show up then cuz it helped us all of course that's a good idea all right sorry thank you at this time again I move that we enter or we add an executive session to the agenda to pending claims litigation matters at this time I move to enter into executive session to discuss pending claims litigation matters inviting John Lucas my from Aryan and when secretary daya okay by 7:00 second on that one yeah I wasn't able to get back a night we'll go into executive session in there [Music] you [Music] and Thanks [Applause] thank you [Music] all right [Music]
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Pasquale and our Jefferson Board of Education [Applause] [Music] too much I appreciate the experience thank you [Music] [Applause] mr. in there the PLC above no other it worked tirelessly to figure out how to meet the needs of our very unique population Kim is also a co-teacher our bilingual teachers with another bilingual math certified teacher and they did an amazing job our kids grow exponentially with their their partnership she does amazing job we're just so we're super super proud of our team this will be yours [Music] in every pocket [Music] [Applause] good evening everyone I'm here to first of all to thank you all of you guys some of you guys for your service and I also want to recognize that the job that you guys do it it's not easy when everything is okay the word recognize you guys but to winter things are not going the way it's supposed to everybody comes into it pretty much right and stuff like that so it will be a public servant that I go through with some of that but I'm here tonight I believe some of this man I've received the charter schools they are having a sustained campaign for charter schools my taxes went up last year $2,000 so I'm not willing to just give my taxes right I mean I talk about my taxes money to go into private hands they have to be very careful I think we're about to make a decision that our private taxes when they go to public to private hands they're not gonna be looking where I stood for how much money this year are making in how much money the CEO is making and I think right now I'm just quickly going to read about how important is transparency in if we direct our funds to a charter school that would not we will not have a transparency this is right here in 2014 with a new state authority wanted to order the books of Eva Moskowitz Success Academy the child really took him to court in one bearing the state from trying to see how public tax dollars are spent so I think we have to be very very careful in here why we went in to do this is it that right now we're trying to our barrier system to put it into private hands I think what we need to do right now is we all come together and most of our schools support our public figures and come up with solutions in here in my next participation got some more right now I just want to show Miss Havisham message to our is charter schools hustlers [Music] with us to our hos stain Bob let your school staff lending productions [Music] there's [Music] good evening everyone I hope I'm not talking to laughing it's the principal cafeteria boys coming out I just want to thank you on behalf of the Stanley ruff staff and myself for allowing us to come out here tonight and spotlight the school of staff lee roth my name is Leonard sterling I'm the principal at sadly ruff I have my helper today and geo Corrado dryer dr.
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they're working alongside Robert F Kennedy human rights an organization that has also been working in the region and drawing attention to the abuses that have occurred in the crisis people there are suffering from malnutrition and lack of medical attention and what was once the richest country in South America nearly 4 million have fled to neighboring countries when members of the International Community announced that they would bring food and medical supplies to desperate communities Maduro sent the military to block the aid one of the communities near the border was kumarakapai a peaceful Village of ethnic permanent indigenous people [Music] on February 23rd more attacks were made against the population in the nearby town of Santa Elena a total of seven civilians were killed 57 were wounded and 62 were arrested a violent repression alongside the border of Brazil has forced over 900 indigenous people across this is the latest in a long history of government oppression neglect and brutality and on March 31st Kerry Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy human rights led a joint delegation with photo penal to the border between Brazil and Venezuela during the visit the delegation interview survivors of the kumara kapai and Santa Elena massacres [Music] community [Music] currently none of the soldiers are facing any criminal charges or disciplinary action kumarakapai Santa Elena and other communities along the border continue to be militarized in the survivors fear returning home help Robert F Kennedy human rights and photo penal hold the perpetrators accountable and stand for human rights in Venezuela support us and find more information at rfkhumanrights.org and photos.com [Applause] well thank you so um I think you get a sense of the type of work we do um any questions yeah what were some things you and your father like to do together when he had free time from his work well thank you um well you know uh we you he he was very active and had a great sense of humor and um and he liked to play a lot of sports so we went swimming and sailing and skiing and mountain climbing and rafting and if there was you know there was a free moment we were playing a game mostly but I remember um with all those brothers and sisters we had a lot of battles when when oh it's a kid and I remember one in particular I was with my brother Michael who was 18 months older than me and really fantastic athlete and we were playing World War II in our magnolia tree which is an amazing amazing type of tree for a tree house and for climbing and we had um we had two tree houses in this in this tree and he climbed up to the top one and he we had collected all these Magnolia pods which look exactly like hand grenades but feel like rocks when they hit your head and um so Michael is up in the top tree house and he was the Americans and I was the doomed Germans and I was supposed to take over the tree house and he was lobbing these um these Magnolia pods down on me and I took you know one hit too many I was probably about five years old six years old at the time and so I scrambled out of the tree house and I ran up to my father's office in our house and uh tears streaming down my face and my my bow Askew and I climbed into his arms and I said Michael beat me up and uh he said he sort of dried my tears and gave me a hug and said tell me what happened and I told him you know this terrible tale of Michael pummeling me uh and uh he said will you go get Michael and bring him here so I I am going to get Michael and Justice will be done and the Attorney General of the United States wants to see you right now in his office and um and in came Michael and then Daddy said now Michael you be quiet don't interrupt Carrie tell us everything that happened and I told in gory detail each one of those Magnolia pods hitting my head and then uh my father said okay now Carrie you don't interrupt and Michael you tell what happened and he had a different side of the story and I realized in that moment that neither I wasn't all right Michael wasn't all wrong and then he made us kiss and make up and go to our rooms and read for an hour and and um and I think that the the lessons he was giving us were the last Hans he wanted for our country which is that um that you need to get along with your brothers and sisters and um and you have to stop thinking of them as enemies and realizing that they are your brothers and sisters and that peace is not something just to be prayed for at night it's something that each of us has a responsibility to create in our lives every day and then you have to go and read um gotta learn something so uh yeah so that's one of my memories my dad thanks for that question others if you could go back in time what would you change huh I mean I think that if if I could change one thing in the in the United States I would stop slavery I would just make sure we'd never had any slavery because I think that um that is the most that's the one the most of this of issue that continues to haunt our country today and um I I would stop that if if I could stop uh if I could go back further in time I'd just stop violence against women altogether because I think if we never had violence against women that it would um uh it um dramatically change the way our our history was I think we've had fewer or no Wars um and I think that we would live in a more loving and peaceful Society altogether if people knew how to resolve their conflicts without turning to violence that starts usually in the home people beating up girls yeah anything else been working against these dangerous people how scared do you get even though they could easily like kill you with their power and their weapons um well that that's a fair question I you know I um I don't know I've never been to a war zone I have no interest in in getting harmed I have I had three daughters um I know what it's like to lose a parent I'm not going to put myself In Harm's Way so even though we are doing work which is confronting governments or um uh people who have been violent we I always do it in a context where we're going to be safe and I won't go someplace that's not safe so it's um it is it's often very dangerous for the people who we're meeting with in those countries um but it's not really unsafe for those of us who are doing our investigations and our in our work what's the most impactful thing that you saw on the border in Venezuela I mean it was so tough just meeting all that we were I was there for about four days and um we were talking to I'm uh a I think we interviewed 35 different survivors of that Massacre um and one after the other they it was an incredible situation because this is an indigenous Community where nobody has guns and so and they'd been working with the military bird decades and one of the things that was really impactful to me was um was one of the people who we met in the hospital whose legs had been blown off said you know the military came into our town and as soon as they got there in their Convoy our whole town flooded into their town is I mean it's a few hundred people right so it's not a big town it's just a about 200 families to I mean 200 people 250 people small and he said we all ran into the street to see the military Convoy and then they just they knew it was they know we don't have guns they know we have no way of Defending ourselves or any and they just started opening fire and you know you saw a little bit of the video of it was really remarkable about that those interviews with people is virtually everybody had a video or a cell phone pictures of the massacre happening because they had all brought their cell phones to take pictures of the military Convoy in their town so it was completely documented and Not only was it documented on film and then all of the survivors we were there within a month which never happens um so we got just endless testimonies completely consistent one of the guys who we interviewed had been in the same military unit for a year and he had just gotten released like he had just gotten released about six months early so we were showing him the pictures and he was naming every single person in that Convoy who was who had who had perpetrated that Massacre so you know we're gonna those guys are all gonna be held accountable and they're all going to go to jail it might not happen in the next six months or in the next year but eventually they're all going to be brought to trial for war crimes and we have all the evidence against them and we're going to hold them accountable um how do you handle criticism um really well no uh you know well I I try and um I I I try and listen carefully and and hear it when uh when people are critical but it doesn't I don't hang around it doesn't I don't hold on to it very long um I'll tell you a story about this that's that was meaningful to me which is there's um there are these two monks an old Monk and a young Monk and they're walking down the street and a carriage pulls up and uh it's it's kind of it would rain the day before and there are all these puddles in the street and the carriage pulls up and it's too far from the curb and there's a puddle there and there's a woman gets out of the carriage and so the older monk goes and takes his cape and he puts it on top of the puddle and the woman gets out of takes his hand gets out of the carriage steps on the on the cape steps on the sidewalk and walks away she never looks at him she never says thank you nothing and the old mountain pokes pulls picks up his cape and sort of you know drains the water out of it and then puts it on his shoulders and starts walking down the street and the younger Monk turns to him as they're walking along out of town and says I cannot believe that that woman was outrageous this is the problem with Society people don't care about each other it's the rich against the poor this is and you're a person of God and he she doesn't even acknowledge you and he's going on and on and on and on and on and about an hour later the older monk turns to the younger Monk and says you know what the difference between you and me is and the young monk says why and the old man says I put that woman down an hour ago and you're still carrying her and I think you know that didn't happen has that ever happened to you when somebody says something critical and it's just sitting in your mind and you're thinking about it a lot like you're trying to get to sleep or you're trying to study and you just keep coming back to the outrageous thing that that person did to you or said to you does that ever happened yeah it's happened to all of us so that um so I I keep that story in mind to to try and move that along okay that's kind of that's a lot um actually could we do something before we leave is that okay but but be fast okay so well um with our speak truth power human rights education program we ask students to uh to get engaged with some of our human rights Defenders so a lot of our human rights to vendors are women and do you know that 70 of the Farmers on Earth are women do you know that how about that 70 and so in a lot of the countries on Earth those women are in places where they only have rain for about eight weeks a year and when they don't have rain when it's a drought season when it's the dry season the women have to work for walk further and further and further to get water to drink and to um feed their families and to feed their crops so they pray for rain so what I would like to do is a call for rain in solidarity with all those women is that okay okay so it's going to take some practice so I'd like you to practice with me now the first thing we're going to do is this okay you guys are good at that you know it means be quiet but you have to keep being quiet once we start now the second thing is this the rain is going to start from this side of the fields and it's going to move across the plane like this now in order for this to work you have to have to have to do your part it's like singing around don't start singing somebody else's part you got to keep doing what you're supposed to do okay you guys got that don't forget that's the thing everybody forgets okay it's going to start here uh we're going to have three parts so it's going to start here and then we're going to move into here and we're going to move into there okay are you ready everybody stand up thank you okay here we go foreign okay Greensburg High School let's give it up Carrie Kennedy [Applause] okay we are down to just five minutes okay so we're going to maximize this so for all of our wonderful Community people I have Alexi in have a seat real quick Alexi I have her in the back and she is going to show you how to get to the choir room where Carrie will be there in just a few minutes we have a handful of minutes not much but if you want to come up to the stage and get your picture with to carry we'll do the best we can okay line up over here okay have your cameras ready camera is ready rapid fire yes yes quickly guys quickly yep come on up very good make sure your phones are ready make make sure your phones are ready okay exit over here guys bones out and ready guys phone's out and ready Go's gonna ring in a minute foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] it's the inclusion [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] students here that have been participating in this program and we're very proud of what they have done and we are going to get a little acknowledgment here today and and Mr Lonzo and several other guests are going to tie it all together for you so without further Ado I'm going to introduce Mr Lee Lonzo thank you grant real privilege for me to be here today I am the director of something we call Champions together it's a program seven years ago is a partnership between the Indiana High School Athletic Association and Special Olympics Indiana how many of you out there are athletes right now okay great well glad to see all of you because this is sponsored by the ihsa but to all the rest of you are thinking oh then this doesn't apply to me you're wrong because we are here to get the entire School involved and that means anybody that has an open heart and an open mind see we got a group of kids here at Greensburg High School who've done some good things but it's time to take it to the next level last year was your first year of involvement and they did some really good things but there's all sorts of room for improvement so I'm here today not only to tell you about Champions together but also make a challenge to you to join what we call the inclusion Revolution it's the inclusion Revolution With Champions together is a partnership between the ihsaa and Special Olympics Indiana this is servant leadership changing lives to promote and create a culture of inclusion in schools through Unified sports there are four pillars of Champions together they are inclusive student leadership whole school engagement Unified sports and fundraising Champions together began officially December 17 2012 with a challenge from ihsaa commissioner Bobby Cox to 18 student leaders on the sac the student advisory committee so I challenged him I said I want you to think about finding some kind of group to support on an ongoing basis and we start building a legacy of leadership and and trying to teach kids about servant leadership about going back into your community and giving back and they picked Special Olympics it all starts with inclusive student leadership this is not just student leadership it's inclusive student leadership Champions together doesn't want to just work for students with special needs Champions together thrives to work with them honestly the funnest thing has been the relationships it's not even I I didn't join this team specifically to run you know I'm in the 4x1 relay and that's that's right that's right I I didn't do it just to you know do track I did it to build relationships and to get to know these absolutely beautiful people the second pillar is whole school engagement you know activities that promote awareness inclusion anti-bullying and changing your vocabulary to never ever use the r word whole school engagement includes inviting your students to sign the banners hanging in the lunchroom supporting your Unified sports teams like track and basketball by becoming fans in the stands encouraging the student body to help out at a Special Olympics event or engaging the whole school population with a school assembly pillar number three is Unified sports where student leaders and athletes of all abilities can get involved volunteer and demonstrate your student leadership that can and will change lives getting involved in volunteering through Unified sports can be applied to virtually any sport in your school football softball swimming baseball track there are so many ways to use these Sports and your talents and time and volunteerism to get the word out about Special Olympics and Unified sports like having a clinic a recreational game or even a competitive event like unified track the fourth pillar of Champions together is fundraising financial support is a Cornerstone of any initiative and With Champions together the fundraising opportunities are year round and entertaining fun events like track or treat zombie run playing pool and polar plunge are just the tip of the iceberg you can help your school secure the resources and funding to support Special Olympics Indiana and promote the inclusion Revolution in just a short amount of time with amazing people and student leaders working side by side Champions together has blossomed from an idea to a life-changing experience with the four pillars of Champions together inclusive student leadership whole school engagement Unified sports and fundraising the the future is very bright for Champions together servant leadership changing lives 18 students that started this movement now I'd like to welcome to the stage the commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association and my dear friend Mr Bobby Cox please give him a hand good morning my friend good morning how are you I'm great how about yourself just fine good I thought maybe since we've got so many athletes out there that we ought to start just by you introducing yourself a little bit tell them a little bit about your background where you're from where you went to school and maybe some of the things you did before you went to work for the ihsa well I was a student athlete just like many of you I went to Carmel High School in the early 70s that's a long time ago I'm older than your parents graduated from Carmel High School went to Butler University I participated in track and cross country I know that's hard to imagine today with this physique but back in the day I was a runner um my school corporation hired me as a teacher and a coach in 1979 and I taught and coached for 11 years and taught physical education health and wellness driver education and I coached