S1E
· 36:02
Jethro: Welcome to this special
edition of Principal P L
N with Guest Host Ross Romano!
Ross Romano: If you're interested
in impactful education, innovation,
you're in the right place.
Today, we're kicking off a four
part series discussing career view
XR and its alignment with four core
principles that have the potential
to drive student outcomes, a positive
student outcomes for every child.
I'm Ross Romano, host of the Authority
Podcast here on the BE Podcast Network.
I'm joined today by Matt Shosey
for this special episode.
Matt is the CEO.
Be More Colorful, a Midwest based
immersive media production studio
whose platform, CareerViewXR, is
rapidly gaining national attention.
CareerViewXR provides students and
adult career seekers across the country
with an unprecedented opportunity
to experience real world careers
through virtual reality technology.
And it was recently selected from
a field of over 2, 000 applicants
to be one of 33 semifinalists
for the prestigious Yaas Prize.
Matt, welcome to the show!
Thank you.
Matt Chausee: Hey, thanks, Ross.
I appreciate you having me.
Ross Romano: So...
You know, we're setting the stage
here for you know, for a number of
conversations where we're going to get
a chance to dive pretty deeply into
these four principles, which we'll
talk about what they are in a moment.
But you know, for our listeners who
are tuning in and we're just getting
to know you wanted to give you a chance
to describe, be more colorful and
career view XR and how you got started
with the company and the growth you've
experienced over the past few years.
Matt Chausee: Yeah, absolutely.
So Be More Colorful is a virtual reality
and immersive media production studio.
We're based in Fargo, North Dakota,
and we actually started in 2016
thinking we were going to change the
game for residential real estate.
And when home virtual tours weren't we
weren't able to sell home virtual tours,
it was like, well, Boy what can we do?
How do we pivot?
How do we make this why isn't it working?
And as we started doing some of that self
reflection, start realizing boy, we're not
solving a big problem that there's, there
are opportunities here to use this media
for things that can be much more impactful
than just helping someone choose how
to buy a home both Katie and I my wife,
Katie and I are a husband and wife team.
And we decided, you know what?
We're going to, we're
going to make this happen.
We're going to go all in on this thing.
We're going to figure out
where our right fit is.
Cause we'd started to see a little bit
of traction in tourism, which then kind
of led to workforce developments and
economic developments, and that then
started getting us connected with schools.
And we're both very passionate learners
and educators and it was like, boy,
We can use these immersive media
technologies to help students make
more informed choices about what
their future path is by creating
visibility to the wide array of options
that, that's not just students, but.
educators and parents are
not even that familiar with.
So that's the nutshell version.
It's a seven year journey
to get to this point.
So obviously there are a lot of
additional rabbit holes to go down there.
But really that's the overall focus.
It was it started off as a set of
features in search of a problem.
Repositioned as boy, we need really need
to understand the problem and the people
that's affecting first and then we build
a solution that helps solve that problem.
Ross Romano: Yeah, how did you get
confirmation that focusing on careers
was the right place to put your energy?
Matt Chausee: Well, it was interesting.
It was because we had, I said,
we started in real estate, then
we moved into travel and tourism.
It was actually at a tourism
conference where I ran into North
Dakota's Commissioner of the
Department of Commerce at the time.
And I've always loved the show Dirty
Jobs, like Mike Rowe is a hero.
aNd I've always been
passionate about learning.
I did a lot.
So, okay, here's my story.
Six and a half years in college
for my four year math degree.
And it wasn't because
I failed any courses.
It's because I couldn't
decide what I wanted to do.
I had too many major changes.
But I've always loved learning.
And that's kind of a core
principle of our company.
And when I ran into the director of the
Department of Commerce, I realized that
I read an article recently talking about
this workforce issue that North Dakota,
as well as many other states are facing.
And I asked her, I said, Hey I want
to show I had a VR headset in my hand.
I said, I want to show you this virtual
experience and then ask you a question
and she tried it on and had I think
it was it was a pitchfork steak fondue
which is they actually use pitchforks and
they're cooking steaks and that's oil.
She took off the headset and like,
wow, it felt like I was really there.
