Good evening and welcome to town meeting televisions continuing coverage of election 2022 That's November 8th, or maybe you voted already But if you haven't you will be interested to hear about the plans for the new high school here in Burlington and No better to fill us in is Tom Flanagan the superintendent of schools in the city of Burlington. Thanks for joining us Absolutely. Thank you so much for having us. It's great to have you well me well you and we may have Claire soon That's good and I want to remind folks that our number is eight six two three nine six six if you have any questions for Tom about the school the new high school which of course has budgetary implications for all of us who are taxpayers in the city, so let's just start with We had a high school plan we did and then bad things were found Correct you just fill us in on what happened and where we are absolutely. Yes, so we had a plan to renovate The high school the existing high school on Institute Road and that high school Was in need of major updates. We it has really significant accessibility issues problems and It's an inefficient building The HVAC systems are are failing And it's it was clear I think to the community that we needed a new we needed a significant upgrade to that building and so we the citizens of Burlington Voted past a 70 million dollar bond question where the school board asked if the citizens of Burlington would support a new The reconstruction or renovation We called it re-envisioning of the high school so through that process one of the things that you're required to do when you're renovating a school is to look for toxic materials that may exist in that school and so we went through that process in 2018 2019 and 2020 and or maybe it was 2019 2020 this was right before I got here and started testing the air And we learned in the summer of 2020 in Late august it was actually The first day of school and students were back for orientation day. So they actually weren't in the building but Ninth graders were there We we got test results back from the air quality in buildings f and e That was really concerning The level of pcb's which is a toxic chemical That was in the air was of great concern our Consultants who work with us told us that it was the highest levels that they had seen outside of industrial sites So we were very concerned We received the the We received back the additional Results from the rest of the building And we learned from those results that there were pervasive pcb's throughout The air in the building throughout all of the buildings at different levels in all of the buildings But across all of the buildings. They were above the state action levels and those action levels required us to Requires some requires an organization to Learn about where they're coming from so we better understand where they're coming from And the levels were so high that after conversations with the us Environmental protection agency and the department of environmental conservation We had we had a series of meetings with them and and and also our consultants They We I asked them if they if anyone felt like it was safe for us to be in the building And no one felt like it was safe for us to be in the building So we made a decision That was a decision that actually didn't feel like much of a decision to me because it felt like It was very clear that that the toxic chemicals in the building required us forced us to to not return And you may have seen today, but we we just announced today with mayor Weinberger chair Claire wool That we are We will be suing monsanto And have have built a legal team with experience national and local experience in this to address the The pervasive toxic chemicals that were that were in our building and that that still exists there So that's sort of that led us to a decision point Can we can we continue to renovate or do we need a new do we need to do something different? And we decided after a lot of work with the department of environmental conservation the epa Our consultants who do this work nationally Our architect and design team Our school board some outreach to the community hearing people's feedback on on where we where they thought we were and where we should go and Given that we already had a 70 million dollar bond on a building that was failing And we had toxic pervasive chemicals in our in a building That were worse than many than our consultants who do this across the country had seen in outside of industrial sites Um It did not uh the the school board ultimately decided it was not You know and it was not appropriate to continue with that Re-envisioning project and so we moved into the process of identifying A new site for a for a for a to build a new high school So I can get into that. Yeah, you want me to keep rolling. Well, yeah, but I want to just ask you a couple things, which is What's it going to take to dismantle a toxic site like this? There it's going to cost 22 million dollars So the cost of the of the removal of all the toxic chemicals and all the building materials So one of the things that happens with PCBs is the the PCBs were in the caulking around the windows That's where we knew about it first and it it it leeches out Of the of the original kind of location of the toxic chemical and goes in every direction We've learned so they're in the wall Out they've they've seeped into the actual concrete block walls Outside or brick outside of the the windows up to two feet in some places And it's in the soil It's in the glue that sticks Floor tiles to the concrete foundation It's it PCBs are in that substance also. So it's actually inside the foundation of the of the flooring And and it's in the light it's in light ballasts. It was used in light ballast. So it's also in the ceiling so There are PCBs kind of throughout the the building the air and the soil And so you have to go through a careful process of of removing materials and taking down the building And there are organizations that do this there there are have been a number of schools that have had PCB problems None that we know of yet in in vermont that are like ours And also industrial sites where there are experts who who know how to remove These toxic chemicals and the materials that they are in safely And is it expected because there are many schools built around the same time that bhs was built that in other parts of vermont If a study is done this would turn up So the the state of vermont is actually studying this right now We're we're in some ways Not for bhs, but for our for some of our other schools were fortunate that we were Part of a pilot study a number of years ago that looked at PCB levels airborne PCBs In some of our school buildings that were built around the same time Champlain is one of those schools and the levels were not at the Action levels that existed when we first got into this and those are really low that was 15 nanograms per cubic meter Which is a which is a low Action level they call it that that level but at which you have to you have you're you're required to learn more about what what's going on And so we feel we do know that that none of the other schools that were in that pilot Are impacted And have PCBs that rise to the level of any concern And we know that That they will be testing other buildings the state is going to do a testing They're going to test all the buildings that they that are built within a certain range of time When these PCBs were used they're going to they're going to test all of those school buildings across the state And they already have started so there are a couple of school buildings that they found In the first round of testing and they've only tested I I don't remember the exact number, but it's It's around 10 school buildings. I think at this point And there were two I believe that have that have PCB issues So, yeah, it's likely that they are starting with schools that I believe they're starting with schools that they're most concerned about But they will be doing testing across the across the state And so they've developed a protocol to do the testing at the state level and they've also put aside 32 million dollars in the state budget for the process of of Of studying the schools and doing the PCB testing across schools in Vermont So, um, let's get to the question of the mod the design that we have. Hi there Claire. How are you welcome? Thanks for joining us. So the last that I saw there were several designs And you settled on one So tell us how that decision was made. Yeah, so I can walk you through the process a little bit and uh our chair um school board chair Claire wool is here and could help me where I where I miss anything But uh, it was a very intentional process of identifying first a site that would be That's best for the high school. And