Husky Hotseat
Welcome to Husky Hotseat! This podcast takes you inside the world of Hubble Middle School through fun, relaxed interviews with our teachers and staff. Learn what inspires them, their favorite Hubble memories, and maybe even a few surprises along the way!
Husky Hotseat
Episode 8 - Read This Podcast! ... with Mrs. Heller
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This week on Husky Hotseat, we welcome Mrs. Heller, Hubble's stellar science and ELA teacher! Join host Eric Elftmann, as we talk about reading goals, heavy eyeliner, crying over purses, and more than you ever thought you wanted to know about invasive species!
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Hello everyone and welcome to the Husky Hot Seat, a show for students, parents, and staff to get to know the Hubble community. I'm your host, Eric Elfman. Each week on Husky Hot Seat, you and I get to sit down with a member of our Hubble community to ask them the answers to the tough questions. This week I'm here with Mr. Teller, science teacher extraordinaire, who also teaches eighth grade in language arts, and occasionally even sixth grade foundation. Teller's been at Hubble for the last 10 years and has been in education for 15. She's happily married to her husband Ben and has two children, Annie and Hank. Oh, and don't forget their puppy Todd. She loves hiking, open water swimming. Yes, you heard that right. Fishing and reading, and I'm sure we'll get into all that later. Mrs. Teller, welcome and thank you for coming on Husky Hot Seat. So I just read off a bunch of stuff that you enjoy doing, and a lot of it seems to focus on spending time outside. So my first question, how did you end up in a job that's mostly inside?
SPEAKER_01You mean teaching?
SPEAKER_00That's the one.
SPEAKER_01Um well, I've always known I wanted to be a teacher. True story. There's actually a video of me as a little girl with all my stuffed animals lined up in front of me, passing out papers because that's what I thought teaching was, and then collecting them and telling them they did a very good job. Uh, so I've always kind of been drawn to teaching before I even knew probably what it truly entailed. The science part came from fishing with my dad. So I just was really drawn to nature, very curious to understand how to fish. You really have to understand the whole ecosystem. And I found my soul outside.
SPEAKER_00So if your dad had been into like tennis, do you think you would have ended up? Definitely a PE teacher. Okay. All right. I'm just curious. Do you remember what you were teaching the stuffed animals?
SPEAKER_01I have no idea. I'm pretty sure that they were blank pieces of paper, and they did excellent.
SPEAKER_00Compared to your like first period class that you teach each day and those stuffed animals, who do you think does a better job on the daily?
SPEAKER_01I don't know. You know, the cat did a really great job. He, you know, he might beat some of the kids in first period, but ultimately I think my first period science students are gonna win out.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00So as you were studying to become a teacher, you were headed in the direction of science. Did you have like a specific goal to get to middle school, or were you just kind of letting it go wherever it took you?
SPEAKER_01So I originally thought I was gonna minor in fisheries biology because of the whole fishing aspect. And I took a lot of environmental classes, and I really loved them all. And I ended up with a degree in natural sciences, major in education, minor in natural science. And I could teach any of the sciences, and I really do love them all, and they really work together. So I wasn't drawn specifically to one of them. I just knew I loved teaching and I loved science and I love the way the world connects with each other. So I was okay with anything.
SPEAKER_00If you had ended up in the fishery biology world, what would that job look like?
SPEAKER_01A lot of outside time, uh collecting data. It, you know, it's not as glamorous as I didn't assume it was glamorous. Yes. I mean, in my eyes, it's a romantic profession. You're outside, you're collecting data, you're one with nature, you're studying everything in the water table and collecting numbers like FICA nets of fish. And I would love that, honestly. But when we were in COVID, I think the hardest thing for me was that connection piece. And I found myself really lonely. I, you know, my students make me laugh all day. And I miss that the most. And so I don't I don't know if I would have been as happy as a fisheries biology major or biologist, but I love teaching.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So that leads me to my next question. Um, you kind of touched it on a little bit there. What sort of things on a day-to-day basis motivate you, provide you with purpose as a teacher?
