What If School Taught Better Questions?

Greg Macer is back for his third appearance, and we jump straight into the part educators rarely get to see up close: what happens when you step outside schools and try to build learning with the business and manufacturing world. Greg shares why he left the IU system for a year, what surprised him about working with manufacturers, and how a simple truth kept showing up everywhere. Local industry wants to support students and teachers, but most employers need a bridge, someone who can turn tours and “cool equipment” into real, student-centered STEM learning.

From there, we get practical about what that bridge can look like: makerspace planning, workplace connections, and teacher experiences that feel authentic instead of scripted. We talk about STEELS and the deeper mindset behind phenomena-based instruction.  If you have ever felt that initial “I’m good, I already teach this” reaction to new standards or new approaches, you’ll recognize the shift that happens when professional learning is designed for teachers to be learners first.

We also zoom out to the bigger why. Students are growing up in an information-heavy world where they need critical thinking, computational thinking, and the ability to make informed decisions without being pulled by half-truths. That’s where IUs and STEM ecosystems can be powerful connectors across schools, regions, and community partners. Then, because this is still us, we close with an unforgettable lightning round about food plating, cheese, and what “civil” eating really means.

Subscribe for more conversations that connect classroom practice with the real world, share this with a colleague who cares about STEM partnerships, and leave a review so more educators can find us. What would you want your local industry partners to build with your teachers next?

Want to send us a show idea or just say hi?  Email us at: thechangedpodcast@gmail.com! 

Transcript

Cold Open And Friendly Roasts

SPEAKER_02 0:00

There he is. What a beautiful face we see here. Thanks. I see some beautiful faces too. Yeah. My top right corner.

SPEAKER_03 0:09

It's me. I thought you were going to say Tony. That would track too.

SPEAKER_06 0:17

Never been said before. Tough day.

SPEAKER_04 0:23

You're going to enjoy today because Tony's on fire. Tony has been roasting Andrew all day.

SPEAKER_06 0:28

It's been nothing but niceties over here. It's been great. It's been great.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

I've loved the whole thing. All right. Well, we'll start this dumpster fire and we'll see what we can make out of it.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Oh, great on. I don't have like the official headphones and stuff like you guys do. You sound great, though.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

You do sound really good.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Good. I try to project my voice while killing it.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

You just have that natural podcast voice that we all want.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

I love it. That's why I like being on here with you guys. You guys all have those naturally wonderful voices. And I look forward to listening to this.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

You butter us up, Greg. Give us the other best. All right. Three, two.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

Sorry, he needed a drink. He was a little sloshy in there.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

What was that? Oh boy, oh boy. Did he get to one yet?

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Are we ready now?

SPEAKER_04 1:18

No, no, I didn't let him get to one because he was too like there's a lot going on in there, and I could hear every little bubble.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Three, two, one.

Greg Returns To The Podcast

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Welcome back to Change Ed. Changed. Changed. The number one rated everywhere podcast for education and all things pedagogically significant in the world. Wow. I am one of your hosts. Your favorite. Andrew Kuhn, education consultant from Montgomery County Intermediate Unit.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

And here with me is Patrice Semitek, also out of the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit.

SPEAKER_06 1:57

And Tony Marabito from the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

And we are here with no stranger to this podcast. A man known The Myth, the Legend. As a myth and a legend. Very, very, very special. In the flesh. Double G, Greg Macer.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Welcome back, sir.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Hello. Thank you for having me back for my third time, no less.

SPEAKER_04 2:20

You are the only guest we've had three times, by the way. We're going to have to get you like the jackets like they have at SNL. Like you're going to be in the Three Timers Club. Maybe it'll be a bow tie.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

I was going to say you've even got one up on Rory McElroy because he's only won that thing twice. Two jackets. You're going to get you got yourself a third jacket.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

I said SNL.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

That's why I demanded it.

