Have you ever stepped into a nurturing space that felt like a sanctuary? Join us as Nikolas Tsamoutalidis, an SEL practitioner with an impressive track record in student support, walks us through the life-changing initiatives of the Wellness Center at Bethlehem Area High School in Southeastern Pennsylvania. His dedication to trauma-informed education and creating systems that enable students to thrive is nothing short of inspirational. Together, we uncover the transformative programs that support academic excellence and cultivate resilience, trust, and emotional safety among students.
Imagine a school where students are greeted with hope and love with every interaction. Through compelling conversations with Niko, we bring light to the impressive data that showcases an increase in students' hope and academic performance, with an astounding 97% able to trust an adult within the school. These are not just numbers; they represent real lives touched by the incredible work of educators who are genuine 'hope dealers.' This episode celebrates the educators' role in transforming schools into havens for well-being and emotional security.
But it's not just the students who need nurturing; educators carry the weight of their responsibilities, often absorbing the trauma of those they help. Niko shares the essential role of self-care practices and community engagement in fostering a holistic educational ecosystem. The chapter on love and empowerment is a heartfelt reminder of the profound impact we can make through every encounter. As we wrap up this enlightening conversation, we invite you to join us in championing wellness initiatives, reminding everyone to be the beacon of light and positivity in the lives of our youth, primarily through the challenging seasons.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Have you ever stepped into a nurturing space that felt like a sanctuary? Join us as Nikolas Tsamoutalidis, an SEL practitioner with an impressive track record in student support, walks us through the life-changing initiatives of the Wellness Center at Bethlehem Area High School in Southeastern Pennsylvania. His dedication to trauma-informed education and creating systems that enable students to thrive is nothing short of inspirational. Together, we uncover the transformative programs that support academic excellence and cultivate resilience, trust, and emotional safety among students.
Imagine a school where students are greeted with hope and love with every interaction. Through compelling conversations with Niko, we bring light to the impressive data that showcases an increase in students' hope and academic performance, with an astounding 97% able to trust an adult within the school. These are not just numbers; they represent real lives touched by the incredible work of educators who are genuine 'hope dealers.' This episode celebrates the educators' role in transforming schools into havens for well-being and emotional security.
But it's not just the students who need nurturing; educators carry the weight of their responsibilities, often absorbing the trauma of those they help. Niko shares the essential role of self-care practices and community engagement in fostering a holistic educational ecosystem. The chapter on love and empowerment is a heartfelt reminder of the profound impact we can make through every encounter. As we wrap up this enlightening conversation, we invite you to join us in championing wellness initiatives, reminding everyone to be the beacon of light and positivity in the lives of our youth, primarily through the challenging seasons.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Welcome to SEL in EDU.
Speaker 2:Where we discuss all things social and emotional in education. I'm Krista and I'm Craig and we are your hosts on this journey. All right, all right, all right, all right, sel and EDU family. We are. We back baby, we back Krista. How are you holding up these days?
Speaker 1:I am doing fabulous. It's been a wonderful weekend. It's a Monday right now, but I got a chance to see both of my boys and garing up for my favorite season sweater weather, hoodies. Yep, like the very nice sweater, you've got going on tea, so this is my favorite time of year. I'm ready to go. How are you?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm doing well. The weather outside is a little gray. It's been gray all day, so that just means you know you get cozy, you miss work, or halfway do it if you work from home. You know, just whatever you want to do, just be cozy. You know. And the words of Beyonce just be cozy.
Speaker 1:Yes, totally agree. And so we're here with a friend of ours who I'm excited for everybody to get a chance to meet. So let me jump in with his bio and then we will dig into the goodness of our show. Nico Samatilitis has been an SEL practitioner in various titles for over 30 years. However, irrespective of his titles and accomplishments in his personal or professional life for which there are many, I might add his passion is to support, care and love others wherever they are in life. He believes that in every encounter we give or drain life, there is no neutral exchange and in these exchanges deposit seeds of faith, hope and love and, regardless of beliefs, creeds, philosophies etc. To treat everyone with inherent value, worth and purpose. I am so happy to welcome Nico to SEL in EDU. How are you today, nico?
