Episode Details

Wendy Corr:

Well, hey there folks, welcome to The Roundup. We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on interesting people in the Cowboy State. And our guest today has been doing so much amazing work for all age levels around Wyoming, mostly in the Cody area, but then that's turned into a global mission.

And I'm very, very pleased to be able to have you folks learn about Deb White up here in Cody.

And anyway, we're going to get to that in a minute. First, I want to tell you about the Wyoming Business Alliance ""Business from the Basement"" podcast. We're so pleased to cross promote with them, so just check them out. If you're a business person here in Wyoming, the "Business from the Basement" podcast has all sorts of wonderful information for you and great resources.

So don't forget, check out the Wyoming Business Alliance and their "Business from the Basement" podcast. But first, stick around here because we have stories to tell. We have so many stories to tell with Deb White.

Deb White is and for 30 how many years, Deb, were you a high school teacher at Cody High School? You were a science teacher.

Deb White:

28 years.

Wendy Corr:

A 28 year career at Cody High School. And while she was here, she changed the world. And I am just so proud to know Deb White, because she has done so many things for youth here in Cody, but then since her retirement, she has taken that same passion for making a difference and turned it to the next generation above.

And so I am so pleased to have you with us, Deb, and you're still - I'm trying to figure out how, if you retired from teaching five years ago, why you are still in a Cody High School classroom. And we talked about it before we got started on the podcast today, folks, but she doesn't know how to retire, and the world is better for it.

But Deb, tell us why you're still sitting in a classroom at Cody High School, even though you retired five years ago.

Deb White:

I love high school kids for one thing, but, I continue to sponsor a club here at Cody High School, TLC and Youth for Justice - Teen Leadership Coalition. They're a community service based organization, and I also run Cody C.A.N. and Pure Performance out of Cody High School.

So that's why I'm here every day. Well, four days a week. I usually try to take Thursdays off, but I missed it this week.

Wendy Corr:

You missed it this week. So I want to talk first about Cody C.A.N., because Cody C.A.N., when you first introduced Cody C.A.N., it made a splash nationwide. I mean, you folks were recognized for this really fantastic program that every Cody kid here knows. I should have gotten it out - my daughter's C.A.N. card is just an absolute classic, and she hates it when I bring it up, but all the kids who belong to C.A.N., which is Change Attitudes Now - all the kids that belong to Cody C.A.N. get, like, a trading card, and that serves to inspire the younger kids in the Cody school system. Tell me about the Cody C.A.N. program.

Deb White:

So we started Cody C.A.N. in 1997, and it, basically, it's a drug prevention program, was its original premise, and the idea being positive, like always focused on the positive. So instead of saying, don't use drugs, it was incentivizing making good choices.

So Cody C.A.N. 85% of 4th through 12th graders are currently C.A.N. members, and in the elementary schools, it's way over 90% - so almost every kid. And to be a C.A.N. member, all you have to do is pledge you won't use illegal drugs, and have your parents sign off as well. And then we give you benefits.

And then the trading cards that Wendy'