It's time to talk with Mattew Fuller in this bonus episode of CCISD to the Fullest. And with Matthew, it's all about gratitude. Matthew left the restaurant industry to join the catering and concessions team in Clear Creek ISD, and he’s forever grateful for the opportunity. He opens up about how coming to CCISD has given him a simple joy—the opportunity to eat dinner with his wife every night. Here’s Matthew sharing why he is so happy to be in Clear Creek ISD.
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Matthew Fuller left the restaurant industry
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to join the catering and concessions
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team in Clear Creek ISD and he's forever grateful for the opportunity.
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Hey there, it's Lindsey Hunt
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and it's time to share our full interview with Matthew.
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He opens up about how coming to CCISD has given him a simple joy
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the opportunity to eat dinner with his wife every night.
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Here's Matthew sharing why he is so happy to be in Clear Creek.
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ISD I hope you enjoy this bonus episode of CCISD
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to the Fullest on
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this is Lindsey
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Hunt with communications for CCISD.
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Matthew Fuller with the Catering and Concessions.
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And Dava West with counseling and student services.
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And we are excited to talk to Matthew today.
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Yes. Thanks for joining us. No problem.
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And you're going to start with a simple, probably loaded question,
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but tell us a little bit more about yourself.
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Well, I like to cook a lot.
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That's what I do for the most part when I'm free.
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So, you know, that's pretty much my life.
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And so joining this job has kind of allowed me
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to do that at a more creative level
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all the time. So it's been pretty great.
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So are you from the area?
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I am from the area I grew up in.
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Dickinson went to school in Dickinson and then pretty much lived here now.
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League City is where me, my wife, live now.
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So pretty much my whole life over here.
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All right, So restaurant industry experience.
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Yes, quite a bit.
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I worked at Cullens, which is a fancy steakhouse
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in this area with all sorts of bars and all sorts of things like that.
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And then Rudy's barbecue for quite a while, managing over there.
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And then also I do catering and pop ups and different
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kind of events with the buddy of mine on the side every once in a while.
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Fine.
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So definitely strong culinary background.
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Yeah, that's I mean, that's pretty much the most of the things I do
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if I'm not working. Awesome. Love it.
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So what made you kind of change
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directions going from the restaurant industry into a school district?
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Seems like a pretty big departure change.
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I'm looking at both you, Lindsay and Matthew.
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Y'all are both for the outside world joining us in a school district.
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So what brought you to the school district?
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The big thing is burnout from other job.
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It's working every single weekend.
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It's working every single holiday, not getting to see my wife,
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not getting to dinner with my wife or see my my family parents.
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That's a lot of people
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that may or may not understand, but the restaurant world never stops.
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It's 365. Yup.
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And so it is definitely a world where burnout can occur and it's.
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Very demanding. High demands.
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I think unless I requested a weekend off, I wouldn't have a weekend off forever.
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So holidays?
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Yeah, holidays.
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You're working six, seven days that week.
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Guaranteed long hours too, I'm guessing.
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Yeah, I'm. Yeah.
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No matter what. And they're not good hours.
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It's not like here
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where I can come in at seven and be gone by three when my wife's off.
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It's come in at two or 3:00 and get off at midnight.
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So we're going to just jump right into that burnout thing, because I think
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that is something that we want to talk to you about with our CCISD group.
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But so I'm sure it was hard
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to prevent burnout in your previous career, but.
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Correct.
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There's really no outlet for solving it.
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It's just, hey, you're going to work
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because we got to work and we got more food going out.
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So there wasn't really any options for that.
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And there's no real time off in the restaurant world either.
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So you don't really get an opportunity to like, relax or.
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It's just some of those obstacles
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and some of those challenges that you've had to overcome.
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Mm hmm.
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How do you kind of put that into your current life, too,
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to avoid it from happening again?
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Well, the the most basic thing is now I get to eat dinner every day
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with my wife.
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I get to cook and eat and see each other, which we were going.
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Some days I could go home, we could meet, maybe see each other
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when she was going to bed or when I was going to work.
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And now we see each other everyday.
