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We're chatting about the people, places, events, and flavors that make Johnson City, Tennessee a lovely place to live. An interview show hosted by Colin Johnson.
Proud member of the Maypop Media family of podcasts.
[TRANSCRIPT]
0:00:00 - (Colin Johnson): It is a beautiful may day here in Johnson city, and I am excited for you guys to meet my new friends, Kirsten Turner and Amit Prabhakar. Prabhakar. Yes, Prabhakar. I knew I was gonna screw it up, but I got it right the second time. And they are with Ico Tri city. So thanks for coming on the podcast.
0:00:18 - (Kirsten Turner): Thank you so much for having me.
0:00:19 - (Colin Johnson): I am excited to hear about this program because I don't think our listener, I didn't know anything about it. I knew about stem a little bit, so, um, but I didn't know about your program, so I'm super excited to learn about your business and what. What you guys are doing. So, first thing, you probably are avid listeners of the podcast, because you're coming on here. You may have listened to two or three episodes.
0:00:42 - (Colin Johnson): Number one question is, what do you love about Jawsa City? Kirsten? She was ready. She was like, what do I love about. So, yeah, so you get to go first. Ladies first.
0:00:53 - (Kirsten Turner): I know it's probably said all the time, but I truly love the community and the people here. I moved here from Phoenix, Arizona, almost two years ago.
0:01:02 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:01:02 - (Kirsten Turner): And was born and raised there, and I never knew that community was so attainable on a citywide level. I was so. I just love that I can go into a grocery store or ever a coffee shop, a restaurant, always run into somebody I know.
0:01:20 - (Colin Johnson): Isn't that so much fun?
0:01:21 - (Kirsten Turner): It makes my day.
0:01:23 - (Colin Johnson): Even though we're getting bigger and bigger, I think we're still very community driven. And, like, we see people in the grocery store, we know. And now I'm going to be like, hey, what's up, guys?
0:01:32 - (Kirsten Turner): Where you doing?
0:01:33 - (Colin Johnson): You know, and so, yeah, it's a lot of fun. So. And we're just like Arizona, really? I mean, so green there. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. Phoenix is just like this. I mean, especially in the winter, right? Same temperatures, all that fun stuff. I bet. Did you suffer in the winter this year?
0:01:49 - (Kirsten Turner): It wasn't too bad.
0:01:50 - (Colin Johnson): I went too bad.
0:01:50 - (Kirsten Turner): I was in Colorado for four years, so I had a little.
0:01:54 - (Colin Johnson): You're probably actually over prepared if you went to school, Ahmed. What about you? What's your favorite thing about Johnson City?
0:01:59 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Definitely, you know, same. I love the community here, people, just awesome. And it's very safe, you know, city, you know, to raise family. That was kind of big for us. And Del. Love the weather here, you know, it's not too hot, not too cold. You know, coming from Florida, we were like, wow, this is awesome. You know?
0:02:21 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:02:22 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): And of course, the mountains, the scenery, it's just gorgeous.
0:02:25 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, it's fantastic.
0:02:26 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Yeah.
0:02:26 - (Colin Johnson): All right. Where did you grow up?
0:02:28 - (Kirsten Turner): I grew up in Arizona.
0:02:30 - (Colin Johnson): In Arizona.
0:02:30 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): And then I grew up in India.
0:02:32 - (Colin Johnson): India?
0:02:32 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Yes.
0:02:33 - (Colin Johnson): It's just like, I mean, so how did you come to America?
0:02:38 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): States? So, yeah, I moved here 2007. I just finished my bachelor's in India. And I wanted to, you know, get out of country. I wanted to, you know, meet new people, new culture. I love a culture. So it was big to me to kind of get out, you know? And, hey, and America is some of the best country to be. So, you know, I enrolled into a master's program here in California. I got admitted there for a master's in computer science.
0:03:09 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): So I loved it there. Hit great university. And so, yeah, that's how, um, you know, I landed here.
0:03:18 - (Colin Johnson): Cool. I love it. I love it. Okay. For our listeners and for me, STEM.
0:03:23 - (Kirsten Turner): Stands for science, technology, education, and mathematics.
0:03:28 - (Colin Johnson): See? Yeah, I mean, I knew that.
0:03:30 - (Kirsten Turner): And, well, we often throw an a in there for steam, which adds in the steam.
0:03:35 - (Colin Johnson): Yes. I love it. That would be good. That is what's missing, isn't it? Yeah. Okay, so how did STEm originate? And then how did I code originate? Let's talk about stem first.
0:03:50 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Sure.
0:03:50 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah.
0:03:51 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): So, you know, me coming from it background, I've always been into tech and technology and all that stuff. And when we moved here, we moved here almost six years ago from Florida. You're saying we, my wife and my kids, you can give them a shout out.
0:04:08 - (Colin Johnson): How many kids, Carrie?
0:04:10 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): So I got. Now I got three kids.
