Episode 806: Straight to the Source: A Student's Story of Chronic Absenteeism

Ashley Mengwasser:

We've covered the pivotal topic of student attendance from many angles this season. You've heard perspectives from a thriving district, from Georgia's teacher of the year, and from state leaders. To round out the conversation is a fascinating fourth perspective that is raw, vulnerable, and motivating. We've got our inaugural student guest with a personal story of how student-teacher relationships can be the antidote to absenteeism. It's a Classroom Conversations first, and I won't keep you waiting.

Good day, Georgia teachers. Hi. You're listening to Classroom Conversations, a place for you to share and learn. This teacher talk series is a co-production of the Georgia Department of Education and Georgia Public Broadcasting. I'm Ashley Mengwasser, taking attendance. If this episode had a senior superlative, it would be most impactful, and I've got the senior student present to prove it, with his own self-reflective tale. And his teacher, a motivating character along the student's journey, is also here.

As we mobilize a statewide student attendance movement, it only feels right that we hear from a primary source, an actual student overcoming his struggle with attendance. Meet Oscar Segoviano, a class of 2026 senior at Osborne High School in Marietta, part of Cobb County School District. And here to represent the teacher part of the student-teacher relationship is Ms. Katy Hunt, a former business teacher who became Osborne High's work-based learning coordinator. Welcome to the podcast, Oscar and Katy. Hi.

Katy Hunt:

Hi.

Oscar Segoviano:

Hello.

Ashley Mengwasser:

How are you both today?

Oscar Segoviano:

I'm good.

Katy Hunt:

Yeah.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oscar, here's what I know about you so far from Ms. Hunt. You like to chat?

Oscar Segoviano:

Oh, very much so.

Ashley Mengwasser:

So this is true. This is facts. And you have an affinity for candy. What an interesting thing for her to share. What's your favorite candy?

Oscar Segoviano:

I think my favorite candy would be anything sour or salty. I prefer salty or sour. So very sour, like Sour Patch Kids.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Does Ms. Hunt keep these candies on hand? Is that it?

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes. And I know the secret drawer, so if there's anything out, we just open that one.

Ashley Mengwasser:

He's going to find it. How are you enjoying your final semester as a senior?

Oscar Segoviano:

It's going very good. I have dual enrollment, so the absences was like, "Oh, I don't want to be here all day." I get out at 11:30 now, so everything is going really good.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You're liking it.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

So Katy, when we first spoke, I eavesdropped while you had me on hold on the telephone while you were talking, were some students, there was some stuff going on and you said to your students as they departed, you said, "Do great things." You shouted it out into the abyss. Is that a Katy Hunt-trademarked slogan?

Katy Hunt:

It can be.

Ashley Mengwasser:

I feel it should be. Why do you say that to your students when they leave? "Do great things."

Katy Hunt:

I guess I just want to remind them that every moment is new and fresh and we always can have a clean slate. Because I'm not in the classroom with them every day, I don't get to impact kids the same way that I used to. And so for me, I kind of have to target the things I want to focus on. And so accountability is kind of one of my big factors, but I also want to remind them, "Look, you're kids and you're going to screw up, but let's take accountability and see what we can do to fix it." So yeah, I mean, I just kind of want them to always think about, you can always move on from whatever you have done to doing great things.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Yeah. And you're also sending the message, "Me and my candy, we're always here for you."

Katy Hunt:

Correct.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Absolutely.

Katy Hunt:

Correct.

Ashley Mengwasser:

So you two know each other. If you could give us the groundwork for this relationship, it all starts with a coffee shop, if I understand correctly. How did that relationship come to be?

Oscar Segoviano:

So it was my sophomore year and I was really eager to get a job. I heard about Ms. Katy Hunt and how she was the work-based learning coordinator. And I said, "Okay, this is the person I need to talk to." I was 14 at the time and I was trying to find a job, but no one wanted to hire a 14-year-old. So I came to Ms. Hunt. "Ms. Hunt, Ms. Hunt, Ms. Hunt, please, I want to do work-based learning. I don't have a job yet, but I really want to get into this program." And then she's like, "Well, first of all..." We're in one room. I was yelling at the top of my lungs. She's like, "Let's dial it down." And I was like, "Okay, okay, okay, okay."

