Transformative Principal

Welcome to Transformative Principle, where I help you stop putting out fires and start leading.

I'm your host, Jethro Jones.

You can follow me on Twitter at Jethro Jones.

Okay.

Welcome to Transformative Principal.

I am your host Jethro Jones, and I'm excited to have three awesome guests on the program.

Today we're gonna talk with Kumar w Rames.

Singa.

I bet I got that wrong.

No offense.

I'll, I'll let you correct it when you come on.

Julian Pope and Brent zko.

You may remember Brent from his awesome teacher data dashboard and he said, JE, we talked about that and it was great.

But we didn't even get to the thing that I'm really excited about, which is the education test test kitchen educational foundation.

So, uh, Brent, why don't you start by telling us what the Test Kitchen Educational Foundation is?

Awesome.

It's great to be on again, Jethro.

Really appreciate it.

Um, the Test Kitchen Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was established in Fort Madison, Iowa, um, probably about nine years ago now, nine or 10 years ago.

And, um, the idea behind it was to, um, Mary the, um, notion of good food.

With good education.

Hmm.

came about, um, through a relationship that, um, was built with Kumar, with Singa.

Um, his, uh, daughter was in one of my classes, um, when she was in, in high school, and I had recently come back from a learning in the brain conference.

um, they had taught us all these amazing strategies about how to help kids en encode information and retrieve it and all these brain friendly activities.

But at the end of it, made a statement that, you know, all the things that had been taught, um, none of those have an effect size, um, as much
as whether a. student would eat at home in a, in a family style, uh, meal setting whether they learned the skill of delayed gratification.

And

Hmm.

Kumar had come to me with, with this idea, Kumar is a renowned chef and has amazing culinary skills, and he was looking for a way that he could help, um, students in our community and.

Through his passion of food, but also marry that with his passion for education.

And so we brought in the idea of, you know, trying to provide a family style setting.

For students where they could, they could learn, um, life skills of cooking as well as, um, you know, academic skills that could then, they could take with them to pursue their, their own dreams.

And

Hmm.

kind of where Julian comes in the story as well.

Um, Kumar has a, has a great background and story, uh, for his life as well that brought him to Fort Madison.

But the Test Kitchen Education Foundation in itself is, is a mission of.

Uh, marrying culinary arts and education to provide students with life skills, um, for their future.

Yeah.

Well, I appreciate that introduction.

Kumar, can you tell us a little bit about your perspective on education and.

why you wanted to start the Test Kitchen Education Foundation.

Yeah.

Um, thank you for having us.

Uh, so like Brent said, the, uh, actually, you know, my, my original, uh, my homeland was Sri Lanka, very poor country.

Only a way to get out of the poverty is, uh, through education.

So.

With that in, you know, 1986, I came to United States pursuing the American Dream, and one of the first things I encounter is, uh, I didn't speak any English, but there's not even a place for me to learn English.

Uh, other than the school.

Actually there's three places, the school and the churches, and uh, uh, there's actually one other place in town.

You can have a free education.

That was the Iowa State Penitentiary, which is on this town.

So I was like really shocked by it.

But then also I grew up back home with the philosophy.

We had three gods, so that was our supreme, uh, because I'm a Buddhist, you know, as a Buddha.

And then the second God is, uh.

Your parents, and then the third person you worship is your teachers.

So with those three backgrounds, um, I was shocked what I was experiencing here, but at the same time, so I took education portion very seriously when it come to my daughter.

So through that I met Brent and.

We connected because through his passion for education.

But then after that, with the, my background, my values, so I kept visiting Brent even after my, he does not have my daughter.

I just go to fair and teach a conference and sit on the line and just say hello to Brent.

So then my daughter graduated from school.

I still continue that relationship.

I, whenever I am in town, I go to a local bake shop.

I buy a couple of, uh, muffins or something.

Then I just go to the school, just to his classroom and giving this cupcakes or a muffin or something and then asking how he's doing.

During that, then I really realized how much the help the school, not necessarily the help, but you know, how much undervalued the education is.

And then one day I told Brent, I said, I need to do something about it.

And then I came up with this thing.

