Every summer, PSEA members gather in Gettysburg for a week of learning and connection. But it takes months of planning and a dedicated team in red shirts to make it happen. Amy Pascale and Shannon Boyd of PSEA's Leadership Development Committee join Duty Free Lunch to share what goes on behind the scenes, from year-round planning to being the on-the-ground resource members count on all week long.
Every summer, PSEA members gather in Gettysburg for a week of learning and connection. But it takes months of planning and a dedicated team in red shirts to make it happen. Amy Pascale and Shannon Boyd of PSEA's Leadership Development Committee join Duty Free Lunch to share what goes on behind the scenes, from year-round planning to being the on-the-ground resource members count on all week long.
Voiceover (00:02):
Welcome to Duty Free Lunch, the official podcast of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Join us as we unpack the issues that matter most to you. From cutting edge classroom strategies to though-provoking policy discussions, if it impacts PSEA members, it's on the menu.
Aaron Chapin (00:23):
Hello, and welcome to Duty Free Lunch. I'm PSEA President Aaron Chafin. Today, we've got a special guest host. We got PSEA's assistant executive director for communications as well as our diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, Sandy Williams. Hi, Sandy.
Sandy Williams (00:40):
Hi, Aaron.
Aaron Chapin (00:41):
That's a long title.
Sandy Williams (00:42):
It is.
Aaron Chapin (00:42):
You need to shorten that thing up. There's not even an acronym that goes with it. I'll
Sandy Williams (00:46):
Have to create one.
Aaron Chapin (00:47):
All right. Well, hey, by the time this thing comes out, I think it'll come out. We're doing a couple of these today. You're new on the job in this current role.
Sandy Williams (00:56):
I am.
Aaron Chapin (00:56):
How's it going?
Sandy Williams (00:57):
It's going really well.
Aaron Chapin (00:58):
What's it been since like April?
Sandy Williams (01:00):
Yeah. Yeah, we have a fantastic team here and everybody works really hard and is so talented and it's really been fun.
Aaron Chapin (01:08):
It's gone by really quickly though.
Sandy Williams (01:09):
It has gone quickly.
Aaron Chapin (01:11):
Look, it's been a few months, but we're happy to have you there. You're having fun though?
Sandy Williams (01:15):
Thank you. I am.
Aaron Chapin (01:16):
You are?
Sandy Williams (01:17):
I am every day. It's something different. You
Aaron Chapin (01:18):
Ready for a nap? It's been a long summer.
Sandy Williams (01:21):
I come home and I'm tired, that's for sure.
Aaron Chapin (01:23):
I know, I know. Hey, you like the color of my shirt?
Sandy Williams (01:26):
I do.
Aaron Chapin (01:26):
Well, somebody told me it makes my hair pop.
Sandy Williams (01:29):
Oh. I know. Yes.
Aaron Chapin (01:31):
It's the best compliment I've heard in weeks.
Sandy Williams (01:33):
And it's blue for our Keystone to Democracy Days.
Aaron Chapin (01:35):
That's right. Well, let's get to this. So Sandy, you know every summer PSEA members from across the state, we gather in Gettysburg for the Summer Leadership Conference. It's a week of learning, connection, that professional growth that's really made this one of our signature events on the union calendar. And of course, we're recording this days after this thing ended, and so we're all a little sleepy still, right?
Sandy Williams (02:01):
It was a lot of fun. Some good work. It
Aaron Chapin (02:03):
Was a lot of work. It was a lot of fun. But the conference, Sandy, as you know, just doesn't happen. Behind the scenes, there's a dedicated group of members who spends months. In fact, I bet you they've already started for next year, planning every detail. And then they show up at the site all week to make sure that everything runs smooth, as smooth as possible. A lot of you out there listening to this might know them as the red shirts. We're talking about it with two people who make Gettysburg work. We've got Amy Pascale and she's a middle school teacher and a member of the Wilkes-Barre Area Education Association, and she serves as chair of PSEA's leadership development committee. How you doing, Amy?
