Doug Webb on Leadership, Legacy & Lehi High | Roots & Branches Podcast
Full Conversation Transcript
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welcome to roots and branches of Lehi the podcast where we get to know the faces stories and lives that make up our
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community I'm Ryan Harding and I started this podcast as a way for us all to connect with the people we live
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alongside growing up in a small town I learned that connections go beyond blood they're built through shared experiences
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friendships and the moments we celebrate together each week we'll sit down with someone new from Lehi to share their
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unique story their passions and what they love most about living here so whether you've been here for years or
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just arrived join us as we deepen Our Roots and reach out to our branches one
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story at a
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time welcome Doug web we have Doug Webb here today and uh who is a a friend and
Meet Doug Webb: A Pillar of the Community
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I would say a Piller of the community that that that seem right to you well I don't know about that but I guess
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whatever you would say I wouldn't consider myself that but I sure love the community well okay so let's start let's
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start with that because you're you're you're born and raised here in Lehi right and so and you've worked in Lehi
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you know been in the school systems for a very long time why why I guess first
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of all what what do you like about Lehi why why why Lehi why did you stay in Lehi this is a community that I've been
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involved in my whole life my parents were involved in this my grandparents and great- grandparents I remember of my
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grandpa as I was thinking about changing I started my career at Copper Hills High School and as I was going to uh take the
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job but Lehi wasn't sure how that would be being having raised grown up here
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yeah you wonder what people will think of you because you know as a teenage kid I wasn't perfect and my grandpa and my
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dad said Doug you need to take that job we uh we support and love this community
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and so I did and been grateful ever since um to love this community and have
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been here my whole life and you started off as as a teacher then I did was when did you get your first job here back in
Doug's Journey in Education
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Lehigh I started back here at Lehigh in 1997 so that was my first year teaching
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here at Lehigh and and what grade did you teach what what did you teach so I was an agriculture teacher um I taught
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uh the shop and I taught science um at Lehigh U my first job was at Copper Hills High School okay and I taught a
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lot of subjects I had seven different subjects I taught wow from I taught a chemistry a physics an AP environmental
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science a biology an animal science a natural resource and I had seven different subjects wow that's a lot that
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kept you busy yeah and Lehi was awesome and I came and uh I w't say that I was
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the best shop teacher but I loved shop I loved the kids it was awesome I good and
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and so you were so how long were you a teacher for I taught for 10 years I
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actually did an internship at Box Elder High School okay um and so I taught for two years at Copper Hills and I taught
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at Lehi for eight okay and and then moved into Administration after that yes
Transition to Administration
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I went from teaching at Lehi to being an assistant principal at Lehigh for seven
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years after I taught for eight okay and then I went to Oak Canyon Junior High for 5 years okay and then I came back as
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the principal of Lehi High School what's tell me the difference between teaching and administrative stuff what I mean you
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know yeah that's a good question I i' love teaching loved loved teaching um I
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think the thing I loved about teaching is that you get to see the students on a oneto one every other day on an AB
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schedule sure Administration is awesome you get to work with the kids you get to see more students you get to work with the teachers um but you don't
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necessarily see them as frequently as you do as a teacher and so it's just different um the grass isn't Greener
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it's just a different flavor and teaching is great and administration was great and and do you um I mean obviously
Challenges and Rewards of Being a Principal
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what what made you want to be in administration I mean did was it just like kind of a natural progression of
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you know kind of changing and stuff like that or I guess um you know I've got a lot of people in this community that
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know me and so they know whether I tell all the truth or I don't tell all the truth and the truth of the matter when I
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went into administ ation assistant principal Alexa and I needed a little more money and so we uh we did we I mean
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I loved it I love being an assistant principal in working with uh the students and being able to impact them
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um I love teaching but it was that progression financially a little bit and
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the ability to maybe help others um at a bigger sense a more Global sense and I
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guess that that's another question I have then is for like why education did have you always wanted to go into
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education or I mean or was that like you know like yes I always want to be a teacher I want you know I'm really