I said, you know, hey, what do I do?

I, I wanna start up a after school program.

I said, my talent, as I was a known chef, uh, in town, uh, I said, I can teach these kids cooking skills.

And then I wanna bring them to one location and give them the cooking skill.

Then I wanna bring the teachers in and to help these kids with the homework and school.

And I put that idea out there.

And Brent did not hesitate at one bed.

He was like, that's a great idea, Kumar.

And then, uh, then we went to work for it.

And that's how the, uh, test Kitchen Education Foundation was born in, uh, 2015.

And, and so the idea then is to put kids in real culinary positions and have them.

Uh, make the food and then eat the food together.

Right.

And, and we have a student here, uh, who's been through this.

Julian, welcome.

Uh, tell us a little bit about your experience and how you got connected.

Oh, thank you for having me.

I knew about the test kitchen for a long time, uh, when I was, you know, a freshman in high school and at the time I was very shy and reserved.

I didn't really have much sense of a direction of what I was gonna do with my career once I was out of school, you know, as an adult, I didn't have.

I didn't have a direction or a, a path to follow.

It was like, do I wanna be a construction worker?

Do I want to be an accountant?

I always told myself, F I'm never getting an office job being an accountant.

That, that was, that was my big boogeyman back then.

But other than that, I had no ideas.

But I ended up joining the high school robotics program just 'cause I thought, I thought it looked cool and I am not very gifted when it comes to engineering or, uh, abstract design or something like that.

But I, I loved the program and the test kitchen.

As it grew and expanded, it began to host the high school robotics program with certain tutoring events.

So the whole robotics program, our members would go down to the test kitchen and we'd teach fourth or sixth graders about, you know, how batteries worked or, you know, how to, how to build a stable
structure with engineering principles, stuff like that, you know, and I, I hardly knew much more than the kids we were teaching, but I still, I loved it because I loved being a part of something and.

Having a commitment to an organization, having something to do that was valuable with my, with my time.

And that's how I became involved with the, uh, with the Elliot Test Kitchen.

And I think that involvement began to increase even further.

When the, the robotics program, we were hosting a fundraising event at the Test kitchen.

I think Kumar was catering for us.

We had a nice big meal, a whole bunch of sponsors that I think that he had probably reached out to on our behalf.

We gathered 'em all up at the test kitchen.

He prepared 'em a real nice homemade meal.

And then all of us members on the team, on the leadership team of the robotics team, we gave speeches about, you know, what we were doing and why it's valuable to invest in this kind of stuff.

And I, I took the stage and I gave a speech, and I don't think many people had really heard me speak so publicly and, and so, so loudly, I guess before.

And, uh.

At Kumar took notice of me and he started to, you know, the, the one, okay, so is there any potential here with this kid?

Is there something, you know, what?

What's his story like?

And that's how I got to know him.

And I started volunteering at the test kitchen.

Shortly after that, he offered me my first job there, washing dishes, and it provided me with a lot of additional opportunities after that.

So, uh, so you were not part of the test kitchen in that you weren't learning culinary stuff.

You were there part of the robotics program and then tutoring kids who were in the test kitchen.

Is that what

Yes, the test kitchen is primarily, well, it was founded as a, as a like a culinary institution, but cooking really to me was only ever just one part of what it came to do at its height.

They had robotics classes, they had math classes, they had history classes, geography classes, if I remember right.

Um, the primary draw was the food.

You know, kids would come there, they would cook, they'd serve a big homemade meal out to the students there at the end of the day.

But the other students in the program, they would first learn a lesson taught in the subject of the day, and it often didn't have to be culinary.

And, um, yeah, robotics was the thing which brought me in.

And I think later on I actually served as a, an English tutor at the test kitchen, I think a couple years later, if I may, um, add a couple of things to that one.

So what the, how the Julian came about was, so this robotics team was meeting, that was one of the programs we supported.

So we had, like Julian said, we had a math program, we have a cooking program, we have a Spanish program.

Then we had our, uh, robotics program.

So let me, um, if I may, let me go back one more step further.

So my original concept was when I was talking to Brent, I was like, Brent, I want this kids to come to this place.

