total time: 36.69 minutes
total words: 627
[Danielle Balocca]: Hey listeners, this is Danielle. And Shelley. Shelley is a radical Dravidian and racial equity activist.
[Chelli Keshavan]: And Danielle is a community mobilizer and changemaker. And this is the Medford Bites podcast. Every two weeks, we chew on the issues facing Medford and deliver bites of information about the city by lifting the expertise of our guests.
[Danielle Balocca]: Join us in discussion about what you hope for the future of Medford. And as always, tell us where you like to eat. Thank you so much for joining us. If you don't mind just introducing yourself with your name and pronouns and just a bit about who you are.
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. My name is Aaron Olapade. I use the he series, so the he, him, his pronouns. I'm running for school committee and I'm really happy to be here, so thank you.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thanks for being here, Aaron. So we will also ask you the question that we ask everybody on the show, which is what is your favorite place to eat in Medford and what do you like to eat there?
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, it's tough because I know that this is a question that gets asked and it's always one of those things where I think it changes with the wind just because of my mood or the day of the week or who I'm with. I'm a West Medford liver, so tend to find myself down there in the West Medford Square. So, Snappy Patty's is a big place for me. I worked there a little bit during the peak COVID year. So, I kind of became accustomed to their food and their menu. So, I really enjoy that spot and I tend to choose the chicken schnitzel or the schnitty as we call it there. It's just a good piece of food and it's hearty. It's big, so it's pretty filling. And then Tasty on the Hill near Tufts is another big place for me and my family. I tend to go for the chicken and waffles. It's both a breakfast and lunch kind of thing for me. So both sweet and savory, I would say, is probably where I'm going to when I go out to eat with people.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yum. Tasty on the hill isn't one we've heard before, so thank you. And you're right, it is sometimes the most challenging question for folks, so thank you.
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: And if we have you on again, it might be different.
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
[Chelli Keshavan]: OK, cool. Let's just jump in, I guess. Do you want to share, Aaron, a little bit about how you decided to run for school committee and a little bit about the moment that brought you here?
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for asking. I think that to start, I'm a younger candidate. I'm 23. But I grew up in Medford. I kind of matured, went through the kind of experiences of younger life here in Medford and moved about 10 years ago, 2013. I started in seventh grade here at the Andrews Middle School, then I went to the high school. And so I really grew up in Medford. And I think that because of that, it makes me want to see Medford continue evolving into a progressive space for everyone. People coming here to work, to live, feel like they have a space to kind of live into themselves a little bit with themselves and their families. And I think that's partly what really is the root of my motivation running for school committee to to open up that conversation and allow people to feel like they have that safe space. And, you know, I think also partly what kind of got got me excited about local politics is like the upbringing to my mom kind of instilled in me and my older brother, you know, she's a practicing minister and a faith leader and for her, you know, being of service to other people really is how faith should be done. I would agree that my faith really does inform me and how I make decisions. And I think that that has led me to the school committee and how we as a community, as adults, can give the younger generations the opportunity and the tools that we might not have had to kind of continue improving and progressing our society, but mostly right now our community, of course. Um, I've kind of done a variety of things in the city and the greater Boston area in that pursuit, um, of working with younger folks, um, and just working with people in general, again, to really be of service. Um, you know, I volunteered a lot in high school at the, at Medford high, you need to graduate with about 60 hours of community service, um, which I think is still very much their practice. And that's, that's not a new, uh, method. A lot of schools in the area do do that. Um, and so, you know, getting 60 hours is, not a tall, tall task, but it does take a little, a little work, you know, through the four years, especially when you're, you know, 14 to 18, you might not know the different, you know, different types of programs and nonprofits in the area, for example, that offer community service hours. And I kind of had a bit of a bit of a, you know, behind the scenes connection with my mom, who just does a lot of that kind of stuff. So it was a little easier for me to get those 60 hours, freshman year. But then I found so much joy in getting to know people and helping people in any way that I could or any way that felt right to them that I kind of kept doing that and so when I graduated high school I thought, man, this is really good work and I really find myself wanting to do it more and more. was so enamored with service work and community engagement that I took gap year from high school. Once I graduated, I thought, I want to keep doing this. I want to see what this does. I applied and I worked for a non-profit in Boston for a full year, working in a school system. I was a teacher. I was a teacher's aide, teaching kids math. I was seeing what it's like to be a student in the inner city and what that looks like. I went to college and same thing. It really was service work, community engagement, uh, racial justice really were kind of things that I found myself just being drawn to, um, and- and interacting with people who might not be, um, as, uh, able- as able to advocate for themselves as you might hope. Um, and so I thought that I could be an advocate for them, um, in some situations. So that really was kind of the beginning where it was faith-based action and mission drive. And I think that finding myself just wanting to understand people's experiences more so that I can then inform myself in what I wanna do, if that makes sense.
