Sean Skottey
Kevin Stoker
Dave, welcome to Inside JMS, a podcast featuring the faculty and staff of the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies. I'm here with my co host, Dr Dave Nourse
Dave Nourse
Always a pleasure my friend
Kevin Stoker
And I'm Kevin Stoker, and we have a great guest today. We have Sean Skottey from UNLV TV. He's the editor there, and we're looking forward to talking to him today about his career and what he does here in the in Journalism and Media Studies, Sean, welcome.
Sean Skottey
Thanks for the invitation. It's an honor to be here.
Kevin Stoker
Well, Sean, you've had an interesting career. You're a graduate of our program. Tell us about how our program, learning here and having these experiences really have added to your career.
Sean Skottey
Well, I mean, certainly it was the humble days of the basement of FDH and so or people not familiar. We're in an amazing facility. Our green spot Hall is incredible. And I remember hearing about this incredible place when I was a student, and so we were definitely in humble beginnings in the basement of FDH, but even there, learned the principles of storytelling, of interviewing, communicating with people, and using technology to tell stories. And I think the most interesting stories are the stories about people, and so that's what we do now.
Kevin Stoker
So one of the things that is interesting about you, and there are a lot of things that are interesting about you, Sean, but you kind of are in a technology buff, right? Where did you kind of get that spark that allowed you to kind of explore technology and want to know
Sean Skottey
more? It all started in 1997 is so my parents took us on this epic vacation to Disney World. And at the time, they had this thing called the Disney Institute. It's does something different now, but at the time, it was kind of an experiment of a different type of vacation. Instead of just going to a theme park, you could take these little mini classes. It's like, oh, I learn pottery, or learn how to do rock wall or all these different things, and they had one that was radio for broadcasting, and another one that was TV. And up until that point, I'd always been a good student, but had a difficult time finding something that I was passionate about. Wasn't particularly gifted at sports, and so I was a good student, but as far as finding my place and my niche that was really when things started go, wow, I could actually do this. I could be a host on the air, or I could be behind the scenes. And so both things kind of happened at the same time there, where eventually, when we came back, kind of caught that bug of like, well, I wouldn't be on the radio. I want to be able to have a host and do all those things, but I'm also 12, and so that was a bit of a challenge. And so my dad got one of the course catalogs for the community college out here and ended up actually taking a radio broadcasting class with me. They said, Fine, Sun's bright. Wants to be able to take this class, but seeing as he's not even in high school yet, maybe you take the class with him. And so he did. So I learned about that that eventually led into an internship, which quickly led into a radio program that I hosted for three and a half years out here. And so continued to do that. And then it was time to go to high school and grow up. And so studied out here at what was basically known as vo tech. Now it's known as SECTA TV production. And so then it was like, Well, they didn't have radio, but they did have TV. Like, well, this is basically radio, but with pictures. And so both things happen at the same time, where there's that creative side of, oh, I want to be able to use this, to be able to tell a story, or to be able to play music, or to be able to interview people, which I think is interesting, and at the same time, on the flip side, it was like, whoa, what does this button do you know? And what can I create with this? And so both things happen at the same time there. And so eventually that led into working in radio and TV, which I continued to do while I was here.
Dave Nourse
When you started working. You know, while you were going well, you not started working, but while you were working as you were going to school, one of the things that I love about your story, Sean, is that you kept learning as you were as you were working. So it was like every day that you could learn something new. You soaked it all up. And I know you said Dan Grimes
Sean Skottey
Absolutely.
