Announcer (00:01): Highlighting the amazing stories from inside the North Clackamas School district. This is the Proud To Be NCSD podcast hosted by longtime principal and current community relations director Curtis Long.

Maya Angelou (00:19): You may shoot me with your words. You may cut me with your eyes. You may kill me with your hatefulness, but still like life I'll rise.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (00:32): I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and wall. That the bright day break of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

Beyonce Knowles (00:47): Soul has no color, no shape, no form. You have the power to change perception, to inspire and empower and to show people how to embrace their complications and see the flaws and the true beauty and strength that's inside all of us.

Barack Obama (01:02): Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for.

Curtis Long (01:17): And welcome in to what I believe and what many of my colleagues across the North Clackamas School District believe is a very important edition of the Proud To Be NCSD podcast. This week marks the middle of February, which means we are also right in the middle of Black History Month across our country. And as you heard from prominent black Americans during that opening montage, Maya Angelou, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Beyonce Knowles, and President Barack Obama. And credit to Newsweek Online for the sound. We certainly have much to celebrate but also much to reflect upon throughout this month. As Beyonce said, each of us has the power to change perception, to inspire and to empower and to see the true beauty and strength that's inside all of us. This podcast is called Proud to Be N C S D, and there are certainly black Americans within the North Clackamas school district who inspire and empower students to see the true beauty and strength that's inside of them. And we're certainly proud to be joined by three guests this week who joined the Milwaukee High School staff at different times, but have since bonded together to serve the MHS community as mentors, student advocates and coaches within several of Milwaukie high school's athletic programs. And we are very honored to welcome Craig Sneed, Tim Price, and Kiki Ayo. Craig, Tim, Kiki, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy days. And let's let each of you introduce yourselves and your current role at Milwaukie High.

Craig Sneed (02:32): So my name is Craig Sneed and I'm a physical education teacher and I coach the girls varsity basketball

Tim Price (02:38): Team. Tim Price, campus monitor, head football coach,

Kiki Ayo (02:41): Kiki Ayo, campus monitor, head baseball coach.

Curtis Long (02:44): So we've got three different sports in here. We've got baseball, we've got basketball and football. You guys know the student athletes pretty well at Milwaukee High School than I would assume.

Tim Price (02:52): Yes we do. Yes we do.

Curtis Long (02:54): I imagine you formed pretty special relationships with your athletes, not only athletes but other students as well.

Kiki Ayo (02:59): Yeah, it's uh, part of the job being able to stay on top of, you know, your athletes as much as possible and forming those relationships. But just forming relationships with all the kids.

Curtis Long (03:09): Now Tim, football over with. So what are we doing right now as far as football goes, letting the kids play other sports right now? Is there some off-season conditioning going on? Yeah,

Tim Price (03:17): We got weight room going on right now. We have other kids involved in other sports hoping they stay involved throughout the year before football comes back around. So we encourage them to play at other sports.

Curtis Long (03:26): And Craig girls basketball going on right now. How's it going so far this season?

Craig Sneed (03:30): It's actually going pretty good. They're definitely working hard and we've run this a few little obstacles but it's definitely an improvement and I like where the program is going down the road.

Curtis Long (03:38): And Kiki, how about for you? With baseball that's just starting up now, you can get access to those athletes, right?

Kiki Ayo (03:43): Yeah, we've been hitting the weight room pretty hard. One of the things that I noticed from last year is that we were physically weak and so we had to get physically stronger, year wiser. Things have been going good. We got our winter workouts in. We condition every day and can do our skill development six hours a week.

Curtis Long (03:59): Now I wanted to tie this in with Black History Month. It's the middle of February right now. For each of you, what does Black History Month mean to you and the way that it is acknowledged in our school district?

Tim Price (04:08): I think it's acknowledged pretty well. We just had Black History Assembly the other day and turnout was good. The assembly was, was great. Got a lot of knowledge from it. So I think we acknowledged in Black History in North Clackamas School District pretty well.

Craig Sneed (04:19): Yeah, no, it's really awesome to see. Well, especially at our school, we have a pretty good BSU group and we've really like just seeing the kids bring everything together. That's been the most exciting part for me.

Kiki Ayo (04:28): Yeah, and I was part of the Black History BSU for a number of years and and that's a celebration that we put on at school. That's it's big time. And one thing that I was really proud of for the kids at Milwaukie as our student government dug into black history and found a lot of important people that I didn't even know about and uh, put up posters around the school. So it really was a collaborative effort throughout the student body.