And then she's like, "Do you have a job?" I was like, "No." She's like, "So how are you going to do work-based learning?" "I'll get a job. I'll make it happen." And then weeks passed by and I didn't get my job and I was like, "Okay, it doesn't matter to me anymore. I just want to be in work-based learning, Ms. Hunt. Please just put me in." And I kept bothering her and bothering her. And every day I would come see her in the morning, "Hey, Ms. Hunt, do you know of any opportunities where I could go get a job at? Who hires 14-year-olds? I'm going to be 15 soon, please, please." And she was like, "I have the perfect opportunity for you."

Ashley Mengwasser:

You wore her down, Oscar. You did it.

Katy Hunt:

He absolutely did. Yes.

Oscar Segoviano:

It worked. And I will always remember what she told me. It was the right place at the right time because my schedule was first and fourth block, I want it gone, and that was the cafe schedule. So I needed first and fourth block to do that. And then she's like, "I have the perfect situation for you."

Ashley Mengwasser:

What in the world is your school doing with the coffee shop is my first question, Ms. Hunt.

Katy Hunt:

That's cool. So it's been around forever and it's kind of changed over the years, but it used to always run through the Transition Academy. So these are kids that were in the special ed program and have graduated and now they're transitioning into adulthood and they're allowed to continue to come and attend class, but they have a different focus at that point. So they've already earned their diploma, now they're working on job skills and life skills and things like that. So that program has always kind of overseen the coffee shop.

And then we had a staff changeover, then we had COVID, then we got a new building. And so we had this brand new coffee space that didn't get used because it was during COVID and it was just a mess. So then myself and the new transition teacher were both kind of eyeballing it over the summer. And when we came back for fall, we were both kind of already making plans, but not with each other. So it just kind of magically came together. Ms. Pape is the other teacher. She's the Transition Academy teacher. And so we run it in the mornings, her students help and then I also have full-time work-based learning kids that do it during first block.

Ashley Mengwasser:

How many do you serve?

Katy Hunt:

There's probably days where we serve about 60 to 70 kids in about a 20-minute time period.

Ashley Mengwasser:

That is impressive.

Katy Hunt:

It's pretty awful, actually.

Ashley Mengwasser:

It's a sprint.

Katy Hunt:

Yes, yes. And then they'll do deliveries to classrooms, if teachers allow, they will continue to deliver through the first block class.

Ashley Mengwasser:

That's really neat. So you'll drop off their coffee wherever they might be.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Let's go in on work-based learning coordinators so we can set that up a little bit for me. So that is a liaison between the school, the students and businesses in the community, right? What is that role?

Katy Hunt:

I mean, ideally, a work-based learning coordinator would actually be actively finding really good opportunities for students like Oscar was looking for initially, help me find something. And that's the ideal situation for work-based learning is that we're setting these kids up with career-based or kind of exploratory situations. That's the end goal for me. However, our program went from 0 to 60 really, really fast.

And so right now, my focus is really just serving the kids that are already working and allowing them to exchange the time they would've spent in another elective class for the time that they're at work. So that doesn't mean if he's got third and fourth block work-based learning, which he doesn't, that's just an example, he can leave school after second block. That doesn't mean he has to go straight to work. It just means he has to replace that seat time with time on a job. So that could happen from five to nine. It could happen on Saturdays and Sundays or whatever, but as long as you're replacing that time that you're losing out of the building.

Ashley Mengwasser:

With productivity.

Katy Hunt:

Correct.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Yes. How did your program go from zero to 60? Tell us that story, the startup.

Katy Hunt:

I'm not sure why we didn't have one, but Osborne was one of the schools in the county that just the program didn't exist anymore. Ms. Battaglia, one of the administrators, she had been working with the special ed department to try to work with these transition kids to get them in jobs and try to do it earlier through this work-based learning model. And so they kind of started it before it got started, if that makes sense. And so then once it got rolling, then they transferred it over because it's got to be run by a teacher. And so they passed it on to me. And the first semester we offered it, I had about 22 kids and I was still teaching throughout the day.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Business classes, right? At the time?

Katy Hunt:

Yeah. By second semester, through no promotion of my own, I went from 22 to 75, somewhere in that range. And by the following fall, I was-

Ashley Mengwasser:

Tapped out.

