[00:00:00] Jess Alfreds: We knew we had to do something. We had talked about homeschooling in the past, but never really pulled the trigger, had the courage to just go for it while traditional school was there. Suddenly, it seemed like this might be really the best thing to do. We were both work from home, packed everything up, sold our house in Connecticut, and headed south.

[music]

[00:00:28] Gretchen Roe: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to The Demme Learning Show. This is Gretchen Roe, and I am delighted to welcome Jess Alfreds today to talk to me about Carolina Kids Co-Op. We met last spring in Florida at a conference, and I immediately fell in love with the way she approaches academics. You’re going to learn plenty about that. Jess, welcome. Please tell us about you.

[00:00:52] Jess: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. So happy to be here. My name is Jess Alfreds, and I am the founder of Carolina Kids Co-Op. What we do is bridge the gap between traditional academic institution that are offering all of the core classes with outdoor foresty-type schools that might be a little bit more play-based and a little bit more experiential, not doing necessarily core academics, but more focused on maybe unit studies or social. We try to blend all of that together to really give the entire full program from a holistic point of view, working on developmental needs of the kids, emotional needs, and rigorous academics.

[00:01:42] Gretchen: I think that’s really terrific. Now, you started with this idea in Myrtle Beach. Was that your first location?

[00:01:49] Jess: That is correct, yes. We moved down to Myrtle Beach, moved down from Connecticut at the height of the pandemic. We were trying to figure out what our next move was going to be. Our daughter was doing online school, not doing great. Pretty disappointed by what was being offered, although they were certainly trying, but we knew we had to do something.

We had talked about homeschooling in the past, but never really pulled the trigger, had the courage to just go for it while traditional school was there. Suddenly, it seemed like this might be really the best thing to do. We were both work from home, packed everything up, sold our house in Connecticut, and headed south. Didn’t really know where we were going to land.

[00:02:35] Gretchen: You all had chosen Myrtle Beach in advance?

[00:02:38] Jess: Not at all. We went from climbing Savannah. We were all over the place. We were in Charleston for a while. We just knew we’ve never had the chance to live by the beach in a warm climate. We lived in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut. It just seemed like an amazing opportunity to maybe raise our then, I think, six-year-old at the beach. We spent a few weeks in a lot of different great towns. One day, went to look at a house just outside of Myrtle Beach, loved it, made an offer, and bought the house.

[00:03:11] Gretchen: The rest is history. I think you’ll find, as we have this conversation today, that Jess is brave. She’s brave in a whole bunch of different ways.

[00:03:20] Jess: A little crazy, yes.

[00:03:23] Gretchen: You have to. To model what you have created, you have to be brave because you have to be willing not to listen to people who say, “Oh, you can’t do that.” That’s what I think is so cool. Tell us how this came to fruition. Where did you originate? Because now, and I didn’t realize this until just now, not only are you conceiving of a new way to educate kids, but you’re conceiving of a way to do it in a place where you didn’t know people. Holy cow, that’s crazy.

[00:03:57] Jess: Not a single person. My house was in boxes. I was here for about 10 or 11 days. It was around two o’clock in the morning. I was having a panic attack about what I was going to do about this education problem. I had a really smart little girl who was waiting to see what was going to happen next for her. I posted something on Facebook and said, “Listen, if I were to put together an outdoor, really engaging academic pod on the beach here in Myrtle Beach, would anybody be interested?” It would be outdoors, but it would be really academic.

[00:04:37] Gretchen: Really, it was COVID that drove the outdoor piece of the equation. Oh, my.

[00:04:41] Jess: Yes, everything was still shut down. This was really in the height. All the kids were online school and all the programs were shut down. I knew that nothing indoors was going to happen. It was beautiful here. It just seemed so obvious to me, even if we weren’t in this COVID situation, “Why are we indoors all day long when it’s absolutely gorgeous? There’s these beautiful open pavilions that look just like classrooms at the beach. Why aren’t we using these?” I put this out into the universe, went to bed, and woke up in the morning to a lot of interest.

[00:05:20] Gretchen: You bet you did. That’s like touching the third rail of “my child needs something.” The isolation of 2020 was just remarkable for so many kids.

[00:05:32] Jess: Yes, absolutely. No, it was obviously the right place at the right time. We started with around 12 families that showed up that two days later after this post at the beach. Within, I think, four weeks, we had 100 kids.

[00:05:45] Gretchen: Oh, my word. You built the ship as you sailed it then.