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So first and foremost, that and then also now,
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because I'm off on the weekends, which I was never off for the weekends,
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I get to play cards with my parents every week no matter what I am.
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While we play hearts and we
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play, there's another game we play in like 70% of the day.
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But and I'm very bad at them.
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But it's time that I get to go spend with my man
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and aunts and uncles, my mom and dad, my cousins, people that I have.
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And, you know, I get to see on holidays for an hour when I was off work.
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And that's about it.
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So I have all these outlets for things that I actually enjoy now versus
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just work, sleep, work, sleep, work.
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And what positive impact I mean, it sounds like
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family is really important to you, but yeah.
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It's it's I mean, it's been a game changer who really has.
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And I could go months
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without seeing my mom or, you know, and I'm a mom, so, you know, I really
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I want to be able to go cook with her on the weekends.
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I want to be able to see them and hang out with them.
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And I wasn't, you know, a whole month out.
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Seeing my parents is a lot.
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And now it's every Sunday, unless we have something going on.
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And so it's pretty great.
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So it sounds like that that one thing that the school that working within
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the school district is allowing you
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to find a little more balance and you're taking advantage of that
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because you know what the other looks like.
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And so making sure that you have outlets, whether it's family
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or something else, is very important to help prevent that burnout.
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100%.
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And I'm almost a year into this job now, and I mean, it's night and day.
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The difference is like I get off work and I'm smiling
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cause I know I'm going to have,
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you know, things that I can do and get to do the things that I actually
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enjoy versus again, just going to bed and going to work again,
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which is pretty much how the restaurant industry is compared to this.
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So my question is not being in the restaurant industry is
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do you get a little more creativity now in the things that you're cooking,
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in catering?
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And does that help a little bit with the burnout as well?
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That's a great point.
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Yeah.
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One of the
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things that working for a big corporate chain is that there is no creativity.
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It's here's the menu.
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You're going to make it the way
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that it's supposed to be made and there's no fluctuation whatsoever.
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And then with this,
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I've been teaming up with my boss, Robert, and we're redoing the menu.
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We do special menus.
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We can do fancy dinners for whoever.
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You know, I can get ingredients, I can do whatever I want for the most part
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if they order it.
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And so there's no repetitiveness.
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I'm constantly changing it up.
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You know, one day I'm doing something.
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The next day can be a totally different
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cuisine, can be for hundred people, a thousand people, whatever it is.
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So it's it's pretty great. It's pretty neat transition.
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I think I can speak for many people when I say I, I love that I'm
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loving all the things coming out of catering.
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As long as you don't mess with the bacon because whatever magic you guys have with
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the bacon is quite delicious whenever it comes out.
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Well, that's one of the recipes we're not going to change for sure.
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You can't go wrong with bacon.
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So that's. That's right.
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So what is your favorite part about catering?
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We kind of talked about some of the creativity that you have now.
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Is there anything else that you like about doing the catering for?
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CCISD Yeah, One of the big things is that, you know, in a corporate restaurant,
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as a manager, I'm not getting to interact with that guest as much.
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I'm not getting to see if people enjoy the food or get feedback from anybody.
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And with this, I'm you know, we're a two person department.
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So if we're feeding large groups of people,
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I'm out there, you know, right in front of everybody.
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We're getting to interact with everybody as they come to the line.
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And then I get feedback and I get thanks and I get, you know, that kind of stuff.
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And I get to meet people, you know, meet, you know, it's something that,
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you know, I'm stuck in a cave in a kitchen most of the time
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in my job previously.
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And now I'm out about meeting new people.
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And it's a great community So far.
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It's great.
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So I'm sure a lot of people don't really know the depth of which
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the catering services the district has.
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So talk to us a little bit about kind of what you all offer,
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What types of events that you put on, etc.?
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Well, yeah, we can pretty much do anything anybody wants.
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We do have a set menu that you can choose things from, anything from breakfasts.
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You can have, you know, build your own breakfasts.
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We have some different breakfast items that you can just pick from for everybody.
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But then we even do, you know, fancy entrees.