0:04:11 - (Colin Johnson): Awesome.
0:04:12 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Yeah.
0:04:12 - (Colin Johnson): So kids are the best.
0:04:14 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Yes. And so when we moved here, you know, always one of my kids to be, you know, have some one way or the other into learn technology and stuff, and we homeschool. So I wanted to add that component in there, and I started looking up and nothing comes up. So I was like, okay, maybe I should start a robotic club, you know, let's give it a try. But, you know, of course, there's always a challenge, you know, with kids and working on that stuff. So eventually I ended up finding I code the franchise. And, you know, I did my thorough research, and by far, they were one of the best, sound, technically sound curriculum they had. And they have a great team of educators and engineers.
0:05:01 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): That's what I loved about them was, you know, we're bringing all these guys together, and they're extremely passionate about children and the stem. And I was like, okay, I think we need to bring this here to northeast Tennessee because I think the kids need here. So it all started with the homeschool, but now we know we are everywhere, so we want to bring that to all kids. Public, private, homeschool, everything. So, yeah, that's cool. That's how it started. Yes. Yeah.
0:05:28 - (Colin Johnson): So talk about I code, or I keep saying icloud. Apple's done a good job programming, so I code. And how did that get originated? And you said it was a franchise as. So.
0:05:41 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah, so I just started almost eight, nine years ago. They're based out of Texas. And, you know, stem, when I grew up, like, stem really wasn't a word.
0:05:51 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:05:51 - (Kirsten Turner): Like we heard in splendor, of course, science map, like those things. But, you know, computers were just really starting to climb.
0:06:00 - (Colin Johnson): I was really, when computers first came out, like we were, you know, putting the big floppy disks in there and all that stuff.
0:06:05 - (Kirsten Turner): So I was there, too. I remember my third grade typing class, we were. We had floppy disks.
0:06:10 - (Colin Johnson): You're being sweet.
0:06:11 - (Kirsten Turner): Cause you're maybe my school didn't have a lot of fun.
0:06:14 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): I don't know.
0:06:17 - (Kirsten Turner): We were just behind.
0:06:19 - (Colin Johnson): Curse him. You're being very generous. I appreciate that.
0:06:22 - (Kirsten Turner): So, you know, the first, stem.org is probably one of the first kind of like leading companies in STEM, and they now do accreditation, which we were just accredited.
0:06:32 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome.
0:06:33 - (Kirsten Turner): All of them and everything. And so just seeing the need, like, with technology rapidly growing, that we have to have a foundation built and we have to start incorporating these skills.
0:06:45 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:06:46 - (Kirsten Turner): For our students, even at a young age. And, you know, it's hard because there's even, like, as a parent of two young kids, I have a five year old and a two year old.
0:06:54 - (Colin Johnson): Congratulations.
0:06:55 - (Kirsten Turner): Their technology and ipods and devices, like, there's all this talk of, like, we need to set boundaries and we don't.
0:07:02 - (Colin Johnson): There is.
0:07:03 - (Kirsten Turner): I think my generation, it was like, cool. Technology's awesome. And now we're like, oh, technology can, like, also be dangerous and very consuming and we don't know what the effect, long lasting effects are going to be with the consumption.
0:07:16 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:07:17 - (Kirsten Turner): But it's not going anywhere.
0:07:19 - (Colin Johnson): No.
0:07:20 - (Kirsten Turner): Like, especially in the workforce. And so not just I code, but stem in general, I think the overall goal is to provide students with the experience and the tools and the skills that they need to be able to maturely step into the workforce, to not just consume, but to be able to actually get the brains thinking again, to critical think, to design and to be entrepreneurs as they step into these fields and with how fast it's growing.
0:07:52 - (Kirsten Turner): We're going to need a large workforce who's ready for it. And so that's really the heart behind all of STEM. And of course, I code is being a part of that to help prepare students and empower future intervals.
0:08:06 - (Colin Johnson): Well, some schools, public schools have STEM programs already. Right. And so how does it work? Are those state funded or government funded on some level or how do they get going?
0:08:17 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah. And I think that there's many different ways that they are. There's lots of opportunities for grants and state funding for that. Some schools have incorporated STEM as just another class, as you would math and science. There's a lot of schools, too, who are finding ways in incorporating STEM into the other subjects that they already have. There's ways to incorporate it even into your language arts and then, of course, into math and science and technology.
0:08:47 - (Kirsten Turner): And so.
0:08:48 - (Colin Johnson): But a lot of schools can't afford it. Right.
0:08:50 - (Kirsten Turner): And depending on what they want, a lot of schools they can't. It's, you know, especially when you want to start incorporating a lot of the hands on experiences and really giving students a taste of many different aspects of STEm, it does become very expensive. And, you know, we, I've, I've talked to many teachers, even from so many parts of the country where, like, you'll, you'll try to incorporate something new in the way that you can just because you feel like you have to, but then it isn't very effective. Like, maybe you'll just, you know, have them do some coding online things. And not that those resources aren't beneficial at certain points, but if a student is just sitting online, typing in all these numbers and letters all day long, and that's all they're doing, like, it's probably not going to generate much of an excitement, right?
