Host Joy Walczak speaks with Angel Martinez, 9th grade Comstock Park; Kayd Coffman 11th Grade, East Kentwood; and Ryleigh O’Connor, 11th grade Comstock Park
Joy Walczak, Host (JW): Welcome to the Your Dream Is Our Dream podcast where we celebrate student success. Today we have an opportunity to talk with three members of Kent ISD's Student Leadership Community and I'd love to have each of you introduce yourselves. Why don't we start over here?
Angel Martinez (AM): Hello, my name is Angel Martinez. I'm a freshman at Comstock Park.
JW: Welcome Angel. And next.
Kayd Coffman (KC): I'm Kayd Cofman, a junior at EK (East Kentwood).
JW: Welcome, Kayd. And our next guest.
Ryleigh O’Connor (RO): I'm Ryleigh O'Connor, a junior at Comstock Park.
JW: Well, thanks to all of you for joining us here today. We're here to have a quick conversation about your dreams, and Ryleigh, I'd love to start with you. What are you dreaming of?
RO: I would really like to graduate and go to U of M for sports medicine. And then I want to become a sports physician.
JW: Fantastic dream. How about you, Kayd? What's your future hold?
KC: Play football. Play football. That's about it.
JW: Tell me more about that. What position?
KC: Quarterback. I'm committed to Michigan State right now. I'm going to...So go into that, graduate early, go get on campus and just trying to feel it out and probably getting the coaching after all that's done.
JW: So beyond football, you might be a mentor and a coach at some point someday?
KC: Yeah, once I get done playing, that's something that I've really been keen on doing for a while. Just, I don't know, if you can lead the game really, that's kind of how I feel myself. That's how I live my life.
JW: What do you love about football?
KC: Yeah, I think it's, I think it's the greatest team game. I mean, 11 guys have to do exactly what they need to do at the same time to make any sort of success happen. So I think that's good. And just having that connection, you only get 11, 11 chances, maybe like the regular seasons, nine in high school and you're working the whole year for it. So every game is a little more than, like basketball where you get 20 something a year. Yeah, there are only so many chances.
JW: However, we know that our dreams can be endless. Angel, I'd love to know, what are you dreaming of for your future?
AM: For my future, I dream to graduate, but also I want to try to get to MIT for engineering because I want to try to help my family, get more involved in stuff. And I want to help them out and not go, like, how they used to be. So I just want to try and help my family out when I go to engineering school.
JW: What will you be doing to help your family as an engineer?
AM: I want to try and help them design things, like if they ever want to try and get into something, I just want to help them and support them with my engineering skills that I have.
JW: And what kind of an engineer would you like to be?
AM: Either mechanical or software engineering. And if I become a software, I can technically help them develop their data if they need it.
JW: Absolutely. What are you doing in school right now that is helping to prepare you for this dream?
AM: Right now, I'm taking geometry, which is on 10th grade math. And as a freshman, I would say it's advanced. And then next year, I want to try and test out of I was with two to do pre-calc so I can start doing more advanced math.
JW: Fantastic. Ryleigh, let's go back to you. What are you doing in school right now, and how are maybe some of your teachers inspiring you to make your dreams come true?
RO: Right now I'm taking AP Psychology, and I think it's helping a lot with learning biological bases and stuff that I'm going to need for college and my college classes. And I really like Ms. Parrish and the way that she teaches it. I feel like she keeps us engaged and she can kind of relate our stuff to stuff we want to do in the future. So she asks about our futures and tries to relate her content to what we want to do.
JW: I think that's a terrific example of how your academics are really helping to prepare you. You're also part of the Student Leadership Community and you had an opportunity to really emerge on stage in a big community event as the host and leader of Listen, Learn, Lead. Can you tell us how that event and the Student Leadership Community have also helped to empower you?