Curtis Long (04:52): In each of your career journeys, what led you to apply in North Clackamas, which is continually trying to racially diversify its staff makeup?

Kiki Ayo (04:58): For me, I had just left Multnomah County and was kind of basically doing a sabbatical and got a call from Carmen Gelman because one of the campus monitors positions had opened up and I had done campus monitoring my very first job outta college. I felt like this would be a good opportunity to come back and go full circle in my career and I'm very, very happy that I've done this.

Curtis Long (05:20): And tell us a little bit about what does a campus monitor do? How, how do you fill your day?

Kiki Ayo (05:24): Basically making sure that we, uh, get all our kids to class and try and get 'em to class on time. Making sure that there's no fights, handle a lot of kids' issues. They pull you to the side and they want to discuss something. It is just basically you working with inside a community itself. Because of our stature on campus, kids tend to gravitate to us a lot and, and we're just nice and calm and we listen. You know, we have to be voiceful, we be voiceful. So it's a mutual respect.

Curtis Long (05:51): And Craig, how about for you? What led you to North Clackamas?

Craig Sneed (05:54): I actually got North Clackamas by accident. Oh, okay. Uh, it was a positive accident at the time. Uh, I cooked for about 12 years before I got into any education. I was always a basketball coach. Um, the old Clackamas varsity basketball coach, his name was Cameron Mitchell, he hired me on as uh, assistant coach. And so I was just kind of helping him out. I don't know how it happened, but um, somebody applied for me <laugh> and I got Study

Craig Sneed (06:14): Hall. I had a study hall position at Clackamas High School on more like a temp position. And then I actually decided a year after that I didn't wanna do it anymore. Hmm. And so just to be open, I was unemployed for about three months and um, it was Carmen uh, she called me up and you know, it was kind of just pretty much where I am right now. Started off in study hall and then I've been, this is my second year teaching PE right now. Just kind of been growing with it, kind of rolling with it.

Curtis Long (06:37): <laugh> Now someone gave me a lead that you're coaching girls basketball, you've got a PE job and you've got a young one at home. You've got a pretty full schedule out here.

Craig Sneed (06:45): Yeah, I got a pretty full schedule. Also I coach the boys tennis team. I didn't, uh, oh my goodness, I gotta put that in there too. <laugh>. Uh, but yeah, no, I do have a young one at home. Uh, she's nine. Uh, she's in the David Douglass district. Uh, she's awesome. She's supposed to keep me going.

Curtis Long (06:59): <laugh> And now Tim, I almost got myself into a little bit of trouble with you early in. That was actually late in the summer, early in the school year because this was a brand new job for me. So I was gonna go out and get some footage of some of our district's football teams practicing. And all of a sudden a guy shows up on the sidelines with a cell phone taking video of your practice. And right away a couple of assistance came over and said, excuse me sir, what are you doing here, <laugh>? And you were very nice about, I explained who I was and you, uh, gave a quality interview right there on the spot right there on the phone. What brought you to North Clackamas?

Tim Price (07:27): Well, I was working at, uh, park Rose High School as Campus Monitor and Mark Pinder used to be the principal at Milwaukie. He gave me a phone call and told me to come over here and work for him. So Mark Pinder gave me my first coaching, football coaching job at Jefferson High School when he was a teacher there. And he was the head coach there. So he just gave me a call. He told me to come on over and, and work for Milwaukie High School. And I've been here since.

Curtis Long (07:48): Now I hadn't met any of you before today, but as I asked others across the district about each of you, three words came up over and over. Amazing student advocates. Why is that so important for you to advocate for students of color and all students, not only at Milwaukie High but districtwide?

Tim Price (08:01): Well, you know, we, like Terrell said, we involved with these kids on a everyday basis. They come to us, they see us in the hallways, they talk to us, they confide in us. We wear many hats. One day we we're campus monitors. Five minutes later we're counselors

Curtis Long (08:15): After school, you're the coach

Tim Price (08:17): <laugh>, you see, you know, after school we're the coach. So we wear many hats and we talk to these kids every day, eight hours a day. And they, we built that bond and that relationship that, you know, they can come and talk to us about anything. And you know, and that's when you know, our many hats come out and we have to recognize what we are dealing with.

Curtis Long (08:31): And I imagine that there's been some pretty emotional conversations when you build that level of trust with students, they're gonna share with you some pretty emotional things.

Tim Price (08:38): Oh yeah. Personal family. We, we gotta understand what's going on. So if we need to direct that to a higher level, then that's what we need to do. But if something that we can handle right then and there, we pretty much take care of business. Yeah.

