Good afternoon. My name is Arnold Isidore Thomas, and I am pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Jericho, Vermont, and a member of the Con Hogan Award Committee. On behalf of the committee, I welcome you to this seventh annual Con Hogan Award ceremony, which recognizes and celebrates the efforts of Vermonters who embody creative, entrepreneurial, community-minded leadership in making our state a more welcoming, safe, and productive environment for all residents. I also want to thank Mika Haley, who provided the music for our program today, entitled Sambi Sara. It is now my pleasure to introduce the Con Hogan Award Committee, which oversees this program. They will wave as I acknowledge them. They are Will Belanger of the Vermont Community Loan Fund, Paul Silo of Public Assets Institute, Steve Dale, former Human Services Manager, Scott Johnson, Consultant for Dulce Vermont, Ellen Kaler of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, Jane Kimball of Vermont Community Foundation, Dr. Etan Nezraitan Longo of the Fair and Partial Policing Program of the Vermont State Police, Jericho Parms of Vermont College of Foreign Fine Arts, Diana Wally of the Wyndham Southeast Supervisory Union, and myself. Allow me also the privilege of recognizing award recipients from previous years. They are Ellen Kaler of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, Michael Monte of the Champlain Housing Trust, Holly Morehouse of the Vermont After School Program, James Baker, currently Commissioner of Corrections, Jan Demers, currently the statewide coordinator of the Community Action Agencies of Vermont and the Vermont Health Department. Con Hogan was an important leader and guiding light in Vermont, who sadly passed away in August of 2018. For those who didn't know Con, we are fortunate to have members of his family to reflect on the extraordinary person he was. We'll start with Jeanette, Con's wife, and then his brother, Michael. Greetings to all of you. I have to say that every year when this ceremony comes around, I know that Con would continue to be so humbled by all of the folks that have participated in this and continue to work toward all of the kinds of things that he worked for here in Vermont. I especially want to thank all of the committee members, and especially now that you've had that introduction, these are all pretty high powered people from throughout the state, all over the state really. And I totally thank them for putting all the time and the effort into having this award continue and also congratulate them for having chosen so many really, excuse me, appropriate candidates for this award. This year, as I read about the Lydia's Farm and then heard her speak at our Zoom luncheon that we had a few weeks ago, I recognize that there were several other probably more personal reasons than the actual work ethic and all the wonderful things she has done in her career, an amazing career. And that has to be a little more personal, as I said, many of you know that Con and I along with the partner, business partner, started a horse farm back in 1976. And the original name was East Hill Farm Family Writing Center. So it's a farm that has continued to welcome lots of people as Lydia's Farm does. And one of the special things personal for me, Lydia said that she worked with a lot of children in the 4-H program, which was something big in my heart as well. So not only was I very, very pleased with meeting Lydia and hearing about all the work she's done in so many different areas, but I thought this year there was a little bit more of a personal kind of touch to it, which I know Con would have been thrilled about. So once again, I thank the committee for all the work they have done, and congratulate Lydia for receiving such a wonderful award. Thanks. Thank you, Jeanette. Michael, would you wish to share some words? Thank you very much. This is really an honor to be able to speak today briefly regarding my brother and this award. I do really want to thank the foundation for inviting me and giving us this wonderful opportunity. I want to offer my congratulations to Dr. Clemens as this year's recipient of the Con Hogan Award. When I was asked to speak, I began to do some research and reading about her background and her accomplishments and contributions to the Vermont community. And in particular about the Clemens Family Farm and its history, it's very, very impressive and a real asset for the state of Vermont and its people. This farm's existence today undoubtedly is a tribute to Dr. Clemens' parents and to the Clemens family for its preservation as a special cultural and arts center with its many multicultural opportunities. The farm and the Clemens family together represent an important part of Vermont's history, but just as importantly, they represent an important part of Vermont's future. The Con Hogan Award could not be given to a more deserving recipient, in my view. Dr. Clemens exemplifies Vermont's values and aspirations for a better society, which Con lived by in every aspect of his life. Despite Con having spent most of his professional life in human services, Con had a great entrepreneurial spirit. At the same time, he had an exemplary sense of a social responsibility, a sense of fairness and equity, even before those concepts arose in our most current national consciousness.  I know Con would agree that Dr. Clemens' work provides a golden opportunity going forward for Vermonters to demonstrate to themselves and to the nation that their state, with a lot of hard work, can build on its reputation for understanding, open-mindedness and fairness and equity. As Jeannette just spoke of the farming ties with their yeast cell farm, I can add that Con's farming DNA goes back further.  Our parents made sure that the Hogan farm played a role in our growing up experience, even into adulthood. The Clemens family farm now plays much the same role for the larger Vermont community. I think it can be said that everyone's family roots grow out of the same earth. For sure Dr. Clemens and her efforts remind us of that fact and will continue to do so. Con was at his best and happiest when he saw things being accomplished. Giving this award to Dr. Clemens would make him very happy indeed. So again, thank you very much for this opportunity and my congratulations and best wishes to Dr. Clemens. Thank you. Thank you Michael. I am delighted to now invite Jan Dimmers, state-wide coordinator of the Community Action Agencies of Vermont and our 2019 award recipient to share her thoughts on this occasion. Jan? Thank you. Con Hogan, in the preface of his book, met along the way, said it was this constant exposure to people across Vermont, all beliefs, backgrounds and political persuasions that shaped my overall view of admiration and appreciation of the people where we live. And over time, one can't help to accumulate stories about them. Be they farmers whose family moved here during the depression or an industrial governor who held the good people of Vermont in the highest esteem. Lydia Clemens is one of those good people who we celebrate today. Blessings, Lydia. The Con Hogan Award allowed me to give the CVOEO New American Financial Empowerment program a boost. This program started in 2018 to help new Americans gain accurate information about handling finances in the United States and access that information from people that they trust. One component of the program is financial house parties. Financial house parties involve a group of four to five new Americans who speak the same language. The house parties participants take turns hosting dinners at their homes where they are joined by a community ambassador, a community member who speaks their language and is trained and employed by CVOEO in financial education. The host of that week's house party chooses the topic to be discussed that night. Topics that have included banking in the United States, building credit scores, budgeting, micro business development, buying a house or car and more. And you can't believe the number of people, new Americans, that their dream is to buy a home. Project manager, Asma Abuniab and the team of community ambassadors created and interpreted audio files about unemployment and stimulus checks and EIDL and PPP loans for small businesses. And they were available in Arabic, French, My My, Nepali, Somali and Spanish and Swahili. These good people started a hotline with an 800 number as another way to be present to new Americans. And they continue to be present as they prepare for Afghani people to enter our state. I am most grateful through this award to contribute to their good work. For my part, I am still meeting and working with the good people of Vermont through crisis, pandemic and enjoy. Lydia, we are honored to hear and join in your story. Thank you. Thank you so much, Jen. This year's recipient of the Khan Hogan Award is one who has impressed me as a person who tends to avoid the spotlight, stops the spotlight of