Show: Insight Station: KNCO File: 10:29.mp3 Air date: 2026-10-29 Source: OpenAI whisper-1 · shrunk from 98.6 MB to 12.3 MB --- transcript --- Welcome to KNCO Insight, Nevada County Action, KNCO's local issue talk show. This is your chance to gain insight into issues affecting Nevada County. Be a part of the show. Call with your questions or comments. The number, 477-5626, that's 477-KNCO. The opinions expressed are those of the hosts and callers and do not reflect the opinions of the advertiser, staff, or ownership of Nevada County Broadcasters. Now here is your host, Tom Fitzsimmons. Okay, NC News time, just about 907, 50 degrees, kind of a cloudy day out there, oh no, not too bad. As a matter of fact, almost a little bit of blue starting to break out a little bit here, so it's going to be fine. You can get all the stuff done, it's going to be relatively cool, like it has been the last few days, low 60s or so, yeah, so it should be great for activities going on as we head towards Halloween, always an exciting time, that's for sure. I don't know what goes on at the schools on Halloween, that might be one of the things we touch on today, but Acacia Barnum is here, Acacia is nice enough to stop by. She has been on KNCO Insight before, I think as a youth commissioner, right? Yes, yes, I was here with public health and speaking with the youth commission. Yeah, and you were, were you on with Allison that day, right? Yes, yes, Allison. Did you have to do the calendar of events and all that stuff, or what did you talk about that day? We talked a lot about just what the youth commission was, what we're building towards, we were recently sworn in back then, and so, yeah, from now on we've just kind of been working with our subcommittees, we've broken up into our committees and we're working with county officials to solidify our policy proposals. That sounds very official. Now, are you guys working with elections too, the youth commission? Yeah, we are. A lot of us got the opportunity to be student poll workers, and so on Tuesday, some of us are going to be stationed at different spots to collect ballots and work with the elections officials. All right. Now, that's not what we're talking about necessarily today, but great having you here because you're part of the executive council as well. Yes, yes I am. So what's your role? Do you have like an official title there on the council? Yeah, so I am a commissioner this year. There's many positions that we have, and yeah, it's a little bit more of a support role this year, but yeah, I'm here with two other people from executive council who have some other positions as well. All right. Mariah. Well, you know, I sit down, everybody, and Mariah's in the captaincy here. So Mariah, what's your last name, Mariah? Mariah Lang. Mariah Lang? Yes. Lang. A Lang? Yes. All right. What's your position on the executive council? I'm sergeant at arms this year. Does that mean you have a gun? What does that mean, sergeant at arms? No, I'm in charge of our attendance points. I'm kind of the bad guy this year. I keep everybody in line, but my main goal with sergeant at arms is making sure everybody remembers their why. I want everybody to be here and just keeping everybody accountable. All right. Is it a good group? Yes, it's an amazing group. All right. Yes. Everybody's so great. All right. Next to you is second in command is Ryan Weiss. Is that right, Ryan? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Ryan, are you on the executive council as well? Yes, I am. You're very modest. Okay. So what's your position there on the executive council? I'm the senior vice president. Wow. All right. So that sounds like you're in ... Are you in charge of both of these two then? No. If you look at ranking and stuff? No. Mariah's in charge of all of us. Because she's the sergeant at arms? Yeah. Is that true, Mariah? I guess so in this setting. In this setting. All right. And I see the last name Weiss. Okay. Is that part of Weiss Brothers people and stuff? Yeah. That's my grandpa's business. Oh. Which one's your grandpa? Marty. Marty. Okay. He passed away a few years ago from cancer. Yeah. So I'm battling cancer too. He was like one of my favorite guys for all these years and stuff. All right. Do you plan to go into landscaping or horticulture stuff or anything? No. But I'm going to stick to the trades though. I'm going to try to go into electrician, go to trade school to be an electrician. All right. Are you into golf at all? Because I thought some of the Weiss guys were into golf. Oh, yeah. Big time. All right. You guys are funny ladies. Now, who's your dad? Adam. Adam. Were you down at the senior golf tournament like maybe six years ago, seven years ago? Down in Sacramento? Down in Sacramento. Yeah, I was. All right. I met you. I don't know if you remember. I think I did. But we were in the hospitality tent and you were eating a bunch of snacks, I think, and all that stuff. Just having a good time. Yeah. All right. Very cool. Yeah. It's like home week. All right. That's wonderful. How many people are on it, Mariah? I believe there's 32 of us. 32? Yes. 32? Yes. Okay. Now, counterintuitively, I think if you have 32, is it tough to get a quorum together as far as people agreeing on stuff because that's a lot of different voices, 32 voices. At times it can be, but I feel in certain terms we all have the same goal. We all know we're working towards the same thing, so it's easier to come to a conclusion. We all hear each other out. We're very good at communicating. I would say this group is awesome at expressing how they're feeling, their thoughts, and their views on things, and so it's easier to hear, like, oh, I understand why you're feeling like that. And to come to conclusions, it's much easier when we all are kind of like-minded in some ways. Yeah. All right. So how often do you guys meet as a council? We have our business meetings every Thursday, but it just depends on what we have going on. We have a zero period this year that starts at 7.30, and so if we have events coming up, committees might meet, but typically we meet at least three times a week. All right. How are these guys at 7.30 in the morning? Everybody's pretty good. You don't have to crack the whip on them or anything like that? No. It just takes them a couple stretches and yawns, and then they're ready to go. All right. Acacia, how tough is it to get all the time to do these things, because you're a youth