Charge Forward Podcast
The Charge Forward Podcast: Dedicated to those who choose to Charge Forward into the Storm when hit with challenges. This is what makes them different and has lead to their success. When in doubt.... Charge Forward!
Charge Forward Podcast
Innovation Unleashed: The Next Generation of Entrepreneurs & Problem Solvers – Part 2 with Jeremy Qualls
Innovation Unleashed: The Next Generation of Entrepreneurs & Problem Solvers – Part 2 with Jeremy Qualls
What happens when young minds are given the tools, mentorship, and freedom to innovate?
In Part 2 of our conversation with Jeremy Qualls, we dive into the incredible stories of student entrepreneurs and changemakers who are redefining what’s possible through creativity, resilience, and real-world problem-solving.
Jeremy shares a sneak peak at the innovators of tomorrow:
Anthony Beckett of Brentwood High School transformed traditional classroom learning by developing an interactive digital education tool, now making waves internationally. His journey highlights the power of mentorship and perseverance in bringing an idea to life. Another remarkable young entrepreneur tackled a critical issue—drink spiking—with her innovative product, Spiky. Designed as a keychain equipped with tampering detection test strips, her invention is already being adopted by major universities. We also explore how Hickman County Middle School is reshaping education by integrating entrepreneurship and leadership into the classroom. The Educate, Inspire, Challenge (EIC) mentality is fostering a culture of collaboration and student empowerment, proving that real-world skills can be taught at any level. From game-changing tech to personal safety innovations and leadership in education, this episode is packed with inspiration and actionable insights. Whether you're an entrepreneur, educator, or lifelong learner, these stories will motivate you to embrace creativity and charge forward with confidence! Tune in now!
Want to connect with Jeremy Qualls?
🎙️ Williamson Co EIC: Website
📱 Linkedin: Jeremy Qualls
📱 Instagram: Jeremy Qualls
Charge Forward Podcast Links:
🎙️Podcast Page: Charge Forward Podcast
📱 Facebook: Charge Forward Podcast
📱 Instagram: @ChargeForwardPodcast
📱 TikTok: @ChargeForwardPodcast
📱 X: @ChargeForwardX
Special Thanks to Our Sponsors:
💳 Charge Forward Solutions – Merchant Services: Charge Forward Solutions
📈 Sense Custom Development – Marketing & Executive Services: Sense Custom
🌟 Rosemary Salazar – Virtual Assistant Services: Find A Way with Rose
🎥 HitLab Studios – Podcast Studio: HitLab Studio
💡 New episodes drop every Thursday!
#ChargeForward #Entrepreneurship #Education #Leadership #Innovation #Business #Podcast
You have to go through that trial by fire, you have to understand, you have to lose, you have to go 5-21 in your first year to say, hmm, what's the problem? And then I went 6-20. Hey, I improved a game.
Speaker 2:So much today has been watered down by us not keeping score, by us not talking about somebody won and somebody lost, and what you need to do, what you need to fix. They're so quick to remove pain from the situation that the kid never learns how to deal with it, and so then that's where we end up with. You know, 20-year-olds that can't hold a job or can't make it through school because they can't handle somebody holding them accountable.
Speaker 1:It's the confidence in people and confidence in yourself, that I'm not worried to bring in the right people on that are smarter, better. It's okay because we're going to make a cool team dynamic and culture. That's a non-negotiable.
Speaker 2:You are the cap for whatever goes on in your store, in your company, in your district, in your household. However excited you are, what you believe is possible, whatever that threshold is, I think you've got an opportunity to maybe get it this year too.
Speaker 1:We do so last year and I think if people are still listening and watching this and say, okay, talk more about the EIC, here it is, if people are still listening and watching this and say, okay, talk more about the EIC, here it is. So you've got an opportunity to take a hypothetical problem and solve it right with the idea of your own Young man, anthony Beckett, sitting in Brentwood High School, sitting in a math class. You know, brentwood's average ACT score is 27. Very high, high-achieving school, as we all know. Sitting in a math class teacher's doing as we all know. Sitting in a math class teachers doing everything on the whiteboard. He can't keep up. We're racing. He's like, hey, man, can I get keep up? He's racing the board and he's sitting there in the back of class thinking now he's a coder by nature. Everybody's got their Chromebooks out and they're open, but we're still using a whiteboard. He's going why can't we stream this to everybody's screen and vice versa? So he started coding.
Speaker 1:He came to what we called a technopreneurship Shark Tank event at the EIC that we hosted, and he was coming purely from IT. He was not in the EIC and I saw him present this and I went over to him and his dad. I was like you need to be here next year. I said we'll get you launched. And they're like Hmm, you think I was like I know. So sure enough, he applies, he comes in. The rest is history 22,000 lines of code.
Speaker 1:He, he launches his product called where you take a pdf. You take all that work he was doing on the whiteboard, put it in a pdf, drop it in there in a powerpoint because they're all creating powerpoints every day anyways. He takes your powerpoint and it makes you become an interactive whiteboard, regardless of the, regardless of the device you have. Yeah, and the better part about it the student engagement goes up. Why? How? This is him. I'm selling this product for him because I've heard it so many. I I've been his second dad. Yeah, is that it's collaboration without the chaos?
