The CharacterStrong Podcast

Today our guest is Elli McDaniel, Principal at Maple Lawn Elementary. We talk with Elli about the importance of student leadership. Eli shares about the student servant leadership program that she started as a teacher and now implements as the principal at Maple Lawn. She emphasizes that servant leadership starts with building staff, and provides practical ways that they have intentionally implemented student leadership. Elli explains that student involvement starts from the very first year that they step onto the campus, and highlights some of the ways that that students lead and serve each other every day at school and in the community. Elli McDaniel has served in the field of education for 25 years, all in the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District. She began her career in elementary education as a teacher at Liberty Ridge Elementary, teaching for 17 years in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. She moved to the District Office for 2 years as Program Administrator for Elementary Curriculum and Instruction. She has been serving as principal at Maple Lawn Elementary for the last 6 years. Her goal is to continue to serve this community for years to come, growing the capacity of student and staff leaders to support the district promise to know, value, and support every student, helping them graduate ready to pursue a promising future.

Today our guest is Dr. Lyndsey Brown a School Counselor Educator & School Counseling Program Coordinator at Wichita State University. We talk with Dr. Brown about why it is essential for school counselors and staff to connect with students. She shares practical ways that all educators can create meaningful connections with students, show authentic interest, and celebrate successes with them. Dr. Brown also discusses some of the roadblocks that prevent us from making intentional connections, and the positive impact that intentional relationships can have in students' lives. Dr. Lyndsey Brown is in her second year as a School Counselor Educator at Wichita State University, where she is also the School Counseling Program Coordinator. Dr. Brown is currently serving on the Kansas School Counseling Association Executive Board as Past President. She won Kansas School Counselor of the Year in 2021 while she was serving as a High School Counselor at Maize South High School. Prior to that, Dr. Brown has been a School Counselor at the Elementary and Middle School levels. Dr. Brown's passion is connecting with all students and instilling passion and advocacy into her future school counselors.

Today our guest is Dr. Tonya Clarke, Mathematics Coordinator in the Division of Teaching and Learning and Strategic Improvement at Clayton County Public Schools. We talk with Dr. Clarke about the crucial role of supporting teachers as they implement culturally responsive and sustaining mathematics practices. She explains how her team is providing onsite job-embedded professional development to help teachers apply the training to their classrooms. Dr. Clarke also discusses the various strategies they are using to support teachers across the 66 schools in the district, including math ambassadors, partnerships with colleges, and collaborative learning. Additionally, she shares some of the remarkable impacts that this work has on students' mathematics learning. To learn more: Read Dr. Clarke's recent feature in Ed Week - Making Math Matter: A District Leader's Mission : https://www.edweek.org/leaders/2023/making-math-matter-a-district-leaders-mission As a Mathematics Coordinator for Clayton County Public Schools with over 20 years of experience in education, Dr. Tonya Clarke has a laser focus on increasing achievement in mathematics for all students. Her team's work focuses on creating structures and establishing partnerships that support teachers with implementing widely accessible teaching practices. As founder of the I'm W.O.K.E. Project (Widening Options through Knowledge and Empowerment), Dr. Clarke and her team guide teachers through a process for developing and implementing culturally relevant and sustaining mathematics practices. I'm W.O.KE. Projects use highly accessible teaching practices that guide students through applying mathematical models to investigate social, economic, environmental, and political issues. As a consultant to several educational organizations she has had the opportunity to work with teachers and leaders around the world, most recently in Ghana, Malaysia, South Africa, and Singapore. Through her work in Clayton County, her consulting work, and her service with the NAACP, Dr. Clarke continues to cultivate critical consciousness. Her devotion to equitable learning environments and student empowerment motivates her to continue supporting strong implementation of equitable teaching practices and the development of programs that make math matter for every student every day.