cross-country track and basketball in 1990 I became an athletic administrator worked at a junior high for seven years as an administrator and then went to Carmel High School as the athletic director for three years in 2000 I became an assistant commissioner at the ihsa and in 2011 became the commissioner and and here we are in 2019 and almost 2020 so I'm in my 41st year of education and have enjoyed every minute of it dang year old why don't you tell these folks what the ihsa is who I exists what it does well The Story Goes Like This back in the day about 19 or so there was a a baseball game being played by two high schools down in southern Indiana and the older brother of former commissioner Phil Eskew was the coach at this or he was on the team of this school that was going to go play baseball and when the coach got off the bus he looked at the battery of the other schools baseball team now how many of you guys know what the battery is raise your hand anybody know what that means it's a pitcher and a catcher so they get off the bus and they look at the picture and they catch her from the opposing high school team and it's the pitcher and the catcher from the Louisville Colonel Semi-Pro baseball team playing for a high school well the coach got so upset that he took the uniform away from the school shortstop and he put the uniform on and he played in the baseball game too well that can't happen so a group of principals got together and said you know we've got to stop this we can't have these kinds of things occurring in high school sports these are supposed to be games for students games for kids and so the association was formed to create some structure by which Greensburg high school and all the other 411 schools can participate together in interscholastic athletics and so from those meager Beginnings we now have advanced to the year 2019 we're in our 118th year of existence and we still administer High School sports in the state of Indiana so you started off as an assistant commissioner but now you are the commissioner why don't you tell them a little bit about what the commissioner's responsibilities are well I've always said that the assistant commissioner's jobs in our office are the best jobs and I had one of those jobs for almost 11 years and what they do is they administer the various Sports we have 22 sports 10 for boys 10 for girls and two co-ed Sports Unified sports that you just heard about those assistant Commissioners administer those Sports each of that we have five assistants each of them have sport responsibilities they oversee the conduct of that entire tournament Series in the regular season in each of their assigned Sports they also have duties that are non-sport related that they contribute to the association my position is to oversee all of that is to be a resource to our assistant Commissioners be a resource to our membership just like Greensburg high school and the other member schools I spend a lot of time out of the out of the building events like this speaking engagements supporting the association representing the association and ensuring that we have opportunities for young people to play Bobby I've heard you speak often about education-based sports and the importance of education-based sports why don't you explain to them what that exactly means and why it's so important to you well education-based Athletics is what happens in schools it's a unique period of time in the state of Indiana where a young person goes through their Scholastic career and they have an opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities specifically interscholastic Sports it is different than every other stanchion of Athletics in this country it's different than youth sports it's different than Collegiate Sports it's certainly different than professional sports or Recreational Sports it's a very unique window in this school grades 9 through 12 where you can represent your school and your community when you put on the Greensburg uniform it's got the name of your community on it that's special you get to represent your school and community that doesn't happen anywhere else you go to college you representing a university you may live in that Community you may not most of you won't you'll go away somewhere else but when you're here this is where you live this is where you represent and this is the opportunity for you to represent your community in your school it's part of your Scholastic experience a lot of people like to call it extracurricular activity I like to call it curricular it's part of school it's what you learn you learn lessons in sports and extracurricular activities whether you are a member of the band or the orchestra or the choir or the debate team or the chess club or whatever you do you learn lessons in those activities you will not learn in the traditional classroom things such as loyalty grit determination teamwork sacrifice all the things that are going to help you when you move on away from Greensburg High School to whatever you decide to do our job is to use education-based Athletics to prepare you for whatever you choose to do that might be a four-year Institution that might be a two-year college that might be a junior college that might be to go into the military to protect the freedoms we have to allow us to have this presentation today to allow us to have sports to allow us to have the freedom that we do you may choose to do that our jobs to prepare you you may choose to protect our community in law enforcement or fire protection or some other field but our job today and every day is to prepare you for those opportunities We Believe that education-based Athletics is maybe the best tool to prepare you for that next step and so that's why I'm so passionate about what we do in our schools because we're trying to prepare a better generation of citizens than we did the generation before that should always be our goal we all need to get better every day and that's what we try to do with our Sports programs falling rattle on that line you're talking about values and making all your athletes better people the video talked about a challenge that you made to the ihsa student advisory committee about servant leadership and I've heard you talk about this aha moment you had about that so why don't you tell them about your aha moment and then why you issued that challenge to him well I'm a member of the downtown Kiwanis Club in Indianapolis and I like to call myself a backsliding kawanian and what that means is I don't go to all the meetings it's kind of like going to church I don't go to all the church I don't go to service every Sunday but when I go I pay attention so I'm sitting in the Kiwanis meeting one day and we have the necology service the necrology report anybody know what that means raise your hand if you know what the necology report is you know what that is what is it it's all the dead people so I'm at the Kiwanis meeting downtown and we have the neurology report and it goes on for about 15 minutes Susie died Billy died Joe died Mike died and it was sad and then we get into the program we go a little bit more and then the membership chair stands up he's going to give his membership report it lasted 15 seconds one person well I'm not very smart I'm one of those guys that made the top half of the class possible but I'm driving back to the office and north side of Indianapolis and I'm doing a little math in my head I'm thinking we had four people die and we've gained one member pretty soon this service Club is going to die and you know what whose fault that is that's our fault that's adult's fault we are not teaching servant leadership to our young people we're not giving them a reason to give back to their Community why do you have service clubs why are there kuanians in this town why are there Lions why are those people what did they do well they make your community better you've been to the fish fry you've been to the Pumpkin Show you've been to those things well Community people do that what we're trying to do is issue a challenge to you I would issue that same challenge to you what do you give back to your community I told the athletes you heard it on the video I told these athletes I said you get uniforms coaching Transportation sometimes they feed you you've got great facilities look at the facility you have in this school and what are you giving back anything you just expect that to happen no people before you your parents your uncles and aunts your grandparents they have given back to this community it's about time for you it's going to be time for you someday to come back to Greensburg give to your community make your community the best community it can be and that's the challenge I issued our student advisory committee I said I don't really care what you do that's up to you but I want it to be an all 92 counties in the state of Indiana every County can participate Decatur County can participate Hamilton County can participate every County can participate and subsequently the Champions together partnership evolved from our work with Special Olympics Indiana you've got to be real proud of the student advisory committee and all that they've done in the past all they're doing now I'd like to show everybody a picture of our current student advisory committee and pick up on what they have to say [Music] leadership inclusion service opportunity the ihsaa student advisory committee promotes these values through their work and for the 160 000 student athletes who participate in ihsa sports the student advisory committee members represent their schools their teams and their communities in providing invoice to the ihsa executive board the student advisor committee is made up of nine Junior and nine senior student athletes who communicate the values of the ihsaa to Indiana high school athletes student advisory committee members conduct student meetings work ihsa State Championship events organize the student leadership conference and collaborate with Special Olympics Indiana in 2012 the ihsaa through Sac partnered with Special Olympics Indiana to create Champions together this partnership led to the addition of unified track and unified flag football as ihsaa sanctioned Sports now at 22 sports the ihsa focuses on creating an atmosphere that allows member schools and their student athletes to spread the word about the servant leadership Movement we need your talent we need your commitment we need you if you value leadership inclusion service and opportunity the student advisory committee can be for you you've proven yourself on the field now let's see what you can do in the community talk to your principal about becoming a member leaders inclusive and committed to equality we have different passions but one mission separately we are competitors but together [Music] so that's the Challenge from the commissioner That's The Challenge from the student advisory committee and that's the Challenge from me to get more involved in what you're already doing but we want to celebrate what has been done and I'm going to show you this slide right here and that is a banner program that the student advisory came up with to reward schools that do a great job in the four areas that they talked about being the pillars of Champions together I'm happy to report the Greensburg High School actually earned their banner last year but you see us a one year at a time award it's not one and done we want this to become a part of the culture of Greensburg high school that's why our challenge is for you to get involved to keep this going but they did win their first one last year you can see this is the group of students or group of schools who did win it there are 94 schools up there all of whom will were honored at the luncheon last year that was attended by more than 400 people and we're hoping there's going to be a delegation from Greensburg again this year and there's the date we're going to be doing it on at this time I'd like to bring out to the stage the director of unified Champion schools for Special Olympics Indiana and your very own Champions together Club please give them a hand this is my cash director of unified Champion schools and he and Bobby at this point are going to present this to your Champions together club and issue them and you the challenge to make sure you get involved with it again this year everybody get in there close so we can get a picture okay all right don't fall off the stage boy oh yeah we're gonna get you guys in the background let's give these guys a great hand congratulations to the Champions together from Greensburg High School [Applause] before we move on with the agenda I'd like to just take note of the activities that we've been participating here specifically at Greensburg High School our unified Track event happens during the countywide track meet and that's how that was our initial activity and I will say from a personal standpoint I have never been so emotionally moved in participating in an athletic event that I was at our initial unified Track event you see pure joy on the faces of kids and the the joy of inclusion of everyone is something very powerful so as you listen this presentation it is very moving is very gratifying as a human being just to spread the love and include everyone in what we do so thank you Mr Lonzo thank you and Grant while you're out here I'm going to issue you a challenge there's 94 high schools that take it beyond that one event and they actually have a team in an ihsa sport that's my challenge to you and the Pirates is to get involved in that tournament this year and drag north and south along let's get three more schools involved okay all right great great challenge well Bobby uh let's talk briefly about what Unified sports are and their role in the ihsa but I often refer to this phrase right here it's all about can I play two because we've gone through periods we know where girls for example could not play now we've got Title IX but now you brought something new to the ihsa with the inclusion Revolution why don't you talk about why that happened well I've always had I guess I would call it a soft spot in my heart for the opportunity for every young person to have an opportunity to participate in school you learn that when you get cut how many of you have been cut from a team raise your hand doesn't feel very good does it you want to be a part of the team you try out for the team and you don't make it well there's always been a group of young people in our schools particularly in our Public Schools that have been excluded from the opportunity to represent their school they're the students that are in that last classroom on the right hand side of the hallway that the students that sit at the last table in the lunchroom they're the students that ride the short bus we all know who those students are and they've never had an opportunity to represent their school so several years ago Lee and I went to Arizona to a conference and we learned about Unified sports I didn't know anything about it I didn't have a clue what that meant but when we left that conference I told Lee on the plane ride home we're going to do this because this is an opportunity for the ihsa and Special Olympics to now include those students that never get the chance to represent their school those students love their school just like all of us they just never had the chance so that was the reason why Unified sports was incorporated into the Champions together program it's an opportunity for students with and without intellectual disabilities to participate together in track and field you've got a partner you run the 100 meter dash one athlete runs in one race another one runs in another race we score it together we total up the team score we figure out who the team champion is unified flag football you got five people on a side three of them are student athletes two of them are partner athletes and they participate on a 60 by 25 football field regardless of the structure of the rules and how it works it's the opportunity it's the chance to represent your school to wear the Jersey to where the name of the community on your on your chest that's what this is about and so this is why I'm so passionate about how this program has evolved and where it's going and what Unified sports is all about Bobby this has not only changed the culture of buildings it's changed lives at this time I'd like to bring my cash back out here to introduce two students whose lives have been changed by this Mike thank you Lee thank you we appreciate you being here today there's two students that I would like to introduce who have a special place one in my heart but also are huge advocates for Special Olympics and the Champions together movement Liam is a senior at Center Grove High School and Elizabeth is a junior at Carmel High School these two are one of 12 students around the country that represent the U.S youth ambassadors so they're unified pairs so I would like to bring out Liam price and Elizabeth price welcome hi everyone I'm Liam price I have autism I also have Tourette's and I have an enormous level and of anxiety when my anxiety gets triggered certain things automatically happen to me that I can't control quirky behaviors inappropriate laughter squeaky noises and ticks that take over and my focus is crushed it really doesn't matter if it's an inconvenient time for it to happen it can be something as little as a light touch against my skin a word that triggers a fearful image or just too many sounds in one space that I can no longer filter out when I lose my focus my mind can become paralyzed by a Non-Stop Loop of obsessive compulsive behaviors and ticks that take over this leads me down a deep hole that I sometimes cannot climb out of without somebody's help sometimes I need a forced shutdown from everything and everyone in hopes that I could reset reboot my brain again it's embarrassing and I hate what it makes me feel about myself and what I think others think about me too when I was younger kids at school would enjoy a convocation or special activity well I would usually end up needing a sensory break and being away from all of them because the extra input was to just too much to sort out there have been times in my life when I could not make my brain stay engaged at all in school much less any kind of social Gathering no less but one of those times was when I was in fifth grade which resulted with me electing to being homeschooled this Arrangement did help me better focus on learning but now I had no network of friends a lot of time alone lousy eating habits and also lousy exercise habits it was a choice of lifestyle that eventually left me very overweight and very lonely but at a certain point in time my parents started taking me to Special Olympics for swimming and my Outlook began to change over time I expanded my activities to include basketball flag football and even ballroom dancing eventually I began feeling like I was ready to go back to public school so I returned it was my freshman year At first I felt like a little fish in a massive pond but I was dealing with it for the most part one day out of the blue everything changed a staff member saw me running in PE class and he invited me to join a new new unified track team that he was going to start coaching at first I was stunned how was I going to contribute anything in a team sport I wasn't a high school athlete heck I've never been any kind of athlete in school before but here was the opportunity for me to not only compete but to also represent my school unified track and field it's a real ihssa sport we had regular season meets sectionals and you get a trophy for winning state that is the same as all the other ihsaa state champions coach said I would also have peers helping me along the way this helped me develop confidence in my athletic abilities and over time my social skills that year our team made it to the unified track and field State finals at Indiana University we did well as a team I finished Sixth and shot put and third in the 100 meter dash the opportunity to compete on my high school unified track and field team has changed my life you fast forward to today I have many good friends who seek me out and include me in activities in and outside of school I've become much healthier however in Varsity letters from my school I've built on the confidence I gained from my peers to push forward making bigger goals for myself Beyond Sports and competition I now serve proudly as a manager for our boys basketball team I am bodybuilding I have served as a state Congressional page I serve as an officer in my best buddies chapter and I just was voted homecoming king of my senior class and attended my first school dance not to mention I am now giving speeches like this to school assemblies around Indiana to promote unified Champion schools programs and I'm very excited that I have been accepted to study math and Criminal Justice at the University of Indianapolis starting next fall I've been invited as an as a walk-on athlete to the UND swim and Diving team I was just awarded the U.S senator Richard G Luger sports scholarship for the academic recognition through it all I've grown myself grown up by putting myself out there making goals and working to achieve my goals and knowing that win or lose my effort counts and it makes me a stronger happier and better person and the unified Champion schools program whose efforts are creating a more inclusive School environment has played a significant role in motivating me to create a new outlook for my future and I would encourage each and every one of you to consider it for the possible life-altering path it can provide each of Youth through servant leadership I felt that having a unified Champion school where I live in this great state of Indiana has created inclusive Sports and Leadership opportunities that have now helped me to focus more on the things that are possible in my life I know that I have a disability but I've learned to not let my disability Define me or my limitations my unified partners my friends have shown me through their expressions and acceptance inclusion friendship and sportsmanship that this idea that I can make myself a valued asset to any team and over time that idea has brought itself into my mindset reminding me that I too have the ability to make an impactful contribution I hope that all of you