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Or you can pick your meats,
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your sides, your vegetables, your desserts, all that stuff.
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But then also we can cater to anything you need.
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So if you're having a special party, you're looking for something specific.
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You just have to reach out to us and we can make it happen for you.
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I've heard. Good things about the nacho bar, too.
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Not that I.
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You know, I.
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I'm a big fan of CCISD Catering.
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We've used it a lot
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in counseling and student services, and so far haven't had a bad experience.
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So I would agree.
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We had some catering at the office the other day.
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And your red sauce or salsa that was on the taco salad was.
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It's.
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Phenomenal It's yeah, it's a good menu.
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We have a good menu that we're starting with.
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And like I said, we're expanding on it as we see fit and kind of
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just playing with things and trying to add things
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that we think that people would like.
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Because ultimately our
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I guess our job as a catering department isn't to make a profit.
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It's to serve the community of CCISD and give them an opportunity
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to get good food without having to spend a bunch of money
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going to all these different restaurants
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that are around because you can get it in-house
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almost at cost, like it's a very we're not trying to get a profit for Rio.
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We're not trying to make money with anything.
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We can work with budgets
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and we can try to make it to
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where you guys can have great food and it's served by people in the city as well.
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That's amazing.
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I feel you're bringing people together through food.
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That's something you like to do.
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It is.
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So for me, I started cooking with my mom,
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for my family, so I go help her out,
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whatever I could, and then we'd feed my dad, my two brothers.
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People would come over, I'd help on holidays.
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And so, like,
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that's where my core of cooking is, is cooking for other people and serving
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other people and, you know, that kind of thing.
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So for this,
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you know, it's it's a huge community of people
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that I get to go serve every day and to see the reactions and stuff.
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And it's I mean, it's great.
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So did this start at a young age or was it the later?
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I was.
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Yeah.
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I was always cooking with my mom.
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My dad worked at CCISD It was a truent officer here for ever
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retired from the district everything.
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And so we would
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I would help her cook and make meals for we need to get home and everything so.
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So in the family CCISD Yeah. Yeah.
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He was here for a long, long time.
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A long, long time.
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So I kind of like watching all of the TV shows
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without the cooking and thinking, you know, I'm learning so much,
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although I don't feel like I can cook very well.
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But I know we have an amazing culinary program
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at Clear Springs High School, and I think some of those shows
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and things online have really brought the culinary arts to light.
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So just in case someone, a family, a parent,
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a student is listening to this, how does one get into culinary?
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Like, did you go to school somewhere?
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How do you it sounds like started with Mom,
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but did you have any additional training For me?
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It started, you know, the base just being in the kitchen of the mom.
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And that started the passion for it.
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Of course, I'm not going to say she doesn't know how to cook that well, but she
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she did it when I was younger.
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That's what I'm saying.
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She's probably any listeners.
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What I'm saying is she didn't have a broad like vast expanse of recipes,
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whereas now,
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you know, I've learned all stuff and we can get back together
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and I can teach her things and I can teach her what I've learned.
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And it's pretty cool that's come full circle that way.
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But I went to the Art Institute, Houston.
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I graduated in 2011
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and then I've been just, you know, cooking ever since for the most part.
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So I feel like we have to ask, what's your favorite thing to cook?
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Favorite thing to cook?
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I like like Cajun Creole food.
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So I like good like etoufee or gumbo, things like that I'm pretty keen on.
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I know we have a good roux.
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I know it's really.
00;11;36;21 - 00;11;38;02
Nice peanut butter.
00;11;38;02 - 00;11;40;11
He really takes 30, 45 minutes to get it right.
00;11;40;11 - 00;11;41;09
Just through.
00;11;41;09 - 00;11;43;10
I know we have some transplants from Louisiana
00;11;43;10 - 00;11;46;19
that are going to be glad to hear that and get your catering menu might expand.
00;11;46;19 - 00;11;47;01
Okay.
00;11;47;01 - 00;11;49;03
Now that that is in there, if.