Amy Pascale (02:48):
I'm doing very well, President Chapin. Thank
Aaron Chapin (02:50):
You. You got it. We're also talking today with Shannon Boyd. She is a special education high school teacher and member of the Southeast Delco Education Association. She serves as the vice chair of the committee alongside Amy. Together, they plan the summer leadership conference from start to finish, and then they spend the whole week in Gettysburg making sure that every single member who attends has the experience that they really came for. So welcome to you too, Shannon.
Shannon Boyd (03:19):
Thank you.
Aaron Chapin (03:20):
You got it. So Amy, Shannon, welcome to Duty Free Lunch. Let's get things started. So let's just start with the basics. What is the PSEA Summer Leadership Conference and what is this leadership development committee's role in making this happen? Amy, I'm going to start with you.
Amy Pascale (03:36):
Absolutely. So our summer leadership conference, that's the official title for it. Most people often just say, "Hey, I'm going to Gettysburg for the summer." And it's a week full of learning, networking, making connections, finding those people that are like-minded, sitting in class with them, getting all kinds of great information to take back to your local, to take back to your region, just for yourself. It's a fabulous week and our red shirts or our leadership development committee absolutely are on the ground 100% of the time, just there to take and make it wonderful for our participants.
Aaron Chapin (04:23):
Jan, anything you want to add to that?
Shannon Boyd (04:27):
Amy pretty much summed it up, but it is a great experience, lots of learning and lots of interacting across the state.
Sandy Williams (04:39):
It is true those red shirts, you're everywhere. Amy, and you're the chair of the LDC, so you're leading the process from the top. What does it actually look like throughout the year and when does planning begin? What are the biggest pieces that have to come together?
Amy Pascale (04:55):
Yeah, absolutely. So honestly, when we are there for our week, so our red shirts get down there on Saturday, it gives us a chance to get unpacked and settled in. And then we go out for a family dinner, we call it on Saturday night and it's probably the largest family that PSEA has. We are short of maybe the board of directors, we are heavy on 70, 72 members strong and we go out to family dinner night just to have that one piece of us before we start working for our members on Sunday, getting them registered and onto campus. But starting on Sunday morning, even though I'm there in Gettysburg 2026, I am already looking at it through the eyes of Gettysburg 2027, what could be better, what could be done better, what can we do to make things a better experience for our members? My committee holds daily meetings while we are there and we evaluate everything that we do, whether it's Sunday registration, the Sunday opening session, the Sunday social region kickoff meeting.
(06:09)
We are looking at everything with a very critical eye to take and say, "How can this be made just a little bit better for the participants that are down there?" After we get home, my committee does a survey and I look at those. I've already looked at those. The next step I'm waiting for is I'm waiting for the survey that the participants do and they always give us great feedback and great information. I'll work with Kelly Waltman, who is PSA staff. We take and go through those surveys to pull out those kind of things that we need to look at at a committee. In the fall, we get together down in Harrisburg, one of 10, 15s of committees that meet and we look at those surveys and then we talk about the things we need to work on. We make those changes, we get back together in April and we are just about ready for July when we meet in April.
(07:14)
It's a year long process that starts while we are in Gettysburg that year.
Aaron Chapin (07:19):
That's amazing. Shannon, so as one of these committee members, what does your role look like as the months leading up to the conference and how does that committee work together to pull everything off at Gettysburg?
Shannon Boyd (07:32):
Well, like Amy said, we basically start this year, started this year for next year. We meet twice in Harrisburg to discuss it, discuss different ideas that people have. That's where we came up with the idea of having a family dinner and then we work together. We are a very close committee. We are a family, so it's neat to see all the interactions and the personalities come together and we basically hold our own and we can make pretty much anything happen that needs to get done.
Sandy Williams (08:16):
So tell us about the red shirts. Members who are there, they know if they need something, they know to look for a red shirt and that person will help them out. So can you tell us a little bit what that role is like and what it means to be the on the ground resource for our members?
