Transcript: Founders Day, Leadership at US, Possible Harmon House?

Welcome to the first of many episodes of the Late Start Show with me, Charlie Martin. And me, Jack Nelson. We hope you're enjoying your nice break from waking up at the crack of dawn. And for the people at home listening to this on their Late Start morning, hopefully this can be a fun to listen to as we interview one student and one teacher about their experiences and maybe some of their hot takes about a wide range of topics around U.S. and more.

But before we get to those interviews, let's first spend some time going over this week and what it has to offer. Let's get to our sports section. First with soccer, the team picked up a good win against Andrews Osborne Academy this homecoming weekend, winning 4-0. The team rises to a 7-2-1 overall record and looks to beat Twinsburg at their house tomorrow at 7.

Their season is looking great with wins piling up as they become the 18th best team in the state, according to Max Prep, ahead of schools like Revere and Shaker Heights. Even if you can't make their game in Twinsburg, they play next Tuesday at home against Walsh-Edswood, so please look out for that. Next in football. We picked up a big win against Garfield Heights, lifting the team to a 2-2 record.

Although we came from a rough game at Bay, we returned to the school for the prized homecoming game and won a crucial one against Garfield. Football season is looking promising as they stay home and fight against Akron East this Friday, which will serve as a game before the most important one of the season against the team up the street next Friday. Hopefully the team can pull together once again and win to bring home an important victory against the school down the street. Next we go to golf, where they shot a 3-19 team score, with Ethan Roberts showing an impressive score of 76.

The team finished with yet another impressive placing against some of the biggest teams in the state. Teams looking as dominant as ever, looking to pick up only another high placing at next week's St. Ed's Invitational. Hopefully the team finishes its season well and goes into the playoffs looking for a new trophy to bring home.

With that, we finally go to cross country, where we see some of the most impressive mile times I've ever seen in my life coming out of the team. Looking ahead, they go to the Strongsville-Virkle Runner Invitational on Saturday, to hopefully bring back some more impressive times and another remarkable placing. Let's get into some of the biggest news from the week around the school. Homecoming was just this past weekend, and it was great.

So many people came to not only support our teams in the morning, but also returned to school to go to the dance at night. The theme of disco was definitely fun. Hopefully everyone had a great time. Next, looking at our week's senior speeches, we had excellent speeches from Alec Congdon and Jack O'Neill, and we look forward to more great speeches from Josh Belcher and Gianni Fideli next week.

Well, guys, that's enough from us about the week, and coming up soon are two interviews from some of the most interesting people around the school. Senior Vishwam Kapadia and teacher Mr. Summers, they both sat down with us and spoke about many different topics, like the possibility of another house, favorite teachers around the school, and the opportunities that being a head prefect and head of house gives. Also included are predictions for the upcoming Founders Day and what goes into that great celebration.

Alright, let's jump into it, y'all. Vishwam and Mr. Summers, up next. Good to have you here.

You know, when people think of Vishwam Kapadia, they think of a student who gets involved with everything, enjoys everything that he's doing. How do you see yourself? Because, you know, some people say Vishwam, they immediately think head prefect, right? While some think Vishwam tennis pro, right?

What's the first thing that you think of when you think of your time and your titles at U.S.? You know, I don't think of my time in terms of titles at U.S. I think of how I'm doing. How I've grown as a student, as a person.

Because, you know, we all have our different titles, like captain, as you grow into an upperclassman, and head of clubs, different activities that we do outside of school. So I like to think of myself as a learner that has grown socially, in terms of how I learn as a student, and these types of things that U.S. has taught me. So that's what I really like to think about. Were you always a leader, or did you kind of have to learn how to do that?

Yeah, I've been trying to be a leader since the middle school and lower school. Obviously, this has helped being at U.S. since kindergarten, because U.S. has taught me so many things. From a young age, how to be a leader, how to interact with others. Yeah, I've always tried to engage in as many leadership opportunities as I could.