[00:05:51] Jess: 100%. We hired 12 teachers in two weeks. That first year is sort of a blur to me. We were just doing the best we could every day. We knew what we didn’t want, and we just took it from there.

[00:06:08] Gretchen: Yes, but when you get divinely inspired with something like this, things just fall into place. One thing then leads to another.

[00:06:16] Jess: They said a lot of plenty hour days. They think that was a lot of hard work.

[00:06:22] Gretchen: Did you ever get your house unpacked? Goodness.

[00:06:25] Jess: We’re doing pretty good four years later. I’m pretty close. I might have a couple of boxes in the garage still, but I’m pretty good.

[00:06:35] Gretchen: What did your daughter think as an only child? All of a sudden, Mom has this great idea, and now she’s got to share you.

[00:06:42] Jess: There’s definitely been moments where I was working too much, or there were certainly times where I couldn’t take her to every birthday party. All of her friends are going to an event, and Mom’s got to work. She loves her school. She has met her best friends here. I’ve met some of my best friends here. She loves her school. I say, “Look, Mom’s got to work. Otherwise, the school goes away.” She’s like, “All right, go to work. Do a good job. Do a good job.”

[00:07:16] Gretchen: Now she’s 13, did you say?

[00:07:18] Jess: She’s 11. She’ll be 12.

[00:07:19] Gretchen: 11. Will be 12. Wow.

[00:07:22] Jess: She’s a huge part of the family business. She gives me feedback. She’s my guinea pig. She helps with creative design and graphics at this point. She’s on Canva all the time. She’s great.

[00:07:33] Gretchen: What I love about this is you’re also modeling a strong woman for a daughter who’s going to be a strong woman for the next generation. That’s very cool, which is pretty awesome. Tell us what it looks like now. Five years later, you’ve got some wisdom. You’ve got some experience of, “Well, that didn’t work.” What does work? How does it work?

[00:07:57] Jess: What works is really just holding true to our vision. We’re here to create something better for the kids. I think at this point, we’ve understood our vision better to be, we want to help these kids find their calling. What is the thing that they have to contribute to the world that nobody else has? What is their skill? What is their talent? Where do they get their joy? It’s not just about checking off boxes. It’s making sure that we are really helping them to be filled with joy and excitement.

We know that we want them creating their experience and not just observing. When they are at school, we do not want them sitting there observing something that’s being presented to them. We want them to feel like it is created around them. They’re a part of it. They are helping to create their own journey. Our classes have changed from a basic language arts for fourth graders class to now something like Pokémon and creative writing or comic book creation, the Poetry of Taylor Swift. We’ve learned that if you want kids to be engaged, jump out of bed in the morning, then it’s not necessarily “write a paragraph about your favorite Renaissance artist.” Isn’t necessarily going to do it for your fourth grader.

If we start talking about Roblox or Pokémon or Taylor Swift, we get a lot more traction. Child-centered, student-led learning while still making sure that those markers are being met, because academics are really important to us. We have lots of different locations now in several different states. That’s certainly different. We have a group of amazing directors who are running each of these communities. Each one is its own unique place, offers its own unique classes, has different themes or electives. Each one shines in a very unique way.

[00:09:59] Gretchen: I think it’s really interesting. Before we began speaking on camera today, you told me that you started with one location. When I met you in May, you had 9, and now you’re at 20?

[00:10:14] Jess: Now, I think we’re just below 20. I think we’re somewhere between 18 and 20, yes. It’s moved really quickly and continues to change, continues to grow. We’re always in talks with new locations. If I talk to you tomorrow, I might have 22. We’re just growing that fast. It’s wonderful. Of course, our flagship here in Myrtle Beach is doing really well. We have almost 140 kids in that location. It’s wonderful.

[00:10:42] Gretchen: All of the classes are outside?

[00:10:45] Jess: Yes, almost all of the time. Every once in a while– Today, actually, in Myrtle Beach, we were getting the little remnants of Imelda or Humberto or whoever.

[00:10:56] Gretchen: Whatever these hurricanes are that have been taking up way too much of our weather space in the south.

[00:11:01] Jess: Absolutely. We were virtual today. We have a great virtual program, and we can just hop on and have all our kids virtual. For our really little kids, we give at-home projects, so they’re not sitting in front of a screen. We’ve adjusted. Some of our locations do have an indoor facility. We’ve got a location in East Cobb, Georgia, which is just outside of Atlanta. They are in a beautiful church, still a secular program, but running from a beautiful church with 10 acres of land. Each one is really special and unique.

