Harrison Yan graduated from TJ in 2015. Since then, he has used his talents to become an emerging leader in the tech and robotics industry. As of this recording, Harrison works as an Infotainment Project Manager at Mercedez-Benz, and—in true TJ fashion—he has started his own company connected to automated filmmaking. Harrison is a perfect example of how our liberal arts foundation can set anyone up for future success.
Episode 13 - Harrison Yan
Matt Troutman: [00:00:00] Thomas Jefferson school or TJ in St. Louis, Missouri is a unique place, a boarding and day school with a small community of students from all over the world. Our mission asks us as educators to provide the strongest possible academic background. Our mission also asks our students to desire to lift up the world with beauty and.
[00:00:24] Our graduates go on to wonderful careers after TJ and this series intents to capture the stories of our alumni.
[00:00:31] Well, Harrison, I'm so glad that we were able to get time. This has been a little bit of a tough one to schedule, but I appreciate you being flexible. And how are things going? I guess, suppose a quick update on where I am sitting, what I'm doing.
[00:00:47] Harrison Yan: So I'm speaking from Stuttgart, Germany. So that's in Southern Germany for if you're not so familiar.
[00:00:53] And currently I'm working here. I moved here after university, about six months after university. Taking on new roles, [00:01:00] new job so far has been great. Yeah. Everything seems to be going back to normal from culverts. So that's always a good sign.
[00:01:07] Matt Troutman: Tell me a little bit about what you do currently. And then we'll kind of go back from there and talk about the connection from.
[00:01:13] Harrison Yan: Yeah, sounds good. So I actually have a really fun role right now. I absolutely adore and love. So I'm currently the product manager at mercy dispense for in-car infotainment systems, specifically the entertainment and contents and features. So most of people know that inside the car, you have the central council, you can interject.
[00:01:30]In the good old days, it's usually just an information display or a way to control vehicle functions. But more and more we're seeing that this is being used as a source of entertainment. It's serving more and more purpose in the car, then just the vehicle functions. And what I am responsible for is deciding kind of the strategical future direction of that particular product inside the car is a Mercedes Benz.
[00:01:53] So that's a really exciting role. It's really future oriented role, which I really enjoy. But at the same time, it's very [00:02:00] challenging because nobody kind of can anticipate the future or expect what, what will be in the car will be important. That's what I'm doing at the moment from eight to, let's say eight to seven, eight to six at night, but at the same time, I'm also engineering consultant at a startup called motorized precision.
[00:02:17]Now there's really good connection to teacher robotics because we do cinematography robots very exciting application for industrial robots. Totally repurpose our own software. My primary role is designing different hardware components, including massive robot basis that weighs over.
[00:02:35] Matt Troutman: 5,000 pounds. Oh yeah. Dealing with big, big topics there. So your day job is on the entertainment side of what's happening in the car at Mercedes-Benz and then your, your second job or the, the second aspect of what you work on is, is with robotics and cinematography. Is there, is there more of a connection that I just can't see between those two, [00:03:00] other than the fact that the car shows the potentially shows some of the movies or a TV that would be shot with the probiotic camera?
[00:03:08] Harrison Yan: I think you already made more connections than I could. I didn't even make that connection. I didn't even take it that far, but no, there's a. Not really a huge connection. I started working with a startup when I was in university. It turned out just to be kind of like a baby of mine, cause everything, every hardware piece I design and I just want to see it grow.
[00:03:31] So I decided to stay with it. It's more. Then any sort of career advancement, anything like that. Right, right. But it shows, you know, this, this SI kind of tendency that we see it with TJ alums is that they, they TJ alumni who are interested in multiple different fields even if they're tenuously connected but, but just have that confidence to kind of keep going with it.
[00:03:53] Matt Troutman: So let's use that as our kind of bounce back to, to TJ. So you're a relatively recent [00:04:00] graduate. Compared to our 75 year 76 year history. So how did you find out about TJ and what made you interested in the school at first? And then talk a little bit about your career at, at school. Now we're going all the way back to where it all started.
[00:04:15]Harrison Yan: Frankly speaking, it's a bit tough for me to remember how I found about TJ. So I I, back then I was applying to. Middle slash high schools from China. That was a kind of step. My parents have always planned for me. And we searched different, we have different guides different online resources we used for searching for schools.