Speaker 3:I'm doing great. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Well, so we'll let the listening audience know that you and I have known each other for about a year and a half now, and one of the things that I really admire about you is your deep commitment to students and meeting them where they're at and giving them the supports that they need to be successful, and so I would just like to jump right in and have you share about the Wellness Center initiatives that you've been working on in your district and how you have been working to really support students who need it most.
Speaker 3:Sure, yes, thank you, christa. I appreciate that and I just wanted to share that, although I'm the one speaking right now, it's definitely a collaborative team effort and really appreciate my former boss, who's just a visionary and very creative, and we have complimented each other over the years because he creates, he's a visionary, and I need to take some time and kind of dwell in that and then, once it clicks for me, I love with systems, processes, procedures and really executing the plan. That's something I'm really passionate about, and not just letting amazing ideas just stay on the table dead on arrival, and so that's what I love to do. And so we started this journey at our high school and probably I would say probably the most or close to it diverse high school in eastern Pennsylvania. We're definitely a microcosm of America just under 3,000 kids and back in 2017, we started this journey of our teachers are throwing some fastballs, but what's going on with our kids? They don't seem to be getting it. Things aren't sticking, and so we started that journey of just really educating ourselves on trauma, on resiliency, on the science of that.
Speaker 3:We're really overwhelmed in a good way, with the Dr Nadeenberg Harris video on the TED Talk, and from that point.
Speaker 3:We just started educating ourselves, forming a team together and taking that journey and, as we all know, covid hits right before.
Speaker 3:We're about to open up and unleash an actual physical space of our Liberty Wellness Center, which we created in the library, and during that time, although we provided various services to the best that we could, it was kind of put on hold and then we brought it back when we were able to come back with mass and a hybrid model, and so we have a very robust, a comprehensive system of tier one, two and three supports and really has taken off in the last two years as we brought brains together to really create the specific needs of the culture of our community, of our school and what our kids really need.
Speaker 3:And I'm really proud about that. I'm really proud that we have embedded things that we do throughout the school that every single kid gets, regardless if you access our Wellness Center or not, and just really having a mindset from that journey from becoming a trauma-informed school to really a school of wellness where we believe that we support and walk things out with our kids and there's even something there for our staff that it becomes a place of healing to whatever degree that is needed and that we're able to do so. I love our concept, I believe in it and I think I don't know how some schools do it today without that support, in order to help kids to learn and be better humans than we always say.
Speaker 2:Wow, what a gift you are giving to so many young people across your region. That's pretty amazing. Could you share a little bit more insight, for those who are with us, about what makes up your wellness center? What would one find in going and visiting and taking part?
Speaker 3:Sure, well, I appreciate asking that, craig, and one of the things that we will start with, really our tier one, which is how can we perhaps cast a wide net on all our kids and maybe not have a student need some of those other services? So one thing we do, tier one, is I've always wanted to do this and the pandemic came and in that moment, gave us the freedom for my boss to say All right, unleash this. And what I mean by that is I'm a big believer in pausing before you learn and we teach our kids how to take a break. So, for example, we have four blocks and before every class, the entire school has a two minute pause four times a day, and so we teach and we educate people that. Imagine when the kids came back from the pandemic, and for some of these kids they were in homes with their families and that's it, and there was never more than a couple people in their lives for like a year or so, because of different situations, different health scenarios. Now they come back, even with masks and even on the hybrid model, you're moving through hallways and there is no way you're doing six foot distancing, there is no way you're not bumping into people and just the natural flow of half of our school means just about 1500 kids. So one of the things we implemented was a two minute pause. And why is that significant for every kid? Because sometimes people feel they need to go to the hills and the mountains of Tibet and meditate for hours upon time. But really the science shows if you can steal five minutes a day and just pause on everything and just relax your breathing, you have the potential to science shows this. You have the potential to decrease your anxiety by over 22% in a day. I think that's amazing, five minutes a day. So tier one is can we capture some kids who are battling with some low level anxiety? And by practicing two minute pause times four, we're stealing eight minutes a day, so a little bit more than five to really help out.
