Stay Tranquilo - Educating the FUTURE of Media & Building a Media Empire w/ Omar Delgado CCNN Live - Stay Tranquilo

Episode Date: October 29, 2024

In the newest episode of the Stay Tranquilo Podcast, powered by Stay Tranquilo Network, we are joined by the leader of the media empire at Christopher Columbus High School, CCNN Live. Omar has built off the ground a large media platform in CCNN Live which includes educating students in the world of all things content production, media, video editing, story telling, and beyond! Omar has led multiple student classes to National Awards and tells his story on how he built it and what the future looks like!Leave us a comment on your favorite part of the convo! #staytranquilo Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Especially with these boys, they've never had anyone that has told them, you're not good at this yet. And the power of yet, that word, is huge. Because they are used to being told, bro, everything you do smells like roses. Like, you're amazing. Because this affirmations, which I think affirmations are great. Every morning I wake up and I can do this, I'm strong. That's fine.

But when everyone tells you that, you start to believe it. And bro, like, not everyone is awesome at something. Some people suck at things. And when you get someone that tells you that, but doesn't tell you that and hurt you, tells you that and then guide you to become great, that's unique. And a lot of kids, they can't handle that.

In the last two years, I've had two kids that couldn't handle that. And I have no ill will to them. I wish them nothing but the best, but they see me as something that's vilified. And if they would have someone, sticking around and they survived it, right? And they graduated. Like, how old are you now, Pooch?

Like, 25. If you call me at 3 in the morning, am I going to be there for you? 100%. When on, everybody, welcome to another episode of the State Thanakulik podcast. You're probably wondering, Pooch, why are you on camera? It's because I have the honor to interview a staple in high school media, the leader of the greatest, okay, the greatest high school broadcasting program in the nation. And somebody that is my greatest mentor.

somebody I'm proud to call a brother, Mr. Omar Delgado. What an honor, bro. That was a hell of an intro, bro. I know, I know. It's a tough intro to follow, but I just want you to take a little bit now, tell people who you are, what you do, and just give a little background to yourself. I'm a 44-year-old Cuban man, two boys,

married to a wonderful, wonderful woman. I can't believe I've been able to keep her for 19 years. Omar Delgado, Columbus teacher, now director. Bro, just, I'm a Columbus guy, man. Like, you know? Yeah. I care about my kids, my students a lot, even though some of them think that I'm crazy.

And, you know, it's very, one of the best joys in my life is seeing my kids grow up to be like you. And, you know, start your own businesses and some of them are lawyers. Some of them are journalists. But, bro, like seeing you guys grow is, like, I guess, have so much pride in it, it's amazing. But I'm a teacher at heart, bro, a little bit of an entrepreneur, mentor, philosopher. Best title you can give me is dad, because my two kids are the best. But yeah, that's pretty much what I do, who I am.

For sure. And definitely, I want to definitely dive into, you know, where your path's kind of line to becoming a teacher. Because I know from, I mean, from the stories you told me back then, from before you came to Columbus, like, you always saw you to be a teacher. Yeah. A history teacher, not all this stuff. Crazy. So how did you kind of start aligning with taking on teaching as a career? It's going to sound cliche.

I honestly believe it was a calling that I had from, I mean, from when I was a kid, I always related well to young people, you know, like I always found a way of getting knowledge across in a certain way. And I remember being here, my senior year, with Mr. Scholar, who was a legend here. and he was asking us, hey, what do you guys want to be when you grow up? And that was the first time I actually thought about it. I was like, bro, I want to be here.

And he came out to me and he was like, what do you want to be? I go, in five years I'll be back here teaching with you. He goes, out of boy, you know? And he gave me an out of boy. And I went to school and took me five years to graduate from college because I couldn't do it in any less. But I came back here. I started in 2003 as a sub one year.

And then I started teaching. I got hired as a religion teacher because they wanted to get me in here. I was a basketball coach here. And then I, religion teacher fell through. World history opened up. I thought world history from the beginning. And then I moved into teaching government.

And then our mutual friend, Maurice, called me around 04 and said, hey, I got an idea for a business. I want you to help me out with it. I was like, what? He's like, dude, I'm doing this thing called Kinzenegra Cruises. And his business had been around for a while, but he was starting to take it over. He was, I want you to be one of my videographers. And I was like, bro, I don't know anything about that.

He's like, no, not a problem. I'll bring you on. You'll train for a year. And then you'll spend a whole year training with the videographers in Miami. And you start your business next year. And I started my business. And I just started learning. And I kind of fell in love with it.

Like the shooting and just a freelance. And dude, when you're 24 and you get to, you know, every weekend you're shooting something. I mean, you're living the life. You know what I'm saying? Like, it was fun at 24 years old. And then I started teaching myself how to edit. That was right at the point where it went from analog to digital. That's how old I am.

And it went from tapes, like, just started to go digital. And then I was even before memory cards. So I did that and I started growing my business. And then CCN, the gentleman who I think is a legend here regardless, He was a physics teacher, but he kind of did CCN on the side. He retired. And our then principal, brother Patrick, who, brother, that guy changed my life, came out to me. He goes, hey, Mr. Canela's retiring.

I was like, oh, man, that's terrible. You're taking over CCN. I was like, I don't know anything about CCN. I don't know anything about this. He's like, you got your own video company. You're doing this. So like, when I started CCNN, I was kind of just a morning announcement thing. And I was like, whatever.

