Todd Sanders:
Well, welcome back to the podcast. We are very excited today to have the superintendent of Phoenix Union Thea Andrade joining us. Thank you for being with us today.
Thea Andrade:
Thank you for inviting me.
Todd Sanders:
Well, we always like to get to know our guests and so for those people who don't know you, talk a little bit about yourself and maybe also something about us that we wouldn't know from your bio.
Thea Andrade:
Okay. Well I am a lifelong educator. I've been in education for about 28 years now, served at multiple levels from a classroom teacher to a principal.
Todd Sanders:
What did you teach in the classroom?
Thea Andrade:
I taught math and science.
Todd Sanders:
All right.
Thea Andrade:
Ninth grade. Fun times. I have been a principal for what we termed at-risk youth, students that were no longer welcome in their traditional high school. I did that for seven years. I've worked in the charter arena. I've rejoined the public sector back in 2012, 2011/12 I should say, was the school year. And just really loved data, worked with testing and assessment for a while, did executive director of technology, and then became the chief academic officer, which I just absolutely loved. And now I'm serving as superintendent. I think something people often don't know by just looking at you, they don't realize I am a first generation college graduate. My father immigrated here at the age of 18 for a better life. And so I know though he's no longer with us, he's very proud of me right now.
Todd Sanders:
Absolutely. So second generation American, first generation college. So what college? Very important here.
Thea Andrade:
I went to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was a complete deer in the headlights. Having no one in my family having gone to college before, my parents literally just dropped me off at the dorm and were like, okay. Moved my suitcase in and my bedding and said, "All right, have fun." And I looked around, I looked to my left, I looked to my right. I thought, oh my gosh, there's microwaves and toaster ovens and lights and rugs and all these things. I was just a little bit lost, but quickly found the friends that I needed and learned to navigate the bureaucratic system of post-secondary.
Todd Sanders:
Well, just jumped in and ripped the bandaid off fast. Unlike, for instance my kid, we have to have the week long goodbye. I think that your method was probably better. And originally family from where?
Thea Andrade:
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts. And again, my dad was born on the island of St. Michael in the Azores. And my mom, again, a local, born and raised in Massachusetts.
Todd Sanders:
Well, we're so pleased that you ended up in Arizona. How did you get here?
Thea Andrade:
Just randomly actually. I had moved after college, graduating from college. It was a recession in Massachusetts, and so there was really not a lot of great jobs. Moved to Chicago to be with one of my cousins and try to get a job there. I stayed there for a little over a year, very cold, beautiful city, lovely people, but too cold for me. And I had some friends in Arizona that had a home and they said, "Come live with us. Come back to school here. Figure out what you want to do."
Todd Sanders:
At that age it's always easy to do those things.
Thea Andrade:
When you're 22, you're fearless.
Todd Sanders:
Everything fits in your car.
Thea Andrade:
And I never thought I would stay. I was like, I'm just going to go check it out and I fell in love with it. So, here I am.
Todd Sanders:
And the rest is history. So sounds like you did some additional education here in Arizona as well?
Thea Andrade:
I did. I got my post-bac in education while I was here. I originally started as a teacher's aide or an ESP in the classroom making not a lot of money, but it really inspired me and I fell in love with the kids and said, this is what I want to do.
Todd Sanders:
Well, it's very interesting journey. And we're talking a lot about the shortage of teachers and the challenges of getting people into that profession now. What drove you to education?
Thea Andrade:
It's interesting because in college all my roommates were education majors and I just didn't even think twice about ever considering it. I think it was because they were the elementary ed and I just was like, oh, I don't know that I want to do that. And it wasn't until I got out here and I started working in a middle school, I really enjoyed the older kids as they're growing up, that awkward phase where they're trying to figure out who they are. Most people don't enjoy that phase. I really enjoyed it, and what inspired me was that I felt like I was good at it. I enjoyed it. And so my father always told me, "Do what you love, don't work to live, live to work."
