Speaker 1: 0:00

I don't know about you, but when my teenagers started driving, I was a nervous wreck. So many things that could go wrong and God forbid they get into an accident. Sure, we have car insurance, but for some young drivers the monthly insurance can be higher than the car payment. That's why we're excited to announce that State Farm is lowering their car insurance rates. And you should call our good friend Kathy L Wall with State Farm on Lovers Lane in Dallas. You see, kathy and her team don't just sell car insurance, they sell peace of mind. So if an accident happens, they're actively working on your claim so you can put that accident behind you. And, best of all, kathy will personally talk with your teen driver with some straight talk that will help them appreciate the driving privilege you have provided them. So if you're tired of high rates for auto insurance, please call our good friend Kathy Elwall, state Farm at 214-350-2692 or visit her website at kathylwallcom and let her know. The Bubble Lounge sent you.

Speaker 1: 1:08

Welcome to the 300th episode of the Bubble Lounge podcast. I'm Martha Jackson. There are so many unique academic elements to Highland Park Independent School District and I recently discovered the MAPS program. You may have seen this really interesting space up on the top third floor of the high school and I had the pleasure of being able to tour and learn about it and sit in a class recently and I absolutely loved it.

Speaker 1: 1:34

I was so impressed with this program and everything that they have to offer our students. It's a program that really gives these kids an opportunity to kind of get a leg up on what they want to do after college. One of the things that stood out to me was the caliber of talent that they bring in to talk to the kids. They've had everyone from Mark Cuban, the Haas Formula One team and coming up on Monday they have Dan and Clark Hunt talking about creating dynasties, the blueprint for success for sports, and that's just a small sample of what they do with this program. So to learn more about the MAPS program, I invited Executive Director of the Moody Innovative Institution, dr Orsak, to come talk to us today.

Speaker 2: 2:27

Dr Orsak, welcome to the show. Hey Martha, how are you doing? I'm great. I'm so glad you're here. You have an exciting event coming up next week. Tell us all about it brothers coming in Dan and Clark Hunt. Both are very involved in sports and, of course, our community. You may know Clark with the Kansas City Chiefs and Dan with FC Dallas, and so they're going to be in and I think we're going to have a fantastic conversation about what it's like for two brothers to work together in the world of sports. They've been extremely successful. There'll be some great insights about how they grew up together and what they learned, and I'm very excited to hear their stories together and separately.

Speaker 1: 3:16

Well, that is so impressive that a school like Highland Park gets that caliber of speakers. And of course, last year this time you had Mark Cuban, and I mean I can just only imagine the things these kids are learning from these guys.

Speaker 2: 3:29

Yeah, it's amazing. You know it's important for us that we're bringing in people that they can be around as much as learn from. You know, to spend 30 minutes with people like this really can make an impact on kids in ways that you don't fully anticipate in advance. So some of the things like that we anticipated from Mark last year just changed on a dime. For example, the day he showed up was the day he actually sold the Mavericks. He didn't know that advance and we didn't know that in advance, and so it just happened and it changed the entire tenor of the evening and it was just a blast for everybody. So we don't know what's going to happen on Monday for the Hunt brothers, but it's going to be fantastic one way or another.

Speaker 1: 4:22

Wow, well, very impressive. Well, so I had the pleasure of coming up and touring the MAPS program recently with you, and I got to sit in the sports analytics class. Tell us a little bit about the program.

Speaker 2: 4:33

Well, we started the program about five years ago and we've been growing it steadily ever since, and so what most people know about the program quite honestly within the community is it's up on the third floor and most people know it's up there but they don't really know what's going on up there In a really really cool space.

Speaker 2: 4:55

Yeah, we designed it to be kind of funky and it's won two major architectural awards for education design, and so kids like to be there, and when you walk around it's a little bit hard to tell exactly what is happening because it doesn't look like a normal classroom.