publicity, preferring instead to motivate and mentor others from her wealth of learning and experience. Dr. Lydia Clemens, a medical anthropologist working extensively for UNICEF and the World Health Organization, has inspired and emboldened others because she herself was inspired and emboldened by the dream of her father and mother to develop their farm in ways that promote farming and agriculture for black people and other people of color, as well as to promote a cultural center for diverse artistic and educational expressions of African Americans. My fellow Vermonters, it is my immense privilege to introduce to you my friend and my source of much inspiration, the executive director and president of the Clemens Family Farm, Dr. Lydia Clemens. Thank you, Reverend Thomas. Before I begin, I ask that we all just take a moment to breathe, to ground ourselves, to acknowledge all that we as individuals, as families, as a community, as a state, and as a nation have gone through over these past 18 months, and to remember and honor the many, many people who passed during this time, to find and send her hope for today and for the future. Thank you. I want to start by thanking the Conhogan Award Committee for your work in reviewing nominations. I am humbled and grateful for this award, for this wonderful honor that you've given me. I wish I had had the opportunity to know and work with Conhogan. Ever since the public announcement of the 2021 Conhogan Award was made, many friends and collaborators around the state have reached out to me to tell me about Con, what an inspiration he was, how very loved he was, how much impact he had on their lives and their work. Of course, learning this has made me feel even more humble to receive such an honor. In receiving this award, I must acknowledge the work of so many Black women in Vermont, who are my inspiration every single day in leadership, community building, and mobilizing for good. I want to say their names out loud, the names of these brilliant Black women. Mrs. Lydia Clemens Sr., my mom, for her grace, endurance, innovation, and brilliance. Leslie McCrory Wells, who probably most of you don't know, I actually grew up with here in Charlotte. Throughout our childhood, we grew up and played right here on this farm. We attended school together, and she was one of my role models. I would look to her for cues on how to be, how to act, how to manage being one of the only Black students in our school. She was a wonderful role model in the 1960s and 70s for me, and she's still an amazing role model for me today. Hi, Amoris, Tabitha Paul Moore, and Mia Schultz for their courage, their strength, their ability to consistently speak truth to power, and to so many others, including Amber Arnold, Omega Jade, Lydia Diamond, Kia Ray Hanron, Amasika, Rosalyn Whitaker Heck, Emily Bernard, Christine Longmore Hughes, Olivia Penya, Natanya Van Der Lund, Jennifer Herrera Kondry, Harmony Edisomone, Irene Webster, and Ruth Machoma, for their creativity and their ability to continuously dare, to dare to be different, to dare to be successful, to dare to shine as Black women in Vermont. I'm speaking to you virtually through cyberspace, and I'm imagining all of these phenomenal Black Vermont women standing near me. I owe a lot to them, and I thank them. So my talk today is in two parts. The first part is going to share a bit about me, my life, because I know that most of you probably don't know that much about me. As Reverend Thomas noted in his opening comments, I generally prefer to stay behind the scenes in the work that I do, and I have never, ever in my entire life enjoyed being in front of a camera. The second part of my talk is going to focus more on the work I'm doing right now to carry out my parents' legacy and their dreams for this farm, for our people and for our community. My parents moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Charlotte, Vermont in 1962, and they bought an old farm in Charlotte for $35,000, an astronomical amount of money for a young African-American couple just starting their careers as a doctor and as a nurse. Buying a farm in Vermont was a bold move for my parents. The farm buildings were about 160 years old at the time, and they were in disrepair. And the 148-acre property represented a massive amount of work. So why would a young doctor and nurse want to buy and invest it in this farm is that they wanted their children, black children, to have a sense of place, a sense of belonging in a very white Vermont. My four siblings and I grew up as farmers, as scholars, as artists, and the children of a couple who worked in the healthcare system. During my childhood, agriculture, art, science, and my identity as an African-American were seamlessly woven together through my life on the farm. I drove a tractor. I stacked hay bales in the barn. I shoveled pig poo out of the stall. I fed the chickens. I harvested corn and string beans and tomatoes. I wrote a pony. And I also wrote short stories in poetry, including a poem about DNA. I played viola in the Vermont Youth Orchestra. I sewed, I embroidered, and I macromade. I was in a drama troupe for girls in the 4-H Club. I wrote essays on Mock, Kondria, and Metta Mock lived there, euthanized them, and then dissect them and draw the most beautiful intricate illustrations of what they saw. The heart in the circulatory system, the lungs and the pulmonary system, the muscles, and through a microscope, the beautiful details of cell structures. All of this beautifully, beautifully drawn on the lined paper of those black and white science notebooks that students still use to this day in their chemistry, bio, and lab classes. My father's drawing skills were a regular part of his own work as a pediatric pathologist, studying tissue samples in his laboratory at the University of Vermont Medical Center. He also used his drawing skills to help all five kids create beautiful linoleum block prints. Farm, art, science were also integrated into African American history and identity on our farm. My parents taught us five kids about the history and cultures of our people, because we weren't learning about these things in school. So weekends after chores included reading really cool comic books that detailed the lives of Frederick Douglass or Harriet Tubman or life in Africa before black people were enslaved and brought to this country in chains. My parents also made a point to invite every black person they met to come visit the farm and spend time with our family and our neighbors. Black artists and scholars were frequently at the farm, and one very important imprinting moment for me was when a group of black medical students from Africa who were attending UVM spent the weekend at the farm. I had never in my young life, and I was probably about seven or eight years old at the time, seen black people in their twenties before. Everyone I knew who was black was in our family or extended family. They were either kids my age or adults who are my parents age. No young adults. They're confidence, they're poise, they're carefree in natures the way they walked and they talked and they laughed on the farm with their afros and their bell broadens. They were beautiful, they were confident, and they made me realize that I could be like them one day. It was powerful and it was magical to see an older version of my seven or eight year old self, me the way I could be maybe in my twenties. Wow. So there was never any question that the Clemens children would attend college. My parents took out a second mortgage on this farm to help pay our tuitions, and the money that came in from selling the hay that we grew also helped cover the cost of college. When I was in high school, there was no internet or cell phone technology to help students research colleges. I don't remember having any support from a guidance counselor back then to help me figure all of that out. What I do remember were massive books in the school library that listed in alphabetical order every single college planning was sitting at the kitchen table one day with a map of the United States and asking my parents, so what universities do you know in California? California. You see, I wanted to get as far away from the farm and my life in Charlotte as I possibly could. Like many young people at that stage of life, I wanted to be independent and to define myself. And so off I went to California, to Stanford University. And at the time I applied, I had no idea of Stanford's reputation or what a big deal it was to be not only admitted to Stanford, but admitted with a scholarship. All I knew was that Stanford was in California. And so I entered as a pre-med student with dreams of becoming a doctor like my father. But as I went through the four years of pre-medical studies, I realized that medicine really wasn't for me. I wanted something different. And so to the high concern of my entire family, I joined the Peace Corps after college and went to Zaire, what is now called the Democratic Republic of Congo. And it was there as a public health volunteer in the equatorial rainforests of the Congo that I discovered my love for public health, for art, and for culture. It was where I rediscovered my love for living and working in rural communities. And it was where my love and pride for my people, people of African descent, grew much deeper. Over the next 35 years, I lived and worked in more than 25 countries in Africa. 