commissioner too, is it? I am, yeah. So last year, Executive Council was actually a class, so we had a fourth period, and so the change to this year only having about a 50-minute period three times a week in the mornings is a bit difficult. I'd say that sometimes it's harder to wrap your mind around everything that's going on, because we're only meeting three times a week, but overall, I think we still get a lot done. We're a little bit more pressed for time, so it makes us really stay on task with what we're doing. All right. I see a lot of pressure on you, because adults like myself in the political world out there, we've messed things up big time. Does it feel like you guys have to set an example for us on how to run meetings, how to get things done? Because it seems like in Washington and Sacramento, we don't get much done anymore. I would say that the goal of the Executive Council is really to cultivate the next leaders, and we are under all the different Robert's Rules of Order, and our meetings are very official, and so I think it's really a great experience to cultivate those skills and learn how a professional business meeting goes and things like that, so hopefully, the next generation of us is going into that workforce and having the skills needed to be in that position. Are you surprised, Ryan, that you're on the Executive Council, or is this something you've done for years and really have enjoyed doing? No, actually, this is my first year on Council. First year, okay. Yeah, so I knew about it my freshman year. I took a beginning leadership class with Pete, and I really liked it, but then I stayed away from it sophomore or junior year, and then my twin, he actually did it last year, and it was super fun. He was doing a ton of cool things and stuff like that, and so I was like, man, I really want to try out, and then the senior president was like, do you want to run for Vice President with me? I was like, yeah, let's do it. I'm so down, and then that just kind of falled into me just being on Council now. So did you make up signs like vote for me and all that stuff? You do all that stuff? Yeah, we passed out candy, filmed videos, and yeah, I did a whole parade. All right, now it's lost on me, this whole idea of twin. Do you have a twin? I have an identical twin, yeah. Identical twin? What's his name? Kyle Weiss. Kyle Weiss? Yeah. Okay. Who's older? He is older. I know. It drives you nuts, doesn't it? Yeah, he definitely says, oh, I'm an older twin, but I'll give it to him, yeah. Okay. Is he a nice guy? Yeah, sometimes. Do you guys think alike and all that stuff and do things that are kind of weird that freaks these two girls out and stuff? Yeah, I'd say so. Mariah's shaking her, nodding her head like this. Absolutely. We don't try to trick people or anything like that, though. He's kind of always stayed away from dressing the same or stuff like that, kind of our own two personalities, but definitely if you see us from the back or from looking at us, you can't tell us apart. Are you better looking than him? Sometimes they say the second twin's better looking. I don't know what they say. That's what I hear. All right. Just throwing it out there. Right. All right. Do you always plan to be a leadership type of person, too? I don't know if I so much planned it or as I just kind of steered to that direction. I've done it since seventh grade and it's always been something that's kind of natural to me. I absolutely love it. I love communicating with people. I love leading people. I also love being led, which is sometimes people don't always look at it like that. That's refreshing. Yeah. Okay. I love it all. It's like it is. It's refreshing and it's just opportunities upon opportunities that I love. All right. So, of course, you guys went through COVID at a younger age and stuff, obviously. Do you think that's kind of prepared you to get involved as well because things were so locked down at that point that things needed to get kind of built back up post-COVID? Sometimes I think I forget about it and I don't view it like that, but when you do view it in the bigger picture, it definitely can be seen as that. But I feel like, especially our generation, taking it so young, we always kind of forget it happened. We moved on and everything kind of got rebuilt and then we jumped into it, I kind of feel like. And so, I don't know if we're so much rebuilding or as we're jumping into what's been rebuilt. Yeah. How does that feel for you? Same way, Acacia, as far as post-COVID? Yeah. I would say, I mean, I was in third grade when COVID hit, so I was pretty young. So, yeah, I would say that maybe that's not something that's affected us a lot. Totally could be for some people, but I think the group of us that are on executive council this year are all just super driven people, depending on what they're driven about, right? We have people who run our outreach and run our Instagram. We have people who run those activities at school. We have people who are dressing up in funny costumes and walking around to gain school spirit. And so, there's an outlet really for everybody on council and so we can all kind of find our drive in a certain way. All right. One special thing that's coming up, we're going to talk about after our first break here on KNC Insight, is the Make a Difference game or the MAD game that is coming to Nevada Union High School. We're going to give you the origins of it and what this year's game is all about and maybe, Mariah, getting the public involved too, the community involved a little bit more, huh? Absolutely. I would love to. Oh, that sounds great. All right. So, we're going to take our first break. We'll be right back. Remember when you could work in the yard all day and actually move the next morning? Yeah, good times. These days, I recommend a hot tub from Sierra Timberline. Warm water therapy can help soothe pulled muscles, achy backs and sore joints, and frankly, sitting in a hot tub beats complaining about them. Morning or night, soak, relax, feel better, repeat. Sierra Timberline in the home center, Idaho Merlin Road in Grass Valley. Hi, I'm Steve Nally, manager of the Les Schwab Tire Center here in Grass Valley. Before you head out for winter travel or a holiday visit, I'd like to invite you in for a free pre-chip safety inspection. We'll check your tire pressure and visually inspect your wheels, alignment, shocks and struts, front end components, brakes and