Speaker 1:So I put a five math problems up on the board in his program, sends everybody a six-digit code. Now everybody's in the program. I can see everybody that's on there. If somebody goes and opens another tab and is looking at XYZ, it tells me. So I say, hey, jim, get back on the lesson. So I say, hey, jim, get back on the lesson. So I start the process of writing on the program and it's doing it in real time on everybody's screen. So if I'm doing a two-step equation, I can actually watch the process. And then vice versa, I can say Jim, do number five for me, reverse it.
Speaker 2:Give you the ability to do it at your desk and everybody gets to see it, and then you save it, drop in the file and next thing you know you've got it as a pdf saved. Well, the other just ancillary benefit that I see there is then you don't even have. You've overcome the vision problems too, like think about the kids that need to be in the front of the class or trying to look, or there's something in the classrooms it's blocking the way.
Speaker 1:That's you just gave me chill bumps, man, because we were talking about this last night. I was talking about okay, if we're going to become a category, can you give me your three non-negotiables that you're solving? Accessibilities is number one, something I tend to overlook. He's like look, I'm giving everybody the access that some of them don't have. Whether it's a vision problem, hearing problem, all of that you're being able to see closely at your own and you're not embarrassing anybody by doing it. Here's the part of the story I love. Six months after him launching Markify, he hosts a professional development for all the teachers at Brentwood High School, including the one that he created a product for, who, probably sitting here, even if he had the groundness of watching this and wanted to be professional learning and try to grow which he probably will not didn't even know that he created the product because of his problem in his class. So I think it's phenomenal. Right now, like I said, he's got more customers in Spain. Don't even know how he's on a shoestring budget.
Speaker 1:We send him to Chicago. We've had a bunch of top tens. Top only the top five get to go to chicago. He was the first top five to get to chicago, within 30 seconds of him starting that process of his pitch in chicago. I looked at our team and I was like he just won this thing. Not only did he win it, he got seed fund and I think it was thirteen thousand dollars in cash.
Speaker 1:He had like two of the four sharks like want to angel invest. Oh that's great, and I haven't seen that. We've been going. Even though we didn't have top five, we go anyways to see and there's some professional growth stuff there as well. So, fast forward to today. He's winning. He comes to the EIC it's open door once you graduate, obviously and he pretty much hot desk in our place and he comes in and we touch base and talk Not that I'm by any stretch can tell him where to go, but we've got a couple of guys that are angel investors that are circling that he meets with at our place as well, and we've put him in front of some VCs and it's a matter of time. It's a tough category to sell because when you get in that technology, especially specifically educationally, there's a lot of competitors.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, now here's an 18-year-old kid that turned 18 before he won so he was 17 during this process that he's getting these million-dollar, multi-million-dollar established programs that have social media influencers that all of a sudden are starting to feel empathetic and sympathetic towards this kid and start doing stuff, that are getting calls to the million dollars. I said if you do another one of those, we're going to cut you off. And I thought you've won the game. Dude, they're looking at you right now. I really think that he could be absorbed by any of these companies. He's got a magic number in his head. He's a coder by heart, by nature, and what he built that on the platform, I think, is his billion dollar idea. Yeah, not this one. This is just going to help him get out there. So you mentioned I apologize, you're going to tell me to shut up. No, no, it's good. So this year we have a young lady Interesting story Her dad.
Speaker 1:I love the story of her dad. Her dad, they came from Hollywood. Okay, we've got tons of Californians that move to Williamson County. I think they're trying to get out of politics is what they all say. I mean, honestly, it's the thing about it. It's strange, but they're trying to get out of that and they come to us. He had the largest directed consumer as seen on TV production company.
Speaker 1:Okay directed consumer as seen on tv production company. Okay, so if you remember the old uh infomercials back at 2 am, you're scrolling and like if you buy one now we'll give you. You know you got your time right when it went from that to looking like the crock pipe was on, oprah and everybody's in this audience and clapping and that's his business okay and he was super, super successful.
Speaker 1:Son Sony Walkman is on his portfolio. I mean, it's just like remarkable what he's done. So she's got a perfect opportunity. And when I say her, her ship is, is gassed up, ready to launch, sitting on the pad, it's got the cold smoke coming off of it, ready to go. Elon's ready to push the button. She is ready. She's got an unbelievable project and she's independent and she came up with her own idea and I love this.
Speaker 1:So she was at a specific entrepreneurial program at either berkeley or stanford I'm gonna get this wrong. Over the summer she got selected, got in and just tell you what level she's on and, um, she, one of the problems they threw at him to hypothetically, I think, just to kind of solve was there is a drink spiking issue with the age demographic, from college age and beyond, specific towards it's not just on females, but specific to females Sure. So she's sitting there thinking, all right, how did we come up with this? You know, let's look at the problem solving. She started taking the EIC stuff of it and started looking at what's already out there. How can we change the game?
Speaker 1:So they came up with this spiky, spikyfirstcom, and spiky is a key chain that within the key chain, she worked with a UK lab that has test strips. They get the test strips. They get the test strips, they put them in the keychain. The keychain automatically goes with you. It's discreet. You pull it out and within 15 minutes you can tell whether it's been spiked and they've run it against every single drug. So brilliant idea number one Ultra portable. Ultra portable Subscription model. Oh, I like it. Reoccurring revenue yes, you see where we're going. This is all her.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now, where do we go? First thing that you think of is hey, we've got to get you in front of these Greek life folks, Because if you can make it customizable to the colors and to the letters and to all that, or maybe even the university itself.
