Why was it so important for you to be here at the start of this offseason program and it looks like you've been around for quite a bit putting in a lot of work. Yeah just coming off the injury at the end of last year you know having surgery I wanted to do everything I could to to get back and be ready to go by this time of the year and felt like being here in the building with trainers and therapists that I trusted and felt like they could do a good job of rehabbing me and get me ready to go. How did you feel like you're all the way back? Yeah I feel really good obviously it's been a long time getting to this point but was able to to step into this offseason you know feeling really good. So what's the first part of the offseason like for you as you kind of reflected back on 2022 and maybe what's your mindset moving forward? Yeah obviously tough you know just finishing the way we did the way you know I did just not being able to to be be out there you know it sucks but at that point my my focus was doing everything physically I could to to get ready you know putting the time in the work in to get the ankle right and feeling uh feeling good being able to move move around again and get ready for the next year. Ran said he talked to you in February and said you knew exactly where you stood with the organization where is that how do you stand and feel okay? My job is to get ready to go win football games and that's what I'm gonna do each and every day.  Yeah exactly you know I you can only control what you can control right Mike and Ran make those decisions and um as players you got to control what you can control and that's doing the best you can prepping yourself mentally and physically each and every day so to go win football games. What do you think of the addition of Will Lever? Yeah hopefully that's the room obviously a talented guy um coming off a great college career so um you know we'll see when I get to meet him here in a few weeks or the next week I don't even know exactly when. The uh you know you kind of went through this last year of course with with Malik getting drafted and all these questions too does it make this round of all those type questions any easier you know in a team drafting potential future quarterback? Yeah we've been down this road before so it's definitely a little bit of deja vu um but like I said um Mike and Ran make those decisions my job is to go out and and try to win football games. When you're a competitor obviously when the team drafts somebody do you just make you want to dig in even more and say hey I'm I'm the guy? My process doesn't really change you know it's I like to believe that that I'm giving my my all and every time I get go out there and prep on whether it's in an OTAs or or week 15 you know getting ready to go win a game you know you want to have a process about how you go go about things um take your job seriously each and every day knowing that nothing's given to you and got to go out there and earn everything so you know that process doesn't change. Is it always been that way or did the experience of Miami sort of inform that as well or change you in any way? I mean you definitely grow from life experiences right whether it's something that happened to your kid or early on in your professional career um every everything in life is a learning experience so you're learning from from your own life experiences you're learning from what you're seeing happen in other places you know throughout the league or in other areas of your life and just trying to take in all that information and and grow from it. What's it a little different from the receivers that you have currently to work with in what you've seen so far during the offseason learning? Yeah guys are out there working hard you know trailing has been doing a great job Nick's doing a great job Kyle is out running again so that's great to see mason's out there working hard racy's moving well you know we have a bunch of guys that have been around and and have been doing a good job for us in preparation you know learning a new system being a new offense new concepts all that all that type of stuff but guys are digging in they're working hard and that's all you can ask for. So those guys are going to have to step up though and play much bigger roles than they did a year ago?  Did your representation have any conversations with the Titans about your your contract heading into last year with the with the big number would you like an extension at this point? Yeah I'm not gonna get into uh professional side of things uh the business side of things up here. And some of you guys have talked about the carryover from last year and how it ended from going into this year some of them said they short-term memory that it's done and over but what I know you were not part of all that because of the injury but what did what did you learn about yourself and this team and what did you carry over from that in the this year? Yeah the sting I think you you feel the sting as a team um and you know we didn't finish where we want to finish you know so being able to just prep yourself know we have to be better across the board throughout the season it doesn't matter you know what happened in in one week or two weeks or even three four five weeks it's a matter of you know how things build throughout the season and you have to be able to to win games down the stretch and get in the dance and then obviously win those games so we know that but it's a reminder and hopefully gives everyone a little bit of fire to uh to head into this offseason end this year. What's your early sense of of Tim Kelly's playbook and what the differences in this offense can be from what you're coming on? Yeah no doubt it's a big difference right new terminology new concepts you know huge changes but you know fresh fresh line of thinking on things so just having to get up to speed with uh with how we're doing things what we're calling things different ways we're attacking the defense and that's what we're doing right now is using this time when we're not going against the defense to just try to learn the offense get accustomed to the new terminology the new terms the new routes and um you know be able to translate that onto the field as we go. What are you most excited about in the framework event? I was a lot of excited I love working with Tim um like I said fresh mind you know bringing in some new ideas new concepts different ways to attack the defense and we've we've had around here the last few years so um you know definitely some excitement there. She kind of made it sound like tempo might be maybe tempo maybe a little bit emphasized is that fair? Yeah I mean I I'd like to think so we'll we'll see as we get going right but we know we want to put pressure on the defense you know that might be tempo might be personnel changes might be um you know different sets than in person then then defenses are typically seeing so um you know big emphasis I think it's just putting pressure on the defense not not just tempo there's a lot of ways you can do that and that's one of those tools. What did you think about the additions of the offensive line obviously a lot of work in free agency and then two in the draft? Yeah as a quarterback you love to see it right then you know as as a quarterback there's two areas you like to see improve and that's all line and wide receiver so you know we added some some beef up front to the offensive line you know some veteran guys and then you know a young talented rookie as well or a couple rookies I guess through the draft so excited about adding those guys getting to know the veterans right now and you know excited to get to know the young guys as they come in. Yeah it's been nice having Charles around he's obviously a veteran coach he's been in this offense for for several years before so he has a background in understanding what we're trying to do and what we're trying to accomplish so just be able to have those conversations on on what we're trying to get out of each and every concept how we're seeing things whether it's the mic ID or or the progression or the footwork you know just having a guy who's who's seen it done before for several years is key. In terms of the direction and you know what to expect. I don't know you know it's like those conversations you can be you know thought of in a lot of different ways but at the end of the day I have an opportunity in front of me to to go out and play football and that's what I'm here to do.  Do we overblow how important that is or is that important that that gets clarified for up to that? Well I appreciate being clarified but you know nothing's given to you in this league and I've seen that over over my now 12 years here in the NFL. Things can change quickly so you know as a player you understand like I said earlier you have a process that you go about and you take advantage of each and every day and try to grow as a player every every day that you get the opportunity to do that and you have to you have to progress and you have to you know make plays when it comes down to it. You mentioned Carolyn just from what you've seen so far how do you look physically how do you look from a confident standpoint? What do you see from so far? Yeah he's moving well you know as a QB you love seeing a big guy moving well obviously he's a really talented guy you know we've seen that over the past year saw flashes in games at times last year and he's growing so he's doing everything we're asking of him right now and look forward to continue to to build that relationship and that chemistry as we move forward. The changes that are being made in the office are any of the protection things changing as far as how you guys are doing protections maybe to get the ball out a little quicker and if so are you happy about that? We have a lot of changes yeah and the whole system's pretty much different including some protection stuff so you know we'll have a variety of different ways to get the ball out whether that's getting the ball out quickly on normal drop back or play actions like we've had so just like every offense in the NFL you got different ways to attack the defense and we want to use all of them. You mentioned I guess the new office alignment how much different is the field? No Ben, no Ryan, I mean no Ben, no Tyler, Robin Wood, what is the field in the building as you're kind of starting off the off season? Yeah it's definitely a different field right guys that have been here over my four years here you know most of them are gone so just making sure that you know having to go out and lead each and every day having some other guys step up you know Brew's been doing a good job coming in having an extra meeting time with with myself and Tim in the mornings leading that group on the offensive line you know so as some guys leave it gives opportunities for other guys to step up and take advantage of those those spots that have left so happy to see some growth from those areas and look to continue to see that. Have you guys been really outspoken about pushing for grass around the league? Grass here hasn't been great and they've decided to go the the other way to turf just wondering what your reaction is to that? I don't love it I've always enjoyed playing on grass more than turf just easier on your body your joints your skin as you're on the ground but that's where we're at right we've played a lot of games on turf we're going to play a lot more games on turf now I don't think it affects the quality of the game or anything but it definitely affects how you feel the next day. In terms of this off season you know between yourself Derek and Kevin Byrd as far as all the rumors and all that floated out on the internet what each of you probably were traded or released three times how did you respond to all that as things like that come about even though you know you're still here? Yeah I tried to stay out of it honestly didn't see a lot of it you know I'd get a text from a friend or something oh really you know so just try to stay out of as much as it much as you can you know I think riding that roller coaster is a tough one to ride so just try to stay out of it and I just kept my head down kept doing the things I could do each and every day and if something was going to happen I'm sure they'd let me know so didn't really ride that roller coaster. That's right and often you know this team still views itself as the same contender it has in the last few years. I mean ours obviously go win games right you know it doesn't I don't think that ever changes so we're going to do everything we can to prepare ourselves to do that you know starting here in OTA's. Did you expect or think a roller coaster that might get picked before 228? I'm sorry did you think or expect a wide receiver might get drafted by this team before number 228? They don't ask me you know my thoughts on on drop picks you know Mike and Rand get to make those decisions obviously you know I knew it was an area that could be addressed but they did just a little bit probably later than I than I thought it was going to but we added some other key positions some talent that will help us across the board.  