battery. Investing a little time now will help you feel more confident down the road. And if we spot a concern, we'll explain it and answer your questions. We want you to feel comfortable with the people caring for your vehicle. Visit us at 570 Freeman Lane in Grass Valley. We're open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Walk-ins are always welcome. To make an appointment, just give us a call or visit us online at leschwab.com. I look forward to meeting you. Let's help get you ready for the road ahead. Les Schwab, doing the right thing since 1952. This Thanksgiving weekend is a hometown musical reunion. Nevada City's favorite hometown band, Golden Shoulders, joins forces with Nevada City's other favorite hometown band, the Moore Brothers. Grab the family, the extended family and those friends you secretly like better than your family. It's one great night of live music Saturday, November 28th at the Center for the Arts in Grass Valley. Get your tickets at thecenterforthearts.org. Attendance is strongly encouraged. Family drama optional. Everest has been summited over 13,000 times, but only five people have ever climbed the direct north face, and no one in the world has ever skied it. Prime Cinema presents Movies on the Big Screen, as they were meant to be seen at Del Oro and set in cinemas. Showing through November 5th at your prime cinemas at the Del Oro, Everest, the other side, rated PG-13, You Can See Everything, rated R, and Clayface, also rated R. Now let's check on the Sutton. Wildwood, rated PG-13, Sense and Sensibility, rated PG, and Hocus Pocus, also rated PG. Playing through November 5th at your local theaters. Now you know what's showing. Be sure to enjoy a movie on the big screen at Nevada County's two prime cinema theaters, the Sutton and the Del Oro. All right, KNC Newstime is about 920, almost 921 degrees. Welcome back to KN Swinsite. Our other studio, Star 94 FM, has the Children's Librarians reading a children's book. It's one that we shared yesterday, also, during Stay and Play, which was to use songs to encourage cooperation or to teach things. Very cute stuff. Anyway, that's what's going on here. We're talking about, though, Nevada Union High School and the leadership that's out there. Student government has certainly their act together. It is wonderful to see how many people are on the executive council over at Nevada Union High School. And the Make a Difference game is happening. So Mariah, off the air, I found out that you're the one that brought this to Nevada Union High School. How did you find out about it? I went to a leadership conference my sophomore year. And it's a state conference called CASEL, California Association of Student Leaders. And there's this little block of the leadership conference where students are able to present events that happen at their school that they feel other schools could want to bring on. And their school had a mad game. And I just sat there. And maybe it was the way she presented it. Maybe it was the way I just felt about the event. But I knew. And you needed it. And I remember leaving the conference and sitting down at Cheesecake Factory with Pete Tutucci. And I told him. I was like, we're going to do this. This needs to happen. And he was like, OK, make your to-do list. And we made it happen a month later. Now, where was the school that had it before? Were they from Sacramento or Los Angeles? Where were they from? I honestly do not know. I cannot remember. Yeah. OK. But it just seemed like it would click for the campus. Yes. And the pictures in the slideshow she showed, they had so many students up on their feet, cheering on. They had sponsorships from local businesses. And it was just so like you could feel it, like you're almost there just by her showing her video and presenting it to you. Wow. All right. That's kind of interesting. You're saying that the Nevada Union is something that the school could use and the school could need. Why did you think that, that you guys could use that and need it? Well, I just believe there was a disconnect with our special education program. Because I've personally grown up with quite a few special education students as I've grown up in Grass Valley. And I just felt like, yes, I'm close with them, but I don't feel like everybody else was. And I know that it can just be so impactful as simple like knowing somebody's name and saying hi and giving them a smile in the hallway. And so giving people an event where they're able to celebrate these students and then also like learn something about them was awesome. I was able to have students after the fact of the game, which is the whole point, be able to continue these relationships. And that disconnected slowly over time, obviously able to just kind of disappear, hopefully. All right. Now, what sport were they playing down at that school that gave the video demonstration? Was it football, baseball, or what were they playing? They were doing baseball because they said their baseball program was the biggest sport they had there. All right. That's interesting. All right. Because you're going to be doing flag football. Right. I guess doing real football, putting on the pads be a little bit too much. Yeah. Right. Okay. Yes, indeed. So flag football on November 6th, which is a Friday. Yes. That's a week from tomorrow. All right. That's very exciting stuff. Now, what was the reaction of your fellow classmates when you brought the idea? It's one thing about talking to Pete about it, but how about the other, your classmates? Well, executive counsel was right in my corner. They were amazing helping hands, getting everything done with me. I couldn't do this on my own, obviously. And then I wanted to invite our whole campus to come down, and I communicated that to our teachers. I sent an email. And you never know with the first year of something how that's going to turn out. But our school showed up and showed out. They came. They filled our entire baseball field down the hill. There was no seats left for anybody, and they were cheering on students as their walkout song was going on. And when they hit the ball, it was great. Our campus really showed out. It was awesome. Wow. Okay. So the players had walk-up music and all that stuff? Yes, indeed. That's what their favorite songs were, and they got their favorite song as they walked up. All right. Now, Ryan, were you part of this as a spectator at all? Did you get to see it? I did get to