Dawn Egan's Journey from Tech Entrepreneur to Educational Leader

Perry: Hey, North State listeners, this is Perry Thompson. Really excited about today's episode, it's Dawn Egan. We've been working to get her for quite some time now. So quick, funny story. Dawn actually thought that our podcasts were recorded live, so zero edits. And she is such a perfectionist. She's worried that she would, uh, make a mistake, say something that she wanted to take back. And, uh, don’t worry, we can edit those things. And then, of course, typical Dawn fashion. She absolutely nailed the podcast. It was an incredible opportunity to spend some time with her and one take zero edits. Uh, so, uh, so a little bit about Dawn. She is started her own tech company in Fallon, Nevada. Uh, so she has that business background, which is incredible. And then for the last nearly three decades, she's been, I'm going to say, one of the most impactful educators in the entire North State. Uh, what she's done with Grant writing and tied that into curriculum and really putting students on the absolute leading edge of technology and opportunity. Uh, I'm just so excited for you to see what she's doing to transform our region. One student at a time.

Narrator: Welcome to the North State Rocks podcast. Discover the hidden gems and extraordinary people of California's North State region. Join Perry Thompson, CEO of Hat Creek Construction Materials, as he explores the vibrant communities and interesting neighbors that make our region a great place to live, work and play. Tune in, be inspired and rediscover the North State. This is your community. This is your story.

Perry: I'm really excited today. We finally got Dawn Egan to agree to do a podcast with us. So not to be confused with Richard Egan. So Richard is your in-law, right? So kind of talk us through. So I think you're married to his Richard's twin, Joe. Is that right?

Dawn: Correct. Yep.

Perry: Okay. All right. So what I'd like for you to do, Dawn, is could you tell us a little bit about, uh, kind of your journey from where did you go to college? Uh, and then kind of your career trajectory and kind of how you ended up, you know, meeting Joe and then also, uh, what got you to Susanville?

Dawn: All right. Well, I was born in, I was raised in Fallon, Nevada. And so my brother and my sister and myself all went to University of Nevada, Reno. Great school. And it was a great school. Received a bachelor's degree in finance. So I'm a numbers person. Love technology. Love numbers. And then I had a blind date to a UNR basketball game. And it happened to be with Joe. And so then I thought, who set that up? A friend or he worked at Farm Credit, and we had a mutual friend that said, oh, you should go on the blind date with this young lady in town. She's a sorority sister of mine from school, and I owned a small, small computer store. So, um, it was we went on the blind date and I was like, oh, he's pretty cute. So that was the end of that. I think within a year we were engaged. And, um, then of course got married in Fallon and had, I think we, you know, had both girls in Fallon. So we have two daughters, Riley, who's our oldest, and Emily, who's our youngest. And said, you know, what I really want to do is I'd love to move back to Susanville. He's from born and raised in Susanville. And he said, it's just like Fallon, you're going to love it, but it's beautiful. It has trees and water. And so I was like, oh, okay. So I sold my computer store. We packed up and moved to Susanville. And it was tough, you know, because that was really ingrained in Fallon. But 1998 I think is when we moved. Okay. So he got a new job working for Plumas Bank, and I did not have a job at the time, but fortunately, my brother's identical twin, his wife, Holly Egan, worked here at the high school and had told her principal about me and said, she's a great proposal writer because I worked for Xerox during when I had my sister and I just wrote big proposals for the military and state and federal government. So that was my job. I would, you know, sell pieces of equipment like a hundred pieces plus at a time. So that's kind of how I got started writing. And what happened with Lassen High School is they had an application that came that was for about a half a million for internet and computers, and they were just sitting on this application and I happened to move to Susanville. So I think, you know, Holly kind of put two and two together and said, hey, we could interview her and she would write, she would do that.

Perry: Right. So yeah, amazing. Great opportunity. Okay. So let me, let me just back up just just a little bit on. Tell me about you owning your own computer store in Fallon, because, you know, Fallon obviously isn't huge. It has the big, uh, naval air base out there. Right. So what was kind of your clientele and how? Tell me a little bit about why, why you opened it. And that's, that's scary opening start up businesses. So just a little bit about that because that's fascinating.

Dawn: Um, I had an opportunity to work for a bank and it just wasn't exciting for me. So the technology was exciting, my mom and I because she was very technical. We networked our house so you could type in basic dinner's ready and it would show up in the other rooms. So we really got used to doing peer to peer networking, and it was just fun for us. Like we had so much fun doing it. And I said, you know, Susan or Fallon could really use networking for small businesses, and if I could just open a hole in the wall, I could run around and do all these peer to peer networks. And it was pretty simple for me. So I started a business there, and I would do some resume building and some networking. I started selling cell phones and it just blossomed, and I actually had to move into a bigger building and hire some employees and run this little computer. And I was, I was 21 years old, but I had a lot of energy. So, yeah, you know, and then of course, I met Joe and it changed.

Perry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah. Okay, so, um, tell me about kind of what your revenues were at the beginning and how long, how long were you open with the store? And then just talk us through that a little bit.

Dawn: Right. Well, so, of course, it started out very small. I got a $10,000 loan to buy a few computers around the building. Um, I had a little bit of a savings, so that was helpful. And then, um, we got up to where it was, you know, bringing in 200 and 250,000 a year. I mean, it's, it's. Well, so it was.

Perry: That's great. Yeah. That's fantastic.

