Lakeland Currents, your public affairs program for north central Minnesota.

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Jason: Hello again friends.

I'm Jason Edens, your host of Lakeland Currents.

Thanks for joining the conversation today and thanks for your ongoing support of Lakeland Public TV.

2020 has been a year unlike any other, from athletics to distance learning, graduation and more.

Everything is different for this year's high school seniors and school students all across the state.

So what is top of mind for our youth leaders today?

What are our youth leaders perceptions of the future?

We're here to answer those questions and many more are my two guests today, so it's my pleasure to introduce to you Joel Roberts, Student Council President at Bemidji High School and Emma True, Student Council President at Brainerd High School, both seniors.

Joel and Emma, it's nice to meet you both and thank you so much for making time.

I really do appreciate it.

Joel: It's great to be here.

Emma: It's great to be here as well.

Jason: Well first of all, I'm really interested to get your perceptions about distance learning.

Of course we've all been hearing a great deal about distance learning so I'm eager to hear from you.

Is it working?

Do you feel that your education has been compromised in any way shape or form?

Is the quality of the education as good as it was before distance learning?

What do you have to say about that?

Let's start with Joel.

Joel: All right.

I think you know kind of we we have limited options.

I think you know distance learning is kind of, it is what it is kind of at this point.

I know, we've said that a lot this year but I, I would say that I feel it is not quite the same.

There's, there's certainly a lot of benefits to being in class full-time.

I know there's some students who who prefer it.

I've talked to students who do great with it and they like just kind of doing their own thing.

You know they can, they can you know organize their schedule kind of however they want to organize it.

They can they have more free time but there are a lot of students who struggle with it I think, being at home not being able to have that direct access to your teachers and to your peers.

We need help and it's, it's very different so I, I think there is definitely a lot of value to in-person learning you know and hopefully we'll be able to get back to that over the next couple months.

Jason: Emma has your experience been similar?

What do you have to say about distance learning?

Emma: Yeah I would personally agree with Joel.

There's a lot of pros and cons to distant learning.

I personally have been enjoying it because of my flexibility in my schedule because it's allowed me to go to work and still attend school at the same time to take on a couple extra hours but in Brainerd there is a lot of poverty and so I know that a lot of people do not have access to the internet so even though like the school district has tried to provide chromebooks and different like wireless internet.

I know it's super difficult for some people to log on to their classes and not be able to experience and learn all the things that they can learn.

The teachers have been...

I would like to shout out to the teachers.

They have been doing a wonderful job, like at Brainerd and I assume in Bemidji as well to make sure that the students are enriched and like able to have access to different learning materials even without their internet access and I just think that overall kind of going back to what Joel said that even though that this is not the most like, what is the word?

I'm sorry.

Jason: No, no not at all.

You know what's really interesting Emma is you've already actually addressed two things that I wanted to ask about at some point today.

One of which is whether or not distance learning is working equally for everyone, because you definitely hit on a big concern with distance learning which is connectivity right, especially in rural Minnesota or rural America?

Not everyone has equal access to the internet so how are you seeing your schools adapt to that,so since you brought it up Emma, how is Brainerd dealing with the fact that there's not equal access to broadband for example?

Emma: So I think Brainerd has been doing a great job trying to connect students who aren't able to have access to the internet.

Like I said in my previous statement that they have been trying to get out wireless routers to have students be able to be connected.

Ever since going on to the elementary school they have been giving the option of emergency care so people who aren't able to learn distantly they are able to send their children to learn in a physical in a physical environment so if that's one of the options and then teachers are able to send out like paper packets and in-depth instructions on how to teach at home for the parents and then for the high school I know they've been giving different options similar to the elementary school, so yeah.

Jason: You know you also mentioned something about how the teachers have been really nimble at Brainerd and really adapted to this new normal if we can call it that and I was going to ask you about that.

I'm really curious to learn more about how the instructors at both high schools are adapting.

Joel have you found that the Bemidji teachers have also done a good job of kind of pivoting to this new method of instruction?