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interested in agriculture I mean obviously I know you're you have horses and different things like that so was that always or was was another path
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maybe just curious on that well everyone in Lehigh knows that I uh am not a
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cowboy I want to be but I'm not and that I wanted to be a farmer and I'm not I uh
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my dad worked at BYU um and he was agronomist and so and agriculture was a
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big part of our life and my grandpa had a farm uh in here in Lehigh and then I had
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the privilege to work for Stan Lewis on his farm and I loved that job I Lov that
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job and when I uh returned home from serving a mission I wanted to be a farmer and that was not an option for me
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even though Stan hired me back and I went to work for him and so I decided in talking with my dad as we went through
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oper opportunities and careers in agriculture that the best thing to do would be an educator and so I went into
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education um I also had great Educators chur my principal um Russ Fel was a hero
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of mine um he was also my State president and he was my principal and um
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so I knew that being a an educator would be a great opportunity and I'd be able
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to practice what I couldn't do yeah so I could teach what I couldn't do and so
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that was another so he he was your principal and your State president which ironically that's what you've been for a
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lot of people too yeah it's ironic in fact when I uh when I went back to Lehi
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he came to visit me he passed away during Co um and he and his dear wife they're they're phenomenal but he was he
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was healthy when I went back to Lehi and he came to the school to make sure that I knew how to be an educator and I
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remember when he cave it I thought you know people remember me as a kid and here I am I'm going to be the principal
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of the high school yeah I'm grateful for some growth certain people who didn't know me when I was 12 and 13 14 15 um
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anyway so yeah he he was he was a hero of mine in education do do you feel like
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you I mean he didn't work with him so I'm not sure if I could say you modeled a lot after him but obviously he was a hero or you know somebody that you
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looked up to and obviously ended up ironically becoming a lot like I guess right yeah I he and uh dell price was
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the principal of Lehi for a long time and I watched them and thought you know if I could be half as good as them the
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things that were different though that we would talk about is think about this they didn't have cell phones they didn't
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have emails sure um when I was a student at Leigh we didn't have a stoplight in
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fact Arctic Circle when it was first built was built as viddles oh and that
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was not there when I was a student in high school that was built after I graduated oh and so Lehi had uh the
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broadcaster and we had IGA we had we had kers and and before kers is in the building it's in now it's where Standard
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Plumbing is and so you can imagine the difference between Dell price Russel and
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then Doug web the difference in in technology the differences so anyway it
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was good and he he was such a he was such a great man well so so let's talk more about obviously you spent a lot of
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time as leeh high Prince well that's where I think a lot of us know you he the principal of Le high so let's kind
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of dive a little bit into that but like tell me any cool well I'll just start with any cool stories from that time
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anything that stands out from that time as being principal anything that uh um you know comes to mind I guess and and
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then we can buy into other things but well you know Ryan it's a it's an interesting thing as you think about
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stories um ironically or it's been phenomenal a lot of my students that I
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taught live in this community Y and when and I became the principal I have
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students children that are at the high school and I was their teacher and uh
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one of the funny things is when I became the assistant principal and then the principal we had teachers at the school
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that were still my teachers and so now I become their supervisor sure and their
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uh I guess the the fun stories is just the full circles I I think about what I
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was like as a kid what I was like as a teacher and then what I was like as an administrator and how people kind of
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kind of watch you but but some of the funny things one of the funniest things that happened to me and I even talked about in graduation is the students came
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to us one time and wanted to do everything but a backpack day and they asked if they could do that and I I
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thought you know that'd be great I don't see anything wrong with that yeah and the night before everything but the
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backpack day two of our kids at our house are asking if we still have the old microwave and if we have an old crock plot and uh I wasn't smart enough
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to Clue Into what was going on and the next day I get there and we have everything from garbage cans to dogs
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carrying kids books to uh students bringing their little uh siblings to
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school to carry their books to uh your crockpots microwaves yeah it it was it was bigger