Katy Hunt:

Yeah, at capacity. So the kids did that. I mean, word of mouth was really strong for this program. And by the time they're seniors, they're kind of aging out of the high school experience. So this really scratches an itch for them because with Oscar's situation, I can't sit through four 90-minute classes when I'm already kind of looking beyond. So this just kind of helps give them that time back.

Ashley Mengwasser:

For students, Oscar, what's the appeal of the work-based learning program? Why are you drawn to this?

Oscar Segoviano:

So I really like it because for the example that Ms. Hunt said, you get after second block. Second block ends at 11:30. So I would leave school before noon even starts and I would just have all that time to myself because I could just work the weekends and I would still not have to go to my second, my last two blocks. So getting out early really does scratch that itch, like I do not want to be here, I do not want to sit here right now. I have my schedule at my cafe and then I have my one actual core class and then I leave. So it's like not such a mental drain to sit through every class and have to use my brain. I can just use... It's one class, I do coffee for fun and then I get to go home.

Katy Hunt:

But you're also doing two dual enrollment classes.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes.

Katy Hunt:

So you're not just going home and getting back in bed.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You're working.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yeah. But depending on the dual enrollment class, it is like for my English 1101 class, I only had one assignment per week. So that's better than sitting there in an actual class if I had an English class and then I would have to study there, do every assignment, read every article. This one was more, okay, this is your work. You know when you need to get it done, do it whenever you want to or don't.

Ashley Mengwasser:

So it's an opportunity for you to use your time in ways that you feel are most productive and you like the flexibility of that.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Well, that makes a lot of sense. This season, we've been talking a lot about the attendance issue across the state, and I'm sure every school faces it differently. Ms. Hunt, give us the reconnaissance, give us the lay of the land of attendance at Osborne High. Are there certain populations that struggle with attendance more than others? What have you seen?

Katy Hunt:

We do struggle with attendance. And Oscar and I have talked a lot about that in terms of just getting some of that parental support. By the time kids are in high school, and I'm guilty of the same thing as a parent, you trust that what your child is telling you is true and the full story, but sometimes there's pieces missing. When your child says, "Well, I don't need to go to school tomorrow." Sometimes parents take that at face-

Ashley Mengwasser:

Accept that.

Katy Hunt:

Yes, take that at face value. Yeah, there are kids that can have high absenteeism and maybe short term that's okay. They're still able to get done what they need to get done. But then Oscar pointed out it's still habit-forming.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Ah, yes. Oh, we're going to talk about that.

Katy Hunt:

Okay. All right.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Yeah. That's really good. So yes, there are some psychological, behavioral pieces to this, right?

Katy Hunt:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

So Oscar, let's dive right in, if you'd be so kind, and tell us about your personal attendance struggle. How did you first make the connection or realize or have this awakening that you were missing too many days of school? How did that all start?

Oscar Segoviano:

So now that I've been more self-aware, I've realized that it happened during COVID. So COVID hit sixth grade year for me and I did seventh grade online. And after just having a taste of not having to go to actual school and doing everything at home, I don't think I wanted to go back. And I tried staying online my eighth grade year and they said, "Oh, well, you'll have to enroll in an online school and do homeschooling." And I was like, "Okay, I don't want to do that."

And I also walked to school because it was 10 minutes away. So I would either be absent or I would show up during half the day. Like, the day was already ending and I would barely show up. And it just carried out. And I would always make excuses like, "Oh," any minor inconvenience that I had, that would be my reason why I didn't go to school. "Oh, my head hurts. I'm not going to go today. I'll just stay."

And it made it really easy with the fact that the material we were learning came easy to me at the time because I was like, "Whatever, I can do the homework. I'll maintain my good grade. I don't need to show up." I was like, "Whatever. I'll take the bus during high school." High school started, I was in ninth grade and I would miss maybe about... I think I missed 23 days out of one semester-

Ashley Mengwasser:

Wow.

Oscar Segoviano:

... unexcused and then I missed another like 17 the next semester. So around like almost 40 for the whole year.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Are you aware halfway through first semester that you've already missed, let's say 15, 20 days? Or to you it just, that clock is not counting?