[00:04:35] And typically, you know, the, some of the more say. Well known ones show up. And then there would just one day, I think we went to this some sort of fair that a lot of schools show up and actually, unfortunately, TJ wasn't there, but someone recommended this to me when I explained some of my interests robotics science, et cetera.
[00:04:55]And I was saying, I fit better into a smaller environment. Please said, [00:05:00] Hey, have you heard about the school? Just look at it. Think about it. You know, we don't represent them, but could be an interesting fit. We started looking more and more into it, thought out that it basically matches every criteria that we've got.
[00:05:11] That's as far as I can remember, what are the criteria? Unfortunately don't really have that memory anymore. But but I remember then I toured U S different, different high schools that I was interested in, particularly in TJ. I still remember I went to this. Well, yeah, the second floor where I think it used to be Mrs.
[00:05:31] Roth's office. I don't know if that's still Mrs. Ross's office. Not anymore. Yeah, not anymore. What used to be Mrs. Ross's office? I took some sort of test. I don't know what test it was. Some sort of assessment and I was offered the option actually to kind of repeat one grade just so that I can build a stronger foundation that ended up working out well.
[00:05:52] That was a story. How I, how I got the TJ? Sorry, what was the second part of the question?
[00:05:56] Matt Troutman: The second part was more about, you know, what are some of the, the [00:06:00] moments that you remember? What, what was it like being on campus? How was the transition into the U S you know paint the picture a little bit.
[00:06:09] Harrison Yan: Well, that's, that's a lot to talk about. I think I can go on and on for days and, and I don't think we'll fit in one episode. But maybe a few highlights and just the general transition. The transition definitely wasn't easy. I think especially for, I think I was 12 or 13, something like that.
[00:06:26]Just to be so far away from home, totally different environment. And it's always the small things that hit whether it's the food or perhaps just the living habit of their roommate. I was a boarder or certain pop culture references. You just don't get, because no matter how well we speak the language, certain things, it can only get, if you grow up.
[00:06:45]And so that was a bit of a tough, I think, tough transition for the first year, but slowly, I think you start feeling the community around you. I think it's, it's a natural transition. It takes a bit of a time. But after that it was amazing. Especially I think where I break, [00:07:00] where I found the breakthrough was with, with the sports.
[00:07:02]So you really get this feeling of this amazing team. I really fought hard to opportunity to like, even I forgot what it's called, but just to help out at the varsity practice was Mr. Roth. And that was amazing. Cause you get to know the upperclassmen, you get to know you get really a sense of family.
[00:07:19]So I think that's where I kind of felt more of a community. Other highlights, I would say robotics. You definitely remember this robotics that we won the state. That's something. Yeah, it was a top four finish. I remember it. That was impressive. Yeah. Pretty exciting with a very, very, very limited funding, I would say, compared to some of our competitors.
[00:07:43]Matt Troutman: Absolutely. Their, their kits would have been an, an envy of most of the other schools, you know, just, they can put things together that we, we never. Been able to
[00:07:54] Harrison Yan: that is, that is incredibly impressive, but but it was more impressive that we actually won through [00:08:00] that that, that group that was pretty exciting.
[00:08:02] I'm trying to think. Are there any other highlights? Well, back then with the club you mentioned limited funding. I think we were limited in, in expertise there and that's, that's due to me. I, I'm not the the, I was not the most helpful in that situation. But you I remember I definitely took a leadership role and kind of elevated our game.
[00:08:23] Matt Troutman: So what how did that come about? How did you know that we needed to say work on team building or work on a little bit more on the engineering so that we could get this wonderful finished?
[00:08:34] Harrison Yan: I, I think it came in many ways differently. I would really give credit to the whole team. Talk to some of them, actually, Jason and mark and Ben, for example what's important.
[00:08:46] Actually, we were, I think the core one team we're really close friends and it was a lot easier to push the friends to achieve something more and to tell them like what we're going for. At the same time, it's also [00:09:00] important to have fun. I think a lot of people think, I also thought sometimes that, you know, there's a club and you've got to do this.
[00:09:06] It's kind of like an assignment. But at the end we treated more like an interest. Like we would go on a Sunday afternoon. I was the teacher on duty just to open up the basement where we had the setup. And just to work on it for a few hours, it's kind of like a pastime. At the end of it, a lot of you remember some people were even like do homework in that basement.