Speaker 3:One of the other things that we do is wonderful work as we're establishing it with with Chris. That is, building capacity with our teachers to build community, to build community connection. That's always the focal point of having kids believe that everywhere they go, four times a day, every single place is a community, and so we give our teacher strategies and resources. We really implore on them about the significance of having a restorative school and restorative classroom where we can start the week and end the week something as simple as circling up, having everyone feel inequality and really check in, whether it's academic or personal. Well, those are some of our tier one services that we think, ultimately, what's the goal of all this is for a student not to feel disconnected and lonely, alone. So that's huge to do on that level as we move on, if we feel that we come together to our weekly student assistance program and we see that perhaps we're doing all this tier one stuff but there's some students that need a little bit more.
Speaker 3:We've created over the last two years a very robust tier two service, which is we have groups and we really started seeing what do our kids need and we have we started. When we first started we had about two or three groups going. Now we have about 16 groups going on. I love that. We feel a specific space is like a conference room area. We fill it every single block of every single day with multiple groups on depression, on anxiety, on mentoring, on anger management, on vaping. We have a group for ELL students I'm a former ELL student, I was not born in this country and being able to help our first gen kids who might be in this country for a week, a month, a year, and just helping them reintegrate into the ways of our country, of our society, and helping them with access and their families, is huge. We also have groups for domestic violence. We have groups for our LGBTQIA plus students. We have a self awareness and management group. So all different groups as we walk this journey out, is what really do our kids need, and so I'm very proud of our tier two system.
Speaker 3:Then, when we have our kids, where you know what some of our kids are really valid and some stuff our kiddos. Our tier three is basically two different agencies and it's basically one on one, counseling and therapy, and this other, the second agency we have on that on that third tier is they also are able to provide, if needed, psychiatric, psychiatric care and men management. So you have the one pathway which is, which is counseling and therapy, and the other pathway on tier three, that they need, the same, full of men management and psychiatric care. So really proud of the different opportunities we have for our kids to be able to get wrapped around and help form community and to help grow, and let me also mention that in all that we also have a peace room, and so you could be a student that, hey, all I need sometimes is like once a day or twice a day to take a break and regulate myself.
Speaker 3:So we actually have a peace room in that area where kids can have a whole system of how you qualify for it, and it's never become an escape mechanism.
Speaker 3:It's never become a place that's been abused and in that space we have an opportunity for kids to take about 10 to 12 minutes and we have a whole system in place. If it gets longer than that was really going on here, maybe you need to talk to someone, maybe you need to take your guidance counselor. And who mans that peace room? Our grad students from a local university and they are our grad level occupational therapy students were able to man that area and also they are able to go into areas as well and go into classrooms and teach kids about regulating themselves, executive functioning skills, communication and social skills, and that happens sometimes proactively as they go into different classrooms or right there in the peace room. If our students who are looking to regulate may need the support of a young adult who they can relate to and look at hey, you're like 23, 24, you're a couple years older than me. There's usually an immediate connection. So that's a really quick thumbnail description of our wellness center and I hope I wasn't pontificating too long.
Speaker 1:No, no, not at all. This is why we knew we needed to hear the work that you're doing and that everybody else in the district and in your building are working towards, because when people say, well, how do we do this, how do we create this system, I think that Liberty High School, within the Bethlehem School District, offers a great example of this. You mentioned systems early on and I know for me, I appreciate the value of having some mindful time, but I don't know how to facilitate that and I'm not quite comfortable facilitating that. So your building has taken ownership of that and they play music, some calming music for students over the loudspeaker, for everybody, or there's maybe I think I remember hearing a poem once or a quote, and so people can use that time to just recenter themselves or if they want to do some meditation.