Speaker 2: 5:14

Kids aren't in rows doing what kids in rows do, so most of the classrooms are extremely active. You'll see kids working together in teams doing all kinds of very interesting activities that we spend a lot of time dreaming up and thinking up so that we can sequence them to ultimately get to some pretty high level activities by the end of the year, and so we have six different programs within the MAPS program in total, and you mentioned sports analytics. That's one of our six. We've got programs in environmental architecture. I won't go through all of them, but the original two were engineering design and business design and leadership, which is really an entrepreneurship course, and it's just grown steadily ever since. The class that's going to be coming in next year will be our largest class ever, and it I mean we just find more kids interested in doing more interesting things every year, and so it just pushes us to be better.

Speaker 1: 6:19

Right. Well, what I witnessed when I sat in the class is I just feel like it really gives these kids a leg up, because so many of us after college we kind of fumble around, maybe when we want to start a business, maybe we're for someone else, and it takes us a while to kind of find our stride and figure it out, get comfortable doing presentations in front of people and things like that. And they're starting now their junior year and senior year and like they're really kind of getting an edge on everything junior year and senior year and like they're really kind of getting an edge on everything.

Speaker 2: 6:52

Yeah, it's so different than a normal classroom in the sense that, you know, we talk to a lot of professionals and our entire staff have been professionals prior to coming and working within MAPS, and so we know what it takes to be successful in the so-called real world. And so we just start on day one having them do that, and so most of the assignments get turned in as presentations. And so when you look for a homework assignment, like, well, what's your homework tonight? Well, I've got to get ready to make a presentation tomorrow. Do you have to turn anything on, you know, as a paper or document? No, not really, I just have to turn anything on you know as a paper or document.

Speaker 2: 7:29

No, not really, I just have to stand up there for two minutes Well, that's a lot of pressure for somebody that your whole grade is packed into two minutes and they get immediate feedback from their peers, which may be more pressure than from their teachers or from outside experts. So every day it's just drive to the finish line, and I think these kids get more and more comfortable as it goes on. Sure, and we get to see them get more relaxed. Their personalities start to come out. They don't look like robo-student that you see at the beginning of the year, of course, and so now, this time of year, in April, we're really starting to see them shine.

Speaker 1: 8:10

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Speaker 2: 9:12

Yeah, that is one. So we try to start big, like let these kids know this is going to be a big year for them and almost no better way to do that than to have a full Formula One team with the race car. And we also brought in some race simulators which the drivers actually use so to get you know, to get accustomed to a particular race track. They get into these simulators and these simulators, are you know, can be as expensive as a million dollars a piece. Formulators are, you know, can be as expensive as a million dollars a piece. You sit in there and you're going to be racing the track that you know that's coming up for the next F1 race.

Speaker 2: 9:55

So we let our kids do that as well, as get up close and personal with the Formula One car and talk to the drivers that will be sitting in them, you know, in just a few days for the race them, you know, in just a few days for the for the race. And they get to meet the, you know the team that puts that car in position, you know, gets the car ready for the race. Um, as well as the team manager, we have ESPN folks come down to do the Q and a with everyone. So it's a, it's a big festival for them to see like, wow, this is what it takes. It takes, you know, to run a formula one team.

Speaker 2: 10:29

it is, it's a little army quite the operation yeah, and we somehow got to get it into that practice field where did you have this set up?

Speaker 2: 10:38

yeah, we do it in the indoor practice field oh, okay which is, uh, it's a little bit of a minor miracle trying to get it. You know, trying to get the practice field away from the coaches during football season, but they're very gracious and they show. Of course you can't, yeah, but what are you going to do? You can't miss this thing. So they show up, have a blast with it as well. And I mean I just get the the chills when I see the car quietly coming across the baseball field. So we're all pushing it across the baseball field hoping nobody notices it. And then it rolls in and music starts and it's just lights on and so we start with an event of that scale. But everything will circle back around.

Speaker 2: 11:25

So for the engineering design kids who I mean all of the MAPS kids come to Formula One, but at the end of the year they will design and build their own Formula One race team race car and then race it in a Formula One race. That we go to the gym and set up an F1 race course and it's a blast to see them racing their own cars that they've designed 100%. They made every single part. We only give them two things we give them a motor and we give them a control to steer it. Everything else they made themselves tires, chassis, you name it and so it's a huge achievement for them. And it's just, it is so much fun to see them race them competitively.