Yeah you grow from every experience that that you're put through in life some are harder than others but you're able to use those things grow from it and I feel feel really good right now obviously some things are challenging but you're able to try to address it for what it is take it for what it is and keep moving forward. What's off season been like for you and maybe how much more comfortable are you this off season compared to last? First off season it's been great just to have that little downtime just to get your body back right you know after a long season you know after rookie season everything it was all great and coming back here meaning the new people that come on the team new coaches and stuff it's just great like again like how we started to find our foundation here and I feel like the stuff that we got going now and I'll see if I feel like it's going to be great. What's Chris actually trained for football as opposed to all the testing last year like how much do you feel that will prepare you to have a better season? I feel like I'm just great I'm no last year I did a lot oh my I feel like I did a lot and I feel like now I feel like I know a lot I feel like I know what's coming at me now so just coming out there just going over the place about to install one it just I just feel confident I just feel like comfortable that I know what I'm doing and I did this before so I got feeling that I just got to keep improving no matter what. How much have you gotten to know Chris Harris so far and what's he like and what do you think he's going to help you with? So far he's been great you know he'd be telling us about his past and stuff and how he coaching everything and I just love everything about it just this energy just the way how he coached you can tell that he really loves the game and how he tried to develop us he already got a plan for us about how we're going to play different techniques and everything it's just great just coming out on the field just to see like how he at like how he interact with everybody and how he's talking to everybody it's just it just feel great to help him out there along the side with Coach Book. How much time have you spent looking at last year's tape of yourself and what did you like and maybe what did you not like? I spent a lot on just watching over the last games and stuff you know the bad players good plays on first starting out with the bad plays I paid attention mostly to that you know me playing that slide that was something different for me so I felt like that was something I need to focus on and to look and see what I need to improve on at that the most and I felt like I see it and I noticed like what I need to work on in our season. What do you think it's not given too much away what do you feel like you could do better there to be more effective? I would say really everything I feel like I went at my top of my game at the nickel so I feel like it would be great just to like work on from back from day one to how they want me to play the nickel everything literally from off to press to knowing the plays to better reactions to know how the game speed goes and everything so I feel like it was just great just seeing myself in the tape. What do you expect for this with some of the people that are coming in that you will be primarily nickel next year do you think Roger? No as of now we just we're a position we play with defensive backs so we can put me a corner and nickel no matter what we have to tell them about this just your position there everybody can play any position. Later how much easier is it to learn new things now to come and go? This is great just to learning and just you know to teaching everything I feel like I know I know it all a little bit on the system that I got here I feel like we doing it back over again and stuff so I know like how it was from last year to now.  Well it was definitely I already know they're gonna pick on me because I was a rookie and that's one thing I noticed last year about me when they picked on me or when I had a bad play just going on to the next play you know I got guys that try to play hard so I just try to play hard for them. What's Sean like and what do you think he'll be like as an addition? Which is that? Sean, he's great you know the type of guy he are he's funny just him out on the field you know I've seen him play before at the Buccaneers he played with both my guys at ARB and they told me so much about him just the player that he is he come and work hard every day and I literally see him on the field every day so I know that with him with us in the back end I feel like he's going to be great with his in a new addition.  Oh yeah I seen that um it just them guys I mean I want to get some new guys um Bryce I want to get him and stuff like that it's just great just to see them guys but I don't want to get to see just cross I haven't no much about his game and stuff or anything Richardson but um just knowing them guys I know they're going to get better just system just knowing how that offense working everything is going to be the same offense so I just feel like you got to pay attention to how they're going to use them. You guys played against Kentucky in 2021? Yes. So you played against the Levitts and what you think about him? Um yeah I think he haven't played that game he didn't play that game when we had played against him so I really don't know much about his game playing everything or seeing how he played before. Was he lucky enough playing that one? Praise that.   Um I would say I'm still the same size and everything I want to focus on I mean you can't get my fast in what you are now really so really I'm just focusing more on my body being more professional of being more healthy and all that stuff because this season as long as I learned that guys just going down so I feel like that's more I had to focus on just being more healthy and just try to focus more on my body. Diet diet different this year than diet I admit diet I still need to work on that that's something I still need to work on I'm getting better Dougie Toddton Lauren she's been with me since Arbor so she's trying to get me right. What's been the toughest thing to change there what's kind of been a guilty pleasure for you for food that you're trying to do away with? Oh you already know that baked beans I had I had to cut off the baked beans but I've been trying I've been doing good I ain't baked beans in a while so I've been doing good with that. Where were you training you know before you came here? I was training here um I was trying to hear at the here at the whole time I was training with my trainer named Jerry Hart he's trying to lift one on the campus over there so I feel like it was great with him because KB was there too so just training with him on the side of him just getting better every day so I feel like it was great. You feel like you've made national your home at this point? Yeah national my home I'm still learning to traffic get me every time but I'm still learning around and everything. Oh it was great you know he pushed me every day he drives seeing how he work just seeing like what he do before we work out every time he pushed me no matter what he telling me like how I'm gonna go next season how the game will go slower and everything and it's just great like just pressing on the side of him and everything because I know it just makes us better communicating everything you know to the next season. You missing him here? You missing him here? Am I missing him? I mean he you say am I missing him? Are you missing KB here?  When you work out with Kevin it's one of the ideas of how durable he's been in this game for like seven years? Most definitely um I asked him a lot of questions about his resources um healthy about who working with his body um all types of stuff like that all his resource I ask him who feeds you who cooking your food who who working on your body who who who getting you this getting you that so I asked him everything about stuff like that because I see how a great career he has and that's the career I'm trying to have. Is there anything specific you've started doing since you told you that? Um most likely just like Pilates that's one thing I went really a fan of I didn't really do much so that's another thing I'm just getting more stretches in yoga and all that stuff because he really focused on his body out the workouts he said I got to stretch I'm got to stretch so I'm like I'm gonna stretch too I'm right there behind so it's just guys like that look up to that I'm gonna follow those every way. I guess Murphy Bunny got the zero do you have any interest in switching to zero and what have you told him about that? No I'm like he good I mean zero it looked good on my time stuff but I'm not a really big friend of zero I really don't care. What do you think about the team going to turf on the home game? Um I just found out about that this week but I mean I play grass turf no matter where I'm just going out there to play so it don't matter how to feel it is. I guess it's the same turf you got in your bubble yeah it's the same so it's great. What did you think of you know I don't know if you got a chance to to get much background on Josh Wiley but you know his skill set and maybe how that will fit with yours maybe compliment or another. Yeah I haven't I haven't looked at it much but from what I could see from the the clips I've seen that the Titans posted he's very good with the ball in his hands you know he's a good run after catch guy he makes guys miss he plays hard and he's also really tall and big prospect so that's also cool as well. What's Tony do's work with him for the first time what's that how well do you know Tony last year as far as interaction what's it like having him as your as your coach now? Oh this is pretty much any interaction I've had with any other coach last year but this year yeah he's my coach now so and I'll say main thing for him is details he's very big on the details and very big on you know trying to you know bring the best out of me so I feel like he's gonna be that coach that's gonna you know be you know on my back all the time you know trying to get the best out of me so that'll be fun. At the end of last year you were pretty much this team's best offensive weapon in the past game in terms of what what you give to this team they haven't really addressed the wide receiver position a whole lot do you feel like that even more responsibility is going to be on you to be a big part of this offense this year? Yeah I mean I feel like I've shown last year what I can do so this year it's about just coming out the same you know just making plays again just making sure everybody in the offense can trust me with the ball just getting smarter just upping my football intelligence understanding the big picture of plays and just things like that. What about yourself last year and from that can you carry over into this year? How much did I learn about myself last year? I'd say that the only thing I need really is just it just I just need confidence to go out there and play I feel like I have all the ability in the world but for me it's just having the confidence to go out there and understand that that I can do it and throughout the season last year that's one thing I found like throughout the year each game I was building confidence each game and then I felt like I was getting a lot better throughout the season. As you go back and watch film from last year what what do you see are some areas for improvement to take your game to that next level? I'll say for me is not just relying on my speed all the time you know in routes being able to set guys up and you know break guys off and be able to get open in like shorter spaces I'd say and then also in the run game you know just getting more getting stronger in the combinations and blocking from you know in line and just learning the run game learning the spots learning exactly where we're going so I can play faster. I remember last year Delaney Walker he had taken a lot of interest in you have you got to speak to him at all this all season?  