The 100th Episode: The Best of Talking Technology with ATLIS, Celebrating Community, Leadership, and Zombies
In this milestone 100th episode of Talking Technology with ATLIS, Peter Frank takes over the host’s chair to guide Christina, Bill, and Hiram through a celebration of the ATLIS community. Enjoy a curated collection of highlights featuring past guests, "spouses' questions" that put the hosts on the spot, a special conversation with the ATLIS founders about the organization's future, and a special treat to honor the team’s favorite undead recurring topic.
Featuring clips from these past episodes of Talking Technology with ATLIS:
- Driving Deeper Learning with Ray Shay
- A Journey with ATLIS Founders from Origins to Future Aspirations
- Data Harmony: Integrating Systems, Empowering Schools
- Lakeside School's AI Journey and Technology Leadership Lessons, with Jamie Britto
- From Educator to C-suite: Jim Foley on Leadership, Innovation, and Education
- Optimizing Independent School Operations through APIs
- Matt Scully on Innovation and Collaboration
- Listening Leadership & the Future of Education
Transcript
Peter Frank:
Matt, welcome to Talking technology with ATLIS,
Peter Frank:
the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for
Peter Frank:
technology leaders all through a unique Independent School lens.
Peter Frank:
We'll hear stories from technology directors and other
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special guests from the Independent School community,
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and provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.
Peter Frank:
All right, welcome everyone to talking technology with Atlas.
Peter Frank:
My name is Peter Frank. I am the Senior Director of certification
Peter Frank:
and operations at Atlas, and I am loan hosting today. Please
Peter Frank:
don't touch your dial. Don't let that change your mind. Here we
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have a very special episode. This is, in fact, our 100th
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episode of talking technology with ATLIS. If you can imagine
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that this will be the final episode of 2025 we figured we'd
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end the year and just do something special. And we have a
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collection of some of our favorite highlights from the
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past 100 episodes that we're going to play for you here. I
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said I was lone hosting, but I am not alone. So we have some
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people here to help us reflect back. We have some special
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guests. I will just let them introduce themselves. Go ahead,
Peter Frank:
hello.
Christina Lewellen:
This is Christina Lewellen. I'm the
Christina Lewellen:
president and CEO of the Association of technology
Christina Lewellen:
leaders in independent
Bill Stites:
schools, and I'm Bill Stites, the Director of
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Technology at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New
Bill Stites:
Jersey,
Hiram Cuevas:
and I'm Hiram Cuevas, the Director of
Hiram Cuevas:
Information Systems and Academic Technology at St Christopher
Hiram Cuevas:
school in Richmond, Virginia.
Peter Frank:
So we thought this would be a fine idea. I asked
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all three of you. I said, Hey, reach out with your favorite
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episodes, and you all gave me some fantastic options. So we've
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done some research here and dug up some clips and whatnot. We'll
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just go through these and they'll ask you why you wanted
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to share these particular episodes. We'll play the
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highlights so our audience can enjoy it.
Christina Lewellen:
Here. I'm excited little walk down memory
Christina Lewellen:
lane.
Bill Stites:
It was really interesting going back and
Bill Stites:
thinking about it, because 100 came up quick. It did the
Bill Stites:
narcissist in me. I listened to every single episode that we do,
Bill Stites:
you know, while I'm driving around, because I just want to
Bill Stites:
hear how we did. And it was just nice to even go back that second
Bill Stites:
time on a lot of these and revisit them as we were
Bill Stites:
preparing for this. So I thought this was a great idea,
Hiram Cuevas:
and it was really hard to pick the top 300% Oh,
Hiram Cuevas:
for real, from 100 episodes. And like you, Bill, I listen to
Hiram Cuevas:
these as well, just to hear the conversation, because it's very
Hiram Cuevas:
different when you're interviewing 100% versus
Hiram Cuevas:
actually consuming the podcast. We recently drove up to
Hiram Cuevas:
Blacksburg, and I put it on, and grace is like, why are you
Hiram Cuevas:
listening to yourself? I'm like, I'm not listening to myself.
Hiram Cuevas:
She's like, Oh, you want to listen to Bill? I'm like, Yes, I
Hiram Cuevas:
want to listen to Bill.
Bill Stites:
No one wants to do that. No one wants to listen to
Bill Stites:
bill. Great.
Peter Frank:
We're gonna kick it off. Bill. You like this? This
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is Ray Shea. He was the director of technology at Brooklyn
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Friends School at the time we recorded this one, what did you
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like about this episode? Let us know why you recommended this
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one.
Bill Stites:
I go back and I listen to these things because
Bill Stites:
we tend to get things out of them that we might not really
Bill Stites:
hear, and that sounds kind of rude as the host, but we might
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not really hear because there's just so much going on during the
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podcast on the back end of it that you don't always pick a lot
Bill Stites:
of these things up, but Ray, the reason I picked this one out is
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for a very practical piece of advice that Ray gave everyone
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about the way in which he conducts his meetings with his
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colleagues. And I just literally had a meeting with one of my
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colleagues earlier, and he asked, what's going well? What's
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not going well, what can you prioritize and what can I help
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with? And it's very practical advice. So let's listen to Ray
Bill Stites:
and you can understand a little bit more about that.
Thad White:
You know, one thing in like building a team I took
Thad White:
from my previous head is these little weekly digital check ins
Thad White:
that can inform our one on ones, and the platform that I use at
Thad White:
my previous school stand out that EDP now bought. So not sure
Thad White:
if small teams can use it very much anymore. But in addition to
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it giving a strength assessment, so that you know everybody on
Thad White:
your team what their two biggest strengths are, and get kind of
Thad White:
like individual coaching tips on how to work with this person or
Thad White:
who to go to for what I love that it had a quick, you know,
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the same way we'd have our students maybe do a fist to
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five, get a quick pulse, you know. How are you doing today?
Thad White:
Is it a terrible day? Is a great day? These little two minute
Thad White:
check ins. What did you love this week? What did you load
Thad White:
this week, what are your priorities, and how can I help?
Thad White:
And those four things are so helpful, and I hope that with
Thad White:
this new position, that I'll quickly hear those things that
Thad White:
they loathe, and can figure out, how do we solve those things so
Thad White:
that we can protect those things that they love, and that the
Thad White:
things that are the priorities? For our school, and that's what
Thad White:
I think an evolution of our tech role is doing. Exactly that is
Thad White:
making sure that our team is not just structured in the best way,
Thad White:
but as you put it, Hiram, that they're all protected and
Thad White:
empowered to do the great job that we're actually hiring them
Thad White:
to do.
Christina Lewellen:
That's really awesome. I love that
Christina Lewellen:
selection, Bill, because whether it's ray or any of the numerous
Christina Lewellen:
other guests we've had, everyone is just so open to sharing their
Christina Lewellen:
nuggets, and that is a hallmark of the ATLIS community, and it's
Christina Lewellen:
something that I've been really proud that has been captured
Christina Lewellen:
within these podcast episodes, because it's just so reflective
Christina Lewellen:
of who we are and how you all help each other. And everybody's
Christina Lewellen:
always willing to just come to the table and say, look, it may
Christina Lewellen:
not work for you, but this is what I do. And as it turns out,
Christina Lewellen:
it might be useful for you and Bill it was useful for you,
Christina Lewellen:
yeah.
Bill Stites:
And it gives me the What can I help with? In
Bill Stites:
particular, like understanding the priorities is really
Bill Stites:
important. What can I help with? Gives me that little win that I
Bill Stites:
can help facilitate, if there's something I can do to make that
Bill Stites:
work so that we can continually move things forward and
Bill Stites:
understanding a lot of the times, like with what is and
Bill Stites:
what isn't working, These might be things that I'm not even
Bill Stites:
aware of. So it really helps surface a lot of the different
Bill Stites:
things when we have these one on ones. It was a great piece, and
Bill Stites:
I love them
Hiram Cuevas:
for it. I really enjoyed
Hiram Cuevas:
the protection piece because so often in independent schools
Hiram Cuevas:
that duties as assigned sometimes really grabs hold of
Hiram Cuevas:
your IT people, because they're often very competent problem
Hiram Cuevas:
solvers, and so as a result, things get added and added and
Hiram Cuevas:
added and that er can't function unless you actually have the
Hiram Cuevas:
staff in place that can manage not only the incident that's
Hiram Cuevas:
going on, but also the relationships that you're trying
Hiram Cuevas:
to build.
Peter Frank:
Yeah, I thought that as well. So next, we have
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another episode here the as soon as you start rattling off the
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guests, it brings a smile to your face. We've got Shaundra
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Simon, who was at Beaver Country Day School, and he was our
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director of technology. Bernie McCormick, he was the chief
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technology officer at Maren McDowell Friends School, and
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Nick Marchese, the director of academic and strategic
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technology at Emma Willard school. Bill, this is also one
Peter Frank:
of your episodes. What was it about this one that you like so
Peter Frank:
much?
Bill Stites:
This was the power three. And as we all spend a lot
Bill Stites:
of time talking about how we make data work and how we make
Bill Stites:
it work well, in the schools, these three individuals, they're
Bill Stites:
the bat phone for Hiram. That's the line I'm picking up, and
Bill Stites:
that's the emergency call when I've got a question, or if I've
Bill Stites:
got something, I need to ask about, how I can move,
Bill Stites:
manipulate, transform data and getting the three of them
Bill Stites:
together really helped me with a lot of my thinking. It was I
Bill Stites:
wanted to get the three of them in a room. Anyway, I always try
Bill Stites:
to get them together at ATLIS when we can, but getting them
Bill Stites:
together in the room was great. It was also the episode where I
Bill Stites:
realized just how good Christina is at what she does, because
Bill Stites:
trying to manage that from a hosting perspective, it was
Bill Stites:
definitely fun. And I, as Hiram will always says, I learned to
Bill Stites:
appreciate mom a lot that day, not only was the content rich
Bill Stites:
and meaningful, I think it spoke to what it really takes for all
Bill Stites:
of us to put this together in the job that we have to do to
Bill Stites:
bring this content to everyone.
Peter Frank:
They each had so many great clips to use in this
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one, especially we could have just gone on and on with just
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this episode, the clip that I ended up choosing, so it was
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actually you bill, that had said, hey, help our listeners.
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And this is a great example of this podcast, I think, and how
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we get these just instantly usable, attainable things for
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our audience to go and use. Bill, you had asked, if you're
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brand new to APIs, where would you start? And the three of them
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gave their responses here, I would say, start small. Find
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something in a bite size piece. Don't try to integrate your LMS
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and sis that doesn't have an integration. And I'm going to
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write an API calls to both of these things like find something
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maybe like that Zoom example I gave something that is a
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relatively small problem that doesn't have an immediate
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deadline, that you can sort of dip your toe in the waters, or
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like Nick has this really neat solution in Google workspace
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with apps, script and sheets, start just using his thing and
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Don't do any API calls and just do some Google Sheet stuff with
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it. And then when, when you've gotten a little bit used to
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working with data like that, build on it, you know, like,
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Hey, can I get one other piece of data from another system and
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compare it with this? And slowly build up your skill set it can.
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Be really overwhelming if you just jump into the deep end of
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the pool. So just start small.