Dawn: Yeah. I teach classes at night. We would sell systems. Um, but we had, you know, debt and, and it was still. Yeah, still pretty tough. But when I was ready to move, I contracted, um. A company that would sell small businesses, and we were fortunate enough to sell it pretty quickly to another family that wanted to take over the computer store and live in Susanville. But what helped us make great money is Xerox walked into my store one day and said, we really need a Xerox salesperson in this area. And I said, oh, sure, I can add that to my list. I'll do that. I would love to do that. Then I became a really pretty much the sales person for Northern Nevada and doing all their state and federal and schools. And so that was what kept my store going was all those commissioned equipment sales.

Perry: Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Dawn: And it was a blessing. That was it also probably really helped when you sold the store to have that kind of that contract was there. Were you able to sell it with that contract in place? Yeah. So it's by area. And there was a gentleman that was doing it up in Susanville and they said, you know, are you interested in doing that? And I said, not if I'm going to take it from someone else. I don’t want to do it. You know, that's, that's his area. Yeah. I'm good. I'll. I'll figure out something when we move. I'll do something. And there was already a computer store, so I didn't want to. Yeah. You know, a small town could handle 1 or 2 of any. I know I said that all the time. You know, it seems like, uh, small towns deal with a lot of, you know, perception. People perceive that something's doing great and they don’t always do a lot of research. And then they go into it and pretty much they, they destroy both businesses. That's pretty much what happened. So I see that happen over and over again in these small towns. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So okay, so you sold the business and moved to Susanville and, and then started working for Lassen. Lassen high. Well, I wrote that first grant. Okay. So when you wrote that first grant, where you did as an employer, did you do that kind of as a contractor to kind of see if you got it first? It was a great principal. She was wonderful. And she said, I'm going to hire you as a teacher. So I was finishing my masters at UNR, and when you finished your masters, you could also get the teaching credential at the same time. So I said, okay, I'm finishing my Masters in education and I'll just get a teaching credential for California. So she said, well, hire you as a teacher, but you're going to sit in the library and work on applications. And I said, oh, perfect, I love it. And so I was naive enough, which was probably a good thing, is I wrote the application. I mailed it off and I didn't know how education worked. And I thought, well, I mailed it to Sacramento. I think I'll drive there. They're going to open it today. I'm going to drive there and watch them open it. So I show up to the. Yeah, because I didn't know any better. My boss was like, oh, that sounds like a good idea. So that's a great idea. And for us, that's a huge amount of money. So I drove to Sacramento, I show up to CDE, they go through, I go through security, they go, why are you here? I said, well, we're, we're opening up digital high school today. I want to go. I want to go watch them. And they said, okay. I walk into this big room with a panel reading these grants, and they wanted to know who I was. I said, I'm from Lassen High School. I was the only one there. And I sat down and they were whispering and they were opening my application. They had questions and they said, well, she's right there. We could just ask her. And so they asked me a bunch of questions, and then they funded us. And I think it was because I was sitting in the room. So it was amazing. It was just funny because I didn't know any different than to not show up at the department of it. So and now I guarantee, uh, I mean, just especially post Covid and just how, you know, there's a lot of Looney Tunes that government officials have to deal with, you know. So I guarantee you would not be able to do that today. There's no way they would let you in. They'd be like, man, get back in your car and drive back to Susanville because that's not happening.

Perry: Yeah, right. We appreciate you showing up, but.

Dawn: Right. Yeah. The one, the one tip I still give everyone is they need to know who you are, especially if you're from Susanville. So I call I talk to whoever puts out the application, I ask questions, I ask if they have a workshop or a conference. Like, I make sure they know where we are and who we are. You know, it's amazing.

Perry: So yeah. So let's fast forward a little bit. So you. Get the job as a teacher you're working in. You're working in the library and filling out these applications. You drive to to Sacramento. You get funded, right? And then what happens?

Dawn: So then we were able to order 300 computers. The grant allowed us to teach, do teacher training at night on how to set up a website, how to use word, how to put together a great PowerPoint. I mean, it was basic, but that was part of the grant is that you would teach the staff all the staff. So that was really fun for me. And then also Robert Talley was my partner and he was the technician at the time at Lassen High School, and he was able to afford and have the ability to connect all the buildings with fiber. Our buildings weren't even connected, like the teachers didn't even have a wired computer in their classrooms, you know? So gradebook was really rudimentary. You know, the kids I remember there was one computer in the library and kids would walk in with a. Little floppy disk to make sure it didn't have a virus on it, and they all shared that one computer in the library, and I almost laughed when I walked in because I was from, you know, I knew what Xerox looked like. And then I came to the school and I was like, oh, this is rough. So to all those boxes and get everything connected and get new software, it was huge. It was.

Perry: So what year was that roughly. So I want to say 2000. Early 2000. Yeah. So computers in classrooms that was not a thing. It wasn't then anywhere, you know, anywhere in the North State I know. I mean, gosh, I want to say it's only the last 10 or 15 years that, uh, our local schools, when I say our local schools, the, uh, Intermountain schools like fall River and Bernie, um, Big Valley, those kinds of schools that actually got computers in the classroom, it was a huge deal, and it was mostly from outside donations and some grant money, of course. Uh, so you're kind of really leading the curve, at least in the North State. That was that was that kind of normal in the Sacramento area, for example, to have computers in all the classrooms, more so than the rural classrooms, for sure.

Dawn: And we didn't have high speed internet, you know, we just didn't have the speed like that. Took another, you know, 5 or 7 years before. Yeah, you'd have to click and wait. And yeah, it was horrible.

