Interview with Joseph Jordon and Zach Perez, SBCSS 2022 Graduates

Featuring two students from our county, Joseph Jordon and Zach Perez.

Transcript

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Joseph Jordon and Zach Perez

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, Zach, drones, person, joseph, knowledge, life, graduating, absolutely, grow, teacher, san bernardino county, economics, education, understand, diploma, students, class, undervalue, younger

SPEAKERS

Joseph, Don, Zach

Don  00:05

Hello, my name is Don English director of children deserve success and executive director of the San Bernardino County Wide Gangs and Drugs Task Force. And I want to welcome you to our Children Deserve Success Podcast. Monthly we will be sending out these recordings regarding all things related to child welfare and attendance, School Attendance Review Board, foster youth services, McKinney Vento Homeless Programs in our county and the San Bernardino County Wide Gangs and Drugs Task Force. This one focus will be an interview with two young men who are students in San Bernardino County and upcoming 2022 graduates. So I will have them introduce themselves. First off, I will start off with Zach,  Zach, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about where you'll be graduating from.

Zach  01:00

Hello, I'm Zachary Perez, I am the class of 2022. I graduated may 26. I am a Oak Hills student it's pretty nice there. I will miss everything. I like gaining knowledge every day. I'm a very hardworking person, a very ambitious person that that my ethic is always perfect. And I just always maintain.

Don  01:23

Outstanding. All right, Joseph, a little bit about yourself.

Joseph  01:26

My name is Joseph Jordan, and I go to Bob Murray Community School. I like, like to skate, like gaining knowledge and that not a lot of people know about because I like to wow people.

Don  01:44

And Joseph, when will you be graduating?

Joseph  01:47

I'll be graduating with the class of 2022.

Don  01:51

Excellent. All right, gentlemen. I'll start off with you, Joseph, while going to school. Has there been an adult that made a difference in your life that helped you in overcoming our persevering through adversities?

Joseph  02:05

Yes. A couple of teachers actually. Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Gibbs, he's, he's a good teacher. He's a, he'll motivate you, right in one way or another? Mr. Shin, and Mr. Shin. He's a cybersecurity and drones teacher. And he, he helped me out with knowing what to do, like everything else sounded pretty boring. And everybody was already doing it. So I was like, I want to be different. So I went into cybersecurity and drones. And now I have a drones class during the summer. And, and it's a certification drones class too. So after the drones class, I'll be certified to fly drones.

Don  02:46

That's outstanding. Because what I do know is I have a cousin who has a drone, who needs to be certified in order to actually work in that field. In other words, let's say there's a wedding, you could actually man a drone, take pictures, etc. But it's illegal without certification. So that's outstanding. And by the way, I do know Mr. Gibbs All right, Zach tell us about you. Well, who do you have that made a difference in your life?

Zach  03:11

Well, I can say me, Cynthia, the district counselor, she the first person that actually had a one on one conversation with me really understand my potential and the knowledge that I had, I really undervalued myself under appreciated myself, I just never realized my worth. And that was the first step when I was actually able to talk about my problems just says, just deal with them in another way, which I wasn't supposed to at all. And it's one of my biggest regrets dealing with in the wrong way. But it happens. But there were a couple other people like one of my teachers who gave me a book who said it reminded me of her talking about you're stuck in your environment, because that's very much what happens. And it's just it goes beyond that. But those two people and it goes beyond because I've always had people who had faith in me because as soon as I project who I am and to other people, they really get an understanding of who I am. And it just it feels good to have people you know, believing in me instead of just me just thinking to myself, you know, will I be believed in?

Don  04:02

Wow, and your energy and passion is showing through both from your intellect is definitely showing through. Next question. Let's go. Let's stay with you Zach, are you involved with any activities in your school sports clubs, mentoring leadership? And if so, how did that make a difference to you and your education?

Zach  04:20

Yes, I'm actually in welding and auto, the two trades that are actually very known but the things that they've taught me is actually things are very easy to learn as long as you put your mind to it. You just got to really be willing to learn and you'll get there like what welding especially you think it's complicated when really it's learning a couple of things, a couple of studies and it rubs off on everything else that you need to do and it's just you know, it gives you more ambition because as soon as you learn something, it's like a trophy in your mind. And it's just like you know, you're earning these medals and then it is it makes your mind way worth think that it was before.

