How High School Logistics Programs Are Creating Job-Ready Graduates With Glenn Ecalne
- Rise25 webmaster@rise25media.com
- Aug 4
- 39 min read
Updated: Aug 6
Glenn Ecalne is a Business, Supply Chain and Logistics, and Financial Literacy Teacher at Patterson High School. With experience working in supply chain and logistics for companies like Home Depot, Amazon, and Kohl’s, he teaches students within the school district’s vocational and CTE pathways.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
[5:44] How Glenn Ecalne transitioned from a career in banking and logistics to teaching
[13:01] The STAR method for navigating interviews and retaining employment in the supply chain industry
[17:06] Glenn explains how the Patterson High School supply chain program pivoted from nonprofit distribution to internal school supply logistics
[22:15] Lessons Glenn learned in business and banking that he teaches his students
[28:15] How the Patterson High supply chain program partners with companies for tuition reimbursement
[31:57] Success stories of former students becoming logistics leaders
[44:02] The use of drone technology in the classroom and its real-world applications for inventory management
[47:51] Glenn’s experience launching Amazon’s first Kiva robotics warehouse on the West Coast
In this episode…
Many high school graduates enter the workforce without the foundational skills needed to succeed in logistics, warehousing, or even personal finance. This lack of preparation often leads to high attrition rates, missed career opportunities, and poor long-term financial decisions. How can educators close the gap between academic learning and real-world readiness in supply chain management?
Logistics and business teacher Glenn Ecalne has built a hands-on, skills-based curriculum at Patterson High School. He immerses students in a fully functional warehouse setting, teaches practical tools like the STAR method for interviews, and integrates Six Sigma certifications into the classroom. Glenn also instills habits like early 401(k) contributions and budgeting, ensuring students are equipped to land jobs and grow within their careers.
Tune in to this episode of The Tao of Pizza Podcast as Mark Hiddleson interviews Glenn Ecalne, Business, Supply Chain and Logistics, and Financial Literacy Teacher at Patterson High School, about preparing students for the supply chain and logistics workforce through vocational training programs. Glenn discusses real-world training, including warehousing simulations, interview techniques, and industry partnerships that create tuition-free career paths.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Specialized Storage Solutions, Inc. contact phone: 707-732-3892
Mark Hiddleson's email: markhiddleson@aol.com
Patterson Joint Unified School District: Website | Supply Chain and Logistics Training Program
“The Art and Science of Leading Leaders Through Event Production With Michael Mikitka” on The Tao of Pizza Podcast
Quotable Moments:
“We’re not leveraging our purchasing power. We can purchase a lot of things in bulk and save.”
“Just getting them, like, engulfed in the whole warehousing industry, I think… we do a good job.”
“I'm going to be six feet deep by the time you reap the rewards of exponential gains.”
“I might not be the brightest crayon in the Crayola box, but I do have some experiences.”
“You're going to live your life on a paycheck based off of 15 to 20% into your 401(k).”
Action Steps:
Integrate real-world simulations into the classroom: Hands-on learning environments like mock warehouses help students build job-ready skills before graduation. This boosts their confidence and performance when entering the workforce.
Teach behavioral interview techniques such as the STAR method: Practicing structured responses prepares students to articulate their strengths effectively in interviews. It increases their chances of landing meaningful employment.
Embed financial literacy early and often: Teaching budgeting and 401(k) contributions equips students to make smart money decisions from their first paycheck. These habits lay the groundwork for long-term financial independence.
Leverage industry partnerships for tuition support and job placement: Collaborating with businesses that offer reimbursement and career paths creates opportunities for students without the burden of college debt. It aligns education with real economic outcomes.
Encourage certifications like Lean Six Sigma: Providing access to industry-recognized credentials empowers students to drive efficiency and process improvement. This makes them more competitive and valuable in logistics and supply chain roles.
Sponsor for this episode:
This episode is brought to you by Specialized Storage Solutions Inc.
Listen...
I have been in the logistics and storage industry for several decades. I know I don’t look that old, but it's true.
We provide industry-leading warehouse storage solutions nationwide.
So basically, if you have a warehouse that needs Rack, Shelving, Carts, Conveyors, or Mezzanines, we help with....design engineering, installations, inspections, and repairs to help clients optimize their logistics operations.
Sometimes people don’t even realize that we can actually help with permit acquisition services.
We take a holistic look at your entire business supply chain ecosystem to develop the resources for continually improving your operation.
To learn more, visit specialracks.com or give us a call at (707) 732-3892. One of the best ways to learn more about our products and services is to follow us on Instagram. And there’s a link on our website to do that.
I will even give you my personal email address for podcast listeners, so email me at markhiddleson@aol.com if you’re ready to take your warehouse storage and retrieval systems to the next level.
Episode Transcript:
Intro 0:01
Welcome to The Tao of Pizza, where we feature top logistics leaders, entrepreneurs and supply chain innovators and share their inspiring stories with a holistic twist.