0:09:43 - (Kirsten Turner): So at iPhone, we said we have to take that and we have to generate excitement. We have making kids excited about STEm. And so we're doing the coding and then applying it to a robot and seeing a robot move and battle another robot words coding and then seeing a drone fly right in front of us. So we're taking these coding skills and applying them to things that are fun and engaging. We even use things like Minecraft and Roblox and Fortnite, these video games that students, I know all those, but we're taking students to the other side.
0:10:19 - (Kirsten Turner): I remember our very first Roblox camp that we did. You know, students are always telling Roblox, we love roadblocks. And then we took them to the other side of roadblocks, and they were the ones actually building and designing, creating the games, and I had five students say, I didn't know we could do this. Like, we can actually do this. This is what we're doing. And they were amazed. And so we're taking something that they love, things that are exciting and engaging. We're taking them to the other side, and then all of a sudden, they're designing, they're thinking, they're using critical thinking skills, they're using problem solving, they're working in teams and so many other things that are going to benefit them for years.
0:10:59 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. So what's the vision of AC? Like, what do you, what do you guys, how long has it been here locally?
0:11:09 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Almost two years.
0:11:10 - (Colin Johnson): Okay. Two years. And then. So you're, you're looking to partner with other schools, different nonprofits, anywhere there are kids that need to learn about technology, right? Absolutely.
0:11:20 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah.
0:11:21 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): So our vision is to pretty much bring stem to all the neighboring cities and try, you know, and tri cities, including one of our project is to kind of also bring stem to the underserved areas. That's big. That's on our bucket list. However, it is challenging because, you know, gotta work, try to get grants and all that stuff. But that's, one of our vision is to bring that because, you know, we believe strongly, you know, in Stem is, of course, you know, we, it's part of developing the workforce, but however, it's also, I feel, very important in child's development, you know, considering, because StEm is a very unique field where you're basically teaching a child how to think, how to troubleshoot, how to be creative, how to be innovative.
0:12:14 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): And these skills, no matter what field they enter in the future, it's going to benefit them tremendously.
0:12:19 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, for sure. I think that's an awesome goal. Yeah. Because it's just going to get more and more technical, as you said, kirsten, it's just going to continue to spiral.
0:12:30 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Absolutely.
0:12:30 - (Colin Johnson): And we're going to have to, everybody's going to have to know how to have to do some stuff and then the different opportunities that are going to come out of that.
0:12:38 - (Kirsten Turner): Absolutely.
0:12:39 - (Colin Johnson): It's crazy. Like, in this AI stuff that's coming, I mean, like, it's only going to get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and so, yeah, hopefully it doesn't turn in the Terminator. That would be bad. Can you shut that down through your act?
0:12:50 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Like, well, you know, people always ask me, like, what do you think about it? I think it's also depends on who's a creator. Okay, so that's big. So, you know, being a programmer, you know, we write code, but, you know, it depends how we write it. How's the design, how's the architecture and all that stuff? Now, AI, of course, it's. It's machine learning. It learns on itself, but however it still matters who created it.
0:13:13 - (Colin Johnson): Sure.
0:13:14 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): You know, as long as parameters, like, there's still. Yeah, right.
0:13:18 - (Colin Johnson): Boundaries.
0:13:19 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Boundaries, yes. Yeah. And you know, the cool thing about IQOD is, you know, considering that we have a team that works on the curriculum is that's what we is. Like, we work hard on keeping, you know, up to date with the trends that's happening around. And we're always updating our curriculum every six months, every year, bringing new camps and adding to our existing curriculum. I think that's what's more unique because a lot of times we, you know, schools are, you know, non profit. They end up purchasing something and then, you know, it's hard to keep up with the current technology because it's not just about, you know, creating a curriculum, but also you gotta test it, you gotta test the code, you gotta test the hardware and all that stuff and keeping it up and, you know, that that's what we're good at and that's what kind of makes us special.
0:14:10 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Yeah, some of that.
0:14:11 - (Colin Johnson): There's a lot of researches. I mean, yeah, so for, I guess you guys meet that need too for the schools so they don't have to do all the research for what's coming up. You build the curriculum for them, you just basically take all that stress off of the teachers and you're like, do you guys tell me how it works? I mean, is there, is it all online? Like, are you set up classrooms for schools? Or I even said, you said homeschool. We can do it through a homeschool program or nonprofit after school program. So, no, let's say I said, all right, I code.
0:14:42 - (Colin Johnson): We're going to come into like we were talking about earlier, like, rise up, right? We've got 50 kids that we take care of every day after school. What can we, what can you guys do for us? Sell me on it. Let's go.
0:14:52 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah. So here in tri person's just smile.