But then I was like, man, I want to learn. I want to actually do this. and I found a organization called the Florida Scolastic Press Association, which you know very well. You're the former broadcast journalist of the year. And I wanted to, it was competing, and I loved competing. I was a basketball coach before. And, you know, like, if you put me into something, I want to be the best at it.

But I sucked my first year. I didn't know what I was doing. I got my butt kicked. And I remember going to like a district competition and we lost. And I'm not going to say the teacher's name, but she did really well. And at the end of the competition, I came up to her. I was like, man, awesome job today. Congratulations.

And she was kind of pissed off that I was talking to her. It's like, do you mind mentoring me? I want to get good at this. And she looked me dead in the face and said, why would I mentor you? You work at Columbus. You're probably going to throw a lot of money at this, which is not true at all. You're going to get good at this. I'm not going to help you beat me.

I go, if you, because I'm kind of cocky, you know that. I'm a lot of coffee I like to say confidence It's confidence I like to say confidence It's controlled confidence People might you know misconstrue how I come off

But I looked at her and I said If you know This is so bad man If you know I'm going to be good at this Mind you this woman just beat me In every context Yeah she told you yeah yeah If you know I'm going to get good at this

Don't you want to be in my good side So that when I start beating everyone I keep you around You can help out Yeah you can help each other out And she goes By the time you get good I'll be retired

That was in 2009. I went to the beat factory, right? Like, well, Farrow, step right? And for one year, I just buried myself and I became obsessed with this. I went to CBS4 and asked for an internship. They're like, dude, you're 25 years old. What do you want an intern? I just want to learn what you know.

And I took everything and one year took me. I came back, we went to the state conference. I beat her in every single category. And she got pissed. But she was like, Farley figuring it's a one-hit wonder. That was in 2010. It wasn't.

It wasn't a one-hand-wander. We haven't lost a state competition since then. That's been, we're going on 15 years straight now. And to put into perspective for people watching, I mean, up until this point, how many awards has CCNA Live accumulated from 2010 up until now, 2024? Man.

Okay, I can't tell you how many awards. I have a I have a binder back there with just certificates. I don't even put up. Humbly say, give a rough number. Okay, I'll tell you the big ones. We have 92 regional Suncoast Emmys,

which are called Student Production Awards, 15 national student production awards. We've won the national championship for student television network five times in nine years. I've given away, I've gotten my students over $300,000, $400,000 in scholarships.

We've won best show for the last three years for our monthly news show, and we were the only school that submitted five shows last year, social media, news magazine, sports, daily, a podcast, and we won best in all of them. It sounds bad when I say all this stuff because it really comes off as being cocky, but I'm proud of my program. It's facts. You're stating facts. I'm proud of what we build. I'm very humbled for the fact that this is something that I can. always look back at my career and say I build that from the ground up. And I'm not taking anything away from Canela.

He started it, but I'm proud to say that I built CCNN. And it's funny because you just said something not too long ago, and it's something that's always resonated with me. And I remember from when I got here, I was 14 years old when I started CCN, and you always said, because especially when I really got involved, and I always said you're like, pooch, a lot of people can be good at something, but very few people can say they're great at something. Yeah.

I say that every year. And I think that kind of resonates, you know, and I guess my next question would be like, how do you take someone challenging you as an opportunity rather than some people take a challenge and they kind of like quiver under? Like, how do you kind of take those challenges as opportunities? I was at one point in my life,

not a good one, but I was an athlete, right? I was a basketball player. And I realized that no matter how much I trained and no matter how much I was in the gym, bro, I was never going to be great because I had my limitations. And I found this and the sky was the limit for me. And, dude, I read a lot of books. I'm a big biography guy.

And, like, I'm really big on the athletes that would mentally, like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant. And Kobe Bryant would step on the court sometimes and look at a guy and make up a story in his head and start believing it just to beat that guy. And I do that every single year. Like I find a school and I'm like, that's the school that's trying to take something away from me.

That's because they have no idea I'm doing this in my head. Those poor kids are probably like, why is he coming out of so hard? I need something. So I create it. And just to motivate me every single day just so I could, I want, it's just crazy, man, because it's a world that not a lot of people know how competitive.

You know how it is. Yeah, no, we want to do this. It's insane. But in my little world, it's, it makes me, It keeps me more. It's a reason for me to get up in the morning. It makes me love more. It makes me work harder more.

It makes me be with my students more. And it's my fuel. And it might sound crazy. And my people might be like, that's so stupid, but I love it. And I want to be the best that's ever done this in the history of the United States. Yeah. I don't care if people don't realize what it is.

That's my goal. That's 44 years old. I got to find something to get me out of bed in the morning, right? And it's funny because you say that, because I remember going to be going to competitions with you. It would be me, you know, the Antifernandez is. Right.

You know, and you'd be like, everyone hates you here. The fact that you're here, everyone despises your hair. I'm like, do they? Like, dude, they have a picture of you in their, in their studio. They know who you want. Like, really? I kind of manifest that. And you manifest that.

And, like, I think one of the things I always appreciate about the lessons I have with you is that you teach hard, but you also love hard at the same time. You're big on tough love. And there's a kind of trouble a lot. It's got to be in trouble a lot. But like for me, like that ability to teach me constructively, but also kind of like get on my ass. I think everyone nowadays kind of needs kicking an ass.