But, yeah, it's been, especially in the high school, like getting used to being a leader has been difficult. But I've learned. You've done, I mean, everything there is. You've done, like, science research, which we'll get to later, because, I mean, I'm still wondering about that.

The social entrepreneurship, the sports, all the head prefect. How do you manage your time to do all of that? Yeah, so I just set out my time every week, like what I'm going to do on a certain day. Like, know on my Google Calendar when I have a meeting or when I have classes.

Not always the classes, but when I have a sporting event or a game or something like that. I just like to keep my time organized. That I'm going to do my homework at this time, work out at this time, do any other remaining tasks at another time, and then keep time for some TV or something like that at the end of the day. So I always have it organized, and this really helps me to stay on top of things.

And I think that's a problem that a lot of kids struggle with. Charlie and I were asked to speak to the eighth graders. And one of the things we tried to stress to them was time management, because it's an important thing, obviously. But I think a lot of kids struggle with it.

Let's go back to the things you're doing. One of the things is science research. I was trying to read the title of your research. I didn't even try to decipher it.

The Characterization of the Dichrotic Notch in Patients with Severe Mitral Regurgitation. Is that how you pronounce it? Yep, exactly. All right, can you explain that for us and the listeners, please?

Yeah, so in the heart, there are many valves. And sometimes these valves leak, and one of the valves is the mitral valve. And when that valve leaks, it can cause problems for the health of the patient. So doctors go in, and they can do open-heart surgery.

But a more common thing that doctors do is they insert a little tube called a catheter in the vein in the groin. And then guide that catheter into the heart. And then they replace or repair the valve at the heart. And what I was looking at was the dichrotic notch, which is a feature of the blood pressure waveform.

And I was looking at how this feature can help predict the success of this procedure. And what I found was that an increase in this feature, the dichrotic notch, the dichrotic notch index, which is what I was studying, has better outcomes for the patient. So if the patient has a greater increase in that dichrotic notch index, then they have a better chance of event-free survival. What got you into this whole sternot idea and going down that pathway?

Yeah, so my parents are doctors. I've always been interested in medicine. And in the middle school, we had this young surgeons program where we dissected different things. And I dissected the heart one time, and that was fun for me.

I did pass out because of the smell. But I did have a good time dissecting the heart. And when I came into the upper school, I did my various science projects. And eventually in the 11th grade, I started working on the heart and cardiology.

And yeah, I got really interested. And you talked about the young surgeons club. Charlie and I both did that. Doesn't your dad do the heart?

Yeah, my dad did do the heart. I thought I remember that. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool.

Well, I see myself constantly thinking about everything I do and its impact on my future and how it's important for me. I think Charlie thinks the same way, and I think a lot of people here do, because you do all this work, but what's it for? So you've done all this work in school and out. What's it for?

Like, what is your why? Yeah, so some people will say college and getting into college, like advancing, being a leader. But for me, it's really how I want people to look at me and how I want to leave behind my legacy for others to think about me when I leave U.S. And I just want people to think of me as a leader, as a good person, yeah, and those sorts of things.

So that's why I try to do all these things. And I just want people to think of me as a leader, as a good person. So that's why I try to do all these things and try to engage as much as I can in the community so that I can leave behind something that others will look at. I know it's personally, like, almost impossible to do all these things at one time just by yourself without, like, a group of people personally believing in you and, like, investing their time into the things that you do and, like, really believing in your passions.

Who would you say is your, like, in your support system in and out of school and how they made a positive impact on your life? Yeah, so for all the different things I do, I always have different people helping me. And one of the best things is that to find fun in whatever you're doing. So if you're playing tennis or doing research, you have to have fun with it.

Otherwise, you won't want to keep doing it. So I always try to have friends with me whenever I'm doing something, like, in any sort of activity. And that's one thing. And another thing is having good teachers and advisors that are helping you throughout the process so that if you have questions, don't know where to go from there.

Yeah. Then they can always help you, having good coaches, things like that. And then, yeah, just my family. They're always, like, whenever I need anything, they're always there for me.

