Hello everyone. Christopher Smith, superintendent of Cherry Creek Schools. Welcome back to Conversations with Chris, Convos with Chris. This is a new series we're doing in Cherry Creek. Started for our 75th year birthday. I've had the opportunity to speak to a couple of previous superintendents uh and learn a lot about the district. And today I'm
here with Siona from the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus and we're going to talk about Pathway of Purpose and the Pathway of Purpose for Siona. So Siona, do you want to introduce yourself and talk to us a little bit about you? >> Yeah, sure. My name is Siona, obviously. Siona Wajimo. I am 17 years old and I attend Smoky Hill High School, but I'm
here every other day at CCIC doing advanced studies and healthcare in the morning and then in the afternoon CNA in the afternoon construction, which next semester in the morning I will be doing CNA. Okay, fantastic. So, those are like two very different pathways. So, what
kind of drew you to that? And have you done any other pathways in your time, too? >> I wish with the expansion, I'm so jealous of all the students who will be able to get to do all these new excellent things, but if I had time, I would definitely explore way more into all these different pathways, including,
you know, I really love culinary. I like baking and cooking, the baking and pastry program. And then obviously HVAC and welding within construction would be an excellent opportunity. Um, as well as the aviation things. I I love planes very very much.
>> And um, I wish I would have had more time to delve into them, but I wish the best for the kids who will be able to get to participate in those programs. But what really led me to taking CCIC in the first place was actually my parents because I didn't know anything about CCIC. I didn't know anything about
construction. This is my third year this year, so I'm a student tech. But when we first saw um everything for CCIC, my parents were like, "Why don't you just try it out? Why don't you just try out construction?" And I was like, "Okay, why not? I don't I don't care. I don't know." But
>> I really am so glad that I took that leap of faith really to get into that class, become involved. Um and >> after that, I waited a year. I had I took construction again um construction year 2 last year
>> and then this year um I had the uh opportunity to be able to take like full day a full day of classes and so I was like well that's an excellent opportunity and so I decided to take advantage in healthcare which now it's rounding up today's the second to last day of that class and then next semester
will be CNA and then obviously this is my third year again in construction. That's great. >> And had the opportunity to hear you at the board meeting Monday night and I I speak to the power of yes and speaking to the power of yes. And when you spoke,
you spoke to the power of no, but flipped it on its head in the sense of no, I'm not going to let the stereotype define me. So, can you talk a little bit about that because that hit me perfect and I just thought what a great way to phrase that. So, can you speak a little bit to that, too?
>> Yes. Uh, I like to talk about the power of no because it's so many people think immediately of a negative connotation to it. But there could also, as you just mentioned, be a positive connotation. Usually when we think of the word no, maybe it's to a little kid who wants their third ice cream cone that's like,
okay, no, you cannot have that. But it could also be no to a million-dollar construction project that as I was saying that could spotlight a country or even um someone who their dream is to become a physician but they said people told them no this isn't the right pathway for you and that could stop them
from becoming a worldrenowned physician and >> using that power of no as I said that night CCIC really turns it around and says no this is where you belong this is where you need to be and that is exactly what I was talking about with regards to
especially my situation. They really turned that around for me. They said no, it doesn't matter that you don't look like most of the people who work in the field and no, this is where you need to be. This is the right pathway for you. And so that is a very encouraging thing that needs to be told to the next
generation of students, which is especially what I love to do in the community. I work with nonprofit organizations, one being transportation and construction girl, and we go to um younger um girls and teach them about
construction, about industry, about transportation and that those opportunities are available to them and that they shouldn't be afraid to take those opportunities because that is where they belong. And no, they shouldn't listen to the stereotype that women don't belong in those fields. And also CCIC gave me the opportunity last
year when I had morning classes to be able to speak to middle schoolers who ended up coming by. And I told them about the construction pathway about >> how it's so expansive and how they would enjoy it so much that no, they don't have to listen to, oh, it's too hard. I
I don't want to do this. It's all about expanding your horizons. And the power of no can be negative, but obviously it can also be very positive and very inspiring. >> Yeah. you know, I mean, you are so wise beyond your years. I mean, I'm sure your parents are so proud, you know, and so
advice for me because because while I I love that you're focusing in on CCIC, as the superintendent of this district, my would hope would be from preschool to, you know, senior and beyond that the learning experience is just like the way
you're explaining it, right? conversations in every high school around what does it mean to belong in different groups? What does it mean to belong in your own skin, which you are very comfortable in your own skin, right? And so what advice would you give
me to to lean into schools to say delve into purpose-based learning, solve problems, our students are brilliant, how can you change instruction? What advice would you give to me or actually give to this organization to get better? I would say start really really young
with not only affirmations of their worth but also affirmations of the fact that they can go into whatever field they need to be. I know that for a long time it was told to us like the college pathway and
nowadays it's changing for sure. there are more so um instruction being given to um teachers and administrators to tell us about not only college but trade school even not going to school entirely and those are different pathways than the traditional pathway but those pathways teaching the younger
generations of the children who are now coming up teaching them that it's important to work hard but it's also important to know that your path might not look like somebody else's and that's okay because every person is different and every person has a different story that they're going to write and So
knowing that, just handing them basically the pen to their own story, saying not writing it for them, but giving them the pen to write their own story and then go off of what they find that they like and even getting them involved in different things such as
CCIC, but also things with the high schools or the middle schools or the middle schools mingling with the elementary schools. Everyone mingling together, sharing their experiences and their wisdom that they've already gathered and learned. >> Yeah. And I love that because we speak
of 53,000 pathways and you know to the power of no it it is easy for an adult to determine what we believe your pathway should be right and so I think just the way you explain it the open-mindedness of
everybody's journey is not linear you know learning is not linear learning you you could drop a little bit and then grow a little bit right and so just the advice to that I think is is phenomenal and and tell me your story though because you have a very particular
reason of why you and how you're going to use these skills that you've learned at CCIC. Can so can you tell us a little bit about that too? >> Yes. So a huge part of me is my faith, my religion. I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses and we are we have a world
headquarters in New York. And so the skills that I've learned throughout all my years of schooling, not just at CCIC, primarily at CCIC, but even at Smoky Hill, I went to Horizon Middle School and Simmeron Elementary School, all of those skills now are going to come together and help me to become a better
person. And then I'm going to take what I've learned, especially with regards to nursing and construction, to um the headquarters in New York, which is where I'm going to help out the community and whether that be disaster relief, helping build new places of worship or places in the community that have been destroyed
or that just need to be refurbished. And also taking care of the health of both young and old. all of those things are going to come together and I'm going to be able to go not only in New York but around the world with the skills that I've learned with um my religion and being able to help other people. And
that has always struck a chord with me because all of these things we learn to better ourselves, but we're not only bettering ourselves when we learn these things, we're bettering other people. We're bettering the community, the society, all those people that we have the potential to now help.