Kiki Ayo (08:49): It's never the same, right? I mean every day is different. Every hour is different. Trying to keep kids on a, a routine that's important. Makes our job a lot easier. I wouldn't trade my job for nothing in the world because I ain't never bored. Right.

Curtis Long (09:02): <laugh> never boring, that's for sure. Never bored. Craig, how about for you in advocating for students and you're in a kind of, in a unique situation that you're coaching girls as well. Are girls as willing to confide in Coach Sneed?

Craig Sneed (09:13): I think it's just how you build the relationships with them. I know for me, I was just in students in general, whether it's boys or girls. I was a kid that barely graduated high school. So, you know, having that connection feel like when I talk with them I try to put myself in their shoes. How was I feeling at that moment in time or what was I going through? And sometimes when you talk to them and you have that connection with them, then they feel comfortable talking to you because like, okay, so you kind of get where I'm coming from. But if you come through and you assume, and maybe you're from a whole different generation, it's like, you know, me being the youngest in this group, right, <laugh> right here. You know, it is, I'm a little closer. So it's like I get sometimes when they're talking about the relationships they have boyfriend, girlfriends or just whatever, you know, I don't mind talking to 'em about those things because it's like sometimes they just really just want somebody to hear em.

Curtis Long (09:54): And you guys have all said that they just want someone to hear them. Now obviously we're not gonna mention any names or anything, but tell us maybe about a situation that you've dealt with or helped guide a student through that. Maybe our general listeners would never think, oh gosh, I didn't know that the coach or the mentor at school would have to deal with that kind of thing.

Kiki Ayo (10:09): Had a young lady just recently was going through a hard time with uh, a boyfriend and he was being a little disrespectful. So we say we had to pull his card, let him know, not in a in a mean way, but helping him understand that you have to learn to respect women. You have a mom, you wouldn't do these things or say these things to your mom. You can't treat her any different. And I just think a lot of 'em just, they're just naive about a lot of things, you know? So for us to be able to shed a different light on the situation that they might be going through and and them feeling comfortable enough to come and discuss it with you, it means that you're an important person in their life.

Curtis Long (10:44): Oh, our students are so lucky to have people like you in their lives.

Craig Sneed (10:47): I think for me, just helping students with their grades. Oh okay. You know, going back to that. Yeah. You know, making 'em understand. You know, when I first started in study hall, we used to do like a lot of college and career work and you know, I would throw students off cuz I would tell 'em, you know, I'm not trying to force college down your throat at end of the day, you know, you have to be mature enough to go to college. You have to want to go to college. And I think that was one of the things that students like appreciated. Cause its like, oh, so his story's a little bit different, his whole spill is different. And it was like, no, cause the reason why I'm telling you this is because I went through that where it's like I felt I had to go to college, had to go to college.

Craig Sneed (11:15): But what happened was, like I said, once I had my daughter, that was my motivation to go. And when I went, that's how I succeeded because I had that motivation. That's why I told 'em, you guys have to find your motivation. End of the day, of course our goal is to make sure all you guys are like successful. You guys want you to have awesome lives, but at the end of the day you have to find that motivation. Why do you wake up every day to do what you do? And that's what I try to teach all of them where it's like, what's your motivation? What's that first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning? And right there roll with that.

Curtis Long (11:39): And I'm sure Tim, as a coach of, you know, you have 40, 50 guys on that roster. You hear a lot of stories and a lot of things that you're dealing with in personal lives of those kids where we forget that those are kids first and athletes second.

Tim Price (11:50): Oh yeah. You get athletes to where issues like, like they can't wash their clothes, they don't have enough money. That's so I'm always telling 'em, you know, bring your clothes, I'll wash 'em for you or give 'em a couple dollars, go wash their clothes or anything like that. Or I'm hungry. We feed 'em. We got peanut butter and jelly sandwiches downstairs in the locker room. But like I said, we wear many hats and I think in my case, one of the hats is a father figure. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and dealing with young ladies and their parents or young men and their parents and they not quite understanding how their parents are trying to get them to understand what they need them to do. And so they come to me and they say negative things and then I correct them and say, no, that's not what you're supposed to be doing. Your mom and dad wants you to do this. That's why they telling you to do this. Now if you're hearing it from somebody else that ain't in your family, right. They're telling you the same thing that your parents are doing now. They start to understand, then they go back home with a different attitude and try to work the things out. And I tell 'em, pick your battles. Don't just everything your parents say, you get an argument and you want to storm out the door. No listen to what they have to say.

