The Motivation Declaration
The Motivation Declaration is a podcast that takes a look into people’s life stories. We’ve all had to examine our life and make changes. I want to look into those decisions, the Motivation behind them, and the moment we decide to Declare the change.
The Motivation Declaration
Eli L High School Highlights
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In this episode I sit down with recent high school graduate Eli to discuss the ins and outs of his high school experience, his future, and his advice to incoming freshmen. Tune in for an inside look into what you can expect as a drama student in high school as Eli talks about his four year run with Case Drama.
We here. We're back. Episode two of season three. I have Eli here. One of my favorite Gifford students of all time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you're lying.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm not. Why would I lie?
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, you uh you were pretty mean to me in mid school.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So I mean seventh grade, there was a few times where I had to like tell you to leave me alone because you were like hovering like hardcore.
SPEAKER_01But if I was a little bit stalker-ish.
SPEAKER_02That's alright. I mean, you remember my birthday for like six years, so that's something.
SPEAKER_01So yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I have Eli here. We're gonna talk about high school and how it uh how it went and how you prepared for it and how you're prepared to go on next to your big adventures you're doing in college. So Eli, go ahead and introduce yourself and tell me about your high school just in a nutshell.
SPEAKER_01Great. Um I'm Eli, Elijah Laverne. Uh I went to Case High School. I graduated this year. Um while I was there, I did various clubs such as Link Crew, uh Theater. I was uh the president of Drama Club, and that's about it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um what about your academics?
SPEAKER_01You know, uh I was in the education pathway. I've never been like a straight A student, but I've been a student that always connects well with their peers and teachers. So did pretty well. Um I failed one class, but you know, chemistry, when are you gonna use that in normal life?
SPEAKER_02So in college I avoided chemistry and like physics and stuff all the time, as as much as I couldn't avoid it, so I don't blame you.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02So you you you feel like overall high school was a positive experience?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it really just is what you make it of. You know, there's always negative experiences and positive experiences, but it how you let that affect you is really what matters at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so um so you said you did drama club. Yeah. You were in you were in drama, you're in plays like your freshman year.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02Talk about talk about how that works, how the drama club works, how um c incoming freshmen might or might not have a spot on it, or how how that might uh experience might differ for someone who's going into high school looking to be in drama.
SPEAKER_01Um well, going for middle school and being a drama kid there, um Gifford didn't necessarily have the greatest drama department, but it was a very welcoming environment. And you go into high school and you think it's going to be the same way, and you're just gonna get casted as soon as you go in there. But more often than not, the people there don't know you and they don't know how you're going to act. So you're likely not gonna get casted in your first few shows until you go and make connections with the directors or the other people in theater. So, you know, the way that I look at it, and I haven't been casted in a couple things that I auditioned for, but it's not about if you make it, but how you react whether you make it or not, you know? Because if somebody sees you not get casted and you're super upset and you're like bad talking somebody who did get casted just because you didn't get casted, well then you're not gonna get casted. They see how you react, and that's not a great environment to be in.
SPEAKER_02Sure, so it's kind of like being an adult. Yeah. Like in in any case, in any scenario. Okay, so your first your first play freshman year. You saw that one? I saw that one. That's the only one I saw, I'll be real honest.
SPEAKER_01I had 11 other ones. Eleven you did I did twelve in my entire high school career.
SPEAKER_02Damn, okay. Well, hey, I showed up for the first one.
SPEAKER_01Well, and that's the one that I formerly invited you to.
SPEAKER_02Oh, there you go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, fair enough. Um what did you think of that one?
SPEAKER_02I thought it was good, dude. I thought it was a good play. Yeah. Um I thought that it was I thought you were funny. It was hard to recognize you to be honest.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. The slick back hair. And I feel like that was my most common uh hairdo in all of the plays I did. Just slick back, completely different person.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I thought it was a good play. I thought Latia was it Latia or Latina? Which one? Latia. Latia. I yeah, I I can't remember which one it was, but I think she did great. I think everyone did uh it was a a very good production.