will decide that Greensburg High School and for that matter every High School in Decatur County and the state of Indiana should start Unified sports and work towards becoming a unified champions School Banner winner thank you [Applause] hi everyone my name is Elizabeth and I'm a junior at Carmel High School I've been involved in Special Olympics and champions together for two years now and has genuinely changed my life before I started participating in Unified sports and champions together I felt lost and confused I couldn't find who my people were in a school of over 5 000 students I met tons of people but none of them seemed to be my people I then heard about unified track and field the winner of my freshman year and quite honestly I only applied so I didn't have to take Jim my sophomore year I then met an athlete named Kyle who changed everything for me when we first met people pointed out our differences but in reality I've never met someone who's so similar to me we both love country music spending time with family and friends going to concerts and of course Indy 500 Unified sports helped me find my people but more importantly I had found my best friend we do normal things best friends would do we'll go get food together talk about life and drive around singing country music at the top of our lungs he's also taught me a lot about life these past two years he taught me how to always find good and bad situations how to be nicer and how to better love and appreciate the people I have in my life he's also shown me that empowering those with and without intellectual disabilities is my passion in life after track season ended my freshman year I was nominated to be a part of my school's Champions together committee I joined and felt instantly more in love with Unified sports I joined all the Unified sports my school had to offer from unified flag football Bocce bowling and track I joined everything I love being able to do something with my friends and classmates with intellectual disabilities the joy of seeing others succeed is overwhelming and a feeling I will never forget I continue to participate in Unified sports for many reasons but my why is simple I want people of all abilities to feel that feel like their voices are being heard and that they add value to a team since joining Unified sports my life has taken many crazy turns last March on my school's fundraiser for Mr Carmel I met Jeff Muller the CEO of Special Olympics Indiana I told him how much I loved Unified sports and champions together and how I wish I could be more involved this conversation led to me becoming an internet Special Olympics Indiana over the summer with this internship I got to attend Summer Games in Terre Haute play on the national Federation of high school's unified experience in Plainfield and lastly Liam and I were paired together to be nominated and chosen to be U.S youth ambassadors for Special Olympics North America Liam and I are two of 12 high schoolers chosen from across across the country in this position we represent the Great Lakes region advocating for Special Olympics on a national level through social media and through telling our story in the story of our peers our goal is to help promote equality and respect for those with intellectual disabilities all across the U.S in October Liam and I traveled to Washington DC to meet the other youth ambassadors chosen we did a few days of leadership training activities and on the last few days we got to participate in Special Olympics North America's Generation unified event we spoke on a panel about how unified Champion schools has changed our lives in conclusion I hope you realize how Unified sports are so much more than just a sport Unified sports has puts a spotlight on a population of your school that might not have had it before and always remember that anyone can Champion a movement but it takes one person to step up one person to lead and one person to realize that we should be celebrating our differences and people of all abilities the movement to make this world a more inclusive place starts with you thank you [Applause] great job guys I um do you guys realize how hard that is talking the entire Auditorium full of people I I'm sure those of you who've ever had to give like a one-minute speech in front of a class no that was hard so let's give Liam and Elizabeth one last hand thank you Bobby we got uh two three minutes left I gotta think to myself that makes you really proud to hear how much impact you and the ihsa have had on those two and you know it's extended so you get the last crack here of the last word um what has it meant to you and the I just say that this will be part of your legacy that you brought Unified sports well I think the biggest thing for me is that it involves students um I think as adults we have a a duty to instruct and to lead young people in our schools this was an opportunity for us to provide an opportunity for students to lead and for us to watch it evolve and to watch it grow and to watch schools engage and ramp up their efforts has been extremely rewarding to me personally it's been rewarding to the association but it's really about people it's really about all of us and what we can do individually and collectively to build a better society and I think because of what we've been able to do in these last seven plus years we've been able to make Indiana a better state we've been able to make our high schools better environments and we've been able to include individuals in a in a an effort to demonstrate that while we are different we're a lot alike you saw that today so on behalf of the Indiana High School Athletic Association and Special Olympics thank you for what you do in your community and we challenge you to do more because we do want to make a better community and a better State thank you Lee Mike Liam Elizabeth come on back out here I want to thank Bobby my good friend I want to thank you for the honor of being the director of Champions together for these seven years on behalf of all five of us we want to thank you for the opportunity to be here and challenge you let's get that track event into a track team and let's win that Banner again thank you very much Greensburg High School we are going to transition to the next speaker got to set up a little audio and visual stuff and that will happen very quickly bear with us one last note our next speaker may go past the Bell that we're used to at 11 13 for lunch and we're going to go right on through it and we'll adjust the schedule as necessary once we get done with our next speaker just stand by for just a minute [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] and I do know that if you're attending the next Chautauqua guest there is a lunch and all of you are going to a lunch so just bear with us we'll we'll work it out it'll all be okay our next speaker here this morning is senior officer specialist Jim Albright he was the last prison guard to leave the island of Alcatraz and this is a very unique location the pictures here on your screen and Mr Albright is going to describe that to you and it's quite a unique and authentic experience so we're very fortunate to have him please welcome to the stage Mr Jim Albright thank you can you hear me okay as your principal said my name is Jim Albright this is my wife Kathy and uh I went to Alcatraz when I was 24 years old in 1959.
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pretory ate my Steven Spielberg jr. our military honor damned Aruba's fourth grade teacher has sadly ruff he helped me put together a short snippet of what the light and kindly is a sadly rough day a version of it you couldn't bring sadly ruff you couldn't come up to us when we grow it to you tonight so I hope you enjoy it it's a small video and after that I'm gonna highlight some of the things that we're doing at stab well mr. Jarvis please hit play [Music] a future with a standard [Music] we are the community of learners we grow together [Music] to cease all that the community and video support never in all the schools [Music] as you can see a good version we have a number of activities that take place throughout the school year and tonight I just want to highlight some of the key ones that are participated with many of the community members throughout the area and above all the staff that we have establishment with people and they do their very best each and every day and I'm very proud to leave that I look back behind me there's a few in the audience tonight I know if you saw in the video there is one in a lion green that is known as captain kindness she's in our alter-ego tonight sitting in the back of there so that is captain kindness we have a kindness and compassion Club that is done with our third through fifth graders after school this is totally done by Deb Ireland and Daniel Kent Cantonese they lead it after school with a number of students and they talk about community awareness of kindness and lessons that they do throughout the school year and they even do things as making sandwiches with Dorothy Day Foundation and go out and really touch the community and show the kids what kindness is all about and keep spreading the word of kindness throughout the school year one of the things that they do they wrap it up at the end where they don't dis my ability dance at the end of the year which is an incredible come together of the whole school and celebrated kindness recently we had a kindness week led by Monica Hassan and the number of teachers and it was the last week in October we had a number of kindness activities that took place through the week and the biggest thing that we wanted to promote was the kindness that will last not only that we went throughout the school year and the last day we had everyone nobody eats a long day we had people from the community we had two board members Amy and Rachel were there and they joined us but we had the mayor the fire department the police department there's so many different well that came out and joined us at staff law it was just a wonderful time we have five lunch waves it's a large school and I was so proud to see so many people make it through all the lunch waves I think he was a little bit exhausted at the end of it all but she made it she was breathing heavy Etienne there's a lot going on in the lunch waiting we had Invention Convention and we participated in the last ten years I'm very proud to say that has been a big highlight of the STEM program that we tried to push outside of the classroom and it has done after school by a number of teachers last year was left by zdenda Rufus and every year we have people that make it to the finals so I'm very proud of that program that we do it outside the classroom we also had spooky reading night recently it's a spooky reading and that night again we try to use some the stem activities we started out a number of years ago I think it started six years ago spooky reading in that night and the first night we started out with 20 students came out and I said we can make this better we continued to grow we had about a hundred and twenty plus students come out with spooky reading night recently again this could not be done without the support of my staff I send out an email to them and I asked them who would like to support us in spooky reading night and instantly within minutes a flow of emails coming out saying I will be there I will come out with me and they come dressed in their costumes that you can say they have a great time and the students just love it and now that the students put their parents anything every parent walked away congratulating us on what a great night it was we have a strong PTO community who always go above and beyond to support staff Lee Rob there's a number things throughout the school year but some of the big ones I like to highlight is the Welcome Back picnic they do in September we had about 300 to 400 people come out that day I thought we were gonna get in trouble by the fire marshal because everyone was parking everywhere but I think he just drove by and kept going because we were part around law the ice-cream social was a great success in October and in February they do another big one called the VIP dance VIP in May you get a chance to come out in the February night a cold one like this come on out read a great night lastly I like to talk a little bit about our ESL night we have three DSL nights that are in conjunction with Cirque we do one in October one in December and what it meant we are reaching out to the parents of ESL students and showing them how and what they can do with their children and be a part of our school you're trying to pro-vitamin and share all different things with them we have those three nights in two languages we do it in Spanish and Portuguese and it's a it's an interesting night because it lasts about two to three hours and it first starts out as a more informational night and it's wonderful to see how it turned out to more of a question-and-answer night and the parents have so many great questions and they keep coming out and that's what our main focus is is to get that community community involvement and parents come out and feel comfortable at our schools so again I thank you for letting us come out tonight and spotlights down at our school thank you [Applause] thank you hey student reps our audio time [Music] this is Goodwin I'm the beauty treasurer of the very high school and secretary so the October 16th we had the class of twenty two one ooh 20 20 take their senior picture they dressed in all black they went like the field manly made the 2028 oh the day every boys soccer team one versus Stanford won 2-0 on October 1st so it's a good job to them the 34th annual college fair took place in different mall from bite to eat that was first October 22nd the DHS girls volleyball team presented Jack the farm from Anne's place with a check of two hundred sixty one dollars and these funds were donated to the volleyball thinking big sandwiches all her breast cancer we want to say congratulations to cross-country runner Jamie I love Mulan peanut henna panel on her third place finish double Ellison all-state honors so I don't know a lot about sports oh the freshmen forum was held that he just auditorium on October 28th which helped to introduce parents and students to life at their high school the different boys soccer won again against Richfield October 22 to 0 good the senior game the girls volleyball team was held on October 20 which this is a little more recent we had our club guarantee just basically all the clubs could come show off like during lunch waves and like get people to coach their clubs we actually one of the largest club fairs in existence this year with over 30 clubs participating which is really cool and the weather was really bad so we had to put it inside but everyone was like really working for the tables in that October 30th students in our CNA program health a science career fair with jobs ranging from my registered nurse to even like pediatric nutritionist so yeah so as for November the 4th mr.
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in fact what you see me wearing right now was my original 1959 issue and and you've probably already noticed if you hang them in the closet for over 50 years they do shrink okay this is a a photo of Alcatraz and there's supposed to be a pointer on here and I can't see it oh there it comes okay in in the lower foreground you can see a barge there and that's how we got our water it held a million point three gallons of water and they would take it over to Fort Mason that's where we docked at the time and they would fill that up it took 24 hours to fill it then they would bring it over and tie it up there and they would had a diesel pumps on the dock and they would pump it up to the water tower in underground tanks up by the PowerHouse and it took 24 hours to Pump It Out and you could hear that over about half of the island the big building right behind it that is where we live when we first moved there and we would hear that thing pumped for 24 hours and while I'm talking about hearing things there was two fog horns on the island one on each end and when it got real foggy they went off every minute but they alternated so that meant every 30 seconds one or the other was going off and you could hear them all over the bay in the very first night that we moved over there Kathy and myself and our 19 month old son it was very foggy and they were working I never heard them both of them was up all night there on the left is what we called our parade ground and that was when the military had it they used to do the close order drill out there in in the background is a b and c building which were apartments and then in on the far left was the duplex for the associate Warden and the captain in the foreground was four lieutenants cottages and uh way to the far left you can see the little white Lighthouse or a fog horn there and then right in the middle of that was what we called our gymnasium we had a handball court in there and we used to lift weights in there and had a basketball court on one side and a sandbox on the other side way up top you can see the lighthouse and there was three Apartments built around that Lighthouse for the Coast Guard so we had coast guard on the on the island 24 or 24 hours a day 365 days of the year there was three families that lived there to run the lighthouse and in the foreground where she's at now that was the wardens house and that was like a 28 room house that had been the common Dodd's house when the military had the island and right behind it was the Doctor's house and then the long big building was a the cell house and it had a Block B Block C block and d block in there at one time it was the biggest freestanding building in the United States um and way in the back behind that you can see the the water tower and then it goes back to the shops and the industries and and the buildings like that and there's where she's at now that was our social hall and that Social Hall had a place upstairs for dinners dances stage plays had a kitchen in it for for cooking dinners downstairs it had a a snack bar a library ping pong pool and two-lane bowling alley so we had things to do for the staff as you can see there well there there was the island in 1959 that was the first time that we saw it it was like that and we had never been any farther west than Denver and we was we was on the way out and we was going across the old Oakland Bay Bridge now they've got a new one there and you can look out and you could see the island out there in the water and like I say that day there was a big heavy circle of fog around it heavier than it is in this photo and we had everything we owned in our car we'd sold our house and our furniture and everything in Denver to move out there and it's ways of going across the bridge and seeing that Island out there with that fog I looked at Kathy and I looked at our baby our 19 month old son and I said what the hell did I do after we got there and got her feet on the ground we learned to enjoy it we didn't want to leave when it was time to leave the island there's there's a boat coming you can see the Wake behind it he just pulling up to bring people to the island now I told you in the other picture about a b and c buildings and lieutenants Cottages in a duplex there on the left in the island you can see that's all gone every bit of it part of it the Indians when they lived on it they they wanted to live in their teepees up by the lighthouse so they'd go in the buildings and they'd tear anything that would burn out of it and uh you light a fire in front of their teepees and then the government come in and they said there was asbestos in them buildings so they bulldozed them down the Indians had a party one night and invited anybody in San Francisco that wanted to come over well they had a lot of under undesirables and Hell's Angels and people like that and that night there was four or five buildings burnt in the Doctor's house the warden's house the Social Hall were some of them that burnt that night yeah okay this was my original uniform and my original ID card they've got a traveling Alcatraz Museum in my ID card is in there in the key of the main gates in there my service pins a bunch of knickknacks and everything and it the last that I knew it was at San Francisco in the Hilton Hotel out there yeah this is a warning sign it tells you to stay off so many yards off the island that this is government property and back in those days if a boat come inside the buoys inside the 200 yard marker you could fire a shot across their bow I'd hate to try that today but at that time it was okay for us to do okay these These are boats we had while we were there the one on the left was the warden Johnston and that was the boat when we started there in it was not very see worthy we were going across one time in rough water and when you hit the rough water it kind of went through it rather than floating on it and we hit it one time and you can see a little spot up there a red spot on the top and that was a Lifeboat and it actually works that Lifeboat off the top of the boat that took us over there on the on the right you can see people getting ready to get off the boat that was a floating dock that's why that ramp had wheels on it and we had two of those boats that we got in the last couple years I was there and they had been generals votes and they took them and reworked them and used them and they kept one in use and the other need work on and keep it spruced up and then it'd run for so many months then they'd change them and work on the other one um that no that floating dock as you come down in in Fort Mason you come to the dock you had to go down steps and then they had part of the steps to run a hinge and they floated up and down with the dock in when she had our first girl we brought her home when she was less from the hospital and she was less than four to eight hours old and it was real rough and that dock was floating and of course them stairs are going up and down and so myself and the boat operator we took the baby and we took her and handed her to a lady that was on the boat and she held her while we went back and we got on both sides of Kathy and almost carried her down and put her on the boat and so from then on if it was rough she didn't want to go