Mark Hiddleson 0:14
Mark Hiddleson here, host of The Tao of Pizza Podcast, where I talk with top industry innovators in the warehousing, logistics and supply chain business with a holistic twist before introducing today's guest, this episode is brought to you by Specialized Storage Solutions. A lot of people know, I've been in the logistics in in industry, storage industry, for several decades, building solutions that evolve with our clients, growing needs. And what we do is we provide industry leading warehouse storage solutions nationwide. So basically, if you have a warehouse that needs rack shelving, carts, conveyors or mezzanines, we help with the design, engineering, installations, inspections and repairs to help our clients optimize their logistics operations. And Glenn, it's funny, some people don't even realize that we can actually help with permit Acquisition Service. Yeah, we even deal with the red tape so you don't have to. We take a holistic look at your entire business supply chain ecosystem to develop the resources for continue improving your operation. To learn more. Visit our website at specialracks.com, give us a call at 707-732-3892. And just for podcast listeners, I'll give you my personal email. Mark Hiddleson@aol.com yes, I still use AOL. And yes, I'm
Glenn Ecalne 1:29
you got mail, Mark,
Mark Hiddleson 1:31
you got so, so one more shout out, Glenn. Before, before I introduce you, I want to give a big thank you to Michael Mikitka who's the Executive Vice President of the Warehousing Education and Research Council. He introduced us at the National Conference, WERC, or pronounce, work is the only professional organization focused on warehousing, distribution and fulfillment and its role in the supply chain. Work helps season professionals and those new to the industry master best practices and establish valuable relationships. Michael was actually one of her first guests, and he could check out that interview as well to learn more. But today we're joined by Glenn Ecalne Glenn is a high school logistics and warehousing teacher who brings nearly two decades of real world experience to the classroom with a career spanning 10 years in retail banking and another 10 in logistics, Glenn equips his students with practical skills not only to land a job, but to thrive in the workplace and start planning for retirement early his mission to bridge the gap between education and the workforce, one student at a time. Glenn, welcome to The Tao of Pizza.
Glenn Ecalne 2:44
Thank you Mark for having me. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure being here. First podcast ever,
Mark Hiddleson 2:50
first podcast so welcome. No, it's you're in education, and I think a lot of your students, you know, podcast. I always saw podcast like, oh, podcast, it's a waste of time. You know, I don't what am I realize if you're curious about something, one of the reasons I started this is for people who want to start a career to learn more, or, you know, as I get older, I want to help people start businesses or start careers, or help, you know, one way I could do that is to be a resource to have the podcast. If somebody's curious about a particular thing, like the makika, like you could listen into the game with Michael Mikitka. That's a way to learn more, you know, or even the people I've interviewed, maybe one of your students wants an introduction, like, Hey, I'd like to do a project with this company. Mark Hiddleson knows, so I'm almost I'm a lay down. If somebody calls and they say, Hey, I saw something on the podcast. Would you be willing to introduce me? Or would you if they say that, I'm like, okay, yeah, I'll help you. I think it's a great
Glenn Ecalne 3:47
idea. I think you've got my wheels turning for, like, since now that I've been teaching for it'll be my ninth year now, just getting kids to, like, do a podcast on alumni and their experiences. The Show kids and we can just, you know, highlight it throughout the year, you got me thinking, so So, thank you
Mark Hiddleson 4:03
for participating. I mean, we're I started by listening like I wouldn't even listen to podcasts, but I had a business coach that would send me podcasts because I said, Well, I'm interested in this, or I'm interested in that, and he would send me, we'll listen to this podcast. They talk about it. There's more information. So it's just, it was a way to learn really quickly, to where you'd have to read 13 books, but you could hear two experts, kind of debating two sides of something. So then two, three years later, somebody recommended I start my own.
Glenn Ecalne 4:34
So how long individual Are you doing the podcast now?
Mark Hiddleson 4:37
So I started in 2022, I think I've done like, 60 or 70 views. I started out doing one every week. Well, it's a lot of work and and it's not really a lot of work to do it. I mean, it takes an hour we're going to do it, but it's posting it, you know, put it on LinkedIn, because we want to do it right, producing it. And there's a cost to. Do it as well. So, you know, to do for a month versus one. I just thought one was a good pace to to keep it flowing. So I was, my goal is to do 1000 podcasts. When I was doing one a week, I was like, Hey, no problem, 1000 I'll do one a week. Okay, that's 50 a year. Okay, that's 20 years. Uh, my new goal is 100 and I'm more than halfway there. So we'll just see. We'll see
Glenn Ecalne 5:27
we're about to be part of it. I'm glad to be a part of it. Yeah, yeah. Thank you.
Mark Hiddleson 5:32
So share a little bit about I didn't say much about your earlier career, but how did you get into this position teaching at Patterson High School
Glenn Ecalne 5:44
in Paterson, California. Yeah, it was just, I sort of stumbled on it, like a lot of people in supply chain that I talked to at work and just in the industry. But for me, I started off in banking. So I was in college and just needed some ways to make some money, and started off as a teller, and I just eventually moved my way up the retail chain. Wanted to get my series seven and series eight, but it's just like that that fell through, and it just stayed within the management so I was in management for about five years of the almost 10 that was with Wells, Fargo Bank, and I was working here in Paterson, helped launch this branch over here in Paterson, and I had one of my customers whose sons I was coaching in track and field, because I'm also a track and cross country coach at the high school, but so I've been in the community for a while, and The father happened to be the Director of Kohl's distribution center here in Paterson, so he heard some good things about what he had. Son had to say say about me, and interviewed my co workers that I was working at Wells Fargo without me knowing, asked me to go to lunch, and after the lunch, he asked if I wanted to go into supply chain and work for a one small department that he had in his building called paxilite. And so I was in the pack to light department for a year at Kohl's. The gentleman left, went over to Home Depot, and he brought people that he thought would be a good fit for Home Depot as well. And he I was one of them. So was a at Home Depot for about four or five years. You know, moon have had various positions and receiving shipping, IC, QA and then eventually started up and opened launched a building in Paterson, Amazon. It was their first Kiva robotics building on the West Coast, one of their first ones. And so that was an exciting moment for me. And then, just like anything else, people just pull each other with so as they lead companies, I just would you like to come with me? And so fast forward, 10 years later. How I got into education was they started the program here at Patterson without me, and so it was their first year. Was a grand opening in the room in the building that I'm in right now. And they said, invited all the industry leaders to the building for the grand opening. And we were like, wow, this is, this is a great environment. I left my business card with the superintendent and the teacher at the time, I said, if you ever want me to talk about warehousing and supply chain logistics with your students so I can give them some real life experience, let me know. And so the superintendent called me a week before school started, nine years ago, and we sat down, had some lunch, and he says at the end of it, how would you like to become a teacher? Like, isn't school going to be starting out next week? I said, Yes, but we had an unfortunate incident where the teacher that was teaching logistics step down last minute, and we need to fill this void. So I sat down with my wife, we talked about a lot of things. And my wife had been in education for 13 years. She's an elementary school teacher, and so our household is educators now, and she was just like that. I think it'd be a great thing. And for me, I started thinking about some of the barriers that I saw living in Paterson, working in Paterson, having, you know, high school students with a whole bunch of energy just wanting to do well within supply chain, but it just weren't taught the right work ethic. And so we did lose, as far as attrition with high school students, they didn't last very long in industry. So I just wanted to provide them with some information and some knowledge to where they actually get into industry, get the job, keep the job, because as a manager, as ops manager, working for Restoration Hardware and Amazon, at the time we I was part of the hiring process. And so you would have these, again, energetic young people that, you know, they had the best intentions, but they just didn't know how to interview, you know. And you know, you get them in. Them. Teach them how to interview. Teach them the STAR method. Talk to them about 401 can retirement, because our demographics that we serve here in Patterson is is 100% free and reduced. I think all California is, but be prior to that, was 80% free and reduced. And so you have a lot of children food with my migrant workers, people that have been gentrified from the Bay Area. First generation Americans were like me. I'm a first generation American. Nobody ever talked to me about a 401, K retirement. I learned that through the banking industry, and so I was basically just trying to teach what I know through my experience in banking and through supply chain. And that's pretty much what I do every day now. And it's, it's been a great experience so far.