And I got a few. I got a few. You got more than a few. I got more than a few. You broke like five of my lights and two cameras. That was a time you were 15. I broke and I had my first year. She and I'll never forget that.

You came into a student. I said. No, you made me cry too once. You made me cry once too. But I mean, like, how do you kind of navigate that area of tough love? And really, you know, kind of navigating now, now that the idea of tough love is kind of dwindled. Because people don't say take tough love. I have a lot of mentors in my life.

And I'm 44 and I still have mentors, right? So my dad is one of the first ones. And I mean, he's the epitome of tough love. Like, I don't think my dad said I love you. until I was a grown man, you know? But he took me to every basketball practice. He was always, almost all the games, you know? So was my mom.

It's me and my brother, so it was a boy house, you know? My brother's another one that was a huge mentor of me. And to this day, my brother won't let me, like, if I ever had a bad day, suck it up buttercup, like, you know, like, get out of bed and do your things. My basketball coach here, who was, I loved man when he was my basketball coach. I don't know if I can say that, but Butch Dianno, Butch, if you're watching this, you know I love you, bro. But he's crazy.

He was crazy. But I knew he loved me. It's just that he was hard on us. And I always had that mentality. Some people don't get it. New generations really don't get it. It's harder for me now because I have to, as a, I have a lot more to lose at 44 than I did when I was in my 20s and 30s. Because I have a family and, you know, that's not.

the most important thing to me in my life. But, man, like, I don't, I think, especially with these boys, they've never had anyone that has told them, you're not good at this yet. And the power of yet, that word, is huge. Because they are used to being told, bro, everything you do smells like roses. Like, you're amazing. Because this affirmations, which I think affirmations are great. every morning I wake up and I'm like, I can do this, I'm strong.

That's fine. But when everyone tells you that, you start to believe it. And bro, like, not everyone is awesome at something. Some people suck at things. And when you get someone that tells you that, but it doesn't tell you that and hurt you, tells you that and then guide you to become great, that's unique.

And a lot of kids, they can't handle that. In the last two years, I've had two kids that couldn't handle that. And I have no ill will to them. I wish I'm nothing but the best, but they see me as something that's vilified. And if they would have sticking around and they survived it, right? And they graduated. Like, how old are you now, Pooch?

Like, if you call me at 3 in the morning, am I going to be there for you? 100%. You don't even have to think twice about that. And I know I wake up and my wife would be like, what are you doing? Pooch needs me. That's how I got to say. And she'll be like, all right, you know what? I can name up Chris Arn, Gonzalo, Lodono, Anthony Martinez, Andrew Breeze.

I can name off names, David Perez, Danny Villanueva. Those guys call me, whatever they need. I'll be there because they went through it with me and they got on the other side of it. And now I'm maternity grateful for those kids. Or men. Now you guys are all men. You're not kids anymore.

So it's kind of a combination of if you get it, you succeed if you don't, you know, no ill will, but it's got to- Not everyone can survive it, man. But I also think there's a lot of kids that didn't survive it that have come back and been like, probably regret not finish it. machine with you. And I'm like, that's the life lesson. And back to my mentors, like even today, dude, like one of my mentors, I love this guy. He's only two years older than me, Alex Trujillo,

which if you know his story, kind of crazy when he was in Columbus, became a legendary teacher. He's still one of the best football coaches I know. And now he's my boss. He's a dean here. And I call that guy all the time, hey, tell me. And I know he's not going to be like, hey, whatever, you're doing a great job. He'll be like, hey, you suck today. Don't suck to me. Don't suck to me. And I call that. And I call that guy. I call that. He's not. He's not. He's not. He's tomorrow. Cool. All right. You're right. Let's go. And that's how I treat the boys. And maybe it's not right anymore with the new age we're in. But what am I can't, I have to be me. I have to. I can't help. I think that, I mean, you see it across kind of like different fields. I mean, especially like in football, Bill Belichick. I mean, Bill Belichick is not a personable guy,

but people stick around and they win. There's a winning formula. So it's like if you're doing that, but you have results to show for it, it's like, you know, who. Who's on the wrong side here? You know, it's not you're doing this and nothing's coming out of it, but you're doing it. I mean, I really don't have ill will to stuff, but sometimes I really believe people have to be broken down

to be rebuilt. You can't build off a foundation that's not, like, like if you have expectations, you have a soft sense of grandeur, like you gotta break someone down and then build them up. And when they come back up, they're like, bro, I get it now.

But not a lot of people go to that journey. Yeah. It's not easy. No, I mean, you're telling Andre earlier, like, when I first got here, I was very closed in, I was very shy, and you got on my ass, for lack of a better term, you got on my ass, you're like, hey, dude, like. But you want to know why you get on your ass?

Because my mom said yes. Because your mom. Love me, Dr. Gigi. To this day, if she's not number one, she's top three best moms I've ever had, because the conversations I would have, I do this with all my students, by the way, behind your back that you didn't know about, and she'd be like, my. Matalo. Get him.

Don't worry. I'll never forget. The first day I met you was you were becoming a freshman. And we went to go shoot Patrick Farrell. She dropped me off. And she was like, go take him home. And I'm like, this is super weird. Because I don't know this kid.

