All right welcome to the youth ministry course. Hope you all are doing well. Thank you for joining in You get started. Can I request Kandan? Could you start us off with a word of prayer, please?  You can hear me Can I have a prayer, please? Father God, we come before you, throw in once again Father God and we want to say thank you Father God to your promises and your word and you present Father God, thanking you Father God Give your wisdom and knowledge that we can understand the subject and notes Father God and apply to your kingdom Help us to understand the subject The timing and the all the students are meeting to your hand. Father God take care of every side Almighty Jesus name be pray amen Thank you for coming to our rescue Okay, let's just continue with where we left off in the youth ministry, right? In the last class we saw the important things in chapter one As to how the world defines youth, who are the youth Chapter one was all about why is youth ministry important And addressing that question, we saw who the youth are And what the world defines and describes them as And we saw why is it important, the importance of youth And their role and impact in our society Okay, and we saw that India is one of the youngest nations And it's going to be that way for at least another 15, 20 years And so we are rich where it comes to young people in our nation And that led to this last question What is the church going to do about it? And what is the Bible say about the youth And the importance that God gave to raising up young leaders And the heart that he has for young people, teenagers and the youth So that's what we covered in chapter one Chapter two is going to be about youth ministry with a vision That's the title of the chapter In youth ministry with a vision I want to check again if I am audible Everybody is speaking, I know Prince said I know Kiran can hear me but there is Kanan and Thomas I want to make sure that you Cool Great, so youth ministry with a vision So in your own words, what do you think What comes to your mind when you hear the word vision Why is it important? You know Prince, Thomas, Kanan, vision What comes to your mind when you first hear that word Learning for the future Learning for the future, okay In the dictionary, okay You know, okay Thanks Kiran What does it say? You don't have to give just one answer Vision, what is the difference between vision and sight? Okay, so youth ministry with a vision It's simple, it's like what Prince said It's planning for future and one thing is to look at it that way And all of you would have planned something about your life And that part of the plan could be getting a degree from the Bible college You could see the Bible college, right It's like, okay, I want to get there I want to become a pastor I want to pastor the church at so and so age Or I want to teach theological subjects And you know, in my city, et cetera So you have that vision that goes And so getting a degree, Bible college degree It's part of that, you know, it's a mission And to fulfill that vision Because you have a vision for your life You have planned ahead, you've seen, okay This is where I want to go This is where I want to be at Say in three years from now and four years from now And five years from now, okay So that's basically having like a long-term plan So that's interpreted as vision, right So, and if you look at the notes And I can share Okay, so we see here a simple definition for vision It's given as a vivid to imaginative conception Or anticipation, okay Let's conceive, conception, the word is okay There's an imagination in your head So you're seeing that's another vision, okay So I prefer to define it as a goal That you have set out to accomplish, right It's exactly what Prince said, okay To define it as a goal, like a future plan Okay, that you have set to accomplish That means you're going to fulfill it That's the dictionary definition So in our context of youth ministry Now this is applicable for every area of ministry Like a vision for the worship ministry and the church Etc, etc But since we are talking about youth ministry In our context, if you, as a worship ministry If the youth ministry of your church Does not have a vision, like a plan Okay, this is where I want the youth ministry to be at Like the young people to be equipped with so and so things This is what I want to do If you don't have that then it is going to be hard To guide your team, like your pastoral team Or your youth, your core team, etc In the direction you want them to go Look at those goals, okay Direction you want them to go, right So I mean, I'm sure you've heard this old saying A blind cannot lead another blind A blind person cannot lead another blind person Why? Because the blind person who is leading in the front Does not have vision So they don't know where they are going But because they do not know where they are going The person behind them or the people behind them Also don't know where they are going So they are blindly following So if you do not have a vision for your ministry For your youth ministry Then it becomes very hard to direct To lead your team So lacking a goal or vision Will also make it difficult to measure accomplishments Okay, what does this mean? Lacking a goal or vision Will also make it difficult to measure accomplishments Measuring is, okay, so you have these numbers So let's just say, okay, first tier Okay, you are my team I say, okay, you know, Kiran, Thomas, Hanan, Prince Okay, for first tier, this is what I want us to do With youth ministry I want to make sure we have some outreaches Every month there has to be a youth meeting Or every Sunday there has to be a youth meeting Every week, right, et cetera, et cetera So we have small goals, right, okay Every Sunday or Saturday We're going to have a youth meeting And every Wednesday we will have a youth Bible study And every fourth Saturday of the month We will go out into the city and do street evangelism Okay, so we've kind of set some targets Now, in January we started, we started doing this And at the end of the year, in December We will come together as a team And we discuss, okay, now we are going to measure Right, okay, how many youth meetings did we have In this month, in this month and so on and so on Okay, and how many street evangelisms did we do? Okay, and then you're going to measure and check Okay, just the numbers, the conflicts Okay, you know, we missed out a couple of months For so and so reasons Because of this, we could not do that And because of the COVID pandemic No, we could not do street evangelism Okay, whatever, you know You are able to measure, right At the end of the year But if you did not have any vision Okay, let's see how, you know As Christians, I think we can We have the tendency to use this You know, we'll go as the law leads As the law, you know We use that as an excuse Not to plan, okay That's just a lazy excuse basically Right, it's not to plan, not to, you know So having a vision For the youth ministry Will not only one help you lead your team Direct them, but it will also help you Measure the accomplishments, right How do you know if you are If you're ever reaching something If you don't have a goal Of having a youth ministry with no vision Is like running on a spiritual treadmill Okay, it's like running on a spiritual treadmill So we all know what is a treadmill, isn't it You've seen in the gyms, some people's homes They are running, but they are in the same place Right, okay So, you know, leading a ministry without a vision Is like running on a spiritual treadmill You're trying to do a lot of things You're doing something But then you're in the same place There's no growth, there's no Yeah, there's no growth, okay There's no real momentum, okay So that's the importance And I think we already kind of captured The importance of having a vision For the youth ministry, okay And that is the kind of question I asked when I started Taking over the youth ministry at APC I had to ask myself, okay What is the purpose of this youth ministry At APC And then you go and seek And you pray, father What do you want to see What do you want to do with the youth ministry In our church It's important to ask that question, right Why, why do we exist Why are we doing this, what is our purpose, etc And so I began this journey Of being a youth pastor with that question What is the purpose, right And do we just need for, you know Funding games, we come together Get together, spend time, laugh And go, is that the purpose of it, right Because we can do that anywhere We do that with our friends, we go to our relative soul And just have a time to get together, right But youth ministry is something more than that It's not just time of getting together And having fun and