How A Dad Turned Gaming Into Belonging For Kids

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Welcome back to Change Ed Change Change Ed.
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The number one rated, not contested educational podcast in all of Pennsylvania, especially in the Chambersburg area.
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After today.
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My name is Andre Coon.
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I am your favorite host.
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I'm also an education consultant with Montgomery County Intermediate Unit.
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And here with me is Patrice Semitek, also out of the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit.
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I don't think I say pu every time.
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I think I do a great job.
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They've been giving me a hard time about how I say my name.
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It's my name.
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Say it one more time.
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Patrice.
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There's nothing wrong with that.
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Patrice Bergeron, same idea.
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Thank you.
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Yeah, it sounds great.
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Thank you.
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And Tony Marabito from Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit, staff development facilitator.
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The main reason we're here today, if you don't mind, I'll do the intro because it's my guy.
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Tony.
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I met this gentleman.
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I met this gentleman a few years ago.
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To say he's inspiring would be an undersell.
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I want to introduce Josh Bound out of Tambersburg, Pennsylvania.
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And Josh, you can introduce yourself because you because you kill it.
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I will.
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How much time do I have?
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Is the real question.
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You can take the whole time to talk about your greatness.
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You have no idea what you're uncorking right now.
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All right.
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Okay.
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So I my name is Josh Bound.
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I have been in public education my entire career.
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I started in the Maryland school systems as a special education teacher just to get break into the Howard County Public Schools.
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And then I transitioned to social studies.
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So I'm a social studies teacher.
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Moved up to Pennsylvania 20 years ago, housing market, you know, things that people can relate to.
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And founded founded uh a future in Chambersburg.
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And so I've been working with the Chambersburg Area School District forever.
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When that occurred, I moved up here with a one-year-old son.
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He's key to this story because he found his way into an autism label via the system.
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I mean, honestly, that was the moment that kind of put me on a new path because before that label, I had had dreams of living through my kid playing sports and all these things.
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And it turns out that my son doesn't like getting touched because he's really a sensory processing disorder kid, is what he is.
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20 years, the autism spectrum disorder, that whole thing, people names change and labels are changing actively right now.
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And so he I always said he was a sensory processing disorder.
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So, like he, you know, he just had these little quirks about him.
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So I was in pure denial because I'm a jock dad.
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And one day I just broke.
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And if you watch a TED talk on this, the I tell a story about being underneath this Volkswagen Beetle that I had restored for my mom with my brother.
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And I was changing the oil and old school 1968 convertible.
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I'm underneath there, and I was asking for, I think it was a wrench or a screwdriver, and I said, Hey, can you hand me that?
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He stood in the garage because he was outside playing and he came in.
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He was gonna just literally just hand me the thing.
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And he was like, No, my hands will get dirty.
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And he wiped his hands on his chest like he'd actually touched something and walked away.
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And I just that was when I broke and I just laid out of the car crying because I was like, dude, there's no way, there's no way everything I want my kid to be X, Y, and Z.
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But then my upbringing kicked in and I was like, you know, just because he's him and I'm me does not mean we can't coexist.
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And I need to meet him where he is doing the dad thing because I grew up without a dad.
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So I was I'm super committed to being a dad.
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It was like the beginning of a journey because the moment that thing happened, I started looking for answers.
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Like, okay, how do I relate to my kid?
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Because I couldn't relate to him.
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He doesn't work at cards, he doesn't play sports, he doesn't like 90% of my game is gone and I'm in denial, you know.
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Shout out to Becky Buner.
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I don't know where Becky Buner is, kindergarten teacher.
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She was the first one to point things out.
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I say her name a lot because like I'm tearing up talking about it.
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Like now, she opened a can that I didn't want to open.
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And here, man, you got me tearing up, Tony.
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I haven't talked about this in forever.
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But Becky did her yeah, Becky Buner did her her thing as a teacher, and like it put me on a path to meet my kid where he was.
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And so where I met him, believe it or not, was at Mario Kart, a legit Mario Kart.
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We were in Walmart, and he picked up a controller in the back.
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They had a TV with the thing playing, your sunset of Wies.
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And another kid came up to him that he didn't know, and they just started talking about Mario Kart.
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And I was like, what is going on?
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Because he doesn't talk to me like what is this about because I want that relationship.