Speaker 1:It's a chance for them to practice their own regulation, and I think that one of the themes that comes up is this idea of giving students an opportunity to feel that they belong and they're part of the community, even when they're feeling dysregulated, even when they're feeling disconnected. You're providing opportunities for them to form these groups and know that you're not alone. You're having these feelings, these thoughts, these experiences, but you don't have to go it alone, because there's lots of us in similar situations and we can support one another. I know, having talked with you before, you were able to share some of the data, the feedback that you're getting from students, and how valuable that time was. Would you be able to share some of the feedback that you've heard from students who've used the Wellness Center, the groups and the peace room, and and the impact that that had on them personally?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And let me just say, as as all of this has been birthed out of just really, I wouldn't say mistakes, but where a year or so ago we saw here we are in January and we have no more slots for our therapist, and so that prompted us to think about that's frustrating to see. We have kids and we need to land the plane and there's circling over and over and we can't land it. This is January. So we really had to go back and say let's get creative, let's really calm, solve this really brainstorm, because this is not okay, this is not okay. We can't just keep being part of everybody's talking about it or what are we doing about it. So that's when we dug deep and we started forming partnerships.
Speaker 3:With tier two service I mentioned, and really just as recent as this morning, we met with two young men ages 19 and 20, doing amazing things that are local, university. One of them is a Hispanic male. Second young man was an African American male and they want to reach out and mentor our kids and they have a whole team of fraternity of young men and young ladies that really have a multicultural fraternity, that want to come into our kids. So we just keep reloading, I'll date myself and say you know we don't stop because we can't stop, as be diddy said once, and so we just keep going. Well, let me get to your question, because what really excites us the most is that's another thing we're learning about. You know, sometimes you do a lot. You got to measure, you got to collect data, and what's the feedback group? What are the kids saying besides what you think is happening? So how good is the stuff we're doing? And so I just want to share some data with you, because this totally excites us in the fact that we know that hope levels are rising and some of the other destructive ideation whether it's suicidal, homicidal, violent, you name it is decreasing. And so one of the things, as we know, the number one research-based intervention that is able to help any human do trauma or any difficulty, is the belief that I know there's one person in my life that has my back, that can non-judge, mentally, be there for me and listen Doesn't mean they agree with me, but I know they have my back.
Speaker 3:And so we took more than half of our top tier students, tier three, who are students with some of the most challenging scenarios going on right now in their life. And so we figured let's go after that. Let's see what our top tier kids, along with some of our other tiers that I mentioned tier two and piece. What are they saying? And so a simple question that we asked a couple of them I'll go over some of them is that I trust the adult that meets with me. That goes right after what I just said.
Speaker 3:97% of our kids said they strongly agree or agree that they have that person that they can trust in their life in our building. That's huge. We had a question and we asked my grades are improving because of how I received from the Wellness Center. Well, look, we only got 50% of the kids agreeing or strongly agreeing to that. But you know what that's had when I'm not well emotionally or psychologically. Yeah, my grades are going to be a challenge or we're going to suffer. But we're saying half of our kids are saying that they're getting better. So we know that's a focal point. How can we improve that? This is what I love. I'm more hopeful about my future.
Speaker 3:82% of our students said I strongly agree or agree with that statement. That's huge and I'd like to tell our staff and anyone, and you as well. Krista and Craig could be wonderful things for young people and kids today and really our colleagues, adults and whatnot. By virtue of what's going on today, now we're able to provide these type of things. The phrase that I've been imploring upon people this year is that you're a hope dealer. You are dealing hope when you're working with young people today and colleagues that are the tip of the spear that are keeping our society, our community, our country from imploding. So you're hope dealers.
Speaker 3:We ask the adults who I meet with cares about me. 95% of our kids agreed or strongly agree with that statement. The adult who I meet with helps me solve my problems 72% agreed or strongly agree with that statement. I'm a better student in person because of the adult that meets with me. 75% of the kids agreed or strongly agree. I feel more connected to Liberty High School because of the services I receive 68% of our students and my therapist, counselor, mentor, occupational therapist from ever, et cetera. Whoever fails that role likes and understands me. 95% of students agree with that statement. So, if you notice, a lot of the things we're going after were relational.
