#4 Dr. Jordan Rodriguez: Career & Life Advice from Principal of the Seminole High School

[0:00] life experience
[0:02] go see the world
[0:03] you know if i gave any kid on this
[0:05] campus
[0:06] advice
[0:08] it would be
[0:10] 10 years from now not even 10 years from
[0:12] now a year from now that brand new
[0:15] iphone you spent a thousand dollars on
[0:17] is outdated
[0:21] [Music]
[0:29] so um what i try to get a get to uh from
[0:33] these interview is
[0:36] your journey and at some point you
[0:39] probably decided what you want to become
[0:42] and
[0:43] how that happened and what was the
[0:44] journey looked like so my journey
[0:47] dating back to high school i was a
[0:48] student at oviedo high school in the
[0:51] mid to late 90s
[0:53] and
[0:54] i wanted to be a sports center anchor i
[0:58] wanted to be on espn
[1:00] and
[1:01] went to ucf and earned a degree in radio
[1:03] television broadcasting
[1:05] i interned at channel 2 i interned at
[1:08] k92 fm the local country station
[1:11] had a lot of fun doing it
[1:12] and i even had an opportunity
[1:15] to try out for an advance in a
[1:19] reality tv show called dream job that
[1:22] espn put out many years ago they haven't
[1:24] done it in years they did maybe one or
[1:26] two seasons of dream job
[1:27] but i heard about the open audition and
[1:29] i went to it and it advanced to a
[1:31] regional final
[1:33] but all in all when it came down to it
[1:36] in broadcasting you don't start out in a
[1:39] large market and espn's a pretty big
[1:41] deal most of those folks on espn started
[1:44] at a local station somewhere in the
[1:46] country and then moved their way up the
[1:48] ranks
[1:49] being born and raised in florida and
[1:51] specifically in seminole county i love
[1:53] the area my friends and family are here
[1:56] and i did not have an interest in moving
[1:58] to connecticut for espn to try to pursue
[2:01] that and quite honestly i didn't have an
[2:03] interest in going to you know a small
[2:05] town in kansas as a starting point
[2:08] so i started moving away from radio
[2:11] television broadcasting and i was
[2:13] substitute teaching in college i was
[2:15] working as a personal trainer at the
[2:16] ymca
[2:17] i was doing several different things i
[2:19] was coaching baseball at the high school
[2:21] level and i loved it i loved being
[2:23] around the kids i loved being a positive
[2:25] influence on the kids
[2:27] loved interacting with them
[2:29] and
[2:30] really enjoyed it just took naturally to
[2:32] the classroom
[2:34] and
[2:35] i ended up taking a job
[2:37] in a field that was completely
[2:39] out of left field uh pardon the baseball
[2:42] pun so we were just talking about
[2:44] baseball but
[2:45] i took a job with a homebuilder dr
[2:48] horton i was 23 years old just out of
[2:50] college and i had a nice salary thrown
[2:52] at me and that could have resulted in
[2:55] you know making six figures a year as a
[2:56] 23 year old kid
[2:58] so i worked for dr horton for a couple
[2:59] weeks and what i found was that i did
[3:02] not like what i was doing
[3:04] did not like it at all
[3:06] and one of my mentors who i am in touch
[3:09] with to this very day
[3:11] a gentleman who is an assistant
[3:12] principal at oviedo high school when i
[3:14] was a student and who now serves as my
[3:16] assistant principal here at seminole
[3:18] high school mr lance abney who i've
[3:20] known since i was 14 years old
[3:22] he told me when are you going to stop
[3:24] lying to yourself and quit messing
[3:26] around with these other jobs and come be
[3:28] what you were destined to be which is an
[3:30] educator he said come out here and
[3:32] impact these kids and you'll never look
[3:34] back
[3:34] and here we are
[3:36] 20 years later and
[3:38] almost 20 years later and lance avenue
[3:39] was right
[3:40] so i am honored to still be able to
[3:43] interact with and speak to my mentor the
[3:45] guy that inspired me to do what i do
[3:47] each and every day
[3:48] i've been here ever since so my journey
[3:51] started out as a substitute teacher here
[3:52] in seminole county bounced around
[3:54] between the high schools sub sum
[3:55] elementary schools coached baseball
[3:57] between oviedo winter springs
[3:59] here at seminole high school i've got a
[4:01] job teaching at lake hill high school as
[4:03] an english teacher my first year