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I remember I both we got together as Administration team and I said they won if they beat us it's just all there is
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to it sure we just have to get through this day safely there's not much we can do other than get through this day
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safely then in graduation I said chalk one up for the students cuz they'd beat
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us that day we were not prepared for that they they they thought a little
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more creatively than I guess you did at the time prepared yeah we weren't prepared what uh I mean so obviously
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being a principal's hard too tell me some of the hard things or what you know without you know going into too much you know
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detail but what are some of the hard things of being principal and stuff like that what what are things that maybe people wouldn't know about you know that
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never really hits the news or sees the light of day per se I I one of the
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challenges is uh we all all of us love people then we love kids and one of the
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hardest things as a principal or a leader is um not everybody gets the job
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not everybody can have um all of the things that they want because there's
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only a certain number of starters on a team and there's only so many seats that
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we can do for certain AP classes and whatnot and that's really hard that was really hard for me um that might that
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was the hardest thing is to watch students who we that I loved and care about great kids just the best of the
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best and them not have some of the things that they had longed for sure um
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I remember you and this maybe we'll share it when when our son Ryan not you Ryan but when our son Ryan was uh in in
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seventh grade maybe it was 8th grade we were playing a basketball game and he's
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followed me around and it was you know I mean it's basketball and so there's only
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a certain amount and and people were asking me questions about their their
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kids and stuff and and my Ryan says to me C and he says Dad does anybody like you
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and uh I said Ryan let me just teach you something really quickly I said I want you to watch here for a minute and our
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school's 1,800 students um that's how big we were at the time and I said and there will only be five students we it
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was a girls and a boys game I said there will only be five in each that will be starting out of three grades and that's
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hard because as a principle all the kids are awesome and equal they just are and
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yet it's it's not like the activities the Athletics will allow us to say well
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today we're going to start 25 kids or today we're going to start whatever it's really hard to to watch a student take a
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an ACT test or an AP test and not get the score they need um or want those are
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hard hard things those are hard and so people would come to you even on Sports you know I think a principal mainly over
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academics but Sports too people would say you know they'd bypass the coach and go to the principal and say hey why
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isn't my kid on the team sometimes yeah and and and I will say this um being a parent
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myself we we want our kids to be successful of course and we hurt when
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they hurt and and I was grateful when people did come talk to me um because we we can always improve um I can improve
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and I can get better and if no one ever talks to us and shares some of the things that are going on sometimes we
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have blind spots and we don't know some of the things that we ought to improve on and so um people were good and they
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would come and we would visit and and and they really were they really were good what made it hard is I couldn't
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always fix the problem I couldn't always solve the issue sure because there's
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only so many spots yeah or you know and it it uh when it comes to high school
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students they're trying to find their way too and so they make mistakes and I
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do believe and and I believe as a as a an adult as a leader
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that we got to help everybody and kids especially realize that they can always recover when they make mistakes that we
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want them to be successful and Achieve and and um but sometimes you have to be
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you have to do things because certain lines were crossed but we also have to help people realize that it's okay we'll
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be okay we're we're we're still going to graduate and we're still going to be a great successful contributor to society
Community and School: A Symbiotic Relationship
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to How uh going back to the Lehi part of things I guess how does how how do you
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think a school fits into the the community what you know what role is Lehi High School is supposed to play in
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this community and stuff well I you didn't ask this and I don't know if you're going to go ahead but I've been
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around a long time and so when you think about Lehigh High School um from the time I taught Lehigh high school all
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went all the way up into Travis mountain and Highland and all the way out to Fairfield and there was one high school
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and now we have Skyridge in Le high and leik and in the boundaries that were
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once Lehigh we have West Lake and in Cedar Valley um and and I only share that because as things change and growth