I want them, I want teach us to come, I want teach us and the kids to intermingle and then I want to teach us to help.

These kids with their homework, which I am accustomed to back in my homeland.

And then once they get done with their homework, then they're gonna help me cook a meal and then we all gonna sit around and eat as a family.

Well, first we guess what I found, there's no word such a word called homework.

In this particular school district.

Every single kid comes there, have no homework.

They wanted to cook.

So this became a huge issue.

That's when I decided, wait a minute.

I need to go.

I need this.

Kids has to learn something at this place if they do not have any homework.

So that's when I started, uh, maths Day, science Day.

The geography day.

And then during one of those days was a robotics team.

We had the robotics teams coming to our test kitchen and teaching the kids about the robotics.

But then what I noticed about Julian was I kind of, uh, there was a always a bike parked in front of the test kit and kind of blocking the way.

I'm like, who is parking this bike?

And that's when I realized this Julian, this kid.

Riding a bike to get here, and he did not want his bike to be stolen.

And so that's when I took interest in him.

And then I, that's when I, I said, okay, dude, you know, you need to come and help me, uh, work here.

So I got him to, I wanted to build his trust.

So he came and I got him to cook at the test kitchen washing dishes.

Doing little, little things.

So his, pretty soon he became a big part of the test kitchen.

He was teaching other kids, he was helping, uh, cooking, he was doing the dishes.

Uh, but because he had a very, uh, you know, socioeconomic, uh, situation that he needed the test kitchen.

So that's how Julian Gus started.

That's, that's great.

Can you talk a little bit about the power of a. Mentor like you were for Julian, someone who believes in a kid who says, you can do this, you can provide value.

'cause it sounds like Julian didn't have many opportunities to do that, and so you Kumar saw him and said, I can, I can help this kid.

I see his potential.

Tell me about that and the mentorship part

Oh, a hundred percent.

A hundred percent.

And then, you know, as Julie, you know, I remember going back and Julian wasn't even talking to anyone, so I. Uh, talked to one of his in school teachers, Hey, what's the story on this kid?

And, you know, and then they told me like, you know, well, you know, he's very quiet.

And then I said, so I did some little research and I knew this is a kid worth saving because he was living with his grandpa and dad.

So he had his, uh, certain situation.

But the, uh, one of the things I went into cooking is.

Because I realizing it, uh, because that's one of the jobs you have instant gratification.

You get to cook something, you need to present it, then that person going to eat it, and you are gonna get the test results immediately.

And I think the kids love that portion of it.

Do so when as a kid comes in there completely.

Have, uh, all fail on so many avenues.

Then I can tell 'em in the, Hey, man, come and cook with me.

And when I teach 'em, and then when I get them to cook something.

And then, uh, um, then I also.

When everyone sit around the table to eat, when I get that kid to, I teach the kid what you cook, this is what you're gonna go around and tell, this is how you prepare it.

This is, uh, how it's made out of.

And that kids take so much pride in that and that just instantly, uh, give them the lot of boost.

Um, so that way, you know, you buy in there, uh.

I mean, you know, you can mentor them that way.

You have buy in their trust already.

Um, I think I learned that from, uh, Anthony Bourdain.

I know he's died.

You know, he had the re the no reservation.

One of the things he said was that he can go into a war tone area, but he can come out live because when you share your story with or plate of food and that just bring the temperature down on everything.

And I think I noticed that.

Uh, with the teachers and the kids because other thing, what I had to work on the test kitchen is, so this teachers come in to help and sometime that those, the kids come, the teachers come.

Sometimes there's this kid who has given this teacher hard time at the school.

It is there.

And I had to reprogram that teacher.

No, no, no.

We gotta get a fresh start because the teacher comes and tell me, Hey,

Yeah.

that kid was really bad at the school.

I'm like, Nope, I don't wanna hear it.

Uh, one of the thing I did was, one of the thing, it was a must was when the kids come in there, they have to go to a, come to me eye contact and shake my hand and welcome.

And then when they were leaving, they had to go to every worker.

The teacher and the shake their hand and say thank you before they leave, had no idea.