[Danielle Balocca]: Absolutely. Thank you. And I, you know, I think that we're looking at both city council and school committee in this election and sort of how much can change in the makeup of that group in terms of identity and, you know, school committees historically like white moms. And I think that. It's really interesting to think about having a, you know, I think in any kind of like group that's representing a big, you know, a city or like a big interest that it's important to have people that from all different perspectives and you having been recently a student in Medford Public Schools, it seems like a really valuable perspective. So I wonder like, you know, especially like hearing stuff going on last year about some of the sort of incidents of violence in the high school. I just wonder like what, maybe you think are the strengths of Metro Public Schools and maybe what you, if on city council, what you would sort of want to focus on in terms of change?
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, absolutely. I think first and foremost, like what happened last year is not new. I think that it felt like in a really, you know, incredibly scary moment for everyone. I think it was no one really knew what to do or where to go or who to look to for answers. Because in some ways we're not trained as adults or as professionals or educators or students to handle things like that. And so it's hard to not point the finger. And it's hard to not look for someone's head on a spike because you think to yourself, how can my child or how could my teacher, my educator, whoever it may be, how could they go into school each day and feel safe? And I think that When I was in schools, the issues were still there, but they looked a little different, right? You know, we have to be conscious of the fact that we're in a very different world than when I was in high school five years ago. I mean, post-COVID is an incredibly different life for all of us, right? Especially for kids who are really learning themselves for the first time. They're maturing at their own pace, in their own way. And because of that, it's a little harder or greatly harder for younger people to advocate for themselves because they might not have the language, they might not have the ability to, you know, comprehensively discuss what's going on with them. They might not even know what's happening for them quite yet. And COVID, I think, exacerbated that fact even more so or put us on notice even more. You know, we have to give students the opportunity to work through these questions they're having about themselves and about their peers recurringly. So it can't be a, you know, biannual or a once a month kind of thing. It has to be a daily conversation. Because as we kind of may or may not remember, when we were at that age, we were having those daily questions about who we were, how we identify, who we identify with. Right. And so, you know, I remember when I was in high school, there was an incident with a with a gun clip that was found. And that was a really, you know, 2018. And that was a really big moment for the city where people were recognizing that safety is not always a given. Right, even in cities where we might have a low crime rate or we feel as though there aren't big incidents like that in the schools or or outwardly right we might not hear about them at the very least. Safety is not a given all the time, unfortunately, as much as we would hope it to be, and so we need to again open up a conversation, not just with our students with ourselves with each other. so that we can start discussing what safety really looks like for the majority. Of course, I'm not disassociated from the fact that whatever I were to do as a school committee member or someone to do in a different position, I can't make everyone happy, unfortunately. That's just the reality. But I think that there is a way to find a form of bipartisan agreement where everyone feels they've been heard at the very least. That misunderstanding between one another really is, I think, a root of a majority of the problems that local municipalities are feeling. There's more agreement to be had. I think that it's a miscommunication or a disagreement on the way to accomplish a set goal. But we all want our kids to be safe, for example, right, we want the younger people, even if you don't have kids, right, we want the younger people in our city to feel safe, like they can go to school, and they're not worried about their safety, whether it's from their peers, from an outside source, and not just physical safety, but emotional safety to intellectual safety, these are real