Todd Sanders:
That European mentality. And it seemed to work out very well.
Thea Andrade:
Yes.
Todd Sanders:
So now you're the superintendent of Phoenix Union, the largest high school district in the state. Certainly a lot of folks that are listening run large organizations. The same thing could be said for you. Talk to us about the size of Phoenix Union, students served, teachers, budget, that kind of thing.
Thea Andrade:
Phoenix Union is huge. It's got a presence in Greater Phoenix. We're 220 square miles. We are 24 campuses, 11 large comprehensives and other specialty programs and support schools. We're a portfolio of schools, so we pride ourselves on offering choice. There's a school for everyone out there. We serve currently approximately about 28,000 high school students in the ages of nine through 12. So 14 to 18, just high school, and 13 partner districts matriculate or feed up into our system. So we have-
Todd Sanders:
Okay, so those middle schools that feed into Phoenix Union?
Thea Andrade:
Exactly. And there's 13 of them. They're very much partners with us. But if we were a unified system of K-12, we'd certainly be the largest in the state, probably serving, I'm guessing 120,000 students.
Todd Sanders:
And I'm assuming probably nationally among the biggest as well.
Thea Andrade:
Absolutely.
Todd Sanders:
So we have an understanding of the student presence, and that's significant. You also have to manage the teacher side of that. How many teachers are in the district and principals... I guess principals we know, but teachers.
Thea Andrade:
So we have about 4,000 employees. I would say about 3,000 of them are going to be teachers, so the certified ranks, and the others will be the ESPs and the support staff that we certainly can't do the work without. And so together we really try not to differentiate because everyone's role matters and everyone plays their position, but we are definitely an economic force in Greater Phoenix.
Todd Sanders:
Absolutely. What are some of the biggest challenges? And I know there are a lot, certainly in education today, but if you think about the biggest one or two challenges you've got right now.
Thea Andrade:
So we are coming out of the pandemic, obviously. It's post pandemic and it's a different world. We definitely keep safety at top of mind because in Maslow's hierarchy, of course, you want to have these welcoming, inclusive, and inviting environments, and kids to be able to learn and thrive at high levels have to feel safe. So always at top of mind is everyone's safety and wellness, and I say safety beyond just physical safety and just mental emotional support. So that is something that we keep a close eye on and are constantly monitoring.
But more importantly, I think, we're trying to shift that paradigm of education and what it traditionally looked like maybe when you or I were in a school. The 50-foot view hasn't changed that much. And I think it's really a moral obligation and a charge for us to shift how we do education, especially since we are high school and bringing those meaningful opportunities into the classroom, breaking down English in English, math in math, and these silos. And our entire system is built around that with our instructional leaders and the way we do meetings and everything supports the way it was done and the way it's always been done.
And our biggest challenge right now is shifting those paradigms with adults, providing meaningful opportunities right from that freshman year, right through that senior year, that lost senior year that I often talk about where kids are taking your traditional English, because I took English, I know they still take English, math, government, econ, and then they pack it with electives, sometimes meaningful, sometimes just plugged in to graduate. And we need to shift that. We need to transform that for all kids. We have made a lot of progress.
Todd Sanders:
Sounds like it's not as intentional as it should be.
Thea Andrade:
Not at all schools. And that fierce search for equity for all schools is what we're after. One of our vision and our strategic plan is quality seats for all students. So what's good in a senior English at Trevor Brown should be just as good at Central High School, and it shouldn't matter the teacher you get, and it shouldn't matter the school you're at. All kids need those opportunities to get that agency and that efficacy that we want to see in our graduates.
Todd Sanders:
Absolutely. I mean these kids across the valley are all smart and they're all capable and they should have the same opportunities. What does a day look like for a superintendent? It's a fascinating job, I think. You've got a board that you've got to deal with, you've got staff, you've got students. What does a day look like for you? Typical day.
