[0:01] I want to say happy 50th anniversary to [0:03] our volunteers and partnership program. [0:05] For 50 years, you've been doing a great [0:07] job of bringing in volunteers to support [0:09] our students, our teachers, and our [0:12] staff. Thank [0:17] [Music] [0:19] you. Volunteers and partnership is a [0:22] really special program here in the [0:23] Robbinsdale Area School District. um [0:26] giving community members a chance to [0:28] connect and use whatever skills they [0:31] have to uh be a part of supporting our [0:34] classrooms. Uh it's a very special uh [0:37] opportunity. [0:39] My mother and father have always told me [0:40] that in life you need to be a volunteer [0:42] at something or with someone because [0:44] everyone doesn't have the same [0:46] opportunity. [0:49] one's worth is measured principally by [0:53] how much one cares about the well-being [0:55] of others. And I've always believed that [0:58] I well first of all I think empathy is [1:01] everything. It makes the world go around [1:03] and [1:04] it it is good for the person [1:07] volunteering to get out of themselves. [1:10] In my opinion, [1:12] it's really nice to know that there's [1:14] someone that they can go get help with, [1:15] help from um somebody who can help them [1:19] organize, give some ideas, um kind of [1:23] talk about the field experiences that [1:24] they've had specifically with math and [1:26] science um for AVID. Um, but it's it's [1:30] just nice to have another volunteer in [1:32] that classroom. Um, and to have somebody [1:35] who can make a connection and it really [1:37] just makes a really big impact to have [1:39] another person there who cares about our [1:41] kids. [1:42] when you have volunteers in the [1:44] classroom helping, they are able to help [1:48] the students um with their needs in a [1:52] worksheet or a lesson um pull back with [1:55] a small group or just working with a [1:57] student individually. So, they're really [2:00] hitting those needs that that student [2:01] might need at that time that a teacher [2:03] is not able to get to. [2:07] The stories he's shared with me are more [2:09] of his his journey in high school to [2:12] college and how it's made him today and [2:15] what what his what it's put him in as an [2:18] adult. And with him sharing those [2:20] stories, it makes me realize that what [2:22] I'm doing now can often project what [2:25] I'll be doing in the future and how I [2:26] take care of it now is what's going to [2:28] be happening later on as well. [2:32] they can connect the information that [2:34] I'm teaching to real world experiences [2:37] and that creates buy [2:40] in. He bring he brings out the [2:44] best. When I say the best wherever I'm [2:48] slacking, you know, mentally, he know [2:51] how to bring that comfort zone out of me [2:55] and I can get going and and I love that. [3:00] I think it's particularly satisfying [3:02] knowing that the time I spend with [3:04] someone and …