Oscar Segoviano:

For me, it's just one day out of the week. How much harm could it do? In the back of my head, I did know, wow, this is a lot of school time that I'm missing, but I didn't care because I was like, my grades are good. That's all that matters.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Right. Okay. So you were able to kind of excuse it because also you had the prior paradigm of COVID, which was a big adjustment for lots of kids coming back because they had the taste of that more flexible online learning model. But then it sounds like your brain is almost helping you come up with more barriers and more reasons not to go.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yeah. And I would make up an excuse, even to myself, I would try to convince myself like, "This is okay. You have an A in this class. You don't have to show up. They're not going to miss you." So I just wouldn't show up and I would do the work, I would turn it in and I would always fight in my own thoughts. I was like, who cares if I don't show up? My work is done. It's good and I get good grades.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And that was all there is to it. Yeah.

Oscar Segoviano:

And that was all there is. And then sophomore year came around and I was doing somewhat better. I was still missing almost every other day of the week. Second semester came around for sophomore year and that's when I met Ms. Hunt and I was still missing school. So I now had the obligation to come to the cafe.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, and work in the cafe.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Yeah. So let's let you intersect here, Ms. Hunt. Katy, how did you know that Oscar needed support?

Katy Hunt:

Oh gosh, that makes it sound like I was doing some real intervention. But to be perfectly honest, I treated Oscar like an employee at a business. And while I was very upfront with him about his value to me in the coffee shop, I also was very blunt with him about what I could and could not tolerate as an employee. And I think that's where it really started to click that semester where... And see, he was paired with another student who was a senior and she was very no-nonsense and he was still kind of this little baby sophomore, but I think it started to click for him. If you don't come to school, my morning is now really stressful.

Ashley Mengwasser:

A crisis. Yeah.

Katy Hunt:

Right. Because at the time, now we have four employees, which makes it so much easier. But at the time we just had two kids and then myself and Ms. Pape.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Serving all those people in 20, 25 minutes, right?

Katy Hunt:

Correct. It was a lot. And so then when he wouldn't show up, he didn't necessarily communicate that either. So it would be 7:55 and we'd be kind of looking at each other like, "Where's Oscar? Oh, I guess he's not coming in." And so we just had to keep talking about your decisions now impact more than just you.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Ah, so that was probably a wake-up call, Oscar, and it started to click for you then. How did the school help you get on track? Was it that conversation with Ms. Hunt or several conversations?

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes, it was like the conversation with Ms. Hunt. And then I would also spend a lot of time with her because I had first and fourth block for the cafe, but we wouldn't open fourth block every time. It would just be specifically on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So every other time I would have just time to myself and I would go talk to Ms. Hunt. I was like, "Let's go bother Ms. Hunt." And I would go there and I would just see all these students come in and I would see they... It was off-topic from the cafe and absences, but they would make excuses for anything like, "Oh, I couldn't turn in my work because of this," or, "Oh, this happened and I couldn't do that." And it just made me realize I make these same excuses and I can tell how obvious these lies are and I've been doing this my whole life even to myself and then-

Ashley Mengwasser:

So you were almost just a fly on the wall observing these conversations.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yeah. And then when the conversations between me and Ms. Hunt started talking like, "Oh, well, why didn't you tell me you weren't going to come yesterday? You need to communicate this so I'm better prepared." And it wasn't like the day before like, "Hey, Ms. Hunt, I'm not going to come in tomorrow." I would text her in the morning of, "I'm not coming in. I'm sorry."

Katy Hunt:

Knowing full well, I do not look at my phone between the hours of 7:30 and 9:00 at this time.

Oscar Segoviano:

And then I would just flip my phone and go right back to bed.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Yeah. So she wasn't getting the message, in other words. Yeah.

Oscar Segoviano:

And she started talking to me and I was like, I would catch myself in between my own excuses, what's the purpose? It's not hard for me. I wanted this so bad. Why am I now treating it as if I don't care about it? So it made me self-aware. And then she asked me, "Why are you absent?" And I was like, "Ooh, no one's ever asked me that."

Ashley Mengwasser:

Ah, the clincher, why are you absent? How did you answer that question?

Oscar Segoviano:

I was like, "I don't know, Ms. Hunt. I just don't want to be here. And my mom doesn't say anything, so I just don't come."

Ashley Mengwasser:

So it's a habit at this point.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes. It was already a fully developed bad habit that I could not dig myself out of.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You bring up an excellent point that I know a lot of students and teachers and administrators are considering, which is the role of the parent in getting kids to come to school and how critical it is that parents give that message to their kids, like, "It's really important that you go to school today for things like learning loss and other things like that." How did you begin bringing your mom into the conversation about the importance of you going to school?