Speaker 2: 12:11

And then, of course, by the end of the race, these cars are just trashed because they just can't control them. And then it's just, it's on, they're just. It's like a, you know, it's like a derby, where they're just trying to wreck each other. Uh, like kids, you know. So they return to being a kid at the very end of the class. So that'll come up in May, and we do that with all of our classes. They have a big project at the beginning and then it cycles all the way back around to an even bigger project.

Speaker 1: 12:42

I love that. That is so cool. Just to see the whole beginning and the end and end big with building your own car. I love that. That is so cool. Just to see the whole the beginning and the end and end big with building your own car. I of shock Like that's not possible.

Speaker 2: 12:55

We're not going to be able to do this. You know, and when you see it you would believe that they're not going to be able to do it. It's just too complicated, it requires too much knowledge and too much skill. But you know, we take them through it. I mean, we're like the Sherpas that take these kids through this entire experience and by the end of it, not only do they know what they're doing, they don't want our help. You know, we got it. We're going to do this thing our own, our own way, and off to the races and we get some funky looking cars that come out One of the cars that won a special prize.

Speaker 2: 13:48

Do you remember the? What was the show with the, the tow mater? He was the go card. Sure Cars, yeah. So one of them built and designed a tow mater Exact it was an exact replica and raced it in the formula one race and did great and he won a. He won a special jury prize for the design. So they, you know, they're still 16 and 17 year old. You know, at the very end. So that's what makes it fun and just doing amazing things.

Speaker 1: 14:20

Well, I love that. Well, above and beyond the classroom, how does maps interact with the community in Highland Park?

Speaker 2: 14:32

That's one of our secret weapons and that is you know, we got so many talented parents in the HP community and even beyond that we have we'll typically have about 160 to 170 experts come in during the course of a year and we only have 180 days, you know, with these kids. So it's almost every day we have an expert meeting with the kids and it's a big ordeal for us to manage that, but the experts add so much in terms of telling stories about whether it be about themselves or about the background of what they're working on, and it's an incredible experience for kids to see what adults actually do and look like. Sure, because most of the adults they know are teachers or parents Right, and now they're seeing people that are really experts.

Speaker 1: 15:29

Sure, because most of the adults I know are teachers or parents, you know, and now they're seeing people that are really experts, right Business owners and people that have been through everything to create their own little empire. I think that that is just invaluable for them to be able to hear from that many different people throughout the year.

Speaker 2: 15:41

Yeah. So for those of you listening to this fantastic podcast and this is the 300th podcast, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 15:48

That it is. You're celebrating it with me right now.

Speaker 2: 15:51

Well, couldn't be perfect. So for those of you out there, if you have a special skill, please reach out to us. You know we're always looking for people with really unique talents and skills that want to engage with some really clever kids that you know get bored quickly If you're not, you know, sharing something really interesting with them, which they always do and can't wait Just can't wait to see what comes next. We have somebody today. I don't even know who they are, but the reason I know we have somebody today is we've got a cone and a parking spot. So that's my tell.

Speaker 1: 16:29

That needs to be preserved for your dad.

Speaker 2: 16:31

Somebody's going to be here today. Every day there's a cone for somebody. I think that's one of the best aspects of the program in total that the parents get so involved.

Speaker 1: 16:43

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Speaker 2: 17:39

Yeah. So we've had so many kids that have really surprised us in all kinds of ways. A lot of times, you know they don't really know what they're getting into. To be honest, they just have heard from their friends who've taken the class hey, you need to take this, it's a blast, it's. You know you're going to like it more than option A, B, C or D. So they sign up and then they get into the projects and start falling in love with the projects and start digging in deeper and deeper. And these projects are not two days or three days. Many of them can last for weeks. So, like our Formula One project at the end of the year for designing and building their own Formula One car, that they'll take five or six weeks to do that, working as a group, full time. So the work there has been incredible. We've had kids that have gotten internships after their projects have been completed because the work has been so professional that the judges have come by and said you know what grade are you in, by the way? You know well, I'm a junior. Do you have an internship yet this summer? And they'll find them an internship doing something in the area of design or automotives and the kids just love it.