Mark Hiddleson 10:44
That's really cool. So you, you were working for, was it Kohl's at the time, which was Amazon. Did the Kiva that you're working for? Amazon, Eva robotics, yeah.
Glenn Ecalne 10:57
Oh, and then after, after Amazon, I went to Restoration Hardware. I got pulled over from my office manager that was at Home Depot launched the brand new building. So I had a privilege to open three brand new buildings in the Central Valley. Home Depot's rapid deployment center Amazon is one of Amazon's first Kiba buildings, and then Restoration Hardware is 1.5 million square foot warehouse here in Paterson also.
Mark Hiddleson 11:25
Yeah, so you got my juices flowing. There's thing I want to put a placeholder on the Kiva, because I've got a little bit of experience with Kiva and but, but the, well, the fact of how people move around, relationships are so important. I mean, that's one of my one of our pastor that I've quoted a lot has said, Life is short, eternity is real, and relationships matter most. I mean, I've seen it play out so many different ways in business, whether it's support or new job or your career and teams move. And it's just when you open new buildings, you kind of go through some pain, right? Like it's, yeah, just pain. You go through that with somebody. It's like, you know, a lot of people are great when things are going good. But what happens when the my old boss used to say, the fertilizer hits the ventilator, perform? People bring those eight players with them. So congratulations on that and being recruited, I'm gonna have to go hang out at the bank. I always get impatient. I just slow down and talk to the people working at the bank. So so that is awesome, and but the piece I wanted to dive into a little deeper is sharing a little bit more about what you mean by the STAR method for interviewing. And then what you said about, I forget the word you use, but there's a revolving door with younger employees. It's just they don't.
Glenn Ecalne 12:51
Attrition rate. Attrition rate, yeah, yeah. Sure. A
Mark Hiddleson 12:53
little bit about the STAR method of interviewing. And then once you get the job, what are some of the principles about keeping the job?
Glenn Ecalne 13:01
So when I run the way I run my course is I run it like I'm running a business. And so the students, that's the situation that they as sort of like, that's the baseline when we start out the year. This is not your normal class. I am really working with you as an individual and as a group to try to mold you to the expectations of industry, because that's, that's like, the biggest piece, right? So you have somebody that has all this energy but don't know the energy is all displaced. But, like, where do I focus this energy on? And so the first thing they have to do is get their foot in the door. And the sort of that foot in the door is just being able to interview and speak, being able to speak to the most important person that shape they should know how to speak about, which is themselves, getting them comfortable with that. And the method that we use is a star method, which is a Situation, Task, Action and result. So a lot of the questions that companies ask now they're behavioral questions. So tell me about a time where you ran into, you know, disagreed with a co worker. And a lot of companies, they'll they'll have like, a check checklist that reads, did they talk about a situation? What was the task at hand? What action did you take, and what was the result? And if you can practice that and get these kids to be confident in their scenarios that they face in our classroom, which is a full functioning warehouse, it's 10,000 square feet, we have true customers and teachers that are across the district. We work with nurses, teachers, Nurse supplies, school supplies, and now we have a cosmetology department that actually started up in our campus. So we now deliver cosmetology products on our campus so they can work on their customer service skills, articulating the words getting on, you know, a simple radio, like how to speak on a radio, use jargon, like 10 four, stuff like that, yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 14:46
yeah. Great paper, chocolate lizard,
Glenn Ecalne 14:50
exactly, yeah. Or just getting them like engulfed in the whole warehousing industry, I think, I think we. Three as teachers. There's three of us. There's Larry Garcia that does the forklifting that there. There's Dave Diane that does the commercial truck driving. And then myself, I do the introduction to logistics on the supply chain, which is two classes. So I think we did do a good job, and sort of like molding these kids and preparing them for the industry.