Dave Nourse
The media engineer who founded, not founded, but essentially helped design and then execute the building of this building, was a huge mentor to you. One could even say you may have been his protege at a particular point in time,
Sean Skottey
Absolutely
Dave Nourse
How was that experience of working and going to school and learning and kind of like trying to level up your skill set. How did that kind of you know that is that just an element of who you are, as as a person? Is that just something that the more you learned, the more you wanted to know talk to us a little bit about, kind of what that experience was like, going to school and working and growing and just trying to absorb as much as you can? Yeah, I
Sean Skottey
mean, I think it was, it was all the things, all of the above, and so it was always exciting to be able to learn new things. Oh, what does this do? And then, for most part, it seems like people kind of tend to be on the creative side. And then they learn the technology, because it's necessary. They learn how to use the tool brush because, you know, and those things to be able to create the art that they want. They're not really excited about the tools themselves. They're just using them to do that. And then you have the other side. It's the engineers like, Hey, this is a cool. Thing that we made. I have no idea what we use it for, but it can do all these cool things. And both things kind of went at the same time. There for me be absolutely right. The relationships that I built here with especially Dan Grimes and with Jennifer, who's still here, was huge. And so made those personal connections like all right, it's something where these are people that took time to pour into me when they didn't have to beyond neither of them were professors or teachers of a class that I took, but they were people that were around the productions that were available we have and still do now, UNLV TV, where we have productions that we provide for the community and for the campus and students can get involved with those things. I did that as a student, and built those relationships and those connections even then. And so I try and now bring that back around, never necessarily thinking I was going to return here to campus, you know, but that's what ended up happening. And so I'm like, All right, I want to be the person that I wish maybe I could have had, because those were relationships I sought out and built intentionally. It wasn't just kind of offered to me, and it's been fun to see how the program's increased and grown over time. At the time we were splitting off from the Communication School, JMS was a brand new thing, and so it was the humble beginnings of that. Now it's a very mature, grown up thing that has been able to keep up with the times, and that's been a pretty cool thing to be able to do. So if
Dave Nourse
I can ask a geek question for a second, Sean, I know your first love was audio. Yes, it is. It's all started in radio. It all started in radio. But you've made this jump. Well, you haven't made the jump. I mean, you've been in the world for a long time. You've kind of embraced video, television. You've worked in television. You worked at stations across the valley. You teach a video production course for us. You teach a digital photography course for us. In 2025 is there still that same love of audio and radio that there was when you started? Or kind of have you as you've grown, kind of your loves have grown as well?
Sean Skottey
Yes, I think there's always going to be a part of me that started off with that, because I realized, even as amazing as I can make things look, and as we with the technology that exists in 2025 I realize that the majority of things that are being produced, people are still kind of listening to in the background. And to in the background. And so people will tune in if there's great audio, even if it's not the greatest video quality. If they can hear somebody clearly, that's going to be what connects. And so it's a big thing that I try and push and communicate in my classes. Is, yes, we want everything to look great too, because it's TV and it's video, but also, first and foremost, it's clarity. Can you hear the person that is speaking clearly? Because that's the point. We want to try and reduce any distractions, and especially in this day and age with social media being focused and being very clear and kind of getting right to the point very important, because attention is that number one commodity. If you don't have someone's attention, you can't reach them in any
Kevin Stoker
way. So tell us about your career. So you left here, graduated before they built the Greenspun Hall, right?