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Like, I want that.
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I was like, it's the game, it's the neutral thing.
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So I came home and I talked to my wife, and she was like, No, please don't buy one until sixth grade because she's from Midwest values, and I'm like, I'm not waiting until sixth grade.
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I grew up poor and I grew up with sports, and I grew up with how to make friends, and I know what I gotta do.
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Yeah, so I sabotaged my wife and bought the Wii against her will, and we had a real argument, but he started learning how to win and lose, and how to take turns and how to voice his opinion about a thing from games.
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It wasn't competitive, it was just games are naturally competitive, but it was just games, and then next thing you know, he went to school and he's wearing Mario Kart and Pokemon and Minecraft gear.
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So now he's fitting in with kids because he has something common to talk about.
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So that autism label isn't so harsh because kids could read his shirt and go, Oh, you play Minecraft, and now autism isn't a matter because he can start he's into it.
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There's your opening, your anticipatory set for the education people, right?
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Like that warm-up, you know?
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And so it broke down a bunch of walls.
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Interestingly enough, while I'm going through this, I started a gaming club at my school because kids they just were like, Can we just have a gaming club?
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It'd be cool to meet people.
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And that's what they like.
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That's how I started three dudes, it's Zion, Sarab, and Aiden.
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The shout out to those three.
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Then I went to a principal and I was just happened to be in the right spot because my principal was progressive in his thought process.
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I said, Can you give me money so I can buy a PlayStation 4?
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And he was like, Why?
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And I said, Because I think I can help a lot of kids and get some kids gaming.
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And I got this crazy idea.
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I saw it with my son, Bobby.
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He goes, Is it good for kids?
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I said, Yes.
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He said, I trust you.
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Get$400 from student government, and that's that.
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So he bought me a PlayStation 4.
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We had two controllers and no games, but we had a PlayStation 4.
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And by the end of that week, we had 120 kids in the gaming club.
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Wow.
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And they were bringing their bringing their things.
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And I had two advisors.
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We had an iTunes U.
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This is how old we are.
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iTunes U.
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Long time ago.
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Yeah.
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Rip rip iTunes U.
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Um, that's where we set up our shop and we had all our meetings, and like, here's the notes.
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It's like schoology before schoology.
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Yeah.
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And that's how it started.
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And then what happened was the next part was how do we keep this thing going?
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Because when my kid gets here, I want him to have this safe space of these gamers.
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And next thing you know, we're like, we just have to kind of justify ourselves.
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So it became social emotional learning.
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I didn't dive into it for that from the start.
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That was the default benefit, the gaming.
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It like I wasn't like, oh, we're gonna teach castle standards and align curriculums.
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That was never the goal.
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The goal was just to connect kids, just so they won't eat lunch alone.
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That's as simple as it gets.
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I don't want kids eating lunch alone.
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Done.
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I mean, that's not super simple.
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Let's be very real about like, yes, it's a simple concept, but that that's not simple to actually accomplish.
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Yeah, yeah.
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To make it happen is actually super complex.
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But when we started playing games, next thing you know, I just put one rule in you have to introduce yourself to the kid you're playing with.
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That's all I said.
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Like, do you know the kid's name you're playing with?
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And they went GG's and they patted fist, and then they started to shake.
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Then I was like, Oh, let's shake some hands.
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This is how we shake hands, boys and girls.
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Eye contact eye contact, more than three is weird.
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Don't do that.
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Like, you know, and social skills, yeah.
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Yeah, yeah.
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That's and that's where it all started.
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Like, then it became I was involved in scouting and uh with my son for socialization scouting, and they're big on like social philanthropy, the idea of giving back to community.
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So I was like, let me take all these kids now who have been basically leaderless because they're independently by themselves a lot, this 120 kids, and then we started raising money for charity.
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And once you start raising money for charity and the kids are leading the actual event, like, oh, we're doing a car wash, cool.
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You ate in call auto zone and set it up.
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All right, now I'm talking leadership skills.
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So now we're talking things that you people can't argue that.
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So, okay, and then we raised$1,500 for X, Y, and Z.
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And you're like, You made how much money doing car washes for yeah, there was a car wash, like the fourth or fifth charitable event we had run.
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We raised$2,400 for a kid that had leukemia in our building.