so we did a lot of engagement around what site would be would be best We heard a lot of feedback from the community and we studied About 16 sites across the city very carefully And what we learned was that the the the best site Was institute road where the current high school is and that was because number one It would be the least complicated and least expensive site for us to build on Even though we have to remove the the old building The other sites had far higher levels of complexity would have been much harder to build on those sites And um, and we own the land so it would it was easier for us to to be able to go there But that was a decision that was made With with a lot of feedback from the community the school board made that decision after careful Deliberation with our with our experts and consultants that are helping us work on this And hearing from from the community. And so that was that was a that was a you know, very intentional And and significant process that we undertook and then we brought an architect and design team in To help us To help us Build the design and so we had five different designs that we chose from and we felt that Design option c it was the best one and that design was Most energy efficient. So a couple of designs were really cool. They were sort of spread out a little bit more One of the designs was right up on the road and and and faced a different faced out onto north av and so But would have required us doing making a new road So there was some complexity to one of the designs the other designs were less energy efficient They were all more expensive. We chose the the option that was least expensive and most energy efficient and so because of the the um Kind of contained site and the way that that was designed that also the roof and the ability for solar There's just a bunch of reasons that this building made made the most sense And so So let's look at it. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I think you can um, yeah, Kevin you can bring this up if you want So here is the updated. There's an updated site plan There's if you look at the project history actually you can see the original site plan Which includes burlington high school and burlington technical center. So that's the white That's the the the technical center is the is is the carved out part And the new design After some deliberation and some other decisions that I can speak to in a second here Includes a more contained site and also Less square footage for the burlington technical center So one of the things that we we know is that we we want we've all along Every time we've made a decision thought about a great building and that has the least Impact on taxpayers. We want to make sure that this building is responsible In in terms of the tax implications for our community And that it also provides a design that our community Can be proud of and that benefits our community in the long run So we've made we we've always thought about that and one of the Great things that happened during this process as we were really thinking about cost is The burlington technical center Half of the students that go to the burlington technical center are burlington high school or burlington residents And the other half are our students from nine surrounding districts that send their students to us for the technical center It's a wonderful program. We have a bunch of great kind of deeper learning experiences. It's really a special program and And we felt like it was appropriate to have To for for this for half of it because half of our students are a part of btc to be included in this design And at the same time we had an opportunity at the airport we also have an aviation program at the airport and two aviation programs and We our aviation teacher and our btc a burlington technical center director Submitted an application for a grant and they received a 10 million dollar earmark From senator lehi to build at the aviation center So we were able to remove half of the technical center to the airport And we're still working with the airport in the city and beta and for about flight academy and the and the group That's out there on a really exciting opportunity to build out that aviation center to include Two aviation programs advanced manufacturing pre-tech and and perhaps auto as well and to step into the to to you know The modern world right as they're building electric electric engines and Batteries for airplanes. So we're really excited about that opportunity and it also helped with this with the design So you see the overview of the design Up there up on the the slide there that was up a second ago And then you can see the south entrance so the south entrance This shows you how the building is laid out on institute road So institute road is the road that you see in front of the building and you see A a lot of glass around the side that's on north av and that gives an opportunity for the people of burlington to see the the importance the importance of a of an institution of of of learning for our community And and then the building is right there and it's also across from the field So you have really this campus feel with accessibility in terms of the the approach to the building on all sides And a real opens And welcoming environment This north entrance is on the north side of the high school So if you go down institute road and back up around You can see the north entrance and so the building has two sort of Major entrances there are other entrances but two major ones one on the north and one on the south And these two face each other so that there's an entrance way that has light and openness and is In responsive to what we heard from our community about the need for light and for open And communal spaces Here's a classroom design again light our students particularly after being in macy's but really in any Learning environment you want natural light you want to make sure that there's also flexibility one of the design Elements that we've built in that we really heard from students and from faculty is the need for flexibility of space movement ability to move Um and and learn in sort of different seating areas and in different Configuration so that was one of the classrooms and then we um we have a commons or an entry way And this entry way is a part of you saw the north entrance and the south entrance This is in between those and this connects to the gym the auditorium And then the kind of learning spaces out on each side So it's a really important space and it's also a space that provides light provides space for students to Collaborate to eat To be together we heard really clearly from students this idea of light flexible space And spaces for for them to be able to be together in in productive ways and in ways where they're supervision But also in ways where they have some freedom and some flexibility And so we really Believe that this space does that and it also is an entry way for the community into the high school This is not only a building for high school students and their teachers It's a building for our families our community And and we really want it to be an open space and also a safe space And so balancing those two things Um and the the commons is an important part of that So claire was the school board pretty aligned on this design Yes, as far as uh, there was no um There were in the beginning people had their choices But then after more understanding and time spent with the architects we spent numerous visits to the architect firm To ask questions that our constituents had asked us And so in the end everyone was very um excited about this design And so let's talk about the the financial implications. Sure, and this is clearly very exciting It's a big threshold for the community to have a modern high school. It's overdue. I think clearly No matter what we decided as a community when we voted for the 60 million dollar 70 million dollar bond, right? But now um, the voters are being asked for something that's more than double that So maybe you could talk about the fight why it's going to cost so much and what the implications are for The um folks in our community. Yeah The cost is basically uh associated first. We'll start with the demolition of the school It's roughly coming in between 22 and 25 million dollars and we um as uh tenants of the building and our property when we Expose the pcbs. It will be our responsibility to remove those contaminants for obvious reasons, but also um letting the the taxpayers know we have an obligation to Clean the contaminated site as our own property And we're looking for funding for that from the state and in supporting us So the cost of the cleanup the demolition and cleanup And preparing the site for a new building and then the 70 million was for