Speaker 1:I mean, why would a university not say we've got 10,000 incoming freshmen and we're giving everybody one, Absolutely, as a part of their safety plan? Sure, why would you not? Let's not act like nobody's drinking, Right? So let's get past that. Right? So we got her in front of the number one thing that other than fell off and fell. For we talk about networks, grow your network. Know somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody. Six degrees of separation, Kevin Bacon. Right? So we knew somebody that was Chris. Knew somebody that she worked out with.
Speaker 1:It happens to be, in her words, I think, somewhere up in the Greek life of one of the sororities we call this lady. She comes up, not only she, she is the international president over a OPA. So within 30 minutes of I said, well, you just indulge me and listen to her pitch and see if this is even viable. So within 30 minutes of her finishing her deck, she's going um, I need 6,000 before spring break. And I looked at her. It's like, can you fulfill that? She's like we'll do everything possible. Yeah, it's like there might be some screw ups and that's okay, but this woman is offering to put them in two houses, one at Ole Miss and one at UT, which is the largest in the country. I was like and this is the break that you needed, yeah, and it's over, it's over.
Speaker 2:Since over it's over.
Speaker 1:Since then, though, she didn't. She didn't rest on laurels, that was two months ago. Yeah, it's over christmas break. She's sending me pictures and text. She's got this thing down to a 3d printed, full encased product that has a slide out tray that snaps. You just put the trips in there, you flip it over and it can have your name raised and raise lettering and all this. I mean it's just like she didn't just sit there and think about okay, how am I going to fill it? She is constantly evolving. She's going to win this thing again. We're going to be two in a row, and even if she doesn't, it doesn't matter. She didn't even need that, because that's what we do at the IC. Yeah, that's. You don't have to come in with a preconceived notion.
Speaker 1:She had one. All we did was help foster it. We fed it gas.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think the energy that's created in that space not just by the teachers that are fostering it, but also that's what everybody's there for, like all these students are there because they're not the norm, they're not every day, they're trying to figure out their space, or they're trying to figure out what their space is going to be, and so there's that collaborative nature that just creates energy.
Speaker 1:It does. One of my favorite stories is a guy that graduated probably three, maybe four years ago. It all runs together and it goes to show that the diversity of what we have in this space you're pulling from 10 different schools, 10 different backgrounds, 10 different cultures, a gazillion different lifestyle cultures. If you want to get down to the home life of that different process, it doesn't matter. It's a, it's a melting pot and it's it really, really drives innovation. And the number one thing that industry people are telling us is look, we just want people that'll sit, listen, coach, show up on time, right and then not be negative towards whatever the environment we've already created. So what we're doing at a bare minimum is, when they show up into this melting pot, you're empathetic towards other people's ideas, opinions. We're talking about cleansing the palate and being able. It may not be your idea and if it's not, it's your group's idea. You got to roll with it because that's real life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jesus comes to us. We didn't know he had a speech impediment Gets to the interview process. I didn't interview him but apparently he did a great job interviewing Just had a good work ethic about it, didn't have any. You know different. You could tell he was different. Comes to us. Jesus was living out of his van. He had no idea. Oh wow, fighter, he's fighting. He didn't have everything to give to him. He's fighting, which is a number one aspect. You know he's going to be successful. He's a fighter, let's give him a chance. Starts the year very quiet, gets in a group, comes up with an origami product that he creates because he's brilliant at geometry and other things in the math world and he can take a picture, put it on this origami and when you form the origami it's got your pictures or a logo. So Tennessee Titans are an official partner of ours in the facility. So we're doing this Titans project and he comes up to me. He said I want to do a pitch to the Titans. I was like hmm, okay.
Speaker 1:So I told the Titans, when y'all come in on Thursday, this guy's going to do something. He gets up and leads his team on this and what he's trying to do is get them to do a kids club deployment with his product. You know, I'm sitting there thinking full circle moment. It kind of faltered out, stalled out a little bit. We never got it to the finish line, but at a bare minimum. This is the contrast to, loaded on the launch pad, fueled up, ready to go to pitch, to the Titans overcame some fears, speech impediments. Okay, that did not falter or did not take my idea and crush it. You just think about that. In a bare minimum. And that's not even part of the career. It's not even like we're striving to do that Right. That is a byproduct of what we do every single day.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Well, and it's that you know, yeah, maybe that didn't get across the finish line, but it gives him the confidence that he can lean into the next time in order for his pitch and and, and hopefully and probably, a better product period.
Speaker 1:oh yeah, he's standing in front of an employer now he can go up there with confidence and like, hey, you know what I may? It may sound different because of my impediment, but it doesn't. It doesn't shadow the fact that I can be a great employee and work and that's what I love about what we do. Not everything's going to, not everything's going to be sent to the moon. I mean, we had a young lady, ray Litlock, one of our favorites all-stars, that came through. She had a bullet journal that she created. She sold I don't know. I don't know how many units she moved. I want to say 500 units. So she made quite a bit, you know, for an 18-year-old kid, a couple thousand bucks moving these things. But, more importantly, the confidence that she has.