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And the idea was he was at Hershey all by himself, and the kids in our building, like, we can't connect with him.
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Like, we know him.
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His name's Noah, and he's he's at Johns Hopkins on a full ride now to college at Johns Hopkins.
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And we bought him a gaming laptop that with the money.
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I gave the money.
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Literally, there's a picture on the website.
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Like, here's a stack of dollar bills we just collected.
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Here you go, mom, go buy the web XYZ.
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And next thing you know, he's live playing with his kids from his hospital bed, which is, you know, that's not even the saddest one.
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The saddest one was the very first one we did was we raised$1,500 and they didn't know what to do with it.
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We were gonna donate it to such a Hershey Medical Center just because that's what we thought we should do.
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Yeah, and then we had a student who died who actually passed his name, Chris Sellers.
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He passed away.
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He came here week one of school, week two, he's up at Hershey, tubes, cancer, everything, and he passed away, just as awful as you can imagine.
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And our kids said, Just give the they literally voted, just give the parents the money.
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So mom showed up.
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I said, Here we cannot help you, but here is fifteen hundred dollars to help pay for.
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I mean, who plans a funeral, right?
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Like, especially for a young person.
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Yeah, like, yeah.
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So that's where it started.
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But the the the best part of this story is that when we raised the money for Noah at that car wash, yeah, Chris Seller's dad came by and donated a hundred dollars.
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And I was like, Hey, let me tell you, I need another guy, didn't have any recollection of it.
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He came up, he said, Hey, yeah, you guys, I know what you're about.
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I said, Yes.
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He said, I saw you on Facebook reposed.
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I came by to get my car wash.
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All right, cool.
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Here's a hundred dollars.
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I was like,$100?
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Like, what's up?
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He goes, Let me tell you about what we're doing.
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He goes, Oh, I know all about it because you helped me once.
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And I was like, What?
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Yeah, I mean it just gave me goosebumps.
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Yeah, like I tear up because I'm I'm an emotional wreck when it comes to this stuff.
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But like he literally was like, dude, you have no idea what you did for us back then.
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And I'm just paying it forward.
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Yeah, and I was like, if that's the grand takeaway, he said, You helped me once, and I'm just trying to help this kid now, he can do it.
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But the skills you're teaching the young people all because of the impact that your son had on you.
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Yes, like it all comes back to that.
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I need you to send us your TED talk because I feel like I'm gonna be a blubbering baby in your TED talk.
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18 minutes.
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Yeah, it's 18 minutes.
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I'm proud to say I think I'm over 10,000 or I'm around 10,000 views.
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That's awesome.
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I check in for an ego check because I'm a sports guy.
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I do like to see what commercial comes on.
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Yeah, I so that's how I gauge how well I'm doing.
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Like, oh, they're showing movies in front of my tent, you know.
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Um, yeah, another TED.
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It's called Making the Socially Awkward, Socially Active.
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That's what it's called.
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On it was a TED X talk in Lancaster.
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Yeah, that's where it started.
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And then here's the fun part you're gonna love this.
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Then I'm doing a thing at Pedency, right?
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And I get fanboyed by a guy named Tony.
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And so this guy came over.
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Yeah, this guy, Steve Isaacs.
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Yeah, this guy's Steve Isaacs, who's Mr.
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New Jersey Epic Games, Fortnite Creative, X, Y, and Z, is like, yeah, I'm taking everybody out for dinner.
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And I happen to be at the dinner because I knew the same people and whatever, and I'm just there.
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And I look across at Tony, and I forget the guy you were with, I forget his name, but he was there, you were letting literally direct across.
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Yeah, Tony's like, dude, you're the guy.
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I'll never forget.
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He goes, dude, you're the guy.
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And I'm like, what did I do?
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I have no, he's like, We stole all of your stuff.
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Yeah, and I'm like, because it's open source.
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Like, you should do this as a teacher.
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Like, I'm not making any money out of this.
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Like, go help kids.
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Why are you a teacher?
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Go help kids.
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The quiet kid in the corner will thank you.
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Trust me on that.
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And like, so I become this champion of socially awkward kids because of my son, because I didn't have a dad, because I refused to quit, and my personality is of a certain nature, and I had a leader that trusted me, which is hard to say in today's world.