renovation In that iteration having been chair for the last five years We saw costs associated that people might not be familiar with the hVAC system being 18 million dollars for Heating air conditioning ventilation throughout a property as large as this a campus And so those numbers came in You know we we we get an estimate from our own architects But we also get independent estimates We learned that from the 70 million dollar bond as you if people remember it came in at 92 originally and so we had to reduce and and Financially be fiscally responsible on that on those plans and this is the most fiscally responsible Budget that we are presenting and we know there are real world uncertainties And we're aware of that and we've asked that of the architects and the independent estimator as well So there are contingencies Which means there are safeguards in this budget. So when we ask for taxpayers to Borrow up to we are capped at 165. We believe that is a comfortable number That is nothing that superintendent planning and I want to come back to And ask taxpayers that we didn't do our job over the last two years So we are on the mark for this budget that we believe Represents the square footage costs based on independent architects as well giving us guidance Everyone has been very collaborative in this city. I will say as host city to our state university and numerous architect firms There is a sense of wanting all of us to succeed and we You know when we ask students what the slogan for our lawn shot lawn signs should be They came up with you know a bunch of creative ideas and then once students said, you know What about we need a high school just simply stated and so I we understand the costs associated so it is a need It is not a want. We do not have an alternative after macy's. We are very lucky Macy's was available and we we went there the second day. We were closed We are paying macy's over a million dollars a year in rent And we have a finite lease. So we want the downtown area to be developed for tax based purposes and revenue But we are confident in our budget and our bond vote that it would it reflects the building of a new campus and We look forward to sharing more and educating people over the next three weeks that First and foremost, you know my hope in talking to you tonight and your viewers is that Going back to old bhs is not an option So any when we went and met with all our npa's there was still that sentiment Like can't you go back and fix it and we cannot I mean your our announcement today about suing monsanto the creator and manufacturer of Of known chemicals in schools and other buildings throughout the united states We're going to actively go after that as a liability and the harm that it's caused our community So let's look at the numbers So that we can so I think you're basing it on a three hundred and seventy thousand dollar home You've got a couple of views one if you've got income since If you have you get it you're compensated because of your income or if you're not Kevin, why don't you bring this slide up? This is the yearly implications. Maybe there's tax implications when fully bonded that is the slide we have up Or we can look at this one Let's look at this one Because it's up. Yeah, sure. Yeah, I think um, I think it's uh, what what Um Chair Claire wool just said is is really important to For for the viewers to understand number one. We chose the least expensive site We chose the least expensive design the design is in line with high schools And buildings of this square footage of this size in that have been built in new england recently And we and and there really is not another option We don't have a high school beyond high school building for a thousand students beyond 2025 and so it's really critical And we've fully committed we have a memorandum of understanding with the city council and the city To bring all of the funding that we can possibly bring to this project To the project over the next Two weeks to two years when the when the bonding when the tax implications really Start to when when taxpayers would really start to feel those tax implications. So we're really we're we're we're committed to that fully You saw today in the monsanto announcement that we've made that we're we're committed on all fronts We're applying for 17 Different we're eligible we believe for 17 different current grant grants in the current state budget And we believe we're we will be eligible for more funding From from the state and federal government In future years as well. So the implications right now are that with the 165 million dollar Bond that it the tax rate increase on a three hundred and seventy thousand dollar home is 15 is about 15 percent Again, we are not planning to borrow the whole 165 million dollars But our board felt like it was really important that we bond for the full amount of the cost as we know it today Okay, but I don't understand what 15 percent means. So I'd like to see that other slide kevin that talks about tax implications when fully bonded Not that one though the other one I mean, this is monthly tax implications So if you have a three hundred thousand dollar house and your family makes a hundred and ten thousand dollars Then you're looking at about five hundred dollars a year In tax implications. Is that right? That sounds forty seven dollars a month. That's right. Yes. Yes So if I have a 350 thousand dollar house and I my family makes 90 thousand dollars a year It's comparable. I'm looking about 600 dollars a year Right, so people are looking at somewhere between a hundred 200 dollars a year and a thousand dollars a year in additional taxes Yes, correct. Okay. Yeah, and is that number change over time or is that pretty much stay the same or is that increase Depending on the bond that we did There was another slide that said in the first year it would be zero We wouldn't see it in the first year in 224 you would see a percentage increase and so it does fluctuate Yeah, so there we go five and then a nine point five zero So what's that mean two point five and nine point five? Oh, that's what we're estimating like The the tax rate You know the the rate of borrowing of what that impact would be on 70 million would be your taxes would go up 2.85 percent Because it takes us until the year 2026 to be be borrowing The full amount. I understand. Okay. So but I'm I'm basically for my house. Let's just say You know, I'm looking at 800 bucks A year Addition to fund the high school. Yes over how many years? What's the bond period? We we actually won't decide that until until Until next year because when we start the the borrowing We will want to look very carefully and we've been working with the city on this To make sure that we're we're choosing Or we're making a decision on the right Amount of time. So it could be 20. It could be 30. Okay somewhere between 20 and 30. All right So the short story is november 8th. There is a bond Issue is it half the city has to vote or two-thirds of the city majority the majority So it's 51 percent of the people in the community need to support this for this to go And we're we don't have time to talk about what happens if it doesn't go So I'm just gonna thank you both for being with us For all the hard work that has gone into finding creative solutions for our children during a pandemic During a pcb problem and the need for a new high school.  So thank you. Thanks for watching I want to invite people to remember to vote on november 8th If you have not already and of course stay tuned right here to 10 meeting tv for continuing coverage of election 2022 And of course on november 8th at 7 30 the results will be here and you can find out if the school ballot item bond has passed Thanks for watching