things that we're working through. And again, COVID really changed the change the narrative. And so None of us know how to navigate this quite yet because none of us have the training, no one's prepared quite, quite, quite yet. And so I think acknowledgement that we're in a really, really turning point as a city, right, I think it's the first step. And so, you know, being a high schooler more recently, than some maybe some other people on the you know that have run in the past for example I think does give me a lived experience perspective that others might not have not to suggest or leverage the fact that you know because you weren't in high school more recently that you don't have really really useful advice or suggestions or platform to run on but I think that representation is crucial, right? And so I can at least say that I know what it was like to feel unsafe for a period of time in the school system. And it's not necessarily a fault of anyone in particular, right? Again, it's this finger pointing phenomenon that happens all the time when something like this happens, but it's acknowledgement that these issues are not new. They just look a little differently. So I think when I was in high school, I think every year. Again, I was questioning myself questioning how I fit in. And I think that came out differently, whether I was not focusing on my grades, I was having, you know, problems, maybe with other peers of mine. I wasn't respecting teachers, like whatever that whatever way that kind of manifested outwardly, I think comes up and I think with post COVID kind of responses we're having, the kids aren't feeling as safe with themselves and with each other. So that comes up a little bit more, um, uh, notably, I guess is probably the best term I would use, you know, given a couple of months ago, right. Versus it's happening behind closed doors or it's happening in the homes. You're not hearing about it as much, um, because there was a way to kind of keep a lid on it, you know, if that makes sense. So for me, I really want to, Again, as I mentioned earlier, open up that conversation. I wanna give the students first the platform, like a daily platform to discuss what they're working through. And again, it's not gonna be an immediate, well, now that I'm saying on Monday, you can tell me how you're feeling that it's gonna fix everything, right? It's gonna be a working experience because again, we understand that younger folks aren't quite there yet sometimes with their ability to articulate what's going on for them. But if they don't feel like they have the space to do that, then they're never going to. Not really, at least, or not honestly. So it's up to us as adults to, again, give them the tools, give them the system so that they can feel like they can work through it. So that ideally, or hopefully, in the best case scenario, a situation like that happened five years ago or last year doesn't happen again. And kids feel safe amongst themselves, amongst their own person, and amongst the city that we're in.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thank you. Before I move on, I just wanted to say that when I was introducing that question, the comment that I made about white moms on school committee, I think it sounded like an insult. I didn't mean it to be that. We have very valuable school committee members who are moms and I think they have really important perspectives. But yeah, thank you. I think that was a very thorough answer.
[Chelli Keshavan]: So many dope points. My mind is whirling, but I think I might pull if you mentioned intellectual and emotional safety. And that really, really resonates for me. And I'll just for folks listening, I will keep it 100. I am, I am invested in Aaron's intelligence, but my son looks like Aaron, right. And so my boy is a district student. And so it would mean the world for my son to be able to look out into his leadership world and see a person who literally represents what he's living. To that end, I have had lots of conversation in the district around what violence means and for who and when, but also what pieces might mitigate that and how, as you mentioned, the adults in the community can work collectively to push the needle. And so I wonder if you might talk on what education means for you and what some steps around building intrinsic commitment and creating, like you said, platforms for our kids to invest in themselves, and maybe also sort of get comfortable with trial and error and realize that every adult has tried more than kind of a novice, you know, has been willing to look at, whatever the thing is. Yeah, what might your thoughts be?