go see it, actually. It was actually pretty amazing. My brother was playing in it, so I had to come out and support him. Yeah. All right. Was it everything you thought it would be, or was it actually a little bit cooler than you thought it would be? I actually think it was cooler than I thought it would be. I was like, okay, it's a cool idea, including these kids and playing this sport, and then you get out there, and they're just having the best time of their lives. They always are. They're always in the best mood, laughing, going out there, and just having a good time. It was just really awesome to see. And I have to admit, Acacia, at the NU campus, I do sports up there, but it's usually, obviously, if I'm doing basketball in the winter and football, it's after hours of class and all that stuff. Are you special ed students incorporated in classrooms, or do they have separate wings and stuff? Yeah. So we have a pretty large special education program. I actually TA in one of the classrooms. So we have students anywhere from mild to severe diagnosis, and so some students are actually in regular ed classes, their gen ed classes, and then have maybe one support class where others are completely in those support classes throughout their time at NU. So it really just depends on the student, but the goal of this and a lot of our inclusion activities are just to involve those students and give them just that chance to be recognized and for people to say hey to them and feel like they can really be involved in what's going on on campus. And it sounds good in theory. So that's the thing, Mariah. You have that with the student body showing up and all that stuff. Post-game, was it all of a sudden these kids were embraced more around campus and being seen like, in case you just said, saying hi and being more part of campus life? I feel on a baseline level, it definitely was. There was a lot more just minor conversations in the hallways and things like that. And then the second year, it grows a little bit more. You start to learn these students' names a little bit more and can have more of like what their interests are and just like talk to them after the game. If somebody hits the ball super far, you can be like, hey, John, that was great. You got that real good. And that makes them feel great after the game. And you can talk about that situation for so long and it can carry on to so many more conversations. It just always starts with like one thing, a conversation starter. And that's kind of what Bad Game gave a lot of our students on both sides. They gave them a conversation starter to build relationships. You can't build a relationship without talking. And so I did that for them. Was it tough to get everybody involved? Because I think if you're doing baseball, right, getting Coach White involved and everybody. Was it easy? Was it tough to fit it in their schedule? How did that work? Well, Mad Game, we were trying to do it at the end of the year so that students were more free to come down and teachers didn't have much on their agendas. And when it came to Coach White, they were amazing. They were all about it. They told me last year that whatever Mariah wants is what Mariah gets. And they brought their boys together. Their boys actually help with Challenge League too as well, Challenger. And they help all the time. So they're kind of used to this. They just went in there and it was easy for them. They already have those relationships kind of built with their students. And so they were easy peasy, awesome help. You're like a goddess, if you don't mind me saying. Whatever you want, you get? That's all Coach White. Is that true? I don't know. I guess, yeah. Yeah, Mariah, it seems that way. You got to sit in the captain's... Acacia, you seem to seem that way too. She's definitely earned it. She's pretty respected across campus for what she's done. All right. Now, it's interesting how you said the ones that had the video presentation had the community involved. Okay, so in what ways were they involved? Was it sponsoring it or getting extra treats or what? What were they doing? Well, for the presentation I was trying to counsel, they were actually sponsored by Chick-fil-A and they had the cow mascot come down. I think they fed all their players some Chick-fil-A, so that's obviously something we don't have down here. But I took it more as first on the Nevada Union scale and I wanted to involve other sports teams and other clubs and programs. So at least my first year we involved our baseball, our special education, our band and our dance, along with our cheer team. And so just getting at least the roots of Nevada Union involved was my first goal. Okay. All right. So this game you have, I understand dance and cheer is going to be there. So what are they going to be doing? They going to be doing things in between quarters and stuff? So we're going to have two games playing and then we'll take a little intermission. And this year we steered away with just having our cheer and dance perform and we're doing people's dance, which is our dancers along with our special education students that are in a class together, I do believe. And they perform at our dance show this upcoming fall. And so they're going to do a little segment in between games and perform. All right. Since you work with them, Acacia, you know, as a teacher assistant, are they shy by nature, some of these special ed kids about going out there and performing or they become pretty much hams once they get the opportunity? Yeah. So I don't have any of the dancers in my class, but I do have some of the players who play in MAD Games and they are just, they're so excited to go out. I talk to them about it a lot and they're always like very excited about any of the things that we put on for them and MAD Game being the biggest one. They're always super hyped and excited. And I've never really, I don't think they really view it as something to be scared about. I think they're just super excited to go out there and play a game with their friends. So yeah, that's, it's super sweet to see. And since your brother took part in the game, right, Kyle, did he give you feedback on how it was for him to play? I mean, was he assisting kids playing, like batting and fielding and all that stuff? Yeah, I mean, not necessarily helping, he was playing in the game. And so he, from what I heard later that night, he got the t-shirt and he keeps wearing it. But from