celebratEd

An educational podcast exploring the many issues, trends, and experiences schools and communities face on a daily basis. Amazing things happen every day, and too many times, we do not capitalize on the opportunities to tell our story or celebrate the many successes we experience every day. The world is changing; our students are competing for educational opportunities and jobs on an international level. Join us as we interview the many different educational, political, and community decision-makers who influence what we experience as we discover and uncover the secrets of success in this continually changing time.

Senior Celebrations 06/02/2020

Senior Celebrations Update Three - As schools and communities across the globe develop new ideas for celebrating graduates, host Jim O’Rourke details some successful scenarios, and talks about how new changes could impact future graduates as well. He also discusses how these losses have stressed the mental health of senior students, but shares the positive impact of his choice of visiting the homes of every single senior in the HD graduating class. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/14660375

Humanistic Leadership 05/18/2020

Humanistic Leadership Update Two - As teachers face the home stretch of the school year, host Jim O’Rourke weighs in from home on the future of educational leadership and school systems in a post-pandemic world. Sharing real strategies for future eventualities, he discusses silver linings to the COVID crisis. He continues to invite listeners to join the conversation from home by contacting us at [email protected]. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/14471819

Introducing a CovED Conversation 05/05/2020

Introducing a CovED Conversation COVID-19 Update One - Recording remotely, host Jim O’Rourke acknowledges the impact of the current pandemic crisis on education today and how professionals are supporting students in this unprecedented time. He invites listeners to join the conversation from home by contacting us at [email protected]. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/14280326

Coming Soon: Season Two 04/20/2020

Coming Soon: Season Two Before COVID-19, we prepared an amazing second season. Education professionals spoke about mental health in school. In this original trailer, we share the need for support at all levels. Extending remote learning makes this support important as ever. In response, we mixed up our season. We’re still talking about mental health: still sharing amazing interviews. Additionally, Principal Jim O’Rourke provides frequent mini-episodes exploring learning in this time of crisis. Keep being amazing, and stay heal /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/14065781

What’s Next? 09/27/2019

What’s Next? Host Jim O’Rourke ties everything together in this season wrap-up. Discussing what we’ve learned as a faculty in the years since our transformation, Jim outlines the plans to revisit and adapt those processes to work with our current faculty, students, and situations. We are looking for stories for our next season, starting in 2020. The CelebratED team would like to invite you, our listeners, to tell us about what’s worth celebrating where you are! Email us at or direct message us on Twitter @celebratEDpdcst, Instagram @celebratEDpdcst, or Facebook @celebratEDpdcst. No success is too small, and keep being amazing! /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/11414279

A Conversation with Baruti Kafele 09/06/2019

A Conversation with Baruti Kafele The team was thrilled and honored to host a visit with internationally renowned speaker, Principal Baruti Kafele. Jim speaks with him about building relationships, how to develop meaningful parent involvement, and what advice he can offer new administrators. Principal Kafele’s words and expertise inspire teachers everywhere; we were excited to be able to bring them to our audience here on CelebratED. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/11145566

Behind the Data 08/23/2019

Behind the Data As the 2018-2019 school year wound to a close, Jim sat down with the outgoing Student Voice president, graduating senior Josh Marshall. In this episode, we share their frank conversation about Josh’s impressions of school culture, standardized testing, community perceptions, and his beliefs about the real state of Hillsboro-Deering high school and the larger district. Jim walks through Josh’s experiences in the classroom, as a member of student leadership, and as a representative to the school board. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/10960559

Burn It Down 08/09/2019

Burn It Down Back at home, Jim has an important conversation with teacher leader Alex Luhtjarv, who shares his personal journey during the Hillsboro-Deering transformation. His story begins at his lowest point, but inspires as he shares the ways he purposefully developed himself into a better teacher, and leader in the HD community and beyond. He also articulately details his insight into how teachers and administrators can create opportunities for all teachers to transform into their best professional selves. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/10823360

Crisis as Opportunity 07/26/2019

Crisis as Opportunity In this episode, the team goes on the road to talk with the educational consultant who navigated the turnaround with us: John Pierce of Future Management Systems. His words and reflections spark plans for the upcoming school year, and remind teachers of practices and processes that succeed among colleagues and with students. Visit Future Management Systems online and read more about Hillsboro-Deering’s story at . /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/10664240

Two Ears, One Mouth 07/12/2019

Two Ears, One Mouth Using audience questions, Jim and Producer Jessamyn Irwin talk about why school culture is so important, detail how the school built culture with the Rights and Responsibilities model, discuss how to react to dissenters among students, faculty, and parents, explain the process of building a supportive evaluation model, and give advice for first-year principals as they head into the new school year. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/10486475

If You Feed Them... 06/21/2019

If You Feed Them... Host Jim O’Rourke sits down with five current students from across high school grade levels, including the outgoing and incoming student body presidents. They discuss the things they love about their school, and give great suggestions for things that can make school better for students and faculty, as well as their wishes for the greater community’s perspective on their educational experience. Don't forget to email us at with your questions for our upcoming Q&A episode arriving in three weeks. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/10231322

A Clean Slate 06/07/2019

A Clean Slate Host Jim O’Rourke goes back to the beginning with Dr. Jennifer Crawford, who was brought on as the associate principal during the initial transformational year. They continued to head up the leadership team of the high school together through 2018. In this episode, they discuss their work as administrators, both behind closed doors and with faculty, students, and parents, including not only challenges, but also what was really exciting to be a part of during that time. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/10076558

The Trust Had to Be There 05/24/2019

The Trust Had to Be There Host Jim O’Rourke brings in teacher Nicole LaRoche, who worked as the School Improvement Grant Manager during Hillsboro-Deering High School’s transformation phase, to discuss the major processes implemented. Using concrete examples that affected faculty, students, and community, he and LaRoche reflect on the things that worked best to turn the school around. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/9901754

Kids are Kids, No Matter Where You Go 05/11/2019

Kids are Kids, No Matter Where You Go In order to understand an outside perspective on his school’s journey, Host Jim O’Rourke talks with his district’s superintendent, Robert Hassett. Hassett came into the district one year after the Transformation Model had begun, and shares his insight on some of the successful practices he observed when he arrived. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/9739118

That Was the Big Change: You Were There 05/11/2019

That Was the Big Change: You Were There Host Jim O’Rourke talks through school improvement with a former student who has returned to teach in the district. They discuss a student’s perspective on some of the drastic changes made to improve culture in their school while she attended, and how she applies that experience in her classroom today. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/9739067

So Why a Podcast? 05/03/2019

So Why a Podcast? When a school gets labeled as “at the bottom” and “in need of improvement,” what does that really mean for the people inside? Host Jim O’Rourke and Producer Jessamyn Irwin talk about their reasons for starting a podcast to celebrate education, starting with the story of their school’s dramatic turnaround. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/9643907

Coming Soon: CelebratEd 05/02/2019

Coming Soon: CelebratEd In a new education podcast, high school principal Jim O’Rourke and his team discuss the need to celebrate the good things that are happening in American Education, starting with sharing their experience moving from being labeled as “critical need” to one of the top schools in NH. Over the course of a dozen interviews, the podcast delves into what makes a school great, and what modern education should and can look like – and how that is different than the opinions expressed in mainstream media. /episode/index/show/celebrated/id/9619736

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