Friends & Fellow Citizens
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Friends & Fellow Citizens
#60: Expanding Personalized, Quality Education through Mentorship feat. Via Kentner
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In this ever-changing environment for American schools, what are the root causes for the education struggles facing inner city students? Via Kentner talks to us about her experiences in mentorship and how good policies and initiatives can help students can find the right path for their education.
Dream Beyond Website: https://www.dreambeyondinitiative.com/
Graduating and Growth Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/graduating-and-growth/id1560710883
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Cr011vyZDyzHQZD10ywAU?si=6J_JDn93StW6Q2m4dKdEeA&nd=1
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LinkedIn: Olivia Kentner
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IMPORTANT NOTE/DISCLAIMER: All views expressed by the host are presented in his personal capacity and do not officially represent the views of any affiliated organizations. All views presented by guests are solely those of the interviewees themselves and may or may not represent the views of their affiliated organizations, the host, Friends & Fellow Citizens, and/or The George Washington Institute.
Patriotism, faith, national unity, education, physical responsibility, civility, the values that define America. Fascinating stories and talks from America-loving patriots dedicated to preserving freedom, opportunity, and justice. Welcome to the Friends and Fellow Citizens Podcast. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Friends and Fellow Citizens. I'm your host, Sherman Taloski. Thank you so much for joining us today. Be sure you hit that subscribe button when you're finished listening to this episode so that you can get all of your episodes every single week. Really, really appreciate you joining me on this podcast journey. Next month, I will be making an announcement about a brand new Patreon system with different memberships and new perks. It's gonna be a lot of fun because this is gonna be a great way for you all to uh support this show, but also a way for me to thank you especially for all the support that you've been giving me throughout this journey. I really look forward to it. Be sure to stay subscribed and so that you can check out the announcement at some point next month in November 2021. Today's episode is featuring a special guest named Via Kentner. She is from the hometown of the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, from a place called Wapakaneta, Ohio. She's a graduate of Wapakaneta High School back in 2018 and is a current senior at the University of Cincinnati studying communications and PR. She is the nonprofit founder of Ready Set Graduate, which helps high school students and families prep for the journey after high school. She's also a podcast host like myself. She is the host of the podcast called Graduating in Growth. She's also a canon and competitor for the job of Miss Ohio, as part of the Miss America Scholarship Organization. And she has a bit of connection with the American Revolution. I'll make sure to ask her about that. She is a lover of running, she loves rollerblading and karaoke, and her go-to song is Dancing Queen by Ava. And now I'd like to welcome Via to Friends and Fellow Citizens. Via, thank you so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER_01Hey Sherman, thank you so much for having me on. Sherman, he's absolutely amazing, and I'm so happy that we got to actually meet through podcasting together, which is just awesome.
SPEAKER_00Fantastic. Well, I want to first of all get to something that uh was a bit of a fun fact about you. Um, as you know, you know, this show is about Washington and about the founders and kind of how we relate their values and principles and some of the things that they've done to nowadays, but you do have a connection with the American Revolution Times. Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_01Yes, so I happened to be a daughter of the American Revolution, and my grandfather George Kantner, as well as his brother John Kantner, both served um in the American Revolution, which is absolutely amazing, as well as they ended up living down in Pennsylvania for the rest of their lives. And it's cool to kind of have that community as um being a part of the daughters of the American Revolution, but to have such a special moment in our country and have somebody who I come from be part of that um that journey towards independence is absolutely amazing.
SPEAKER_00Regardless of what people's backgrounds are, you know, they get to be part of this amazing country. And so, you know, just learning from uh the lineage and learning from the history, I think is is good enough for me. And uh I love doing it every single week. Let's get into a bit about yourself and about how you got involved in today's topic, which is I think very, very relevant, especially as a lot of students are trying to figure out how to learn amidst COVID, but also really even times before COVID, we've had many, many challenges for young students in inner cities and their schools and their communities. So, Via, tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of how you got involved in volunteering, tutoring, and you know, just some of the activities and issues that we're gonna be talking about today.
SPEAKER_01Yes, so I happen to come from this super small town in Ohio called Wapakaneta. It's the hometown of Neil Armstrong. It's my only fun fact that I have from there. But I grew up at a timeline school in rural America where I didn't have a lot of resources presented to me for life beyond high school and graduation, as well as mentors that kind of gave me number one, somebody to look at to see what kind of careers are out there for me, but also somebody to guide me through, you know, really pivotal moments in my life, my career. I mean, granted, I'm only you know 22, but you know, the career is just starting. However, you know, it it goes to say a lot. And after that, I decided to attend the University of Cincinnati where I'm currently in my fourth year out of five years, and um I absolutely love it. When I started off at UC, I ended up as an education major and tutoring in the inner city public schools of Cincinnati. What my teachers did, and they did it on purpose, was to go and mentor students who were in the lowest income areas and most of most of the time the most dangerous areas of Cincinnati. Not because they didn't trust schools or necessarily the area, but they wanted us to really get that one-on-one experience of what it's like working in you know different types of education. Because most of the students who go to college and end up becoming an educator typically tend to be from, you know, upper middle class families, grew up in a really nice area, um, and so kind of having that experience of diversity, something a little bit different, kind of tells a true story, and you get to find your passion within the education realm because of it. I ended up mentoring um a few young students from there, and it was the best experience of my life. But what I realized from that experience was that education is not exactly equal. And I can't wait to share more about my stories and the issues facing education now, today. So excited about it.