Shannon Boyd (08:31):
Amy puts together a schedule where everyone has a job or duty and Amy and I aren't scheduled. We just go around and check and make sure everyone's okay, make sure everything's running smoothly and if there's an issue, we figure out what needs to be done to correct the issue. The people that attend Gettysburg know that they can ask any question to a red shirt and if the red shirt doesn't know the answer, they will text Amy or I or Kelby and between the three of us, we come up with the correct answer for them or where they need to be.
Sandy Williams (09:20):
What's the sample of a kind of question that you might get?
Amy Pascale (09:23):
So a lot of times they'll ask us. The big one that kind of comes into play a lot is when the schools have a large group session. And so they'll be in a classroom, they'll be in a building and they'll kind of get comfortable there and then all of a sudden after lunch or the next morning they'll get a large group session and they weren't ready for that. So they'll be asking my committee members, they'll be like, "Hey, I just went to my classroom and nobody else is there, so where am I supposed to be?" And then we'll pull out the schedule booklet, figure out what class they're in and nine times out of 10 they are in a large group session and they just make that announcement. So we get them to the large group session and get them checked in.
(10:10)
Even just being that first welcome onto the campus, I station red shirts kind of in those strategic welcome to campus kind of funnel points and people would be pulling over all the time asking, "Hey, am I on the right direction for registration? Is this where I need to be?" And we're always pointing them down where to park so that they don't get a parking ticket so that they don't get that. But then they park, they go over, we have red shirts lining registration to make sure that they're stopping at every station. And then the other big one is just dealing with, and it's a funny campus kind of thing where multiple buildings have multiple names. I think the gym is probably up to four names by now, but one of the ones I personally deal with a lot is my region, the Northeast region, we have our opening kickoff in Bridenbaugh, but it's not listed as Bridenbaugh.
(11:12)
It's listed as the Joseph Theater on all of the colleges stuff. So I'll have people coming and saying, "Where's the Joseph Theater?" I'm like, "Oh, you need Bridenbaugh," and I get them to the right spot. It's the multiple names of buildings that also throw our members off a lot.
Aaron Chapin (11:28):
Sounds like there's a lot of members that show up for the first time. They have a little bit of anxiety. It's their first time being there. They're a little bit nervous because maybe they're there alone and you all on the leadership development committee are really there just to kind of put them at ease and make them feel comfortable. Would you agree with that, Shannon?
Shannon Boyd (11:45):
Yes. I think once they're greeted multiple times by a red shirt who's smiling and saying, "Welcome to Gettysburg, head on in here," then they feel more at ease.
Aaron Chapin (11:59):
Excellent. And I know for a fact that it really does pay off. I hear about it all week long, just how welcoming that the red shirts are. Both of you are classroom teachers and you got full professional lives. So what really draws you to the committee work on top of everything else you already do? Because we all know just how busy our school lives are, but you keep coming back for this committee work and it's a lot. Why did you keep doing that? Shannon, let's start with you. What draws you to this work?
Shannon Boyd (12:30):
I enjoy the interactions with everyone on the committee. Like I said before, it's a family and I wouldn't trade this family for anyone. I was on another committee, but I switched to this one years ago and it draws me back every year. Going to Gettysburg, just learning from the other people in your region who are coming to your meetings or your region events and they're talking about, "I learned this in class today. I was with so-and-so." And then seeing the interactions, I think the best part this year was majority of the regions went with red, white and blue themes for their shirts. So you looked across campus on Tuesday and everyone was walking around with red, white, and blue shirts for 250 years. And it wasn't just all the same red, white and blue shirt. It was people from Northeast, from Southeast, from Central, all across the state walking together, talking, sitting at lunches and dinners together, just having that interaction and the ability to meet people from across the state who share the same beliefs that you do.
Aaron Chapin (14:09):
Amy, what draws you to the work on top of everything else you already do?