SPEAKER_01That was uh Latia's first ever like thing in theater. Yeah. And she did a pretty good job.
SPEAKER_02Did she stick around theater going forward or was her only thing? But she she killed it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was a fun show.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I thought it was fun. So what are some other then what are some other things that you did?
SPEAKER_01I did Link Crew for one year, which that was fun, but other than that, it was mostly just theater stuff. Um, I was in pretty much three every single year. Um whether I was in cast or crew, I was still involved. Okay.
SPEAKER_02What other um cast what other roles did you have?
SPEAKER_01So freshman year, I was casted three times. I was Donald Foster in Censored on Final Approach. Then I was Roger Strong in Catch Me If You Can, the musical. And then I was uh Jim O'Connor in The Glass of Menagerie, which happens to be my favorite play now.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, and then sophomore year, I didn't get casted in She Kills Monsters, but I did sound for it, okay, which was pretty cool. And then Spam A Lot, which I was a big ensemble role, and then a bunch of other things. And then we did uh Stargirl at the Theater Guild. Oh. And that was fun. There's always drama in drama, so it's okay. I mean, with that, the entire cast was falling apart, and I was like the only person that didn't hate everyone. So um, and then junior year was Hades Town, where I played Hades, and then Romeo and Juliet, I didn't get casted, so I house managed, and then it was the Laramie Project. Do you know about the Laramie Project?
SPEAKER_02I don't.
SPEAKER_01Uh so in the early uh 2000s in Laramie, Wyoming, um, there was a kid named Matthew Shepard who was uh d driven out to the middle of nowhere to some random post and beaten by two men uh just because he was gay and he was tied to this post after he was beaten, and then a few days later he died. So then um what this theater company did was they went over to Laramie and they went and interviewed the entire town shortly after it happened, and the play basically is just um all together of everyone else's testimonies and what their thoughts of uh the entire situation were.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_01It's a very strong one, and we uh stage read read that, so barely any movement. We had like, I would say around thirty cast casted people just sitting on stage reading off because it's a serious topic, so you don't want to put too much theatrical um twist on that.
SPEAKER_02How was uh we kind of saw this with the um recently in Wisconsin about the uh the choir performance that people were putting off and and and being calling controversial because of its LGBTQ surroundings? Did this have any type of negative no?
SPEAKER_01Not that I know of. Okay. That's good.
SPEAKER_02So that was a pretty powerful one though, huh?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. That was junior year?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that was the all the way end of junior year.
SPEAKER_02Okay. And I need to point out here on the on the official record, I had a ticket to Hades Town. My daughter was sick that she got sick that night. Yeah. And I stayed home.
SPEAKER_01Well, at least you're a good dad.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I blame my I blame my children for most of the things I haven't been able to to witness.
SPEAKER_01So I mean, out of all my uh musicals, that one was probably the best performance, but my least one of my least favorite ones.
SPEAKER_02Okay, how come?
SPEAKER_01It was just a really hard time in my personal life during it. Um my mom was getting open heart surgery. Shit. So uh in the middle of the rehearsal processes, um, I went to the rehearsals and then my director was like, go and see your mom. So then the person who was a technical director went and drove me all the way out to Milwaukee so I could see my mom. Oh. And I don't like hospitals. Um, it's not a fun place to be. And seeing somebody that you love a lot hooked up to a bunch of machines is not something easy to see.
SPEAKER_02Not at all. No, I I was in the same same boat there. Both my parents had hard stuff, so I feel that. Yeah. Okay, so it's just tough.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um so that's a great kind of segue. We're gonna we're gonna shift gears a little bit to talk about some of the some of the things in in high school, you're approaching adulthood, you're you're working on all these different things, but life happens. What type of advice can you give to kids that might be gonna might be listening that to help work through some of the things that maybe not be that serious, but I mean it's it's stresses.