Can you see anything already about the the playbook that Tim's put together and what might be different in his offense from what you were doing last year? I would say just I see a lot of speed is involved a lot of speed is involved a lot of plays with where we're trying to go really fast and just take what we can before the defense can get there trying to outflint guys. What's it like having another Terp coming this way and how how close are you with James? Yeah that's awesome and I'm really close with him you know we came in the same time at Maryland and I played together you know my whole career with him he was my left tackle so we've always been side by side so I think it's awesome that he's coming up here and I'm glad he got this opportunity. You talked to him already what you what you told him about here?  Has that been good for you just not having all that come at you at once as a rookie now and you've been able to kind of ease your way into this next season like what's been different for you in that way? Yeah it's been really really nice just being able to you know take a deep breath and just really sit down and really just go over things because last year I felt like everything was just like a ball roll on downhill you never knew like what to expect everything was just fresh so I think this year just knowing what to expect is a lot better for me because I'm able to really set up set up my schedules set up everything I need to do to get better. I feel like we still have a very similar tight end room for what we had last year. I feel like we're a lot we're very versatile in our room a lot of us can move around and you know play in the back field play in line you'll split our wide and then adding Josh too will also bring another element of a lot of more packages too so yeah we'll see. Most people say you had a good year as a rookie last year I mean when you look back at your season do you like what you did or do you think it could have been better? I definitely think it could have been bad I definitely think it could have been way better if I if I just had the the sense of myself that I was later on in the year if I was able to you know play like that at the beginning of the year I feel like I would have done a lot more but obviously you know that just obviously just comes with time and you know reps and getting it in. Chick Ryan has been around at least from some of the pictures shared on the team's social account how much does it help having him around during this portion of the offseason program? I mean it helps a ton I mean he's our leader so I mean he leaves the offense he leaves the team and he's out in quarterbacks so I mean it helps a ton happen him here just every day because you know he's really smart and he can really explain things and really clear up a lot of things on routes and just understanding concepts he's very smart and analytical with all that kind of stuff. You know it's hard to get a sense at this stage but what do you anticipate from Westco as a blocker? I don't know I literally have not I have not seen anything yet so I don't know. I've never been a dude that really cared about playing surface turf grass I don't really care I don't really look at all that stuff like that. In fact it's the same surface that's in the practice bubble that gives you some assurance of what it's going to be like I guess? Yeah I guess I mean I always hear guys always talking about like they don't like you know turf because of like non-contact stuff but I don't think I've ever really had a problem with turf I had turf all throughout high school and college so. What's Bob been like at I guess those offseason workouts you know so many new players guys you're getting to know what's that kind of been like? We're just all very energetic very happy to be back you know a lot of it's just been a lot of lifting conditioning and then studying the plays and just getting out and throwing so you know it's just you know back to the basics back to square one just getting it in. Without Swam or Hooper in the room and then you finding this new confidence in yourself is like a leadership role in the tight end room something you foresee for yourself this year? Oh definitely I definitely see myself leading the tight end room I definitely see myself you know being that guy that you know brings us all together sure. Houses were just last year so we well acquainted he ain't too much new he was around Keith so the culture is still the same we still doing what we do and I say it's just a personality change between him and Keith. Keith was pretty super super aggressive and he he he more players players guy. As far as for you with Ben Jones having moving on like what's the outlook for you are you looking to play center remain at left guard what's the outlook? I've been working at center right now I'd say that's the goal for the team right now for me to move into that center spot and take over that role. Now taking over that role do you have to gain weight or have you worked to gain weight where you at right now? Oh I'm pretty sure I'm still be playing around the same way that I've been I ain't really too light I know the media probably say I'm about 240 250 but I've been a solid weight for a minute now so I've probably been around that way still 290 yeah. Do you think center is your ideal position what are the differences in that switch to left guard center? Um I'd say center like it fits me well just because like I'm in the middle I'm faced against them big nose I'm quick athletic got the natural leverage so I say that's a good spot for me. Approached you about did you approach them? Since I came in like I've been at guard center role like you probably seen my second year like hey it came in a couple games at center so Ben has been at like certified center but like I've been for sure next up at that spot for a minute now. What did you learn from being around Ben over the last couple years and how much maybe that can help you as you forwarded your career? I didn't learn a lot from Ben. Ben he been lead with 10 plus years so like just his knowledge of the game is on another level like just from going into practice going to games how he see defenses how he see just defensive coordinates people schemes like everything from pre snap to the snap like his just whole mentality about everything how he go about things like prayer I took all that in. Ben it's going to be the guy that makes the pre snap protection reads and all that and also kind of be a leader in the room and on the line you feel like you're ready for that role? Yeah I absolutely do now I was a leader coming out of college and I like me myself I lead by example so I'm gonna work hard I'm gonna put into work and when I need to be something needs to be said I'm saying it. Two new vets two new draft picks obviously a lot of turnover always talk about how much it takes for an offensive line to gel how much work you guys kind of have in front of you building up to opening day. We got plenty of time it's May right now they got in about what a week ago when the first game not till September so we got plenty of time to gel we're here with each other every day six in the morning it's about three o'clock in the afternoon so we're gonna get there. It's gonna be the key to kind of building that chemistry over the next couple months. Just working together just having some conversations making sure we all on the same page sharing knowledge and just bonding. What's I guess it's still early in the offseason but do you notice to notice a change what is the culture change just the way things are with so many new faces in a new position coach? No the coaches gonna be the coaches like we built on effort and finish like that's us so that's not going to change. Jason a little bit different with the players coach and can you expand a little bit on that and how that sort of difference? Yeah it was just I'll just say keep it like he just was a real aggressive like zero tolerance it was like his way out of the highway so that's where it was with him and how is he going to listen to y'all can show your ideas and go back and forth with each other. You got a chance to talk or text with Skaronski or even just watch his tape kind of first impressions on him?  I seen his little highlights he had and that's all so far. What you're seeing what you think?  