Speaker 2: 19:07

Um, some of the uh, our, our business and entrepreneurship class gets a lot of press and you'll see that in the news. We've already had, uh, an article that's appeared in park city's people already on the preliminary ideas for businesses that these kids have. But there'll be more that'll come out and then we'll have a final competition for a grand prize winner. That grand prize winner will then be awarded money to start their business. So we've had a couple that have received the money to start a business and then the businesses have taken off. So two of them are now today running very successful businesses. One of them is a candy company who is wildly successful you can buy them at H-E-B or any of the other stores, not only around Dallas but around the country and has an exclusive deal with the video game industry to be the official video game candy. That's an incredible thing to pull off, by the way, to pull off an exclusive licensing.

Speaker 2: 20:16

Not a small feat at all yeah, as a 17 year old kid. And then the second one just was two years ago, and he developed a special beverage made entirely out of natural material. You know, natural extracts. That is an energy beverage that you take before you work out, and so it's in the organic. So the beverage industry is divided into so many different categories but he happens to be in a category so many different categories, but he happens to be in a category which is extremely competitive and he's dominating it now.

Speaker 1: 20:51

That is not an easy industry to get into, and I just happened to know that they sell it at Highlander Stadium.

Speaker 2: 20:57

Yes, they do, and so he is. Now he is a sophomore at Indiana University and is now traveling around and doing pitch competitions across the country, taking his business even higher and higher and, you know, raising more and more capital. And it's just fantastic to see, because he was so shy when he started with her yeah. That I didn't think he was going to be able to stand up and even make a presentation.

Speaker 1: 21:25

Well, that's what I'm saying is I think this program takes a good 10 years off of people stumbling out there.

Speaker 2: 21:31

Yeah, it is, it's true, because they see their peers like they all come in stumbling, you know, and once you get, you see like hey, I'm not the only one. Yeah, you know, we're all completely normal. Uh, another one out of sports. Analytics was one of my favorite stories. This was a kid. He was in the band. You would have never, ever guessed that he cared about sports at all. It just I was kind of curious now why is he even in this class? But he started to shine right away and he got so good that I started inviting the coaching staff to come when I knew he was going to present so the coaching staff on the football team. Because he was particularly good at football, at presenting on football issues, they brought him onto the staff and he was then their analytics person. Very impressive.

Speaker 2: 22:32

Yeah, covering defense. Well, while he was still in high school, as he was applying to go to college, he was looking at A&M and OU. A&m offered him a position on the coaching staff as an analytics kid.

Speaker 2: 22:47

He's still in high school was so good that they were lucky. Honestly, I wrote the coach a note. I said I know you've got a lot of talented people, but you don't have this kid. This kid is so talented at what he does and so he started his own podcast on doing analytics and so after the football games on Saturday, they would come in on Monday, they would record the podcast and he had a partner where they'd have conversations and it was just a blast listening to these kids. You know, talk through the. Really, you know just precise details of what's going on. Plus, he had a great personality. You know he was the total package. You know he was the total package. So it's. You know, these stories just start to emerge where they wouldn't emerge in a traditional classroom, where you know, sit in your chair and turn in your homework tomorrow, kind of classroom.

Speaker 1: 23:47

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Speaker 1: 24:31

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Speaker 2: 25:19

Another that your audience may have been seeing this perspectives both for the positive and the negative. As we know, there's all kinds of different sources of media out there, and we, so it started out with an assignment on learning how to write an op ed. And we, so we started out with an assignment on learning how to write an op-ed. It's a pretty challenging assignment for kids in high school. They don't really like to write in the first place, it's not their favorite assignment. And then writing an op-ed has a very strict kind of format. So everybody wrote an op-ed. They had to come up with an opinion. You know, you have to research that opinion and you have to write it in a format that is interesting and grabs people's imagination and attention.

Speaker 2: 26:04

And then I called around and I found some publishing houses, generally that work in the park cities, and I got them to agree that they would publish our top op-eds, and so they hadn't seen them. They just had to take it on good faith that I'd make sure that they got good stuff. So we had four of them that tied for first place. All four of them got published. Oh, awesome, okay, so that's fantastic. Well, one of them called me back. One of the editors called me back. He's the editor of the Good Life, which I'm sure many of your listeners yes, we all get it.