SPEAKER_01Mr. Strutz um had a great piece of advice when I was in his class. And he was talking about how when he had lung cancer, um he didn't let anybody in the class know, but it's him specifically keeping both his work life and personal life separate. And maybe that's not the healthiest thing to do, but I've learned to do it and learn to while I'm home, not worry about anything that's going on in academics or in school, unless I really need to, like an essay that I've been pushing off. But it's just you also gotta realize you have so much more time than you realize, because I mean I'm only 18, but I know I have so much more room to grow and grow as a person. So all these things that are going to seem like the world's ending right now really won't matter in a couple of years.
SPEAKER_02Wow, that's actually pretty profound. You're the you're the second one now to to shout out Mr. Stratz and some of the advice that he gave.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's super weird because he went in, he uh went to go and retire to Florida, and then me being in the education pathway, we go out to schools and stuff, and I go to Starbuck, and I'm like, what is he doing here? I thought he was in Florida, and it's just weird.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I I I mean, I'm glad he came back because he came back to Gifford eventually, so that was good for me, but okay. So separate yourself academically and socially and your personal life and just take everything one step at a time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Alright, let's go on to senior year. What was senior year like? Not necessarily just drama club, but front to front to back.
SPEAKER_01Um, so senior year I had my uh best GPA. Which was like a 3.6 something. There you go. Which isn't the best, but granted, I'm not a uh straight A student, so that wasn't too bad. Um socially senior year for me at least, everything fell apart and um kinda just gave me a new perspective on how I react to things. Okay. Um we uh did Diary of Anne Frank. Okay, very dark play, um very strong play too. And we just basically from the start of the show to the end, we're on stage the entire time. Takes a lot of focus. And uh being that in character with that kind of role, uh I played Otto Frank, which was Anne Frank's dad, which by the end of the play is the only one who ends up living while everyone else is sent off to um the Nazi camps. So you know, beginning of it, it was um it was deep, you know. Uh but then as prom and everything else went on, you know, you make connections with people who are older than you and people who have more wisdom. And I like talking to people who are older than me because they have more life experience than I do. So I kind of gravitate more towards people who are older than me, uh, at least when it comes to conversational things. Um because they have so much to share. And you know, people have lived longer than me, and they might not have the same experiences as me, but kind of uh learning what they uh have done to get through those is good to have in my pocket.
SPEAKER_02Sure. So you mentioned a couple times a couple of the plays that you did in in high school were a little deep, a little dark.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Can you take can you take away life experiences or life like perspectives at all from those to to move on?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think um in most roles in theater, if you really do a good job on portraying portraying a character, um you take away something from the character. Um so like for uh what's a good example? Well for Otto Frank, it's him basically providing for his entire family. And then uh them all eventually not living in the end, which is really taxing, but it goes and puts you into perspective on how somebody else actually lived through something like that, and um kind of to be more uh sympathetic towards them because you partially understand.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But yeah.
SPEAKER_02So in your in your roles, especially something like Auto Frank or Otto Frank. Yeah. Do you go through and do a little bit of research, like on biographical pieces? Yeah. Okay. Okay. So the senior year ended up, you it was a big you said socially it was you had a lot going on, you had your best GPA, you think?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02How d how did it feel once you finally just got through it when you were done graduation?
SPEAKER_01Um, honestly, it didn't really feel like much has changed, and I I think that just hasn't hit yet, uh, until I'll be in college and meeting all these new people, you know. You go all the way through middle school and you're a freshman, and then you go all the way through high school, and if you choose to go to f further education, you go back to being a freshman. So you gotta learn the ropes again. I don't know. I same as really the eighth grade graduation, uh other than having to wake up super early because different times.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So and so speaking of you're going to Parkside? Yeah. Positives, negatives, and how'd you come to that decision to go to Parkside?
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna can I do that in a different order?
SPEAKER_02Do it however order you want.
SPEAKER_01Uh I really wanted to go to a college in New York. Um, specifically Ithaca, New York. Really cool college. Um, really expensive, which is why I can't go there. Yeah, yeah. And my dad was in the military, so I have benefits from the Wisconsin GI Bill, which allows me to go to pretty much any UW school with 128 free college credits. Okay. And, you know, parksides is close. Uh the GI Bill doesn't pay for housing, so I can just commute there. Okay. And it just seemed the most affordable route. Um I'm excited to go there. Uh I know a bunch of the professors through like outreach. Um, when Nate was uh the teacher at Case, he would go and bring out uh Brian uh Gill, who would go and uh teach combat like stage combat workshops. Okay. And that was cool. And uh I met him uh and then when I actually auditioned, because for art majors, uh you have to audition in order to major it.
