Peter Wieczorek 

I'm not afraid to make mistakes and own my mistakes. You know, I can be honest with students and say I don't know, let's find out. Vulnerability also comes across, you know, if I can't share what I'm feeling or what I've been going through, how can I expect students to do the same kind of thing? Like I have former students who are now adults with their own kids, connecting with me saying, I remember you talking about your kids in advisory, and I laughed it off, and here I am.

Paul Meunier 

Hello, I'm Paul Meunier, the executive director of the Youth Intervention Programs Association. And I'm a youth worker at heart. How lucky am I, I have the privilege to meet youth workers from around the globe and learn their stories and share them with the entire world. I'm glad you're listening because together we'll learn how their life experiences shape their youth work. As you listen, I encourage you to consider how your experiences shape what you have to offer young people. Welcome to this edition of The Passionate Youth Worker. Hi, everybody, for this episode, we're joined by Peter Wieczorek from Minnesota in the United States. Peter is the director of Northwest Passage Charter High School, but he's truly a teacher at heart. He gets his energy from working with young people. And his passion for supporting them seems to get stronger all the time. As you'll hear, Peter has found his purpose. I believe you'll gain inspiration from his story just as he gets inspiration from young people. Peter, thanks for being a guest on The Passionate Youth Worker.

Peter Wieczorek 

Thanks for having me, Paul.

Paul Meunier 

You're welcome. And Peter, you and I have known each other for several years so it's kind of fun to interview you. And Peter, I've had the chance to visit your charter school and it truly is a very cool place. And I can see why so many young people feel safe there and feel a sense of belonging when they're at your school. But I'm curious, what was your high school experience like? Did you do well as a student in high school?

Peter Wieczorek 

Yeah, you know, I did well enough. I understood the system.  I went to a large urban high school in the mid 80s. And, you know, it was very traditional in the sense that it was, you know, six or seven period day with kind of all of the, you know, content classes and that kind of a thing. But I really never liked high school. It wasn't something I got a lot of passion for. I kind of you know, again, jumped through the hoops with stuff. My junior and senior year, I had work release and was only at school half the day, and you know, that made it tolerable. So, it wasn't, it wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't, it wasn't horrible.

Paul Meunier 

Did you back by any chance did you have any imagination that someday you would be teaching high school students at that time?

Peter Wieczorek 

You know, not at all, I thought I was going to be an architect. Some of the passion I had in high school was my architecture and drafting classes. My high school friends now are just amazed that I'm high school leader and teacher because you know, I didn't like high school at the time. And now I go every day with joy in my heart.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah, that's great. It's amazing how sometimes we get into this work without any kind of predisposition that says, This is what I'm going to do. So, what was your childhood like? Did you grow up in a family that was pretty supportive of educational pursuits, things like that?

Peter Wieczorek 

Yeah, my parents were always very supportive of our education. And, you know, they wanted better for us. From an early age, I had both my parents and other family members encouraging me to think about post-secondary college. And when I decided in high school, I thought I was going to be an architect, I had a lot of support from that. There wasn't a history in in my family of anyone being educators, and very few people had gotten a college degree. And so, you know, we were at a time where, at least my parents and a lot of my peers, my friends, their parents were very much advocating for us to do better and to go on to college.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah, so your parents weren't educated. You were the first one in your family to do so. What did your parents do? Were they in a helping industry? Did they do things to better their community? Or is that something that you just started a new trend in your family line?

Peter Wieczorek 

No, you know, from a career stance my dad was in the printing industry. My mom was a dental assistant and then manager of the dental group that she was working for. But they were always active in a lot of things. My mom spent a lot of years as the PTA president at my elementary school. My dad did a number of things kind of outdoor environmental cleanup and community kind of help things, family members. So, you know, there was always this drive for service and for helping others. And I think that really came out.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah. So, you saw it there, they lead by example the idea of giving back. And now it's interesting to think about your mom was involved with school and your dad was involved with the environment. And here you are leading a school where you take kids out into the environment and learn nature and things like that. The irony of how that all came together, Peter, is kind of serendipity isn't it?