0:14:56 - (Colin Johnson): She's like, let's do it, let's do it, let's go.
0:14:59 - (Kirsten Turner): So here in the tri cities, we have pioneered a new model with itoad. And so we're called the reach program. Lots of exciting opportunities to pioneer program also, you know, things that you have to learn as well. And so we have a van. Hopefully you've seen it around if you have, you know, give us a little wave. We're always excited to meet people, and so we partner with locations and schools, and we bring everything right to the location. So we do a lot of traveling, a lot of driving around, a lot of packing up and uploading and organizing equipment, but we.
0:15:39 - (Kirsten Turner): We come right to you. We say, class is going to be taught from four to five. So we'll show up probably at 330. We'll set up the classroom for the day. We bring the instructor, we bring an assistant to help out with the class. We set up everything, computers, robots, drills, whatever we're doing that day, we come and we teach the class, and then we clean up and we go home. So, you know, we have some partnerships where we're doing.
0:16:04 - (Colin Johnson): Kristen, how are you going to do that in, like, 1015 different schools? Well, it's just two years.
0:16:08 - (Kirsten Turner): We'll continue building a team.
0:16:09 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:16:10 - (Kirsten Turner): We're doing more vans.
0:16:11 - (Colin Johnson): I like it.
0:16:12 - (Kirsten Turner): The sky's the limit.
0:16:13 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, I love it. That's awesome. So basically, you'll just come in and handle it all. Teach our kids to be awesome. More awesome than they are a little bit. We're gonna add to their awesomeness, and then you just hit the road and it's all taken care of.
0:16:26 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Yes.
0:16:27 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome.
0:16:28 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah. You know, we ask for Wi Fi, some tables and chairs.
0:16:35 - (Colin Johnson): Doing it on your wifi?
0:16:36 - (Kirsten Turner): No, we figure out a way. I think we'd bring our own if we had to.
0:16:40 - (Colin Johnson): We have, like, a satellite dish on our van tying into the starbank. That's right. All right. Our thing today is we're going to have to tack into Wifi or we're going to build our own network. I love it. I love it. What is the. So you guys have some stuff going on. I made note. Summer camps are coming up. What does a summer camp look like?
0:17:05 - (Kirsten Turner): Summer camps are so much fun. So, summer camps. Most of our summer camps run five days. Like, they're a whole week long program. Students don't need any prior experience to join the summer camps. They can come in with experience. They can come up with no experience. They're really designed for anyone to jump in, have a blast. We have a lot of different topics this summer. We've got. Our most popular is battle of the bots.
0:17:29 - (Colin Johnson): Battle of the bots.
0:17:31 - (Kirsten Turner): It's so much fun. It was our most popular last year. We have it running. I think we're doing it eight times this summer. At the end of the summer, I.
0:17:39 - (Colin Johnson): Had a friend, his daughter Turner went to state with robot robotics thing where they're battling. Is that the same deal or similar?
0:17:49 - (Kirsten Turner): So we use a model of robots called Vex robots. They're a lot like Lego pieces that you're building. But then we're also, during the camp, we're building different designs. We're also then adding sensors. And so we're making them sense colors or sense distance between an object. Kind of like you would like for a robot vacuum or something, or your car backing up. Or your car backing up. Yeah. And then the kids are also coming up with different designs. They're doing challenges like tug of war.
0:18:18 - (Kirsten Turner): They're battling each other and everything. So they'll do some with controlling, with the remote controls, they'll do some with programming them. We have a big twelve foot by twelve foot arena that we've set up for the kids to battle the robots. And so we watch a lot of the battle of the bots videos. We start every morning getting pumped up with those. And so definitely that one is just. That's a lot of fun.
0:18:45 - (Kirsten Turner): And all of our camps, so, like, you know, some of the other ones, we've got a new Minecraft chemistry, one that we're doing this year. We've got an artist studio with two D and three D art drone coding Fortnite. And the thing that's really neat and unique about our camps is every single camp throughout the week, it leads up to a final project. And so they're learning things, they're doing different things throughout the week, but it's all leading up to this final project. And then on that Friday of the camp, they're finishing up their final projects. A lot of them involve teamwork and things. And then we invite the parents to come on the last day of camp, and the parents get to see their final project. For Battle of the Bots, we have the big final battle, and all the parents are around and siblings are there and cheering on.
0:19:34 - (Kirsten Turner): And in artist studio, they're gonna have a portfolio of all the different kinds of art that they create and things. And so it's so much fun. Like, that's one of my favorite days, is having all of the parents come, getting to see the work they did. You know, often some parents, at the beginning or even kids are, wow, five whole days. 09:00 a.m. To 04:00 p.m. That seems like a long time. I always tell the kids if I promise it go, like, it's going to go by fast. And we get to Wednesday, like, we're already halfway through, and we get to Friday. And they're like, no, we don't want them to be.
0:20:07 - (Kirsten Turner): That would die so fast. And so it's a blast.