SPEAKER_02Really?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So when I went in there for my audition, it was super easy because I already knew the people. Yeah. So it wasn't like, oh shoot, what are they gonna think about me? Like I don't know. When it comes to performing, uh, I think confidence is a very important key. So not excited to go to Parkside just because there's so much people from Case who are going to be there. Um you know, I would like to say that I was well known at Case. Um I won two of the senior most likeliest to in the yearbook, which I was the only senior to win two of them. Which were uh most likely to have their star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. All right, and most likely to be a Broadway actor. Which honestly, if I could choose, I'd rather go into TV and film because any kind of performance I really would like to do.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I went to Parkside. It's a great school.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, didn't you go there when you were like twenty six?
SPEAKER_02Real old, yeah. I was real old. Yeah. So you got a good jump on me. It's a great school though. I know like there's it's it's small schools, it's it's local. You don't get to get away from the area and the people and the family, but that's what campus is so beautiful. Oh, it's it's amazing. And it's all connected if you really want to go. Like, don't have to go outside in the snow and the rain.
SPEAKER_01It's pretty cool. Uh I went there for orientation and got like all my classes set up, and all of my classes relate to my major, so I'm not even doing just gen ed's my first year. Okay. I'm doing all theater classes except for a single English class. Yeah. And uh with musical theater, you are required to take a dance class, so I'm taking tap dance, which should be pretty fun, but I gotta go and buy tap shoes for that.
SPEAKER_02So you know, like old people can go and like audit classes and give people feedback to the pr uh university. I'm gonna go audit your tap class. You're old enough. I am, I'm definitely old enough. I'd love to see you tap dance, it'd be awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh the actual uh teacher there uh also came in for a workshop at Case, so I already know him too, which is pretty neat.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, alright. Um I'm just telling you the pizza and salad at the I ate pizza and salad every day one year my sophomore year.
SPEAKER_01Did you have a meal plan?
SPEAKER_02No, I didn't.
SPEAKER_01Well, then you lost a lot of money.
SPEAKER_02Well, every day I was there. Every day I was there. It was only two days a week.
SPEAKER_01Pack a lunch.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, my my my schedule was like 8 30 to 10 30, noon to two, and then five to eight. So I got big gaps. I'm gonna pack a lunch for that.
SPEAKER_01I don't really have any gaps. I'm there basically from nine to five. Okay. It's like a job.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And then afterwards you can get a job there. You can get a job doing something at Parkside.
SPEAKER_01They make pretty good money. Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So Parkside's in your future. You graduated high school, case class of 2026. Um, tell me about the um pathway that you took.
SPEAKER_01Education. So, um there you know about the pathway system there, right? Yeah. So I really wanted to do something in the arts, but they don't happen to have anything other than engineering, but that's more of a physical art rather than a performing art. So I was thinking, what kind of career path would have some sort of theatrics in it? And me knowing the teachers that I've had, you know, uh actually last year, junior year, when I was in my education class, I was an entire portion of it learning on how you can improvise as a teacher and stuff like that. And that's all theater. Um, and I don't think that there's really any other pathway that has that much uh imp improvisation and theatrics in it. So I chose the education pathway. Not the easiest pathway. Um each year we had a different teacher because they kept leaving. And I think that's what made it so difficult, is because uh you kind of just kept uh going back to what you learned previously, because you know the teachers don't know what the teachers before them had taught. Sure. So it was difficult in the term uh you're not really learning much because you just keep circling back. But it was easy in the sense of all you really do in there is read and then write, which is most classes.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um what were the what were your pathway courses like?