And I'm driving down from road and you're next to me. And I never thought I was going to have that relationship. I had with you at that moment. And you were just in my car. Like, I'm in this weird guy's car. But that's how your mom was, bro. And I knew that I could push you. And she was always going to back me up.

She probably thought I was crazy too. But she was like, no, I trust him. And look at you, look at you, dude. We're one of the people I point to all the time as a huge success. Yeah. And then, you know, kind of talking about CCN specifically. I mean, how is this stigma on CCN change from when you first started to now? Because especially when I was here, I mean, people are like, it's nerdy, right?

You look at everything. It's like, oh, AV, like, there's nothing cool about AV, but now you kind of see that shift of like how media is perceived now. I'll tell you two different. Everyone has a camera and stuff. You know, how have you kind of seen that shift and attitude towards. The perception of CCNN publicly with other schools and within these walls has changed. Because at first, everyone hated us. Like when you were here, it's true.

Other schools just didn't like us because we're Columbus. I get it. But I also took on the attitude after we got to the point where we were top-notch. If anyone ever came up to me the way I came up to that woman and asked me for help, I was going to help them. And the kids nowadays will tell me all the time, why are you helping all these other schools? and my answer is symbol. Iron sharpens iron. If they get better, you have to get better.

I mean, let me tell you something. It was rough for a couple of years during COVID because I was still on them and no one else was really trying and these kids were phoning it in, turning and stuff that I wasn't happy with and they were still winning everything. So I was like, I got to start building up Miami.

And Miami, I think Miami-Dade County journalism is the best in the country. I mean, Dural Academy, Miami Art Studios, Gulliver Academy and then I have new programs in Miami High is killing it now Coral Gables has just been revived

they have a great new teacher there all these programs are coming out that's in one district if we go Broward forget about it it gets even crazy but everyone now looks at us like I think they probably don't like us but it's a respect and no one could ever say

man those kids are pieces of crap because like my motto for all the kids is speak softly and carry a big stick within Columbus man it was hard like you were a football player and it was hard for me to be like hey and it still is I'm not gonna like

I'm not gonna lie it still is to get those kind of kids in here but like with the growth of like YouTube and like social media influencers and all these kids it's changed like this is cool to do now besides that I am

I'm an entrepreneur at heart and I want all my kids to make money And like two years ago, I had this kid named Jordan Perez, who I think is probably the best cameraman I've ever had. No offense. No, he's awesome. No, I agree. You know, Jordan.

He's a beast. Jordan started Jordan Perez Media when he was a senior. Bro, in a senior year, he made 25K just shooting videos and editing. And then people started, they were like, why, you made money off this? And then last year, who I think is the best he's seen a member of all time, Sebastian Brooch. Like, that kid could do, he can be in front of the camera, behind the camera, he can edit, he could do graphics, he can do anything. That kid made like another $30,000 to senior year.

Now I have a bunch of freshmen that are starting their own little handles, getting followers. They go out there and they shoot a freshman game. But they grow up with the people. And so by the time they're 18, all these people are following them. And they're like, oh, that's the guy. And they're making money like crazy. So think about it.

Why would you go work a fast food joint after school? Working four hours a day after school. When you can work four hours a week, I mean making 20K, just shooting videos and editing. I mean, that's. And some, you've seen my kids work. Like, it will rival some professionals. A hundred percent.

And dude, being a teenager, and that's very attractive. And it's a life skill that regardless of you're going to go into this world or not, like, you could be a lawyer and you know how to edit and promote yourself. Like, that's super beneficial to you. And no, I mean, now we live in a world where now the broad opportunities in media has just grown exponentially. And then you've kind of built something here where it's like we have people that can work right now as sophomores and juniors one of the things that kind of insults me but like if you were one of the people that called me i'm not mad but it's kind of like when they call me they're like oh my god

i have a great opportunity for your kids i'm like oh really what is it oh we have this event on saturday we would love for your kids to come and we'll give them service hours and my kids i'm like it sounds really bad when i reply with them like my kids don't work for service hours they get their service hours other places if you want to hire them you have to pay them and then some of the people get offended like i'm not going to pay teenagers and like all right go hire a professional there. And then it always happens about two weeks later they're coming back.

How much would your kids charge this? I'm like, eh, half the price of whatever that professional is. But yeah, that's how good they are. They're really, they're amazing, dude. I'm in all of a lot of them. I mean, I don't say it as much as I probably should. Yeah, they do amazing stuff. And, you know, kind of looking back now,

how many of your students have gone through CCN and now have actually pursued careers in media because of CCN? There's different outlets of media. So like you, obviously, you went into the creative field. Chris Perrata, the last I knew about Chris, he was in Orlando. He was a producer for the ABC affiliate over there. Chris Gomez right now is in CBS4.

But then we have people like Anthony Fern who's doing the more of the sports side of it, you know, like on ESPN and stuff like that, but back behind the scenes. And then I have like people that went into media, but it didn't. Like Andrew Breeze, who just got married. He lives in D.C. He works for political. and he codes journalism websites. Like, who would have thought of that, you know?

But then I have kids that they didn't want to do anything. That when it became doctors, some of them became politicians, some of them became teachers. Andres Fernandez is a teacher here, you know, and he was one of your first guys, your anchors. But I'm proud of all of them, man. It's just I know that this field and the world we live in, communication and being able to tell a story is so powerful.