SPEAKER_01It's the click moment. It's the, you know, where you're teaching something difficult or challenging and the students get it. And there's the aha moment. And it's really addicting, it's like a dopamine release, right? Like the dopamine is that f positive feedback. And it's exciting to see students learn, but also get excited about that. And I love that. That's what keeps me going.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Let's just hypothetically say you had a day with the zero click moments. What do you do waking up the next day to like re-engage?
SPEAKER_01Gotta teach it a different way. Redo things, take them outside, try to find something the students can connect with. I it just comes natural in the sense of like reteaching it and trying to challenge them, make it fun, make it funny, add collaboration.
SPEAKER_00You try a lot of things. All right. This might be a little vulnerable, but can you think of a time in your class where you were wrong, whether it was maybe about a fact, seems unlikely, or just a way something was handled or whatever, and you had to apologize to a student or to a class or something like that.
SPEAKER_01If you were to walk into Dr. Pilkington's office right now and ask him what my number one phrase is, he will tell you that it is, I am sorry. He has this running joke with me that I apologize for everything. And it's because I hold myself to a high standard. And so I am constantly apologizing to everybody, including the students. I say sorry all the time. I miss bell ringers. The kids remind me, are we gonna do the bell ringer today? Oh, yep, sorry. Got excited about what we were doing. I make mistakes in teaching, um, especially with science, you know, you can get going on a tangent and then you're like, wait, let's fact check that real quick. Oh, nope, I misspoke. So I'm always apologizing for things like that. And on a deeper level too, like classroom management can be hard. And sometimes when a student is acting out, I might call them out real quick. And then they tell me that that embarrassed them. And so I'll apologize, obviously. Um, I don't like to embarrass students or handle situations, you know, incorrectly. And that's always something that, you know, I'm working on is showing, you know, balancing respect with also keeping the classroom in a certain order and holding everyone accountable for their actions. So, you know, I mess up all the time on that.
SPEAKER_00Do you find the students react well to that? Like they understand you're coming from. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think it's good for them for someone to model to them apologizing for things that didn't go well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because sometimes we don't see that amongst the students to each other all the time, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Do you have a phrase that you're known for?
SPEAKER_00Usually something like, okay, everyone stand together with no gum or food in their mouths. Something typical. I mean, that I'm thinking about how my class starts almost every single day. It's always that. And even though I begin my class every day that way, there's still often children with gum or food in their mouths when they begin class.
SPEAKER_01How many signs do you have in your room that say no gum?
SPEAKER_00Well, every day on this TV screen when they walk in, there's one right there. And then I have a giant one next to the garbage can with an arrow that points to the garbage can with the word gum. I I couldn't be clearer, but as a teacher, you know this as well. That doesn't always mean anything. You can speak very clearly and loudly. They don't always hear that. So something I've noticed uh over the years, and I think this is common, but I this is why I want to ask the question to you. We teach several different periods, often of the same subject, the same class. And there just happens sometimes to be like totally different personalities in those classes. How do you think that that develops?
SPEAKER_01Well, I have a unique perspective on this because I teach science and language arts. And I haven't done that every year of my teaching career here at Hubble, but those students in particular often have me for science and language arts. So they have three periods where they're in my classroom. The first year that I taught that, they called themselves the family. I even have a little embroidered piece of material that a student made for me. I know it says the ELA family, but it has its, you know, perks, but it also has its downsides. I call it like mom mode, where this is how I feel with my own children. It's like sometimes I say things and sometimes the students hear me and sometimes they don't. Like selective hearing is another way to term that. And, you know, there's a little bit more banter, laughter, but also accountability or like, all right, guys, come on, bring it together. So in personality-wise, it tends to be one of my rowdier but productive, rowdier classes. And I think it's just the comfortability. Like they know me. Familiarity. Yeah. Yeah. They watch me change throughout the day. I was told this year that I start the day really happy and end the day grumpy.
SPEAKER_00Don't we all?
SPEAKER_01So I'm glad to hear that you have also heard this. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. I I not only hear it, but also feel it. I my schedule this year is interesting because I teach one, two, three, four, five, six.
SPEAKER_01Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_00So I do have a lunch in there, but for the listeners that don't know, the sixth grade lunch, quote unquote, is at 10 30 a.m. So I'm not really privy to eating lunch at that hour. So I just try to work through that. So by the time I get to sixth period, sometimes I have said the same things many times to many kids. And so I might be a little shorter with my six period class. They can confirm that if they want to. Um, because you get, you know, sometimes you get frustrated. Like I have made these same instructions, not just today, many days over many weeks together, and things are still not happening the way I think they should be. So that can definitely happen for sure.