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comes that's a good thing um but with changes we have two high schools in Lehigh that are both hubs community
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centers where we're going and supporting students in in performances and I mean
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especially like right now Christmas time yeah um as a community we want to be to listen to music and we go to plays and
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we go to athletic events and yeah it's kind of the Hub the heartbeat sure of the community sure do the do does the
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high school ever do any kind of you know service things or anything like that I mean it's besides you know outside of
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itself I guess do they ever yes you know student councils that are doing service all the time for for helping Lehi for a
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long time and and Becky White um and she's a longtime resident of Lehi as well and um she she ran the Sports
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Marketing and we did the Jazz Bear Christmas shopping day in fact just did it again this year and uh and how to
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watch the kids go shopping with a student in need yeah the high school
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kids oh I mean it's funny to it's not funny it's great to watch them they're pulling out their own money to say okay
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the Jazz Bear stuff we raise this much money you have this much to spend and then they're in line and and and uh the
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high school kids are like how can I help give some more and and uh what a great
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opportunity for kids and and Becky did a great job with that that was uh something that we did for she did for
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many many years good what so you talked about technology changing and different things like that so what what are some
Impact of Technology in Education
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challenges that face you know education right now I guess in that regard just you know the world's changing different
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things and stuff like that you know what are some challenges and how how did you
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address it as a principal and we'll get to the administrative part here soon but well you know Ryan you should know
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better than to ask me anything about technology uh a fair point ask me about
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tech over the course of years you start to use a projector or you start to use you know the I still have some good
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overhead yeah I could put out there I've seen it and I you have you know a chalkboard and some chalk and you know
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one of the there's a there's some great things of techn techology and there's some hard things with technology yeah one of the hardest things with
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technology and and you can Ryan it's okay I have a good sense of humor you can make fun of me about my technology
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skills but one of the hardest things for educators is to stay up to date on all the technology sure and uh I have to go
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back to teaching so I got to I got just got to tell you a couple things about students come when I was a teacher um
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there were a lot of students who knew more than I did um they came from backgrounds where they knew a lot and
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they were awesome and sharp sure and I needed them to teach me because there were things where I was like I don't
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know how to do that but I know I got a student that knows how to do that and and so uh I relied on students heavily
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well with technology students know a lot about technology and so do parents and
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and so staying up to date with all the current technology and costs of that is a challenge sure the other challenges
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are the things that that happen that are out of our control things that happen um
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through the phones and and social media and you know we can say anything and do
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anything um and and I do think sometimes we even as adults don't recognize that
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challenge sure did you see did like you're talking with well I guess be
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broad but um you know students bringing phones into classes and stuff like that and I guess you know kind of messing
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with those sometimes or yeah I'm talking more of uh you know a great teacher
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they're they're good at managing those kind of things um and and you know most kids and parents are good about managing
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that component but just Facebook Instagram um I'll give you one that was
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hard for me sure tell me yeah when I was H kid and and you know um growing up
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here and anybody who listens to this will know that this is there were times I didn't get invited to things sure I
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didn't know I wasn't inviting sure I didn't get invited to some things and now with technology everybody knows
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everything that's going on every minute every day sure and I hurt sometimes for
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students um or comments that are made on social media they get back to them and and those are just challenges it's it's
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it we have to learn to navigate it and it's just challenges because they know about the party that happened when they weren't invited to would for sure yeah
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do you ever have teachers that um um you know some sometimes you know you see cops getting recorded or teachers
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getting recorded does that you know like you ever had any issues with that at at high school and stuff like that or you
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know we did and that made all the news and so I guess people could go look that
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up we've we had one that was that uh was pretty uh extreme I I will say that one
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of the hard Parts with technology is we all make mistakes sure