Don  04:51

Wow, outstanding. Joseph, let's talk about your activities in school. How did that make a difference to you and your education?

Joseph  04:58

Hmm, The activities have made a big impact in my education was, I would say cybersecurity and drones again, also financial literacy, it helps, it helps a lot. Because my teacher, he said he didn't have that thesis, he went through a plethora of things that I just don't want to come into contact with. But you know, it helps it helps me have a lot of new courses.

Don  05:27

Absolutely. You know, financial literacy is probably one of the most important things you can learn in school. I never had a class in financial literacy either. But I do fancy myself as someone who cares about about economics. Right, exactly. We all need resources, natural resources. And what's important is learning how to deal with roughly Absolutely. Was there a turning point? Zach, in your education, you talked a little bit about Miss Cynthia, and how she caused you to realize your importance and your self worth? Yeah. Any other events that really helped you to realize how important earning a diploma is?

Zach  06:15

Yeah. I say a couple of the situations would be probably getting expelled and stuff like getting into those things, that's when you learn first of all, like you're losing opportunity, the more trouble you get into, and just with the diploma, it just makes everything look way better. Because it just shows the type of person you are that you're knowledgeable that you're actually willing to do things and not just, you know, go through and just graduate, there's things you got to do to earn a diploma. And that's what you do project because, you know, it's basically a certification of you using your mind. So yeah, there was one event, I can't remember specifically what it was. But it taught me the importance how a lot of jobs would look for it. And it's not even that. Like if you're an adult, you have to have a diploma because it just shows like, you know, that you really tried and it's like, this is it goes beyond that. This is just certifications and stuff. And the diploma is the first step.

Don  07:09

Awesome. What's the importance of a diploma to you, Joseph,

Joseph  07:14

The importance of a diploma to me would really just be like the pay grade. If you don't, if you don't have a diploma, your Your pay will be like $16 an hour for the rest of your life. And I don't think nobody wants that. I think it was last beforehand, but and people just used to live off of that. And I can see why there be so much struggle and mental instability in in every community.

Don  07:45

That's absolutely true. I don't know if you've seen this. There. There's a magazine, I'm into sports, right? So there's a magazine, a sports magazine, and they have this, this page devoted to a letter to my younger self. I don't know if you're aware of anybody who's done that, but it's called a letter to my younger self. So, Zach, if you had to write a letter to your younger self, when you were a freshman in high school, what will that letter consist of,

Zach  08:18

I would say talk about your feelings, deal with them head on, face your challenges and don't ignore them. Don't find a way to ignore them. Don't use substances to ignore that thing. Because your feelings are the most important thing about you your brain is most important thing about you, you need to be able to discuss the more socially, like able you are, the more advantage you have on this life. Because it's very important to talk about how you are and then just try hard. Really focus if I were able to tell my younger self, like you know, don't settle for what people may think of you. Just push yourself you know, like, be the person that you want to be Don't be the person that anybody expects you to be pushed yourself and do it all for yourself because no one's going to do for you.

Don  08:58

Wow, Outstanding, outstanding answer. Joseph, what letter would you write to yourself as a freshman?

Joseph  09:05

Kinda like Zach said, You got to worry about yourself. You can't worry about these other people. You can you can let these outer influences get to you. 

Don  09:16

Absolutely. You know you both of you young men are really impressive. And what impresses me is that you really are, it seems like you have an understanding of it's not being selfish to really focus on your own self, particularly as you're matriculating and growing into college or your post secondary options, and then being an adult, being self sufficient. The whole goal for me as a parent is to make certain that when my children are of age, they are self sufficient. They can take care of themselves. And so I applaud you both for that. What is something you wish educators would have understood? When it was difficult to reach you, and two, is there anything you wish they would have known, that would have made a difference? Let's start with you, Joseph.

Joseph  10:10

The only thing I would know, like tell them to change is don't order someone to change. Like, it's not gonna work. You can't, you can't force a person to better themselves. So they're gonna have to have that drive themselves.

Don  10:26

Yeah, that's a great answer, because and I say this, I said this when I was a teacher, again, I'll tell you, I taught for many years. And I would say, by time a kid is young man is 12, or 13. Yeah, they don't do what they do. And so what you said, you hit the nail on the head. What do you think, Zach? What do you think that teachers or educators should under should have understood about you prior? And then? What should they have? Or could they have known that would have made a difference?