So, yeah, that's always great. I mean, you talked about that teacher's point. I mean, obviously, as sophomores, we've had a year of finding out some of the teachers and getting to know them. Who would you say personally are some of your favorite teachers at the high school and some of the favorite classes you've taken just for the people who want to know?

Yeah, so definitely Mr. Atwell. He's the tennis coach. He's the tennis coach here.

And I've had him as a tennis coach for, like, three years. And he's a really good coach. He's taught me some tennis things and just kept us on track. And I've also had him as a teacher for three years, math.

And last year I took his logic and proof class, which was a really difficult class. And I learned a lot about math. But, yeah, that was one of my tougher classes. He did a good job teaching us, so, yeah.

So you've had this amazing journey. Have you struggled at all? And how have you found the ability to kind of bounce back from that struggle and keep going? Yeah, so sometimes, like, when things don't work out, for example, if you're in a sport or doing something like that and you don't win a game or you get eliminated early, then it's always tough.

Or if you're doing research and the results don't come out as you expected, then it is tough. But, really, just keep going with whatever you're doing and have faith that eventually it will all work out. I mean, as head preschoolers. As head prefect, right?

You obviously had to go through the whole prefect process last year. I don't know about that. What does the house system really mean to you? Like, why did you sign up for prefect, go through all of it, rather than just being a leadership position?

Yeah, I feel like the prefect position is, like, interesting because it brings together all the different grade levels. And we don't really have that except for the sponsor system in any other way. And it's something that, especially in the younger grades, in the lower grades, we don't really have that. And it's something that, especially in the younger grades, in the lower grades, we don't really have that except for the sponsor system in any other way.

And it's something that, especially in the younger grades, in the lower grades, we don't really have that except for the sponsor system in any other way. And it's something that, especially in the younger grades, in the lower grades, we don't really have that except for the sponsor system in any other way. And it's something that, especially in the younger grades, in the lower grades, we don't really have that except for the sponsor system in any other way. And it's something that, especially in the younger grades, in the lower grades, we don't really have that except for the sponsor system in any other way.