Perry: So was the dial up with all the screeching noises and all that good stuff. Right? Yeah. So I can use my computer. Yeah. Yeah. That was our okay. That was our world. So I just kind of to what got me really excited about talking to you on this podcast. Dawn was, uh, last fall, around September, I came and spoke to your FBLA group and, uh, Mrs. Ammons, FFA kids, and I was just, I was so impressed with, you know, what you'd done with all the grant money, uh, the computer systems you guys had in place. But what I was impressed with more than anything was the actual caliber of the students. So I've been really privileged to get to talk to. I've talked to Shasta College kids 4 or 5 times. I've talked to fall River and Burnie kids multiple times. Um, yours was the first time I got to speak with the kids at Lassen High. And what was really interesting is usually when I go and speak, um, and I'm trying to make it interactive. I'm trying to get questions out of the kids so you could really meet them at their needs and what they really want to know, because nobody wants to sit through a lecture. You know, they sit through those all day long. So you're hoping that it's going to be interactive and, and prior to your class, it's like pulling teeth to get any type of interaction, any type of a question that's even has any real thought into it. And what I was completely blown away by is that your kids just, I mean, it was maybe ten minutes of kind of tell them a little bit about who I am and what I do, and then, you know, what kind of questions do you guys have? And then just bam, it went for it seemed like an hour of just constant questions. And they were intelligent, meaningful and really applicable, uh, questions that they could just leave immediately and put to use. And I was just so impressed with what you have, you and Mrs. Allen have been doing with those, with those kids. So I know you had a breakfast program, so kind of tell me about what it is to be an FBLA and, uh, and kind of what? Let's just talk a little bit about that incredible program you have going there.

Dawn: Okay. Well, so FBLA, Future Business Leaders of America is the largest business student organization in the world. And so when you have a business class at a high school, you could have entire curricular clubs. So it's not a club like you would have after school. It is integrated within the business classes and Mr. Hammonds program. Future Farmers of America is integrated in the ag classes. So when a student joins, say an accounting class, personal finance, business economics or the graphics program, they're automatically a member of FBLA. So I tell all the students, you know, we're working on soft skills and business skills in our class. Whether you think you're a member or not, you're automatically a member. So congratulations. Here you are.

Perry: Yeah. Yeah. Good job.

Dawn: Yeah. When did you join the club? Good job. You know, we prepared for when you were coming in. They were pretty excited because, you know, a lot of times you'll get engineers, doctors, but they want to hear from Cal Fire and heavy equipment construction. You know, what are some of the real jobs that we can get out there and do? And, you know, it's not just, you know, getting a four year degree and going into, you know, some of these professional careers. What else is out there? So it's so nice for FBLA to talk about careers and talk to people. And, you know, look at all these other opportunities that they have at this age when they're making very important decisions.

Perry: Yeah, I talk about this all the time, but the only thing I knew for certain when I was a senior is I wouldn't be in construction, that's for sure. It was not going to be in construction. So I always try and remind kids, give yourselves a lot of grace. You don’t really know where, where this path is going to take you and to have an open mind and explore lots of options. But so talk a little bit about so your typical FBLA student graduating from Lassen High. How many go to a Ta junior college? How many go to a four year and how many go straight into industry? Would you, would you roughly percentages. B would you say in the last few years, rough percentages.

Dawn: 60% go to a two year. And we encourage, you know, last community college, you already have credits there because we have credits for all of our classes already here. Um, you know, Shasta Butte, feather River, they're close by. You can get home, you know, they're affordable. Just I really push the.

Perry: That's amazing. Yeah. I feel like we should definitely push that a lot more, because I see so many kids go straight to a four year A, it's expensive. B it's, you know, it's, it's a big jump and it doesn't have, you know, especially if they're moving back east or going out of state. Um, but okay, so 60% go to two years and then say the rest do.

Dawn: 20%, maybe 15 to 20. Go to a four year. And they're pretty set on it early. They know what they want to do. Yeah, absolutely. Um, we have one going to Notre Dame this year. We have a lot of we have UC Davis, we have UC Santa Cruz. I've had kids go, you know, everywhere from Ivy League to UNR is a popular one because it's close. Chico state okay. You know, because it's our Chico State is our sister school to Lassen Community College. So they go to Lassen and they could um. You know, transfer automatically to Chico. So we get a lot of kids go into Chico.

Perry: Yeah. Oh, yeah. My daughter. She has to get Ahold of me. She's like, hey, mom, when I call, you answer. This is how it's supposed to go. Right?

Dawn: Yes. My kids would say that. And then I'd say that the rest goes straight to work. Okay.

Perry: And so when the ones that go straight to work, what are some of the professions that they're going straight to.

Dawn: So a lot of times it might be where their parents work, like it could be construction a farm. Um, or maybe their family has a small business. I had a student today say, hey, I'm a little unsettled. She's graduating. I don’t know what I'm doing. And I said, well, are you taking classes at LCC? And she said, yes. And I said, well, you're doing something that's a good start, so you can figure out what you want to do. And then she said, my mom works for a company and does workman's comp, and I think I want to try that. And I said, well, you're at the age where try that and keep taking your classes and then you'll figure it out. And I think some of the kids feel unsettled because they see other kids that really have a path. And then. Yeah, and they, they're just not sure, you know, it could be money. Your family, they just don’t know really what they want to do. And there's always that percentage that 5 to 10% that are just I don’t know.