And I said, yeah.
What would you think about using this
technology to help increase awareness
of some of the in demand occupations?
And she said, I love it.
You need to come talk to the Governor's
Workforce Development Council.
So we did that and immediately out
of that meeting, this was a couple
months later, we're back now,
this would have been June of 2019.
We had that meeting and immediately out
of the meeting, we got our first two
clients, which were the North Dakota
Building Trades Unions and General
Equipment and Supplies, who is a heavy
equipment sales and service dealership.
They said, we need this, that
it is so difficult for us to go
into a school and to tell kids.
what these careers are.
That it's just, it's impossible.
You can't try to explain what it's
like standing next to an excavator
to a middle school student if they've
never, if they don't know the difference
between an excavator and a bulldozer
and a front end loader, right?
They need to be able to get them there.
But You can't for things like a
lot of trades for even health care.
You're constrained by these time,
geography, financial safety, privacy
limitations that prevent us from
getting kids into those locations.
So that's where we saw the opportunity.
From there, we started working
directly with students and teachers.
We really, we did not want to, we
didn't want to make the same mistake
we made initially in real estate.
We wanted to make sure let's
understand the problem first.
And we know we've got this tool
set and we'll build a solution that
is tailored to solving the problem
that the students, counselors, and
educators are informing us about.
Ross Romano: Can you kind of
paint a little bit of a picture
for listeners about what this
looks like in the classroom when
students are using CareerView XR or
Matt Chausee: absolutely.
So, so in the classroom, what this looks
like, CareerVXR it's a platform with
two different formats for the media.
We learned early on that just
providing virtual reality content
creates, introduces new barriers.
that, that we cannot
have in the classroom.
You can't introduce new media and
have it be dependence on a new type of
hardware because then you're creating
more problems than you're really solving.
So the two formats that we provide, one
is a web based format that students and
teachers can access from any device they
only need an internet connection and
while most schools weren't one to one
in 2019, as soon as 2020 hits and we had
to go to virtual learning, that there
are very few schools now that don't have
a school issued device available for
students and even in public charter and
homeschool there, there's availability.
of standard devices.
So all of our content can be accessed
from any device with an internet
connection, whether it's a phone or
a tablet or a Chromebook, but we also
have supplementary career videos.
So supplementary immersive videos that
if you have a VR headset and you're
loading these, if you're watching
one of these videos on that headset,
you're completely immersed in.
What that career is like.
You're on top of the wind turbine,
you're in the emergency room, you're
riding along in the squad car with
with the community support officer.
That, that's really what it is.
And it's tough to, if you've not tried
VR before, it's tough to explain that.
It's tough to show it in video.
It's tough to explain it you know,
on, on a podcast, but one of the
ways that we love showing that is, is
just with demonstrations of students
engagement and interactions with it.
And the responses have
been super, super positive.
Ross Romano: so you were at a pivotal
time in the company's, evolution, right?
When the pandemic disrupted
schools and education and society
as a whole, how did that affect?
your progress during that time and the
growth you were seeking as you were
starting to kind of get your footing in
education, right, and get the new focus.
And you know, that was a time where
it was a unique time for technology.
Matt Chausee: It was and we were, we
had just started with CareerVXR, we
had produced those experiences with
the Building Trades Unions and with
General Equipment, and we were just
starting to get those out and visible.
We'd had meetings with with
Educators and career and technical
education professionals, and
we're getting good feedback.
And we were starting to line up
what our next shoots would be like.
And then the pandemic hit and the
production partners we added up had
lined up, started canceling their shoots.
And we're saying, Oh my gosh, we're
we're this husband and wife company.
We've literally gone all in solar house,
Lake place, one of our cars, and we're
living in an apartment at the time.
And we've been able to survive based on.
These production projects that have
come, been coming in and it basically
got killed because nobody's willing
to even let a company that's filming
come on site for the risk of.
Spreading coronavirus.
buT what came out of that was a
new understanding from schools
in particular of the value of the
services that we were providing.
It completely changed the
conversation because Schools.
I mean, it's critically important to be
able to show kids what these pathways are.