I mean, I did not have that much of idea what impact that's gonna make.

That made a huge impact in some of the teachers because they're not used to that.

The shaking kids' hand end,

never seen the kids act that way with

correct.

Correct.

Well, one of the things you said, Kumar, that I really appreciated was that you have instant feedback when you prepare a meal and serve it to someone.

And you immediately know how they feel about it.

And even if somebody doesn't like the food that you prepare, um, they still give feedback and they still appreciate it.

And, um, and even if they're like, oh, I don't like broccoli, and there's a bunch of broccoli in here, they can still have a positive experience with that meal.

Even picky kids, uh, who are typically not gonna eat anything, they, they can still have a positive experience.

Um.

And so anything you want to add on that?

Well, absolutely.

So to the, after a while the program is growing, then we came up with this acronym, uh, a CT, and I thought those were the three, uh, most important to me.

Uh, and then when we, anytime in the new batch of kids come, then I had some other kid come and tell 'em all, I'd explain what the a CT is.

The A is, uh, appreciate, appreciate the food because the, the hour time, some kids then goes, yeah, you know, they eat something.

Yeah, this is gross.

Then we had to teach 'em, no, that is not how you say it.

You're gonna say, you know what, this is not my favorite.

So we have kind of taught them manner, section of it, but they have to appreciate what the other, the kids are cooking.

And then the C is, this was a huge thing, clean after yourself.

I learned this one.

Oh my gosh.

Uh, kids, you know, have absolutely no concept of picking up something when they drop on the floor.

So I learned quickly.

So I put that in there.

Clean after yourself and the ts for, uh, thank everyone.

So that's when they go around and, uh, um, lemme tell you, that became the, the last one.

Thank everyone became the huge success when they come to fundraising.

So every, the test kitchen day, I try to invite some community members and then also, uh, when we invite the community member, bank president or somebody, Hey, you need to come and have a dinner with our kids.

Uh, then also, uh, actually I forgot to mention, then later we got into the, I want to be a little bit of radical 'cause I want some attention.

I want some news station to come out there.

I wanted to, I start doing the prayer at the test kitchen.

I'm a Buddhist so I can do it.

So I went and had my Catholic friend and I said, teach me how to, uh, say the prayer at the dinner table.

And I still remember, you know, uh, bless us all, Lord, this to give, we about receive through the bound.

So I learned that prayer.

So then I got to have the, so I pick a kid.

Saying Before the meal, I want you to do the, the dinner prayer.

And, uh, it's funny, um, at the beginning, you know, all the Catholic school, we had a huge, uh, we have some good amount of kids came from Catholic school, so those kids are no problem.

They just jump in there.

But then what happened was something sort of a miracle.

So then the other kids who never go to church start joining in there because, uh, they say, yeah, I can do a prayer.

So when they come in there, they start their prayer is, uh, you know, I want to thank for the teachers.

I want to thank for Kuma for preparing food.

I want to thank for, uh, sharing for, uh, uh, washing dishes.

So this prayer thing became about the appreciation.

I thought that was so beautiful.

So when I invite the bank president or someone donor, and then all of a sudden they see this kid get up there and doing this prayer in their version of it.

And then before they leave, they go and, uh, shake, uh, those donors hand.

That a hundred dollars check became a thousand dollars, a thousand became 5,000.

So that was a huge, uh, success thing.

that's amazing.

I, I appreciate you sharing that, especially that idea about the prayer that.

you're bringing a whole bunch of different people together, yourself included from different religions and different perspectives, and, and
still being able to have that, uh, commonality and allowing different people to say prayers in their own way, I think is really beautiful.

Julian, could you talk a little bit about what the test kitchen has meant for you and what it's led to in your life?

Yeah, and I, I can begin this by going a little bit back to that mentor thing earlier.

So say my parents, um.

They're very good people, but they've been crippled to various degrees by various problems.

Medical or social issues?

You know, my, both my parents are separated.

Um, home life was.

Uh, it could be a very big mess some nights, and they were in no capacity to instruct me on the practical things of getting your life together as I was getting older.

Like how to get a bank, how to get a bank account, how to get a car loan.