Perry: Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. I've kind of have. I have all three. So my, my oldest son went to Straight to Chico, and if he had a to do over again he would definitely gone to two year. But he did that for a couple of years and went just I, I cannot stand college. I just it's just not my thing. He ended up starting his own business. Uh, he loves being out in the woods. And so he's he's got an incredibly successful business and I'm super proud of what he's doing. And then my daughter is went straight to a four year, um, we don’t want to be an Oregon duck. And we're like, um, you know, our thing is that we, uh, we don’t really help our kids with college. I mean, we help them with some savings. They took FFA animals. Uh, but once they go to college, it's on them to figure out the financial. Otherwise, I feel like, you know, you don’t really value it. And so she went to Oregon, and we're like, God, you get massive academic scholarships. Uh, you're just going to light fire to, you know, now, these schools have made it to where if you go out of state, you can't establish residency while you're going to school, so they figure out how to get that that out-of-state tuition four years out of it, out of you for it. So she went up there and started working at, uh, working in a mall at, um, Victoria's Secret work there for a year. Watch all of her friends pass her. This girl was valedictorian. And how, how the path watched all over all of her friends and then had a lot of. Am I doing the right thing for a year? Right? Because it's just so hard. She's bringing home a paycheck. She's, you know, living in a, uh, a little apartment by herself. And, uh, what am I doing? You know, I had a lot of that. Go on. And then, uh, but she established residency. She had an incredible academic scholarship, and she went to Oregon for very, very little money and just killed it. And then now she lives and works in London and, um, at her. So she just left Scotland and moved to London for a better job opportunity. But at her previous job, she was the youngest senior account manager in company history. And I'm just so proud of her. Um, and so, you know, you're like, there's some of those kids are like, I'm on the four year track. I haven't figured out what I'm doing. And then my youngest went to Shasta for two years, played basketball, had an incredible experience there. And then at the end of that, selfishly, I'm like, please continue playing basketball so I can continue watching. And he could have probably gone to a tour, uh, you know, a Division 2 or 3 school and continue playing. But he's like, dad, I just I want to get started on my career. I want to get want to go to a bigger school. I want to be a fan. And he went to Boise State, had an incredible thing, graduated in there, construction management program there, and is working in Texas and doing amazing. So I've kind of had all the gamut of all three kids. So I think the biggest thing is there is no perfect path. There's a path. The perfect path is the path that works for you, right? Not, not what anybody else thinks. Right. And I think you're doing a great, great job of really encouraging that the two year. If you're unsure, go to the two year. There's so many great programs there. $30, 40, $50,000. Yeah, exactly. Save the money. And then if you're if you're not I mean, if you're if you're certain you're going to be a doctor or you're going to be a lawyer, then yeah. For your get going, get it. I certainly that makes sense. But if you're unsure. Um, and then there's just so many great career opportunities that a, if you have some skills coming. Right. You know, if you've worked on a ranch, for example, and you've been around equipment and understand things like that, you can come to a company like ours and be successful right out of the box. Um, other options are going to last. And you got truck driving school. They've got a Shasta College has construction equipment, um, nursing programs, dental hygienists. There's so many great options out there for kids now. Just so many great options, right? Well, I'm really excited about how well you're preparing these kids. So I saw some stat about how much your FBLA program has grown and how. So it's pretty cool.

Dawn: That is incredible. That's incredible. So they get to get him out of Susanville down to the big LA basin. I've got a lot of kids. I've never been to LA that you take down. Haven't flown before. When we go on these trips, they are asking questions about how to get through security and what do they need to bring? And what, what professional attire do they need, you know. And they have to check in and they have badges. And we have rules for the hotel. And you know, it's a, it's a lot to travel with them. But I think it's so valuable for them.

Perry: It is so valuable. That's one of the things that just the travel in general with kids is just so great because like you said, there's just a bunch of kids that have never had the opportunity to do that. And what you're really doing is removing that boundary of fear for later in life for them. Right. So they're not going to be afraid. I've been through TSA. I know what that is. And I, I've flown on a commercial airliner before and we figured out how to, how to get a taxi cab or an Uber after we landed. And we figured it out, and they've done it before, and they're going to be a lot more, um, brave in doing it. Uh, post post high school, which is, which is amazing. So. Well so tell me about so it's future. Business leaders of America. Right. Do I have that right?

Dawn: Yep. So how much I know you guys? Because I was there when you guys were talking about, you know, you're working on resume prep and making their resumes look as good as possible. Um, talk to me a little bit about. Obviously, I'm a business owner, and you were a business owner for a while. So tell me about how you're preparing them to potentially be entrepreneurs. Is there, is there specific programs about kids that want to own their own business when they leave, or is it more leadership in existing businesses? So I'd say a lot of leadership and soft skills, but we do have a curriculum that I wrote a few years ago. It's called Economics of Business Ownership, but we call it Business Nation.

Perry: Yeah. And so we call it what we call it. We call it econ for short. Okay. Okay. Economics.

Dawn: And it was a grant and you could start a program. Fortunately, I picked business and a lot of the, a lot of the curriculum. One of the parts of the curriculum is to do an interview workshop. And so we have a week long interview workshop, and, um, Miss Carrie teaches it now, but it was a program I taught before my graphics classes got impacted. And so, um, she teaches it now, and the kids work for a week with the workforce for Alliance and for with rotary. And the rotary members would come in and they would put the kids in circles and they would it would be like, Todd, I'd from IGA and, you know, all these different business owners and managers, and they'd come in and they'd practice interviewing with these kids in small circles and asking them questions and telling them what they're looking for. And then at the end of the week, the kids would get a position, a fake job, and they would go and interview downstairs with our school board members. And be in a live interview and it scared him to death. But it was so good for them and so good for them. The feedback I get from those kids that I had those years. Are there amazing interviews? I've had people call me and say, hey, I just interviewed one of your FBLA past students and they killed it. They nailed it. So I think, I think that interview workshop and then they do a business plan competition that Plumas Bank sponsors and all the kids watch almost a semester on a business plan, on a business they would want to develop. They do all 5 or 6 parts of their business plan, and then they pitch it as their final. And Plumas Bank puts forth. I think this year it was $1,000, and they award first, second and third places for the business plan competition, almost amazing like they do on Shark Tank. So yeah, I mean what a that's amazing. Those kids to practice and work on financials and work on Swot analysis and you know, really, really jump in there I think is important.