Curtis Long (12:42): Do you ever get frustration from your athletes? Like coach who side are you on you? Why you're sticking up? For my parents, I'm trying to get over on them.

Kiki Ayo (12:48): You know, for me I can speak for me playing college baseball and growing up in inner cities in California the same as price. So we have a different perspective because we had to literally claw our way to college. And whenever opportunities presented themselves to us, we had to take advantage of it because those opportunities don't come around that as much. But I wanted to go back and say something like Tim said, A lot of kids on our campus do look at him as a father figure. You know, they look at me as the crazy uncle <laugh>. You know, it's just funny how most kids just want to have somebody there to listen. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, and if you take the time to listen to what they have to say, then it's easier to direct the conversation.

Curtis Long (13:28): Once Michelle Obama described her fears about raising her two daughters in a world where they would hear hate from bullies around them

Michelle Obama (13:35): How we insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don't stoop to their level. No. Our motto is when they go low, we go high.

Curtis Long (14:00): When the former first lady explains when they go low, we go high. How does that resonate with you and how you mentor North Clackamas students?

Craig Sneed (14:08): I think just taking the high road, I spoke about this at our black history assembly other day. You know, you're gonna go through a lot of obstacles in life. Believe me personally I have. And sometime it is tough to take that high road, you know, when somebody's insulting you, you know, talking about you mm-hmm. <affirmative> or you know, coming at your family, what whatever, anything that's personal, yes it hurts. But at the end of the day, you know, my mom taught me growing up that you have to take that high road. No, no matter what. Now that's different. Obviously somebody physically trying to hurt you, but at the end of the day, you know, words can't hurt you. That's the thing. Like you have to turn, like I said, you gotta turn the other cheek. You just really do. So, you know, that's what I try to teach the students too is that sometimes we let our emotions get the best of us. And it's like at some points, like you can't do that. Like you gotta show that class.

Tim Price (14:47): You can't be in this business if you ain't got thick skin. It is just you. You can't, if you letting these 14, 15, 60 year old kids get to you <laugh> as a, as an adult

Curtis Long (14:56): Because they're gonna try

Tim Price (14:57): Because they're going to definitely try mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And there's something you don't need to be around working with high school, elementary, junior high school kids because you gotta have some tough skin.

Kiki Ayo (15:05): Yeah. I mean every day on campus is an emotional rollercoaster. And at some point when your student body is going through their little emotional things, you know, you have to stay very calm and they'll say something foul to you and you can take it two ways. You can either be upset if they said this to you or you can just look at 'em and just go, okay, whatever. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and just

Craig Sneed (15:24): Keep it moving. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's funny

Kiki Ayo (15:26): Sometimes

Craig Sneed (15:27): They

Kiki Ayo (15:27): Come up with some good ones.

Craig Sneed (15:28): Like it was easy when we had the mask on cuz it was like they couldn't see our facial expressions. Right. So sometimes you could laugh under the mask like, oh wow.

Curtis Long (15:35): <laugh>. Yeah. See I spent 17 years as an elementary school principal and they come up with insults, but they're not quite as sharp as what the high school kids can come up with. So yeah, I could laugh a lot of times and say, hey that's, that's pretty good. But what you guys do is incredible. You've mentioned it a little bit before that you didn't grow, at least a couple of, you didn't grow up around here. You grew up in Southern California. What was your experience throughout school from elementary to high school and does that influence what you're trying to do today?

Kiki Ayo (15:58): For me, growing up in Richmond, California, it's a predominantly black community. So I went to predominantly black elementary schools, predominantly black middle schools. I didn't really experience going to school with other nationalities until I became a freshman in high school. And I went to an all boys Catholic school and that school had everything. We had Germans, we had Russians, we had Hispanics, uh, Italians. It was very diverse. But I wouldn't change the experience for anything because it taught me how to deal with people of different cultures. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> five wouldn't have just stayed in my own little realm. I would've never had that opportunity to grow as a person. And so here in North Clackamas, as we diversify our workforce and we talk about diversity and and those type of things, it all starts to make sense. Yeah. Now our kids are growing up in a diverse community, so now they're getting that same education. It just depends on how you swallow it.

Curtis Long (16:52): Speaking of swallowing, we've already chewed through the first half of this Proud to be NCSD episode, celebrating Black History Month and our three Mustang mentors at Milwaukee High. So far we've heard their insights about recognizing Black History Month in our schools and why they feel relationship building is the key to unlocking any student's potential. But who were their mentors growing up and how do they help students struggling with racial identity in school?