And it's something that, especially in the younger grades, in the lower grades, in the lower grades, we don't really have that except for the sponsor system in any other way. And it's something that, especially in the younger grades, in the lower grades, in the lower grades, we don't really have that except for the sponsor system in any other way. but I don't see that as much in the upper school which I would like to change but either way it's something that binds us all together and I like that aspect of the house system you know coming from the lower school right I've been here since kindergarten too and I understand like it's you always look up right you always like while in that lower school you're like oh wow like the seniors are so big right and like oh wow like I wish I could work more with the high school has there ever been any pushes I mean especially in the prefect meetings maybe for more joint like things that we do at the lower school in the high school and because I know founders day they come up and we get to see them and all this stuff but have you ever personally heard of maybe changes to founders day and changes to the whole system and total that you find even interesting yeah I feel like it's tough to do that because the lower school is kind of separate and we have our busy schedules here at the upper school and it's tough to communicate the system stuff but we have the like buddies for the seniors which we're doing this Friday I think and we try to interact as much as we can with the lower school but I feel like the most interactions need to happen in the upper school themselves with like the seniors and the freshmen so I feel like that's what so one thing that I would like to see more so you're involved in a lot of clubs what's your favorite club that you've been a part of I have to say the Spanish Honor Society it's not necessarily a club but I've gotten to see a lot of other clubs that I've been a part of but I feel like that's the one thing I would like to see more things different volunteer experiences different meetings that I've been a part of and different communities I've engaged with and I've enjoyed that so that's been fun for me and I've been the leader of that for a couple two for the last two years so I've gotten to see a lot of things one thing I try to do is be like well-rounded so I can be a leader in a lot of different areas like you are can be a leader in sports also in science research academic wise and then in other areas as well what what do you think the power of being well-rounded and being able to be a leader in those different areas is yeah like I said before you get to see a lot of different things when you go in different communities and be a leader in different spaces like in the in the sports community you get if you're a leader in there then you get to see people who like sports but if you're a leader at school it's quite different and if you engage in as many leadership opportunities as possible it really helps to see the world and different people now do you wish there were more leadership opportunities that were like obviously available I mean you talked about prefect and all that stuff but do you kind of wish that there was more of like a freshman prefect almost that could have more joint operations with those head prefix I feel like the best leadership opportunities are already there and the main type of leadership opportunities we're lacking are the ones that aren't named so if people lose prefect they're often associate themselves from the house system and try to forget about that as much as they can but I feel like you need to have a leader that is not necessarily a named leader like a prefect or something like that and that is not necessarily something we need to add but just something we need to change I completely agree especially as like freshman sophomore junior they might not be able to have that title as prefect but they can be heads of clubs they can be heads of other things so it's really about what the leadership is and what kind of leadership opportunities they have and just having a leader that's going to help them succeed and then the other thing that I think is really interesting about that is that when you're talking about entrepreneurship what what do you think the power of that is just helping the maybe not as fortunate yeah so I co-founded a non-profit intersex stem with a couple of my friends here Zane Anwar and Alex Vincente who just graduated and we're working to help refugee and international students at in the Cleveland area get used to been interesting to see how their backgrounds are different from ours and how they still like science even though they haven't had as much experience with it and they they had a lot they've had they've been having a lot of fun with these workshops and yeah it's been really eye-opening i mean one of the things you do want to talk about i know this is probably probably an out there question but if you had like unlimited power obviously this head prefix you can't just decide to do and build those at school right but if you did have unlimited power what's one thing you would really like to change at us that may not even be talked about those prefix meetings and just you know one of the best things we have at university school is all the facilities so we have academic facilities sports facilities anything you really want physically you can get at us but one thing we lack sometimes in the community which i think we can improve upon is just supporting each other and just being nice to each other no matter what not being super competitive which is difficult because we're all here to get better and get to where we want to be but yeah sometimes the competitiveness gets out of hand and people lose friendships over it and especially with the prefect stuff that that sometimes gets a little bit um irritating for many people so yeah and looking forward all the time what keeps you present in the moment giving your all to what you're doing yeah just trying to stay focused on what i'm doing and i do my best with whatever i'm doing so that in the future it doesn't hurt me or um i can give my all to the thing also what is i i mean i personally use my free block to finish some of your homework and stuff but if you do want to use your free block just to mess around and stuff where's your go-to place i just walk around and see which people are free and just talk to them for a minute and then go to the next person and talk to them for a minute we were talking about how like with with the eighth graders right who were coming out how to use your free block and they were oh we have study hall do we get to go like pretty much fishing and all this different stuff and yeah i mean a lot of times you have to use it for your homework but i agree sometimes it's just nice to just get out good to have you here thank you charles now welcome to the show mr summer it's great to have you here it's great to be here thanks for having me um you know when jack and i first showed up we're in the mckinley blue wood house on freshman orientation you were one of the first people we talked to and you asked us all these different questions about ourselves and where each of us came from right but now the tables have turned i'm wondering if we could know where you've come from and what's your journey been to this point okay sure um so i actually grew up in kent ohio uh