1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,260 Welcome to Students Incorporated, a podcast where we dive into relevant topics and issues 2 00:00:19,260 --> 00:00:23,600 related to the world of business, technology, education, and design. 3 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:25,600 I'm your host, Mr. Jason. 4 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:29,980 Episodes include student conversations, interviews with thought leaders, and inspirational stories 5 00:00:29,980 --> 00:00:31,980 with an international flavor. 6 00:00:31,980 --> 00:00:35,900 This podcast is created and produced with the help of students from the International 7 00:00:35,900 --> 00:00:37,900 Community School of Bangkok. 8 00:00:37,900 --> 00:00:51,740 In today's episode, we explore the topic of past to present, and I'm joined by our student 9 00:00:51,740 --> 00:00:53,740 co-host, Lion and Linda. 10 00:00:53,740 --> 00:00:57,660 We also welcome our special guest, Mr. Luke. 11 00:00:57,660 --> 00:01:02,120 But before we jump into our interview with Mr. Luke, I'll turn the mic over to our co-host. 12 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:03,760 Thank you, Mr. Jason. 13 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:05,640 And now for our quote of the day. 14 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:07,440 Our quote comes from Winston Churchill. 15 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:12,680 He said, success consists of going from failure to failure, but loss of enthusiasm. 16 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,880 Good words to think about, especially as we have started a new school year. 17 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,520 Don't lose your enthusiasm, even if you have a failure. 18 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,440 But before we get to Mr. Luke, here are some headlines from our news desk. 19 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:28,200 In our own school, the cafeteria has been renovated, but the school food is still the 20 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:29,200 same. 21 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:34,960 In other regional news, storm Mulan hit Bangkok, leading to massive traffic jams and long delays. 22 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:37,480 Students were eagerly waiting for a flood day. 23 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:41,760 An interesting development is that scientists are looking to revive the Tasmanian tiger 24 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:43,920 that died out in the 1930s. 25 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:44,920 Thank you for those headlines. 26 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,600 Now let's jump into the first part of our segment with Mr. Luke. 27 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,600 I'll hand the mic back over to my co-host, as they have some great questions they'd like 28 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:59,260 to ask you about your past to present journey from teacher to headmaster. 29 00:01:59,260 --> 00:02:03,240 Our first question for you is, which high school did you attend? 30 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:05,200 Oh, thanks, Lion. 31 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:11,320 I attended a huge public high school in Tennessee, Cleveland, Tennessee, called Bradley High 32 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:12,320 School. 33 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:16,200 It was a very large school, 3,000 students in the school. 34 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,820 I think I had over 800 people in my graduating class. 35 00:02:19,820 --> 00:02:25,960 So really kind of the classic public school experience in so many ways. 36 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:26,960 Nothing like ICS. 37 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,840 I didn't know anyone outside of my kind of immediate circle. 38 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,080 So yeah, large high school experience. 39 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:35,080 Interesting. 40 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:39,920 Our next question is, what were your favorite or least favorite classes? 41 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:45,640 Oh man, I wasn't the most studious student in high school. 42 00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:53,000 I was much more concerned about friends and girls and sports than I was about academics. 43 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,800 But if I had to say what were my favorite and least favorite classes, definitely my 44 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:00,320 favorite classes would have been like PE, art. 45 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:05,800 I took several pottery classes in high school because that's where all the girls were. 46 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:07,560 I really love PE classes. 47 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:12,560 Anything that was not focused on academics or more focused on hanging out and having 48 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:13,560 fun. 49 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:14,560 That was great. 50 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:16,520 I took a class where you actually learned how to drive. 51 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:18,840 One of my favorite classes. 52 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:24,640 My least favorite classes, I was fine with most academic classes except math classes. 53 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:29,060 I was really terrible in math and I did not enjoy it. 54 00:03:29,060 --> 00:03:32,920 So yeah, but I guess that would be my least favorite. 55 00:03:32,920 --> 00:03:36,360 I didn't know we also liked girls a lot, Mr. Luke. 56 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:41,640 Anyway, our next question is, what was your most embarrassing moment in high school? 57 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:48,480 Oh, Lion, I think I had many, many embarrassing moments throughout high school and many of 58 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:52,280 them revolved around asking people out on dates. 59 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:54,480 So that was always super embarrassing. 60 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:58,800 But I think if I had to think of the actual most embarrassing moment, I would say I think 61 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:06,120 it was my senior year one morning early in the school year I was driving to school and 62 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,400 I was driving too fast and trying I was in a rush to go pick up my friend. 