🎙️ Ep. 15: Say Yes to What Scares You with Jess Boyce

What This Episode is About

In this episode of The Bridge, Cate sits down with former middle school math teacher turned nonprofit leader Jess Boyce, whose career has been shaped by one guiding principle — say yes to what scares you. Jess shares how starting a tech magnet program transformed her teaching and led her to a dream role with Flipgrid, connecting educators around the world.

After facing a layoff, she found new purpose at Endless, a nonprofit teaching video game design to underrepresented youth, proving that each “yes” can open unexpected doors. Together, Cate and Jess reflect on community, courage, and the power of authentic relationships to carry educators through change. It’s an inspiring reminder that growth often begins on the other side of fear.

Meet Our Guest

Jess Boyce has been in the education space for the past 17 years, ranging from math teacher to community engagement manager and everywhere in between. Her passion is all about leading with love and doing what's best for student engagement, safety, and inclusion. She currently works as the Partnerships and Operations Lead for Endless Access, a nonprofit unlocking creativity, confidence, and digital skills through game making.

🔗 Jess on LinkedIn

Key Takeaways

• Growth happens when you lean into fear — saying yes to uncomfortable opportunities can unlock your next chapter.
• Jess said yes to launching a tech magnet at her school, which led her to discover EdTech, join Flipgrid, and eventually pivot into a nonprofit teaching video game design.
• Stop taking work home and start prioritizing rest — your students need the version of you who’s energized and present, not exhausted.
• Connection is everything. Jess’s journey shows how authentic relationships and community can catch you when career paths shift and help you find purpose beyond the classroom.

Resources & Mentions

• Endless Access - About Us
• Endless Access - Current Programs 
• Endless - Educator Channel on Discord
• Jess's Little Bit of Everything Playlist

Transcript

Cate Tolnai (she/her): oh, hi Jess.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Hello. Hi.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): It is so nice to see you this day,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): too.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): And welcome you to The Bridge. Jess Boyce, you have a rich, wonderful, fabulous story that that I think has layers that we're gonna discover today. And so we're just gonna, we're just gonna start peeling back that onion. But let's start with just letting people know.

Like what, what you're doing now, who you are. Your bio will be in the show notes, so you don't have to like go through the whole spiel, but like, you know, as it relates to like, education and, and educators, so.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Awesome. Yeah. Hi everybody. I'm Jess Boyce. I am a programs and operations manager at an organization called Endless. This was not planned. I happened to wear this shirt today. So we are a nonprofit that teaches video game design specifically to underrepresented communities. So big focus in Latin America and the Middle East in underserved communities in the us.

So

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh my God.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): really cool.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Can we just talk about that for 30 minutes please? Like what?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Right. Yeah. It's, it's a really cool place to be. We kind of look at like, you know, how students learn, how they engage and obviously. Who doesn't love video games? So we kind of take that approach to it, but it's not specifically like just coding.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): we look at all of the other things, storytelling and art and collaboration and

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): And really the, the premise there is to close the digital divide. So super, super excited to be on this team. I am a former educator, which sounds weird to say because once an educator,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Right,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): So I guess I can't really

Cate Tolnai (she/her): right.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): But yeah, we'll, we'll get to all that. But my journey has led me here and it's been such an awesome thing.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): So when you were in the classroom, what did you teach and how long were you there? You were in middle school.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): middle school. So I know usually when I say middle school people are like, Ooh.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I'm a middle school teacher.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): and then when I say math, they're also like, Ooh. So I had a, a double whammy. But I was in the classroom for about 10 years and it was the absolute joy of my life. Middle schoolers are so weird in the

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh, in the best way. Like, that's what I say too. So I, I taught 10 years too in middle school, one year high school, and then nine years middle school. And then but yeah, I used to say like seventh graders were my favorite because like,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Yes,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): sweet little, they're, they're mean and awkward and like still little and like, so don't wanna be little that I'm just like,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Yeah,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I got you.