[00:11:34] Gretchen: You give the concept and the format, but then it’s up to the individual director to create the flavor that best meets the needs of her community.

[00:11:47] Jess: Exactly. We’re providing all of the boring backend enrollment process, et cetera, as well as the curriculum. Our directors can really decide if they’re really interested in a certain subject. They can offer that as an elective. They can decide the ages, the days, the times. It really creates an opportunity for a lot of women, a lot of homeschool moms, especially, to become business owners and to create independent wealth for themselves, and build themselves their own business, and be still able to homeschool their kids, which is so rare.

[00:12:25] Gretchen: Sure. Tell us a little bit about the cohorts, because I had to ask you about that before we began. We’re going to test my own memory to see what we talked about before the camera went on, so that I make sure that I get to everything. I think it’s important for parents to understand this is not just a singular age. That was what was so fascinating when we met in May, that you’re doing this with kids across a broad spectrum.

[00:12:53] Jess: Absolutely. Most of our co-ops start at age four. Some go all the way through high school. Some go up through middle school. We do have a couple that start at around age six or seven and go through middle school. Again, each one, each location, typically, it’s a response to what the community needs. Most of the co-ops that don’t go through high school, let’s say they stop at eighth grade, almost definitely in a year or two, you’ll see those grow to go through high school because you follow your kids. As the kids age up, the co-op ages up.

Some of our locations, like Myrtle Beach, like East Cobb, a few of them in Florida, have a Mommy and Me program. We’re starting kids from age one to three. Not a drop-off with mom, dad, grandma, babysitter, whoever is there, to do art and music, and nature exploration. We found that there were lots of younger siblings that were on the sidelines. Parents were running after them all day. Some parents didn’t want to drop off, so they’re there at the parks or whatever location.

We figured, “Well, let’s give them something enriching to do with their time.” Not just the Mommy and Me program is wonderful for the kids, but there’s also a lot of support for the moms or dads who are maybe new parents or parents of young kids, parenting techniques, advice, yoga for kids and parents. We try to make it a nice, relaxing, engaging day for our really little guys, too.

[00:14:25] Gretchen: That’s really terrific. Really, what you have is the finger on the pulse of the individual community needs. You’re not, from Myrtle Beach, dictating how these communities will evolve and thrive. You’re just giving them the space to do that.

[00:14:45] Jess: Exactly.

[00:14:46] Gretchen: If I were a parent and I’m not in Myrtle Beach and I want to find out more about maybe finding a cohort near me, how would I do that?

[00:14:58] Jess: You’re going to go to carolinakidscoop.com, and you’re going to click on Enrollment. A nice long list is going to drop down that tells you all of the places that we currently are open in or possibly in the process of opening in the next few weeks. If you don’t see a town close to you on that list, you would shoot us an email and say, “We want to open a Carolina Kids Co-Op in our town,” and we will work with you. We have the ability, if we’ve got a great person and a community that’s ready to go, we can have doors open in two months.

[00:15:34] Gretchen: Wow, in two months.

[00:15:35] Jess: Yes.

[00:15:35] Gretchen: Wow. You really have distilled down the sauce that needs to happen in order to make this occur.

[00:15:46] Jess: Yes, because the truth is it’s there. It’s already happening. We’re just coordinating it a little bit, but it’s there. It’s more about cultivating what’s there, the community that’s already there, and just strengthening that community that exists.

[00:16:05] Gretchen: Well, okay. As the mother of six, you could stretch the imagination and call my crowd a co-op at one point in time. Although I spread them over a long span, so you’d be hard-pressed to call it that. Kids don’t always get along. Even my kids didn’t always get along. We had something called the shirt of shame, which if you were going to argue, the two of you got to wear it together for a period of time.

[00:16:37] Jess: I’m sad I only have one child right now.

[00:16:42] Gretchen: There were stories that I did not know about the shirt of shame and things that involved around it until my eldest daughter’s wedding. My eldest son told something as a toast that was hilarious. I was the one who had the mouth hanging open, going, “What? I didn’t know that happened.” The question is, how do you get a group of really diverse kids, because nobody’s as independent as a homeschooler? How do you get that group to cooperate together?