[4:06] i did that for a year and a half at lake
[4:07] howe had an opportunity to come here to
[4:10] seminole high school to serve as a dean
[4:12] a gentleman named walt griffin gave me
[4:14] an opportunity is about 25 26 year old
[4:16] kid so i'm forever indebted to walt
[4:20] griffin mike gaudreau another name
[4:22] that's well known here in seminole
[4:24] county public schools i worked under him
[4:25] for six and a half years so
[4:28] it's been a great journey
[4:30] from lake howe to seminole
[4:32] then over to winter springs high school
[4:33] as an assistant principal for three
[4:34] years rock lake middle school in
[4:36] longwood as a principal for three years
[4:38] and now i'm back here at home where i've
[4:40] served most of my career at seminole
[4:42] high school and i am having a blast
[4:46] every day is different
[4:47] there is never a dull moment and
[4:50] couldn't ask for a better job
[4:52] wow
[4:55] this is i did not i mean i knew um a lot
[4:59] of information but i did not know the
[5:01] transition from espn and
[5:03] the media job to
[5:05] educator job and then this uh when you
[5:08] work local media you work for a radio
[5:10] station many of your events are on
[5:12] weekends and they eat up your whole day
[5:15] my first day as an intern at channel 2
[5:16] was the daytona 500
[5:19] and what an eye-opening experience that
[5:21] was you know you're there prior to sun
[5:23] up and you don't get home till after
[5:24] sundown you know it's a
[5:26] legitimate 15-hour day or more
[5:30] and
[5:31] i like my weekends you know big college
[5:34] football fan love going to ucf games i
[5:37] love watching nfl games you know going
[5:39] out on the water with the family and
[5:40] friends and uh that's something i i
[5:42] wasn't willing to give up
[5:44] so uh went another direction and
[5:46] here we are
[5:48] at what time what point
[5:53] in the career
[5:55] you
[5:56] you thought you will become a principal
[5:58] or you never thought and i mean at some
[6:00] point
[6:01] you probably realize that this is
[6:03] working out well and i'm gonna be
[6:06] principal or whatever i i want
[6:09] inspiration
[6:10] lance abney and some others that were in
[6:13] school administration when i was coming
[6:15] up
[6:18] i saw how much fun they had and i saw
[6:20] what an impact they had and i wanted to
[6:23] do that so i knew coming out of the gate
[6:26] that my goal was to move into school
[6:28] administration you know that gives you
[6:30] the opportunity to influence more kids
[6:33] you can have more impact you know when
[6:34] you're a classroom teacher
[6:36] you're impacting 150 kids maybe 180 kids
[6:38] a day and that's incredible
[6:41] when you get into an administrative role
[6:43] where you're in a position where you're
[6:44] hiring teachers or you're supporting
[6:46] teachers you're impacting
[6:49] thousands of kids
[6:51] and
[6:52] that's always the right answer if you're
[6:54] ever in an interview
[6:55] and people are asking you why you want
[6:57] to leave the classroom to become an
[6:59] administrator or why you want to stop
[7:01] being an assistant principal become a
[7:02] principal the answer is always impact
[7:05] it's the opportunity to
[7:07] grow
[7:08] impact
[7:10] how
[7:11] the assistant principal
[7:13] job come to you
[7:15] is that something that you tried you you
[7:18] thought about getting into that i mean i
[7:20] know you started with a
[7:22] different other education job and then
[7:25] you became a
[7:27] assistant principal
[7:28] so so i am when i left lake hell and
[7:32] sean storch the principal there at the
[7:34] time gave me an opportunity as a
[7:36] young teacher and i'm another person i'm
[7:38] always grateful to dr sean storch
[7:42] she knew i had aspirations
[7:44] of going into administration
[7:47] and the opportunity presented itself
[7:49] here at seminole truth be told my uh my
[7:51] first opportunity to teach
[7:53] i had two opportunities i had an opera
[7:55] an offer to come to lake howe high
[7:57] school and i had an opportunity to come
[7:59] here at seminole high school and i
[8:01] remember taking a phone call from a
[8:02] gentleman named walt griffin saying hey
[8:04] i've heard good things about you i've
[8:05] got a social studies position here
[8:08] it's yours if you want it and i had
[8:11] another opportunity from like hal uh
[8:13] lance abbey the guy i was telling you
