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Speaker 1: Welcome to Mondays with Maria, brought to you by the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools. Here's OCPS Superintendent, Dr. Maria Vazquez.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Hi everyone. I have a new guest with me today, although she's not really a guest because she's actually part of our Communications team. You may have seen her doing OCPS stories across the district for the Slice. She joined our Communications Division about a year ago and has actually done nearly 200 stories. So meet Bri MacNaught. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Bri MacNaught: Yeah. Thank you so much, Dr. Vazquez. So it's been so great going to all of our different schools and sharing these positive stories within our district. I've truly enjoyed getting to know everyone so far. As for me personally, I'm a proud UCF alum. Go Knights.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes. Charge on, charge on. Awesome.
Bri MacNaught: Before this role, I was actually a local sports reporter, but I think my most famous title is that random girl popping out and dancing behind you during our first day of school car karaoke session. So that was a fun one.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Well, yes, it was fun driving around to all the different schools and then listening to the music. I, I can tell you that a lot of our folks really enjoyed that. And your stories have been phenomenal, so thank you. Tell me what else do you do?
Bri MacNaught: Yeah, so when I'm not dancing in the cars, I'm actually all throughout our district. You know, out and about at all of our schools telling these positive stories. But when I've been at these schools, I've realized a lot of people have questions for you. So that's when we decided we're going to take those questions bring them here and have you answer them right here on Mondays with Maria. So our first one, I promise you, is easy. Okay?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Okay, good. Okay. Start off with easy questions for the Supt.
Bri MacNaught: Exactly. On the lighter side, let's go ahead and take a look. Okay.
Sharon Rouse: My name is Sharon Rouse, the FNS Manager here at Windermere High School. I have one question for Maria. What is your favorite vacation spot?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Okay, well, that's an easy one because my favorite vacation spot is really here in Florida. We love to go to Sanibel. It brings back a lot of memories of when I was a child and the times that we spent as a family, and it gives me a chance to just decompress, enjoy the beautiful beaches and the wonderful restaurants and shops.
Bri MacNaught: Yes, I love beaches. So anywhere with the beach, sign me up. All right. This next one, a little more serious. Okay?
Joni Casamento: Hi, Dr. Vazquez. My name is Joni Casamento and I am the Assistant Principal at Vista Lakes Elementary School. I became an Administrator just a couple of months ago, and I had a question for you. There are so many important things that come our way, and I'm sure the same goes for you running an entire district, but my question is how do you prioritize and determine what needs to be done in specific orders? I'm having a hard time because I feel like all of it is important sometimes. Thank you so much for the advice and thanks for everything you do.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: I would definitely say it'll get easier, but anything that has to do with like student achievement and our strategic plan and safety are always at the top of my list.
Bri MacNaught: So those two things plus teamwork. That goes a long way.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Oh, absolutely. And in her role as an Assistant Principal, I hope she has like some of the coaches that she is able to work with. And when she sits down and she tries to plan things out, I think that's the key, so that when you're putting things in your bucket of things to do you are doing what's most important.
Bri MacNaught: Exactly. That's spot on. Alright, this next one is a two part question. Oh. But it's from an adorable student at Vista Lakes Elementary.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Oh, great.
Viviana: Hello, my name is Viviana. I'm a student at Vista Lakes Elementary School. What inspired you to become a Superintendent and also I want to ask you what your favorite food is?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Okay. So I love how she is dressed up. She's beautiful. All right. So I'm going to start with the second question, right? So my favorite food is I love Reese's Peanut butter cups. Anything peanut butter and chocolate I am a fan of. And if people are saying, well, that's not really a food, that's like a candy, then I would say I love seafood, anything seafood. And then what inspired me to be a Superintendent? Well, I didn't start out wanting to be a Superintendent. I have been incredibly blessed in my career to have different roles that I felt that I was making a difference and that I loved. And it wasn't until the pandemic occurred where we were learning to do everything differently. How are we going to teach our students? How are we going to feed them? Everything was brand new that I realized that I could make a, a bigger impact. And hopefully individuals are seeing that that's what my, that's where my heart is, that I want to be able to make things better for our OCPS families.
Bri MacNaught: That's a great answer. This next one is another tougher one. Okay?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Okay. They, they've all been tough except for the first one. Okay. Because even the, the food question, there's lots of great foods out there.
Stephanie Heron: Hi, Dr. Vazquez. This is Stephanie Heron, Director of Employment Services. And wanted to ask you, what keeps you up at night?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: So, actually, that's an easy one. Sadly, that's an easy question. What keeps me up at night is safety and security of our students, our employees, our community. It's sad that we're living in a time where safety and security is such an important aspect of how we work each and every day. And although we have an incredible team that has put in safety measures in place, I know that the reality is that there are no guarantees. And so I hope that individuals stay vigilant. I hope that if you see something or hear something that you say something so that we can prevent any tragedies from happening.
Bri MacNaught: Yeah, definitely. All right. Final question. Okay. We're gonna end on a high note for you. Okay. It's another easy one.
Stewart Parker: Hi, Dr. Vazquez. This is Stewart Parker from Winter Park High School. I'd like to know if you had a time machine, what time period would you visit and why?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: So, I would probably go back to the 1920s. I think that was a time period where there was so much change, so many new things that were occurring, and so many inventions. It was a time where I felt nothing stood still as I was, as I read back in in those historical read about those historical times. And so I think that’s the time that I would visit.
Bri MacNaught: Interesting. As for this, it's a new feature called Ask Maria, and it'll be part of your regular Mondays with Maria segments.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Well, thank you. This was really a lot of fun. Yeah. So if you would like to send your question, just send an email to [email protected]. When you send the email, you'll receive a form on how to upload your selfie question. Or if you see Bri in your school, she might help you record it. I can't wait to see and hear more of your questions. I'll see you next week on Mondays with Maria
Speaker 1: Mondays with Maria has been brought to you by the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools. Investing in our children today to strengthen our community tomorrow. For more OCPS news and information, visit theslice.ocps.net.