“The strength of a small community is knowing each other, and stepping up when someone is going through a hard time.” Liz Ferris learned this important lesson when her father got sick, and the entire town of Milton, Indiana came together to make sure his crops were brought in on time. She has taken that lesson into her life working with young people as a career coach, helping them to understand themselves better and discover where they belong. It has also helped her connect more effectively with those in the county who are from different backgrounds, knowing she must be willing to listen and learn. Listen as Liz speaks about these issues and more with host Kate Jetmore, on the latest episode of the Western Wayne News podcast. Enjoy!
Transcript
Liz Ferris: I am Liz Ferris and I’m a career coach.
Kate Jetmore: From Civic Spark Media and the Western Wayne News in Wayne County, Indiana, I’m Kate Jetmore. As a native of Richmond, Indiana, I’m excited to be sitting down with some of our neighbors and listening to the stories that define our community.
My guest today is Liz Ferris, who grew up on a farm just outside of Milton, Indiana, and graduated from Lincoln High School. After living and working in the Indianapolis area for a few years after college, she returned to her hometown and resides a mile from the farm where she was raised. She is currently a regional career coach for the East Central Educational Service Center and previously worked for over two decades at Indiana University East and with Greater Richmond Young Life. She is grateful for the big hearts found in small towns and values the character and strength of small communities.
Welcome, Liz. I’m so glad you could join me on this show today.
Liz Ferris: I am glad to be here, Kate.
Kate Jetmore: Well, I’d love to start at the beginning, if you don’t mind. Would you tell us about the farm where you were raised?
Liz Ferris: I would love to talk about that. It’s a big part of my foundation. We had a farm. My dad farmed. When he got married, he and my mom moved to the farm. It was owned by my grandfather, as well. It was about 400 acres. I believe they planted about 200 of those acres, corn and soybeans. We had some livestock. We had quite a bit of woods, and we still do.
You never knew what a day was going to bring. It was unending adventure. My friends growing up loved to come over. We had horses for a while. I never knew what an 8 to 5 job was. Actually, I didn’t realize that until I was older that the 8 to 5 job was foreign. As a farmer, when you have livestock, it’s 24/7, yeah, 7 days a week.
But I really appreciated the values and the life lessons, birth and life and death and how rain or lack of rain can affect the harvest in a given year. And I just really appreciate the values and the agricultural community in which I was raised.
Kate Jetmore: What exactly did your dad do on the farm? I mean, was he involved with both the crops and the livestock? I mean, was he taking care of whatever came up?
Liz Ferris: Yes, he was, and it was a small farm. Now, you don’t see as many small farms unless they’re just hobby farms on the side, but it was our… I mean, it was our income. It was our living.
And he did everything. I mean, he did a lot of the repairs. He had to learn a little bit about everything, welding, electricity, and decisions about money. Your income wasn’t always automatic. You had to wait sometimes half a year before you got a return on the investment, so to speak.
Back when I was growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, it was a time where you did business on a handshake, and you helped neighbors out. So, yeah, he was responsible. I had two older brothers and a twin brother, and we helped out as possible. My mom helped out as possible. She stayed more close to the house and did gardening and was a nurse part-time, as well.
Kate Jetmore: I think you and I are about the same age, so I’m guessing that your parents are both retired. What is going on with the farm now? Is it still in the family?
Liz Ferris: Yeah. That’s a great question. Actually, in 1986, my dad was diagnosed with leukemia, and for about six months, our family had to make some decisions about treatment. He was 49 years old, and that was about the limit of when you turn 50, they wouldn’t even do a bone marrow transplant. But he actually went in into an Indianapolis hospital in October of that year for a bone marrow transplant, and that changed everything about our lives.
Now, my mom actually still lives on the farm, and we have farmed it, but my dad, in fighting his illness, succumbed to that. He died in December of 1986, and it really changed everything. We sold a lot of our equipment. Someone else has farmed the farm all of these years, and we’ve had a farm manager.