which is south of here it's i don't know about 45 minutes south of here um and i was there for the first 18 years of my life um my mother's from shaker heights so uh i do have a cleveland connection there um but yeah i went away to school i went to college in dc and then i came home briefly and then i was back off to rhode island for grad school um but yeah kent is the place that i call home and i don't get back there much these days but i still love that town i love kent state university i didn't go there but my mom worked there for 35 years so that is home base for me good old kent going into your journey into u.s why did you decide to join the u.s community how'd that begin that's a great question so i was i was in grad school in rhode island um i was at brown university they have an mat program in there called it's the mat means masters of arts and teaching i knew i wanted to be a teacher i knew i loved books and reading and writing and i liked working with young people so for me the career path was pretty clear in that regard um i applied to uh university school because um i knew of it i actually ran here i ran cross country in high school and i i came here back in the 90s to run at the clements cross country meet that we used to have and i was just very impressed with this school i saw the campus the grounds and you know it was very it's more impressive now but you know it's more impressive even back in 1998 it was pretty impressive and i remember coming here on the bus and just like looking out of the lower field and saying oh my god look at this place it's amazing um and then got to run in the woods on those beautiful trails and that was also extremely impressive so i think that was what planted the seed for me someday maybe i'll come back here um so you know fast forward i guess not quite 10 years but you know six or seven years i'm in grad school i'm now 22 years old 23 years old and i was looking at good private independent schools in this area because i like the idea of being close to home and so u.s was on my short list they were one of the schools that i was most interested in most excited about working at and so i i sent an application i met some people from the school at a one of these teacher conferences i got a call back from the school about maybe two weeks after that meeting saying that they were interested in having me come visit and i came and i saw the i got a call back from the school about maybe two weeks after that meeting saying that they were interested in having me come visit and i came and i saw the school i taught a class here i met some of the students and just was very impressed and so when they did make me the job offer it was a no brainer another thing that might separate us from other schools the house system what'd you think about the house system when you first came to the school um when i first came to the school i think i had the probably the same thought that i think almost everybody has is jesus is a lot like harry potter that was my first thought was you know that and i've liked that you know i like the fact of having sort of the idea of having a community within a community um when i was in high school i had a group of friends not a very big group of friends um but i had a couple good friends um but i didn't really know many people at the school that i went to because i went from this very kind of tight-knit catholic school in kent to walsh jesuit and i just didn't really know anybody there and so it felt very isolating and i felt very kind of lost in the mix and i didn't really know how to initiate that kind of relationship with the school i didn't really know how to initiate conversation with people because i had been with the same group of kids for eight years and so i forgot how to make friends um and so i really love the house system because i think it takes a lot of that difficult anxiety inducing type of stuff out of the equation you don't have to like walk into a dining hall and be like where do i sit i don't know anybody you know you don't have that issue so much with the house system um you get to know kids um i think uh in a more natural way in the house uh the house system um you know you really get to build that sense of house identity and like little stuff too like i like the fact that each house has its own color i think that's kind of neat it's kind of like routines and um and i like the fact that it's it's a neat way to sort of honor people in the community who have left the legacy you know because a lot of other schools like you know if you're the principal or the head of school or a beloved teacher like that's all fine and well but as soon as you retire like you're forgotten about forever you know but at us um you know we found ways of you know making these people's names live on you know which i think is wonderful um yeah i know i know both of us constantly look for leadership opportunities but you do have one of the biggest is head of house explain to people listening what that process was and what drove you to become head of house yeah um so i think part of it was just observing good mentors when i started at us the head of house was a guy who has since retired boston but his name was phil cocotilo he was an english teacher here he was the head of house my first year um and then mr strachan became head of house and uh mr strachan was just you know i still look up to mr strachan he's one of my one of my faculty role models in the school um he's just extremely um level-headed and calm and down to earth and you know he might not be the loudest guy in the room sometimes i am the loudest guy in the room but he never is uh he's but you know he's just very steady and you know leads by example and i think just has a lot of gravitas and i saw that you know i guess 19 or 18 years ago when he was head of house um and just really admired him and um you know not that i wanted to like be him or anything but that you know that was what first made me think like you know this might be a good role that i could someday grow into um because i'd i'd like to you know to do it justice like mr strachan has done um so that's kind of where i started thinking about it um i think what really made me um want to be head of house though was just that over the years being in mckinley house it really became part of my identity and i really started to care about the house deeply you know i knew with each passing year whenever we didn't get first and founders day like i felt it hurting me more and more so that's how i knew that i really cared about the kidney house was sort of taking those founders days loss you know losses harder and harder each year um but um no but i just i really started to care about the kids in mckinley and um just about our community in general the smaller community within a community um and so and i guess part of it too is that um i know i'm again i i can be loud but i'm probably not the loudest guy i'm maybe not the most outgoing faculty member but i can turn those things on if i have to and um i just i don't know i i just really wanted to be more instrumental and helpful in bringing the house together and really making it all it could be sort of helping everybody sort of maximize their potential mckinley and i thought perhaps egotistically that i could i could do that so i jumped in and they you know they said yeah sure give it a try so that's so here i am yeah i know i i