00;11;49;03 - 00;11;50;27
You're looking for something and you want something,
00;11;50;27 - 00;11;53;02
you just have to reach out to our people and we can make it happen.
00;11;53;02 - 00;11;54;25
And then I have people that handle pricing.
00;11;54;25 - 00;11;55;27
I don't duty that kind of stuff,
00;11;55;27 - 00;11;58;14
but they can work with you on budgets and figure out what you want
00;11;58;14 - 00;12;01;11
and how much it's going to cost and make it work for you. So I think
00;12;02;15 - 00;12;03;24
you spent a lot more time
00;12;03;24 - 00;12;07;03
outside of the school district than you have in the school district.
00;12;07;03 - 00;12;12;07
So what kind of key takeaways from that experience outside
00;12;12;11 - 00;12;17;26
are you bringing to the school district that would benefit it in a positive way.
00;12;17;26 - 00;12;21;05
At least within my catering area?
00;12;21;05 - 00;12;21;16
I'm trying
00;12;21;16 - 00;12;24;21
to bring all the the high standards that come from the restaurant industry
00;12;25;09 - 00;12;28;02
to what we're doing here so that everybody can get a taste of
00;12;28;03 - 00;12;30;25
like I get people who sometimes ask, what restaurant did the food come from?
00;12;31;06 - 00;12;32;03
That's what we're looking for.
00;12;32;03 - 00;12;34;06
We want people to think they're getting restaurant quality food, not just like
00;12;34;07 - 00;12;36;10
That, you know, they want to feel like they're getting something like
00;12;36;24 - 00;12;37;24
good quality food.
00;12;37;24 - 00;12;38;17
And we're trying to
00;12;38;17 - 00;12;41;16
I want to try to raise the standards of my catering department
00;12;41;16 - 00;12;44;05
and try to bring it to where we're getting, you know, great, great food.
00;12;44;08 - 00;12;46;27
Well, I'm assuming the source of our product
00;12;46;27 - 00;12;50;07
is very similar to the sauce that came from the restaurant industry.
00;12;50;07 - 00;12;52;27
I mean, it's the same product. It's yeah, yeah. It's.
00;12;53;03 - 00;12;53;24
A delivery.
00;12;53;24 - 00;12;55;27
Yeah, I have, you know, all the, you know, different we've
00;12;55;27 - 00;12;57;04
dealt with vendors and things like that.
00;12;57;04 - 00;13;00;12
Now I understand where I can look through and find neat foods
00;13;00;12 - 00;13;03;09
and we were able to get pretty much get whatever I want for things.
00;13;03;09 - 00;13;06;17
So we do superintendent dinners, we do fancy things like that, and they can get
00;13;07;05 - 00;13;10;04
pretty much whatever I want and make all sorts of neat stuff that normally
00;13;10;18 - 00;13;13;05
they wouldn't get from a school kitchen.
00;13;14;00 - 00;13;18;20
And I think in the restaurant industry too, maybe the knowledge
00;13;18;20 - 00;13;23;17
that there are job opportunities in the school district is not top of mind.
00;13;23;17 - 00;13;28;00
So it sounds like you had a connection, but how would you encourage
00;13;28;10 - 00;13;31;26
others that may be, you know, outside of a school district
00;13;32;10 - 00;13;37;07
to know that there's opportunity within one for a culinary background?
00;13;37;08 - 00;13;40;08
That's something that they never talked about in culinary school.
00;13;40;08 - 00;13;43;08
They never mentioned that this was even a career path that I could do.
00;13;44;02 - 00;13;47;16
And had I known about it, I feel like I would have ventured into it a lot quicker.
00;13;49;09 - 00;13;49;25
I don't know.
00;13;49;25 - 00;13;52;29
I don't I don't know how to get the word out
00;13;52;29 - 00;13;56;06
that this is such a great career path because for me, once I got here,
00;13;56;06 - 00;13;59;06
it was like, Oh my gosh, this is the best decision I saw.
00;13;59;06 - 00;14;00;09
The boss was.
00;14;00;09 - 00;14;00;19
Yeah.