Kiki Ayo (17:16): Just be comfortable with who you are, even though you don't have that viewership of that on campus that's still inside you. And you have to find that switch that, hey, I'm strong, I feel good. And be positive about yourself

Curtis Long (17:29): And you can be positive that the second half of the Proud to Be NCSD podcast is up next right after this.

Mitzi Bauer (17:36): Hello, I'm Mitzi Bauer, chair of the North Clackamas School District School

Jena Benologa (17:40): Board and I'm Jena Benologa, one of six other directors on our current board.

Mitzi Bauer (17:44): We are committed to listening and serving North Clackamas residents as we work together to provide the best possible learning environment for the students we serve.

Jena Benologa (17:53): As members of the North Clackamas School Board, we believe it is our duty and responsibility to increase student achievement, recognize and reward quality and educators, empower school leaders through policy governance and professional development. And communicate with the public legislators, business leaders, cities and parents.

Mitzi Bauer (18:11): We invite you to join us online at our bimonthly board meetings held on the second and fourth Thursdays of most months. For more information you can visit the North Clackamas District website.

Jena Benologa (18:21): With parent and community input and support. We will continue our work to give students every opportunity to succeed in all North and the school district, schools and beyond.

Mitzi Bauer (18:31): Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Curtis Long (18:34): And how do you think kids are doing these days in our district growing up in a community that's becoming more diverse?

Kiki Ayo (18:41): You know, one thing I'll say on our campus is that we don't really have any racial problems. Hmm. You know, we have other issues but that's not one of 'em. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, which I'm very proud of that, of our school cuz our staff is, is made up of African-Americans, Latinos, people of color in high positions and they get to see someone that looks like them. Right. So the relatability to us is a lot different.

Curtis Long (19:06): Craig or Tim, how about your experiences growing up from elementary to high school and how that influences what you do today?

Craig Sneed (19:11): I grew up in Northeast Portland, so I grew up a PPS kid. Um, I went to Boise, Elliot, Vernon Elementary, all those. And uh, you know, it did motivate me to actually want to be a teacher. Maybe look back on my journey. I had some awesome PE teachers. They were like my heroes. Like you think about all those teachers and you're like, oh, okay. That's something I definitely could see myself doing that my whole transition into teaching that's kinda like motivated me. Like, you know what I always said I could do that. So now I'm, I'm gonna go ahead and try it out. But no, I went to Mallon Parish in middle school and I was actually the only African American student Wow. In my class. Uhhuh <affirmative>. And so that was when I kind of learned like, okay, this is how these people act is how these people act.

Craig Sneed (19:47): You know, it's kind of like it is, it is a little bit different when you kind of learn. I always look at that experience as a really positive experience because I probably would've never knew, just my knowledge on different cultures and stuff like that. Even some of those kids I still keep in contact with them today. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, so it was cool. It was a rocky start. <laugh>, you know, you get some kids where they like, I don't really know what to say to him. Yeah. You know, but it was awesome. It was a cool experience.

Curtis Long (20:08): Tim, how about for you growing up? Elementary through high school?

Tim Price (20:11): Yeah. I grew up in uh, Southern California. The real southern California network, which there you go.

Craig Sneed (20:16): <laugh>,

Curtis Long (20:16): The real

Kiki Ayo (20:17): Southern California. He loves that bay area

Tim Price (20:19): Outside of LA. Uh, a little small town in Duarte. You know, I grew up in a black neighborhood. Matter of fact all the neighbors, when you look woke up in the morning, you go outside, nothing but black folks. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> in the streets. Neighbors. I always tell the kids and I always told adults that it starts at home. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we, there's a lot of stuff that, you know, I could have gotten involved in gangs if I wanted to. I, I became an athlete. I was a big athlete. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but I was played three sports. It was hard. But when you have a mom, not a dad in the house, which is a lot that's happening now, but you had a mom who was, when it's time to be mom, she was mom. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And when it was time to be dad, she was dad. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So she kept on top of seven kids. She kept us in line, she kept us focused, she kept us going in the right direction. And that home experience of a strong black woman in the home was a big help to me.

Curtis Long (21:02): So it sounds like your mom was a big mentor growing up. Craig or Kiki and who were your mentors growing up?

Kiki Ayo (21:07): Yeah, I was afraid of my mom. <laugh>.