I think honestly it's something. Like I saw Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank say this, but I really believe it. It's the number one career choice that anyone should go into when they graduate. Because before, Mr. Wonderful says this. Five years ago, if you would tell me what's the best career to get when you graduate from college, it would have been engineering. Because you can go into so many fields. You can make money so many different ways.

But now everybody needs a social media presence. Everybody needs to say a story in an interesting way. And people that were getting paid. $10,000, $15,000 a year before are now making $150,000 a year because they know how to do this. I don't understand why more, even it was just for fun, why more people wouldn't want to learn this skill. No, I mean, it's become now, it's been looked as a hobby. Now it's a means of career, it's a means of money. And you're saying it too.

I mean, everybody needs social media. It doesn't matter for a bakery, a clothing store. But more importantly, they need to know how to tell a story. So that was my follow up. What is, because I know what it means. But whenever someone tells you, tell a story, what does it mean? Because for me, everything that I approach, with any video that I do, it's like, I can show you images on a screen,

but it's how do you deliver those images? So what does it mean to deliver, really tell a story? I've seen so many talented cinematographers that meant what they shoot, you're like, this is beautiful, but they don't know what to do with that footage. And then I've had people that are so, such great communication. They know how to talk, but they don't know how to put an image to that. When you marry those two, that's a visual storyteller. One of my heroes in the journalism world, I mean, I made you see a bunch of his video,

so I know you know who I'm talking about. Steve Hartman from CBS4, the goat, the best. Probably the best storytet of all time. Of all time. When that guy, and now I recorded every single week when he does on the road with CBS, but he used to have a segment called everybody has a story. And this guy would literally just throw a dart

at a map of the United States, go to that city, open up a phone booth back in the day when they had phone booths, start picking names randomly. And the first person that said yes, he'd go to their house. And every single one of those is a banger. Every single one. He went into this little kid. I mean, this kid's probably in a doubt already, but little boy, four years old. He's on the pick of the phone and said, yes.

He got the mom. he went over and told a story and you're like he's telling the story like how are you going to get a four-year-old to tell you a story and then he found one thing that this little kid every Saturday would go to his mom he'd get a red balloon he'd go out into the cliff of north carolina wherever he was and he'd let the balloon go because that's how he talked to his grandmother and i passed away in five minutes bawling me like oh oh my god that's a dumb story like That shouldn't make you have that emotion, but that guy knows that to tell a story. That's what I mean by storytellers. Find something that's ordinary and make it extraordinary.

Find the one way to tell that story that nobody would have ever thought about and then say it and watch how everyone reacts to it. It's amazing. It's transformative. I mean, it's kind of crazy to say that because when I initially joined CNN, I didn't know. I didn't even join CCN because I wanted to. I joined because my friends came in. Right. I remember. But I remember going through that summer.

camp and me you're like go do this stuff on an iPad and you told me like hey man you you're not bad at this yeah you actually could tell a pretty good story I'm like I can and it's crazy because I never understood or I never would have known that I had that skill of being able to take you from the beginning to the middle to the end in a super effective way possible and like a similar story that you just said in college yeah I had to I had an assignment do I was like I don't know what the hell I'm going to do right I'm going to go to the Miami rescue mission I'm just going to show me like I need a story here And they this random guy is like hey look man I'll take you through and stuff And I started talking to me he's like oh like bro how'd you get here like I was I used to I was a I was an addict like I went through here and I'm like yeah I'm like this is where I used to sleep

And I'm like can I do a story on you bro? Yeah Like I did not go in there without any knowledge I'm gonna show up and there has to be a story here And it was that this guy was not only on the streets addicted to the crack he went through the mission he got healthy And now he is the same guy that's basically the mentor and the guidance for all these other people. Great story. In the Miami Rescue mission. So it's that ability, I don't know if it's so much to read people, but it's just kind of an ability to listen. And you used to hate this about me when I was in school because I would never prep for a story.

I'm like, never. I'm going. I'm like, there's a story here. I just don't know what it is. Yeah. But I'll tell you what makes you good at this. You were what a top five best BSers I've ever met in my life. You get people to just feel so comfortable around you that they open up.

That's your gift. That's your superpower. Not everyone can do that. A lot of other people that I've had great storytellers that are different types. Other people prepare. But I just knew that I can put you somewhere and leave you there for two, three hours. And you were going to come back with something because you were going to convince someone to tell me something that I shouldn't have known at that moment. No, I mean, and like kind of on that, I mean, like, I want you to kind of tell the story.

of some of the craziest situations. Because I don't know it's a combination of my mom. I was just so willing to do whatever. I can't. I wasn't scared. I can't say the stuff that you did around here. No, I would say anything, but to put it short, we're in San Diego. Oh, I knew it.

I knew it. We're in San Diego. Oh, my gosh. And the prompt, I forgot what the prompt was. But it's like. Historic. No, I wasn't in Anaheim. That's when you were thinking about.

No, San Diego was historic San Diego. Well, San Diego was the first. Flinging. Yes. Yes. Anaheim was. We'll talk about the flinging one. We'll talk about the flinging one.