[00:17:18] Jess: I think there’s two major ways. One is that all of our kids take emotional skills classes. Every single one of our kids, including our four-year-olds, are taking classes called conflict resolution, anxiety and stress management, anger management. That’s a huge part of who we are and what we do. I say all the time that people think that the thing that’s unique and special about CKC is that we’re outside because that’s the obvious visual thing.

What’s really different about us is, I think, the way that we focus on the emotions and the holistic growth of the kids and bring in the family. We know what’s going on in the homes. We know whose home is a little more tumultuous right now or who’s got a nice, steady home base. That factors into what we teach them, what classes we put them in, and how we help them cultivate themselves. That’s one.

Two is just by modeling the behavior we’re looking for over and over and over again. It really works. It really absolutely works. We try to really be that mirror that we’re looking for with the kids. We model conflict resolution. We talk about the fact that you’re not going to get along, and you don’t have to, and that’s perfectly okay. What we’re going to do is be respectful. We call our communities families. We have a family meeting every morning before school starts. It’s a very sort of, “Listen, are you going to be the person that breaks up the family? This is not how we treat each other.” There might be a little guilt in there. No, it works.

[00:18:53] Gretchen: It’s well-placed.

[00:18:54] Jess: It’s well-intentioned, well-placed guilt. We really operate as a close-knit family. The kids are the first ones, at this point, after having a few months or some, a few years of these emotions classes, they’ll turn to their friends and say, “The words you’re speaking aren’t being very kind. I think you need to wait until you say something else.” We’ll hear ourselves echoed. It’s working.

[00:19:18] Gretchen: That’s awesome. You had mentioned that to me when we met. I set you up a little bit, but I knew it was coming. I would love to be able to see those kinds of classes everywhere because I think we have become less kind. That is a touchstone for me of creating kindness, particularly in kids. I think it’s our responsibility for the next generation to be able to do that. How did you come up with that idea? Where did you find the resources?

[00:19:59] Jess: I was a social worker. That was my first career. I worked in foster care and social work. I knew that what is the most important thing is to help kids with their emotional regulation and emotional development. There are so many kids who are incredibly smart and not doing well in academics because of that block. It’s very hard to learn difficult subjects or to learn academics if you’re struggling with anxiety and stress and anger and all of those emotions. I knew we had to make that be the most important thing, more important than the academics, because otherwise we can’t get academic success.

[00:20:40] Gretchen: You can get the academics done in a brief period of time if you’ve got the social and emotional learning on board.

[00:20:47] Jess: Absolutely. That’s so much of what takes time and wastes time in traditional academics is the behavioral management that’s not really getting to the root of the problem, but just everyday putting out fires. I also was smart enough to hire my staff coordinator named Jen Himelick, who has studied nearly every type of child psychology, behavioral analysis of kids. She’s absolutely a genius with emotional regulation in children. She is my right hand, and it’s just been a game-changer having her on board.

[00:21:22] Gretchen: Maybe somewhere down the road, we need to have a conversation with Jen because this is something that’s really lacking in a lot of avenues for kids today.

[00:21:32] Jess: 100%

[00:21:34] Gretchen: We’re not being intentional, and we need to be.

[00:21:38] Jess: Yes, and we’re not being the right role model, I think. There’s a lot of hypocrisy in education and in raising children in general. I think we have to remember that there is this very unique time in your life where anything that you know is what you’ve really been taught or shown or heard. These kids are not getting the ideas for all of their sass or “behavioral issues” out of thin air. They’re witnessing it somewhere. They’re learning it. I think we have to take a look at ourselves and make sure they’re not getting that sass from us.

[00:22:12] Gretchen: I think that’s so huge. It is such an enormous part of the equation. Sometimes in the homeschool world, we think that the academics are paramount, but they’re really the smaller end of the continuum because if we can teach our children how to treat each other with respect and with joy and to relate to each other, then the academics just flow in behind that in a really easy way. Now, in your cohorts, where they are, you don’t group kids by grade. I know that. You’ve already told me that.

[00:22:58] Jess: We don’t group kids by grade.

[00:22:59] Gretchen: Do you group them by skills or do you group them by–

[00:23:03] Jess: It’s a combination, really, of age and skill. You might see a group of four to six-year-olds. You might see a group of seven to nine-year-olds. I think what’s really important is that when it comes to the Core Four, the major academics, the way that we’re presenting it is Level 4 math, Level 5 math, Level 6 math. You might be 14 years old and in Level 4 math because that’s the math level where you personally are. It doesn’t mean you’re in fourth grade. It doesn’t mean the rest of your classes are in fourth grade. It just means you are up to Level 4 math. Who cares? Great.

