Terrence Foushee - On relationship building and service projects (clip)

Kathryn Wall (KW): What do you love about this role?

Terrence Foushee (TF): I love a lot of things about this role. I get to experience what I might consider life changing moments with them. In the classroom I loved seeing their “aha” moments. But in this role, it really is more of me asking, “Hey, what do you need? What do you want? What support and opportunities can I provide for you?” That doesn’t necessarily mean I solve the problem but I get to find ways to help. I get to find out what’s important to the scholars without it being outside the classroom. In teaching, the best way I was able to develop relationships with my students was based on how much time I was spending outside the classroom with them. Am I going to the plays? Am I going to the games? Am I having conversations in the hallways with the students to find out more than what the grades are? I find out what your true interests are. My role in this job is kind of just a part of what I do. I've just gotten to spend a lot of time with just the high school students and finding out what they want to do when they graduate. Not just telling them they need to be prepared for college. “No, really what do you want to do?” I get such a wide variety of answers that it gives me something to one, learn more from myself, I’ve found out about different jobs that I didn’t know anything about. I’ve had multiple students tell me they want to be an ultrasound technician. And I’m like, “where did you find that out?” It was multiple students so now I’m finding out which schools, which institutions hold programs for ultrasound technicians so they can sign up for those. I’ve had students who’ve wanted to go into dental hygiene. Wylay and Mrs. Clark have put me in contact with high school students to develop relationships. I’m close with Dr. Shayna Holman who has her own dentistry so I’m able to connect students to opportunities. It’s just really amazing to do that. And also doing service projects. The service projects, to me, are the most rewarding thing because you’re doing something for somebody else. You get some time to reflect and talk about why it was important. In the actual work, it is where you can have the most fun a lot of times, with the type of work you’re going to be doing. For example, with physical labor like you’re working in a farm, the way you keep yourself motivated through the work is from the conversations. Like I said before, being the goofy guy, that's a crazy amount of energy and you get to see that impact on the other students and it saturates the entire group. Now everybody is having a good time and doing something for someone else, also. It’s some of the most rewarding experiences. And then ultimately, to see them graduate and move on to whatever’s next, I love those moments. We’ve had so many of them and I’ve only been in the role for seventeen months. It’s countless moments that I already have in my mind that I really love.

KW: It sounds like a great program.

TF: It’s an excellent program.