Kiki Ayo (21:10): My mom was very educated woman, had master's degree in sociology and she was a probation officer. Hmm. With seven kids in the house. Just like Tim, you know, when she needed to discipline you, she did two things that couldn't happen in my household. One, you couldn't come home with bad grades and definitely couldn't get suspended. Mm-hmm Kind of like Craig said, you know, mentors. I mean I had an older brother who was my hero. He still is my hero and my uncles, you know, were professional athletes and cousins and stuff. So I kind of had an idea of what I wanted to do and I knew that only way I could get to my dream was that I had to have an education to do it all my life. All ever wanted to do is play baseball. That's all I wanted to do. I didn't see anything else that I wanted to do until later on in life in college when they, that dream isn't coming to fruition. You gotta find something else that you good at. And I found that, you know, working with kids was something that I was good at cuz I could relate to 'em. And so ever since then, I mean I had good coaches that were mentors that were white men. You know, were basically father figures for me and I still love 'em to this day and talk to 'em to this day. I just appreciate all that they allow me to grow into, to become the man that I am today.

Curtis Long (22:16): And Craig, how about for you?

Craig Sneed (22:17): I had the two-headed monster. Uhoh my mom and my dad Uhoh. And so, you know, my dad was very, very tough on me. I know my mom was too, but their toughness was different. You know, my mom, it was straight up, you know, she's from Texas so she's, she's straight southern values, you know, ma'am and mister and I mean even today, I mean she'll still get on me today. Mm-hmm My dad was very business minded. His thing was about like how to be successful and like that financial literacy and stuff like that. And when I was younger never really like appreciated it cuz it was like, why are you telling me all this? I'm only nine. I'm only 10, you know. But now I look back at a lot of things that I go through as a man and I look back, okay, now I get what you were saying, this is what you wanted me to do. So I called it, I always call, like I said, that two-headed monster just because it was like, I'm getting something different from each of them, but it's like they kept a strong hold on me. Like they knew it was cool, it was cool. Those are, but those are my two mentors. My mom, my mom and my dad.

Curtis Long (23:07): And it's obvious to me that there are many, many Milwaukie high school students who look up to all three of you as mentors. Who are your mentors outside of family? Uh, Kiki you mentioned that you had some coaches that were mentors to you. Do you have others, even maybe famous people that you looked up to?

Craig Sneed (23:21): I've had pastors, I've had coaches. I've had a lot of people who have mentored me. Took, definitely took me under their wing who have definitely guided me, given me information. You know, that's the one thing about, I've gotten different knowledge from each person in my journey. Even though I'm, I'm still young myself. I've gone through so many obstacles where I've learned so much from different people. So it will be hard to just narrow

Kiki Ayo (23:41): It down. I think for me, one of my mentors is Don Reynolds, big baseball guy. Harold Reynolds. Old older brother. Yeah. Yeah. I first met Donnie when I was 17 and he had just got done playing pro ball. I came home into Corvallis and Donnie has a, a funny personality, likes to joke around with you. And then when I turned 21 I was a junior at Oregon State and uh, Donnie became one of our coaches. And ever since then, he just took me under his wing. So when I got into pro ball, it was because of Donnie Reynolds when I started scouting. It's because of Donnie Reynolds. And so even to this day, I just call him my big brother <laugh>, you know, cuz he's just been there for me since I was a pup. And uh, I just appreciate everything that he's done for me and really heightened my level of fascination for baseball.

Curtis Long (24:28): How about for you Tim?

Tim Price (24:30): Uh, my mentor was my uncle Marcus Byrnes from a young kid growing up, watching him play sports, taking me to basketball on the weekends every weekend. He was, he was my mentor coming up. But I have to give it, like Kiki said, a lot of my coaches were highly mentors to me throughout my playing in college. High school, they were not all black, some were white. Yep. They just took me under their wing. They saw the, the things that I could do in that sport and they really helped me to try to get to the level that I wanted to get to.

Craig Sneed (24:57): Before we move on. I just gotta give thanks to these two though. Talking about mentors, they definitely take me under their wing since I've been at Milwaukee the last five years. So I definitely give a shout out to these two. Cause they, we used to share offices, me and uh, Kiki did and I used to vent to him all the time. Yeah. He was kinda like my mentor. He's on my staff for basketball prices and he's always giving me advice. So he's like the legends to me,

Curtis Long (25:17): That's easy to tell. Just in the little bit of time I spent with you <laugh>, you guys get along and

Kiki Ayo (25:21): Double nickels over there.