SPEAKER_04 2:40

You demanded it, right? What color do you want? Because green's obviously out since that's the masters. And I think that it might be SNL.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

So that's the fifth one. When I come on the fifth one, I'll wear a five-timers bow tie. I like that.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

The budget

Makerspace Dreams And Local Manufacturing

SPEAKER_04 3:00

doesn't allow.

SPEAKER_06 3:00

Mr. Maser, getting right into this. You disappeared for a little while. We missed you wholeheartedly. Where have you been? What did you do? What did you learn? And also welcome back.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Thanks. So yeah, it was at the IU9. Thought the grass would be greener somewhere else, which I was wrong about in a way. But I spent a year in St. Mary's working with the Community Education Center. Uh the CEC is what we call it. And I just I worked a lot with manufacturers and particularly getting students within the industries to see what was kind of around in the area. And so one of the things that we worked on is we get kids to go in there. Is this videotaped? No. No, you're good. Oh, thank heavens. Oh, good, good. So I don't have to keep like looking good in the camera. I mean, you can't do it. You do you, Greg. You do you. Oh, now I lost my train of thought. Oh, yeah. Working with manufacturers. So the kids would go in and like have a tour and whatnot. And then when they come out, they would get like a evaluation about something. And what we wanted to do was kind of step that up to say, like, well, what can the kids do afterwards? So it's not just this visit. And a lot of times it's a visit to a powdered metal factory because that's what St. Mary's has mostly. And so we started designing a maker space in a warehouse that we got access to. Cool. And I learned a lot about outside of education and the politics that kind of reside in trying to get something done, but then facing so many different boards and so many different leaders that are in that. And so it was a very eye-opening experience. And it was a dream to build a makerspace, but like we didn't get it as far as we wanted to. You know, things would fall apart and we would just have to keep trying different uh things to get this to work. And that's where the struggle became real and just happened to be reached out by good friend Tanya Binda. She reached out and said uh IU29 was looking for somebody at STEM. They just hired a new executive director that was over her, and she said uh I would be a good fit, called up, drove three hours there one morning, interviewed. I thought I killed it, right? Like, you know, I just go in there and go, like, I like the job I have now, but I very much love the IU world, so I'd love to come back. And, you know, had a good interview, got back in my car, started about 45 minutes into my drive back home, got a call, and they offered me the job. How about that? So then it was really tough to step away from the CEC because of what we were building, but we did find somebody to fill in. So they're continuing to succeed. But now I'm on the other side of the state working for the IUs again, which again thought the grass was greener. I'm here now, I'm never leaving. IU world, it is.

SPEAKER_04 5:46

It is pretty great. Like it's hard to work somewhere once you've been in the system, like an IU. Not only is the IU great, but the community that we have outside of the IU with other IU people is was what I think makes it even better.

SPEAKER_06 5:59

Greg, what was your biggest takeaway when dealing with like the business sector as opposed to in education?

SPEAKER_02 6:04

That they're really willing and eager to do more. They just don't know what to do, right? And that's where I was really like, I love that I had the steels stuff, the all the science things that we did at the IU9. And so then it's approaching manufacturers and going, like, well, how can you with students just engage them a little bit more? And so like they would talk about robotic arms and like all their their labs and things like that that they have. And so we started to go like, well, these labs are really cool where you're putting together like all of these different mixtures to make different strengths in powdered metal. And it's all done on this like micro scale. It's like kids can easily do that. And so it was trying to just help them build. What are you ripping up, dog? Sorry, my dog just got a new dog and it likes to eat all of our mail to making sure that was an important piece.