Check it, check it, check it, it's a unique hustle, it's your boy, E-C-E-O, and I'm here with the lovely official, amazing Mr. Mako, what's going on?   Check it, man, hey man, we got big putt, how you doing, brother? Man, I'm blessed, brother. Big putt entertainment. P-U-D entertainment, man. Man, I'll say big putt, it's yours, man.  For real? That's what I was wondering because when Renetta, hold on, when Renetta texts me, she said Big Putt, but then she putt, putt, and the team, I'm like, hold on, Big Putt, but that don't go with that, and how does that work? So how does that happen? P-U-P, that's my name, you know what I'm saying, Big Putt, that's what I go by. Who gave you that name?  Why she called you putt?   Okay.  But that's how the name came about, but putt, that's where I'm from. I'm from, I'm from Missouri City, most of the time. Okay, okay. And they call it putt? It's a section in Ridgemont, you know what I'm saying, where that's just called putt. It was a planned urban development, it was a, it was a, it's called hood now, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, of course. But they changed it. You know what I'm saying, so putt was a, putt was a section in Ridgemont that, which was where my section was, you know what I'm saying, it was three areas inside of Ridgemont that at the time that they built, it's four of them now, which is why you get to turn Ridgemont four, you know what I'm saying? But putt park was, it's my section, you know what I'm saying? So that's, that's why I was born, that's why I was raised. I was born in Third Ward, but I grew up and I was raised in, in Missouri City. How long, how old were you when you left Missouri City? Well, I left Missouri City, man, my house caught on fire in 2003. What? 2003. 2003, man. No, how? How? Did you leave something on the stove? No, it wasn't me. It was my neighbor. Come on, bro. My neighbor barbecued the day before. Okay. The grease? Nah, the charcoal. He left the charcoal. He dumped the charcoal in my trash can next to my house. Wow. The day after. He didn't, he didn't put water on it or nothing, so the charcoal got up under the, up under the, right by the attic, caught on the insulation.  And he did it? Yeah, he did it. He did it. Did the insurance cover it? Oh, it was good. You know what I'm saying? I moved. Because I'd be wondering with certain things like that, if the insurance company, you know, to be like, well, you must have did that. Yeah, yeah, it was, it was an accident.  So, we, we, we was, we was good. It was a lot of, it was a lot of events that happened around that time, you know, like, honestly, at that time, I was doing the extracurricular activity. Yeah, for show in the streets, baby. And, you know. Why do everybody as kids, it's like everybody we've been interviewing, that's where they went. Well, in the streets? You right. Why? Man, cause the streets be calling. Niggas in the hood, everybody.  No, we broke. I see, I'm going to tell you what you hear.  Real talk. You know what I'm saying? She was a single mom? Yeah. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? She was crying at night because she can't pay things, you know what I'm saying? And when you see that as a child, man, you like, you're going to do everything you can right then to help that. You know what I'm saying? Are you the first boy? I'm not. I'm the youngest boy. I'm the youngest of two. But you see, and you would think that that wouldn't fall on your shoulders, it would fall on the eldest shoulder. You would. You would. Yeah. Because usually sometimes you don't never know who's going to be the one. You know what?  It was supposed to be Jacob. Right. I mean, it's supposed to be Esau, not Jacob. So the younger one, a lot of times they sparred, they flipped that thing around. You know what I mean? Yeah. Instead of Manasseh and Ephraim, they had to switch places, Joseph's son. So it's always that, that's, I'm saying that for me too, nigga. Yeah. I know what you mean. I know what's going on and I commend you, brother. I already know. Yeah. Yeah. It flipped on them. Yeah. Yeah.  Man, it's, it's nothing. I don't regret any decisions.  It made you the person that you are today. Right. And I learned from them. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, every, every, every, what they say, every test is a lesson. Exactly. What you talking about is a blessing. Yes, sir. So, you know, I'm, everything I went through, I said, bless it for me. Man. Yeah. You, when you think about, you know, just coming up in, in H-town, man, I, I want to ask a question. No, I know. But I, I want you to get there. But, okay. You see how she doing? We want to still be in Missouri. See what kind of podcast is this? But hold on. But people are the real. Right. So, um, okay. So, Missouri, because the house burned up, but is that reason why you left Missouri? Because then, you know, people, you were just buying all the house there in Missouri. Well, at the, at the time, you know, we had the goal for what was available, you know what I'm saying? So, um, we, there was no houses in that area, you know, that we seen that was available. So we ended up moving not far from it, you know what I mean? But, uh, I had been there since 88. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?  You know what I mean? Like, I, I do giveaways in my hood, we, we do a lot of things, you know what I'm saying? So it's, uh, this is, you know, my hood is my hood, man. You know what I'm saying? So I'm always showing love and I put this stuff on me to bring to the world. So they don't know what put is about dope. Dope. Dope. My thing, I was just going to ask about the sides of Houston because a lot of people when they come to Houston, I go straight downtown, they ain't going to lie to you. You know what I'm talking about? I, I know already if I go downtown, I'll be like, I'm in Houston. I just want to get a picture of the big back skyscrapers and all that good stuff. But just kind of break down the dynamics of, of, of, of H-town, like, like, like, well, H-town, man, with, with downtown, you can go in any direction on the outskirts of downtown and you're going to be in a hood. Okay. You know what I'm saying?  You know what I'm saying? You go east of downtown, you're going to run in the fifth ward. You know what I mean?  You like it's, it's, it's, all that right there, well, let me say east of downtown, north east of downtown, fifth ward. Either way you go, it's hoods right around downtown. Yes sir. You know what I'm saying? And then south, well, we got, we got South Park, we got Third Ward, South Park, South Acres, all that going down, 288, you got southwest, you know what I'm saying? Southeast.   It's north, it's southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest, of course, northeast, southwest. I ain't going to lie to you. Back in the days I came, I went straight to Harlem night. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? I was selling clothes in front of her when I first came home. It was Harlem night. Don't worry about that. I was a young cat. I, I come out here to give my money and I would go straight over there and start selling clothes. That's when you know you got a heart.  That's why I know I was different. I come to Houston. I go to Dallas or either I go to East Texas or Shreveport. I was like, just like you were selling the CDs. I was selling the clothes. That's, that's the girl. You see what I'm saying? That's the girl in the ground. Like, like, and that's what landed me there. It was a nice place, nice time, too. I would stop in there often and set around, you know what I mean? I keep talking about the city. I know that in Dallas they're doing, they're fixing up a lot of the hoods. Trying to, um, right. So because when we were looking for somewhere to stay out here, um, downtown of course was the number one spot. But when you think about, okay, this spot over here is in third ward, I'm like, I heard about third ward. I'm like, nah, fifth ward, I'm like, nah. But are there any good places in those areas, um, or is it just all hoods? They have almost completely gentrified second ward. Okay. You know what I'm saying? Almost completely. That's dope. It's cool. Um, is they giving the people living areas? Like the ones who were originally there? That's what I don't like about it. That's the problem. I don't like that. That's the problem. But no, they're not. But there's also, they're working on third ward now. You know what I'm saying? So they're pushing the people out of there? And that's the thing I was, I was about to ask, too, like, because I've always heard, hear people talk about this.  Because they build properties that raise tax value, you know what I'm saying? Property value and those people can't pay those taxes.  Now you got to forfeit it. You got to give it up. Yeah. You know, so dope. Let me ask you something about just the music, man.  Jay Prince actually brought not just to Houston, but to the south. He brought recognition to hip hop. And when you, when you started off in the music here, what drove you into getting into that, you know, music itself? Like my pops was a guitarist. OK. I was, I was in music, you know what I mean? But the influences of music, you know what I'm saying? Like I was always a squad face ghetto boys fan, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, Jay Prince bought something huge as an influence as an artist to me and as a CEO.  But it's but the music side, even when Draper was down here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that Tony Draper. So, so A-Ball, M-J-G were big influences as well. Yeah. Don't music. Yeah. Man, what happened to that? It was a guy named Mr. Mike and Mr. Mike. Man, that's that's that's that's big homie, man. That's a long time ago. He's still out of here. He's still in age. OK. So, so, so like you when you when did you first start taking it? Like, I'm this what I'm my livelihood. This how I'm going to do things. The livelihood. Well, I can say this. I've taken music serious since 2000 2000. OK. And that's for rapping. Right. That's rapping. Yeah. I've always taken music serious since then. My my personal. And how old were you at 2002? 