Sean Skottey
Yeah. I mean, I got invited. Basically, I graduated, and then it opened. And I was like, this is they're like, check out this thing and this and this and this. And I'm like, this is all amazing. It would have been amazing to have this, but it was cool even then to go, right, hey, the next generation, they're gonna have what they did. But then I feel like I was kind of in a cool spot. Maybe this is a millennial speaking here, where kind of at the very tail end of analog and the beginning of digital, and kind of was able to kind of embrace both things and appreciate that you don't realize how good you've got it, which maybe makes me sound like an old curmudgeonly man, but you know, that's, that's what's happened as time's gone long. And so, yes, I did audio for TV, and so that was a big part of what I did. And then eventually, after working in TV production for a long time, transitioned into a role that I didn't even know was necessarily a full time thing. I had always volunteered and served in my church, doing production, primarily audio, but then also some video production as well. And as time went along because of the price of technology coming down. More and more nonprofits and organizations wanted to be able to do their own thing. It was no longer just the sound guy with a couple of microphones. Now they have a platform to be able to live stream and podcasts and all these things. And so there was an opportunity for me at my home church, to be able to do that that grew and exploded into something that was incredible. And social media eventually came along, and graphic came along, and graphic design and video and podcasts and all of that. And so that was another opportunity that took me in a different direction. So you have kind of that standard, okay, work for a local station or work for a radio station, that traditional model, but then you also have opportunities that exist in corporate, for the government, for nonprofits, and so I try and bring all of that experience to my students, to go right. Think about all the opportunities that could exist out there, especially if you have skills in the world of media, and to not just focus on technical skills, not just focus on maybe soft skills or creative skills, you should be able to know a variety of things, because very few people now just do one thing. It's like, all right, this is a podcast, but now it's turned into a video show. Is it a TV show? Now, is a radio show. I mean, it's both things, right? But then it could also end up on social media. So now, is it a social media show? And so the lines between all these things have definitely blurred as time's gone along, and that's been really exciting to see, whereas before, things I think, were more siloed, okay, this is radio side. This is. TV side. Oh, these are the folks that do the film. These are the folks that do this. Now, everyone is expected to be familiar with all of it, and ultimately, I think that's going to be better for everybody. It makes it more interesting, and it makes it less of a you do that, I do this. No, we do this together, and we work together.
Kevin Stoker
What What made you decide to come back, essentially, to academia, to come back to the university and worked for UNLV TV. What was it that was really inspired that decision?
Sean Skottey
I think it was in many ways that new challenge, because I realized, all right, I gained some experience. There are a few things that I could share, but there was a limited amount of people that I could share them with, whereas in an environment like this, or you have students literally coming to you say, hey, I want to learn these things. And so that was exciting. And being able to kind of give back, right? Hey, please. Benefit from the mistakes that I've made. Please benefit from like, here I'm going to tell you about a few things that maybe have gone well, but they say, if you want to impress people, you talk about your accomplishments, but if you want to empower people, you talk about all the times that you fell flat on your face and the whole thing blew up. And that helps build belief, and it helps that they can do it. And so that's a lot of what I'm trying to communicate as well, and then also as well, yeah, we have the technical skills when we go over those things at the same time that stuff is changing, what isn't changing, connecting with people, building relationships, building trust, storytelling. Those things aren't going away. They're only going to become more and more valuable as time goes along. And networking and building connections and relationships. I mean, it's you could be the greatest at what it is that you do, but if nobody knows who you are, it doesn't really matter, right? You want to be able to get out there and have this amazing life, or be able to do what is you want to do and you're passionate about, when you start building relationships with people that you can add value to, and first going in with, hey, is there anything that I can add value to? And you're not trying to draw upon anything. You just add value you just add value to enough people, and I feel like you'll get what you want.