SPEAKER_01So I think first the first one was uh foundations of early childhood development, which we go and learn about um some psychology, like uh Jean Piaget and Gardner, just a bunch of random psychologists. Yeah, sure. Um and then the next year I don't even remember anything from last year. Alright. A lot of the class was just spent talking to my peers, and the teacher would just sit off in the corner. So but uh each year we would go out to different schools and have like a shadow day, um, and just go and view 'em. And I went to uh I went to S. C. Johnson School.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_01And I uh shadowed their music teacher. Music teacher was a cool guy, but not going to Gifford, you realize how uh many behavioral issues happen at other schools compared to Gifford. Yeah. And I know Gifford has its fair share, but this was like every class, kids throwing chairs, and actually I worked at um Schulte this year. Okay. Uh first semester it was every other day, and then second semester I worked there five days a week. And I worked with second grade, and there was so many behavioral issues, and you wouldn't expect that from second graders, at least I wouldn't, because I remember being in the second grade and not worrying about anything. But these kids seemed like they had a lot troubling them.
SPEAKER_02So you understand sometimes maybe why I was so cranky and I was a middle school counselor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because let's be honest, like, yeah, I was a middle school counselor, but when the kids were throwing chairs, that's when I had to go and like help, and it made me cranky. So you understand a little bit. All the way.
SPEAKER_01Well, and like so in middle school, because of stress, I kind of wanted to become a math teacher. Okay. And then going in the education pathway and visiting all these schools, I learned that I don't have the kind of patience for that. And like working at Shelton, I never like snapped on a kid or anything. I stayed mostly composed, but I would go home. And I would just sleep because I was so tired of these kids.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's exhausting. It is. Um, I can never be a classroom teacher. Because it's like, and and now I can just like go and deal with a kid, and if someone like pisses me off, I'll just go in my office and close my door and just deep breathe for 10 minutes and then go back to what I was doing. But I could never. So you said you said this semester, second semester you were in uh school five days a week. Yeah. How did that align? Like, how is that part of your your academics?
SPEAKER_01So it was through the education pathway, it was a youth apprenticeship, but um I only had like three classes in total.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Uh so there was one on B days and then two on A days. So I would go and do those, and then directly after I'd go and drive all the way to Schulte. And I wouldn't have lunch, but I got paid. So I was fine with that. Okay. And also the teacher was pretty nice and she fed me. So hey.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Free food.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, but that's how it lined up.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So that's just part of your youth youth apprenticeship, you said.
SPEAKER_01It's just part of your schedule. And usually they don't uh allow open blocks if you're not a youth apprentice. Sure. Uh if you're not in a youth apprenticeship, so I was lucky because I was that this year and last year, because you know we were co-workers for a time.
SPEAKER_02A little bit, yeah. We were.
SPEAKER_01I loved working at Gifford. Seventh and eighth graders were a whole lot easier than uh second graders.
SPEAKER_02That's the truth. That is the that is the yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I also you can have conversations with them, and they can be funny.
SPEAKER_02You can tell them to shut the fuck up too. Yeah. I have.
SPEAKER_01You know, I uh I went back to case after um it was our last day.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01And I went there just to go and get some signatures for my yearbook. And uh it was weird because technically I'm not a student there anymore. And all these teachers who uh like were so composed, I'd go into like their staff lounge just so they can sign my yearbook and they would talk and they would like cuss. And it's like, wow, they keep themselves composed in the classroom, but once they're out, they're a real color show. And it was weird because I went to um my favorite freshman uh year teacher, and he was cussing at these kids, and when I had him as a teacher, it was his first year there, and I suppose it was different because he's trying to like secure his position there, make sure he's in a good standing. But and these are all kids that you worked with last year who are freshmen now, and I think as you know, they're not the most calm group of kids. Yeah. And for a teacher like him, who has been working at least with uh groups of kids like my class, which were fairly a pretty good class. I mean, very good other kind of uh graduating class has five valedictorians, exactly. Yeah, so going from us to what they have now, I can understand why he would be a little bit more uh irritable.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So that that class that we're freshman this year really wear on you.
SPEAKER_01Trust me, I worked with them last year.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they'll they'll they're a bunch of dicks. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they are. Yeah, I get it. Okay, so your youth apprenticeship, did you get um college credit too, or is that just the internship style paid for it?
