Welcome to the #piratebroadcast: 

Russ Johns 0:02
Welcome to the #piratebroadcast, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings where you can expand your connections, your community, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let's get this party started.

I am so excited for the #Piratebroadcast today because we're going to talk about things that are relevant to today's environment. We're gonna be talking about education, bringing your kids into a virtual classroom, and the fact that we're getting back into the school year, and then also some deeper questions about education, and the opportunities that education brings to the table. Also, maybe some more personal stories with Jenifer price today and you're welcome here, you're always welcome here and if you're watching today, live drops some comments in the feed so we can actually interact with you. Also, don't forget to share this, subscribe to the YouTube channel, subscribe to the podcast, and you can always go on Russ John's dot com and watch the replays at any time. So with that, please welcome Dr. Jen price. How are you today?

Jenifer Price 1:24
Good morning, and well how are you?

Russ Johns 1:27
I'm very well thank you for asking. One of the things I wanted to talk about today is you've had your own journey. You got a book coming out. You've got courses that are delivered to parents that are searching for resources. And I want to dive in to how did you start this journey? I know that things were not always easy for you, but I wanted to kind of dive into your story of origin and how you became an educator and involved in the education process.

Jenifer Price 2:01
Sure, I guess you could say that there were signs in my childhood that I would end up in education, but I ignored them for a while, and kind of took a detour and took the long way around. But I landed where I needed to be in the end. What I mean by that is, things were kind of Rocky, when I grew up. We had a tragedy, my mom passed away when I was seven. And I have three younger sisters.

I'm very thankful that I had a really good father who was committed to being there for us and he did everything he could to try to help us to be successful. He learned how to cook and he cleaned and he tried to comb our hair, but that didn't always turn out so well. But he loved us. And he believed in us and he pushed us to excel and always taught us that we could do whatever we put our mind to that there were no limits. And I believed him.

Russ Johns 2:54
Yeah.

Jenifer Price 2:56
In our childhood, you know, we have insurance salesmen come to our house. They were trying to sell the idea of you need insurance to pay for college, which I really don't understand To this day, why we need insurance to pay for college. But anyway, I announced proudly that I was going to college on a full ride scholarship. And he told me, it wasn't possible.

Russ Johns 3:19
Wow. So what was your scholarship upon.

Jenifer Price 3:22
What was that question?

Russ Johns 3:24
Yeah, what was your scholarship for?

Jenifer Price 3:28
I didn't believe him. Because my dad taught me I could do whatever I set my mind to. I started looking for scholarships in seventh grade. And by the end of the process. When I was in high school, I started looking for scholarships. And I learned from those applications, how important it was to have good grades, to be involved in the community and to also participate in extracurricular activities. And so my scholarship, the full ride scholarship for my bachelor's and master's degree was based on all of those things, and so I'm thankful For that, I guess I was told what I couldn't do because it prompted me to really come up with a plan to make my dream become a reality.

Russ Johns 4:10
So for those of you that are not connected with Jen, please connect with her. Tell her since you make a comment, make it personal. And let her know that you're a pirate because you're now a pirate. Let's start the conversation because there's so many things that I want to unpack from your childhood and growing up the fact that you had this inspiration, as in seventh grade, to go out and actually look for scholarships and look for ways and find and discover a path to actually go to college and it was meant to be obviously, and I think that a lot of people fail to understand that there's a lot of scholarships out there that go on delivered, because people just overlook that they're available. There's a lot of resources for people to go to college and school and have resources available to them. If they do the homework, and they go out there, and that's part of what you're doing now, for families, as far as I understand, or I'm imagine, so what's the process that you go through?

Jenifer Price 5:25
One of the things I like to do is assess a student and look at where they are, in terms of what are they accomplished today? What kind of grades do they have? What is their GPA? What is their rank? If their school ranks? What kind of clubs and activities are they involved in? are they serving others, and not every student has all of those things I'm do really well in school, and they're so busy with their advanced placement courses, and they're a little light on the club department. Or maybe they just really serve a whole lot. Maybe they even volunteer in their church, but then Don't do much outside of that. Some do a little bit of everything.