Let them experience it in person, but
it's always been a little bit difficult
to schedule field trips and job shadows.
Not impossible, but I mean, the options
are relatively limited based on your
geography and what's around you.
But what the pandemic ended up doing
is really shined a spotlight on how
woefully Insufficient, our ability to
bring kids to job sites is what we,
the little bit we were able to do.
Now we can't do that at all.
So that got people thinking.
better than being there in
person, but more accessible
than being there in person.
And that's the thing that I
love about what we're doing.
And the silver lining for us from the
pandemic was that people had an innate
understanding of, boy, you create virtual
field trips and virtual job shadows.
So now we don't have to worry.
At first it was, we don't have
to worry about coronavirus,
but then it turned into, Oh, We
don't have to worry about buses.
We don't have to worry
about permission slips.
We don't have to worry about all
these other things that, that
prevented them from doing all
of the in person types of career
exploration that they would want to.
Ross Romano: Yeah.
Yeah.
So so that.
Innovation that work in the education
space leads us to the prize that
I referenced in the opening.
And you're one of the semifinalists
out of more than 2000 applicants,
one of only 33 semifinalists.
So clearly there's something
there that's working.
One, can you fill people in on
what that prize is all about, who
might not be familiar with it?
And how did you come to
get involved with it?
Matt Chausee: Yeah, absolutely.
So, the Yaas Prize is an Education
Innovation Award and it's a national
award That is backed by the Center for
Education Reform and it celebrates and
rewards innovators in education as you
mentioned, there were 2, 000 around 2,
000 applicants this year from across
the country, and the applicants were all
applying to Show the work that they're
doing, innovating in education, not just
ed tech, but other innovative approaches
that could include using tried and true
methods, but in a new and innovative
manner and really showing how they align
with the Oz prizes, stop principles and
stop stands for sustainable, outstanding,
transformational, and permissionless.
And today we'll be talking more
about the sustainable aspect of
that and how career view and.
Be more colorful line there, but that's
really the emphasis of the Oz prize
is to celebrate those educators that
are being innovative and creating new
approaches to learning that ultimately
lift up schools, students, and parents for
helping their kids do that most important
thing, which is by the end of the.
time they're in school, figure
out what's next and be confident.
Be confident in that choice and be happy
with that choice that, that they've made.
So we, we applied thinking,
boy I hope we make it.
You know, it'd be amazing if we did.
And in September we were notified that
we were one of 64 quarter finalists.
And actually my internet wasn't working
well and it cut out right before
they were making the announcement.
I didn't actually get to hear it.
My, I was remote at a conference and.
I start getting messages from my team.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
We made it.
We made it.
We're in, we're one of
the quarter finalists.
So that was how our journey started.
Just this excitement to have this
validation from this nationally renowned
award say, yes, the work you've been
doing for these past years is valuable.
It's meaningful for teachers and students.
And we're recognizing that it
just, it was pretty incredible.
And we're.
grateful and honored to be a
part of that awardee group.
Ross Romano: Yeah, so you
referenced those, the stop.
Principal, Sustainable, Transformational,
Outstanding, Permissionlism.
And so with this being the
first of our four conversations,
we're focusing on Sustainable.
There will be more episodes of
a variety of our network shows
to come, focusing on the TLP.
We'll clue everybody in on those
at the end of the episode here.
So this sustainable pillar they call it,
right, the core pillar, it's the first one
in the what's it about and what makes it
so foundational to, the entirety of this
series of principles they've laid out?
Matt Chausee: Yeah, I think the
sustainability piece of it is really
a focus on how can all of these, each
of the entities involved, how can
they create educational models and
approaches to education that, that Aren't
dependents on continued philanthropy
that are not restricted to only those
families that have a ton of money
available to be able to send their kids
to really really nice private schools.
How do we create equitable education
that lifts up all students by providing
parents and teachers and students some.
Well, parents and students in particular,
a bit of latitude in what it is they want
to learn and how they want to learn it
and doing that in a way that there, there
are dollars available to make it happen,
that it doesn't have to be something
that is taxing on families, that you
know, we can really create it happen.
