Episode 2: Educator. Teaching Teens to Pitch, Build, and Lead: Inside Comal’s Incubator Program

0:05) Hi, I’m Zach, the non-profit guy, and this is another episode of Beyond Giving, the best non-profit podcast on the Boost Network. 

(0:12) This episode, we have a really cool interview with Dr. Goodloe from the Komal Education Foundation. 

(0:19) So, I’m Dr. Lizette Goodloe, and I’m with the Komal Education Foundation and Komal ISD, and I’m super excited to have this conversation with Zach today.

(0:28) Thank you so much for coming on the show. 

(0:31) We like to really highlight change makers in the community and their organizations that are making positive change. 

(0:37) So I think, gosh, I think every interaction we’ve had has been around helping young entrepreneurs figure out how to get from where they are now to fleshing out ideas to building companies and doing all this cool stuff.

(0:51) So can you tell us kind of a little bit about yourself and what part of your life or how 

 your life led you from where you were into the Komal Education Foundation? 

(1:01) Absolutely. So I’ve been a classroom teacher for 18 years. This is year 20 in education.

My role is a little bit unique in that I am part of the school district and then part of a non-profit. So my school district role is I work with our career and technical education department, and what that does is it’s 13, 14 different programs that are funded by the government, but we have these pathways similar to a college major, but now in high school. But these are pathways that students choose when they’re in eighth grade.

(1:38) So imagine being in eighth grade and someone asking you the question, well, you’ve got to choose these classes for the next four years, you’re going to be in this pathway. Anything from automotive to health care to barbering and cosmetology. So that’s one aspect of my position in the district, and then the other aspect is I work with our education foundation as our executive director, and what we do is support not only our teachers, but our students through the programs that they’re involved with, and that’s how you and I became good friends through One Million Cups, right down the street, and then through our incubator program.

(2:19) And it was actually that incubator program is why, is kind of like how things aligned and we connected there at One Million Cups, right? Can you tell us kind of a little bit about that incubator program and what you guys were doing at One Million Cups and where that is? 

(2:32) Yes. So we have our incubator program at three high schools, at Piper High School, at Canyon High School, and at Smithson Valley. And this is an actual class that students take their junior and senior year.

(2:43) They’re placed on teams. Once they’ve decided on their teams, then they decide on either a service or an actual, it’s some sort of business that they do the research, they find out what the problems are in our community, and they’re looking for those solutions. (3:00) They’re actively seeking those solutions.

(3:02) So what I did is, after attending One Million Cups a couple times, I thought that was a (3:06) great opportunity for our students to pitch live. And speaking with the teachers, the teachers mentioned that our students need some sort of motivation. And I said, well, let’s throw them into the fire.

(3:18) Absolutely. In front of people, in a live audience. And it’s a space that is super safe.

(3:25) It allows for them to be vulnerable. So the students actually practice their pitches there. (3:30) You were an audience member, all of them actually, and gave them feedback.

(3:35) And then they went through a workshop with the office staff there at LaunchSA, which was absolutely phenomenal, because their growth and progress from one week to the next was just fantastic. 

(3:49) Yeah, that’s really cool.) And so I think it’s exceptionally cool that you guys even have this class in your school and you have this program where students can kind of try out being an entrepreneur, try out building companies.

(4:03) So how did that kind of lead to happen? How did that get added to the curriculum? How do students kind of get enrolled in that? And then why is that so important? Even if you’re not going on to start a company, even if you want to go work for a big fame company or something like that, why is this such an important part of education? So I think through our incubator program, our students are gaining some invaluable skills through this process. The incubator program is actually through our business pathway of study. So they take an intro to business class as a freshman, and then their second year can be either finance or accounting per se.

(4:42) Not the extreme as we would be in college, but it’s just an introduction. And then that third year is the incubator program, and then the fourth year is supposed to be accelerator. Now that’s where we struggle a little bit, because we have teams that are mixed with juniors and seniors.

(4:58) And when half your company graduates, what are we doing with that component? But students, they sign up as eighth graders, and they know if they’re in the business pathway, their junior and senior year, they’re going to be a part of incubator. But I think through incubator, you see so many skills that the students develop from professional communication. Because we’re talking about students reaching out to real companies that are in existence and having conversations with them.