Perry: Yeah. No I think, I think that's so fantastic. And I think one of the massive opportunities that, that kid's coming out now is that the baby boomers and how many small businesses are just have no succession plan. And if kids really want to I mean, you and I both know startup is it's really, really tough if you can figure out how to work with an existing business, be mentored there for a year or two, and then take over the business and then utilize the business to fund the retirement of of whoever started the business. These kids have just tremendous opportunities. I see it all the time. I'm constantly, you know, people telling me, hey, I have this business, how do I sell it? How do I get rid of it? How do I and it's just a massive opportunity that I think kids that you are. Are putting out into the world right now are preparing. That's just a tremendous opportunity. And so that's great. I'm so glad to see that you're creating these incredible, um, soft skills and just removing those barriers of fear that all of us, I mean, it's just human nature to be afraid of what you don’t know. And the more you talk about it, the more you prepare for it, the more of those fear barriers you're removing and giving them the boldness to go out and do whatever it is that they want to do in this life. There's just so much opportunity out there that's awesome.

Dawn: Dawn, I agree, I agree, and even even when they write letters and they go out and ask for donations or partnerships with local business, I think even that is not my job. You know, they need to do that. And sometimes we're successful and sometimes they mess up or they're not dressed appropriately or. But I think they need to do that. They need to get out there and they have to be the ones that experience that.

Perry: Yeah, 100%. So last time I know, I was there with you, you were talking about, hey, with this next grant, I think it would be knocking this wall out and going to be expanding this room. And so kind of give me an update on kind of what you, what kind of grant money you have been dealing with and then kind of where you're spending the grant dollars, uh, over the last few years.

Dawn: Okay. So most of what I write is career tech and that and it's mostly because that's what has been about the applications that have been out. So I always recommend to people definitely join the listserv that sends out all the applications that are available through the state of California, because then you can kind of go through them. And, and so the couple that I've come across, this last one, it was called, um, Golden State Pathways Project. So you could choose a pathway like an existing pathway like mine, that the kids go from production graphics to AP graphics, and you could improve the program. So I thought, well, that's something I know really well. I'll write that. And, you know, it's not my job. It's something I do on the weekends and at night. So I wrote that and then we were funded at a half a million to improve the program. Right. Holy cow. Which I was so amazing about. But then they pulled the grant. This is this is my work with the state of California. They pulled the grant. There's no money. And then they reissued it at 300,000. And I said, okay, we'll take it, you know, we'll. So they cut everybody back and then reissued it. And so we have that money I am replacing all the Macs are about five years old. And so we're we're updating the graphics lab. We're doing the software. You know, there's some conferencing. Um, the AP graphics kids have the highest pass rate in the nation and the highest pass rate. For my Native American students in the nation. So I have been. I have been on the college board with the podcast just to talk about the kids. So and I think it's just because one, we have the resources, thanks to grant funding, the kids have whatever they need for those portfolios. And then, you know, you get to work on the AP graphics from November till May when they turn in their portfolio. So the kids have okay, so a lot of time to work.

Perry: I want to interrupt you on graphics. So you talked about graphics a lot. Can you. So I'm a complete layman. Don’t know a lot about that world. So can you explain to me what the kids are learning? What is the difference between the kids that are learning just basic graphics and then advanced the advanced graphics? What does that entail? What does it really look like?

Dawn: Okay, so they come in and they learn the basics of usually the Adobe Suite, which is the premier software that almost everybody would use in marketing, advertising, design. And this is the only Mac lab on campus. And so kids kind of walk in going, whoa, you know, they maybe haven't used one before. And I always tell students who should know how to use every operating system I can walk in. And if you know, it's Linux or, um, Microsoft or a mac or PC or whatever, you should be able to be that intuitive that you walk in and you could figure it out, you know, whether it's whatever device it is. So they pick it up pretty quick and we get nationally certified in the Adobe products. So they all take this national that we prepare for. And so they have that certification. And just as a, a. Fun story is I had one of my students go to UNR and they had a marketing job open up and they said, well, one of the qualifications is you have to be Adobe certified. And she said, well, I am. And she got the job. So now she's been doing the Wolfpack materials over in Reno. So I thought, you know, that was a pretty cool story. So they're very prepared when they leave the first level class. And then the second level is more about photography and they all get a camera. We take a lot, a lot of pictures. We do a lot of labs that include photography. And I said, you know, this might not be your career forever, but this is a good skill to be able to put forward a portfolio of works that you're proud of. You know, you should be proud of anything you're doing. And, you know, I do have kids that go into design. I have kids that have their own photography business, but I also have kids that go into advertising, marketing, you know, something related to this class, right? And it's also college credit a through credit. It's two year credit with Lassen Community College. So they're getting credit while they're working through this program.

Perry: So you said photography, does that include videography as well or is it just photography?

Dawn: Still photography. They do some videography in the first level. Um, yeah. You know, that's tough to the equipment, the bandwidth, the computers.

Perry: Right, right. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. It seems like this. The whole creator economy. Are you getting a lot of interest in kids that are wanting to, you know, hey, I'm going to be a YouTube star. I'm going to be the next Mister Beast. You know, all that kind of stuff. Is that, is that a common theme that you're seeing a lot in your kids is they want to make TikToks and.