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, so I think that, you know, education, um, you know, is, is important, right, of course, and I think that, you know, first and foremost, education looks differently for different people. So it's not just in the classroom or in the, you know, the, in the, the, how we identify education, like in the textbook, in the classroom, lecturing, right, education, it comes up in different ways in different places in the day. You know, when you're a toddler, or a young young child like of course you're you're not going to class really you're learning just from everything you're seeing day to day right and as you get older, then it becomes a little bit more uniform and a little bit more. As we understand by the book right so you're learning a lot of the content that you're being taught by your teacher or by your professor if you decide to go to college. But then we, in some ways, forget that once you leave school, kind of at whatever level that is, your education doesn't stop, right? The way you learn isn't stopping. If anything, it's opening up again because you're not in a controlled space anymore, right? There's a lot more opportunity to learn a lot more. And so to be educated, I think, is like the first, is really how you become a more holistic person. And again, it's not just about the four core classes in a language, right? There is education and learning that comes from every walk of life, from different cultures, different religions, different perspectives, different sexual identities, different religions. There is learning in all facets of life. And I think that we, as humans, I think naturally want to learn more. And so, When it comes to why I value education, I think that it goes to what I just mentioned, where to be a holistic person, to be a multifaceted person, I think you have to be conscientious of the fact that education doesn't stop once you stop going to, you know, eight to three school. Right. You know, for some people, as I mentioned, don't want to go to college, or don't feel like that's a need for them they're not they're not that isn't their that isn't their path and that's completely okay, we should, if, for one thing we should be more, you know, supportive of that endeavor because again there are lots of people who find that. post-secondary, you know, higher education, post-secondary education isn't for them. But again, those people aren't any lesser or aren't learning still. They're learning so much, just in a different way. And so we need to acknowledge that education comes differently and people learn differently. And so, for example, something that I really am empowered by, something that I really want to start pushing for, if elected, is comprehensive-based learning initiatives, where it really discusses the importance of equipping students at any age the tools necessary to be a productive member of their own life, of their families, of society. It's not just about if you can check off a box and get a high score on an exam. It's about having the skills necessary to live a fully functioning life Any, any life you may choose. But, you know, unfortunately, that's not that's not as easy as I'm suggesting it to be that requires a lot of hard work and a lot of as you kind of mentioned your question. Adults participating in the conversation because they're the ones that make those decisions about the type of education, the type of learning we're giving our students in the, in the community. So I can think back, again, when I was in high school or even in middle school, where what I was learning, I don't know if I was even cognizant of the fact that I thought I was missing out, for example, on certain perspectives or certain authors or engineers or people who did really groundbreaking work in different of the four core classes, for example. At that age, you're not really as thoughtful about that. Usually, on average, you're not as thoughtful about it because you don't know to ask the question quite yet. It's until, for me at least, when I was in college where I started recognizing there are so many stories out there about these types of things that I'm focusing on, you know, regardless of its economic, political science, engineering, medicine, law, whatever the thing I was kind of pursuing at that point in school where I was realizing there are so many stories and so many, you know, iconic people in that industry that I had never heard of before. And I think to myself, well, why is that? They did really groundbreaking work, really life-changing stuff. But there's stuff that they change really would have been nice to know earlier on. Right. And so I think, you know, if we as adults are capable of considering changing the curricula, right, you know, it doesn't have to be an insane overhaul right out the gate right there can be, you know, step by step changes. right? So we start introducing more, you know, of color authors, for example, in English class, we start considering the possibility of opening up a little bit more historical context to different events that happened throughout our American history or, you know, or a broad history, right? Thinking about the types of people that, you know, improve the sciences, right? There's opportunities start slowly. It doesn't have to be, again, rapid change is good sometimes, but for some people it's a little too quick. Right, so we want to again we want to try to include people every walk of life as quickly as much as possible. So if there's a way to slowly but but progressively start introducing more educational experiences or more learning into the day to day teaching. For the students, I think that would really start to give students again that competency based learning right you start giving them more information sooner, so that when they make those decisions about going to college or pursuing a trade or whatever may be post high school, right, they feel like they have a little bit more world experience a little bit more cultural experience. just experience is the term really I would say more experience to make decisions for themselves they don't feel as though they're haphazardly deciding things because they feel like they're being told to. I know when I again when I was kind of thinking about college or post high school. Most of my friends, I think, would say, I'm kind of going to college or I'm doing this thing because I don't really know what else to do. And I feel like that's what my parents want me to do. Or that's what society tells me to do. And I think that, you know, adults have more experience, right, more often than not. So I think that it's not unreasonable to assume that your parents might supposedly know best. But I think that Giving kids some independence earlier isn't a bad thing, right, but you can only really do that if they have all the facts right or they have more facts, and I think that that comes from introducing more education. or different educational styles and educational pieces over time at younger ages, for example, to give kids that slow independence to feel like they know a little bit more about themselves, about their culture, their identity, about the world, to make decisions a little sooner. Because I know that, you know, a lot of people that I went to college with who graduated with a degree are saying, I don't really know what I'm going to do. And I'm 22, 23 years old with a full degree and a lot of debt. I pursued this subject matter, and I found myself saying, why did I do this? Is it possible, had I had a little bit more experience or had a little bit more independence earlier on, even if that was freshman year, sophomore year of college, or first, second year of a trade, or just a regular 9 to 5 job, would you have been able to make a decision sooner to shift what you were doing. So you didn't feel so stuck where you were. But that starts again from education, from learning, from just soaking up what's going on in the world. In a weird way, let's revert back to infancy. That's what kids do. They take in, they just absorb that information. And why can't we keep doing that? Why can't we give that opportunity and that option to the younger folks? So yeah.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Love it. I feel like I'm hearing osmosis and zone of proximal distance, but fire discussion. What is Medford doing right?