Bill Stites:
Nick How about you?
Nick Marchese:
I appreciate that shout out. Shondor, I think
Nick Marchese:
starting small is obviously like a really important thing, and
Nick Marchese:
like having a really tangible thing you're trying to tackle,
Nick Marchese:
because if it's just all conceptual, it's probably not
Nick Marchese:
going to feel meaningful. You're going to lose bit drive. So
Nick Marchese:
having something that you really want to go ahead and tackle,
Nick Marchese:
maybe that you just want to go ahead and pull in email
Nick Marchese:
addresses for students into one sheet, or you just want to go
Nick Marchese:
ahead and you know, see if you've even hit this data point
Nick Marchese:
on one of your systems. Just like having something that's
Nick Marchese:
really meaningful to you, because that's where that
Nick Marchese:
motivation is going to come from. If it's it's just because
Nick Marchese:
we're telling you to do it, you're not going to do
Bill Stites:
it. Bernie, how about you?
Jim Foley:
I would say the best starting place is conceptual,
Jim Foley:
and we jumped right into some technical and observational.
Jim Foley:
When I teach this to high school kids, I actually spend a whole
Jim Foley:
40 minutes just getting the concept across. And there's a
Jim Foley:
company called MuleSoft that is actually used for building APIs.
Jim Foley:
It's the other end of things. When you're a software vendor
Jim Foley:
and want to build an API, but they've got a great three and a
Jim Foley:
half minute video that sort of breaks down like, what an API
Jim Foley:
is, using non technical jargon. It is purely like, how do these
Jim Foley:
things work? Right? And it's meant to sort of kick off
Jim Foley:
developers who are then going to write API's for software, but
Jim Foley:
it's applicable also to people who are learning how to do it.
Jim Foley:
And I agree with my esteemed colleagues here. You know,
Jim Foley:
having a use case, having a limited use case, but I'm also
Jim Foley:
going to recommend having a deadline, because of all of
Jim Foley:
these overwhelming aspects to an API. It's really easy to say
Jim Foley:
like, Oh, I'm just not going to deal with that for two weeks.
Jim Foley:
You know, having somebody say to you, whether it's an associate
Jim Foley:
at school or a vendor, saying, we're not going to support CSV
Jim Foley:
files anymore, you know, you can build yourself out a goal,
Jim Foley:
saying, I need to be able to get my prox cards activated or
Jim Foley:
deactivated from my LMS, and I've got to be able to do it by
Jim Foley:
the end of the cycle. Summer, and that motivates you to learn
Jim Foley:
the things that you really need to learn, and along the way, you
Jim Foley:
pick up tools that are then applicable in other places. And
Jim Foley:
which is the goal when I'm teaching this in high school,
Jim Foley:
I'm not trying to get a bunch of high school kids to be
Jim Foley:
developers by the time they're freshmen in college. It's to
Jim Foley:
give them some exposure and conceptual knowledge, which is
Jim Foley:
the most important rudimentary point, and then they can go and
Jim Foley:
apply it to whatever they end up using.
Bill Stites:
So this I loved, in particular for Bernie's comment
Bill Stites:
about, like, getting the little win, picking the little project,
Bill Stites:
picking the low hanging fruit, which is a topic we've all
Bill Stites:
talked about, you know, in terms of getting this done. Because I
Bill Stites:
think setting that frame, setting it out to achieve that
Bill Stites:
little piece that you can then build on is the way in which we
Bill Stites:
teach our students. You know, we just don't jump right into the
Bill Stites:
hard problem. We have to scaffold it up and build it up.
Bill Stites:
And I think that advice is one that we don't often take,
Bill Stites:
because we're always thinking of like the bigger problem that
Bill Stites:
we're trying to solve and trying to figure out how to get into
Bill Stites:
it. So framing it up that way, I thought was particularly helpful
Bill Stites:
for me in and at the time that I was thinking about this when we
Bill Stites:
spoke.
Peter Frank:
All right, so our next episode was hiram's Pick,
Peter Frank:
and Hiram you selected the episode we recorded with Matt
Peter Frank:
Scully. He was the director of digital integration and
Peter Frank:
Innovation at Providence day school at the time, do you
Peter Frank:
remember why you picked this one? Absolutely, I
Hiram Cuevas:
consider Matt to be one of the exemplars in terms
Hiram Cuevas:
of leadership and the fact that he is constantly wearing a
Hiram Cuevas:
smiley face pin. And the story behind the smiley face pin is
Hiram Cuevas:
just a perfect way to lead into this segment.
Peter Frank:
This clip has a quote that you like in
Peter Frank:
particular. We can talk about that when it's done.
Christina Lewellen:
I know that you also have been such a
Christina Lewellen:
wonderful mentor to folks who are coming up in a way behind
Christina Lewellen:
you as new technology leaders, clearly at your own school, but
Christina Lewellen:
also within the ATLIS community. Why do you think that's
Christina Lewellen:
important? Like, why do you contribute your time? I mean, my
Christina Lewellen:
understanding is you're always willing to pick up a call or
Christina Lewellen:
answer an email, so you know, you give a lot of your time to
Christina Lewellen:
help others in your position. Why do you do that?
Matt Scully:
You guys are making me sound really good. I don't
Matt Scully:
know what I owe you for this later, but you'll get your bill.
Matt Scully:
I don't even know that I can live up to half of this. So when
Matt Scully:
I started there was when you started connecting and building
Matt Scully:
your own network. There were a lot of us that were learning all
Matt Scully:
of this together, like these list serves. It was never
Matt Scully:
somebody who was the expert, who had done this a million times.
Matt Scully:
We were all doing it for the first time. And that community,
Matt Scully:
that sense of like, taking a little bit of this and a little
Matt Scully:
bit of that and figuring out how to make your how to make your
Matt Scully:
network come online tomorrow. Like, that was huge. So as I've
Matt Scully:
matured, as my beard has gotten whiter and whiter, I feel like
Matt Scully:
I'm watching the next generations come up through
Matt Scully:
that. And it's where I can offer, you know, a little bit of
Matt Scully:
like, it took me five years to figure this out, like, if I can.
Matt Scully:
And give you the Candyland shortcut to get past the
Matt Scully:
molasses swamp and get to the other side faster. Like, why
Matt Scully:
would I not do that?
Christina Lewellen:
That is an incredible analogy. Let's
Christina Lewellen:
everybody bookmark that one. That's great.
Matt Scully:
I don't think I necessarily know more or smarter
Matt Scully:
than anybody else. I've just been around longer. I've just
Matt Scully:
seen more things come through, and you can start getting a feel
Matt Scully:
for, I'm sure Bill and Hiram do this. Like, you start talking to
Matt Scully:
a vendor, and you know some of the right questions to ask.
Matt Scully:
Like, so how long have you guys been around? Who's behind you?
Matt Scully:
Like, oh, that's the same venture capital company that
Matt Scully:
basically creates new companies and sells them to somebody else.
Matt Scully:
I'm going to wait three years, and then I'm going to talk to
Matt Scully:
you again, because you'll have changed names twice, and you'll
Matt Scully:
be part of something bigger. I'm not going to jump in right now.
Matt Scully:
Or you find somebody who's literally on the edge of doing
Matt Scully:
something, and you're like, Oh, you're literally doing something
Matt Scully:
cool. And I'm going to get in on this, because it's not about
Matt Scully:
creating a commodity to sell later. It's about doing
Matt Scully:
something really cool. And those things come from experience, and
Matt Scully:
so anytime you can kind of shortcut things for people,
Matt Scully:
shortcut things for people and help them see those things, I
Matt Scully:
think that's good thing. Basically, it boils down to
Matt Scully:
this, when I was going into middle school, my mom went back
Matt Scully:
to teaching. My sister was a little bit younger, so she
Matt Scully:
wasn't necessarily in this, but my my brother and I had to learn
Matt Scully:
how to do laundry and how to learn how to make meatloaf and
Matt Scully:
start cooking. And when we would complain, the line was always,
Matt Scully:
You two aren't pretty enough to be useless.
Christina Lewellen:
Moms brutal,
Matt Scully:
and it's really kind of been this foundational
Matt Scully:
piece for me that, like, I have to find ways to be valuable,
Matt Scully:
because just sitting here isn't going to do it. So that's part
Matt Scully:
of what drives me. I'm loving that,
Christina Lewellen:
and I still love that, like, is it possible
Christina Lewellen:
to just hear someone's voice and be happier? Because that's how I
Christina Lewellen:
just felt with Mr. Scully popping on, he just brings joy.
Christina Lewellen:
I was
Hiram Cuevas:
taken aback by how everyone smiled when we started
Hiram Cuevas:
listening to that piece. What's interesting for me is I've known
Hiram Cuevas:
Matt for a long time, and I feel like he's the Mr. Miyagi of tech
Hiram Cuevas:
directors. He has a tremendous amount of humility, and tied to
Hiram Cuevas:
that is all of this wisdom that he's more than happy to share
Hiram Cuevas:
with the community. And on top of that, he's a sassy dresser.
Hiram Cuevas:
You got to love the Paisley.
Bill Stites:
Well, you always have that mental picture in your
Bill Stites:
mind when you hear him speak, it's either the Paisley's or the
Bill Stites:
little smiley face that's on there, which is great listening
Bill Stites:
to him. It just speaks to the knowledge that comes from time
Bill Stites:
in a space and the community that you build over that period
Bill Stites:
of time, that willingness to give back and to, as you said,
Bill Stites:
pick up the phone when anyone calls. We need as much of that
Bill Stites:
as we can get. And that's what ATLIS brings to the community
Bill Stites:
and to everyone that's involved.
Christina Lewellen:
He is his own brand, that man, indeed. We
Christina Lewellen:
are lucky to have him in our community,
Hiram Cuevas:
certainly Paisley shirts for everyone.
Peter Frank:
So we're going to change things up a little bit
Peter Frank:
here in a moment, but we're going to do one more clip, and
Peter Frank:
then we'll go to that this one was special. So Christina, we'll
Peter Frank:
pull one of the picks that you made. We wanted to do an episode
Peter Frank:
about the one roster standard, and so we had this opportunity
Peter Frank:
with our CO hosts here. There's a direct connection with the
Peter Frank:
guests and the products that our guests represent. We had Steven
Peter Frank:
Boyle, he's the product manager for API's integrations, and one
Peter Frank:
roster from Blackbaud. And we brought in Thad white, the
Peter Frank:
Director of Product Management for academics and admissions
Peter Frank:
from Veracross. So Christina, why don't you talk about what
Peter Frank:
made this episode so special and unique?
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, I mean, I love this one because it
Christina Lewellen:
was, first of all, I didn't understand what one roster was.
Christina Lewellen:
And I felt like in that conversation, even as a relative
Christina Lewellen:
lay person, I was following along, but the idea of bringing
Christina Lewellen:
competing sis together to have a meaningful conversation, I could
Christina Lewellen:
kind of tell that this one was pretty special as it was
Christina Lewellen:
unfolding. And I don't really think this type of leveling up
Christina Lewellen:
of our information or these conversations that these
Christina Lewellen:
podcasts can accomplish is the type of thing that we would ever
Christina Lewellen:
see in like an industry conference or at a panel
Christina Lewellen:
discussion in person, right? Because they're competitors, but
Christina Lewellen:
the idea that they came to the room virtually to have this
Christina Lewellen:
conversation on our podcast, I felt, was just so impactful, and
Christina Lewellen:
they just really helped elevate the amount of information that
Christina Lewellen:
our listeners had on this topic. I loved it. I thought it was
Christina Lewellen:
just such a great representation of collaboration.