25. And I became fluent in French and Lingala, and I picked up a bit of Swahili and Bombora too. I returned to the U.S. to pick up a master's degree in public health in Michigan, and later a Ph.D. in medical anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. And then I managed programs whose annual budgets could be as large as 25, 30, 40 million dollars a year as I worked in various countries in Africa. I think that all of this, my childhood in Vermont, my career in Africa, all of this was designed to prepare me for the work that I'm doing now. Eight years ago, my parents asked me to come back to Vermont, to participate in family discussions about the future of their farm. None of the family members were farming anymore. The farm was being free leased to local farmers. In other words, local farmers were farming the land without paying anything to my parents. My parents didn't want to lose the farm. And throughout my childhood, they had made hard decisions to hang on to the land in spite of increasing financial pressures, increasing property taxes, other types of pressures to sell all or some of it. But they never did. They never sold a single acre because they knew how rare it is for black people to own property like this because they wanted to make sure that this beautiful property stayed in the family, stayed in the hands of our people, black people. So what to do? So now I've shared some background about me. I want to talk about the work I'm doing now as president of Clemens Family Farm, a 501c3 nonprofit organization. This work is, of course, inspired by the vision and efforts of my parents over the past 60 years. This work is, in fact, part of my parents' legacy. So I'm going to share some slides with you right now and show you a bit more about the farm. I'm going to tell you about how Clemens Family Farm is mobilizing the power of arts, culture, and place for social change. So eight years ago when I came back to start the conversation with my parents about how do we preserve this farm? Should we preserve this farm? What should we do with this farm? I started doing some research and it was there that I found the statistics that I'm going to share with you right now and that are all over our website. In the early 1920s, when these beautiful people, these are my parents, were infants, African Americans nationwide, owned or controlled roughly 44 million acres. Today, African Americans own a combined total of just 3.5 million acres. That's less than half of 1% of all farms in the nation, 0.4% of all farms in the United States, owned by Black people. To show some graphics, again, here's the big piece of the farmland pie of the United States. In 1920, that green slice there is what African Americans owned, about 44 million out of approximately 950 million acres. And according to the 2012 agriculture census, that slice has gone down to a sliver, 3.5 million acres. And when you compare Black land ownership to White land ownership, while Black farmers and Black land owners lost 93% of their land assets over the past century, White farmers and White land owners lost 3%. Hence the mission of our farm is a three-part mission focused on carrying on my parents' bold legacy of investing in beautiful farmland and using that farmland as a space to promote African American history, art and culture and to build a community. This three-part mission is preserving the farm itself, empowering a growing network of Vermont's Black artists and culture bearers, and building a loving multicultural community around African American heritage. And again, those are my wonderful parents on the day of their wedding in 1952. Let me talk a bit more about our first part of our mission, preserve. As I had mentioned before, the farm has many historic buildings on the property. You're looking at an old blacksmith shop that was originally built in the late 1700s and restored by my dad with his own hands to become the site for the first African art mail order import business in the country, Authentica African Art Imports, founded by my mother and run out of that old blacksmith shop. And you can see my mom in the 1980s very chic in her midi skirt with one of her imported Kenyan Kenya bags, sisal bags. Another building here is the beautiful barn house, which is currently our main cultural hub. And the math on the farm is the one plus one plus one, taking two old barns and putting them together into this beautiful building today where we celebrate African American art, history, culture, and community through engagements led by Vermont's Black artists. Another barn on the property, a historic barn late 1700s is the old dairy barn. We call it the big barn, which is on your left. And you'll be wondering why is this beautiful modern building on the right juxtaposed against this old historic building. This building on the right is the Smithsonian National Museum of African American history and culture. And the architect who designed that building, she was one of three lead architects is this woman in the center, Zena Howard, who is standing in fact on the lower level of our historic big barn. And she and a group of 40 black artists and Vermont architects gathered together a few years ago to start the visioning process for the future of the big barn as a visual and performing art center again, celebrating African American and African diaspora, visual and performing arts. During her three day stay on the farm, Zena Howard also took the time to mentor some of the young girls in the community about architecture. And it was just, you know, one of those many joyous opportunities that this farm offers to Vermont by attracting high profile black scholars and artists to the farm who are wanting to do their part to try to support this farm and the work that we're doing. A photo of some of the phenomenal contractors who helped us restore the fieldstone wall in that same big barn. These are the historic fieldstones. And this is the lower level of the visual art studio and gallery space in the big barn. And this is the outside of the big barn still going through a slowly but surely upgrading and renovation process. You'll see there the newly poured cement floor funded in part by Vermont Arts Council. Also an important part of our preservation work is of course agriculture and farming, making great use of these prime agricultural soils that exist on the farm. Investing in hoop houses for culinary heritage gardens, celebrating again African diaspora culinary heritage. And these hoop house gardens will be of course managed by our culinary artists who are part of our artist network. And again celebrating the land and our artists. Here's an aerial performance by one of our collaborating artists during this Juneteenth of this year. Another community program celebrating the wild irises that grow on the farm. The wild iris program was led by two of our collaborating artists, a musician and a visual artist who engaged with nature and their art and our community typical of the kinds of programming that we do on the farm. You've seen me speak or heard me speak a bit about artists. You've seen a few of our artists and this is just a few more of our artists. We have now a total of about 230 Black artists who are part of our African American African diaspora artists network artists in Vermont who we work to empower through a variety of activities. Even just networking, such as here with the one of the summits that we held for Black artists on the farm a couple of years back, professional development opportunities, paid opportunities to build community among Black artists and support them in the work that they do with their art. Provide them with small grants and opportunities to just have some respite in grants at the farm where they can do many residencies, offering them again paid opportunities to engage with the local community members, parents and children in this case, who are taking a fantastic drumming lesson from one of our collaborating artists who is a member of our network. Artist Kiarae Hanron leading in arts and social justice session with some student leaders who visited from another town and came to the farm for the day. Another collaborating artist Shanta Lee Gander leading a culinary heritage program with grade school kids who were learning how to cook pies, traditional African American pies and learning about the history and culture behind those pies. Another collaborating artist in a kindergarten class in Williston leading a hip-hop and step dancing session and learning about the history behind step dancing and hip-hop. Visual