Thanks.
choices in education in a fair manner
that allow all students and families to
be able to have those choices to make.
From our standpoint sustainable
means building a platform
that is not restrictive.
It is not something that can
only be accessed by larger school
districts with big budgets.
It's something that we want every
single charter school and micro
school and home school student to
be able to afford because it's so
critical to be able to become aware
of what those career choices are.
So I think sustainability, there's
a financial component to it,
making sure that the dollars are
available for all of these schools
to operate the way that they need to.
But there's also kind of sustainability
in terms of innovative approaches
to Finding other ways to other ways
to bring some of those dollars in
and support your organizations.
They're really cool organizations
that are doing things like
partnering with partnering with.
Organ, excuse me, partnering with
companies and employers and really
finding ways to engage publicly to
show that, hey, the output we're
getting from these schools are really
engaged and passionate students, which
then emphasizes the importance of
putting dollars into those programs.
Ross Romano: Have you found that...
Schools when they're discussing with
you some of their goals, the programs
they're trying to bring to their
students their efforts centered around
equitable access and opportunities
and knowledge about, right, career
pathways, future options and what.
A variety of different success pathways
could look like beyond K 12 that they're
looking to you and to CareerViewXR
as a solution that's able to you
know, get them closer to accessing
what they want for their students.
Matt Chausee: Yep.
And that's, that's key, right?
I'm not going to, I'm not going to sit
here and say that our solution is going
to line every single student across the
country with exactly the perfect career.
But what we do is we broaden
their base knowledge.
We provide an authentic glimpse into a
wide variety of career experiences that
they'd never be able to see before.
And some of the stories that, that come
out of this, I mean, it just we've got.
Kids that are inspired.
One kid we always ask students what
they want to see, and you would
expect that these students are going
to be asking for, Oh, I want to
see, I want to see football player.
I want to see NASCAR driver.
I want to see social media influencer.
And we get those occasionally.
But by and large, when I ask a room of
students what they want to see, they're
asking for things like teacher and
accountant, and there was one class where
two kids wanted to see an agronomist
experience, and I never thought I'd
hear an elementary kid or middle school
student say, I want to see an agronomist
experience, but they haven't had a chance,
they've heard about it, but they've
never had a chance to go there in person.
The other thing that I think is really
important for schools and teachers and
parents is to be thinking beyond what
we know about different career pathways.
You'd be amazed the number of careers that
I'm learning about by being, you know.
by, by what we're doing with
CareerViewXR is just incredible.
I mean, things like sterile instrument
processing in hospitals, that you can
be a critically important role in a
hospital, that if you, if your role
doesn't exist, the hospital ceases
to function, but you can do that
without interacting with any patients.
If you ask a student what jobs there
are at a hospital, the response
you're going to get 90 percent
of the time is doctor or nurse.
And creating Just that awareness of
everything that's out there is so
important and we find that it really
opens the eyes of the students and the
counselors and the teachers of thinking
about, well, how can we be thinking
about career exploration differently
and getting those students thinking
what's the right path for me, but also.
Is this something that I thought I
was interested in, but it's really
not what I thought was what I thought
it was at the end of the day, having
students see a career experiencing,
they would say, yeah, I'd like to
learn more or no, that's not for me.
Those are both equally
successful outcomes.
Ross Romano: Right.
And I mean, even adults have a
pretty limited perspective on the
variety and number of different types
of roles and jobs and occupations
that are out there within different
industries and organizations.
There's certain things that we know
about, but there's all these other layers.
And you know, I would suppose the
part of the sustainability is helping.
Students or even adults to be able to make
better decisions earlier about the things
they really want to do and get all that
right so that they are for example, when
we think about things like the cost of
higher education and you mentioned your
six and a half year journey, right, if.
You know, if you're not really sure
what you want to do, and maybe even
by the end of that four year program,
you're like, I'm just doing something
for now, but I I'm not sure if it's
the right thing, because I don't really
quite understand the options or how
to go the pathway I want to go to.
Then that's.
You know, it's anti sustainable because
ultimately resources are limited, right?