[00:09:26] Matt Troutman: Absolutely. So that, that was kind of really what I think I was trying to build is this atmosphere, this dynamics that, that allows everyone to like really shine and to be comfortable where they are.
[00:09:37] Harrison Yan: I was also, wasn't an expert. So I think I liked the expertise as well. But that's, as far as I went and I think people were very creative.
[00:09:44] We're very resource. Right. Trial and error. I remember a lot of that. And then the week of competitions, just every day, staying up late and trying to get things done before the duty teachers left. Yeah. And I was glad I learned how to use duct [00:10:00] tape before university engineering class taught me how to use duct tape.
[00:10:03] Nice, really good at using duct tape at which isn't allowed part. I think there was some question about that one of the years, but. That is still a good, so I think you know, it's, it's great to hear that was your focus because I think that's, to me what stood out about kind of that the culture that you helped develop in that club still exists today and you know, we've, we've come a long way in terms of grant funding and getting more, more resources for the team.
[00:10:33] But but definitely there's a sense of. Community culture of hard work and it's, it's challenging and tough, and you're going to argue over ideas. But but at the end of the day, those, those competition dates are, are just the best and a lot of activity. And seeing it all come together is really, really quite impressive.
[00:10:52] Yeah. So anything else that stands out in terms of you know, your background at, at the school, other moments, [00:11:00] other people. That stood out to you. I think I'll always remember one event. I think it's it's actually quite an embarrassing one. This was actually before your time at DJ. That was my first year.
[00:11:11]It was maybe the first breath, second soccer game. And I think I was very hotheaded. I was even on the bench. I wasn't even playing, I think the ref gave one of our play a red card for some reason. And all I remember was I think Mr. Wright was, the coach went up and argued with the ref. It was quite heated.
[00:11:28] Those teams were there around the. The ref came and basically told everyone you got to sit back on the bench, you know, with, with a very referee type of voice. And then I had a 12 year old, just went there and I yelled at him. Why are you being so mean? And like, it was a very embarrassing moment and tossed my Jersey on the ground and got a red card.
[00:11:49] It just. Like storm off the field for pretty much, no good reason. The reason I always remembered this is kind of how much I grew in TJ from that [00:12:00] moment to when I graduated, when I went to university, I was fully ready, prepared. I would say I had even the high maturity than all of my peers back then, just that growth was amazing.
[00:12:09] I mean, that was a, there was no single point I can point out. Okay. That was where the growth has. But it was really, if I look back now, it's the step by step that I took to get there. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. So I think it, it, if I'm thinking of moments, that's your, that's your opening chapter and then your closing chapter is, you know, getting a great victory at a championship with you as a leadership key leader, the team.
[00:12:33]Was I ever captain? I think I was captain. You were captain of robotics. Yeah. We went back. We keep track of them, the names of everybody all the way back to even a meeting. Number one. And back in 2011, you know, when we were, we were in gray basement, barely able to function, just putting things together and closing.
[00:12:55] Packing up after every practice, it was a, we've grown a lot as a club as [00:13:00] well. That's good to hear. And if I may ask a question, just how is the robotics team doing nowadays? Oh yeah, that's a good question. So the, one of the main changes, and I think you'll remember this, we, we kind of used to have a very open.
[00:13:14] System, right. You just put your name on a list during club days. And at one point we had, I don't know, twenty-five people in theory on the team. So one of the changes we made a couple of years ago was going through kind of a selection process to make sure that people who are signing up are actually committed to doing the work because it is a lot of work.
[00:13:33] So Yeah, I think that's really in many ways, professionalized the club a little bit while still keeping it a club. And so it's you know, people who want to be a part of it really have to have to demonstrate interest, have to commit to time showing up to every meeting, which I think you remember was not always, we didn't have a perfect attendance with many of our.
[00:13:55] But they, the outcome, I think is there's a lot of team [00:14:00] building and a lot of team community that, that is really, really strong. So we've, we've even gotten some traditions that we do during competition days. And it's just the evolution as you might expect with with a small group of people who spend a lot of time together.