Peter Frank:
This clip is specifically when you brought it
Peter Frank:
to that, hey, I'm not a technical person. Each of you
Peter Frank:
tell us, explain to us what the one roster standard is, which
Peter Frank:
was interesting, because it really opened. In the door, they
Peter Frank:
could speak freely, and there's all kinds of opportunity to take
Peter Frank:
the conversation in various directions. And let's hear how
Peter Frank:
these two handled it.
Christina Lewellen:
I'm the non tacky person on this pod, so I
Christina Lewellen:
would love to ask you guys to explain to me what it is we're
Christina Lewellen:
talking about in terms of, Okay, so we've said one roster, and
Christina Lewellen:
that is kind of the standard that has been designed and
Christina Lewellen:
developed by one ed tech, a company that basically says we
Christina Lewellen:
need to kind of standardize how data flows right. So I'm hoping
Christina Lewellen:
that you can explain that, or if I've gotten that wrong, help me
Christina Lewellen:
and help our audience understand, especially those who
Christina Lewellen:
maybe are listening in as leadership, or folks who are not
Christina Lewellen:
deep into the IT side, but maybe more on the Ed Tech side. Why
Christina Lewellen:
does this matter? What is it and why even have this conversation
Stephen Boyle:
the way it presents to us, the way the
Stephen Boyle:
problem comes to us is, I've got this silo, I've got this manual
Stephen Boyle:
process. I want to use this tool, but I can't put another
Stephen Boyle:
task on my teachers. I can't give them another login. I can't
Stephen Boyle:
have this data just be abandoned somewhere. And so when we hear
Stephen Boyle:
that type of problem, the answer is an integration of some kind,
Stephen Boyle:
especially Dad and I both are an SIS a student information system
Stephen Boyle:
where schools want the source of truth to reside so they want
Stephen Boyle:
that information to flow back and forth. One roster enters the
Stephen Boyle:
picture to solve, originally, a specific problem of connecting
Stephen Boyle:
that learning management situation to all the tools that
Stephen Boyle:
these teachers want to use, providing a way to present
Stephen Boyle:
rosters and students and teachers information such that
Stephen Boyle:
there isn't manual entry, there's no data error because of
Stephen Boyle:
double entry, and then getting that data back once again, you
Stephen Boyle:
don't want double entry, and you don't want the teacher to have
Stephen Boyle:
that extra task of doing some additional step. You want to
Stephen Boyle:
remove the friction. You want to prevent the data errors, and
Stephen Boyle:
that's where one roster comes in. They built a standard. It's
Stephen Boyle:
not a product. They built a standard, sort of a rule set
Stephen Boyle:
that everybody agrees to abide by, so that when we talk to each
Stephen Boyle:
other, we know what information we're getting and we know what
Stephen Boyle:
information we have to give in order to solve the problem.
Christina Lewellen:
So Steven, before we started this call, you
Christina Lewellen:
kind of made the analogy that it's almost like a USB, a USB
Christina Lewellen:
cord, or whatever. They all fit in the same box, so we have to
Christina Lewellen:
agree somewhere what a USB looks like.
Stephen Boyle:
Yeah, all the different companies agreed to
Stephen Boyle:
put this plug on our machines and all the device and we're
Stephen Boyle:
going to agree to support the data that comes through the plug
Stephen Boyle:
and all the different power rules so they don't have to talk
Stephen Boyle:
to each other. All they have to do is read the standard and know
Stephen Boyle:
that if I present my system such that it adopts a standard that
Stephen Boyle:
everybody can work with me, that's the gold standard. That's
Stephen Boyle:
what they're trying to achieve, the Holy Grail, I guess. And it
Stephen Boyle:
has its benefits. There definitely are places where we
Stephen Boyle:
can talk about the gaps. Is every standard USB wouldn't have
Stephen Boyle:
evolved if it was perfect the first time. Same thing is true
Stephen Boyle:
for one roster.
Christina Lewellen:
So then Thad, let me ask you this,
Christina Lewellen:
whether you're with Veracross or Blackbaud or another system, was
Christina Lewellen:
this a welcome standard for folks like you that are offering
Christina Lewellen:
sis systems in terms of a solution to this problem?
Thad White:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, echoing what
Thad White:
Steven's already said, the core problem we're presented with is
Thad White:
our schools, globally, all over the place, have individual
Thad White:
ecosystems of software that they use. Right? There's no one tool
Thad White:
to rule them all, and so everybody's got these various
Thad White:
vendors, hundreds of them, and the SIS goal is to provide them
Thad White:
support and to enable them to use that ecosystem efficiently,
Thad White:
right? And so things like one roster, these standards where we
Thad White:
can say, okay, the bar for what it takes for us to be able to
Thad White:
integrate with XYZ vendor is now substantially lower because we
Thad White:
know we're speaking the same language we've established. It
Thad White:
is one roster. There's no drastic and huge process to
Thad White:
understand. Well, we call it this, and we structure the data
Thad White:
this way. What do you do? Like that interpretation that has to
Thad White:
happen when you're building a partnership and a true like
Thad White:
direct integration, significantly less effort on
Thad White:
both sides, when we have an established standard to align
Thad White:
with. So we can say we speak one roster. Do you great? Okay? So
Thad White:
we can get to usability, or at least testability, very, very
Thad White:
rapidly. So that's hugely impactful for us. And so as we
Thad White:
identify more and more key vendors and they align with the
Thad White:
standard, it just the market itself comes up as far as
Thad White:
interoperability and how easy that is for both schools and the
Thad White:
vendors themselves, our management is significantly
Thad White:
lower, because instead of managing eight direct
Thad White:
integrations, custom integrations with vendors, now
Thad White:
we're managing a platform in language for managing those, one
Thad White:
will get you many with regard to the. The effort put into that so
Thad White:
hugely impactful for us, things like one roster,
Christina Lewellen:
yeah, I mean, obviously this was just so
Christina Lewellen:
collaborative. The conversation unfolded from there. I recommend
Christina Lewellen:
anyone take the time to go back and check it out. I know it'll
Christina Lewellen:
be in the show notes. It was a great conversation, and I think
Christina Lewellen:
representative of what this platform can accomplish.
Hiram Cuevas:
And I think one of the funniest lines of that
Hiram Cuevas:
episode is Steve mentioned not stapling his cat to the wall, as
Hiram Cuevas:
I recall, remember that
Peter Frank:
that's right, and we found a meme. It's in the
Peter Frank:
show notes.
Hiram Cuevas:
We had to put a disclaimer. No cats were harmed
Hiram Cuevas:
during this episode, right?
Christina Lewellen:
Or any episode of talking technology
Christina Lewellen:
with ATLIS.
Bill Stites:
What I took from that, though, was just the level
Bill Stites:
of candor that people brought to that in terms of the
Bill Stites:
conversation. Christina, you mentioned this earlier in that
Bill Stites:
you know, getting the two of them in a room is not something
Bill Stites:
you're going to see in a lot of different places, and it's just
Bill Stites:
the power of the pod, bringing people together in ways in which
Bill Stites:
you're not going to get anywhere else. And that's one of the
Bill Stites:
things I love about what we're doing
Peter Frank:
here, indeed. And speaking of bringing people
Peter Frank:
together, the three of you often bring your spouses into the
Peter Frank:
conversation some sort of reference or story or whatnot.
Peter Frank:
Given that this is the 100th episode, and we're trying to do
Peter Frank:
some special things here, we thought it would be fun to flip
Peter Frank:
the scripts and give your spouses a say in you know, if
Peter Frank:
you're going to talk about us, at least let us pick what you're
Peter Frank:
going to talk about. It's about. So we reached out to all three
Peter Frank:
of your partners and asked them to we actually want to hear
Peter Frank:
their voices and get their voices on the pod.
Christina Lewellen:
They do exist. They do exist.
Peter Frank:
So we wanted to give them a chance to come onto
Peter Frank:
the podcast here, in a way, and ask you some questions. They're
Peter Frank:
all friendly. I vetted them all. We've selected a few of them
Peter Frank:
here.
Bill Stites:
I'm worried. I'm scared and I'm worried.
Christina Lewellen:
I feel like you should be Hiram and I are
Christina Lewellen:
fine. Bill's worried.
Peter Frank:
I don't know where this is gonna go. We're going to
Peter Frank:
begin with Christina's husband, Richard Lewellen. Let's see what
Peter Frank:
Richard dialed up to have Christina talk about first, how
Peter Frank:
did McKenzie and Caitlin come to be our daughters? I hope he was
Peter Frank:
reading a list. He kind of like listed the three of them. So
Peter Frank:
that's why there's a little lift at the end there, but that was
Peter Frank:
one of his questions.
Christina Lewellen:
Okay, yeah, we do have four daughters, and
Christina Lewellen:
this is a very public in our world story, so I always share
Christina Lewellen:
with permission, and I like to let everybody know that. But our
Christina Lewellen:
daughter, Bryn, was in fifth grade, and she was very good
Christina Lewellen:
friends with a little girl named Mackenzie, who spent a lot of
Christina Lewellen:
time at our house, and she was about to basically go into the
Christina Lewellen:
foster care system, and there were department of social
Christina Lewellen:
services folks hanging around going, Who are these Christina
Christina Lewellen:
and Richard people that you hang out with a lot? And so we took
Christina Lewellen:
custody of Mackenzie and later adopted her, you know, working
Christina Lewellen:
in conjunction with some of her bio family, so we just sort of
Christina Lewellen:
took the role of parent, knowing that there were going to be
Christina Lewellen:
other adults in the picture, on and off, and then later, her
Christina Lewellen:
older sister, who was with another set of family members in
Christina Lewellen:
another state, moved back to Virginia, and we reunited the
Christina Lewellen:
girls, and they spent some time together, and we later ended up
Christina Lewellen:
adopting her older sister. So we have two sets of sisters. We
Christina Lewellen:
have our two biological children, Morgan and Bryn. We
Christina Lewellen:
have our two adopted children, McKenzie and Caitlin. So that's
Christina Lewellen:
how we ended up with four girls, and right now they are 2020 22
Christina Lewellen:
and 24 so we do not have twins, but Kenzie and Bryn are the same
Christina Lewellen:
age for half of the year, so they're currently 20. It's a lot
Hiram Cuevas:
of fun. It's a beautiful story that is awesome.
Christina Lewellen:
It's awesome and it's expensive. I
Bill Stites:
was going to make a comment about like bathrooms,
Bill Stites:
and just like how all that worked,
Christina Lewellen:
the bathrooms we had. The Verizon
Christina Lewellen:
bill is a little intense. The car insurance, six humans and
Christina Lewellen:
six cars, that's a little much.
Unknown:
Yeah, so Bill,
Bill Stites:
I don't like the way you're smiling. No one can
Bill Stites:
see it, but I just don't like it.