Dave Nourse
That's such an interesting philosophy that you have, just in terms of adding value. You know, how can I add value? And we have conversations often Sean and you know, your your parting words to me are generally happy to serve. And I think that's truly what you are. You are one who exists in many ways to serve, whether you're serving the institution or your students or your church, whatever it may be you exist to serve. Talk to me a little bit more about what life is like in your classroom. What's your teaching philosophy like? What is the environment like when the students are in there? How are they learning? What do you try to empower them or impress upon them? Would love to hear kind of how your take in the classroom is, sure, yeah, I
Sean Skottey
think that that's a key point. Is talking about empowering the students, right? Students, right? It's not just about me talking about the things that I've done. Sure, there's an element of that, but this class isn't about my history. It's about what you want to do. And so first and foremost is building those relationships. And I try and meet the students where they are. I feel like things kind of play out as a third, a third, a third. I think the third of the students, they have very clear direction on what it is that they want to do and the life that they want. The life that they want to build. And here I'm here to kind of throw more gas on the fire. Awesome. Keep going, high five. Here's, you know, the piece that you might need to launch in your rocket. Then maybe you've got a third of the students that have a general maybe idea of the things that they're interested in or the direction that they might want to go, but they're still kind of in this point of what's out there, what's available to me, and which case awesome, then I maybe I can just expose you to different things. And maybe, if it's not something you ever do, I said, even in my photography class, very few of you might end up actually being with this is what you do all day, every day, but it might be another tool in your tool belt, working in media, and it also might be a point where you might work with a photographer, and at least knowing what they need to be successful is going to give you a better product. So, and then a third of the students, I feel like I just love on, you know, meet them wherever is they're at, and they're still on their journey figuring out what it is they want to do, which case awesome. And so I try and do that. We're very hands on. So yes, I will talk about and we'll do a small lecture, and I'll talk about some of the things when it's hands on. All right, let's actually do the thing. And so one of the things I regularly say is learning about the thing is not doing the thing. Talking about the thing is not doing the thing. Only doing the thing is doing the thing. And so I will give them a little bit and then say, go out there, make a mess, and I will help you clean it up, because you are going to learn more. And I feel like this plays out in a lot of mess. In a lot of aspects of life. By doing something, you're trying to pick up a new skill, develop a skill set, doing it 10 different times, but after each time coming back, evaluating, okay, what went well? What could I do differently if I had a chance to do it over again? How would I approach this? And each time that evaluated experience, you're going to do way better than if you spent all that time doing it once, right? And so go do the thing, come back, or let's talk about it. So that way it's not okay. Let me give you, teach you everything that I know, and now I hope you do something with it, like, no, let's give you a little bit bite size pieces at a time, and then let's go from there and ultimately realize I can't teach them everything, especially if it's an introductory class, I describe it. It is a mile wide and an inch deep. We could spend a semester on each one of these topics. My goal here is just to expose you to it, and then if you want to delve further into it, then we have some additional classes. But a lot of this, you're going to need to take ownership of yourself. Whatever your personal growth and development is, you're going to have to take ownership of that. Yes, we provide, take advantage of of the the teachers that are here. I mean, because I think that there's still value for higher education even in 2025 it's no guarantee of success, nor is it a requirement, but there is a correlation that goes along with that. And if you want to kind of stack the odds, you know, in your favor. And you say, All right, I think it's worth it going to UNLV and getting a degree. Then I say, wring out the resources. So I literally tell my students this, take advantage of the things that I know, my experiences. Take advantage of the connections. The special guest speakers that I invited come into the classroom. These people don't have to come in here. They come in here because they want to pour into the next generation. And you can build relationships with them. That doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be necessarily mean you're going to be taking from them. So what can they do for me? But maybe that's someone that you could build a relationship with. They say one of the best questions you could ask is, who do you know that I should know? And I say at this point, especially if you're starting out, you may not have a lot of credibility, right? But what you do have, you can borrow from mine. You can borrow from the other professors they had. And over time, you build that, students are like, Oh, I don't know if I could do what it is you do. Well, yeah, you could be as good as what I do, if you had the time and the experience and put in the work that was necessary to do that. And so I a lot of it is just empowering them and encouraging them again. Some students, they know exactly what they need. They're just looking for that last piece of the puzzle. Great, and I'm able to add value and cheer them on. They're going to do great, amazing things, regardless of what I in spite of what I do. But other ones I'm able to encourage. And I think that that's the best part, is being able to go, right? You know, whether you do this professionally for the rest of your life, or if you go, you know what? This isn't something I'm interested in, or I don't really enjoy this, great, then at least we have stretched your comfort zone. You have learned something new. You've hopefully helped adopt that growth mindset, which we're always talking about, and get to a place where now we've been able to at least add value to you in some way, and then maybe you can add that on to someone else. And I said maybe you don't do this professionally. Not everything has to be turned into employment or a job, which is a great way to take something you love and make it into make it into work. Maybe it's just something you enjoy. Maybe you like taking pictures of being out in the wilderness, and that's a thing that you enjoy. Well, great. Then we helped you level up a hobby that you had, or you like being able to use social media to be able to get out something that you're passionate about. Great. And so always serving, always adding value. The school has added a tremendous amount of value to me. So the least I can do is try and kind of give some of that back and pay that forward. I mean, I can't always necessarily pay it back, but I can't pay it forward, right? We can help the next generation, which isn't that what we're all trying to do here is the next generation of broadcasters and people to use technology to tell stories.