63 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,280 We were actually going to go get breakfast before school. 64 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,700 So I was trying to pick up my friend, get back to breakfast and then go to school. 65 00:04:15,700 --> 00:04:20,280 So I was driving too fast, driving a little recklessly and I hit a truck that was in front 66 00:04:20,280 --> 00:04:23,520 of me and completely destroyed my car. 67 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:27,200 It like rolled off the embankment and I was okay. 68 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:28,200 Everything was fine. 69 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,040 But then after the accident, when I walked back up to the road, I realized that I'd hit 70 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,320 a truck full of vegetables. 71 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,720 They were taking vegetables to be sold somewhere, I guess. 72 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:42,320 And so there were vegetables all over the road everywhere. 73 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,240 And this was like, I don't know, maybe one or two miles from my high school. 74 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,820 So keep in mind that 3000 people were trying to get to my school. 75 00:04:50,820 --> 00:04:54,840 So they see me standing on the side of the road, my car destroyed and a truck that I 76 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:58,920 hit that was also pretty destroyed and vegetables everywhere. 77 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,720 I got teased about that a lot actually. 78 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:05,280 It was pretty fun. 79 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:08,960 Most people deal with failure at least once in their lives. 80 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:13,480 How did you move on from failing an exam or a test? 81 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,680 I've definitely dealt with failure way more than once in my life. 82 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,840 I had lots of opportunities for growth through failure. 83 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:27,720 I would say honestly for me, I wasn't, again, I wasn't the best student in high school. 84 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,160 So I actually didn't care about failing tests. 85 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:35,160 I didn't really fail classes, but I was a solid C student. 86 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,480 But if I failed a test or something like that, I just didn't care. 87 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,640 One thing that I did care about, I was involved in sports. 88 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:45,480 I was really involved in wrestling when I was in high school. 89 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:48,560 And so I really, really cared about being successful in that. 90 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,000 And I also dealt with a lot of failure in that area too. 91 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:58,120 So anytime that I lost a match or kind of had a bad practice or something like that, 92 00:05:58,120 --> 00:05:59,600 it was super frustrating. 93 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,800 I was, I don't know, I guess a bit of a perfectionist. 94 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,360 I wanted to be, I wanted to win all the time. 95 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:07,280 So it was really hard to deal with. 96 00:06:07,280 --> 00:06:13,320 But luckily I had some mentors in my life that actually helped me kind of process through 97 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:20,960 that to be able to realize that you actually learn way more from failing than you do from 98 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:21,960 succeeding. 99 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:26,560 And when I kind of look back on it with that mindset and that perspective, I would say 100 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,040 I can, I completely agree. 101 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:35,880 I've learned, I can still remember to this day many of the matches, wrestling matches 102 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:40,560 that I lost where I can't really remember many that I've won. 103 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:45,320 And thinking back on what I learned through those experiences and through those kind of 104 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:50,000 hardships and whether it would be a mistake that I made or really just at the end of the 105 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,560 day, this other person was better than I was, right? 106 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,000 And kind of learning through that as well. 107 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,880 So yeah, lots of failures. 108 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:00,600 Anytime you're in sports, you're never going to win all the time. 109 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,720 So yeah, I learned a lot from that. 110 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:06,600 That's a very great advice. 111 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:07,600 Thank you, Mr. Luke. 112 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,320 Now, what was your favorite memory from high school? 113 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:14,160 Anything in particular that you really enjoyed? 114 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:16,400 I had a lot of really great memories, Lion. 115 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:23,520 I think again, kind of the classic high school experience. 116 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:25,320 I was super involved socially. 117 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:30,800 So I was more, I think most of my memories revolve around either sports or kind of like 118 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,480 after school social things. 119 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:40,800 We had different school kind of functions every year, whether it be like big dances 120 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,720 or people had these huge parties at farms and things like that. 121 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:51,320 There were not school sanctions, but there were school events for sure. 122 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:52,720 That was super fun. 123 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:57,160 I think being involved with the wrestling team was a huge part of high school and would 124 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:01,120 definitely have to be up there as some of my favorite memories. 