You had trouble as a group last year a little bit and how much of that chip on your shoulder thing might carry over in regards to making a new kind of statement this year? I'd say it's always a chip on the shoulder when you don't make it to the big stage like the big goal is getting to the Super Bowl so I'd say we still hungry for it and everybody coming in I hope that's the goal as well to get to that big stage. How was that install process been for Tim Kelly like Chig I mentioned very detail oriented a lot of speed and offense from your perspective how's that been? I would say the same like it's getting more of a tempo it's like we're still working through the details and all the bumps and all that good stuff but it's smooth it's early in the process right now so we're getting there. Knowing that you were going to be essentially the quarterback of the line are you kind of like spending more time individually with him to get everything in sync? I would say individually we uh probably send us in quarterbacks we together a lot so make sure we're all on the same page that's what's going on right now. Erin it helped that Ryan has been here it seems throughout the voluntary portion to start off season program is that helped since you're going to be working with him a lot more? Yeah it helped him was like because nobody got like a certified spot right now me like me even me myself so just all of us being here right now working together just so if it's Ryan because you seen last year he was Ryan Malik then Josh so just everybody being on the same page and having that bond and just understanding what's the goal and what we need to be doing. How long did the ending of last season kind of stick with you this off season and how much do you think guys that are back will use that as motivation? Me myself it happened and it happened and I let it go like I remember it but I had a short-term memory like I'm like very ambitious so like that happened but I'm letting it go and understand what needs to be done for the future. Do you feel like you're still as tough as a two-dollar stake or has the position changed to increase your value? Absolutely I was tough as a two-dollar stake when I came at the womb so it's not changing. Coach Regal talked about wanting the whole team to be faster you know obviously how the offensive line was not coming a whole lot of territory but what does that mean for you guys? Um offensive line like this whole team we run track stores so we all finishing around the ball so everybody needs to be able to go everybody fast we're running off the ball like it's not waddling like love baby sales we're running so we all need to be able to go. No it's no different. Anybody you do double take on what you saw from the first time a couple of months look like they're in better shape leaner bigger? Um I say everybody look like they've been getting it like it was some players like they stay here in the off season they were getting with the strength stuff some people went away but everybody being into it like that's the way like really being impressive to me and like really got me I just like we've been working together and everybody like it's everybody hungry everyone going like everybody looking good. How do you like playing at that faster pace you have a lot of experience with that? Um just I've been in tight that's been the pace so I love me I'm fast myself so getting off the bottom just being able to go yeah that's good. You did say that you felt like Kelly was bringing more tempo but but you're saying it's kind of the same so just looking for a little clarification on that do you feel like something about it is is changing? It is I say we're trying to make we get an operation faster so that's why I say we're more of an up tempo with the operation like in and out the huddle we're going so that's the difference.


I'm from Kirkwood, today I want to talk about the realistic weapon mark. The agenda is what and how and the problem I faced and then solutions and then. The first I wanted to make a UI text automation for web app, but it's using blockchain. As you guys already know about this, it was the biggest difference from the just normal web app. It's just using transaction, site transaction, using web mask. So I want to make this in the CI system and code build. This is our final goal and actually we built up all the pipeline now. So for this, I decided to do the task cap. This is really amazing UI test framework, the officers. There's a bunch of features out there, but I can explain about a few things. Create stable tasks. We don't need to think about how we can delay or wait for the rendering or the API, the synchronous process, all of these. We'll be automatically run and then support the JavaScript in time speed.  The task cap will stop all the tasks. And then launch concurrency. And then the buildable task, this is really important part for developers to understand and write the complex, the identity, the HTML. And finally, we could use this in the CI using command and many bunch of options. The problem is the task cap doesn't support Madness, so I couldn't find it in the specific way. And I actually find a small way to enable Madness from the user profile. But the problem is the task cap can't access the pop-up and click button or something. Eventually, you should run it in the hellish mode. It means there is no way to control any pop-up of the buttons. But I find the way, you can run it. This is really tricky and I don't understand street. There's a return that dummy transaction has in blood numbers. I really, really enjoyed it in the passing tasks. But I found something happened. So I thought, what? But I looked into what happened in our system. In our system, one of our features is thinking of the blockchain data in the back end and the return on the front-end side. But the dummy transaction data didn't happen in the actual blockchain. So it means there's no data in the back end reaching nothing in the end. So what am I going to do? And then I thought about what I'm going to do. But I didn't want to give up. So I found another way of using web-free. It's really simple and clean and create the web-for-for web-free. And then actually, these main key features are here and include address and privacy to sign the transaction. It's kind of a wallet. And it's easy to enable and disable it on the front-end compile stage. And also, we can call it exactly the same method in web-free. And then we don't need metamask anymore. So it's really simple and clean. I'm going to show you a demo. This is one feature in multi-bass we've built now and called multi-seq wallet. It's a multi-seq wallet having multiple owners in it and then the number of required confirmations and they can allow to sign the transaction of multiple users. As you can see, the deploy and sign and the transaction actually happened in the blockchain. But there's no metamask interaction. So we can make it clean and fast and so super in a convenient way. So for this, we complete the test and I passed the test. Eventually, I was happy, okay? But this is not all for UI testing. Then we found some bugs in Solidity and GAP, except me. We are really proud of that. And then also we realized the way online UI testing can help keep our system safe. Also, how contribute to the officers community. So what I want to say is don't forget the test, whatever you guys do, okay? Thank you.


Welcome everyone to our lovely building and campus. We're so pleased to be hosting tonight this meeting in order to give our folks in our community an opportunity to learn more about the Greenway Center for Equity and Sustainability. As many of you read in the press release, the Greenway Center for Equity and Sustainability will offer mission-driven college and graduate-level engineering and technology coursework that prepares diverse graduates to design and build a more sustainable and equitable future. They have contracted with VCFA for the purchase of five of our buildings. We couldn't be more pleased to have so much of the VCFA campus used for such a worthy purpose. Co-founders Rebecca Holcomb and Troy McBride are here this evening to tell you more about the Institute and their future plans and to answer questions you might have. I hate to predict, but I do think that by the end of the evening, you'll be as excited as we are about the work that they are planning on doing. So without further delay, let me welcome Rebecca and Troy to the microphone. Hi everybody. I'm Troy McBride. I grew up just down the road from here, about 11 miles down in Northfield, Vermont. And my parents actually both taught a few courses right over there in stone, maybe about 30 years ago. I actually was, one summer, did work for buildings and grounds here, the highlight being learning how to drive a bobcat. I conceived or came up with the idea of a greenway about 22 years ago when I was in graduate school. Since then, I was an engineering faculty member at E-town College in Pennsylvania for seven years and then came back to Vermont about 14 years ago to found a sustainable engineering clean technology company. In 2011, I co-founded Norwich Technologies, which is a leading clean energy and renewable energy company that serves Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. And I'm delighted to talk to you today about greenway and this beautiful campus. And I'm Rebecca Holcomb. I started my time in Vermont in Hubbardton on the other side of the state and lived there for a while until my parents took us abroad to places like Afghanistan, which is where I grew up. And it's an amazing way to grow up, but it really did teach you a lot about equity of opportunity. And when you give people a fair chance, the difference they can make. And when you deny them a fair chance, the grinding challenges of poverty, but also environmental degradation. And that's deep in my bones. My entire life was a process of coming back to Vermont. My parents tried to come back and couldn't because there was no economic division, economic development division in the state government at the time they were looking for a job. And I was lucky enough to be able to come back and ended up being a teacher and a principal and a district leader and secretary of education in the state of Vermont for several years. And when I stepped down from that job and I was trying to think about how to keep giving to the state that I love so much, I thought back about all the young people I've encountered over the many years in Vermont who can build absolutely anything and are incredibly creative and are incredibly dedicated to their communities who are not gonna sit in a lecture hall and listen to a lecture on calculus and physics, but who could build the world if we gave them a chance. So when Troy approached me about starting a sustainability focused a mission-driven engineering program that was entirely hands-on and team-based and lecture-free, I thought, boy, this is an amazing and brilliant idea. And it's also exactly what Vermont needs because we have so many students who don't wanna talk about making a difference.  And for me, I'm just so excited to be part of this project where every day I feel like we're on the road to giving young people the tools they need to deal with the kinds of challenges that we've all seen over the last couple months, unfortunately, here in Vermont. So that's what we aim to do is help prepare the current generation and the next generation to engineer a fair and sustainable future. And we're gonna say fair and sustainable because we believe you can't have one without the other. And we're all about bringing new voices and new faces into the engineering profession. So this is just a reminder that we're under contract as Leslie said for five buildings on the VCFA campus here. We are focused on starting our program in Noble right now. Engineering, sustainable engineering education. We are maintaining the lease agreements in the other buildings and look forward to talking more with you. So we're gonna talk about our first partners. I do have to acknowledge our first partner which is really VCFA. And I just can't express enough gratitude for the way you've been partners in our transition as well. And just been extraordinarily generous in sharing your advice, your expertise, helping us understand the eccentricities of some of these buildings. And it's just been such a pleasure. So I just can't tell you what a wonderful team and I hope we can live up to your excellence as we move forward. Who are we institutionally? The first partner we're gonna talk about tonight is Elizabeth Town College or E-Town College in Pennsylvania. And years ago, Troy was faculty there. In fact, you helped take Elizabeth Town through its first ABET accreditation which is the accreditation for engineering programs that most reputable programs have. But E-Town is an incredibly inspiring program. It's got a very dynamic dean, very strong track record of working, particularly with students from rural communities and underrepresented communities to get them engaged in engineering and helping them succeed. So we interviewed many, many universities and colleges because we know it's really hard to start a college and we knew we needed a college here. So we interviewed a number of small engineering programs and found Elizabeth Town as a partner that shares many of the core values that we have. Again, this commitment to service, this commitment to engaging entrepreneurial activity and this commitment to making sure we're opening the doors of engineering