[00:14:15]But this year we are still looking at trying to go back into in-person. But none of them have been stated yet for the state of Missouri, at least Arkansas allegedly is going to go back to in-person events and that's where we tend to compete. Most other states though are closed off to outside competitors.
[00:14:33] So Illinois, for example, you have to be in the state of Illinois to compete. In Illinois which is another change that most states are closed. So we'll see how this year goes. I think we have a really talented group and some real strong leadership single captain this year. And she's been part of the program for since eighth grade.
[00:14:53] So Definitely has grown a lot. And unfortunately this is her senior year and she'll be off to [00:15:00] do something fantastic next year. So best of luck to you guys and the competition. Thank you. Yeah. And one of the things that's evolved, I'll just kinda nerd out about this. There was a trend that I could see coming and I didn't know when it was going to happen, but you remember that.
[00:15:15] The game is on the same field every year. But the, the thing you do is different every year. So it's usually about moving things or placing things in certain locations. There's, there's a programmed element and then a driving control the element of the game. And what I've been, what we've been seeing is that the way that you can score points in the game has become more complex.
[00:15:39] And so there. What I'm seeing is the competition wants to give many different ways to solve the problem of the year. And you maximize your points. You have to kind of make choices about what points you're going to go after and what points you're not going to go after. So it's moved away from interacting with other teams.
[00:15:57] So there's less interaction with the [00:16:00] opposite team than there, there has been in the past, but it's more varieties of ways to score. Or a gentleman's game that a brawl we used to see. Exactly. Yeah. I think it was, was it the first competition? We just had a piece of plexiglass just smashed and just got something destroyed.
[00:16:19] And we said, can they do that? And yes, you could back then incidental contact. Then the second year we came up with a Literally rammed other people. Yeah. So they've moved away from that a little bit. And now it's just, you know, five different ways to score using these different types of elements.
[00:16:37] You pick whichever ones you want to try and go after and maximize your score. So, yeah, it's really, really quite interesting. What it's, what is. Almost like a strategy game. Exactly. Not only you've got to have the right robot, you've got to have the right strategy, know when to do what exactly elaborate.
[00:16:52] And yeah. And I think in years past you would have been able to do everything with one robot. You could have [00:17:00] scored, you know, if there are three different ways to score, you could have done that this year. You cannot there's no way to to use all of the parts that. Points at the same time. So cool.
[00:17:12] Yeah, maybe I'll look it up after distance and see what the actual field is. I think they usually have a video of it explains it. So absolutely. I look it up. Yep. Yep. First first tech challenge. It's this year it's called freight frenzy. It's about moving. Quote unquote cargo which is actually elements from previous years.
[00:17:32]And you want to put them in different places. I mean, most of the games can be, can be boiled down to you want to move things from point a to point B and accurately move them. That's that's pretty much every year. That sounds easy, but our logistic department, I tell you it's not very easy, correct? Yeah.
[00:17:51] You had the wrong car shipped to Australia recently. We've got lots of things. Oh yeah. Well so I want to fast forward just a little bit. [00:18:00] So you, you mentioned being prepared for university. It may, I think you even said more mature than some of your peers back then. So what was that transition like?
[00:18:09] So you, you went from teaching. And I'll let you tell the rest of the story, but I had a very successful college career. So what did that mean? Yeah. Maybe first on the transition, then more on the college career. I think TJ facilitates a very, very good transition on the academic side. I think everyone out of TJ will be more than well prepared for any challenge or university of Ulster with them to face.
[00:18:34]Doesn't mean it's easy. Doesn't mean they have bolts through it and, and take the A's at the end of the day. But I think what TJ really teach us is how to face pressure and challenges. And that's what we take. It's not necessarily the knowledge you've learned or whatever you've memorized, but it's the way to tackle these problems in the first year, which I think a lot of our peers would have waltz through high school in the opposite way and suddenly realize university isn't isn't as.
[00:18:59]That's [00:19:00] one side of it. And the other side, I really have to give credit for how much TJ focuses on. The traditional the classic literature we can express ourselves much, much better than our peers, just period. Regardless if it's a scientific paper or it is in one of the English classes, we're just much more prepared and experienced in it that I didn't really appreciate.