Speaker 1:Anyway, she gets into Loyola Chicago, very exclusive private school in Chicago. It's hard to get in. Not only does she get in, she gets accepted to their entrepreneurship program. She goes in to meet with the guy that's over. It unrolls her portfolio, says I'm so happy to be here, this is what I've done. This Unrolls her portfolio, says I'm so happy to be here, this is what I've done. This is how many I've sold. Here's my business plan, if you'd like to look at it. Here's this, this, and the guy goes yeah, you're not going to be in this program. She goes what do you mean? He goes I ain't have anything to offer you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're already there.
Speaker 1:That's a testament to, and I've got several of those kind of stories. I love to tell that story because true academic practices within a school building, if they would listen and learn and take practices not all but some of those EIC principles and overlay it, they would be so much more fulfilling and I think in my mind they would be more successful.
Speaker 2:What advice do you have out there? And I'm going to, I'm going to poke some bears with this one, but I really don't care. You know, cause I see the opposite, and you know we're we're in an area where I felt like our education system was, was pretty good, um, but we hit middle school and I, legitimately, the very first night, within the first three minutes of the principal speaking, wanted to pull my, my child, out of there. It was, it was horrific. Um, it was the opposite of inspiring. It was.
Speaker 2:They sucked all the energy out of the room. The first thing they did was was talk about everything that the middle school is not. You came in here, you're excited. Well, don't get excited about this, don't get excited about this, don't get excited about this Like they just sucked all the energy out. And then the second thing they did was go over the disciplinary action. Now, that's how you, that's how you did intro night to middle school. Yay, oh, my God, it was a train wreck. And then they have, I mean, they are training, uh, and and no, no offense to anybody that wants a factory job but literally, but literally, as fifth graders in a middle school, you are required to walk the right side of the hallway in single file. If you're in the middle, you go to detention. If your hands are not visible at all times, you go to detention. Meaning if your hands are in your pockets, you're headed to detention.
Speaker 1:Are we in penitentiary? What are we doing?
Speaker 2:Exactly. So what? What do you?
Speaker 1:what do?
Speaker 2:you advise to um, let's just say, educators out there. How, how does a, how does a a single educator, or how does somebody that's in admin at a middle school or a high school? How do they foster some of the EIC mentality? I love this question.
Speaker 1:And one of the favorite things I get to do is opportunity to go talk to people like that, so I go back. Let me give you just a little bit of context for answer that. When I was 31 years old I became principal Hitman County Middle School.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I've been in my career. Fortunately, I've been on all three levels as administrator Elementary one year can get out of there fast enough, not me. Most of my time has been on the high school level high school basketball coach and then became an administrator. Middle school is a sweet spot for me. I'm glad you mentioned that, because the kids are still fearful enough that you can run a good disciplinary program and disguise it and they don't know Sure, with appropriate rewards. Secondly, they're eager. They're still eager to learn and participate. So why crush dreams there? Right? Do you know what the difference between a one room schoolhouse in 1920 to now is? The buildings have gotten bigger. Nothing has changed in traditional public school. Yeah, nothing has changed in traditional public school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my father, who is a mentor and a hero of mine, has been a lifelong educator. Actually was in one of those unit schools at one time as a principal. As a young principal became superintendent of schools and under Ned Ray McWhorter was commissioner of education. So here's a country redneck from Linden, tennessee, that has climbed educational ladder as far as you can go. Sure, there's a there's not. But one job that he did not have and that would be that, the federal level, which he'd laugh at you and say that's a joke anyways. But he always told me that if we're not careful he's been saying this for years that public education is going to die because it will not evolve ever.
Speaker 1:The people that shouldn't be in charge get in charge. The people that should be rewarded burn out. The people that should be fired from a. If you're in any other business for performance couldn't make it. But those government checks keep coming right. So how do you take all that? You can't coming right. So how do you take all that? You can't change that. So how do you take all that? And you make them believe? I had a lot of luck in my career early on. Philosophy has not changed, but I had luck. It could have easily gone the other way and we'd have failed miserably and everybody would have been like I told you. So your philosophy doesn't work. Hickman County Middle School was 82% free-induced lunch. I want you to hear me again. 82% of those kids were in poverty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 1:Middle Tennessee, poor, 98% white. We had kids living in pallet houses this is no lie with tarps draped over the top of it. We had a rule no cell phones. Now this is 15 lie, with tarp stripped over the top of it. We had a rule no cell phones. Now this is 15 years ago. Sure, the most powerful tool ever created, don't bring it. So we did a, we did a little bit of research 91, 82 free, reduced, 91 had phones. Now it goes to show you what, as another microcosm of our society and culture, that that plays precedent. We've got to have that over other right. So we thought what are we going to do to foster that we had? We had people that were still using chalkboards. They refused to use, even answer emails. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1:they got a dust cover over the email right so the number one thing that they wanted to do. So I'm getting to your answer, I promise yeah. Yeah, just trust me, I'm going back to your discipline. Instead of talking about what you're going to do and what's going to happen if things go wrong, let's talk about things that you're going to get to do. If you do things right, that's right. So we changed the culture, the culture.