Part of what I do is get to know the student and the family to try to understand what is it that fuels that student? What are they excited about? What are they passionate about? What are their strengths? In some cases, I might even challenge them or encourage them to push themselves to stretch themselves beyond where they are and say, I'm glad that you're on the debate team right now, next year, how about you become an officer, or by the time that you're a junior, maybe you should shoot for being a vice president of this organization. I encourage them, I challenge them to do things that make sense, not just some random Oh, let me go help people in a nursing home because I need volunteer hours. If you really don't want to do that, do something that makes sense for who you are, and what you enjoy.

Russ Johns 6:53
Do you find that there are some kids that That don't have the burning desire to go to college and do you also help them maybe find a trade that they enjoy? I grew up in commercial construction. I built homes, I've built buildings, I can read a set of plans I can do a lot of different things. It wasn't my goal. It wasn't my desire, I wanted to be a musician. I pursued being a musician, and that's what I love. That's what I found joy in. So there's a lot of different things that students can do now. There's been kind of this emphasis on education is the road to success and I think there's a lot of ways that people can find success and do you go through that process with the students and the families and and decide, okay, well, what do they really want to do? Well, What is their desires? What's the best educational path for them? Because it may not be higher education, it may be trades, it may be some special skills that are unique to their personality in their process. What's your thoughts on that?

Jenifer Price 8:18
Well, I'm absolutely on board with yours. What you're suggesting Russ College is a traditional four year college is not the right experience for everyone. And it may seem kind of an odd comment coming from someone who was a college advisor, a college counselor, but that's part of getting to know the student. And I've actually shared with students and families that I didn't think their child should go to college. And one of the things about me is I'm honest, I'm not in it, not in a way that's harmful, but in a way that's constructive. And also in a way that's encouraging and terms of looking at possibilities. The family, I respected what their wishes were because I also believe In self determination as a social worker, that's what my formal training is in at the Masters level.

If they say they want a certain goal, they have a certain goal in mind or certain outcome that they're looking for. I will help them in that process. But I will also offer some alternatives. I'll offer an honest assessment of how good of a fit this is. And I've had students literally go out and try what their plan was, and realize that oh, well, maybe this wasn't the right thing for me. Maybe Dr. Price knew what she was saying, or maybe she just kind of saw some things about me and actually made a shift based on some of the recommendations that I made, and realize that maybe college was not the right route for them. And I'm able to do that through career testing as well. That's one of my special areas of concentration off of Cobra testing for teenagers and young adults as well.

Russ Johns 9:53
I suspect you have a little bit of experience around different personalities, kids, and they're aptitude towards different subjects as well. I mean, if you walk into the house and somebody created this amazing, centerpiece in woodworking or something like that Craftsman because I think a lot of people like right now we're at a point where I think that there are a lot of Craftsman baby boomer plumbers, electricians, a lot of trades that are leaving the industry. I'm concerned about gap of knowledge leaving the industry and not having it filled back up. I know that right now we're in a transition with education and I'm just there's so many moving parts and there's so much access to a lot of knowledge And I can see how education is going to evolve over time is that something you're seeing on your side as a counselor is the opportunity for kids and students to to learn a lot about different subjects and then discover what they like?

Jenifer Price 11:18
Well, I don't necessarily think that the way the current education system is set up, that they're able to easily discern better what their next step is, after college. I think that the role of the guidance counselor, the role of a career counselor or career coach, even for teenagers, young adults is important because sometimes students just they just sign up for a course because they need it a period occupied versus they really put thought into, well, what do I want to explore while I'm in high school, okay, I'm thinking about architecture, or I'm thinking about just drafting and so how about, I take an elective in that and they don't necessarily think of that automatically, if they're not really having the conversation about Next steps and actually trying to explore careers when they're high school They're kind of stuck on.