[00:19:23] And TJ as, as you know, not everyone loved turning in or but actually I think. Benefits and merits to it, to go through that rigorous training. These are the really two big things. I would say in general, TJ brings the third one. That's particularly for boarders, as we know what a boarding life, a boarding school life look like.
[00:19:42] So when you're living in a dorm on campus, we know how to do laundry. That's surprisingly a challenge for a lot of people. W when we know how to interact with roommates with other people living in a vicinity that's not necessarily always easy for other people. It's not that they're inadequate or any [00:20:00] way, but it just, it just, the way of living is very different from where you live at home and have your own room kitchen, et cetera.
[00:20:06]These are the three things that really helped me transition and perhaps one small challenge. It's Teeter. It's a very small community. I didn't go to a huge school. I went to Vanderbilt, which is if I'm still correct on the 6,000 ish, five to 10, as well as the number that I remember. But yeah.
[00:20:21] Somewhere in that range undergraduate. So that's not a huge school at all, but at the same time, you're opened up to so much more than the TJ campus itself. And it's such a bigger community. And that could be a challenge as the influx of information and influx of opportunities could be a bit hard to juggle.
[00:20:39]I think back then, at least it was sort of possible kind of like robotics sort of possible to do everything at TJ a little bit. But definitely not possible university. Absolutely not possible. That was a bit of an adjustment. Nevertheless it was much easier from what I saw in, in some of my friends when a tougher transition over the next four years.
[00:20:58] So I went to Vanderbilt, I [00:21:00] studied mechanical engineering. I did some really cool projects sorry to the fastball. One of my project was actually very similar to the robotics thing. I've built a rocket league. It's a video game. Oh yeah. Drive cars and kick soccer ball. Right. I basically built the whole arena, including the ramps and the cars.
[00:21:19] And you can remote control it with a custom design remote controller, et cetera. That was one of my big projects. Do you made a real life rocket league? Yeah. Yeah. And the cars can go on ramps and they can really flip. So I'm sorry. You're disappointed. That's amazing. What was that for a class or a senior project?
[00:21:37] It was, it was for, it was actually just for one class for one semester called mechatronics bear. Basically at the end, the goal is just to build anything that has a microcontroller. Anything that moves anything that's remote control. That's it? There was a lot of creative things that came out of that class.
[00:21:55] That was very exciting. We have a it's called a skee-ball. We had a full stable [00:22:00] machine built out of wood in the, in the building. And there was a. I would say talent that was unleashed at the end of that class. That's amazing. Yeah. Quite a good experience. And I would assume more resources than, than what you had in grey basement when we were building, you know, these tiny little pieces you'd be actually surprised.
[00:22:22] Okay. A lot of it was 3d, printed and hot then. Ah, there you go. Yeah. Very familiar then. Exactly. So what was the difference? What was some of the biggest differences other than you mentioned size? What was maybe a big difference that you noticed from Vanderbilt to TJ? I would say another difference for me was the kind of guidance.
[00:22:45]At university, I think we were, at least my experience was we were empowered to find our own ways and own path. TJ, there's more of a guidance. So I think everyone has an advisor. I don't know if that's still, still true. So I love mine. [00:23:00] Dr. Yeah. Shout out to Dr. Jake and that's someone you could at least Dr.
[00:23:05] G and I had really good relations. And then we can really talk to each other and talk about problems. And it's different when you talk about things like that, when you open your heart to someone, your age is different. When someone has an experienced to help guide you through that was really not there at university.
[00:23:22]You have tons of tons of friends, of course. But that kind of guidance. The upper a bit higher. It was what's missing. That was one, I would say at the same applies to two classes. Right. You really have to figure out what you want to do. There's no more curriculum that you could just take off a piece of paper and write more or less easily decide what to do.
[00:23:43] So I, I definitely took some classes. I'm very, very not good at that actually made me change my major, but that's all part of the journey I think, is to figure out what I want to do, what I like, what I'm good at. And perhaps I'm interested in that the other side, but yeah, focusing on [00:24:00] the right things.
[00:24:00] So I think we've, we've caught up to, to today or gotten very close to it. I, I wanted to ask In your view, you, you have two different things that you're working on, right? There's a day job as, as I was calling it. And the, the other jobs and a secondary job that you have, what are some of the big questions that people are asking in the field?