Speaker 2: 26:44

And so he called and he said you know what, maybe we can do one a month, we can run an op-ed a month. I said, well, okay, let's give it a shot. So now we are publishing an op-ed by one of our MAP students every month, every month, and these kids are coming up with some of the most really challenging ideas for the community. And we I mean I have to work with the kids, so I'm kind of their editor, um, and then we send the final draft over to the editor of the magazine to make a final determination to run or not run. They've run every single one of them, no matter how challenging it was. I sent him one that I knew was going to be hard, like I don't know. You know, do you really? Is he really going to run this? This is just too.

Speaker 1: 27:37

And he did.

Speaker 2: 27:38

Well. He said I'm going to have to take some time on this. So two days later he calls me and he said he said this is hard. I thought he was going to tell me. No, he said so. I showed it to my wife. It was a young woman that wrote it and she said if this was your daughter that wrote this, you would be incredibly proud that it was your daughter.

Speaker 1: 28:01

Right, that's a good point.

Speaker 2: 28:04

I think you need to run it.

Speaker 1: 28:05

Okay, well, I am like so excited to read the op-eds I mean everything that you've said today like you have totally sold me on this program. Like I want to apply, I want to be a participant of this every single day.

Speaker 2: 28:33

Like I want to apply. I want to. You know, having this kind of conversation and we need this for our students this is a very difficult kind of conversation for a young kid to have. Sure, yeah, you know, especially with an adult, where you know we're this close and we're talking about real ideas, and you know they know they have to be focused and listen and think. That's a challenge for a 16, 17-year-old kid, that, and they don't get to do this very often. So somebody like you can come in and work in our modern media class for a day or two, working with these kids and running them through these kinds of exercises. We have the perfect space for it. We have a podcast room.

Speaker 2: 29:20

And a TV studio yeah, a TV studio and you can talk to them in the classroom, first as a group and then take them in as subgroups and maybe run a podcast with two or three of them at the same time and do five or ten minutes with them and then cycle the next group through. So for the, you know, for the community who wants to be involved and we need the community to be involved for this to be successful, is it? You know? It's just contact us. The easiest way to find us is just to go to the HP ISD website and look up MAP.

Speaker 2: 29:52

Right, and I'll include a link, as always, so you guys don't have to remember anything up map Right and I'll include a link, as always, so you guys don't have to remember anything and you know we have a full-time staff that does really manages our outside professionals in an incredible way. It just couldn't be easier. If you want to do it, we'll get you scheduled in a way that works for you and everything is as easy as you know it's by. We give you a little training on what it's like to walk into a classroom with a bunch of kids, because it's as intimidating as you can imagine, you know.

Speaker 1: 30:26

I actually just did it at the HP Lit Fest, so I know I know exactly what you're talking about.

Speaker 2: 30:30

Not, that easy.

Speaker 1: 30:31

No, it isn't at all. Well, let's end with this. Just finish talking about the Moody Speaker Series that you have coming up next week, because we want everyone to come out.

Speaker 2: 30:41

Yeah, absolutely so. Everyone is invited. We only ask that you RSVP so that we have a good headcount that helps us determine which space we will go into. So that's a very simple thing to do. If you just go to the HPE website, well, I guess maybe we'll just have it posted on your I will include the link.

Speaker 2: 31:04

Yes, yeah, and join us. It'll be a fantastic thing. We really encourage the students and their parents to come together so that they can have a shared experience and talk about you know, talk about what they you know, what they saw and engaged in, and the parents have loved it, I could tell you the parents asked as many questions as the kids.

Speaker 2: 31:24

I could imagine, and it'll just be a blast. We have a great moderator for the conversation. She happens to also be an HP mom, but she's a big TV personality in the world of sports as well. So I hope you'll come Monday night seven o'clock. You know you've already filed your taxes. Come have some fun.

Speaker 1: 31:45

And again it's Dan and Clark Hunt, and the topic is creating dynasties, the blueprint for success in sports.

Speaker 2: 31:52

Fantastic.

Speaker 1: 31:53

All right. Well, Dr Orsak, this has been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for taking the time to join me today on our 300th anniversary.

Speaker 2: 32:01

I couldn't be more proud to be part of it.

Speaker 1: 32:04

That's been another episode of the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson and I'll see you next time.