I got you.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): right. Seventh grade was absolutely my favorite thing to teach too, because I feel, to your point, like they're so sweet, especially when they walk in on the first day, like they are clearly still elementary schoolers, even though they've been in middle school for a year. And then just the, the growth that you see take place over a year is like, never seen

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Right.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): it.

And so it just always made me like. Oh my gosh. I know people cringe at that age level, but I'm like, I can't believe I get to be a part

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): while they're figuring it out. And they're lanky and weird and

Cate Tolnai (she/her): totally.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I am, the cooler I

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yep. Yep. Which is actually a really great sub segue to what's your weird, what's, like what,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Oh

Cate Tolnai (she/her): what's your weird, that's a, that's a weird question, but what's your, what's your education? Weird, Jess.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I mean, I guess probably my life weird too is that I am one of those people that has a song for every single sentence that

Exists. So my students were to me singing at them. I was just talking the other day. I had a student named Jagger the same year that moves like Jagger came out and I was so obnoxious and I couldn't stop, and I had to sing to him every every day. And I had a student named Fancy when. I'm so

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Hi.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): you know, and I'm like, I'm so sorry that I can't stop. But I mean,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): good.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): me happy.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): That's so good.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): probably my weird, and it has carried over into into

Cate Tolnai (she/her): So you must have some pretty pretty amazing playlists. Maybe may, maybe

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): we'll have to throw some in the show notes.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Yeah, for sure. It's a little all over the place, but yeah, we

Can attach the link below.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): for sure, for sure. Okay, so, so you taught 10 years in the classroom which was, how long ago, when were you in the classroom?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): so I was in the classroom until 2018.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Okay, and so then in 2018, well pick us up there. Classroom happened and then where'd you go?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Yes. So well pre before that even. So as the classroom was happening, I had the absolute privilege to start a tech magnet within the school that I was

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh wow.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): so that kind of like really plays a factor into my shift in life. But so. am very much a person that tries things that scare me and things that I don't think I'll be good at because I just wanna see what happens. And so I always, like, I never, ever would've considered myself a tech person. It was, you know, I a long time to get an iPhone and all of these things, and I, I remember. I was, they were starting this magnet and I was like, ah, no, no. Like I'm used to sharing an iPad cart with three other

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): and every once in a while we'll do a Kahoot or something like that.

Right. And then they were like, no, like, we think you'd be good for this. And I just, I was like, okay, it sounds terrifying. Let's do it. And it like. Unlocked this whole thing in me, right? And I was like, wait a second, this is where I fit. This is like something that I'm thriving in. And so one of those things was I ended up using Flipgrid in the classroom.

I was a huge Microsoft person anyway you know, just started doing trainings on it and like fell in love with all this stuff because it was a one-to-one magnet. And then I started going to conferences and I started just getting like, oh my gosh, this world, what is this? And I fell in love with teaching teachers.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): And so I started using Flipgrid a lot and I felt like it changed everything in my classroom. Having, seeing the ways that students could talk to one another and like exp express their mathematical thinking in different ways was like. So unbelievable. And I'm a yapper and so that I'm excited about, I'm gonna tell to everyone that walks past me. And so that kind of led to like me being an ambassador and all of

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): And then I was fortunate enough to get hired by them. And I worked with them for like five and a half, almost six years. Just running community and professional development and just on teachers. We

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I know you've had Ann and on, we always say we were teachers, helping teachers,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): my gosh.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): which is like the joy of my life,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Totally.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): So we're kindred spirits in that, like that, that definitely like, like makes me tick, like my, my, my heartbeats for educators for sure. Especially like, especially like the ones that are just coming out of credentialing programs or ones that are just in the classroom. And, and that's part of where the bridge came from is just like me noticing that there's so many educators that have been in it for 2, 3, 4 years that are like, not.

Full, like their hearts are empty and they're not getting refilled and like there's confusion and kinda some chaos. And so it's like, well, what can we do to like breathe a little bit more life into them? And maybe a few stories could help. And so.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): that.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah. So, okay. You are, you are ambassador, you are doing all these things.