RO: I think this group really helps me get out of my comfort zone and kind of talk about things that I wouldn't be comfortable talking about outside of this group, or talking to new people that I haven't before. And I think it gives me confidence to try new things and do things that I don't think I could have done without it.
JW: Wonderful. And Kayd, tell me a little bit more about teamwork and how your team also helps inspire dreams to make them come true for everyone involved.
KC: Yeah, I think with a team is kind of hard. It's like a family. Most everyone has to really pick up their slack and guys aren't, it’s kind of, it takes everyone else down. So, I mean, it's really just how much you connect and gel with the guys for how far your dream can really go. And I think, like some point, the dream kind of ends if the guy isn't really actively involved with it.
JW: Are there people in your school that are supportive and mentoring you to make your dreams come true, leading you toward your college career and a football career?
KC: Yeah, all my coaches, they really helped me push me. I talk to them all the time. They're still going in their room and stuff and after school, before school, stuff like that. Definitely some of my administrators, our principal is pretty supportive about it.
JW: About this particular program, the Student Leadership Community, how does that connect to your dreams?
KC: Yeah, it's just communicating with people that I don't communicate to with every day, different kinds of people, which is just all a team is, especially when you get to college where it's 105 guys on the team and it's just a little different.
JW: It is good to meet people from all different experiences and the Student Leadership Community really helps to bring students together. Angel, can you tell us how being part of this community has also helped you with your dreams?
AM: Being part of this community has helped me personally because it's helped me be more outgoing. Like, I was able to participate in one of the panels, even though I was nervous about it at first, because as a freshman, it would be nerve wracking to talk in front of all the administrators, superintendents, everyone that was there. And so at first, I was nervous, but then once I got up and got done with it, I overcame my fear of it, and I was just ecstatic that I was able to express how I feel about the subject I was talking about.
JW: And you did a really great job. We're really proud of all of you for being part of this community and for really putting yourselves out there and sharing your experiences because that does help inspire others. Ryleigh, would you have some advice for somebody who is a freshman now, which you were when you started in this group, and what they could be doing to empower themselves and make their own dreams come true?
RO: Yeah, I would say just be confident in yourself and speak what you know about. Don't try to be somebody else or talk about something that you maybe don't. I don't know, just stay like to your own beliefs and support your beliefs, but still be respectful of others and just really listen to other people and what they have to say.
JW: I really do love that word confidence. It does make a big difference in helping to make your dreams come true. Kayd, how will confidence help you get ahead and get to where you want to be?
KC: Yeah, it's a confidence game, got to be confident to be any sort of successful with it. And I think that's just life in general. If you go back to every part of your life, you have to be confident to make a decision. You have to be confident to do this. Otherwise, you're the one getting taken advantage of. I mean, that's just part of it. I mean, I'm not like a not confident guy at all. I'm very confident. Um, but it's just part of the game. You got to be confident.
JW: And Angel, why do you think it's important for educators like us to ask students about their dreams?
AM: I feel like it's important so the educators can help us towards our dreams. Like for me, if I wanted to be an engineer, like I said, I could go to my counselor and ask what kind of classes I'll be able to take in high school to help me further that in college and I can just do those classes in high school instead of doing it in college.
JW: Great. And Ryleigh, would you like to give us just one piece of advice that you would share with other students as they're getting ready to complete their high school education and move into the real world?
RO: I would say trust the people that are around you and try to keep friends and keep people around you that are going to help you in your future and going to support you and that want you to succeed because I think relationships are a huge part of your future and they're gonna be a huge part that drive it.
JW: Well, we really appreciate the chance to talk with all of you today and wish you really well with your dreams. Thanks for being part of our podcast today.
All: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
JW: And we'd also like to thank everyone who's listening today. If you know a student who dreams big, we would love to share their story. You can find more Your Dream Is Our Dream stories on our website at Kent ISD.org/Your Dream. I'm Joy Walczak and the Your Dream Is Our Dream podcast is presented by Kent ISD in partnership with WGVU.