SPEAKER_01It was just internship. But every single class in education is a dual credit class. Okay. So that's uh I think you get three credits per year. Um, so I got like nine college credits for education, but I can only waive a couple of those for gen eds. Sure.
SPEAKER_02So little fun fact, unless it's changed, um, you say you'd like to avoid chemistry and stuff. I'm when I was at Parkside, I took a computer science class, and that was a science credit. Like an actual like science gen ed. So I was able to like skirt skirt skirt the chemistry that way in physics.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. So I think psych 101 too might be a well I already took um I know I took sociology uh as a dual credit class in high school. Oh yeah. So I don't have to worry about that, but I also don't mind psychology. Yeah, that's human sciences, isn't it? Yeah. So should be easy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um, so what are some of the favorite classes that you took in high school?
SPEAKER_01Stagecraft was fun. Took out my freshman year, um, learned about how to build flats, learn about a little bit of uh electrical engineering.
SPEAKER_02That's okay.
SPEAKER_01Um you just make the sets, and that's cool because um you you see all the sets at case. Yeah. It's all student built. Yeah. And uh they're pretty cool. So that was cool. Um what are some of my other favorites? Sociology was fun. So in sociology, pretty early on in the class, you have to go and do a deviance project. So you have to do something that's not a social norm. So what I did was I uh stalking people. That's my social norm.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. Sorry.
SPEAKER_01So what I did was buy like four things of bananas.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01And I put them in my backpack, went to my creative writing class, and I just started eating them. And by the end of that class, I ate 14 bananas, and it became a a student example. You know, the teacher was showing it off to the other classes. My stomach was a little upset, but it was worth it, you know. I got an A on it. Okay. Pretty good. Um So what was that?
SPEAKER_02I mean, social deviance, like it's not socially acceptable to eat 14 bananas in the middle of class. Is that what you're just normal?
SPEAKER_01Like uh a couple of the other ones were like a light turns green and you just stay there.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01That's another one. Like, it's not like it's illegal, but normally people wouldn't do it.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um just sit down and eat an entire bunch of bananas, but nothing wrong with it. Okay. Interesting.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I could have just done what I did at middle school, which is like burp really loud.
SPEAKER_02But see, I feel like that is normal though.
SPEAKER_01Not when I do it. I remember uh eighth grade lunch, I'd burp and the entire uh lunch would just go silent.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they had good acoustics in that cafeteria.
SPEAKER_01I'm actually gonna go for the world record. I'm gonna try to for uh loudest burp. I think right now it's 112 decibels. Okay. I think I could do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. What do you how are you gonna prepare for that? Soda?
SPEAKER_01I don't need anything.
SPEAKER_02No?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Interesting. Well, you keep me posted on that. That's interesting.
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't know how to access or uh contact Guinness.
SPEAKER_02So if anybody could do it, I bet you it's you. I bet it's you. Okay, other favorite classes.
SPEAKER_01Um Theater Company was fun. Uh that's just learning about theater history and all that stuff, performing plays, monologues, all that kind of stuff. I did that um a year and a half. Uh concert choir was fun. That was last year. Didn't really like the transition of uh teachers after the old one left. So I only stayed in Master's choir for half a semester and then I switched to theater company. Some other classes. You know, the the one downside of being a youth apprentice is you miss a couple of classes. Sure. Um so I think in total I missed like around six classes. Okay. Um but I mean I graduated with a lot of credits. Yeah. Um I think the legal amount to graduate in Wisconsin is 22 to 24. Something like that, yeah. And I had 34.75. Um I I uh I took an online gym class just because it didn't fit in my schedule and I wanted to go to work. And uh that was pretty fun. I didn't do anything. I didn't lie about all the info running down. Don't say that, gosh. That's an easy half a credit.