Mark Hiddleson 15:21
Yeah, I toured that facility with work that I mentioned with Mike, Michael Mikitka We used to do tours and Larry. I met Larry, actually, he was a guest. You know, I had him schedule. I owe, uh, Larry online. I was scheduled. We were scheduled to do an interview. This is when I first started, because I known about I was really impressed when I went there. I was like, Wow, this program, this was years ago. I think it had to be eight years ago. But I met Larry. We toured the Port of Oakland. This one was either Restoration Hardware Granger, one of the big ones in Paterson, big DC. But before that, we toured your facility. It was the actual working warehouse, but I had some scheduling conflicts. It was actually, it was my wife had made some plans, and it's like, Happy wife, happy life. Yes, I rescheduled with Larry, and then we never made it back on the schedule. Because, you know, once school starts and everything else like that, there's kind of a time crunch, but, but this is a impressive and I was there. Judy Jardine is a friend of mine. She's been in the industry for years, and she was on that tour. She was grilling these students like Judy, give these guys 1718,
Glenn Ecalne 16:31
years. No, great. You gotta grill them. You gotta repair them. You gotta they
Mark Hiddleson 16:35
nailed it. I was shocked. I'm like, she's asking tough questions. She was giving them situational questions, kind of like, okay, what do you do if you know some ships and you're looking for the package slip and it's not there, or somebody didn't sign for it, or proof of delivery, she had all these like, everything that can go wrong.
Glenn Ecalne 16:51
Oh no. Our guys are prepared. Our guys are prepared.
Mark Hiddleson 16:54
They were prepared. So share a little bit, because it's a That program's evolved since then, at that point, you were only doing the logistics for the school, for with internal within the school. So share a little bit about
Glenn Ecalne 17:06
eight years ago. Eight Yeah, eight years ago it would have been, we would have been working with a nonprofit organization called first books, and so we were responsible for their deliveries nationwide. And so the great, great, great relationship with them, but they decided to centralize their distribution to one location in Kansas. And so they stopped using programs like ours. They use multiple CTE programs. One was in Pennsylvania, ours, another one in Florida, I believe, but they decided to go centralized. And so the superintendent at the time asked me, What do you think we should do now? We don't have any work for these kids to do. And so I beg, we beg the question, well, how do you guys buy your school supplies? And it was mentioned that, oh, you know, Creekside over here, orders from Amazon, Las Palmas, orders from Walmart, there's somebody else from Costco. I was like, well, we're not leveraging our purchasing power. We can purchase a lot of things involved and get these vendors to, like, drop their prices for us, because we're buying in bulk. And so I think our first year, don't quote me, on this side, we saved a little over $25,000 on school supplies, just by, you know, buying in bulk, and using our program to distribute throughout the district. And so we've kept that sort of model
Mark Hiddleson 18:27
since, yeah, and then you're adding other things, because it's like, that's what, I think that's one of the things about warehousing logistics that a lot of people, if you're not in the business, you understand, is that most places don't warehouse their own stuff. There's usually a third party, some of the bigger companies, but even the bigger companies, they outsource a lot of their warehousing, just because it's, it's the cost, like you said, Me,
Glenn Ecalne 18:50
yes, that's not a money maker. Yeah, we are the bleeders,
Mark Hiddleson 18:55
yeah, and so. And one of the things that's kept us busy over the years is companies like, well, we're going to outsource it so they send it to three pills. So we do a lot of work with three pills, and then they go, Well, three pills cost too much. We're bringing it in house, and they do it for, you know, three to five years. And now this is costing us too much money. We want to send it back. So there is, I
Glenn Ecalne 19:15
would, I would love to invite you back, because you say, eight years ago, we've implemented, we implemented a program, part of our program, where our supply chain, which is our second group, they either get yellow belt certified or Green Belt lean, Six Sigma certified, depending on how many times they revolve through the class. But every year, have you ever gone to MH, eyes, pro mad and modex.
Mark Hiddleson 19:41
So I usually do every year. This is the first year in about six or seven years I didn't go in the pandemic year. But almost every year for the past 10 years, I've been to both I go to modex in Atlanta and promad in
Glenn Ecalne 19:54
Chicago. Okay, yeah, I'll see you in Atlanta this year. Atlanta,
Mark Hiddleson 19:59
I would definitely. Only be there, so we'll connect, yeah. And I would love to go back to the school. I would go back. I'll talk to the kids. We, I think you and I, we can collaborate on scheduling another tour through work. And Michael, I think Michael would help us.
Glenn Ecalne 20:11
Yes, that's, I think, yeah, we do have that in the in the in the pipeline, yeah. And so I was talking to some of some individuals there, and they want to actually have another session in Paterson, and then we can tour some of the facilities out in our area. Maybe your your facility? Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 20:26
I'll definitely be to be willing to be involved, because it's I've been involved in work since I was, I was the president of the local council from the time I was like, 32 to 42 and I was, I was thinking back. I was thinking back, I was like, man, I was 32 years old. I was too young. Wow, that position. But, you know, I looked into work. That's what they do. They help people. They're new. I was new in the business, so I was just a spot like, I want to learn as much about warehousing as I could. And to me, the best way to do that is to tour facilities and ask the people when they're running the facility. You know, why do you how do you do it this way? How do you do it that way? And it's mostly people attending those tours. They're not in the business of the place we're touring. But there are always takeaways, because a lot, I mean, you're trying to ship boxes from point A to point B, or pallets or individual items. And there's a lot of similarities in he could be totally different industries like automotive and food. There's different rules for both, but they both share a lot of the same principles.
Glenn Ecalne 21:29
Yeah, we if, if you, you would be, I think you would be impressed. But every year we go to modex and Proma and so our supply chain kids, they have a responsibility to bring back a new, improved process from what they learned through their Six Sigma certification. So it's all about efficiency. So how do you see a certain state? So what you saw eight years ago is definitely not what you're going to see when you come back, you're going to be like, this is totally different warehouse. And so can't wait to have you guys over there. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 22:02
yeah. I love that. So share a little bit about how the lessons you learned in business and banking have translated into success in the classroom.