to a more diverse set of students. On the other hand, we have Greenway Institute and I've been working with Troy for several years now. Some of you may have heard of our Greenway Sustainable Engineering Challenge. We already work with high school students and middle school students to get them engaged with building projects that solve a problem using green energy and green technology. And the natural next step was to take the broad and deep expertise that Troy has in this sector and the work that we have with Hands on Engineering and find a college partner who would help us put together an amazing and innovative new program. And that program is the Greenway Center for Equity and Sustainability, which will be located in Noble Hall across the street. This program is launched with and supported initially by a big grant from the National Science Foundation. If you read the initial press release, we received a $1.2 million grant just to design the program, which is based on evidence-based practices that we know support the success of students in engineering. And if you know anything about engineering, you know there's a tremendous attrition rate in many engineering programs, we're aiming to turn that around. And we've got the right partner to do that and we've got an amazing team across the street that's really excited to make that happen. Doesn't he? Why sustainable engineering and why now? I don't even know if we need to answer that question. Given what's happened over the last couple months, my heart goes out to Montpelier that has welcomed us in the middle of an epic catastrophe, but we also see this in Hawaii, we see this in all parts of the world right now. And I think we're all in a moment where we realize our obligation to the future, our obligation to preserving the environmental health of the future, but also we're realizing that we have to be very attentive to making sure that people have a fair chance to thrive. And if you think about even in Vermont, we're now hearing that a disproportionate number of the families who are receiving the help from FEMA right now are families with young children. And if you can think about why that happens and who has access to resources, we don't have a future as a state. If we aren't making our decisions with a mind to making sure everybody has a fair chance to take advantage of these opportunities. And also we can't design solutions that work for everybody if everybody doesn't have a say in what those solutions are and how they're designed. That's why this grant from the NSF, the National Science Foundation, is focused on what they call broadening the pipeline into engineering. And it's based on practices that we know are proven in research to support the success of underrepresented students in engineering. And we believe that the third leg of sustainability is economic. There is no prosperity in the future that doesn't involve this pivot to a green energy, green technology, local renewable and sustainable future. And that's really at the heart of our mission. And the good thing is we're hearing from students is that's what they want too. They don't wanna just go to calculus. They wanna learn how to engineer and learn calculus so that they can build a future that is sustainable. We're mission driven because we know that's what they want. And why are we different? When you come to Greenway and if you come over there and look at our classrooms that we're setting up, I know when we first came in, Leslie, you were saying, why don't know if this is gonna be the right setup because we're an arts thing. Arts college, I was like, yeah, that's exactly right. We want those open spaces because we're building a fab lab, a fabrication lab where they're gonna learn by building and doing because we know that one of the best ways to learn and the best ways for teachers to provide just in time reinforcement and teaching on the things that people haven't mastered yet is to have them build projects, to actually have them working on the kinds of problems that they'll deal with in the real world. That's what's different about Greenway. Our students won't be sitting and listening to a lecture about calculus or physics. They'll actually be designing green technologies and learning the physics, the fluids, the calculus in the context of that, marinating in that work, but in a way that's relevant to what they do after they graduate. So the work that any student should be able to tell you at any time what they're learning and why they're learning it. It's all mission driven and purpose driven. Yeah, and why Montpelier? As certainly, Vermont has a great green reputation. And we as a state have a lot of good clean technology jobs but we also have an opportunity to do more, to be a real leader locally and worldwide. So really, Greenway is building on Vermont's green energy and green technology potential that we have. We really are, again, what is the solution? It's bringing young people and entrepreneurs into our state capital. So that's a very central location and really we're delighted to be in Montpelier. Montpelier as well is on track to be the first net zero capital in the nation by 2030. And we also see this campus as an excellent place to continue an advanced higher education and continue the work that people like my parents did 30 years ago teaching people here. I think it's worth pointing out that's a solar powered ice cream. Yeah. We hope to have the students showing that sometime at the farmer's market up here.  And I also wanted to introduce a few other people that you'll see around and that are right here. So I'll start with a person who isn't here. Co is a founding faculty member, founding engineering faculty member. Co comes from Smith College to us. We have Violet Gannon right here. Turn it to face the audience. So I'm Jay Violet Gannon and I'm really excited to be part of this team. And these folks mentioned frequently co-occurring, collaboration, co-conspiring and you are the bread and butter of that as members of the community. We're excited to partner with you to hear your feedback. We've got curious students that want to know more about living in Vermont and your wonderful resources. So we're excited to partner with you in any ways that we can. We need mentors. We are open to feedback and are thrilled to be here. So thank you for coming tonight. Also we have Hannah Root who comes to us from Rivendell School and is helping as a program manager and engineering mentor or educational mentor. And then we have Maria as well who is a program coordinator and comes to us from Vassar. We also are hiring a program manager position looking for someone local here to help us with all aspects of program management. And if you know people, please let us know. You can also find the listing on our website under the news section. I should also add that we will be expanding and including new engineering faculty as well over the next couple of years.  We're really excited about this program and we're gonna build it right here bit by bit and we're gonna grow as we go. We are starting actually at the end of this week. We have our first pilot cohort. It's a deliberately small cohort of students who are going to test run our first sustainable semester abroad. These are all sophomores or juniors and they're students who have some engineering in their backgrounds and they're coming here to take the course load and transfer back to Elizabeth Town College. They will be learning the same skills and knowledge but they will be learning it in an applied hands-on way and we're incredibly excited to have them joining us as co-creators. You may see some of them around town. We're gonna give them some shirts so you can recognize them. Please welcome them and they'll be out Monday morning helping to volunteer with Montpelier Alive. So you may see them out there on Monday morning. In the spring, we'll welcome our second cohort and this is a second cohort for semester away students. Engineering's kind of hard. It's such an intense STEM program. It can be very difficult for engineering students to take a semester away. What's been interesting as we talk to other engineering programs is how excited they are about having students come to Vermont and learn about sustainability and do it without losing pace in their engineering programs. So we are reaching out to build a network of colleges with a similar sense of mission who are open to letting students come here but also are confident that their students will be able to seamlessly return back to their programs. So at the end of this year, we will have developed a full year of hands-on sustainability focused engineering, the second year of an engineering program. Then in the fall, we're about to begin to recruit now for a fall cohort, which is an immersive first year of engineering. And one of the challenges in engineering is that many students who don't come in knowing they want to be engineers or who don't have strong calculus when they leave high school are not really able to finish an engineering program when they get to college. If they don't have that in their background. Now, just think about how many incredibly talented creative people that cuts out. And that explains part of why the profession looks like it does. In fact, rural students in particular are so underrepresented in engineering, they aren't even counted. We found one study on that. And that's because many small schools can't provide that robust continuous support in math. So the program we're designing is designed to immerse them in math through projects over and over again so that when they end that first year, they are so strong and so confident, they're gonna be able to go out and succeed in engineering. And that's really our mission. And so that immersive pilot program will launch in the fall of 24. The other thing we're doing is launching a series of, it's a STEM graduate engineering program that would appeal to current classroom teachers. And it's designed, you may know that all classroom teachers have to keep taking professional development to maintain their certification. This is a STEM certificate that they could use just to meet those certification requirements, or they could apply it to a master's in curriculum instruction, the rest of it being delivered remotely. But the idea is to bring people from across the state and across New England to Montpelier in the summer to learn how to use engineering projects, hands-on projects to teach math and physics so that they can go back and get young people excited about this work. And that will roll out hopefully this summer as well. So, I think we are obviously very excited. We hope you'll stop by and say hi as you walk by, but we really wanted to make sure we save most of this time tonight to hear from you. We'd love to know what questions you have. We'd love to know what you want us to know about Montpelier and the community and the precious gem that is this campus and the green out there. And we'd love to know what brought you here today and what you're looking for as we move forward. So, I think we'll stop there and if people have questions, please feel free to ask them. They may want you to use the microphone if you don't mind, otherwise they won't be able to pick you up. Maybe Val, if you want to pass it too, yeah. This is my first engineering test. Thanks so much. Well, it's very exciting. Congratulations. My name is Jose Arwayo and I live across the street. I have one of the old houses, so used to be a dorm actually. And I guess many of us probably are wondering since after listening to your presentations, is it since you're going to be bringing students and you plan to grow the number of universities that you work with, is it so therefore you would only have them when they're not at school at their