what he's told me, it was pretty cool to see. He had a good time. He said it was a blast and just going out there and having fun with his friends is all you can ask for. Yeah, it's a very special thing. So if the community members are listening right now, I know it's only a week away. Is there things you would like the community to get involved and help with at all at this point? At this point, I think just support at the game itself, coming, showing up and just showing like some NU pride, honestly, would be amazing. I just want, I remember my dad was an NU football player and he always tells me stories about how communities like the downtown would shut down and come show up to their games. And I just want that like community support again. Yeah. I think that would be amazing. We have such a rich culture down here in Grass Valley. And so, bring that. Was your dad a good player? To him? Yes, indeed. That's what's well put. That's what his dad would say. Yes, Keisha? Yeah, so we also have an article published on UBINET right now about MAD Game. It has a little bit more of the details, how it was started, things like that. And so that's really awesome to see. If anybody who's listening would like to go to the UBINET website, it's posted on there. It's the Make a Difference Game or MAD Game. So that would be great, even if you just want to read up on it a little bit and see what we're doing over there. Yeah. All right. And since it's during the school day, if people want to come out and watch the game, is it going to be at Hooper Stadium? Is that where it's going to be? Yes, it'll be at Hooper Stadium. All right. Should we check in at the front office and such since it's a school day? Probably should, huh? I believe they would appreciate that. Yeah, it's probably good. All right. So we'll get the details on that from the front office. A great tradition, guys, that I have is always late for my news update because I get busy talking. So let's get a local news update. We'll get a weather forecast, and we'll talk more MAD Game when we come back. Good morning. I'm Paul Haas with the KNCO. Local news update. Four teen boys have been arrested for last year's death of a skateboarder at Condon Park. Grass Valley Police Lieutenant Brian Blakemore says during the course of the investigation, detectives learned that these friends had agreed to travel to the park with the intention of stealing a vehicle on the night of November 7th. That's where they happened upon 51-year-old Jason Frost, who was from Sacramento County and alone at the skate park. Blakemore says they demanded the keys to Frost's vehicle parked nearby. Frost refused, which led to a physical altercation during which he was stabbed in the chest. The offenders then removed the victim's keys from his pants pocket and completed the theft of his vehicle. All four offenders drove in the victim's vehicle through different parts of Placer and Nevada counties before ultimately discarding the vehicle near the intersection of McCourtney Road and Indian Springs Road sometime before sunrise. Blakemore says three of the boys were 17 at the time and another was 14. All four were from Western Nevada County with one also splitting residency in Sacramento County. Blakemore is also indicating that there will be efforts to prosecute the suspects as adults. For now, they've been booked into Placer County Juvenile Hall. And a South Nevada County man has been re-arrested on a wide assortment of weapons and drug offenses. Sheriff's Department Public Information Officer Ashley Quadros says 57-year-old Jeffrey Smith, who lives near Auburn, had been on probation and pre-trial release conditions in connection with a pending criminal case involving possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. So the probation department stopped by his home on Rincon Way Wednesday morning. There they found several rifles, disassembled firearms, firearm accessories, ammunition, and controlled substances, including methamphetamine. Because this is a violation of his probation, he's on a no hold now. And several violations, so felon in possession of a firearm, prohibited person in possession of ammunition, possession of controlled substances with a loaded firearm. These searches, we try to do them often because, you know, a lot of folks, you see the arrest and then you see the release, see the release, and it's this revolving door. Quadros says there was also evidence suggesting possible identity theft. Join us for our next local news update at the bottom of the hour for news, traffic, and weather. Johnny Houlahan grew up in Nevada City, graduated from Nevada Union, and spent his teenage years listening to KNCO, dreaming about music. That dream eventually took him to Nashville, where he built a career as a singer, songwriter, and producer. Now Johnny's music is bringing him home. His latest album, 119 Grove Street, is inspired by the Nevada County he grew up in, with songs like Nevada County Line and Hometown Radio. Hear Johnny Houlahan live, Wednesday, November 11th, at 7 p.m. at the Miner's Foundry in Nevada City. It's a special hometown concert you won't want to miss. Seating is limited. Get your tickets now at knco.com. Johnny Houlahan, coming home to Nevada County. This from the KNCO-BNC ACE Home and Garden Center Weather Center. ACE is the place. Here is your forecast on KNCO News Talk 830. Apache areas of smoke, mostly cloudy through much of today with a high temperature in the low 60s. It'll be cloudy overnight till low 45. Then partly cloudy, a little bit cooler on Friday with a high in the upper 50s near 60. Rain develops later Friday night till low 43. Showers Saturday and mid to upper 50s. For weather anytime, click on the Weather Center at knco.com. I'm meteorologist Dan Holiday on KNCO News Talk 830. KNCO News Time, 937, 52 degrees. Welcome back to KNCO Insight. We got three kids out of school. Is this part of the nice gig, just to be over here, just relaxing, doing this? Absolutely. You want to expand it out to a two-hour show? Should we do that? Yeah, my parents sometimes say that just executive council is just an option to skip school. Who are they kidding though, right? Right. I love that you guys are embracing this whole idea of the MAD Game. Again, Mariah Lang brought it to us from a statewide event where she had it introduced. It seems like it's been embraced. Do you see it growing in the years to come, Mariah, even after you graduate and