But that was probably one of the biggest, most impactful times for many reasons. But one of the reasons, and I believe part of the reason why I’m back in the community today, is I was 14 years old, and my dad got the call to go to Riley for the bone marrow transplant. And he was not through the harvest season yet. It was mid-October, and he really wanted to finish getting the crops in, but he knew he had to get this treatment to save his life, or at least to try to save his life.
And so the beautiful story, and I don’t have time to share all of it, but one of his closest friends who was on the 1954 Milton Sharpshooters team that beat Richmond in the tournament, a lot of people who are from that era, remember this, Bob Bohlander organized… He was the banker actually, but he organized over… I think it was 35 or more area farmers and volunteers. And in a day, basically, they harvested the rest of our crops.
The original date got rained out. And as I recall, they had to reschedule for October 29th, which was the day that my dad received his bone marrow transplant.
Kate Jetmore: Wow.
Liz Ferris: So, while he was having this potentially life-saving procedure, a lot of farmers and volunteers and women, who actually made the meal at the local church, got together and harvested the rest of our crops.
And that is something that I could never repay, as a 14-year-old kid. And just seeing that and seeing these people, who loved my family and loved my dad give up time and energy and resources to do that, is something I will never forget and my family will never forget.
Kate Jetmore: How did that affect you, Liz? Do you feel like that experience became part of the fabric of who you are and how your life has unfolded?
Liz Ferris: It absolutely has. I will never forget the people, the neighbors. Actually, we still have a photo album that has signatures of all the people who ate lunch that day. It’s, I think, 50 different signatures of people, and many of whom have passed away by now.
But it reminds me that that is the strength of a small community, is knowing each other and stepping up when someone is going through a hard time. It definitely gave me an early definition of what community really is and what family really is. And I think especially when you are the recipient of an act of love like that, you really could truly never repay. I mean, I can pay it forward and I can give of my time, but at a time when our family was just in a really hard place, to know that people were willing to do that has impacted me and really developed a deep love for my community, even the hard stuff, but a deep love for my community.
Kate Jetmore: Yeah. I’m also going to guess that part of the energy of that day and part of the incredible value of that act of generosity is that I’ll bet none of those people expected any of you or your family to repay them.
Liz Ferris: They did not. Actually, a fun story a few years later, when I was in college, because I love outdoor work even though I don’t necessarily do it as a job, and I mowed yards for two summers in a row, six days a week in the summers. And the person I mowed for, Jiggs Bertsch, was a retired farmer in the area. I didn’t even realize at the time, but a few years later I looked, and he was one of the volunteers. He drove a truck that day, and there’s a picture of him in our photo album from that day.
But I got to spend two summers with him, just hanging out with a retired farmer, and it felt like hanging out with my dad.
Kate Jetmore: Aw.
Liz Ferris: He knew a lot of the same people. So, it’s been neat over the years to know them as adults, the ones who were there for us. But yeah, just knowing we never could repay it. No.
Kate Jetmore: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Well, we made reference in your bio, and you also mentioned that you’ve returned to the community. You are currently a regional career coach for the East Central Educational Service Center. What does your job entail?
Liz Ferris: Well, Kate, I have spent the last month learning that. I’ve not been in the role for very long, and I’ve been on a really fast learning curve, but it has been wonderful. To break it down, Indiana has recently put into legislation some career coaching requirements of K-12 and introducing students to the workplace, what they need to have to be able to go into the workplace, and even if it means further education after high school.
You’ve seen in the state a lot of career coaches being hired by individual schools and school systems. And working here at the center, I’m on a team. There are three of us. We are working with an experience called Forge Your Future. It’s basically introducing students to the Holland Code, which we call it RIASEC. It stands for R-I-A-S-E-C, which is realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional, and it’s this idea.
I was familiar with the Holland Code, but I’ve not seen it in this RIASEC form where you’re actually bringing students into… We have actually six classrooms here at the center where students get to experience each of those themes from the Holland Code. There are some themes that students are like, “This is not me at all.”
We’ve got a really hands-on room, the realistic room. We’ve got rooms that are social focused. But just to see them experience and realize that there are things that they gravitate toward, and we let them do some exploration. We don’t give them an assessment that tells them what, that we let them experience and get their hands on things to realize, “Oh, these are careers or activities that I am drawn to or that I’m really good at.” It ties in with their values and their interests and their personalities.