Today our guest is Antonio McMath, the Founder, T4E: Trans4ormed Extreme Leadership. We talked to Antonio about the B.E.S.T. model that T4E has created to help build up young men in our communities. He explained that the B.E.S.T. model stands for Build, Empower, Strengthen, and Transform, and it is designed to help young men understand what it means to be the best version of themselves. Antonio emphasized that the model starts with empowering young men to take care of themselves first, which is fundamental to their growth and development. When they learn to practice self-care, they can then extend that knowledge to their friends, which can lead to a ripple effect of transformation in the community. Antonio is a Certified Life Coach, Youth and Young Adult Motivational Speaker based out of Tennessee. Antonio has been married to Evelyn for 24 years with two amazing sons Andrew and Aaron. His holistic approach brings clarity, direction, and positive support to youth and young adults. Antonio helps young people live their best life, by filling the gap between where they are now, and where they want to be. By identifying where growth is desired, setting goals, and objectives, focused action, goal achievement, and holding accountability, youth and young adults will reach their highest goals and dreams. Are you going through a stage in your life where you feel lost, confused, or conflicted? Do you feel like you're disconnected from the people around you, friends, or even with yourself? Are you feeling a lack of motivation or a lack and understanding of your true purpose? Do you yearn for friendships and relationships? Or do you just want to upgrade your life to the next level? Antonio is trained in helping young people find themselves, find direction, and true happiness in all aspects of their lives. We all have a light within us. You are already born with the qualities you will need to get everything you have ever wanted! Antonio helps his youth and young adult reach each milestone, one at a time. With an ultimate end goal of satisfaction and success. You will discover answers, find solutions, and create possibilities to move forward in the area you want coaching. You are whole, complete, and resourceful, and he coaches you knowing that!

Today our guest is Cyndi Tercero-Sandoval the Family and Community Engagement Manager at the Phoenix Union High School District. We talk with Cyndi about Participatory Budgeting, a way to empower students and give them a voice in how the budget is spent. Cyndi explained the intentional process that Phoenix Union has undertaken to implement participatory budgeting, which has started to increase student engagement and connection in some really creative ways. This process has not only increased student voice in the budgeting process, but also in school improvement, safety, and curriculum decisions throughout the district. To learn more: EdWeek Article - Letting Students Decide Where Money Should Go: How One District Did It: https://t.co/cnsEldUJO1 Website: https://www.participatorybudgeting.org Twitter: @TerceroCyndi Cyndi Tercero-Sandoval is an advocate of student voice, civic leader, community activist and humanitarian. She currently serves as the Family and Community Engagement Manager for the Phoenix Union High School District, where she has been enriching the lives of our youth for over 29 years. She serves as the McKinney-Vento and Foster Point of Contact and is responsible for establishing and coordinating district-wide dropout prevention, intervention, and reengagement strategies for opportunity youth who have been historically disenfranchised or marginalized. Cyndi is considered a resident expert in dropout prevention initiatives and student support services. She has received several awards for her work with youth and was recognized as an Obama White House Champion of Change in 2016. She was named a Community Luchadora for being a fighter of social justice and human rights in 2017 and was recognized for being a pioneer in empowering youth voice in 2018 with a North American Participatory Budgeting Network Award. She was most recently recognized as a 2023 EdWeek Leader to Learn from for her work in implementing Participatory Budgeting in her district. She is very active in the community and serves on several boards that focus on improving youth outcomes. She has a passion for enhancing and advancing the lives of our youth by elevating student voice in all areas of education by empowering students to act as change agents. She believes schools and districts can incorporate student voice in a multi strategy approach ranging from intentional classroom-based efforts to schoolwide participatory budgeting focusing on strategies that empower students to work in partnership with campus and district adult leadership. She understands that the community school partnership model is essential to the philosophy of educating the whole child. She engages with community agencies through collaborative action to provide supplemental services to students and families, provide additional opportunities for engagement for youth (i.e. leadership development, life skills, social justice, civic engagement, etc.), and support the school district's mission of preparing every student for success in college, career and life. Cyndi is a native of Arizona. She currently resides in Peoria with her husband and two children.

Today our guest is Ryan Marshall, School Counselor at South Salem High School and the 2023 Oregon School Counselor of the Year. We talk to Ryan about student driven suicide prevention and how they have worked to add student input and voice in supporting student mental health. He shares how this work started with one student, and how as they gathered information across the district they heard from students that they wanted to help. Ryan discusses how students have played a vital role in creating tools like a needs assessment, how their contributions have helped support students in crisis district-wide, and how this student involvement has helped save the lives of other students. Ryan Marshall is a school counselor at South Salem High School, in Salem, Oregon where he's served as the department lead for the last three years. South is a three-time ASCA Ramp school and a home Ryan considers the kindest school in America. His focus areas are grief and loss counseling, crisis management, and suicide prevention and intervention. When he's done finding joy on the job for the day, Ryan's an avid sports fan and loves hanging with his wife and two daughters. He's the 2023 Oregon School Counselor of the Year and is currently on a yearlong Sabbatical aimed at identifying ways to serve students and their families more effectively.