Peter Wieczorek 

It very much is. Yeah, I definitely got my passion for education and from learning from my mom and my passion for the outdoors from my dad. And, you know, I think that, like you said, that has been part of my career path all of my adult life. And I can definitely root that back to that beginning.

Paul Meunier 

That's interesting. It's funny how those influences in our early years really have an impact on us as we grow up and get older. But you mentioned you wanted to be an architect, I wonder, where did architecture come from?

Peter Wieczorek 

I've always been a very artistic person all the way through school. You know, I had this artistic creative side. It was definitely supported by several of my teachers over the years. My parents had me go to some different art classes and things when I was young I won a couple of different art contests in school when I was younger. And then one of my uncle's is an architect. And I was just always fascinated when we would go over and visit and he would take me to buildings he designed or take me to his office and show me the blueprints and stuff. And it was just like, for me, that was a really good connection between that creativity. And then in high school, I had the opportunity to take a number of classes, my homeroom teacher was actually the architecture and drafting teacher. And so, I had him for three years of that connection. And we didn't have the kind of like advisory model that we have at our school now. And you know, no one called it project-based learning back at the time, but you know, it mirrored so many of the things that we're doing now. And I think that also roots kind of where I was at at the time, and like, how that led me to where I am now.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah, so where did the sense for the outdoors come into it? I can see the creativity part, how you need so much creativity to work with young people, you have to think on your feet, you have to think outside the box on a regular basis. So, I can see all that. But how did you move into the outdoors-based things that which is a big part of Northwest Passage Charter High School?

Peter Wieczorek 

Yeah, our family always did a lot of outdoor things. Like we weren't big, you know, camping wilderness kind of thing. Although I did scouting all the way, you know, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and just absolutely loved the experience of summer camp and our weekend getaways and things like that. But my dad is a big hunter and fisherman. And so being outdoors was just part of a lot of what we did, kind of getting out of the city and being able to be on a lake or out in the woods. So, that was always a big part of it for me. And then in college, when I switched my major from architecture, to outdoor and environmental education, I really was able to sort of take this, this feeling I had as a young person of wanting to be outside and then I was exposed to, you know, some real serious wilderness camping backpacking canoe trips that were all part of the coursework that we did. And that was just, I mean, that light lit a fire for me, saying, this is another thing that I love to do. And if I can find a way to incorporate that into my work life, wow!

Paul Meunier 

So, you really have hit your sweet spot here. Peter, as I talked about in the introduction, seems like you found your purpose. Would you say that's true. I mean, you're just kind of doing it seems like what you're supposed to be doing?

Peter Wieczorek 

Yeah, you know, the one part that we haven't talked as much about is that youth work piece and that was another thing that all came together kind of at the same time in my early years of college. I have a younger sister who's almost 16 years younger than I am and so had this experience with a young person in my life at a really impressionable time. I've got a large family with lots of cousins and you know, always gravitated to where working with young people. And then because of the major that I was taking and you know, it was a non-licensed education program but it was all around youth work. And I really found that I get my energy and my passion from working with young people. And then if I can put in that creativity in that outdoor piece together, you hit it on the head, Paul. I mean, for me, it is like all of those things that get me up in the morning and give me energy is kind of wrapped up into what I do.

Paul Meunier 

That is so great to hear that. And so encouraging to think that this can be a life destiny right, this work, and it does take a I think a lifetime to get really good at this. And you've just found that perfect place for you to be involved with. And why do you think kids do that for so many people, give them that sense of energy, give them that sense of purpose, give them that sense of fulfillment that we are all looking for in life? What is it about kids that give that to us?

Peter Wieczorek 

For me, for sure. You know, it's their energy, it's their passion. It's all of those little sparks that you can just see there that just tweaked the right way that you know, you can get them excited about something. You know, teaching and working with youth is definitely hard work. But the rewards for me, you know, and I know that's not the case for a lot of people, a lot of people will say, I don't know how you do that. But for me personally, and for you know, the people on my team at school, it is the thing that just keeps you going. Every time you have a tough day, there's a new something that happens, that reenergizes you. Just real quick, we start, we do our Tuesday staff meetings at school, and we start every meeting with goods. And goods are just what's happened in the last week that you want to share with other people. And it's such a positive way to start a staff meeting when you know, sometimes you have to go through all of the, you know, the nitty gritty of running a school and the logistics and stuff. But it's really important to ground ourselves in what are the things that happened that made you smile, made you happy, you saw breakthrough with a student, something unexpected happened. That's one of the ways that I think we try and stay healthy in the work that we do is by making sure that we're identifying all those positives.