[8:14] about was over at lake howe
[8:16] and i elected to go
[8:18] over where there was some familiarity
[8:20] and like house a little bit closer to
[8:21] home
[8:22] so i took that opportunity to teach and
[8:26] a year and a half later after being in
[8:28] the classroom a year and a half later
[8:30] opportunity arose to come here as a dean
[8:32] so i came here and i did that for year
[8:34] and a half was able to
[8:36] i'd like to think make a pretty good
[8:38] name for myself and that year and a half
[8:39] as the dean and people really got a good
[8:41] sample of what i was capable of and how
[8:43] i operated
[8:45] and i was honored to
[8:47] take the opportunity to become an
[8:48] assistant principal
[8:50] and so i was here a year and a half as a
[8:52] dean five years as an ap
[8:54] transferred to winter springs high
[8:56] school had a great three years at winter
[8:57] springs
[8:59] as assistant principal okay and i got to
[9:01] work under dr mickey reynolds over at
[9:04] winter springs high school nicki is a
[9:06] dear friend she and i were actually
[9:07] assistant principals together here at
[9:09] seminole
[9:11] and
[9:12] loved every minute at winter springs and
[9:14] then the opportunity presented itself to
[9:17] take a totally new
[9:20] venture going into middle school i
[9:21] really haven't spent any time in middle
[9:22] schools but was honored to
[9:25] have the opportunity to serve as the
[9:27] principal at rock lake for three years
[9:28] loved every minute never had a bad day
[9:32] and
[9:32] now i'm
[9:34] back here in the big house and the third
[9:35] largest school in the state of florida
[9:36] which
[9:37] always keeps you on your toes and i
[9:39] think uh if i'm counting right it's
[9:41] about
[9:42] 13 15 years you was as assistant
[9:45] principal i was total i was an assistant
[9:48] principal for eight years eight years
[9:50] eight years uh
[9:52] three years as a rock lady principal
[9:54] going into my third year now so i'm
[9:56] creeping up on 20 years in the seminole
[9:58] county public school system my last
[10:00] question on this
[10:01] this area is i know how difficult it is
[10:06] from assistance principle
[10:08] to principle
[10:10] uh you go through recommendation you go
[10:12] through application process a lot of
[10:14] things happen and there is only a few
[10:16] jobs and a lot of application applicants
[10:19] so how was that journey from assistant
[10:22] principal to getting into or becoming a
[10:25] principal
[10:26] so i was very fortunate to have very
[10:30] good mentors you know starting at a
[10:32] young age with you've heard me say lance
[10:34] abney shawn storch
[10:36] and then coming here in seminole and
[10:38] getting to learn from
[10:40] walt griffin and mike gaudreau
[10:42] and then over i winter springs with
[10:44] mickey i had some great leaders that i
[10:46] learned from
[10:47] i was able to take
[10:48] pieces from each of their leadership
[10:50] styles and kind of meld it into my own
[10:54] so
[10:55] i felt very prepared coming in
[10:57] and it's been a great experience you
[11:00] learn something new every day though
[11:01] that's the biggest thing is you have to
[11:03] be willing to uh make mistakes learn
[11:05] from them improve from them
[11:08] and
[11:09] it's been a great ride it's been a blast
[11:13] thank you
[11:15] um
[11:17] changing topic from
[11:19] where you reach today
[11:21] uh how is your time management and
[11:23] procrastination
[11:25] handling procrastination or conquering
[11:27] it looks like well i'm happy to share
[11:29] that
[11:30] it is not a luxury
[11:33] running this campus uh seminole high
[11:35] school and i tell you what something
[11:36] from your previous question about you
[11:37] know what prepared me to be a principal
[11:39] there is no better training ground in
[11:41] seminole high school and especially
[11:43] being here for the six and a half years
[11:45] i was here i remember when i got over to
[11:47] winter springs high school i was like
[11:49] wow this is
[11:50] this is manageable
[11:52] you know this is all i was used to and i
[11:54] think that was part of the benefit of me
[11:55] coming back here is
[11:57] i'm used to the pace of seminole high
[11:59] school and just the volume of kids we
[12:01] have
[12:02] two campuses 4 200 kids
[12:04] ib health academy aviation premier
[12:08] performing arts programs