SPEAKER_05 6:51

It's not okay, good.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

It's a bill. It's your change of paycheck. Oh, that's paycheck. But yeah, coming away with that and helping them kind of build something to share with students. But it was like in that going, like, what we can do more with teachers, right? And like, how can we get teachers to understand what's happening in the workplace and how the value isn't necessarily the knowledge that kids are getting, but the value is in how they're utilizing not even that knowledge, just their ability to problem solve all the things that we talked about in science. How do you show your problem solving? How do you collaborate in problem solving? How are you able to show the process of trying to find an answer more than finding the answer itself? And so, in that, we started working with teacher in the workplace. And that's where the IU really became a little bit more appealing to come back to that because being able to get into teacher training. And so now in Schuylkill counting, I'm trying to apply that, but more with a teacher lens focus and trying to find manufacturers and whatnot to come in and provide teachers with a problem that is beyond their ability to solve. Because I think within Steels, like we get these trainings where we do something like, I don't understand pressure 100%, but you always have the physics teacher look, I totally understand this. And I think it's important for teachers to be put in a situation where they're not putting on the hat of the student, but they are literally the student. So they're literally put in a place where they don't understand this answer. And maybe there isn't an answer, but we need to show our thinking. And so that's what I'm currently working with with an engineer in Schuylkill County, one of our biggest manufacturers, trying to build. He wants to make a do-nothing machine that is just a uh mechanical machine that you break and then you try to fix it in some way.

SPEAKER_05 8:34

Oh, that's very cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Yeah, more of an engineer thing that they do. But he came and he judged our competition. And it's just through that engagement of going, like, oh, I've never knew that kids were doing stuff like this, you know. And he brought up like, I would love to do more. And it's like, oh, let's talk about that because he's never done it before. He's just that perfect candidate to go, well, what can we do? What do you want to see done? And so it's we're able to think a little more differently. But everybody in the community outside of education wants to do the best for education and especially get kids to want to stay, to want to learn more, to want to be part of the community. And it's just that they don't know quite how to do that. And I think that's what puts the IU in unique positions, you know, to help.

SPEAKER_06 9:16

I'm thinking back to my high school experience. Great time, very uh much socially generated, right? And more worried about social. But like in junior and senior year, if I was put into a workplace or I was exposed to different careers other than what my parents did, I think it would have made such a big difference in my life. But rather we just keep pumping up these these classes like Latin three that I took for some reason. Like, I mean, like I just I I just I love the teacher in the workplace situation. I want to get kids out into the workforce. And I think that's such a imperative part, especially for teachers that haven't left the classroom for a while. It kind of gives them perspective, oh, this is what I'm preparing students for. Less about vocab, like we talk about with steels, but more about critical thinking, right? So I think it's important that we get teachers into those kinds of situations.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

I agree. Absolutely. And that's what we're trying to build over on the eastern side of the state now at IU29. The Scook School is so interesting as an IU that they're only Schookal County. And so, like, I just had the unique ability that I'm only trying to make this work right now in one county. And if we can get that one county to do it, it's something that we can, you know, expand out with it.

SPEAKER_04 10:21

Take off like wildfire. Let's be very real. There's there's a big need for that, I think.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

So we're also part of the engine uh STEM ecosystem, which has just kind of grown too big. And so now we're in the process of I don't know if this is I'm allowed to say this or not, but if you can weep it out if we're not. But we're in a process of kind of like restructuring and kind of focusing more on our individual IUs and then saying, let's just focus on these, focus on our area, and then come back together and say what's working, what's not. Should we combine to make ecosystems? So, again, in a unique position where I'm able to say, like, we are building this, be part of this with us.

SPEAKER_06 11:05

You get to build this from scratch, which sounds pretty awesome. You can put your own twist to it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

And again, the experience in the IU being part of this for 10 years, you know, was it's so fun to come back to it and go, you know, I know this knowledge of what our job is, what our role is. And now I get to instead expend that energy that I would do, just trying to become accustomed to the the work that we do to just go like hit the ground running and say, like, I need partnerships with manufacturers and community and outside organizations because we already have support of the schools. We're in there. Yeah. And I just want to not overwhelm them, but inundate them with these opportunities for the students and the teachers to have, which I think, again, we're able to kind of just build from scratch, which is fun. Although I will say that Katie Kelly is the person that I took over for. And I feel incredibly bad for the amount of work that she put in for like the next person to come in that of like all the luck, I come in, and it's just like, I mean, it's hundreds of pages that she like wrote out step by step by step by step, which is amazing. Katie Kelly, if you're listening, wow.