We'll talk about the-A-Hen-Hen-N-A-N-A-N-A-N-A-N-A-N-Hine. No, no, we're not. I was talking about San Diego. Okay, San Diego. So you, me, Danny Villanueva, and David Perez, I think, we were trying to find, we were doing a story because it was historic San Diego. We were talking about the history of poverty in San Diego, and I took you guys into the ghetto. Like, it was bad. Well, leading up to that, like, the freaking 7.30 a.

Waffle house and we were like, Huh, there's a lot of homeless people. There's a lot of, we were just walking around, yeah. There's a lot of homeless. But it was a nice neighborhood. It was like walking around the middle of Coral Gables. It was right next to Petco Park. Yeah.

By the way, San Diego, top five most beautiful place. I love it. I love San Diego is one of the nicest. The journey is a lot of California, I can go without a problem. Yeah. So we're like walking around this neighborhood and it looks beautiful and there's just homeless people walking around and I'm like, hey, if the prompt hits, we got to tell the story. And they did.

And we were, we went to a shantytown and we're filming just to get B-roll. And some guys are going, yeah, Get out of here. And you were freaking out because you're like, what are you a freshman or sophomore? 15 years old. Yeah, you're like, hey, though, God, we gotta get out of here. He's like, just ignore them.

Come on, man. He was, get out of here. And then Danny looks at me, he's like, hey, this guy's, this guy's pulling down his pants, bro. And I'm like, hey, ignore him, man. And then all of a sudden we just see, and a piece of poop, just flew. A guy pooped in his hand and threw it at us.

And Uber? Yeah, we're out. We were out in two minutes. I was like, I've never had human feces. It paid off, though. It paid off because that was our first one ever. First one ever. Yeah.

I was part of the first team that ever. The first two. The first two that I was on the first team that went to STN. I was on the first team that won and I was on the team that went back to back. Atlanta was pretty normal. Atlanta wasn't crazy. I don't know, man. We spray painted CCNN live.

That is true. That is part of the story. It was part of the story. That was part of the story. Yeah. The graphic designer did that for us. I think what I appreciated most about what she, you forced me to do is that you made me comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Yep. You were always like, just go there. Like you have to do this. Like put you have to do this story in Anaheim. I'm like, are you sure, dude? It's not talking about it. We're not saying what we did. But you made it, you forced us to be uncomfortable and then the turnout and the, I guess the result of that was some of the most amazing stories.

Amazing story too, yeah. So my next question is, how does it make you feel that you've been able to be able to be able to to not only give a platform to kids to put their skills, but to also impact the lives of the people you interview and giving them a platform to tell their story. I know what you're trying to do. I know what you're trying to do. Stop.

I know what you're trying to do. I'll answer your question, though. Besides my wife and my kids, this is the thing that I love the most in the world. Got me. I've never been great at anything. I think I'm great at this. And I put my whole heart into it.

I put my soul into it. Nothing makes me more like happy than seeing you guys succeed. It is my calling. This is what I'm supposed to do. Even in now, like I'm glad I'm saying this out loud because I probably I needed this reminder. It's what I was meant to do. And not only that, but I honestly believe that not only my kids, but I've gone out into the community.

I mean, I started an organization with Lucas Guerra, the class of 2020, called the Media for Minorities, and we go out into other schools, and we help build their programs. And I've seen kids from Somerset Oaks Academy down in Homestead, which those kids have never left the city of Homestead, and I've gotten those kids to travel to California, and they've been on a plane for the first time.

And forget about it if they ever do journalism. Like that's transformative to those kids because my boys went out there and offered mentorship, give them a skill that they never had before. My wife, who I love to death, she kind of learned through osmosis being around me. But now she's like actually amazing at this, right? She's probably one of the top five best teachers that teaches TV in the country. And then it's something that I share with her, you know, which is cool. Like it's a cool experience because I don't know how a lot of husbands and

wives that can say, hey, we're the best at this in our fields. And I share that with her. That's amazing. And then I see kids, bro, like, there are kids that come in here, right? And they're just naturally talented. And those kids grow up and they become amazing, right? And I love those kids. Don't get me wrong. But like the youths, right, the kids that came in here freshman year and they're like, I don't know any of this. I have no idea. Come on it? But how are you going to teach me? Oh, you're going to do it. But I don't know how to do it.

That's why you're going to do this for 10,000 hours. And by the time you're done, you're going to be one of the best in the country. And when you're a freshman at 14 and you're being challenged that way, you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. But when you're a senior and you're a little cocky because my confidence rubs off, then you go out and you face the world and you're like, right, I could do anything. And then you go out into college and you're met with other kids that are supposed to be the best in the field

and you're like, this is easy to me, you start, you walk a little different, you know, you talk a little different. You start carrying yourself in a way that's with confidence, bro. It's, that's, I mean, bro, whether it's a gift that I have or whether it's something that I've learned how to do, it's the most fulfilling thing that I've ever done in my life.

So don't do that again, bro. Well, you're not going to like this follow up. Damn. So I guess it's taking me getting older to realize this, but I think the reason that you're so good at this, and the reason that you've been able to impact so many lives is because you're not only a teacher and educator, you're a father at heart.

And I think that's really the thing that you take the most pride in. And I think it's the reason that I've been able to connect you so much because you didn't treat me as a student. You treated me like one of yours, you know? And like you said, anytime I need you, you call me, you're always there for me. So how do you think being a father, being a husband, has been able to directly affect building this and obviously making all the connections you've made

with so many people. Man, it's tough. I don't have that relationship like I have with you with a lot of kids. Like I have, you know, some of them pass the line of student teacher and I do become like a father figure. I mean, Sebastian Broche is my latest example. I talk to him like four times a day.