there is growth There's equipping, right There is discipleship, etc, etc So by starting with that question As to what is the purpose of the youth ministry We will begin by, you know Just coming to these five points These five pillars, so to speak No purposes that we could create on our own Be more complete than the five God Has already divinely created for us This is how we started at ABC But it doesn't necessarily mean It has to be your church vision as well Or this has to be the same approach that you do You can contextualize it See what suits best for your ministry For your church, etc So these were the five pillars What kind of divinely created for us Which is evangelism, worship, fellowship Discipleship and ministry So on their own, just ministry, discipleship They might not mean a lot Doesn't seem like it's too general To understand But let's start putting it in context And see where is all that coming from So those five purposes Are built around these two great scriptures One is the great commandment And the other is a great commission So let's take a look at great commandment From Matthew chapter 22 verse 37 to 40 What it says Jesus replied So if you read the verses before this 35, 36, you see a bunch of Pharisees People of the law coming and asking Not asking questions but questioning Jesus As to what is the greatest law And Jesus replies to them this way It says, love the Lord your God With all your heart, with all your soul And with all your mind This is the first and greatest commandment And the second is like it Love your neighbor as yourself All the law and prophets Hang on these two commandments Okay, that's Matthew 22 right But I'm just turning to the book of James What I'm saying very quickly Okay, so in James chapter 2 verse 8 James chapter 2 verse 8 This is what it says If you really keep the royal law Found in scripture Love your neighbor as yourself You are done right Now James is also quoting this scripture And from James chapter 2 verse 8 And now he's calling this great commandment Which is love your neighbor as yourself He's using another set of words that says That is the royal law A royal law simply is to refer to a law That has come from the king's throne When the king has decreed a law saying Okay, for example In the medieval period in England No one was supposed to hunt the deers of the forest All the deers of the forest belonged to the king And if anybody hunted the deer They were called as the outlaws Robin Hood is one of those stories So that was the law from the throne From the king Nobody is supposed to hunt the deers Okay, that's a royal law Now imagine how it would be If we were to treat this thing as the royal law Like James is saying The second is like it Love your neighbor as yourself All the law on top is hanging on these two commandments Let's move on And next we have the great commission Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit And teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age 28, 29, 29 So we know these scriptures They're very familiar to us But when you translate it When you break it down It's sentence by sentence, line by line This is what it means Love the Lord your God with all your heart With all your soul and all your mind It simply can be replaced with the word worship That's what it is Loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength That's worship And then love your neighbor as yourself Ministry Love your neighbor as yourself And remind you of another scripture Please bear with me I'm going to Hebrews Yeah, okay I forget the words of my apologies But in Hebrews, I think either chapter six I think it says I've seen the way how much you love me By the deeds that you were doing for others Okay, I'm paraphrasing it This is God saying You have shown me how much you love me By serving others Okay, that is translated as ministry Ministry simply means serving, isn't it? Right? So love your neighbor as yourself It is so important That's a royal law It says if you serve one another That means you are expressing How much you love me Okay, so that's ministry Are you ready for the thing? I hope you are Okay, so that's two things from the first verse The great commandment And now from great commission we see Go and make disciples Go and make disciples That's translated as evangelism Baptizing them What does baptism mean? Baptism simply means immersion Okay, that's covered completely Okay, so that's what happens when you go on The water is your immersed, isn't it? When you take baptism So bringing them in In other words, that's what it is So baptizing them simply means After you evangelize to them You are now bringing them into the covenant Into the fellowship of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit Okay, and then teaching them to obey That is discipleship Okay, so you see how beautiful it is That it doesn't just end with evangelism With evangelism is followed by fellowship That you are bringing them in And that is followed by discipleship So there is a clear progression Right? Worship We love God But always And then minister to one another Serve one another That is communicated with loving your neighbor as yourself And then go and make disciples Bring them in and teach them to obey Okay, so with these five things It was like the five pillars That kind of giving us the youth ministry At APC, a purpose to work towards You know, to progress To grow in these areas Okay, now with just a few pointers And you can go through these scriptures And I'm just elaborating it a little bit more for us You know, and we've studied quite a bit On worship in our first years, right? And there are so many things It's not just about song and music But celebrating God's presence And honoring him with our lives And his worship, praying his worship Hearing the word, reading the word Meditating on the word of God Is worship, right? Baptizing, giving, communion All of that is part of worship Okay, in all these ways we are expressing And telling, I'm loving the Lord With all my heart, soul, might and strength And then we see ministry, right? Meeting needs with love Okay, God has blessed every believer With special gifts to be used for ministry The student youth ministry shouldn't have to wait Until they are adults to minister, okay? It's very important that we choose in our churches We don't wait for them to become adults For them to get them to start serving Okay, get them young Okay, he teach them to serve in the church Okay, whatever it is, right? And I'm sure most of us can relate to it, right? In my teenagers, me and so many of my friends We were the first ones to be a church on a Saturday Setting up sound and whatnot And the last ones to be on a Sunday You know, so we don't have to be wait Until you are a professional or whatnot Until you're old or adults to start serving But get them young, right? The healthy youth ministry will constantly encourage The youth to discover their gifts And put them in practice through ministry And mission opportunities Mission strip, okay, that's another thing We'll talk more about it in just a bit When the purpose of ministry is applied When the purpose of serving, in other words Is applied, we will graduate youth students Youth ministries rather than program attendees Okay, when the purpose of ministry That's serving one another is applied You will graduate so the youth are no longer People who will come to your programs But now they are youth ministers as well Okay, student ministers won't graduate From their faith when they graduate From the youth ministry, okay So ministry is super, super important In other words, serving Is very important in ministry In youth ministry Evangelism, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ With those who don't yet have a personal relationship with Him We all know what evangelism is all about, right? Pay attention, this is the most Weekly expressed purpose, right? Why? Because it is difficult to fulfill On a program level, now we can just say We are going to have an evangelism outreach We don't know how many of them are going to Give their lives to Jesus We just can't have a certain number, right? And then it is very threatening, okay? On a personal level, especially now With all these anti-conversion bills coming up It's very threatening, isn't it? How do we go about and share the gospel? Right? So, as challenging as it is It's always been challenging during the gospel farming Jesus' time We continue to ask God for wisdom and guidance And the other leadership must model the purpose Of evangelism, okay? When this purpose is evident in a youth ministry Growth will happen Not because of an evangelistic program But because of evangelistic students I hope you are paying attention, right? When this purpose is evident When the heart of