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and we're all trying yeah and I don't know sometimes it's hard to define those
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lines um because there's things that aren't okay they're just not okay um and then there are times like probably on
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this technology it's a podcast right yeah so probably on this podcast yeah um
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somebody's going to listen and and maybe I'm going to say something that I my intentions were pure sure and it didn't
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come across and and that's sometimes hard when it comes to people being recorded or or whatnot but there are
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extremes and and we address those because things aren't okay either true
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gotcha good that's a good good answer the there's a balance there I guess right so yeah okay um anything else from
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your time from Lehigh high school you know I mean it uh if somebody's wanting
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to you know pursue that same path and stuff like that uh it's it's great
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people are good I mean I can't I have to say Ryan because you know we were the construction project of the year and
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whatnot but we went through four years of construction yeah and between the community and our city and the district
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um people took care of us yeah um that can you imagine being a neighbor across the street and all the dust and mud and
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yeah um people were good and you look at the facilities now yeah it's compacted
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it's a tight space yeah but it's a beautiful facility it is and that was
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four years while I was there um and boy I wouldn't change that for the world to
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have that opportunity and and I can just say the teachers The Faculty staff neighbor community everyone was so good
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to work with it it was a good I mean it wasn't easy no but it was good did you
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get any say on some of the things did you get to have input on where things went and you know yes Lehi was a design
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build because of the space okay and so there were a lot of people involved in
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uh the design process teachers had a lot of say um just because it was a
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design build meaning here's our space what are we going to put in this space what are we going to um let go of or
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what are we going to have cuz we can't go out or wider or or what not so every
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everyone was great to work with the Architects and the the construction company uh wesland and Naylor went lond
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Naylor Wentworth lond it was a it was fun I have to be honest it was fun else
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felt that but it was a fun project and people are good to work with good and you said it's a design build so is that
Discussing Lehi High School's Design and Property Changes
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because lehi's you know footprint is a little bit smaller than other high schools is that kind like cuz I'd heard
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I heard once that it used to be bigger then they sold off some land and stuff like that you know which I guess would be the the sports facilities and stuff
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like that I guess but okay well that's I'm not that old so if the they old off property I wasn't
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around well and you know I went to school there in fact I I joke about this Ryan yeah but I tell everybody I was
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there 25 years I am counting four years as a student sure so count but 25 years
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um in my experience that probably hadn't been sold off but I'm sure there was I've heard that too um it is a smaller
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campus size um but when the rebuild happened it wasn't like there was a lot
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of property hanging around to build one close and whatnot and yeah anyway so it
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was it was a fun project and uh I our district was Alpine District was great
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in the design process so everybody had a part of it is what I'm saying from Alpine District to the contractors to
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the architect to teachers fun project good good so don't talk about anything
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that might be wrong because that'll just hurt my feelings and uh I have thin skin so I can't handle my feelings being hurt
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well hey let me tell let me okay I got a question for you then too so I so I uh you know I've noticed like with my own
Improvements in College Readiness for Students
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kids uh and I don't know if this just different from where I GRE up versus here but I will compliment the school
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district on the fact that it seems like kids are going you know to college with a lot more credit and a lot more
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different things like like when I went to college I remember hearing about people they had all these credits already for college and I'm like wait
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what huh you know I'm starting from scratch you know um and I was a good student and stuff like that you know but
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but uh it seems like that's something that Utah and and maybe specifically you know Alpine School District I guess has
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done well with kind of getting kids ready for college where they're they're coming to college with college credit
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already and stuff like that I don't know that seems you want to speak to that I guess well there's just a lot of opportunities for kids um the beauty of
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a comprehensive High School which all the high schools in Alpine District or coads of high school is is
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there's uh something for every student um and so a student that wants to have
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an associates degree can take enough concurrent enrollment to have um their associates degree or AP classes and get