Oscar Segoviano:

So at first I would just tell my mom, "Hey, I don't feel good. I'm going to stay home today." And then at first it was like, "Yeah, okay, stay home." Because my mom was really big on my sister about going to school every day. And then my sister would always argue with me about, I never got to miss school for a stupid reason as to I'm sick or I'm feeling worn down. I had to go to school. You go to school or you stay home, but this is a once in a lifetime excuse for you.

So my sister started bringing it up as well and my mom started to be like, "Yeah, start going to school." And then I would excuse it with her as well, like, "I don't need to go to school. Look at my grades. I'm doing well in school. You don't have to force me if I'm doing well. They're not going to miss me. It's just a one-hour class."

Ashley Mengwasser:

You were maybe even convincing your mom that it wasn't necessary.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes, it was my part. I knew what I was doing. Whatever got me to not go to school, I would say.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Right. Would you say that now, we'll talk about where you are now, but is your mom involved in these conversations now? Does she help you kind of decide to go? And you guys are more of a tag-team effort?

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes. So now, of course, because I have a job as well, my mom is very big on me, also because she was kind of sick at the time when I was missing out. So it was even easier for me to miss school because-

Ashley Mengwasser:

Because she wasn't well.

Oscar Segoviano:

I was like, "Oh, my mom is sick. I have to stay home with her. It's just school. I already have a 90 in the class." And it was excuse-

Ashley Mengwasser:

She needs me.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes, it was excuse after excuse. Every minor inconvenience, "I can't go to school."

Ashley Mengwasser:

Right. Katy, can you weigh in on this epidemic of parental involvement or un-involvement? How do we approach this?

Katy Hunt:

I remember talking to Oscar one day during that semester and asking him that question, "Why do you miss so much school?" And he kind of gave me the same answer he's giving you now, but mixed in with some of the excuses. And I said, "Well, listen, I need you to go home and I need you to tell your mom, "Stop letting me stay home from school. And I need you to tell her that while you're in this frame of mind, not when you're trying to stay home." You know what I mean? Sometimes you got to catch yourself in the right place.

But if I had the answer, I probably would be working at the DOE. I wish that I had a better answer. Unfortunately, there is just no magic solution to this. And parents, a lot of times while we want them to take full accountability for the actions of their students, by the time they're in high school, it is harder to wrangle. There are parents that would say they never let their kid miss, but their kid walks to school and maybe they don't make it. You know what I mean? Some of it is out of the control of the parents. Some of them are working two jobs and having the morning argument about whether or not you're going to go to school today is just more than they have the bandwidth to deal with. You know what I mean? There's just such a wide variety of why that it's hard to attack how to fix. And I think really the only way to really fix it with a teenager is to go straight to the source.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Is what you just said.

Katy Hunt:

Correct.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And I think it's so good because you're right, these are adults with busy lives and good intentions, most of them, many of them, and they don't really understand the implications of this sometimes, or they might be accepting what their child is saying. Whereas I love what you said to me on the phone. You said they might be thinking that it's a minimal short-term impact and not actually clocking the long-term detriment.

Katy Hunt:

Correct.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And I think that's true. And I think you realized that on your own journey, Oscar, you're like, "Wow, I really have missed a lot. And wow, these students are making some of the same excuses I used to make." I think you have hit the nail on the head with a way to at least elucidate and clear up the mess here, which is to go to the student and say, "Go home and tell your parent, be your accountability buddy, it is imperative that you come to school." And when you talked to your mom this way, Oscar, when you said, "Mom, I need you to really make sure that I get to school every day." Was she willing?

Oscar Segoviano:

I'm not going to speak for the whole Latin American community, but most of our parents didn't go to high school or have a minimal education, so they might not realize the true importance of all of it. So my mom was all... Every parent-teacher conference, half of it was translated by me. So her source was me. So it was like, "I don't have to go to school, Mom. It's okay because I have good grades." So she would see it as a okay because I would find ways to justify my actions to her, myself and my teachers. Well, I was like, "Well, my mom is sick." And then I would tell my mom, "Well, I have good grades and my teacher says I'm a diligent student even when I'm there."