Glenn Ecalne 22:15
I think the biggest key is I the feedback that I get from the students is, is that the examples that I use so real life scenarios, people losing their homes, when I would open accounts, when I was a banker, how I train every person that would come through, especially young people, how to use A check register and how to create a budget. And so when they graduate, they say, teaching is a thankless job, right? And so when you're in the moment and you're teaching these kids, it almost seems as if like information is just, I mean, we were on a high school at home, but the reward is later. The reward is later. It's definitely later. It's definitely later when they come back and say, I just bought my first house. I didn't put myself on a car payment. I bought my first car with cash. Or, you know, I have kids that have graduated eight years ago. I have, you know, almost six digits in my 401, K. I'm like, thinking, Man, I should have started earlier, that kind of stuff, right? Because the way I teach them, once they get the job, I sort of like you can either take my personal finance class and then my introduction to logistics or supply chain, but I do interject, inject some of my personal finance in my in my supply chain, which is because they need it, then they need that sort of like knowledge. But I teach the kids put at least 15 to 20% on your 401, k, right off the bat, you haven't developed your behaviors on how full time paycheck works. And if you'd want this to be your career, as your salary starts to increase, you're already your mindsets already 15 and 20% it's already defaulted. So there is an adjustment of where the hardest thing to do, I tell them is, you know, you're going to say, Oh, I'm going to do it later. And then life happens, and then you're not, you're not going to do the 15 to 20% but if you start off right out of high school, and you're getting the tuition reimbursement to go to college and you're already putting 15 20% those behaviors are ingrained in you. You can't make that change. You can go you can even take less out later on, if you want. But nobody's ever going to do that. You're going to live your life on a paycheck based off of 15 to 20% into your 401, K, and you're already winning. You don't even know, I always tell my kids, I'm going to, I'm going to be six feet deep by the time you reap the rewards of exponential gains of your 401, K, but you know, just come visit me and say thank you. I'll be gone though.
Mark Hiddleson 24:46
Yeah, buy me a Cadillac. No, I think that goes into the motivation to stick around for them too, like when you're invested. And a lot of companies like the first 401, I forget if. Was even called a 401, K was something like that. But there was a company match, and so they would match 50% of what you put in up to 6% so I automatically was like, Well, I'm putting 6% so they were matching it with three. So I had nine. I'm like, that's a no brainer, because on the 3% I'm doubling, and it's non taxable. And I had known those principles. I was 27 when I started doing that. I probably that. I probably learned about it when I was 18. Like that, I learned about I heard it, but I was 27 before I actually started doing the behavior. And there's a difference between a friend of mine, who was in Air Force, used to say, you know, you know what the difference between thinking and knowing is and it's like, no. And he said, Knowing is doing. It's like, Yeah, I know I should put No, I know that, yeah, but if you know it, it means you're already doing that. So you learn that kind of transfer. You saw something in the banking industry, and I think that's a missing I'm shocked at how many people don't I mean, we're not taught that in high school. No, I learned it in business or from other mentors.
Glenn Ecalne 26:11
So, so who 2000 2009 is when I left banking? So it was a big, it was a big pivotal point in US economy and a housing market crash. So I had a lot of instances of stories to share with my students, of, you know, people that are hard working and they happen to lose their their home based off of a bad, you know, the five one ARM, or a three one arm, and they didn't understand, like, your your payments gonna blow up. Like, after that five years is done, and if the interest rates aren't in your favor, then we're in trouble, yeah, so like, teaching those little nuances of somebody that's coming out of high school, and you know, I'm not, I'm not trying to scare them, but more of, like, educate them and like, these are some scenarios that you will face in life, that you're gonna have to make a decision a 15 year loan, if you can afford it, going on a 15 year loan. And if you purchase at 25 your house is going to be paid off at 40, and then you have no mortgage. Like, why would you put yourself on a 30 if it's to your advantage to do it? Like, all these little behaviors, I think, in the long run, are going to benefit these kids so much that they just don't understand just yet, because it's not the focus right now. But I mean, if you if you know, and you do, you'll get it. You'll get and you'll reach a handful of kids that have already implemented a, you know, 15, 20% contribution. They understand what the match is. They have ambitions to go to college, but they don't have the means, so they have to work and save money. So they leverage the companies that we work with about more than, like, nine out of 10 companies that we work with offer tuition reimbursement.
Mark Hiddleson 27:43
More about that, because it's I've been to a lot of industry events where they say, too many people, I don't know, because I'm going to paraphrase it the wrong way, but too many people are going to college, getting a general degree, and they come in the workforce. They don't have specialized training. But it's actually better model that if you can go right out of high school with some kind of specialized training, get a job, then if you've worked for company for a year or two years, and you're moving up in leadership, they'll pay for your education, right? That's what you're Yes, great. So,
Glenn Ecalne 28:15
yeah, we have, we have students that, you know, they, they go into entry level position, and they, you know, I want to be a computer programmer when I could study computer science and these companies, because it falls under the, you know, you can actually be a programmer for one of these large fortune, 500 companies. They'll pay for it, you know, it's and because it could be applied to supply chain and logistics and warehousing, you can be, I mean, I hired, when I was in ICQ pay, we hired a computer programmer to, sort of like work with our accounts, so create specified accounts, so we can lower our dpmo in our buildings. And so he would create a specified count where any SKU that was touched by inbound within a 24 hour period, my ICQ guys would touch it, or any SKU that was touched by an outbound, because errors are created by human they're human errors, right? And so, so we created these counts, and our dpmo dropped, and we were like one of the top ones in a network, when that worked within Amazon and everything was gravy. But going back to that point, like you can choose so many different careers that all we're trying to do is educate these students. Like you can go into mechanical engineering. You can go into industrial engineering for process improvement. You can go into, you know, you know our architecture and our construction management and be part of building these 1.5 million square foot facilities. So engineering, Amazon doesn't discriminate. They if you want to be a nurse, you can get tuition reimbursement for to get your nursing degree. And so there are some companies that don't necessarily have you doesn't have to benefit the company. We just. Have to seek them out and try to find the right avenue for our students.