Speaker 1:When I came in the year before me, there was a 1400 referrals for three grades, for 420 kids. I was like something's off. This is six, seven, ninth graders. What, what? How come there's 14? So I started looking through them. Didn't bring a pencil class, didn't do this, didn't do that, walking down the center of the hall. I'm like that has zero bearing on the educational impact of what we're doing. But by sending them into disciplinary positions such as ISS detention, it has a negative effect and you're taking them out of the classroom with the only person that can teach them Because, guess what, they're going home to uneducated people. So why, number one? Why are we sending four hours of homework to people? That's going to get it wrong. So they're going to do four hours of homework wrong. Number one.
Speaker 1:So we started talking about homework practices. We started talking about discipline practices. It's like all right, let's get to the bone. We've got 27 rules here. That's bull. We're going to power it down to three. I said I'm going to let you all select. This isn't a faculty meeting. This is my first fact to me, 31 years old. I love it. What do you want to change? Discipline, discipline, consistent discipline. Great, I'm going to make you pick the three rules. We're taking 27 out. You're going to pick three when you send it to me. It's out of your jurisdiction. So if I send them back, you can't get mad.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I want to know, when you send them to me, what infrastructure have we got in place that you have tried to prevent this from happening repeatedly? That's right. I said not bringing your pencil, not bringing your book, walking down the center of a hall, that's you problem. That is a culture problem. Change your culture, change the rules. So we came up with what we called the three bone system, because we were bulldogs, and I said OK, if we change the discipline, we're going to have a positive effect on what academics? So at this time I'm doing my doctoral thesis. So I thought we're going to implement a positive behavior program and we're going to look at we are.
Speaker 1:When I got handed the keys to the building, the superintendent said well, he introduced me to the whole group. No lie, we had a lot of applicants, had a lot of good ones. Here's jeremy. I'm like. Well, I'm glad I'm the only one that finished a race, thanks. Then I had the state department had a person in there in the building every single day because they had been on the list, the naughty t-cap list for so many years, like if I didn't get things turned around, they were going to have a takeover. This is no lie. So. So the superintendent said well, here's the best of what's left. Hey, as long as I don't get no phone calls, you keep between ditches. We're good state department's on my back, 31 years old, I am the second youngest in the building. There was 11 teachers on that staff that had me as a kid.
Speaker 1:Now you think about this in 81%, 82% free and do so much population. How are we going to fix this? Make them believe that this is the best eight hours of their life? Yeah, so a lot of these things happen to do with dress policy. I don't. Dress policy is ridiculous. Dress policy is ridiculous. Cell phone policy is ridiculous. That's a culture issue that some old 30-year-old plus veteran teacher can't stand because their class is so boring. So they look for reasons to get rid of kids.
Speaker 1:Girl gets sent to the office. She's got these pants flayed wide open. We had a rule it was board policy no holes between knees. A rule, it was a board policy no holes between knees and shoulders. Right, okay, whatever. So she marches her up there. What are you going to do about this? Now teachers are saying this in front of the kid.
Speaker 1:I put my arm around the kid. I said come on, she's crying hey, what's up? Yeah Well, my house burnt down. And I hey what's up? Yeah Well, my house burnt down and I'm living out of the back of a truck and that's all I got. I said what do you need from us? You need some clothes, need some food? She's like well.
Speaker 1:I was like, don't be embarrassed, it's all good. So we went to the store and got some stuff, came back, I called a impromptu faculty meeting. I said I need everybody standing up in the lobby. I'll see you at 245. I got in there and I just lost it. It's like I was coaching again, right? I just said don't you ever embarrass a kid without finding out what's going on? I said I sent that kid back. You came back down the hallway. You said a few choice words to me and you were mad. I said do you remember what we said in the first day when you said them to me? It's out of your jurisdiction. I said, second of all, that kid's house burnt down and she had no clothes and she was embarrassed to tell anybody. Did you even bother to ask? Now, we pulled her out of your class. She lost instruction time because you think you saw one thing and thought of another, because you think you saw one thing and thought of another.
Speaker 1:Yeah Of course everybody's crying. I mean, it's one of those moments, it's one of those aha moments in my career that changed me. I was like we won this battle, it's over, because I just showed in front of her Because she embarrassed that kid and I embarrassed her in front of everybody. Faculty-wise, I said do not ever and that goes for everybody standing here send another kid up here without knowing personally what's going on. So number one that you've got to change is relationships. You've got to know what those kids are doing to make them tick. They have to think that you love them or they have to know that you love them if you want to change anything. So that way, when I hammer you and say, jim, I need you to sit down in this class and be quiet, jim knows that I love him and he'll do it. That's right. So that way, when I hammer you and say, jim, I need you to sit down in this class and be quiet, jim knows that I love him and he'll do it.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:So that's, that's number one relationships. Number two infrastructure. A good positive behavior style program where everybody buys in the culture's right. Do away with minimalistic stuff, All the minimal. Don't major in the minors, that's right.
Speaker 1:OK, they're kids, they're stupid, we are all there, right. And then three on the academic piece at. This is my philosophy. Not everybody subscribes to. It is a mastery style of academics. We, when we made the change, we went from I'm now on the state list, if I don't turn this thing around in six months, to the top 10% of state and growth. In six months we did that. Wow.