Amy Pascale (14:12):
Yeah, thank you. For me, way back when, I just finished my 18th year teaching and my 13th year on the committee, I was approached by a regional officer and said, "Hey, I have a position that I think you would be the perfect fit for." And they were right and I absolutely love this committee. What I truly love is I still love every day being in the classroom and this committee allows me to do that, but also to do the work of the PSEA on the state level. I don't have to miss multiple days of school for meetings or to attend different things. Our big week, our Super Bowl week is in the summer, so I don't have to miss school to do that and to be a part of it. So it is that perfect fit into my professional life of my being a classroom teacher, but also with that desire to want to do the work of PSEA on the state level.
(15:13)
That being said, I do want to give a huge shout out to our ESG members that attend Gettysburg, who a lot of them often are taking their own time because a lot of them are year round employees. So for them to come down, they take their own time and to me that's
(15:29)
Super impactful that they do that. And that's just one of those things that impresses me.
Aaron Chapin (15:35):
Excellent. Amy, let's stick with you. Is there a moment from a past conference, maybe something you witnessed or you're part of that's really stuck with you and reminded you why this work on the leadership development committee really matters?
Amy Pascale (15:48):
Absolutely. So kind of thinking about that, probably two or three years ago, one of our LDC committee members, Stacy, she had an electric vehicle, so she was parked out in no man's land at one of the electric vehicle charging spots. This was on probably Friday morning and she was walking to her vehicle to pick it up so that she could go back to our dorm and start packing. And she came across one of our retired members that had just gotten herself a little disorientated, didn't quite exactly remember which parking lot she had parked her car in and was starting to suffer from the heat. And Stacy, even though it was Friday morning, she wasn't in a red shirt, she just jumped in to do what we do. She got this retired member, she put her in her car, got her in the air conditioning and drove her around campus until they found her car.
(16:45)
Wow.
(16:47)
And those are just the things that my committee members do. Sarah, a couple years ago was downtown and there was a community member that just needed a little bit of housework on their way back to campus. And again, we're out there kind of socializing, networking, and Sarah jumped right in and made sure that member got back to campus safely, didn't have to worry. And even just this year, we had a member with mobility issues and the classroom they were scheduled to be in didn't have accessibility. There was like three or four steps that they would have had to traverse and our committee took and made sure their mobile scooter got where it needed to. And then within two hours we had the classroom change so that there were no issues for the rest of the week.
Voiceover (17:39):
Wow.
Amy Pascale (17:40):
And those are the things my community members do. We just make it happen. Whatever it needs to be, we do.
Aaron Chapin (17:49):
Fantastic. What about you, Shannon? Anything that jumps out over your time on this committee?
Shannon Boyd (17:53):
I just think the way when something needs to be done, people just jump in and help out. They don't even have to be asked to do anything during the evenings or whatever, if we need something done, it's done and no one knows what happens behind the scenes and it's just done and everyone's like, "Wow, everything's set up." And I know with the college being a little short this summer, LDC stepped up a lot and did a lot of the stuff. After opening session, LDC members were in there stacking up chairs to help the two college boys that had to clear that whole ballroom. So our LDC members were in there helping them without even a second thought. So it's just stuff like that, that people don't see that it happens, but it happens pretty much on a daily basis.
Sandy Williams (19:08):
Amazing. Yeah. The energy of this conference blows me away every year and the enthusiasm of our members is really what sustains me the whole year round. Amy, I'm curious, what's your elevator pitch? If you were talking to someone who's never attended, what do you tell them? What will they value from the week at Gettysburg?
Amy Pascale (19:30):
I like to always kind of tell some of my own personal stories when I'm talking to somebody about coming for the first time. And one of those personal stories is when I was in Leader A and in Leadership A or Leadership Basic, they do a little overview of all the different parts of PSCA. And one of the people that was in my class was a career tech educator. And when in my local, we were looking at some bargaining language, I knew exactly the person that I could reach out to because I had made that connection at Gettysburg. And I said, "Hey, I know somebody who bargains this personally. Let me reach out to them and get some insider advice." You will meet people that will become your contacts for the rest of your career. You will make friendships that you will hold onto for the rest of your career.