evangelism is caught By every individual Growth will happen The numbers will increase Not because of one evangelistic program Not because you had one evangelism outreach program Or a conference But the growth will happen Because of evangelistic students Or young people who are coming Who are part of youth ministry Who are youth ministers themselves, right? As we read in the previous point So that's evangelism And fellowship God did not intend for Christians to live in isolation We know that, right? We were built We were made for community And I think God made that point very clear When he said, it is not good for man to be alone, right? So we need each other God did not intend for Christians to live in isolation Isolation means all by yourself You know, I don't want anybody else I just want to be by myself We were not made for that, okay? But in fellowship with other believers And to be identified as the body of Christ To be identified as the body of Christ, okay? And then discipleship So the building up or strengthening of believers In their quest to be like Christ Now we can talk an entire month On just this topic Or more than a month On just the topic of discipleship, right? The importance of discipleship And how discipleship was During the time of Jesus Okay, it was a huge moment During the time of Jesus Especially in the town called Galilee Okay, where every town would have a synagogue And every synagogue would have a head rabbi And every rabbi will have disciples Okay, and it's wonderful Like I said, we can talk about discipleship a lot Like the foundations of the background The history of discipleship How it came to be And how it was during In their culture, in their context It's wonderful And no wonder Jesus stressed On the importance of discipleship Why he took those people under his wings To change the world Okay, so if Jesus chose discipleship And the disciples And the process of making disciples And building them is called discipleship, isn't it? And so if Jesus chose the method of discipleship To change the world How much more do we need to understand The importance of discipleship, yes? So it's important to have all these five folds In a ministry In a youth ministry, right? So I hope you guys are with me And listening But so the challenge was Okay, now we have these five purpose As mentioned, in a God-given purpose Worship, ministry, evangelism, fellowship And discipleship, okay? How do we make it a little bit more interesting? How can we be a little bit more creative And communicate what this is all about To not just to the core team But also to the youth who will be joining Who will be attending your youth meetings, etc So we did this exercise With all of the above How do you come up with a purpose or a vision statement? With all of the above Using, you know, worship, evangelism, ministry, etc We wanted to come up with a vision statement Right? When we come to APC or watching it online You know, every Sunday we play the vision of APC The vision of all people's churches To be the salt and light in the city of Bangalore And the nation of India and the nations Right? That's the vision statement Okay, so it's very clear We are called to be the salt and light So now that we have the purpose in youth ministry Worship, evangelism, etc, etc We want to come up with a vision statement Now, we have to be very careful Not to come up with a vision statement Just for the sake of coming up with a vision statement And, you know, kind of separate the whole thing From the church's main vision It had to be in line with the church's vision Right? It had to be in line with the church's vision Just because we are another wing of the church Let's say youth ministry We can't just take off and say Okay, that's the vision of the church And we are on doing something else You know, how do we plan and bring it together? So, we use this a few key pointers And I think it's wonderful for you also To work with your core team To come up with a vision statement Do it as an exercise It's important for you all to come together And brainstorm So, a few pointers on how you can come up With your own vision statement First thing, keep it simple I think fancy doesn't have to be complicated Keep it simple and make it meaningful It should be action oriented What is that? Action oriented? It should be done It should make me want to do Word became flesh The word became flesh It became, that's a verb So, there has to be action involved It should be action oriented It should be compelling So, I am called to go and evangelize I am called to go and make disciples So, it should be compelling It should make me want to do things So, these are the four things to keep in mind You can add more, this is just a few pointers On how to come up with a purpose statement Vision statement And now that we have these five words For worship, evangelism, discipleship ministry You can look up something called The alternative words for worship You can start to go to the dictionary Online and say, what are the synonymous words Similar words or alternative words That can be used instead of worship Evangelism, discipleship, what not We listed out a few synonymous Alternative words for worship We can put, okay, you can also use the word Exalt or passion or offer Or fellowship, we use enjoy Encourage, care or evangelism We can use the word expose or exposure Spread, reach, discipleship Equip, share, develop ministry In other words, that can be used This experience, service and serving Okay, now there can be more words guys I'm just putting a few things in So, now that we have all of this sorted This is the exercise Me and my core team did Okay, now how do we use all of these How do we use these pointers How do we keep it simple How do we make it meaningful How do we make it action oriented And how do we make it compelling Using all these synonymous words How do we do it, okay For example, we have all these words It can look like this The goal of our student ministry Or youth ministry is to expose What is expose? See evangelism, okay So we are using evangelism Without using the word evangelism So the goal of our student ministry Or youth ministry is to expose Okay, evangelize Teenages to God's love To equip To equip In other words, we are saying Discipleship to disciple them Or to equip them to exalt God To worship God Enjoy other believers here Enjoy fellowship other believers And experience the work of the ministry And experience the work of the ministry Experience, right So this is just an example This is not yet a vision statement So this is an example that we put together But so using the same exercise This is the purpose statement We came up with the ABC team The ABC youth ministry exists to equip Equip and empower, that's a discipleship there Equip and empower young people To become true worshippers of Jesus Who love people Love is the alternate synonym That was used for evangelism That's another word we came up with And spread evangelism Spread his love in the city of Bangalore And the nation of India Okay, you see, it is pretty much in line with The church's vision as well So the youth ministry, the ABC youth ministry Exists to equip and empower young people To become true worshippers of Jesus Who love people and spread his love In the city of Bangalore and the nation of India Okay, so now there is a vision There is a direction Okay, now we know what we're going to do And so every program that we plan Every youth meeting, weekly youth meeting Monthly youth meeting, youth camps Youth retreat, youth conference, et cetera Any program that we want to do Will revolve around these things Okay, that's our question Now, I want you to listen to this very carefully And we will talk about this in the next chapter too As well, but I thought I'd mention it right away Is you cannot achieve all of these five things In one program It will become a very chaotic program Right, you can't try to So you plan a program according to Who your audience is Like I said, we learn more about it in the next chapter But I just want to make that Put that out here We have a clear vision and a direction And so it's not enough For us to have a vision statement It's not just enough to have You know, to have a clear idea of what we want to do And it's not just enough to Even just explain it to your youth In your church This is our vision, this is what we want to do Okay, now the next question is How are we going to do that? Right, we address the why We address the what And the next question is, okay So how are we going to do that? How are you going to equip me? How are you going to empower me To become true worshipers? How are you going to equip? How are you going to teach me to spread his love in the city? Okay, so to communicate that To our young people We tell