00;14;00;19 - 00;14;03;27
And I think it's I don't know if it's like so best kept secret
00;14;03;27 - 00;14;07;03
in culinary world that there is, there is a job and we share.
00;14;07;15 - 00;14;08;24
That too much. Right. Right.
00;14;08;24 - 00;14;11;01
We may not want to advertise to tell that.
00;14;11;01 - 00;14;14;04
But I hope is long term is that we're going to grow this department
00;14;14;04 - 00;14;15;14
and then get more people
00;14;15;14 - 00;14;17;10
who are from the restaurant world and bring them in
00;14;17;10 - 00;14;21;08
and hopefully get a whole department of culinary is making all sorts of great food
00;14;21;08 - 00;14;23;10
for everybody. That's that's the long term goal.
00;14;23;10 - 00;14;26;20
So joining how has it been different
00;14;26;20 - 00;14;29;15
or like you expected but.
00;14;30;06 - 00;14;32;07
Kind of it's. Different like.
00;14;32;16 - 00;14;36;04
Different in the sense that it's the mindset is totally different
00;14;36;04 - 00;14;37;01
than working in a restaurant.
00;14;37;01 - 00;14;39;08
It's a lot more relaxed.
00;14;39;08 - 00;14;42;18
It's not as nonstop, fast paced.
00;14;42;18 - 00;14;44;28
Everything is in a rush and everything needs to happen.
00;14;44;28 - 00;14;47;02
Right now, it's more,
00;14;47;02 - 00;14;49;15
let's take our time and get this right and make sure these people's food
00;14;49;15 - 00;14;50;20
is as good as possible
00;14;50;20 - 00;14;55;02
and we get to focus on that part of it versus the let's shoot this food out.
00;14;55;02 - 00;14;56;07
We need to get the food out.
00;14;56;07 - 00;14;58;14
We need to get the food out kind of thing.
00;14;58;14 - 00;15;01;26
So I've heard a theme kind of in between interwoven
00;15;01;26 - 00;15;04;09
in some of your answers, and it's the people like
00;15;04;09 - 00;15;06;26
you were mentioning that what one of the things you like
00;15;06;26 - 00;15;10;01
about the job you have now is you actually get to see the people
00;15;10;01 - 00;15;11;27
and you get to hear the feedback from the people
00;15;11;27 - 00;15;14;03
and you want to make the food for the people.
00;15;14;03 - 00;15;17;17
So it sounds like you're trying to build some relationships like through food,
00;15;17;17 - 00;15;21;18
and that's a big or a major part of why maybe this job is unique.
00;15;22;04 - 00;15;22;28
Yeah, that's true.
00;15;22;28 - 00;15;24;04
And that's I mean, again,
00;15;24;04 - 00;15;27;18
I never got to really interact with the front end of stuff
00;15;27;18 - 00;15;29;06
or get to really sit down with people and talk.
00;15;29;06 - 00;15;31;22
But when we're done with events, I can sit down and I can say, Hey,
00;15;32;01 - 00;15;34;10
what did you enjoy about this? What didn't you enjoy about this?
00;15;34;10 - 00;15;37;29
And talk to everybody and get real feedback and actually, you know,
00;15;38;25 - 00;15;41;16
get a sense of what's going on with people and really like
00;15;41;16 - 00;15;42;19
how the community likes things.
00;15;42;19 - 00;15;44;22
And that's what I want is to build to
00;15;45;29 - 00;15;47;14
build a good base for the
00;15;47;14 - 00;15;50;07
community to know that they can come get food and can be great things from us.
00;15;50;16 - 00;15;53;14
And in addition to building our community through food, I like it.
00;15;53;18 - 00;15;54;14
It's awesome.
00;15;54;14 - 00;15;58;24
So even though you did say that you are really enjoying your time
00;15;58;24 - 00;16;01;05
as in the catering department in CCISD.
00;16;01;06 - 00;16;04;25
I know that you probably learned some amazing lessons in the restaurant
00;16;04;25 - 00;16;06;08
business.
00;16;06;16 - 00;16;09;24
Can you give advice like three things maybe you learned in the restaurant
00;16;09;24 - 00;16;12;29
business that have been helping you in the catering business as well?