Curtis Long (25:25): Do either of you two ever go check in on his PE group and Yeah, try to rec havoc in there, see if they can see if you can razz the kids up or anything. <laugh>

Tim Price (25:32): No, they, they already Razzed.

Kiki Ayo (25:34): <laugh>.

Craig Sneed (25:34): Yeah. They always got my back. You know, they've always had my back. Even back when I, you know, I was real quiet my first year and I never really talked these guys. I remember he came my classroom game, his personal phone number, you know, so I mean these guys, they've always had my back, always looking out for me.

Curtis Long (25:46): And you're always looking out for students as well. And my next question has to deal with that. I think we'd be naive to believe that there aren't black students or other students of color in NCSD who feel like they don't see themselves in our teaching staff or maybe in their peer groups. What advice would you have for those students?

Kiki Ayo (26:00): Just be comfortable with who you are. Tim made a good point that it all starts at home. You can see through from the podcast here that, you know, we were raised by strong black women. Even though you don't have that viewership of that on campus, that's still inside you and you have to find that switch that, hey, I'm strong, I feel good and be positive about yourself because if you don't feel good about yourself, ain't nobody else gonna feel good about you or around you.

Tim Price (26:25): Just showing them the avenues of when they are frustrated or they all feel like things are not going that way. There's somebody on on campus that they can talk to or go see. Or I even tell 'em to go in after class and sit down and talk to a teacher and see if they can do something for you. Or maybe say something to 'em that, you know, I'm going through some hard times. Can I get an extra day or two to get that assignment in if you don't talk to 'em? Right. You can go one way or the other, go talk to the principal, see if she can help you out. So we try to show them different avenues to go to. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, counselor, whatever dean so they can get some help and not try to figure it out on their own all the time. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and then just give up and say, forget it, I don't wanna do it no more.

Kiki Ayo (26:59): Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. And that's kind of one of the things that you'll see a lot on, on campus is that when you see these kids every day, the one thing that you don't want them to do is to give up. I mean, your life is just starting. I mean, you think it's tough now until you become an adult. And if you don't have that foundation to be able to work through situations and issues or know how to go find somebody to help you work your way through them issues, it's gonna be tough on you. For us, it's just about staying as positive as we can. And you laugh, you joke with 'em, you put a smile on their face, they put a smile on your face and it's like having a partnership.

Curtis Long (27:32): I think it's so inspirational to hear from each of you about your passion for advocating for North Clackamas kids like former Georgia Congressman John Lewis once said, each of you turn your passion into action.

John Lewis (27:43): My simple message would be, did you find something that you feel very strong about? Stand up, speak up, speak out, give it your all push pull. And as said, from time to time, never ever give up.

Curtis Long (28:06): What do you see as a part of your job that you will never give up even when you're not teaching or not working on campus anymore, but still around youth?

Craig Sneed (28:12): I think just talking to kids as much as right, we say we wanna retire, you know, we get away from it all. <laugh>, it's a tough thing. You know, I had an aunt, she taught in PPS for about 20 years plus and uh, she passed away last year and I remember going to her funeral and it was all these kids that she taught over the years. And I remember even after she continued it, even after, um, I think it was her last year on earth where she, she literally would host a big block party for all the students just kind of going back to school. She always threw it like early September. And I remember it was always all these adults my age or even older who would come and it was like, no. Like we still have that connection. So I, you know, when I went to that funeral, it definitely gave me that motivation, but definitely made me understand kind of like why we do what we do. And I think that's something that I told myself that that's really the goal, that's the accomplishment, right? Is that when we're gone, all these people still remember you because you is, you helped and touched all these kids and all these people. That's something I think when I leave, I say I don't think it will ever go away. I think I'll always still kind of be talking to kids, coaching kids some way or another.

Tim Price (29:12): You know, I, I think I, when I'm done is I'll still be a good listener even to my grandkids or kids on in the neighborhood, uh, even adults, just being a good listener and then understanding what they're trying to tell you and come up with some kind of solution to help him out. You know, our, our job is being good listeners. So I think I take that for a long haul.

Kiki Ayo (29:32): As long as we've been coaching. Craig is still young in, in the game, but <laugh> as long as price and I've been coaching, I mean I still get calls from kids that I coached in 84 mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, and they got families and they're kids and coach, I need some advice. What do you think? And it's just, I think we'll always because we've formed those bonds and you know, went through those wars together, them relationships, you know, like price say, still gotta be a good listener. That's a majority of our job is listening because if you can listen, they going tell you what they're doing wrong or what they going to do and it's easy to find out and prevent it. You just gotta listen.