SPEAKER_00Wonderful. Well, let's kind of go back a bit into that, you know, that passion, that drive. You know, you obviously recognize that maybe there were some things that you didn't expect from your experience. What what were some of the surprising aspects of your experiences um doing all these activities? Um, and how did you um react to them when you first realized these surprises?
SPEAKER_01Right. So I tutored and was a teaching assistant at Hugh STEM High School and down in here in downtown Cincinnati, where I got to work with freshmen through the language arts courses. And I am a huge reader, an avid history buff. If you ever ask me what kind of books I love to read, I love to read memoirs. I have too many to count. But you know, when I was working with these students, not only was you know just a teaching assistant working with, you know, the other teacher as their helping hand, but was also becoming a mentor to some of these students. These students didn't really have somebody to look up to. Um, as well as the biggest thing for me, what I realized is that in these schools, in any school, in any child's life, their potential is limitless. What makes them limit their ability to succeed in life is all the outside forces, the things that they cannot change. Um, and when I so said earlier, how education is not equal, there are going to be different types of school districts that you walk into every single day, or maybe you know, when you have kids one day or you have children right now, there are certain school districts that you want to get your child into because they're better than others. However, not every family can financially afford to get into really nice school districts. And on top of that, not every school district is going to have all the resources that not even just like the basic resources, but even more than that to use as a stepping stone to have students achieve their fullest potential or at least see what they can do and how the possibilities are endless. And so when I saw that in my students, I'm like, what do you mean like you can't go to college? What do you mean you can't, you know, get a nice job working in retail or you know, or maybe working in a factory or going to a trade school or a vocational school or something like that. It's just I realized that they didn't have education, they didn't have the educational opportunities, they didn't have the resources, they didn't have a mentor, and they didn't know who they could be. So my reaction to it, I just said, you know what, I just don't think that this is fair to the students that I'm teaching because they deserve all the opportunities that I either got or never got to have. So I created a nonprofit organization called Ready Set Graduate. Um, and the baseline why I chose that title is because I'm a huge runner. So uh I chose that and then ended up having this opportunity to mentor students in CPS Cincinnati Public Schools through their high school experiences to then getting them number one into four-year degrees, two-year degrees, trade schools, or getting them a resume and getting them prepped to go into the workforce. And that has just been a guiding light in my life.
SPEAKER_00That's wonderful. Could you share, you know, one or two stories based on your nonprofit, you know, when you got started, and uh maybe uh something related to kind of the early times when you got involved in and helping students um reach their potential and um and try to find those educational resources and opportunities.
SPEAKER_01Right. So the cool thing about education is everything is always evolving. So the more, the more I go into it, the more in-depth I get, the more I want to learn and be curious about it, the more opportunities I see for students. There is a lot of programming out there with major companies and school districts, as well as nonprofit organizations in every state. It's about what's finding best for your specific school and the students that need those resources. But when I was starting everything out, it was cool because not only was I teaching at Hughes STEM High School, I was also being an academic coach in UC's Learning Commons. So I gotta work with first-year students as well as students who were on academic probation. Um, the ones who had all of the necessary funds and the resources to get into college, but weren't using their potential. They were just kind of flying by in their classes or feeling out of classes because they were told that they have to go get a degree in a specific field because that's what this success meant to their parents. Um, and so seeing that gap between people who had the resources and weren't using it versus somebody who deserves to have the resources but doesn't have it just made my heart tear. It's a huge gap, a huge gap in education. And so, you know, when I saw that starting out, I said this isn't fair. There has to be something that needs to be done for these students, and there has to be some sort of program out there. And so there were there were a few things um that I saw within nonprofit foundations um and stuff, but it there wasn't anything that I was specifically um really guided towards. So I ended up asking the principal at Hughes High School, saying, hey, listen, I have this great idea to mentor some students, to help them throughout the rest of their high school careers, to get them possibly into college, to see their potential, um, to figure out what they can afford financially for college. I said, Will you allow me to do this? She goes, you know, kind of like you. I was like, kind of like you too. And she's like, all right, you can do it. And so on Thursday mornings, I would have mentorship meetings with students and kind of how this whole nonprofit started. I didn't start with thinking big, I thought little. I said, what do students need right now to number one, be able to be successful, but also number two, what do I have to do to get these kids to come to my mentorship meetings? What do I have to do? And I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, what led me to want to be going to organization meetings at 7 a.m. in the morning was breakfast.