to town she wanted to stay and go on a nice day this is on the island that's the dock Tower and that doc Tower is built right beside where we docked our boat where he could watch the boat when the boat come in it was locked up way in the foreground where you can't see there was a big white stripe on the dock in as the boat got ready to leave at 10 minutes of he'd sound his whistle and he'd get clearance from the control center before he could leave then they would the tower would lower a key and he'd unlock the boat and then put the key on the rope and they'd pull it back up in the tower and then they would unlock the gate from the apartment buildings and let the people go down to Dock and get on the boat the five inmates would stand on that line and the officer in the tower would stand out with the carbine trained on those inmates so if they left the line they're going to get shot and then once the boat was two three hundred yards away from the island they'd go back to work and same thing when the boat was coming he got so close he sounded his whistle they went and got on the line the guy come out with the car being and guarded him and then once they were off the boat and up into the apartment compound then the inmates would go back to work that little pickup there went a whole laundry to our laundry we did laundry for vets hospitals and then a couple of the military places out there which is your government at work we don't have water we got a barge water over all the time but we're doing laundry so okay this was our fire truck that is still there today it was there the day I started and that's a 31 uh Diamond tea fade them and you can see the hole in the front of the radiator and the way the bumper is dipped down and what that's for was a crank that's the way you started it you had to crank them and start them and we used to keep it parked uh behind where it's at in a tunnel that faced downhill so it protected it from the weather but that was so we could Coast start it and we didn't have to crank it in about every second week I would take that thing because everybody out there was a member of the fire crew and I'd run it all over the island to keep it limber and and make sure everything worked on it and I like I say I was only 24 when I started so I was still partly a kid so I hit the siren a couple times and I heard about that so I had to quit doing that and the reason it looked so good it looked good anyway but we had that and we had a 1946 Chevy ton and a half truck and a movie company come over and wanted to make a movie so they took both of them vehicles to town and we reworked them from bumper to bumper and then brought them back and used them in their movie and then just left them back on the island when they left okay uh there in the foreground that's the warden's house and you can see a little glass enclosure to the left of it and he had a little uh Garden in there and to the right is the Doctor's house and right behind it was the three apartment complex for the lighthouse and over to the right was a part of the administration building and the sellhouse here's what's left of the warden's house today after the Indians burn it there's what's left of the three apartment complex after the Indians burn it and there's your welcome Indians they had graffiti all over everywhere and right above it that little arrow the Little Black Arrow I put on there because that's pointing to our first apartment when we lived on the island thank you I'm kind of rushing through these so the Bell don't hit me there on the right that's myself on what they call Broadway the inmates had the aisles numbered or lettered and this one was Broadway and and way down to the end behind me was what they called Times Square and that's where everything had happened everything happened in that institution went through Times Square and there on the left that is up in the hospital that was Robert Stroud's cell does anybody know who Robert's child was probably not just because you guys are too young but he was with the one they called The Birdman of Alcatraz who had no birds on Alcatraz but Birdman of Alcatraz and Alcatraz name sold books were Birdman of Leavenworth didn't sell and he was he was a bad guy he was a bad guy he he had a girlfriend up in Juneau Alaska who was a lady of the night and the bartender took her out and used her did not pay her so he killed the bartender for it he got the death penalty and his mother went and tried on the president's this is back in the 30s he cried on the president's doorstep and the president changed it to life and after he got life he killed an inmate and he killed an officer he said what are you going to do to me I'm doing life anyway and that's when they said well then you'll do it in solitary confinement and he was in solitary for years and years and he started getting old and feeble and they moved him up to this solitary cell in the hospital so they could watch him and then he finally transferred to Springfield Missouri which was our mental slash Medical hospital and they put him in solitary there and he finally died with 54 years in prison okay this is part of the 46th riot and there on the left that's Holes in the Floor from hand grenades and on the rights where they chipped a hole the Marines did in the ceiling and dropped hanger Knights down and they'd have a string tied to the grenade and the string tied to the pin and they'd get it swinging to a where they thought this is where the inmates are hiding and then they'd hang on to this the pinstring and let go of the other and when this hand grenade went down it pulled a pin and then it explode there on the left that's part of the dark hole if they messed up that's where they went to jail in a jail and uh they were issued a pair of coveralls and that's it there was nothing in the cell about 8 39 o'clock at night and we'd go over there and we'd bring them out and take them to an open cell and they'd pick up a mattress and a blanket that had been searched and then they'd take it down and put it in their dark hole if they didn't mind their peas and fused they didn't get that sometimes they were in there naked on the right that's a typical cell and you can see there's a folding seat and a folding table and they played a lot of Chess I don't know how to play chess but each one had their boards numbered so they could play against the guy next to him because they could be quietly say Rook from c18 to D12 or something and they both made the move that way the boards were set up the same by the back you can see they had a few photographs there's a little sink back there and there's a hole where they dug out I'll show you in a minute where the hole is and they had to sleep with their pillow up by the bars that way when you went by counting you could see the movement of the blankets from them breathing and see their face and things like that uh you no you can't see the telephone in there but they each each room had a telephone in it I'll show you the telephone okay there on the left that's the telephone and you can see the hole where they dug out they had false covers that they put on it now that telephone the way they worked that is they flush their stool and they put their head in and talk and the sound would travel through the pipes to the cells near them above them or below them if they wanted a little more private conversation they'd flush it fold their blanket up put their head in the stool put the blanket over top their head and it would muffle the sound and make it more like a private call in fact those were the first cell phones when they got mad at you they would blow them up and they were porcelain in them days and they were flushed with the cold Bay water and the way they blew them up is they would flush them and then they'd take their drinking cup and they'd dip all the water and pour it down their sink when they couldn't get any more water they took their clothes off and stopped up the rest of the water and then they took whatever they get a hold of nine times out of ten it was their Bible and they'd tear it up and throw it in there and light it on fire then they'd get their mattress and duck down behind it put it in front of them duck Bay down behind it and light that fire and let it burn and then they'd hit the plunger in that cold Bay water would explode that like a hand grenade and a few of them got hurt at different times when the pieces of shrapnel went through the mattress and stabbed them but that was part of their risk okay on the right that's when the dummy heads that they had Clint Eastwood's movie Escape from Alcatraz I was there during that John the older brother used to work for me in the clothing room and that's when the dummy heads that they had that night put in the bed okay they're on the right that was our old Control Center and you can see the Hat just like I've got on there that who whoever was working at had their uniform head up there and then on the left that was our new Control Center and you can see the difference between the two when they built the new one and you'll notice that I have a gun on my hip and that was one of our rules we had to wear a pistol while we were in there and that is in case they tried to con and commandeer the warden their social Warden or somebody like that and bring them out through the main gate and that little hole behind my back opened up and you could shoot out through there and that shot right into the main gate that telephone you could put on automatic and it would answer itself and I had heard that I'm going to be going out on a chain of inmates now I started there when I 24 with no previous experience and we didn't even have a training officer after the first three weeks that I was there and so my training was on the job training I learned a lot of things the hard way and so when I learned that I was going on one of the chains which I ended up going on five chains I thought the inmates know more about the handcuffs than I knew I've never even had a pair on and behind my back there was a a drawer and that's where we threw a Contraband if you found a shiv or something like that you threw it in there well I found a little piece of a razor blade that had tape wrapped around it like a handle and so I I got the phone and put it on uh automatic answer I had my Council made up for the only thing I'm going to have going on is some watch calls and I can answer them without picking up the phone so I got a pair of handcuffs and I laid on the desk in front of me in the boat operator the radio was right below that desk and he wasn't due to go out so I wouldn't have to answer that and I took that lock pick from that that razor blade and I took my key out of my pocket and I laid it on the desk for the hand cut and it wasn't the smartest thing I ever did but I put them handcuffs on myself and in less than 30 seconds I was out of them and my heart just dropped now I'm going to get on an airplane with 32 of them Thugs and they know more about them than I do no I thought well Jim you weren't fair you didn't deadlock them so I put them back on and I deadlocked them that time and all I did was Bump my hands real hard on the desk and it knocked the deadlock off in that time in less than 20 seconds I was out of so we we had a rule when we took them on the airplane that every so many minutes you had to go around and check them and make sure everything was okay and Jim took a lot of turns that discured the devil out of me okay there on the on the right that was our Armory that was in the control center this photo was taken after the other prisons in the area came and took a bunch of our weapons and and the gas guns and different paraphernalias that are really not much in there on the left that was up in the chapel and we had a screen that like you've got here that you could pull down in front of it and that's where they had their movies and they'd have the movie for half the institution on Saturday and half on Sunday and uh then down in our social hall we had in movie theater and I learned to run the projectors and then whatever movie the inmates seen Sunday afternoon I'd show it to the island residents on Sunday night and if we had a half a dozen guys go to church we had a crowd and I don't know if you can see there was candlesticks on the altar one on each side there and I don't know who got them but they did make nice little bedroom lamps I took where you put the candle in and pulled that off and turned it over and run a wire through and put a lamp switch in there and use them for the bedroom lamps and I got them fixed to put them right back into a candle that's the dining room and on the rights the very last menu the very last meal they had and when they went to the dining room the lieutenant would signal you and you would open your cells and they would step out and you give them about 15 seconds to step out and then you closed it and then you went down and see who left and who didn't they didn't leave why didn't they and when they stepped out they had their shoes shoes laced up and tied every button on their shirt button their shirt tucked in your pants up around their waist and their belt cinched if they didn't they went right to the hole if they come out and yelled they went right to the hole so then they marched to and from the job okay they're on the right that was in the kitchen that was their cutting tools to cut up meat and Etc and Etc and that Circle was a band saw and it folded up somehow into that Circle and the two things in the middle were potato peelers and the reason they was in there because they were sharp and they could stab with them and there on the left excuse me that was our metal detector inward uh opening is that was the door where you reached in and made adjustments now as they were coming safe from work they could carry their cigarettes to work and we kept two cells open at the end of the block to take them in and strip shake them if we had to and they had coming from work one day and here come a guy that had given me some lip so they hand you their cigarettes and you'd take them and you'd look in them for Contraband and then hand them back and what you was doing you was looking for something in it because they would ring the bell because they're tinfoil wrapped around them cigarettes and so this guy when he comes through I would lean over and look at it and ring the bell and I made him go again I made him go three times and then I took him over and I strip shook him and what I was doing I'd lean over and get my badge close enough and pick up my badge and make the bell ring and so he didn't give me any left from then on okay this was down in our shower room and they showered every Saturday afternoon every Tuesday morning and they would bring their clean clothes down her excuse me their dirty clothes down throw them in barrels and then they'd come over where I was working and they'd get clean clothes okay this was after it closed and that was our son coming down from the yard and then he's down in Industries and you can see a tower behind him and he said uh where can I go Dad and I said anywhere while you're inside the fence and it just so happens that anywhere he went we had a photo of him so he didn't get too far away um but where he's at the building on your right in the foreground that was the industries the new Industries the one in the back underneath the tower was the old Industries and it was just a warehouse where they'd get supplies and they had a couple three guys that was over there working getting supplies and the lieutenant had taken them over and and the guy in this building the little building the new one signaled them that the man in the tower sat down to use the toilet and so they hit the lieutenant in the head with the hammer and they picked up whatever they could get and they attacked and crawled out the window and attacked that Tower fortunately he sat down with the rifle on his lap and he killed one and he wounded one and the other one surrendered and about three or two three weeks later the officer died from a head wound okay there is the corner in the yard in the rock out there was a little rock out cropping called little Alcatraz and uh that's where they were trying to get to they were trying to get out there and get in the water and get on that rock and then get their bearings and see which way to go okay there's one of the yard wall Towers they had three of them on the corners of the yard in a tower on the other corner and they're all arrested away now all right and that was our daughter the Oscars Club had ice cream social for the kids every year and she had ice cream on her nose there but they could have all the ice cream they could eat and that was our son riding his bike on the parade ground and he was up in the inmate yard lifting their weights yeah and our daughter on the playground and then Kathy and our daughter in front of the tower which that Tower is Rusted away now there's nothing there at all and this is the very last day of Alcatraz that's myself with the last inmate coming right out the front door heading for the boat and there we are in the boat over town and that's myself in the light suit which is in the traveling Museum appointing the last inmate onto the bus to take them to the airport okay there we are going over town and like any good program it has to have a commercial there is a commercial that's that's the books we got for sale now I'd like to say my wife lived on the island too and so we're down to any questions that anybody has to help is that the movie that Clint Eastwood made Escape from Alcatraz and they're still saying that they don't know for sure whether they lived or died well as far as anybody actually getting off they haven't proved it I mean they've gotten off but live and I don't know and if it's a movie you're I'm thinking of that they made when the three escaped off the island that that night they found a body dressed in prison guard floating out underneath the Golden Gate Bay Bridge but they didn't pick it up so that if they would have they'd have known whether they got out or not they got out of prison but whether they're still alive I got no idea I might tell you of all yours We're stopped here uh we'll never know one way or the other where they escaped or not it's what do you want to believe it or not but that was uh June 12th of 62.
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Marchan Koski one science teacher go week so congrats to him the new t-rex will track open November 6 which we are very excited about because now it helps practical competitions at our school during high school productions has just started rehearsing for their upcoming show Newsies which are open in early April feel very excited us anything congratulations to mainly try for cross country in gaining Pullman for playing soccer both were named Essiac exemplary stellar athletes for the fall season in this week dr. chu chi who is our history department head has organized activities each day during flex to honor our veterans in coming up on Sunday Amy asked committee will be coming to a very high school with reporting with four members and other members of our community the Board of Governors will be there as well we hope to see everyone there good evening I like to thank you for allowing me to represent areas and of her excellence and she what is going on with our family all of his head on Saturday October 26 it's hosted our breakfast with a group of confirm raiser 31 ace would have showed up that Saturday morning to volunteer and participate in degree opportunity or service learning today qualifier shoots at this financial literacy class the participate in financial literacy workshop that went on November 19th rajulio will take 80 students to participate in start workshop which provides opportunity for students and staff and guilt our next program on on the state to collaborate Tuesday November 26 it invites you all to join us for our Thanksgiving dinner which allows us to give back and say thank you for all the support than you see on Wednesday November 27th our eighth Community Service volunteers or sort and bank codes have socks backpacks some cheese into the bags for a thanksgiving coat drive which will service those in need of support on Thanksgiving morning at 6 a.m.
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December 16 62 we had another attempt that nobody knows about because there was no movie made about it and uh that was Scott and Parker and I was working the control center that night and at 5 47 PM an emergency phone rang and I picked it up and it was a lieutenant and he says Jim get me some help I got a couple missing in the kitchen basement so I put the Escape Plan in the fact and started getting people back up from the island to come to work and armed the towers and man man some of the other posts that weren't manned that night and called the boat operator had him get our boat out of the slip in case the Coast Guard didn't need to go in there and what it was is the two guys in two and three tower that Tower that's gone right now and then one that was halfway out towards the industries they've seen the one inmate crawl up on little Alcatraz and they both fired a warning shot at him and he decided to stay there so they yelled at me and told me that they had him and I sent our boat around and our boat picked him up and brought him back to Institution and the other one time went by and a couple hours later I got a call from the Presidio and it was MPS and they said I think we got one of your guys over here and it was Scott and he had worked in the hospital and he stole rubber gloves and he blew him up tied them together and used them for water wings he washed up at Fort Point he hit the rocks at Fort Point underneath the Golden Gate Bridge had he not hit them rocks he'd have been out to sea so he was very lucky but he was almost dead from exposure the only thing he had on was the water wings at worst every other Stitch of clothing off of him and he was laying there almost dead and a couple teenagers had been down there necking and they seen him wash up and they called the MPS in the Presidio police went down and got him and put him in Letterman Hospital and revived him and then after they got him revived they called me and I sent our boat over to get him and we put him over in our hospital and this was all like I say it started at 5 47 p.m by 9 30.