If it takes you two years to get through Level 4 math, then maybe you’re going to breeze through 5. Our classes, typically, you’re going to see kids from an age range of two or three years in a classroom, but often there will certainly be outliers of whatever students, whether they’re really excelling in something or struggling in something, they’ll be commingled there.

[00:24:06] Gretchen: Help me understand. Now, this is when the little German in me gets really nosy. We’re outside and we’re going to do math. Are we at tables? How does that work?

[00:24:21] Jess: We are at picnic tables unless we are eight or younger. Then we are playing math games out in the fields or on a blanket. We are having relay races and subtracting or adding to see who’s faster, who’s slower, who went faster this time, who went slower. We’re bowling, and we’re learning addition and subtraction through bowling out in the field. If we’re little, we’re running, we’re playing, and we’re doing math games.

[00:24:50] Gretchen: The interesting part, working for a math company, is you’re teaching them those core competencies that are essential to be successful in more complex mathematics.

[00:25:00] Jess: Right. Then, when we’re older, yes, we’re at picnic tables, still getting up, still sometimes using Legos while we’re doing geometry and all those tangible things, but we are at picnic tables doing real math.

[00:25:15] Gretchen: That’s pretty amazing. Science, are you out conducting experiments and things like that outside?

[00:25:21] Jess: 100%. Our amazing director of arts and sciences, Nicole Sabo, is blowing things up all the time and exploding things. I’m like, “I don’t know what’s happening down there, but Ms. Nicole’s blowing something up. I’m sure it’s fine.” Kids are loving it. She’s teaching a great class this semester called Biology for Artists, which is just an incredible, beautiful class. They’re learning so much, but they can doodle, and they can move. For the kids who science is not their forte, and they wouldn’t necessarily love or maybe excel in a biology class, they’re able to really shine by being artistic in it.

[00:26:09] Gretchen: That’s brilliant because you’re backing them into what they need to know by giving them the ability to be with something that they already appreciate, which is really fun. Now, you said that the kids also are collaborative in this process. I got the impression that somebody came up with the Poetry of Taylor Swift. I got a great idea. I’m a kid. How do I tell you what I want to do?

[00:26:35] Jess: You put it in the box that says “Notes for Mrs. A” that sits on my desk. Many of our directors have a box that is sitting on their desk where you can leave notes, and you can suggest things. We will put out a Google form a couple times a year that says, “Hey, parents, talk to your kids about what is a class that we haven’t taught that you wish we would teach.” Same for our teachers, “What is a class that you’re dying to teach that we haven’t given you the chance to teach yet?” We get lots of suggestions we don’t run with. Candy tasting class has not been approved. Taking a nap class is suggested every few semesters. We don’t approve that one, but we try to work with them.

[00:27:23] Gretchen: How long are the children with you in a day?

[00:27:26] Jess: Again, can vary on different locations, but typically 10:00 to 3:00, so about 5 hours a day. Some locations are 4 hours a day. Might be 9:00 to 2:00. It might be 10:00 to 3:00. The majority of a day. A lot of our locations do an early drop-off, late pickup to try to accommodate our working parents.

[00:27:45] Gretchen: If I came up with the great idea of Poetry of Taylor Swift, how long would that last? Would that be nine weeks? Would it be a semester? Would it be a month?

[00:27:55] Jess: It would be at least a semester. Right now, we’re in our first semester of the year. We went from September 3rd, I think was the first day of school. It will go until our winter break, which is December 22nd. We take a nice long month break for over the holiday season. We come back at the end of January. Then we have a nice long semester from the end of January, two weeks off for the spring, but that semester doesn’t end until June 12th. Two nice long semesters. Many of the classes, like math, or we teach a class called the History of the South, which is a full-year course. Summer, full year. Most are semester.

[00:28:37] Gretchen: Can someone come in just for a class, or is it the whole megillah, so to speak?

[00:28:44] Jess: Typically, we don’t just have one-off because we’re not just offering classes, we’re building community. Really want you to be with us. We want to get to know you. The program doesn’t work as well if we can’t get to know you, and you can’t get to know us. We have allowed for unusual circumstances when we’ve had kids who are sick or had some really extraordinary circumstance. For the most part, we really want you with us, ideally, at least twice a week, if possible.

[00:29:17] Gretchen: How many days a week do you have classes?