Well, let me earn my credits so I can graduate as opposed to using their courses to really learn about different careers, or using their extracurriculars as a way to find out about what kind of skills do I have? Am I good leader? Do I prefer to follow? What ways can I help contribute to organizations, they're not necessarily looking at those things from that lens. That's part of what I do. And even in terms of community service, it's a great way for students to explore what they're passionate about. But definitely, there is a concern about shortages in certain areas. And I've gone out and visited colleges, I visited over 200 colleges and universities across the nation also try to business and trade schools and trade programs because I know that the four year traditional route is not for everyone.

I've even heard I remember one of the presenters at a trade school. I visited, he shared that he had been in education. He had been an educator. And he left and went back to school to learn a trade. And he makes more money and returns the educator. And so he was able to provide for his family. And so I thought that was really insightful and important to share. Because Yeah, there are careers that you can have a very comfortable life in out and necessarily have to involve a traditional four year degree may involve one year or two years or an apprenticeship, but you have to kind of think outside the back sometimes.

Russ Johns 13:37
Yeah, well, in reason I bring it up. I've had this discussion with my youngest son. He went to college. He actually was in the accelerated program during high school where he went to college part time, got some credits, and then I was relocated for my job to Houston. He graduated and followed me down there and he always Has this feeling that he missed out by not finishing college? And I said, we'll go back and finish college if you want to finish college, I said, What would you want to graduatein And he goes, I don't know. I mean, he's already making really good money in a job that he's had for a while now. He's not satisfied with where he is.

He just feels like he missed out on. And my question was, like, we'll take some classes, go explore some different opportunities, go explore, go in project management, go into graphic design, are you creative you want to do something, it's really, some kids are super challenged by identifying what draws their interest. So how do you pull that out of them? How do you how do you grab a child in their high school years and try to discover some of the things that Bring them joy when they're doing it, and then guide them in a direction that allows them to be fulfilled as an adult and society. Does. That's a tough task.

Jenifer Price 15:11
It is. That's a big question rest. I think it's a combination of over 20 years of experience working with teenagers and young adults and knowing how to talk to them, and how to extract information from them and gleaning information from their parents, even just sometimes from what they were like when they were children. I think there's their hits that we can overlook, sometimes when they're small, like, for example, when I was a child, I would read encyclopedias, and I would teach my sisters lessons from the encyclopedia. So there were signs that education was a good fit for me. That wasn't necessarily what was what society said I should do. I should be a lawyer. I should be a doctor because I was goood in school.

Not necessarily what do I What do I love to do and what energizes me What am I passionate about? What am I good at? And so asking them some of those hard questions and just really getting to know them and going through the career assessment, because not only are you looking at the data, that's the science of career testing. But the art of career testing is asking those questions, those clarifying questions to look at what the underlying reason behind an outcome and so that's something that I do with families to really get to the heart of the student. A lot of times when we're in those sessions, they're like, how did you know or they're just totally shocked that I would ask certain questions. And I was like, well, based on this response, and which suggests that there might be some artistic ability that that you have, is it art? Is it music? What is it?

Do you draw do you paint? And they're like, oh, okay, so that kind of opens the door for us to kind of explore more of what it is about them so that I can more carefully make recommendations and even when you get a list of recommendations for careers, it can feel very lonely. overwhelming. And that happens at the college. Sometimes they get this list of 50 career titles, and they really need to sit down and talk to someone and talk through Well, which one should I blow out. And let me look at a manageable number of career options at one time, and maybe decide to take some electives to explore it more or volunteer, I get a part time job or internship, really having conversations with people in those fields to kind of refine their list of career options.

A lot of things go into it. And I The example I like to use is, you know, when you do covert testing, you may not know which house in the neighborhood is right for you. But the goal is to get you in the right neighborhood. And then you might go door to door and try out some different or check them out to see what ultimately where you want to live. And sometimes you may not live there for your entire life. You might live there for five years, 10 years, and then move maybe even to a different neighborhood but that's about it. Do with families?