stuff? Yes, I actually have a younger student, an underclassman, shadowing me this year because this will be my final year hosting this event. She can hopefully carry it on once I'm gone. Is there a special calling in your heart that you had working with special ed kids before? I honestly, not before CASEL, but now I'm actually doing my senior project on it. I really want to find maybe a career path in it because it's just, I don't know, I love it. I really do. They say it's special. That's why they call it special ed, special kids, special teachers getting involved and that whole atmosphere and stuff. You're already involved as a teacher's assistant and stuff. Do you plan to do something like that in your future? What's your future going to be like? I don't know yet. I'm just a sophomore this year, but it's really been a great opportunity to get involved. It's so fulfilling to see that little change. If you have a shy student and you have that first conversation and you see them coming out of their shell a little bit more. It's so amazing to see. I don't know if this is something that I want to continue into my future, but I absolutely want to treasure every moment that I get with these kids throughout my years at ed. Brian, how about you? What's your future look like? I'm a senior this year and I'm looking to go to trade school next year or just a community college. The goal is to go down to San Luis Obispo, down by Cal Poly to go to Cuesta maybe. My dad went to Cal Poly, so I kind of want to continue that little streak. Oh yeah, that's a great place. My pop also went there too. So I think I'll try to go down to Cal Poly maybe. Live there for a few years. I've got family there. And then eventually, in the next four years, go to trade school to be an electrician and then try to start my own company just like Dad. Awesome. That's all awesome stuff. Do you see it also growing to each season of the school? By that I mean, we have flag football, so that's a fall sport. We did baseball. Now I guess, would it be basketball maybe a possibility? Yes, you're going to be excited to hear that. It's already going to be a possibility. This year we're planning on doing it. Yeah, all three. Well, wait a minute. Now that brings up a point. So that would be played at the Ally Gymnasium and stuff, I take it? Yes. Alright. Do you already have a date picked out? We do not yet. We do not. Alright. I will say this. If it's a possibility, we'd love to broadcast that. We broadcast the varsity games, boys and girls and stuff. That would be kind of fun to do. Absolutely. I think. I might have to have one of you on there as a color commentator with me or something like that, but that might be kind of fun to do. That would be so fun. Yeah. Alright. Alright. That's very exciting. So it's already growing and stuff. Yes, absolutely. Three this year. Three is crazy. Yeah, that is kind of crazy and stuff. Alright. So for the community members out there that want to get involved, is there sponsorship opportunities? Is there stuff that they can do as far as, like you said, Chick-fil-A provided food? Would it be something that it would be nice to have snacks like that, whether it's a pizza place or something like that? Absolutely. Food donations would probably be great. Really right now I can only think about supporting, but every business and every person has something to offer, and so I would just love to hear people's ideas and just really get some community support. Yeah. So for the project, are you going to do a presentation about this, about all these different events that you put on and stuff? Yes. I don't know exactly if it's going to be about teaching special education or if I'm going to go towards more event planning route, but, yeah, I'm going to do a presentation at the end of the year. Alright. Now do you have a place where you're going to school after graduation and stuff? Do you already have plans that way? I don't have a set plan, but I would love to go to UC Irvine. That's my top school right now. The Anteaters down there? Yes. Why UC Irvine? That's kind of an interesting school. Well, I do cheerleading, and I've done it for so long, and I love their spirit squad they have down there. I didn't know that. Alright. That's very cool. Alright. Very good. Alright. And you're only a sophomore, so you don't have to worry about that stuff right now, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's what I like to think sometimes, but, you know, the pressure is always there, but I'm looking to go to a four-year after I graduate, preferably somewhere on the East Coast. Okay. Why the East Coast? Why the East Coast? That's where I'm from, so I'm just kind of curious. Okay. Oh, awesome. Yeah. I hope to – I want to get a little bit of a change from California. I love to travel, so I think getting a different perspective would be great. I also want to live in California when I'm older, so I don't want to live here forever. So, yeah, and every time I've been to the East Coast, it's really – I really enjoy, you know, the ocean there. I like the people, and I think just it's full of opportunity. Is there a favorite place you've been to back there? I've been to New York City, and I've also been to Boston, and I really enjoy both of them. I really like Boston a lot. Oh, yeah. Great college town, no doubt. Yeah, great colleges, yeah. Yeah, great colleges, prestigious ones and stuff. All right. Now, Halloween's coming, by the way. I haven't even talked to you guys about that. Do you guys do anything special executive council-wise for Halloween and the student body and all that stuff? We currently have a spirit week going on. Today's Michael Jackson Thriller Thursday. Thriller Thursday. Now, you guys don't look like Michael Jackson stuff. What do you have going on? Wow, look at that. Got the sunglasses going. All right. That's not bad. Do you guys have things that you're putting on for Michael Jackson? Do you have, like, a glove or anything like that, sequined glove? I did my best to do the red jacket that he has. Yeah, I tried. But today we also have – so we have what's called lunchtime activities or LTAs, and so every day of our spirit week, we have activities for the student body to participate in, and so today we have a silent disco going on at lunch with those headphones and music playing, and so we've got our own executive council DJs helping out, and so it's going to be great. All right. Has school spirit been