unknown 12:08

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 12:08

Shout out to Katie Kelly, she was my number one go-to on a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

And I miss her a lot. She's an awesome IU person and colleague, I guess. IU colleague.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Yeah. Yeah. She was she was a difference maker. And I'm sure she is wherever she is now and what she's doing. But there are definitely people in all aspects of our educational careers

Teachers As True Learners

SPEAKER_01 12:27

that were difference makers who made a big difference. Greg, the one thing that I was thinking about is you were talking about trying to have teachers enter into a space of being the learner, not necessarily putting on their learner hat, but being the learner. And that's something that we certainly worked on a lot as we're rolling out steels, that you need to experience this as a learner first, then go back to being the teacher. And how can I get this happen for my students? But I can tell you, honestly, from my own experience, that when I was first introduced to SEALs, I'm like, I'm good, right? Like, I don't know why we're doing this. And I'm saying that because I think that is a natural reaction that a lot of individuals have. They're like, we have new standards. Why do we have new, right? Like, why are we why are we moving it? Until you peel it back and you learn that there's so much more to this. And actually, so much more that we can do as educators. It really empowers us and allows us to do so much with our students. So once I understood the foundation and where it was going, then it was all in. But before that, you know, initially it was like I was very off-put by it. And I'm like, oh, great. Like, what are, you know, I went to those trainings. And I think that's one of the biggest differences for me is that I didn't go there to be trained on steels. I went there and I experienced steels, this mindset behind the next generation science standards. And that's when I was like, yup, this is this is it. This is really what we're doing. Versus a, hey, go do this, turn it around, and then show your students. So I appreciate that perspective of me being the learner, let me experience it. And then as a professional, what does that look like in my classroom? How do I engage my students to have this experience?

SPEAKER_02 14:02

A lot of teachers shared your opinion of it, right? Like this is, I already know this, you know, this is content. Yeah. Yeah. I'm already teaching. And again, like a big push is like, well, it's the process, it's all in the process. And that again, you need to experience that process, not just as this step-by-step thing, like, oh, first you do this, first you do this, but like logically, that's how I think. This is how I process information, not just I'm listening to something, and then you know, we do an experiment, but I already know, you know, like I'm just following some process that the teacher laid out instead of like understanding my own thinking. Yeah. And so when I came in to like the pen cell work and that early in steel stuff, I mean, I try to genuinely be interested in things, but like with that, I have no idea why the tanker thing imploded. And my way of thinking is verbally, is drawing things out. Yeah. And so like I just naturally was inquisitive, like, well, why did it happen? And I think that that, just that one person that's naturally like going, why isn't this doing that? Really helps other people to kind of be brought into the simulation as well. I would agree. Whereas, like, I'm just like, well, how do you make that for everybody? Like, my curiosity that I had at something simple like this imploding tanker car, how can you get that for the physics teacher that goes, I already teach all of this stuff? This is all content that I already teach. What is the experience we give them to make them go, like, oh, oh, that's how I'm showing my thinking? Especially when they've had 20 years of having this one way of going, like, I know all, I'm sharing that information with my students. They need to learn it and they're gonna be tested on it and they need to understand that. Yeah. Instead of going, like, what if they don't understand all of the content, but they're self-driven and they're inquisitive and they want to think these things out. Like, it's okay. You know, they're they're gonna figure those out, especially if we work on those skills. Yeah. Like they become easier and easier and easier for them as they move on because they know how they think, they know how the process skills. They're a computational thinker.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Oh, look at you throwing out a phrase. That was big this year. And if you're approaching a science correctly, you should have more questions than you do answers. And I think that's a big that's one of the biggest shifts for us in the classroom. Instead of, you know, when they somebody asks, well, why did this happen? Well, it's gravity. Okay, and then they move on. It's like, okay, let's just ask a bunch of questions and then let's go back through and try to piece it all together and see if we can find holes or gaps. And even when there is an answer given, you're like, okay, well, I can understand that, but what about this part of it? So it's it's really uh, as you said, being genuinely curious. And that curiosity is contagious, I agree with you. And I also believe that that's really what with a lot of our scientists that are doing all this work, they don't come into it saying, I've got all the answers. They're coming into it asking all the right questions from a lifetime of being curious and asking questions over and over and over again. Even if you know the answer, you're still asking it, I think in a lot of ways to say, hey, is everybody else here? Like, am I missing something? I do are we sure we understand this the way that we do?