Russ Johns 18:01
Yeah, I always look at it I've had multiple careers over my lifetime and a diverse number of experiences. That's what I think is builds wealth in our lives is the richness of experience. One of the things that I want to mention is that I think that there's a lot of misinformation and maybe not, that may not be the best way to describe it. But there's a lot of resources by mentorship and finding people in an industry where you could go, where kids could go interview someone and ask questions and things like that. And one of the things like like just in #thepiratecommunity, like we have Howard Kauffman, good morning, he's an entrepreneur that started a business he's he's in an industry that is already out there, Howard.

Good morning. Thank you for being here. We got Randall constant. He's In the food industry, he's been building a network of companies that are in the food industry in all 50 states, and he has companies all over all over that. Talk to him and encourage him to talk about their products and services and things like that. Then there's people from all over the world that are here and then they're just all over in. So I don't want to mess up your names are you? It's going and then Louis. Good morning, Jennifer and Ross from Los Angeles have a groovy day. Thank you, Louis. Appreciate it. Sherry lolly. She's created products and services for the healthcare industry in the construction industry, and doing some things like that. And it's all of these.

Angie works for an organization that serves the government. supplies and services and products and everything else. It's amazing. And good morning, Cory. I'm not sure what Cory does. Add to learn more about Cory, thank you for being here, Cory. And Wendy asked the question, what is your advice on trying a lot of different volunteer job options? Often young people are surprised by previously unrecognized talents and aptitudes. I think that's a brilliant question Wendy. Wendy is actually a movie producer we're working on a project on called my golden blood that is going to be out soon. There's a book there's a movie, there's a game, and there's some immense enthusiasm going on where a lot of kids could actually get involved and engaged in this effort and learn about the the movie production skills, shooting movies, producing movies, writing books, producing books and things like that. That's a huge volume of it. information that would be available for some people can Yod is a counselor she's she does coaching. Good morning, Russ John's pirate peeps.

Then Jenifer price PhD. You're right on with what you're sharing having worked in executive leadership for colleges in a couple of decades, I was a perpetual topic discussion and discovery. So that would be a fantastic connection. And also, Jennifer, Angie helps people get healthier in a super easy way. She's always supportive in the community. So all of these people and my point is that there are so many ways we can absorb information and as a professional, assisting parents. I mean, you have to take all this in and kind of almost be a detective when you talk to a student and and discover what what they what they light up about. Hats off to you and I applaud and thank you for your efforts. It's amazing that you can do this and I applaud the teachers and everybody that's going through this process right now. What do you see for the people that can't connect with you directly? What do you have available that you can share with people? Do you have a course that you can share with people that that allows them your years of experience without having to be in the room with you?

Jenifer Price 22:38
Yes. Thank you, Russ. Well, the timing has worked out really well with the with the not that we are in a pandemic, but I had decided that I really wanted to help more students and families. And I thought my hands were tied in the school system, had other competing priorities outside of the college and career advising as IT administrator or as a teacher, and then even in my private practice limited to just helping families one on one. So I essentially replicated myself through an online course and, and distilled my over 20 plus years of experience. And I created online courses. So families can go through videos and modules. And they have a resource guide with activities assignments for the students.

It just basically takes them step by step through the process that I have used with students and families for over 20 years in factors in what I've learned about the college admissions process and visiting over 200 colleges and universities nationwide. And what I've learned that has helped students win over $15 million in scholarship offers from a from my time working with them and so families are able to do a little bit at a time over a longer period of time in the comfort of their home. They're able to get the kind of results to some of my students that have worked with me On one have been able to achieve and so it's called college edge. And in the website is my college edge.com. And you can access that website to learn more about the online course.

Russ Johns 24:14
Well and I encourage everyone to go check it out if you have students or you have friends that have students and it's amazing Now also, I think to go along with that, you have an amazing story and you've had an amazing life supporting so many people around you and bringing your gift to the world. And I think if I don't recall, you have a book coming out as well. So that's gonna be happening soon. Don't be shy. Tell us about that.