0:20:12 - (Colin Johnson): That sounds like fun. Yeah. How many kids do you think you'll see this summer at the camps?
0:20:18 - (Kirsten Turner): Um, that time? Yeah. Like, I think our capacity is about 300.
0:20:25 - (Colin Johnson): Is it too late to sign up?
0:20:26 - (Kirsten Turner): Absolutely not.
0:20:28 - (Colin Johnson): How do our listeners sign their kids up for the program?
0:20:30 - (Kirsten Turner): Go to our website, icodeschool.com.
0:20:32 - (Colin Johnson): Icodeschool.
0:20:34 - (Kirsten Turner): Icodeschool.com. Try siddonstn.
0:20:38 - (Colin Johnson): Got it. Okay.
0:20:40 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah, I bet if you in Google search, just type in Ito. The tri cities one should pop up. If you get to the main icloud page, there's a. Choose your location and you choose tri cities.
0:20:50 - (Colin Johnson): Sweet. And I think we'll have that in the show notes, too, so people can click on it. Sign up. And then you're doing something in the fall a little bit too, right?
0:21:00 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah. Why don't you tell?
0:21:01 - (Colin Johnson): Sure.
0:21:02 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Yeah. So in fall, we recently partnered with Langston center, which we're really excited about to work with them. Awesome. Awesome team there. And so we are launching a brand new program in Tri city. It's called as a belt program. It is like the karate belt, where each year, or the topic that they choose have a color. So at the end of the year they will graduate to that color.
0:21:30 - (Colin Johnson): So you could become a black belt instead.
0:21:32 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Correct. So we have black belt. Yes. And a master black belt. So each color, like, for example, our orange belt would be, I think, web designing. And then one of our black belt is network security and stuff like that, plus AI and all that stuff. So each color has certain topic that they work on throughout the school year and they get to earn that belt once they. After finishing that program.
0:22:00 - (Colin Johnson): So is it a year per belt?
0:22:02 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): It is a year program, yeah, school year.
0:22:04 - (Colin Johnson): School year program. Gotcha. You're like, yeah, we got stuff. We're doing stuff in the summer. I just told you about the camps. Trying to do that too. That's awesome. And so how many votes? Probably five or six or more.
0:22:15 - (Kirsten Turner): I don't know. We have around, I think, eight or nine.
0:22:19 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Eight or nine boats.
0:22:19 - (Colin Johnson): That's right. That's awesome.
0:22:20 - (Kirsten Turner): We start all the way to Northadden.
0:22:23 - (Colin Johnson): That's great.
0:22:24 - (Kirsten Turner): And with the belts, you don't have to. You can, you know, if you have some experience, you don't necessarily have to start. Like if you're in 6th grade, you don't have to start at the junior belt. You can. We'll provide like a little assessment just to kind of see what the experience is and to see where we think the best fit would be to continue to grow.
0:22:44 - (Colin Johnson): I hang out with a lot of homeschool moms and dads and families, and so how do. How do they tap into this, like, your alls resources? Because I think there are a lot of homeschool parents in our area that would love to. Love to bring their kids to a stem to an I.
0:23:03 - (Kirsten Turner): Absolutely. Well, they're more than welcome to join the belt program that's gonna be at the afternoon and evening.
0:23:08 - (Colin Johnson): So it's an afternoon deal, kind of. Okay. Gotcha.
0:23:10 - (Kirsten Turner): But however, like, this past year, we held a. A class on Friday mornings at 1030. We used a space at the altar fellowship, and we had a great group of homeschool families, and that was very convenient. And so we would definitely consider doing that. If that's something that people are interested in, we would definitely look at hosting a morning class or something like that. And then we also part of a.
0:23:38 - (Colin Johnson): Cottage program or something.
0:23:40 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah. And we can also partner with, like, the different homeschool co ops and communities that are around the tri cities, too. Just like we would partner with the school or the nonprofits. Like, we can definitely. We've. We've partnered with a new homeschool co op that's coming up that's starting in the fall, and so we're going to be teaching an enrichment class every Friday afternoon for their students.
0:24:02 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome. That sounds like a lot of fun. Yeah. Speaking of fun, what do you guys like to do for fun in Johnson City when you're having robotic bibles and all that stuff?
0:24:16 - (Kirsten Turner): Well, we, you know, my family and I, like I said, I have two young kids, and so we often love to just go on adventures. We're all my family. We're big sweeties. So even my girls, I mean, my five year old and tier, like, they like sushi. They like it also. Well.
0:24:33 - (Colin Johnson): Or going out to eat.
0:24:34 - (Kirsten Turner): Going out to eat. We love going to coffee shops and everything. We love exploring and getting out to leave the parks and everything. I love the parks here with my two girls.
0:24:45 - (Colin Johnson): Aren't they awesome?
0:24:46 - (Kirsten Turner): So different than the parks, than Arizona. A little greener, a little greener, a.
