Barriers to Bridges: Recent Episodes
Dana Baron, Melissa Bako
Thank you for joining us in our first season! We will be back with new episodes starting September 1, 2021!
The Barriers to Bridges podcast is on a mission to share stories of leaders in education who break down barriers and build bridges of opportunity. Our focus is on the bridge that can be built between people from diverse backgrounds and experiences. These interviews include vulnerable stories of the experience that shaped them to lead not only themselves, but others around them.
Melissa Bako (@Shark_Bako) and Dana Baron (@BaronDana) are the hosts of this podcast. With courage, love and a sprinkle of fun, we lead each other to greatness.
Call to action:
Donate to:
Operation Underground Railroad: https://ourrescue.org/
Visit our website https://barrierstobridgespod.simplecast.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @B_2_B_Podcast
Follow us on Instagram: barriers_to_bridges
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarrierstoBridgesPod
Or email us: barrierstobridgespod@gmail.com
Call to action:
Donate to:
https://leapsandboundspediatrictherapy.org/
Visit our website https://barrierstobridgespod.simplecast.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @B_2_B_Podcast
Follow us on Instagram: barriers_to_bridges
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarrierstoBridgesPod
Or email us: barrierstobridgespod@gmail.com
Call to action:
Student Mental Health Week Resources:
https://www.schoolcounselor-ca.org/smhw21professionaldevelopment
Donate to:
https://www.komen.org/
Visit our website https://barrierstobridgespod.simplecast.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @B_2_B_Podcast
Follow us on Instagram: barriers_to_bridges
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarrierstoBridgesPod
Or email us: barrierstobridgespod@gmail.com
Topics of discussion in this episode:
- Growing up in with a single mom in poverty
- Doing well in school with the mindset that he wanted a different lifestyle
- Growing up in a crime-stricken neighborhood
- Being a tight-knit community
- Going to a school on the west side
- Being called a racist slur and his friends standing up for him
- Racial bias in grading and expectations
- Finding sports in middle school
- He remembers teachers and coach’s names that touched his life
- Splitting up his senior class
- How his experience influences how he works with families
- Played basketball in college at Cal State San Bernardino
- The importance of sports for engagement
- Reflecting back on how hard it was for her mother
- Talking back and being a teenager
- Reflecting on his mother - mental illness and being raised in the South
- Working at Stater Bros and how Bob Molina pushed him to do more
- Coaching and becoming a PE Teacher
- Becoming an assistant principal
- Standard discipline practices and reflecting on being true to your values
- Interesting fashion choices
- Doing what is best for kids AND the adults who work with kids
- Kids with behave badly when they don’t feel safe
- Being scared to be a principal and receiving full support from his superintendent
- Being collaborative with your staff
- Understanding all students
- Supporting all kids
- Shifting mindsets and societal norms
- Suspensions and changing behaviors
- Kids who are engaged in sports
- His service in CIF and supporting cheerleading becoming a sport
- Boys and Girls Club
Call to action:
Donate to: The Boys & Girls Club
https://www.bgca.org/
Visit our website https://barrierstobridgespod.simplecast.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @B_2_B_Podcast
Follow us on Instagram: barriers_to_bridges
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarrierstoBridgesPod
Or email us: barrierstobridgespod@gmail.com
Topics of discussion in this episode:
- Growing up in a household with high expectations and a strong faith in God
- Finishing college quickly and getting married at a young age
- Tackling failure and challenges
- Supporting her husband going back to school to be a pastor while being a teacher and having young children
- Struggling with the mixed feelings of setting boundaries and balancing the expectations of being a public figure
- Finding the positive in something that you are experiencing as negative
- Finding your community of support
- Having a miscarriage and leaning on her faith to get her through it
- Introverts versus Extroverts
- Feeling the calling to lead a campus in a transition to using technology
- Transitioning to remote learning when schools shut down while supporting her campus
- Teachers communicating with families
- Changing expectations and being flexible while setting boundaries
- Transitioning to being a virtual teacher
- The strong emotions of transitioning to something you didn’t expect or possibly want
- PIVOT !!!!
- Virtual teachers and students : WE SEE YOU, WE HEAR YOU and WE APPRECIATE YOU!
Call to action:
Donate to: Guide Dogs for the Blind
https://secure2.convio.net/gd/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app20101a?4583.donation=form1&df_id=4583&mfc_pref=T&s_src=IBGMM21000&utm_source=IBGMM21000&pk_vid=e180022a50057f411616777384afc72f&NONCE_TOKEN=B4EDA1024FE12D29AAE9D841BB8675DB
Mentioned: Documentary “Pick of the Litter”
https://g.co/kgs/rWcrzs
Visit our website https://barrierstobridgespod.simplecast.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @B_2_B_Podcast
Follow us on Instagram: barriers_to_bridges
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarrierstoBridgesPod
Or email us: barrierstobridgespod@gmail.com
Call to action:
Donate to: Stop AAPI Hate
www.stopaapihate.org
Visit our website https://barrierstobridgespod.simplecast.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @B_2_B_Podcast
Follow us on Instagram: barriers_to_bridges
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarrierstoBridgesPod
Or email us: barrierstobridgespod@gmail.com
Topics of discussion in this episode:
- The importance to stay grounded and have a circle of people you can be real with
- Her Cuban Dad migrated to this country and this instilled in her the importance of the American dream.
- Her experience of how different education can be when you go to an all-girls school and her thoughts around gender differences in education
- How she started out as a Math major in college and the barriers she faced which ultimately resulted in her changing her major
- Her career as a teacher and how someone planted the seed with her and told her she should become an administrator
- She explains how being a Principal stretched her
- An open position in the Special Education department that really spoke to her
- Being a Mom of 5 kids in a blended family and a role model for them
- Having a supportive husband and being a supportive wife of a first responder
- Boundaries and mental health in her own life and with her staff
- Managing stress
- Positives that have come out of the pandemic
- General education and Special education to meet the needs of all students
- Inclusion of students with disabilities BENEFITS ALL
- ABC Hopes
Call to action:
Donate to: ABC Hopes https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E350775&id=7
Visit our website https://barrierstobridgespod.simplecast.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @B_2_B_Podcast
Follow us on Instagram: barriers_to_bridges
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarrierstoBridgesPod
Or email us: barrierstobridgespod@gmail.com
Topics of discussion in this episode:
- Leadership lessons she learned throughout her story
- Growing up in Michigan
- How her love for coaching brought her to the field of education
- Moving to California and the surprising opportunity of Athletic Director at a new High School
- Experiencing the death of her Dad and how that changed her
- All the challenges of being a new assistant principal and being moved to a new school
- Finding her voice and passion in Social Emotional Learning with students and staff on her campus
Call to action:
Donate to https://www.als.org/donate
Visit our website https://barrierstobridgespod.simplecast.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @B_2_B_Podcast
Follow us on Instagram: barriers_to_bridges
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarrierstoBridgesPod
Or email us: barrierstobridgespod@gmail.com
Title: We are ready to Launch!
Episode Summary: In this episode we share how this podcast came to be and some of the reasons why we are so excited to share it with an audience.
Topics of discussion in this episode:
- Introductions
- Mission and Vision
- How the idea for the podcast came about
- Goal is to interview all different types of job roles
Call to action:
- Visit our website https://barrierstobridgespod.simplecast.com/
- Follow us on Twitter: @B_2_B_Podcast
- Follow us on Instagram: barriers_to_bridges
- Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarrierstoBridgesPod
- Or email us: barrierstobridgespod@gmail.com