SPEAKER_04 17:05

I think too, by having one person ask the question, it kind of breaks the barrier. Like if one person, if if a whole class is used to sitting in silence and waiting for the teacher to give them the next piece of the recipe, having someone bold enough to ask a question allows others to feel maybe a little bit safer to be able to ask some questions.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

I think that's the most important thing. Like, do kids feel comfortable enough to be inquisitive and ask questions? And I don't think that's the case for a lot of students. I think a lot of students just get by.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

I think to yeah, to your point, like I think know what they know. They know what they know and they know how to play the system. They know how to play the game. And until we change the game, they're not gonna be inquisitive. And I think that's part of what we liked so much about the Steels idea is that it was a bit of a game changer because it was asking questions and starting with phenomena and doing all these things that maybe were not necessarily being taught. I do remember vividly being taught recipes in school. Like I was taught how to pass the test. And sometimes I think we're still a little bit stuck there. But I love that you're twofold, right? For the job you the other job you had, you were building a space that allowed kids to be creative, allowed kids to see something different than what they were used to. Like there's a whole lot of jobs out there that our kids just don't even know about, a whole lot of jobs. And then the work that you're doing over here is amazing too. I think you're doing some good stuff, Greg. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

I'm glad to be back doing that work with all of my IU colleagues and friends. Like it is amazing work that I really think that the IUs have a unique position to be a change that needs to occur in education. Did you see how I worked your title into that? I liked it. That's smooth. It was thank you.

SPEAKER_04 18:45

It was seamless. I didn't even pick up on do you want to.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

I just realized it as I said it. That's how slick I am. You're so but yeah, I think the IUs just they have that. And I think especially the STEM and the science work that we're doing and all of the people that are within that are just amazing. And again, I think the more that we, you know, collaborate and work together, the greater effect that we're having. And I think really it is in that STEM ecosystem, like really building out our own and then finding ways to collaborate around it, find ways that we're successfully implementing things, you know, with the teachers in the classroom. Or was the other one? What's so cool about manufacturing? Like I love that competition. And in our IU9 area, my wife has been doing it for since it started in our part of the state. It started over on the part of the state that I'm in now. And it is celebrated 10 times greater than it is celebrated on the western side of the state. And so, like I look forward tomorrow to going to their big award ceremony there in in Reading just to see how it's different than the one that we we are doing here in the Western part, which I think again is celebrated, but it's just not as but doesn't have as many participants happening. And it's such a great way for students, A, to get experience, not experience, but get that learning about what is happening in manufacturing. And they tell that story through a short video, which they're already understand the being able to tell a message video because they're inundated with that on TikTok and Instagram and whatnot. And so it's finding that and letting students make that video and then showing that. That I'm sitting there thinking, like, as I'm taking my walk around the Scook because I like to find the trails and do a little hiking. But as I'm hiking, I'm like, oh, you know what? Like, what's so cool about the environment? What's so cool about the community? Yeah, like why don't we have more of these opportunities for students to tell stories about the community, about the manufacturers, about anything that they experience outside of that of education. So that was another random thought that I'm currently working on.