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on the corner of Main Street and country donations will be accepted until Friday November 22nd on December 4th join souls and Daniel Esposito will be taking 21 students to view a performance of thanks so much for your continued support of our effort to educate engage and empower and internet center [Music] [Applause] okay so meet in Tamara three three weeks ago we were involved in a committee that discussed ways that we hopefully districts plan for the future so basically we all we started out with like six six students so free from there has for whatever high school and then to Fermi's and iMovie also started out at the table and we talked about these six steps six steps yeah like we gave the presentation then we all kind of discussed as a as students what we think could be implemented in the schools so on and then we were split so that we had one community member in each table so I was able to talk to like board members or and we all kind of we all were assigned one of these like six points and we had to come up with ways plan it was really like insightful I think so I know because I think all students should kind of know what's going on that's kind of something that we talked about we talked about while you can bring you know the plan of the district to the to the students so that they know I'm applying to be the Connecticut representative for like public schools yeah [Applause] that's up there so we move on to the superintendent's before sitting right the night was a great night I think her gaze is part of the school finance project presented the funding mechanism was a tremendous attendance every school was there and I really talked about strategies to go forward how they can advocate for enduring and with the money how the money is 11 funding systems right now that oversee in fact Erika has been at work with the Courtney roll the same funding mechanisms the workshop together I asked about that and I didn't get anything I explained they want to know the purpose and I told them so refuses to the woods being say the new yet mentioned in the energy visit that Sunday yes to power also the very fifth carousel place Cheers so I have no limit then professional development feedback girls I have feedback market all these sessions well the last october/november fides with met the met with high degrees of satisfaction by teacher groups multi levels on November 5th we had 38 different professional development sessions almost double that of October any sessions in November from content-related PD that PD that you can expect also a high restorative justice justice restored conferences we sort of justice training with staff were also a school climate during the 8090 school year how school leaders participated in we started justice training throughout the school year and so now this year we were in that same professional development staff appears to be well received district-wide we're hoping that's going to help it's connected to some of our favorite planet the strategic plan and we feel like that work is unfolding I think activities we're trying to work better on getting getting to those things that's right you have as many of them our own teachers blow out of presentations just sure sure so a couple of highlights from our proposed back history calendar we're working on so number one I recall about this time last year they were conversations concerns about around early release days we have a draft for consideration we have now reduced PD sessions down from eleven last year to six professional development days the sessions themselves are a little bit longer than in past years but you will note that there are only six October December January February March in June I think that's one of one of the things that people will notice quickly you will also notice that Columbus Day all of his known impact on the community without staff there will be no school for staff or school on Columbus Day next year a new teacher orientation we are proposing to pre-opening professional development days separated by the weekends our new teacher can have a little break before we start over here with PD and that break into the school year and then in this current in this current proposal we have in November we have a number of parent conferences we are considering moving all other conferences to December to better align with our card distribution and just want everyone to be mindful that we need to stagger the conferences Blaz available at all the various levels and so the community might wonder why most of them starting in two years ago there's a real struggle the beginning of the year and we don't have the time to work with the teachers to implement something so we had that extra day that was in Columbus State to the beginning of the year to give the more training it that needs they happening and the programs they're given time in their buildings to work with principals that's what is it actually David we think that's been much more of an impact in time and the Columbus Day did have some competition stuff and we have to give up by Posey just for everybody's maybe asked about this in ain't grow the beginning of a new announced the graduation date the law changed last year he is a forward when we just simply said we dad today the people would come to the end expect that would be graduation day that doesn't count so the law has changed where we can set it this way you will decide in April which day it will be and if something happens so graduated a day in the past three or four extra days seniors have a stake there's a lot of kids that scholarships other activities to the law changed to permit the rest of us all not just think that they're allowed to graduate if they graduate or actually so it's a draft and you mentioned the people the conference is a somewhat challenging for the teachers they have a need for interpreters so we tried to spread it down as best we can to allow access Jolley any money just we reckon what affair Kevin with our professional development can you just explain for everyone's understanding the concept of restorative justice and the focus of that training I think that we we've touched this before that we it's interesting for us to know some of the areas that National Development is focusing on as a board as well as to understand the themes are being addressed by our teachers say you just go a little bit into that please sure so so one last year the Maldives last year I started it was conversation about one how we're going to support the social-emotional development of our students district-wide so as a district we began to explore programs on albicans for kids in that effort and you know as additions were always trying to get better at keeping kids in school so exploring different ways to do that we landed on adopting restorative practices in the district we feel pretty comfortable in that number one it focuses on building community in our classrooms in our school community so it's an opportunity for it done well the did opportunity for kids to one build community and identified with other students and a trusted adult in the classroom space so in that environment if I'm struggling with issues whatever those might be ideally we're hoping that they would bring that to an attention of a trusted adult and we were also hopeful that through restorative practices and building that forces those opportunities we've also learned this is through research restorative practices and community building it helps when they're in issues and vibrations of discipline code violations and so every district and you know we're no different we have discrepancies in some of our discipline practices and so restorative practices we are seeing this as an opportunity to help them as well so it's less about the restorative justice part in writing so we have my students and finally the code it's less about that student not receiving a discipline that may or may not be depending on the infraction but the important days that the community is restored so that child that family everyone learns from that mistake it's really an opportunity for us as a district to remember that learning it was beyond curriculum we make mistakes sometimes as kids even adults and this provides a framework of our kids to learn from those mistakes so as adults we we practice this with we've had opportunities to circle up talking and kind of share of differences in how feeling about things every started practices and principles took those ideas and started bringing them back to their schools and their teachers so we're hoping that that momentum will continue give it to our classrooms and that community will continue so that that's a doll press thought process behind it worldwide regarding is just a snapshot may give an explanation and I think that's one of these advice some of these trains it's great to bring it back to board and go a bit deeper lot of confidence because because community members and ourselves hear more about it we see the purpose and how it's so much needed for that overall mission that well you know strike I just want to in this way it's been like that the only thing we had it I felt really bad I school yeah many people do want a big D s would have looked at in anyway but I think it's good practice was historically had about three three days was historically and one of those days that's four days and previously don't recall the air but thank you to all the staff on the same thing and those all the same time we rented two interpreters and also parents that I'm so in and so that faculty we've been working with Eric measures I'm talking about [Music] just some thought there that's a long time you know we get the internet for the additional information there eager for so and then I did want to say I went to the Veterans Day ceremony they know we talked about Veterans Day an awful lot and I appreciate that discussion because this Garrett fell on the actual day I was able to bring my kids to the ceremony at Rogers Park and it's just made it so much more peaceful I mean you know they took what they found at school and I took them there to write each part and that was just I would love to be able to do that again with them I saw many veterans not many but a few with their kids there as well Rosh Hashanah didn't it begins at sundown and we got kinda caught we had scheduled the PTO meeting this year on that evening I don't know if it's worked putting on here that the evening of Russia Shan is September 18 and that no school events or activities should take place on that date that's all thank you Oh legislation of gender this is a draft we put a lot of it together her gaze when we're at a conference this week I asked to suggest some specific language here what did they talk about here now I want to go there was the magnet school briefly 13 years ago when the magnet school advanced that's just when I started it somehow during that spring when I came in advance we were responsible first year so we did but anyway that's when it started but that was our offenders so when they know that school they opened with any connection and bonds that were sold for them then they gave it to us so it's your school and in 20 years and actually bonds are retired they become a dangerous new accident thinking about one of our solutions to space is to play out where it becomes an intramural rather than a school that providing surround the council then you may want to consider the legislation oldest office remaining seven years regarding violence we do receive money each year for it for those students receiving 7,000 or every dambreuse to receive three thousand or denver's forward above the recent comes to around so that if some decide to do this reconcile if you want to do it do you think about it or we'd have to get some language Brian did look into it yes as far as that would be concerned what does that mean for the students who are out of district already I just take a shot just mine I think to be fair if this was like or thinks it's if I reverse on her it's lit across the grades you know that what happens is the three per grade and differently will take about 22 miss Kimber some crazy the way to think sometimes about we were supposed to have the advisory board meet I carry member but that's going to be rescheduled it hasn't been rescheduled yet so I would like to animal for exploring the idea ours are learning and closet with some language I just don't want to lose the sight to Russell's the reason for the program was for our our response we're trying to integrate the schools the surrounding suburbs down they don't have any diversity to speak up and the idea here was to have those youngsters exposed to the diverse population that was the purpose of where they came together and that's where it was funded by the state that's why we're so good that's the board's desire let me start with Advisory Council I think we need to be careful because this was a consideration [Music] I mean even again I'll say it's already assured myself if in fact the board thinks it's the best thing you have our kids then but still you have a building which is good there still remains an allocation that we need to reconcile that would have to be part of a permanent operation allocation as our as our populations still decreasing how many people are others I mean I haven't seen for a while I never consumed eliminated almost at the point we can reverse they will start glowing the other what people will go out to other than what are the other than best one thing so they reduced number of seats okay so for the board the big thing is number one there is we were really with depending on any CS money to make sure nobody backs away from getting making sure we get to that the number in eight more years we should be up in the fifty billion dollar range in terms of VCs playing next year were entitled to roughly divided think it's about two million plus students so we want to make sure that funding continues one thing that I think is really interesting if you look at some of the articles going out most of the population is going down to public schools I've got a hundred thousand but also at the university levels and and folks are more we heard them talking about the nursing program name significance this seems to be a career pathway to making sure that you know if you're not getting into a college autonomously sort of certification program what are things that worked with some of the programs you know we have the deco program we're now working with West con with a feeder program for maybe some of our students that want to go into teaching I think that's a good way to recruit that's another alignment but even if you don't want to give us some opportunities with manufacturing degree these small academies at the secondary level want kids are in school it serves two purposes one puts them on a career path for example as they wanted to and any study in the post high school but it can allow the board to offload some students to satellite programs which would ease the nerves and there's a few designs around the country like that Connecticut is just not taking advantage of that very often they've walked away from the Carnegie unit which means we don't have to give credit on time so with that that opening from last year's graduation requirement satisfied with non Carnegie unison she looked at that see if the board wants to consider giving our students that opportunity to a different pathway doesn't mean they don't go to college it simply means a pathway and be well they're going to college at negative certificates so that's what diamonds about the legislators about you know just be very mindful of not putting things in front of a board that's gonna cost us more money and not funded that's what the unintended consequences do you want to speak to special services so that's not including the students that were with us last year that we've identified in need of services making us additional students there and some of the students that come in are relatively you know easy to program for don't have a large impact on overall programming but we have other students that due to the nature of their needs and the courses that they need you know may need to be in a class of eight students or ten students and you know when you get in two or three students around the same grade level of that profile you see how that could become troublesome for staffing purposes we are only staffing at the end of last school year in anticipation and we always try to project you know like fluctuations of students coming and going but this year in particular the team was extremely you know challenged with students coming in for example Pembroke with one of our schools that got hit pretty pretty significantly there probably within the first four weeks of school there was probably 10 to 12 students that we placed in a school alone in six classes so those are classes that traditionally are small in size and so the average class increased by two students and so that that does present some unique circumstances the other pieces is that we were having students that had quite a significant tutor support so you have a student with a one-on-one or two on one tutor of X moving in and starting school in three days and we don't promise that member for that person I'm so just trying to make people aware that you know we my team does an amazing job and they work you know tirelessly to make sure that we get things in places with it as possible particularly when these challenges come you know come to us but it certainly is something that we just experienced Nora we've always had this but this year in particular just made it a little bit more difficult and we want to make sure that we continue to provide really really solid programming for our students that need it and then the last time I'll just think is we did also have which was another unique circumstance I believe it with students that moved in from outside the United States desperate need of services so they do not come in being identified as students with special needs but due to the nature of their pretty significant we knew as soon as they register that we needed to place them in a sexual education program and so there's no process we can go about to do that immediately while we're trying to figure out the exact specifics of what those children need and so those are students that were in a medically fragile program students and are nonverbal autism the programs and these were essentially students that were coming in on the first day of school my team was being called saying you know I don't think that this child is appropriate for a classroom our central registration is also does a really really nice job before starting and the question that they would go based on their address was just you know looking at that ones particular to the special education program it was but does have some pretty significant budgetary fun special education kind of like a Superfund know anything if you look at that about six sentences but I'm asking for if they do come up with something what excess cost so if you expend because you know that money comes from the operational funds where we we just get it we don't do something and we so if that money comes categorically to the war cost and we have an unfortunate past to get some pass along through the city but was between 1.2 and 1.3 million dollars so that would be other districts that it does get passed directly to districts that wall and that would just be a fun that we could tap into so and then the last summer statement I think we keep saying what's the story we have for our budget well you look at that second sentence this one I'm promoting we don't we really don't have to sufficient number of preschool experiences not really providing a level of bilingual services we're going to be are reading math and inventions need to meet solidify science maderas along the cross they need to get there for our teachers and then we have to have the staff and services the sustained jumps that are coming we just not servicing that and we're hoping that this year with all of the publicity out there about funding importance of funding aside food facilities challenged but just thought about maybe putting something in there that cave when cave without testimony that we're members of that may represent you know there I feel like their testimony waves a whole lot more than an individual or or a certain little but that you know we're part of that team and and they speak for us as well you know I need to look at if captain cave did with the update mayor 2020 you guys can speak to it as well they're meeting next week on the 22 so that meeting is on the 20th the board's invited the meetings been posted it's here at four o'clock they're going to start talking about some options and this is there's two issues one what are you gonna do long range and if you decide that you're into long range we might you flip that building great that's down the road what are we gonna do in the air if exactly we have a reoccurrence of what happened this past summer you're already oversaturated walk around the schools to have appreciated all go around you can see the kids in classes again you can see the people on the wheels you know what going on there was a salmon report that they spent about a quarter of a million dollars it's a good eight years ago and Antonio was at the meeting he's going to update that for spatialization to see if in fact whatever in dial T so they're supposed to talk about that I think they didn't talk about the magnet school as down the road is one possible solution that's the discussion on going from utilizing schools in different towns there's an awful lot of facts to begin there's a lot of opinions or comments to be looked at each one has to be parents so you'll get a good representation diverse opinion as to some things don't be don't be alarmed of the year in a meeting that this was mentioned or you know we're not building the school in a script to be able to that brainstorming session for public sessions two problems a short-term problem so those issues and I said before they said that the committee that has to be more in facilities meaning everybody has to be in on these conversations a city-state group are mistaken by thank you get set your future meetings and dates to remember in the bottle to November 20th of the task force meeting in Rogers Park you know the interim assistant rental profit in her place we have honey don't wanta who's been a guy whose counselor at the school for quite a few years but somebody that's been with us for a long time participates in the leadership groups with Kevin and is somebody that were eager to give an opportunity and an interim spot like this for any examples of activities in the classroom we report annual meeting December 4 2019 at 5:30 that fancy dinner many of their le make being invitation November 19th and 21st a caps convention November 15 and 16 she's the season workshop in the [Music] organized I hope to but it would just really keep to see how well kind of definitely young people understand thank you yes it's um I will not be here at the next meeting I just wanted to say thank you guys it was a pleasure working with everyone one thing I do sing all the time is I will miss the people on top of problems but I'm also a doctor stop you'll probably see me a couple times up but I'm like this is like I said my last meeting it's you know we all understand how difficult it is and I will still advocate for the district just on the other side of the table so I just want to thank you guys and I think you know I feel confident some of the new people I don't know but [Music] [Applause] we all do [Music] entire date it's off to cave with our patients and we will get it back at some point for first-year view to the full board Zack Arthur does it go back to the so much of that's everybody two more meetings from that with that let's will entertain a motion to go into executive session so thank you everybody for coming by seconded by mr.