them, okay We have some of these platforms Or events or programs that happen in church Where all of this can be addressed Like all of these five purposes Not can be addressed For example, we have something called A platform called worship nights Where you can come and be part of Where you can just worship Jesus And become his worship by spending time with him That's one platform When we have a weekend school of praise and worship You can come and be part of it And learn about praise and worship And what it's going to do It's going to equip you Empower you to become true worshipers Of Jesus, right? Okay, where's the other platform For me to serve? To serve one another How do I love my neighbor? So for that we have so many Volunteering teams We have at least 19 Volunteering teams at ATC Where you can be part of The ushering team, the connect team The member care team And the list goes on, right? The set of team, etc, etc And some of you have been part of it So you know, what are you doing there Is you are serving one another That's a platform where you can You know, love people, isn't it? And then mission strip When we go on a mission strip We go to a different church So other people there It's another perfect platform to To learn about ministry and serving Right? And then evangelism We have platforms where you can Go and spread his love In our city is one of Couple of platforms is campus elevates That's where we go to schools and colleges In my hand I have these programs Again, you guys have been part of it And have some outreach programs And When it comes to fellowship We have platforms like life groups Monthly youth meeting Pit stoppers, combined youth meeting Youth camps, right? Life groups, some say Is the life of the church Is the life of the ministry That's where, you know Weekly church happens That's the time of fellowship And growth, etc, etc And then you have discipleships Where you equip and empower Once again, that happens in life groups And Not just that We have so many resources Available on our church website We have a church app Where you can watch videos Listen to 5 minute Devotionals We have ABC Publications So all of those resources Can be used to Equip and empower ourselves We are sitting on a gold mine As what I tell my Young people is that There's so much of resources Abundance of resources If you just dig deeper and search And meditate and make use of it Okay, so after We've addressed why and what And how, you know, we've communicated To our young people saying this Okay, these are the ways In different ways that you can come And be part of And be part of this vision And be part of this purpose Etc etc Okay And so, you know, let's not just Be an ordinary ministry Just, you know, getting things done Going with the wind, you know, just one day at a time And whatnot But get a vision for your area of ministry And take it to another level Yeah Just leave with this thought Now This is probably 2019 Where there is no vision That people perish MS37 The sovereign Lord does nothing Without revealing His plan, right? Revealing His plan to His servants The sovereign Lord does nothing Without revealing His plans to His servants So what does God want Our ministry, organization Team to look like In three to five years from now What does He want to look like? So that's the question that you can probably Try and write And ask yourself What does God want you to do In this area of your ministry And I think that will be a very good place For you to start Okay I hope you guys are doing well And any questions I'll stop the recording And Just a second Thank you all for joining And tomorrow Yeah


Action. Reflection. Action. You do something, then you meet with someone who's done it before and they create space for you to reflect on what you did and why you did it and what it brought to the surface.  This process is the foundation of CPE. It's an immersive experience that provides the possibility for a paradigm shift. And in the words of Thomas Kuhn, though the world does not change with a change of paradigm, the person afterward works in a different world.


Echoes of World War II. July 10, 1943. The 7th United States Army is born at sea. Within hours, this powerful force of men and equipment would begin the invasion of Sicily. The long road toward the liberation of Europe would start here. Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr. led his newly formed army ashore. On Sicily, the 7th received its baptism in blood during a 38-day campaign. In August 1944, France experienced its second tourist influx that year as the combat-tested 7th Army, under its new commander, Lieutenant General Alexander Patch, made its way ashore along the southern coast of France. The 7th Army gaining momentum struck toward the Rome Valley, enjoyed the brief exhilaration of a liberating army, achieved dramatic contact with our 3rd Army at Saint-Bernard, maintained relentless pressure as it drove into Alsace-Lorraine. During the bitter winter of 1944-1945, the Nazi counter-offensive resulted in savage combat in the Colmar region. With the collapse of this desperate enemy assault, 7th Army regained its momentum and entered Germany as it pierced the legendary dragon's teeth of the Siegfried line. Across the heartland of the 3rd Reich, the 7th Army rolled through Frankfurt, Wurzburg, and the once beautiful city of Nuremberg.  The 7th Army, crowned in glory, paid tribute to its fallen colleagues as the war in Europe ended. This big picture is the story of the 7th Army, 20 years later. Patient is still Western Germany, and as an integral part of NATO, it is a checkmate to aggression through its leaders, the men who respond to that leadership, and its staggering array of equipment and firepower. Headquarters of 7th Army. From this headquarters comes the policy, direction and guidance required to maintain army-wide operations. The commanding general, Hugh Harris, prior to his new assignment, spoke about this Army which he had commanded and which he had come to know so well. 7th Army is perhaps the most formidable combat force that the people of the United States have ever maintained in peacetime. It is relatively large, it is mobile, and it is powerful. It has dual capable forces, able to fight in an atomic or in a more conventional environment. It is the key to the successful defense of the central portion of Western Europe. It takes a variety of elements to put a combat-ready army in the field. It takes training, schooling, performance of day-to-day military jobs, adequate assistance from support units, and many things. But the only way to be sure that these elements all work together in the right place and at the right time is to test these elements continually and thus determine that we know our business. We are and must be professionals. What is the image of this Army today? Near Munich, Germany, a fractional part of that image provides a glimpse into its complexity, massiveness, and specialization. This is the 5th Tank Battalion of the 32nd Armored Brigade. 72 M60 tanks, plus supporting wheeled and track vehicles, were massed to underscore General Harris' comments relating to 7th Army and the role it plays in protecting the Western defense line along the Iron Curtain. Not far from the main gate of 7th Army headquarters, this line of defense is the subject of studied attention. In this room, an operations officer conducts a briefing for the commanding general and his staff. The briefing here is hypothetical. The next one could be the real thing. Our armored cavalry screening forces are in contact with the enemy on the border here. Your forces are located as shown on the map in these locations. The German units are in position already.  