You work at, you work at Flip, and now you're doing video game design for underserved youth. So how, let's, let's turn that page.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): So you know, working in tech is volatile and,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I got laid off,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): as the entire Flipgrid team

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): and, know, and it was devastating

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): course, because that was my, my dream job.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): it's really funny because I always, the teaching was also my dream

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah. Exactly.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): turns out is also my dream job.

So basically I'm just happy with whatever,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): there's a thread of education throughout it. So I got laid off and it was like really sad, but I was actually at FETC when it happened.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): so that was.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Really weird, but also really good because I like took my time, I had my little like me moment and then I was like, hold on a second. My entire network, it's, it always

Cate Tolnai (she/her): it's right.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): right? I'm

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): is in this building.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): are the people that are going to catch me. And so.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I like, took my hour or whatever, and then I just went into the expo hall and just started talking to

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): and like, know, I, talking actually just a couple days ago with Za and I was talking about that moment and how like when something happens like a layoff, you feel so, even though I knew it wasn't personal, there was 2000 people that got laid off that day.

It still felt like. Oh, I'm not good enough.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): But then to have immediately one hour later have all of these people who were like, oh my gosh, we would love to have you on our team. It was like instant validation, like just brought right back to me. Yeah. And so it was like, okay, can do this. Like, it was just, the timing was so good because it made me realize that I was gonna be okay. So this job opened up and, in the same way of when I went to the technology magnet, I was like, I don't know if I can do that. That sounds hard. That sounds a little outside of my comfort zone because mainly it was so my role's a little bit different now than it was then, but it was operations, but it was on the learning team.

So the, the team that builds all of the curriculum. But it was like making sure all of the little things are, are in place and. Organization is not my specialty.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Interesting.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): right? Yeah. If you could see the amount of post-it notes on my desk right now or tabs I have open and other on my other screen. You would, you would get it. But I was like, you know what a, a challenge, right? And as I was interviewing and I'm like through things and I was like, wait, turns out I have done operations before. It turns out I've been doing that for a long time. And I think that, so not only with Flip, but I think that that's a really thing about educators is like. do so many things under the guise of like just education, right? So we have this like really, really robust skillset that we don't necessarily hone in on all the time. And so as I was talking about it and I was like, oh, hold on, I can do this. This will be great. And don't get me wrong, there was a huge learning curve, but. It's amazing and you know, I think is like, do I want to be an operations manager at any old company? No, absolutely not. Because this is still, this is still my heart. This is still education. I still get to go to classrooms and,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yes.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): kids and, and work with teachers. But it was a really unique challenge for me and so constantly looking to grow and get better at different things.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Well, and now I understand why you've been traveling so much, right?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Yes, yes.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Because 'cause I, I do I do pay attention on the socials and I get to see all the places you go and I'm like, that girl is bouncing, so,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Yeah, I've been home almost for like two months now, and

Cate Tolnai (she/her): wow.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): oh my gosh, I don't

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): with myself. This

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): So, operations is a part of it, but then the other part of my role is partnerships. And anyone that has ever met me knows that I've never met a stranger, and that relationships are the most important thing to me. Across the board anywhere. And so when they were like, Hey, we're thinking that you would be a good fit for making these relationships, I was like, ah, yeah, I think so.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): great. I love, I love that. You know, and so I do, I, I travel a lot. And that is meeting with different organizations at all different levels and just having conversations about what our curriculum is, which is completely free.

It is, you know, we're a nonprofit and, and helping them. So it's like. have the initial conversation in order to talk about the curriculum, and then I do the operations part.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): we're gonna do it, then I make sure it actually happens. But so it's like, it's just really great because this is something that I think is really unique, but I'm also pretty passionate about, and I love getting to go, go places and, and talk to people about how maybe we can bring something that'll make a difference to their schools.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I mean, you just, you're so authentically, you, you authentically connect with people and like, that's one of the things that I've always admired about you, like, like this is, so, I feel really lucky to just even have a concentrated amount of time to just chat with you because kind of like with Jne, like, like when when I talked with her I.

