The Husky Huddle
This is the 'Husky Huddle,' the podcast that brings you closer to the heart of Olean City School education. Whether you're a parent, student, teacher, or a proud member of our community, this podcast is dedicated to providing insightful conversations, expert advice, and a closer look at what makes our district truly exceptional.
The Husky Huddle
Bringing Finding Nemo to Life: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Olean's Junior Musical with Teacher Steve Ahl
Who doesn’t love the magic of "Finding Nemo"? Our latest episode bursts with excitement as we welcome Steve Ahl, our new French teacher at Olean, and a dedicated member of the Summer STAR Program since 2011. Steve takes us on his journey from being an Olean native to becoming an indispensable part of this beloved program. We dive into the STAR program's unique structure, where kids explore activities ranging from cooking and coding to robotics and poetry, all while being free from the pressures of traditional grading. The highlight? The Junior Musical, where this year’s students are gearing up to perform "Finding Nemo," a story close to many hearts.
Feel the buzz of anticipation as we discuss the upcoming "Finding Nemo" performance set to grace Olean’s newly renovated, air-conditioned auditorium. Steve and I share our enthusiasm for the comfortable venue and the sheer joy of seeing our favorite underwater adventure come to life on stage. This episode is a celebration of creativity, fun, and stress-free learning. Join us in our mutual excitement and hear why the STAR program holds a special place in our hearts and how it continues to foster a love for learning in such a unique way. Don't miss out on this engaging conversation that wraps up with our eager anticipation for the big performance on August 2nd!
so welcome to my next episode of the husky huddle and, by the way, you are the very first episode of the 24 25 school year. I am honored, yeah, yeah, you are it. So I'm so excited to have Steve Aul on our newest episode and you are able to tell us everything about the summer school program, which I'm so excited about. And so we're going to start with the introduction, because you're new to this program and to our school district, we're so excited to have you. So why don't you tell me about you and then tell me about your role in the summer school program and, more importantly, finding Nemo? Yeah, wonderful.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. I do appreciate it. Yeah, I'm just starting back at Olean this September as the new French teacher, woo-hoo. So yeah, I'm excited about that. I'm an Olean native, so I graduated in 2020, sorry, no 2012.
Speaker 1:Wow, I'm a self-represent 2012.
Speaker 2:But I've been working in the Summer Star Program since 2011.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a fun fact for me, I've been working at it quite some time.
Speaker 2:Okay, you know I've always thought the Star program is like the crown jewel of the district.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We have employed high school students to work at. We have, you know, over 150 kids in the program last summer. I think it was 163 on the first day. So you know, it gives our kids, you know, half a day. You know where they are learning, where they are exploring, where they are creating, you know, and it's not in the traditional. Okay, here's a worksheet, here's a lesson. Right, you know that sometimes we get to really make concrete connections in school, but they get to explore a little bit more here. Right, there's no grades, there's no pressure on that. Yeah, we're just here to have fun and give them a little more education than they might have gotten, you know, elsewhere.
Speaker 1:And the best part, I think, is everyone gets free lunch. So, yeah, yeah, that's always good, that's always good. I see the kids walking through the halls and they look so relaxed. Yeah, yeah, they just, they're just happy to be here.
Speaker 2:Yeah and it's really been that since its inception. I mean, mean, I was a kid in the STAR program back all the way in 1999 when I was in kindergarten and have come all the way up through to working it to now being a teacher in it, so it's a really special program that we have here.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's wonderful. That's great to hear. So can you tell us, in your vision, what makes our STAR program special, different from a traditional summer school program?
Speaker 2:Great, yeah, thank you. So the STAR program really focuses on enjoyment. Right, we want to get the kids in with something they're excited about. So the center, kind of nucleus, of the STAR program is the Junior Musical.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So in the past we've done the Lion King, we have done Frozen, we have done Schoolhouse Rock. You know things that the kids you know know about through you know Disney, through learning in school, and it gives them a chance to be on stage, you know. So they get excited from that and then we try to tease out what else are the kids interested in. Are they interested in cooking? Is it coding? Is it robotics? Is it poetry? Is it robotics, is it poetry? Is it journalism? Is it a drum circle? All of these have been courses that we've offered in the STAR program in the past. That's fantastic, and then we do try to encourage growth in the areas of math and reading as well. So this year we are bringing it back.
Speaker 2:It's the first year since COVID that it's been the traditional STAR program. So the kids come in for four periods. Every student gets to be on stage one period, wow. Then they have a period that helps them with math, a period that helps them with reading and then a period of those enrichment. You know it might be cooking one day, it might be robotics, it might be poetry, and so it's every day is a little bit different. You know, normally we do have kids pre-K through going into eighth grade in the program. This year we're trying to get it back since COVID, so we kept it to kids going into first grade to kids going into sixth grade, ok, and it's really doing great, you know. So they are putting on Finding Nemo this year, yes, so, which is a big undertaking for them. They are completely rising to the challenge.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. Well, first of all, that was my daughter's favorite movie. We watched it over and over and over again. I always complain because you know, the mom dies in the first scene. I'm like why are you guys always watching this movie? Are you trying to tell me something? You know we did some bad the first scene. I'm like why are you guys always watching this movie? Are you trying to tell me something you know we did?
Speaker 2:some bad things to moms, Like I don't understand A mom.
Speaker 1:She seemed so nice, she had a great sense of humor and she was eating.
Speaker 2:In a movie. You need a problem. That's true, and we know that moms really solve the problems for us, don't they?
Speaker 1:Right. So I was just like wow, the movie would be 10 minutes.
Speaker 2:We need a longer movie.
Speaker 1:That's true, and now we have like spinoffs, so I agree it could have never happened if mom was there. Yeah, mom was there, darn.