arts class with a Haitian collaborating artist who lives in Burlington now he is a Vermonter working with kindergartners on Haitian culture, Haitian language, patois in French and painting. The third part of our mission is build community building and again working with our Vermont black artist to lead engagements that foster social cohesion, understanding, dialogue across differences of race and culture in a very warm and welcoming environment where we place art and culture at the center, break down people's anxieties and barriers and actually start to co-create and dialogue together in group settings such as this. Some more examples of the community building arts programs that we hold on the farm that are led again by Vermont's black artists. All of the artists are well compensated for their work with us. Cooking class, Cuban culinary heritage and we made some delicious food that evening. When the pandemic struck we moved many of our on-farm on-site farming programs and art programs to the web and did a lot of virtual community building programs again led by our collaborating artists working to build social cohesion and community across differences of culture, race, ethnicity, religion with art at the center. A couple of programs that I'm very proud of that the Clemens Family Farm is involved in are statewide programs. I'm going to quickly talk about a few of them. One is Windows to a Multicultural World which is a K-12 remote learning program that we piloted earlier this year and that features history curriculum, lesson plans, discussion plans and of course the cream on top is the artist engagements where our trained teaching artists help bring history alive and also use art and creativity as a way for students to process information including hard history and also as a way for them to express their emotions and their thoughts creatively using any variety of arts. This is just a smattering of some of the artists that we have who are teaching artists trained by the farm to work with K-12 students. We currently have about 18 teaching artists in our collective who work with us regularly on K-12 programs. This just shows a map of where that pilot I mentioned was implemented all around the state. A total of 23 black artists, scholars and instructional design experts most of them almost all but two were Vermonters developing the curriculum and the arts engagements and we worked with over 40 teachers and parents and high school students who reviewed the curriculum and engaged with the curriculum and then over 300 K-12 students in 26 schools, public, private and home schools over a six-week period in the early part of this year to test out this remote learning platform and then to based on the feedback back that we received improve it and the pilot went beautifully. Another example of a statewide program is our work with Catamount Arts with a performing arts series in the Northeast Kingdom and here you can see some of the criteria that we used in what was a competitive process to select fine artists and a variety of artists in our Black Artists Network to deliver performing arts engagements in the Northeast Kingdom. Due to the pandemic we have held back the performing arts series until sometime next year. Another example of our program statewide is Black and Bliss Wellness Arts exclusively for Black Vermonters and again led by our collaborating artists focusing on community building this time specifically for Black Vermonters who are just 1.3, 1.4 percent of Vermont's population to help build community. And a final large program that we've just initiated through support from the Vermont Department of Health is our COVID-19 vaccination storytelling project in which we use storytelling and the arts to help people talk about their COVID-19 vaccination experiences whether they are fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated or not vaccinated at all. These are some examples of some of the visual arts that accompanied the storytelling by Vermonters as they talked about their vaccination experiences. So in terms of data, we do use data. We've slowed down a bit during the pandemic because our programming has also slowed down a bit but I want to share just a few snippets of some of the data that we found back in 2018 when we did a survey with all of our visitors who came to the farm. It was a paper survey and we asked them to just answer some questions and here's just some of the findings. I'm sharing this selection of findings to show you how powerful the arts can be and how powerful programming led by Black artists can be. About 90 percent of visitors to the Clemens Family Farm reported that as a result of their experience, they want to learn more about people of races and cultures different from their own and they intend to learn more about African-American or African history, art and culture. The majority of visitors agreed with the statement, because I visited the farm, I'm more comfortable talking to people who are different, who are from different races, ethnicities and religions than mine. Imagine that. Majority 52 percent agreed with that. More than a quarter were neutral and six percent disagreed. But again, when you're thinking about a rural farm in Vermont and more than half of your visitors are saying, because of this experience, I feel more comfortable talking to others who are different from me. That's a massive finding. It's really encouraging and something that anyone working in arts and culture can really grab hold of and think about, what can I do to ensure that that happens in my program as well? Nearly two-thirds of the visitors to the farm said that they connected with another black African-American person outside of their family. Sixty-one percent agreed or 26 percent strongly agreed that they connected with someone who is of a race or ethnicity that's different from their own. Specifically for black people, the farm also represents a place to connect with other people of African descent. As a black person, I felt connected with African-American or African arts and culture. Among the just the five percent who felt this statement was applicable to them, all of them strongly agreed or agreed. And then also even among those who were not African American, most two-thirds felt that they were interacting with black African Americans who were setting positive examples for them. So that's the Clemens family farm. Let me stop sharing the screen for a moment and just wrap up with a few words about what I've just shown you. This work is a 60-year labor of love that began with my parents in 1962 and continued with the multicultural community that grew around the farm and are shared love for this place, the people, the arts and the culture of the African diaspora. As a community and as a state, we've had to face up to some hard truths about racism in Vermont. And I believe that we can get through this and find our better selves and ways to connect with each other that are in ways that are real and meaningful by putting art at the center and by protecting, cherishing and celebrating land that's held by black Vermonters and other people of color who have been historically marginalized in land ownership and land stewardship. This is important. It's important not only for black Vermonters, Indigenous people, other people of color. This is important for all Vermonters. It's a matter of equity, yes. And it's also a powerfully enriching and important opportunity for every single Vermonter to benefit from the diversity of land ownership and stewardship in the state and a greater diversity. When white people visit this farm, children and adults alike are experiencing something extremely unique, the experience of being welcomed into black space and the experience of the joy of discovery, discovering a world and a people of diverse cultures and perspectives right here in Vermont. Thank you again for this opportunity and for this honor. It's really been a pleasure speaking with you today and I'll turn it back to you, Reverend Thomas. Thank you, Lydia. And thank you for sharing your thoughts, your experiences and making us aware of the amazing resource and opportunities the Clemens Family Farm provides the rest of the state. Thank you for being here and thank your parents also for starting this dream that you continue. It is my hope that today's program will provide the incentive for you as Vermonters from every region of the state, from every racial and ethnic identity, to consider and discern and affirm the uniquely wonderful gifts you bring to enhance the life of your local community and the state. This award not only enhances the life and celebrate the work of Khan Hogan, but also individuals like you who embody his spirit and love for the common good. Next year's invitation for nominations will go out on May 1st, 2022 with June 23rd at five o'clock p.m. as the due date and time for applications to be returned. Again, thank you for joining us this afternoon and keep up the good work. Goodbye.