125 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:07,440 Also was part of the cross country team when I was earlier in high school. 126 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:10,320 And I really enjoyed that and made some really good friends. 127 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:14,800 But I think like most people, just kind of moments with friends really stand out for 128 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,400 me as pivotal moments in high school. 129 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:20,500 And then trips, I would also say trips. 130 00:08:20,500 --> 00:08:25,320 We didn't go on school trips like ICS students do for salt or anything like that, but we 131 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:27,720 had athletics trips, wrestling trips. 132 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:32,320 So the wrestling team that I was on, we really were like a family and to be able to travel 133 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:36,560 together, we traveled all across the Eastern part of the United States. 134 00:08:36,560 --> 00:08:42,800 So that was definitely the most enjoyable part of high school for me. 135 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:43,800 Cool. 136 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:48,600 Our final question for this segment is what inspired you to become a teacher? 137 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,720 Yeah, great question. 138 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,960 I took the long road to becoming a teacher. 139 00:08:54,960 --> 00:09:01,040 I tried out several other different things right out of college and kind of had different 140 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:03,680 ideas of what I wanted to do. 141 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:09,760 So I think I was 30 by the time I actually got into teaching for the first time. 142 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:11,760 And a couple of things I would say. 143 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,280 First of all, I had a teacher in college who really inspired me. 144 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:16,280 He was a history professor. 145 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:18,160 I was a history major. 146 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:24,640 He was an amazing, unbelievable teacher, like lecturer that just kind of really just kind 147 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:26,040 of talked most of the class. 148 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:31,320 We had class discussions and things like that, but he was this incredible storyteller that 149 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:37,280 was really able to make history come alive for me, which I had never experienced. 150 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:41,440 So I ended up forging kind of a good relationship with him throughout college and he became 151 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:46,720 kind of a mentor and we would go to his house for dinner, go out and get coffee. 152 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:53,120 But then also, so yeah, I think the thing that kind of cemented it for me was my wife 153 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:58,920 was in this graduate program through her college and she had the opportunity to go to Ghana 154 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,440 in West Africa to do her student teaching. 155 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:06,960 And honestly, I wasn't a student, I wasn't anything, but they invited me to go because 156 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:09,840 they needed another male on the trip. 157 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,840 They didn't want to, there was 10 girls and one guy at that point. 158 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:19,960 They didn't want to send to sub-Saharan Africa without another male student. 159 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:25,320 So they asked me to go along and just kind of like be there as kind of the trip leader. 160 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,800 And while I was there, in order to not be bored, I ended up actually teaching in a middle 161 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:34,120 and high school there, some social studies classes just for fun. 162 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:36,200 And I absolutely loved it. 163 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:42,160 And I remember my mentor teacher one day, her name was Beauty actually, and she had 164 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:47,480 watched me teach and I walked out of the class afterwards and she was like standing there 165 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:52,520 and there was like tears coming down her face and said, God made you to be a teacher. 166 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,360 And I remembered that like completely cemented in my heart. 167 00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:59,860 I'd already been kind of feeling that way because of this relationship with this professor 168 00:10:59,860 --> 00:11:02,640 that I had, but that really kind of cemented in my heart. 169 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:08,800 They're like, okay, yep, this is what God has for me and this is what I want to do. 170 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:14,320 And with that, we'll be right back in a moment with more from Mr. Luke, teacher, educator 171 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,720 and headmaster extraordinaire. 172 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:23,880 One, two, three, four. 173 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:31,920 Our show doesn't really make any profit and people like the class of 2023 keep us on the 174 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:32,920 air. 175 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:34,240 So here's a message from them. 176 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:35,560 Listen up, everyone. 177 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:39,080 ICS carnival is happening this Saturday on September 3rd. 178 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:41,680 Come on out and support the cause and the seniors. 