Peter Frank:
No, this is very nice. Your wife, Brook, was
Peter Frank:
very gracious to send in some topics that she would like to
Peter Frank:
hear you talk about,
Bill Stites:
let's go. Let's go.
Brook Stites:
All right, here we go. Bill is our family's
Brook Stites:
Vacation Planner, so I thought maybe he could share with you
Brook Stites:
about our MLB stadium tour. I see, not bad.
Bill Stites:
Yes, yeah. All right, that's pretty good. And
Bill Stites:
the stadium tour, I have to say, has allowed me to connect with
Bill Stites:
ATLIS folk around the United States, as we've done it. But we
Bill Stites:
have two boys, our oldest of which is a baseball fanatic and
Bill Stites:
is currently interviewing. So everyone fingers crossed,
Bill Stites:
interviewing with a number of Major League clubs for his first
Bill Stites:
job post college. But we always would find ourselves going to
Bill Stites:
games and living in the northeast, you can kind of make
Bill Stites:
a lot of games pretty easily. You can get up to Boston and
Bill Stites:
down to Baltimore and so on and so forth in between. We decided
Bill Stites:
to do this after two things after having gone to our first
Bill Stites:
series of games, and we would bring my mother with us. My mom
Bill Stites:
is a very large part of the lives of both me and my family
Bill Stites:
and my sister and her girls. And 15 years ago, my father passed
Bill Stites:
actually due to an accident. And because of that, my mom got a
Bill Stites:
nice little nest egg settlement. And my mom basically told us at
Bill Stites:
that point, she's like, all right, I could hold on to this
Bill Stites:
and leave this to all of you, or we could have a lot of fun. And
Bill Stites:
if you know anything about the Stites household, we decided to
Bill Stites:
have a lot of fun. So my mom, she was willing to help, and
Bill Stites:
jumped in with both feet, and we managed to travel all the United
Bill Stites:
States, popping in and out of stadiums. If you haven't done
Bill Stites:
it, it is a great way to see the country, because everywhere we
Bill Stites:
went, we booked two days, because if we got rained out, it
Bill Stites:
wasn't like we were going to be able to go back. So we always
Bill Stites:
booked multiple days, and with those days, we then would string
Bill Stites:
together anywhere between three and four different cities, and
Bill Stites:
we fly into one, or we drive to one, and then we drive all
Bill Stites:
around, then we go back. So it was a fabulous way to go about
Bill Stites:
doing it. And a ton of fun, fantastic.
Peter Frank:
That sounds like a lot of fun, and a great way to
Peter Frank:
use that nest egg, as you say. So Hiram, your wife Grace says
Peter Frank:
there's a number of topics, and I thought this one was
Peter Frank:
particularly appropriate for our podcast and the various topics
Peter Frank:
that we throw in at the beginning of the episode and
Peter Frank:
sometimes throughout the episodes. I think you'll enjoy
Peter Frank:
this. So here we go with your wife Grace's question.
Grace Cuevas:
This is a fun one. If you and I could be
Grace Cuevas:
superheroes together, who would you be? And which superhero
Grace Cuevas:
would you wish I could be as we gallivant through the universe
Grace Cuevas:
together.
Hiram Cuevas:
Ooh, that's a good one.
Christina Lewellen:
She sounds so sweet.
Hiram Cuevas:
She's definitely the nicer of the two.
Hiram Cuevas:
Hiram doesn't deserve her. I don't, I don't, I really don't.
Hiram Cuevas:
Let's see, do I go DC, or do I go Marvel? Interesting. You're a
Hiram Cuevas:
DC guy. Hiram, go. I am a DC guy. You know, what would be
Hiram Cuevas:
kind of fun is if we were Batman and Bat Girl together, they're
Hiram Cuevas:
simpatico and they compliment each other, well, we'd have the
Hiram Cuevas:
car and the motorcycle.
Peter Frank:
That's right. So speaking of super people, and we
Peter Frank:
talked already on this episode about the fantastic
Peter Frank:
personalities and character that we get with our podcast. So
Peter Frank:
Christina, you had mentioned specifically we did an episode
Peter Frank:
with Jim Foley, who was the head of school at manliest petell
Peter Frank:
Hill School in Syracuse, close to where you grew up. And Jim,
Peter Frank:
he wasn't brand new, but he was still relatively new. He hadn't
Peter Frank:
done it too long before you did this. So why don't you tell us a
Peter Frank:
little bit about what you liked about Jim and this episode.
Christina Lewellen:
I may be biased because I spent a couple
Christina Lewellen:
years serving with Jim. He had been on our board. He was a
Christina Lewellen:
Finance Chair for me for a while here at Atlas. But overall, Jim
Christina Lewellen:
Foley is just a wonderful human he's such a great leader in the
Christina Lewellen:
Atlas world. And then he took over this really challenging
Christina Lewellen:
Head of School role, and I really enjoyed just how casual
Christina Lewellen:
and friendly this conversation was, and he kind of walked us
Christina Lewellen:
through his leadership journey. I know there's a lot of folks in
Christina Lewellen:
tech roles who wonder if they can evolve outside of that into
Christina Lewellen:
broader school leadership, and he was one of those people who
Christina Lewellen:
did that. And, you know, I thought it was really great to
Christina Lewellen:
just kind of talk to him in such a casual setting, to hear about
Christina Lewellen:
it.
Peter Frank:
And this clip, I think, is going to demonstrate
Peter Frank:
that he's going to outline his non traditional path to become
Peter Frank:
head of school via the Director of Technology role. And I think
Peter Frank:
you get a good sense of who he is and why he's seen as a
Peter Frank:
leader, certainly in our community.
Christina Lewellen:
So I know that you had a couple different
Christina Lewellen:
roles when you were at St Luke. So before you come. To walk down
Christina Lewellen:
this path to becoming ahead. What did you do in those 24
Christina Lewellen:
years at that school? By way of background,
Jim Foley:
I'd probably be helpful to know that that path
Jim Foley:
was informed by the fact that I didn't come to schools right
Jim Foley:
away. As my first career, I started out with an early career
Jim Foley:
in banking and corporate finance, before I came to my
Jim Foley:
senses and realized that school was where I was, where I really
Jim Foley:
belonged. So I was a 91 high school grad and 95 college grad,
Jim Foley:
and all those summers in college, and then all throughout
Jim Foley:
the 90s, I was working in corporate environments, and my
Jim Foley:
mom was a computer teacher. Growing up, she installed our
Jim Foley:
first ever lab of Radio Shack trs. 80s, I grew up with an
Jim Foley:
apple to E in the home. So anyway, you know, worked on Wall
Jim Foley:
Street and all that stuff, and watched the windows and desktop
Jim Foley:
computing revolution completely change everything, right? And I
Jim Foley:
got to schools in 2000 and I looked around, I'm like, where
Jim Foley:
are all the computers? Because there were none, at least not
Jim Foley:
widespread then. So I got lucky. I answered and added the
Jim Foley:
newspaper for a varsity girls basketball coach, and they hired
Jim Foley:
me to coach the team that year, and then they hired me the
Jim Foley:
following year to teach algebra one to middle schoolers. They
Jim Foley:
took a chance on me. I taught algebra for about nine or 10
Jim Foley:
years. I got a master's degree in Educational Technology at
Jim Foley:
Fairfield University while I was working full time, and then
Jim Foley:
became a full time instructional technologist did that for a few
Jim Foley:
years, and then the school in 2011 launched a program called
Jim Foley:
the Center for Leadership, and I was lucky enough to be its
Jim Foley:
founding director. That took me to becoming from there, the
Jim Foley:
assistant head of school for leadership and innovation. And I
Jim Foley:
did that for about six or seven years before coming here to
Jim Foley:
Syracuse.
Christina Lewellen:
That's really cool. Let's go to that
Christina Lewellen:
center for leadership, the founding director. What was that
Christina Lewellen:
all about? What was the school's goal behind this initiative?
Christina Lewellen:
Well, it was
Jim Foley:
interesting in that it was kind of a back to the
Jim Foley:
drawing board type of moment. So we had this huge capital
Jim Foley:
campaign that was on tap, ready to launch and go. And that was
Jim Foley:
in the fall of 2008 then the world fell apart.
Christina Lewellen:
Oh, I remember that I was finishing up
Christina Lewellen:
my MBA when that happened. And I happened to be in China on a
Christina Lewellen:
residency, a two week residency, with my executive MBA program.
Christina Lewellen:
And we were hearing about all this nonsense happening with the
Christina Lewellen:
stock market. We're like, what is happening. And of course, our
Christina Lewellen:
phones weren't working as well back then. And so we came home
Christina Lewellen:
to some chaos.
Jim Foley:
Yeah, well, we had this, I mean, like, like, a $50
Jim Foley:
million campaign that we were thinking that we were going to
Jim Foley:
do, and so they dramatically scaled that back. And they're
Jim Foley:
like, Well, what can we rescue out of this? And they figured,
Jim Foley:
we can upgrade the cafeteria. And so
Christina Lewellen:
they did that. I mean, that's important,
Jim Foley:
yeah, and then one of the things that came out of it
Jim Foley:
was this overwhelming sentiment that we were preparing kids well
Jim Foley:
for college. We heard that from a lot of our constituents, but
Jim Foley:
increasingly they were saying that they felt that beyond
Jim Foley:
college prep, our graduates needed more in order to be well
Jim Foley:
prepared, effective, competent, thriving young professionals.
Jim Foley:
You think about a 25 or 26 year old, couple years out of
Jim Foley:
college, in the workforce, and a lot of that centered around what
Jim Foley:
we observed at the time of amidst a fall out of all that
Jim Foley:
chaos. It was increasing globalization. It was rapid
Jim Foley:
increases and innovations in technology. It was ethical
Jim Foley:
decision making. It was kind of complexity theory, if you will,
Jim Foley:
seeing all of the ways in which the world was really changing
Jim Foley:
rapidly. And so people kept expressing that under the
Jim Foley:
umbrella of leadership, leadership skills, leadership
Jim Foley:
competencies, leadership ethos. And so we thought, you know,
Jim Foley:
this was kind of, I think, the key insight that if a child
Jim Foley:
graduates high school with distinct, concrete leadership
Jim Foley:
skills, it's more likely accidental, rather than
Jim Foley:
intentional on the part of the institution. Maybe they pick it
Jim Foley:
up in a class or a club, or if they Captain a team or something
Jim Foley:
like that,
Christina Lewellen:
right, right? It's kind of hit or miss,
Christina Lewellen:
depending on the kid and what they're involved in exactly.
Jim Foley:
And so that insight then led us to ask, well, what
Jim Foley:
if instead we said we wanted to try to intentionally develop
Jim Foley:
leadership skills in every child every year? What a great gift
Jim Foley:
that would be, and what an interesting obligation maybe to
Jim Foley:
assume. And so that was the genesis of it.