Speaker 3:What is that looking in this data? And also, what about how are procedures and processes working? Because, ultimately, what are they there for? They're there for an education. This data has shown us that our school, for the most part, for the kids that we're polling who have the most significant challenges on receiving services, that our school, for the most part, is not a source of their pain. This is the kind of stuff that decreases these violent acts that we have seen. We have the opportunity for our kids to be well and do amazing things. It goes to our kid you were created for a purpose, on purpose, for a purpose, and so this is just awesome, awesome data. We're excited about it. We're going to keep doing it.
Speaker 2:I was just waiting to see. You know, Chris will have a follow-up on the follow-up, on the follow-up.
Speaker 1:So I was like, let me I get to see him more regularly than you do, OK. Ok, so I know you're going to come out with something really good too.
Speaker 2:Oh it's, you know, we'll see. I appreciate the fact that you are sharing some really amazing data points that highlights how, when a district or when a community comes together and really rallies resources, young people win. It sounds like it, and so they're continuing to win. I'm curious how do you get everyone on the same page? How do you get parents and how do you get other educators and school leaders there may be some folks who are naysayers are like look, I don't like. We got to get our literacy scores up, we got to get our mathematics scores up, science, the STEM, we got to. We don't have time for this. So how do you ensure that there is appropriate buy-in, training and support for all those involved in this process?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great question, Craig, and by no stretch I'm going to sit here and say that we've arrived over where we need to be, but we just keep pushing the yard marker, we keep getting first downs. I would tell you. You're absolutely correct, it's attacking mindsets. One of the mindsets I'd like to get right to the point was well, all were there for education and absolutely that's pretty important, right. But we definitely don't want to just educate and tell you people who are not good humans. If you think about it, the Nazis were pretty educated for the most part scientists, doctors, physicians, and look at the terrible things they did last century. So we're looking to shift the mindset of this isn't just soft skills, they're critical life skills. I want to integrate the academics with the emotional wellness together, and so it's not like one world lives over here, the other one is over there, and so we try to integrate a lot of some of our literacy training and the different things that we're doing in our district, like reading by grade three of the huge initiative for elementary kids. Well, how does that infuse into some of our programs with you whether it's the leader and me our restorative practices, that we infuse that together, that it's not full or opposite, and we bring some of the directors that lead our district in these different initiatives together, and so how do we bring that? So when we integrate ourselves, when we put out the trainings to teachers, whether it's a building wide or district wide, you're not dealing with two different silos.
Speaker 3:I can tell you that I think this is what has happened as much as it's. You know how to get people on board and families. It is very rare to sit in a room today with, let's just say I'll just throw out a random number, I don't know why I picked this I'm going to say in a room of 10 people that either someone in that room is in person being impacted by some challenges, that battlefield the mind, or they have a loved one or a close person that can identify and relate to that. So at the same time, while you're changing mindsets, it's also fertile ground because of where we're at right now, that it is a rarity if someone can say that there's someone I love or someone I care about, someone close to me, that isn't challenged right now with what we're talking about and what we've seen. So I think that is allowing the opportunity for people to at least receive and reflect, and perhaps be the word is a motivator, inclined to say yeah, it's important to build community in my classroom, in the midst of why I'm teaching my lesson, in the midst of my instruction, how I fuse that together and that's the big thing.
Speaker 3:So many times I don't know why. It's just, maybe we're just learning, but integration is so key and important that one isn't more important than the other. They're both equally important. And look, we are kids. We don't want them going to college and not being able to manage themselves, not be able to be aware of themselves, being terrible and management with relationships, and we just continue to beat the same drum, kind of like. Before we did this, my boss my former boss was really big on two words passion and purpose. Before kids leave in their fourth and final year, we're going to help them identify what their passion is and what their purpose is. So that was messaging, messaging, messaging. So we do a lot of messaging to really change mindsets. To your question grade we're getting there, but we're not where we need to be, but we just keep pushing it.