179 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:45,840 Come experience being lost in Japan, watering through the cat cafe, going through the amazing 180 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:49,600 obstacle course, passing by the origami booth and more. 181 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:59,520 Come to support the cause of 2023, especially Linda's Butterfly. 182 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:07,920 Okay, we are back with our part two with Mr. Luke. 183 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:11,820 It's always fascinating to hear the personal journeys of people we know. 184 00:12:11,820 --> 00:12:15,080 With that said, let's jump back into our questions. 185 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:16,560 Thank you, Mr. Jason. 186 00:12:16,560 --> 00:12:23,120 Let's start off with how many years have you been part of the ICS community? 187 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:27,840 I've been part of the ICS community since 2009. 188 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:34,040 So my family and I came, my wife and I came with a one-year-old son in 2009 where I taught 189 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:38,280 middle school social studies for two years. 190 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:42,000 And then actually we went back to the United States for a year after that and kind of thought 191 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,440 that our time at ICS was over. 192 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:49,720 But then God brought us back the very next year by I think Christmas of that year that 193 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:51,600 I had left, I knew that I was coming back. 194 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:53,400 So it was great. 195 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:57,080 And then so we came back in 2011 and I've been here ever since. 196 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:02,160 So I think this is our 13th or 14th school year. 197 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:05,520 And obviously I made some changes through there. 198 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:06,680 I shifted when I came back. 199 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:07,800 I was a high school teacher. 200 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:13,440 I taught world geography and modern era history and then moved into the high school principal 201 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:14,440 position. 202 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:19,320 And now my second year as the headmaster. 203 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:24,080 Our next question is how was your transition from being a teacher to a principal? 204 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:30,560 Yeah, I think honestly Linda, the transition from teacher to principal was probably like 205 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:34,520 the biggest one that I experienced. 206 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:43,400 I really, really loved teaching and I think most days I really enjoyed every aspect of 207 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:44,400 teaching. 208 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:50,520 So kind of at the same time I did want to be a principal and move into administration 209 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:51,520 eventually. 210 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,400 I didn't think that it would come as soon as it actually did. 211 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:57,360 So it was a bit of a transition. 212 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:00,840 As a teacher I always tried to be super relational with students. 213 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:08,320 I tried to get students to, I was more concerned about them really getting kind of being inspired 214 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:14,240 and enjoying the subject than I was with the actual like details and information that they 215 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,280 were learning on a daily basis. 216 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:22,180 I felt like if students could really enjoy the subject and be really genuinely interested 217 00:14:22,180 --> 00:14:25,720 in the subjects that I were teaching that the knowledge would come because they would 218 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:28,880 want to learn it more themselves. 219 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,960 So I was very intentional about that and relational. 220 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:39,400 So obviously when I moved into the principal's position it's a different role and you can't, 221 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:43,280 my role wasn't trying to inspire students to love what I was doing because I was a high 222 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:44,280 school principal. 223 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:49,960 I know a high school student is going to love all the things that a high school principal 224 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:54,760 has to do because there's other things that come up whether it's through policies or discipline 225 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:56,320 or whatever it may be. 226 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,480 So that transition was actually kind of difficult. 227 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:05,080 I always felt like I was really student focused as a teacher and I think that I tried to maintain 228 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:09,800 that as much as I could as a principal but it's just different. 229 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:14,360 I don't have the relationships with a hundred students like I did when I was teaching all 230 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:15,920 the time. 231 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:22,040 So it was actually challenging in a lot of ways for me but I found different ways whether 232 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:27,120 it's through life groups or leading various student groups or speaking in chapel or whatever 233 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:28,120 it may be. 234 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:32,840 I tried to find different ways to connect with students on a different level. 235 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:36,960 I just want you to know Mr. Luke a lot of us do love you as a headmaster and principal. 