SPEAKER_00So I like where this is going.
SPEAKER_01You're like, yeah, I like where this is going. So then I just started getting donations from local businesses around the society area saying, hey, listen, my name is Via Kettner. I'm mentoring these students. Can I get some donations for donuts and milk or you know, coffee, whatever possibly I can get to have these students, you know, get some breakfast, number one, free breakfast, and then get to learn more about themselves and all of what's out there for them. And since then it's kind of created into an entire initiative where I've not only been able to keep up with this mentorship program with schools, but also kind of expanded a little bit more and really delving into you know potential and growth as well as you know empowering young women to achieve their fullest potential and to get the opportunities that they've always wanted to have. And so it went from kind of being just ready to graduate to more of an initiative that I've kind of changed into what's called now Dream Beyond, which is honestly amazing. And since then, I've you know I'm working with partnerships with different companies here locally and soon to be nationally, and I've had an amazing opportunity to work with Michelle Obama's initiative and um nonprofit organizations to partner with them, um, retire, as well as Better Make Room, which has been incredible.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. I mean, uh I love I love, I know. Yeah, I know. It's it's wonderful because you know you recognize the problem, you want to speak out about it, and look at what you've done. And this is really, really incredible how this this leadership, right? Putting leadership into action and working with those kids. Um, I'm curious to know, you know, what kind of reactions have you gotten from uh any parents? Because obviously, you know, they they want what's best, generally speaking, what's best for their kids, right? Um, what have been the reactions from them like if you've if you've gotten any notable ones so far?
SPEAKER_01It's interesting that you say that because every parent that I've talked to has said, oh my gosh, I wish this I had this when I was their age, or oh my gosh, wait, this is so nice, or oh my gosh, I never even knew that um this specific process happened when applying to colleges, or how you can study for the ACT or the SAT, or you know, how do you even file your FAFSA? Like, how do you do that, right? Like, like I wish I had somebody kind of guiding me through that, and so you know, having that reaction from parents and teachers and you know, um big corporations saying this is important, and I also think it's important to tell too that when I say that, you know, I'm talking about college admissions, not every student needs to go to college to be successful in their life. Like, and I make that very re very relevant and very known. But everyday student deserves to be prepared for life beyond graduating high school, whatever that is, and so parents kind of see it not only as you know, you know, having students achieve their potential, but also a realization, in fact, of like who their child is and you know what their strengths are and where they will end be ending up like lining up in their own individual path, and which has just been really cool. I haven't had anybody, you know, hate on me yet, so that's good.
SPEAKER_00I could tell Via is very popular. You can everyone can tell listening to her that she's very, very popular.
SPEAKER_01Via might be a people kind of person.
SPEAKER_00So um that's wonderful. I I had a quick question before we move on to something that I want to focus on today. Um, you mentioned companies. I thought that was very interesting because you know, a lot of people might associate education with you know schools, nonprofit organizations, but we're increasingly seeing companies reach out, like Walmart and others, saying we're willing to pay for education or willing to help you at achieve education. So what would have been the conversations like with companies uh and kind of their incentives for pitching in into this initiative that you've started?
SPEAKER_01Right. So it's crazy that you mentioned that because I think everybody always thinks that education is just education and and it's all nonprofit work, but let's be honest. Education, the education sector is a business. And the cool thing is, is with most, you know, school districts and things such as that, is that many businesses can write it off taxes, you know, they can say, hey, we're donating like this amount of money to this school, or hey, we're donating donating these resources to this program because it helps these people and it supports our values. So, you know, when you go to these companies and you say, Hey, listen, like I have this non-profit organization. I was wondering if you would like to pitch in, what can I do to help? How can I get you sponsored and stuff? So um, you know, the cool thing is that you know, I talk about uh, you know, these mentorship meetings. Well, it's not just like the mentorship meetings, it's like going to these businesses and saying, here's a problem, here's what we need to change, how can we help you? And the cool thing is too, is that a lot of um businesses now, and there are and there are certain even businesses here in the US, US, and I found this article on Forbes magazine actually, uh, where they are partnering with school districts and companies together to get students or even individuals who are older um educated in their companies to kind of rise above to keep those employees um for a long length of time. So let's just say Walmart, for example. I'm I'm glad you brought up Walmart. Walmart helps pay for your education. So when you graduate high school and you work at Walmart, and let's just say that they see that potential in you and they want you to become an assistant manager or a manager, or maybe you want to work in the pharmacy, right? Walmart has those opportunities to get you leveled up in your education so that way you can make more money for your family, or just for yourself in general. Like these huge companies have this kind of like that finance, that backing to get you going with your life. And I think it's important that when I talk about this to my students and to their families, they have to understand that when you work for you know PNG, Chipotle, you know, Chick-fil-A, these places help you win scholarship money or even just have money to provide you resources for your educational growth. And I think that that's incredible.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Now let's get into something that I think is concerning for people from all different backgrounds, but especially kind of the main subject that we're dealing with here, which is you know, we hear a lot in the political sphere about you know the issues with um inner city schools and the challenges that have faced them, not not just recently. I mean, even though a lot of people might say, well, this has been a recent issue, my understanding is that it's not. It's that it's actually been kind of going on for a long time. Could you just give a sense of you know some of the top priorities that you think are, or top issues that you think are really hindering the ability for school districts in um some of those um not as equal parts of the cities um to be able to succeed and achieve educational goals?
