Angee and Jonathan are joined this week by the Economic Development team! You know, the folks in charge of ensuring new businesses not only come to Auburn, but thrive here! Listeners will know and recognize Emerson Folker well, but we also have a brand-new guest -- intern Jillian Orm! Jillian runs track and field at Vanguage University and is entering her junior year as a communications and political science major. She's been with the City of Auburn as the Ev Dev intern since the middle of June, and already has so many fun and interesting adventures and milestones to share.  She also happens to be a swifty, which means we couldn't resist testing her knowledge on Taylor Swift trivia! I wonder how she did....

This week Angee and Jonathan are joined by Lawand Muhsen and Rowan Santos, two incredible members of the Auburn Junior City Council. Lawand is graduating and headed to, wait for it....HARVARD UNIVERSITY! The heck? And Rowan is still a junior so she'll be coming back to the council and who knows, maybe chairing it?????? Hard to say for sure but we have a pretty good feeling about this one.  Anyway, Lawand and Rowan have both been on the council for a few years and have accomplished some pretty incredible things, all while taking a full high school course load, doing extracurriculars, applying to colleges, visiting colleges, getting great scores on the SATs, you name it, they do it, and they still have time to have a little fun.  Listen to their high school journey, hear why the AJCC is amazing and why you (yes you) should join, and stick around for Harvard/college movie trivia.  Who knows, maybe you'll be the next Rowan and Lawand????

No, our interns don't have worms. But they do have can-do attitudes and a full head of steam heading into this year's Next Step Auburn internship program! Jonathan and Angee are happy to welcome Narina Pogosian (if that name sounds familiar, yes, she's been on the show before) and Kylie O'Donnell. Narina is interning in Human Services, helping Auburn's homeless residents with resources, while Kylie works in Communications! She's been incredibly busy taking photos and videos, and she can't wait to show you all of the cool stuff. Listen to their lively conversation about work, life, work-life balance, and all things in between.  Stick around till the end to test your recent-ish musical knowledge!

Parks, Arts and Recreation's Curtis Carlson and Paris Van Quill join us on the pod this eposide to talk about recreation. Yes, that thing you can do as an adult for pennies on the dollar, that will fill your life with so much joy and laughter you'll hardly know what to do with it. But why stop there? Why not let your children in on the fun -- we offer youth classes after all. Everything and anything for all shapes and sizes, ability levels, and attention spans (thanks, TikTok). Hear about all that the City of Auburn has to offer, and all of the ways you can get invovled in something ACTIVE. Let's get physical, physical.  Stick around to the end to test your Park knowledge (no, not just the green spaces -- think outside the box here) and see if Curtis or Paris will exit Angee's Arena on top! 

Angee and Jonathan are joined this week by Matthew Stone, the City of Auburn's newest Communicaitons Assistant! Matthew joined us in early April and he came all the way from the Salt Lake City area of Utah! Mathew enjoys long walks on the beach, Costco snacks, a well-timed joke with a biting sense of humor, and video games and TV shows and movies and reading. Basically, he's already one of us. Tune in to find out what he thinks about the Pacific Northwest after having lived here for a month and a half, and stick around till the end to test your knowledge of PNW trivia.  We have a few things coming up to be aware of as well --  Food Truck Tuesdays! Every Tuesday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at City Hall Plaza.  Auburn Art Showcase -- showcase your artwork alongside the Auburn Junior City Council at the Postmark Center for the Arts. Saturday, June 6 from 1 to 4 p.m. FREE to attend!  

No, we aren't flipping cups and clapping our hands before joining a collegiate a cappella group (could you imagine???), but we are doing the next best thing! We're joined by the next generation of Miss Auburn and Miss Auburn's Teen, Maddie McCarthy and Haley Murray! We actually recorded this episode a few weeks ago, so we're excited to finally share it with ya'll -- we kept the energy high despite being in an interview room literally minutes before recording. Angee, Jonathan and the Miss Auburns talked about school success, learning confidence, the power of competition, sisterhood and camaraderie, and the lifelong friendships we all make along the way.  This is Maddie's second time on the show (we commemorated it with a small four-part harmony singing session) before ending it with some spring trivia. Make sure to stick around till the end to test your knowledge!

Angee and Jonathan are joined by Jess Irvine and Amanda Jenkinson, two arts assistants at the Postmark Center for the Arts! The quartet talk about Auburn's greatest building (Postmark, duh) and all of the amazingly incredible things happening this spring. You can find a full list on Auburn's Community Calendar, which includes several free classes a week and a few symphony events on the weekends: auburnwa.gov/calendar. They also talk about the power of art and how a truly remarkable piece can really reach out and grab you and refuse to let go (as is the case with Jonathan).  The finish up with Angee's Arena -- art and membership trivia in Auburn! Jonathan does terribly...but maybe you can do better???? 

Jonathan and Angee are joined this week by two (literal) rock stars from the Auburn Symphony Orchestra -- Exeutive Director Gabi Galloway and Music Director Wesley Shulz! If you've been to an Auburn orchestra show, you'll also recognize Wesley as the conductor up on stage directing the entire production. Wesley joins us for the second time in the podcast's history to talk about all the amazing things happening this year, beginning with a Rhythm and Rhymes Story Hour and Postmark Center for the Arts this Saturday at 10 a.m. and a FREE family concert at the Auburn Performing Arts Center on April 26 -- more details on the orchestra's website: https://www.auburnsymphony.org/ Listen to learn why and how live music helps us connect with the places we live, and stick around until the end to test your knowledge of Sim-Phony trivia.