Speaker 2:We find Nemo in five minutes. She wouldn't have lost him. Now the dads, on the other hand. We get it.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, that explains the entire finding Nemo to me. But I okay, well, that explains the entire finding nemo, uh, to me, but I used to always complain about that. So why did you all choose finding nemo so?
Speaker 2:really finding nemo comes from kind of a two, two um sides. Number one is the lesson it teaches. So it is all about inclusion, it is all about coming together, right, you know, nemo has a fin that's not quite as large as the other fin. His father becomes extra protective of him because of that and through his journeys he's meeting other fish that aren't the cookie cutter fish. You know, fish that you know maybe get distracted very easily. Or you know, one of the squids has a tentacle that's shorter than the other one. Yeah, dory has a really hard time remembering things, right? So you have bruce. Um, we do have bruce, okay, good, I can't wait. Shark that is dedicated his life to not eating the fish.
Speaker 1:They're friends, not food friends are not, you know.
Speaker 2:So it just shows that it does take all of us, and no matter what our abilities are, what we look physically, you know what we have struggles, and that we can all come together to make a really complex and beautiful world Right. So the message is really important to us.
Speaker 2:Yes, and the other side of it is, you know, working with all these kids. We wanted something that showcases every single kid. Yes. So Finding Nemo offered us different sea creatures that could be different grade levels, oh nice. So the kindergartners are little fish that swim with Dory or just keep swimming. The first graders are jellyfish. They have a song of their own. We have a group that are the sharks oh, that's it. You know, they sing about fish or friends don't have food. We have a group that are just the sea turtles. We have a group that are all the pelicans, which made it so when we were splitting it up, every kid, it doesn't matter if you're in kindergarten or you're fifth grade, you're going to have a moment to shine. Oh, I love that. And so, between the message and the ability to really showcase all of our beautiful talent here, I mean it was a great show.
Speaker 1:That's the perfect choice. That's absolutely wonderful. So are the kids able to to balance that academic participation here in the STAR program with all the fun that comes through being in a musical? Do you feel like they're able to balance that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you know, because I don't think anybody, even if you love the arts, you know to the extreme you don't want to be in that 24-7, right.
Speaker 2:So it helps them kind of focus back and get a center. I mean, we are doing some fun stuff on the stage, but we went outside for a fire drill last week and we saw the math games written in chalk on the side. Oh, that's awesome. And the kids were after the fire drill had ended. They were looking Mr, oh, look, there's our game and we did multiplication here. So they were even excited about the academic part, you know. So I I always say the show really brings them in and we are able to keep them climbing to be their best selves. In all that I love that.
Speaker 1:So, um, let's see, do you think all the, do all the teachers also work on this, or is it coordinated through you?
Speaker 2:so I um am directing the show, so you know, I tell, basically I point and tell the kids where to stand. That's kind of what I think about myself. But we have a lot of the music. Teachers are directly in, obviously, with the um show, yeah, but the classroom teachers even they try to gear lessons to.
Speaker 2:If they're going to take like a little brain break, you know they work on something with fish and shark fact, I like that. And if they're going to take like a little brain break, you know they work on something with fish and shark fact, I like that. And if they're just doing, you know, some multiplication tables, when the kids get some independent time they all have the music and they'll just start playing the music in the background for the kids. Oh, I love that. It's kind of inspired, like you know a little bit of a science, you know component to it. I had a group of first graders going into second grade come in and they said we learned all these facts today about the squids and the octopus and they have a beak. Did you know they had a beak?
Speaker 2:oh, I didn't know that, yeah they have a beak to to open the muscles. Yeah, so they the teachers, have been really great about integrating love it what we're talking about in the show with their curriculum. It just makes makes it come to life.
Speaker 1:I love that. Okay, so do the parents and community get to see this?
Speaker 2:Yes, that's one of the best things you know. So normally, if you were a community member who knows about the STAR program in the past, the last day was usually at night and we did a nighttime performance. Okay, this year we are lucky enough to have busing and that has been a huge help. So, because we've had busing and we want to make sure all the kids can still get here, because we're not sure if they can be driven at night, right, right, right. This year we are going to do it in the morning. Nice, so it is on Friday, august 2nd.
Speaker 1:I'm so happy I have it in my calendar. I'm my calendar.
Speaker 2:I'm ready. I can't wait to see you there. I'm gonna wear aqua colored clothes, okay, yes, you know it's gonna be. It's gonna be really special. We're gonna start the show at 10 o'clock on that friday, great um, and the show will probably run between 45 minutes and an hour. Okay, um, it's not just the show, which is nice. When you come in you will see the artwork that the kids have been working on, a little bit immersive in the hallways. You'll come in. We have our kindergartners working on miniature violins. They're going to open our show by playing the violins. Mick spoil has been working really hard with them. They'll be able to see a picture slide show of the different things and activities that they've been doing in during the star program that maybe you can't hang on a wall, you know, like the different activities, and then we will jump right into the show, which is probably in around about 45 minutes.
Speaker 2:Okay, and we're looking to have some cookies and punch as low reception at the end. So any community members welcome to come in. We hope to see you, Our parents are hoping to show up and we have a nice newly renovated auditorium.
Speaker 1:Yes, come on. Perfect Enjoy. If it's a hot day, in air condition, that's right. It is the best place to be in Olean, that's for sure, on a hot day, so that's wonderful. So thank you so much for the work that you're doing this summer. Thank you for having me the STAR program, and I can't wait to see Finding Nemo. It is one of our family favorites and I just can't wait to see what you guys do with it on the stage.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Thank you for having me and we look forward to seeing you all on that.
Speaker 1:Friday, august 2nd of time. I will be there in Aqua, I love it, I love it.
Speaker 2:I will see you back there, thank you, wonderful Bye.