I suspect that most teachers also prefer in, in-class teaching.

So what's your experience with it, Joel?

Joel: I would definitely agree with what Emma said.

The teachers have really done a great job and they've been working incredibly hard.

I think to adapt because you know this isn't what they went to college for.

You know, how to, how to use computers and run these meetings.

It's difficult.

It's not easy and there's, there's a lot of learning that the teachers kind of had to do over the summer and you know last March as we first kind of begin this and even more as we've you know gone back and forth with the hybrid model versus the fully distance so yeah I think the teachers have done an incredible job.

Jason: Tell me, I'm interested to hear a specific example of how either your schools or maybe a specific teacher has made the most of this distance learning environment.

Do you have any really interesting examples of creative uses of technology in this new classroom?

Either one of you.

Emma: I can go first.

[please] So I'm in the Brainerd Acapella Choir and so obviously inquire you sing and so the distant learning has been making it quite difficult for the students to be active, especially me, but Mr. Stubbs, our choral director and choir teacher, he's been doing an amazing job trying to keep kids active and involved and making sure they're growing in their singing and in like maturing as singers and as students and so during our classes Mr. Stubbs keeps us active by like goofing around and trying to catch our attentions while we're while he's playing the piano and we attempt to sing via zoom or like Google Meet, but we try our best to do that but I just think teachers like Mr. Stubbs and a lot of other teachers of mine have been just trying to keep all the students engaged as best as they can with different activities and just super silly different actions and so I think that just makes the class and it just makes distant learning ten times better.

Jason: Nice, real positive attitude there.

That's great to hear.

How about you Joel?

Any interesting ways of adapting to this new classroom from the teachers?

Joel: Yeah, I think with us you know for the music department especially has been really forced to be creative.

I'm involved in band in Bemidji and yeah it's, it's been pretty different.

You know, we have instead of having you know our full rehearsal with everybody, now we have you know we have sectionals, people work together you know and we have time where we talk about we they've implemented like a leadership training course kind of into the music program, which I thought was very interesting so like every Wednesday we set aside some time to work on you know talking about leadership skills and basically you know just how that can be applied to life in general as well as to music and being part of a musical ensemble and yeah I mean I think for them in particular it is really it's required a lot of creativity.

Jason: Well you're both musicians evidently and I was going to ask you about extracurricular activities, whether it's jazz band like you Joel.

I understand you play saxophone in the jazz band or maybe it's football or basketball.

I'm really interested to learn how students are dealing with the fact that they may have been looking forward to the basketball season for example but it's in jeopardy, right so what do you, what are you hearing from your peers or what are you guys experiencing with regard to some of your extracurricular activities?

Emma?

Emma: I'm personally in track and field and so obviously last spring my junior season was taken away from us because of Covid but I have a lot of friends who are athletes and in different clubs and organizations.

I know a lot of my athletic friends have been pretty hit, hit pretty hard with the counseling of like sports.

Since we're seniors they had their senior seasons taken away from them and so it wasn't a traditional year even though they were able to have like five practices.

I know this fall that football, well obviously the Minnesota High School League allowed sports to continue this year but right after a couple weeks after we began our fall sports our school shut down because, because of too many cases in for Covid and so I know a lot of athletes haven't been able to participate as they wanted to but then for extracurriculars and like clubs, key club for example and like other interactive clubs have been trying to keep active as possible and so they've been taking on rather than being school focused they've been focusing on the community and how to bring it forward and to help other people so they've been like packing food for the outreach program which goes towards we scare not we scare hunger, Kids Against Hunger and so they were distributing, that organization was distributing food around the Brainerd Lakes Area and across the country so.

Jason: Interesting, so Joel is the jazz band still performing?

Joel: Not currently.

We kind of in November when, when the state kind of shut down all like extracurricular activities we had to stop practicing because there's really with a small ensemble like that it's, it's very difficult to do virtually and so I believe we'll be starting back up again on January 4th because the press conference yesterday, they allowed, they said to allow stuff like that to start up again so I'm really I'm looking forward to that but we've just kind of we've had a lot of the same as Emma said in our school we were lucky enough to be able to continue having you know hybrid learning model and sports and activities until November, when kind of we had that spike.