Hi, this is Jan Brearden, and I am the host of the Kindest Connection, which is a fabulous show that we are able to air every third Thursday of each month. And this particular Thursday here in March on March 17, I have two very, very special guests near and dear to my heart. I've enjoyed every show so far. But the fact that I have the guest that I have with me today means a great deal to me, and I just wanted to be able to introduce Jen and Mike's, Jen, my brother, Mike and his wife Jennifer Reardon's children. I have Josh Reardon here, and he is 14 years old and I have Avery Reardon here and she is 16. Today, we are going to discuss very openly and looking forward to having a nice conversation. Oops, I'm sorry, I left out Aspen Reardon over here. This cute little girl, she is my other niece, and we'd love to have Aspen here with us as well. And we have all our sparky Kindest Bears, thanks to Vermont Teddy Bear. They created this bear in honor of Jennifer Reardon for her mantra of being kind, loving, caring and sharing. These are kindest bears that have brought a lot of compassion and love to many, many people. Vermont Teddy Bear has been fabulous with endorsing the mantra that Jen had. And so today we're going to talk about being able to look at kindness through a young adults perspective. You know, as adults, we might have some preconceived notion of what kindness means, but I think it's really important to know how that begins and how in this world the bullying going on in schools and just the world is obviously in a tough place right now and how young adults can really make a difference in the world. So I'd like to start by just asking my first question to Avery and to Josh and we'll take it from there, but I'd like to begin with you, Josh, if I may, and just ask you what your definition of kindness is. So kindness to me is really just what you put out in the world is what comes back to you in a kind way. And if you put out something that's kind in a very nice and polite way, or you just are there for somebody, it's the best way to, to just have happiness and kindness in the world. And every day we strive to make the world a better place so just by helping hand is always the biggest part of kindness. So yeah, that's what I think. And I believe that kindness is beautiful. That's a great perspective. What are your thoughts on what kindness, the definition of kindness to you. I would say it's not always the big things in life but just the little things you do for people like holding the door complimenting them, or just being respectful towards people. Very nice. I love it. I love it. Let's see what else we have here. How do you, how do you feel as though kindness has impacted your life, Josh. In my life, like, it's a, I grew up with a fortunate very lucky to have two great parents that raised me, amazingly, and so kindness to me would be anything that they do for me to, to help me or to come for me like it could be making a breakfast, it could be buying me a bad it could be like, giving me a ride to school like it's all like, like Avery said it's like the little things in, in life that people do for you that you don't really understand. And a lot of people don't, a lot of people take it for granted. And I always try to think about how that is impacting my life. A lot of people overlook those little things that happen and when you stop and think about it it really fills you up to know how other people care about you and how much that can make you feel better about yourself as well. Now, how about you Avery, what would you say, I would say that with the kindness that I'm given I'm able to share it with other people. So, with having such kind parents and people around me who really care and love for me. I think it's really easy for me to take how they love me and show that towards other people. Perfect. That makes a big difference. Yeah. Josh, how would you say that kindness could help to reduce bullying in school. So, bullying in schools is a not, not a good thing, obviously, and it's hard for a lot of people to go through something who's bullying you because you feel like you don't have help sometimes. But when someone's getting bullied, the bully always has something going on with them to make them feel this way to make them want to hurt other people. And so if you show them more kindness than like you know how to show you just give them as much kindness as possible. I feel that that can really fix a lot of bullies mentalities to the way they treat people. Good. Good. How about you, Avery? What would you say could be done to reduce bullying? Yeah, I agree with Josh. I think that instead of having harsh reactions to bullies with putting them in detention or kind of, I don't know, just giving them harsh words, it should be like things that they could do to be kind towards community. And if you see that someone is being bullied, I think that as kids we should step in first and try to give them ways to be kind to others because we're the same age. Should we know how to connect to that or we can help more than like if older people have to get involved and might be different from the other people. So I think to showing kindness to them and showing them ways to be kind to two people instead of one. So Josh, could you give us an example of something that you have done or has been done to you or both regarding kindness or compassion or understanding like what comes to mind for you. So like I said, I grew up in a very kind family that just always was there for me whenever I needed anything. And so, I don't think that there's one really big thing that sticks out. That was the kindness I think that everything that is done for me is just done with such care kindness and so I'm very fortunate to have that a lot of people don't have that. And I want them to have that and that's one of the main reasons for this podcast and for this TV show sorry, and my dad's foundation that's like one of the main purposes of it is to just go out of the world and show people that there are good people out here that care for them, that walk them to be good so. Yeah, but there's not just one big thing it's everything that I do for other people mostly, and everything that's done to be that to be making a waffle or giving me a boat ride or anything that is just something that to be grateful for. I'm grateful every day for everything that I ever have. And sometimes when I'm not grateful I just think about the times that I need to be grateful the things that I have. There's a lot of unfortunate people out there which is really unfortunate so I think that just life. My life is very kind and caring and blessed. I think you can carry that forward into the community so that more people will have just even a bit of that in their heart. So yeah so that's kind of what the foundation is all about it's really just giving to people that don't have their life or they're just feeling down and they just can't get themselves back together. So, giving is just a very great thing you think that our foundation really displays that. Can you tell us a little bit more about the foundation. So, our families motto was always to be kind loving caring and sharing. And so, when I started a foundation for my mom, it's about just giving back to the community what they gave to us, and really just displaying how kind our Albuquerque is really, because Albuquerque is a great city to live in and we just want to display how it is and I think we're 26, we're the 26th kind of city in the world, or in the country so we're trying to get to number one but I mean it's just to just be kind to people. It always lightens their day and makes people feel happy. That's awesome. What do you think as far as you know, either a kind act that you've done or somebody has done for you to get you to where you are today. Yeah, like I said, I think it's the small things I don't think there's one big thing that stands out. Right. But I think what the foundation is doing is are the really big things that stand out to me. Like giving back to our community or my team for while we go do food drives and stuff like that. So I think those things just giving back to the community, like, even if you're not hands on with someone, I'm helping them on the street, just being able to go to Road on our Food Bank is a great place to go to package meals for homeless and it could be as big as that we're just holding the door for someone. Exactly. Thank you. I love it. Josh, how about Let me see how I really want to work this but What would you say You can do when you're not really feeling kind and it happens to all of us we can't deny that there are moments when we're down and it's a little bit more challenging to be harder to be kind at that time. How can you be kind under stress and under duress because that's when I think other people lash out and that's what we have to diffuse so how do you do that yourself. So to me this is kind of like a personal question because everybody handles it differently. So to think about now for me there, I have a lot of stuff that I could just think about and be grateful for that gets me back in the kindness mood but I want to talk about people that don't have stuff to be grateful for. I always wondered how they get back to be that because there's a lot of kind people out there that really they could not be kind if they, if they like because of their situations, but they are. And so, for me, what I think happens is they find hope they find hope for themselves, they find hope for others they find they find a way to be kind in a hopeful way. And so, much as giving them a dollar to go get food or giving them a meal or giving them a drink or giving them a pillow or giving them a blanket just all these things just puts hope in their soul to go another day to survive another day and move on keep progressing. Small increments like that, right don't look too far ahead just kind of stay in that moment and try to feel better. I feel that it always works out the long run for those people. Definitely. That's great. I would say that it is hard for me to be kind whenever I am in a hard tough situation or not. So I think the first thing I need to do is be kind to myself and take