Kevin Stoker
You know, Sean, one of the things I really appreciate about you is that you are a problem solver. A lot of times we'll run into a problem with technology, run into a problem with something else, and you find a solution. Tell me about where that kind of started happening, and tell us about the biggest challenge you faced and how you overcame it.
Sean Skottey
I have to think about that one. I think there's always this tendency, even now at this point, even though I've been doing production since the 90s, which to my students, feels like, well, the worst is when they go, can I talk about the late 1900s I'm like, Oh my gosh, yes. First off, the late 1900s That's rude. But second I said, Well, in that case, then I was born in the 1900s listen to your elders. Is a lot of it is fighting that. What is it? They call that imposter syndrome. We say like, Well, I'm not I'm not good enough. Well, okay, maybe I didn't get a specific degree in the specific thing. Or there's other people that have been doing it longer, that are better at it than I am, and to do that comparison game. And so that's been an aspect even now, that I sometimes struggle with, is I'm like, All right, comparing myself with where I was. The healthy things to compare yourself where you were previously, to see how far you've come. But it's only natural to compare yourself. Oh, look at these other people doing these amazing things online. What do I know I'm up here? I'm some sort of imposter. But at this point, I realized I don't have to be the man. I don't have to be the one that knows everything because of the resources I can I've developed solution seeking. So it's like, All right, we can't figure it out this way, then we're gonna figure out a different way. And if that doesn't work, we'll figure out a different way that sometimes we'll build in backups and redundancy. So we will go to straight from the Department of redundancy department. All right, well, this thing is available, but what happens if that fails? All right, what are we gonna do? So a lot of that is just kind of just kind of in real time problem solving, you know, on there. And so that's just been experience because, like, oh, well, that failed. Well, next time, maybe we have this also recording at the same time, so that way, if it's something crashes, you know, and so so much of everything has been not one day where it all just switched and all of a sudden became twice as good it was every day trying to be 1% better, right? And those wins stack up, right? So there's a book called atomic habits, and there's a lot of benefits from doing those things, but it was really just all right, evaluate, okay, if I had a chance to do this again, what would I do? So sometimes it's taking mental notes, and sometimes it's literally writing it down and going all right, next. Time we do this, let's try this instead. And sometimes those experiments work and sometimes they don't, but I think a lot of that, it has to do with that. I mean, as far as different problems that we've had to run into, everything that can go wrong has gone wrong at one point or another, because of technology or because of someone operating the technology, and especially the more complicated, the bigger the production, the more points of failure there can be like, All right, if you've got a radio show, there's a number of things that go wrong. The microphone could stop working, the recorder could stop working, the mixer could stop working, the cable could stop working. At any point in any of these chains, this thing could break down you had on TV. All right, now any of those things, the switch starts to adding on more and more and more so understanding how all the pieces individually work, but how all they work as a web together, right? Systems of interconnected systems. This system connecting to this system. Before things were more siloed, it's like, all right? Well, this is the thing, and it doesn't interact with anything other than itself. Now, because of technology, everything's on the network. Everything connects and communicates with one another, and so you kind of have to have to have this background in all the things right in it, and you have to have a background also in as a reporter, in storytelling and communicating with people. And so a lot of what I'm telling them, I just did a lesson in interviewing. I'm like, before you shove a camera somebody's face, let's take a second, set it down and just go, Hi, my name is so and so I'm a journalism student that's learning how to make videos, and I would love to talk to you about X or Y and be able to get your thoughts on that. Okay, great. Then you bring in the camera. I'm like, that's something I didn't learn. I was ready to just plow right in and and do that. And I realized, all right, I need to kind of build some relationships and rapport first. It's not just about me drawing