00;16;13;04 - 00;16;13;22
Yes, for sure.
00;16;13;22 - 00;16;17;05
Number one, time management is one.
00;16;17;05 - 00;16;19;11
If you're not managing your time wisely in the kitchen,
00;16;19;11 - 00;16;21;27
you're going to have you're not going to be successful.
00;16;21;27 - 00;16;23;18
And that I mean, that applies to everything.
00;16;23;18 - 00;16;27;17
And I just think that applies to just about anyone listening to this right now.
00;16;27;18 - 00;16;27;27
Yeah.
00;16;27;27 - 00;16;30;20
And so and then I guess preparation would be number two,
00;16;31;09 - 00;16;34;24
because ultimately, if we're not if you don't have a game plan
00;16;34;24 - 00;16;36;09
for what you're doing and get everything prepped out,
00;16;36;09 - 00;16;39;17
the way we're supposed to get prepped out, then service can't happen and you know,
00;16;39;18 - 00;16;40;12
it doesn't work out right.
00;16;41;10 - 00;16;42;20
And then
00;16;43;10 - 00;16;46;00
number three, I'm sorry, I reread the question.
00;16;46;00 - 00;16;49;09
So just three things you've learned in the restaurant business that you can
00;16;49;09 - 00;16;52;12
that you're using currently in the job
00;16;54;13 - 00;16;55;07
is fine to use.
00;16;55;07 - 00;16;55;28
Good. I don't know.
00;16;55;28 - 00;16;57;01
I think those two.
00;16;57;01 - 00;17;00;07
The issues are some really strong ones.
00;17;00;07 - 00;17;00;20
Yeah. Yeah.
00;17;00;20 - 00;17;02;09
That's the this is the biggest things for me because,
00;17;02;09 - 00;17;06;10
I mean, if I come in usually on Monday and use it as an admin day and make
00;17;06;17 - 00;17;09;17
you know, my game plans for the whole week and I have a plan for Monday,
00;17;09;17 - 00;17;12;10
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, everything we're going to do
00;17;12;18 - 00;17;15;16
and that makes it to where I'm not stressed out to the week
00;17;15;16 - 00;17;17;21
because I have a plan and all I need to do throughout
00;17;17;21 - 00;17;20;20
the week is execute the plan that I've made and we're good to go.
00;17;20;23 - 00;17;23;03
So do you have your own kitchen within CCISD?
00;17;23;04 - 00;17;23;17
I do.
00;17;23;17 - 00;17;27;19
We're in the LSC kitchen, so we're learning support center.
00;17;27;29 - 00;17;30;11
We're just two people and a big, huge kitchen.
00;17;30;11 - 00;17;32;22
So it's. Expansive space. Lots of space.
00;17;32;22 - 00;17;34;23
I can use a bigger freezer, but lots of space.
00;17;36;09 - 00;17;38;26
And how many events are y'all doing
00;17;38;26 - 00;17;39;28
a week?
00;17;39;28 - 00;17;41;20
It depends on the week.
00;17;41;20 - 00;17;43;29
This week I think we have like seven or eight,
00;17;44;13 - 00;17;46;21
but like there's weeks like back to school.
00;17;47;18 - 00;17;49;21
The first few days of back to school, there was like,
00;17;50;07 - 00;17;53;21
you know, 20 a day, you know, So I can get can be a whole lot.
00;17;53;21 - 00;17;54;25
Of getting out.
00;17;54;25 - 00;17;55;25
I hope so.
00;17;55;25 - 00;17;57;28
I mean. Hearing it so hearing good. Stuff.
00;17;57;28 - 00;17;58;19
Well, that's the goal.
00;17;58;19 - 00;18;01;08
The goal is we're going to try to shoot it as good a food as we can, meet
00;18;01;08 - 00;18;04;17
as many people as we can, get them to know us, know that we can provide this stuff,
00;18;04;17 - 00;18;07;17
and then maybe they'll stop going to places like other.