I was like, I've known you, but I've never gotten to like, know you. And so That's right. And that's so, it's

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): one drive,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yes,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): El Centro

Cate Tolnai (she/her): exactly.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): that one time, and that's it.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): That was it. And,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): it's just in passing. Uhhuh.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): right. But, but I have always admired that about you and, and the relationships you build. And I think like, like, and I wanna, I wanna take us back to that moment when you said yes to opening up the tech magnet.

And like, that seems to me like, like that would be a huge leap. Did that be, was that an administrative position or were you still in the classroom when you were doing that?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I was still in the classroom. I

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Okay.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): And I was, so I had been seventh grade strictly,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yep.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): it dropped down to sixth because they wanted to do the first year, sixth, and then sixth, seventh, sixth, seventh, eight. As it grew.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Got it.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): And I kept holding off. I was like, no, I'll do it when it comes to seventh. And they were

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): no, we think that you should do it now.

And I was like, but I, but I don't wanna teach sixth grade, you know?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): And then I did it.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I mean, and that theme, that seems to be a theme with you, like, like, I'm gonna just say yes and see what happens. And I think that, that, that could actually be. Like, like if you think back to like when you were in year three or four in the classroom, like would you, were, were you always this person that said yes or did that have to, did you have to arrive at that place?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I've always been somewhat of a risk

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): but I don't know that I always would say yes, but that has definitely been like a theme of my life for the last, I don't know, at least decade. Because like, I don't know, I'm kind of like, well, what's the worst that could

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah. Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): some people use that as a reason to say

Cate Tolnai (she/her): right.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I've been using it as a reason to say yes, and it's just opened me up to so many incredible experiences.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): And it's just like, oh my God, like that.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): tombstone. Just

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah. Just say yes.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): yeah, because it really has been yeah, I've always taken risks when it, especially professionally, but when, I

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): back to the classroom, I was still very like worksheet and, you know, all of those kinds of things and it just took some time to, to realize that different isn't bad.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): and I think that, I don't know if, if, if it's. Because there's so many competing priorities for educators. But I, I do. And now with ai, which we haven't even talked about, but like the whole, the whole influx of AI in the classroom, like, it makes me think, like you saying, oh, I mean, I still used, I, I still used worksheets, like yeah, we still have to use our curriculum.

And you didn't wake up on day one being like, I'm gonna rip this apart and like do my own thing. You know? And I think that.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): eventually,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): did. You did As did I. But but it took a beat. It took a beat. And, and I don't, I just wanna make sure, like educators also understand that too, that like, you just don't have to do it all at the very beginning.

Like you, especially like it's about survival. Like you're dealing

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Yep.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): so many different competing factors and you're taking care of these kids, you're taking care of yourself, hopefully. And so how ho well.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): really needs to be

Cate Tolnai (she/her): There we go.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Right.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Don't get me started on the importance of self-care

Cate Tolnai (she/her): going to get you started. I'm doing that right now because I also heard you say, yeah, we don't, and yet like a lifeline for you are these relationships.

I mean, it was literally, could not have been more clear to you that like your really, like your relationships are going to like emotionally save you when you need them. So like.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Yep.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Back up a little bit and like talk about how when you were in the classroom, how did you take, did you take care of yourself?

Like how did you take care of yourself?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): No, I did not.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): At the beginning, I did not. Right.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): few years you're treading water,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): trying to like. If you can get a breath, great. If not, you know, and then I think back even to when I first moved to Florida, I had moved like six months before my husband because I had taken a job at a school here and he didn't move down until he had a job.