Curtis Long (30:08): How proud does it make you feel to see those kids that you had in 1984 that are gosh, in their fifties now and they're still coming back to Coach Ayo?

Kiki Ayo (30:15): I always tell this story. I had a little kid, uh, he was a sophomore tiny dude about five one. And when I first started coaching, I, I, I was a disciplinarian, screamed a lot,

Curtis Long (30:28): Probably not anymore

Kiki Ayo (30:28): Not so much. I'm a little older now. I was living in Eugene and he was playing at a band and I go up to him, I say, Hey Bruce, how you doing? He goes, coach, I just want to thank you. I say thank me for what he says, you know, I went into the Marines and drill sergeant was screaming and yelling at me and I was sitting there laughing and he asked me, what are you laughing about? He said, you can't scream at me like coach jail <laugh>. I just thought that was hilarious. Yeah, I mean, you know, when you hear things like that, but Colin get advice that that means a lot to me that, you know, my former players still like to reach out to check on me and see how I'm doing.

Curtis Long (31:02): Craig Sneed, Tim Price, Kiki Ayo is such a pleasure and such an inspiration to speak with each of you today as we start to run out of time. One final question. What makes you most proud to work in our school district in North Clackamas?

Craig Sneed (31:13): Just being able to give back. You know, being able to teach my passion, being able to share my passion with students. This is why I kind of got into this. Just being able to talk with students each day and just give 'em some advice.

Kiki Ayo (31:22): I think for me it's just working with a very good staff. We have really good relationships and we work through a lot of things with our kids and, and like Craig said too, you know, you gotta give back your knowledge and your experiences on things because that's how you relate to 'em. Because you can give them an alternative to what they're currently going through or their current behavior. But yeah, I, I just enjoy the staff, the diversity of our staff and how hard we work and we work as a team and that's important to me.

Tim Price (31:51): Building relationships with your coworkers, having fun, you know, laughing sometimes at work. Just the relationships that you build, you know, will always, always cherish that. And dealing with kids. Being a football coach, the satisfaction that I get from that is if they can play for me and I can get them to college and no matter what level it's on, I'm doing my job as a football coach. When that happens. That's what gives me pleasiure.

Curtis Long (32:11): I can imagine you three are meeting up after those Friday night games after uh, after the kids show, after the kids go home. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, <laugh> talk about and maybe after baseball games or after basketball games. I imagine the three of you are at each other's events all the time.

Kiki Ayo (32:27): Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah

Craig Sneed (32:28): Most definitely.

Kiki Ayo (32:29): Yeah, most definitely.

Craig Sneed (32:30): Yeah. Like I said, I'm more of the rookie. This is my first year in like the Milwaukee like community Okay. Coaching. So, you know, they've helped me out a lot cuz I'm like, I'm still kind of new to everything's, like he said, I'm the rookie in here <laugh>.

Curtis Long (32:41): So obviously time constraints don't allow us to hear from all of our black educators and para-educators, administrators, administrative assistants, directors and everyone else. We're proud to call colleagues throughout nnc s d as we wrap up today's podcast, I wanna thank our guests, Milwaukie High School's own Craig Sneed, Tim Price, and Kiki Ayo for their inspirational stories about what Black History month means to them and how they continually advocate for and make lasting impacts on students at Milwaukee High School and throughout our school district. Each of you truly makes us proud to be N C S D. Thanks to all of our listeners as well. I certainly hope you've been as inspired as I've been today to continue the celebration of black history, not only throughout February, but all year long. We'll wrap up this episode with words from another dynamic black leader, the first person to break the color barrier in Major League baseball. Jackie Robinson.

Jackie Robinson (33:30): I believe in the human race. I believe in the warm heart. I believe in man's integrity. I believe in the goodness of a free society and I believe that the society can remain good only as long as we are willing to fight for it and to fight against whatever imperfections may exist.

Curtis Long (33:48): Look for another episode next week

Baseball Announcer (33:50): And here comes Robinson trying to steal home. He's safe. Says the um, he's out, says Yogi, be and brother is yogi Hopping be still saying he was out. And Dodger fans weather mournfully saying wait till tomorrow.

Curtis Long (34:03): We'll talk to you then. Thanks for listening to The Proud to Be NNC SD podcast in North Clackamas. We know that education is a community effort and we're so thankful that you and your family are a part of our community. Until next time, remember, there are always great things to see wherever you go in N C S D.