Mark Hiddleson 30:04
That's awesome. And you mentioned, being a teacher is hard. So both my parents, my mom, was a teacher for 50 years, mostly Elementary. She was like, third, fourth, fifth grade, and I've had her on the podcast. It was awesome. She's always been passionate about helping people learn. She uses music a lot English as a second language. Because I grew up in Ripon, which is way far away from Patterson, 35 miles, but it's the same culture, and my mom taught there, so she was really good at she had a passion for teaching people with English as a second language. She used music activities ever. So she was really passionate. And then my dad was in business. My dad was a lot like you. He had a current sales, a career in computer sales, and he actually sold Pants Back in the day, back in the like, great kind of, like Hagar. It was a company called Farah, and I never liked it because I wanted to wear Levi's and because I wanted popular stuff. My dad worked for 501 I'm not gonna wear Farah. I'm like what people were. But he went into teaching later in his career, and he actually taught a similar he taught a class on entrepreneurship, and at a place called San Lorenzo High School. I forget the exact name of the program, but it had to deal with with being an entrepreneur. So that podcast was a lot of fun with my dad, and he shared some of the similar things that you were talking about, being accountable, integrity, being your word, showing up, being on time. But they were passionate. But I can see, I mean, even in business or coaching, or anything. It's like, how do you know when you've gotten through like, you see the language, and so what? Uh, so give us an example, like, share, share a success story where you know it have, like, said that the reward happens eight years later, right?
Glenn Ecalne 31:57
Um, we have multiple, like, ops managers in industry now, and so Jaime Chavez, for example, he took the route where he went straight to Stanislaus State, to major in supply chain logistics, did his four years, got out of industry, went to our job fair, made some connections, networked, just like you said, networking is important. And then landed a job with JB Hunt, which, you know, it's one of the largest transportation companies in United States. Yeah, and now he manages an outfit in Colorado. They paid for his moving moving expenses reimburse him that he's been there for the last little over a year now. So that's just one. And we have, you know, here locally, we have Leah sheets took a different route. She decided to, you know, go to JUCO route. They're paying CVS is paying for her college education right now. I think she's like, 19 units away from her bachelor's degree. And she's an area manager for IC, QA for them, or CVS, for CVS.
Mark Hiddleson 32:58
So CVS, they were one of the first ones to move to Patterson. They were there before, yes, we did projects for them back in the day,
Glenn Ecalne 33:07
as long as drugs back in the day. Yeah, yeah.
Mark Hiddleson 33:09
He used to be in Lathrop. I was there actually, when they moved from Lathrop, from Darcy Parkway and Lathrop to the they built the new bus. I've been around too long, three years, a long time.
Glenn Ecalne 33:24
Good time it is.
Mark Hiddleson 33:25
It's a lot of fun. So, so what about Sean? Is the Sean? Is it Sean Chow
Glenn Ecalne 33:31
Yes, Sean Chaudry, so he he's now working in HR for Grainger. And so he started off his entry level, entry level worker, general warehouse associate, and then he sort of just like, got cross trained in all the departments, and now he's working in HR. And so he's getting his bachelor's degree from Arizona State University and supply chain management, which is a 100% online program, and Granger's assisting with the with the payments on that. So cool. I love
Mark Hiddleson 34:03
that because I'm a big fan of education. Took me eight years to get my college degree, but the reason was, is I was working full time, and so people always laugh. They joke around, like, yeah, it took you eight years? Like, Oh, yeah. After eight years, I had a four year degree, but I also had eight years of work experience,
Glenn Ecalne 34:19
yeah? Plus, yeah. No debt, yeah. So I
Mark Hiddleson 34:24
did. I did. I actually when, when I got married, I was 27 I owed like 3700 bucks on a student loan. The payments were like 60 bucks a month, and we paid it off before we bought our house, because we needed that extra $60 to pay the mortgage and we needed it to qualify, but, yeah, that's not that much after after eight years. So So I love and so see your program solves a lot of the challenges that I think people complain about in the industry. So what other I only know? There's one other something similar in Bakersfield is, are there any other similar programs in
Glenn Ecalne 35:07
so Bakersfield and Fresno actually came to visit us to start their programming. So we were able to help them get their programs launched, get site, get some ideas. And so we're still in contact with Bakersfield. Mr. Moretti is out there, and so Fresno has that same sort of program as well. So do you
Mark Hiddleson 35:27
have ideas, or you have a passion, like, shouldn't this be spreading like wildfire? It
Glenn Ecalne 35:32
should? I think it's a great you know, especially in the large logistical hubs like Chicago, Atlanta, like these programs. I'm not sure how prevalent they are, but I believe we are one of the only ones that have all three facets. And so we do forklifts, like I said, forklift certification, the warehousing two years, and then our comm commercial truck driving program, and so that where that program is unique, also where they where our district pays for our students class a licensing after they graduate from high school. So we prep them for the pre trip inspection. Everything that's going to ask be asked of them when they actually take their behind the wheel, but once they get their permit. We we actually pay if they want to pursue to get their class A, we actually pay for him so they walk away with a Class A for free,
Mark Hiddleson 36:30
and he can make a great living. And that's a structural thing about the what is it? There's so many truck drivers just because of the age and the number of people are that, like so many that are retiring, age out, and then there's less people to fill those jobs. But there's an even bigger thing, like when I was 16, the day I turned 16, I was in line at the DMV. I got my license that day, my mom let me take my
Glenn Ecalne 36:55
friends. That's not happening now.