What does interest mean?

Um, you know, I didn't even have a phone for, I think the first year, first year or two of high school, which for me is Gen Z is almost unheard of even back then.

I didn't have internet at my house.

Um, when I got home, all I did was I went in the bedroom, sat in front of the TV and played video games.

'cause that's all I had to do.

You know, there was no one to really hold my feet over the fire and I didn't know how to do it myself yet.

And that, but you know, that that's a very.

Unsatisfying way of life.

I mean, I even knew it at that time.

So that when the robotics program came around, I threw myself into that as much as I could.

And then of course, with the test kitchen, and then that's when Kumar took note of me and then he started providing me with some of those opportunities.

Like my first ever job was washing dishes at the test kitchen or mopping the floor or whatnot.

And then he.

You know, he, he realized, Hey, you don't have a phone.

Well, how are you gonna get an actual job with no phone?

So he helped me get my own phone.

He hooked me up with, uh, the head of a kitchen here at a local, uh, assisted living place.

I got an, I got a real job as a waiter there, which paid pretty well.

Um, eventually as I continued to honor our agreements, you know, I worked for him.

I showed up for every shift when I got the phone.

I didn't break it.

Um, I always made sure I did a good job.

He, that we still, we escalated that level of trust and at a point he offered that he co-signed the loan for my first car so I could get to and from my job without walking or riding my bike.

And I didn't have to ride my bike to the test kitchen anymore after that, which was very nice, especially in winter.

Um.

Yeah,

Oh, what else?

Oh, driver's license.

Yeah.

Computer.

let

Yeah.

Driver's license computer.

Oh, there was, there's something else that I, A-C-T-A-C-T.

Yeah.

When it comes to like my college career, I think the two biggest things that got me jumpstarted with, you know, being able to go to a university like University of Iowa, 'cause my family's poor, really poor.

No one ever had a dime to send me for my tuition.

So if I was left on my own, the best I could have done on my own, you know, with the federal Pell Grant or whatnot, might have been get to SECA local community college, which, which is nice.

But for, for someone like with my aspirations, what I wanted to do, what I thought I could achieve.

You know, that wasn't enough.

But he provided me with a CT prep classes through the test kitchen.

I used those to study when I got my ace, when I took the a CT, I think I got a 32, I believe, either 31 or three, two.

good.

then he, um, he got me access to a bunch of scholarship opportunities.

And I remember he and I sat at the kitchen, the table in the back kitchen on my computer and.

I wrote essays there for all these dozens of different scholarships, applications, and just essay after essay, just sending 'em out to every single scholarship that he and I could find.

And by the end of it, by the time I graduated from high school, I had one enough scholarships that I actually had, I think a couple thousand dollars in surplus, got scholarship money to cover a year of tuition from the University of Iowa.

And without that, that driving force.

He provided for me.

Without those opportunities, I really don't think I ever would've ended up at the University of Iowa to begin with.

I, I don't think it would've been possible for me.

I don't, I don't know if I knew enough to make it there on my own.

Yeah.

Boy, Julian, I love that story because you, you started out by saying, as I kept the agreements that I made with him and kept the commitments that you made with him, that is a really powerful mentorship agreement or relationship where you.

Commit to do something and then you honor that commitment and, and you respect your mentor enough that he, that you're going to do that.

And he respects you enough to ask, high levels of responsibility from you.

And I think that that's just a beautiful thing and.

Um, there's so much more about this that I, that I definitely wanna be able to talk about.

We're, we're out of time for today, but the website where people can go learn about this is tke f.org.

And do go check it out.

This is something that I, I hope in a future conversation we can talk about how to bring this kind of thing all over the country so that there are these additional opportunities for kids to develop, uh, mentors in a safe place where they can.

Learn about a skill and figure something out and then, and then have the kind of opportunities that Julian has.

Um, so I wanna thank you, uh, Brent, Julian, and, uh, Kumar for being here today.

This has been a great conversation and this is obviously just the beginning and there's so much more to this that we didn't even get to.

But this has been a great start.

So thank you all for being here.

This was great.

Our pleasure.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.