SPEAKER_01You know, some school districts provide more resources than others, some school districts are in more affluent areas. Um but what everybody needs to know is that every school district is struggling in their own types of ways. Um, but really when it comes down to and mostly in the inner city schools is the parents and the backing for the kids. Now, this doesn't mean that parents don't want to be involved in their child's education. That is no way true. I mean, of course, you have like some people who just people who don't really care. However, most of the time in these inner city public schools, these children are coming from single parent households, coming from foster homes where those foster parents are working multiple shifts, have multiple kids to feed. And are just trying to make it to the next month in their rent. And as much as a parent wants to be involved in their child's education, those parents are probably working second or third shift because you might get paid a dollar more if you work those second and third shift um hours. So in no way does that hinder you know their love for their child or their want to be part of their life, they're just supporting that child in a different way. Now, why is this important and why do inner city students strive a little bit more? Well, if you come from a family that doesn't work a nine to five job or a nine to three job, or your mom or dad isn't a teacher who doesn't have that flexibility, um, that child won't get read, you know, books to bed every night. They don't have somebody helping them with their homework all the time. Um, they don't have somebody feeding them good nutritious meals, you know, teaching them values and morals and ethics and what's going on in the world and history and news today. If you don't have somebody helping you with that, then how are you supposed to succeed? That's what makes it really hard. That's what makes it difficult. Um, and so that's one of the biggest reasons why these inner city schools are struggling. It has it truly has something to do with the resources. Um the inner city schools have a lot of resources given to them because there are a lot of people, a lot of people know that there's a huge emphasis and need for these students to be successful. But a lot of the times, like, you know, a school district can only do so much at the end of the day. There has to be a line drawn. And so that's why you see students in the inner city of schools not being as successful as um other school districts.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I've I've heard some of those really, really disturbing numbers about um you know the effects of single parent households on you know kids' education, and but in particular, also when it affects particular ethnicities too. Um there's a lot of, for example, there's a lot of African Americans in this country who who don't uh didn't grow up with a father. You know, and I I just I just raised that because you know it's something that we should definitely really take into consideration, this idea of you know the effects of the family structure on someone's environment. Because we all recognize that we all come from different backgrounds, different environments, and it affects us, right? So it's important to at least figure out some of the factors. Via, I guess I'll I'll kind of play devil's advocate here because I absolutely agree with what you're saying. Um, if someone were to say, like, oh, come on, Via, this is this is a money problem. We just don't have enough funding. We need we just need to increase funding for schools because there's not enough resources. Um, to what extent do you agree with that? Um, and would you how would you agree or disagree with something like that?
SPEAKER_01The the hardest thing is that in these areas, you know, they they want to increase funding, etc., which I do agree with in some parts because a lot of times, like in a very affluent area, such as Dublin, Ohio, if you're from Ohio and you're listening to this, you know that Dublin, Ohio is a very affluent area and they have a lot of wealthy families who live there. One of the the school districts and their funding comes down to property tax. So if you're in a low-income area and you know your rent is only like $500, you know, your your tax isn't going to be very high, so then that's where that bridge that gap starts to divide. Um, however, you know, you mentioned talking about not having you know a father figure or something like that. Well, that just comes down to the fact of you know, everybody's life is different and everybody's um stories and the way they became who they are is going to affect who they are, you know, the next year. But there are also so many opportunities for mentorship in inner city schools that nobody um either knows about or talks about. And um, because of that, you know, hopefully that that gap, that bridge can be um, you know, brought in just a little bit more.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and let's let's go in a bit more into the mentorship aspect um because I I've always felt that this was something very necessary too, you know, regardless of the kind of family structure you grew up in. It's good to have someone who knows the row who at least can give you a second opinion on how to navigate through school and how to find a good career choice. Via, tell us about you know what your definition is of a mentor, like what a mentor should do. Um, but how how does that apply to the um you know the successes and chan of a child's education given kind of the issues that we've been talking about a little bit earlier today?