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everything was done and settled down and I would just write in reports I made it to the bill any other questions but as they were loading Scott on the boat they had him on a gurney and he looked at him and he said it had been okay if I could have made it I want to thank you guys appreciate it [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] to do his job and do his job well really I had I when I first started I picked about three officers that I thought were good officers in my opinion and I tried to model myself after them and I tried to exceed what they would have done and I got promoted twice in two in three years so I must have been doing something right Yeah question the back did you meet any famous criminals um yeah there was a bird man there was a when I first started there the low numbers 242 Clark and we had creepy Corpus there uh Whitey Bulger was there the one that got killed over in West Virginia prison here about a year ago uh well then I just seen him and talked to him daily you know so I didn't look at them as famous or anything okay let's give it up one last time for Mr Jim Albright [Applause] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign thank you [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] I heard that Jacob haven't okay you have a uh wonderful uh wonderful speaker coming up a true witness to one of the key events in United States history I'm going to bring up Kevin hermaning in just a second and when I was doing my research I found the citation that was uh given to him the prisoner of war medal and it um I don't want to steal his his show but I think it tells you the power of who you're about ready to meet Sergeant Kevin J hermaning United States Marine Corps was held hostage in Iran from November 4th 1979 to January 20th 1981 while serving with the Marine security guard Detachment United States Embassy Tehran Iran he was among the 65 Americans taken prisoner and held in captivity for 444 Days by armed Iranian terrorists who are directly supported by the government of Iran during this period of confinement the Marines and other hostages were subjected to abominable conditions and constant harassment from their captors the hostages were continuously use in several forms of propaganda such as being paraded in front of media cameras while blindfolded and hands-tied behind their backs throughout the duration of their captivity the hostages were held in conditions comparable to those under which persons have generally been held captive by enemy forces during periods of armed conflict despite the harsh conditions the Marines continuously provided an example for all other Americans to emulate through their adherence to the code of conduct and unfaltering a spirit Decor the motivation and positive attitude of the Marines throughout this ordeal provided many of the other hostages with the necessary leadership encouraged to endure the Captivity successfully in all 13 cases these marines exemplified the professional conduct devotion and dignity that was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval service with that kind of a brown a background I think you know why I um I really would wish you to be on your absolute best behavior as I know you will be ladies and gentlemen Mr Kevin hermany good afternoon and uh what an honor and privilege Mr Pratt thank you for the invitation you and I have been communicating for about seven years trying to collaborate or coordinate our schedules and it's a real honor and privilege for me to be here so um we're going to uh spend the next hour or so not sharing a bunch of gory War Stories not putting you in a position of not wanting to travel abroad not wanting to make friends with Iranians or rather give you a history lesson and I don't remember it well but I remember sitting in your seats when I was in high school and thinking but that happened to that guy that happened to somebody else during historical times yet for me the event that I'm going to share with you today happened just two years after graduating from high school during my presentation I want you to put into the back of your minds the names of the following men major Richard Bakke major Hal Lewis Jr Captain Lynn McIntosh Captain Charles McMillan II Tech Sergeant Joel mile staff sergeant Dewey Johnson Sergeant John D Harvey Corporal George Holmes Jr I don't expect you to remember all of their names maybe you picked out one of them that you can probably remember during the duration of my remarks this afternoon the title my presentation is liberty and Leadership and it ends with freedom I've had the privilege of speaking in front of more than 3 800 audiences 1700 high schools in the last 40 years when I say it is a privilege to be here I mean it because one thing I would like to ask of you as students is to go home tonight and tell them that you heard a guy speak who wanted to say thank you for not forgetting about him or maybe your grandparents who prayed for us every day for 444 days this is the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Shah of Iran President Jimmy Carter and President Ronald Reagan four of the principles in this event in which I found myself held prisoner for 14 months the Shah of Iran had been the leader of their country for 26 years in 1979 the Ayatollah Khomeini came in and he created What's called the Islamic Republic the Shah of Iran was very ill he couldn't stay in fight he was put into Exile he eventually came to the United States for medical treatment after President Carter said he will honor the request of our former Ally to come to the U.S for medical treatment the Shah of Iran came to Philadelphia for a New York City for medical treatment a few days later we were captured and President Carter regretted his decision to this very day his aides were making the recommendation his inclination was to say no and he did for several days and he finally capitulated to the Secretary of State and the National Security adviser and he said okay but what about the Americans at our Embassy and they all told him we'll deal with that when it hap if something happens we were held for 444 days eight months into the crisis the Shah died of cancer and the Iranians had to shift their goal of what they wanted to happen because at first what they wanted was the shaw to be sent back to the uh the country of Iran the people the ayatollah's followers wanted to put him on trial for crimes against the Iranian people for the quarter Century he led their Nation and we were finally freed on inauguration day the day that President Reagan took office more on that later this will look at the main building at the embassy in Tehran the U.S embassy is not open anymore it was closed the day we were captured that was 40 years ago last week Monday November 4th 1979.
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Gianelli all those in favor motion carries thank you alright bye Rachel second language now
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40 years ago I was a 20 year old Marine security guard at my very first Embassy I loved the service I loved the responsibility I thoroughly enjoyed being in Iran for the first three months I was there I traveled the country I met the people I engaged in the culture Marine security guards I had already been in the Marine Corps for two years Marine security guards are required when they're on Embassy Duty to take three hours of language training every week I was taking five just as I had done previously when I was stationed not an embassy duty but in the Marines in Japan I planned to stay there for a full year even though I was assigned for only six months here's my buddy United States Army Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Hall and myself the day before we were captured we enjoyed a baseball game against some of the British and Australian Embassy folks they're not as good as softball As Americans are we had a good time Joe and I were ultimately held not together but held for the entire 444 days what you're looking at now is the beginning and several photos to follow photographs of the protests and the demonstrations that took place once the Shah was admitted into the United States burning of the American flag and on November 4th 1979 they began scaling the walls and the gates of the embassy compound which was a 23-acre sprawling compound in the downtown of Tehran the third largest Embassy compound in the entire world back at that time this went on for hours until ultimately they broke into the buildings we Marine security guards we were given orders immediately those of us who were in the building I wasn't on duty but I was in the building that day along with Corporal Billy Gallegos and Sergeant Rocky sickman Sergeant Jimmy Lopez was over at the consulate across the entire compound in a different building and when they began scaling the walls and breaking through the gates thousands and thousands of Iranians on the embassy grounds our orders were very clear use your tear gas to delay the entry of the Iranians into the building as long as possible so that up on the second floor of the building is much classified and top-secret documents could be destroyed as possible and as much computer and satellite gear could be destroyed as well it was chaotic it was very difficult this is the crowd right outside the embassy Gates by 6 PM that night November 4th 1979 that Sunday a drizzly rainy day cold in Tehran at that time of year there were 1.6 million people surrounding the U.S embassy shouting death to America death to Carter calling for our heads the only weapons that the American Marines had the US Marines had were 38 caliber evolvers on our hips a 12 gauge shotgun and a big Satchel of tear gas and that's what we used to hold them off for a while But ultimately the decision was made to surrender the embassy to the Iranians you see under international law it is up to the host government to provide security when an event like this happens so let me give you an analogy if in Washington DC where all of the foreign embassies are located there was a large-scale assault like this to that took place and Americans went into the compound or the buildings of these foreign embassies the U.S government would send Security Forces to remove the American protesters that's what happens under international law but indeed what the Iranian government did they sent their forces to assist in the Takeover of the embassy to assist in the capture of the Americans and to be part of holding us hostage for 444 days and my friend Corporal Steve curtly there in the camouflage fatigues and Sergeant William Quarles were among the first Americans captured they weren't on duty they were in their bedrooms in their Apartments among the first Americans captured because they had no weapons in their Apartments they weren't in the compound they were outside the back gate and they were among the first people captured humiliating terrible I saw Sergeant kirtley Corporal curtly last week Monday in Washington D.C out of service commemorating the 40th anniversary of the day of our capture by the way a Corporal curtly stayed in the Marine Corps went on became a warrant officer then went on and became a major in the United States Marine Corps made a career of the service never went back on Embassy duty but loved the time that he served in the United States Marine Corps as I did as well some of the other American hostages blindfolded handcuffed behind our backs Communications officer Jerry Mealy who suffered mightily at the hands of the Iranians because they brought him out to the gate where the crowds were rabid shouting in Farsi he thought he heard them say death to melee his last name in Farsi they didn't they weren't saying that but he didn't understand just the degree to which that hatred was there and here's where I was during all of this well at the beginning I had my tear gas and was on the first floor but eventually made my way up to the communications Vault I was the second last American captured at the embassy I was in the communications Vault where you can see a lot of computer gear satellite equipment there were lots of documents that we had to destroy and this was me about an hour later I'm the one facing the wall remember I mentioned I wasn't on duty which meant I wasn't in uniform in the front left of that photo is our CIA station Chief Tom Ahern who spent 425 days pay attention to this 425 days in solitary confinement as did Bill Doherty these two guys never saw another American for 14 months more than 14 months I don't know how they did it because I tried to escape in January of obviously I didn't succeed because I was still held for the next year but I spent 43 days in solitary confinement in a small room that was just five feet by ten feet in size and the only thing in that room other than me and my handcuffs am I blindfold was the bottom part of a bed the box spring it's very difficult to sleep in a situation like that and the only time I ever got out of that room in 43 days which is more than six weeks was once a day on their schedule when they took me down the hall to use the bathroom on their schedule not mine and three times where they took me to a different building to take a shower I thought I was going to go crazy after 43 days how Tom and Bill survived 425 days in solitary is a Real Testament to their ability to survive and to be sane Captain Paul Needham is in that photograph Moore is in that photograph Charlie Jones is in that photograph he was the only African-American uh held hostage for the entire 444 days and a couple of other folks Moorhead Kennedy the 10 of us were kept separate from everybody else not together but separate from everybody else because we were the last ten who held out and over the course of the next four months here's what the Iranians found in the vault when they came in and they brought in school children who were learning English in Tehran schools to assemble all of that paper back into documents there they are second grade and third grade and fourth grade kids were brought in by the ayatollah's people to reassemble those documents so that they could find out what the different jobs of all of The Americans were at that Embassy Colonel Charles Scott a United States Army Colonel spoke fluent Farsi he had been in Iran for over a year and a half when we were captured he knew the Shaw's leaders he got to know the ayatollah's folks during his interrogations they beat him so severely with rubber hoses on his face and his his chin that he had three of his teeth broken off right at the gum lines the roots of which remained embedded up inside of his gums and Colonel Scott had no medical or dental treatment until we were freed 444 days later I became a roommate with a guy by the name of Bill keel Bill Keel was my dad's age Bill Keough had a couple of kids my age so it became that Father Figure son figure relationship for the six months that bill Keo and I were roommates Bill didn't even work for the government but he found himself still there at the embassy because he was in the country doing some business as a representative of his Education Agency Bill Keo was a high school principal and administrator he came to Iran the day before we were all captured including him because he was going to gather High School records and transcripts from the former Tehran American High School that had been shut down in haste about six or eight months earlier and bill came into the embassy he presented his passport he told the Marines behind post one I'm only going to be here in the country for a day and when he turned around to leave the building I know I was there that's when the Iranians came swarming in and he got captured and caught up in it with the rest of the government folks when Bill Kia was captured he was one of the biggest men size wise who I had ever seen in my life bill keil was six feet nine inches tall weighed 350 pounds at the age of 40.
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444 Days Later by the time we were freed this great big six nine inch tall giant of a man his body weight had deteriorated so much that when he got off the airplane in the United States when we were finally freed he weighed just 150 pounds he lost more than half of his body weight in captivity and our other roommate and I we would ask the guards all the time please bring him to a doctor there's clearly something wrong with him he was much too proud of a man to ask himself so we advocated for him and they never did Bill Keough died less than two years after he got out of captivity from captivity related uh concerns complications I saw his daughter last week Sunday night first time in my life I ever met her we chat once in a while on Facebook she's called my wife and me a couple of times back in Wisconsin she lives up in Vermont but she was in Washington last week for that commemoration event over at the Department of State and she told me a story last week that just broke my heart she said Kevin my daughter came home last last week from high school from her history class where they are learning about the Iran hostage crisis and Morgan said to me Morgan's the daughter mom tell me about Grandpa tell me what it was like for him as a prisoner and my friend Kate Bill's daughter broke down in tears and she said I had to tell my daughter that I didn't know anything about my dad's situation because when he came home he never talked about it because he was too sick and all we did my sister and I and our mom all we did was care for him and give him the treatment and care he deserved and then he died and I told Kate I said you have Morgan's teacher call me I'd be happy to fly to Burlington Vermont and speak at her high school or maybe even just at her class so that's kind of on the plans for just after the first of the year Bill keel Colonel Scott Tom Ahern these guys sacrificed they definitely paid the price and represented you well at Christmas time and at Easter time some American clergyman came over and they held services for us and for us it was a chance to get in front of a TV camera because we wanted our families back home to see that we were okay different levels of okayness but that we were alive that if we could we would try to smile these are fit pictures taken obviously from an old style TV screen Don Homan a Navy corpsman assigned to the Embassy meeting with one of the ministers the two women hostages who were held in captivity for the entire 444 days on the left is our Catherine Kube of Iowa and on the right is Ann Swift who was the second senior person to the Ambassador at the embassy working for the Department of State they had women guards as you would expect women guards carried the guns just like the mengar mail guards did more of these photographs in the news conference on the embassy grounds and you young folks don't know who this is but your teachers do any parents of room certainly do you're old enough to know that Ted Koppel began his show called Nightline with a program called America held hostage and every single night on his show he would count down the number of days that we were held in captivity back in the United States our families were certainly engaged in trying to find out about how we were doing but also what was being done to get us out and in Hermitage Pennsylvania at a place called The Avenue of the flags every single day a new American flag was erected at that Memorial Park and my dad traveled from Wisconsin down to Hermitage three times and he put up a flagpole on one of the days remembering those of us while we were in captivity we wondered every day is anything being done to get us out because we really it didn't seem like it we didn't think anybody cared we had very little news we didn't know was there a plan to rescue us we didn't know that within days of when we were captured in November of 1979 thousands of American servicemen volunteered to come rescue us about 20 000 people volunteered the various branches of the military they created a training program for two thousand of them and in the deserts of of Arizona and New Mexico and Southern California they built mock replicas of the U.S embassy they hired professional actors from Hollywood to come in and act as guards and as hostages and this Rescue Team began training in groups of about 200.