Christina Lewellen:
I love that. I love hearing his voice again,
Christina Lewellen:
and I forgot about that. And what a wonderful reminder. We
Christina Lewellen:
need to put him on the list, Peter, let's get him back. I
Christina Lewellen:
would love to just check in with him and see how he's doing. That
Christina Lewellen:
dates all the way back to the summer of 24 so it'd be really
Christina Lewellen:
great to tap back into how things are going with the head
Christina Lewellen:
of school gig, for
Hiram Cuevas:
sure, I love the way he ends it. It's that this
Hiram Cuevas:
is a gift and an obligation. It's just a really unique way of
Hiram Cuevas:
thinking about that particular initiative, and it's something
Hiram Cuevas:
that
Hiram Cuevas:
you should do 100%
Bill Stites:
I think it's also very interesting to see. Where
Bill Stites:
those next steps are. You know, so often we're in our role, we
Bill Stites:
don't get to hear from people that have taken that next step.
Bill Stites:
And I thought it was a great example
Peter Frank:
of that excellent bill and Hiram, the time has
Peter Frank:
come. Uh oh. I think I know there was one episode. This is
Peter Frank:
the only episode that two of the hosts said, I want to hear that
Peter Frank:
episode again. Oh, 100%
Bill Stites:
this was validation. This was the moment
Bill Stites:
where all of the disbelief, all of the doubting, all of the you
Bill Stites:
two are just children, came home. We are children. I know.
Bill Stites:
Why are you
Christina Lewellen:
making me relive this? Peter? I know what
Christina Lewellen:
this is gonna be.
Bill Stites:
You can't ask her that question. You can't go
Bill Stites:
there with her. You can't do that.
Christina Lewellen:
She was a serious guest. She was a really
Christina Lewellen:
big gap for us, and I was afraid you idiots would chase her off.
Bill Stites:
We can't have nice things, is what you
Christina Lewellen:
were thinking. Christina, I mean, all
Christina Lewellen:
the time, usually
Bill Stites:
we can't have nice things because of Bill and
Bill Stites:
Hiram. But yes, you can. We connect on all sorts of levels.
Hiram Cuevas:
See, she's used to a very mature household, a
Hiram Cuevas:
household full of women, and Richard is fighting to survive
Hiram Cuevas:
here. It's the reverse.
Christina Lewellen:
I think he's fine.
Peter Frank:
I think they're all fine to let our listeners in,
Peter Frank:
our avid listeners, already know what the topic is going to be
Peter Frank:
and what words they're going to hear. They already know that,
Peter Frank:
but if you don't remember, if you didn't hear it. So we were
Peter Frank:
very fortunate to have Dr Nicole Furlonge, the professor of
Peter Frank:
practice and the executive director of the Klingenstein
Peter Frank:
center. We don't even need to set it up. The clip speaks for
Peter Frank:
itself.
Bill Stites:
I am bringing this up specifically to watch
Bill Stites:
Christina's eyes roll and to have Hiram smile,
Christina Lewellen:
please tell me you're not going to ask this
Christina Lewellen:
woman about zombies. Oh, Bill, she's a doctor.
Bill Stites:
Oh, no, no, no, no. It gets better than this. The
Bill Stites:
Book World War Z Nicole educate Christina on the Book of World
Bill Stites:
War Z and your history with it. Yeah.
Nicole Furlong:
So I mentioned the holder to school earlier,
Nicole Furlong:
when I was a faculty member there, there was a practice of
Nicole Furlong:
having an all school summer read. Everyone in the school
Nicole Furlong:
would vote on a couple of titles, then we would read the
Nicole Furlong:
book over the summer and come back and do all kinds of
Nicole Furlong:
activities around the book. One year, the book chosen was World
Nicole Furlong:
War Z, and there was a split reaction in the room when I
Nicole Furlong:
announced, because I was the English department chair, so I
Nicole Furlong:
got to make the announcement, and there were people who could
Nicole Furlong:
not believe that I didn't somehow change the choice that
Christina Lewellen:
would have been my side of the room, but
Nicole Furlong:
it was an amazing book to read because it
Nicole Furlong:
poses as an oral history that reflects on a war that has
Nicole Furlong:
happened between zombies and humans. I can't stop laughing,
Nicole Furlong:
but it actually was so fun. We created games like this version
Nicole Furlong:
of tag and freeze that was between some advisories that
Nicole Furlong:
have been designated as zombies and some humans, had a whole
Nicole Furlong:
colloquium faculty and students get up and talk about their
Nicole Furlong:
takeaways. One of the cool things, though, that I have to
Nicole Furlong:
say about the book was that, because it poses as oral
Nicole Furlong:
history, it really got us thinking about what it means to
Nicole Furlong:
be a storyteller, and from what vantage point and from whose
Nicole Furlong:
perspective and for what purpose. And so we ended up
Nicole Furlong:
talking about identity. We ended up talking about history, and
Nicole Furlong:
who gets to tell history from whose perspective? It was a
Nicole Furlong:
really enriching experience. And it was, it was all built around
Nicole Furlong:
zombies. It was incredible.
Hiram Cuevas:
Nicole, did you have you listened to the audio
Hiram Cuevas:
book? Yes, I did. It's even better, I think, as an
Bill Stites:
audio book, it's a great audio book, which is
Nicole Furlong:
very different from the book. It's not even the
Nicole Furlong:
book. Yeah, the audio book is an incredible experience. Yeah,
Nicole Furlong:
100%
Hiram Cuevas:
we're getting that for you for Christmas.
Christina Lewellen:
Christina, all right, all right. This one
Christina Lewellen:
I'll actually take only because she has the street cred. I Yeah,
Hiram Cuevas:
Shazam, that's all I gotta say.
Christina Lewellen:
I never did get that present. I'm just
Christina Lewellen:
saying that was the best where's my present?
Bill Stites:
It's coming to you soon.
Hiram Cuevas:
I've got a couple of audible credits so it's
Hiram Cuevas:
coming your way. I've listened to that story at least a half a
Hiram Cuevas:
dozen times. And I've also done it with my teams when we're
Hiram Cuevas:
traveling, because they love it so much.
Bill Stites:
I've done the same thing, just put it on when I'm
Bill Stites:
driving.
Hiram Cuevas:
It's about six and a half hours long. It's a
Hiram Cuevas:
fabulous read.
Peter Frank:
There you go. Christina head in your way, and
Bill Stites:
look at her face. It says it all right. She's not
Bill Stites:
saying anything, but she's just like, it's. Defeatist. It's just
Bill Stites:
like, why can't I have nice things? Why can't I win just
Bill Stites:
once?
Christina Lewellen:
Oh, I win just you don't know the ways in
Christina Lewellen:
which I win.
Peter Frank:
All right, we have just a few more of these left.
Peter Frank:
We also want to get to a few more spouse questions. So this
Peter Frank:
next episode, Hiram, this is another one of your picks. We
Peter Frank:
brought on Jamie Britto, the director of technology from
Peter Frank:
Lakeside school.
Hiram Cuevas:
So I've known Jamie for a very long time. I
Hiram Cuevas:
first met him when he was at Cape Fear Academy, and it was
Hiram Cuevas:
with his NAIS book tour, essentially with early tech
Hiram Cuevas:
leaders, and he just started getting my mind thinking about
Hiram Cuevas:
how to work with technology in schools from a leadership
Hiram Cuevas:
perspective, and that it wasn't just the nuts and bolts, it was
Hiram Cuevas:
also the relationship building and the need to Be a presence
Hiram Cuevas:
and a support structure so that you understood what the teachers
Hiram Cuevas:
were dealing with when they were in the classroom. That goes on
Hiram Cuevas:
even further when he shared with us his story when he was at the
Hiram Cuevas:
Collegiate School about cyber security. I remember coming back
Hiram Cuevas:
to St Chris in 2017 and said, we've got to start paying
Hiram Cuevas:
attention to this. This is frightening. He was always on
Hiram Cuevas:
the cutting edge, and he's still doing great work out in the
Hiram Cuevas:
state of Washington with AI, and it was such a pleasure to hear
Hiram Cuevas:
Jamie. And if you are around him enough, you realize he has a
Hiram Cuevas:
tremendous sense of humor a little dry at times, but it's
Hiram Cuevas:
fabulous.
Peter Frank:
I also noticed that with all of the episodes we
Peter Frank:
picked and all of the clips that we had, there was almost no AI,
Peter Frank:
in contrast to the way it's felt the last year plus, where we
Peter Frank:
don't have an episode that does not mention AI. So I decided to
Peter Frank:
pick one of the clips where Jamie talked about AI. So here
Peter Frank:
you go. We always get around to talking about AI. There are many
Peter Frank:
different positions people have taken, and there's often simply
Peter Frank:
uncertainty, or, yeah, we're holding back or restraining a
Peter Frank:
bit, but your school has just gone all in with the AI. I'm so
Peter Frank:
I'm fascinated, you know, people worry about the challenge is,
Peter Frank:
I'm curious what challenges have already arisen, and how are you
Peter Frank:
tackling that? How are you approaching those things?
Jamie Britto:
Yeah, great question. I think as we look at
Jamie Britto:
the different aspects of our community, or components of our
Jamie Britto:
community, we have faculty, we have students, we have
Jamie Britto:
leadership, we have families, I think what surprises me in AI
Jamie Britto:
perhaps more than in other places. And maybe it's not a
Jamie Britto:
surprise given you know how big it is, but like, the emotional
Jamie Britto:
response that people have to it is greater than the introduction
Jamie Britto:
of a smart board or the introduction of an LMS. So there
Jamie Britto:
are a wide range of like from very enthusiastic people to
Jamie Britto:
people who feel like this could be the beginning of the end of
Jamie Britto:
humanity, you know, that have concerns about copyright and the
Jamie Britto:
impact on the environment and the impact on other people of
Jamie Britto:
society, and like, you know, where are some of that training
Jamie Britto:
happening in other parts of the world? And so we're having all
Jamie Britto:
of those conversations. We're having the difficult
Jamie Britto:
conversations about, what does it mean to teach and learn and
Jamie Britto:
work in the world of rapidly changing AI and one of my
Jamie Britto:
favorite moments, the succinctness of students.
Jamie Britto:
Sometimes there's another group that is called the AI advisory,
Jamie Britto:
which is a less technical group, more interested in these
Jamie Britto:
societal issues and advise in the school on how they should
Jamie Britto:
approach it from a student perspective, a panel of five or
Jamie Britto:
six students from the two groups came and sat before the Upper
Jamie Britto:
School faculty and answered questions from the faculty, and
Jamie Britto:
Lakeside is really rooted in the Harkness table model and the
Jamie Britto:
Socratic method, and so There's a very strong culture of
Jamie Britto:
students and faculty engaging in that type of dialog. You know,
Jamie Britto:
teachers kind of kept hitting on certain points about
Jamie Britto:
inappropriate use of AI. And where is that line and the
Jamie Britto:
concerns, and I think I inferred in that the concern about, well,
Jamie Britto:
I've learned how to do this job really well. I have, you know,
Jamie Britto:
2030, years of experience doing this job, and this is up ending
Jamie Britto:
that. And one of the students after that, in some back and
Jamie Britto:
forth about, like, you know, what's the difference between a
Jamie Britto:
Google search and an AI search? And those types of discussion
Jamie Britto:
said, you know, at the end of the day, I think you're just
Jamie Britto:
going to have to change your assessments. And I thought,
Jamie Britto:
like, yeah, that's a succinct statement, and that is a
Jamie Britto:
challenge to us about if we're doing that, then we're going to
Jamie Britto:
need to change that. And then a parent group we were talking
Jamie Britto:
about that, and a mom who was working in one of the tech
Jamie Britto:
companies here in Seattle said, Soon, extrinsic knowledge will
Jamie Britto:
be at our fingertips. What we do with. Intrinsic knowledge. How
Jamie Britto:
we cultivate intrinsic knowledge will be the challenge to
Jamie Britto:
schools. So how do you do that? And I've been having that play
Jamie Britto:
over in my head frequently, because in my life, you had to
Jamie Britto:
get the extrinsic knowledge first before you could then
Jamie Britto:
develop intrinsic knowledge. And so, you know, it's a cognitive
Jamie Britto:
shift for me to think about how you could begin building
Jamie Britto:
intrinsic knowledge without having acquired the extrinsic
Jamie Britto:
knowledge. So I think those are, you know, uncomfortable places
Jamie Britto:
to be there aren't ready answers. You know, Eric Hudson
Jamie Britto:
is has a phrase, something like fluency with AI before policy.