[Aaron Olapade]: It's a good question. I was just talking to my mom about this actually. I think Medford does a lot of things really right. I think that that's You know, that's kind of what keeps me keep coming to conversation that keeps me invested I think that keeps a lot of people in the community invested is that there are those changes we're seeing I think that there is a want from a lot of people in the community for change. In change at every every level I think we there is a lot of push for like more greenery in the city, more, you know, more city wide events, more, you know, Medford Recreation Department events during the summertime or just during the school year, I think that there's a intentional choice to. discuss the question about diversity, equity, inclusion, right? What that looks like, what that looks like for different communities in Medford, right? You know, we've had a lot of different nonprofits kind of pop up over the last five, 10 years who are doing really solid work, really intentional work about these questions about inclusion and equity. I think the thing that I would say, the blanket statement is that Medford is intentional. I think that people in the city, not just in the city hall, not just in the office, but people in the community that live in West, North, South Medford, in the center, want to see certain things happen for themselves, for their families, for their children, for the next generation to come after them of a progressive mission. And that comes up differently, as I mentioned. There's so many different... platforms and issues, not issues, platforms and different types of motivations for different groups. And it is intentional work. It's hard work. And it takes time. Again, I've said this a couple of times. It's not quick fixes. It's not knee-jerk responses to fixing an issue. These are, for real, comprehensive change. It will take time. And I think that a lot of people in the city want to see those and are willing to take the time. They have the temperament and the patience to see that happen. But I will also say that in the same side, I think, again, post COVID has really, I think, the burnout is a little bit is seeping through a little bit in some cases where you're seeing the conversation start to die down a little bit, unfortunately. Or it starts to level, you know, I don't say die down, it's the wrong term, it starts to level out a little bit. just because I think we're all trying to kind of recuperate from the three-year still ongoing blur of what kind of COVID did for us as individuals and as a community. But again that intentionality I think really is what makes Medford special for me as someone who's lived in a couple different places over my life. I mentioned that I'm not a religion from Medford but as a younger person who grew up here that really has kept me wanting to come back here even after graduation is to set roots here and call this place my home, so.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thank you, Aaron. I think our next question, so we started this podcast to sort of help provide kind of like a human element to people running for political office. So this question is less about your campaign, more about you. So I wonder if there is something that you might want to share with us that might surprise us, something we might not know about you.