[00:24:23] Or what are the big questions that you see as important for for the future in both of these different areas? Well, that's a really good question. I think for the robotics and film industry, I would say the future trend is in general. It's quite simple. Actually, the guiding principle there is how to make things.
[00:24:43]Because the film industry really runs on cost. It's the total cost of production. So how to make things cheaper, but that's actually a very, it sounds very simple, but it's a very challenging tasks. How do you design things that stable, but also cheaper? I think this one is not as interesting for the audiences, but for [00:25:00] in, in, in the car industry, I mean, there are so many open questions where at the cusp of transformation.
[00:25:06] I think most people know the two things that's electrification and we call it ADAS. Most people call that autonomous driving. The common question we're asked is when do we think a social level of autonomous driving will achieve will be achieved? And what are the implications with that? So it's not just important to know when, but also what will.
[00:25:27] So, what does the future look like? And in terms of it like electrification, there are even more, let's say scientific questions, technical questions to be asked. What is the battery may consist of? What kind of chemicals do you use? Or is it even chemical? Now there are other technologies that you can use to make batteries.
[00:25:46]What does the charging network look like? And. So those are the common ones. And then there's the ones that no one thinks about is how do we build electricity? So for example, infrastructure, how do we build a electricity network [00:26:00] that can actually support the charging of billions of electric cars? What about rural areas that don't have that kind of infrastructure?
[00:26:08] These are the questions related to electrification. And of course, finally, there's my area of the, we call it the third living space inside the car. This one's even tougher to define. And the reason is it hasn't been defined at all by the industry. There's so many possibilities. So people are asking questions, like how do we use the in-car space in the future?
[00:26:29] What will the inquire space look like? Will there still be a steering wheel? Whether it be physical buttons, will it, will it just be more screens or is it taking the other way of simplicity, minimalism, simplicity? These are really good questions that I hope I had an answer to. Probably paid a lot more if I had to answer to all of them.
[00:26:48] And that must be it feels like this is a pretty exciting time to be in your field or fields if we're considering both, both opportunities. So what in [00:27:00] your mind what are you focused on for say the next five years? What are the questions that you're seeking to answer? And the next five. Yeah. I think for me, it's focusing on that third living space concept of a car is what will a car in 2025 look like?
[00:27:17]What does it feel to sit inside a car and feel it's modern it luxury? So some of our students face the luxury. How do we define luxury in five years? Will it be the same as today where we use metal and Chrome parts, or would it be more towards the tech side of things? There's this concept of technology is the new luxury.
[00:27:35] For example, that's something I want to focus on answering and at the same time, making sure that the space inside the car is useful. To its full potential. If we have screens, there should be for example, contents on the screen and not just a fancy piece of glass that someone paid a lot of money to install into a car.
[00:27:54] These are what I'm focusing on at the moment for the auto industry. At least I see myself really into just infotainment. [00:28:00] And this entertainment area when it comes through the probiotics it's fairly simple just to make cheaper, make iterations on things, to make it cheaper. That's very simple. Right.
[00:28:10] That makes sense. That fits in with what you had mentioned earlier. So let's ask a few quick questions here. I'm going to jump into some of our faster, faster questions. Do you have and we'll, we'll pull back Back to TJ. So do you have a favorite meal or? Yes, that was the one that was really exciting for us.
[00:28:29] It's the Corbin solar crusted steak. Yes. That, well, that goes back a ways. That was amazing. Do you have a memorable teacher that you had as a student? Do I have to say to you? No. You don't have to say anything. I would say you and Dr. B and Dr. Dr. G I had you in physics calc. Right. And that was back when it was physics B I think.
[00:28:57]Yeah. Yeah. It's a test that doesn't [00:29:00] exist anymore, which is interesting. So you have a rare experience that you, you took a test that doesn't exist. I should pick up my certificate. Alright, there you go. Yep. Any person that made an impact on you as you look back now either an adult or a classmate or another student.
[00:29:17] I really think Dr. Jay, I think his guidance was much, much needed over the it's good. Any anyone you would like to apologize to now? Oh, other than the ref, maybe that one, anyone I want to apologize to profitably Jason, he was my. Roommate for two years. And he had to put up with me for two years. That was pretty unfortunate.