>> Yep. And I mean, you just talked about pathway purpose right there, right? Because you can come to CCIC to get a career or you can come to CCIC to make this world a better place, you know, and it doesn't have to be one or the other. It's a both and. I mean, I am so proud of you and I'm so thankful you're part
of this school district. An easy question for you. So, we're coming up on two week break. Are you going to do anything fun? >> Um, I hope so. Definitely get some rest, some well rest, and then hopefully my family will be able to travel. We usually travel around this time of year,
so I'm excited to be able to spend time with friends and family and especially engage in, as I said, I was one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I do a lot of um Bible preaching work. And so, that is a community service that we that we also always do. And so, I'm going to be engaging a lot of that. And obviously,
just being able to rest and get ready for the next semester of the the final lab. I'm excited. >> I wish you the best. And I I mean, I'm not worried about you, I'll tell you that much. But any questions for me? Any advice for me? Um, what do you want to know?
>> What made you want to come up and start doing a series like this where you get to interact with everybody in the district, not just administration, but also students and other people. >> So, this is funny. School was not my thing when I was a
when I was a kid. >> Um, I struggled with it. Um, not because I couldn't. I I didn't really I didn't really see a purpose, right? So, I didn't know why I was doing the things I was doing and where I was going to get to. And and I had a lot of things going on in my own head. And I had a couple of
teachers who saw me for me. Had one teacher in particular, Miss Ballard, who was my only teacher of color that I ever had. And and she told me I was smart. And that changed my whole perception of myself in that moment. Um, and so when I
think about this role as superintendent, student voice is the most important thing that I do. Um, it's the I mean that's who we serve in this school district. So having the opportunity to speak with kids and and young adults and and hear your story and then I have a
superintendent's advisory council that say, "We're doing this well, but you better check this and can we help with this?" Um, you're the next wave of this country and we need great people leading it. people who are willing to listen and collaborate and be problem solvers. So, I just want to come out and hear, you
know, what are we doing well and what do we need to continue to work on and and the people who know it best are the students that are in our school district. So, that's kind of where the whole idea came from. >> Yeah. Any other questions? >> I was curious as to how the new how the former if you know any information about this, how the former pathways here were
chosen and how the new pathways were chosen. >> Perfect. That's a great question. So, we really worked with our industry partners, did a lot of research of what is going to be the next iteration of jobs in in not only in Colorado, mainly in Colorado, but also in the country.
And so, really thinking through if we're going to take four years to prepare somebody for a job, I don't even want to call it a job, for a career. Um, what what are going to be the most open opportunities for students? So, they weren't by happen stance. So we took a
lot of time the the the teachers here took a lot of time working with industry partners to think through the first iteration was what would be the best things that we could possibly put in place so we know that people will get a career at the end of this. So then we already started planning knowing that we wanted to expand CCIC and continued to
talk through all of the different things and the different pathways that we might need moving to the future. I'll give you an example. So some of the advice that we got from students was we want to in automotive was we want to do body work. We want to do painting. We want to you know fix cars. We want to do all of those things. So we went to our
automotive partners and said there's a huge interest in body work. And the answer was yes. It's fun. It's great. And there's no opportunity there because cars that are built today when you get in an accident are built to be totaled.
>> So you're not replacing cars. You're not fixing body work. are not doing that. So if we were to put a pathway like that for students, we're setting them up for not a job, not a career. So while there was an interest there, we wanted to ensure that we explained to students, yes, it's fun and you can do that on the
side, but the courses we're going to give you are going to prepare you for electric cars or or you know, the the diesel mechanics that we have working on our buses. So really being intentional to ensure that there's a career at the end of um the certification, the
lensure, the apprenticeship. We just want to make sure that we're setting everybody up for success. But that's a great question. All right, so thanks everybody. Thank you Siona. I'm glad you didn't ask me about snow days. You had your chance. I hope everybody >> should have done that.
>> I hope everybody has a great winter break and um see you next semester.