a moment to just have some self care within myself take care of my body take care of my mental state. And then so then just kind of be as kind as I can to people just instead of, I don't have to go out of my way to be kind to them instead be kind to myself first but don't be rude to them and just kind of let them do their thing until I figure out my thing and then I can go back to going out of my way to be kind to them. That's good that's healthy that's what we need to do and that makes for a better community better relationships better friendships. So let's see if can you tell us a little bit about the junior board and what the goals are for is you're involved and maybe just tell us a little bit about the Jennifer Rubin Foundation, given your role as a member of the junior board. Yeah, so the first meeting we have for the junior board was kind of a while ago. We haven't really met again since then but I remember at that meeting we did talk about doing things for a home lesson food drives and stuff like that. I also picked a nonprofit to give money to, and I feel like that is a great way to help in the community there's a lot of profits out there that are helping and instead of being hands on with people and if you don't want to do volunteer work and if you have you are fortunate enough, giving money towards people who are helping others is a great way to help the community. Yeah, it's good. How about you just what is your take as far as your role and how it impacts the community by what you do on the Jennifer Rubin Foundation junior board. Yeah, so me and Avery, we came to the idea of a junior one and he was hands on with it he said to do is a great idea. And so we run it out of the Albuquerque community foundation building and yeah we kind of covered it it's a nonprofit, we give it out to a nonprofit, almost like every six months I'd like to say. And that's just really a way to, it's me and Avery's way to be a part of what on that has created and really give back to the community as a young kid, or as a young adult, right so to give back to the community in a different as born through the best good. Do you feel as though your friends have noticed a difference in you now that you are so focused on sharing kindness. So you'd have to ask that next question. Do you feel that in yourself. Yeah, I feel that I have become more of a kind person. Because of our foundation because of what you're doing like every every person that just wants to help just warms my heart because this is really what my mom a lot. Exactly. So, this is just really warms my heart. I would say yeah I would say before I was kind but I think I'm very more like approach to it and I, I understand how to be kind to people if I see someone down I can tear them up and just more prone to it. So we go out at school Josh are there any programs that are in place that revolve around kindness or sharing compassionate, you know understanding ways. So we don't really be able to both go to a great school it was a software on a theater. And so we go to a very fortunate school in a way that they want you to be kind to others they want you to be yourself. They want you to just be another kid. They want you to grow as a human being as yourself and not as anybody else. And so they have so many like different clubs there and you can join any of them there is a kindness club at our school, and they do do a lot of stuff for the community. Kindness does start with the community, in my opinion, actually kind of start for yourself, then goes to your community but yeah so our school has a kindness club and they're just they go around and they're just very kind to other people.  What do you say about the school as far as some different programs and replace that help. Yeah, there's another club called helping hands that I was with last year and one of the little things that we did was during the food drive. For the elderly people. We went and we gave roses and just a nice car to the people. Just to lighten their day just something small to do for them. Also our school is connected with the app. So everyone at our school is they see an act of kindness they're able to walk it. So I think that's our school is doing really good involving kindness. Wonderful. And do you find that that's the case at most schools or is that unusual. Yeah, I feel like some schools are doing better with kindness and our app is actually connected towards some schools. Throughout all the turkey. There are some schools that have difficulty with it because of the students or just the district that it's in but I feel like there are kind people there and I think those people struggle with being kind towards the other kids because they feel like it's different and it's hard to be different especially in high school but I think once those kids reach out and are kind towards others that it will be kindness is going to be spread everywhere. It would be nice to just think of it as the new normal. Yeah, all of a sudden that's just that's the way it is and it becomes part of our DNA really it's more of a culture. Josh, maybe you can tell us a little bit about our day yesterday when we went over to Jess's kindergarten class and how great that felt just so it gives a little background on that. We went over to a kindergarten classroom. We got to really just put a light on kids day there and I don't know if they're having a bad day or not. And some of them were having a good day and this made it better but all I know is this, this particular moment made those kids so happy. I just wanted my heart to see every, every little kid so happy and so we went over and we really just told them or talk to them about kindness and how they can, what they have done in to help us because everyone has helped the community in different ways through kindness or just through like helping someone and so, but yeah so we got to go over there really just got to be with the kids and hear what they've done for the community and it was really nice. Aidswood, do you have to say about our day yesterday over in the classroom? I would say that it was really heartwarming to know that even five year olds understand the concept of what kindness is. It was so cool to hear. We asked each one of them to stand up and talk about one kind thing they did and it was super cool to hear the nice things they were doing within their family or at school. And I think it was really like they loved the bear, they were so intrigued and sparky, they loved him so much. And I think it's just really cool to understand that like, it's hard to understand kindness sometimes but it sounds like these kids have such a good grasp of it. And they were so grateful when they received we gave them bracelets and so that made their day and it was good to know that they were starting to get off with a kind thing or just even thinking about something kindly did and they can redo that and I know some of the other kids were helping just their friends in the classroom. Josh, what would you say, you know, you get up in the morning do you try to take a minute and start your day with that grateful heart, or does it come throughout the day like what would how would you describe like the best day that you could have for yourself. So my best day would be probably every day I mean I wake up to a great house and roof over my head and water food and and I'm just grateful for that right off the bat and you think about that when you get up you feel that. So, I'm going to be honest not every time, of course not always but I tried to that's the biggest part of the day is the morning is when you wake up how you feel, you're going to act that day, how you're going to get up and push through the day. There's, there's going to be hatred there's going to be stuff throughout the day that you're not going to like. It's how you can come back from that and exactly answer to that. When you start the day out with what's your plan for the day how do you go into it. I would say that being kind to myself first is really good thing and starting the day off, telling myself how to be kind to myself and just really taking care of my body. And then I would say just again the little things when I see someone if I think they look good and I'll let them know and I think it does come throughout the day for me. People are treating me kind and I have a more want to be kind to other people. But I feel like it's, I am grateful for it. And each morning it's good to know that like, I know that there will be kind people around me. Yeah, it's great. So Josh, what do you think about fast forward Josh Reardon's, you know, 21 years old. What do you what do you want to see as yourself as a young man. I want to see compassion. It would be the biggest part I want I want to see just, I would want to see out here keeping so kind that people want to be around each other and to see each other. So I just think that in the future, the world could be a lot kinder than it already is a lot a lot kinder and so I think that every day we just get even more kind and hopefully when I'm 21 we can be the number one kind of city in the world. How many years you're fast forward you're 21 years old with what do you see yourself looking like at that point. I would hope to be able to be kind towards others still and just like more and instead of doing little things I think it would be good to start doing bigger things. And also, just like reaching out to more people to be kind on, not in our Turkey but other places as well. I agree with Josh being the number one city would be great. Right. And I think just carrying on the legacy of always being kind living carrying sharing is the best we can do with things and I think just always being kind towards others is kind of where I see it. Good. Josh, can you think of a time when say you were at school or at baseball, and you saw one of the guys or girls at school that was a little down not having a good day how do you handle that. Well, sometimes someone just needs time to put it out there just cry just do whatever, but so I just kind of approached them and if they asked me to leave the be I just leave the be the now I go back and check on them and make sure they were okay. But if someone just needs a hug or needs a helping hand, something. It's always nice to know that for like for me it's always nice to know that you're here for me. You're here five down. I need something right you're here for that. I mean not just that but I'm just saying you're here for me right and you're here for me because you're my sister like, so I just have a lot of people that are there for me but some kids don't have anyway. And so just to be that person for somebody is a really big thing. Beautiful. I think the first thing to do is just ask them if they're okay and if they don't want to talk about it then you did what you could to help them at that point. Just checking in with them, like continuously I think is good maybe not like two seconds later but a little like an hour or two later just making sure that they're okay because all you can do is help. Just ask yeah and if they don't want to talk about it then that's okay and that's on them I think just checking in with them and checking in especially if it gets like to super bad with their other peers or teachers or guardians just making sure that they're okay and maybe like bring them a treat to school or just act extra kind to them that day.  