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Yeah, you know, it really is hard to say, yeah, my principles have my back sometimes.
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And it, you know, it's it is what it is, but he's Dr.
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Mark Long deserves all the praise in the the the storyline here.
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And that's where it started.
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That's that's the origin.
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Now you see why I wanted him on the podcast.
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Because even if he's the most passionate, passionate guy in the world.
00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:20.240
Like have you ever read the poem Welcome to Holland?
00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.639
No, I'm writing it because I love it so much.
00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:28.399
So when I first started working with students with autism, it was one of those ones because I didn't have kids yet.
00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:32.080
And it was one of the most impactful poems that I've read.
00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:34.000
It's by Emily Pearl Kingsley.
00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:34.320
Okay.
00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:35.279
And it's relatively old.
00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:36.559
It was written in 1987.
00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:42.799
But what it does is it talks about how as a parent, you're planning on going to see Italy, right?
00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:44.320
The whole time you're pregnant.
00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:49.279
Like you're planning this whole trip to go see Italy, and then you get off the plane and you end up in Holland.
00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:52.240
And it's not, it's not a bad place to be.
00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:55.200
It's a beautiful place to be, but it's not what you expected.
00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:02.960
And so it walks you through as a parent, like uh on the outside, like how to how she navigated showing up in Holland with her.
00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:05.120
Yeah, it makes total sense, total sense.
00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:06.720
Yeah, it's a beautiful poem.
00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:12.879
It's it makes total sense because, like, as you know, when you the older I get, the more I think, like, what's my kid gonna do?
00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:15.279
What's Cad do Cadman's his name, CAD?
00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:16.399
What's CA gonna do?
00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:18.480
And he's finding his way and he's grinding it.
00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:25.200
He's he's an Eagle Scout and he's National Honor Society, he's doing all these things to do, and he's stepping up his game and he's doing his best.
00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:27.519
And he's like, I want to create, I want to do this.
00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:30.559
So he's got his associates free from hack right now.
00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:35.759
He's finishing his associate's green graphic design because he wants to create stories and whatnot.
00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:37.759
And I was like, that's great, but you got to pay the bills.
00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:40.320
Yeah, and you know, we have these real life conversations.
00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:47.600
But when he first got his autism label, and this goes back to that story, I was told by people straight up and down, don't expect much.
00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:51.279
Like, straight up and down, don't expect much.
00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:53.039
And I was like, Do you know who I am?
00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:54.399
That was my response.
00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:57.840
And they're like, I'm just saying, from my experiences, don't expect much.
00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:02.720
And I was like, I understand where you're coming from, but my situation is different than yours.
00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:06.320
And as I get older, I look back on what I changed things.
00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:07.519
I don't think I would change it.
00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:13.200
My son is legitimately the nicest human being I have ever met in my life.
00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:17.200
He is a registered green party member, if that tells you anything.
00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.320
He is he's like he's amazing.
00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:23.120
And then I have my daughter who's also amazing, but for different reasons.
00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:31.440
The best thing I think I ever did for my son was having my daughter because, like, you're talking about best friends and family and understanding care and camaraderie.
00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:36.159
The two of them together are like, dude, they're peas, they are they are meant to be together.
00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.320
So, like, there's a lot of it like that, but I don't know.
00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:43.039
I have a small suspicion that your parenting might have something to do with that.
00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.720
No, and that's well, the the other part here is I don't take compliments well.
00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:53.759
Obviously, I I do not, I will never give myself credit, even though I know what I'm doing is amazing, it could always be better.
00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:59.759
And that's the sports coaching in me from coaches like, yeah, you're team captain, but you're not the captain.
00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:01.200
What are you gonna do today?
00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:10.639
So, like, today is right now is the most important thing of my life at all times, like right now, which is a problem I have because getting this next thing off the ground, I have to like wait, and I don't like waiting.
00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:12.799
Well, it's not necessarily a problem.
00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:15.120
I think it I think it's on how you look at it.
00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:17.679
It's not a problem that you're always trying to improve yourself.
00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:18.960
I think it's a good thing.
00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:20.960
It's exhausting, but I don't think it's a problem.
00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:23.519
Yeah, do you do late nights too?
00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:29.200
I do late nights and early mornings and a whole lot of overthinking, but I am definitely not doing as amazing things as you are.