(5:28) Fundraising, because we don’t start with any seed money yet. We’re working on that. But they work on the fundraising piece.

(5:35) They work on building a prototype, their research, their marketing. All these skills that are happening almost organically. Yes, there’s a facilitator, which is their teacher.

(5:46) And then they have coaches and mentors that come in once a week to teach them a specific skill if the teacher doesn’t have that skill set. So I think that the skills that students are learning during incubator, they cannot be replicated in any regular core class that students take. (6:05) That’s so cool.

(6:06) And programs like that, I wish kind of, well, I know some of them did exist when I was in (6:10) school, but I wish they were more prominent, like APATH. I had known from a super young age that I wanted entrepreneurship. That’s what I wanted to do.

(6:18) And I wanted to start a company. When I started my current company, I had no idea what I was doing. I knew that QuickBooks will magically do all of our accounting.

(6:26) I knew that if you need to raise funding, go into a meeting and ask somebody for $50 million and they’ll write you a check. (6:33) All these things that are not even remotely realistic. (6:36) And so it’s really cool that you’re equipping these students with all of that stuff kind of up front so they get a taste of it.

(6:41) Now how long has this program existed at Comal? We are in year four of its existence. And the goal is to expand to all seven of our high schools. I’m not sure how that will work with our specialty schools because they already have their specialized programs which are aligned with Alamo Colleges.

(7:02) So they’re on a college schedule, which may be a little bit difficult, but at least our five comprehensive high schools, that would be our goal. And then the ultimate goal is to have an inner city type of incubator so we can compete against other school districts. That’s really cool.

(7:19) And so what do students typically do on the other side of this program? So when they do graduate, what do they typically use the skill sets that they’ve learned through the program to do? Some of our students actually continue on with their business. They carry that on. We have a student at Piper High School who was a part of incubator.

(7:37) Now he’s a little bit special because he had a business, went through the incubator program, won, but continued. But he serves as a mentor for some of the other students. That’s amazing.

(7:50) Yes. You know, it’s the peer-to-peer learning that’s taking place that us people that are a little bit older, they don’t necessarily want to listen to us all the time, but they’re going to listen to their peer and someone who’s actually done the work and done what they’re doing at their age. So they’ll take it with them, but I think it’s the skills that most importantly that they carry on with them, whether that be in college or whatever their career path.

(8:16) That’s awesome. And that’s so true. Like, you know, that peer-to-peer mentorship has a lot of what we do with the mentorship and the programs and stuff that we provide as like adults and like you through the Comal education, they’re super impactful.

(8:29) But sometimes a 30 minute session with somebody your age that has done exactly what you’re trying to do is even more impactful than all of the months and years of work that we do. (8:39) Right.  And that’s incredibly important.

(8:41) But that’s also a really good time for that other student, right, that is mentoring the other students because one, it’s all still fresh for them, right? They know exactly what it was like going through that program. And that helps prepare them to be more of a play more of a mentorship role in their career (8:57) moving forward. (8:58) Right.

(8:58) A lot of programs, a lot of people kind of miss that they don’t get exposed to that early (9:03) enough. (9:03) And then you have this like huge gap between people that have done it, that have the skill (9:07) sets and being able to effectively and constructively communicate that and help somebody else through (9:14) that process. (9:15) And so that’s really cool.

(9:16) It’s like you’re hitting so many areas with your incubator program. (9:21) What’s like one of the most exciting things or one of the most exciting aspects for you? (9:26) I think seeing the pitches. (9:28) I’m a teacher by by nature.

(9:30) So I was I was fortunate to see the pitches on two campuses and I saw them at LaunchSA. (9:37) So I got to see just a small I say small window of time, but it was a large growth in that (9:44) in that amount of time. (9:46) And just the students ability to answer questions that they may not have the answers to immediately.

(9:51) They were, you know, just it was it was just amazing. (9:54) And I love being around students. (9:55) I love seeing them think and problem solve.