SPEAKER_04 20:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

And I love competitions, especially those that it's something that the students make on their own and like come and have excitement about presenting. I really love the idea about the community work. It's not an easy task for students to do. It's always amazing the work that they come up with.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Yeah. But they're so smart.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

What I've really appreciated about my own educational career and journey is that when I was a classroom teacher, I didn't really know what an IU was. I didn't know that there were supports out there that were there to help me succeed in my classroom. It felt very isolating to be like, I am the science teacher. This is me and totally on me and this space and time. But then stepping out of the classroom and seeing the impact and that there are all of these systems designed to help educators be successful, even if they're unknown. Yeah, kind of like in the shadows, you don't see them. And I am imagining now, as we're having this conversation, that there are additional systems that I just can't see from my spot on the mountain. I can't see. That there are additional systems out there that are meant to be supportive and help all of us be successful with the intention of empowering our students the best that we can. So I'm very appreciative of your perspective, especially kind of where things have gone for you to be able to see other angles that even we don't say. I've been at the IU for five years and hearing your perspective on that of saying, is the grass grinder okay? No, it's not. But I learned so much on this journey that you're now a different IU employee because of your experience. And you're able to share this out with the number one rated podcast in the entire world. Jim Chad.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

In our world.

SPEAKER_04 22:40

In maybe our little or IUP.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Yeah. What is the R world? I like the R world as in the entire earth. This is the number one podcast. They just don't know it yet.

SPEAKER_04 22:49

They don't know.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Right. You don't know what you don't know. And they don't know that it's number one.

SPEAKER_04 22:54

Such a little niche, nerdy podcast, yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

You know, I don't know. I like that I left and came back because it it makes you appreciate it so much more. But I'll tell you, if you can, go leave a year and then come back. There's so many. It it makes you feel incredibly special when you come back and be like, oh, Macer's back. Or I like the one where I heard Greg was back. Greg Mace, is is is it that guy, the same guy, or is there like another guy with the same name? And it's like, it's me. It's me. The real one.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

The one and the only. Yeah. But there's just maybe.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Very humbled. So I like that, you know, coming back. And it's awesome, again, being like on the western side of the state, working with wonderful people. I think that both sides of the state have awesome work going on, but I really do feel like there is a separation sometimes between what's happening on the west, what's happening on the east. And I get to drive through both. So then I'm like, let's be the connector, you know, let's bring all everybody as the IUs together working on similar things, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 23:59

In very different ways, though, in very different ways.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

Yeah, I see that a lot in the gifted work that I do. It's kind of crazy how different the East and the West are, and even North and South. Like it's pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

I mean, we are a big state. A big state. Like again, the IUs just have no matter where you go in that state, there's somebody that is an advocate for student success through science, through STEM, through just driving curiosity, computational thinking. You know, it it's to be ready to be a part of a future that is completely uncertain and is inundated with what's truth, what's fiction. You know, these think they need to be able to process information and and come to a conclusion on their own that isn't driven by you know propaganda or you know half-truths that they can figure out and and form a informed smart decision, not just one that's led by somebody

STEM Ecosystems And Future-Ready Thinking

SPEAKER_02 24:58

else.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

That's that's the big job. Double G, the connector, Greg Maser. Maybe we should get him a shirt. We should with all those things.

SPEAKER_04 25:08

Tony, can you have a shirt made for him with a changed?

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Consider it done.

SPEAKER_04 25:12

Because he is podcasting.

SPEAKER_06 25:13

No one needs stickers.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

You gotta have three X. I'm gonna ask you a random question.

Food Plating Lightning Round

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Oh no. Go away. This is your third time. We can't just have the second and last final thought. We're gonna have a random question. And that random question is Greg Macer, how do you like to have your food plated on your plate? Does everything have to be separate? Can it all be mashed together? Do you mix it up? Oh my god. Can I take a guess? Oh, yeah. Oh, you want to guess? Let's guess what Greg would do.