Right? It just made sense.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): But because I was here then completely by myself, I didn't know anyone. I would stay at work so late. I was always the last person to leave night.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): And I hit this point of like, what am I doing?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah, yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): but I kept doing it like that,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I? I realized that it was weird, but like I still did it. And, you know, and as time went on, I realized that like I needed to prioritize myself. And I think that I 100% became a better teacher when I stopped taking work home with me. So there was a couple, I don't even remember what year it was to be honest with you, but at some point I was like, oh, I'm not gonna grade papers at home. At all. I'm gonna leave school at a reasonable time, and then it's gonna be there. If it gets done, it gets done. If it doesn't, that's also okay. And when I realized that, like, that actually is okay, it kind of took, it took that power away from it. And I promise you a thousand percent, I became a better teacher for it

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): because I was rested.

I wasn't, you know, like. Josh used to have to like, take my laptop off

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yes.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): lap at 10:00 PM because I'm falling asleep while I'm doing whatever. That's really bad.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): really bad, you know?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): so I think like having those moments of, of genuinely knowing that like world's not gonna end if you

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): grade a paper. But your students do need you to show up for them every day, and if you're too

That's not going to be beneficial for them in the long run, you know?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I love that so much, and that's such a nice reframing of like the taking care of yourself because I do think that so many of us are in this because we give, right? Like it makes us happy to give,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Mm-hmm.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): when you say the way you said it, like you give better, you give more authentically, you give more of yourself when you take care of yourself.

Like that is such a. That's a really beautiful sentiment that I'm going to, that's my nugget I'm gonna take with me into my own life here. 'cause it's hard, it's hard to, to pause and make, take the time. 

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Absolutely.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Okay, so you're pausing, you're taking the time, eventually you're getting to this, getting to this place.

I know, so, so I'm kind of intrigued too, the way you said that. Like you are a math middle school teacher and then you started a tech magnet. So, so talk about your ed tech, like what did that ed tech transition look like?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Oh, it was so fun and so overwhelming. So, you know, as I mentioned, I had like sprinkled little tiny pieces of tech. I would like, oh, let's all share an iPad and do this one thing. And I was like, okay, this is kind of cool. Like I can, you know, the students are more excited on Kahoot days or whatever. Then I said yes to this magnet, so that was like the spring and we were going to start it in the fall. And so that first, that summer. My principal was like, okay, we're gonna go to this tech conference called Isti.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I was like, okay. That was 2015, I think. 2015. And I remember going there and I walked in and I was like. What is this? Oh my gosh, I'm so overwhelmed. There's robots, there's, you know, like all this stuff happening and like, I had never even been to a conference before,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): my gosh.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): one.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): just like so overwhelmed. But I remember my biggest takeaway was, oh my gosh, my school district is so behind. Like, I just

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): being like, we need to get it together.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): huh.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): behind. We're behind. And so then, not only am I a say yes person, I'm a, if I'm gonna do something, I am going to do it all the way. And so I was like, I'm gonna be the best. I'm gonna know so much about Dick, whatever. And like, not even in like a, like a competitive

Cate Tolnai (she/her): All right.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): that's who I am as a person.

Like I'm just like, oh, I wanna become the best for me.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): And so, you know, I started going to all these. Random trainings and I would just be like looking for stuff. And I found an ed camp. I didn't know what it was. I don't remember how I found it. I think I was just like looking on Eventbrite, like what's happening in my area?

And I was like, oh, what's this? It says education and something about technology. And so I just went, like,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): That's about right.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): when I look back I'm like, what? Like I just showed up by myself and was like, Hey, I have this thing I found. And that's where I met. Who became like such a great group of friends. We called it our PLF,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): PLC.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): professional learning family? Mm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Yeah, so it was like Jen Williams and Michelle Moore. Yeah. Like, I met like best of the best people. Amber McCormick, Dean Gainey,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh my God.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Sean Farham, like all these incredible people that lived all over the state of Florida. And they would go to like every ed tech that, or ed camp that existed.