It is felt that the objective of this particular attack, if it took place, would be along an axis toward Frankfurt. The armored cavalry regiments have reported that the enemy has crossed the border in several places in small strength. However, there has been no significant crossing of the border at this point. On the other side of this sign, the Communist world is a reality. The tranquil appearance belies the chasm that divides us from them. It is this very chasm, however, that necessitates constant vigilance of the border by patrols mounted in these M114 armored personnel carriers. For these squads, the patrol is akin to operating under combat conditions. At fixed observation posts and pre-selected vantage points, the border is the object of intense scrutiny. If aggression were to come, it would come from this direction. These patrols watch for indications of unusual border activity. Should observation indicate potential danger along this border, these patrols would report or initiate action for assistance. A flippetop like this is a flippetop 3-3-2-1. Request lead frog assistance. Assistance begins with this infantry squad boarding an H-34 helicopter. In the vicinity of the patrol activity, this squad disembarks, ready to provide whatever assistance is required as determined by the developing situation. Pated somewhere close to the check border is this typical base camp from which the patrol activity is directed. Periodically, each armored cavalry unit is relieved from border duty to undergo testing along with other units in one of the 7th Army training areas. The business of keeping a field army in the highest state of proficiency is an unending process. At Grafenwehr, the Army's largest training center in Germany, there is a constant arrival and departure of combat units. Here they are exposed to extensive training and comprehensive evaluation to determine combat readiness. Heavy equipment is brought in by flat car to a railhead. Here it is off-loaded and moved to camp sites. At these camps, the units prepare for movement to their tactical training areas and firing ranges. Units undergoing training reflect the cross-section of the combat elements that provide 7th Army with its massive deterrent power. The Tank Crew Qualification Course is an example of the precise evaluation of training which determines the combat readiness of 7th Army tank crews. Fire command, gunner, coax troops, identify up, fire on the way, takes the troops under fire with 100 rounds of coax ammunition. Upon completion of target number nine, the tank moves to the finish line, clears all weapons, and stands by for control. Are there any questions? Sergeant Elliott. Sir, how is target number nine scored? How is target number nine scored? Target number nine is scored by the assistant instructor from the back of the tank. Maximum coverage is 50 points. Are there any other questions? If there are no other questions, move out to your tanks. From the ready line, the tank commander moves his vehicle to the first of nine stations where every aspect of crew performance and proficiency will be tested and critiqued. On the Isar River north of Munich, an amphibious exercise is conducted under simulated combat conditions by elements of a mechanized rifle company to enable 7th Army to surmount any obstacle, to prepare the soldier for any combat situation. Early morning, vicinity Edar Oberstein. Altitude, 9,000 feet. Specialized unit, Army skydivers. Mission, marked landing zone for heliborne task force. Bridging techniques ensure movement over terrain obstacles that once would have impeded the momentum of combat units. This seemingly minor obstacle is actually 12 feet deep. Portable bridging equipment is a tailored support that can keep a combat unit moving. Accomplishment reflects a joint effort of French, German and American ingenuity. This equipment is used primarily to span large bodies of water to permit the movement of heavy equipment as well as foot soldiers. Each section can be used separately to ferry material, vehicles and troops. From evaluating and improving the techniques learned during the Korean War, 7th Army medical units have also responded to the need for faster action on the battlefield. His most advanced helicopters have been completely equipped to save lives and for rapid transport of casualties to nearby field hospitals. Ordnance repair vans are on call for on-the-spot repair work on or near the battlefield. There was a time when the replacement or repair of such an artillery part would have meant hours, even days of delay in the availability of a critically needed weapon system. Now, within minutes, this self-propelled weapon will be back in action as the result of advanced techniques of 7th Army ordinance. Throughout Germany, 7th Army maintains an awesome inventory of missiles, each designed to provide a tailored link to Western defense. This hawk missile sight is an integral part of a complex air defense screen. The officers and men assigned to such units have been extensively trained in the technology of these weapons systems. In another part of Germany, linked to this air defense screen, this Nike missile sight, as all others, is operational on a 24-hour basis. Testing of these units occurs periodically, day or night. Today's test could be tomorrow's reality in the air defense of Western Europe. 7th Army's dual capable firepower includes a devastating combat support capability. And now you will hear a personal pronoun for example, deer. And an object for example, mantel. And you will say, der mantel gehört deer. The instructor comes back with the right sentence, and you will repeat it. Open your book on page 23. The 7th Army is not all field training. At Ohm, Germany, a division-level language school provides a conversational link between Americans and Germans. At each division level in 7th Army, similar language instruction is part of the military curriculum. Die Bleistifte gehören Irk. Learning a foreign language has more than a military advantage. Before these advantages can be realized, however, there is the classroom atmosphere with emphasis on pronunciation, usage, and vocabulary. From the classroom to the social environment of a foreign country, language is a bridge to the soldier's interest and responsiveness to the culture and hospitality offered by his host country. As knowledge of the language is broadened, military contact assumes greater significance. Lieutenant Bill and Leutnant Dietzer discuss a joint American-German training exercise. The ability to think and communicate effectively in another language is a key to better understanding. And effective communication in a military operation is essential. How do you go home? It's... 600 meters, right? Yes, about 600 meters into the rock. Yes, I see it. Yes, it's not safe to go ahead. It goes all the way down, but I hope nothing happens. Yes. Look at it. Up here, there are also two. They are still far up and have to go pretty far down. Senses? In a tactical briefing, language skill serves its ultimate military objective. Objective one. Company two. Attach Company B. Company three. On order. Attack and right sector. Objective one. First platoon, 124th Panzers. Attach Company three. Fifth French recon. Protect the right flank. Reserve Company A. On order. Air mobile assault. Objective two. On order. Company B. And Company three. Attack and seize objective three. Questions? How long will the artillery shoot until we cross the safety line? For 10 minutes. German in 10 seconds, there will be 1400. This is an American, German and French field exercise. With a very serious purpose of training and testing, coordinated combat forces of the Western Alliance under simulated combat conditions. American M60 tanks precede French mechanized infantry toward the first objective. German Panzer Grenadiers, in coordination with the American French effort, launched their attack on the right sector of objective one. As these American, French and German elements reach their assault positions, the final reduction of objective one commences. French ground reconnaissance provides protection for the right flank. While overhead, an American helleborn force executes a vertical envelopment of objective two. Staff duty officer. Yes, sir. It is now 0420. And I want to alert all of 7th Army for a general readiness test. Yes, sir. All stations, give me your attention, please. This is the 7th Army staff duty officer, Major Smith, executes 7th Army wide readiness test, effective 0420 Zulu. I repeat back, 7th Army readiness test as of 0420. May I have your name, rank, and duty position? Thank you, sir. Not 7th Army military police patrols move immediately to establish traffic control points. Attention in the billets. Attention in the billets. This is the 7th Army readiness test. I repeat. This is the 7th Army readiness test. Hit it. Let's go. Readiness test. Everybody up. Let's go. What is happening here is simultaneously taking place in every 7th Army installation in Germany. Within two hours, thousands of men and tons of equipment will be in the process of movement from their permanent installations to alert areas in the field. Each 7th Army unit closes in at its alert area. The transmission by hundreds of subordinate units from their alert areas scattered throughout southern Germany is acknowledged by major headquarters, consolidated, and fed into the 7th Army operation center. The purpose of these frequent tests is to establish a combat posture to enable all organic units to move from the alert positions to other tactical locations from which the defense of western Europe would be conducted. The training, the schooling, the testing, the readiness tests all stress one question. Is the 7th Army combat ready? 7th Army is combat ready. We have only one main objective to attain, and that is to be ready to fight if that we must.