And but in this case saying, look,
it's not that everybody has to make a
decision about what they want to do for
the rest of their life when they're 16.
But if you have a really good idea of the
types of things that really drive you and
motivate you and are really interesting
to you, you can learn much more about
those things and have a better chance at.
accessing those careers, if that's what
you want to do, then certainly you would
if you didn't know about them at all.
Matt Chausee: Yeah, absolutely.
And that's one of the things that I'm
really excited about in the sustainability
model that we're working to build.
We're based in North Dakota,
so we're starting this here.
But we look to expand it across the
country is getting employers involved.
Employers have to be more
involved in the K 12.
process to be able to help support
schools and to be able to help
provide guidance for what's the
output that we're looking for.
I mean, we run a virtual reality and
immersive media production studio
and we get people thinking, Oh,
well, you must be hiring programmers.
Well, no, yes and no.
We need programming aptitude or logical
aptitude, but we hire creatives and
filmmakers and writers and we need
people that have those soft skills and.
Really schools that are focusing on
work based learning and providing
output that's going to get
students ready for the workforce.
And I think ultimately sustainability,
dollars need to be going to schools
that are proving that they're.
doing that.
I think probably the least sustainable
model is you know, you go through this
progression of core standards and then
you graduate and you go to college and you
figure out what you're going to want to
do, and then you find out that it was all
for the wrong stuff which was what I did.
And I'm not complaining to be clear.
I liked my education, but there are
way too many students that don't have
that opportunity to have someone really
individualize what's what approaches
are going to work best for them.
I kind of went down a rabbit hole there,
but on, on our CareerVXR side, we've
been working really closely with making
those connections between employers
and Educators across the states, and we
were actually successful this year in,
in working with the North Dakota State
Legislature to get funding that was
appropriated to the Office of Career and
Technical Education that they then decided
to use to purchase CareerViewXR and deploy
that across the state of North Dakota.
Now.
That isn't sustainable
in and of itself, right?
Because those are appropriated dollars
and we all know that in, in lean times,
those things can get taken away, but
what we're going to do over the next two
years is work with those employers that
you've got 65 amazing experiences that are
paired with equally amazing employers that
now have an opportunity to present what
they've got to schools and we can start
working on a sustainability model where
those employers can help provide access
to those experiences through, through,
through us where we don't have to, we want
to in two years from now, we want to have
a model where this is entirely privately
funded and to have that be a model that is
is able to be replicated in other states.
Ross Romano: Yeah, I mean, that's a major
part of not only the sustainability,
but the viability of any educational
solution is the ability to partner
with schools to find the creative,
innovative funding solution, right?
And one.
You know, certainly for equity purposes
to say that, okay, the school that
doesn't have a lot of resources
shouldn't be prevented from accessing
a useful tool because of that.
But also because ultimately, most
schools, most public schools have,
are going to have resource challenges.
And so for...
A new solution coming to market to
be able to get in there it takes
some creativity and it really takes
partnership and getting on the same
page and an alignment and talking to
them about their goals, what they need,
what do they see working together.
And it's clear that you've been going down
that road thus far and finding that out.
That's you know, a clear
illustration, I think, of the
types of things that you can.
Continue to do and it's going to
look different case by case, as you
said the funding is always changing
where it's coming from where it is.
And that's why it's a hard job.
But at the same time the reality is.
You have, you share the same
goals with these schools, right?
You know, everybody has the goal of
ensuring that these students are prepared
for success through and beyond their
schooling years and into their life.
And the only way to make that work is to
really be working together in integration.
Otherwise, there's too
many gaps, too many holes.
Matt Chausee: Yeah, absolutely.
And I'm really glad that you
mentioned that working together and
integration because that's another
core principle of the YAS Prize.
I kind of ended our YAS journey
on we were selected as quarter
finalists, but where it went from
there is they actually flew all of the
quarter finalists out to Cleveland.
And then we had an opportunity to
meet all of the other finalists.
quarter finals, and we
only had a day and a half.
So there wasn't a lot of time to get into
deep conversations, but we're able to
meet these folks in person and learn about
the other innovation that's happening.