SPEAKER_01Right. So, you know, we mentioned earlier about parents wanting to be involved but not having the time and the resources to be involved. So there are multiple programs out there, and one that I specifically work with that I partner with is Big Brothers, Big Sisters. And when it comes to mentorship, it just depends on who your child is and what you and your child want out of this relationship. A mentor is not supposed to be somebody who uh buys you things, who um provides you with different stuff, but truly somebody that this child can come and talk to, learn from, and um be able to realize like who they are and who they can be. Now a mentor can be of any age range. Um obviously, if you're gonna have a young child, you probably are going to want more of an older adult to be a mentor, but if you're having somebody who is in high school and they want a mentor, having a mentor who is going to be, you know, five to maybe ten years older than them is actually going to be a little bit more helpful for that student, for that child, just because that child can have somebody who's just a little bit older than them, who understands the trends of what's going on in life and politics and you know, careers and stuff. And that person can be a little bit more of a guiding light towards who they want to be. Um, and that's where I see a lot of times within mentorship and within those relationships, like those gaps of you know, trying to figure out how this child can be successful in school as well as how they can be successful in life, that gap kind of closes just a little bit more to kind of have somebody of knowledge because let's be honest, when I was in high school and middle school, I didn't know when to listen to my parents. I thought that I knew everything, right? Like every everybody does, you know. I I thought I knew everything. Turns out I didn't. And you don't really want to listen to your parents, but you'd listen to somebody who's uh you know a little bit older than you who's more of like your friend than your mom or your dad. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00I I'm I'm just imagining Via as like the rebellious uh belligerent teenager. I mean I mean we we've all been there, you know.
SPEAKER_01I wasn't I wasn't a rebellious teenager.
SPEAKER_00I just I'm just joking.
SPEAKER_01I was very dramatic. I was very dramatic.
SPEAKER_00We've all been there. We're not here to pick on Via today. I'm I'm just uh I was just joking there.
SPEAKER_01Are you sure about that? Because it seems like you're trying to. Just kidding. Just kidding.
SPEAKER_00Um oh my gosh. Well, uh, I think the the mentorship aspect is for sure, you know, something that I I think is it's it bring it's it humanizes the the the the the solutions, you know, and and I I think this is something that we might often forget because we might be so attuned to policy or to funding and all that when we kind of forget about you know the relationship between two or more people, what have been some of the you know I mean with everything, right? You're gonna have some challenges on you know implementing and on um keeping up with mentorship programs. What have been some of the challenges that you faced, you know, um ensuring that kids have the right mentors and that people have that will uh or have that availability to help others when they want to?
SPEAKER_01Right. So, I mean, for me personally, it comes down to number one, does a school district want to do this? And then number two, does the school district really want to listen to a 22-year-old girl in front of them? And as and as crazy as that sounds, you say, Oh, well, Via, you're you're smart, you know, you're very articulate, you're a great communicator. And of course I like I know, but the problem is that I don't have as much life experiences as these people on these school boards and as these principals to kind of go and talk to the masses. And you know, I'm not I'm not a mom, um, you know, I'm I'm not a parent, you know, but I'm a fantastic babysitter, you know. Um, but but you know, truly what comes down to is the logistics and the practicality of it. So um, you know, going on to that, and why I mentioned Big Brothers, Big Sisters uh a little bit ago is because that is a national, national organization and it is a nonprofit organization that anybody can get involved in in their school districts. Almost every school or every area has a chapter. And the reason why I brought it up was because I know for a fact that with my mentorship program, like I can I can work on that specifically, but that's not just me. I can't do that all myself. I you need more people, and when you get those partnerships with somebody like Big Brothers, Big Sisters, that gives you a national organization to kind of leverage your way into meetings and getting involved. And that's but yeah, that's been that's been one of the hardest things is truly what who's gonna listen to a 22-year-old, you know, young woman coming into this meeting.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Well, you know, you've been so successful in your initiatives, right? And you've developed a lot of experience about this. And um before we move on to more of the the solutions part of our episode today, um what is what are a couple things that you wouldn't like to say about how you know mentorship programs and you know these and issues with um you know the inner city schools and all that, how how do these kind of tie into a larger picture of of you know the education issues that are facing America in general? Now it's a it's a big country, right? So you know it's it's not it's not gonna apply to every single school district in the the states. Um but what is something that you maybe you would bring up to say a federal legislator who's in Washington right now and you have you uh you have something to say about how your experiences kind of tie in with the larger education issues for this member who might be on the education labor committee in the house or something.
