Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home

17/08/2025

Calling all area drummers! Logan announcing the Amateur Drum Competition happening on Saturday 10/4. Cash prize for winner!

Red River Revel

15/08/2025

For more, subscribe to YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/

14/08/2025

Join us this week as we learn more about one of our great business success stories. You can find my full discussion with Loreli Lopez, Vice President and Owner of PPT Inc., here (or wherever you get your podcasts by searching "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home").

Here are the questions I asked:

0:27 1. Let’s start with just some family history. Tell me a little about your parents’ background. And when and how did you end up in Shreveport-Bossier?

8:53 2. You are the Vice President and Owner of PPT Inc. Tell me about how the business got started and some of the services you offer today.

19:50 3. You are the Chair of Scholarship for the Hispanic Heritage Association of NWLA and I want to speak about your important involvement and work with the association. Talk to me about the scholarship program you have helped oversee the last several years.

25:52 4. Talk to me about how you have seen the local Hispanic community evolve and change over the years?

28:13 5. What are some steps you feel could be taken to further integrate the Hispanic community into the greater Shreveport-Bossier community?

13/08/2025

Much more to come on this! But go ahead and mark your calendars for Saturday 10/4. This is gonna be a really special, incredible day at this year's Revel.

Red River Revel

07/08/2025

This week we gain wonderful insight into Bossier Schools and all the extraordinary work they are doing to strengthen our community's future. You can find my full discussion with Superintendent Jason Rowland and Communications and Media Officer Sonja Bailes here (or wherever you get your podcasts by searching "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home").

Here are the questions I asked:

0:31 1. We have an incredible team here. Jason, you come from a family deeply rooted in public education.

On January 1, 2024, you became the Superintendent for Bossier Schools, after serving as Assistant Superintendent of Administration and Personnel for Bossier Schools since 2019. And you have hit the ground running to say the very least. We’ll try to cover some of the high points, of which there are many.

One of your key initiatives was the Empowering Principals mentoring program. Talk to me some about this if you could.

5:31 2. Sonja, how lucky Bossier Schools is to have someone like you. You have been the Public Relations Liaison for more than a decade after spending 20 years in television news. You have been heavily involved in community service and non-profit work and are an Athena Award nominee and Virginia K. Shehee Most Influential Woman honoree and a recipient of the Clyde E Fant Memorial Award.

Talk to me some about your role with Bossier Schools.

9:20 3. The two of you oversee a wonderful podcast entitled “On the Record with Bossier Schools.” Talk to me about the genesis of this project and why it is such an important part of your work.

15:39 4. I read that approximately 13% of your students are from military families. Tell me how you have to think about your military students in a customized way, as well as how you have to think about and approach your relationship with Barksdale.

22:56 5. Talk to me about the Monday Morning Memo. Give me an example or two of what that sounds and looks like.

30:12 6. What does your weekly collaboration look like, the two of you?

33:08 7. Bossier Parish is booming. Talk to me about how this growth is impacting enrollment and your overall approach to overseeing Bossier Schools.

37:07 8. Jason, you were recently selected by the National School Public Relations Association as one of the top 25 Superintendents to watch in the country.

I read something that was incredible. That when school started last year, you boarded a school bus and visited all 34 Bossier School campuses in two days to offer words of encouragement.

What does being a great superintendent and leader mean to you?

45:21 9. One of the recurring themes on this podcast is about how many of our young people leave after school and don’t return. How can we do a better job at holding on to our best and brightest?

03/08/2025

01/08/2025

Thanks so much Mike and Mark for sharing and helping to make me aware of this very special baseball program we have. Your passion for them throughout the season ignited mine.

31/07/2025

Many cities similar-sized to us have large universities and/or sports teams that bring the community together. We probably will never have either of those things BUT one thing we should all feel great about and come together around is the fact that LSUS just completed the greatest season in baseball history. You can find my full discussion with Head Coach Brad Neffendorf here (or wherever you get your podcasts by searching "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home").

Here are the questions I asked:

0:38 1. You recently completed the greatest season in baseball history. 59-0. LSUS Baseball’s first national championship and the first national championship at LSUS in any sport. Clearly you’re doing something very right.

Rather than rehash the season which I know you’ve done in countless interviews, I’d rather spend today just getting your thoughts and perspective on a few different things.

Let’s start here.

You were hired in early 2020. And when your hiring was announced, LSUS AD Lucas Morgan called you a “winner”. What does being a winner mean to you? Both for yourself and if you were using that word to describe one of your players?

7:35 2. You have coached countless pitchers who signed professional contracts. Why do pitchers flourish under your guidance?

16:07 3. You recently received the Skip Bertman Coach of the Year Award honoring the nation’s top coach from any level of college baseball. In speaking about the award, you said that Coach Bertman embodied everything a great leader and coach should represent. In your opinion, what makes someone a great leader and coach?

18:47 4. All of us face adversity at different times in our lives. In the final game, after going 58-0, your team went down early 4-Zero. Share some of your thought process in that moment, in hopes of helping all of us deal with adversity better when we inevitably face it. Also, what do your think your team’s process was at that time to push through the challenges and early difficulties in the championship game?

23:42 5. In speaking about this year’s team, you said that they became incredibly close, extremely quick. Talk to me about some of the factors you attribute to the team’s quick and strong process of bonding with one another.

31:22 6. You once said, “A lot of cities are built off something, but the athletic piece is what takes it over the top”. I know how important sports can be for a town’s identity, self-esteem, and just for bringing everyone together? How can we make LSUS sports and all the incredible things you are doing part of more of our community’s lives?