[00:29:19] Jess: Myrtle Beach is a five-day-a-week program. You can choose to come one, two, three, four, or five days a week. Completely up to you. I would say on average, most of our locations are three days. That’s more typical. Here in Myrtle, we have a homesteading day, we have an arts day. We’re pretty well-established.

[00:29:41] Gretchen: It’s not academics all five days, then?

[00:29:44] Jess: No. In Myrtle Beach, it’s Tuesday through Thursday are our really solid academic-focused days.

[00:29:51] Gretchen: I see. You determine the curricula, or does a parent?

[00:29:55] Jess: No. That is with myself and my team. I really lean heavily– We have about 14 teachers in Myrtle Beach, and we’re a really tight-knit team. We talk it out and come up with classes together, and then I typically create the curriculum for the classes.

[00:30:14] Gretchen: There’s no rest for the weary as far as you’re concerned. You’re one busy lady, then. I can’t believe we’re almost at the top of the hour, so what would be the closing words that you would have to tell our audience today?

[00:30:28] Jess: I would say if you are not satisfied with the options, if you feel like your children are not in an environment where they are being celebrated for their unique gifts and who they are, look for a Carolina Kids Co-Op near you. If there isn’t one, then think about gathering some of your community to create with us a Carolina Kids Co-Op in your town, anywhere in the country. We’re ready to bring this to you and show you how it works and how you can really transform your community.

[00:31:00] Gretchen: How many kids do I need to start a co-op?

[00:31:03] Jess: It can be as small as five. You can start really small, and most likely, people are going to hear about it, and it’s not going to stay small for very long.

[00:31:15] Gretchen: You said you started with 12 families, and now you have over 120 kids in your location. You’re teaching as well.

[00:31:23] Jess: Yes, I teach a couple of classes. I try not to teach too much, but I love it. It’s the struggle of pulling myself out of the classroom and then saying, “No, but I want to teach one thing.” I teach a couple of things, but yes, I try to keep myself at this point out of the classroom for the most part.

[00:31:45] Gretchen: How do I ask this last question, because I think this is a really good one? What gives you the most joy in this process?

[00:31:55] Jess: No-brainer, it’s my kids, my own child, watching all 700 of the kids who currently attend a Carolina Kids Co-Op, hearing their parents say that they’re happy, they’re jumping out of bed in the morning, they were refusing to go to school, they were struggling with self-esteem, and some of them crippling anxiety, and they are just flourishing into the amazing people that they are. Even on days where I have not slept and I’m dragging myself to work, the second they start rushing into the park, I’m ready to go.

[00:32:30] Gretchen: That’s just wonderful to hear, and I can imagine. Do you ever get visits from kids from other co-ops?

[00:32:36] Jess: Sure, yes. Usually, people often they’ll reach out first because in this day and age, you have kids.

[00:32:42] Gretchen: You’re busy.

[00:32:43] Jess: Yes. We certainly get a lot of inquiries of, “Can we stop by for a day or a class and try it out?” We try to accommodate that so people can see if it works for them.

[00:32:53] Gretchen: That’s wonderful. I think you all can see why I thought having a conversation with Jess was going to be an amazing experience. I was in love with the idea of what she’s doing well before we had this conversation, but I’m more so in love with it now, and I think that you need to check this out. Jess, as we close, give us the website again.

[00:33:16] Jess: It’s carolinakidscoop.com. You can search there for your local location or just contact me about bringing CKC to you.

[00:33:27] Gretchen: All right, and we’ll make sure that that’s included in the show notes today. I want to thank all of you for allowing us into your living rooms today. Jess, thank you so much for your time. I know that you had to rearrange the schedule to make this work, and I think it was wonderful. It was just a wonderful experience, and I wish you the luck and the joy of this adventure. I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. It’s going to be amazing.

[00:33:51] Jess: Thank you so much, and thank you for everything that you do. I appreciate it.

[00:33:54] Gretchen: It has been terrific. Thank you, everyone, for trusting us to come and tell you this particular story today. I think it was a well worthwhile one. Take care, everyone. We’ll look forward to joining you again soon. Bye-bye.

[00:34:09] Voice-Over: Thanks again for joining us. We’re glad to be a part of your educational community. You can help us grow our community even more by rating, reviewing, and subscribing to the show wherever you may be hearing this. Don’t forget that you can access the show notes and watch a recording at demmelearning.com/show or on our YouTube channel. We’ll see you again next time. Until then, keep building strong foundations for lifelong learning.

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