Beyond the Brave Podcast - David Durkes Beyond the Brave - Episode 2 - David Durkes Tune in to the Beyond the Brave podcast hosted by Superintendent Craig Jernagan, as he interviews High School Principal David Durkes! Show Transcript welcome to beyond the brave a mechanical School Corporation podcast where we sit down with people who are making a difference for our students our schools and our community I'm your host Craig Jernigan superintendent McConnell School Corporation each episode will have conversations with teachers students staff and Community Partners about what's happening across mechanical what's working what we are learning and where we're headed today I'm excited to welcome Dave durkas High School principal to talk about what's going on at mechanical High School Dave welcome to beyond the brave good to be here so a few questions I'm going to ask you today uh we'll kind of go through uh a list that I think you had ahead of time um tell us about yourself uh what your your background is and and what you've brought to Mechanical well I'm uh I'm a teacher of over 30 years uh I graduated from Okio school went to Taylor University that's where I got my degree in social studies uh education uh played on the football team there uh went on got my masters at Ohio University I was a head football coach taught almost every subject in social studies uh I'm a a person from the area uh matter of fact when I got hired here at maconaquah there's a lot of people when I got hired that I I realized I'd gone to uh with the 48 with uh participated in them no knew their either their their parents the kids in school or their grandparents uh I grew up on a farm so you know the the rural School feel was was something I thought was pretty positive so uh you know I've I've I've always loved education uh teaching kids helping kids uh become more than what they they think they can be by themselves so that's a little bit about me um you know family my kids are out of the house I got 2 boys and my wife is uh employed locally in in cooko good deal so you said you came from a farm what what drove you to education well you know growing up on a farm there's a lot of things that uh you know I was always learning um and I I wanted to help kids you know first off I want when I first got into I'm like I don't really know if I want to be on a farm growing up you know so it was kind of tough back in the 80s so when to get when education it was funny my dad said you know what do you want to do with your life I can see where I was standing in the barn I said I want to be a teacher and he goes he goes wow is not going to make a whole lot of money doing that either I kind of laugh but my I I really had a a passion for helping kids and uh you know making a difference in their life and so kind of education you know a lot of people say what would you do if you want a teacher if you had it to do over again and I would I would still say I would I would be a teacher I go into education because that's what I like to do I want to see these kids be successful in life because you know let's face it some kids don't have the same uh the same support at home and they need that that somebody to push them beyond what they think they can do and and uh it's a it's a joy to have those kids come back and say thank you for helping me through those tough times where I needed that word of encouragement and it's amazing over the years the the people that have come up the former students have said you made a difference when you said this and you know I kind of scratched my my head and I I don't really remember that but it's a good feeling and and that's why I do this yeah absolutely and and you mentioned you also were a football coach when he came out you play you played at Taylor University um making an impact on kids happens both in the classroom and and on the football field so so tell me a little bit about you coach football what what uh what did you like to run offense defense combination of both I was uh I was a defensive guy probably the first as a head coach defense uh with the exception of the last few years as a head coach uh I love defense I played defense in high school you know my my background in high school is uh we only we 2 Platinum which meant you only played 1 side of the ball we had enough kids back then yeah you got to realize it was before cell phones and social media and you know you didn't have all the opportunities of sports so I played defense and and you know our teams were pretty good so there's a lot of times in in high school I play 1/2 and play the third the first series of the third quarter and a lot of times we were done because we got other kids in to play and things so but I really like the defense I like the heading and then uh it was kind of ironic I went to college at Taylor and uh my coach said that I could play defense but it'd probably be my senior year because I had 2 all-americans in front of me and this was at the end of my freshman year and he said or you can play offensive line and you could play there for the next 3 and I I looked at the coach and I said I want to play I want to participate I I want to make a difference for the team not just for me and so you know I took 1 for the team and and uh you know I I think I got fairly good at I was not as big as what I was now um we ran the option so I didn't have to blow anybody off the line but I played to get some guys that were quite bigger than me so uh it it's it's something I always wanted to do um you know I I I love the game the things it teaches the uh the concept the life lessons which you hear every coach talked about life lessons but you know my my my upbringing on the farm and then with coaching and then playing it I think it is a unique yeah which you know you said you wanted to get into education because you impact folks lives and I think probably your your upbringing um in sports and in the classroom often times us as Educators that shapes who we are and in what we become later on in life and and you mentioned something a little bit about you know you sacrifice you want to play defense um be a sacrifice for the team which is often what we do as administrators so as a principal shifting gears a little bit uh when when people see you um in the hallways uh in the buildings uh at sporting events what what is a typical day as a principal at the high school typical day uh I can tell you I usually come in and uh you know get there anywhere from 7 7 15 sometimes are older depending on what's going on and first thing I do is you know what's on my agenda for the day what's what's my list of to-dos I have to get done I go out and and see the kids what they're doing you I find out what what what we've been successful with the night before whether it's a sport whether there's a play anything that has to be addressed and so there's a there's a lot of preparation behind the scenes things that are going on you know entering emails answering phone calls parents have a concern about something so you have to get on the phone and and do that it might be supervision of lunch there might be there's always saying that change your day uh if you're somebody that says this is what I'm going to do every day there's always something that can come in and change that um and that could be that could be a number of issues uh they can be positive negative it might be going to you know we go to rotarian uh every month uh there might be some sort of meeting we go to whether it be on online a zoom podcast it might be having an IEP meeting so there's a lot of things like that going on and then you've got your your your typical it might be evaluating a a teacher uh talking to kids how are things going you know there's always something new there's there's always a learning