00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:30.240
So stop it.
00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:30.559
Stop it.
00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:32.879
You're the number one podcast in Pennsylvania.
00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:34.000
I heard I heard that.
00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:37.919
I did a deep dive on you guys, and you're like, you're number one of like 687.
00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:38.480
Look at that.
00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:40.240
Josh, which one is your favorite?
00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:46.000
Listen, I can this I can sell I can sell anybody anything.
00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:47.360
But I don't know.
00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.840
This what I'm doing right now doesn't need to be sold.
00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:58.000
COVID, this next part of this, why I'm talking to you, COVID is really what drives this next part.
00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:07.519
So the next part let me let me introduce this next part because I I run into Josh this year and he doesn't have his VGA USA sign up, and I'm like, what in the world did this guy start now?
00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:10.240
And so as if helping all these kids through video games wasn't enough.
00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:17.200
He's like, no, I'm gonna go a different route completely, and I'm gonna change this into games and I'm gonna make a whole SEL curriculum, and I'm selling it short again because of everything Josh did.
00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:18.879
Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:23.200
Okay, I have heard about this idea, and I don't even think it was from Tony.
00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.320
I think you're like being talked about from other places, sir.
00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:29.120
No, none of it's none of it's good, Josh.
00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:29.679
None of it's good.
00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:30.559
No, it's all good.
00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:31.519
Don't listen to Andrew.
00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:34.240
Nobody's talking about you.
00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:35.279
Okay, go on.
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:35.919
Sorry, Tony.
00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:38.240
No, no, this is so exciting and so fun.
00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.600
So the first thing I do is Josh, like, I need to talk to you to some point today.
00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:46.559
So I get over to him eventually after we're done with the esports day and we're done with the podcasting, and he just gives me this Vikings board game.
00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:48.639
And I'm like, what in the world are you doing now?
00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:49.120
So go ahead.
00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:49.519
Okay.
00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:53.600
So in the past number of years, as video game clubs in America, I've been going to nonprofit list forum.
00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:57.840
So I started going to a bunch of gaming conventions and I built up all these friends in the gaming world.
00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.360
But my world is not gaming, my world is really education.
00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:04.960
So last year at PC, we launched, hey, we've got this kind of curriculum.
00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:06.000
We're trying to this thing.
00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:06.880
All right, great, cool.
00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:09.680
So many people were talking about it.
00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:10.720
Well, that was last year.
00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:16.000
And then this year, what happened was I had added key people, Becca Caselosi, Max Jamelli.
00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:19.759
I had added some people to my group, and we started solving problems.
00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:27.839
So I was doing this thing where we launched a curriculum, and I really thought about I'm in a doctorate program right now for this at Point Park University.
00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:29.519
My dissertation is going to be this.
00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:31.599
I'm gonna, I'm gonna prove that this works.
00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:38.240
And and with beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is where it needs to be, and the whole country needs to be doing it because we have problems that we need to solve.
00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:40.319
And so, like, that's my that's where I want to go.
00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:42.319
So I'm in this thing, and I'm like, you know what's missing?
00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:45.039
I'm missing, like, it's all comes down to time, like teaching.
00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:45.839
Everything's about time.
00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:46.720
How much time do you have?
00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:49.039
I don't have time to do this, I don't have time to read that email.
00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:51.039
I don't have time, I don't have time, always time.
00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:56.880
So I said, cool, let's make a curriculum that is so simple that nobody can say no to it.
00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:57.680
That was the goal.
00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:05.599
So in two weeks, I kicked out, I, the team, we kicked out what becomes the one-day social emotional learning lesson plans.
00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:09.200
And it is a curriculum that is literally like, oh, we're using Uno.
00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:09.759
Cool.
00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:18.559
Here's a one-page front and back lesson plan that any substitute teacher could use to use Uno to teach kids social skills.
00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:21.519
Listen to these games Uno, Handyland, war.
00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.119
Like, if you can't play one of those three games, right?
00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:26.240
Jin Rummy.
00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:29.519
Like, if you do you know how to play Rummy, like grandma taught me how to play Rummy.
00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:32.319
Like, we modify these games and it's a list of lessons.
00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:37.759
So we come up with a program called One Up EDU, which is owned by the nonprofit Video Game Clubs of America.