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credit that way or take and get seeky Pathways and and have a certificate
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prepared for the workplace to being involved in Fine Arts to um activities
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to Athletics to clubs there's something for all students but but certainly when
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it comes to college credit if a student wants to do that there are those
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opportunities for for students to to do that good good well again it seems uh
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like I said my my girls are far more prepared for college than than I was so
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yeah well they they're they're smart too you know and Ryan I I know you a little
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bit so I they are smart yeah well their moms that's why yeah they their mother's
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awesome that's right I agree um well okay so so um you know well speaking of
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Lehi again so lehi's grown a lot um has that growth so so you mentioned 1800
Growth and Capacity of Lehi High School
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students is that maxed out or how many students can Lehi hold and and has the
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growth changed that I guess a little bit or maybe now with Skyridge being here that's kind of just taken off some of the load but um yeah I don't I don't
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know I if I start saying numbers um somebody out there will question my numbers cuz my memory I'm getting older
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so my memory isn't quite as well as it ought to be but when we split with West Lake Lehigh was at about 24 2500
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students okay um we were in a different situation and we didn't have satellites
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and things like that and so then westl um was built and then when Lehi split
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with Sky Ridge I wasn't at Lehi when it split with Sky Ridge okay um but the
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numbers were about 2700 20 right in that number okay maybe 2,800 when Sky Ridge came um when I tell
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you the story about Ryan and I out at you into basketball we were about 1,800 but I think Lehi right now's at like
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2200 okay um and I I'd probably get these wrong so don't quote me on these
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everybody out there but um I think Skyridge is probably in the 2500 range somewhere like that okay and do you
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anticipate more growth with I mean to the high school handle more people I guess it can because it was at one point higher so yeah it but yes you're you're
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you're want to ask me the question I want to avoid Ryan and that is that everybody knows that parking's a premium
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and so we can handle a lot of things but I recognize that parking's a premium and
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I asked you before we started to stay off that subject because parking is a premum Let's do let's do let's do it
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we'll move on well okay so talk to me you know and you tell me how much you can talk to because I know this is
Challenges and Emotions of District Reconfiguration
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ongoing but obviously the city um well the district recently voted to split the district right you know with Alpine
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School District and stuff like that so obviously that's going to present a lot of challenges and a lot of things that
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the district's going to have to do um do you want to you know what what what
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things do you anticipate you want speak to that for a second I guess you know that's a broad question I
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don't want to pigeon hole you to one thing no you know um with change and and
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our superintendent um is is really good at trying to help us navigate some of
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the emotions that we have and and and when I say that is um helping us all we
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all need this to learn how to handle emotions sure um change can be hard um
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it can be good and it can be hard at the same time um I remember I'm GNA like and miss when I talk about change one of the
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hard things that happens with change is Friends sure um you know you you work at a school forever and then you get
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notified one day that you're going to O Junior High sure um I'm leaving my
29:45
friends at the high school and I've known them and I and I love them dearly and and uh I go to O Canyon well I'm
29:53
there 5 years and guess what I developed this love of ok Canyon
29:58
and then change happens and what do I do I leave and and I come back and and and
30:05
then I'm at Lehi and and then when I left Lehigh to go to the district office that was hard on me um I was excited and
30:13
heard at the same time because I didn't want to leave and have this major change these people that I love and I'm when I
30:20
say people I'm talking the whole Community I'm talking faculty staff students everyone um I loved and love
30:28
Lehi High School yeah and the whole Community um and it's hard when you have change so when we talk about
30:34
reconfiguration uh we talk about some of the things that happen is change and change is good and change can be hard as
30:41
well and I think that's where we're at as far as um moving forward is we've got
30:47
to uh figure out how to make sure that we remained um focused on what matters
30:54
and that's the students that they can get their college degrees that they can participate in activities
31:01
and we take care of the students and I believe with all my heart that's going to happen uh no matter what that that we
31:08
have great people that are involved in in cities and in communities um in
31:15
Schoolboard and District that truly care about kids and so I am not worried about
31:22
the ability to take care of students um and that's what it's all about is taking taking care of of our kids and and
31:30
helping them be successful so what challenges do you see you know what what
31:35
are some of the big challenges that you see coming with this this split I mean as far as just not necessarily things you can't you know overcome but what are
31:41
some of the like okay hey yeah that's going to be a big one to tackle you know kind of thing I you know I'm not in
31:47