Think Tech Hawaii Code Green. Welcome one and all to a beautiful Honolulu afternoon. You know, I was born and raised here and I swear that as early as I can remember, the talk has been food self-sufficiency. We must grow our own food, reduce our dependence on important food. And as far as I know, we've hardly made any progress in that direction. Everybody wins when we have local food. So here to talk about that issue are two distinguished members of the Climate Future Forum, which is a group of young people totally dedicated to the 800 pound gorilla in the room, climate change and all its ramifications. With me is Emi Matsuura of Kunoho School and Vivian Momohil of Waldorf Academy. Welcome to both of you. Yes, let's get right into it and then I will chime in with the questions. So Emi, take it over. Okay, awesome, thank you. So I just wanted to start by saying thank you so much for having us here. And I wanna talk about a little bit about why Climate Future Forum is so important. And so as youth, it has become very apparent to us that simply waiting on the sidelines for our government to piece together an effective and comprehensive strategy to tackle the climate crisis is really not an option anymore. We've just been caught in this temporary cycle, a cycle of temporary fixes and individual acts of responsibility that while very commendable, barely scratched the surface of the deeper systemic issues that we face. And so Climate Future Forum aims to support a link between the energy and ideas of young people and the mechanisms of our legislative process because the task of driving lasting change is falling on us the younger generation. And so Climate Future Forum aims to amplify the voices of youth in climate conversation so we're able to hold our leaders accountable so they can deliver not just these promises but real impactful change. And so in Climate Future Forum, there are a couple groups. They're sustainable infrastructure and development which plans and develop sustainable communities with cleaner infrastructure. There's the clean energy and transportation group which increases accessibility for cleaner energy and transportation. There's the climate and the economy group which corrects the market failures of an unsustainable economy and helps transition towards a more sustainable one. We are part of the regenerative food systems group which aims to transition Hawaii's food systems towards sustainability. And finally, there is the climate justice and just transition group which ensures that these transitions towards sustainability are equitable and they reduce the burden on marginalized groups. And let me jump in and say that there is a tie-in between clean transportation and locally sourced food because to get locally sourced food to us, all you have to do is drive from Haulah or any other place where we have agriculture just take it into town and boom, your transportation is sold whereas for most of our foods, it has to come from the mainland and not just the West Coast but from all over the mainland. And that is very, very fuel-spending there. So we have a nice tie-in there. Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of overlap within these groups which is really great. Yeah, our reliance on imported foods does substantially increase unnecessary emissions. So we did have an events for Climate Future Forum right before this legislative session and we broke up into a couple of working groups within regenerative food systems. And I think Vivian has the next slide. Yeah, hi, my name is Vivian. I'm a junior at the Honolulu-Wallor School. I'm so excited to be here. And I think part of what made the Climate Future Forum so amazing was that it brought together different groups. It brought together legislators and youth and nonprofits. And often youth aren't really included in the conversation. We're told like, it would be so amazing if you pitched in. We want to hear what you think. But then there aren't a lot of settings for that to actually happen. So it was just amazing to get together and see all these young people of all ages excited about climate advocacy. So, yes, we had multiple key policy areas that we split into groups for. It was sustainable infrastructure and development, clean energy and transportation, climate and the economy, regenerative food systems.  And so important. And we were the youth policy leaders for the Regenerative Food Systems Group, which was specifically about local agriculture and just supporting that through a myriad of different ways. So first, before we really get into policies and what we really did, I think it's important to define what it means to be, to have a regenerative food system. So we took a definition from the Nature Conservancy. The idea is to produce food, whether on land or at sea, in ways that actively restore habitat and protect biodiversity in and around production areas while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In some cases, regenerative food systems can produce even more food than traditional systems. And crucially, they preserve the livelihoods of the farmers, fishers, ranchers and others who work to provide our food now and in the long run. And that's especially true here in Hawaii because we have such a long and rich history of being really connected to the land. You know, Kalo, Tarot, humanity's older brother. So we have a real connection. Yeah, just to the land in general. So it's especially important because of that. So within that, we split our group into multiple systems, multiple key policy interests based on what the students were interested in. So basically, the first one was dependence on imported food. Basically, everyone knows we're very isolated. We're on an island or a chain of islands just miles away from any main continent. About 85 to 90% of Hawaii's food is imported, which is just an astronomical amount. And that makes us particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and any global event that might cut off our food supply. It's especially true because we don't really have like large stores of food, but the ones we have are often on the shoreline. So if you think about if there was a tsunami or a strong earthquake, we're just, we don't have any backup plan. We're completely isolated until the ports get set back up. Second was farm to school. So farm to school is a very complicated concept that means a lot of things to different people, but basically it is just the idea of wanting to support school gardens, farms, agriculture plus nutrition education and getting school lunches from local sources. Studies, and there have been numerous studies that show the positive impacts of farm to school programs in a myriad of different ways from economic development, public health, community engagement, education and environmental conservation. Next up, native Hawaiian farming practices. Like I said earlier, it is so intrinsic to our culture here and it has been for such a long time. And this is arguably the one that ties back to the land and to supporting it in a holistic way. So it is essentially- Vivian, let me jump in and point out that when Captain Cook first arrived in Hawaii, the estimated population here was between 500,000 and one million people and the early accounts of these early Hawaiians was that they were strong and healthy. They were feeding themselves up to one million people. How did they do that? They were geniuses at maximizing the use of the land and of the sea. We have so much to learn from them which I assume you're gonna be talking about but up to one million people, that's just astounding. Yes, 100%. And then I didn't really want to get into it but we also have a lot of history of when the missionaries came in and they started sugar cane plantations and that was essentially what ended our food sovereignty. That was it.  It is very interesting the role of sugar and that isn't necessarily food production but more just product consumption and looking at general global systems of health and food. It's fascinating but that's not what I'm supposed to be talking about. So native Hawaiian farming practices, it is so important. It addresses the problem of overpriced imports and food insecurity, it helps repair the land that has again been systematically ruined essentially, grow staple foods. So whether it's canoe plants or true indigenous plants rebuild a sense of community through farming. I mean, just going on a coliform is so much fun and you learn so much. So that is a really big part of it provides food security and build resistance to climate change. So like I said, we don't have a total dependence on this imported food. Food waste, we waste 522 million pounds of food each year which is 26% of the state's food supply. Environmentally, just talking about the effects of that wasted food rotting away in our landfills cause greenhouse gas emissions such as methane which is 25 times more toxic than carbon dioxide. Preventing food waste can help reduce these emissions and improve climate change, improve I guess the effects of climate change and working to an actual solution. So yes, that is all the food regenerative food working groups we had. I feel like it was pretty split up evenly at the event. We did have more interest in food insecurity. Emmy, do you want to correct me? Native Hawaiian farming