[12:11] premier athletic programs this is a high
[12:13] profile high school there is eyes on us
[12:15] at
[12:16] all times and you've just got to be
[12:19] go go go there is no
[12:22] opportunity to procrastinate or else it
[12:24] would just
[12:25] snowball and things wouldn't get done
[12:28] but luckily i've got a great team here
[12:30] um
[12:31] time management is a necessity here
[12:34] matter of fact in my
[12:36] phone
[12:37] i always keep a list of my tasks and i
[12:41] check them off i'm a list checker always
[12:43] checking things off
[12:45] if it's not on my phone i've got them
[12:46] written down on my notebook
[12:48] just always getting stuff done
[12:51] and truth be told
[12:53] and this is
[12:54] a point of contention with being my wife
[12:56] the only thing we really argue about is
[12:59] my schedule and
[13:02] my
[13:03] let's say maybe not inability but me
[13:06] always
[13:07] being on
[13:09] there's times a day and this is
[13:10] something i've got to get better at
[13:14] i've built a reputation as being a very
[13:16] responsive person
[13:19] via email
[13:20] calling people back via text
[13:22] my signature my my email signature line
[13:24] has my cell phone
[13:26] and
[13:27] people utilize it when they have to i
[13:28] wouldn't say they abuse it
[13:30] but
[13:31] to run a school of this scale
[13:35] properly at the level that i want the
[13:37] community to
[13:39] have response responsiveness from the
[13:41] admin team
[13:44] it's it's quite a bit you know i'm up at
[13:45] 4am each day while i'm waiting for
[13:48] coffee and eggs to be done i've already
[13:50] answered you know a few emails
[13:53] i'll go to the gym 4 30 in the morning
[13:55] that's sacred time there's no phone
[13:57] i'll leave it in the truck but as soon
[13:59] as i get back in the truck at about
[14:01] 5 15 5 20.
[14:03] it's go home
[14:05] get ready typically people my staff
[14:07] members are already starting to text me
[14:08] giving me updates on
[14:10] how it looks with substitute teachers
[14:12] for the day do we have positions filled
[14:15] what happened overnight that we weren't
[14:16] expecting
[14:18] and then throughout the day it's it's go
[14:20] go go go go i don't have a scheduled
[14:22] lunch time i think it's pretty typical
[14:24] of school administrators again something
[14:26] that i need to be better at i just
[14:28] started i saw an article uh recently
[14:31] actually just yesterday about how uh
[14:33] people who work all the time you know
[14:35] you're more likely to give yourself high
[14:37] blood pressure and
[14:39] heart disease through all the constant
[14:41] go go go
[14:42] and how an inability to
[14:45] slow down is not a a
[14:47] bragging right it's something that again
[14:49] i need to be better at and i always try
[14:52] to make sure that things are prioritized
[14:54] you know tonight's my son's got a second
[14:55] t-ball game i'll be there will not miss
[14:58] a t-ball game barring something that's
[15:00] just i absolutely have to attend
[15:04] part
[15:05] but
[15:06] yeah the prioritization of of time is a
[15:09] essential
[15:10] aspect of being successful here
[15:13] um
[15:14] the next question in this one is
[15:17] how you set your goal what's your goal
[15:19] setting method what your dream
[15:22] how you dream
[15:23] for
[15:24] what you're going to do 10 years five
[15:25] years from now so i mean
[15:28] would that look like well um goal
[15:30] setting at seminole
[15:33] the first and
[15:34] foremost goal
[15:35] any day of the week is ensuring the
[15:37] safety of the campus so that that is a
[15:39] that's an easy one
[15:40] making sure the kids have the resources
[15:42] they need make sure the teachers have
[15:43] the resources they need
[15:45] those are your
[15:47] always etched in stone goals
[15:51] big picture
[15:52] it's easy to say we want to increase the
[15:54] graduation rate and we want to be in a
[15:56] school everybody wants to do that that's
[15:58] not special
[16:00] we're seeing an uptick in the graduation
[16:03] rate that should come out soon we hope
[16:05] to see it rise from 88.5 to about 93
[16:08] which would be a huge accomplishment
[16:11] love to see us get to an a school rating
[16:13] but my big goal my vision
[16:16] i don't just want to improve seminole
[16:18] high school i want to improve
[16:20] the sanford community
[16:22] i was born and raised in seminole county