But now things you know have changed and you have both done an amazing job accepting the reality and watching your dad really carry the mantra of your mom through you out into the world. So what would you say Josh that you're most grateful for as far as all that your dad has done whether it be the foundation or other than that. I'm just grateful that he's here for us every day right he wants our opinion on stuff that that really is not our voice to say anything and so he is not only carrying mom's legacy he wants us to be a part of it. Exactly. He wants us to be involved with it he doesn't want us to just sit there and watch it work. He wants like every decision that he makes is passed by by us. Yes. Now maybe some decisions we don't like but he'll still do because that's what he needs to that that's what needs to happen but it's kind of like a presidency. Yes, absolutely. He's the president. We're just the council and we just listen and we just advise. Yeah, we just your perspective is important. Tell him what we see and how we would fix it and or how we would do it and he takes it into accountability and that's really what I appreciate because he can't always take our opinion 100% of the time and I don't expect it to. But I. The part of the list and he really does do that so they really just thank you for that so that if you listen to. And along the same lines, I mean, I don't think we could come up with a better example. Unfortunately, of somebody taking, you know, a complete tragedy and turning it into something that has provided so much good. And so, for that, what comes to mind for you and if you were to describe your dad to somebody who didn't know him. I think it comes out of such tragedy and set such an example for a way to get through that you say like power through. How would you describe your dad, the strongest kindest man in the world. The person that that if you need to help me and he's there right away and the person that is there for you and you don't have anybody the person that I want to live up to. There you go. All right, about you is what would you say to that whole scenario of taking the most tragic situation possible and finding just some thing good about it and carrying on what you've done how do you, how do you attribute, you know, that to your dad and stealing that in you. I think the biggest thing for me was the isotopes came when we did. Yes. That was such a good happy feeling and just talking a little bit about that event because that was awesome. Yeah, so we actually have there was isotopes game and we just the kindness night. And we had our booth and you're giving things away and we connected people with the app. So that was really good and I think that's when I like noticed that we did make such a bad thing in life, something good and we found a positive in it. And I think that our whole family is so strong for that and I think none of us could have done it without anyone, especially my dad. But I think the foundation is just a way to show love and kindness through our family, and also to other people. I think it's good for other people to see the love that our family has. Absolutely. What an example. Yes, he's the hardest working manual ever be. Yeah, that's for sure. And speaking you refer to the app and obviously I know what the app is, but can you tell us a little bit about it. Yeah, so the app is, you can go to the internet and search the Jennifer Gruden foundation and you can go to my kindness app. And you can, every time you, so you walk in and every time you see an act of kindness or receive an act of kindness, you can just put it in there and everybody can go through and see your acts of kindness and it's just you reached a million. Like a month or two ago, and that was really good big celebration. Yeah, it was a big celebration. And so now we're just pushing through and trying to get millions. Right. And like the kindergarten kids said yesterday, what was their number they said instead of like hitting a truly what do they say they said Google. Yeah, like the biggest number they can think of right so right. So what about you can you tell us a little bit more about the app some of the acts of kindness that have been logged on there that stick out in your mind. So, so actually kindness on the app, they can be anonymous, and they can be put out there but there's so many good people in the world and like every time you look at them you're just like, there is people in the world that care and want to be kind. And so yeah so it goes, it ranges from a million cans of soup to food bank to have someone pick up trash. It just, it just ranges from everything and I think that's what we love so much about it is there's like a billion different different kind of acts that you can do with the world. Exactly. And I think that we've seen all the bill. Right and what I like about the way it's posted it's not, you can post what you do you can post what you saw somebody else do but I love the fact that that just makes you feel better when you read about something that somebody else did or you hear about something that somebody else did. It doesn't have to be you're not even involved but it just makes you feel good about human kindness and the fact that, you know, the more of that that you hear it just sets a tone for a better culture. And I would say if you're having a down day one of the ways to be kind to others is just read some of it. That's a great point it really does elips your spirits you just feel like, you know, we're just a little part of this big world and sometimes we get weighed down with our day to day issues but then you look at the bigger picture and realize, you know, there's there's many more things that are more important than certainly the material things and it's great to recognize somebody for that gift that they have of being loving. So we only have a minute left any questions that either one of you would like to ask me. Oh, I wanted to start this because we had a podcast that was running. And that was fun but it wasn't reaching as many people and thankfully Channel 17 which is town meeting TV right in Burlington, Vermont, was I put in a proposal and they were willing to try this which was a little bit out of their box but again in this day and age, people are gravitating toward things such as this and thankfully they were gracious enough to make my request a reality and this is the third episode so far and it, you know, something that I would love to continue with and just even if one or two people take something away from this each episode I will feel as though it was worthwhile and the support that I've had from town meeting TV warms my heart. Do you want to talk about the deans player. Yeah, let's do that and then we'll call it a wrap but we right last year when we were really going through this, you know, awareness of acts of kindness. It was the local partner which was amazing and here is the flyer that they were able to put on every pizza that was sold. Yeah, and it just talks about the app and how to get signed up so that everybody is logging acts of kindness. And it worked it was great and Dion stepped right up and they were just a fabulous partner there have been so many wonderful partners here in Albuquerque. As I mentioned back in Vermont time meeting TV has been great. And also from on teddy bear we have a couple of other collaborations underway. Colchester High School which is where Jen graduated from has planted a tree and now their art students are working on mosaic tiles to tell the story of Jen being kind loving caring sharing that will surround the tree as you enter into the school because that school was near and dear to her heart. And this is a way for her legacy to carry on locally as well as nationally as it has. But this is it kids it's a wrap so you just have to remember to be nice to me once we turn this camera off okay do I have a yes. Do we have a yes. Okay, that's a wrap. Thank you.


Shapes can add visual interest to your poster and also help to separate and organize information. To add a shape, go to the Insert tab and choose the Shape drop-down menu. I'm going to choose the rectangle with the rounded corners, and you'll see that my cursor has turned into a little plus. I'm going to draw my rectangle, and just like the text boxes, I'm not going to worry about its placement or size just yet. First thing I'll do is select color. Now you can go to some pre-made styles, or you can choose the fill color and the outline color next to that. I'm going to choose a fill color, and then I'm going to remove the outline. Now I can use this yellow dot to adjust the sharpness of my corners, and I can use the clear dots to resize my shape. You can also add in shape effects, if you like, or add other design details such as other shapes, gradients, or whatever you think looks good. Play around with all the tools and see what you can do. To make sure your text goes in front of images and shapes, select it, go to Arrange, and choose Bring to Front.