Jamie Britto:
And so we have a very succinct policy. It's two sentences
Jamie Britto:
relate for kids, and I think, you know, we need to keep
Jamie Britto:
getting fluent with it, and it changes so quickly. That's
Jamie Britto:
another part that's different than other kind of adoption
Jamie Britto:
pieces for us that where we were 18 months ago is not where we
Jamie Britto:
are now. So I think you know, being able to not be too
Jamie Britto:
attached to any particular insight right now is important.
Hiram Cuevas:
I'm struck particularly by his empathy to
Hiram Cuevas:
the other constituent groups within a school. He really tries
Hiram Cuevas:
hard to meet them where they are, and also pose provocative
Hiram Cuevas:
questions. And you can tell as he's speaking, he's also
Hiram Cuevas:
thinking about the response and is being really mindful of what
Hiram Cuevas:
that next step is going to be in this process.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, it's a really great way to think about
Christina Lewellen:
the wrestling that we're doing with AI right now, just very
Christina Lewellen:
high level and pretty succinct. Honestly, it boils it all down
Christina Lewellen:
to what we're wrestling.
Hiram Cuevas:
And one of the things I neglected to mention.
Hiram Cuevas:
And this is kudos to Mr. Frank here. This was one of your
Hiram Cuevas:
first, I think, debuts, doing the post of the pod. And you
Hiram Cuevas:
were rock solid despite anything Mr. Stites may have said to you,
Peter Frank:
thank you, Hiram, because he says a lot he does
Bill Stites:
all good things. Peter, all good things.
Peter Frank:
Yeah. No, I appreciate that. I mean, it
Peter Frank:
feels like pretty big shoes to fill, because Christina does
Peter Frank:
such a good job. And both of you, Bill and Hiram, you
Peter Frank:
mentioned how Christina does such a good job in all of these
Peter Frank:
episodes, it was fun to take on the hat and a lot of prep. The
Peter Frank:
key to that is a whole lot of prep practice, practice. So
Peter Frank:
again, bringing it back around to the three of you, because the
Peter Frank:
three of you have contributed so much to this project. And I know
Peter Frank:
ATLIS as an organization, and I know our community appreciates
Peter Frank:
it very, very much. So we'll go back to bringing your spouses in
Peter Frank:
to give you some last questions here for you to field. So
Peter Frank:
Christina, again, we'll start with the lewellens, and we'll
Peter Frank:
start with something that Richard would love to hear you
Peter Frank:
talk about, tell the folks about my level of game, and That's in
Peter Frank:
air quotes when we first met.
Christina Lewellen:
Y'all It was so bad. Honestly, it's a miracle
Christina Lewellen:
that we ended up together, and he knows it, which is why we
Christina Lewellen:
joke about it now, but he will say that he was intimidated and
Christina Lewellen:
worried about screwing things up. So when we first met, he was
Christina Lewellen:
singing in his barbershop quartet. You guys all know that
Christina Lewellen:
I have this other world that I'm a part of, and I knew of these
Christina Lewellen:
guys had their album albums in my car like we all knew them.
Christina Lewellen:
And Richard tried to talk to me, but basically just sort of he
Christina Lewellen:
invited me to go out to dinner with his Quartet, and then we
Christina Lewellen:
sat there, and his other quartet mates talked to me while he
Christina Lewellen:
ignored me entirely and spoke to the coach that was also at the
Christina Lewellen:
dinner. So he sat next to me, but didn't talk to me. Instead,
Christina Lewellen:
he put his charming, married friends to do his bidding for
Christina Lewellen:
me. But He's a good dude, a quiet dude. It was a slow burn,
Christina Lewellen:
but pretty much inseparable since then. So no game
Christina Lewellen:
whatsoever. Mr. Lewellen, not then, not now, not ever. And I
Christina Lewellen:
love you, babe. Nice.
Peter Frank:
I mean, as a fellow barber shopper, I mean, I can
Peter Frank:
tell you like I was courting a young woman, and I invited
Peter Frank:
myself to sit at Richards quartet's table to be the cool
Peter Frank:
guy. And it worked, all right, so it's a ball or move that he
Peter Frank:
did there, come sit with the Quartet.
Christina Lewellen:
Oh yeah, his Quartet. Super charming,
Christina Lewellen:
extroverted. So it was a good strategy, but it was a little
Christina Lewellen:
weird to be on the receiving end of it is all I'm saying.
Hiram Cuevas:
So Bill, I heard slow burn and ballin in the same
Hiram Cuevas:
description. I don't know where this goes.
Christina Lewellen:
That's awesome, though. Cut that out.
Christina Lewellen:
This
Peter Frank:
next one's a. Interesting because Bill's wife,
Peter Frank:
Brook, laid out a question, but that she kind of gave like
Peter Frank:
multiple options. That's Brook, okay. I like this. Choose your
Peter Frank:
own adventure. That's right.
Bill Stites:
Okay, okay, let's go. Here we go.
Brook Stites:
One of the things about Bill is that he is a very
Brook Stites:
thoughtful person and creative and funny, so I thought he might
Brook Stites:
want to share about how we met for the first time at MKA, or
Brook Stites:
possibly our first date at the beach, or our engagement in
Brook Stites:
Vermont. Hiram, this is tough, right? Many options, I kind
Christina Lewellen:
of want to hear about the proposal, hmm, as
Christina Lewellen:
the only girl on this podcast, can I please hear about the
Christina Lewellen:
proposal? Okay, yay. I win. Thanks, Brook.
Bill Stites:
So the proposal was this, for those of you that are
Bill Stites:
not aware Brook is a so
Hiram Cuevas:
excited, the proposal was yes, Brook.
Bill Stites:
And it's funny, because I was just talking to a
Bill Stites:
colleague about this, and you'll understand why in a second. So
Bill Stites:
Brook is a Spanish teacher, and I don't know a word of Spanish,
Bill Stites:
and she, at the time, was studying at Middlebury College
Bill Stites:
that has a very well known, well respected program for Masters in
Bill Stites:
foreign language, and they have to sign a language pledge when
Bill Stites:
they go that they're only going to speak in the language for the
Bill Stites:
time that they are there. So Brook and I were corresponding
Bill Stites:
via pen and paper. We were actually writing letters back
Bill Stites:
and forth to one another throughout the
Christina Lewellen:
summer, chisel and stone indeed.
Bill Stites:
And I decided I was going to come up one weekend and
Bill Stites:
we were going to kind of just have a little getaway weekend up
Bill Stites:
in Vermont. Brook is a Vermont native. We go up. And she was
Bill Stites:
like, bring your bike up, and we'll go for a ride. Well, I had
Bill Stites:
this plan where I wanted to ask her to marry me, and I wanted to
Bill Stites:
do it on the top of J peak. Now, if you know anything about
Bill Stites:
Vermont geography, where Middlebury is and where J peak
Bill Stites:
is is not exactly close. So we go up and we load the car up
Bill Stites:
with the bikes, and she is complaining the entire time as
Bill Stites:
we are driving up the J peak that we could have been on a
Bill Stites:
bike ride and having done all of this stuff and been on to other
Bill Stites:
parts of our time the entire time, just giving it to me to
Bill Stites:
the point where I'm like, do I really want to do this? Is this
Bill Stites:
the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with now we
Bill Stites:
stop halfway there in Burlington to get a bite to eat, and in the
Bill Stites:
Stites household, the adage is that what is mine is hers, and
Bill Stites:
what is hers is hers. So she goes into my pocket to get my
Bill Stites:
wallet to go buy something to eat. And almost thankfully, I
Bill Stites:
had cargo pants on at the time, cargo shorts, I should say, and
Bill Stites:
I had the ring in a different pocket than what she was going
Bill Stites:
in. Otherwise we would have been proposing at like the
Bill Stites:
McDonald's, or wherever it was that we stopped, it probably
Bill Stites:
wasn't McDonald's somewhere else. So we get all the way up
Bill Stites:
there, and we get to the top of the mountain. You take this
Bill Stites:
gondola up, you can take your bikes up, and you can ride down.
Bill Stites:
And the part I'm leaving out is that for the two weeks leading
Bill Stites:
up to this, I was asking my niece, we lived down the shore.
Bill Stites:
We were living in Margate at the time, which is right next to
Bill Stites:
Atlantic City. I was asking my cousins, I should say not, my
Bill Stites:
niece, my cousins, who had a number of Hispanic friends. How
Bill Stites:
do you say, will you marry me in Spanish? And I was getting
Bill Stites:
Mexican, I was getting Cuban, I was getting Puerto Rican, I was
Bill Stites:
getting all of these different dialects around. How you say,
Bill Stites:
will you marry me in Spanish? And I'm writing it out
Bill Stites:
phonetically. I've got it, like, on pieces of paper in my wallet.
Bill Stites:
So like, when I go to the bathroom, I'm rereading it my
Bill Stites:
head. I'm getting on the tram, like, reread all this stuff, get
Bill Stites:
to the top of the mountain, can see beautiful surrounding views
Bill Stites:
of all of Vermont, and propose to her in Spanish. And she looks
Bill Stites:
at me and she says, what, I think? Thinking to myself, Oh my
Bill Stites:
God, what did I just ask her? Did I properly say, will you
Bill Stites:
marry me? I asked her again, and I think what I showed her the
Bill Stites:
ring at that point, which I was scared to death of dropping,
Bill Stites:
because I'm on like, all these rocks, and it's just gonna
Bill Stites:
bounce and get lost, saying it one more time, showing the ring,
Bill Stites:
it kind of
Christina Lewellen:
all just clicked. Context clues. She got
Christina Lewellen:
it exactly.
Bill Stites:
She said yes. And the other reason we went so far
Bill Stites:
up is she had a lot of family up in that area, so we went and
Bill Stites:
spent the evening with them. But that was my, of course, long
Bill Stites:
winded way of telling you the story of the. Engagement.