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and in mid-april 1980 1 800 of those men who were training were told they're not good enough to go and these were the best of the best but the best of the best of the best were the 200 men who were selected to be part of operation Eagle Claw on April 25th the plan was that a C-130 transport plane filled with a great big rubber bladder full of aircraft fuel would fly only about a hundred feet off the uh the ground the surface of the Iranian Countryside and it would open up the back of their big transport plane and somehow this big bladder would be pushed out of it and it would bounce about a quarter of a mile and it would come to a place called desert one the plane would go around and it would land next to it eight helicopters eight helicopters left the USS Nimitz in the Persian Gulf enroute to Desert one this was 200 miles south of Tehran one helicopter had a mechanical failure and had to turn back another helicopter got lost in a sandstorm and had to turn back six helicopters showed up at Desert one at 12 30 at night one of the helicopters was deemed unfit to fly because of a uh of because of a water pump the decision was made to abort the mission maybe come and do it a different night while they were extracting themselves from Desert one to go back to the gulf and fly that C-130 back to the country of Oman from which it had originated at the base there the instructions being given by Colonel Charlie Beckwith the commander of that Delta Force the instructions were to the pilots of the helicopters we want you to take off and just hover above the scene on the ground until just before the next helicopter is ready to take off because we don't want any of the helicopters to the pilots to get lost so that first pilot took off and out of the window even though all the sand was being washed up because of the big rotor blade the pilot was focusing in on a little red light on the desert floor or so he thought it was on the desert floor so the pilot of this helicopter thinking that he was stationary was actually moving what ended up being about 70 yards off location because that red light that he thought was on the desert floor was actually the tail light of a motorcycle being driven by one of our troops on the ground very slowly to survey the whole area to make sure everybody was getting onto the helicopters so being about 70 yards off of where the pilot thought he was he thought he was here he was way over here suddenly a big Windstorm came up and the helicopter tilted just a little bit and that big rotor blade on top of the plane slashed I'm on top of the helicopter excuse me slashed through the fuel tank of the big big C-130 transport plane sitting on the desert floor and you could see the explosion for 20 miles away in the midnight sky Persian Gulf up to Desert one here's the team intact before they left this is the Air Force photo the red circles around those five men designate designate the men who died in that explosion here they're getting ready and here is the gruesome scene on the ground the next morning three Marines and five airmen perished that night you may have heard in movies or talking to a grandpa or a grandma or somebody in the service a parent that there's a motto in the military never leave your fellow man behind so it will come as a shock to you if that's what you believe that the bodies of all eight of those men were left behind on the desert floor burning while the rest of the team took off the Iranian Army showed up they collected The Remains they put them in body bags they brought them up to the city of Tehran and later that day at High Noon those body bags were opened at Central Square Tehran and Ayatollah tabatai who is known as the hanging judge because of all the people he has led to the to their executions he personally dismembered the bodies of our men ripping off their arms and their legs for worldwide television I want to tell you this is not how most Iranians behave this is not what most Iranians believe most Iranians were horrified at what was being done now in my garage at home in northern Wisconsin and in a storage locker that my wife and I rent every month I have eighty thousand postcards letters of welcome home thank you notes for service and thousands of newspaper articles and in every one of those newspaper articles and in almost every Written Letter of appreciation we the American hostages are viewed as Heroes for what we've endured that's hogwash we were survivors we were in the wrong place at that time and got caught up we're survivors but there were heroes in the hostage crisis remember those names I read off or recited those are the names of the real heroes in the hostage crisis those three Marines and five airmen who never again saw their loved ones back home men who came to the country of Iran trying to rescue their fellow countrymen and it ended up in tragedy and about three weeks ago I was at an event and I met six of the men who were on the rescue mission who survived some of them have medical issues one of the guys spent eight months in the San Antonio Burn Center recovering from his injuries that night during the fire I met a couple of their spouses who were accompanying them at this event and I heard these men get up and tell the audience how hard it's been for the last 40 years knowing that the seminal event in their life ended in failure for 40 years they have seen themselves as failures and I was standing off to the side because it was not yet my turn to speak and I heard them talk about how they've dealt with PTSD they've dealt with survivor's guilt they've dealt with the fact that they're because of course eight of their buddies lost their lives and they're still here I heard the wives talk about how their husbands wake up with nightmares every night and it was a story that I thought was a different story from the one that I know I had never met these men ever before till 40 years after this event and then it was my turn to speak and I grabbed the microphone and I looked at these six guys and their wives and I said I understand the perspective you're bringing to the event you're describing but I want you to consider it from the other side one of the guys said what do you mean I said we had already been in captivity for six months we didn't think anybody thought about us we didn't think anybody cared about us we didn't think that the government the president was even thinking about us ever during those six months we're behind a blindfold they take it off once in a while we're handcuffed behind our backs we're in rooms sometimes we can talk to our roommates other times we can't I only went outside in the fresh air and sunshine for two hours in 444 days two hours we had no news we couldn't communicate with our families we didn't have not have great food but I did know one thing when we learned that the government had made an attempt that they had put forth the effort and yes they didn't get us out that's true there is that element of failure attached to it but I looked at these men and I said when we learned you had tried that alone kept us going emotionally for the next eight of the next 10 months eight months that's what kept us going that's what kept us motivated that's what stopped us being demoralized and when I said that the two wives and one of the men they just started crying and after the event that we were at they came up to me and they said if only we had known that 40 years ago our lives would have been totally different but thank you for stating it now for the last chapter of our lives and I really believe those men left that event changed realizing there was an element of failure but you sometimes succeed in other ways and isn't that really think about your own lives every one of you is going through your own thing we all have issues your family members have issues your teachers have issues your friends and buddies have issues but I want you to think about being empathetic I want you to think about a different perspective I want you to go into your conversations and into your relationships trying to put yourselves in someone else's shoes I think that's the best way that we individually can grow as individuals and as friends and as children or parents or students or teachers after 444 days we were finally freed Jimmy Carter worked hard to try to get us out he put his own presidency at risk and lost the election had he gotten us out I believe he would have been re-elected but he didn't and then Ronald Reagan took office and you know because the moment we were freed was the moment that President Reagan put his hand on the Bible put his other hand up and swore to the best of his ability to defend the Constitution of the United States and those of you old enough to have been watching that on TV know that on the other half of the TV screen it was a split screen Washington DC on one half of the TV screen and on the other half of the TV screen the airplanes the Americans getting onto the airplane the Iranians did not want to give President Carter or President Reagan the ability to claim that they got us out because they released us during the swearing-in they kept us just long enough and released us just early enough so neither president could claim that credit they continued even to the last second to have that control the ordeal ends celebrated on the front page of magazines and newspapers and there was no online back then but certainly globally this became the biggest news story of January 1981.
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there's my friend Corporal Billy Gallegos and I on the airplane traveling from Algeria up to Germany so why Algeria because the United States and Iran did not have diplomatic relations after we were captured so the algerians became the intermediaries in the negotiation to finally get us out so we flew from Tehran to Algeria in Algeria we were exchanged for the money that was paid to get us out nine billion dollars it's crazy in US Dollars and in gold and the US government also apologized it's called the Algiers Accord and then we got onto American Air Force Hospital planes and we flew up to Wiesbaden Germany where we spent a couple of days finally my friends and I free in the far right the far right is my friend Bill Keel notice how gaunt he looks almost skeletal in nature here we were at the hospital in Germany at the Air Force Base and a bunch of the doctors and nurses and orderlies they put out a sign a bed sheet that they wrote on Welcome to the freedom hotel that was welcoming us to Freedom we came back to the United States I had a chance to meet President Carter and vice president Mondale 20 of the American hostages refused to meet with President Carter they blamed him for us being there all that time for me it was a great honor to meet a president of the United States there I am actually this is before we came back to the States this is at the hospital in Germany there I am in my uh my pajamas much more thinner than I am today but nonetheless it was a real honor to meet him along with the other Marines meeting him here we are coming out to get onto the bus to take us to the airport to fly us to the United States where finally we would see our families foreign there's the Ambassador Center Stage Bruce Langan Bruce Langan died in August of this year he was 97 years old he lived a terrifically long life and he was our leader at the embassy I never saw him while we were in captivity ever he was held in a different building from where I was held but nonetheless he was our leader and I had the privilege of going to his memorial service a couple of months ago after he passed Dave Rader there Colonel lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force with his arms up declaring he's free Air Force Colonel Tom Schaefer at the bottom of the stairs here are other photographs including myself waving finally going free and then we landed at West Point where we did meet our families and guess what day it was it was Super Bowl Sunday the Super Bowl the Dome put up this in New Orleans put up this great big American uh this great big yellow ribbon in remembrance of the hostages I was 21 years old so what do you think I was interested in doing that day spending three hours with my family or watching the Super Bowl what do you think my mom wanted me to do we compromised we spent our time together down in the hotel bar at West Point and watched the game while kind of spending time with our families our families had it worse than we did probably in this room everybody knows someone who was either serving in Iraq or Afghanistan um maybe your own family member or somebody you know always more difficult on the family back home because of the level of uncertainty for sure we came from West Point down to New York down to uh down to Washington DC and uh bus after bus after bus our families were with us and there were crowds like you just cannot believe we finally realized we had not been forgotten by the way I remember that first phone call with my mom when I was back in Germany and um I called home and she was crying and the news reporters the TV station folks were in my mom's living room back in Milwaukee Wisconsin and I heard in the background this reporter shouting at her asked him what he wants to eat when he comes back home so my mom asked me what's the first meal I can make when you come back home and I said well how about making some some of those pork chops that I've so missed for the last 14 months and there it was on the front page of the newspaper the next day Kevin hermaning's first meal in Freedom will be pork chops and the Iowa Pork producers Association sent over a box 100 pound box of frozen pork chops and after about two or three days I got sick of pork chops so we donated them to the veterans administration up the up the street but um of course what would a mom want to know that was what she wanted to know the crowds the honor of going to the White House real honor and then back to Milwaukee my mom and dad and stepdad and stepmom myself getting off the airplane at Milwaukee Airport in my dress blues uniform having a big parade and then the Avenue of 444 Flags we're on the 10th anniversary of that failed Rescue Mission the one that was successful in a different way I traveled down to this place in Pennsylvania and I dedicated an eternal flame and this freedom statue of an eagle along with the Widow of Captain Lynn McIntosh and his parents and I really I remember her crying in my arms and his mom and dad both crying in my arms and how hard it was for me first to try to keep it together which I didn't do but just knowing the sacrifice that they made that their son their her husband gave everything just so that I might have had a chance of being free and here I am walking through the flags in my dress blues there was a reunion a few years ago only 15 of us showed up about 25 of the American hostages have already passed away the eldest hostage captured was Bob Odie he was 65 years old when we were captured 65.
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he had already retired from the Department of State and they called him up on the phone and they said Mr Odie would you be willing to go to Tehran for three months just a temporary assignment and he looked at his wife and she said just be home for Christmas that's all I ask she didn't tell him which Christmas because we spent two Christmases in captivity but of course he's long deceased and another 24 Americans have already passed away Catherine koob who Mr Pratt told me spoke here a few years ago at the Chautauqua series it's terrific I saw her at Bruce Langan the ambassador's funeral memorial service a couple months ago and my friend Colonel Charles Scott still alive but not doing well a lot of health issues a lot of Calcium deficiency while we were in captivity a lot of lower back issues because of the way we were forced to sit all the time and then the men I never met but who wanted to meet me of course I wanted to meet them I just didn't know they were coming that's real life this is at an annual event in Arlington National Cemetery if you've ever been to Arlington and you've been to The Changing of the Guard up at the amphitheater there is a memorial to the eight men who died right on the other side of Where The Changing of the Guard happens at Arlington and this Memorial to operation Eagle Claw which ended in tragedy at Desert one is right in the middle of the two space shuttle memorials the Columbia and the Challenger which blew up and those memorials have a lot of people who gather around them on a regular basis I just received one of the biggest honors of my life 60 years old one of my greatest honors happened three or four days ago Monday of this week when I was given I was called by a representative of the group that puts on this program every April 25th on the anniversary they've asked me to deliver the keynote next April 25th on what will be the 40th anniversary of that rescue mission very much looking forward to heralding the heroes and here is that Memorial by the way in military tradition just off to the side of this off to the left in military tradition when it is impossible to recognize or determine the remains of a fallen soldier a sailor a marine or Air Force men or Coast Guardsmen and there is more than one body they are buried together in a single grave three of the Airmen are buried together just off to the side of this Memorial that honors all eight of them Colonel Tom Schaefer died a couple of years ago and I went to the serum uh the funeral the memorial the burial at Arlington Colonel Tom Schaefer was the senior level American serviceman assigned to the U.S embassy and I went out there and there were 400 people who walked through the winding Little Road in Arlington behind the caisson that carried his remains for one and a quarter miles we got to his grave site and just as the Air Force representative got on his knee with the American flag and presented it to his widow Anita and two children and we're thanked for something like in memory and thanks for your husband's service to our nation I present to you this American flag four Air Force jets flew overhead and in what is known as the missing man formation three of them continued on and one of them turns upward and flies as hard and fast and high as it possibly can toward the heavens and all you see is the burning fuel jet fuel of that plane as it's going Skyward it is a very emotional event if you ever are in Washington and you ever have the chance to go to Arlington and be part of a ceremony it will be emotional even if you don't know the person because you know what happened for them to be in that situation so this is the past this Ayatollah has been dead for 30 years 1989 he died they have a new Ayatollah he almost has the same name this man's name was Ayatollah Khomeini the current guy is Ayatollah Khamenei the supreme leader unelected rule by force imprison or kill anybody who opposes you the protests the burning of the American flag the taking over of the U.S embassy and this is my life in the middle during the Christmas program in Iran in December of 1979 40 years ago next month and then events and activities that I've been involved in for the last 40 years most of them recent pictures involved in supporting Veterans Affairs and Veterans efforts really concerned about the fact that 22 veterans every day listen to this every single day 22 veterans are taking their own lives 22 a day something that needs to be fixed I'm involved as best as I can in working to support and encourage mostly men but some women who find themselves at what they believe is the end involved in my community it is such an honor I'm sir I serve I'm elected to my local school board I'm involved in the Fine Arts in our community I own a small business back in Wisconsin where we support 14 families from that life to this life that's what happened to me I'd much rather be known not by what happened to me but by what I do what I've become what my community which welcomed me home 39 and a half years ago helped me to become these are all the people who are important to me eight men who I didn't know and then my team back at work 2019 my two daughters and my wife and I have 32 years I know it's hard to tell which one's my wife the American people awarded us the award for Valor the defense meritorious service medal which is the nation's highest peacetime award and the military folks were awarded the prisoner of war medal even though we weren't in a war Mr Pratt read the citation I'd actually like to get a copy of that Mr Pratt because a reporter stole my original one or they borrowed it but still haven't returned it I should say what I'd like to do is we have about five or ten minutes for questions like to open it up for questions I do have about a three-minute close at the end of the questions but uh why don't you raise your hand and speak up and oh you've got a mic terrific what was it like to have to spend your birthday there yep so uh the question why what was it like to spend my birthday there I would I fortunately had only one birthday in captivity it happened to be my 21st birthday in captivity but I do have a birthday story to tell you first of all I would rather have not been there but I was roommates with Bill Keough and Bruce German in uh July or August of 1980 we had already been there about half the time we didn't know we were at the half half point at that point but um by then we were able to talk to our roommates and we're actually able to play cards with them the guards gave us cards to keep us busy and so our routine was we would wake up in the morning we would walk in a circle in this Maximum Security Prison big thick concrete walls iron bars up on the Windows 20 feet above our above our head we had little foam pads that we slept in in the corners three of the four corners and we had a table and a lamp where we played cards and ate our meals and our routine was after breakfast we would play cards and one day Bruce German was sitting in on his foam pad in the corner this 40 year old guy crying and I looked at him and I said Bruce it's time to play cards What's your deal he said I miss my family I said Bruce we all miss our families all of us you'll see them someday he said I hope I do but today is a different day I said what's the deal he said today is my daughter's 16th birthday I said oh that's just got to be terrible Bruce um you know when you get home you can have a terrific birthday party for her and he never came off his foam pad to play cards that day and I thought to myself man he's so weak and on November 23rd 2005.