And he's in college. But some kids just, I click with and I'm really grateful for them not giving up. Put, you know, going through all the stuff we go through here. It's our little world, but it's ours, you know. I just feel a sense of loyalty that, man, if you're willing to do all this work, to become better, to become a better version of you, which ends up helping me out, obviously. That's not why I do it, but obviously I benefited from that hard work. Like, I can't look back at those kids and ever turn my back on them.

And whether it's a father figure, a mentor, whatever you want to call it, I'm proud. I'm honored to be caught that. Sometimes I look at my own son and, bro, like I, if Adrian or Jude ever look back in this, like, I love those two more than anything in this world. Damn it. I saw AJ grow up, man. I was there with you.

You're still, you're one of his favorite people. You're still one of his favorite people. He asks about you all the time. Like, I have a picture of your final game. Your final football game. And AJ was like,

he was like four. He's like, I gotta go see pooch. And he was there. And the game was over. And he didn't understand that that was your last game and you're crying. He's like, why are you crying?

Like, I'm here. But like, I'm super hard on him. I'm super like my little one's crazy. My little one is I'm going to pay for every bad thing that I ever did because of that kid. But Adrian is his mom and it's tough for me because as much as I love my wife, you know, like she's, Jude is more my personality, AJ's more her personality, which in a lot of ways I love him more for that because I, I, you know, Natasha is the person I love the most in this world. but I just I don't want

Bro, I've learned this lately Being a father is so hard because you don't want any pain To come to your kids Like you want them to just live a happy life But in order for your sons to become men You have to put them to the ringer And toughen them up Which makes you the bad guy a lot

And I've come to the realization That I'm okay with my son thinking I'm the bad guy now if in the long run he becomes a man he's supposed to be. I don't like I'm not abusing him or anything. You know, I just, I'm really tough on him. And I tell him as I, one thing that's different and it's no, I'm not talking about it. But my dad is just different generations. As hard as I am with my son, I wake up every morning and I tell him I love him.

Every, like, I literally say the words that come out of my mouth because I want him to know. Like, I know I'm hard on you man, but dude, like, I'll take a bullet for you. And then I just see like untapped potential when I see my son. And he's only 11, dude. So it's hard. I have to wait. But I get so many things he's talented in.

And I want him to know that I believe in him. Like if he told me he wanted to become an astronaut, like, how are we going to do that? What's the, tomorrow we're going to wake up and we're going to make a game plan on how to become an astronaut. I told him this the other day. And I, and I saw this. Pat David, I think his name is, he's a influencer online. And he was saying, there's three types of people in this world. There's people that are interested.

There's people that enjoy doing things. And there's people that are obsessed. And if you ever want to be great at something, you can't be good or interested. You have to be obsessed. And my son is not there yet. He has his limitations. I get it.

I hope whatever he becomes obsessed with, he finds out. And I want him to know that I don't care if it's underwater basket weaving, bro. Like, if you tell me this is what I want to do, I'm all in. I'll figure out. I'll figure out who the best basket weaver is here to be your mentor. And I'll wake up in the morning and I'll do it with you. I don't care. Dude, my, like his sport is cost country.

He's awesome. I hate running. He's great at it though, man. I hate it. Like, you're telling me, you know, I've gone, I've jogged more in my life in the last three years than I've ever done. I started biking because I can't keep up with him anymore. But like I played basketball.

Like you, when they tell me to hit the track, that was a punishment. My son does that like for a sport. I hate it. But I'm there. I'm doing it. And I'll keep on doing it as long as my legs keep. Like, I'll keep on doing it. That's how much I love that kid.

I just hope that the little one turns out to like a sport and not wanting to kill people or something like because that will throw me off. I don't know if I can back that one home. No, man. That's crazy. And like you were saying it too, man. Like, you've looked out for me since a minute I left these halls.

Hell yeah. Like through everything, man, through everything. I'm like, I don't think I ever thank you enough, bro, but thank you for putting a camera on my hand. That's all I need, bro. Because I would have never, ever done this. If I didn't have gone through the gonged to CCN, I mean, what it is now I mean,

I'd be like, who doesn't want to be part of this? I appreciate that, bro. If more people knew that's all I needed, just a parent or a alumni to call me and be like, hey, thank you. that's, I'm good now for another five years because of that. So I appreciate that. So like, you know, you talk about, you know, I love the point you said, like to be great for me, have to be obsessed with it. Yeah. You know, how does someone, I guess, come to realize that

or how does someone even like find that obsession with something? Like, how do you even like get to that? Because I feel like it's hard to find an obsession. So like how do you even like get to something like there? Is it just something that just has to come by you and it's only by you? I don't know. Everybody's different. I have, and maybe it's because I'm the younger brother, and maybe because my brother was just good at everything, you know, and I always wanted to be the man at something, you know. I went basketball, I played, I was class president here.