Thea Andrade:
I don't know that there's any one typical day. There are certainly patterns throughout my schedule of meeting with my executive team. They are the team of leaders that really are charged with moving forward the strategic plan and the systems in the district. And we are systems leaders, and we're always trying to improve the efficiency of the system and the bureaucracy of the system, remove barriers and just keep the system moving forward. So I spend a lot of time with my executive team. Equally so, I spend a lot of time out in the community talking about Phoenix Union, building partnerships for Phoenix Union, promoting Phoenix Union, really. Whether that's through governing board relations, visiting programs nationally, taking them back, touring schools, you'll catch me at a Friday night lights game. I'm all over the place at any given time.
Todd Sanders:
Well, you definitely have been incredibly accessible and I think that really is important from our perspective, because I think to your point, you get outside of that bubble and really kind of get context for what's happening in the rest of the community, and you've done that so well.
Thea Andrade:
Thank you.
Todd Sanders:
So COVID obviously has come into play, and I think as you talked about that lost year, certainly COVID caused a lot of challenges across the board, but certainly in education. How has education changed a result of what we learned during COVID? Or has it?
Thea Andrade:
In so many ways. I feel guilty saying I'm grateful for the changes that COVID brought. And I'm saddened by what it did to many of our community families and members, but at the same time for education, it forced us to accelerate. And we like to move slow sometimes, and I like to move fast. So for me, I enjoyed seeing a one-to-one rollout just happen within a year. Having been the executive director of technology, I remember bringing the one-to-one plan and it getting slowed down over the course of five years, the rollout will happen, and I just didn't want another cohort to go through and graduate. And I would get frustrated by the speed, but I understood.
Todd Sanders:
One-to-one meaning?
Thea Andrade:
One-to-one devices with our kids. I thought that was just critical in this day and age. And we had the system ready to use Teams and during Red for Ed, I think it was, gosh, 2018, I remember saying, "We don't have to call all the principals here. We can do it on Teams. They can all do it from their computer." And everyone just looked at me like, "We don't know that. We haven't been trained in that." I'm like, "It's super easy, you just click it." But it was just this, "Okay, yeah, we'll get to it. We'll get to it." And I know that the will was there, but the skill wasn't, and it just never seemed like the time was right.
We had certain teachers doing it, we had rosters loaded into Teams ready to flip that switch.
Todd Sanders:
So it was there?
It was all there. I ensure you it was all there. And I worked with a fantastic technology team, and we were ready before they were. And so when the pandemic hit the ability to say, nope, we can flip to virtual, their rosters are all going to be there, it's going to sync. We can train teachers. And suddenly all the things that we had been told, "Well, go slow to go fast," suddenly we were doing within a couple weeks and devices were being rolled out and teachers were being trained and teachers were figuring it out. And all the technology that we used in the classroom was suddenly embraced and teachers were trying it because they had no other choice. They had to figure it out. So for that, I'm grateful because-
Thea Andrade:
The silver lining, exactly.
Exactly. We now can call a meeting on Teams and nobody blinks, so we save resources and travel time. And the students are checking their Teams all the time. Classes are using Canvas now. Kids no longer hand in homework, oftentimes they just upload it to Canvas. So these things that we thought maybe were going to take a whole decade to implement just happened. And so I'm excited about that.
Todd Sanders:
Well, and certainly it shows that if there's a reason, you can actually move things forward, and I think that's instructive for us and it shows that this can be effective. My sense is from what we heard sort of across the community, the big challenge... Sounds like you were ready, but a lot of the kids maybe didn't have access, to your point, a device or connectivity. How did you deal with that?
Thea Andrade:
So we had laptop carts in every classroom. That was sort of one of the consolations that we did before we went to one-to-one. I said, "Well, at least let me give laptop carts in every classroom for teachers." But again, we're controlling them, we're locking them up every night. So we suddenly took all those laptops out and just started putting stickers on them and handing them out to kids. So we had the devices. One thing we had to order and distribute was hotspots for our kids because accessibility is just as important, and they need to be able to get on the internet. And so all kids were equipped with a laptop and a hotspot and teachers, even, if they needed it for their home internet. And it for the most part was very successful. Getting kids up to log on was probably our biggest challenge.