236 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:37,960 Thanks a lot. 237 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:38,960 You're the best. 238 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,200 I've got a very good question for you. 239 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:44,120 You could have chosen any sort of principal to be. 240 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,560 Serious, intimidating, cool, good cop, bad cop. 241 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:51,840 How do you decide what type of principal you wanted to be? 242 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:57,280 That's a great question and I think well hopefully no one ever thought I was intimidating. 243 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,000 I don't want to be an intimidating person. 244 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,480 I think that was actually kind of hard because I went from being a teacher to a principal, 245 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:11,360 a teacher that I think most people would have thought I was fun and cool and not so serious 246 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:15,720 to a principal where there are days where you have to be serious. 247 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,600 There are conversations that I had where I had to be serious. 248 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:25,920 I couldn't be fun or cool or funny or I think I could always, I always try to say okay I 249 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:30,560 can always be nice no matter what the situation is I can be nice even if a student's getting 250 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:33,280 disciplined I can be nice about it. 251 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:38,840 And I think the kindness was kind of the most important thing to me that students even through 252 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:43,560 discipline or even through hard conversations or whatever it may have been kind of tough 253 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:47,720 situations I tried to be kind. 254 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:54,560 So I wouldn't say that I had an actual mindset of okay I want to be this type of principal 255 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:58,040 but more kind of adapting and adjusting to whatever the situation is. 256 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:05,480 I mean in throughout the school day you encounter hundreds of different things as a teacher 257 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:09,860 or a principal or any adult working in the school or a student being in a school. 258 00:17:09,860 --> 00:17:15,320 So I think you just kind of had to adjust depending on the situation. 259 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:20,880 My question is what is your daily routine now as the headmaster? 260 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:25,000 What are some of the tasks you generally have to complete on any given day? 261 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,400 Yeah good question. 262 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:29,520 Daily routine it depends on the day. 263 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,440 I usually get up pretty early. 264 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:39,240 Sometimes that involves a workout whether it's going swimming or running or biking something. 265 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:46,880 I try to stay active as much as I can so that my day always starts with coffee because I 266 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,280 couldn't survive without that. 267 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:54,080 And then I usually get to school somewhere around 6 a.m. usually in the mornings that's 268 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:59,920 kind of a nice hour of the day where there's less interruptions and less things happening 269 00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:02,240 because there's not many people here. 270 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:07,280 And then throughout the day you know general tasks honestly it depends on the day. 271 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,360 I'm in a lot of meetings with a lot of different people. 272 00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:17,440 I typically work most closely with the rest of the administration team so Mr. Steven and 273 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:19,320 then our division principals. 274 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:25,200 I work very closely with our principals helping them supporting them in whatever way I can. 275 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:30,440 I'm trying to make sure that they can do their jobs to the best of their abilities. 276 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:35,480 My job obviously involves a lot of communication with the community whether that's with teachers 277 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:43,040 and staff here on this campus or our parents and students as well. 278 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:46,040 So I would say those are some of the daily routines. 279 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:52,480 And then I try to be as present as I possibly can on the campus just making sure that you 280 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:57,440 know I really enjoy getting out and talking to students during lunch or after school going 281 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:02,480 to soccer games or other sports activities that are happening after school and kind of 282 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:07,120 being part of the community in that way. 283 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:08,840 Very fascinating Mr. Luke. 284 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:13,360 Now our next question is do you have any funny anecdotes from when you were principal or 285 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:16,480 now as headmaster? 286 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:17,480 The headline there's a lot. 287 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:19,160 There's a lot of funny things that happen. 288 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:25,640 I always found humor in when students like got in trouble. 289 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:29,520 Not that they got in trouble but the way that people try to get out of getting in trouble 290 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:31,640 is actually the funny part. 291 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:35,880 But there's some privacy issues there so I won't tell any of those stories specifically. 