So, as a career coach here at the Center, we are not only providing that experience here, we are developing a mobile unit that can go into some of our farther counties that are further out from the center. And then also just working with and supporting the 14 counties, the school districts that are members of our center and supporting them in these, whether it’s we’re bringing something to them or giving them ideas. We do a lot of training through the center and bring people in.
Right now, that’s what I’ve been doing the last month. I think we’ve had close to 900 students come through since the beginning of October.
Kate Jetmore: Wow.
Liz Ferris: And I believe we will have at least 1,500 students by the end of the school year who have come to the center and gone through what we call the RIASEC or the Forge Your Future experience.
Kate Jetmore: Yeah. And where is the center, Liz?
Liz Ferris: It is actually located on the southeast side of New Castle. Those who are from Henry County may remember the Sunnyside Elementary School building, and that is where we are. We share space with the adult education program as well, but we have a big chunk of the building and one big long hallway where all six of those RIASEC classrooms are.
Kate Jetmore: Okay. You helped us understand what the acronym stands for, and there happened to be six letters in that acronym. Are you saying that each classroom is dedicated to each of those six things?
Liz Ferris: Yes, it is, and they all have their own color. I know we’re talking verbally, but I wish I could paint a picture and show you. When you walk in a classroom, you see pictures on the wall of people doing careers that are associated with that theme, and you’ll see words on the wall that actually represent careers that people do. It’s pretty liberal as far as what that includes. It really gives students a good visual in addition to them doing various activities that fit with those rooms.
Kate Jetmore: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I’m curious as to how old the kids tend to be and how long the experience lasts for them.
Liz Ferris: Yeah, so we focus on primarily middle school students. We’ve had a lot of sixth and seventh graders. Tomorrow, we actually have a group coming from Blue River, and I believe those are going to be eighth and ninth graders. Our activities, though, are geared more towards middle school-
Kate Jetmore: Okay.
Liz Ferris: … but what I’ve been learning is the whole RIASEC focus starts actually with even pre-K or transitional kindergarten.
I know that some people think, “Well, why would you start that early?” But if you think about it, at that age, you’re really just wanting students to think about themselves. What do you like to do? Do you like to draw? Do you like to help people? Do you like to work with your hands? Would you rather be outside? So, I think just helping students better understand themselves and that there is a place for them.
What they’re saying is RIASEC gives school systems and people just a common vocabulary, and I’ve seen it with my own eyes, but it helps students realize that there is a place for them in the world. And just because you don’t like to do something that your brother or sister or neighbor does, doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with you. It just means there might be a different route for you.
So, it really is about opening up possibilities. One of the students that came through couple of weeks ago had mentioned… They were asking, “What are your ideas about jobs or workplace or career?” And he said something like, “Well, everybody hates their job.”
Kate Jetmore: Oh.
Liz Ferris: I don’t know his story. I don’t know, but I thought it could be true. It could be that he comes from a family where maybe they haven’t enjoyed the work that they do.
There is an element of privilege when you talk about… I was actually just talking to the director this morning, when you hear career, sometimes I feel like that can come from a place of privilege versus a job. What I would say is what we’re doing here, and what I think Indiana is trying to do with this whole career pathway is to help students realize that it doesn’t matter where you come from, what privilege you have or do not have, you can get an education, you can get a K-12 education or equivalent and get either the training that you need to do something that will help you make a difference or that will be meaningful to you.
Because we don’t assume that everybody has the same value when it comes to work. I learned that at the college level, working with college students. But I think just helping them better understand, what do I have to offer? What do I need to get better in? And what might be something that I would enjoy doing for 30 years?
Kate Jetmore: Right. Right. What really stands out for me is that you are very specifically working with young people, and some are very decidedly children, when you talk about preschool, when you talk about kindergarten. And young people are a key part of any community. In fact, they’re the future of any community. What is it like to guide young people or accompany young people through that process of discernment?