[00:29:41] I would say for him that's fair. And there was a lot of details of apologies. Let's just not, let's just not get there. Fair enough. Alright. Fair enough. Do you have a favorite book from that you read at TJ?
[00:29:54] Great Gatsby. I actually rewatched the movie two days ago, so thanks. And all the symbolisms [00:30:00] still came from.
[00:30:01] So nice. That was exciting. Yeah. Who taught you that book? Oh, I should know this. Miss. Did you do it a grade nine or? Oh, I think it's great. I think it's miss that's wrong? No, that's 11. Oh no. Okay. I can look it up afterwards and just feed it. Feed you the answer
[00:30:20] Mr. Hall. I think it was Mr. Raul. So did you do it in English 11 because he was doing.
[00:30:26]If it was English 10, it might be Mr. Smith. I think he was now. I don't know if he was a teacher. It was before Mr. Smith joined. I'd read the book definitely before he joined. No chance. It's Ms. Berger, Ms. Russell. Oh, no.
[00:30:40] Could be Ms. Russell actually. Okay. Yeah. I was thinking of wrestle, but I wasn't sure.
[00:30:45] We'll take that nine or 10. Yeah, no worries. No worries. And then I had like this question, the best dorm and using one word. Explain why
[00:30:55] green seniority. Nice. Yeah, very cool. I feel like that's a pretty common answer. [00:31:00] You'd be surprised. There's a lot of variety and I think, cause. You know, it's a formative experience at, at various times.
[00:31:08]I think some people like red because it's isolated and quiet. Some people like Gables because of the friends that they had in there. So it's, you know almost as many answers as dorms, but to be fair, I've only lived in three, so right. Anybody else from TJ that you wanted to shout out? And make sure they got to mention, oh, they got mentioned no is an appropriate answer as well.
[00:31:29] I figured, I think, I think Jason, mark and Ben, I hope I don't Jason's back from military service mark thing gate. The payroll. So cut off the payroll in Seattle, I think now the real question is where is Ben now? That's the million dollar question. Even I cannot answer. I have no idea. He shows up sometimes and we talk cool.
[00:31:49] Then disappears into the darkness, mysterious, mysterious. This is a tag for Ben to send an update on where he is and [00:32:00] see if we can find out. So last time I. Studying journalism to become a, like some sort of journalist in war zones. No. Interesting. Yeah. That's what he told me.
[00:32:10] Yeah, that'd be fitting. Well, I always like to wrap up with one, one last question.
[00:32:16] So it's a, it's a big one. How do you. Currently live the mission of TJ by lifting up the world with beauty and intellect.
[00:32:25] Oh, wow. Maybe I should have done some preparation before this. I like off the cuff answers. Yeah. Comes to mind. This is the way that the demands. Well, there's the official answer.
[00:32:37] I'm making a wonderful car and and it's it's a, it's a beautiful car often referred to by, by our us as symphony because it's a harmonized car across board, but at the same time, I think what I actually think is more important different from just that the jobs or whatever is this attitude that TJ has taught me.
[00:32:57]I'm always very positive. I get this feedback a [00:33:00] lot. People love being around me, not necessarily colleagues, but friends and anyone, because I bring this positive energy and that's, I feel like that's something I really grew over time and TJ actually very positive and always brings. The good vibes into the room.
[00:33:17]I would say that's actually more important than any job I do than anything I design. It's more important than actually bringing that up to everyone around me. I would say that's the best way of living it. That's awesome. I love that answer. Well done even though. Prepared ahead of time. Yeah. Well, I think that's a perfect place to, to wrap up.
[00:33:36]Thanks again for taking the time this evening for you. And yeah, I've really enjoyed this, this conversation. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to be here. All the way from Germany. Again, I knew it was easy because of the time differences the thanks for the flexibility and arranging this.
[00:33:54]Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
[00:33:56] Matt Troutman: If you'd like more information about TJ, [00:34:00] please go to TJ s.org, or you can find us on social media. Look for Thomas Jefferson school on Facebook or TJ underscore S T L on Instagram. If you want to help by contributing to TJ to help support us in delivering our mission or to bring more conversations like this one, go to T J s.org/.
[00:34:23] If you know, an alumna or alumnus who would be interested in participating in this conversation series or know somebody who should be, please reach out to me@mtroutmanattjs.org.