Zach  10:58

Yeah, I say, look past the ignorance and maybe projected because we're still young, we're still going through things we're still learning. So you have to be able to work with people like you have to maintain that flexibility for the position that you're in. If you're in that position, you have to be willing to help these kids, because that's your task. That's your job. Like, you know, you just have to be willing to go through whatever you have to look past, how they look how they may have dressed, you know, just think about their past, think about what they've been to their experiences, what really made them who they are now, you have to really focus on those. And then if it's not the best, and you just help them understand the way don't just, you know, deny them or undervalue them just because of what you may think,

Don  11:33

You know, the importance of your comments is that I happen to grow up in, in a city that was lower socioeconomic, in other words, not wealthy. With some struggles as I grew up, so in other words, it enabled me to understand students that had other issues, right. But a lot of teachers don't. And so to hear your voices, hopefully will enable them to go back and think about what can I do different to reach these kids? And how can I really help them? And then how can I relate to them? Because relationships are? Yeah. So as a County, San Bernardino County as a whole, because, Zach, you come from the Desert Mountain region? And then Joseph, we have doing what we call the Valley region. So let's start with you, Joseph. What do you think that we as educators could do better to serve students coming from similar backgrounds as you?

Joseph  12:34

What stage in your life like, as a child or a young adult

Don  12:40

Good question, your entire career, your whole education, if you could think about the entire time since you were in school? And now? What do you think, could have been different that would have helped you grow further.

Joseph  12:55

More activities, like in the community? If there were more activities in the community, I would have probably been interested in way more and would have come in contact with way more people too, because, you know, networking is very important.

Don  13:11

You're absolutely correct. All right, Zach, what do you think, as a county, what can be different to help students,

Zach  13:17

I say, having a one on one sit down, just really getting the time to understand somebody understand their hobbies, understand the person that they are, what they'd like to get into compare, just find a resolution, help them understand, you know, help them pave the way because a lot of people don't have the people like the parents and stuff to really give them the motivation, given the ideas just really helped them as a whole. You know, like, it's just, that's for the people in our situations, because our situations we come from, like crappy backgrounds, we don't have the people, we don't have the support. So we got to do it ourselves. We need some type of assistance, it doesn't just grow. And you know, you need the maintenance and everything. So it's like basically cultivating a perfect mind. That's what you have to do. You have to really set them up for that, which is just found date. That's what the district could do at a young age, even at older age. It's all about the significance of your conversation and the opportunities that you give them.

Don  14:07

Well, gentlemen, you blow my mind with your answers. Um, finally, Joseph. What are your plans after graduation?

Joseph  14:16

My plans after graduation? It's not hard, but it's so long question. I mean, long answer. I have been accepted into the drones class. I think you guys are doing that. Schools as far as from that. Yes. Okay. Yeah. I got into that. So I'm gonna be doing drones class in the early summer. And after I finished that certification, I'm gonna try to get some type of experience. And in the middle of that, I don't know how I'm gonna fit it in but I'm going to go to college. I'm gonna get like a couple classes like one or two classes just so I can get the gist of it because I heard it's difficult

Don  15:01

Well, nothing is difficult that you put your mind to it, obviously, to be where you are, you can handle and navigate difficulty in your life. And I'm proud of you. That drone, as you talk more about learning about drones, I think that's kind of an untapped market. So anytime you get into a market that's not saturated, in other words, a lot of people aren't doing, you have the opportunity to really grow and be compensated financially. So I encourage you to continue with that with your passion to just the other piece that's important. Doing something that you're very passionate about. I'm a people person, you could probably figure that out. So education is great for me, to be able to, to communicate with people and also help people. You know, I relate to what you both said about when you're young, and you have some obstacles, or you don't want to have the most ideal childhood, but you keep it pushing, I encourage you also to latch on to mentors. Very, very important. I wouldn't be here we're not for a multitude of mentors in my life, Zach what are your plans.