00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:38.960
It's called One Up EDU.
00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:48.160
And the idea is use games to teach social skills because kids like games, they don't want to read about a rabbit who has emotional.
00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:50.079
That's practical application.
00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:56.079
I struggled so much with my social emotional curriculum when I was an autistic support teacher.
00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:58.079
That does mean nothing to any of them.
00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:00.000
You've got to put it into practice, yes.
00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.640
Yes, and that's and that's where it comes from, is like real world.
00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:05.759
See, what you do is you throw the games out in front of them, you say, okay, cool, let's play.
00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:16.400
And you, as the teacher, you just watch the room because I don't know how to play the game, but I know the kids, and I know when I know when Johnny's getting upset, and I know when Tony's getting upset, and I know Patrice getting upset.
00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:24.559
Like, let me jump in there and say, Okay, well, let's talk social right now because you're angry, like because you're upset because someone just rolled a six and you can't roll a six.
00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:26.799
Let's actually work through this thing.
00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:28.319
What are some things you can do to break?
00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:29.200
How about breathing?
00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:30.400
How about the hack?
00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:31.519
How do we get to know each other?
00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:34.319
So, like the instant, the the example I use is in Uno.
00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:37.279
When you're playing Uno, there are triggers and actions.
00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:39.599
When a trigger occurs in a game, you don't change the game.
00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:42.720
Uno's still Uno, you just add an action assigned to a trigger.
00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:45.039
So when someone plays a plus two, yeah, right?
00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:46.240
Plus two gets played.
00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:49.119
That person has to share something favorite with the group.
00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:49.440
Yeah.
00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.799
So now I'm getting to know my social awareness.
00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:57.039
You know, I'm a I you know I own I love my favorite dog is a pit bull because I own a pit bull.
00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:59.920
And if you own a pit bull, you're gonna be talking to me about your pit bull.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:01.440
And guess what's gonna happen at lunch?
00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:05.759
I might actually sit with you because I know one small thing about you.
00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:09.119
All of a sudden, stereotypes are out the window because I know you and I know something about you.
00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:10.160
Just a little nugget.
00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:14.559
Imagine if you're at Walmart and you got the homeless guy in the middle asking for money and you're at the light.
00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:15.519
Everybody can understand this.
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:17.920
You're at the light, turn to the left, and the homeless guy's gonna sign.
00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:20.720
Imagine if you know the homeless guy's name, right?
00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:26.480
How differently you would interact with that person as opposed to don't make eye contact, da da da da da turn.
00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:27.920
I've never heard it put that way.
00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:28.319
Yeah.
00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.279
Like, think about that one small thing.
00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:32.799
You're probably going, Hey, what's up, Mike?
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:33.680
How's your day going?
00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:36.400
Here's five bucks because I know you actually need it because we've had another conversation.
00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:46.799
Well, but not even like giving him the money, the the conversation comfort of having someone recognize who you are when you're in that situation is just monumentally different.
00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:48.240
I need you in my life.
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:48.880
So Josh.
00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:50.559
That's where one up in you comes in.
00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:50.799
Yeah.
00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:51.119
So yeah.
00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:54.720
Josh put this together and now he has packages of curriculum games.
00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:56.240
So all it's a one-stop shop.
00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:59.279
Schools just contact him, and here's everything in a kit.
00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:00.400
Like I couldn't believe it.
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:02.319
It sounded like such an idea.
00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:04.000
Like this should have been thought of years ago.
00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:04.880
And of course it wasn't.
00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:06.240
And now Josh is doing it.
00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:11.119
It is what you get in this kit is you get a hundred games, 100 board games for your school.
00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:12.400
It's a school library of games.
00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:16.640
We come in and train you on how to do it, and then we send you on your Mary Way with support.
00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:18.880
The worst professional development is twofold.
00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:19.200
Okay.
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:23.119
The worst professional development, one, they drop stuff on you, then they walk away.
00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:24.240
I despise that.
00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:27.839
Two, they drop stuff on you and you need them again.
00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:30.319
That's not actual professional development.
00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:32.400
That is a business and you have hooked them.
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:35.680
Professional development, I can learn that is the thing.
00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:38.480
Learn to fish and you teach a man to fish if you don't.