Speaker 1:Tcap-wise, we were a level one school and we're level five. And level five from that point out. Why? So, instead of complaining that the TCAP is driving academics, we don't get to teach and we can't be autonomous anymore. Don't hate the player, hate the game. We don't get to teach and we can't be autonomous anymore, and that's it. Don't hate the player, hate the game. We know what the game is. The game is T-cap. So let's break down the T-cap and let's look according to state standards the higher percentage one we ought to spend more time on. So we, we gamified it. But the question is what do you do when they don't know it? And what do you do when they do know it? Because that's where we fail the most, because the high achieving people we stick over in a corner and the people.
Speaker 1:That ain't good, they ain't worth our time. So let's hit the middle 80. So we broke it down to smaller chunks of learning with kick out opportunities when they know it and when they don't know it, and it just changed the game. It changed changed the game, so homework went from hours to max of five problems.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And with kickouts according to that homework. Sure, and we also did a flipped classroom model too, which is another thing I subscribe to, specific to demographics like us, where you have 82% free and reduced. Use the classroom time as your study hall. Put your lessons on YouTube.
Speaker 2:I like it.
Speaker 1:So the homework is go on, watch this five-minute video. We're going to introduce a new concept tomorrow in class. We're going to do it together because I know if I send it home with you, you're not going to know how to do it and you probably don't have a good opportunity to have anybody around you know how to do it, sure. So with all of that it could have easily gone the other way. Those three right there are non-negotiables for me. I have a few other ones in there that I did with our staff. They hated it, but they ended up seeing the deal Because when I was doing my thesis, we started looking at discipline and hot spots of discipline. Day of the week, honestly, do you think is the hottest time for disciplinary actions?
Speaker 2:friday, why everybody's ready to get out of there okay.
Speaker 1:What does the appearance of the teachers on friday have?
Speaker 2:what is the appearance of the teachers?
Speaker 1:now I have softened my view a little bit on this, since, because of the EIC and the way people dress, now Usually Fridays are a dress down day.
Speaker 2:Okay, and when?
Speaker 1:teachers have a dress down day, the referrals go up because the respect and the look is not there. So that was one of my first non-negotiables with us Forget jeans, we're going to look the part all the time and they're not going to know any different. They're going to respect you for that. Now I did give an occasional every now and then, and I have since. I don't know about jeans, the jeans part, but I backed off a little bit to that professional decor that I see with our mentors. Those people that are successful learn from them, right. So if I went in, I'd be like okay, here's, here's, here's a good, standardized what we should look like when we're doing this. And blue jeans never plays a part in that, unless it's a specific pair that looks to part with a sport coat. That's different.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, and, um, most people out there listening to this probably I've already cut it off by now they're like that guy's crazy. But I'm just telling you right now. I studied it, I did my thesis over it and my doctorate is all around that and there is a correlation between days of the week, hot spots, the way you dress, all of those things, and so we try to mitigate all of those things. So discipline relationships not only with the admin and teachers, but teachers to students. Let the students be in control of their learning.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then having some good infrastructure around it. Man, I'm telling you, it can take the biggest naysayers and turn them around. We used to have these plastic lemons. I used to have all these things. Don't hate the player, hate the game Ships. I've already said a couple, right? Yeah, grade band, that pretty much was going to be the disciple of the information. She gave me a box of artificial lemons that sit on like for looks on your table and put all my sayings on them. So anytime I was down they held me accountable. They'd pitch me an imaginary lemon because we said you know, if you get thrown a lemon, you will make lemonade.
Speaker 1:So, if I was coming down the hallway and I was kind of down and I could not high energy, she'd look at me and she'd go and throw that imaginary. So we held each other accountable. So I threw a lot in there. I think it could be par down to those three particular pieces, though really, really simply.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that. And that I mean we get to choose right. I mean we get to choose right. I mean I can remember, without going too far down this rabbit hole, I can remember, you know, I used to teach my team, everybody in the company, all 500 of them every single month in person. Now I don't know too many people that ran a company that they took the first three weeks of every single month and it was so important to get in front of people so they heard it directly from me what are we doing? How are we doing it? What's their part in it? What happens when we win?
Speaker 2:And uh, one morning I dropped my son off. He's 18 months old. I dropped him off at uh Grace Baptist, their daycare pre-K pro or you know whatever child program, and I'm like seven minutes from work. Well, in that seven minutes this woman almost ends my life, like she cuts me off to the point where I almost was unable to prevent what was probably a life-ending event. I almost wrecked and in that moment in my head I visualized I pulled over to the side of the road, pulled out a bazooka, shot her car, walked up and laughed as she spent her final moments because she was willing to take mine and I'm like I've got to teach my team in 10 minutes.
Speaker 2:How do I go from this toxic mentality that I'm in? I'm like you know, if I go in there and I got 20 people and for the next two hours I spew evil into their world, what does that do to them? What does that do to their family? What does that do to our sales, like all the things? So I get my mind right and, uh, we do class or our training, and I get finished and I tell them about this.
Speaker 2:I'm like you know what? This is the mentality I came in here with and they were like we would have never known, like how did you do that? Because this was the best training we've had in two years. But you have that ability. You have that ability to get yourself under control and be the person you're supposed to be. And I would encourage every educator, every parent I mean you all have. Every single one of us has the ability to be who we need to be and if we allow ourselves to get caught up in the situation and nobody's perfect, but you have to be intentional about what you project on other people, especially children, especially your kids, and if you're a teacher, that's got to be at the forefront of what you do every single day.