00;18;07;17 - 00;18;08;00
Places.
00;18;08;00 - 00;18;11;24
Other places they can come to us for all their food.
00;18;11;24 - 00;18;12;29
What's going great in your life?
00;18;14;07 - 00;18;15;11
Most everything.
00;18;15;11 - 00;18;16;04
Currently.
00;18;16;04 - 00;18;20;21
My biggest issue was my job before and the whole burnout
00;18;20;21 - 00;18;24;06
and not feeling like I, you know, ever had any free time.
00;18;24;12 - 00;18;26;18
And so now you know everything straight.
00;18;26;18 - 00;18;28;11
I see my family, I see my friends.
00;18;28;11 - 00;18;31;28
I'm, you know, I'm working somewhere that I'm fulfilled in.
00;18;31;28 - 00;18;32;29
So it's
00;18;33;17 - 00;18;35;06
great. It's a great scenario.
00;18;35;06 - 00;18;36;09
Yeah. Yeah.
00;18;36;09 - 00;18;40;02
Anything that could use a little attention.
00;18;40;23 - 00;18;44;28
In my life.
00;18;44;28 - 00;18;46;27
I just want to travel some more. I'd say so.
00;18;46;27 - 00;18;49;08
I guess I got a better perspective.
00;18;49;08 - 00;18;51;11
Yeah, I got to get a better grasp of when our holidays are
00;18;51;12 - 00;18;54;03
so that I can then plan for trips and do things like that.
00;18;54;03 - 00;18;55;29
Because by the time they get here, it's
00;18;55;29 - 00;18;57;28
too late for me to buy plane tickets and stuff like that.
00;18;57;28 - 00;18;59;03
So it's a mindset.
00;18;59;03 - 00;19;01;10
You start planning your time.
00;19;01;18 - 00;19;02;20
Yeah, I got to start planning
00;19;02;20 - 00;19;06;14
for prepping for days off, which is a different process entirely.
00;19;06;14 - 00;19;09;03
You don't buy the January to December calendar anymore.
00;19;09;03 - 00;19;11;25
You buy the July to June calendar.
00;19;11;26 - 00;19;13;14
Now you're on your year.
00;19;13;14 - 00;19;16;16
Yeah, it's it's totally like my friends in the restaurant industry, you know,
00;19;16;16 - 00;19;19;23
they live off their pay period so they're like Thursday to Wednesday
00;19;19;23 - 00;19;21;18
or all these other days or what, three days off.
00;19;21;18 - 00;19;23;23
So my buddy yesterday said, Oh, it's my Friday.
00;19;23;28 - 00;19;25;22
No, it's Monday. What are you talking about?
00;19;25;22 - 00;19;27;15
It's like, Oh, well, it's my Friday.
00;19;27;15 - 00;19;30;29
Oh, I live on a real schedule now, so I'm living in the normal week.
00;19;31;06 - 00;19;32;03
That's pretty good hour.
00;19;32;03 - 00;19;36;08
I see the day, I see the light, I see all of the the sunlight and the moon
00;19;36;08 - 00;19;38;09
and all those things. Now I'm getting compared.
00;19;38;09 - 00;19;39;16
To being in. Yeah.
00;19;39;16 - 00;19;41;16
I mean, a lot of times they on the weekends
00;19;41;16 - 00;19;44;21
I would work a closed volume open shift, which is Friday.
00;19;44;21 - 00;19;47;17
You're work until midnight the next day or can tend to a
00;19;47;24 - 00;19;49;22
and then the next day you're working 5 a.m.
00;19;49;22 - 00;19;50;23
to two.
00;19;50;23 - 00;19;53;13
So there's a very small gap in your weekend
00;19;53;16 - 00;19;55;18
that you see in your loved ones and you're doing things.
00;19;55;18 - 00;19;58;04
And now I have a block.
00;19;58;13 - 00;19;59;22
So it's it's pretty wonderful.
00;20;00;25 - 00;20;01;14
You mentioned
00;20;01;14 - 00;20;04;22
earlier that you you really enjoy cooking
00;20;04;24 - 00;20;08;13
and that it sounds like that's your job as well as maybe a hobby.