[Aaron Olapade]: That's a good question. It's not something that's, it's obvious about my appearance, I would say, but I'm a very organized person. It's like not really, you know, anything crazy or super cool, but I'm a very space picky guy. So I like, I like, especially my own personal spaces. I like things very uniform just because it gives me, you know, a sense of some semblance of control. uh, not to suggest I'm a control freak, definitely not that, but I think that with how life kind of comes at us both fast and slow day to day, I think having certain, um, things feel very, uh, controlled, I think really grounds me. And so like I do, I have a very set structure to my day. I do the same thing every morning and I've been doing it kind of for the last four years of college. I will, you know, I'll get up in the morning, I'll make my bed. That's the first thing I do pretty much just because, you know, there was an army general, I think, who had this really famous graduation speech years ago. And he talked about the importance of making your bed. And I watched it probably when I was like 14. I was like, oh, that's super, that's super on point. I'm gonna start making my bed. So I make my bed every morning, you know, and the motive or the moral of that general speech, I think, was if you've had the worst day ever, right, nothing went the way you thought it would, you know, you at least accomplished one thing, which was making your bed, right? So these little accomplishments really are, they start to stack up. And so, you know, I think that, Again, you know that uniformness of things that I have control over does ground me in the type of work that I want to do that isn't as controllable or isn't quick. So I think, you know, I really like setting things up a certain way. So I make my bed every morning. I go, I was a collegiate rower. uh, in, in college. So I, I, I wrote crew and I still do that. So every morning I will make my bed and then I'll go row. And I do that pretty much every day. If I can help myself, I'll make my bed no matter what I do. I can row. If I can get in the morning, I'll go do that. And that again, sets me up and get the physical activity out of the way. It catches me just in a, in a, in a productive mood because I do this really early. I do this at about five 30 in the morning. because I had to do that for school and I still do it now. So I think that that's probably something you wouldn't know is like really early and I make my bed and I row and that's what sets me up for the rest of my day.
[Danielle Balocca]: That's the thing that I don't know. I knew that you were a rower from your mom's social media, but that's something people might not know. But did you also row for Medford High?
[Aaron Olapade]: I did, yeah. So Medford High, surprisingly, had a rowing team. They still do. And I started freshman year, or I technically started in middle school. Um, my brother, uh, went to college and he had a couple of buddies that were on the rowing team at his school. And he, when we moved to Medford, when we were looking to Medford rec department, trying to find like camp to do, my mom was like, Oh, you would row. That'd be a great thing to do. And when I was, you know, in the middle school, I was a smaller, more lengthy, uh, lengthy guy. So it didn't really fit in my brain. I also didn't know anything about it, but my brother thought, you know, that's a great physical activity. You'll get in great shape. You should do that. And I, uh, I did it and it was the worst thing ever. And I didn't want to do it anymore. And I stuck, I maintained that opinion for like three years. I just was like, this is the worst activity. I don't want to do it. I'd rather do anything else. And it wasn't until probably sophomore year of high school where I thought, you know, this is a really cool activity. It's a really cool sport. Um, and I think it was more acceptance that I can't do any other sport more than actual want to row. It was kind of like a, if you can't get out of it, get into it type mentality. And I think that I just was like, you know what, I was able to keep it going. I'm kind of good at it. I'm taller now. It kind of works out. And I did it through high school. And I thought, all right, I'm not that bad. And then I kept doing it in college. And yeah, I was a captain, both high school and college, which was really, you know, I felt really proud of. And that was really cool. And it just, yeah, again, it really does. It grounds you because it's a rowing is a very team oriented sport almost entirely team oriented. And so I think that for me it's informed a lot of the decisions I've made in my life or the mentalities I have going into different opportunities is what I would call them with other people. is that teamwork makes the dream work in a bit of a cliche way. If you want to win a race or you want to be productive in the competitive season, you have to kind of get past yourself. You have to get out of your own way and acknowledge that there might be a person in the boat with you who's faster than you, speed-wise, or has more technical capacity than you do, or someone who you may feel, though, is a little behind you in those you know, those, uh, ways of gauging your overall rowing success, you still need to lead them. Right. And so I think that, you know, very much like setting up those little perspective changes is how I kind of keep going. So waking up really early feels like a thing I don't need to do anymore because like, I'm not in school anymore and I don't have anywhere I need to be at, you know, 8 00 AM for school, but you know, I did it all through high school and it worked out for me and I felt like I was really productive. So if I wake up at five, five 30, and I make my bed and I get out on the river and I do that for an hour and a half. I feel like if it isn't broke, again, another cliche, don't fix it. So, you know, that's kind of, that's, that's part of that. Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: I'm a little envious, not the five o'clock wake up part, but envious of that routine. It sounds lovely.