Jenifer Price 24:46
Sure. My book is available for pre sale is called generation edge, your GPS for career success. It is written from my heart, it's personal. I share a lot about some of the chapters Just some of the struggles that I had growing up and going to college as a first generation student coming from a single parent home. Just try to even find money to pay for college and some of the life lessons that I learned in terms of how to find the right career, things that will encourage uplift, teenagers, young adults who are in that same phase of life trying to make those decisions trying to figure things out. But then there's also some practical tools information in the book as well.

It's coming out soon as the presale starts this week. There's even a free t shirt. That's really cool. If you decided to make that investment, but I encourage parents, family members, grandparents to invest in your teenager, young adult with this book, because it will help them to shorten the learning curve. They don't have to spend five, six years in college working on that bachelor's degree, and then maybe realizing Oh, I really didn't know to go go to college at all. Or helping them with making some of those life decisions. This is what this book is about. And it's so there's you hopefully you'll laugh, hopefully, you're laughing there, but there is some crying just because I've just had real life I've had on the left. And I think it'll encourage and inspire teenagers, young adults as they think about what's next for them. Yeah.

Russ Johns 26:25
Is there any pivotal moments that you've had in your life that where you look back and you think I am so grateful that I made the choice that I made, and that you could impart some wisdom with the community here today about making decisions and making making choices? Sharing some wisdom today?

Jenifer Price 26:51
Yes, I think one of the one of the pivot points or key moments in my life was when I failed organic chemistry three times. So I started off taking it and then I dropped it. And then I took it the second time and I made a D. And then I took it the third time and I brought it up to a C. Then I had the nerve to go into organic chemistry to and try that the first time. And what I learned from that process one. First of all, I knew that it's important to not give up when things get hard. And so I feel like I illustrated that with by persistence. But then it was also like I was banging my head against a brick wall. And I was going to class and I was getting tutoring and I was going to a discussion session and during the homework, I bought the little models, a little molecular models and tried to put them together.

At the end of the day, I had to realize that it just really wasn't for me. I wasn't passionate about it. I really didn't understand a lot of it. It wasn't fun for me, and that was the catalyst for me going to get help, too. Find out what might be a better fit for me, I went to the Career Center got some career testing. And that's when I was introduced to majors to career options that suited me. And so sometimes when something bad happens to you, something good can come out of it. I mean, I still was able to go on and get a PhD, even though I failed a course multiple times. I didn't do very well on the course many times. And so sometimes those life lessons, those setbacks can position us to where we need to be and put us on track for where we need to go.

Russ Johns 28:33
That is so true. That is so true. I want to give a shout out to Wendy Thank you, Admiral. She calls me Admiral The beautiful thing about Russ and his pirates is we will discuss our careers and educate and inspire others. Pirates share this info. You are an inspiration to so many and I'm sure that you've impacted so many other lives and will continue to impact lives. You're a wonderful guest. Thank you, Jenifer for being a pirate. And if you're not connected to Dr. Jen, please connect with her, tell her Russ Sencha and and make sure that and understand that there are options and sometimes the options we imagine. And sometimes the dream we're told is ours may not necessarily be ours so you have to dig deep and you have to understand what brings you joy, what you're passionate about. And just like she shared today there's so many things that you have to look at. if you can find some assistance, and we'll share these links in the in the show notes at Rush John's calm. So anything else you'd like to share with us today Dr. Jenn?

Jenifer Price 29:50
find me online. I'm on social media. I'm Dr. Jenn price. whether it's instagram, whether it's Twitter, whether it's Facebook, and my web page is dark. Virgin price comm I do want to connect with you. So look me up. Find me on LinkedIn.

Russ Johns 30:05
Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here today. And all the pirates. Thank you for being here. And if you're watching the replay, please subscribe to the YouTube channel, Facebook, Twitter, podcast, Leave, leave a comments, likes, shares all of those social media things that people love to do. And please stay connected with #thePiratecommunity. start the conversation. There's so many beautiful resources here that you have an opportunity to learn so much. Meet people that you care about. And as always, #kindnessiscool. And #smilesarefree. So you #enjoytheday. Take care everyone.

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