0:24:52 - (Colin Johnson): Little more mulch and stuff. That's not little pebbles, right? Yeah. I was in Phoenix. I was like, man, I'm just looking for anything that, you know, there's, like, nothing soft out here. You know, it's all hard.
0:25:02 - (Kirsten Turner): So when we moved there and I was. We were looking at houses, I was like, is there a sprinkler system? Should only need a sprinkler system.
0:25:10 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, we got one. It's called the rain.
0:25:13 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Rain, yeah.
0:25:13 - (Colin Johnson): Although in August, October ish, September, sometimes it kind of burns out a little bit or get dry a little.
0:25:19 - (Kirsten Turner): Nothing. Nothing like me.
0:25:21 - (Colin Johnson): No, I know. I was like, what are, like, they've got misters everywhere. Oh, that feels really good. Now I understand them. But what? We got you. But we had one at Cootie Brown's here. What do you guys like to do for fun?
0:25:35 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): I mean, you know, definitely food. And then kids, you know, they. They love to go to the skating ring or hands on museum, you know, or all this kid activities. So, yeah, they definitely keep us busy.
0:25:47 - (Colin Johnson): Yes, they do, for sure. And I'm sure you've got them enrolled in your stem stuff already, and they're learning all kinds of cool things, so, yeah, awesome. A lot of fun. Um, what's been something. You're just, you know, you're kind of an entrepreneurial team. Right. And so what are some of the challenges you've had to overcome to bring I code to Johnson City and Kingsport? Is. Are you guys in multiple cities?
0:26:12 - (Kirsten Turner): We are. We serve all three of the tri cities and even beyond.
0:26:16 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Funding is the main one, maybe.
0:26:19 - (Kirsten Turner): I think that funding would be the main thing. Um, you know, we're not a non profit organization, and so we can't just apply for the grants. And I really think we. We figured out a way to. To work with the organizations and. And help them apply for the grants.
0:26:36 - (Colin Johnson): We have an online, we have an on site grant writer, full time grant writer that will help you all. I don't know if that's somebody.
0:26:42 - (Kirsten Turner): That's exactly what we're doing. And so that just took a little bit of time to figure out in the beginning.
0:26:48 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:26:49 - (Kirsten Turner): So, you know, but again, like, with being the pioneers of this. Of this model, there's a lot of me opportunities where we're just like, oh, we just get to chat and go for it. And then there were some like that where we know the only thing we had to look at was the other I codes. And so it took a little bit of time to figure out how to actually make a reach program work in a smaller city as well, because all of the other I codes are in pretty major cities.
0:27:17 - (Colin Johnson): Well, that's what I was going to ask. What are some of the other cities where you guys have a presence?
0:27:22 - (Kirsten Turner): We're all across Texas, so Dallas, Austin, Frisco. We're in Atlanta. There's one Franklin, Charlotte, right. In Phoenix and everything.
0:27:33 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool. So you guys are kind of all over the nation.
0:27:37 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Yeah.
0:27:37 - (Colin Johnson): And now we get the benefit of little Johnson City having you guys here. Yeah.
0:27:42 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): In fact, when I had approached them once I went through their curriculum and all that stuff, I was like, we gotta bring this here. And they looked at the demographics, and they were like, I don't think this is gonna work here. I was like, come on, guys, we've gotta bring this here. You know, for our kids. We gotta do this. So then they were like, okay, well, we do have another new model which we have never tried. Would you like to try? I was like, yes, we will try.
0:28:09 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:28:09 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): So, yes. And in fact, I like this better because, you know, we can not just serve Johnson City, but all the neighboring cities and areas around.
0:28:18 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And I would think that your budget would be significantly less because you don't have a brick and mortar to deal with. With.
0:28:25 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): That's right. Operating cost is much lower, and that's how we can also keep our costs lower for the kids. Yes.
0:28:30 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha.
0:28:31 - (Kirsten Turner): I really think it fits in to just the home and family community aspect of the tri cities as well, because this way, we're actually, you know, like, I can't tell you how many, like, you know, just relationships I've formed with different principals and the workers of all of these organizations. And, like, I'm really cherishing. Cherish those. Like, we would not have the opportunity if we were just in our brick.
0:28:56 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Yeah.
0:28:56 - (Colin Johnson): Then they'd have to come to you and that kind of thing.
0:28:58 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Right?
0:28:59 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that's Cooper. Cool. Well, I'm excited for our listeners to connect with you. How do they do that?
0:29:04 - (Kirsten Turner): They connect with us on social media. Instagram, Facebook, iCloud. Try cities. And I'm sure that will be in the shower.
0:29:12 - (Colin Johnson): It'll be in the show. Merch just for you, Kirsten.
0:29:15 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Yeah.
0:29:17 - (Kirsten Turner): Our website and everything. I really think the best way, though, is through social media. I run all of that myself, and so I love just getting to chat with everybody and engaging community in that way even, as well.