respective universities and since you're purchasing several buildings, I'm wondering what will happen in between those periods? It's a really good question. So I think if we go back, what we're doing is trying to grow slowly so we can grow within our means. But if you think about this rollout schedule, we will have a first and a second year of engineering and our students will be positioned to transition back to Elizabeth Town College to finish engineering there. It's a very excited program that's starting to receive national recognition. Alternatively, they could shift to another engineering program within Vermont after that second year. We will then begin to grow additional years of program. What we don't want to do is grow so fast, we lose quality and we're carefully growing now and partnering with Elizabeth Town College to make sure that the academic rigor and development here is as powerful as what they're providing on their own campus. So the vision is to continue to, first of all, have slightly larger cohorts. So we're starting with a very small pilot group. We hope to start making the cohorts bigger next year and then we hope to add cohorts as we grow. So the goal is to grow into some of the space that used to be occupied by students at VCFA. Does that answer your question? I think so and actually I'm very excited about it because I'm actually involved, I sponsor some of the projects at the SEED program, which is the Senior Engineering Projects at UVM. And actually one of the people in charge of it lives here in town, my friend. So he's actually, I think gonna be ending his work. That's great. Well, I hope you'll, I mean, we're really quite serious. What's been wonderful about coming into town is people have been reaching out and saying, hey, I have this problem or I have this business. We'd love to have your students visit. A big piece of what we're trying to do is also help students learn how to network because again, so much a professional success is knowing how to introduce yourself to a business, knowing what options are out there. I mean, what are the opportunities in the green energy, green technology sector? We know because we've read a lot that it is Vermont's most promising, one of its highest wage, fastest growing sectors. It's an engine that really could ensure some of the prosperity of the state, but students might not know that. And so being able to meet with people like yourself with some of our local businesses is a chance for them to see what they could do with this course of studies that they're pursuing. So I hope you'll put your name on the signup sheet that went around, we'll be in touch. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Hi, Cindy Bogard, I live around the corner of former sociology professor at Hofstra University recently retired. So first of all, I just have to thank you. I'm so glad that at least part of the CFA will be maintained as an educational institution. Thank you for that. I'm kind of interested in what you think your cohort size will be in the fall 24 year. Will they live on campus? Is this a tuition-driven outfit? Or will you have, I don't know, some sort of financial partnership with E-Town as well as an academic one? Questions like that. And then are you thinking to add a new cohort every year until you reach a four-year program? What's your semi-long-term plan? Thanks. Do you want me to start and then you can fill in? I mean, I think there's a lot there. And the first thing is it's gonna depend, right? I mean, we're gonna focus on quality and we'll grow when we're ready to grow. We're starting with a deliberately very small, we did not really recruit for this cohort. So it's a very small cohort so that we are hoping will help us co-create. Our hope is to recruit cohorts of 20 for next year. So up to 40 on campus and then you'll have, because you'll have two a first-year program and a semester program. And then faculty, the summer programs for graduate students would hopefully be 20 students as well. You don't want it too big because then it becomes difficult to do some of the hands-on work. And they would live here. And they would live here on campus. The, in terms of the revenue model, the power of partnering with a very well-established and respected institution like E-Town, as you know from having worked at Hofstra as we're eligible for federal financial aid, which makes a huge difference. Our students will be able to access that right out of the gate. That's not possible if you're not accredited. It takes years to get accredited. So by choosing to partner, we're opening our doors to opportunities that wouldn't be available. And we're also doing some fundraising to try to support students in the initial years in particular so that we can get to that quickly. In terms of next cohorts and how that's gonna work out, I'll tell you, Elizabeth Town is also extremely interested in a master's program in engineering, a one-year master's program for switchers. There are a lot of STEM students who take very strong STEM backgrounds in college, but they don't have any application for it. And people are all about sustainability right now. And what we're actually getting is people reaching out and asking about, maybe they've taken all the physics, they've taken all the courses, they don't know how to build anything or they're not comfortable in design. And so they're looking for a master's program that in one year could equip them to go and do some of those things. And that's another market we're looking into. Do you wanna add to that or? I don't have much to add other than, yeah, we, as Rebecca was saying, we're really focused on delivering an excellent program to our initial cohorts and then gradually growing over time. Good evening. I wanna say that I'm very excited to have you guys here. My name's Joe Castellano. I live about a block and a half away. Very excited about what you're proposing here. I know that you are currently in your due diligence phase. But when do you expect the deal to close for the five buildings? That's a good question. I think we'll, there's enough variables that we'll say as soon as possible. But we've already moved in. I'm just gonna say. Go ahead. Hi, my name is James Ray. I'm here for two reasons. First, I live straight down about two blocks down on the right road that way. And second, my life's work is communicating science and the environment and sustainability. The intersection of science, engineering, climate change, and sustainability has been my life's work. And I'm gonna talk to you after this about all that. Because I'd love to help out in that regard. But more specifically, and I would invite you to, and I suspect you will, but are there any things that you would say now to us in terms of what the program might need or the first cohort of students who are moving in ASAP might need to support them? And I'm thinking materials for the building, bedsheets, I don't know what I'm asking, but is there anything we can do as a community to help the students settle in and help your program settle in? I can see Violet's getting up to answer that one. Oh no. I'm gonna ask you to put your name on the mailing list because we do have some thoughts on that. We're trying to be very intentional about it though. But we'll get back to you if you put your name on the mailing list. And a lot of what we're really trying to do now is build relationships because those relationships are what's driving the energy in the classroom right now. Talking to a business who will say, this is the challenge. I'm trying to figure out how to do this. Could your students work on that? And sometimes they fit and sometimes they don't, but some of the greatest ideas have come from partners who are willing to do that. We are fitting out our labs right now and we will continue as we're, again, we're sort of kidding them out with equipment as we grow. So as we add more courses with different types of specialization, we'll have to be adding new equipment. And we've had businesses that have offered equipment that is perfectly usable, not their grade, but certainly stuff that students can use. And we've been taking advantage of that as well. So we'd love to follow up. Yeah. And I'll just say that the courses this fall include content in statics, circuits, and electromagnetism, as well as a lot in sustainability. So if there's any great equipment that you have related to that, we'll take it. I would also add that the question is a beautiful one and it's one that is unique, I think, to Vermont and that spirit of community. My ulterior motives, one of them, there's many, is to really get these students engaged in Vermont so they stay. And just being part of this larger community and that feeling, that vibe, it's priceless. I sat out on the green yesterday and I had dinner on one of the picnic tables and I just watched this natural dance of human beings with different dogs and cut different backgrounds, all sort of in their own universes in some ways but yet totally aware of one another and grateful for the community piece of it. That's unique to us. And if we can demonstrate that to students, you will help me in fulfilling my mission of getting some of them to consider our life here. I'm glad you mentioned those stories too. I mean, I remember one of my first principal jobs, we had to wire our building for internet, you remember back in those days and we had people come in and crawl through the ceilings on a day and I think that is Vermont to me in a lot of ways and we are gonna build this and we're gonna build it because we're working together and I just love Vermont and I'm really excited to bring young people here so that they can benefit from that as well. Will you always be just using Elizabeth Town students or will you begin to recruit your own students that don't have any relationship with E-Town or is it a continued partnership academically, I mean? We stay, it's a continuing partnership. We stayed tight on this year's recruitment because it's harder to sell the program to people until you've got it to offer but we do have one student from Babson and we are hoping to get other students from other colleges in the spring and we are going to be recruiting from first year students from all over the state of Vermont we're certainly gonna hit the college fairs here but also New England so we are hoping to expand our base but we've been in, there's a network that Elizabeth Town is part of of small engineering programs and we're already reaching out to them to start bringing other students here as well. So, sorry, just to follow up so will those students be admitted to E-Town as well as this college? Okay. Yeah, and the problem is that we won't have the capacity to offer four years here for a while so what we're guaranteeing them is a place they can go to and they can take it elsewhere if they want just like any student can transfer but if they come to us they know they have a place to go after those first two years. Yeah, and Elizabeth Town at this point they have more students than they can accept so they're actually more applicants who are qualified so they see this as an opportunity to expand the number of students they're serving and again, when you look at the profile of students that they serve and then the outcomes they get it's they are really committed to service and to broadening the pipeline into engineering. They are bringing people into engineering who if they went to other universities might not do that so we're really, it's an incredibly dynamic team a very, an outstanding faculty we spent some time down there really going through their curriculum so that we knew what the points of contact were and they've just been incredible collaborators it's gonna make us all better and they see us as an incubation site an innovation