the nuts and bolts of all of that but I this is just a perceptions of what I can
31:52
see being challenges yeah is uh assets and and how to div up some things and
31:59
setting up structures and um and and if people when I and I say this with love
32:05
and sincerity we have to get to where we could handle our emotions so that we're in a good place as we set up things and
32:13
uh recognize that it's going to be okay and we're going to make this happen and and uh everybody's going to be taken
32:20
care of and and we've got to be in a place to uh handle each other with care
32:26
and concern well um and this will take place over
32:32
the next couple years I guess right yeah it uh the the actual three new districts
32:38
start in the fall of 27 uh 2027 so
32:44
that's that's when they they begin and and Ryan I just have to say that you know I um it's good and hard and and all
32:53
the things um I've been in Lehi a long time and I've watched the growth and and and uh the growth is good people are
33:00
good yeah um we we're not always the same um as we were 30 years ago when I
33:08
was here one of the things that I'm trying to um just is that when I was at
33:14
Lehi there was a time when everything around here was all of us and and
33:19
sometimes you know those those changes are things we have to to wrestle with and and things shange my kids have all
33:25
grown up and they're moved out of the house yep so we've had change at our house and and change happens yeah which
33:33
you know ultimately I I I've always said I'd rather have the problems that come with growth and stagnation you know with
33:39
things not growing right you know I mean we want things to but there are challenges right you know so well okay
Insights on Leadership and Personal Growth
33:46
so I'm gonna I'll switch gears again here um uh by nature of your jobs um
33:53
both you know secularly and religiously you've been a leader speak to leadership for a second what what are what like
34:00
what have you learned from being a leader I guess just in general as far as um you know cuz again it's a job but but
34:06
you are that job leads other people right I mean so that's what I say talk to me about that well Ryan and uh
34:15
everybody knows this the best thing I've learned about leadership is all the mistakes I've made you want to put your
34:20
life on the spotlight and see all the mistakes you could make that's that's where where it is I I would say that um
34:28
and this comes from my mom um she she everybody that ever met my my mom loved
34:36
her she could uh talk to anyone about anything and she just loved everyone one
34:41
of the things that I believe with all my heart is that whatever happens we're
34:46
going to be okay if we take care of each other and make people feel um like
34:52
they're cared for and they're loved and that's the hard part with leadership is that sometimes you don't have all the
34:58
time um you're running as fast as you can to get something done or whatnot and you've got all these uh budgets or
35:06
you've got uh speaking assignments or speaking events or this to get done and
35:11
and and the hardest part I find with leadership is the ability to slow down and take care of people and to really be
35:18
able to have those connections um because sometimes as a leader you've got your mind is so full of things that it's
35:26
hard to slow down down um and take care of people the way you should so the
35:32
indiv because you know you could argue hey as a leader I'm taking care of people I'm doing the administrative
35:37
stuff but you're saying hey kind of you know the one-on-one aspect sometimes yeah is what you're talking about and
35:43
stuff yes right yes and and yet the administrative stuff can't just stop it's got to happen it's got to keep yeah
35:49
exactly that's important we we do have to be ready for the things that have to
35:56
move forward um but it anyway those are some things that that I've seen I've learned a lot from a
36:02
lot of great leaders that I've watched um and I'll tell you I've learned mostly from people that have been in my that
36:10
I've watched and I've thought you know the things that they go through the things that they're working through um
36:18
the challenges that students face I need to be better so I learn you to be better
36:25
because of people that that I've been around what do you find you know so
36:30
again you've been involved in a lot of things do you have more uh is your level if your at level of empathy your level
36:36
of Love uh increased from when you started day one versus you know day now
36:42
well yeah well I would say yes but you'd have to ask people you'd have to ask my former students that I taught that now
36:48
are my leaders and are now uh the the people that do things for me you'd have
36:54
to ask the teachers that I was involved in I think that but sometimes my
37:00
perception of myself is not reality it's TR Fair that's what other people's perception is sure what uh as far as you
37:09
mentioned mistakes and stuff like that any mistakes that you you could go back and you're like okay if I had to do it
37:14
again uh and maybe not even specifically but things you know if you could go back and do it again or there things that
37:19
you'd like okay I would have done this differently I would have done that differently on on whatever leadership
37:24
aspect you know um I don't know right if I have specific but I will say this late
37:31
ear late in my and I'm by the way I'm I'm not this great leader I struggle it
37:36
all the time I struggle at I but but there was a point I remember thinking um
37:41
I was taking something on that I wasn't sure why I was or not I was being pushed
37:47
to take it on from uh by people and I I remember thinking okay my name's
37:53
attached to this the buck stops here yeah you're the one that am I taking this because I think I should or am I
37:59
taking this on because everyone else thinks I should and I remember having the thought of I need to that doesn't
38:06
mean you don't take it on either by the way sure but I need to take a step back and say Where am I really yeah what
38:13
where is my belief system here um because you can get you can have people
38:19
pushing you so hard that you at the end say now why did we do that yeah why did
38:24
I uh go after someone when maybe I shouldn't have or um you know I
38:33
buildings this is a a srel moment kind of but in the in the church everybody wants to use the buildings yeah and I
38:40
remember getting pushed that I shouldn't let people use the gyms and whatnot and
38:46
I was brand new and so I took it on and then later I was like why did I take that on was that the thing that why was
38:52
that the thing that I I took on and and so you know you learn is that I mean
38:57
that's just on that note I guess maybe is that sometimes because government wants you know sometimes wants to fix
39:03
everything but sometimes it's best to I guess stay away too like let people I guess govern and do themselves or I
39:09
don't know well you know with my technology I still use a Franklin planner do you yeah and I have to give a shout out to Lehi high school they
39:14
bought it for me to say you know here you go we know you're never going to change but in the Franklin planner they
39:20
have quotes every day and one of the quotes that uh this was years and years
39:25
and years ago um was the art of Being wise is the artart of what to overlook
39:31