A happy Tuesday to you guys. So I'm really excited you all because we have a live event that is happening today, this evening this Tuesday at 7 p.m. So this event is going to be for all of you students and doesn't just have to be pre-PA students. Anybody who has ever kind of struggled with a high stakes exam or anyone who you know you kind of just want to make sure that you're doing the right tips and tricks to make sure that you're succeeding in these high-stake exams like the GRE or the MCAT or the PA CAT or the PANTS. So I'm going to be speaking with Dr. Adam Roche of Roche Review. We're going to be talking about some tips that you all can use to succeed in high-stake exams. So be sure to join us this Tuesday, today, this evening for that live event. I will put the information in the link in the description box below, okay? So this video is actually going to be about the transcripts. So we're gearing up for CASPA. CASPA is opening up at the end of April, April 29th to be exact. And so that is our central application site. That is where you're going to be putting in all of your application information for PA schools. And an aspect of CASPA is the transcript request form. And it's one of the important aspects because it is where you are getting all of the grades that you've ever taken from all of the schools that you've ever gone to placed on your transcript and then sent to CASPA. Okay? So someone asked me a question about that. And so we're going to be talking about all of the various different nuances and moving pieces about the transcript request and when you should get it done in this video. That's my channel. If you're new to my channel, thank you guys so much for joining me today. Go ahead and subscribe, hit that notification bell and join this family. If you are already part of the family, welcome you guys. So I have a question by Paul Yang. He asked, when should you request for your transcript? And how long does it usually take for the transcript to come? So this is a great question, Paul. And it's a really important question. Although it's simple, it's very important because your transcript is like the one thing that can make or break your PA school application. Okay? So for PA school, you have a GPA requirement. Most schools require that you have a 3.0 GPA, be it cumulative and science. Okay? There are some schools with lower GPAs, but the majority of PA schools require a GPA of 3.0. That being said, if your transcript is not right and not tight, you're not getting into PA school, okay? You are not getting an acceptance or an offer for an interview and that can be affected by your transcript request form that you have through CASLA. So in CASLA, there are forms for each various different school that you're applying to that has to be inserted with your transcript that you're going to send to... You're going to give to your program, your undergraduate program that you were attending, be it a four-year degree program or a community college because you were taking more classes like I did. And then those schools are then going to send that transcript request form and your transcript to CASLA, okay? However, if there's something wrong in that little link that chain of events, it could really mess you up. I want to give you guys some tips that I've learned from some silly mistakes that I've made in the past and that some other people have learned from that have come before you to help you guys not make those mistakes and really better yourself, okay? So with your transcript request form, you need to ensure that you're looking at when does my classes end, okay? So for me, I knew that my school ended in May 9th. And so I was like, okay, I need to go to these programs and ask them, hey, when are the teachers required to have their grades in? Because I made the mistake in the past before where I did not ask that question. I gave them the transcript request form once I completed all of the courses and they had not yet placed all of the new classes that I had taken into my transcripts. So my GPA was not where it needed to be, to be super competitive. And that's what I wanted. And I did not get into any of the schools that I applied to. And that was kind of like a gut punch to me, okay? Because I'm like, dang, you know, why is my GPA lower than what I calculated as? I knew I looked at this. There's no way that it should be this low. What is going on? And I found out that, hey, not all the grades that I had and the classes that I had completed had been placed. And that was a big deal because I got A's in all of those classes. So it would have boosted my GPA up significantly. So go to your schools, ask them when teachers are required to have their grades in and then when the transcript will be completed. Once you have that information, you guys, then you can choose to be like, okay, I'm going to now give you this form to request that my transcript is sent to CASPA. This form has to be placed in with the transcript. Please make sure that is done because CASPA will look at the little numbers on that sheet and your name and the information that is provided on there so that they're matching it up with the right application and, you know, all of those pieces need to be in alignment. So that is one thing that you should absolutely be doing. Make sure that you're also looking at the deadlines of these applications. Okay, if you know that you are in school until like July or the beginning of August, but you have programs that you are trying to apply to in September that has a September 1st deadline for the application. You need to make sure that you are actually getting this thing done in a timely fashion. Okay, so with respect to the transcript, when it's requested, your school takes about five to seven days to actually get it sent to CASPA. Now, once that's done, CASPA takes about five or so days to actually have it uploaded to all of that information uploaded into your CASPA application. And it takes up to two weeks for them to truly verify your application. And that's when you are saying, hey, my application is done. Please send it to my first or two schools or how many of our schools you're going to apply to once you hit verify. So with that being said, if you end school in August, like second week of August, you've requested a transcript or your school takes a week to get that transcript done. It's the third week of August. And then now you're completely done. CASPA has about two weeks to get that transcript completed and your application verified. You're very close to missing that deadline and you might actually miss it. So these are things that you have to pay attention to. Pay attention to these little nuances. You know, that's why it's essential for you to get all of this information because these things are things that you really should know about, but you don't know about when you're navigating this application season for the first time. So that's why I made this channel. So if you haven't already done so go ahead and subscribe because it really helped my YouTube algorithm out a lot. So subscribe and like my video. Okay. But apart from that, you guys on a real note, it is essential to be meticulous when you are going through this application and when you're requesting your transcript. Okay. So it can take up to two weeks for all of that information to be requested. You should request your transcript as early as you possibly can. Now what I mean by that is again, if your school takes about a week or so to actually have your transcripts in all of your grades added to your transcript and your transcript completed, make sure that you are in that window. Do not request your transcript before that two week period is done. And in that being said, you then need to ensure that the applications that you're trying to apply fit into that timeline so that you're not kind of edging yourself out of a deadline or applying to a school because you've missed a deadline. Because there's no point in applying if you've missed the deadline. Okay. Trust me. I know. Okay. These are some of the mistakes that I've made. I'm like, oh, okay. You know, it's only one day late. No, no, no, that's not. Don't waste your money. All of the other programs that may still meet the requirements that you have for your PA school and apply to those schools. Okay. For sure, for sure. Make sure your GPA is where it needs to be. Make sure those grades are where they need to be. And make sure that you talk to your school registrar and say, hey, this is really important. I need to know when these grades are going to be completed. This is what I need them sent after the grades have only been uploaded to my transcript. And then you can request that that transcript is sent to CASPA. You're not going to be able to see what CASPA calculates your GPA at until your application is verified. So keep that in mind. Bear that in mind. Calculating your GPA and all that stuff is things that you're going to need to do on your own. If you've gone to several different schools like I did, that is something that you're going to have to calculate. And you know, it's time consuming, but it's worth it. If you've only gone to your undergraduate school, then you should be easy. Whatever your school calculates your GPA at, that's likely what CASPA is going to calculate it at as well. Okay. So thank you, Paul, so much for asking me this question. This was great. If you guys have not left me a question or a comment, please do so. Leave it in the comment section below. I want to ensure that I get to all of your questions and answer them in a timely fashion. So please do that. I do make videos out of them. Thank you guys so much for watching. Follow me on Instagram at Adon the PA and on Instagram at Get That See University. Please go ahead and subscribe and like this video. And I will talk to you guys next time. Bye.