0:29:32 - (Colin Johnson): Is that part of the program, too? Like, how to handle social media more responsibly would be a good way of saying it. Is that a part of the STEM program? Because that. Is that a big part of life now?
0:29:44 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we do have some things with social media, especially, like, on the design aspect and, like, creating content and everything. But I wouldn't be surprised if, like, we get even more into. Into that as well.
0:29:57 - (Colin Johnson): I think parents would be, like, sign my kid up.
0:29:59 - (Kirsten Turner): Absolutely.
0:30:00 - (Colin Johnson): Get them off of it, you know, or help them use it properly.
0:30:03 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): That's right.
0:30:04 - (Kirsten Turner): It's like a tool.
0:30:05 - (Colin Johnson): Yes, it is.
0:30:06 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): That's right.
0:30:06 - (Colin Johnson): And it's fun, and it's a great way to keep in touch with people if you use it that way. But if you're just sitting there watching and watching and watching and watching for 8 hours.
0:30:15 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Agree.
0:30:15 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. What happened in my whole day, that's not good.
0:30:18 - (Kirsten Turner): Right?
0:30:18 - (Colin Johnson): You should be listening to podcasts like this one instead while we're out in the yard taking a walk or cleaning your house or whatever. So, yeah. What's something that I forgot to ask you that you'd love to share that I didn't ask anything specific or would cover it all?
0:30:36 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): I think we have.
0:30:37 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:30:38 - (Kirsten Turner): Yeah.
0:30:39 - (Colin Johnson): You can turn the tables and ask me something if you want, I think. Yeah. I mean, some people throw. I had one guy asked me, this is Ryan White. He's actually cut my son's hair tonight. He was like, would you rather fight one giant duck or a hundred little tiny ducks? And I was like, oh, that's a tough one. Probably the tiny ducks. I don't know. So, yeah, hit me with something. You got anything you want to know about Johnson city living podcasts or buying or selling a house in Johnson City?
0:31:08 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): So, yeah, I mean, I was curious. So, like, when. When did you start Johnson City and what inspired you?
0:31:14 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, so, also during the pandemic a little bit, I was like, man, I'd really like to connect with people, and it's hard to do that.
0:31:22 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): Right.
0:31:23 - (Colin Johnson): So how do I do it? And so I was going to do remote podcasts just so I could talk to people. But then I started looking at microphones. After two days of just rich microphone to, it was like I was having anxiety, like, I'm gonna buy the wrong one. It's not gonna work. And then I gotta plug it into some kind of supercomputer switchy thing that Mitch runs with his brain because he's just so tied into it all. And I was like, I don't even know where to start. And then so one of my friends, Leighton Hart, had started a podcast on his own called John City Living. And so I connected with him, and I was like, hey, bro, you know, I'm thinking about doing this. And he's like, well, actually, I'm thinking about stepping out of it. He had done, I think, 40 something episodes, maybe 50 at that point.
0:32:03 - (Colin Johnson): And so I said, well, I love to take it over. And so we wound up working out a deal and it was awesome because it just kind of slid right in. And then he was hosting it, or he was. Yeah, he was doing the producing of it, and then Mitch came into the mix and bought, bought him out. And so Mitch is now the host, and so that's how it got going. But the inspiration was just, I love connecting with people, helping them, much like you guys with the kids, you want to connect with them and help them grow and develop and become bigger. But that's kind of my whole emphasis on, I just love people, you know, I feel like that's what the Lord's called us to do, is love each other, and then, yeah, celebrate him and teach them how we can be better through that. So, yeah, thank you for asking.
0:32:47 - (Colin Johnson): What gets you guys just fired up? That summertime's coming up? Like, what are you just like, let's go with Summertime. What got you fired up? Huh?
0:32:56 - (Kirsten Turner): Oh, I mean, from the I code side of things.
0:32:59 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:33:00 - (Kirsten Turner): You know, I mean, I think just, you know, the, just that pace of, like, of camps in general, not just the ico camps, but, you know, we've got, my daughter is like, Stiltford for bbs and everything, and so just like, summer camps. Summertime, like, yeah, I'm spinning outside more, being in the water. I mean, 4 July. I'll tell this story. This is fun. So Amit and I like our families through ifid. We've become, we've become really close, and I just love how the Lord brought us together.
0:33:33 - (Kirsten Turner): Like, it was definitely, you know, the vine it was. And, I mean, people ask this, too. They're like, oh, like, your families must have known each other before I code. And you started this together, like, nope. When you go sleep. Yeah, it was a very random just thing.
0:33:48 - (Colin Johnson): But were you looking at online stem stuff, too, and, like, how to do it and get it going? How did you. Yes. Well, yeah, I'll become part of.
