Host Joy Walczak speaks with Charlie Vonk and his former student Jon Greenhoe.
Joy Walczak (JW): Welcome to the Your Dream Is Our Dream podcast, where we celebrate student success one dream at a time. This program is made possible by Kent ISD in partnership with WGVU. I'm Joy Walczak, and today I'm joined by Forest Hills Public Schools alum, Jon Greenhoe, and retired teacher and principal at Forest Hills Central Middle School, Charlie Vonk, who taught Jon in a class called Video Tech Time. Thanks to both of you for being here today.
Jon Greenhoe (JG): Thank you, it's fun.
Charlie Vonk (CV): Yeah, absolutely. What a treat for me. Thank you.
JW: You're welcome. I'm glad to have you here. Jon, I'd like to start first by welcoming you back to Michigan. You've been a lot of places since graduating from Forest Hills, which we'll get to soon. But today, we've reunited you with Mr. Vonk from your middle school where he taught the class you were in. Can you take us back to that time?
JG: Yeah, it was back in middle school, Forest Hills Middle School. And for a long time, I thought it was seventh grade, but my memory's getting me a little bit and you corrected me, it's eighth grade. I was graduating class of 2002, so we tried to do the math. It was 26 years ago. I want to say it was the class that introduced me to video. And so you are the teacher that sparked my interest in video. I told students, friends when I was in college that it all started for me in Video Tech Time.
JG: I'm not joking. That's where it started There you introduced us to, back in the day, it was analog video tape to tape analog editing. We did some Claymation, stop-motion Claymation, and then I think that was the start of in school video announcement programs So you got me to do that.
JW: It's really come a long way since then. Mr. Vonk, when you taught this class, you were learning right along with your students, right?
CV: That is correct. When you're a teacher at Central Middle School, at that time, one of your responsibilities was to teach an exploratory class, which, listening to Jon helped him explore the idea of video production. Yeah, so I had to figure out what that all meant then and acquire the equipment and all those things. So I was learning right along with them. Now, you know, I had the best laid plans. Clearly Jon remembered some of them, which is good to hear. But they taught me a lot too along the way.
JW: It always seems to work in both directions and both of you have been learning all the way along your journey. Jon, you really dove into video production. Can you give us, and audio too, can you give us a brief timeline of what you did with this interest after middle school and how what you learned in Mr. Vonk's class has influenced you along the way.
JG: Well, I'll try to keep the timeline since middle school as short as I can, but I did continue video into high school. There was another exploratory class or extra class that I took in high school that we also did morning announcement shows and other productions and I produced our senior class video that was 90 minutes long. Full feature senior class video. So I was known in high school as the video guy. And I had a handheld camera of my parents, did video everywhere. Graduated school, grade school, high school, and went on to a place called Asbury College, now Asbury University. Majored in media communication with an emphasis in production. And one of the reasons I went there is because I found out that they had connections with the Olympics.
And that's a story in itself, but that was the reason why I went there. Did a degree in media communications, did video production, did field production, sports production, all that. There's a long list of stuff there. Then graduated. And Joy, I met you about that time and found out you worked at WOOD TV8 in Grand Rapids and told me about media and when I was ready to do an internship I interned under you and your office in community affairs and then worked myself up the ranks during summer classes, summer breaks, winter breaks and then when I was done with college I actually did the summer. Worked in production, worked in news. I joked that I did everything in production but everything in news except for being a newscaster.
JG: So I did production. I did that on and off for about four years. Went to Central Michigan University for my masters and that was in broadcast and cinematic arts. So did that for two years. Ran their sports production department and did some other videos there. Once I was done with schooling I went to a small production company in South Bend. Didn’t stay there very long, but did meet my wife in the South Bend area. Moved out to Peoria, Illinois, worked at Bradley University. I was their marketing video production specialist for their four years. Then I did everything from commercials to commencements is what I said. Partnered a lot with a gal that worked in the athletic department, but I didn't do athletics. I did commercials to commencements and everything in between.
JG: Moved over to the corporate world and worked at Caterpillar’s global headquarters in Peoria, Illinois, and was part of their production team and ironically stayed there for four years. Kind of seeing a pattern here. But I did everything for executives, executive big shows down to products and in the dirt. Caterpillar makes all your machinery. So I'd been in the dirt. I've been on construction sites. I've been at some around the world construction sites. They sent me to some other countries and then global trade shows. I've been to Las Vegas for a trade show, Munich, Germany for a trade show. So I did big corporate video. Left Peoria and my wife and I moved to Indianapolis, just the north side of Indianapolis, Fisher's area, just about five years ago. And I got a job at Indiana University of Indianapolis. As of June, July one, they will be Indiana University of Indianapolis. But in their school of liberal arts, they had a small TV studio in one of their buildings. And I was their in-house marketing person who ran the TV studio there. And I also had some opportunities to teach. So I taught a TV production studio, TV studio production course, and then eventually developed a podcasting course. But I also did marketing as well. And I got into photography as well. I ended up shooting headshots for staff and faculty.
JG: So, it's moved on from there and then I just left that job about two years ago, so I've been a stay-at-home dad for the past two years.
JW: And you have a big adventure coming up that we're going to get to in just a minute, but Mr. Vonk, I'd love to hear from you. You have a lot of students that have been through your classes over the years. What's it like to hear about Jon's experience in your class and what he took from it from there?