(9:58) So that’s I’m looking forward to our final pitch because now we see the top teams from (10:04) each one of our campuses in the same space. (10:06) So that’ll be that’ll be exciting. (10:08) That’s cool.

(10:09) And so what subject did you teach? (10:10) I taught AVID, which is a college and career readiness course. (10:13) OK, so this makes sense. (10:14) That aligns really well then.

(10:16) And so when you first started teaching, where did you think did you think you would be the (10:21) executive director of an education foundation or where did you think you would end up? (10:25) No, I I thought I was going to be an athletic director because I was a teacher and a coach (10:30) and my passion for athletics still bleeds into all the work that I do. (10:33) But I think this position fits me perfectly because I like being out in the community (10:40) with people and I like connecting people. (10:43) I like bringing experiences into into classrooms and and with the Education Foundation and (10:49) my and my role as a as a partnership coordinator, I’m able to do both bring people in and (10:55) I can ask for money easily because I know what it’s like to be in the classroom, not (10:59) having the resources or even just asking people to serve as as mentors, as you mentioned, (11:04) or as as guest speakers per se.

(11:09) Nice. Yeah. And so that’s really cool.

(11:12) So when you did kind of make that transition from being in the classroom, like like (11:17) teaching these readiness programs, what was that like when you moved over into the (11:20) Education Foundation? And like, was that a very like did you start? (11:24) And then one day you’re like, I’m over here now. (11:26) And was it very much like night and day? (11:29) And like, what was that transition like? (11:30) So I started this school year, this academic year in August at a middle school in SAISD. (11:36) So I was in the classroom up until September, late September, September 20th ish or so.

(11:44) And that was a I left on a Monday and I started this position on a Tuesday. (11:49) So it was a flip from one day to the next literal, literal flip. (11:53) But it was so it was so natural for me because I I like going out.

(11:58) I like going and being in front of people and sharing with our business community and (12:04) just our community in general, how important it is for them to be in our classrooms, (12:07) because that’s how how much support our students need and and our teachers need as (12:13) well. Whether that whether you come in, Zach, and you talk to our students about your (12:18) life in general, that story will resonate with with a student, one or two students. (12:25) And even if it’s just one, you’ve still impacted one student more than than you would (12:30) ever even imagine.

(12:31) Yeah, that’s really cool. (12:32) And so when you talk about, you know, there’s a lot of talk about how education is not (12:39) quite where it should be to kind of set students up for success beyond standardized tests (12:44) and like this this happy path. (12:46) So when you start like bringing in the community into your classrooms and the stuff (12:51) that you’re talking about, what was that process like to kind of open those classrooms? (12:55) And have you seen any like tangible impact yet that you can kind of like success (12:59) stories that you can kind of share with that? (13:01) Yes.

And I think that the easiest piece of that is really just speaking to the parents (13:05) because it’s about building relationships. (13:07) So as I have students in the classroom, it’s bringing their parents in to tell their (13:11) stories and helping students understand that their parents have a story that’s (13:17) important, that someone else in their class needs to hear about. (13:20) And it doesn’t matter if they work in construction, if they work in a in a (13:24) restaurant, the skills that they’ve developed in those in those spaces are still (13:29) applicable to every aspect of our life.

(13:33) So I’ve got I’ve had teachers, I’ve had students actually come back and say, you (13:39) know what, that person that you brought in, I have an internship with them at this (13:43) hospital or at this business for the summer and they’re in college now. (13:48) Or I was hired by so and so that came as a guest speaker in our class because you (13:53) brought them in. I would have never known had you not brought them into our (13:57) classroom.

So I have I mean, it’s almost 20 years of of being in the classroom. (14:02) So there’s there’s several. (14:04) For sure.

Yeah, that’s really cool. (14:05) Awesome. And then so in terms of like what all like broad range of stuff the Comal (14:11) Education Foundation does other than this incubator program, what types of stuff do (14:16) you guys do to support students and support teachers and like? (14:20) So mainly we have two big fundraisers.

(14:23) We have our Spring Fling, which is coming up on April 3rd. (14:26) And I’ll send you some information about that. (14:28) Nice.