292 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:40,880 I've always enjoyed fun things that students do. 293 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,640 School teachers have always been fun with me. 294 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:47,240 I've had really great relationships with a lot of the high school teachers specifically 295 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:52,320 because I was in the high school for so long and kind of bantering back and forth with 296 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:58,400 teachers or I had a life group one year that liked to play pranks on me and I came into 297 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:02,560 my office one day that was not a life group day but they turned everything in my office 298 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:04,640 upside down and I had no idea. 299 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,600 When I walked in I was like what is going on? 300 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:11,440 It took me a week or so to figure out who did it and why they did it. 301 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,200 So yeah little things like that. 302 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,280 It makes life enjoyable. 303 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:23,480 Our final question is if you could sum up your experience as the headmaster so far how 304 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,280 would you describe it? 305 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:30,560 My experience as a headmaster specifically that's a tough question. 306 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:36,520 So I started the job last year obviously after Mr. Darin retired and we kind of had several 307 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:38,600 administrators that moved positions. 308 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:45,400 So kind of moving into the headmaster's position in the middle of a COVID pandemic was not 309 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:47,840 ideal by any means. 310 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:52,760 I felt like a lot of my job last year was COVID related and COVID focused whether it 311 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:57,800 was communication with parents and students and teachers and the rest of the administration 312 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:03,700 or kind of working with Ajahn Aung San, our TIE Director on getting the school reopened 313 00:21:03,700 --> 00:21:07,520 and kind of making sure that we were doing everything that we were doing there. 314 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:09,400 So that was super stressful. 315 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:15,640 That was honestly on a daily basis not the most enjoyable experience. 316 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:20,680 There were many days where I was like man what have I done? 317 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:24,160 Because I went from being the high school principal which I can genuinely say I enjoyed 318 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:30,480 almost every single day to being a headmaster where it just wasn't as fun and enjoyable 319 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,400 and fulfilling as being the principal. 320 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:35,160 Obviously things changed. 321 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:40,400 Things got better over the course of the year and I think I started to settle in finally 322 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:42,560 and it's been fun. 323 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:43,920 It's been a learning experience. 324 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:49,560 I'm still learning each and every day because now we're kind of starting this year and it's 325 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,760 kind of everything for the first time all over again because last year was so unique 326 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:55,560 and so different. 327 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:56,800 But I really am enjoying it. 328 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:00,360 My wife was asking me last night actually do you feel like you're enjoying your new 329 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:03,040 job and I'm like yeah actually I do. 330 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:07,360 This time last year I don't know that I could have said that but right now I do feel like 331 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:10,320 I am and it's great. 332 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,600 Looking forward to continuing. 333 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:18,240 Okay well unfortunately we are running out of time and have to end this segment with 334 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,160 Mr. Luke. 335 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,800 Any last words of advice for our listeners before we sign off? 336 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:27,400 Oh man I'm not the best with advice. 337 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:28,400 I don't know. 338 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:29,400 Be kind to one another. 339 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:30,400 Love each other. 340 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:45,400 And yeah never pass up an opportunity to show someone love. 341 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:49,800 As we end this episode we'd like to say a special thank you to our listeners for joining 342 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:50,800 us. 343 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,820 Please stay tuned for the release of more episodes as we continue to dive into more 344 00:22:54,820 --> 00:22:59,000 topics and interviews relevant to you our listeners. 345 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,780 This podcast would not be possible without the hard work and support of our international 346 00:23:02,780 --> 00:23:04,840 student production team. 347 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,640 All music and sound effects are courtesy of Pixabay.com a vibrant community of creatives 348 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:12,000 sharing copyright free images videos and music. 349 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,880 Thanks everyone for tuning in and until next time we're your students incorporated where 350 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:29,400 your voice matters.