CV: It's humbling, really. You think about, as I listen to him detail what's happened since Video Tech Time at Central Middle School, and that was a 45 minute class as I recall that met probably 180 odd times in eighth grade. So while probably at the time it felt like a whole school year, it was very finite. And to hear about his journey and where that experience has taken you, that's incredible. And I think it all started with a fun class we put together and just had a good time making some fun videos and whatnot and it's just blossomed into what a career, what a story, what a journey.
JW: And Jon, you also took it to the next level a lot like Mr. Vonk did and became a teacher. Can you tell us what prompted you to want to lead a classroom?
JG: Yeah. I mean, when I took Mr. Vonk's class, I think it really gave me the jump start to know equipment and technology and the tools of the trade really ahead of my time. When I went to college, I already knew a lot of skills that was way ahead of my classmates. I really wanted to inspire the next generation of broadcast students. I went and got my master's. Joy, you and I had some conversations about going to grad school, the value of grad school. You told me specifically, If you ever want to teach, get a master's and then you have it. And so that's why I did. And so when I had the opportunity to be in an education space and they said, if you want to teach and we have this studio, but we need some help, that was my opportunity. And I wanted to provide the tools to students, the basics so they could follow their dreams. I mean, I had a student of mine that got in TV early before she graduated, won an Emmy Award shortly thereafter. I just had another student just tell me she landed a job in Terre Haute, Indiana, and she's starting her first reporting job. So to see some of these students of mine go into the TV and start their careers, that really is exciting to me. So I wanted to bring the tools of the trade to them so they could go on and do their career.
JW: The way Mr. Vonk did for you.
JG: That's right.
JW: And what's next for you, Jon? You have an exciting opportunity in just a short time.
JG: So, this is something that's developed over the past six months. When I went to Asbury University, I actually had the opportunity to work at the Athens Olympics in 2002. Yeah, it's been that long, 20 years ago. That's a story in itself. But that got me, with being at Asbury University, that was kind of a gate that got me into there. This time through the power of LinkedIn, I got connected with a guy that works for Paris 2024 and for the Olympic Broadcast Services. So not your traditional NBC that we hear in the States, but the host broadcasting company that builds the infrastructure for the whole Olympics. And so he was starting to recruit for his next team. And I said, I would be interested if you have some any openings. And over time, he eventually connected with me and gave me a call.
JG: I said, yeah, I am recruiting. Here's what I'm doing. I lead up the commentary installation teams and I have a couple holes available. Would you be interested? I said, yes. So things progressed and I ended up getting hired through OBS, Olympic Broadcast Services. So I am now already credentialed, approved, already have my flights assigned and I will be departing here soon to be a part of the commentary installation team for the Judo and wrestling venue in Champ-dé-Mars, excuse my French, but it is the venue that faces the Eiffel Tower of all things. So I leave here very soon, but I will be, my first day of work is 10 days before the opening ceremonies. And as far as I know, we're going to be installing all the commentary systems for that venue and then supporting them throughout the competition.
JW: That's very exciting. And congratulations for landing that spot in a very worldwide space that's going to be a next level for your broadcasting career. And Mr. Vonk, what do you think we can learn when we ask early on our students what their dreams are all about? How does it make you reflect on your time as an educator to think about students and their dreams?
CV: Well, it's just fun to think, you know, eighth grade. I'm not sure if John was 13, 14 years old at that time, but just what lies dormant in our students and as we, you know, I worked at Central Middle School my whole career, 31 years, student teacher all the way to building principal and you know, it's, it's, you know, I'm proud of the fact that there's a robust exploratory program because of these kinds of stories. You know, you don't know what experiences awaken different interests and passions in kids and what a gift for me to have Jon reconnect and share his journey from that moment. So I think it's just, we can learn about the value of just really taking interest in our kids and finding out where their passions are and being ambassadors for that the best we can with that little fraction of time that we have and the moment in time that we have with them.
JW: And Jon, a similar question to you. How do you think it has influenced you to know your dream early on and then work toward it?
JG: Yeah, I think Video Tech Time allowed me to know that there were careers that were more project based and technology based than just your traditional writing and publishing type projects. So a tangible project that I could visual connect with was something that has pursued me throughout my whole career. Something that I wanted to create, see and share and then pass that along and share with others, either to mentor others to do, follow along, or to be part of a big team. I think broadcasting is very much a team effort and the bigger the productions that you do. And so I love that team chemistry, that team effort that's building something bigger than yourself. And obviously, the Olympics, being part of a broadcasting for the Olympics is probably the biggest team I'll ever be a part of globally and that's really exciting to say that I was a part of something that big.
JW: It's very exciting. And I just want to say thank you both for taking time to come together and speak with us about this today. I know you haven't seen each other in a couple of decades. It's just great to have you both here in the same space reflecting on how important it is for students and educators to dream big together. So thanks to both of you for being here today.
JG: Thank you, Joy, for bringing us back together.
CV: Yeah, thank you, Joy, for making this happen and reconnecting me with Jon. And then, Jon, I want to say to you, I have a daughter-in-law who's French and she said, say, “bonne chance”, which I believe means good luck if I did some justice to that. So good luck in your adventures.
JG: Thank you.
CV: And in Paris.
JG: Thank you.
JW: Yes, congratulations. And thank you to both of you and to everyone who's listening today, too. If you know a student of any age who dreams big, we would love to share their story. You can share your ideas and hear more dream stories at KentISD.org/YourDream. The Your Dream is Our Dream podcast is presented by Kent ISD in partnership with WGVU. I'm Joy Walczak.