And then we have our golf tournament, which happens in the fall. (14:31) So those are our two big fundraisers and the money that comes from these fundraisers (14:36) goes directly to grants. (14:38) So teachers apply for grants in the fall or in the spring for innovative programming (14:45) in their classroom that they want to take place or if they want to go to some (14:49) professional development, they apply for the grant.

(14:52) When we open new schools, which we open a new school almost every year, that new (14:57) school gets a twenty five hundred dollar check from the foundation just to kind of (15:01) kickstart, whether that be a welcome for their teachers, whether it be some school (15:05) supplies for the classrooms, whatever it may be. (15:08) But that’s that those are the big pieces we we’ve added in terms of programming. (15:13) We’ve added our mock interviews, which happen across the entire district and our (15:17) internship and hiring fair to allow businesses to come into all of our campuses and (15:22) hire students if they they need employees for the summer or to give students (15:27) opportunities to learn in the in their work setting during the school year or during the (15:33) summer.

Yeah, that’s awesome. (15:35) So it’s kind of like it’s like you guys support things that give the student kind of (15:40) an all around and the teacher and all around set up, set them up all around for success (15:46) in in what they’re doing. (15:48) That’s pretty cool.

(15:49) And so as the executive director of the Education Foundation, what has that experience (15:55) been like for you? Have you been an executive director of an organization previously (16:01) or are you kind of like just jumping in heads first and getting things done? (16:06) So jumping in head first, that’s it’s probably what I do best is just kind of go in. (16:12) And I like to I like to build things. (16:15) I think my word for twenty twenty five is actually build.

(16:18) But even before that, I’ve been a builder. (16:20) I like to go into places, pour a foundation and see the organization grow. (16:25) And sometimes I leave and move to some to another one because it’s a different different (16:30) challenge really is what it is.

(16:31) And I think this was a good place in my in my life and my career to to take on a (16:37) different challenge because it is a nonprofit with the support of a school district, (16:42) which makes it unique because we still operate hand in hand. (16:46) The goal is to grow this foundation. (16:49) So we have an executive director that’s functioning on our own away from the school (16:55) district and kind of sit side by side as partners.

(16:59) So we’ve got a three year, a kind of a three year plan for that. (17:03) And should I be in that that position? (17:06) Fantastic. But the idea is to grow, grow this organization large enough so that we (17:11) we can move into a different direction.

(17:13) And if I have to take the path of being with the school district, that’s fine, too, (17:17) because the work goes, you know, it goes hand in hand. (17:20) Everything you’re building now, whether you’re sitting on the Education Foundation (17:22) side or the district side, you’re going to be able to take advantage of moving forward. (17:27) And that’s that’s such a cool thing, too, because like there’s a lot of parallels to (17:31) that in the startup world.

(17:33) Right. You know, I’m currently the CEO of our company, and I think I’m a good option (17:37) for that right now. And at some point, maybe there’s going to be somebody that can (17:40) thousand X what we’ve done.

(17:41) Right. And it makes sense to let them do that. (17:43) Right.

And I think nonprofits like kind of work a lot similar to that. (17:48) And that’s super important. (17:49) So kind of transitioning into community involvement in the Education Foundation, how (17:56) are ways that people can get involved? (17:58) How can people help? (17:59) And what do you guys need? (18:01) Whoa, that’s a whole episode by itself.

(18:04) It is it is because we’re in a state of education right now that is in dire need of (18:09) help. Help doesn’t always come in the form of finances, although that’s fantastic. (18:15) People will take money if people want to give us money.

(18:19) But it’s a matter of what we do with that money and those funds is extremely (18:22) important. So when I go in and I speak with people, I’m not asking for money. (18:26) Initially, I always ask for your time because that’s, quite frankly, more valuable (18:31) your time and your expertise, because what you can share with our students is it goes (18:36) far beyond the dollar amount that you’re going to give us.

(18:38) So coming in to be a guest speaker, serving as a worksite, worksite tours for our (18:45) students. If we ask you to bring, if we can bring 25, 30 students to do a tour, open (18:54) your doors and allow for us to bring students in. (18:56) Maybe it’s a group of engineering students that want to learn about engineering.