0:33:55 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): That's the story. So when I started, of course, you know, looking for a director to run, you know, the operations and everything, and then I was honestly praying about it, and, like, lord, just bring me a person who would understand that, you know, what, the vision we have here and the passion and kind of, you know, connect and grow with us. And then Josh, that is Carson's husband, applied for the position, and then I got on a call with him, and then he goes, after explaining everything, he goes, you know what? Maybe I should have my wife apply for this. I was like, yes, go ahead.
0:34:42 - (Colin Johnson): Anyway.
0:34:46 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): And so, yeah, me and Kirsten talked, I think, for a long time, the first time explaining everything. And, you know, she really understood what I wanted to achieve here, you know, is to bring kids pretty much from k to twelve and all kids coming from all areas in their life, you know, and we want to get into under several areas, too, because we know that these kids probably will never see a robot or a drone in their life. And we're not just having them play with the robot. We're teaching them how it works. We're teaching them how to program.
0:35:18 - (Ahmed Prabhakar): So that's what's exciting, just getting these kids excited, inspired to create and be productive with technology, not just consume it. So that's the whole idea. And, you know, like, we're also really big on soft skills, like, you know, working in team troubleshooting and presentation, you know, critical thinking. So these are, like, qualities that you're, you know, it's going to help you by the time you get to college or you want to trade, whatever, you know, these things is going to stay with you, for you, for your life. So we were passionate about it, and Kirsten got that whole idea, the whole vision, and we were like, all right, let's do this.
0:35:58 - (Kirsten Turner): I was not searching out a job. I was still in Arizona. My husband was just, it was almost two years to the day when my husband said, I think the Lord is calling us to move to Jobson City. And so he was searching for jobs, and he was just kind of aimless.
0:36:14 - (Colin Johnson): What does he do?
0:36:14 - (Kirsten Turner): He's it.
0:36:15 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:36:16 - (Kirsten Turner): All sorts of. So he actually works with us now, too. He helps teach and everything. It really has become a family. Nice family. But he was just putting his resume out to everything on. Indeed. And so he didn't even really realize what the job was. And so he called me. He was like, hey, someone's gonna call you in a minute. I thought, just, like, hear them.
0:36:34 - (Colin Johnson): Just be cool. Just be cool.
0:36:36 - (Kirsten Turner): Okay. Not even searching. So that first part was station walk. I was excited about it, like, coming from an education background. I taught and been in administration and everything, so it was exciting. But in the back of my mind, I was, like, not even looking for her job. Like, I have two young kids. I'm a stay at home mom. I'm about to move to Tennessee. Like, well, why? Fucking? I don't know how this would work. And so I'm, like, getting excited, but I'm like, what are you doing? Going through and making them think you're actually going to take.
0:37:09 - (Kirsten Turner): But then just after a couple conversations, it just became very clear and evident. But that's what I was supposed to do, and that was the door being opened. And I'm so grateful and thankful.
0:37:20 - (Colin Johnson): Isn't it fun, like, when you hit confirmation that you're like, okay, if I don't do this, it's going to be the wrong thing to do. Right? I mean, the Lord just shows up over and over. He's like, if you don't do this, it's going to be right. Yeah. I mean, I'll still probably figure it out for you, but, but, like, this is just, then you just have a total peace about it.
0:37:39 - (Kirsten Turner): And it was exactly that. And still, that's cool. We moved here and I just started, had no idea what I was, how to, you know, I'm in a brand new city.
0:37:47 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:37:48 - (Kirsten Turner): And just, you know, started the whole networking and everything.
0:37:52 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:37:52 - (Kirsten Turner): So. But it's just been amazing.
0:37:54 - (Colin Johnson): And now two years in, you're killing it. You guys are wearing it out.
0:37:58 - (Kirsten Turner): So thankful, you know, again, for just, you know, the Johnson city chamber and, and all of the, the partners that we, you know, been able to connect with and, and bring stem, too.
0:38:08 - (Colin Johnson): So that's awesome. Yeah. Well, I look forward to seeing where you guys take it and just the impact. I love looking at the impact you guys are going to have, because just one interaction sometimes can change your life in just a crazy way. And if some child that never even got to think about building a robot gets to do something like that, or, you know, code something or whatever you teach them, it could change their life forever.
0:38:35 - (Colin Johnson): And I think it's just super cool. I was very blessed to have parents who were huge on education and experiences, and they took us all over the world and they gave us lots of education and just, I think it's awesome because that's what's going to continue to grow our country and continue to make it better and better and better. So thank you for what you do. I pray that it just really flourishes. And thanks for coming on the podcast. I really enjoy meeting you both.
0:38:58 - (Colin Johnson): That's what I love getting to do. So I think it's just a lot of fun. So I hope you have a great summer, hope the camps go great. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you for being a part of our podcast. If you want to move to Johnson City and meet Kirsten and ammit and hang out with him, I'd love to move you here. And we invest, help people invest and build wealth in real estate all the time, and it's just a lot of fun. And so, yeah, that's what I'm passionate about. So, anyway, thanks again for listening. Hope you have a great day. Talk to you soon. It.