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: Well, thank you. Is there anything else that we like haven't mentioned? Like anything that you want to mention that you're also involved in or any events that you want people to know about?
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, so I think there's a couple things that I would say about myself that I think would be good to kind of give some people some more understanding about me is that, you know, as I mentioned, like I've been doing this for a long time. So, first and foremost, I think that at any age, you can be involved. I don't think you're too young or too old. Any, any age offers. you know, you have the opportunity to be locally engaged, communally engaged, right? It doesn't need to be in politics, it can be in different types of work, different types of non-profit stuff, different types of aid work. Those are all things that you can participate in if there's a want to, slash I think you should. I think that that's something that I really, you know, goes back to kind of my mom's upbringing that like being of service to other people really is a fulfilling endeavor. Whether it's from a faith religious perspective like it is for me or from another perspective of just like an ethical ethical moral kind of belief system. So, you know, you know, first and foremost, really understand that being of service to people being service to the community really is an enriching experience. As an individual really helps you put into perspective, the world around you. And partly for me I kept finding myself in opportunities where that was my, that was how I felt you know I, I was named the youth coordinator. for the Mystic Valley branch of the NAACP, and I still do do that. I still act in that role, and I've been doing that for a little over two years now, and so it's my job to reach out to the youth of the Mystic Valley branch, right, not just of Medford, but the surrounding cities, to see how our youth are changing. You know, you mentioned earlier a question about how has Medford shifted a little bit, or do I feel as though what happened last year, is that similar to what I was seeing when I was in high school five years ago, same kind of questions is the way we were as a youth, you know, 510 1520 years ago however long ago is that in any way different than the kids that are going to schools to this day. And again it's the answer is yes and no. I think, yes. Yes, and that it's a different world we live in now not just post coded but just in general tech technology advancements medical advancements cultural differences. The integration of different different religions like these are all things that are in there's more of this we're seeing in Massachusetts or in America, for example. But that being said, though, there are a lot of the same problems a lot of the same things we're seeing 510 15 years ago that we're still seeing today, a lack of communication, a miss mismanagement of schools, a lack of respect towards one another because we might be different supposedly different again right we might supposedly, you know, normative, right, whatever, whatever you want to suggest about being someone who might not identify with the supposed status quo causes a misunderstanding of one another that creates discrimination, segregation, racism, bigotry, right, whatever that may be, or a dislike of someone at the most basic level, you know, when you're like in kindergarten, right, because they might not look like you. And so when I outreach to the youth as an NWCP member and as a youth coordinator, that really is something I run into a lot. We're seeing that. That's still going on. I think it's hard to hear stories from students and from young people about how to navigate that, those issues that they're having, those things that they're working through. especially when they don't know if they have someone to go speak to. They don't have representation in schools, for example, or in their city council school committee, mayor's office, whatever adult position that they look to for support, and they're not sure who to talk to about it. I think I found myself so enamored with working with the young folks. I kept wanting to do it more and more, and that's really, again, another thing that led to the school committee decision of mine. to run for. I thought there's such an opportunity for me as someone who is who is motivated by these things and who wants to work with the youth and want to understand them better and then be able to be an advocate for them to the greater area to really enact that change and again be a service to a cause like you know greater than myself as much as I can. You know I so I've done that. I really pursued more engagement in the local Medford community. I was a community liaison for the Medford Health Department. I did that for over a year. The department was given a grant to fund outreach of five liaisons of different cultural communities. I was African-American and Black community liaison. We had an Arabic liaison, a Haitian Creole speaking Haitian community liaison. Different individuals that were Medford residents, who wanted to be part of the conversation, right? So in that endeavor, it was the same kind of thing, just for an older demographic. How do these different communities, these different demographics in the city feel about what's going on? Or do they know what's going on? And I found that the answer was, no, they don't, for the most part. And that's a swooping statement, of course, but