Speaker 1:I think one of the important things that you reinforced there is that you're all working towards that same vision and there is that ongoing communication and that common language and you mentioned that we could all relate to this somebody close to us and developing that sense of empathy and perspective taking. And I'm going to move into an area that usually Craig goes into, but I'm going to tiptoe into that area myself as an administrator of wellness. We often talk about how we need to keep ourselves well and healthy, because we're not. We're modeling it for our colleagues and for our students, but we're not immune to the same things that they're going through as well. And, admittedly, I've been privy to have a conversation where you've talked to me about blue zones and I thought maybe you'd be willing to share some of your own personal practices and highlight some of your ethnic heritage and how that connects to your own personal philosophy around wellness and well being.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's. I appreciate that question and definitely going to have an opportunity to bring some personal stuff out, which I believe is very comfortable in doing, because that breaks down wall between people you know to level vulnerability that you're willing to display. And so one thing I haven't mentioned with this whole wellness push is that we've educated our teachers on vicarious trauma and we also have different individuals in our building that champion different self care practices, if you will, that they invite other colleagues to be a part of some engaging it. Some don't. Some just say I have my own stuff but I don't want to be in the building any longer than I need to, so we have people that are doing book clubs, they're walking yoga massage therapist, we have our librarians, she's a massage therapist, and so different things that we have going on.
Speaker 3:And if you just really quick examples, because when you splash around on the mud, this is messy business, you're going to get dirty and so how do we keep ourselves? You know saying that my former boss loved I didn't invent it, but I would say it all the time is you can't give what you don't have.
Speaker 3:And in our profession if you're really good, you're a big time giver and you're not only a giver but you're a doer. And we are terrible Maybe I shouldn't say everything, but most of us are terrible at taking care of ourselves and so I just wanted to share and Christine and I talked about this that I have my own practices and I thought I was doing pretty good. The last two years have been really tough. The last six months have been really tough, and the thing about self care is is to always allow your practice to evolve depending on the intensity or the life circumstances that happen. So the last six months I've had a lot of loss in my life, had a lot of transitions in my life and, just like you learn through trauma and foreign care, you may think you're good and maybe you are peaceful and you love what you do, even the intensity and the stress of it, but your body sooner or later is going to tell you something. And so one of the things and the practices that I've incorporated and it really brings me back to my father recently passed away in March, and I was one of the.
Speaker 3:My older brother and I were the two primary caretakers, two brothers with outside of state. My father used to always tell me. I'm like, oh, here we go. He's telling me about the specific island that he's from that I have visited. It's, as you mentioned, one of the six blue zones, the island of Ikaria, as we say in Greek, it's Ikarian English, and in that he would always talk about and in that there's there's specials and everything on it. On that island they forget to die Everybody's routinely, centenarians in their hundreds. He would always tell me all these things and you know you're in the hustle and bustle of work and come to pick them up from his dialysis appointment and drop them off home. But there was at the moment I knew, but I wasn't receiving at the time, but it stuck here that he was dropping kernels of and nuggets of wisdom. So I mentioned my father passed and recently it's almost like rekindling his, his, his memory and it makes me think about all the stories he would tell me.
Speaker 3:Is I really embraced as a self care practice? I really embraced some of the things that they incorporate from a diet, dietary standpoint, because everything in that island conspires to have you at your optimum level of human functioning. So these are one of that's, one of the new self care habits that I have is really trying to follow what they're doing, and I also wanted to share, in addition to that, that I've changed some of my practices in regards to I start off every morning with 30 minute meditation, not like an Eastern type of meditation, but it is something that I silence myself and I get into. That breathing and really all these things are to really have the wonderful chemicals in our body flowing the endorphin, the serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and really be mindful of just really following your body's like a body scan throughout the day, the thing. So one of the things I wanted to share and everything we talked about, when you talk about the wellness center and you talk about what we're doing in classrooms and all that, here's why I want to bring a full circle.