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November 23 2005. so this was 24 years after we got out of captivity I called Bruce German I had not talked to him since the day we got out of captivity I called him and he lives in West Virginia I said Bruce first thing I want to do first of all how are you second I want to apologize for the way I treated you that day in that big prison we were in he said what do you mean I said you know the day it was your daughter's 16th birthday and you didn't want to play cards and he said Kevin I don't remember that and I said well I do and I'm calling today to apologize because today is my daughter's 16th birthday and I just can't imagine what it would be like to not be there for her I finally could empathize with what he was going through so we bring our own personal lives and our own mindset and positions to our different situations question what is your reason for joining the Marine Corps yeah great question um I just was talking to a young person about this yesterday back in my back where I live and uh I joined the Marine Corps for a couple of reasons one I was I'm the oldest of five kids my folks got divorced when I was 13 and I saw it as a path to go to college and have some help through the GI bill I had never been on an airplane before and I thought it was a way so that I could travel and see the world which ended up happening as well and um lastly uh there was a little bit of an element of service involved because I've always kind of been involved in the community volunteering for different things Boys and Girls Clubs my church group and to me it just seemed like a natural extension and I went into the Marine Corps with a guaranteed contract I signed a contract now don't misunderstand I know that all Marines can be called to pick up a rifle and go to war I get that that's very true but my contract was to be an accountant and so when I left for I went to boot camp and after boot camp I went to be trained to be an accountant in the Marine Corps because the Marine Corps like all the services like all businesses like all schools all communities need accounting people and that's what I did until I heard about the Marine security guard program and I went to a movie I was in Okinawa Japan I went to a movie one night and there was next to the entrance of the movie theater was this life-size poster of a marine standing there in dress blues in front of the Taj Mahal in front of on top of the Great Wall of China in front of the Eiffel Tower and it was an invitation to come to a meeting the next night to learn about this Marine security guard program there are only 1800 Marines in the entire Marine Corps that have that honor of being a marine security guard at our U.S embassies and consulates abroad I went to the meeting I was mesmerized I went to work the next day and I asked my boss I said to him I don't want to be an accountant anymore I want to be a marine security guard can you tell me about he said I never heard of it I said okay fine I went to this meeting would you sign a letter of recommendation and um it was the best decision that I ever made I had a bad experience but it was the best decision I ever made up to that point um I uh I I went to my training in Quantico Virginia there were 179 students in the class other Marines um only 121 of us graduated from that class after after eight weeks the others all got kicked out of the program before we were going on it so even during the training it's a very rigid training program they do a lot of background checks you have to have a pretty clean background as far as upbringing goes can't have been in trouble you're not allowed to be married you can't have children so uh those became things some of the reasons people got kicked out my my class also was the very first one that had women Marines in it so women were then assigned and were able to become Marine security guards any other questions the flags are still up at Hermitage Pennsylvania when I was driving my daughter out to college in Virginia uh 10 years ago eight years ago we stopped at the Avenue and there are many uh it lists who put up every one of those flags and so my job I felt that day was to find the three flags that my dad put up even though they all look the same that was kind of a cool thing I got one more for you right here you got to meet Jimmy Carter Carter I did [Music] I have not had the privilege of meeting the president again but I would say that um this event that I was at a couple of weeks ago that I spoke of was for a movie premier through the History Channel a documentary called desert one and um um I'm I'm I'm I've been I was interviewed for the movie I'm in the movie um and uh Jimmy Carter was interviewed he gave an interview about his thoughts and his Recollections and his fears and his hopes for the rescue mission as well as uh his insight into the fact he knew if it didn't fail if it failed that he would not get reelected all right thanks sir so 444 days in captivity to me for me an event that of course is part of my life it's defined certain parts of my life it of course has helped to make me who I am today and it gave me a platform the opportunity to speak to Young audiences and community members and to tell all of you that I know there is a lot of uncertainty in the world today economic uncertainty political upheaval social uncertainty and some of you know what you're going to do when you're done with school and others of you do not when I took speech class in high school I could barely talk I was so afraid I was still afraid to speak in public when I first got back from captivity and the Marine Corps Captain said to me Sergeant Harmony just go up and answer the reporters questions and the questions that I was asked at that first news conference that really was not that frightening as it turned out has evolved into the presentation I just delivered to you today albeit shifting over the years 40 years is a long time I remember going to Memorial Day parades and Fourth of July parades and Veterans Day events and Labor Day events and standing on the side of the street and watching the veterans walk by those guys with the gray hair and those green caps on with the American flags and now I am one of those guys your life will go fast I've told my daughters and I'd like to tell you you've heard the phrase think out of the box I don't think anyone can do that so my separate instruction is to get a bigger box in which you think understand and recognize that the world out there is looking for great young leaders advocates people who want to roll up their sleeves and engage whether it's in the military whether it's in business whether it's a stay-at-home mom or a stay-at-home dad whether it's in public education or the health care fields or financial or in a factory job we all have opportunities some of which you aren't even aware exist yet as well as the ones that don't exist in real life that will in the next 10 years and Beyond I've had the honor of traveling to 47 States across the U.S and to 55 foreign countries in the last 40 years 55 foreign countries every time I come back to the U.S I don't actually get down on the ground and kiss the ground at the airport but I feel like it actually I did that in 1981 at West Point when we landed at Stewart air base and I bent down and I kissed the ground at the bottom of the stairwell when we got off that plane coming back from Iran and Europe Germany back to the US and when we went back for that reunion you saw that photo of a bunch of us they took us out to that place where that airplane was parked and the stairs came down and what the airport people did they put a star embedded in the concrete tarmac at the exact place where we first put our steps down back on American soil want you to think about opportunity I don't want you to think we don't have problems We complain all of us every single day about something I want you to have a sense of gratitude not contempt I want you to know and understand and if you don't to learn that despite the problems America has despite the concerns you have about anybody in your life there's a way to solve them there are reasons to think more positively because this nation these United States of America because of men like those eight heroes our country continues to stand tall as the greatest one on the face of this entire planet thank you so much for having me here this afternoon it's been a real pleasure okay yeah [Applause] yeah oh my God [Applause] thank you we have three and a half minutes okay if you want a quick photo no questions come on down real quickly [Music] laughs [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] 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testing foreign good afternoon everyone thank you very much uh it's been a jam-packed uh Chautauqua day um you guys are doing absolutely fantastic and so do me a favor one last time for the day put away those phones um and uh let's give our undivided attention um you know one of the things I say about Chautauqua is it's a celebration of diversity and the greatness that exists within each one of us sometimes we have speakers who are powerful but it's very serious the Iranian hostage crisis very very serious okay so I set out to find one of the greatest musicians on the planet and lo and behold I found them in Greenville South Carolina and he's brought his band here now you want to talk about Legends in the field of Blues Music this icon if you know anything about the history of Blues is played with people like Muddy Waters BB King you ever heard of Jimi Hendrix James Brown John Lee Hooker okay I have fell in love with these guys please give it up for Mac Arnold and a plate full of Blues [Applause] all right how y'all doing out there I mean y'all give it up for Kevin man I don't know if y'all got to hear him but he did a great job only is he still here there he is in the back man we appreciate that I can't even imagine um one of these guys are getting in place I just give you my main instruments on Monica and so I wanted when I was y'all's age everybody else was listening to rock and roll when Twisted Sister and and we had all the hair bands back then and just by chance I I heard some Muddy Waters and I heard this thing and it was a harmonica and it was a guy named Little Walter playing him and that was it and the reason I want to tell you about that because macaron the guy was getting ready to come out with of course he played with Muddy Waters and muddy if it wasn't for Muddy Waters they wouldn't the Rolling Stones named their band after Muddy Waters so people like Muddy Waters basically set the whole foundation for rock and roll and Mac played with this guy you know and he's on some of the old albums so but he influenced so many people and so when I was y'all's age and everybody else was listening that music I was buying little Walters out albums from the 1950s and everybody thought I was crazy so when he's talking about thinking outside the box I was way outside the box I was like down the street another neighborhood and um everybody thought I was crazy but I'm still doing it well so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna do a little Walter tune probably I guess from the 50s and it's called everything's gonna be all right [Music] oh have a thing gonna be all right I said everything gonna be all right you know when we get together baby we can make love can't we oh baby let me hold your right hand [Music] baby [Music] cause you understand [Music] foreign [Music] but you know when we get together baby we can make love can't we oh baby you're so slow down [Music] you know when we get together baby you wanna call my name foreign [Music] [Laughter] [Music] album Max Hightower yes anybody know of Stevie Ray Vaughan we got some Stevie Ray fans here do y'all know where that stuff came from y'all heard about BB King right about Albert King Freddie King Buddy Guy yeah it's like he's getting less and less and less yeah yeah anyway here's an old one from Mr Albert King which Mac is going to tell you the whole story you'll hear but this is one of the fellas that he got to run around with do some playing with everybody wants to laugh nobody wants to cry I say everybody wants to laugh and nobody wants to cry everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die not everybody wants to hear the truth but yet they all still want to tell a lie I see everybody wants to hear the truth but yeah they all still want to lie everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die [Music] not everybody wants to know the reason uh without even asking why I say everybody wants to know the reason without even asking why everybody wants to go to heaven well but nobody wants to die [Music] oh yeah put your hands together oh all right this is the Blues one thing it's all about is the truth and the truth will find its way I promise Mr Mac Arnold played with all the greats a lot of the greats like Tavern Davis John Lee Hooker Muddy Waters Big Mama Thornton James Brown Jimi Hendrix you heard Albert King can you help me bring this man out to the stage make him feel good this song will tell you a lot about his life story please welcome all the way from Greenville South Carolina Mr Mac Arnold [Music] I used to live in Chicago long years ago I never will forget all the hard times living in the wind and snow I never will forget living in the ghetto well I learned how to sing the blues while living in Chicago well in 1965 I met a man named AC Reed we played Blues everywhere everywhere we go well I never will forget living in the dead zone in 1966 I met a man named Muddy Waters [Music] guitar better we played Blues everywhere from New York to Greensburg well I never will forget living in the ghetto well well well well well well [Music] awesome praise you ladies and gentlemen then I met another blues singer about the name of Tyrone Davis we used to sing and play a lot he would run the ladies crazy we played all the clubs South Side Chicago well well well well I never will forget living in the dead zone I better get tough man singer by the name of Buddy Guy Play the song the songs he wrote made everybody cry he played everywhere around Chicago well well I never never living in a ghetto look ahead y'all you know I've been around this Blues world for so long on the half the Bruce sang as I've met they already gone thank God for saving me and letting me grow [Music] but I never will forget [Music] I'm gonna say it again y'all you know I've been around this Blues world for so long over half the blue singers I've met they're already gone on thank God for saving me and letting me grow well well well well I never will forget living in the ghetto well well well well well well living in the ghetto living in the ghetto a living in the garage [Music] living in the ghetto South Side Chicago well I never will forget living in the guests [Music] living in the ghetto and leaving him again living in the ghetto [Music] South Side Chicago well I never really hey how did y'all doing [Applause] it's so wonderful to be here today it's great to see you all's face out there smiling it's a blessing to be able to come to school hang out and listen to other people and listen to some good music this music that we're doing uh uh I guess you all are not too familiar with the blues but the blues is one of the music stat was first it was the very first music ever it was created right here in the United States on the plantations in the South and we are from the south right now we're gonna do a song from the south we're going to take you to the swamps we'll take you to the swamps y'all ready for the swamps over on base Max Hightower [Music] Taco drums dizzy dizzy only guitar house and brazier come on y'all let's have fun well Amos Moses was occasion I lit myself in the swamps trapping alligator falling in I just knock him in the head with a stump well the Louisiana law gonna get James got the Swamp Boy everybody blame this old man for making him mean as a snake when Amos Moses was a boy his daddy used to use it that alligator me Tyro up around his weight throwing in the swamps [Music] 45 miles off [Music] was a cat named doc Millsap pretty right here [Music] and just use one hand so they had left of course the alligator beat him let them gone up to the Elbow and the chef got me into nameless was in the swamp Trapper and alligator skins he went in the swamp time to get the boy but it never come out again well I wonder where the Louisiana chat with too you can shot get lost in Louisiana by you about 45 miles south Mississippi [Music] and uh raise up the sun heat up the wind [Music] they named him after the man in the car calling me Miss Moe hey son about 45 miles south Mississippi [Music] thank you sir foreign [Music] thank you so much thank you thank you this year marks 68 67 years that I've been playing music and I've met some of the greatest musicians in the world and I'm just so happy to be here today and share some of their songs with you and this songs come from a gentleman that I used to love Grayson that stays with although we recorded this song about three or four years to go back and now the song belongs to us uh this song was originated from Mr Milton Campbell which is a blues player from down in the Delta of Mississippi um this song is entitled walls [Music] thank you [Music] are you here [Music] don't talk they never talk if doors could say who turned the knob when he's awake [Music] doors don't talk they never talk if calls could say who's been inside [Music] they never talk well or in a world of trouble with me if things ever told on me my love life would be true I'm guilty how about you if things ever talk that way ain't no telling what they might say it's your grand [Music] don't talk they never talk hey [Music] awesome bracelet ladies and gentlemen well I'm in a world of trouble we'd be if they've ever told on me my love life will be through I'm guilted how about you if things ever talk that way ain't no Talent what they might say it's you glad oh thank you [Music] they never talk his jewels get saved well they've been when you claim you were just visiting a friend ain't your plan [Music] shoes don't talk they never talk you know me don't talk trouble [Music] oh yeah [Music] foreign I guess you all wonder what this is I'll tell you a little story about this particularly guitar back in 1946 one of my older brothers one of the guitar my father was very religious and it had 13 children he had no money and he was very religious as in the southern baptist and Southern Baptist didn't lie guitars in the house back in those days they claimed that there were instrument that played music for the devil so I'm here feeling devilish today and and I brought you a gasoline can guitar that my brother created back in 1946.
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this is a authentic gasoline can and it is metal nowadays it's rough to find a metal can you'll find it most likely in the antique shop uh with some old folk like me so uh we're going to play a little music here on this Cannon and uh if we don't do good then you all have to say something about it but we're going to do the best we can and we're going to do this song right here for Mr Albert King he's a gentleman from over in the Delta as well I had great time with him over the years and all these folk that was great Blues musicians uh they're almost extinct now and thank God for keeping me here to keep their legacies alive this song is entitled don't lie to me [Music] thank you [Music] coming out to love me long time ago said a fella that you got you know warning no more don't you lie to me won't you lie to me [Music] if you make me mad I'll get evil as a man can be [Music] I just can't stand your Evil Hearted Woman in a blind man don't you lie to me [Music] don't you lie to me you make me mad I'll get evil as a man can be [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] told me that you love me long time ago said a fellow that you got you don't want him no more don't you a lot of money [Music] don't you lie to me you make me mad I'll get evil as a man give me [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Laughter] [Music] thank you so much thank you this is a song came from a gentleman that uh I really respected always will respect he treated me with specialty this gentleman I started playing with him in 1966.
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