I thought a majority of the people that I was running into don't know or don't know where to go to find this information, really. So there's, again, a lack of information Um, or language barrier is a big thing, right? A lot of people don't speak English as a first language. So even if they are wanting to be involved in the community or have their kids be involved, the language barrier is a big problem, right? So even the speech, the language being used on the websites, for example, is a big, a big blockade for a lot of people, you know, they're like, understand what's going on, but I can't read what's going on. So I don't know how to, I don't know who to talk to about it, because there might not be a translator in the City Hall's department, or there might not be someone who understands what I'm trying to say. My accent might be a little stronger than they're able to handle, or I might not have the language as someone who's been speaking English as a first language to articulate what I'm trying to understand is going on with like town hall meetings or different community events or whatever it may be. So For me, I've kind of recurrently found myself pursuing different opportunities in the city and the greater area to understand people better first. To understand people better, that's really then when you get the opportunity. Again, these are all opportunities, how I'm mining them in my brain. You get this opportunity to then advocate for people differently. But again, that didn't happen for me quickly, and it took time for me to kind of be able to acknowledge that that's where I was going with my life, and I wanted to pursue that wholeheartedly for my career, is being of service. And I think that the school committee offers me that opportunity to be an advocate and a voice for people who, again, who might not have the language quite yet, or feel like they have the platform or the space to do that for themselves yet. That's probably the best way I can say that of the things that I've done that I'm still doing, or things that I've done in the past, I think have informed where I'm at right now.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Awesome. I understand that you have a kickoff event coming, and I would love for folks listening to, you know, everybody bring a person to Aaron's event.
[Aaron Olapade]: Yes, thank you. Yes, so I have a kickoff. It's a dual kickoff with another fellow new coming school committee candidate. Her name was Erica Reinfeld, and we are both OR, Our Revolution Endorsed Candidates. And we thought that having a dual kickoff felt like a really great way to get both our names out there even more, to meet each other's bases and just people in the community. And in a two birds, one stone kind of setup, it felt like that was the right thing to do. And so we agree on a lot of different platforms, that OR as a nonprofit kind of push forward for the Medford community. And we are really in this together as progressive candidates. So that's on August 28th. So about, I think, 17 days from today, it is a... I'm gonna find out before I take a look. The 28th is a Monday. So right before school starts. So hopefully all the parents and families will be back right before school starts. They'll kind of be back from their last summer hurrah that I think most of us want to go on. So that's the 28th on Monday from 7 to 9. And so you'll see me. You'll see Erica. You'll see, I think, a lot of other candidates, both incumbents and newcomers to the event, where we really want everyone to be able to come and feel like they have a place to hear us talk about our platforms and talk to each other. It's a community event. It's not just about us. It's about us as a community. That's kind of a part of my platform is that it's not joining the Olapoday team. It's about joining our team. Use me as a person who's going to be there for you. It's not to prop me up, but it's a prop up the wants and needs of the city and what they deserve. I think Erica would agree that's the same mentality she might be going to. I don't want to speak just for her, but I think that we are in agreement that we want people to feel like they have a platform to come talk to us as candidates and in the greater community about what they're experiencing. So be there if you can be. We would love to have you to come have some food, have some nosh, have some good conversation. We're hoping that it'll be good weather. You know, it's still the end of summer, so it won't be too hot, won't be too cold. It's in the nighttime, so hopefully we'll kind of skip the sun. And if not, we'll move inside if the weather doesn't allow us to do that. So it should be great, and I hope everyone can come. Where are you having it? It is 7, so the number 7 Ronale Road in West Medford. So it's right near Oak Grove Cemetery, like the entrance of Oak Grove, near the 134 bus stop or the 95. So yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. This was great. I had such a fun time. Thank you guys.
[Danielle Balocca]: All right. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. The Medford Bites podcast is produced and moderated by Danielle Balacca and Shelly Keshaman. Music is made by Hendrik Idonis. We'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. You can reach out to us by email at medfordpod at gmail.com, or you can rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. Guys, what's the name of the podcast? Never Bites. Never Bites. Good job.
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