Zach  16:13

So after high school, I plan on being a very successful person, my goal is to be in the top 2% I would like to get into business and marketing, because those are two good markets. It's just about maintaining this stuff. But I am going to find a better paying job. But to find multiple sources of income, that's the plan. Because you know, you do whatever you put your mind to you can make you can be successful, it's just a matter of if you're willing to try and I'm a very ambitious person, so I'll do whatever it takes. And it's like, there's so many things to get into. But, you know, I don't want to be just subjected to just one, you know, that I want to get into everything, everything interests me everything, just knowledge in general just feels amazing. So just, you know, just gonna let go with the flow, and it's gonna go, I have full confidence manifested and everything's it's good.

Don  17:00

I love it. And you know what knowledge is absolutely, darling. Absolutely. I like what you said about multiple income streams. 

Zach  17:08

Yeah. Just get rich. 

Don  17:10

You're absolutely right. Because you know what, you know, industry should? Yeah, that one time, you may not know that was newspapers every day. Yeah. Right. No newspaper, print media is almost non existent, right, 

Zach  17:25

Because that's when all that stuff became into demand. Because everything becomes into demand due to trends due to the market due to everything, simplicity of everything, like those really factor. So that's why I'm really interested in that stuff, because just the fact that economics is so complicated, even though it's just dollar bills, like it's just so like, influential to me, because that's my passion, my passion is working with those type of things. Like not necessarily statistics, even though there is a little something, I might say everything, you know, I'm a very open person, very flexible. So it's like, you know, it's just like, it's all, economics, especially, it's a very, like, it's an art almost,

Don  17:59

You gotta love it. I want to leave you with this as well. If you haven't thought about how you're going to give back to others, for sure. Think about that, as well, for sure. As you know, as we grow and develop, and in our careers or in our personal lives, it's always good to think about how can we help others who are like us? Yeah, who need to overcome these obstacles? Joseph, you have anything in mind now about how you will assist others as you continue to grow in your life journey?

Joseph  18:36

No, kind of idea. spread knowledge, like the the importance of people spreading knowledge is, is very, very huge. Like, it's, it's how history is written like this, oh, well, History is written by the victor. But still, it's, it's different man, it's different. You get a you got a spread, which you know, you can't gate keep this is a new thing that they've come up with. You got to not just spread what you know, but build on it. Like you can't just stay in the same place. You gotta learn how to build off of everything, or else you're gonna get stagnant.

Don  19:24

I love that can't be a gatekeeper of information. Just like your being selfish, kind of right. Yeah, Zach talk to me. What are your plans to assist others in the future?

Zach  19:34

So what I would say is it would be good to have a good low sit down dealing with the emotions is the first step but then giving opportunities to second so I would say the fact that I'm not there yet doesn't give me the confidence to say what I really would do. But what I would plan to do is just you know, given that first step, anybody you know, anybody who even comes across, like just give them the opportunity to let them know what they're worth because everybody has worth we're one in a trillion like our chances are Our ancestors everybody met. And this is we're really all significant our own peoples. And it says, you know, like, just anything I could do you know that especially bestowing the knowledge, especially with economics, because nobody wants to live in the poverty, like, that's horrible. And everybody has to know how to get out of it, because people get stuck in their poverty due to trends due to everything, and you just got to give them their proper knowledge to the common knowledge, what they should know, like just about these things, because money is the most like, significant thing. Now. That's how you get past this, how you get by this, how you get the nice things like, that's what you that's what I would teach first. But also just, you know, just giving people a good state of mind, just letting them know that someone's there because you're never alone. That's when people got to understand because people feel like they're alone. People feel like they have no like self worth or nothing, when really, you can gain it yourself. But it's always helps when you have someone to tell you. And it makes it easier. And I'd rather make it that much easier. Because I didn't have it that easy. But the fact that I was able to learn from it just makes me that much of a like stronger person just me more like intelligible to tell you like you know, you're going to do better, you're going to make it through this, you're going to get through whatever. Don't let you look, don't let your make the situation make you because a lot of people that break them, but you know, don't let it break you better make you.

Don  21:12

And I'll tell you what, this has been one of my most enjoyable podcasts. I do really believe in the power of the youth as our future. Both of you are very encouraging when I talk to you as young men. And I just want to thank you for coming here today. I want to thank you for continuing to fight for what you deserve. You're right, everybody, every person is significant. And we're here to help one another world. Thank you for listening. We hope you find this information valuable. If you have any topics or questions that you would like addressed, please email them directly to cwa@sbcss.net. As always, we hope you stay well and continue to transform life through education