Todd Sanders:
I remember. Well, and it's an interesting analogy because you think about it, that's where the workforce is in many ways now. Most offices are somewhere of a hybrid, one to three or four days a week in the office. And so for kids that are going to careers where they would have that environment, they're going to have experience in that as they go into whatever career they're going to go into.
Thea Andrade:
And even college, really, to that point when you're looking through your choices to register for college. I know students at the U of A that don't have one in-person class. I know some that have hybrid. So if you learn better with in-person, that's great. If you want to do a mix, that's great. And so those opportunities are there. So I'm glad we were able to acclimate our kids, but we need to keep those practices up in our practices.
Todd Sanders:
Absolutely. Well, let me shift gears a little bit. I think we all know that the Phoenix Chamber really doubled down on workforce, all things workforce about eight years ago. One of those was a partnership with Phoenix Union because we felt like we could be good partners in the school system. And so I think we started with one, I think it was the academies at South Mountain where we said, "Let's see if we can't embed some resources and be partners in this work with you all as it relates to kids." Talk to us a little bit about the program from your perspective and why you believe it's something that we should continue to do.
Thea Andrade:
This program has been a journey. It is absolutely a game changer for us. In the initial phases, I think it was more about planning and design and alignment with Pathways, but it wasn't tangible yet. We couldn't see it yet. We were selling something to the community that we didn't really know how it looked or felt quite yet. We visited the academies in Nashville. We had an opportunity to see it in other places where it was a little bit more distinguished and had been running for several years. I think that was extremely helpful.
Getting underway, again, the biggest challenge was the system barriers of shifting the system, the way we operate, to be able to support it. Having Elevate Ed at the table with us, I don't know that we would've done this. I just don't know that we would've been held accountable to bring in non-educators that think differently and really serve as that bridge. That's what you are. You are the bridge to post-secondary, whether that's to a community college, a four-year university, or right into a career. You forced us to start thinking about it the minute the kids sit in the seat. You've brought career coaches to our campuses, which are a vital support to the teachers, to the students, to the programs. That's that extra layer of somebody keeping the work moving and meeting the needs of the academies. YouScience can't talk enough about YouScience.
Todd Sanders:
For people who aren't familiar, can you talk a little bit about what that is?
Thea Andrade:
YouScience is an interest inventory, and a lot of kids take interest inventories. And in the ninth grade, oftentimes you'll have a kid that just will tell you he's going to be an NFL player or he's going to be a banker. And when you dig a little bit deeper and you find out why do you want to be a banker? "Well, my next door neighbor's a banker and he drives a Tesla." Okay.
And so it's so much more about... It is interests, but it's also aptitude and where do your natural talents lie? And what I love about YouScience is it taps into both. And these kids, they sit through I think it's nine, about 90 minutes each, they're brain games and they challenge them. Once they've completed the game, they can come back and do another one later. So it's not all in one sitting, but it's definitely the algorithms behind the scene are calculating where they're frustrated and where they're excelling. And out comes this beautiful report. And it's so much more than a report, I don't know that I could sell it all in just a few minutes, but you've got this, here's what you're really good at and here's what you're interested in. And based on the combination of those two-
Todd Sanders:
It's like a Venn diagram where they meet?
Thea Andrade:
Yeah, here's some big areas. And then as we unpack that, here are some careers that you could pursue, and here's where these careers are in demand. So if you want to be something in oceanography, you probably don't want to live in Phoenix. Maybe you want to move to San Diego. And where's the demand across the country? What are the wages? What kind of education does it require? And it starts to stimulate that curiosity and that excitement and that discovery for kids. I love looking at our results because what I thought the boys were going to excel at, they don't. They always surprise me, the genders do for sure. And it is just exciting to see kids take that agency and be like, "Yeah, this is what it said I'm good at. This confirms what-
Todd Sanders:
And it opens their eyes to what they might want to do.
