“There’re so many outside factors making our kids feel like they need to be perfect. Whether it’s continually comparing themselves to others on social media, all they absorb from their phones, struggling to be the best on the sports field, or doing great at academics. This adds so much outside pressure to their lives. They don’t get a chance to be themselves. It’s really hard to be a kid these days” ~ Superintendent Joel Bailey

The quote above sounds to me like it would be from a superintendent of a school district in a big city like LA, Chicago, or New York.

BUT, it actually comes from our guest this week, who is the superintendent of the Platte-Geddes school district in south central South Dakota. Platte is a town with a population hovering around 1,300 and Geddes has around 156 people. In other words, the school district serves kids who live seemingly so far away from the problems and pressures of big city life. Yet, these students struggle with the same stress and anxieties, just as kids all over the world do. Superintendent Joel Bailey is passionate about helping them.

He points out that while young people are stressing over some of the same things their parents did, they’re also saddled with the seemingly impossible task of competing with the world as presented through their Instagram and TikTok feeds. They’re judging their beauty and measuring their self-worth against unrealistic filters and AI augmentation.

Joel guides students from the understanding of his own experiences with anxiety and depression. He began his career teaching 4th and 5th grade and middle school. However, he jokes that his anxiety started in earnest the summer he taught driver’s ed to high school students. Teaching is indeed his first career passion, but he also loves the ability school administrators have to improve so many students’ lives at once. Having earned his PreK-12 Administration degree from University of South Dakota, and his Education Specialist Degree from the University of Sioux Falls, he is not only the current superintendent of the Platte-Geddes school district but also the principal of one of its schools.

I’m excited to have an Awkwardly Awesome conversation with Joel about the ideas and tools he has for combating the anxieties and complexities our young people face.

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**Video broadcast available** on YouTube @imperfectbest

**Learn more about Jason Freeman** at AwkwardlyAwesome.com