[16:24] i want to see this area continue to
[16:27] thrive
[16:28] and i want it to continue to be a
[16:30] destination that people want to move
[16:32] into and be a part of because of the
[16:34] quality of life in this great country
[16:37] seeing generational poverty
[16:40] it just
[16:41] it eats at me and if i can teach them
[16:45] folks a better way and give them
[16:46] opportunities that they or their
[16:49] families may not have had before
[16:51] that's a win
[16:52] so my goal is to improve the quality of
[16:55] life
[16:56] in sanford at large
[16:58] not just the school we're going to use
[17:00] education
[17:01] as the mechanism to affect change in the
[17:04] community
[17:07] who is
[17:08] dr rodriguez
[17:10] other than
[17:11] principal of seminole high school other
[17:14] than the principal seminole high school
[17:16] i
[17:16] am uh husband to jamie my beautiful wife
[17:20] i am
[17:21] dad to my four-year-old son owen and my
[17:25] six-year-old daughter aylin
[17:27] uh i am
[17:29] one of four children i'm the oldest of
[17:31] four
[17:33] i've got a brother as a seminole county
[17:34] firefighter my sister jillian teaches at
[17:38] lake howe high school teacher of the
[17:39] year finalist jenna my other sister
[17:42] works for advent health my mom works for
[17:44] advent health
[17:46] my dad's still working he works he's a
[17:48] vice president for a wine importer
[17:52] so
[17:53] if you if i'm out on this campus there's
[17:55] a good chance you'll catch me at a
[17:57] little league practice if it's the
[17:59] weekend and the weather's nice you'll
[18:00] catch me out on the water my wife was
[18:02] kind enough to allow me to get a boat
[18:04] about three years ago so if i have an
[18:07] opportunity to be on that boat you
[18:08] better believe i'm on it
[18:10] is there any personal dream goals that
[18:13] you have other than the principal goal
[18:17] that you have
[18:18] you know becoming a principal was a goal
[18:20] for
[18:21] quite a long time
[18:23] and
[18:24] not too long ago i threw my name in the
[18:26] hat for the superintendent position
[18:28] when it became open when dr griffin
[18:30] retired
[18:31] i knew full well that i was under
[18:33] qualified
[18:34] but running this monstrosity of a school
[18:38] if you can run seminole high school you
[18:40] can run i think just about anything
[18:42] and
[18:43] that gave me the confidence to put my
[18:44] name in the hat
[18:46] at a minimum and let people know know
[18:48] that i had some ambition down the road
[18:50] but in the meantime we're gonna make
[18:52] seminole high school the best possible
[18:54] school and culture that it can be
[18:58] and if opportunities arise down the road
[19:01] that we're
[19:02] at the district level we'll cross that
[19:03] bridge when we get to it but right now
[19:06] i'm rocking it here
[19:08] all right so last two questions
[19:10] one is uh how do you see your journey so
[19:14] far
[19:15] i've been fortunate
[19:17] i was able to
[19:19] become an assistant principal at 26 27
[19:22] years old that's not typical
[19:24] principle in my mid-30s
[19:26] it's becoming more
[19:28] normalized but that wasn't the norm for
[19:30] many many years
[19:32] so i think in a short amount of time
[19:33] i've had a great opportunity to make a
[19:35] positive impact
[19:38] you know that that's what i would say
[19:39] about my journey thus far it it it's
[19:42] it's opened a lot of doors i've had an
[19:43] opportunity to meet
[19:45] a bunch of people that i might not have
[19:47] otherwise met or been able to get close
[19:49] to
[19:50] so who knows what the future holds but
[19:53] right now
[19:55] having a great time
[19:57] thank you and my last question is your
[19:59] message to the audience and i my
[20:02] audience are two
[20:04] one are the kids who are in high school
[20:08] or in college and trying to
[20:11] um
[20:12] plan out or
[20:14] trying to see how they
[20:17] um place themselves in the right place
[20:19] so they have a good career and things
[20:21] like that
[20:23] how how they can find what they want to
[20:26] do and how they can prepare themselves
[20:28] for this world
[20:30] i would say one
[20:33] at some point in your life you'll come
[20:34] to a decision
[20:37] that
[20:38] puts you in a position where you have to
[20:40] decide
[20:41] do i want to do what i love
[20:43] and maybe that doesn't come with all the