SPEAKER_02There you go. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um you know I think that might be it. Okay. Statistics was cool, but not because of um like the actual classwork, but I thought the teacher was pretty cool. Okay. Um same with math studies. I know uh two of my least favorite classes were trigonometry, yeah, and uh this year I had a D in one class, and uh it was because this teacher, it wasn't even the classwork, it was a teacher that I disliked so much. And you know, it's weird for me because I only out of all my high school experiences, it's him and the trigonometry teacher that I don't like.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01And he just wouldn't grade anything. And even like up till now, uh, he said that the finals were th like a lot of your grade. So I went and I do the final and everything, and he doesn't grade it at all. So I get stuck at a D when I would at least go up to a C.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_01So that was annoying. Um, but means mystery and motives, I don't know, all you'd really do in that class is just watch a bunch of mystery movies. So it was okay. Um creative writing was fun, wrote a couple of poems and stuff, but then um the teacher went to labor, so then she was gone for pretty much the rest of the class after that, and that was from October to January. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So that happens. Babies, you know. Yeah, they take a lot out of you. Okay. So you had a lot of interesting things you did, some stuff. Let's take it all the way back. How do you feel if do you feel, how do you feel like it could have more so middle school prepared you for high school?
SPEAKER_01You know, I'm not gonna lie, going from eighth grade at least, um, into freshman year, freshman year was a cake cakewalk.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01I didn't have to try to do anything to pass it, but I think that it's designed to be that way because all these other schools are going in there and everyone's at a different level in terms of education. And since I think uh Gifford's pretty high up there, and in fact I know it is because I would go and get district emails showing the attendance and all that other stuff, showing that Gifford was pretty high up there. Um I don't think Gifford could do more if that makes sense. Okay. I think the teachers there, especially the eighth grade teachers, do a really good job in preparing you for the c courses you're gonna be in. So Okay. And I feel so lucky, uh, so eighth grade I was in regular math, and then I would be like getting A's so easily in that class. And I uh talked to Strutz about possibly getting moved into the advanced course a bit.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01Best decision I could have made. Because uh at least at that point, uh being in advanced math in eighth grade would go and get you an extra entire credit math in high school. And that was so nice. I think now they go and do uh just like a raise to your GPA with it.
SPEAKER_02Something like that, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I I'd rather have my uh I don't think they give credit still.
SPEAKER_02I think you get credit.
SPEAKER_01I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you feel like your eighth grade teachers set you up pretty well academically. Yeah. How about the transition socially from eighth grade to ninth grade?
SPEAKER_01You know, I kinda had like this uh dislike of uh the so-called popular group in eighth grade. And then you go off to high school and it doesn't matter because there's so many people that popularity isn't really a thing until you know you go further on and then the popular kids from almost every school go and become popular with each other, and it's back. But freshman year, you know, popular kids kind of just lose their group, especially because like all of them go to different schools. Yeah. Um, so it becomes easier. Meeting people hasn't ever really been an issue for me, so I kind of fit in perfectly well.
SPEAKER_02So take take your perspective then. You're you you're you're an actor, you understand the human condition. How do you think it could be difficult for somebody who's not as outgoing as you, and how could they um impact that or make it easier, make more friends, or meet new people right away?
SPEAKER_01With that, I think um if you see somebody who seems to be in like the same position as you are, who they're struggling with making friends and stuff, go ahead and talk to them. You know, what's the worst that can happen? They say they don't want to be your friend, oh well, then you're back where you started. Okay. Um I also think you should find uh like a club or something, you know, something that you're interested in, so you can meet people with similar interests. I think that's a great way to go and meet people. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_02And you know, that's kind of what I say too, like when I talk to eighth graders, like there's so much more you can do in high school to like cultivate your interests and things that are and things are very just like you get focused in on something that you're good at and you enjoy, and there's a lot of other people who do the same thing. So meeting people is probably pretty easy.
SPEAKER_01But you'd be surprised how many people just don't do anything. Go there for strictly academics, go home. Yeah. But I I don't imagine how I could have done that. You know, it just seems like you'd spend a lot of time either just getting a job and working, which not bad, you know, you're making money, but you know, you only get to experience high school once, unless, you know, you're Havron and you have terrible grades.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, huh? It's true.
SPEAKER_01It happens.