Thea Andrade:
And then motivates them. And then the pathways start to make sense.
Todd Sanders:
I think versus my YouScience was LA Live. Watched enough of that TV show, dating myself, that, "Oh, that's what I want to be." This is really an effective way of informing kids some opportunities they might want to look at.
Thea Andrade:
And the power of it comes after the assessment with the conversations and the exploration and really determining and deciding where they're interested in, but nothing is permanent. It's all exploration at that point. And they can certainly try a pathway, they can shift, but it's not a guarantee. They don't have to do what it says, but it opens their eyes to all the opportunities in that field.
Todd Sanders:
Well, and it's funny because now internally at the Chamber, we also talk about them as our kids. And what I love about this program is that we are also giving kids the opportunity to be interns. And not the internships back in my day, but these are real internships where these kids are doing real work and many, many times being paid for it. Speak to that a little bit.
Thea Andrade:
So to me, the internship is the answer to the lost senior year. It just sets the light bulb on and it motivates kids incredibly. I think paid internships in our area are critical, because oftentimes our kids start working maybe sophomore year or something, and they start getting that check and they're used to it. And the idea of giving up those hours out of their day and that paycheck that maybe contributes to the groceries or the electric bill or whatever it may be, the car payment, it is their lifeline. So I want to see them, whenever possible, getting rewarded for a higher skillset through a paid internship if possible.
I can think of two students that they're both females and they're both pretty incredible down at the academies where the internship for them has been a game changer. They're just incredible kids.
The first one I'm going to talk about is Yanis. Yanis Mohammad. She is one of the few females in the construction technology pathway, and she's doing her internship right now as a senior with the Cartwright School District, one of our sister school districts, our feeders, and it's their district remodel. So the tasks that she's doing, she may be opening POs and helping process with that paperwork, ordering materials. She does a lot of site visits and walks. They even got her her own hard hat, which just made me smile. But she's really interested in pursuing a career in construction management, and so will likely go on to NAU or ASU, one of those programs and continue on. But she's interested now in women in construction labor, the Labor Trade Coalition. It's just opened her eyes to parts that she just never thought she could be. And she's definitely a minority in that field.
Todd Sanders:
Where she might've earlier said, "Yeah, might want to be a banker because the guy driving the Tesla," and now she's doing something that she really actually wants to do.
Thea Andrade:
She loves it. She loves it. Another student I can think of, Kalila. She is the cheer captain, track star. She's pretty amazing as well. This student took the FAA licensure test, the flight test, in the spring and passed. Again, just breaking barriers. And she wants to be a commercial airline pilot, and she's in the aerospace pathway, and she's just, again, in a field where there's not a lot of female pilots. Each year in Phoenix Union, we have a theme, and this particular year as a superintendent we decided to say making history, in part because I am the first female superintendent, but in part because I want to continue to uplift the stories of our kids that are making history and continue to push forward breaking barriers. And so I bring these two girls as examples because they are future warriors breaking through barriers that maybe 10, 20 years ago were just not opportunities for them or interests for them.
Todd Sanders:
Absolutely. And that's our academies at South Mountain that has the aerospace program, I believe.
Thea Andrade:
Yes.
Todd Sanders:
And I know we've got, I believe there's a flight training center of Lufthansa, I think. United's putting something in. Certainly we have our Southwest and American Airlines here. So what an incredible opportunity for her to get into a career that's certainly got, there's tons of demand right now and a lot of opportunity later on. So we talk to business owners all the time with our kids and hear their stories. Have you had any conversations with any of these businesses who have some of your kids as interns and anything remarkable there?