2000. How am I now? OK. So what's this? Twenty one. Man, it's probably 1617. OK. 1617. OK. But but like my personal influence was like it was people around me that I could see. So I had the street militaries, the group street military, OK, a little flea and then zero because we're from the same neighborhood. OK, got it. Got it. So, you know, zero was a big influence in me, you know, actually taking music serious because it's a guy that lived right down the street from me that was taking it extremely serious. You know what I'm saying? And then I see what he was doing with it, not just because he wasn't successful when I when he inspired me. Yeah, yeah, I was just doing it consistently. Who was it? Can you say his name on zero? Oh, it was zero. Yeah, because when I seen zero, when I first came on scene, it was weird kind of it was like he had this type of the people that he covered was isolated to him. I'm being real, like it wasn't like the Hispanics. It was like his own little it's like a code almost to me. When I seen it when I came to Houston, they'd be like, get that zero. I'm like, oh, no, zero. But then when you listen to it, you can't outwrap the nigga. Like the nigga rapping hard, like that's saying and harmonizing. You can never take that as brother's stuff. So you couldn't talk down on Texas when you listen to zero. And then that people like zero, I put them in categories where any you put anybody scarface zero, you put them in the booth somewhere. I'm putting my money on them niggas, man, because you're not going to go out and I wrapped these dudes, man, you know what I'm saying? Like, like I knew that already. And Jada, I can't forget about that. Jada, I'll be at home town like Jada Street, man. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, man, those those like those guys were the influences for me. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So I just I just I just kept it, you know. Did he talk to you? Well, yeah, in the neighborhood and stuff. You know what I'm saying?  We just kick kick rubs off the dome. But that's the first person I ever heard put a hook to a freestyle. You know what I'm saying? So we'd be freestyling and him and my older brother, they'd be in the room freestyling and zero would do a hook and then somebody else to start freestyling. You know what I'm saying? So he would lean over to you and like, hey, man, check this hook out.  And so, yeah, we like I know I'm known zero personally, just outside of music, you know, pretty much since I was a kid. How is he business wise? This is as far as when you when you when y'all working together, you straight forward. You got to be fully reproducing. Oh, yeah, yeah, Ro Ro is he's definitely serious about his crowd. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? He's definitely serious about his crowd. Like he that's that's his livelihood. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, if you know, Nick tried to do anything with with what page your bills, you'd be serious about it, too. You know, so for a show. Yeah, he's definitely serious about his his craft.  He's, you know, he's actually given me a lot of advice on what I'm what I'm doing now. You know what I mean? And just, you know, how to deal with certain people, what not to what to, you know, I mean, so because he's done a lot. Yeah, he has a long history of dealing with and he was signed to rap a lot. Right. Right. So so now is he independent now? And so that that's a whole nother ball game. When you start to look at the way to the world's change.  But over time, evolution, things change, bro.  Most time, people be so caught up in the fact of what people are saying outside, trying to put stigmas on situations that I feel like it kind of it makes things worse than what they really have to do. Right. And then me as an artist, I'm an artist. OK. I'm an artist first. First. OK. Got it. And then I became a CEO. OK. So so the thing is me being a CEO, an artist, I seen I seen the fuckeries. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. But I seen it happen to other artists. OK. You know what I mean? So I kind of learned from other people's mistakes. You know what I mean? And how old were you when you became a CEO? Um, I got I started my label. I started my label in 2006. OK. I I actually incorporated it, you know, did the actual business. Yes, sir. In like 2010. OK. And what inspired you to start a label rather than just be an artist? Um, and how hard was it? I well, I've always had a business mindset. Yes, sir. Even when I did the wrong things. It was a business mindset, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, had they would have caught me, it would have been more of a kingpin type of mentality. Yeah, yeah. Then just somebody's on the corner. That's right. Because that's the mindset I had. But in music, it was just about I seen a problem and I wanted to do something to fix it. And that was that particularly in my city, didn't know business. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And not just your city, a lot of cities, it was everywhere. And it's still dominant in certain areas. And that's just a part of I believe that you got Google now. Do your research, but it's not hard. But at the end of the day, a lot of people just like what?  You know, it's just it's the same thing. Like people, my people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge. That's serious, bro. Definitely. So there was somebody to tell them what to do instead of actually researching for themselves. That that that that's one aspect. And then you have people that want you to do it for them. You know what I'm saying? And so so that's that's a that's what I did home. You might be a preacher. You know, I want you to do it for them. And again, you know, it's it's a lot of things. See, Houston, I could speak on Houston. I can't really speak on other cities. Granted, they might the the variables might fit those. There you go. But you know what you live. Yeah, for Houston, like, we had we know the hustle. We know the game of music. We didn't know the business of music. The only person I can say who did was Jay. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? But people here don't really know the business of music. And that's what takes away. So when you know the hustle of music, you know a hustler. Yeah, we got we're trying to get it right now. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And we'll get it off our brother if we have to. Yes, sir. You know what I'm saying? But in business, you eat with your brother exactly. You know what I'm saying? You don't have to say I look, I take the actual business side kind of flows to me like corporations, because it is a corporation. Correct.  The corporation corporation pays you in Houston.  Wow. The next artist. You know what I'm saying?  Then you got people that's cliques that want to rock with you because you might be doing or making a little noise doing this and that. But working together, using the business format, everybody is. Yes. But that's the one thing I can't stand about this industry. And I'm not going to say this industry because to me, Atlanta have it pat because they work together. And I would love to see Texas. I'm not going to say Houston. I want to say Texas, because since I've been here in Texas, it's always been a Houston thing, a Dallas thing. I'm like, why? San Antonio, Austin, Texas is huge. Imagine what impact we would have if we all came together and worked together as a company. He said that, didn't he? Man, an artist can go platinum in Texas alone. And I know that he don't even he can do it right here. You don't have to go nowhere. But let me ask you this. And I want to understand, like, like, because you had direct shops. You had Ali. I was upset with Houston for a minute, too, because I was mad because I knew that they had they had a situation where they had the screw tape, the regular tape. They were making double the money. I say this every episode when I talk about a Houston. Then he decided they want to be like everybody else.  I was like, man, we will win it because when you said you might have said he was the nigga, but I'll witch out. You don't care. Like, I'm looking at it. I'm looking at it from over. And I'm like, dang, this is cause it filtered in the Dallas. It filtered into these other Austin and y'all love Austin, too. That y'all will run down to Austin. Austin is like Houston. You're right there and Corpus, too, man. Austin and Corpus was. But what happened to that, man? Man, you said it. You said they want to be like everybody else. And in half, too, they was even doing better than everybody.  