Hiram Cuevas:
Well done. Nice. Yeah. Who would have known that
Hiram Cuevas:
Bill Stites was such a romantic guy,
Bill Stites:
caring and creative too, is what she said. Don't
Bill Stites:
leave that out,
Hiram Cuevas:
Hiram, that's true. Man. Very
Peter Frank:
good. And we'll continue with the romantic flow
Peter Frank:
here with the last question from the spouses. This is a hiram's
Peter Frank:
wife Grace with her question for Hiram,
Grace Cuevas:
what has been your favorite memory with you and me
Grace Cuevas:
as couple? Maybe we weren't married yet. I don't know
Hiram Cuevas:
that could count too so we are 30 plus years but
Hiram Cuevas:
I think my favorite memory is actually our 25th wedding
Hiram Cuevas:
anniversary. We got remarried in Ireland, and we had all our
Hiram Cuevas:
children with us, and we stayed at this wonderful Bed and
Hiram Cuevas:
Breakfast. The proprietor of the bed and breakfast looked at us
Hiram Cuevas:
and said, Are you all Catholic? And we said, Yes, we are. So she
Hiram Cuevas:
goes, hang on just a second. She came back with this massive
Hiram Cuevas:
bottle of Holy Water, and starts sprinkling us with holy water.
Hiram Cuevas:
And our son tied the wedding lasso around our wrists
Hiram Cuevas:
together, and it was a wonderful occasion for us to celebrate our
Hiram Cuevas:
25th wedding anniversary by getting married a second time in
Hiram Cuevas:
front of our children.
Christina Lewellen:
So sweet.
Peter Frank:
That's beautiful. Any Spanish so you can actually
Peter Frank:
speak Spanish?
Christina Lewellen:
I know. Can you tell Bill how to say it
Christina Lewellen:
would be,
Hiram Cuevas:
unfortunately, in Puerto Rican
Christina Lewellen:
he got the job done exactly.
Peter Frank:
That's wonderful. We appreciate all three spouses
Peter Frank:
to put the work in there and come up with the questions and
Peter Frank:
allow us to actually feature them on an episode, since,
Peter Frank:
again, they do get talked about on the podcast, so it's great to
Peter Frank:
hear their voices and have them put to our post on the spot. So
Peter Frank:
we've got to bring it full circle, wrapping it up here the
Peter Frank:
final episode. Christina, this was your pick. We had an
Peter Frank:
opportunity. We invited the three founders of ATLIS to come
Peter Frank:
on the podcast to talk with us. So we had Kelsea vrooman, the co
Peter Frank:
founder and partner of mission and data, Gabe Lucas, the
Peter Frank:
founder and principal of Ed Tech recruiting and 12 M recruiting,
Peter Frank:
and Stuart Posen, the co founder and chief technology officer of
Peter Frank:
exclaim, Christina. I'm sure this meant a lot to you to get
Peter Frank:
the three of them on and talk to them about ATLIS.
Christina Lewellen:
It was great. And I feel like
Christina Lewellen:
privileged all the time to have these people in our world. There
Christina Lewellen:
are OG schools, member schools, that still mail their check to
Christina Lewellen:
Stuart. So I always get to hear from Stuart. In the fall, I just
Christina Lewellen:
had an interaction with Kelsea. We work with her firm, of
Christina Lewellen:
course, Kelsea and Ari at Mission and data, and you know,
Christina Lewellen:
with Gabe, we are working on the salary survey right now. So I am
Christina Lewellen:
so lucky to have taken the reins, which is really how I see
Christina Lewellen:
this from our founders and our founding staff, because ATLIS is
Christina Lewellen:
just a wonderful, thriving community, and I'm very pleased
Christina Lewellen:
that they entrusted me and our current team to take over for
Christina Lewellen:
the OG team. But it's so cool to have this opportunity like how
Christina Lewellen:
many other associations get to interview their founders? I feel
Christina Lewellen:
so lucky.
Peter Frank:
I picked a clip here where towards the end of
Peter Frank:
the episode, we asked the founders to look ahead into the
Peter Frank:
future to see what they thought about where Atlas is headed.
Christina Lewellen:
So let me ask you, where would you love to
Christina Lewellen:
see Atlas at 20 years? Can you picture that far out? What does
Christina Lewellen:
Atlas look like when we celebrate our 20th anniversary,
Stuart Posin:
I'll give a softball answer, maybe, which is
Stuart Posin:
fulfilling its mission. You know, if I could tell the
Stuart Posin:
future, I'd be rich and living like in this huge mansion or
Stuart Posin:
whatever. I don't have a crystal ball, but I feel like if Atlas
Stuart Posin:
stays mission driven, and that mission adapts over time as it
Stuart Posin:
needs to, I think ATLIS will be doing a okay, maybe that was too
Stuart Posin:
easy political, I don't know.
Christina Lewellen:
Hey, I love it. You're speaking my language,
Christina Lewellen:
Stuart, because I think that that's right. Where it is. What
Christina Lewellen:
do you think, Gabe, where are we going to be? Well, I
Gabriel Lucas:
don't know where you'll be. That's a great I wish
Gabriel Lucas:
I knew, but I'll give you two, sort of like, potentially again,
Gabriel Lucas:
the weed answers that maybe it will just trigger thoughts for
Gabriel Lucas:
the community. I think we were talking about this right, as the
Gabriel Lucas:
three of us were leaving the board, not to get way into the
Gabriel Lucas:
weeds, but either, you know, we thought about association for
Gabriel Lucas:
technology leadership, and I don't mean to say change your
Gabriel Lucas:
name, but I hope in 20 years that it really is that whether
Gabriel Lucas:
you change your name or not, certain other associations,
Gabriel Lucas:
right, when you think Business Affairs, you might think NBOA. I
Gabriel Lucas:
feel like heads of school should almost be going to Atlas
Gabriel Lucas:
conferences more than tech directors, or certainly in the
Gabriel Lucas:
same numbers. And so I hope in 20 years, there's a recognition
Gabriel Lucas:
that this is the place for technology and beyond
Gabriel Lucas:
technology, right? Not just the wires, but bring in the data,
Gabriel Lucas:
bring. In the curricular innovation that is the be all,
Gabriel Lucas:
end all, or at least the bulls eye point for technology
Gabriel Lucas:
leadership. I guess the second thing, again, sort of a little
Gabriel Lucas:
bit myopic, but you know, there are other associations that
Gabriel Lucas:
accredit and I feel like I could see in 20 years, like ATLIS
Gabriel Lucas:
being a formal accrediting partner. And again, even if it's
Gabriel Lucas:
not the recognition that accreditation for schools needs
Gabriel Lucas:
to change, right? It's been for decades this very backward
Gabriel Lucas:
facing, or just voluminous in terms of, like, things that are
Gabriel Lucas:
just really is that so important when here's like, one of your
Gabriel Lucas:
biggest areas of your budget, one of the biggest reasons
Gabriel Lucas:
people choose to or not to go to a school. And I just think that
Gabriel Lucas:
could put Atlas on the map. But again, even it's not accrediting
Gabriel Lucas:
the recognition that, like just the oversight and the governance
Gabriel Lucas:
of technology and sort of the evaluation of schools through a
Gabriel Lucas:
technology lens is like just as important as all the other
Gabriel Lucas:
things that are in those big chapters, in those binders. And
Gabriel Lucas:
I think Atlas could be driving that equation.
Kelsey Vrooman:
I'm going to lean more towards Stuart
Kelsey Vrooman:
fulfilling its mission. However. I mean, I think I do have a
Kelsey Vrooman:
dream that, you know, the generative thinking of like
Kelsey Vrooman:
framing the question for the board. So Hiram, you're you're
Kelsey Vrooman:
on the board, so maybe this is seeding your generative
Kelsey Vrooman:
discussion at a next board meeting. When I think of schools
Kelsey Vrooman:
today and when I think of the challenges that face independent
Kelsey Vrooman:
schools today, it's financial sustainability and the business
Kelsey Vrooman:
model of independent schools is just getting harder and harder
Kelsey Vrooman:
to make work with tuitions 40, $50,000 and if we want to assure
Kelsey Vrooman:
access and affordability to all students, something's got to
Kelsey Vrooman:
change. And when you look at the different types of roles within
Kelsey Vrooman:
an independent school, community, finance and
Kelsey Vrooman:
technology are the two areas where it kind of almost doesn't
Kelsey Vrooman:
make sense to go into independent schools. In those
Kelsey Vrooman:
realms, because the incomes that you can make outside of
Kelsey Vrooman:
independent schools. I'm sure Stuart, when you left
Kelsey Vrooman:
independent schools, you were making two, 3x what you made
Kelsey Vrooman:
inside of independent schools. So for me, it's like, if we're
Kelsey Vrooman:
wanting to attract and retain the best and brightest in
Kelsey Vrooman:
technology without having them go to industry, we have to do
Kelsey Vrooman:
something and doing something crazy and out there and in the
Kelsey Vrooman:
left field is what I would love to see ATLIS try to do. And you
Kelsey Vrooman:
know, so much of technology can be administered digitally and
Kelsey Vrooman:
from afar. So are there ways where you could partner schools
Kelsey Vrooman:
that have similar missions, that aren't necessarily market
Kelsey Vrooman:
competitors, and then share services, share talent, even
Kelsey Vrooman:
share platforms across space and time to make the bottom line of
Kelsey Vrooman:
technology more sustainable for schools and for Atlas to be part
Kelsey Vrooman:
of that solution, to really rethink the business model of
Kelsey Vrooman:
independent schools, to try to make it more sustainable for the
Kelsey Vrooman:
future. That's what I would love to see Atlas really just
Kelsey Vrooman:
innovating to make things work for independent schools and the
Kelsey Vrooman:
families that attend them.
Christina Lewellen:
And I think that we are up for that
Christina Lewellen:
challenge. What do you think, Hiram, are we ready to roll with
Christina Lewellen:
some of these great ideas?
Hiram Cuevas:
Yeah, absolutely. I think we have a lot of
Hiram Cuevas:
firepower on the board right now with a lot of energy and
Hiram Cuevas:
excitement to take on the new the mantle of the next era for
Hiram Cuevas:
ATLIS. I agree.
Christina Lewellen:
That was fun. I always love hearing from
Christina Lewellen:
them, and the idea that they still have visions and dreams
Christina Lewellen:
for ATLIS after all this time is really cool.
Peter Frank:
Yeah, can hear the pride and and the enthusiasm in
Peter Frank:
their voices. It's wonderful. So, Gosh, 100 episodes. We could
Peter Frank:
have gone on for hours with clips and highlights from those
Peter Frank:
episodes. Other episodes, we've had one of you as the host. I
Peter Frank:
mean, you were here from the beginning. You know, at some
Peter Frank:
point Christina reached out. What do you think about this
Peter Frank:
idea, Bill and Hiram, you said, Sure. And now, 100 episodes
Peter Frank:
later, what are your thoughts? Open question for anybody,
Bill Stites:
I would say it's still the favorite part of my
Bill Stites:
week is getting together and talking, getting to know the
Bill Stites:
people that we bring on the show. I'm still getting so much
Bill Stites:
from it, you know, I just re listened to the last episode
Bill Stites:
that we posted up. It was with Dan McGee, and just listening to
Bill Stites:
Dan, I mean, it was like, I sit there and I take notes. I took
Bill Stites:
notes as we were going through this in terms of like, oh, I
Bill Stites:
need to go back, and I need to look at that. I need to go back,
Bill Stites:
and I need to look at that, and I look forward to all these
Bill Stites:
conversations. And I hope that that inspiration for digging in
Bill Stites:
just a little bit deeper, taking those notes, trying to take
Bill Stites:
something that you've heard and apply it in your job, is
Bill Stites:
something that I'm just not getting out of this, but I think
Bill Stites:
that all of our listeners are getting out of it as well.