Liz Ferris: Well, one thing I have learned, Kate, and this comes from a wide variety of experiences in my life. It comes from a brief practicum at a domestic violence shelter, as part of my college education, working in residential treatment with teenagers who, most of the time, have been in trouble with the law, to young life ministry where you are going out and meeting kids, sometimes what I would call the farthest out kid, meeting them where they are, earning the right to be heard.
Kids, especially teenagers, can see through a lack of transparency very quickly, and they want to see the real deal. So, I have just learned a lot just through the people in my life, and what I have found is love over judgment every time. If you can truly love another human being… And love you, in a public school setting, “Oh, wait, are we allowed to say that?” But, you know, you can love-
Kate Jetmore: Yeah.
Liz Ferris: … right, in action, love kids, love students. So, if they know that you are genuinely interested in them and love them and care about them, they will trust you.
I think guiding students through that is just getting them to think about things that perhaps they have not thought about before. I think about that with even just emotional intelligence, you know, and how they navigate-
Kate Jetmore: Yeah.
Liz Ferris: … through life and respond to things. But I think, too, working with middle school and high school students and even college students over the years, a lot of times they don’t understand, “Why do I need to take this speech class? Why do I need to do my math homework? Why do I…” And helping them understand that it really is developing their thinking, helping them develop new skills that they will be able to take into the workplace, or into a family situation, or a volunteer situation down the road.
I enjoy it. I love the aha moments. I mean, just even recently in the center, watching these middle school kids go through the RIASEC experience, we give them a survey at the end and get their feedback. And it really is a lot of light bulb moments where students think that they’re limited to certain things and then they realize, “I’ve never thought about this before. I might want to consider this.” And one of the questions we ask them is, “How can you find out more information about this?” and to get them thinking, “I can research it online. I can try to find somebody who does this type of career, type of job.”
So, I love it. And most of the time when I’ve been, whether it’s a middle school student or a college student, seeing them learn more about themselves gives them a level of confidence to make decisions for what’s next. And, of course, when we’re with middle school students, we’re talking about, “Hey, you’re going to be creating a graduation plan, and you’re going to be deciding the classes that you’re going to take the next few years.” And this is something that will help them think through, “What might be classes or directions that I need to go,” and talking to their guidance counselor about.
Kate Jetmore: Right. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like, and in many cases, maybe for the first time in their life, you’re really showing them that they have agency, you know-
Liz Ferris: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Kate Jetmore: … that they are the center of their own lives as they take the next step toward adulthood. I can also imagine, given some of the things you shared, that it can be really difficult. For in your role, depending on the kid and depending on the circumstances, it can be very demanding and very draining. So, where do you find your hope and your inspiration?
Liz Ferris: Well, I love that question. What’s most important to me is my faith. It is something that has, and not even just gotten me through, but it forms how I view other human beings. In my worldview, they are created in the image of God, and that is such a precious, precious thing.
I’ll just share, my faith background is Christian, but I know that in this world today, that term can create a lot of anger and sadness for people based on experiences they’ve had. And I prefer to say I am a follower of Jesus because of how he lived and loved and the example that he set. So, for me, getting up every day knowing that there is a purpose for my life and knowing that I have the opportunity to love people, even the hard-to-love people, in his name. That is the foundation.
Obviously, I’ve worked in the public sector for a long time, so it’s not something that I necessarily always proclaim verbally to others, but is absolutely growing up in a small town in a church that wrapped around my family during that time with my dad. And going to British Columbia with a group of young life kids, and hiking up a mountain, and spending a week with them, and hearing each of their life stories, there is nothing I love more than that is to hear stories and to meet people where they are, regardless of whether they believe what I believe or not. Every human being has value. That’s my foundation and the view of the world for me.
Kate Jetmore: Yeah, I actually really appreciate you bringing that dynamic into our conversation. We are living in a period of time in our country, and I think our county of Wayne County is a reflection of the country, where there are many points of division, and there also are many points of connection. What do you have to say about those two opposing dynamics when it comes to Wayne County, which is the county that we’re focused on here at the newspaper and on the podcast? What’s your perspective when it comes to how different parts of the county connect and how they might differ?