Dawn: Yeah, and be on social media, and which is good. You know, we listen to podcasts and, you know, I think they need to be savvy to all that. And they are they pick it up so, so fast. You know, that's, that's our world. Different from our world.

Perry: Very different. Yes. Very different. But so yeah, it's just incredible. There's, there's pros and cons to to it of course. But for sure every every business is also usually using social media. And so it's, it's not just a, you know, a social skill. It's, it's a real hard skill that you can use in your career. So that's, that's just that's amazing. That's awesome.

Dawn: I'm fortunate enough I'm pretty humble. And I do not mind when kids come up because they see there's a much easier way to do it. Let me show you. I'm like, thank you. They're always one up on me and that's fine.

Perry: Yeah, yeah. That's great. So we have, we have some young we call them the whiz kids here at our, at our company. And it's always, oh my gosh, we're having a technical issue. We need one of the whiz kids to kind of help us. And they're of course in their 20s. Yeah. They fix it right away. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So that's great. Yeah. Okay. So, um. Let's talk a little bit about, uh, so we talked about FBLA. Um, and we talked. So is there anything that we're kind of missing in and we talked about your grant funding. Do we cover CTE enough you think to, to.

Dawn: Well, I think make sure, you know, there's six, um, CSOs or career tech organizations that are recognized by the state. And we have two very large ones. FBLA and FFA. And I think for a small school, we almost have 100% of our students that are in one or the other or both. You know, so huge for us that we have all these kids that are doing hands on, you know, listening to guest speakers from different careers competing. I love it. You know, I think it's we're really benefiting these rural kids and, and that's huge for us.

Perry: Yeah. I think it's so great what you're doing with, uh, these kids. Like I said, I was so impressed with that group of kids when I came and spoke to them. Just it was an absolute honor, and it was just so fun. I enjoyed it so much, and they loved it. And after you had come in, there was several kids that went, you know what, I'm going to go up to Elk and get my I'm going to get my commercial driver's license. And then I want to learn more about heavy equipment. And they pretty much decided maybe their path wasn't to go straight to a four year. So, you know, it kind of helped them figure out one more avenue that they could take advantage of. So I think that's huge. That's awesome to keep having those speakers come in. So you've had how long have you been teaching there now. Dawn how many years?

Dawn: I'm going into my 28th year, 28th year.

Perry: And then. Um, so you probably have some. Can you tell us about a few students that you're like, wow, you're not going to believe they're doing this. Do you have any that you can share with us on that?

Dawn: Um, well, I have one. Obviously, I have hundreds. I mean, I have engineers and dentists and doctors and my own two daughters are nurses, and they were strong in, in our program. And what I hear mostly is I had another teacher his son was interviewing, I think he worked at an engineering engineering firm, and one of my past FBLA students was the being interviewed, and he had to call his dad and say it was the best interview. And I said, yeah, that's what he did in FBLA. He was on our interview track. So, I mean, I love to hear those stories. You know, that's so great. I do have to come back all the time and say, I remember the business plan competition. I remember the interview skills I still have. My portfolio is fun. You know, they're 25, 26 years old and they still have some of the products that they made here at school. So, you know, besides the kids that exhibit things at the fair, you know, we always have, you know, our welding projects, our wood projects, the graphics projects. The kids love to do that.

Perry: Did your daughters show animals at the fair?

Dawn: They did as well. So they did. One stayed in four hours all the way through 12 years, and the other one did FFA because it was nice to have them in different organizations. And so they showed steers. And I have kind of a fun story about Susanville and how awesome Susanville is, but we had a steer that was overheating. At the fair, it was one of those fairs that was 100, 105 degrees. No sprinkler system in the FFA barn. So we're pretty sure he was going to die and I was really upset. My kids were upset. I wasn't really sure besides to take him home. He was foaming out of his mouth. And here comes my crack and those huge construction fans. And he put him in the barn for the week and saved the champion steer that year. And I just I'll never forget it because I just I didn't know what to do. I had teeny little fans and it wasn't doing anything. So, you know, it wasn't even something we asked. He just saw that we needed it. And here he comes in with equipment for the for the fair.

Perry: So that is so awesome. Yeah. That's what that's. Yeah, that's a great explanation of what makes Small Town so special. You know, just see the need. You're not even asking. And they just they're there right. Helping out. That's amazing. All right, so you had you've talked briefly, but I want you to brag about Riley and Emily just a little bit, because we talked a little bit about that before the interview started. But they're products of your program. They're products of Susanville. And I think they represent everything that we're trying to accomplish as parents and as, uh, people that want to see our communities excel. So talk about both of them for a moment for me to talk about my kids.

Dawn: So Riley is my oldest, and she went through the FFA program and she was in for eight. And her younger years, of course, worked on the ranch. My kids have always been workers, so I think that's important. They would get up and work, go to school, come home and work. Sometimes they worked. Riley one year, worked nights at the hospital and then would come to school during the day. And so it was, it was rough, but luckily I was her teacher a couple periods a day. And so she, uh, went to UNR and then she ended up getting her R.N.. So four year degree and her R.N. license and both kids got their CNA at one, got it at LCC and one got it at MCC while they were in high school. So I've actually had a couple of my students do that. I told them the story. I said, you might as well get the first certification. Make sure it's something you like. Then you're qualified to go out in the workforce when you're in college and you'll have a job. So I have a couple of kids that just finished that, but. So Riley then, um, finished her R.N. got a job at Saint Mary's, and then, um, during one of our branding where we were branding cattle, she met a gentleman who's now she's going to marry in August, and he lives in Tulsa. And I'm super excited. Big wedding coming up. And so she traveled to Grass Valley as a travel nurse, and they had a job opening. And of course, she interviewed. She was an amazing interview. And she got the job as the youngest person interviewing for that management position. And so at the time I was 26. And so now she's in a management job at this small hospital in Grass Valley and loves it. And so that is so great. I think that's where she's going to land. You know, I'd love her to come back to Susanville, but there always has to be, you know, a, a position. And so then the youngest one went to Colorado, went to university and received her R.N., and then applied at renown, of course, interviewed once, got the job at renown in labor and delivery and absolutely loves that job.