Paul Meunier 

I agree with you. And so well said about young people. And there is that sense of optimism that young people have. This vision about what could be and what should be that we all had at one point too when we were younger, right? And then adulthood seems to come in and kind of want to strip you of a lot of that stuff and give you a hard sense of reality say, Well, that's all wonderful but the truth is, you know. And we lose that as adults and young people help remind us of what that spark was when we were young, too. And I'm wondering, do you think that is an important part that we should all hang on to and take and be beneficiaries of in this work, is the idea that we can kind of be altruistic and think about the future? And what possibly could be because that's how young people see it?

Peter Wieczorek 

I think you're absolutely right. And, you know, I think the older I get the thing that I see is I find myself maybe taking a step or two back from the experience sometimes, and seeing things through the eyes of my students. I took a group out two weeks ago winter camping, and it's something I've had a passion for doing and been doing for, you know, 30 years and love it and trying to convince other people that it's something you really want to do. But seeing it through their eyes and seeing them just sort of like in awe of, you know, what's going on and waking up in the morning after a really cold night and going like you know, that wasn't so bad. And it's beautiful out here now, you know, and I think that's with age and introspection, I think that's one of the things that I'm doing more and more of is looking for those moments with students. And then once you find them, what do you do with that? How do you talk to students about this is something you could do on your own or this is something you might even be able to do as a career or at least you know, as a as a pastime kind of thing and you know, grabbing those moments and then taking them maybe to the next step and helping students see other possibilities.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah, those moments that we get from young people, the gift that they give us sometimes is priceless, right? It keeps us grounded and keeps us looking forward and keeps us optimistic about what could be. Thank you for sharing that. You know, it's hard to believe we're halfway through our interview. So, we're going to take a short break. But when we come back, I have a different line of questioning, I'd like to go down so we'll be right back.

Jade Schleif 

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Paul Meunier 

Peter, right before the break, I talked about some different ideas I'd like to get into with you. And I know that you're a pretty self-reflective, self-aware person, you can just tell by talking to you, you've taken a deep look at yourself and your life and are really grounded in who you are and what you do. Given that you do that, what would you say you're really good at? What things do you do exceptionally well that you bring to youth work that you are proud of?

Peter Wieczorek 

I've been able to, over my career, connect with young people really quickly and build those connections and relationships. And I think a lot of that is just my honesty and my vulnerability to be able to have conversations and connect early. And I've been fortunate to have a lot of students say to me, you're one of the few adults that I felt believed in me or trusted in me and I could have an honest conversation with. And I think that's, that's one of the things in the end, you know, I don't know if I can nail down exactly how or what that is. But that's just been one of those things that I've been really good at over the years. I think the other thing is, I've spent so much of my adult career also working with other youth workers and often younger people, and, you know, mentoring and supporting those folks in in their journey and being able to have those conversations with them when they're struggling, problem solve with them not, not necessarily tell them exactly what to do, but to work through it, to share my strategies, and even just sort of my ways of doing things, you know, take what you can. And that's how I learned. I mean, the mentors I've had over the years, I can really think about the things that I pulled from them. And so, I hope I can be doing that for others.

Paul Meunier 

I gotta believe, Peter, you're probably just a wonderful mentor. People probably come to you seeking advice and counsel, and I gotta believe you got solid feedback to give them and I'm thinking about your first thing that you mentioned about your ability to be vulnerable. And then ultimately, young people saying you're one of the few people that's believed in me and I can trust you. In so many words, that's what you said. How do you show vulnerability, Peter? How does that come on display when you're in your school around young people.