and and I know people say it's the art of what he'll to die on what he'll not to die on but I I in my mind I think
39:38
okay as I lead what am I what am I going to overlook because there's always something wrong of course Even in our
39:44
homes with our you know there's always something there's always something and so I always think about that the art of
39:49
Being wise is the art of what to overlook sure I like that anything else
39:56
uh any advice you'd give to Young leaders young students you know as far as uh um you know wanting to you know
40:05
pursue education you know obviously you know the benefit of Educators is you are shaping young minds right yeah um any
40:13
any advice you would give to and again that's pretty broad I I I I I think in
40:18
my career the things I valued as I've gone into education in my own Community
40:24
is that people were willing to let me recover and Overlook some of my weaknesses um there are people that in
40:31
this community that know all my faults and weaknesses and and I appreciate that
40:37
so I would tell young people to to realize that even when you make a mistake um you're going to be okay let's
40:44
not get too discouraged let's keep plugging along and then I would also share that if you're going to go into
40:49
education to have fun and not take yourself too serious let the students teach you because they are pretty smart
40:55
and they they know a lot and and uh just don't take ourselves too serious to
41:02
enjoy the opportunity to to work with people right that good good uh as far as
Future of Lehi and Community Involvement
41:10
Lehi I'll step back and you know uh where do you see Lehi in 20 years you
41:17
know what do you see for the future of Lehi you know I I'm not on the planning and zoning committee uh they would see
41:24
it they would see it better than I see it cuz I don't know how much property there still is to to build um I do think
41:33
and and I would say for our whole County to be honest with you yeah but we have great people we really do we have
41:38
sincere people in this County and area that really are trying to do the best
41:45
and and we can what what's interesting to me is and not to get political here Ryan it's not my place because I'm not
41:51
smart enough to get political but I don't know about the ability to afford
41:56
houses and stuff like that so I don't know what that looks like in the future um but I have a lot of Hope in the in
42:05
all of it because we have such a great community and we have great people that are sincerely trying to do the best they
42:12
they can and so it'll just be interesting as we continue to go forward
42:18
in this great City any advice you'd give to somebody that's just moving in you know if somebody moves into the
42:24
neighborhood you know that into Lehi any like you know you've been a part of Lehi
42:29
for so long and obviously Lehi has changed a lot and stuff like that but any any advice you'd give to somebody moving in um so I have been around a
42:38
little while and uh the growth has been good I've learned a lot from people sure and I'm grateful for people that have
42:45
moved in and helped me see things um I would just tell people to get involved I really would I whether it's our
42:51
community days the Lehi Roundup um Civic and Civic assignments um school systems
42:58
getting involved getting to know your school being a part of things being informed um I would just tell people to
43:04
get involved it's a great great place um so get involved anything we haven't covered
43:10
that that you want to hit on that I did I did I hit all the topics for you you did a great job um I think I'm just not
43:17
smart enough to answer all your questions answer them youve a shout out to all the people that have taken care
43:23
of us you and me and and this whole wonderful community and and uh it's it's
43:30
a great place it's a great place I've just been grateful to be part of it to be honest with you well I like you know
43:37
in a world that seems to kind of shed things quickly you know I'll move on you know I'm going to you know get rid of
43:43
you or something like that you know staying in one area to your point you know hey that means some people know you and they know you know the the good and
43:49
the bad right but I like that you know hey the benefit of staying though is the
43:55
the roots that you're planning and the different things you know the the the ability you have to affect the community because you know the community you know
44:01
the people here but I see a lot of benefit to that I guess you know to stand and put in one area where you're
44:07
really able to make difference I guess and and again I I don't know that anybody's interested in this but I I'll
Conclusion and Reflections on Community
44:13
just tell you one quick story yeah when I was 10 years old I had a little paper out here in Lehigh and uh I delivered
44:20
papers and um what are the houses I was late of course you know it's 10 years
44:25
old on Sunday morning you don't get up like you should and so I was late delivering the paper and somebody who
44:32
who's a hero of mine he's he's passed away but he is was phenomenal um let me
44:37
know let my dad know that I was late giving the paper so the next week I go early I'm 10 years old remember yeah and
44:44
I ring the doorbell at 5:00 to make sure that they know that their paper's there
44:49
yeah um and of course they get up and they come and and what do I say it
44:55
wasn't me and and my dad says who else would be out at 5:00 in the morning who else would be out at 5:00 in the morning
45:01
re ring a doorbell well then you fast forward and I had the awesome
45:07
opportunity to teach their grandchildren and you they uh they were so good
45:13
through all of the growth and changes at Lehi high school and so good to work
45:18
with and would tell people you know what Doug's Doug's working on it this they we okay and I think about how awesome that
45:26
is that that people are willing to let you make mistakes at a young age but that's kind of how it works in these in
45:35
communities where you've been around a long time yeah people know everything that you've ever done yeah they even at
45:41
10 years old so but you're able to still grow and still change and you know and then like you said teach their
45:47
grandchildren and stuff so it's good I mean I think that's what makes up a community right so um that forgiveness
45:54
and love and different things like that I guess right so it's a great Community yeah anything else Doug or no just
46:01
thanks and and uh for everybody out there such a great place all of this
46:07
County and everywhere we are and just get involved and and uh we're going to
46:12
take care of everybody good I like it thank you thank you thanks everybody thank you for
46:19
joining us on roots and branches of Lehi I hope today's story helped you feel a little more connected to the people who
46:25
make up our community remember every person here has a unique story and together we're what makes Lehi feel like
46:31
home if you know someone who would be a great fit for this podcast please fill out the form in the show notes so we can
46:37
reach out and schedule an interview we'd love to hear from you a big thank you to our sponsors the work Harding Home
46:43
Mortgage team and play Harding nightly vacation rentals for supporting this show and helping us bring our community
46:48
closer together until next time keep growing those roots and reaching out to your branches take care