And yes it is, there is a competitive
nature to it, but it's only to.
make all of the
participants better, right?
And collaboration really is as much
or more a part of this whole this
whole initiative than anything else.
And one thing that they've been really
stressing throughout the entirety
of it is you are now part of, This
you're part of this group, you're
part of this family, and everyone is
here to support you and your efforts.
And you're here to support
all of them in their efforts.
And I just I love that approach.
One of our one of our core company
values is celebrate collaboration.
And I couldn't think of an
organization that is doing that better.
So we're all in Cleveland.
We're meeting each other.
We're talking, I'm talking with
folks from New York and and there,
there's another school from North
Dakota that we're visiting with and
Wisconsin and, I mean, just everywhere.
Hawaii, we had a great
quarterfinals that was from Hawaii.
I got to meet him.
Never would have gotten a chance to
do that if it weren't for this award.
And we're all there talking about
collaborating and everyone's hopeful
they'll move into the semi finals and
the, on the second night is when they
have the announcements and we were just
elated to be there and I wasn't sure
where we would land on it and when I
saw Be More Colorful come up on the
screen it just, it goosebumps, right?
It's further validation of all of
this hard work that we've been doing.
And to be clear, not just us, all of
the partners that have helped make
this happen and are making this whole
thing sustainable, it's validation
of all of their efforts as well.
So we're now on this journey
where now we're one of 33.
Semi finalists that are engaging in
further collaboration and how can we
really change the landscape and work
together to make sure that 21st century
technologies and tried and true approaches
that are re imagined can be used to
uplift students all across the country.
Ross Romano: Yeah.
And so in that spirit of collaboration,
are there some of the other semi
finalists that you'd like to
highlight or shout out with respect
to this sustainability pillar?
Of course, they're all doing, right, work
that aligns with all of the principles,
but since this is our conversation today.
Matt Chausee: Yep, absolutely.
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna list
eight that I really like from a
sustainability standpoint, but I
want to be clear that all other 32
semifinalists here are doing phenomenal.
I mean, they wouldn't be here if they
didn't check that, that sustainability
box as well as the Transformational,
Outstanding, and Permissionless.
So we're actually going to highlight
all 32 of them throughout the course
of this series, but I want to call out
updates that I really like what they're
doing from a sustainable standpoint.
So, first one would be
Detroit Achievement Academy.
They're building a sustainable
model by providing innovative
approaches that create.
civically engaged students.
And if you've got a student that's
invested in their community, that is a
student that's thinking about their school
and how to give back to their school.
You're creating sustainability there.
Families Empowered focuses on
parent empowerment and support
services and showing sustainability
by providing resources and options
to family who are seeking choices.
in education.
There's Lutheran Urban Mission, and
excuse me, Lutheran Urban Mission
Initiative, or LUMEN which is in
Wisconsin, and they blend curriculum
and comprehensive studies, and
they've created a long term model.
They've been around for 20 plus years.
I mean, what a, what an
inspirational thing, right?
There's a National Fellowship for Black
and Latino male educators who focuses
on recruiting educators and serving low
income students and creating opportunities
for Black and Latino males to position
them into senior level and C suite roles.
And.
If you're creating a school that's
bringing people into those upper level
roles, now you've got companies that
are looking back at the schools that
help bring their leadership there, and
that, that helps create some of those
sustainable opportunities where now the
companies are supporting the schools.
There's, well actually,
there's two odysseys here,
but I'm going to start with.
Odyssey, the EdTech platform.
Odyssey the EdTech platform, they've got
a platform where parents can help identify
funding opportunities and educational,
navigate educational savings account
initiatives at varying states to figure
out how do we, how do they use dollars
that are available to help support their
Children's Individualized Learning.
Then there's Odyssey Charter School,
and they've got a commitment to it.
It's a dual Greek English
language immersion program, which
I just think is really cool.
And to create something that's so
nuanced and really, I mean, You've got
to be passionate, right, about Greek
language to go into a program like that.
And that kind of passion then
turns into sustainability.
There's On Your Mark Education.
They've got a virtual tutoring
platform focused on literacy.