Hiram Cuevas:
I never suspected the joy I get out of re
Hiram Cuevas:
listening to the episodes. When approached to do this, I was
Hiram Cuevas:
worried about the time commitment, because it is a lot
Hiram Cuevas:
of work to do this. But. What has evolved over time, which I
Hiram Cuevas:
think we do a great job emulating. About what Atlas does
Hiram Cuevas:
is we've built this relationship that the chemistry among this
Hiram Cuevas:
group, and I'm including you in this, Peter, because you've
Hiram Cuevas:
become instrumental in producing these episodes, is really quite
Hiram Cuevas:
special. I leave the ATLIS conference every year feeling
Hiram Cuevas:
recharged. I leave these recordings feeling recharged as
Hiram Cuevas:
well, because of the amount of respect that I have for each of
Hiram Cuevas:
you, but also the wonderful memories that we have been
Hiram Cuevas:
creating, the humor, the satire, the outright insults, which is
Hiram Cuevas:
the way friends behave, and I wouldn't have had it any other
Hiram Cuevas:
way.
Christina Lewellen:
It's been a blast, and I'll echo all those
Christina Lewellen:
sentiments and just also say that this would not be possible
Christina Lewellen:
without my incredible team at ATLIS. We're a small team, and
Christina Lewellen:
the way that they dug in to figure out how to execute this
Christina Lewellen:
podcast on a very regular basis has been nothing short of
Christina Lewellen:
incredible. Peter and a lot of the teammates on the inside
Christina Lewellen:
Andrea, who keeps everything moving, we've all played a role
Christina Lewellen:
in trying to make sure that this is a consistent, safe place for
Christina Lewellen:
our community. A little nugget of annual conference delivered
Christina Lewellen:
on a weekly basis to their podcast platform of choice, and
Christina Lewellen:
so I couldn't have done it without the incredible ATLIS
Christina Lewellen:
team. And Peter, thank you for putting together such a
Christina Lewellen:
memorable 100th episode. I know you worked really hard to pull
Christina Lewellen:
all this together, spouses and all, and I'm very grateful for
Christina Lewellen:
it. Thank you, Peter.
Peter Frank:
Very nice. I'm gonna add that to the Atlas
Peter Frank:
outro
Bill Stites:
that hurts.
Peter Frank:
We'll definitely do the whole video for this one
Peter Frank:
that's great. On behalf of all of our listeners, I'm sure I
Peter Frank:
speak for them when they thank the three of you for your
Peter Frank:
engaging conversation. You make it so fun and still so helpful,
Peter Frank:
so many great nuggets and words of wisdom and advice, and you
Peter Frank:
all do a fantastic job of hosting. So thank the three of
Peter Frank:
you so much for 100 episodes, and let's hear it for 100 more
Peter Frank:
and so on and so on.
Christina Lewellen:
Heck Yeah, cheers. Let's do it.
Hiram Cuevas:
Happy New Year.
Peter Frank:
The links to the full episodes we cited will be
Peter Frank:
in the show notes, and as this is our final episode of 2025 to
Peter Frank:
all of you celebrating holidays this time of year, we hope you
Peter Frank:
have a festive and wonderful holiday season, and to all of
Peter Frank:
our listeners, we're grateful that you're with us. We'll
Peter Frank:
continue to crank out episodes as long as you're listening and
Peter Frank:
enjoying it. So we can't wait to resume the conversation next
Peter Frank:
year with more weekly episodes of talking technology with
Peter Frank:
ATLIS. Thank you all.
Bill Stites:
Peace. Thanks everybody. Great job.
Peter Frank:
There is one more thing I'm going to do for this
Peter Frank:
episode, but I'm not telling any of you what it is. You're going
Peter Frank:
to have to wait and listen for it. Oh, my God. Oh Lord. And
Peter Frank:
here it is, in light of this milestone, a gift for Atlas
Peter Frank:
staff, our volunteer leaders, our members, our amazing podcast
Peter Frank:
hosts, Christina, Bill and Hiram and most importantly, you our
Peter Frank:
listeners. Here is after 100 episodes of talking technology
Peter Frank:
with ATLIS, every mention of the word zombie,
Bill Stites:
Hiram and I both have a zombie addiction.
Christina Lewellen:
They want to talk about zombies. Was that a
Christina Lewellen:
zombie
Hiram Cuevas:
reference? Bill? It might have been
Christina Lewellen:
bill and Hiram will probably ask
Christina Lewellen:
something obnoxious about zombies.
Bill Stites:
I know Christina wants us to stop talking about
Bill Stites:
this topic immediately.
Hiram Cuevas:
Count how many times they've said zombies in
Hiram Cuevas:
the podcast? It's a lot.
Christina Lewellen:
It's so many times,
Hiram Cuevas:
yes, you are starting to like
Christina Lewellen:
zombies. I don't like zombies.
Hiram Cuevas:
What would be your favorite zombie
Christina Lewellen:
melee weapon? The guys always want to
Christina Lewellen:
know what weapon you'd use to kill a zombie,
Bill Stites:
which conference venue was the absolute worst
Bill Stites:
choice when it comes to escaping a zombie event, where one to
Bill Stites:
occur at these because these are legitimate and real world
Bill Stites:
questions.
Christina Lewellen:
Now that we've got all the zombie
Christina Lewellen:
questions out of the
Hiram Cuevas:
way, Bill, you're gonna start a zombie class. I
Hiram Cuevas:
already have one.
Christina Lewellen:
Hiram, I don't understand zombie lore.
Bill Stites:
The zombies just are added bonuses, bonuses.
Christina Lewellen:
They're disgusting. We've been asking
Christina Lewellen:
about zombies and coffee drinks, and we're gonna just cut all
Christina Lewellen:
that off at the pass the zombie references when they start, just
Christina Lewellen:
nod and smile. Series A funding for
Bill Stites:
zombies. Let's go. These
Christina Lewellen:
guys always bring it back to the zombies,
Christina Lewellen:
dude. This is we got to keep this on the rails.
Hiram Cuevas:
You can imagine getting bit by
Christina Lewellen:
a zombie. Let's go back to reality,
Christina Lewellen:
please, for the love of God, here we go.
Hiram Cuevas:
Get to work on that zombie thing.
Christina Lewellen:
Or don't. It's okay. We're going to start
Christina Lewellen:
showing up in zombie feeds. Could we ever just record one?
Christina Lewellen:
Podcast out the discussion about zombies. Guys with the zombies
Christina Lewellen:
wouldn't be one of our podcasts without it. I'm gonna set a
Christina Lewellen:
timer and allow free range zombie chat.
Unknown:
Go zombie, zombies, zombies, zombies, zombies,
Unknown:
zombie zombie zombies. Zombie zombies,
Unknown:
zombies, zombies, zombies zombies, zombies, zombies,
Unknown:
zombies zombies, zombies, zombies, zombies, zombies
Unknown:
zombies, zombies zombies, zombies zombies, zombies,
Unknown:
zombies, zombies, zombies, zombies, zombies, zombies,
Unknown:
zombies, zombie zombies, zombies, zombie
Hiram Cuevas:
I love the fact that Christina brings up zombies
Hiram Cuevas:
first.
Christina Lewellen:
I know I can't escape it. No, zombies,
Christina Lewellen:
yeah, I don't want to do any close quarters combat with a
Christina Lewellen:
zombie. You're allowed to say zombies are dumb. Can zombies
Christina Lewellen:
swim?
Bill Stites:
Zombies don't swim. I'm good for the zombie
Bill Stites:
apocalypse. We can go there all
Unknown:
day long. Jazam, oh no. Haha. Christina, haha. Because
Unknown:
zombies are fake. Zombie Apocalypse, zombie apocalypse,
Unknown:
zombie apocalypse, zombie apocalypse, zombie apocalypse,
Unknown:
your favorite zombie apocalypse weapon, zombie apocalypse,
Unknown:
zombie apocalypse, zombie apocalypse, zombie apocalypse,
Peter Frank:
zombie apocalypse. Part of the tea list prep. Is
Peter Frank:
there anything to help us prepare for a zombie apocalypse?
Unknown:
Zombie Apocalypse, zombie apocalypse, zombie
Unknown:
apocalypse, zombie apocalypse, zombie apocalypse.
Christina Lewellen:
We've had all discussions zombies, grits
Christina Lewellen:
and everything technology bill
Peter Frank:
and Hiram start going off on zombies, the facial
Peter Frank:
expressions of Christina, the body language. Sometimes she'll
Peter Frank:
just get up and like, we don't even know where she went. Like,
Peter Frank:
she just leaves. It's gold.
Christina Lewellen:
Oh my gosh. You guys have a zombie. VR,
Christina Lewellen:
thank you, Hiram, you don't have to answer this. Ai generated
Christina Lewellen:
like zombie videos. Zombie aficionado, I am trying to bring
Christina Lewellen:
some non zombie energy into
Unknown:
the space zombie aficionados. This is out of
Unknown:
control.
Unknown:
General, you sent a weapon in the mail to Bill. What is wrong
Unknown:
with you? Oh, and it came in a zombie box.
Christina Lewellen:
Is this like an ATLIS membership benefit that
Christina Lewellen:
you get access to the zombie experience. The three of us have
Christina Lewellen:
been the sort of key zombie aficionados.
Christina Lewellen:
Please tell me you're not going to ask this woman about zombies.
Christina Lewellen:
Oh, Bill, she's a doctor.
Hiram Cuevas:
Bill is one of my dearest friends. I learn
Hiram Cuevas:
something from him every time I talk to him, despite his
Hiram Cuevas:
obnoxious side. And suffice to say, if we were in the zombie
Hiram Cuevas:
apocalypse Christina, there's no one else I would want to be with
Hiram Cuevas:
them, with Bill Stites.
Bill Stites:
And that's exactly where I was gonna go. It was
Bill Stites:
gonna go right back to the zombies. If there's anyone I
Bill Stites:
would want by my side, it would be you, because I know we would
Bill Stites:
dominate the world.
Christina Lewellen:
We're done with zombies. I hope you had
Christina Lewellen:
fun. It'll never happen again to all of our listeners, I
Christina Lewellen:
thoroughly and sincerely apologize,
Bill Stites:
because you have your assault team, you have your
Bill Stites:
ranged weapons team, then you have your melee weapon team, and
Bill Stites:
then you have your bruisers. And this is where you would employ
Bill Stites:
your bruisers, those with bats, those with things that are going
Bill Stites:
to just golf clubs. I mean, you could use golf clubs at
Peter Frank:
that this has been talking technology with ATLIS,
Peter Frank:
produced by the Association of technology leaders in
Peter Frank:
independent schools for more information about Atlas and
Peter Frank:
Atlas membership, please visit the atlas.org if you enjoyed
Peter Frank:
this discussion, please subscribe, leave a review and
Peter Frank:
share this podcast with your colleagues in the independent
Peter Frank:
school community. Thank you for listening. You.