00;20;08;13 - 00;20;11;26
Is there anything else that you like to do to relax or to recharge?
00;20;12;03 - 00;20;13;28
Sounds like family is very big for you too.
00;20;13;28 - 00;20;16;12
Like camping, hiking, play tennis.
00;20;17;26 - 00;20;19;20
But mostly just, you know, me, my wife
00;20;19;20 - 00;20;22;16
sit around and watch shows or do whatever and play with the dog.
00;20;23;05 - 00;20;25;05
And those are good dogs.
00;20;25;05 - 00;20;26;18
Unconditional love right there.
00;20;26;18 - 00;20;29;12
Oh, I don't help you recharge like nobody's business for sure.
00;20;29;12 - 00;20;31;15
And now when I get home, it's not like the middle of the night.
00;20;31;15 - 00;20;34;28
So she can come be excited and bark and yell and make all sorts of noise,
00;20;35;17 - 00;20;37;01
not get in trouble.
00;20;38;03 - 00;20;42;02
So we know your time with us has been on the shorter side,
00;20;42;02 - 00;20;45;03
but we are hearing that you really are
00;20;45;12 - 00;20;47;22
living CCISD to the fullest.
00;20;48;13 - 00;20;50;22
So what does that mean to you?
00;20;51;10 - 00;20;53;20
And for me, it's all just about the community.
00;20;53;20 - 00;20;56;14
I'm trying to meet as many people as I can meet, try to, you know,
00;20;57;09 - 00;21;00;19
make relationships wherever I can, because there's just so many people
00;21;00;19 - 00;21;04;09
that I get to interact with every day and everyone's so nice within the district.
00;21;04;09 - 00;21;06;24
I've yet to meet someone who's not pleasant to be around,
00;21;07;01 - 00;21;10;25
which is very different than the restaurant world, very different.
00;21;10;25 - 00;21;12;27
Understand that for sure.
00;21;12;27 - 00;21;16;25
So I feel you're going to have a very unique perspective to our next question,
00;21;17;11 - 00;21;22;05
because you are coming from outside of education in and outside of CCISD.
00;21;22;05 - 00;21;26;27
But what advice do you have for others on how to live CCISD to the fullest?
00;21;27;25 - 00;21;30;07
For me, so far, it's just been meeting as many people as I can
00;21;30;14 - 00;21;32;09
because I never know
00;21;32;09 - 00;21;35;08
what that relationship is going to come back around in some way, shape
00;21;35;08 - 00;21;39;00
or form, because the people I'm meeting now, like I've met you a long time ago
00;21;39;00 - 00;21;41;09
and now here we are sitting here having a nice conversation.
00;21;42;03 - 00;21;44;04
And so like, you know, just meet everybody.
00;21;44;04 - 00;21;45;22
You can try to make connections
00;21;45;22 - 00;21;49;27
because there's so many people here and everyone's a resource for something.
00;21;49;27 - 00;21;53;22
That's great advice and one that we are starting to hear is a theme.
00;21;54;03 - 00;21;56;27
The more we talk to a group of people,
00;21;56;27 - 00;21;59;08
it's just been nice to see that emerge
00;21;59;29 - 00;22;04;27
as the relationships, the connections, and that helps with the stress
00;22;04;27 - 00;22;09;01
and the burnout because you have other people to kind of learn and get to know.
00;22;09;06 - 00;22;10;16
Exactly what
00;22;12;19 - 00;22;15;03
you. Know.
00;22;15;12 - 00;22;19;00
I think that concludes our time with you, Matthew.
00;22;19;01 - 00;22;19;26
Thank you.
00;22;19;26 - 00;22;20;14
Thanks for having. Me.
00;22;20;14 - 00;22;24;19
It’s a very interesting perspective and a fun one for sure.
00;22;24;19 - 00;22;26;29
So I appreciate you for sharing your story with us.
00;22;26;29 - 00;22;28;21
And thanks for being here.
00;22;28;21 - 00;22;30;18
Thank you so much.