[20:45] financial incentives that you would want
[20:48] or do you want to
[20:49] grind and do something that maybe you
[20:52] don't love but maybe the income is great
[20:54] you got to make that decision and i
[20:56] referenced that earlier in the recording
[20:59] when i jumped at a job with a home
[21:02] builder at a young age you know i had
[21:03] buddies that were doing the same thing
[21:04] for that same company they were making a
[21:06] hundred grand a year at 23 and 23 year
[21:09] old single guy making 100 grand
[21:12] you're having fun
[21:14] but if you hate it you know what gets
[21:16] the money
[21:17] so you might come to that crux at some
[21:20] point in your life you know i would i
[21:21] would lean on do what you love
[21:23] and find that passion and you'll never
[21:26] feel like you've worked a day
[21:28] in terms of getting there how to make
[21:30] yourself stand out
[21:32] be
[21:33] willing to do what 99
[21:36] of the people
[21:37] on the earth
[21:38] won't do
[21:40] and that that's a pretty common theme
[21:42] when you look at some of the companies
[21:44] that are
[21:46] hugely successful you know your social
[21:48] media giants your amazons
[21:51] tesla
[21:52] what those people have in common
[21:55] is
[21:56] their work ethic
[21:58] it's second to none
[22:00] and
[22:01] nobody's gonna outwork them surround
[22:03] yourself with good people surround
[22:05] yourself with people that are going this
[22:07] way in life and the younger you can
[22:09] identify who the people are that are
[22:12] going this way the better off you're
[22:14] going to be you know i'm proud to
[22:16] be a part of a group of friends that
[22:18] i've been with since high school
[22:20] some of them middle school
[22:22] and
[22:23] the level of success of the this group
[22:25] of guys is
[22:27] unimaginable you know guys that we grew
[22:29] up playing sports with that are now
[22:32] orthopedic surgeons
[22:34] engineers attorneys
[22:37] uh business owners
[22:39] some of them are on shark tank this
[22:41] group of guys is just
[22:43] we support one another
[22:45] we're inherently competitive a bunch of
[22:47] us grew up as athletes and so we always
[22:49] want to
[22:49] compete with each other
[22:53] but find that group of people that's
[22:55] going in the right direction and
[22:56] surround yourself with them you know you
[22:58] are the they say you are who your
[23:00] friends are and that's true to a point
[23:04] but they say you are the
[23:05] uh average of the sum of your friends
[23:08] you know so
[23:10] keep that in mind who you surrounded
[23:12] yourself with
[23:13] you use a
[23:15] passion a lot in this conversation
[23:18] what's your advice how do you find how
[23:21] somebody can find what his or her
[23:24] passion is
[23:25] how do you find it uh
[23:27] life experience
[23:28] go see the world
[23:30] you know if i gave any kid on this
[23:32] campus
[23:33] advice
[23:35] it would be
[23:37] 10 years from now not even 10 years from
[23:39] now a year from now that brand new
[23:42] iphone you spent a thousand dollars on
[23:44] is outdated
[23:45] um 10 years from now nobody's ever going
[23:47] to ask you what phone you had in high
[23:49] school they're not going to ask you
[23:51] if you wore jordans in high school
[23:54] nobody's going to ask you what apparel
[23:55] you wore in high school they're not
[23:57] going to ask you
[23:58] what brand of sunglasses you have
[24:00] they're not going to ask
[24:01] what
[24:03] video game system did you have
[24:06] all that is
[24:07] smoke and mirrors it doesn't matter
[24:11] go see the world
[24:13] get out and travel
[24:15] every time i leave this country
[24:18] dominican republic mexico canada and i
[24:21] haven't been overseas to europe and asia
[24:23] yet but anytime i travel
[24:26] internationally
[24:28] i want to kiss the ground when i get
[24:30] back to the united states you are
[24:32] sitting in the best country the world
[24:34] has ever seen
[24:36] and too many of us take it for granted
[24:40] too many of us
[24:43] don't realize that in the united states
[24:45] we have the luxury to often times
[24:48] i'm not saying we don't have problems
[24:50] but often
[24:51] we have the luxury to
[24:53] choose what we want to get upset about
[24:56] and the rest of the world does not have
[24:58] that luxury
[25:00] so i would say have that great