site so they will also probably cycle at some point some of their faculty through us for a semester and then bring practices back to Elizabeth Town as well. They're very excited about us in that respect. Hi, I'm Paul Kernahan I live on Sabin Street around the corner. I'm sort of going to wanna direct the conversation sort of to more practical matters. Your educational program sounds very exciting and you obviously have a lot of enthusiasm for it and I'm sure that that will take you very far but I'm sort of curious about your financial model for affording the purchase of these buildings and then maintaining them. I assume that the NSF is not giving you money to purchase real estate and it doesn't sound like these buildings are going to be owned by E-Town so I'm sort of curious about where's the money coming from to purchase these buildings and more importantly as neighbors to maintain these buildings. We all know that they need a lot of work. VCFA obviously got out for a reason. They were really saddled with the expenses of maintaining these buildings. You just walk by Schulmeyer, you know it needs a roof. The pieces of roofing fall off every storm we have. So I'm sort of curious about the economic viability of ownership of this campus. I think we have a few advantages that VCFA, you do amazing work at what you do. We have some in-house advantages that maybe are a little different from their secret sauce. We love their secret sauce, we'll take all we can get. Troy do you wanna address this? I'm just ear-maring away but I mean you've got plans for some of these buildings you wanna talk about. Yeah so on the maintenance, buildings and ground side of things, VCFA actually has a great buildings and grounds team and we are gonna continue to work with that buildings and grounds team and we're delighted to everything they've done so far and that they continue to do and so we will have a shared arrangement with VCFA and other purchasers. On the financial model, it's a series of partners. As I mentioned, I'm a majority owner of Norwich Technologies which is a partner with us as well and then it's other sources of financing for that so we are committed to over time not only maintaining but increasing the sustainability of the buildings. We'll certainly are planning to upgrade the heating systems which are all currently oil boilers to electricity means and we're also working to install solar as well. So just a point of clarification though, you will be owning the buildings, you're not, you said you're going to be using the VCFA maintenance crew to maintain your buildings but the condo arrangement is for the land, I assume, not for the buildings themselves. Yeah so it's sort of two or maybe three things. So three of the buildings, Stone, Schumacher and Dewey are on their own parcel so there's no condo agreement there. Over this side is, there's a condo agreement where there's a parcel that's at Cologne so that's sort of a legal agreement of when there's a shared parcel. And the buildings and grounds is a contractual arrangement where it's contracted through VCFA that we pay for our portion of that. I think just to be really clear, they have an excellent staff. It would be ridiculous to lose those people and VCFA has been very generous in terms of letting us do shared services on a number of fronts. Shared serving part of the challenge of any institution is the overhead and to be able to do shared services with an excellent partner and again they've been generous in their time and we've worked out systems that are useful and helpful to both of us I hope. So that's been an asset. Just to make really, if you've been trying to heat your house with fossil fuels, with oil over the last couple years, you can probably guess what the bills are like here. This is the life work of what we do and part of what we're doing is figuring out how to make these buildings sustainable in ways that will save a ton of money moving forward as well. So that's a skill set that we have through Troy and through his professional background that is gonna free up some capital to make some of the improvements that we know are needed here as well. And so again, partnering when it makes sense and it's mutually beneficial. We're lucky because VCFA is so amazing and then using the expertise in green energy technologies and solar and storage and heating to try to make that change in ways that will help benefit everybody. And I should have mentioned earlier that some of these buildings currently have commercial tenants and our intent is to keep those relationships for now and that helps cover the cost of maintaining those buildings and we'll continue to try to have good relationships with those partners as well. Gail Carrigan also on Staven Street and my question is a follow on to what you just said that you have commercial tenants here. Will you be looking for other tenants in addition because it sounds like if you are looking at a slow growth model these buildings will be idle until you are able to populate them. I mean, I think it's, well, do you want to read it? Sure, the short answer is yes. And so we'd love to have especially green energy, clean technology companies that are interested in being nearby to be in the buildings, but we also have a number of great tenants right now. Anyone else has a chance? I think you may have hinted at the answer to this. So forgive me, again, it's James Ray and I don't know. Is the long-term intention going to be a semester? And I say this having done the American University's Washington semester program many, many years ago. So I'm a big fan of that semester only approach. Is your long-term plan, you know, semester, students come from elsewhere here for a semester and go back somewhere else?  The goal is to move towards degree programs. We are starting with semester programs because it's the easiest lift and it gets you the program right, but every sophomore semester is, when you put it together, is your sophomore year. Then we're building the first year that means we'll have two years of a robust engineering program and then we can begin to build from there. So it will be, our courses will, in terms of the content, will be directly aligned with the existing engineering program. So it should be interchangeable. The difference will be in the mission-driven purpose and the mode of delivery, but it should be interchangeable with an engineering syllabus at another university. Hi there. Rebecca and I have known each other for a long time. It's nice to see you. I'm Elise Adwarski, I live next door to the campus at 31 First next to Dewey with Danny Sagan, my husband. And I'm really excited that you guys are gonna be our neighbors and it's great to hear a little bit more about the program. I was wondering if both of you could speak a little more specifically to what will be happening in each of the buildings and how you imagine that. I mean, it sounds like you're gonna be growing so you talked about Noble Hall being a focus right now. Of course I'm interested in what's happening next to Dewey but the other buildings as well and when those will be phased in and how in terms of their uses, that would be helpful. I'll start, I don't wanna talk too much, Troy, I'm just sitting here so I'm talking too much. But first of all, it's great to see you and I'm gonna be following up with you both. The first building that we're starting, as I said, very small and will be all in what's currently called Noble Hall and the building is designed so that there's instructional space on the first floor. Students will be living on the second floor and we'll actually have a couple of faculty on the third floor for part of it. It's pretty hard to find housing in Montpeliers, you've noticed. So that's our current plan for this year. As we grow, we'll be moving into other dorms and so obviously Glover next door is housing mostly so that will be a dormitory space for the summer program which brings in a larger group, we hope. They'll be in there presumably as well once the purchase has gone through. We expect these two buildings, Stone and Shulmire, to maintain in pretty much current use and do you wanna talk about Dewey? Yeah, exactly and then growing into Dewey as well. Dewey, we are exploring a variety of options at Dewey and looking forward to working with the community on it. One thing that some people have talked about, one of the challenges of recent graduate entrepreneurs is it's really hard to start your business and it's really hard to find housing and so one of the things that we've thought about which is a continuation of the current use is thinking of it as Greenway Institute as sort of an incubator for new businesses. So hopefully providing lower cost housing to people while they incubate a business or a Vermont business in the sector. That's one idea that people have come up with and I love to talk to you and hear from you about what you think are good promising opportunities there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, feel free to add. This should be a conversation, not just back and forth. That's good to hear and I think my observation as being a neighbor for 20 years is that communication between the new owners and I know it's not just you, other people who are buying the other buildings with neighbors and with the community it's gonna be paramount. I feel like, of course I want this to succeed, our own design and build business is based on sustainable principles and has for 30 years. So I really appreciate your values but the value of community engagement and letting us know what's happening and engaging us is I think really important in this community and I just encourage you to keep us up to date as things evolve and reach out to talk to us as regularly as is reasonable because I think that will lead to really good, stronger relationship with the community and particularly with the neighbors. Yeah, I really appreciate you're saying that and to the extent that we're not answering it's because we don't know. All right, so I think we need to add. But as it evolves, I'd love to be and I think other people as well really have depth to date on what's happening. That would be important. So again, if you haven't signed there is a clipboard going around and we would love to add you to our email list and we would be happy. First of all, we haven't even closed yet so we don't even own the buildings yet so it's a little premature to go too far ahead. But in some of the buildings have, we'll just say there's some considerations around use both in what use is approved and also in the current condition of the buildings that are gonna affect what happens. But I really appreciate you're saying that, Alyssa and I think that we would love to use our email list. We send out emails to invite people to this. If you put your name on it, you'll be on that email list when we have our next meeting and VCFA helped us bring people here tonight. We know that this doesn't work unless it's a conversation and so we will fully be sure to have that conversation and I'm gonna follow up with you. Yeah, and if it doesn't work for you it's not gonna work for us. It has to work for everybody. Just a quick note that we're working with GBA architects down that's right on the river here. We get more information. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Paul Carnahan again. I just had another follow up question on sort of how the campus is going to work. So I assume the students, you didn't mention cafeteria services in Dewey but I assume the students will be eating their meals there and then I was also wondering, you mentioned faculty living in Noble. Will there also be staff that's responsible for student life and behavior and sort of making sure that everything goes smoothly for the students living there? Well, I'll let you talk in a minute to the staff member who, one of the staff members who's living on site but there, we actually aren't big enough to make food service worth it. Our students will actually be cooking themselves and so we're working with them to help plan meals and figure that out for the first couple of years. At some point we would like to do food service but you have to be of a certain size before that's an affordable option and we're just not there yet right now. And I think we're in an interesting moment, right? I mean, when we began this and students committed to coming here, that was all before the flood and what's available is a little bit different now. We even with respect to food service providers and caterers in town, we're all figuring out how to make this moment work. It's a great group of students, they're all in on making it work and this is an opportunity to introduce them to Vermont food culture and the best of our fields in our farmers markets and it's right up right there on Saturday afternoon. So I think we're gonna work through that. They'll be there. We have two, would you wanna talk about the living arrangements right now? We're very, we're following the residence hall policies, they're Elizabeth Town College's policies within a dendym that's appropriate. Thank you again to VCFA to make sure it works. It's a small group of students currently as it gets bigger, there'll be more staff on site but we'll be right there in the building and I just don't anticipate problems but if you do have concerns again, our information is right in the website. Happy to speak and give it to you afterwards, just always reach out. You can only help us be better. And I will say we are talking with the folks that have run Dewey the last several years and trying to see how we can work with them as we get to a scale that works well with them. We're also working with local restaurants to provide food for our students and at that scale, it's one of the more economic opportunities is to just work with local restaurants. My wife and I live in Dewey right now so we are doing dual duty of a noble, sorry, that's the wrong name, noble. So we're doing dual duty of also providing some of the services but for the most part, we follow all of Elizabeth Town one and we have a much bigger staff than just the people on campus through our partnership with Elizabeth Town College. Was that another way of saying we're almost a one-to-one ratio right now? Next year it'll be different. Hi, Justin Turcotte. I live down on Muncie in your Crosby and I just wanna thank you guys for taking the time to explain a lot of this and go into some of the detail. It's been really informative and helpful and reassuring to me to get a better sense of what you guys are doing. Thank you. Well, and I know, thank you for saying that and I know you're running a business and people running businesses need stability. They need a little bit of certainty. So again, we wanna work tightly with our partners. Oh, sorry, just looking at that, it's wonderful that who's here showed up for this meeting but it's summer and I know it was delayed because of the flood but I think it would be wonderful as more people come back from their summer activities to have another gathering with the community when maybe more people can attend at some appropriate time in the school year. That would be wonderful. And I just kind of wish I'd been able to encourage more people to show up and get to know you and hear this and come with their own questions. I think we planned on doing this before the flood and we didn't wanna wait too long. Yeah, fair. But I think your suggestion is an excellent one and maybe in September when people are back and settled, that would be a good time.  Yeah, I'm not quite sure what Danny said but it may have been what I was going to say. Yeah, it was good. Potluck, I like that. Potluck, okay, I was gonna say you'd be fun to have some sort of student presentations or something like that at the end of the semester so we can see what you're doing or an open house so we can see your need equipment or the possibilities are endless but you don't have a traditional campus here so these students can't show their projects to their classmates with the traditional campus but maybe you can use the community as the friends and colleagues of the students so we can see what you're doing and maybe give them a little encouragement to do the things that they're doing. I love that and I'm really grateful to that two of the traditions that we're committed to doing. One is a community meal with the students so we are going to try to bring people from the community and I think it's every Thursday night, right Hannah, to have a meal with the group of students and so if you're interested in participating in that reach out to us and let us know. The other thing is Fridays, we're calling them Friday field trips but we're trying to take the students on the road every Friday to visit some kind of Vermont enterprise or a municipality that's working on an interesting issue related to sustainability because again, especially for students who maybe don't grow up in families with engineers to be able to have that kind of one-on-one contact with a professional in the field or somebody who's trying to grapple with the kind of problems that they're gonna grapple with when they graduate is so powerful but also one of the first people coming in is the deputy city manager and listening to her talk about both the impact of the flood on the city and how that intersects with some of the work the city is doing around trying to be net zero by 2030. There's so much knowledge and there's so much passion in this community and I really appreciate your suggestion in the generosity of it because that is what will make this a better experience for students so thank you and if you haven't already please put your name on that sign up list so we can bring you into the program and we will have things to show later so we're gonna let them set up their dorm beds first. Jose Aguayo again, you mentioned that these buildings here we're gonna outright when it closes you would be owning them and I guess owning the buildings, the land, everything there's no condominium but this part would be a condominium so who would be your partners in that condominium? So right now, Greenway and New School New School is a current tenant that's looking to buy their two buildings and then we have three other buildings that will also eventually be part of the condominium association so potentially it could be up to five different entities owning buildings and being part of that condo association. Just on the idea of open houses and bringing the community or potluck and stuff and you were talking about the students working with folks above them in the professional settings speaking as the father of two high school students I could guarantee you two interested students as high schoolers to come into an open house that goes the other direction using the knowledge and experience of your engineering students to a day or a couple hours or whatever it might be to show off the gear and their knowledge to local high schoolers and middle schoolers. So you're singing Maria's song. We have been running for a couple of years now and it's a sustainable engineering challenge where there's a problem that they're given every year solve a clean water access issue or an access to food issue and we give them some basic equipment. It has to be green, renewable and local and there's a demonstration day and we're hoping actually we can do it right here in the middle of Montpelier and the challenge is open to high school students and middle school students and we've gone all the way up to Burlington, all the way down to up to the Northeast Kingdom and down to Windsor I think is the farthest south we've gone or Springfield. They had to drop out the last minute last year but it's been great. I mean, it's just, we'll give them a mentor and we're hoping our students will play some of that role and then to have them actually try to figure out design and build a project that's powered by solar energy whether it's a solar powered greenhouse or something else. Some of the students have asked to keep the equipment and we've now got little devices operating in different schools around the state. So we're hoping we can continue that and bring, we know that it's too late if you wait until they get to college. We know that part of it is showing middle school students and high school students how fun it is to build, how fun it is to solve a problem in a way that's actually useful to somebody where it actually makes a difference. The first year was a clean water challenge. I didn't know that your average cow drinks 40 gallons of water in the winter and so boy were those kids really excited about solar powered devices that would get that water out to the field. You learn a lot and it helps, they see you can tell people that climate change is a problem or you can just show them how solar energy can make their life better and that's where the challenge has been so powerful and to be able to have that on the green and have community members come in and give support would be fantastic and another opportunity to engage is as a mentor to those high school projects and teams. I wanted to add to that. My daughter actually was the only kid from Montpelier who participated in the agro tech project this summer at UVM and it was really amazing to see the kids engage that way. I used to teach, I worked at a college in Far West Texas in a very remote area. Most of the students were Pell Grant recipients and we happened to have a town out there was very poor, one of the poorest in Texas but they have these incredible Filipino science teachers. They have a rocketry program there and A&M University partnered up with them and they get invited to DC, they get invited all the time for these large rocketry projects. So you're picking something like that, that's a wonderful idea really, that's great. I'm really excited about all the things that you guys are presenting, thank you. And what was amazing is different students shine and the power of having a student who maybe doesn't think of themselves as super academic but who builds an incredible device and all of a sudden sees that they're super academic but have that serious conversation with an adult is really a powerful thing. And when you're working with these kids, I had a lot of students who were first generation going to college, most of my students and I, you know, it's when they go out on these trips and they see these things and they meet people and they exchange ideas, it's just so enriching for them, so. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Some of the, I mean, the challenge, some of the most amazing challenge stuff has been in the Burlington schools in English language learner classes and it's people, it's a chance to really show and it's, people just amaze you what they're able to do, it's amazing. It's when they're allowed to build. Yeah, yeah, it's great. Well, you all have been so generous. Thank you for your feedback. Please keep reaching out to us. You will make us better and we really do want to be good community members and partners. I think I speak for Troy when I say we're so grateful to you for taking your evening. I know many of you are dealing with a lot else right now so I know it means a lot to us that you took the time to show up tonight. We will put you on our list and we will be reaching out and I love the idea of a potluck or some way to engage the community. And as we get clarity, we'll be sure to reach out and have more events like this to get your thoughts. So thank you so much. I really appreciate it and look forward to seeing you out in the lawn.