Amplified: The Chesapeake Public Schools Podcast
Our podcast serves as a platform to share the voices and stories of our people - our learners and employees - who shape the vision of Chesapeake Public Schools. This podcast provides our community with a unique insight into district operations, demonstrating how the division creates opportunities, prioritizes innovation, and elevates potential. New episodes are released monthly and feature a wide range of topics, including student achievements, innovative teaching practices, community partnerships, and important district initiatives. You can listen to the stories behind our story by subscribing on your favorite podcast platforms or by visiting cpschools.com/amplified.
Amplified: The Chesapeake Public Schools Podcast
ConGRAD's to the Class of 2024!
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Relive the excitement of your senior year! This episode captures the spirit and determination of our graduates. One senior from each of the high schools joined the podcast sharing their memorable moments and future endeavors, offering advice for future high school students, and sending heartfelt shout-outs to those who helped them along their way. Congratulations to the entire Class of 2024!
Thanks again to the seniors below who were featured in this episode!
Myrin Nixon - Great Bridge High School
Natalie Lawson - Deep Creek High School
Ben Ricks - Western Branch High School
Ashley Bell - Indian River High School
Will Cozart - Hickory High School
Isabelle Michalski - Grassfield High School
Aaliyah Price - Oscar Smith High School
Visit cpschools.com/graduation for our Class of 2024 graduation ceremony resources!
The Stories Behind Our Story
Chesapeake Public Schools Graduation Stories
Speaker 1Welcome to Amplify the Chesapeake Public Schools podcast .
Speaker 2Chesapeake Schools is located in the Hampton Roads area of southeastern Virginia . We serve 40,000 students in 45 schools and three centers . This podcast is designed to tell the stories behind our story and to introduce and celebrate the people and programs that make us one of the premier school districts in Virginia .
Speaker 1All right , welcome back Amplifiers . This is Matt Graham here with Richie Babb , and that's our listeners .
Speaker 2They're called Amplifiers thanks to Alyssa May . Yeah right , she named all of our fans . That's our fandom .
Speaker 1Our fandom .
Speaker 2Apparently it's called it's Amplifiers , and she's the president . She is she is definitely the president .
Speaker 1Number one . Well , so happy speaking with her in the last episode and celebrating all of our teachers , and now we are in graduation season .
Speaker 2Man , I know , right , that's right . And you just had your daughter graduate from William Mary , right ? She did ? Yep , she graduated from William Mary . She wants to go to vet school . So she's going to take a year off to work in a vet office because you have to have that experience to put on your application and then we'll go from there . That's awesome , man .
Speaker 1Yeah , my sister-in-law just graduated from high school . Okay , yep Up in New York , she's happy . She went to two proms , you know Wow , maybe it's in the family . I went to three . It was great . I loved our senior class and as we're getting into this episode , it just makes you think about those times together . It seems like at the end of your high school season , at least for me , like your class just sort of comes together right near the end .
Speaker 2Yeah , you really does . It's interesting , right ? Yeah , I agree , and that's been the case . I mean , I think it was like that when I was in high school . You get to the end and it's almost like some of those friend groups sort of start to dissolve and you end up feeling like one big class instead of yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah . I don't know if any of our listeners felt the same way , but that's definitely true here . But we are celebrating our seniors . Today , over 3,000 seniors are graduating from Chesapeake Public Schools . Each one has a story , right .
Speaker 2Yeah and well , and you know , we always say , our goal here is to provide the stories behind our story and we're fortunate today that we get to meet seven of those graduates and to hear their stories .
Speaker 1Right . We were lucky enough to have one graduate from each school come in and they shared some of their favorite high school memories , gave some advice , shared some of their future plans and endeavors . So we hope you enjoy it and take a listen .
Speaker 3I'm Myron Nixon , senior from Great Bridge High School and I'm looking forward to graduating and my future plans are to wrestle at Morgan State University .
Speaker 3One of the best memories I had was wrestling for the team , honestly , at Great Bridge because it taught me a lot of valuable lessons that carried like throughout all the high school , you know , and it helped me become more disciplined and more focused in school and everything . Another one of my memorable moments was winning my first state title . I mean , my second one was good too , but the special thing about my first one was I overcame like a lot of adversity the previous year leading into that and then even during the year I won it , you know I had to beat two kids that I previously lost to earlier that year . So it was just like a big deal for me to win it because I worked so hard just to get that first state title and my second one . That was very , you know , I was very proud of that one because the way I did it you know I tech fault and pinned everybody in my bracket for my second state title . So that was great for me .
Speaker 5Hi , I'm Natalie . I'm graduating from Deep Creek Go Hornets and I will be attending Virginia Tech as a member of the Corps of Cadets . I had shown interest my junior year and then there was this crazy good scholarship that they could put me up for , which is full ride room and board cadet stipend and then you get an automatic commission as an O-1 in the Air Force afterwards . So they really wanted me to do that . They thought that would be a great idea for me and I wanted to do aerospace engineering . So you know , the Air Force is already a great avenue to do that and tech being one of the best engineering schools in the country , it was just kind of it kind of all fell into place .
Speaker 5Advice I give to freshmen would be just don't start any drama . Drama really weighs you down in doing a lot of stuff and just being happy . It's not going to help you do anything . And really , if you just do your work , a lot of people always come to me and complain about how their grades are so bad and then they have like 10 missing assignments . So you just do your work , you're going to pass high school and you're going to be OK .