personally remember freshman orientation going back to that like most of our group was already together i mean we only had one one or two new kids in mckinley that year in our freshman group right but that day alone if anything almost got us closer because we're like okay now we're in high school but we also had you pushing us along and like showing us how to become a better group and we all we all really bonded after then you're like who is this little weird guy he's scaring us let's stay together where does that energy come from for the house like what's that competitive yeah that's a good one you know part of it i think is um i used to say you know as you guys probably like coach cross country for many years here um you know i've been a coach across the country for many years here and that definitely honed my sort of competitive spirit um you know when i started coaching cross country i i did it because i was a runner myself and i just liked to run like i ran almost as therapy just made me feel good and then when i became an assistant coach and then a head coach i started to care more about the boys i mean i always kind of did but i was really focused not so much on my home running but on the guys that i was coaching and their success and how to maximize their success and then when i started to get results when i started to say i'm going to put this program in place and see if this helps them be better and do better and win more and when it did that sort of stoked this competitive fire within me i was like wow that worked okay i like this i like this feeling of like helping these guys um get to a place where they can be successful in competition like i discovered that within myself as a coach um so that's part of it i think part of it too i mean if i'm being honest is that when i was in high school um i was you know i was kind of a quiet kid um i was in the jazz band and i ran cross country but i certainly wasn't like the you know the mascot of the class i wasn't you know the big man on campus i was just kind of a quiet guy i was kind of under the radar and in my own athletic experience like i was always okay but i was never great i was never like the top guy and i don't know that i ever could have been the top guy but i do think i could have taken it more seriously and when i like look back like you know i spent my summers uh in high school not like training for cross country i spent them like eating ice cream and you know playing video games and like i look back and i'm like have i just taken it more seriously i probably could have been a lot better and so if i'm being honest probably part of my desire to help all of you guys be better is like i look back on my own this potential and i'm like i think i want you guys to be better than i was you know because i i didn't i didn't take this seriously i didn't take the bull by the horns when i could have and you know maybe i can prevent other people from like looking back at you know founders day 2024 and saying geez i could have done better if i just tried you know so i think that's part of it and i think one and i say this to my cross country athletes all the time too is you know the reason we want to be successful here the reason we want to be number one or the reason we want to try for number one um it's not it's not ego it's not because we want to demoralize other teams it's because we can't that's all it's because you have the potential so why not if you can do it you should you should you should try it you know and i think you know i'm not saying we're gonna win i hope we do for founders day but it's not about that it's about we have this we have this possibility there's this potential there so let's give it all we have let's not let's not you know get through founders day and think geez we could have done better let's do better in the moment you know that's how i feel about competition in general so i think you perfectly showcased that when you came up and won the pie competition that was one of my favorite moments we were talking about the idea like me kindergarten me in the lower school i kind of had seen the lower school and the house system as something that's really important to us it's cool we all love harry potter as a lower school but then when we got to the high school we may have lost some of that passion for the house just because we think we're older and all that stuff do you have any goals in merging the house system and really making sure like the lower school is almost one and that we have a cohesive like house system and how can we like bolster that connection it's a great uh a great thing to bring up um you know right now i think this goes without saying the biggest sort of moment we have for um lower campus and upper campus connection within houses is probably founders day particularly the middle schoolers are kind of intermingling with the upper schoolers um so that's a great time to do that and i think part of it is and this isn't the full answer but part of it is um just for upper school students and perhaps upper school faculty members to encourage upper school students to be a little more proactive about talking to the younger guys mentoring younger guys taking the younger guys under their wing you know just spend taking more time to talk to those younger guys so if you're a 10th grader or 11th grader on founders day instead of like ignoring the seventh grader go up and introduce yourself talk to them establish a connection so i think that's one one thing is just for the older guys to be a little more proactive about talking to those younger guys and working with them and bringing them into the mix during founders day but certainly i think one day isn't enough to establish those connections so i know right now like the seniors for instance um are doing like a buddy program with the younger kids um i don't you know i don't think it'd be a bad idea to consider doing that on sort of a broader scale you know to not just have the seniors going to lower school a few times a year to meet with the younger kids and to have a little bit of a meet up with the kindergartners or whatever but um you know maybe to have other upper school students you know sophomores juniors also you know take trips down there just to create more opportunities for them to be with the younger guys um because those younger guys i mean they really look up to to you guys i mean you guys look cool to them you look like giants to them you guys also look like giants to me what everybody does so that's okay um but um you know they really respect you guys and um i think that you know something to consider I don't decide policy here, you know, that's above my pay grade, but, you know, whoever does, I think it would be a good thing to, you know, consider, like, where we create more opportunities for actually physically getting, you know, the two campuses together so that, you know, you can interact with those kids more on a more frequent basis. And I think with Founders Day coming up this Friday, I think it's important to urge the older students to maybe get to know the names of the younger kids because I remember when I was, even in eighth grade, I was one year away from high school, and the difference between middle school and high school, it made them seem so much cooler, so even to just get to know some of the kids' names, make an effort to talk to them is important. Right, and it means so much.