Perry: That's amazing. So why do you think both of your daughters went nursing? So you're a teacher? Your husband's in finance and banking world. And your your siblings are attorneys. So why? Why are and why do you think they both went for that?

Dawn: No, I think most girls originally thought veterinary science because we're at an ag family. Yep. And then I think when they started researching it, they were like, well, we could spend time with our animals and work three days of work week as an hour end. Yeah. Versus, you know, they see what the vets do. They're working seven day, two week, 24 hours a day. And they a lot of times don’t have extra time. They're called at 2 a.m. or on a Sunday or Saturday. So it was a great fit for them. And they were love science you know. So I think it just it worked.

Perry: That's awesome. Yeah. So it's amazing. There are only medical medical family members, which is nice when it's wrong.

Dawn: It is so nice to have medical in your family. It's so nice. I would say something. This has bothered me. They usually tell you you're just getting old.

Perry: That's usually what happens. That's what they say. Mom, I'll bring you something. I'm like, okay, take some Advil. Call me tomorrow. Yeah. So that's. So that's. I think you're on a good path. Yeah. So the wedding. That's exciting. I think you told me that it was at the. It was going to be at the ranch. Right. That's exciting. That's a lot. Oh. So how much time do we have? How long before it's happening?

Dawn: August 30th. So, Labor day weekend 30th. Woo! Yeah! Coming fast. Uh, Farmer Joe needs to work on the field and get things fixed up. Yeah.

Perry: Less banking, more farming. Joe. Right?

Dawn: Yeah, I know. I think he'd love to do that. But, you know, he has he has his other job. We have both have a couple jobs right now.

Perry: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Understood. Okay. So. All right, so tell me a little bit about, you know, you came from Fallon. You're tell me how, how ingrained you were in Fallon and that, um, Susanville. Uh, tell me a little bit about how Susanville has grown on you over the years and kind of what the area in particular, why you, why you choose to stay here and haven't, haven't left?

Dawn: Well, I think it's similar to Fallon, and I've always loved the small town and rural rural areas and space, but, you know, just going to. CrossFit and going to lunch with the other teachers and walking downtown and the farmer's market. And there's just so many, you know, you see everyone you know, and just people are nice and close knit. I just I love that, you know, I just don’t think I've ever been a big city person. So, you know, I don’t mind the 20 minute drive into town from Janesville because there's no traffic. Right. You know, it's just there's no traffic. It's beautiful. And we like to hike and bike and ride our horses. And I think that would be hard to do in a big city.

Perry: Yeah. For sure. That's what makes the area so, so special is, you know, I think, uh, Michael on his podcast talked about I don’t leave for vacation. That's what a lot of people don’t realize is, uh, we live where most people come to recreate.

Dawn: Absolutely. And so we, we get to go 15 minutes and and rent right out our backyards is. What's so incredible about this area is how beautiful it is. Yeah. Yeah.

Perry: So that's great. So when you do have so let's say you have, uh, some friends coming in for the weekend, what are some things that you would say, hey, we got to make sure that we do with these friends to kind of show them the best of what the Northeastern California has to offer.

Dawn: We've done a lot of things. I've done races. I've done the I have done the Biz Johnson Marathon and Half Marathon. I'm cutting down on the running. So anything on the Johnson or Susanville Ranch Park is a little fun. We take our paddle boards out or our kayaks out. And, you, know, Joe's always working with the cows. So sometimes, like over Christmas when we had family, we branded cattle. That was our entertainment, right? So we're like, everybody come on out. And my nephews and nieces. That was just amazing because they hadn't ever done something like that. So it was pretty easy because we had a small group, you know. So we'll do a lot of times brandy is our entertainment, but we also need to get it done.

Perry: So yeah. Absolutely. Well and you get some free labor. That's that's fantastic. Right.

Dawn: And keep your labor cause there's a lot of training involved.

Perry: Yeah that's true. Yeah. You're probably we might have got more done without all the training, but even just really changed their lives and you know antelope grade and going up Thompson Peak. And we keep cattle up there just riding through the meadow and being. Up the mountain is, is pretty cool. Yeah. So how much longer do you plan on being a teacher at Lassen High School?

Dawn: I get that question a lot. I told the kids, pretty soon I'm going to have to get a walker. Um, but.

Perry: Oh. Stop it. Oh my God. It's 58, so minimum 60, and then I'm 62. So I think I have 2 to 4 years, so I really that I didn't. That's it. I didn't realize teachers had a max. So so 62. You have to return.

Dawn: Oh you do I have. Yeah. No, I understand that's your personal. That's your personal things. Okay. I'm hoping I'm taking care of grandkids or. Or I would love to come back and work part time and help with funding. You know, for any small school, I think would be would be fun. I would like to be on some education boards and then help with funding.