Mark Hiddleson 36:57
It's like 50% so yes, yeah. I'm in my 50s, and I've got everyone got their license. 16. You were down there. You know,
Glenn Ecalne 37:08
some you're like, that old Mervis commercial, like, open, open, open. Like, waiting to come crack over your knees, taking the test.
Mark Hiddleson 37:15
Yeah. But now, like this, 50% with some huge number, like, 50% of people don't have their license by the time they're 18. So the pool that compounds the problem that there's not as many people in that age group start with but only half of them have their license. So there's gonna be a shortage of driver there already is a shortage of
Glenn Ecalne 37:32
drivers. Yes, there is a driver shortage. And Dave Dyne, who teaches the class, he has a nonprofit called NextGen, so shout out to Dave dying and next gen that's trying to attack that. That's that issue. Specifically I'm trying to, you know, get young people interested in in the trucking industry, get them motivated. And I think David's doing a great job.
Mark Hiddleson 37:53
So it's good because it's a great career, especially when you're young. And, you know, companies like hunt, was that the one you mentioned, the big heavy hunt, yeah, and that's one of the biggest ones, but that's a great career, and there's so many things. It's not just driving a truck, and if they pay for you to go to school, and there's so many different aspects of that industry
Glenn Ecalne 38:18
we have, we have a handful of owner operators now that have graduated from our program, that have program that have their own businesses. We Walmart actually hired the their youngest driver to go interstate, interstate driver from from Patterson high. And so he's making, I think, over $120,000 a year. He just turned 21 turned 21 I'm like, What is going on? That's what I'm talking about.
Mark Hiddleson 38:46
Yeah, yeah. You put 15% of that away. That's 18,000 bucks a year. It doesn't take long before we're winning.
Glenn Ecalne 38:56
Yeah, yeah.
Mark Hiddleson 38:57
So, so those are some, some great success stories. I'd love to talk to Dave too, and we'll put a link to his LinkedIn account on the show notes, and I'll make sure his LinkedIn profile. And then I'd love an introduction as well. We can talk about that after, but share a little bit. Did you have either mentors or situations that you encountered personally that really motivated you to make a difference and and pursue
Glenn Ecalne 39:27
your career. I think the support that I had, you know Larry, Garcia and Dave dine had been in education prior to me walking into that, and they really, like helped me get past some of my mental block. And so there were times are like, what did I do? Like, I took a big cut, pulling at the last of my hairs out. But, yeah, they really got me through. And then my wife, also being in education for that long, they're really. The ones that motivated me and stick with it, and then I still am in contact with my high school track coach. He really inspired me just talking about no athletics and how that translates hard work. It's the basics of which should be taught. You know, I think it's a big piece that's missing. Like, hard work will always survive like you just put your head down what you alluded to earlier, at the beginning of the podcast, which your network of people surround yourself with people that are positive, that are going to get you to where you want to go, and just try to sort of trim the fat you run into somebody that you know is going to pull you down. You just gotta, you gotta make that decision and say, you know, this is not for me kind of thing, and not be rude about it, but like, yeah, work your way through this mess we call life, right? Yeah, yeah. So that's what we teach.
Mark Hiddleson 40:51
So Larry and Dave and then, how about being a first generation America? Are there things about your background and growing up that motivate
Glenn Ecalne 40:58
you? Um, my So, my dad, he, he joined the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. And so the United States was recruiting in the Philippines. So we actually joined the US Navy in the Philippines during the So, and he, he was a career man. So he stayed in the US Navy for 20 years. He was a machinist mate, and in his career, off with the Navy as a machinist made and he worked in the tech industry, because we grew up in Milpitas, so he worked for Seagate, the hard drive maker in their way for fabrication until he retired. But just watching my parents take now that I'm older now and understanding the dynamics of us living in America. So we lived in Bremerton, Washington, Honolulu, Hawaii, Alameda, so we had all these stops. But what I remember about my parents was that, you know, they were, we weren't well to do a well to do family, you know, blue collar worker entry level positions on the manufacturing lines, making testing wafers and stuff like that. And so I talk about that with my students, and I think this students make that sort of like connection, because, you know, it's almost the same thing, which is a different industry, like, you have migrant workers, right? That are working in the fields. It's not, you know, it's not a glorified job. It's hard work. And so, like, just being in sort of the same sort of environment, and being being able to speak to them about that, that's really just been my drive as an educator, is trying to get these guys like, hey, there's, you know, I'm, I might not be the brightest crayon in the Crayola box, but I do have some experiences that can help you out from a long term standpoint. And so that's, that's pretty much how I present, present,
Mark Hiddleson 42:53
yeah, and that's good. I mean, we need more gifted teachers. My daughter is actually, she just got her teaching credential this year, so she's going to be a teacher. So I'm like, yes, me, it's the greatest profession. I mean, it's what we need. It's like, that's what's affecting future generations. So thank you for for doing your part. And, yeah,
Glenn Ecalne 43:13
yeah, I love having all we can do is try mark. All we could do is try man, yeah. And
Mark Hiddleson 43:18
like I said, we want to be a good partner, industry partner. I love to speak with the kids. We'll I'll help you with the with the upcoming tours. What else? And I am, I'm going to put the video we, and we were playing with technology earlier, trying to see that video, because there's about a three minute video about your program that will put a link to it in the show notes. And I might even, I'll post it on LinkedIn. When I post this, this interview, but share something we only have a few minutes left. Is there any new technology that you're using? I like to ask the people, it could be anything simple, like we started using Slack a couple years ago for project management.