You know I think it was right around week of Thanksgiving there was that spike when everything shut down again and it was I know there are a lot of students who are very, very upset about losing activities and that is, it's a big deal for us.

Like that is, that's our community, that's what we do for fun.

That's where all our friends are and you know for me it was a difficult thing.

It's like you know I, I know I would much rather be in school.

I'd much rather see my friends and participate in this stuff at the same time.

Like you have to recognize people are dying, like what, what value are we placing on our freedom to go out and see our friends and do these fun things you know?

You have to put into perspective a little bit.

Some people have bigger concerns than you do right now and that's just that's the reality of 2020 so it has been difficult and I know a lot of students are really happy yesterday to hear that sports to be resuming January 4th.

Jason: Well those are wise words and that certainly is encouraging that extracurricular activities will likely resume soon but I want to follow up on that a little bit more because as you said right, school is not just about the classroom?

It's about socializing, it's about establishing lifelong friendships and so how would you describe mental health overall?

I mean you're obviously still interacting with your classmates so how's everyone doing?

What's your impression of mental health among your peers?

Joel: You know it has it's, it's been a bit tough.

You know we're doing what the best we can.

You know you have we I know a lot of teachers have been trying to have us like work in groups kind of in class so you know use Google Meet non-zoom.

There are breakout rooms so you can kind of you can do some group projects to interact with your friends, you can go you can see like a couple of your friends maybe at a time outside of school safely and it's, it's not easy and I know a lot of students have been concerned about you know mental health stuff.

As a, as a student council we've been working on ways to help alleviate that and make sure there are resources available to those students who need them as well as you know trying to put information out in the community about you know please you know be following these guidelines, be wearing your masks so that we can get back into school so we can have activities again so that businesses can be open.

That's, that's something that we've kind of been pushing for because you know the question is kind of you know what, what can you do [sure] because this is, this is not a super fun time for a lot of us, especially I think for the senior class.

It's, [yeah] it's rough to lose all that.

Jason: Well Emma what's the Brainerd Student Council doing or student government rather, doing for the community?

How are you engaging or how is the student government reacting to the Covid reality right now?

Emma: So student council personally we've been trying to stay as active as we can, no matt like even though we've had a lot of bumps in the road because of our Covid cases our school hasn't been able to meet in person.

Like prior to the state shutting down again, but we've been trying to stay active like try to get out in our community.

So we did this event called, We Scare Hunger.

So on Halloween we went around the Brainerd neighborhoods collecting non-perishable goods for the Salvation Army and we collected 550 pounds of non-perishable items to donate [wow] so that was a lot of fun and so we followed all the guidelines, wear our masks and all of that.

We even got to dress up in Halloween costumes so that was fun but we're trying to stay active throughout our student body as well.

So we came up with the concept we're going to be writing postcards and uplifting notes to the student body so we're going to start with the freshman class and go up to the senior class to just make sure that kids know that there is light in the dark and that there is hope throughout this whole thing and that eventually there will be an end to Covid and everything will go to somewhat normal, our normalcy and then we also collected we're doing staff appreciation gifts because Covid is distant learning is just as hard on the teachers as it is the students so we wanted to make sure that they knew that they were appreciated for going the extra mile for the students and being super flexible but otherwise we're just trying to find new ideas and just try to stay as active as we can.

Jason: Well that is really heartwarming and I'm really impressed and obviously student leadership, right in front of us right here so I appreciate that.

I'm is it safe to assume that both of you are college bound or interested in going to college?

[Yes] Yes?

Okay, well I'm curious how, how are you dealing with that this year because isn't it true that most of the standardized tests have been postponed or delayed or maybe even cancelled?

Is that right?

[mmhmm] So is the college application process continuing forward?

Tell me a little bit about, about how that's working for the two of you and some of your peers?