good for all these things, Ryan, people participating in this? Yeah, I'd say, for the most part, kids are dressing up and coming out and just, like, wearing stuff to school because there is actually rewards on the line. Oh, that's a good point. Yeah, so if you dress up, you get – you check in with one of us from executive council, you get spirit points, and then at the student store in the attendance office area, you can go buy, like, Gatorades or cookies or chips or something like that for a certain amount of spirit points. Oh, all right. Let me see. So any teachers really involved with this? For years, Tim Reed, Mr. Reed, was always, like, crazy decorating himself up in costumes and such. He's now a leadership guy, I think, with the district and all that stuff. Okay. Do you know of any teachers that in particular get into this stuff? Yeah. Mrs. Dragasette and Mr. Dragasette always come up to me, and they're like, check me in for spirit points. Like, I'm dressing up. And then I also think Pete Tutucci really dresses up pretty hard. Yeah. Yeah, another one is Chloe Smith, who's one of our ag advisors, and she's always repping the ag department and always dressing up. All right. All right. So anybody in particular you want to notice for Michael Jackson stuff? Did anybody go over the top, like Thriller stuff or anything like that? This morning, we walked into Zero Period, and Pete, our advisor, pulled up, and he was wearing the whole fit. He had a red shirt on. He had black slacks rolled up with his shiny black shoes and a glove to match. And so he really went above and beyond, and it's a great example. All right. That's a great thing. Now, is there something for tomorrow as well? Do you know what the thing is for tomorrow? Tomorrow is going to be costumes. So we're going to have a costume contest at lunch, some candy to hand out to folks, and just get into the spooky season vibes. All right. And is the principal and all that stuff into this as far as that goes? They're okay with this? They're okay with us. You know, they love the school spirit. I haven't really seen much participation from them yet, which could be something that could be great in the future. But, yeah, they definitely enjoy and really appreciate all of the activities that we put on. So you guys have costumes all picked out? Do you know what yours is, Acacia? Tomorrow I'm going to be a clown. Okay. And then on actual Halloween, I'm going to be a disco ball while I go trick-or-treating with my little brother. You're going to be, like, a round disco ball. No, so it's not quite going to be a round disco ball. I have, like, I got this sequined skirt, and I have, like, cool silver boots, and so it's going to be super bright and shiny. Okay. That sounds good. Ryan, do you have your costume picked out? Yeah. I had a little idea. I think I was going to dress up as Tiger Woods. Oh, golfing guy. Oh, yeah? You all set for that? You got everything? Red shirt, black pants? Oh, yeah, I got the whole thing. I mean, as a golfer, you just have a ton of polos and all the golf stuff, so I'm going to scrap it together, but I got the Sunday red polo. I got the black. Are you going to walk around with a club in your hand, too, or is that what you're allowed to? Yeah, I'm going to have to bring my five-wood to school. That's my favorite club, so I'll definitely have to. All right. All right. Mariah, how about you? Well, tomorrow is our senior night, our last home football game, and I'm part of the Varsity Cheer Team, so I'll be in my cheer uniform. Oh, yeah, I guess you have no choice, huh? Yeah, but it's okay. I love it. All right, and you guys are playing Placer High School, obviously talking to your dad. This is like a big rivalry game. Yes, it is. Right? Indeed. I mean, is the football team ready? It's been a tough year for them. Yeah, I think they're ready, especially because it's their last home game. I hope the spirit's up. I hope they're ready to go out with a bang, hopefully. Yeah, yeah. Of course, we'll be broadcasting that game here on KNCO, matter of fact, tomorrow night. Anyway, we're done the homestretch here of Inside. We're going to go through the Make a Difference game, or MAD game, again, to give you all the times. Make sure you get involved with that. It is a week from Friday, so a quick break. We'll be right back. Hi, this is Ryan Valdez with Rock Rose Risk. 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Earn a pasty with You Make the Call in the 7 a.m. hour with another chance during the Chris Gilbert News Quiz. Get ready to win an incredible Robinson Enterprises pasty each Wednesday with KNCO News Talk 830. Hi, KNCO News time, 95253 degrees down the home stretch here of KNCO Insight. I'm Tom Fitzsimmons, and for my regular listeners out there, these young people might not know this, but this is going to be my last Insight Show for a while. I have some health issues that I'm battling and stuff, so I'm going to be stepping away from the radio station. I can't think of a better topic to do my last Insight Show than talking about young people being involved with our community, with their own community, and being role models for us. I just love how these leaders, not only are strong enough to be leaders on their campus, but really just embracing everybody. In this case, the Make a Difference game, the MAD game, embracing those kids that are in special ed and making sure they're woven into the fabric of the Nevada Union High School community. At times, they probably have felt separate and not really part of it, but this is a way to incorporate them into activities, in this case sports, to become a part of the community and feel the love from their fellow classmates. Mariah Lang brought it to us. Great job, Mariah. I think it's a wonderful thing. It's going to expand to basketball, it sounds like, sometimes during the winter season. I imagine maybe towards the end of the regular season or something like that? Yeah, most likely. And then Ted White's on for baseball again? Absolutely. I think Coach Nye is now the head coach, so he's been really good communicating, and I think he'll take charge of it now. Alright, that sounds good. You were telling me off-air that, if I recall, Acacia is involved with the club, that it is working with the MAD game, is that right? Yes, the Hidden Opponents Club. Hidden Opponents Club, which sounds almost like a mystery type of game, but it's not that at all, it sounds like. No, it's