SPEAKER_06 25:39

Okay, go ahead. We're gonna guess. I think Greg is a mash that thing together. He doesn't care. I don't know. Go ahead. I got I got it.

SPEAKER_04 25:46

Here's what I think. I think Greg starts separated but can't help himself and takes a little bit of everything and then makes something. That's what I think.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Okay, so I think I'm gonna I think my answer is basically the same. I think he wants it separated. Of course. But then he I can't wait for the explanation. I'm gonna change it because I'm getting accused over here by my fellow co-host. A bit like co-ho never mind.

SPEAKER_04 26:09

I'm taking that the way I want to take that.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Thank you. I'm getting criticized by my co-host. So I'm gonna go with the opposite of everybody, and then one of us will be right. I'm gonna say you keep it all separated and you eat it separately. And you eat the way you eat it is that you eat it from least favorite to favorite.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Okay, so you you got, I think, one of them right, where I do try to eat least favorite to favorite, but it inevitably like we're just gonna say buffet. Okay, because that's where I would people would say, like, what's happening here on your plate? And I don't think I ever go into it as like I'm gonna keep things separate. Like I'll get a salad on the side, and I don't want anything to kind of go on that salad. But then by the time I see the mashed potatoes and the you know what I figured everything else chicken.

SPEAKER_04 26:55

I feel like I'm right. I feel like I'm right. That you start out that way, but it's like I don't want it to touch the salad, but then it all just kind of just comes together.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

It's just on the plate, but I take that plate, and no matter what's on it, I find the cheese, and I just cover it.

SPEAKER_06 27:10

See, that's where I come from the cheese.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Oh, so the cheese is the IU, is what you're saying. The cheese is the IU.

SPEAKER_04 27:16

The cheese is Greg. The cheese is Greg. All his plate is the IU. Greg is the connector with the cheese.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Oh, even better. Oh my goodness, I am the cheese. Greg the cheese on top of an overfree.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Greg say cheese. That means something new now.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

So then, Greg, real quick, I want I want you to tell us what you think for each of us, because you know us best than any of our other guests. What do you think we are in the way we eat? How about Tony specifically?

SPEAKER_04 27:42

You don't know how you eat food? I do. I know how I eat.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Okay. All right, okay, Tony. Tony. I would say this is the most it's not a pile, but it ends up touching. But the intention is like, I want to be civil. See, seems like it's okay.

SPEAKER_06 27:58

That's really spot on, Greg. That's really good.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

But you want it to be. Maybe you're a little like a little dabby here. I want a little bit of separate on your plate, but do you dab your fork into like separate things? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

You're the you're the perfect gentleman. Well done.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Nice job. Well done. Nice job, great. All right, how about Patrice? I feel like you you were agreeing with me when I was talking mine. But I don't think, again, you're a mounder. Like you're not gonna mound everything together. But I think you're very similar to Tony, where if it gets put together, it's all right.

SPEAKER_04 28:25

It really is situational. I gotta be very real with you. So like I'll eat mashed, so like I'll eat mashed potatoes and I'll mix corn with my mashed potatoes.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Well, that's normal.

SPEAKER_04 28:34

Is it? I don't know. I wasn't told that was normal. I like that. That's a mashing. But like a very much like if I'm having like say I have asparagus and grilled chicken, and then like I don't know, rice. Mm-mm. Mm-mm.

SPEAKER_06 28:48

Or separate. Oh.

SPEAKER_04 28:50

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Interesting. Yeah. Dip it into the mashed potatoes and then into some ranch and cheese. Delicious. That's a wild thing.

SPEAKER_04 29:01

Okay, I could do I could do the chicken and the mashed potatoes, but I don't think it maybe the ranch, but I don't know. I don't I I feel like you're taking it a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

The ranch can go with anything, I think. Well, he is the great connector with the cheese. Greg, are you a blue cheese or a ranch?