Speaker 1:I've got one quick story on that and that's so astute and brilliant I mean it really is it can be boiled down to that period. I had one of those moments. It's probably a stupid idea. I think about it and I think how stupid was I to even shoot from the hip and not think this through.
Speaker 1:We had a particular situation where you're talking about the toxicity, and I had a particular teacher that just would not change regardless, but I had to make them see the light somehow. So I was thinking what if I did this? So I went to this cafeteria and I took some butcher paper. I put it on every table. I put every teacher's name on that paper, spread them out. So I went class by class. Okay, let me have your kids go get a coat, take a break. I got them, I went down there and I got all the kids in the room. This is year three, so we were well little machine things going well. I said I want you to go put your name under the teacher that you think loves you the most, that you would close the door, spill the guts and lay down in the row for them.
Speaker 2:So here they go, here they go.
Speaker 1:And I'm thinking all right, I know that Ms Smith's going to get a bunch and I know that Ms Carter's going to get a bunch. I'm very interested in this particular person. Two things happened, one that I did not ever foresee. One is, obviously, their list is going to be shorter than everybody else. So once I finished that exercise, teachers had no idea what I was doing, so I brought them in. So once you go find your name, everybody stood by their name. I said uh, here's the way I portrayed this. People started bawling, crying, bawling, crying. This particular teacher is sitting there looking around going. I'm like that's right, keep looking, buddy, because everybody else has got 20 names and you've got two. The one thing I did not see, though, foresee happening is the one that I hated the most jim crips in the class. That will not shut. Let me refute the jeremy qualls in the class, not jim crips, the jeremy qualls in the class that will not shut up.
Speaker 1:It's heavily opinionated, that's full of energy and I just really haven't done a very good job. I just hope he just stays over there and gets out of my class as quick as possible. Put his name under my name. I had no idea that this kid cared this much for me and I've been hammering him. Yeah, and it really changed it. We went from a if you're on a five point scale, if you will, we were at about a three and a half four at that point in time and it put us at a, probably a 10. Because even the worst one in the building said I've been messing up.
Speaker 2:I was like yeah, we have.
Speaker 1:I said but that's okay, we're here to learn together In turn. I'm just like that's right, buddy, you know that toxicity you want to say I tried to tell you, but you, just you keep suppressing it because the point has been proved and just a simple exercise is that? I mean, that was purely a. I was sitting there, this is what I'm going to do. It's probably I don't know if it's even the most professional thing in the world to do, but it painted a picture and then I said okay, teacher A, you've got Jeremy on your list. He obviously thinks highly of you. So, ms Smith, when you have a problem with Jeremy, who are you going to call? You're going to call this teacher and this teacher is going to come over and that's going to be the safety release for that kid. It just changed everything we started doing. You said don't poke the bear, right, we had an eighth-grade science teacher, coach Huddleston.
Speaker 1:He always said don't poke the bear. So if Jeremy is the bear whose list is Jeremy on, let's let them deal with it, because they respect each other. Sure, when I left there, we went from 1,400. Remember the year before?
Speaker 2:40. That's great. I love this. I mean, you know, and I've got my favorite teacher on this planet and I need to introduce y'all because I don't think y'all have met before Kate McGlasson, she's the dean over at Innsworth.
Speaker 1:What does Kate exude that you like so much? I'm curious what makes you think of her immediately.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you, it got started off rocky in that, the very first homework assignment, I completely forgot what subject Geometry. Okay, very first homework assignment. And so I realized that as I walk in the door I'm feverishly trying to get through with it. I end up with a 30 on that, that quiz. And uh, she asks why did you get a 30? And I said because I only answered five of the you know, uh, five of the 15 questions. And now keep fast forward. I ended up with 100 in geometry.
Speaker 2:The following year I was her um, I was her student aid. And the next year I was her student. Yeah, it started a student aid again and she was pregnant and had a, a tough pregnancy. Well, this one particular week to 10 days, uh, she goes, jim, you're going to teach class. And I was quiet, I was not that guy. But I got up and taught class and I was like, oh, I like this, it's a catalyst moment for you. It was a hundred percent. Now I was.
Speaker 2:I was also cognizant. I didn't want to get paid like a teacher. So I was like nobody does. So I said how do I? How do I? How do I do this? How do I, how do I figure this out?
Speaker 2:And what it ended up is I ran a business and I got good enough that I kept going up the ladder and then I started teaching every person there every month in person, and that was the catalyst for everybody knowing exactly what their role was. We did amazing things and but they, just like you said, I knew them, I knew what they were about, I knew what they wanted in life, what their goals were, and they could come to me when things weren't right. But we also did that with our leaders and said look, somebody's having a rough go of it. I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it right up. I don't want to see a termination. I don't want to see any of that until you tell me what went wrong, where it happened, what's going on. And that's not to say that we don't fire people because we absolutely held accountability, but if it's something that we did wrong or if it's something that we should show some grace with, well then everybody had that ability to show that grace.