(19:00) And we’re at USAA, well, let’s let’s go in. (19:04) Let’s go in there. Serving as a as an internship site, if you have opportunities for (19:10) internships, like most most businesses do, they they haven’t flipped the script, per (19:16) se, to to have high school students in there.

(19:19) They have college students because because that’s just what we’ve always thought of (19:24) as an internship. (19:25) But our students are leaving with industry based certifications that allow for them to (19:29) do some work while they’re in high school. (19:32) And you’re getting free training.

(19:35) Well, you’re training these employees as as that employer you’re training them for. (19:40) You’re really building that pipeline, that workforce and then externships. (19:44) I think that’s a big one.

(19:45) Our our teachers that are in our career and technical education programs, our CTE (19:50) programs, they came directly from industry. (19:52) They weren’t in education prior to this. (19:55) So someone that comes into automotive or automotive teacher, for example, he hasn’t (20:02) been in the industry for maybe 10 years.

(20:04) Well, he needs he needs that industry expertise. (20:07) So just providing that training opportunities for for those teachers would is are those (20:13) are asks and then attend our events, support our students through through these (20:19) experiences like incubator, for sure. (20:21) So your events.

(20:23) So you mentioned a couple events. (20:24) Right. You mentioned a was it a dinner? (20:27) We’ve got our Spring Fling Spring Fling and then a golf tournament.

(20:31) So can you tell us kind of a little bit about that and what the what those are like? (20:34) Yes. So our Spring Fling is at Canobee Ranch out off of 46 Highway 46. (20:40) And it’s a really laid back environment.

(20:43) We’ve got a fast moving train, which is a band, a country band that’s coming in. (20:47) And if you’re in that world, then you know who that band is. (20:50) This will be my first experience with the foundation doing this aspect of it.

(20:55) And we’ve got a live auction. (20:57) We have student made projects. (20:58) Oh, cool.

Are phenomenal. (21:00) These are all projects from our CTE students and some of our art students. (21:05) And just the work that they do is is phenomenal.

(21:07) And so people just they bid and that’s how we raise the money for that evening. (21:11) We were seeking sponsorships right now, not only sponsoring a table for some of our (21:16) administrators and our teachers to attend, because I think oftentimes when we have (21:21) these events, teachers can’t leave because they’re in the classrooms teaching. (21:26) So providing a space for them to, you know, just enjoy themselves for that evening and (21:32) interact with people from the community that they don’t get to see every day is is (21:37) important.

And then the the other tournament, our golf tournament is our other event, (21:42) which is held at Canyon Springs Golf Course. (21:45) And we’re adding a cool component this year where we have a ladies brunch for women that (21:51) want to learn how to play golf. (21:52) We’re going to have a golf clinic.

(21:54) We are utilizing the services of First Tee, which empowers girls through golf because a (22:00) lot of these conversations that I’ve had, women get invited to golf tournaments, but (22:05) they don’t go because they don’t know how to play or they’re embarrassed. (22:08) OK, we’re going to empower our women to say, yes, I’m going to go to this golf tournament (22:13) when I’m invited next time. (22:15) Nice.

Awesome. (22:16) And so kind of going back to the spring fling, what types of projects do students (22:22) typically build and like what can you see there? (22:25) So you’re going to see anything from charcuterie boards, all the floral floral (22:32) arrangements that that that line the decor for the event are made by our students. (22:38) Our we’ve got some woodshop projects like chairs.

(22:43) I think we’ve had a barbecue pit. (22:46) I don’t know what the whole list is this year, but based on on what I’ve what I’ve (22:50) learned, these projects, I mean, they’re going for thousands of dollars based off of (22:56) what the students made and because people love it. (23:00) It’s something made by a student within the within the school district.

(23:03) And it’s a it’s almost like a memento for for them. (23:07) Right. You get to you get to buy something that was really highly made quality, high (23:11) quality, right.

Something that a student built and you get to support all of the (23:16) things that the Education Foundation does. (23:19) And so other than those two events that are happening this year, what is like the (23:24) next big thing for your organization? (23:27) Next big thing is is our final pitch on May on May 7th. (23:31) This is for the incubator program, right? (23:32) For incubator.