Yeah, with that, especially once all this started to get on. And then they started using the screw samples. Yeah, that that's still 2005. He was on top, but also we fail because we didn't know business. Correct. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, we fail because of that. Then once after that, everybody else started taking the style that we we we did. We created using it for their benefit, making platinum songs out of it, but they had their business right. OK, they benefited from it. Yeah, you know, I'm saying outside of Texas, outside of Houston. And then we wanted to be like everybody. I know it, man. And I was I thought I was the man, too. I I was like, we winning. I we winning when I get a screw tape. Then I get me a regular CD. I get both of them, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, double divin. That's what I was doing. And then they just switched it up. I was like, man, what the heck happened to that movement? Yeah, I mean, in the streets, we still even me as as as an artist, every artist I drop, I drop a slow chopper. You do. You know, I'm saying that's dope. Even my records, I drop a slow and chopper version of it. You know, that's dope. Just to keep just to keep the vibe, the the the culture, you know, and you look back at the ones who paved the way, who was who worked toward that. And you got to do it. Is if you in Houston, right? Definitely, definitely.  Yeah, like that screw. DJ, yeah, sound. Everybody's slowing it up. Everybody chopping it. But DJ, screw, you know what I'm saying? Like, there's not many people that have that sound. Even Michael Watts, like Michael Watts has Michael. It's it's screwed. It's slowed down. It's not screwed because it's not screwed. But yeah, it's slowed down. It's slowed and chopped. But like the artist that I like screw had mixes the way he a mix into a chop, the way he scratches into a chop. It was different. And I got to shout out DJ Redd because he's like the closest one to that. OK, I was just about to ask about DJ screwed. Did he have any children? Uh, you know what, I'm not sure. I think screw did have kids because I'd be always wondering when you make such a great impact that, you know, you'd want your kids to carry on with your legacy. Right. I was wondering if he had any children that actually like try to, you know, step in that. Yeah, I'm not I'm not really sure. I can't be I can't, you know, quote that don't quote me on that because I don't want to, you know, say he did and he didn't. Yeah, but if so, I've never heard of any of his children following the legacy of the footsteps.  Do you do you do you feel like as of now? Well, I asked you this when music translated over into the digital world, how were you able to cope with that? What did you and I know you've seen certain people fall back, but what did you do to carry on the legacy for put entertainment? I actually man, see, you know, like I said, I'm from that era of guerrilla. Correct. So man, even then, I didn't sell a bunch of records out of the store. Yeah, so I wouldn't part of that era. I was right in between of the shift. You know, OK, so when I actually started to move records, I was out. I was out at the Trump. OK. You know what I'm saying? I did see a lot of money that way. But when the digital world came, I was on. So I was on streaming platforms in O six. OK. Before a lot of other people like that knew about it. Yeah. So I learned the stringing platforms. OK. I learned about algorithms and learned about how your name could be attached to another name and that name it alone would give you more recognition. Correct. You know what I'm saying? So I started doing mixtapes with, you know, with other artists that had names. Yeah. Doing features with other artists that had names and throwing them out there, throwing the mixtapes out there. At that time, they wasn't so monitored to where you couldn't use. You didn't have to have a license to use certain things. You know what I'm saying? But they wasn't.  If you if you're not license, you can't get a GZ version. Throw it out there. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You got to have rights to use it and so forth. And you did then, but they wasn't strict about it then. So it was just about having different mixtapes throwing them out there. So I learned the algorithms of how streaming platforms work. OK, let me ask you this. Who is it? Did you have anything to say? I want to go back a little bit. I know you said that your father was not in your well. You were raised by your single mom. Right. Where was your dad? My dad was, man, you know, Papa was rolling stone. Yeah, I get I'm saying like he and today me and my dad have a cool relationship. You know, I'm saying we good. I think then you didn't have. But then he wasn't he wasn't there. You know, I'm saying he wasn't there. So, you know, do you think that impacted your life as a young boy growing up? Um, I think when when a household doesn't have both parents, it's impactful, regardless of how it impacts whether it's negatively or positively. It's impactful. So did it impact my life? Definitely. But I would say that. It made me a more determined man. OK, you know, I'm saying it made me more determined to be there for my family. So because a lot of people I know become rebellious and start to act out and do all of that sort of stuff. I was never that with my parents. I was never rebellious.  What he did? No, I don't. You know, I'm saying, do I understand what he did to an extent? But it doesn't. It doesn't justify. Ask him, why did you?  I've had conversations with her. I had conversations with my pops. Like as a child, you have to get the understanding of your parents before you. You know, I'm saying. That's right. So you can understand why why you are exactly. So I did that. I had what you want to break that you don't want it passed down. Right, right.  We didn't come from knowledge of wealth. You know what I'm saying? We didn't come from knowledge of finance, financing. You know what I'm saying? I'm financing. We didn't come from. A lot of black families don't educate their kids on finances. Well, a lot of black families don't have the education on finance. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. So with that being that, that's what I wanted to break. You know what I'm saying? No. That's the bridge. That's the, yeah. And you have a child, right? I do. How old? She'll be 13 in November. Okay. And you were with the mom? No, I'm not. I'm not with the mom. So you have that broken home again? Right, right. But what we do, we do, we co-parent. We're very good at that. There's no, because me, my mom didn't deal with my dad at all. You know what I'm saying? We was here with that. Complete separation. So you see some coming together somewhat. Yeah, but granted, we're not, I'm not with my child's mother, but we do the absolute best at co-parenting.  Exactly. It's her. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. That's awesome. I said, man, you just describing a lot of brothers that's, you know what I mean? Coming up in the inner city, right?  Stronger, yeah. And I know that to be a fact. You know me, I'm a fast forward. Right back into the music. Go ahead. I want to ask you about just UGK and their impact on the whole Houston culture and what they mean to it. Yeah, well, UGK is definitely important to, you know, Southern Texas period. There you go. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, because they are, of course they're Port Arthur, but they was with Jay Prince and everybody else. They were up here. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, Barn Ribs, Houston, he lives out here. Yes. You know, he sold love to PA and he sold love to Houston. You know what I'm saying? So impactful, very impactful. I remember Jay Prince told a story about how when he first heard that, was it too hard to swallow that first album that he drove fast as he could down there because he wanted to, you know, just sign them and just be with them and just love what he had heard in that album. They were an iconic group, man. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You couldn't, it's nothing, you can't mention Southern music without UGK. They are the kings of the underground. Like, it's no question with that. You know what I'm saying? They have made so much influence. So many influences, it's such a big impact in just Southern, not just Houston, Texas, Texas alone, Louisiana, Mississippi. You got crit, you wouldn't have crit if it wasn't for UGK. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. I definitely agree. Do you know Bunn personally? I know Bunn a few. I've been in the same room. Well, like he's done records for my artists. You know what I'm saying?  You know what I'm saying? Okay. Another one of my artists, Dougie Dee, who's from Guerrilla Mob, I don't know if y'all are in the group of Guerrilla Mob, but that's Trey Zero, Dougie Dee. That's Guerrilla Mob. Dougie is one of my artists now. You know what I'm saying? So, he's on the single so hard with Dougie. You know what I mean? So I wanted to know, is there a story that you can enlighten us on of something that maybe Bunn told you about or just, you know? How far away did he influence you? How far away? Yeah, I can say more of an influence because me and Bunn hadn't had any interaction with him. In-depth conversation. We've talked, but you know what I'm saying? Like just in-depth conversation to where something he's just, you know, it would be something I took from it. You know what I mean? That's right. But I took a lot from his career though. Correct. You know what I'm saying? Like...  Yeah, yeah. He was at U of H. U of H, yeah, that's dope. But just the biggest thing with Bunn that I could take away from what he's done is consistency. Dope. Consistency. Bunn never stops. Dope. You know what I'm saying? He never stops. Do you think that when you look at... Just overall, when you look at like back in the days, the big hawks, the fadpats, you know what I'm saying? R.I.P. to them boys, man. Definitely. That whole time, that was a different time for me. You know what I mean? That was a whole movement in itself. That was a golden age of... Right. That's why I said Austin a while ago because I thought about fadpats. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, man, I remember, you know, he was frequenting down there in Austin.  You know what I'm saying? Yeah. They loved him out there. Man, like, Hulk was... Man, Hulk... I've met Hulk probably like four, five times. The first time I compensated with Hulk, I was on a three-way call with him and Zero. And Ro was like, hold on, I'm finna call Hulk. He called Hulk. This was probably like 2002. Okay. You know what I'm saying? He was like, man, I'm finna call Hulk. I think they had a show. You know what I'm saying? And he was asking Hulk, can he do one of the songs that he got with Zero? And Hulk was such a humble, cool person, man. Like he was... He said, he told Ro, he say, you know, I mean, he didn't pay for this show. Ro didn't pay for this show. At that time, man, we probably getting like five, six hundred hours for a show. He told him, man, you know, I see, you know, what he can get you for. He said, man, Ro, don't worry about that, man. Get your money. I'm gonna come and do it for you. Already? You know what I'm saying? That's dope.  You know what I mean? And he just gonna come and make this appearance for Ro. Do this song that he did with Ro at his show for nothing, you know what I'm saying? And, you know, that let me know that Hulk was a real general, man. He was a real person, you know what I'm saying? And I actually met him a few times after they talked to him before he passed. He actually agreed to do a song with me. Wow. And we never got to do it. Yeah, but dope, dope that y'all even had the interaction, right? Yeah. Do you think people come to Houston and steal different things and go take it back home? Think? Like I know that they do. You see what I'm saying? We got evidence, you know what I'm saying? I've seen you on a name one. I'm not gonna, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna take it lightly, but I'm just saying, like I've seen guys who when that era was going on, dipped up in here, tried to, you know, it was a plot. I seen it as a plot, you know, to separate, because you can divide something, you can try to, you know, knock it out the box. And I seen that and it frustrated me. I'm not gonna say no name, but I know exactly the times, because I love music. I'm a hip hop head.  I can't believe it. You know, it was some things with, when you look at the, I mean, I go back and look at all of the eras. I'm not gonna name, because I love everybody and I'm friends with a lot of these guys too. But I can say that Houston has some dope and I think people've seen that and I think it was also, it wasn't done on a way that where I'm a directly affected, but I'm gonna do things to where, you know, I don't like what they got. We need that over here. Right, right. You feel what I'm saying? We want that movement over here. Houston was probably one of the biggest victims of the culture version. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. Definitely, we've had so many styles and things taken from us, or stolen, let me say it that way. They're stolen. Stolen from us, you know what I'm saying? And they went, but again, if we had things set up the right way. You said it earlier. They could have never stolen. They couldn't have ever stolen because you'd have had it right. You'd have had it right. What's your top three artists of all time, man? Dead or live? That's a question I ask on every episode. Any genre. Dead or live? Any genre too. So we different, across the board, number one. Well, I love hip-hop. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. So, but my top three artists of all times, I always go with pop because just. Two-Bop, that's a dope choice. Pop, face. Number two, face. We didn't get to talk about face once, but that's my boy right there. Love is new. He lives here, right? Yeah, yeah. You can't get a bad verse out of him. I betcha that. Nah, you're not gonna get a bad verse out of him. Number three. And number three, Al Green, man. He went back. Yeah, he went, he went all the way back. Like, that dude was music, man. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I listened to him today. And he go in, don't he? Yeah, man. He was such a unique voice. He just, like, his music was music, man. You turn on Al Green, you know it's Al Green. Dope, man. You know what I'm saying? I love Al Green. Yeah, yeah, I love him too, man. Yeah, if I had to go four, I'd say Bob Marley and then, you know, five, I'd round up my top five. You know I'm not letting you do all that. We only doing three. But what's up with Beyonce, man? She from down here too, Megan Thee Stallion. Yeah, cause you didn't have no females on the top three. No, no, no, we ain't talking about that. I'm just asking him. No, I'm not, no, I'm not. I was asking him.  Oh, yeah, Beyonce first and then Megan Thee Stallion being the first rapper from Texas. Well, I'll say Beyonce, Beyonce is unmatched, you know what I'm saying, with what she done. You know what I'm saying, how far she took it. Megan, man, I love with Megan. She the first rapper from Texas that to blow up like that, bruh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Period, I ain't talking about just from Houston, I'm talking about from Texas. Megan, first female. Yeah, first female artist, that's right. Yeah, yeah, she puts boundaries that, you know, male artists has been trying to do. Oh man, to be a female and to do that, man, I never would have seen that coming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I didn't think about it. Me and I think it was me and DeRoe. And we was like, she the first female when he was on my cell, I was like, you right DeRoe, she the first one. Because we never thought about it before that, you know.  Like, well, as far as her delivery is super dope. You know what I'm saying?  Going in. It's crazy. Wow. So what do you think about Erica Banks? I hadn't heard much of her. She's still young in the game. Yeah, but like the song she have, I think it's a dope. Like it's actually a sample of one of my favorite Nellie songs. Oh yeah.  Yeah, yeah. So I think it's pretty dope, you know what I'm saying? But I hadn't heard much of her.  I think she got a long road ahead, but I think she's gonna be dope. So what else do you expect from your label? Like the next two years, where do you see HUD Entertainment? I see us being the pinnacle in face of what Houston business should look like. Okay, so what you saying that and you're still, what Houston, how are you or do you ever plan on trying to bridge that gap between Dallas and Houston? Yeah, I see the thing, like I say, I've been, I was going to Dallas back in the day, so I've worked with Dallas artists a lot back then. I'm definitely, I'm about togetherness, you know what I'm saying? But I know to fix a problem, you have to fix it at the source, and my source is Houston, you know what I'm saying? So once I can fix it here, then maybe other people will see what's going on and then they can, cause you know, with this music, everything is about what's trending. And if we could trend business, then we can change business. You know what I'm saying is, you know what the pioneer of it is, the Dallas and Houston thing, for his prison, for his football teams, all this stuff is causing a big rivalry. It's always been a rivalry and that's, but that's the fun part of it. But you can have a good rivalry, right? But you know what I'm telling the truth, that's the core of it. The core of it, okay, the Dallas, Dallas, the football teams, the football teams, you know what I'm saying? The basketball team, but mainly football. Basketball or mainly football. So that's supposed to be a fun rivalry. Right. You know what I'm saying? But when you're in the can, it's niggas that watch those games. They serious. And it's serious. You know what I'm saying? Then you get into fights with niggas like over Dallas. So it then it becomes a real problem. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? So it's- People can get killed behind it. And people have gotten killed. And people have gotten killed. So it's deeper than just music. Cause I don't even think it's a problem on a music Houston Dallas scene. You know what I'm saying? I really don't- I don't either. I don't see the problem. I think it's more the rivalry thing that keeps that wedge in between. Yeah. That's what I think. But anyway, man, you giving us a dope interview, man. You open your doors up to us. Man, hey, man, I'm coming back. Yeah, I set my cameras outside that door and be sitting there, nigga just recording when you get here. You know what I'm saying? Man, you're welcome back, man. I appreciate you talking about it. Thank you so much, man. For real, man. Hey, man, we love you, brother. Man, I love you back, brother. Yeah, man. Hey, man, it's been another great segment of Bostock 101. And we out.


Thank you, so that's all the NGOs that will be helping out in Batch 2, so how many of you are excited for the technical boot camera already? Make some noise! Okay, that was actually a very risky question to ask because I don't know if you guys are all scared of the NGOs and you know it may just be dead silence, then I'll just do a dance or something. Do the dance anyway. No. So, let's talk about something important, right? So after you see all these amazing NGOs and the coaches that you want to work with, so the question is right, how do you apply to the program? So this time round we're going to need prospective applicants to finish a technical test before you can fill out the application form. So the selection process is not complete science, we want to help people who wants to be helped. But it's very hard to measure how one individual needs another, so I hope you are patient with us in this aspect. We do our best, but of course we haven't got it to a T. So maybe you're thinking, okay I don't know any coding at all, all this slack, trello, all this stuff, it just works. Don't worry. We created, we sort of like, I guess we created, we made you do a task before you can apply because in the first batch I had 130 applicants for nine spots and it's at mean hell. I have a full-time job and I don't want to go through that again. So to help you complete the technical task, we're going to help you get there through a series of workshops, you might want to take a photo of that because they are half gone and we have only spaces for 60. So one of the questions that a lot of people ask is, do I need to go all three? So the answer is no. We break up the workshops into specific topics. So if you're comfortable with the topic, you can skip that workshop. And of course like if you are not in Singapore for that workshop, we will also be uploading the resources. We're trying to get you as much technical knowledge as we can to help you complete the task. Oh, also these workshops are all paid to minimize no-shows. Again full scholarship is provided. This is another slide that you want to take a picture of too because it's all the deadlines. So today is the info session and this Saturday, next Saturday and the following Saturday we will be having the pre-boot camp workshops of which next Friday we will release the task that you need to complete before you can apply for the program. And of course the application process period will start then and all the way to the first week of September, of which then we may interview and send you more questions just to ask about your application process or talk to you to really understand your motivation and what you're trying to achieve out of it because we're all here to help. Then the entire boot camp will last from the 24th to the 3rd of December. So we will meet every Saturday and then we'll have party. So now let's do maybe like quick 5 to 10 minutes of Q&A. Does anyone has any questions about the projects that we're doing, the coaches who are teaching or application process, anything? You can also email me, okay go ahead. So the question is how do you assign the participants to the NGO and also the project? So the participants get the choose. So in one, there may be cases where one project is a lot more popular than the other. Then it's just sort of like demand supply I guess. Any other questions? Okay, go for it. The truthful answer is we don't know. So that's why we want to have the first workshop first. Just to understand how much is actually realistically possible. Then we will sort of like, we have a plan of what we want to task, what the task is about, but we are going to adjust it based on the first workshop. So it definitely has to be doable within the application period. Any more questions? Okay, go for it. So the question is, is the technical task hosted somewhere? The answer is yes. We're going to try and make you push something out into the internet, but of course we definitely help you give you the resources and the knowledge to do that. So it's going to be fun. I can see your own URL and show off, share it on Facebook. Any more questions? Okay, on the back. So the question is, do you have to attend at least one of the workshops to qualify for the task? The answer is no. The workshops are here to help you, to give you the skills to complete the task. If you feel like you have enough knowledge to complete the task, you can skip it. Does that answer? Yes. Okay. Yeah, well, we have some resources available on the Eventbrack page already. So you can try and take a look and see if it's all Greek, then you probably need to come to the workshop. If it's like English, then maybe not. Yeah. Is there a language we're looking at? Ruby? Ruby. Ruby. The language is, so the question is, where will the task be hosted and what language it will be. So the language will be Ruby. In terms of where we'll blast out the task, we'll blast it out everywhere. So my... It means where's the task going to get deployed? You're going to build a simple web app and you're going to deploy it to the real community. Okay. So she's asking, where will the task be hosted? And the answer is it's hero go and it's free. Yeah. So actually for the workshops, right, there's three workshops and there's only 65 participants for the workshop. And we know there's a limit to how many we can host. Yeah. But at the same time, these workshops are going to be recorded by engineers for NGA. Oh, is that confirmed? Yes. Oh, awesome. Thank you. Okay. So the workshops will be recorded. Thanks to Michael and his engineers. So don't worry if you can't make it. I'll still advise you to come because you got to ask questions. And I think as a beginner, it's so important because everything just looks like great. I don't even understand sometimes. Okay. Last question. Go for it. I think it may be tough. What do you guys think? It could be kind of. Ideally would be great if you did in Ruby and Rails because that's what we're going to be doing for the bootcamp. But I mean, if you demonstrate that you're capable of learning Ruby and Rails during the bootcamp, depending on what you're showing off when you build, because it's kind of an open end task, we could probably be convinced. That's my own opinion. What do you guys think? We will just follow it, Gabe. I want to say that this is my opinion. Well, it would definitely be more comfortable with Ruby on Rails. Agreed. Or at least some NBC framework that is very similar to Ruby on Rails. Jango. Jango for Python or Jango for Ruby. Yeah, guys, I think you just lost everyone. Ideally Ruby, again, we have an idea but we're not set in stone yet. So we're going to tell the whole world on the 12th of August. Okay. So that's all about the bootcamp part. There's also another part to the event. So the coaches and the NGOs will be here. So I'll be here. So just feel free to approach us. So next will be the panel discussion. And what I really want to talk about is with programming skills, what can you do? Pretty much. So let's put our hands together to welcome our panel speakers, Nitya, Audrey and Olivia.