SPEAKER_01Right. So uh there are so many things I can go into. There are just so many things because I'm so passionate about this. But one of the biggest things, and if you're gonna go if I were to go to a legislator right now, I'd say, hi, my name is Via Kettner, and I want to talk to you. And it would be about the importance of understanding that number one, not everybody has to go to college. And number two, let's talk about the student debt crisis. Right? And that student debt crisis really comes from parents and families and children not knowing the responsibilities and what they're doing when they're about to attend a university or a college or a school. The kind of commitment that they're making. Um, and I've seen that with so many people, especially even from especially where I'm from, and I'm from rural, like rural cornfield America, whereas I've had so many students to give you a glimpse of it, right? Out of the say 100% of the students, I would say about 70% of the students that I went to high school with didn't go to college. They went to a trade or vocational school the last years of high school. Now, why is this important? Why is it important for somebody to go to a trade or vocational school instead of having that typical regular high school experience of the last four years? Well, if your plan is to not attend a post-secondary school, you do not plan to go to college. It's gonna sound a little harsh to some people, but then why waste your time going through four years of high school when out of those four years you can be learning a skilled trade to make you successful, to set you up for success after you graduate? No one that's a huge thing, and something that we don't talk about enough, um, and also those trade and vocational schools are not around to everybody. And why is this important? Because there are going to be all different types of students who go to every single school district, and the school district does not provide resources to these students, then these students are going to be number one failing on a high school, not being even able to go to college because they're not being successful in their classes, and also they will feel so lost after graduating high school that they won't even know what to do, and they'll go to job to after job to after job. Whereas if they learn a skill trade while receiving their high school diploma, they're going to be set up for success. And then going on to that, learning about the financial responsibility of going to college, how much it costs, what does this mean for you when you have to pay back those loans and how you can achieve scholarships, which is basically another one of those things that if you were a first-generation college student and your parents and you guys are going through the process together for the first time ever, it's going to be extremely difficult to understand what's happening. So understanding the financial commitment you're making is important, and what kind of programming can we do as not only just a single state but as a nation to provide resources to these students who maybe aren't going to be college-bound.
SPEAKER_00Wonderful. I I will absolutely agree with you. No, it's it's true. Like, you know, you you bring up some really important issues about the expanding those opportunities for school, right? I mean who who who would be against that? Right. You know, and um and having that financial responsibility, understanding what you're paying for. You know, it's um it's kind of like um so sometimes it's kind of like me when I go to the when I go to the s store and I I don't I I I always forget the sales tax. And I always forget like, oh, it's actually a lot more expensive because you have to pay that additional land. You were mentioning student loans, right?
SPEAKER_01Those big those big purchases. Those big purchases.
SPEAKER_00That's right. So I want to now before we get to a couple other you know solutions or other questions about solutions, um, are there any stories about the mentorship programs that you've been involved in that you think really kind of embody you know the things that you believe in and things that you want out of these mentorship programs?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so one of the girls, and I this is a story that I have from when I was tutoring one of the girls in the inner city public school system. Her name is Marjela. Nobody knows her last name, so it's okay. But she lived in the poorest school district area of Cincinnati Public. The poorest of the poor. And she came from a household where she had actually had both of her parents, but she also lived with both sets of grandparents and her brother in one apartment. In one apartment together, because that's all they could afford. This girl was smart. She was so she she is, she's so smart. Um, and I'm sitting there and I'm talking to her, and I'm like, hey, so like, you know, what do you want to like who do you want to be when you grow up? Not what do you want to be, but who do you want to be when you grow up? And she's like, I don't know, maybe I'll do hair. I I might work at the I don't know, the speedway down the street, because that's what my my dad does. And I'm like thinking to myself, Marjayla, you are so much smarter than this. Like you could go to school, like you could like work in a really nice office or something else, something cooler, like whatever you want to be in. So I ended up talking to her about her options, about what she can do and who she can be. And since then we really built a great bond, and she's actually currently getting ready to apply to college right now. And her plan right now is to attend Kent State University for fashion design. And as crazy as it sounds, she's really good at art and she's really smart, and she's incredible, and she's like that one girl that I just tell myself, I'm like, if you're not even if like one person's life just changes a little bit, it'll be better. And the cool thing is because I worked individually with her, she was provided thousands of dollars worth of um grants from Kent State, not from Kent State, but from Kent State and Fafset to where she only had to pay like $1,000 for her entire first year of college. Think about that. Like that just shows that there are programs out there for her. There are scholarships that she applied for that give her the opportunity to be successful in her life, and um, she got works today jobs, and I'm just I'm so happy. I'm just oh my goodness. Something like that, you just you can't take those memories back. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's a great story, my goodness. You know, that potential, that's that's really what I'm going for too, which is ensuring that you know people have that potential because there is a lot of untapped talent out there. Um, and we really have to, and I'm I'm really glad that via you know you're dedicating all this time and energy to to do that because it's so important. Imagine the difference, right? And that kind of leads me a bit into you know some other areas of like solutions that we can we can do to address this. And you kind of touched upon some uh some of these uh a little bit. Could you elaborate a bit more about you know the student let uh student debt uh problem and in terms of like uh you know the conversations you've had or the kinds of interactions you've had with people who don't even know what the price tag is or who for whatever reason are just told that they have to get uh a f a college degree. Um what what what do you think are it could be a kind of a mix, it could be policy, it could be just like a messaging side of things. Um what what are some some ways you think we could address the student debt problem, which unfortunately it's a huge number. Get ready for it, 1.7 trillion the last time I saw it. I I I was actually di I real quick, I did a um uh an episode with someone uh a little while ago, and I figure I even if you paid, even if all of us paid uh assuming no interest, okay, if you paid a million dollars an hour for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year, it would take you nearly two hundred years to pay that off. It's just a crazy, crazy number.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah, and I, you know, I I tell people all the time, I'm like, we're what three almost four trillion dollars in debt, and half of that is student loans. Half of that is student debt. Um and I'm really glad that you talked about this because um I know that President Biden has came out with some initiatives and some programs to allow for families to get some coverage regarding um their the opportunity to attend a post-secondary school, which I think is great, but I also think that we should be more selective and specifically more selective in who we choose to get those funds. Um, and not because not everybody deserves a chance, but like what is the success rate of this person um possibly achieving, you know, just even to graduate. And so what we have to talk about is you know, when I when I reflect with parents and families and students, I said, hey, like went to dream school. When I was growing up, my dream school was New York University. I really wanted to go to NYU because I saw it in all the movies and I said, this is where I want to go, this is who I want to be. And then you look at the price tag. And back in 2017, 18 when I was, you know, applying to colleges and stuff, it was around for tuition and room on board to attend NYU was 72, around $72,000 for one year. And sometimes you just say, oh, it's just a number, it's fine. But the fact of the matter is that let's just say that you're going into a liberal arts degree, you're going into creative writing, or you're going into communication and public relations. Um nothing that if you were to get a degree like your career out of college, and you know for a fact, like I know for a fact that I will not be making more than a hundred thousand dollars when I graduate college starting off, or even probably around like fifty grand starting off. Um knowing that one year of college would cost more to double the amount that I would be making in my career um just starting out. Can't financially afford that. You can't. And not only that, but that that just trickles into everything in your life, and that'll follow you around to the basically the day that you're dead. I mean, when your kids are applying to college one day, you'll still be paying off your loans. You will still be paying it off. And to put this in perspective, when I was a senior in high school, I had a really great teacher. And in the state of Ohio, you have to take a an economics class to graduate. Well, instead of it really being an economics class, what my teacher did is he actually changed it into a financial responsibility course. Or if you guys don't know this man's name, his name is Dave Ramsey. He believes in no debt. I don't know if you know. Yeah, what we did. What we did is about every single day we listened to Dave Ramsey talk. We fill out his booklet regarding how to basically live your life with no debt. Now that doesn't mean that Dave Ramsay, I think, is like a little extreme. That's not the way that I would do it. Um, because I think that investing in your feature is really important that you should do that. Um so you know, like we listened to Dave Ramsay every day and what our teacher did to us is he sat us down, he said, pick the school that you want to go to, pick through the the career that you want to go into, and then what I want you to do is you want to do like different plans, like how can you financially afford to live in this area paying also like just say like your rent's like a thousand dollars, your car payments two, three hundred dollars, your student loan payment, let's just say that you go to NYU would probably be around like six hundred and seven, eight hundred dollars at the bare minimum. And then taking in the career that you want to go into, so let's just say at that time I really wanted to be an educator, I really wanted to be a teacher, and um taking all that into account, how could you live? And basically what you found out is if you were to attend a school like NYU and you wanted to be a teacher in New York City, you you couldn't. You almost couldn't, you o you financially most likely couldn't do it. And it's about realizing at that moment that it's not that your dreams can come true, but there are better ways to achieve what you want to achieve. And um, you know, I'm really glad that I had that moment because if I wouldn't have had that realization, I wouldn't have been able to understand and be able to tell people and say, hey, I know that this is what you want to do, but let's look at every option to find what's best. And the cool thing is too, is that when you attend university and you're applying to it, universities know you better than you know you and they know where you're going to fit in. So at a school like NYU coming from whoa, Ohio, it doesn't mean that it wouldn't be good at it at that school. It's just that school realizing that hey, the career that you're gonna go into versus where you come from and everything else in between is basically saying like this isn't your place. Um that's really awesome about the college admissions process right now. A lot of people get you know scared and really upset by it, but really it's about schools just telling you like you're an amazing human being, but this isn't your home. Um and that's what I realized, you know, financial responsibility is so incredibly important, and you don't realize it until you're out of college and you're like, oh my gosh, I have so much money to pay off. So yeah, yeah, it's a lot.