practices. Native Hawaiian farming practices, you're right. Yes, everyone was very interested in that one. Yeah, which makes a lot of sense. And let me interject that there was the concept of nutrient rich foods versus nutrient poor foods and what the Hawaiians raised were basically nutrient dense. For instance, they had Ulu, the breadfruit and little babies could start punching Ulu just when they were little infants and that helped them grow big and healthy at a very early age. And most of the other Hawaiian foods that I know about were likewise very nutrient dense. Yes, 100%, there's nothing more hearty and filling I guess is like a colo or a lot of the more traditional plants as opposed to like eating a tomato or the foods that were brought in. Emmy, I believe you are next, so take over. Yeah, so if we move on to the kind of priority sections, I think we already touched a lot on why import dependency, especially here in Hawaii is very damaging to us. It decreases our resilience to natural disasters. It inflates food prices, increases our carbon footprint as you mentioned. And it really undermines our local economy. It harms our community's ability to sustain itself. And so one of the bills that is very important to address this is SB 2479. And this would establish and appropriate funds for a Hawaii Farm to Food Bank program. And it would fund food banks in Hawaii to purchase, store and transport locally grown or produce food to food insecure communities. And so this would address the state's food needs and it would also provide a stable market for local food producers. This would keep money circulating in our state. It would boost our local economy and it would help ensure that everyone has access to nutritious food, which is so critical to regenerative food systems. And so this would propose the appropriation of $5 billion for fiscal year 2024 to 2025. And a very related bill to this, and which is especially important given the aftermath of the Lahaina wildfires is HB 2590. And so this allocates $2 million for food bank purchases from local farmers. And this is just so critical following the disaster of the Lahaina wildfire, which dramatically increased the demand on food banks. And so by supporting this bill, we would be preparing for future disasters, building a stronger, more resilient food system that supports local agriculture. And then of course, make sure that no one goes hungry because we see that Hawaii's food banks have provided very critical relief after disaster situations such as Hurricane Iniki COVID-19 and of course the Lahaina wildfire. And after the wildfire within three months, Maui food banks are past its usual annual supply of 3 million pounds of food. And this just shows the state's need to expand its food storage capacity for further disaster situations. So this bill is incredibly crucial for this disaster preparedness. So now we can go back to V for the farm to school priorities. Yes, thank you, Emi. There are multiple active bills right now that cover farm to school priorities, but I have chosen three to highlight in particular. The first one is HB1969, which regards shade and fruit trees in DOE organization schools, essentially. So this would essentially set up a program in the Department of Education to support educational activities and encourage propagation of native shade trees or fruit trees for planting in department schools. It basically appropriates funds for the program. And this is so important because we are talking about nutrition education and that being a very big part of making the transition to regenerative and healthy living. We want kids to be excited about eating local, excited about, this is a local, these are local trees. Like these are what we're supposed to be here and just education around that in general. Next is SB3241, which regards plant-based meals. It's an option grant program. And as a vegetarian, when I saw this bill, I was like, oh, that's awesome. It establishes essentially a plant-based meals option within the Department of Education and declares that basically there will be funding for it. Which again, you're talking about. I mean, yeah, as a vegetarian who has gone to DOE schools, it's tough. There's no option to eat at school. You always have to bring your own lunch, which is okay, but there should be a program in place for that. Next, there are two bills active right now. SB3260 and HB1969, which is essentially trying to bring locally sourced food to schools. It requires by a certain date, 100% of the food purchased by certain state departments. So not just the DOE, consist of fresh local agricultural products and local value. So this would be a huge change if put in place. I mean, it's still kind of pushing the date to a later time, but it still sets a precedent where this is a goal and we're gonna work our way there and see more steps towards it. So all those bills are active as of right now. And if you research them, submit testimony, and I think Emmy has the next category. Yeah, so the next category is food insecurity priorities. And these don't immediately, I think come to mind when you're thinking about regenerative food systems, but addressing food insecurity is very important to create this resilience and this equity within Hawaii's food system. And so HB 1661 expands SNAP eligibility and SNAP stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. So right now people who are eligible for SNAP benefits are people who have an income of 200% or below of the federal poverty level. And so this bill would increase SNAP benefits for people whose monthly income is equal to or less than 300% of the federal poverty level. So it would expand this. And so this bill kind of recognizes that many people are struggling to afford a lot of the basics in Hawaii because of the high cost of living and the high cost of food prices because somebody who has a household with an income of $69,000 a year wouldn't qualify right now for the SNAP program, but you would need an income of a household with an income of $100,000 or more to afford the basics like housing and food here in Hawaii. And so this expanded SNAP program or this expanded SNAP bill is really looking at the high cost of living, the high cost of food and trying to ensure that more people have access to food security. And so HB 1525 or the debuts bill is also related to food insecurity and this would appropriate funds. So this debuts, double up bucks food program could continue to help provide local food or fresh produce to SNAP beneficiaries. And the goal of this bill is to make fresh local produce more accessible. So this would match funds for SNAP beneficiaries to increase their buying power at farmers markets or local stores, which can help feed families as well as invest in our local farmers. And the beauty of this program is it's really simple economically to look at because every dollar spends on local produce for this program generates $2.10 in economic activity. So for example, a $3 million state investment matched federally would give our local economy over $2.6 million annually. So it really is this win-win situation. And let me point out that for especially low-income families, the cheapest food they find are carbohydrates. Absolutely, yeah. Rice leading the way, but all kinds of bread products, wheat products. And they're fine for supplying calories, but they're not so good in supplying all the vitamins and minerals that we need. Yes, yes, thank you for mentioning that. That's so important because when we're looking at equity within our food systems and just who has access to fresh produce or who can support buying locally, it tends to be people with more money. And so these bills, I think are, yeah, they're just so important in letting people have access to consuming locally grown or fresh produce, which is just so important to health. And another thing is the fresher the produce, the better retention there is of the nutrients they're in. Yeah, absolutely, yes. It's really great that that does support local farmers here in Hawaii too. And so I think Vee has the next part about native Hawaiian farming practices, priorities. Thank you, Emmy. There are multiple priorities that regard native Hawaiian farming practices. I recommend, and we're gonna go over this later again, but Hawaii Food Plus Policy for those interested in all of these, but especially native Hawaiian farming practices, there's a lot of resources out there with that organization. So the first bill that I looked at was SB 2478, which is essentially about imu in state parks. And that just basically sets up infrastructure and support appropriates funds to establish imu and a variation of state parks, which again, if you want people to be really invested in supporting locally and supporting native Hawaiian practices, it can't be something at the back of your mind, right? It's we implement them, we see them, we see this local agriculture, and then we, I think generally realize how much more we need to preserve it. The second bill, HB 2626, it's easy to remember, streamlining fish pond leasing. So this essentially just makes it easier for leasing government-owned wine fish ponds. It appropriates funds to the Board of Land and Natural Resources to create a standard lease application and basically just again, streamline the process, which