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Blue cheese or gross until you eat uh you hit the cheese.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

You gotta experience you know what it's like, Steele's, you gotta experience it to appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

No cheese, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Done.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

Consider it done. I think that would be an experience for us.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

All right, Greg. Many would say that we've left the best for last. So please, sir, go every time. What would be my order? Do you think you want to be a fancy pants, but you can't.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

I feel like you moved around a lot. So like you gotta be civil. I'm just a hot mass, that's what you're saying. But I think that it changed. You know, I think that you started civil, but I feel like at this age, you're just like, nah, man, it's gonna meet together on my plate. And then like give it 10 more years, you're gonna be making a mound like me.

SPEAKER_06 29:56

At 55, he now smashes everything together.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

I think right now you you're a civil, a civil man, but you don't mind blending things together or layering cheese on stuff.

SPEAKER_04 30:05

Greg, he just sat up straighter when you said that civil man. He went boom. Yeah, yes, I am.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Grew an inch. He's trying to pretend it grew his food. He doesn't want to give in to the temptation of just making him a mound of food. I love this sense of like I'm gonna be civil and just come up ten times.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

You know what's amazing about this is actually how accurate you really are in what you're saying. We could have a whole new podcast, a spin-off on this segment. But I, when I was a kid, for the longest time, until I was an adult, everything had to be separate, nothing could touch, and I would eat it least favorite to favorite. Even if that meant that the favorite thing was cold by the time I got to it, like I wanted to eat it then. And now it's kind of like you said, like I'm, you know, I'm I got a little bit more street cred with my eating and you know, mashing it together. Street cred.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

How you gotta live.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Gotta throw in the cheese and we'll see. All right, yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

One time. Just one time.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Craig Mason. I'll never go back. It is always a pleasure to have you on this show. You are a wonderful human being, truly are a connector, and we're glad to have you very in this IU world, making so many important connections across the state, clearly, but also where you're at. And thank you for coming on the show. We'll make sure that we cap it at four so we don't have to give you that bow tie.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

No, you're gonna inevitably you're gonna hear some good stuff, and you're gonna be like, oh, we gotta have a Scook episode. Love it.

SPEAKER_04 31:25

And be like, what are you doing in the Scook? Quarterly Greg Macer updates.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 31:30

I'm back now.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

So you gotta get it at five quick so I get that bow tie.

SPEAKER_04 31:35

I I think you can earn the bow tie at four. Let's be very real.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

I'll take the bow tie at four, but then I need a jacket at five.

SPEAKER_04 31:42

All right, that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

Andrew's t-shirt suit. With your guys' face on it.

SPEAKER_04 31:47

I don't think you want our faces on it.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

Yes, I do. Your headphones and stuff on. And then me in the center.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

As it should be.

SPEAKER_06 31:57

Yep. Double G. On a buffet plate. All of our faces. With cheese. Cheese.

SPEAKER_03 32:03

Cheese surrounding Greg.

Listener Email And Closing

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Yeah. Well, this feeling is the appropriate time to wrap it up and remind all of our listeners, please. We want to hear from you. Communicate with us at whatever it may be, maybe not feedback on the last question with the food, but everything else, we want to hear about it.

SPEAKER_06 32:21

And they can email us, Tony, at the changed ed podcast at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

So reach out to us, let us know what you're thinking, what you want to hear about, or if you want to come on the show, because clearly now we're handing out bow ties and shirts and jackets.

SPEAKER_04 32:36

They might be only a Greg special, but he's definitely gonna get one.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

They have to be earned. All right. Thanks, Greg. If they have any questions about me, they can ask you guys, right? Yeah. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 32:45

Yeah. Yeah. We'll forward you any emails we get about oh, who is this Greg guy?

SPEAKER_01 32:49

Yeah, if we respond, there might be fact checking, so we'll send it to you. Yeah.