And you’ll be you’re one of our judges. (23:35) So we’re excited. (23:35) I was so excited when you when you asked me to, because I love doing things like (23:39) that.

I was honored, honored to say yes. (23:41) Yes. So we are we’re going to have all three of our campuses that are there, the (23:45) teachers.

This is the time when our students shine, because now we bring in our (23:51) school district administrators, hopefully some prominent people from New Braunfels (23:55) in in the area, the city council people from New Braunfels. (24:00) And I say New Braunfels mainly because that’s where the majority of our schools (24:05) are. But we are in Bexar County.

(24:08) We have Piper High School, which is in Bexar County, and Davenport, which is in (24:11) Bexar County as well. So we can get some of our city council people there, the (24:15) mayor of New Braunfels, just people that are going to to see the great things that (24:20) are happening not only in Comal ISD, but in in schools in general, because I think, (24:26) you know, with legislative session that’s going on right now, people see all the (24:30) negative things that are happening and we want to showcase the positive. (24:35) So that’s the big spring fling happens April 3rd and then May 7th will be our (24:40) incubator final pitch.

(24:41) Busy time of year. (24:43) And so this is where these students that have been working on fleshing out their (24:46) ideas, doing market research, learning how to pitch, they really come together and (24:50) put their best foot forward. (24:52) And this is where they pitch.

(24:53) Now, this is a competition, right? (24:54) So what does the winner get? (24:57) Like what happens when you when you win this pitch competition? (25:00) So the goal this year, and we’re working on this together, Zach and I are working to to give the winners an opportunity to go to the National Incubator Competition in Chicago. So the students will participate in the National Pitch Competition where their their investor is giving thousands of dollars to students. 

(25:19) And the teachers also get training to help refine those skills for the next for the next school year.

So this will be the first time our students attend the national competition, the winning team attending the national competition. That’s so exciting. And that’s like that’s a really cool way to like wrap up winning a competition, right? As a high school student that has built a viable path to a business, right? 

(25:43) You win this and then you get to go to an incubator conference in Chicago, which really sets you up for that success, which is that’s that’s really exciting.

(25:53) And so that is May 7th. May 7th. And is that open to the public? 

(25:57) It’s open to the public.

I don’t have the location yet because we were in our in our boardroom, which is which is at support services. But we’re going to move that to one of our high school campuses because we just need more space with a number of people that are going to come watch and listen) to the students. Awesome.

That’s really cool. 

(26:16) And so is there anything else that we didn’t cover that you want to you want to kind of shine the light on for what you’re working on and what the education foundation is doing or needs or anything like that?  I just I just encourage people, no matter what community you’re involved with, get involved with your education foundation because they’re in every school district. Get involved with the with the foundation and go into a school.

(26:39) If you don’t have the resources, then go in because your time is worth more than than money. A lot of a lot of in a lot of spaces. So be an advocate for education, especially our public education system, especially right now.

But be that person, be that voice, because you never know which child you are going to leave an impact on. That’s amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that.

(27:02) And how can people learn more? Where can they go to learn more about what you’re working on? You can visit our website at Comal ISD. You’ll see our we’re all a part of the school district. So you’ll see us there with our Comal Education Foundation.

(27:15) And you can follow us on all socials, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook for for those of us that are a little bit more seasoned. And I think that’s all the socials for now. LinkedIn.

LinkedIn. Yep. And for sure.

(27:30) Awesome. Cool. Well, thank you so much for joining us, Dr. Goodloe.

It was an amazing conversation. The things that you guys are working on and the way you’re really uplifting students (27:39) in the community and setting them up for success in the future is amazing. I think more educational institutions should take that model and they should put it into practice.

And I’m just personally a fan of entrepreneurship. (27:50) Right. So it’s yeah.

(27:52) Thank you so much for joining us. (27:54) So that wraps up this episode of Beyond Giving, the best nonprofit podcast on The Boost (27:59) Network. Special thanks to our sponsors, Nonprofits HQ and The Boost Network for making this (28:03) series possible.

I’ll see you next time.