Glenn Ecalne 44:00
So what? Yeah, right now we're dabbling in educating the kids with drone technology, believe it or not, yes. And so CVS is one of our, one of our 28 industry partners. We have 20, and now it's weird for me to actually say that, because we started off with like five. Now we're up to 28 and so when we have our job here at the end of the year, like all these companies are there, trying to hire our students, but so drone technology CVS, they said that they were doing pilots and some of their network, network buildings for inventory control. So if you can imagine, like one one over 1 million square foot warehouse and you need to do an inventory spot check on a location across the building. Well, you're going to give somebody on a tour. It's going to, you know, those things aren't fast. They're like, slowly going. You're paying somebody to drive over there where you can just simply get a, you know, if it's a full pallet, full case pallets, get somebody drive over there. Have the, have the drone. Fly over the palette, do your simple count, and then you got your number right there, versus using all these other methods. And so what's nice is that the program that we're looking into is they'll also get FAA certified. And so if they wanted to start a business or something like that with photography or something like that, they can do that as well, just getting them to understand that whole piece of
Mark Hiddleson 45:20
Wow. So drone technology, and that's what that's probably been because I've heard of drone technology, even being tested out for last mile deliveries. Like,
Glenn Ecalne 45:29
yeah, so when I was working for Amazon, that was one of their biggest things. Like, they didn't do it in the United States. They started off in Canada, but I don't think it. I think they're there. They were trying to do it where within a 10 mile radius of a distribution center, they'd be able to make deliveries. But I don't think that ever transpired.
Mark Hiddleson 45:49
Yeah, no, it was like, I love, like, love going to industry events. Because you hear this stuff, you're like, you're imagining packages getting dropped on people, or what, like, all the things that could go wrong. You're like, wow, but this is they're really trying to do it. Yeah. So that brings me back. I wanted to shelf the the Kiva. So you were involved in the Kiva project for Yes, Amazon. The only reason I know about Kiva one of my best clients, David Smith. He was, like, my second or third podcast interview. I had him on here because he was with Toys R Us and Toys R Us had a Kiva, okay, system, and there were some interesting things that went on between Amazon and Toys R Us. I'll let everyone google it to see what happened in
Glenn Ecalne 46:29
2012 imma, look at that. But
Mark Hiddleson 46:34
Amazon bought Kiva. So Kiva is a technology. They're little. I call them robots. I think it's a good word for right now. But it'll pick up the shelving unit and bring it to the picker right so you have all these robots are basically picking up a shelving unit and delivering it to like a pick station, pack out station, whatever you want to call it. And they're really cool. And it's, yes, it's kind of basic technology.
Glenn Ecalne 46:58
Yeah, they're actually on a grid system, and everything that reads reads, they call them fiducials on the floor, and so they'll work in in the sort of like a grid pattern.
Mark Hiddleson 47:07
So what was your involvement in that? I mean, because David got another position at Owens and minor because they were using Kiva, but everyone kind of phased out Kiva because Amazon bought it, and then when they bought it, they say, Hey, look, we're only going to support this for x number of years. I forget what it was, but so I've helped two Kiva systems. That's how I remove, yeah, because they quit supporting it, and so okay, they just look, and now there's a lot. And when Kiva came out, they were the first one that I know. They were the first ones to have that. There's so many now. Then there's when you go to Promat. We go to, everybody has the little, it's just a little square with wheels that, right, takes a shelving and moves it into place. So what was your experience on the
Glenn Ecalne 47:50
install? It was challenging at times that we had to come up with a solution where the key robotics actually moved pretty fast. And so, you know, from a fishy standpoint, it's great because, like, a heat there's a heat model, you know, the next PS six comes out, and all the shelving units, they sort of like morph out, and they go outside of the perimeter, so that the travel time is not as as long. And so it's ever evolving. It's an ever depending on the algorithms and every evolving system. But the problem that we were having was that product was that product was actually falling off of the shelves when they would pivot so they would stop and they would fall off. And so we, we found out that there was, like 1000s of dollars of man hours that were being spent to retrieve product and try to figure its location. So I think we our solution was just put, like an elastic band up in the front and sort of solve the solve the issue. But it was, it was, it was a headache at the beginning, because our dpmo was not good, losing a lot of product,
Mark Hiddleson 48:49
yeah, and it's dangerous. You look at those other things, is moving fast, and like, you have to be outside of that grid, because, like, if you get, if you're in there, you're in arms, yeah? Those shelving, that's, like, they could move any direction at any time. Yeah, and it's pretty exciting, but it's fun to watch. So I'll have to put a Kiva video too, or I'll find a I'll have to get a robotic sponsor put their video on the show notes, because this is a cool thing for if you're interested in this business. I also, when you bring up your job fair, I gotta give a shout out to Sierra Pacific birdie Rodriguez. Birdieville powers other. They're both there on a regular basis. I've meant to go to that job fair several times. When is it? What time of year do you have more than
Glenn Ecalne 49:30
one? No, it's just one at the end of the year. So it's usually around April,
Mark Hiddleson 49:35
April. So I'll be on the lookout for the job fair, and then how what's the best way, or what would be the ideal thing for you? If somebody hears this podcast, they want to learn more, or they want to start their own program, what's a great place to start?
Glenn Ecalne 49:50
You can email me directly. It's Glennecalne@patterson.k12.ca.us, and you can just post it by posting a link on there. Or you can go to Paterson join Unified School District's website, and they're actually the link to the video should be on there as well, and then a description of all of our programs and what we offer to our students.
Mark Hiddleson 50:12
So I'll make sure that's on the show notes. We'll have your email, your LinkedIn profile, the Patterson School District, and we'll get the specific link that's about your program, and on the show notes, man, this has been awesome. I can't believe, as those were already out of time. I'm like, this is it's been a pleasure having I can't wait to learn more, be involved more, but I want to be the first to thank you for thank
Glenn Ecalne 50:39
you for having me. Yeah, it's been a great, great first time experience. I'm not afraid to do any another one after yeah,
Outro 50:47
thanks for listening to The Tao of Pizza Podcast. We'll see you again next time, and be sure to click Subscribe to get future episodes.
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