Ashley Mengwasser:

Right. And from her own lived experience, that made sense because she may have not had the same experience. Ms. Hunt, here's what you did though. And I like your conversations with Oscar. You said you spoke to him as if you're a business owner, right? Talking to an employee, but you also talked to him as an individual, as a student. You were an advocate for him. You let him know the consequences of the long-term behavior here. Why do you believe that model worked? Speaking to him as an individual, as an advocate for him, and also just a representative of the school, kind of all those different prongs.

Katy Hunt:

I think where adults lose young people is when we come at them so authoritarian. That's not a word. You know what I mean?

Ashley Mengwasser:

Right.

Katy Hunt:

When we come at them like, "I'm going to tell you what to do and you're going to do it because this is what I say and I'm an adult and you're a kid and I know and you don't." With Oscar, even when I was annoyed with him, I would be very open about expressing my disappointment, but I also did not try to shame him, I didn't try to extend that or put any kind of punitive consequence beyond just letting him know, "Look, this is how you impacted my day. This is what you missed this morning while you were laying in bed doing nothing, being anti-productive." I always just try to treat the kids in my orbit with the respect that I think I myself want to receive.

And I think that's effective with kids. And it's hard for adults to kind of come at teenagers sometimes because you just want them to do what you say. And it's hard to watch them screw up. And we want so desperately to impart our own experiences on them and prevent those issues that we ourselves might have. I myself struggled with attendance. I used to regularly hold the mercury thermometer up to the light bulb to fake a fever, right? So I recognize this urge, right? But I also, now I never miss work, rarely. I mean, when's the last time I was out of school, right? So I have kind of taken this journey myself.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You've evolved, yes.

Katy Hunt:

Correct. Like, okay, this impacts other people. And I started working young too. I mean, I got a job as soon as I turned 16. So-

Ashley Mengwasser:

Appealing to reason, identifying and relating to their own humanity makes a huge difference. And I know that's true because Oscar was sitting here nodding while you were saying that. So I guess it was maybe one or maybe more repeat conversations with Ms. Hunt kind of woke you up to this and awakened you to this Oscar.

Katy Hunt:

We're still having this conversation.

Ashley Mengwasser:

We're still working on it.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes. I think it was also the fact that I've never had a teacher or anybody at school be so blunt with me and call me out on my excuse or lie and be like, "Okay, so you know that's not true." And I've never felt a way like, "Wait, that's not in the script for you to say that. You're supposed to accept my excuse and let me do the work after that." So it just woke me up. It pulled me out from the hole I dug myself into and made me realize there's no reason for me to have to make up lie after lie after lie if I had just woke up in the first place and came to school and got it over with.

Ashley Mengwasser:

When your teacher cares so much, she's not letting you slip through the cracks, right?

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

I think that's a really cool and beautiful thing. And there have been a lot of changes in your life since you started attending school more regularly that have also affected your employability. You have another job right now, I believe, at another coffee shop. Would you please tell us about the other work you're doing and the nickname that you've picked up for yourself in your new job?

Oscar Segoviano:

So I work at Caribou Coffee on the intersection at Windy Hill and South Cobb Drive, and the nickname they gave me was Shift Shark.

Ashley Mengwasser:

The Shift Shark.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Why is that?

Oscar Segoviano:

Because I always want to be there and work and I'm always bothering my coworkers on, "Hey, who wants to take the day off tomorrow?" Anytime I have an availability, if school's out for a asynchronous day, "Hey guys, I don't have school tomorrow. Who wants to take the day off?" And so my coworker, I'm the youngest one there. So my oldest coworkers have kids. And I'm like, "Hey, I know your kids don't have school tomorrow and I don't either. Do you want the day off?"

Ashley Mengwasser:

You're just there to work. You want to just get that work, the work time.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes. And I enjoy it because I was like, "OMG, I was making coffee at school. Now I get to do the real thing." It was amazing. And then actually one of our cafe coworkers works with me there, so it just makes it so much better.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Congratulations, Oscar. That's a huge change. And I hope you get all the shifts you want as Shift Shark. In reflection, could you help us with a message to help teachers impress upon parents and other collaborators and guardians for students? Just the importance of getting their kids to school from your student perspective, what message would you like to leave with teachers to help get kids to school?