I became a camp counselor. I did a bunch of odd-end jobs, even as a teacher. Like, I thought I was a good teacher, but I didn't think I was a great teacher. but when I saw that light that I was that spark that I can do this and be like great at it I couldn't get it out of my head I couldn't get it out of my head and I woke up every morning it was all right how do I get the kids to do this and how do I get to do that you know and still running my life normally but in the back of my head I always had these thoughts and it might not be CCN it might not be media but I know this that I've taught kids how to do this in such a obsessive way that when they find their obsession, it's easy. They're like, oh, I just got to do what I did in CCN here, and I'm going to be the best in the world. And then it just clicks, you know? It just clicks.

Like, bro, I tell my kids, hard of work beats talent when talent refuses to work hard. And I really believe that because I'm not the smartest. I'm not the best teacher. I'm not even the best cameraman, editor, whatever, but no one's going to outworking. No one's not working. Never. Never. So, yeah, that's... Hell yeah. So right before you wrap, I have one more question.

The last question I want to know is, where do you see the landscape of media going now that you've seen it evolve and it's evolved? Pretty much now, we don't know if it's at its peak or it's nearing its peak. Where do you kind of see media going to... I don't think it's even close to being the peak. I still think we're in the starting right. Especially with AI coming out, I think what's going to happen next is you're going to need a combination of someone who can shoot and tell a story, but you're going to also have someone that knows how to work with AI coding, stuff like that, because the future is going to be

a mix of artificial and reality, and you're not going to know, like, these deep fakes that you see now, crazy. It's crazy. Scary. Yeah. But if you can get that and mix it with reality and create something new out of that, bro, forget it. Yeah. Forget it. And I know people are afraid of it. Everything that's new is people are afraid of. I challenge people to jump in deep in the pool, learning before anyone else. So when it takes over, you can run with it. Oh, yeah.

So listen, we're right about the end. Okay, before you wrap up, we always like to end our interviews and our podcasts with a little rapid fire. Okay? All right. So first question is, favorite story Cicen has ever produced.

Coach DQ, it's not even close. David Perez did that story. Actually, no, not David Perez. I was A.J. Somalian. that story. He graduated 2020, but DQ was a student here, cross-country runner. May he rest in peace. Yeah. Had cystic fibrosis, couldn't run anymore, but that kid didn't want to quit on the team, so he became a coach as a student here. And to this day, I still show that story, and I still get goosebumps. So that's my favorite. Yeah. That was a great one. Yeah. Second question

is a lot of awards in CCN, which one affected you the most? Which one hit the hardest? Like, which, out of all the wins you've had, which one, like, just felt the best? All right. This is going to sound very probably bad because it's about me. But you know the story about how we were treated in a long time on a national level. Hell yeah. Just student television network, which is one of my favorite organizations.

When I first started, it wasn't easy. We were just seen as a school that was a certain way and they didn't want us to succeed. And it was one of those things that I was like, I'm going to change all these people's opinion about me. And it took me years, years. And I would apply or you guys would apply me for a teacher of the year. And every year I was like, I'm never going to get this, but I always would apply. Always would apply. And in 2023, they named me the national teacher the year for the Student Television Network.

And I got on stage and Alexis Vivanco introduced me. And he kind of gave me one of these intros, like I got my father figure and stuff. And in front of 3,000 people, I was up there, teary-eyed accepting this award. And I was like, damn, bro, like, I did it. Something that I thought was impossible to do. I did it. So that's the one that hits me the most. But if you ask me team-wise, your first crazy A will be unmatched.

That's the beginning of it all. Yeah. And then of all the places you travel for a competition, what has been your favorite place to travel? Nashville. Nashville. Even though we got our butts kicked out here. It's awesome being Nashville. Like, who doesn't like Nashville?

And you guys had the Gay Lord Palms out there, right? Yeah. Gaylord palms. But walking up and down Broadway with a bunch of kids. Like, I was kind of pissed when I was like, I can't enjoy this the way I want to. I had to take care of about you guys. But Nashville, and also Nashville was the turning point for CCNN because on that plane coming back,

I was talking to our partner, Ms. Insouil, who's my best friend, and I was like, this is never going to happen to us again. Like, we're never going to go to a convention and get our butts kicked again. And her and I created a, like a requirement system. And it's the way CCNN fundamentally runs right now. We did it on a plane back from Nashville. So those memories, even though it was the worst convention we ever had and the worst outing we ever had, it was the best time, best city.

And it changed how this place runs. And then the last one is, we always ask us to every single one of our guests. What does stay tranquil mean to you? Dude, if you would have asked me that in my 20s, it would have been like, oh, just be cool, man. Just be whatever, you know, like just living your life. At 40 years old and being more mature, life, like, to quote Ferris Bueller, life moves really fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you can miss it. And nothing makes that more relevant than seeing my 11-year-old son,

who I still have pictures of in my head of when I held him as a baby, he's in middle school now. Bro, just take time and enjoy the little things. Because I'll tell you this, all these awards on the stuff, if you tell me what's more important to me, all those awards on the wall and on stuff, or the journey that it took to get there, every single time it was a journey.

I have more memories. of being in practices and shooting the shit with you guys, than the actual championship, you know? So that's what Stantanthiga means to me. Like, enjoy the little moments because those end up being the most important things. Awesome. Listen, I really appreciate you.

Thank you for doing this, bro. Thank you for a long overdue conversation. Yeah, man. And just, no, thank you for everything you've done for me. I thank you. I thank you, bro. Love you, brother.