The CharacterStrong Podcast

Evonya Cornelius is a speech language pathologist with over 25 years of experience in schools, hospitals, and rehab settings in the United States and the Caribbean. She is the product of the Monroe County Public School System in Rochester, NY. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Communication Disorders from Nazareth College of Rochester and Master's degree in education from Buffalo State College. She owned and operated Manner of Speaking consulting services in Southeast Florida for 12 years. Her intention is fixed on bringing an awareness of the effects of cultural bias to educators, in order to improve outcomes for all students. From New York to California, her message is a call for us all to focus on cultivating competence, compassion and connection. We talk with Evonya about the importance of empathy, some perspective shifts that can change how we approach meetings, and how language impacts our relationships with students and their families.

Katherine is the American School Counselor's Association 2016 National School Counselor of the Year. Katherine began serving as the Flagstaff High School (FHS) Counseling Department Chair in the 2008 and Student Government Advisor in 2012. Through a data-driven, comprehensive school counseling program, Katherine and her team have received both state and national recognition. Katherine joined the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) board of directors in 2017 and is an adjunct faculty member at Northern Arizona University's College of Education where she teaches the next generation of school counselors. We talk with Katherine about the important role that school counselors have in our schools, and she shares some ways school counselors can be used more effectively.

Krista Gypton taught for 19 years and has received numerous awards for her teaching and student community service, including the 2008 Arizona Teacher of the Year Ambassador for Excellence. She is an emphatic believer in the power of service to others and has traveled as far as South Africa with students to give back. She has been a keynote speaker and trainer for the past 11 years, both nationally and internationally. Krista is the new CharacterStrong School Implementation Specialist. We talk with Krista about her new role at CharacterStrong, the most important thing that schools can do to improve its school culture & climate, and she shares some advice for brand new teachers.

Robert Hand teaches at Mount Vernon High School. His subjects are Family and Consumer Sciences and Leadership. He is currently teaching Careers in Education - Recruiting Washington Teachers, Leadership, Nutrition, and Life After High School. Robert is the 2019 Washington State Teacher of the Year. We talk with Robert about the strategies that he uses to help keep the important things as priorities in his life, and how that starts with looking at how he spends his time.

Jeff Baines' career in education has spanned nearly 30 years as a teacher, coach, athletic director, assistant principal and now he is entering his 1st year as principal of Burlington-Edison High School. Jeff has also served as a high school coach for football, baseball, fastpitch, softball, and track & field. He was named the Unsung Hero for the Sumner community in 2017 and the WA state AD of the Year in 2018. With the love and support from Neil, Aaron, Sadie and especially his wife Marguerite Jeff is excited to serve the Burlington-Edison community. We talk with Jeff about the important role that athletics can play in the lives of students and he shares some unique things that he has done to help teachers and staff engage with students through athletics.

Jared Smith is a student at Central Washington University and when he is not in class he is traveling around to speak on the importance of love. He also runs a company called Project Love People that is on a mission to remind the others that in the stress and hatred of the world what really matters is to GROW MINDS. HAVE FUN. and LOVE PEOPLE. We talk with Jared about what it means to Grow Minds, Have Fun, and Love People, how love is an intentional choice, and the importance of being intentional when it comes to relationships.

Marla Mattenson is a relationship & intimacy expert specializing in coaching couples in business together with a desire to learn how to take their drive for success and growth mindset in business and apply it to invigorate their relationship. Over the course of her 25 year career, she's helped more than 12,000 couples including Academy Award winning actors, producers and directors, NBA players and coaches, Grammy Award winning artists, and millionaire entrepreneurs. Marla was also a National Board Certified mathematics teacher in Los Angeles for seven years and is currently on the board of directors of a charter school in Hollywood consulting for them on their sexual education programs for 7th – 12th grade. She's coached couples, families, individuals, companies, as well as school culture and leadership. Using her neuroscience and mathematics background, Marla is uniquely gifted at working with couples to transform their negative habitual patterns because the hidden power of successful businesses, are the stable, loving relationships behind the scenes. We talk to Marla about the positive and negative power struggles that happen in the Classroom and she shares some strategies and techniques that can help shift the way look at power in the classroom.

Sally Rusk has taught middle school for 20 years. She's taught in the Edmonds, Bellingham, and most recently she spent 12 years as the activity coordinator at Inglewood Middle School in the Lake Washington School District. She was on the planning team for Timberline Middle School which opens in the Fall. She was the 2018 Washington State Middle Level Advisor of the Year and teaches social and emotional learning centered classes to over 250 kids a year. She is also a Character Strong presenter and loves to travel the country supporting educators do this very important work. We talk to Sally about the CharacterDare Process and how it has transformed the 18 different classes that she has led through it. She also shares some tips for those just starting the CharacterDare process.

Thane Marcus Ringler is a former pro golfer turned speaker, author, coach, and entrepreneur living in Los Angeles, CA. After competing for nearly four years as a professional, he transitioned out of the world of golf into his new endeavors. In his current work, Thane's mission is to help others live and work better. He is passionate about speaking to the journey from the journey, and wants to empower this generation to take ownership of their lives and never settle for less than they are capable of. Thane is also the host of The Up & Comers Show, a podcast all about learning how to live a good life. To find more on Thane and his work, visit: ThaneMarcus.com We talk to Thane about leadership, the different things that we need to do in order to lead others well, and he shares a few of the things that he has learned when it comes to personal development.

Natalie Fikac is an educator with over 23 years of experience. Her educational experience began as an elementary school teacher, reading interventionist and dyslexia specialist, Professional School Counselor at both the elementary and secondary level, campus administrator and district level administrator. In her previous educational experience, she served as the Director of Guidance & Counseling in Spring Branch ISD where she supported 85 Professional School Counselors, the district CYS crisis team and advocated on behalf of the 35,000 students of SBISD. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Lamar University where she taught and lead aspiring administrators. She is passionate about growing leaders, instilling self-care in those that she supports and educating and advocating on behalf of students and families in the areas of mental health, behavioral health and social-emotional needs. We talk with Natalie about the importance of the tier one supports for the mental and behavioral health, and she gives some steps that schools can take to be more intentional in the area of tier one supports.