Joel why don't you take a crack at Joel: Okay.

It's definitely it's, it's been challenging.

I think one thing in particular for me is like you can't travel right now.

You can't go visit campuses and so it's, it's hard to know like I've got you know four or five different places that I think I'd really like to go but I haven't actually ever been there and so it's a little bit hard to like I'm worried I'm gonna have to make a decision you know without having a whole lot of confidence and you know that, that's the right the one right place and it's they have a lot of resources online and the colleges have been putting out a lot online and most maybe I'm going on a limb here but I think I believe most campuses or most colleges have kind of waived the SAT or ACT requirement because so many of them were canceled.

I know I was signed up originally for one back in April that obviously didn't happen and I signed up for a couple over the summer and eventually we did get one in Bemidji in October.

We had an ACT but you know would have liked have been able to take it more than once if I could have and you know there's, there's so many questions kind of to be asked and it's, it's very different I think than in previous years but we're getting through it.

Jason: Emma, how about in Brainerd?

Emma: So I signed up kind of like what Joel was saying, the ACT has been canceled multiple times and then we have been able to take it at least twice but I'm coming from I'm going be a first generation college student this year or like this upcoming fall and so the college process from the start has been kind of complicated but my parents and I took a trip down to Iowa so we have been able to tour a couple schools which has been super nice but the school that I applied to or most of them have waived the ACT score like score and all of that so kind of like what Joel was saying but I know that a lot of the college, colleges that I was looking at have been super helpful with just if you reach out they'll try to help you as best as they can and they know that it's a difficult time like right now because of Covid and the not being able to travel has been difficult but I feel like it's still going pretty good.

Jason: Well congratulations first and foremost for being the first person in your, your family.

That's great to hear about.

What about graduation this year?

I know that a lot of your peers last year, seniors who graduated in the class of of 2020 had a very unconventional graduation.

So what's the are you optimistic about having a normal graduation this spring?

Emma: I'm pretty confident that so I will actually go back to last year.

So the graduating class of 2020 had this car parade put on for them and so they met up at BIR, which is the international race, raceway in Brainerd and so they had like a graduation ceremony for them and like a recognition and so I feel like even though they weren't able to have a graduation they still put something on and I feel I have that confidence about this upcoming year, that I don't think we're gonna be able to have a normal graduation hopefully, depending on how the vaccine goes but I feel like no matter what circumstance is going on I know Brainerd and the parents and that faculty will try to put something on and have a recognition for this class, classes graduation.

Jason: Thanks Emma.

What do you think Joel?

Is it going to be a normal graduation up in Bemidji?

Joel: I am optimistic that we'll have a more normal graduation in the class of 2020 did.

I know there were a lot of people last year who you know they at first they're a little bit like really we gotta you know ride around cars, running cars and I think they went from the Sanford Center to the high school in this parade but a lot of people actually kind of thought it was really a lot of fun.

So like it's not such a bad option really either to do that I think.

It's, it's definitely different it's unconventional but it's still pretty cool.

Jason: Absolutely.

[so] Not many people can say they had a graduation like that right ?

[right, so] Well great.

Hey I want to ask you about something that's not necessarily related to Covid.

So I'm curious are, are the two of you familiar with the term brain drain?

Either one of you?

So basically it's the departure of talent from a community, from a state, from a country, right where the intellectual capacity actually ends up leaving that community?

So I'm curious to ask, I'm eager to ask the two of you as youth leaders, student leaders, do you intend to bring your skills, your talents, your knowledge, back to your home community of Brainerd and Bemidji after college for example once you enter the working world?

What are your thoughts about that at this point in time?

Emma: So I'm actually going, my plan right now is to go to school to become a pastor in the ELCA and so I believe hopefully I'll be able to come back to my community to serve at a church or in a area camp and so I'm not sure on if I'll be back to Brainerd but I feel like I will be in the northeastern Minnesota but yeah because I feel like leadership in the church is pretty vital right now, especially with all of the mental health because in my church personally and other congregations they have done a lot to help the mental health stigmatism and just try to reach out and make sure that people know that they have support.

they have a support system there and so I believe that I really want to bring back like the awareness and just to be that support system to people that need it and so yeah I do believe that I will be back in the future.