And so it became this group. We literally would travel all over the

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh my gosh.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): at Ed camps. Yeah. And like. I walked in by myself and they were like, who are you? And I was like, Hey. And then we just like instantly

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Wow.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I mean, I still, 10 years later, Jen and Michelle and I like go to breakfast as often as we can

Cate Tolnai (she/her): sure.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): you know, talk about where our lives have changed.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Gosh.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): yeah. And I just remember being like, who are these people that are so. Incredible. So well connected, but just like so loving and, and care

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): right by students. Like I felt so they like so much aligned with who I am as an educator. And I remember meeting this woman named Sylvia. And for years we called each other our island buddy because we talked about how when you're at a school and you're like doing something innovative, you feel like you're on an island by yourself.

And then we met all of these people from all these different islands, right? And then

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): like this core group. And it was amazing. And it just like, I don't know, it just. The importance of community in every sense of the word,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): if, and we had like a Voxer group and

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): group and like anything that it would be like, Hey, I'm struggling with this

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): and here's what's happening.

Can you help me? I'm not going to people in my school, I'm going

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): that all, it was like principals and non-profits and like all these different. Bringing all these different knowledges, but like

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): together like almost like a mastermind group,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): their experience and able to speak to it. we would like talk about the importance of failure and like reflect on that. And just like all these things that made me such a better educator. It made me so in love with ed tech as a whole. Yeah, so that was like from the beginning it was like, oh yeah, this is where I belong. These are my people.

And now like, you can't get me away from a conference. Look, I'll show you right here. If I can move my, like, these are all my conference badges, right? Like I am, you can't get me away anytime that it's offered, that I'm gonna go to a conference, I'm gonna go if for nothing else than to hug my people. Like, you know, ed tech is like where I felt,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Wow.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): you know.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): And that, and that sentiment is, I can absolutely connect to what you just said, like, and I, and I feel like there's these group of, there's these group of Ed Techers that have transitioned out of ed tech because positions have been eliminated and some of them are back in the classroom. And feeling like, where are, where, where did my people go?

You know what I mean? And I, I mean, not to put you on the spot, but like I'm, I have to imagine you've had conversations with people that have been in that position. So like what advice do you give them?

I know

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): That's a good one.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I give them a hug first. I give them a hug first.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Of course that's always no matter what, that's the first thing. I think it comes down to connection more than ever.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I like almost circle back to those things of like. Yeah, finding your people again,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): bit different than what it did, but also like, we're all still here,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): it's reaching out to

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): and, and even if it's, oh, you know, I, I have a friend who I left, left and went to a company and then within a year was like, no, I need to be in the

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): That wasn't for me. And, and we still just connect all the

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): You know, like, just, even if it's just like a, Hey, here's a video I saw that made me think of you. I think those, those connections are of what, like holds us up even in moments of, wait a second,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): a second. Where am I? You

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah. My gosh, I, I, I'm like still processing all the people you just named that you got to like, just run into

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): like,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): it was crazy. Are you kidding

Cate Tolnai (she/her): It's, that is wild and, and

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): every little trajectory of my life because like, I, I don't believe that anything is random. Right?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): right.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I met all of those people. got put into a Twitter group,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): that was all Florida people. All Florida people, and John Bierley from Texas.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Okay.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Awesome.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Sounds good.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Changed everything right then. I'm like at ISTE in San Antonio in

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I happened to sit next to John Bimmerle at a thing we had never

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh my gosh.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): he's like, I think you're in that Twitter group that I'm in. We're chitchatting. We start talking. He's like, Hey, I'm going to an MIEE dinner. Do you want to come with me?

And I was like, yeah, sure. Okay, So I go, then as we're leaving dinner, we pass by the entire Flipgrid team and he's like, Hey, there's Flipgrid. Have you met them before? And I said, no.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): my God.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): you. And so we sat there and like sat on the Riverwalk in San Antonio

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

2 

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): hours. And it's just like,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Right.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): what?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): You know,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I'm like, if I hadn't seen that event bright for an ED camp,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Right.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): this would've happened.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): And

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): that

Cate Tolnai (she/her): it is wild. It is wild. And I, and it makes me wonder, like if you and I could future, like could see into the future, right? What do we see as the, what do we see as the ideal? Platform to connect people because here's, here's my, here's my challenge, right? Like I, my whole, I'm here because of Twitter.