00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:39.519
That's what this is.
00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:39.839
Yeah.
00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:40.319
Done.
00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:40.880
It's easy.
00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:41.839
So that's next.
00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:42.640
Josh.
00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:45.359
Yeah, Josh, your passion is inspiring.
00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:45.759
Thank you.
00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:49.599
Your drive is is i inspiring as well.
00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:56.240
Clearly, we could talk for a long, long time, and the only restriction we have is that you're actually doing your job.
00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:59.279
And they'll knock eventually.
00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:04.480
But I'm going to toss it over to Tony for our traditional send-off of the podcast.
00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:06.240
No, I don't I don't even know how to start it.
00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:14.880
No, we just need Josh to give us his final word once he sits back down, or he can when the kids are finally in.
00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:19.839
TikTok! Hey, come on in, people! My AP world class is coming, my AP World History class is coming in.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:20.160
Love it.
00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:20.799
Come on in.
00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:21.279
It's okay.
00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:21.839
Come sick.
00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:23.279
We know we know we've got to wrap it up.
00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:24.480
So, Josh, we're gonna ask you this.
00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:25.119
Final thought.
00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:29.759
What is your final thought of all the things that you share with us, which is amazing and a lot?
00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:32.559
What would be your final nail in the coffin that you would put in there?
00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:35.839
Oh, COVID really wrecked education.
00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:37.519
We were not prepared for it.
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:38.160
It happened.
00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:38.960
We had to deal with it.
00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:41.279
And we don't know how to deal with post-COVID kids.
00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:41.839
They're different.
00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:44.319
Post-COVID kid is not the pre-COVID kid.
00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:48.079
And so we want any shot at getting back to that in the next 20 years.
00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:50.880
There we're gonna have to invest now and like do it immediately.
00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:52.480
And it's got to be on a daily thing.
00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:56.400
We have curriculum written for schools that want to invest weekly into this.
00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:59.519
We have school written curriculum written for schools that only have 10 minutes.
00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:09.119
We have curriculum written for our special education teachers to pull kids out that are the most socially awkward and using role-playing games to actually teach real scenarios with the five of them as problem solving team.
00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:12.880
This is not a joke, and I think this is the next revolution as far as education is concerned.
00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:16.559
But we got we got to do something or we're just complacent.
00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:17.759
Josh, you have a website for this.
00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:19.920
Yeah, oneupedu.com is where it is.
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:22.240
One number one, upedu.com.
00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:25.039
VGC USA, also the top, VGC USA.org.
00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:27.759
It will link to one upedu if you if you hit that button at the top.
00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:30.559
Everything's at VGC USA on our on our socials.
00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:32.319
We're just a bunch of teachers doing things for kids.
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:33.839
That's our whole organization spiel.
00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:35.759
There's six of us and a college intern.
00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:36.400
That's what we got.
00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:42.720
So if you want to help, anybody wants to help and want to get involved, I've got I've got at least 120 teachers I want to get in front of.
00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:43.839
Well, let's go.
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:48.480
I would I would challenge all anybody who's listening to ask themselves why they're teachers.
00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:50.880
Why are you actually doing what you do?
00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:54.799
Because if you're not trying to help the kid that can't help themselves, you need to lead.
00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:55.039
Yeah.
00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:56.480
Josh, do it that simple.
00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:56.960
I love that.
00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:04.400
And I just want to finish with you took one of the biggest adversities in your life and you turned it into such a powerful positive tool for so, so, so many kids.
00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:06.079
So just thank you for taking the time.
00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:06.880
Thank you for doing this.
00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:07.599
Thank you for all you do.
00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:08.319
Appreciate it, man.
00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:09.279
Thanks, bye guys.
00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:09.839
Bye.
00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:16.000
Josh, a little background, because I know we've talked about a billion things, but I don't think I ever told you about this podcast.
00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:19.039
So we're in season three of this thing.
00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:22.079
We are actually the number one educational podcast MPA.
00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:22.799
For real.
00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:23.680
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:24.079
Yeah.
00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:24.960
There's only two.
00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:27.440
But I wouldn't worry about it.
00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:29.759
Number one, listen, don't talk yourselves down.
00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:31.119
You could easily be number three.
00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:31.759
That's right.
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:32.880
That's right.