Peter Wieczorek 

I'm not afraid to make mistakes and own my mistakes is definitely one of the pieces. You know, I can be honest with students and say, I don't know, let's find out. That's one of the things I love about project-based learning is that is sort of the mantra often we can't know everything. You know, vulnerability also comes across, you know, if I'm doing a morning circle with students, and if I can't share what I'm feeling or what I've been going through, how can I expect students to do the same kind of thing? And so, when I was a full-time advisor, you know, my students knew pretty much everything that was going on in my life. And I know sometimes, you know, teachers and even when you're instructing teachers, it's like, keep some walls up. And of course, you keep some of that. But for the most part, like I have former students who are now adults with their own kids, connecting with me saying I remember you talking about your kids in advisory and I kind of laughed it off and here I am!

Paul Meunier 

Yeah, that's a wonderful way to get connected with young people. It's just share with them who you are as a person and what you believe in, what your struggles are in life, just like they have struggles in life. That stuff is so important. And because you're such a grounded self-reflective person, I have another question that's pretty deep to ask you, but What's your favorite thing about you? What do you just like about yourself?

Peter Wieczorek 

I think my optimism, just in general, but particularly for young people. You know, it's a great question because you don't often think yourself that way. But as you pose the question, I mean, what I immediately go to is I can usually find something to smile about in the worst of situations and kind of find the positives, you know, recognizing that, again, young people are working through a lot of things in their life, and they're going to make mistakes. We all did. But recognizing that, you know, it is part of that path for them and being supportive. And so, like, not getting down on those things, and really trying to stay positive.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah. You gave a great answer, Peter. And it's a question that I sometimes don't ask everybody who does this work because not everybody's willing, or ready to answer that question about what you like about yourself. And I think it's so interesting because in youth work, what do we do with our young people we work with, right? We give them reasons to like themselves, we point out their strengths, we point out their skills, we tell them they're good at this, we tell them they can do this if they want to, if they put their mind to it, all those kinds of things. And yet, how often do we slow down enough to say, what are we really like? What are we really good at? And you answered both of those questions very well. And I can tell it's because you thought about those kinds of things. And it's important that if we're having relationships with young people, we have to know that about ourselves and be vulnerable to say those kinds of things, you know, you know, to say to a young person, you know what I'm really good at. That's your vulnerability because somebody could quickly turn to you and say, You're not that good at that, Peter, come on. You know, so we have to be vulnerable to say what you truly believe.

Peter Wieczorek 

That's right.

Paul Meunier 

So, thank you for asking those tough questions. Do you have any regrets at all about the work you're doing, the field you've chosen, those kinds of things?

Peter Wieczorek 

Honestly, no. I have had opportunities. I think just because of the position that I've been in and doing leadership and management, and ministerial things, like there are places I could have gone, and there's, you know, things that I've been asked to do. And I've always turned them down, or you always think about those things, but I can't, I can't, I just can't picture myself doing anything but what I'm doing. You know, maybe it's not always at Northwest Passage but it's always going to be in this field, in this work. I can't see myself doing anything else.

Paul Meunier 

It is so fun to talk to you because you just truly are just one of those people just is doing exactly what you're supposed to do. And you have a lot of skills, you have a lot of abilities, clearly. You could probably be doing things to make a lot more money. A lot of us in this field could be doing different things to make a lot of money. How are you able to square that with yourself that it's not about the paycheck that you're pursuing, it is deeper than that. How do you square that in your own mind?

Peter Wieczorek 

You know, I think I'm fortunate that what I do make, you know, is connected to my values also in that I don't need the big house and you know, the big boat and whatever all those things are. So, I think that it starts with that. But I have created a space with the team that we have at Northwest Passage where we have a lot of flexibility and autonomy. We have so much internal support with each other that even thinking about you know, maybe even another school system is not appealing to me because when I say team it really is a team and it's a team of amazing educators who all share the same beliefs and thinking about like going somewhere else really does not appeal to me because I would be so worried that I couldn't find all of the pieces. Like I mean you talk call it the sweet spot right for myself but it's the sweet spot in the school we're running in the team that we have and the opportunities that are provided us and that we've created that really make it so that I don't see myself leaving anytime soon. It's just it's a great space. And again, you know, I have a long commute. And I don't regret that either, like, I could probably find something a lot closer. But what I would miss is way too much.