I'm here because of q for me, I am here because of Voxer.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Mm-hmm.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): and I don't, those don't, those aren't happening in the same, I mean, Q is still around, but like.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): right. Of

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I'm not volunteering, I'm not as in involved with it. And I, I'm, I'm okay with that. Like, it's kind of like I'm, I'm okay stepping aside and letting the next generation of the leaders kind of do their thing and help in a different way.

But I, I mean, what does it look like? We tried Blue Sky. I tried Blue Sky for a b

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): tried.

And like for a couple minutes it felt like

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yes.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): like, oh my gosh. We found it. We

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): and then

Cate Tolnai (she/her): And not.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): haven't logged on in a year.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I know. So like, what is it? What do you think we're looking for?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I genuinely don't know.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I don't know.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): genuinely don't know. 

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I mean, I'm on LinkedIn.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): yeah, and I mean, LinkedIn is, is hopping

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah. It's busy. It's like, it's like a

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): would've, who would've thought?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): what a thought.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): close as I found. Okay. Mm-hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I mean, I use Instagram. But not in a professional

Cate Tolnai (she/her): too.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): it in a personal sense, but what's interesting is there's been like a really big transition for me

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Hmm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): my professional people are my personal

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh, interesting. Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): and maybe I'm bad at setting boundaries, I don't know, but, but it's just been this thing of

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): oh, I actually like that.

I can share my life with you

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah. Well, it, yeah. Mm.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I don't know, I don't know.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I don't know. I think, I mean, I was, there was another episode I was recording with Heidi baes at a Riverside, and she and I were started laughing because it's like sometimes on LinkedIn it just, it just can feel like you say something like, well. I am, I'm so humbled to be on this project.

You know, like imagine doing this in real life, right? Like you're walking down a hallway and you're like, I'm so humbled to be on a project, and like, people don't open their doors, nobody's looking at you, and you just walk through the hallway by yourself, and you're like, okay, I'm just, I'm like, I don't know.

Whereas before, yes. Whereas before it was just like, oh my God, what's the project and can I, can I do it with you? Or whatever. So, yes.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I don't know what

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): is.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Well,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I

Cate Tolnai (she/her): then that makes, then, then we keep, maybe we need to start it. I don't know. I'm gonna keep asking the question because I, I feel so passionate about Connected, connected, leading.

And

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): like 2018, Twitter is

Cate Tolnai (she/her): oh,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): gold.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): mine was 2014, 2015. Yeah. All of that whole,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): sure. But there was

Cate Tolnai (she/her): oh,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Mm-hmm.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): oh, that felt good.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Mm-hmm.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): That felt good. Well I can't thank you enough for taking the time to just to share and just chat and honestly just getting time with your cute face. And I wanna end with just one last question, which is if you could go back in time and, and sit with.

Jess teacher version year two, year three, like what would you, what would you tell Jess? Teacher? What would you tell her?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): I would tell her to buckle up because it's gonna get crazy, but

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): possible way. I think I would encourage her to, to take care of herself more from the

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): and not like,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): get so burnt out. But also just to take those risks because they're always good. 

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): right?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah. And even if you fail, you learn and it's still good, right?

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Exactly. When I look back at all the failures, I'm like, yeah, great.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): me. That's amazing. You know, let's talk about

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, thank you my friend.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Thank you.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Appreciate you and. We'll put your contact info in the show notes so people know where to find you,

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): that'd be great.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): and you're wonderful. Thank you my friend.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Come be my in my community

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yay.

Jess Boyce (she/hers/ella): Please come find me. Thank you Cate

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Okay.