curve when when you're in the building and so uh trying to stay ahead of those things and making sure we're doing you know the red tape the the paperwork for the state there's you know with with education changing so much it's a lot of it's where are we at with our teachers as far as license uh what all classes are we offering through ivytech for dual credit uh or Indiana University uh Partnerships with uh employers with our work-based learning so there's a lot of things that are going on moving Parts uh most definitely lot lot of moving Parts uh a lot of um things you have to be on top of to make sure that kids are getting what they need with that said what thinks the most rewarding part about your job I I'm sure it's not your daily routine that's your most rewarding part but what what would you say is the most rewarding part about being the principal mechanical High School yeah I think it's when the when the students will come up to you and say thank you uh when a uh a teacher or a parent comes up and says um we know your your job is tough and uh you're doing a good job uh we can see a difference in in what's going on here uh there are things that are going on that are positive uh compared to maybe what they've seen before or maybe a school that they can't they came from before you know their kids went to another school maybe out of state or something and so that makes you feel good because there's you know sometimes you don't know you get stuck in your own little world here and you don't know what's going on in in other schools and so it's really rewarding when they say this is a good place uh we've got a lot of things that we offer to our kids that other schools do not and people need to realize that's that doesn't just happen there's a lot of preparation that goes in that behind the scenes so it makes you feel good when when people recognize the hard work you're putting in and and difference for the kids yeah a lot of good programs at the high school you give me an idea how many uh Pathways do we offer here on campus most schools offer Pathways off campus but we offer them here on campus on campus right now we're offering I want to say we're offering 16 Pathways that's that's that's awesome what what about dual credits so how many kids ballpark are going to be eligible to receive a dual credit here maybe this semester this year I would say I want to say last year maybe this year we did uh the the numbers I want to say is I write around 375 to 400 I mean a lot of our kids are getting dual credits right now that's a lot of dual credits and what what most parents don't know is that's that's also an opportunity for them to save some some money uh because they don't have to pay for those credits uh down down the road uh looking ahead um what what improvements do you do you think that we're looking at making um pre-apprenticeship stuff maybe talk a little bit about that you and I have talked about before in the past right well pre-apprenticeship is is something it's been out there but we have we've got a lot of good connections right now uh with our employers uh getting our kids out so they can do some of these things and and within the state you go to the bigger cities Indianapolis Fort Wayne they've had some of those opportunities for pre-apprenticeship where we can get those in some of the rural areas and so right now we're investigating how do we go about that uh what do we need to do here at mechanical to to not really put us on the map but to give our kids those opportunities to make themselves better and we're looking at apprenticeships for construction I I our construction kids and our welding kids are are doing a lot of great things uh a lot of stuff around campus uh the the the fence around the athletic field was built by those by those uh group of students um and you know they're doing some concrete work I think today or tomorrow yeah they're doing concrete work uh construction kids right now and when it's raining or and we've got an afternoon class you know because of our work-based learning opportunity those kids are also getting work experience they're putting up uh new panels in the uh outside the gym Lobby putting in LED lights uh and this is which is a cost savings to the school a a big cost savings I don't you know you go out there and price that for anybody to do anytime you go from a home Renault at to a a school Renault you're talking about an increase in price and so our kids are learning a lot uh about a month and a half ago uh Steve Holland took our construction kids up to uh Warsaw to the training center up there and what we found out and we I put this on on social media but what we found out is our kids are learning things and doing things at our school that's commercial construction that when they started finding out up there other schools what we were doing I think there was a lot of a lot of people kind of scratching their head going wow I can't believe that they're doing this the the the employers the the the Trade Center up there at Warsaw was really impressed with what we're doing and because our kids they're they're learning a lot of things most kids aren't going to learn until their second third year on the job and so that's hats off to the people that we have here at the school you know not only in construction but also in in welding and Culinary Health Care there's a lot of things we're very fortunate with with who we have most definitely all right as we as we finish up I got a little rapid fire for you don't think too much on this coffee or Diet Coke Diet Coke early bird night owl early bird favorite school lunch favorite school lunch uh blueberry yogurt with granola healthy favorite vacation destination uh all-inclusive doesn't matter where Choice favorite music or artist favorite music or artists um why that's I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna say Metallica I'm gonna Metallica never took you for a Metallica guy but that's good stuff what was your favorite subject in school oh it was history what's your biggest pet peeve pet peeve people chomping their gum people chomping their gums he he didn't like the late Bears coach no no ah boy what's the funniest excuse you've ever heard from a student funny excuse boy um my uh my dog ate it my dog ate it describe your school in 3 words 3 words dedicated open hardworking hardworking good if you could share 1 message with students staff parents and community members who are listening today what would you tell want to tell them about your school our school has so many opportunities for dual credit for opportunities to learn and I think if they were to go outside and see other places uh they would realize just the the amount of money and offerings we have as far as dual credits to further their education a lot of kids say this is not going to be I'm not making money doing this well figuring out the Dual credit class you can earn in high school and it's free versus once you graduate and have your degree and you go out there and you want to do that again and now you have to pay all of a sudden you're making a lot yeah when classes today are 5 to 7 hundred dollars a class uh definitely paying paying well Dave thank you for joining us today and sharing with us your perspective on the principalship and mechanical high school and everyone else thank you for joining us for another episode of beyond the brave at mechanical there are great things happening every day in our classrooms across our campuses and throughout our community this podcast gives us an opportunity to share those stories and introduce you to people who make them possible I'm Craig Jernigan superintendent McConnell School Corporation thanks for listening and until next time keep working together to empower our students to succeed