I don't know if you guys had this experience yourself when you were younger, but I did. I remember when I was in first grade at this, I went to this little Catholic school in Kent called St. Patrick's, but I was in first grade, and I was new to the school that year, and this kid was in fifth grade, and when you're in first grade, fifth grade is, you know, it's just like, you know. Years away.

Exactly. He just looked like this colossal person to me. He was nice to me, and I remember that he was playing basketball with some other fifth graders, and I, you know, not knowing anything about etiquette or anything, so I walk up and I was like, can I play guys? And there's like, you know, four or five of them are like, get out of here, you know, but he came up to me, and he was like, yeah, man, come on, and he like brought me in and said, oh, my name's Chris, what's your name?

That meant so much to me, that this big, giant, cool kid took the time to like, you know, talk to me, ask me my name, so I think you can never underestimate how important that is when a guy like you, or like you, an older guy, takes even like 30 seconds just to talk to a younger kid. That can make a huge difference. To finish it off, if you could add one house, what would you call it? If I could add one house, what would I call it?

I would say Harmon House, in honor of our own Terry Harmon, not only because I like the alliteration. Harmon House, H-H, which is pretty cool, but, you know, there are many really impressive people around here, so I don't mean to say that Mr. Harmon is the only impressive, or the most impressive, but I don't think a lot of kids probably realize, first of all, how long Mr. Harmon's been here, but second of all, just how much Mr.

Harmon knows about everything. Literally everything. He is. He is truly.

He is truly a living, walking encyclopedia, and he's a really interesting person to talk to. He's just one of my favorite people on campus, and I think he truly is, you know, I think that word legend gets thrown around a lot here, but I think, you know, as far as like actual legends that are still walking around right now, I think it's, I think Mr. Harmon. So Harmon House would be my choice.

As far as the color for Harmon House, I don't know. Do we have a green house? No, it would have to be green. There used to be one.

There used to be one. I would say like, like trap green, but I'm open to suggestions if you guys have an idea. No, yeah, we completely agree. It's just, he's really a phenomenal kind of one in a million kind of guy, so.

We'll have to have him on. I mean, he knows this place better than, I mean, he knows every corner of this campus. It's unbelievable, really, so. If you haven't taken the time to talk to him, you should at some point do that.

We'll have to have him on a future episode, for sure. Yeah, for sure. No, you really should. Well, that is it with Mr.

Summers. Thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Great interview. Learned so much about you, house system, and everything.

Go McKinley. Yeah, go McKinley.