Paul Meunier 

I love your answer about your value system. And it's not about material things. And I think when we all get towards the end of our lives, when we start doing this developmental task of life review, it isn't about the big boat, it isn't about how big the house was, or how fancy the things you owned were. It was about what kind of satisfaction did you get out of life and what were you able to give back and you seem so grounded in that, I think when it comes time to do your life review it's gonna be a piece of cake. I have lived a pretty good life, you know, I'm pretty happy with what I've done.

Peter Wieczorek 

You know, and I've always been grounded in the idea, you know, to whom much is given much is expected. And, you know, I feel like I've been given a lot. And so, I want to give back. And that's just sort of been my personal mantra on a lot of things.

Paul Meunier 

You've learned so much along the way. Knowing what you know, now, is there something you wish you would have known when you first started that you now understand if you could go back to Peter of 20, or 25 years ago, or whenever you started, whenever that was? What would you say to that young Peter, and go, Peter, listen, let me give you a lesson here that's gonna really help you. What would you say?

Peter Wieczorek 

Oh, wow. You know, you're not defined by the little mistakes you make. It's never going to be perfect. Roll with the punches on those things. You know, like, I'm still very much a planner, and I like to put all the pieces together. But I'm also like, I know, for every piece, there's an alternative and there's an option. And I don't think I used to always be quite that way. If those things didn't align, as I had them planned, then it was like, Oh, now what? You know, and I think, time and experience and maturity and all those things, and having a bigger bag of tricks just allows me to be able to adapt much better. But I used to stress that a lot. And I see that often with some of my younger teachers as well. And some of the advice is just like, every year you do this your bag of tricks is going to get bigger, your experience, you're going to recognize that these little things are not deal-breakers. And you can get past that. And you'll learn.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah, wonderful advice you'd give to your younger self that you do just get better and better at this. And you never get really good at it, you just get better at it. Yeah, because we're all gonna make mistakes, right? And it's gonna happen. You're such a positive person, you have so many good things, but there's got to be struggles and things. So, one last question. What keeps you up at night, Peter, when you think about working with young people, you think about your charter school, what things keep you awake, that you get kind of worried and stressed about?

Peter Wieczorek 

I worry about what's happening with students often outside of school, and the things that we don't have as much control of. You know, I think young people right now are struggling more than ever with mental health and social interactions and trying to find their, their place in the world and kind of looking around and not always seeing a lot of positives. And, you know, I definitely worry that the time we spend with students is not necessarily always enough, or can we give enough. And so, you know, it's that constant struggle of we only have so much time with students and those other things they need to, you know, live through those and go through that and experience those kinds of things. But like, I'm always worried that, yeah, what keeps me up at night is worrying about my students and what's happening with them.

Paul Meunier 

That doesn't shock me at all, Peter. You are truly a classic example of somebody who's made a life decision to support young people. And it has paid off for you in such a big way. And I think if we could have a poster child for getting into this career and getting into the field of youth work, whether it's a mentor or psychologist or a teacher or administrator or juvenile probation officer, whatever it is, you would be a good example of how you can take this opportunity and turn it into just a wonderful life. And I am so grateful that you are doing the work that you do. And I'm so grateful that you and I have gotten to know each other over the years, because I learn from you and I get inspiration from you. So, thank you for all you've done and, Peter, truly thank you for being a guest on The Passionate Youth Worker too.

Peter Wieczorek 

Well, thank you for having me. I had a really good time.

Paul Meunier 

Great, Peter, before we go, as you know, I give the guests the last word. So, what words of wisdom or inspiration would you like to leave with our listeners?

Peter Wieczorek 

Trust and believe in young people. Our role as youth workers is to be there to support and mentor and help them through but it's their journey. We need to trust them, and we just need to be there for them.

Paul Meunier 

If you would like to share your passion for youth work, we'd love to spotlight you as a guest. If you have feedback about the show, please let us know. Just visit training.yipa.org. That's training.yipa.org and click on the podcast tab. This podcast is made possible in part due to a generous contribution from M Health Fairview. I'm your host, Paul Meunier. Thanks for listening to The Passionate Youth Worker.