Thea Andrade:
I have some of the feedback that I've gotten has been around really the experience that the kids are getting and more of the soft skills that they're getting. That's the big game changer for them, of learning how it's different than high school and how it's different than anything they've really experienced at another job. So the skills they can be taught and learn and acquire, but it's really that soft skills that they need the most help with, and that is really part of our profile of a graduate and what we're trying to promote in the classrooms as well. But knowing that it's the same for industries, it assures us that our work is in the right place.
Todd Sanders:
Well, and I think one of the things that's powerful about internships is also for kids to realize what they don't want to do. Maybe they think, "Oh, I want to be an engineer," and they go and do an engineering pathway and they found out, "I don't want to do this." What a nice way to save a year or two of going down the wrong path, and I think that's important. But it's also nice to see some of these companies, very large global companies who at first were shy about having our kids and now not only have our kids, but they've expanded the program and are hiring our kids. I think there's such an opportunity for businesses out there that to look into this. What would you tell a business owner that's listening right now and is thinking, "Wait a minute, I'm going to have a high school kid?"
Thea Andrade:
I would say, first of all, you're an Arizona-based business, invest in Arizona's kids and in Arizona's future because that will make our whole state better and thrive. The second thing I would tell you is our kids are incredible. They're funny, they're charismatic. They are many times biliterate, bicultural, bilingual. They have grit, they have ingenuity. They know how to figure it out. Oftentimes, they've come from families where there's multiple siblings, so they've helped care for their siblings. Other generations live in their household. They can morph and adapt and they're resilient and they're amazing. So I would say give them a try. I think that they will surprise you with just how motivated and hungry they are to learn, and really, just give them an opportunity.
Todd Sanders:
Great. It's been a great experience. And I think for employers, we're worried about, for instance, things like transportation. Now we have a grant on the transportation side so we can help kids get to work and back home or back to school. So it really is a win-win all around.
Thea Andrade:
Yeah.
Todd Sanders:
Well, I want to switch gears a little bit. Last year there was a proposal at the state legislature to include some dollars for dual enrollment for kids to either get a college or maybe a credential and a trade for those kids who couldn't afford it. That was a bipartisan bill. The legislature ended up being in the budget. The governor supported that and signed it. We were ecstatic. Tell us, what's this mean practically speaking for kids in the system?
Thea Andrade:
This is again another game changer for kids in the system. This dual enrollment, I love dual enrollment. That seems to be one of my top goals. And under this Elevate Ed partnership, it's exploded in Phoenix Union. So I just want to start by saying not only has our dual enrollment in our Elevate Ed schools increased by 73%, in our non-Elevate Ed schools, the fever has caught on and it's increased by 53%.
The reason I love dual enrollment is it's good for kids. As a parent of a student who went through dual enrollment, and as an educator, I can tell you I think of the Triple Cs. It's college and it's credit, but the third C is probably the most important, it's the confidence. It's that pedagogy of confidence that it inspires in kids. Like, "I just did college and it wasn't that hard." It debunks any kind of myth that they might've had.
Todd Sanders:
Like college isn't for me, for instance.
Thea Andrade:
Right. And you just did a college level math course and now you can wait a semester before you take that second semester of math. And if it's done correctly, which I think Elevate Ed has also helped us with, is that alignment of the pathway. So we just don't want to give them a random college class that doesn't align with the pathway they want to pursue. So if we know they need a certain math for an engineering pathway or for an EMT pathway, we want to make sure that we're very intentional. And so that work has really helped.
The funding has been incredible. We've always relied on the Maricopa Grant, but now having other sources of funding and incentivizing it for teachers and for students has been a game changer. They aren't born on second base like some of the kids in the suburbs. They're not going to have a mom that's just, or a dad that's going to take out their credit card or their checkbook and just write a $300 check for a dual enrollment course. Oftentimes that's the difference between keeping the lights on or getting the groceries. And they're on fixed incomes, and so to be able to provide it through free and reduced lunch numbers, that also is removing a barrier.