Today our guest is Dr. Sandi Logan-McKibben School Counseling Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor at Sacred Heart University. We talk to Dr. Logan-McKibben about the importance of being a data-driven school counselor and how we can embrace the data to help us more effectively support students and families. She shares 3 ways that we can put a focus on data and reminds us that even though data can sometimes be intimidating, it's an essential way to make sure that we are best advocating with and for students and families. Sandi Logan-McKibben, PhD, NCC, NCSC, ACS, BC-TMH, LPC (CT), CSC (CA) is School Counseling Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor at Sacred Heart University (FIU). Prior to earning her doctorate, she worked as an elementary and middle school counselor in Southern California, was the district-level Tobacco Use, Prevention, and Education (TUPE) Coordinator, and was a site supervisor for practicum and internship students. Her interests include assessment & data-driven decision making, incorporating creativity in counseling and supervision, and online counselor education. She is award winning and has served in multiple leadership roles with various state and national counseling associations, including California Association of School Counselors, Florida School Counselor Association, and Chi Sigma Iota International. Recently, she co-authored her first book, The Ultimate School Counselor's Guide to Assessment & Data Collection. In her spare time, she enjoys teaching Yin & Restorative Yoga and facilitating wellness accountability groups.

Today, our guest is Morgan Larche, the Director of Unified Schools at Special Olympics Washington. We talk to Morgan about Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools and the incredible work that these schools do by focusing on three connected components: Unified sports, whole school engagement, and inclusive youth leadership. Morgan explains how these strategies are more of a mindset than a program, and how they bring together students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities to help them see each other as equals, friends, and teammates. She also shares how students and schools can get involved with Special Olympics in their state, school, and community right now. Morgan Larche graduated from Eastern Washington University with a BA in Therapeutic Recreation. She has worked in a variety of Parks and Recreation programs that provided inclusive and Special Olympics programs to people with intellectual and physical disabilities. In 2013 she was hired by Special Olympics Washington and currently serves as the Director of Unified Schools, where she supports and builds inclusive school communities through clubs, leadership, and sports.

Today our guest is Dwight Carter the Director of Student Support Systems at Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools. We talk to Dwight about the importance of knowing and operating within your character strengths. He shares about the need to understanding the strengths that we bring to the table and talks about a free tool that we can use to help us to aware of our own strengths. Dwight also shares how knowing the strengths of the people on our teams can help us get un-stuck. To learn more about the work of Jack Slavinski visit: https://jackslavinski.com/ To take the free VIA Survey of Character Strengths click here: https://www.viacharacter.org/ Dwight Carter is an award-winning education leader from Central OH. He has served as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal and is currently the Director of Student Support Systems for the Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical School District. He is the co-author of What's In Your Space? Five Steps to Better School and Classroom Design (Corwin, 2016), Leading Schools in Disruptive Times: How to Survive Hyper-change (Corwin 2017/2021); and a contributing author to Because of a Teacher: Stories of the Past to Inspire the Future of Education written and curated by George Couros. His first solo book, Be GREAT: Five Principles to Improve School Culture from the Inside Out, was published recently (IMPress, 2022).

Today, our guest is Dr. Clay Cook, the Chief Development Officer at CharacterStrong. In this episode, we discuss CharacterStrong's new Tier 2 Solution, launching this spring. Dr. Cook shares his insights on the resources, tools, and interventions that come with CS Tier 2. He also talks about the included professional learning support that will help educators improve continuously over time. Additionally, Dr. Cook provides an overview of the small group skill-building curriculum and discusses its components. To Learn More Visit: CharacterStrong Tier 2 Solution: https://characterstrong.com/tier2/ CharacterStrong Tier 2 Certification Training CharacterStrong MTSS Certification Training