SPEAKER_02I just recently found a behavior referral too that my mom had in her drawer. Yeah. Apparently I was fighting with my best friend. So I was bad at school and I was bad.
SPEAKER_01It is so common in high school though. Yeah. Fighting with your friends, yeah, it happens.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Alright. So you think middle school was an easy transition for you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, also, um in middle school, you know, I was in sixth grade when COVID happened. So half of my middle school experience just went away.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So it was kind of like it's not really that hard Lego in middle school because I wasn't there a whole lot. Sure. So the transition was kind of well, and you know, some schools um go and do uh sixth to ninth grade. So I feel like it's not supposed to be this huge change. Sure. Other than waking up earlier, which I hate. But there's not a huge transition, at least for me.
SPEAKER_02So in your seventh grade year, was that the year that you guys everyone stayed remote until like March or whatever? Yeah. Okay. Ugh. That was a terrible year.
SPEAKER_01I remember when you bought me Starbucks.
SPEAKER_02I bought you Starbucks. Yeah. For what?
SPEAKER_01It was uh when high school musical was happening. Oh yeah, yeah, you got the You're like, I bet you won't get it, and I said, I bet I will. And then you were like and then I say, If uh if I get it, can you go and buy me Starbucks? And then I got it. You gave me Starbucks.
SPEAKER_02Do you remember what I ordered you?
SPEAKER_01It was a chai.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Okay. I mean, it wasn't a big stretch for me to go to Starbucks in the morning, so So all in all, you killed it in high school. You did a bunch of things that you enjoyed doing. You're going to college to do things that you enjoy doing. What last bit of we'll do last bit of like tips? I know we kind of talked a lot about tips and tricks and stuff throughout the episode, but what's the last bit of like good advice you can give to an eighth grader going to ninth grade? And then just like we'll give you some time to kind of shout out who you thought helped you throughout the way and and and was key to your success.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um so when Brady was on here, he was talking about scheduling your time. Yeah, super important, especially if you have a busy schedule, as I usually did. Um, so do that. Keep in contact with your teachers. You know, you don't ever want to have a bad uh relationship with your teachers. So if you ever do need extra help in a class or something, you can always go and email them or just talk to them about it. And more than not, especially at case, um, they're more willing to go and do it.
SPEAKER_02Alright. And the shout-outs, who do you wanna who do you want to give some recognition to for helping you and being that support system for you?
SPEAKER_01I would like to shout out you. Stop it. I think part of my humor uh kind of stemmed from bullying you in middle school. Uh, and I I don't think, you know, I would uh be the same person without my humor, you know, true reacting the way that I would to things. Um Nate Stamper, uh huge impact. You know, he's my dad that's not my dad, if that makes sense. Um you know, you you just make high school theater be a really comfortable place to be in. Uh both Roths, they're just cool people. Um I'd like to thank Cedar Kincervik because he just sticks by my side. He's a pretty cool guy. Um all the Valid Victorians, because the amount of work that they put in to even get there, super impressive. Uh I so I hold them all to high regard. And most of them are from Gifford, too.
SPEAKER_02So it's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01Um, and then my parents, you know, I wouldn't be where I am right now without the support of my parents.
SPEAKER_02So I don't think many of us would be, so fair enough. Awesome. Alright, man. Well, you know, it's I think I I have a hard time with some of these conversations because like maybe I say the same thing to like to you or to Brady or to like all the other kids, but like I truly mean like it's been awesome to watch you from afar grow up and accomplish what you're doing. Yeah, and maybe not maybe not so much from afar, because you did come into Gifford quite a bit, so it's kind of yeah, I worked there, so it's kind of part of that too. It was cool to see see you grow up and do the things and accomplish the things and just go through life. It was it's been awesome to watch, and I I can't wait to see you perform at a parkside. I'll go and send you information about it. Send me the information about it. Okay. Well, that's the end of our episode. Eli, great job. Congratulations, class of 2026. Thank you. Gifford class of twenty twenty two. Awesome, man. Congratulations. Thanks. Motivation Declaration Podcast. Spotlight on Elijah Laverne. Thanks for listening.