The last barrier I think it really removes too at the high school level is that whole enrollment scariness of, "Okay, how do I even enroll in college?"
Todd Sanders:
It's daunting.
Thea Andrade:
It is. And I know that the colleges don't think so, and I'm sure we don't think so at Phoenix Union, but we are bureaucratic and we tend to be very particular and it never seems like it's enough, and then it's one more, upload this or check on that. And so the fact that the kids can do this in a library with staff all around, our partners helping them enroll for dual enrollment without any barriers, right? It's just they're in. And so then post high school, they're in, they're already enrolled. They just have to register for their classes. And feedback from our families, that's been huge. The support that they've gotten to help navigate these beastly systems that we take for granted sometimes as educators has been very, very helpful. So many of our kids continue to go on afterwards because they know they have that college credit, whether that's for a certificate, whether that's for an AA, or whether that's as a platform to bounce to a four-year university,
Todd Sanders:
Which is great, because it gives them so many options. Let me ask you this then, and it just occurred to me, one of the challenges we have across the board is FAFSA completion. Does this dual enrollment process help kids in that process where at least they're more comfortable with their parents filling out these forms and getting that complete?
Thea Andrade:
So in dual enrollment, it really doesn't even require the FAFSA. It's just requiring the free and reduced lunch for the grants and things like that. And then when we get to that senior year, it's so important that they fill out FAFSA and that it connects. Because the community college, there's so many ways that it can be affordable for them to continue on, whether that's having their GPA at a 3.25, they go for free on a presidential scholarship. Maybe it's through the FAFSA and they're going for free as well.
But either way, getting that headstart in high school is not only financially smart for the family, but it's also a headstart. Now when you get there, you may only have a year and a half. So I cannot stress enough that integration of dual enrollment beginning at the junior year. I'd even like to see it at the sophomore year for those that really are interested, and then promoted on so that these kids are graduating so close to an AA.
Todd Sanders:
I'd love to see something like kids graduating in Arizona with an AA or an equivalent set of certificates if they're going to go into a trade. I think that would be tremendous. But that's just me and I'm not the governor or not elected, but I certainly think that [inaudible 00:32:06]
Thea Andrade:
I think people are catching on, though. I've looked in the news lately and there's more and more support for CTE, for dual enrollment, and for strong certifications and partnerships with business.
Todd Sanders:
Let me go back to the point you made, which I think was interesting. You talked about kids on second base that are probably likely to use this dual enrollment process. For those kids who aren't or maybe are coming from sort of a first generation background, our theory was those were the kids that this was going to pull in. The kids that were always going to use it, were always going to use it. Did that bear out? Is that what the data's telling you?
Thea Andrade:
Yes. The kids that maybe would not be likely to have taken a dual enrollment are now taking dual enrollment. In fact, the survey that comes forth after they completed a dual enrollment course, from the families, is, "Were you even aware that there was a dual enrollment?" And I think only 4% weren't aware. So I'd like to get it down to zero, but I'm pretty happy with that. And then how many took part in it and what was the process like? So we know that there are families that wouldn't have likely done this on their own unless just the school had registered them there. So now it's very intentional and the families are on board, and we're targeting the kids that need it the most.
Todd Sanders:
Well, it's tremendous, and it's great to see you and hopefully we can continue to grow that. Final question, thinking about this very important role, what are one or two things that you really want to accomplish in this role? Yeah, I'm sure it's hard to choose.
Thea Andrade:
We have a solid strategic plan in place, thanks to my predecessor, that I want to continue to actualize and really live into. So I want to honor that work that was done, and I was part of that team, so that's why it's so cohesive to pass the baton over to me.
Todd Sanders:
Our friend Chad Gestson.
Thea Andrade:
Our friend Chad.
Todd Sanders:
Correct.