(20:29)
You will meet people that when you go to different conferences, you'll be able to greet them with a smile and a hug because you haven't seen them. And it's just that it's a totally different experience than some of your local events and your region events because
Aaron Chapin (20:46):
This is statewide. Shannon, I'm going to ask you this question because obviously you've been involved with this committee for a while. So if other members are listening right now and they're interested in getting themselves more involved in the union, whether it's on LDC or other leadership roles within PSA, what would you say to them about getting involved?
Shannon Boyd (21:04):
I would say to start at your region level and get involved or your local level, get involved and then reach out from there. I have someone from my local who wanted to get involved and I said to him, "I really think you need to go to Gettysburg." I said, "It's a great experience. You'll learn a lot, but it's also a fun experience." Last year he was like, "This year he was like," I'm doing it. I'm going. "And he went and every day he said to me," I'm so glad you convinced me to come to Gettysburg. "He said," I am learning so much. "And he's like," And I'm making these connections. "And even Amy was able to share a document with him to help with his grievance role. So it was just like she heard us talking and she was like," Wait, I have something that could help you.
(22:11)
"So you start to get involved that way and then you broaden your horizons and then maybe let your region know that you are interested in a state committee or to branch out even more.
Aaron Chapin (22:31):
Sounds good to me.
Sandy Williams (22:32):
Ladies, what are your favorite parts of the Gettysburg Conference experience?
Amy Pascale (22:37):
For me, it's the fact that it's a family. When I took over as chair, one of the things that I personally kind of looked at was what did I want my leadership style to be and how did I want to stand in front of this group of 70 plus and how did I want to come across? And what I kind of found when I did some deep diving into myself was that I wanted to be that person that puts the coach. I wanted to make sure I put my strongest people where I knew I could have them and then I didn't have to second guess them. And that's where that family, I feel, is just developing in that we do trust each other. We know that the right people are doing the right things and we're looking out for each other. I know that I don't have to second guess and I know I'm strong because they're there supporting and being with me.
(23:36)
And that's something that I haven't found anywhere else.
Sandy Williams (23:39):
Shannon?
Shannon Boyd (23:41):
I think my biggest go-to is when we have our daily meetings and we're all in the junction together and we're able to discuss what's happening in the different classes and come up with some solutions that we think might work. And just putting those ideas out there and no one feels bad about saying something that goes against somebody else's opinion. So everyone is important in our family.
Aaron Chapin (24:21):
Well, couldn't have been said any better. That's going to bring us to the end of today's episode. Our guests today have been Amy Pascale and Shannon Boyd. Amy, Shannon, thank you for everything you do behind the scenes and in those red shirts of Gettysburg. We're so grateful for you both as well as the work that you do at the region level. Obviously this isn't just about one week during the summer at Gettysburg. Obviously there's work back in the regions that goes on as well, but thank you for what you do for our members.
Shannon Boyd (24:50):
Thank you so much. Thanks President Chapin.
Aaron Chapin (24:52):
You got it. And thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in. If you have some feedback, you got some ideas for future episodes, well, you got the boss of communications on this one today, so she's listening. You got to email us though at podcast@psea.org. I'm Aaron Chapin.
Sandy Williams (25:09):
And you've been listening to Duty Free Lunch.
Aaron Chapin (25:11):
What's your name again?
Sandy Williams (25:12):
Sandy Williams.
Aaron Chapin (25:12):
That's right. And you have been listening to Duty Free Lunch. Bye for now, everybody.
Voiceover (25:19):
You've been listening to Duty Free Lunch with the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Visit psea.org/podcast to learn more and don't forget to subscribe and share. Paid for by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.