not. So, the Hidden Opponents, we have a chapter at Nevada Union, it's a nationwide club, and our goal is to break the stigma surrounding mental health in athletes, and so we offer resources on campus for athletes or not, just to get involved with that mental health side, the balance of sports and school and all the extracurriculars, and so that can weigh a lot on students, especially because there is so much expected from high school students right now. And so we offer guest speakers, sports psychologists that come in and give us ways to deal with that stress, we have little tournaments, we do spike ball tournaments or frisbee tournaments, and then we just have some study time and resources for people who need it. And so, yeah, at MAD game, we are going to go out and do a little presentation of what we offer. We meet every week over at Nevada Union, and it's a great resource for students to get involved. Yeah, and I've always wondered this, Mariah, cheerleaders are athletes too. I mean, your cheerleading team, without a doubt, the stunts and all that stuff that you guys do, you guys practice hard. Is there also a strain mentally with cheerleaders as well? I would believe so. It's definitely, I believe it is the longest going season at Nevada Union because cheer starts April, the year prior to, like the fall prior. Starts April? Yeah, we have tryouts. Tryouts, and then you have, what, learning routines and all that stuff? Yeah, cheers, routines, basics. We had a lot of new girls this year, and so it has to start early to get prepped. You start the first week of school is our first game. Yeah, and do you have competitions you go to as well? You know, you see them on TV every once in a while and stuff. Do you do, like, regional competitions? This year, we aren't attending competition, but in years prior, we attended a competition called Jams, and it has the opportunity to even go to Vegas. Yeah, all right. Now, the thing is, Ryan, being a golfer, all right, mental health there is a big part of that game and stuff. Is mental health talked about by fellow students and such if they're kind of struggling and stuff? No, I feel like kids don't really, like nowadays, don't really talk about mental health. I think especially for men, it gets shut down. Like, you can't talk about your feelings or you can't express how you're feeling or what's going on in your life, and I think that's, like, the biggest thing about the club is getting around that and actually talking about it is so, so big for not only golf but just any other sport in your life. Like, I know especially for golf, like, if I'm having a bad day or something tough, like, happened to me and then I got to go play 18 holes, it's like that's going to really tie on you. There's so many things you have to think about, and it can really tear us out, your mental. And so, like, going to clubs and youth groups and things like that and just being around friends, especially at school, is, like, awesome. It just really rebuilds it. All right. I will say this, and I'm excited that you're presenting it, is that it is a sign of strength if you do get the help. That's what's kind of funny. People think it's a sign of weakness because you're asking for help, but it's actually a sign of strength. Yeah, absolutely. You know, when people come into our club and, you know, they find that help that they need, even if it's not super severe, and they just find a breathing tactic for a day that they're stressed, you know, it's so awesome to see, and that really is just the goal of the club to offer that resource to everybody. All right. So if people are listening right now and they want to attend the MAD game that's coming up, it's a week from tomorrow, Hooper Stadium, it's going to be flag football. I imagine checking at the school's office, right, before going out there, because it is a school day. It's like 10 in the morning. Yes, it'll be at 10 o'clock, yes. Should we arrive like earlier, like 9.45ish or something like that? That would probably be perfect. It's supposed to start at 10? All right. And just bring it like a – is there going to be anything that people should bring besides themselves? No, we just want you and your spirit. All right. Yeah. And hopefully – Bring a friend. Bring a friend. And really, I think it's part of the love affair people will have with this, you know, just to see extra fans coming out there and cheer it on as if it's a real big-time football game and stuff. Yeah. All right. And we have special education students that – parents that come, too, and that's awesome. All right. Do the cheerleader parents come and all that stuff, since you're going to be cheering out there? No, not usually. It's mainly just our special education parents. Okay. But, yeah, we would love to see community members out there. As we go through the year, there might be opportunities. You know, it's kind of funny, because we had a commercial. I don't know if you guys heard it, for pasties that Robinson Enterprises has. That might be somebody that can present, like, a little food to eat, like a little big pasties and stuff. Absolutely. Yeah, that would be very cool. And for people who want to find information, Acacia, you were saying UBINET has all the who, what, and when? Yes, UBINET. There's an article on there that will have all the information or just contacting Nevada Union directly. They have the information if anybody has questions about it. But, yeah, UBINET article. All right. Now, when these two graduate and all the other seniors, are there a lot of underclassmen you're still going to be able to work with, or is it just you? No, not at all. This year we have a pretty strong freshman and sophomore bunch. I think we have about ten sophomores on council and four freshmen. Oh, okay. So, you know, I think we're in pretty good hands. All right. The future sounds good. Yeah, absolutely. It's promising. All right, Mariah, since you are the queen bee, anything else you want to add in closing? Thank you so much for having us. Thank you, Tom. My pleasure. And take your time getting back to school. If they have any issues, they can call me here at the radio station. But all the best for the MAD Game, and I look forward to you next Friday, week from Friday, November 6th. All right. That does it for us. We've got ABC News coming up here at the top of the hour, followed by Swap Shop and the Shopping Show here on KNCO News Talk, 830. ♪♪ --- end of transcript ---