And I think one of the biggest struggles
for kids learning to read is, are there...
people in the area that are
going to teach them how to read.
If there aren't, you can't bring
people in, but a virtual solution
solves that problem, right?
There are definitely enough people
that are passionate about teaching
kids how to read across the country
to meet the needs of the students.
Distributed in other areas of the country.
I just I love what on your mark is doing.
And then there's West Virginia
Academy, and they're one
that on the financial side.
They're They're showing sustainability.
They're a public charter school who's
been able to successfully leverage public
funds for an expansion of educational
benefits that are that are benefiting
traditionally disadvantaged students.
So those are the eight.
I wish I could go through
all of the other 24.
We're going to hit all other 24 on
the other three episodes though.
But yeah, we're just, we're honored to
be listed amongst these folks that are
just doing amazing things in education.
Ross Romano: Wonderful.
So what are the next
steps for the OzPrize?
How can listeners support you?
Matt Chausee: Well, the next steps are
we're actually moving into a virtual
accelerator program over the next four
weeks where we'll have remote sessions.
We'll be learning a lot more about
the initiative, about our fellow
semifinalists and learning from some
Sal Khan where I'm going to hear
from him in a couple hours on a call.
So I'm just, I'm excited.
to learn.
It is a, the next four weeks are
a learning opportunity that then
culminate in a week long boot camp in
Miami where we'll have an opportunity
to refine our pitch and then actually
pitch for the 1 million YAS prize.
So that's what a lot of that's A lot of
the next few weeks are going to entail
but there is one other opportunity that
I want to make sure that we call out
and that's the parents choice award.
Every one of the semi finalists is
eligible for for a parents for the Parents
Choice Award, which is actually selected
by a vote from the general public.
And this is a little different, this,
it's a little interesting, because
the Parents Choice Award, you have
to decide what you're going to do
with the funds, and it doesn't have
to be something that necessarily
directly aligns with those stops.
initiatives.
And what we've opted to do if we if we're
the winner of the Parents Choice Award,
we're going to take that 100, 000 and
we're going to put that into a fund that
will seed an ongoing an ongoing investment
that allows schools that don't have
the resources to purchase VR hardware,
to be able to help offset those costs.
And that's something that I
would love anybody listening to
be able to go out to yasprize.
org slash vote and give us a vote for for
if you believe in helping us accomplish
that, we'd love to see votes there.
But I also want to say that in
the spirit of collaboration, you
actually get two votes every day.
So I want to make sure to call out
that you should research and look
into these other 32 organizations.
They're doing incredible things.
And as much as we'd love your vote,
you got to vote your heart too.
Like vote, vote for whoever you
think is furthering what you believe
needs to happen most in education.
Ross Romano: Right.
Yeah, it's a great opportunity for
everyone out there to just, it's click
away and we'll put the link below
in the show notes to where you can
go and vote, but to really be able
to make a difference, to have those
funds go toward Giving schools and as
a result, teachers and students the
ability to access solutions that really
could help them to be successful.
We want to make sure that you know
about this four part conversation
and stay tuned to the rest of it
across the Bee Podcast Network.
So.
Today, you've heard about the
Sustainability Principle, you'll hear
about the Transformational Principle on
Transformative Principal coming up soon.
You'll hear about the Outstanding
Principle on De facto leaders and
permissionist learning, permissionless
learning, did I say that right?
On Rebel Educator both of those episodes
are coming up later this month so make
sure that you subscribe and listen to
those wherever you get your podcast to
hear the rest of these conversations.
And further, be sure to check out
our new EdTech Startup Showcase
Series, which is coming very soon.
You're going to hear a lot more
from Be More Colorful and a handful
of other great startups from
across the country all year long.
We're going to do a
year long series there.
It's a great chance to hear about
the journeys of building these
companies, the work they're doing
with schools and the difference
it's making in school communities.
So follow the Bee Podcast Network on
Twitter or LinkedIn to learn more about
that series as we get ready to launch or
subscribe to our email list at beepodcast.
network for updates.
Matt, thanks so much for being here.
Matt Chausee: Absolutely.
Thanks for having me, Ross.
And thanks everyone for listening.
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