Speaker 3:Whether you're studying the people of the island of Icaria, whether you're studying the people in Sardinia, whether you're studying the people in Costa Rica, whether you're studying the people in Okinawa, japan, or there's actually a small community in California that's a blue zone the common theme and thread that runs through all that is yes, the 95 year olds in these places are about as fit as 45, 50 year olds in America, in the US, but the common thread and all that more so than the climate and also their culinary habits is that they have such strong community and connection. And I'm a big believer in this. If you can form concentric circles of community and connection for students in a school, within various classrooms, if we can do that as adults, whether it's our work friends, our personal friends, our faith based friends, if we subscribe to a faith or whatnot the more concentric circles of community can form. Science shows you live eight years longer, barring some type of tragedy. So we know this.
Speaker 3:It's something that I get rekindled back to as a kid, growing up and coming here as an immigrant how strong the roots of communal gatherings, of meals and all that, and so that's something that is so clear to me, and that is something that I don't know I've got a random number out there but I believe half of our mental health challenge will be eradicated if we had stronger community and connection. I really believe that Because, if I may say one last point is, I think a lot of this is people are isolated and lonely and I think because of that, right, while we're indifferent, then you start perceiving that you're unwanted, uncared for or in love. But when I'm in community and in connection there's a good possibility. I mean a healthy one. It's a good possibility. I'm not going to think that way about myself because I have other people affirming me, encouraging me, being in it with me, but I think that's huge.
Speaker 2:I am curious, with all that you do already, all that you just shared. In the midst of it all, what would you consider to be your superpower?
Speaker 3:My superpower.
Speaker 1:I didn't warn him of this question. He's like my superpower. What?
Speaker 2:As far as if I understand your question like where guess where I received my passion, my energy, my outlook, if I'm understanding you, no, it's a question that we ask everyone, and so the question, very simply, is in this world, where we have millions of people who have their own journeys, doing their own thing, many of them are driven by purpose and passion and faith and something greater than I, universal I. For you, I'm curious what would you consider to be your superpower in influencing, supporting, advancing the very world that you are in every day?
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you for asking that and it's clear from you now. I thought that's what you meant and so I just wanted to make sure. And I would say, craig, just really my faith, that's where I get my superpower. It's leaning into, leaning into a greater power and strength in my own and in that loving people and in that seeing everyone, whether you believe in a higher power or not, whether you believe in God or not, whether you believe in Christ or not, like I do that, regardless whether you do or not, I look at everyone as an image bearer, even if you don't believe in a higher power. In my mind, I look at you with an invisible 10 and you are a child of the most high, and that's okay if you don't believe that. I'm not here to impress upon you my own beliefs, but I start from a place like that. You have value, you have worth, you are loved and you are 10. Even when we do some foolish things, you're still a 10 because you come from royal lineage.
Speaker 3:That's my mindset. When I look at someone, they even want to say go, fly, fly. So it's really I have to tap into that power and strength, because I know what happens when I try to do it in my own strength, in my own power, in my own views, in my own opinions. I use end of boom, something foolish by the hour. So by no means have I arrived in that either, but that is my mindset with every encounter, like Christa said earlier, that in every encounter I want to give life. I don't want to have a neutral exchange, I don't want to take anything or drain something from someone. Have I perfected that? Nope, but every moment I try to, and when I mess it up I try to make it right with that encounter, with that person. So that's my superpower. It's not of me and I just try to just spread it and share it, just by how I talk to you, how I treat you, how I look at you. So there you have it.
Speaker 1:This is one of those things that I feel that and I feel this about both of you that you're light bearers, you're like lighthouses and you when both of you when people are in your presence, they feel worthy, like they feel seen and heard, and so that's why I was excited to get Nico, to get you on and to meet Craig, and I think that, too, there's a lot of synergy here, beyond even this podcast that I'll get to tell you guys about and kind of connect you on some things that I know that your desire to be of service for young people and the ways that you do that and I think that you model the way for people and just providing those insights that you did on.