Oscar Segoviano:

I would want to say be blunt and just tell them truthfully. Ms. Hunt was like, "Take accountability. Yes, your mom might not push you to come to school now, but she's not going to push you, imagine if you got a real job, to push you go to work, it'll start affecting you and you can't find an excuse to blame anybody but yourself." And it just really woke me up. I was like, "Wow, this is the first time I've had a teacher be so realistic to me." And especially because we worked together, I saw it differently. I was like, okay, this is affecting my coworkers, my teachers. It's not just a simple, "I want to go to bed now."

Ashley Mengwasser:

Do you have any final words for Ms. Hunt, Oscar, anything you'd like to say?

Oscar Segoviano:

I don't know where I would be right now. I think I would be in my bed right now, actually, if I didn't meet Ms. Hunt.

Ashley Mengwasser:

But you're on this podcast, Oscar.

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes. And every day I'm like, "Okay, we're going to show up to work. We're going to be..." I actually got the job thanks to Ms. Hunt.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Really?

Oscar Segoviano:

Because I would have never be able to build up my resume saying I worked at a coffee shop or I've had customer service experience if Ms. Hunt never gave me the opportunity. And I started showing up to school more because of her and because I did, I'm on all these clubs. I might have missed school before, but now my mom is tired of me asking her to drop me off at school. Since I get out at 11:30, I'm like, "Can you take me to school? Pick me up. I have to go back for this club. I actually have to go back for that event. And then you have to drive me downtown because I have to go to this event for school. And then I actually have to do enrollment, Mom, so please take me over there." And she's like, "Okay, there's so much driving around. What's going on?" I'm like, "This is for my future, please." She's like, "Okay, I know, I know, let's go."

Ashley Mengwasser:

All the symptoms of a thriving, happy student, right?

Oscar Segoviano:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And employee. Great job, Ms. Hunt. I'm not crying, you're crying. Okay?

Katy Hunt:

Yeah. I do want to make the point too. He's not lazy. You see a kid that doesn't want to go to school and you kind of stamp them with a label. Oscar's not lazy. He just needed somebody to light his internal fire. And like he said, he's a different kid. And of course, you should be a different kid by the time you're a senior than when you're a sophomore.

But yeah, he's all over the place. And sometimes we have to talk about you're taking on too much because now you can't give your all to 5,000 different things. But he's not lazy. He just needed something to be passionate about. And that's where we struggle with our kids is lighting that fire for them and giving them something that does... I mean, he did want to come to school so he could come work for free in a coffee shop and get his school credit. That's what was bringing him to school. And that's hard to do for every kid at school. It really is.

Ashley Mengwasser:

So we really should work, as educators, it sounds like, to light the fire within students, remind them of the impact they're having, good or bad. And that keeps them hooked into the school experience because it goes so fast, Oscar. Doesn't it, Katy? It goes so fast. And then it's real life which you're already, you've got one foot in right now. So congratulations. I wish you a happy graduation this year. And thank you for sharing this very powerful and vulnerable story with us today.

Oscar Segoviano:

Thank you.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And thank you, Ms. Hunt, for being a cheerleader for Oscar and all of your other students. Any other messages you want to leave with the teachers listening today?

Katy Hunt:

I mean, look, I know everybody's doing all that they can, so I'm definitely not trying to add to the list. So keep on doing what you're doing. It does make a difference. You don't feel it every day. And some days you think it cannot possibly be true. But we all have kids that are thinking about us, that are long gone. They might not reach out to tell us that they're thinking about us, but they are, and that's because of you. So just keep that in mind on those days when you wish you were in bed like Oscar.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Well, I'm glad all three of us got out of bed today. Good job, team. Way to show up. Oscar and Katy, you've definitely showed us a way out of chronic absenteeism, thank you for being here.

Katy Hunt:

Thanks.

Ashley Mengwasser:

One student's struggle with attendance can be overcome with accountability from the student and check-ins and consistent care from their teacher. Another reason that, as we always say around here, you're a great teacher. Today's story shows when a student has to really work it through their work-based learning program, a reprogramming occurs as that student steps into full-blown adult responsibility and accountability. For Oscar, it was time to shine from chronically absent to Shift Shark. I love that.

Who doesn't love a feel-good story with a hopeful ending? I'll let this episode conclude now while we're all wearing smiles. I'm Ashley Mengwasser. That's a wrap today. Keep listening as we make more brilliant connections this season on Classroom Conversations. Goodbye for now.