if you wanna encourage people to lease and make it more of a attainable goal, then of course that makes a lot of sense. So just we're gonna quickly go over the next steps for those who are watching and might be interested in this topic, might be interesting in more events like the Climate Future Forum. We have a slide for that. Next steps we grow. Exactly, thank you. Basically, this event is hosted by the Hawaii Youth Food Council, a statewide council established in 2020 to engage and empower youth in the process of rewriting the present narrative of Hawaii's food system, essentially engaging in policy advocacy work, and Hawaii Food Council specifically centered around farm-to-school programs, but if anyone's interested in the topic in general of regenerative food systems, it's a really good place to start or continue. They are hosting the Hawaii Food Summit February 16th and 17th, the first day Friday is at We Grow, yes. It's the first day is at the Capitol and you get to meet with legislators. They have a really great program being set up right now and the second day is We Grow Youth for Farm-to-School. So this gets more into the, I guess, nitty gritty of the policy work and just general work and it's at Punahou School. So I really encourage anyone interested to come, yes. And it's open to pre-K to seniors and educators from Hawaii schools. Yeah, and I just wanted to close it off and Emmy you can add that there are lots of resources for youth and for people of all ages to be engaged in this topic. It doesn't need to be scary. You don't need to be a policy expert. There are a lot of resources out there such as the Hawaii Food Council, Hawaii Food Plus Policy, the Blue Planet Foundation. They're not centered around regenerative food systems, but if you want more structure and guidance surrounding bill testimony, those are really good places to look. Emmy, do you wanna say anything else? Yeah, I just want to, I guess, yeah. Thank you again for inviting us onto the show. It's been really great to be able to share these incredibly important bills and these priorities for regenerative food systems. Last session, there was pretty much no regenerative foods related bills that were passed and it's really great to be able to talk about this. So thank you. We have about one minute left. Let me bring up a related topic, namely, instead of machines mowing down all the long grass along our highways in the rural areas, what about farming out sheep or goats to have them munch their grass up and fatten them up and then their droppings will cultivate the soil? Has there been any thought of that? No. I haven't heard about that. That sounds like a fantastic idea. I know after the Lahaina wildfires, they were considering having animals come and graze over some of the weeds, the invasive species that were, and that seems kind of related, that had kind of caused that problem. I think that just sounds like, yeah, a fantastic idea. Yeah, and we are having more and more solar farms. Those are the photovoltaic panels just out in a flat land and the grass grows all around them. They could get some animals in there, too. Yeah, I've been to a couple of those solar farms and it's just amazing. It's so cool to see this truly regenerative, truly just new way of just cultivating land. It was so great to see. And just very finely, you mentioned planting more fruit trees and other trees. The more you do that, the more you cool the planet down. Trees are the ultimate shade givers.  So on that very, very cheery note, we must bid adieu. Emmy and Vivian, thank you so much. You are inspirations to us all. All we need to do is multiply you by about 1,000 and all our problems would be solved in a few years. So thank you and keep up the excellent work. This is Howard Wiig, Code Green, Think Takeaway. See you next time.


My name's Steve Elbin. I work for one of the Fuse software security startups in Baltimore. Probably never heard of us. We're contrast security. We're in our fourth year. We're right on the top of Brewer's Hill in the Canton area, Natty Bow Tower. I've been there for four years, and we're in the fourth year of our program. This is kind of the way that people think of internships. Interns are lazy. They fetch coffee. They put furniture together. That's actually our intern on the left. He's going to be interning at SpaceX this summer. But we put a lot of effort into our summer internship program, because it's our pipeline. We have hired six out of 10 of our interns in the past years. We also use it as a chance to give someone who's gone to a GA or a Hackbright as a chance to kind of jump in the industry. But we're up against all these companies to market ourselves and have a great internship. The kids in college, they know who these companies are, but they don't know who we are. And so it's our job to establish our brand. And we start off by marketing our company. Engineers are actually good marketers. I would assume everybody out here knows a really good marketing campaign. We market on our website, on our GitHub page, on DevPost. We also have a Stack Overflow page. And then, of course, when we go to career fairs, we have a very transparent flyer that says exactly what our program does. You can see that on our GitHub page. We have to kind of differentiate ourselves between an Amazon or Google, because we are neither of them. So we use Baltimore as part of our marketing pitch. We think Baltimore is awesome. It's vibrant. It's young. It's a great place for tech. I mean, all of you here hopefully live in Baltimore or made the journey from DC. We also use our cats. So maybe you've seen these stickers around town. These cats, we have an open source project called Project Meow. They're actually built by our interns. Past and present. We have some down at our table down below. Feel free to grab some. But it starts at the universities for us. We have very close relationships with the head of the computer science department at all the local schools. We make site visits. We want to shake hands and kiss babies. We want them to know who we are. But most importantly, if you think back to your favorite place that you go to Halloween, you find where they have full-size candy bars. So if you want some, we have some at our table downstairs. This is actually the key, food. It's part of our culture. But it's a 12-month slog. It's a marathon. We're kind of in the calm before the storm right now. Our interns arrive mid-May. And we run a very aggressive three-month program. When the program ends in August, we actually get going again on the next piece. For us, what makes us unique? We hire engineers that do projects. We don't do technical interviews. That way, for anyone who wants to work for us, as well as interns, we get all of our engineers involved in the process. So how do we do that? It starts by getting our engineers buying in, going to the career fairs. They make calls to candidates and really sell the program. They're part of collaborative intern teams, interview teams. And then they participate in a great mentorship program. But be cautious. When you're hiring college kids, you will deal with parents. We've had two parents show up to interviews. We've gotten numbers of calls, emails, want to know how their son or daughter is doing in the interview process. Just take it and try.  Our corporate is in Los Altos. But all of engineering is here. And so we want our interns to feel like they're not missing out on a Silicon Valley experience. So it starts in phase one, month one. The goal is a demonstrable open source project. Last summer, our team built Django, which is a purposely vulnerable Python Django web app. It's similar to WebGoat. After they do that, they go to the next phase, which I'll cover in a second. But we embed them in our process. They do stand-ups. They do retros. They do show and tell. They do PRs. We want them to be prepared after college. And part of that comes from we buddy up our interns with mentors. Over the course of the three months, they get three mentors. And those mentors spend anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes a day with our interns every single day of the program. The other cool thing we do is because we are a venture back. We've taken in over $56 million as a company. We do a shark tank. And it's an entire week. We invite our VCs to judge, our CEO, and our CTO judge. At the first day of the internship, we say, pick your idea and work through it. And then the last week, they compete. And the winning projects are third month. And I'd be remiss to say, we are a very social company. But we build our entire summer program around our interns and building awesome programs to make them happy and excited. So thanks. Appreciate it.


go where you are valued in life you know the same bottle of water that cost you a dollar at the local store will cost you three or four at the amusement park and maybe seven or eight at the airport but it's the same identical bottle of water what's the difference the difference is location you can either spend your life trying to convince the people the only thing you worth the dollar that you worth more or you simply stop that fight and go and spend time and build a life with people and around things where you feel you are valued to your maximum go where you are valued love you guys