Speaker 1:Here's what we wanted to do, here's how not only here's how I show up every day, but here's how we make it part of the system and we build capacity and investment along the way and we create this place where our young people want to be and feel seen and valued and heard, and I think that that's just that's what we want, that's what I want for my kids, that's what I want for all of the students out there trying to figure out their passion and their purpose, so I'll hand it back over to you, craig.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I'll be like, okay, and I'll pass it back over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was like that's something All right.
Speaker 1:Should I pick the baton back up and run home with it?
Speaker 2:You can, it's all right Okay.
Speaker 1:I don't. I mean I haven't run anywhere lately. So I mean in a very theoretical sense, nico. If people were listening to this and they wanted to get ahold of you to find out more, what might be the best way that people could reach out to, to talk with you more, to hear more about the work that you're doing within, within Bethlehem, sure?
Speaker 3:I would think of two ways. Recently I found myself as I've been in this new role the last two months that have been a little I've been inspired by somebody and normally I give emails and I can do that as well. But there's somebody who's a best selling author and he wrote a book a couple of years ago and his book was titled. His name was Bob Goff is Bob Goff and in his book it's called Love Everybody Always. And then he had the audacity in a New York Times bestseller book. On the back he literally put his cell phone number and said call me if you ever want to connect. And people have called him collect from prison, and he's accepted and he's talked to people and helped them. So Bob's an interesting guy, he's inspired me. So I would say to get ahold of me. I'm going to be like Bob and I'm going to give my cell phone number and then if you want to email me, that's fine too. But I don't know, is it okay to share my information right now?
Speaker 1:Yes, I kind of like that and I might be like Bob Bob's amazing.
Speaker 3:So even if I don't pick up at that moment, I will. Somebody leaves a message, I will call you back, and so my cell number is 610-360-4898. And my email I'm going to spell it for you with that crazy long last name.
Speaker 1:Bring it on.
Speaker 3:That's it. Here we go. The first letter is N, as in Nick. The second letter is T, as in Tom S-A-M-O-U-T-A-L-I-D-I-S at B-A-S-D-S-K-L-S-D-O-R-G. So you see, after that, people probably going to take option one. It's a lot easier. I'm just going to call the guy.
Speaker 1:Well, and we will put these links in the notes section of the podcast, and I can tell that you're used to spelling out your last name as you give your email, so thank you for that. People who are listening.
Speaker 3:And thank you for this opportunity in order to really give out that information, because one of the things we believe is we're not holding the secret sauce. This is about humanity and so, like we learned a lot the last six years, so we can make your journey quicker and easier and better and kind of give you some suggestions, ideas, or maybe possibly respond or answer your questions. Why not? Why not help other people and speed up the journey for what you need to do for your school, for your kids or whatnot? Why not?
Speaker 1:Thank you. That's the hope of the SEL and EDU podcast that we can connect people who are all dedicated to doing the work. So thank you for your time and your willingness to share with us.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me. It's always awesome seeing you. Christa and Craig. It is a pleasure meeting you through Zoom and to have a conversation with you. Thank you so much. You guys are awesome. Thank you as well for being hope dealers that you are.
Speaker 2:Oh well, thank you, this is cheesy.
Speaker 1:I wish we had the video still, because we're both like all smiles right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right. Sel and EDU family. It has been an incredible, another incredible conversation we have had today. You need to make sure you stay connected and if you feel and you should you know moved, reach out, because wellness centers should be long in every school community we serve across the nation. Every young person should have access and that is the goal, like, let's make sure that young people have access to the tools and resources and people they need in order to become the great young, become even greater young people. So until we come back, young people across the SEL and EDU family, we just want you to continue to hold yourself real tight and, especially since it's going to have a little little chill in the air, you just hold yourself tight, honey, and continue to do all the great things that add great light to those around us, and we'll be back soon. We love you, take care Bye.