Speaker 4I'm Ben Ricks . I'm graduating from Western Branch High School , go Bruins . After high school I plan to do a little bit of both college and trade school . I'm going to ODU for four years to get my degree in business management . I'm doing that online , so during the day I'll be doing an apprenticeship and trade school at the same time . For the trade school it's an electrician apprenticeship . I'm their youngest apprentice , so it's a four year program that's completely paid for because I kept up with my grades and pretty much once I finish that I'll have my degree and I'll be able to advance higher and higher into the company and eventually I'll be able to start my own company .
Speaker 4My best tennis memory is probably my best high school memory . We were playing at Kellum . I kind of went in expecting to get crushed and I won the first set six when I was like , oh okay , then I lost the second set and I'm down 0-4 in a tiebreak . I probably hit the best shot of my life and I went on to win eight points in a row to win the match and that's probably the best feeling I've ever had in my life . I just loved it and that will probably be my best high school memory . A lot of high school was hard doing all the work because I took the hard way . I school was hard doing all the work because I took the hard way . I wanted to get it done , get a bunch of college credits .
Speaker 6I did it and I'm proud I did it because I'm going to school for free , so I'm really happy . Hello , my name is Ashley Bell and I'm graduating from Indian River High School . Next year I'm going to Columbia College , chicago , to major in musical theater in their selective BFA program . Indian River High School's music program is absolutely phenomenal . My choir teacher , miss Lutzen , has been the most helpful person that I could have possibly asked for . She has stayed after school to give me lessons , to work privately with me so that I can be more prepared for when I go out on my own , and she's taught me so much , not only about music , but also about how to talk to people and how to conduct myself . Some advice that I would say every freshman needs to take is don't worry so much about how you're perceived by others , because everyone is also as worried about themselves as you're worried about yourself , and no one's thinking that you're weird . Just be you and you'll find the right people .
Speaker 2Well , we're not finished . We still have three more graduates you're going to get to meet . We hope you're enjoying getting to meet our seniors and to hear their stories .
Speaker 1That's right , and be sure to visit cpschoolscom forward slash graduation for all of our graduation resources , including photo galleries , live streaming and more . And now let's get back to hearing from our seniors .
Speaker 7My name is Will Cozart and I'm graduating from Hickory in June . I'm in the National Honor Society , I'm in the Environmental Club , I am Spanish Honor Society , so I'm in a few clubs , enjoy them all . And then also I work on the side as well . I'm going to be attending ODU in the fall for four years , maybe three if I can get through in three and then I plan on studying biology Haven't decided on a minor yet , but probably something health related and then hopefully med school after that . So I started volunteering at Norfolk Centera the hospital .
Speaker 7We have some family friend that he's a doctor over there and I really just found like a passion for it and love for it Pretty crazy , but it's fun and that's that's what I like about it . About it , you can never tell what's going to come through the door next . So that's the fun part about it . Mr Klein , he was my AP Biology teacher . He was the first teacher that I was really able to actually connect with . He uncovered my passion for biology too , the way he taught it . It was a grueling class but he really pushed me ahead and , you know , told me to believe in myself and he was my favorite teacher that I've had , you know and it's something I enjoy , so we share that . We share that passion for biology , so that you know that was easy to get along with as well .
Speaker 8Hi , I'm Isabel Mahulski . I will be graduating from Grassfield High School this 2024 , and I plan to transfer to UVA where I will pursue behavioral neuroscience on a pre-med track . Something positive about Grassfield is just the community . Honestly , the students are great , but the teachers are just amazing . They're so passionate there and they really really care about how their students are doing beyond grades and beyond academics , and that's something that I found very comforting . The teachers there really show the students that it's more than just that . They help give them an experience that helps them discover more about themselves , more about life and the things that they love to do .
Speaker 8And then , one of the most important teachers to me that I will forever be grateful for she is kind of like a second mother to me is Miss Paula Dubik-Myers . She is the host for the health medicine club that my friend and I founded and she is just . She's like a guardian angel to me . She has supported me through everything . She believes in me and she's just . She's motivated me in a way that no one else has and she's someone that I can really find comfort in , someone I feel safe with . She's always there to provide unwavering support and she gives the greatest advice and she's just so kind and so sweet and so so passionate and driven about what she does . She is a model for how teachers should be . I love her so much , so shout out to Miss Paula Dubik-Myers my name is Aaliyah Price .
Speaker 9I am graduating from Oscar Smith High School . I plan on going to Morgan State , majoring in civil engineering , to play basketball . I remember being in the sixth grade , I believe , and my mom put me in a STEM program at Norfolk State University and I was like she , you know , she always asked me well , you know , what do you want to do ? You have to look for the future . And I'm like mom , I don't know , it's just the sixth grade , I don't know . And when she put me in a program , it was like the robotics and the mathematics and I was like , yeah , I might got to go down this path , because at first I wanted to be a doctor , until I really seen what you know doctors really do and all the blood and stuff , and I was like , yeah , no , that's not for me , it's not for me . I'm going to be more on the technical side .
Senior Basketball Players Reflect on Season
Speaker 9Love my basketball season . We got a new coach this year and he really enforced the team bonding , so getting along with your teammates outside of basketball . So that was pretty great . My mom and my coaches , those are like the two important people in my life . They invested in me inside and outside of school through basketball through out of basketball . So definitely those two .
Speaker 2So we hope you enjoyed getting to meet a few of our seniors and hearing their stories , and we just want to say congratulations to all of our graduates and we wish them the best in their lives after high school .