SPEAKER_00No, that's that's great. And I I love how you know Dave Ramsey, um great guy. I listened to a lot of great man. Yes, absolutely. He he he cares so much about you know people's you know financial responsibility because he himself made those mistakes, you know, learning from those mistakes. The mistakes are kind of you know indirectly kind of making what the show is. It's him telling people that, hey, I went down a very, very wrongful path myself, and I want to help others. And you know, in this spirit you know, of public service and everything, um, via the this is kind of our time now to take a glimpse of of Washington's farewell address, you know, the principles that kind of come along with it. Um so that's patriotism, faith, national unity, education, fiscal responsibility, and civility. We've definitely touched upon at least a couple of those. Um let's kind of count out education and fiscal responsibility for now, but because these two seem like the ones are really standing out to me. But are which one of the other four um do you think is really, really essential to kind of what we've been discussing today and you know some of the issues and outlook on American education um across our nation?
SPEAKER_01You know, I I really think that it comes down to national unity. And why I say that is because we as a nation, you know, as parents, as people, we want the best for our children. We want the best for younger generations. But I think as a nation, we need to understand that what's best for our children doesn't always mean what's best for your neighbor's child. And um that growth and that education and that yourself and your child is always evolving, and so is what's happening in our country. So understanding as a nation that going and attending a four-year university does not mean anything. But going and attending a place or maybe not even going to college shows that you're dedicating yourself to your country um and to what you should be doing and helping America stay um afloat, as well as understanding that your child like can be who they want to be, and you shouldn't ever judge them for not doing something that somebody else is doing. And as a nation, I think we really need to understand that together. And once we kind of understand the whole college process as well as the after-high school graduation switch, um, we'll be able and um able to kind of really come together and understand the importance of um an equal and equitable education for our child, our children. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Amen. Well, that is amazing, amazing, Sherry. And via now, this is kind of your opportunity to share with us, you know, how can people um follow you on what you're doing and also tell us about your podcast? You mentioned how we met through podcasting, you know, the podcast affinity is live and well. You know, we're in different time zones right now, but um it seems like there are no barriers when it comes to uh affinities and relationships that you can build with others through the in the world of podcasting. So tell us about how people can follow what you're doing and about uh how people can take a listen to your show.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's so funny that you mentioned that too, because I I joke around a lot. Like I think one of the first times we ever met, I forgot that you know, Sherman lives in California and I live over here in Ohio, so I have an Easter time and he's in Pacific time. I'm like, oh my gosh, wait a second, that's three hours. Um but you know, um I actually have a podcast called Graduating Growth. It's really a space for young women who are in high school and college to go and learn about different career fields as well as different parts to universities. So if you're a young woman, listen to this podcast, and you want somebody to kind of motivate you, you want to learn more about those really cool internships that you know our nation provides, as well as learning more about your dream jobs, um, definitely go and check out my podcast called Graduating in Growth. I've had some amazing women, you know, I've had Miss America, Camilla Schreier on there, as well as a White House intern, sorority presidents, you know, student body presidents, and all these women are awesome, and they're actually under the age of 25, which is incredibly important to me. So outside of that, you can um follow me obviously at graduating in growth, and then I actually happen to be competing um for the opportunity and job of Miss Ohio as a part of the Miss America Scholarship Organization, and you can follow me at MissOxford Oh 2020. So otherwise, that's it.
SPEAKER_00Alright, fantastic. I will link uh the links that Via will provide for me down in the show notes below so you all can check it out. But Via, it was that was a wonderful conversation, wonderful sharing because like I said earlier, you really have dedicated so much time and energy into what you love doing, and for something that's bigger than yourself, and even maybe even bigger than your own community, you're you're going you're going places, and you what you offer is so valuable. And um I I always I'll always cherish, you know, you mentioned how we kind of connect through podcasting, you know. I just I just reached out via, I was like, look, I don't know, I don't know if this girl's gonna think I'm crazy or not, but I'm just gonna go ahead and message her. She's like, hey, I have a podcast too, right?
SPEAKER_01Um but you're like that's like hangout.
SPEAKER_00Um button. Exactly. I I remember that so well, but I think it's it there there's a lot deeper meaning when you know we're we're both into the the public service realm. I know that people listening also care a lot about the communities, and this is what it's all about. It's not just about me, it's not just about you, it's about it's about other people and about our nation as a whole. So thank you so much for coming on to our show. I hope you had a lot of fun today.
SPEAKER_01I did, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much all for listening to this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Make sure to check out the links in the show notes below. Have a great rest of your day, rest of your week, and remember, a day in America always gets better when we are with our friends and fellow citizens. I'll see you next time.