out things from people. Why don't we make a connection first? So that's been a big part of my journey has been focusing on not just things, which is very easy, especially if you have a more technical engineering brain, but also people. And so it's like, all right, yes, we make this change, but let's talk about who's going to impact first and build relationships, because it is far more important for us to be on the same page and to be working well together than for me to just have some great idea and then plow over everybody, and then what you've got here is a thing that works well, but you've got a wake of dead bodies behind you. That's obviously not what we're trying to do, and especially since we're trying to be that example to our students. One thing that I do appreciate about JMS, and especially here at UNLV TV, we are teaching the thing that we are actively doing. So I describe it as we have the smoke of battle upon us, as in, we are still doing the thing. I'm not talking about the thing I did 20 years ago sometimes, but very rarely. I'm telling you how things work right now. And I think for me, that was some of my favorite teachers, the ones that were still kind of in the hunt, still doing it. There was still always value in principles. Principles never change, storytelling, connecting with people. That's always going to be valuable. But there is something different about somebody that is teaching a class and then literally going and doing the thing, and then come coming back and tell you about what it's like. And so there's an excitement, there's a there's a fire that I think that they have because they're still very much like in the hunt. And so I try and communicate that to my students as well, like, hey, it's not just these assignments I'm giving you and then I'm grading them as if I'm sitting on some sort of pedestal, like I've arrived, like we're doing productions together, and we're learning together. And that's a fun thing to be able to do, to see the same students that are in your class, to be then working with you in a production where now it's no longer just me lecturing or speaking at you, but we're working together as peers decide to try and solve this problem. And so they say, if you want to build confidence, you got to build competence, and you build competence by doing the thing.
Dave Nourse
So I was wondering what that smell is, Kevin, and it was the smoke of battle. So I think, I think we've, we can put that one to bed. Sean, we've learned a lot about you and your, obviously, your professional background. We've learned about your teaching philosophy. We've learned kind of how you mix the two of these things together in the classroom. Hear a little bit about you outside of work. I know you have a family, a couple of kids. What do you like to do? Tell us about yourself. All right,
Sean Skottey
so I'm definitely blessed. My wife is Rachel. We have been married since May 4 of 2013 May the Fourth, may the fourth be with you. We are geeks. I did not come dressed as Darth Vader. However, we did have the love theme playing in the background. So very subtle. And we did have R 2d we didn't have a little boy in our family that could be the ring bear. And so we actually had r2 d2, which is in my office, and he was our ring bearer. So a slight element on there. We're actually more Lord of the Rings geeks than anything else. But it still was fun. It's one ring to bear, right? So that was somebody that I that I met Rich and I were both part of the same young adults group at our church back when we were young adults. Now, I guess we're just parents, and then we have two kids
Dave Nourse
born in the late 1900s
Sean Skottey
late 1900s you know. But, you know, back in my day, we just had a hoop and a stick and we liked it, you know. But yeah, definitely built different because my son. Who is nine, we have, my son is August, and he's nine, and then my daughter is Ainsley, and she's five, about to turn six, and my son asked me the other day. He's like, so what kind of iPad you have as a kid? And I go, I'm like, buddy, I talked into a fan. We are not the same, so it's just funny where things are at. And so neither of them really have a tremendous interest in what it is that I do for work. My mom still has no idea what I do for work. Half the time I don't know what I do for work is solve problems, help people, push buttons, is what I try and do. Add value, that is what I try and do now. And so that's where we're at right now, excited about being able to spend more and more time as a family, and that's been awesome. The personal journey that that's taken me through. I was a bachelor for a long time and got married, we had kids. Now that's the season that we're in where we're spending a tremendous amount of time at the parks and the splash pads and the play places, and we're going to all the things and, oh, there's, you