Perry: Well, I gotta tell you, I'm just so impressed with everything that you have done at that school and at that with, you know, Lassen High School in general. And just most important, though, is what you've done with those kids. Um, man, I, they are so blessed to have teachers like you and Mrs. Amen. I know there's a whole bunch at last in high school, and you're. We're interviewing just you at this point. But, um, I'm just really grateful to see that because, um, as, as a business owner that's tied to the community. What I'm trying to figure out is, how do we get these amazing young people that you are putting out that want to come back to Susanville and that we don’t have declining enrollment. And, you know, that we're actually have good jobs for them to be able to to take and to have, you know, family sustaining wages, not minimum wage type stuff. Right. So, um, that's, that's certainly the challenge with this area. So kind of through your, your unique perspective, what, what do you think our community should be doing to try and retain more of these students, um, besides jobs? Um, do you have any ideas that you, you think are important to share on that topic.

Dawn: Well, just because my background is funding, a lot of times I think we miss opportunities that might bring, you know, big funds in this area because we're just not sitting at the table. So even if it's just always being on the lookout for what's that next opportunity, is it a new athletic field or is it, you know, a new pathway that might include engineering or medical or heavy equipment? Like we I think sometimes just miss opportunities and we just don’t have enough eyes out there looking. And so you need people to take advantage of those opportunities and not let them all go to Sacramento and all go to Orange County. And yeah, you know, hey, we're up here. We need all right.

Perry: So yeah. So I think, I think that's my that's really well said. That's really well said. So how. I mean everybody is busy right. And then a lot of people are just in straight survival mode. So how do we free up the time or what are we. Where should people be looking for those kinds of opportunities since since you know so much about it. Dawn, you know.

Dawn: I'm looking all the time, every email, whether it's federal, federal funds, I'm on I'm on sites like even the Department of Agriculture. I, you know, read through all those newsletters. Um, obviously Department of Education and the federal departments and the state departments, you know, and sometimes there's other opportunities that are private, but I just don’t think my chances of getting some of those are as high as federal funds and state funds. So I think just being on the lookout, you know, this is what I tell kids, listen to podcasts, listen to the news. You know, you need to be informed. You can't just be on your phone, phone games. I want to see that you're actually reading something on your phone.

Perry: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So they were making fun of me in the leadership class because we did assignments where we would listen to 5 or 10 minutes of podcasts, and I said it could be biomedical, it could be business or finance or I want you to listen and learn something. Today it could be on how to get better sleep. I want let's listen to this and then talk about it because they need to be more informed. You're so right. I think right now there is more information available and more teaching available than there has ever been in the history of mankind. And it's just what these it's amazing to me. I'll be struggling with something. I name it, you know, trying to repair something on our mower. And my kids are like, have you have you you tubed it? You you dumbass. It's just YouTube it. You can literally. And then I'm like, yeah, I'm going to figure it out. And then pretty soon you're oh my God. It tells you exactly the the model the specific issue. And it walks you step by step. It's just amazing how much. And then with I, I that's what I wanted to talk to you about before I let you go. AI, I believe is just going to absolutely transform a great society. And so what let's talk just a little bit about where you see AI going. And then how are you utilizing it now and then? How are you making it to where I it's a crazy how much I'm using it now, just in the little bit of work that I do, it's just researching certain things. Anything that you want to know, it's I feel like it's so much better than just googling something because you have all these, those paid links that are trying to take you down, rabbit holes that don’t necessarily where it seems like AI and it's not it's not perfect, of course, but it's giving you very concrete answers to very specific questions. Um, what are you kind of see that you're trying to implement now? And where do you see this going Dawn.

Dawn: Right. I definitely see it as a tool. I would, you know, I never want to limit it. There's some restrictions when kids are working on photographs that they can't use it if it's in their portfolio. But of course I show them how to use it and we do amazing things all the time. But like in my business class, we worked on our resumes and I said, well, have you put it through AI. Because what's going to happen if you don’t put it through an ATS checker is it's going to get kicked out because you didn't format it correctly, you didn't word it correctly. So we took all of our resumes and we put it through that and it cleaned them up and fixed them up. And I said, that's what you need to do. So it has all the keywords. And yeah, you know, I said it's not going to write the resume for you. I want it to clean up your resume. So it's a tool to help you, you know, and in graphics, of course, we use it for fun. We just did, uh, Barbie boxes for all the teachers, Barbie and Ken. And we put the teachers picture in eye and said, make them their own Barbie. And they're pretty amazing. You should see them. I sent them to all the teachers and it was just super fun for the kids. What happens with AI? You put it in and you get back something that's not quite right. So you got to ask another question and a little bit better. You have to ask more questions. And I love that thought process for the kids. They have to dig in and dig until they get what they want. You know that's amazing.

Perry: Yeah. It's amazing. It's really fun. Yeah. Well, Dawn, I know it's been a long day for you. I'm. I'm very grateful that you took the time to spend time with us here today on the North State Rocks podcast. So thank you so much for that. Any final parting words you have for us before we adjourn for today?

Dawn: Just thank you so much for having me. I was horrified, but I'm glad that I'm glad that I did it. I just am usually not, you know, don’t want to talk about myself or the program, but I'm I'm glad it's it's out there because.

Perry: Yeah, well, I think, I think that you're like a lot of great leaders. It's about it's about the kids and it's about the program. It's not about you. But, uh, if people don’t know about what the kids are doing and don’t know about the program, uh, that that isn't helping. So I'm just really grateful you agreed to. Come on. And, uh, I'm. And I thought it was time really well spent. And thank you so much. And, uh, I can't wait to see you back as my guest speaker next year.

Dawn: Okay, that sounds great. I'll look forward to that. Thank you.

Perry: Thanks so much, Dawn. Have a great day.

Dawn: You too.

‍