Jen Winterfeldt, Youth Development Coordinator for Northfield Public Schools Community Services, invited me to speak about my career to a group of Northfield Middle School students yesterday, part of an after-school program she runs at the Northfield Middle School Youth Center. Ruben Alvarez, ELL (English Language Learner) teacher, hosted me in his classroom, equipped with an interactive whiteboard which I got to use for the first time.
As I was getting ready to speak, I got a tweet from Charlie Kyte, Executive Director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) and former Northfield superintendent, alerting his Twitter followers to a new blog post, "At the Capitol" w/Charlie: Budget standoff looming, that includes a video of him speaking to the camera in front of the official portrait of former MN Governor Jesse Ventura.
I was going to play the video on my smartphone for the students (center photo) but I decided that their interest in the budget battle was likely to be marginal.
Griff, their interest had better be more than marginal, if we (MN) bond for spending money (can you say “borrow from the kids’ piggy bank“) to “balance the budget” then they will be entering the work (tax-paying) force about the time those bills come due. This is the moral equivalent of using your house for an ATM (“get that third mortgage to buy that 80″ LCD TV now!“) then leaving the house (and the mortgages) to the kids. Personally, I’m leaving all my underwater properties to the banks where I owe the money (wish I could see their faces at the testate hearing).
Griff,
Thank you once again for coming into our classroom to talk about how you started your career. I feel like the kids were able to see that it is possible to find a job you love to do without feeling pressured to do what everyone else is doing. Let me know if you ever have the urge to use a smartboard again! 🙂