know, a festival, and there's, hey, there's a thing where we can take the kids and burn off some energy. It sounds good, but we're trying to raise them. First and foremost, my job is not to prepare my my kids to be great employees somewhere, even though I would love for them to be good at what it is they do, whatever it is, whatever direction. But for first and foremost, we're focusing on character. So for us, we personally, we homeschool, which has given my wife a tremendous amount of time with them, and then we're out and about all the time. So we, you know, she takes care a lot of the academics, reading, writing. That's important. I try and come in with all right, people skills, how to have a conversation with people eye to eye, how to be able to deal with your taxes and insurance. These are things that aren't sexy, but you're going to need to know them no matter which direction you end up going. And so a lot of it is that ultimately, we're trying to raise what I describe as servant leaders, people that are going to use their position, wherever it is in the community, to try and add value. We don't need any more negativity. We I don't think we need any more fake Tiktok influencers. I think we need more people that are going to help serve people in whatever way that might look like to where all right, was the community better off, or was it just all about you? And so I think a lot of it we're focusing now is building the legacy that we want to be able to have. Rachel and I are blessed to have some amazing mentors and people that have spoken into our lives, that have kind of given us a different vision, a bigger vision for where we could go in the life that we could build for ourselves. And we're excited about that, ultimately, what's that gonna evolve be personally growing into the best version of myself, which I realize now is actually healthy and achievable. I think every person can grow into the best version of them, right? I of them, right? I could be a very mediocre Dave, but could I be a better? Sean, yes. And so it's like, all right, what does that look like?
Kevin Stoker
So Sean, our last question is, typically, is there something we should have asked you that we didn't ask you, something that we should have covered, that we didn't cover, that would kind of reveal the WHO Sean Skottey is, and who maybe open up and say, how we can, you know, students or others could really get to know the true Sean. So is there a question?
Sean Skottey
Hopefully they're experiencing that I try and be consistent with each aspect of my life, because I realize it's very easy to kind of put on the show where it's like, all right, this is my public self, and this is what people think about me, and this is all that I just need to be consistently the same person everywhere I go. So I try and be that. I'm not always that, but I try my very best to be that, or I'm trying to be real and authentic and to admit all right, there's some things I don't know, and there's plenty of things that I know that I don't know, and plenty of things that I don't even realize I don't know. The more I have learned, and this has been a positive thing about being an academic and doing this, the more I realized there was so much more to learn. And, you know, they say like, basically as the I forget what the example is, but basically, kind of, the larger the island of my knowledge, the larger the shore of things that I realized there's so much more that I had learned. And so it's not necessarily always just a quest for more and more information, although I would say, if anything somebody said, Everybody's got a vice, my vice is information. And so that can be an exhausting place. So a lot of what my wife has helped me to be able to do is be able to relax and breathe, and it is okay to not be constantly doing something all the time, and that's an important thing. So self care, that doesn't necessarily mean just bubble baths. That means personal care, taking care of yourself, especially if you're responsible for other people. And so that's the season that we're in right now, is me personally growing and really just trying to be the best husband, best father I can be. And then for my students, who, even though I recognize they're adults, I still consider them to be kids, because they were born in the generally, generally born in the 2000s and I realize now why my dad always said these things is like, I have shoes older than you. And I realize there are a lot of things that I have older than many of my students. And so try and meet them where they're at and help them in whatever way I can, even if it's just a high five. And hey, you know, I'm encouraging in some way, and so that's what you do, right?
Dave Nourse
Good answer. John Scotty, it has been a true pleasure getting to feature you on episode one of season three of the inside JMS podcast. Want to thank you, sir.