Speaker 1:You just summed up talent development in a nutshell. She saw something in you. She knew you had the ability. You may not been putting forth the effort, so she put you in an accountable role which you found love for and passion for, and all of a sudden you started caring more than what you did before. That's talent development, that's all. It is Absolutely Kobe's here. He'd be shaking my hand like, oh yeah, I got the framework for it and he does Redneck logic as talent development. She saw something in you and she saw something in you and she cultivated what you are today. I mean, that was the moment that started it and he needed something. We all have that, that moment of OK, this is what I'm born to do, and you know. So.
Speaker 1:In teaching, you know those teachers, those that can and those that can't. I hate to say it, but you know there's a lot of those that that reinvent, involve year in and year out, and there's a 30 year teachers that have done it once, well, once, and repeated 29 times. It doesn't evolve. And you know, teaching is, is such, a, it's a fulfilling employment. Right, I mean, it has to be. You're not getting, you're not. You're not getting rich Right, so why be negative? It's not like they're leaving the best ones at home, they're sending you all they have. So for eight hours a day, you got a chance to make a difference. Yeah, yeah, it's not going to go your way every day. Yeah, it's going to be exhausting, but to hear the Jim Cripp story about Kate and how she changed a guy's life, that's what we do. That's fulfilling, absolutely. That's what the coach is right.
Speaker 1:You always want to get invited to your players' weddings. You always want to get the announcements when they have kids. You want to get all that kind of stuff and checking in. That's the way you know that you made a difference. It has zero, zero to do with winning losses. Everybody thinks it does. The wins, or the state championship, could be a catalyst moment for you to change them, but that's few and far between. It literally comes down to how did you treat me? And here's Kobe on my shoulder. Am I valued Right? Am I loved? And is my opinion valued? Sure, so that's all I mean. It's literally what you just the story you just told.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, Jeremy, there's so much I want to get into and we are pushing the envelope on time.
Speaker 1:So we're going to have to have you come back. I just told people still hanging in there with us, right?
Speaker 2:now right? Well, if they're smart, they are, Because this is just nugget after nugget whether you're a parent, whether you're an educator, whether you're running a business, all these things, and I'm so excited about the things that you guys have going on there at the EIC. And next time I want to dive in to really what makes you tick and the the family part of it, Cause I know you're a strong family man Love, love your wife and kids.
Speaker 2:And and get dive into the health side of things, Cause that's a whole that's a whole, whole section that we're not even getting into today, but I do want to ask this one question before we go have you put any thought into how you want to be remembered?
Speaker 1:I do that every day. Uh, it doesn't necessarily. It doesn't. It's not what drives me. My philosophy on this has changed as you get older. Professionally, I definitely want to be, have this legacy and leave, but it's not near as important as what my three kids did. You know, I'm in that point of life right now where I've got separation anxiety from a 16 year old. He used to be on my hip. I love that, love him so much. And how do you exude that? How do you teach them? How do you discipline them? And still you know you can't be their friend, you can't be there. You know all those things are happening right now. Um, but I think about that all the time. What are my kids going to think of me? Like I think of. I just hope and pray that something is that I say breaks through at some point in time, like my father, and have the same regard for me as I do my father.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think about this all the time. Yes, uh, professionally, he treated us fairly, um, and he always had the right, uh goal in mind with whomever we're serving, not for self-serving.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it. Well again, I love what you're doing down there. It's a breath of fresh air when you walk in that building and it's clearly something you've cultivated, that you've put in place, and I can't wait to see what comes next.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you're listening to this and you want to become a mentor, always feel free. Open Door Policy come find us. We're in the middle of Franklin, tennessee, at Franklin high school, at the annex building. How do they get in touch with you? Yeah, just the easiest way is just to email Jeremy dot quals Q U a. L L S at WCS dot com. Okay, no, dot edu. Pardon me, wcs dot edu, I've been out too long man. New. Zealand.
Speaker 2:I love it. Um well, jeremy, we're absolutely going to have to have you back and continue this conversation and check in on all the great things that are going on at the EIC Everybody out there. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you took something away from it, whether it's to work with your children and work with your employees, or work with other people in your life, or maybe to inspire somebody else that you know your life, uh, or maybe to inspire somebody else that you know. I do want to dedicate this one, uh, to one of the educators that uh made a big change in my life my third grade teacher, uh, miss Francis hall. Uh, to all those that knew her, she was just absolutely a beacon of light. And then, uh, also to my good friend, a classmate and educator and coach, who recently passed a classmate and educator and coach who recently passed, drew Johnson, who was taken from us too early. Yeah, just know that you made an impact on people's worlds and it will not be forgotten Until next time.
Speaker 2:I'm Jim Cripps with the Charge Forward podcast. Again, thanks again to our sponsors, hitlab Studios here in Nashville, tennessee, charge Forward Solutions and Sense Custom Development Take care Team. Is Jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward Podcast. I just want to tell you I love you, I appreciate you listening, I appreciate you for subscribing and sharing the Charge Forward Podcast with people you know and you love, because that's what we're here for. We are here to share the amazing stories, the things that people have been through, the ways that they were able to improve their life, so that you can take little nuggets from theirs and help improve your story and be better tomorrow than you are today. I hope that this is the tool you needed at the right time and that you find value in the amazing guests that we bring each and every week. Thanks so much and don't forget new episodes drop every Thursday.