Jason: Joel how about you?

Are you going to bring your skills to bear on the Minnesota community?

Joel: You know I don't know for sure quite yet.

I've, I've thought about maybe going somewhere a little bit further away for college, just to try something a little bit different.

You know I think of Bemidji there's not, there's not a ton of like I mean there's a lot here but there's not like a whole lot in terms of just like science and technology stuff that I've kind of wanted to go into for a long time.

So like I have no idea what I'm going to do.

[fair enough, fair enough] Just the reality of it [yup] so you know we'll see.

It's definitely possible.

Jason: Well I appreciate your candor both of you.

I want to ask you a question about Covid silver linings.

I think there have been more than a handful of things that we've all realized in hindsight have actually been some sort of positive adaptation maybe.

So I'm I kind of want to ask you a two-pronged question.

What's been a Covid silver lining and how has Covid changed you?

Emma: Yeah, so I have a couple of things.

So during quarantine I like I'm a very active person and I'm not home that often and so I would say I've been able to spend a lot of time with my family and I've been able to reconnect to my relationships with my like my brother and my parents so that's been really nice but I really like how Covid has not like, liked but Covid has allowed me to go out into my community safely and distribute food and just to volunteer my time.

My mom has recently accepted a job as an assistant associate coordinator, at The Sharing Bread Soup Kitchen in Brainerd.

So I've been able to volunteer passing out food and packing bags for the community.

And so that's been super fun.

And then I've also been able to figure out my organizational.

And so because I'm not the most organized person.

But having distant learning and having all this stuff going on with college and all that it's allowed me to become more of an organized person.

And to grow, like mature basically.

Jason: Yeah, Joel how about you you?

Joel: You know it's definitely, i think there are definitely some benefits of it just like on a community aspect.

I think with us at the high school it really kind of has brought a lot of us together because we've had to work so hard.

You know all these things that we took for granted.

You know sports and activities and being able to see our friends every day.

And so I think that's like the biggest thing that we've gotten out of it.

I know me personally I have unfortunately not gained the organization skills Emma has, my desk is a mess.

But it does give you a little bit more time to just you know be by yourself.

Perhaps too much time but yeah gives you more time with your family.

Jason: Well I certainly hope this isn't the case but if we were to ever experience a pandemic again in our lifetimes.

Is there anything that you would do as future leaders or anything you would do differently?

Say for example at the school level, in reaction to a global pandemic like this?

Emma is there anything you would do different?

You know in other words what have we learned from this experience in terms of how we deliver education?

Emma: Yeah, um I would probably say that the communication skills should probably have more of like, it should grow and improve.

Because I love the high school and I love everything that the teachers have been doing but personally as seniors.

I haven't like for the senior class we haven't really been communicated with about like graduation and like scholarship opportunities.

They were posting stuff in the announcements but that's on a like a google form, a google document.

And so a lot of students aren't able to view those or they just miss them in their emails.

So I just think that if they were if this were to happen again, we should try to improve on the communication between the administration and the students and probably the community as well.

Because I know a lot of like parents don't know a lot about the opportunities that the school is providing for the students.

Because this kids obviously sometimes just forget about it and don't relay the message on to their parents.

And so yeah.

Jason: Well unfortunately you too, that's all the time we have.

I would really enjoy talking to you even more and I'd like to invite you to come back to the show in the future.

So we can learn how you've accomplished your many personal aspirations.

It was a real pleasure to meet the both of you.

And I'm so glad that we could share the perspective of student leaders with our viewers today.

So, thank you so much for your time.

Thanks for having us.

Yeah thank you.

Jason: And thank all of you for joining us once again, I'm Jason Edens, your host of Lakeland Currents.

Be kind and be well.

We'll see you next week.