Thea Andrade:
He was a visionary, and I bought into that vision, and I believe in that vision, and that is a portfolio of schools that is transformational. We are a progressive district, and I want to continue to push the envelope, and Phoenix Union's the place to do it. I want to see dual enrollment part of everyday business. I want to see more teachers certified, whether that's incentives, paying for their dual enrollment, or paying for their college courses so that they can become certified. I want to continue to push that forward.
But I also want to expand this idea of what high school looks like from our motivation from Elevate Ed to other schools that maybe aren't Elevate Ed schools, through partnerships with Junior Achievement. 3DE schools, same idea, they do case studies, they bring in business and industry. Got a chance to visit schools in Atlanta that do this.
And again, their local company's Waffle House. So they're bringing in kids. Kids, their eyes are opening, they go, "I just thought that was like the waitress and the cook and the... I didn't know there was a marketing department and there was promotions department and a finance department," and all these other things that are opening their eyes to a major economic force in their community.
So I want to continue to expand those programs. The Arizona Council for Economics and Education, we have them come in, invest in girls, do some programs associated with economics and finance, banking, things like that. And just continue to bring the business in, but in meaningful ways that spark the light in our kids and motivate them to find that pathway that they want.
But honestly, getting them college, career, and life ready when they graduate. Graduation used to be our marker, right? I know they're going to graduate. We do a great job with that. But now what about their four-year experience? Are we really capitalized? We have them for four years. That's nothing. So we've got to be strong about what we offer in those four years. So dual enrollment, internships, those are two areas I really want to push on.
On the other end of things, the freshmen... Love our freshmen. We have freshmen houses. I just want to continue to nurture and ignite and build that sense of community and connectedness within our freshmen because if we can invest in them at the freshman year, they're likely continue on and do great things.
Todd Sanders:
Well, it's easy to see why you're in the position you're in, not just from an experience standpoint, but from a passion standpoint. And I want to thank you for everything and for also mentioning the certification side, that teachers have to go the extra mile outside of what they're normally doing and going to get certified for the dual enrollment process. And thankfully, there were some dollars there. But that's a significant deal and it shows the commitment on behalf of these incredible teachers. So I want to thank you for that. Before we leave, we're going to do a quick lightning round. I promise. It's easy. So we're going to start with what was your first job?
Thea Andrade:
I worked at McDonald's.
Todd Sanders:
So many hugely successful people started at McDonald's. What did you learn?
Thea Andrade:
I learned, gosh, how to think under stressful situations. I learned how to multitask, and I learned customer service.
Todd Sanders:
Absolutely. Oh, you go through one of those drive-thrus and there's a kid there that's taking three orders and talking to you and making change at the same time. There's no way.
Thea Andrade:
I know.
Todd Sanders:
So we know you're in, obviously, one of the top jobs you could ever imagine, but if you weren't in this job, what would be the dream job for you?
Thea Andrade:
Oh, wow. I've never wanted to do anything else but be educating kids, so... Well in my spare time, I love to cook, and that's a trait that my dad has passed on to me, and my grandmother. So I think I'd love to be like a Rachel Ray, somebody who just cooks and teaches people how to cook. And that's in another lifetime.
Todd Sanders:
Malasadas, right? Is-
Thea Andrade:
Oh, Malasada is just amazing.
Todd Sanders:
Those are very good. So then we'll use that as the final question. What is your best dish? What is the one that everyone wants you to make?
Thea Andrade:
Cacoila.
Todd Sanders:
What is that?
Thea Andrade:
Cacoila is a slow, slow cooked pork shoulder, marinated in wine and garlic and hot, wet, hot peppers, and then served in fresh baked Portuguese bread. We call it pops. But there's nothing like that.
Todd Sanders:
Now we're all hungry. Well, and I think that's the right answer. So thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you for the time and certainly for the partnership and everything you're doing for our kids here in Arizona.
Thea Andrade:
Thank you for investing in Arizona's kids. We appreciate you.
Todd Sanders:
You bet.