[25:01] perspective
[25:03] go see the world see how good we really
[25:06] have it
[25:09] you'll find your passion
[25:10] thank you last question
[25:13] the other segment
[25:14] of the audience is uh people who are in
[25:17] the job
[25:19] either in the beginning or maybe 10
[25:21] years into it and is still
[25:22] trying to figure
[25:24] um
[25:25] from
[25:26] the current average to the next level
[25:29] and how how um they can
[25:35] grow from where they are or how they can
[25:37] visualize what they could become 10
[25:39] years from where they are
[25:41] and how they can
[25:43] execute that
[25:46] this is kind of an old analogy when i
[25:48] when i grew up
[25:50] going through high school and i was in
[25:51] the weight room all the time i was on a
[25:52] weightlifting team
[25:54] what i would do is if i wanted to you
[25:57] know get bigger and stronger i would go
[25:59] find the biggest strongest guys in the
[26:00] gym and i'd go work out with them i'd go
[26:02] do what they did
[26:04] and
[26:05] that
[26:06] thought process has stuck with me
[26:08] you know so as i wanted to move up
[26:11] into school administration
[26:13] i'd go talk to the walt griffins of the
[26:15] world and i would talk to the mike blaze
[26:17] of the world and he was the executive
[26:19] director here in our district i would
[26:21] talk to people that had been where i
[26:22] want to go and figure out
[26:26] what do you need to do and i take
[26:27] feedback that's the one thing
[26:29] develop thick skin
[26:31] okay don't let your feelings get hurt
[26:33] easily
[26:34] seek honest feedback pull no punches i
[26:38] would tell those guys if i was in an
[26:39] interview because there was a couple of
[26:41] principal ships i interviewed for that i
[26:43] didn't get
[26:44] and
[26:45] i would go to the people and go hey pull
[26:47] no punches
[26:49] where can i get better
[26:51] those are the best teachers the best
[26:53] teachers i've ever hired were the ones
[26:55] that
[26:56] before i could even get back to my
[26:58] office if i was in their room observing
[27:01] i couldn't even get back to my office
[27:02] without them texting me hey
[27:04] how did it go what could i have done
[27:06] better
[27:08] be your own
[27:11] worst critic
[27:13] be introspective that's a nice way of
[27:14] putting it
[27:16] um
[27:17] but the people that are in the positions
[27:18] that you want to be in
[27:20] go find them
[27:21] there's a way to access them and have a
[27:23] conversation with them
[27:25] and learn
[27:27] from those people in those positions and
[27:28] if you don't have access to those people
[27:31] come talk to come talk to me i'll put
[27:33] you in touch with anybody i can and if i
[27:35] don't have access to those people i will
[27:37] try to find somebody that has access to
[27:38] those people and get you in a room with
[27:41] them at least on the phone you know and
[27:42] that's something that we
[27:44] we do here at seminole high school and
[27:46] even back to when i was at rock lake i
[27:48] remember a young man ben morris i still
[27:50] keep in touch with him to this day he's
[27:52] almost a senior at lake brantley
[27:54] but i knew ben wanted to get into sports
[27:56] broadcasting
[27:57] so i called scott anez who was on espn
[28:00] espn radio at the time here in orlando
[28:03] and he's still on the radio just not in
[28:04] the sports department but we went and
[28:06] sat down
[28:07] during his show and i brought ben with
[28:09] me and we sat down and hung out there
[28:11] for two hours
[28:12] and that's now a connection ben has that
[28:15] he stays in touch with he maintains that
[28:17] connection
[28:18] so
[28:20] find the people who do what you want to
[28:21] do
[28:22] and if you don't have access to them
[28:24] find people who do
[28:25] and build those networks
[28:28] that's awesome
[28:30] thank you so much for your time today
[28:33] with every person that i'm meeting um
[28:36] this is a common theme that they started
[28:38] with something and then over time it
[28:40] changed and then finally they find
[28:42] something
[28:43] that they're really really interested in
[28:46] and and found their passion and purpose
[28:48] so
[28:49] thank you you guys thank you for your
[28:50] time thank you thank you for all the
[28:52] advice yeah thanks for thinking of it
[28:53] very nice
[28:55] [Music]
[29:05] you