Liz Ferris: Kate, there are areas where we do really well, and there are areas where I feel like we haven’t made much movement in decades. I say this as someone who grew up on a farm in Western Wayne County in a very white Christian community, just by nature of that. Now, I will say this, my dad did not always… I mean, he lived, he was stationed in the military in the south and was raised by a Quaker family. That in itself brought some very significant values to my upbringing in how you view other people.
My mom grew up all over the world. She grew up in a military family and had lots of experiences. So, it’s not like she always lived in Western Wayne County, as well. I say that because as I have examined my views on religion and race and all the things, politics, the things that divide us, I realize how important that foundation was, and, of course, combined with my faith foundation.
And it’s interesting because I will tell you one of the most profound experiences I had was the summer I did my practicum in college. I went to a private college, and that alone feels like privilege. It is privilege. It was predominantly a white college. In higher ed, we talk about PWIs, predominantly white institutions.
And that summer, I worked at Genesis Shelter in Richmond, and I worked with a crew of some of the most amazing women I have ever met. They gave me three months of their lives, and they were women of color, identified as African-American. And they had every reason to look at me and say, “Ugh, what is she doing here?” And I will tell you, they embraced me and loved me and let me into their lives. I can’t even describe.
I mean, that was the beginning of such a pivotal time in my life to realize that sometimes we have to seek out opportunities to get to know someone who has a very different background, perhaps a different way of living than we do. But we have to be willing to be uncomfortable and be willing to humble ourselves and realize that there’s a lot that we don’t know, and it can be scary.
But what came of that summer… And I could go on and on, and we don’t have time for that, of just other experiences.
Kate Jetmore: I wish we did.
Liz Ferris: I think about the people who hired me at IU East and were from the Black community in Richmond. And, again, I asked questions, but they were willing to share with me what it was like to grow up in Richmond in the 1950s and ’60s. And we’re not so far. And here we are, you and I are actually talking on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which I find very significant.
I say that to say, even within the faith community, there is still… We’re very divided, but what I want to say is it is in Wayne County where I have had the most profound experiences of getting outside of my comfort zone. And truly, it’s about other people. It’s about other people being willing to love me and embrace me in my ignorance and sometimes bias that I’m unaware of and educating me on things.
I try really hard every day, if not every year, to learn more about, I mean, even the indigenous people, for example, of Indiana. I mean, I live on a farm. We always have been very proud about owning land, and now I say it very differently than I used to. I realize that this land in some… maybe not legally belong to other people, but it belonged to a group of people that are a beautiful people, who have a very hard history here.
I don’t know if I’m exactly answering your question. I would say anytime that you can get in a room with people, or get in a house, or a church, or a boardroom with someone who has walked a different life, be willing to ask questions, be willing to truly listen, I think we would all be a little bit further down the road.
Kate Jetmore: I agree with you. I actually think part of what I hear you saying is that that is possible in your home county of Wayne County because people care about the community so much that they’re willing to have that conversation with someone else from the community, you know.
Liz Ferris: Mm-hmm.
Kate Jetmore: That might not be possible in a place that maybe isn’t your hometown or your home county, where you’re not working for that same connection that would serve the community. Would you agree with that, Liz?
Liz Ferris: Yes, I would. Again, I’ve been blessed to be a part, like being a part of the 21st Century Scholars program, the support site here and working with families. And to be a part of the Scholars program, it is based on family size and income. So, it allowed me to build relationships with families who had different experiences in some ways than I did, but shared beautiful things with me about their values. And I was able to help them with the college access piece of it. But I think that’s the thing is just I had these opportunities given, but being able to take advantage of those. And it really does take being uncomfortable and being humble.
Kate Jetmore: Yeah. Well, I thank you so much, Liz, for not only doing that, doing what you’re describing, but being as generous as you are to sit down with me today and share your experience. So, thank you so much for joining me. I loved learning more about you, and I look forward to hearing more about what’s in store in the future.
Liz Ferris: Thank you, Kate. And I love that you’re still a part of the Wayne County community and tell these stories for all of us to hear. Thank you.
Kate Jetmore: Thank you, Liz.