SPEAKER_01You can call that a brunch.
SPEAKER_00You could call it a brunch. If I had like some Hollanday sauce or something, maybe it'd be a brunch. But you know, right now it's just a coffee.
SPEAKER_01Bagels and cream cheese. I think that's that's should be your goal.
SPEAKER_00That would be a good way to go. Yeah. If we looked at your science and language arts classes as separate things, like those same students that have you both hours, would the personalities be different within those different subject matters?
SPEAKER_01Maybe. I think it depends on what we're doing. Like I took the students outside yesterday and I was definitely like in my element, like very happy, very excitable. I I got really excited. We saw Red Wing Blackbird, which are all over the place.
SPEAKER_00Those things are so annoying. You got excited about that.
SPEAKER_01I know, but just hearing the call and then seeing it and making that connection, and just I feel like it's so important to get the kids outside and be thinking like scientists. And so I was really energetic. And then we were reading in language arts, so it's just a little you you expend less energy reading than you do walking around outside and identifying things. So they definitely get different vibes.
SPEAKER_00One more question before we go to a little break. If you could develop your own elective in any subject you want, it doesn't have to be science related, although of course it could be fish hatching or whatever it is that you want to talk about. What what would it be? What would that class be like? What did you what would you envision there?
SPEAKER_01I would love to teach a class on climate change because it is rapidly changing. There's always new information about it. And it would just be so interesting to track data and see what's happening all over the world and also pull in some sort of impact, like reaching out to the community, congressmen, things like that to actually elicit change. It would be really cool.
SPEAKER_00That does sound pretty fun. That would be interesting too to be able to always be on the, you know, following the research in the moment and what's happening. Not that you guys don't do that regularly with science class anyway, but and when it's a specific topic like that, it can be like really turning over quickly.
SPEAKER_01Aaron Powell Well, I also think there's a lot of misinformation too. Like there's two terms, right? Global warming, climate change, like just figuring all that out and what that actually looks like. Like when we have a hot day, yes, that's climate change, but also when we have a super cold day because it disrupts the weather pattern. So it's just like a really fascinating topic. I had a phenomenal professor in college at Carthage, and he taught climate change in like a super inspirational way that helped me understand it. But also, I love to talk about it because he made me feel like I really understand it. Could be falsely understood, but I do like to talk about it.
SPEAKER_00Okay, Dr. Pilkerton, you heard it here. You know what our next elective is going to be. We are going to pause here for a moment for a short break, and we'll be right back. Hey, Huskies, we are back with our guest, Mrs. Heller, and I hope you're ready for one of our favorite segments. It's time to travel back in time with us to a time of low-rise genes, AOL Instant Messenger, and Y2K. Yes, that's right. It's time for a portrait of a middle schooler. Okay, Mrs. Heller, I want you to take a moment, describe your middle school self to us, maybe what you looked like, what activities you did, and this would be a great time to drop any embarrassing middle school stories you might have.
SPEAKER_01Well, Mr. Alfman, I had a lot of eyeliner.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01So I was angry. Like the amount of eyeliner that says don't talk to me.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so full goth mode?
SPEAKER_01A little bit, yeah. Um I was thinking a lot about this question. And I actually asked my mom if she could describe me in middle school. And her response juxtaposes mine. Interesting. And I would say that when I think about my middle school journey, I can only picture two of my teachers' faces. And that made me sad because I really felt like I wasn't seen at all during the day. I was just shuffled around doing my work, tons of social drama. I'm friends, we're not friends, and I didn't find connection. And I was lost, I think. And I was angry about being lost. And so I kind of had a little rebellious spirit spirit. And that I think is why I want to teach middle school, like why I love teaching middle school, because I don't want kids to feel lost. I want to feel like they're seen during the day, and someone can tell if they're having a bad day just by their face. And no one ever asked me if I was okay.
SPEAKER_00Do you remember what those teachers did, the ones that you remember, to make them stick in your mind?
SPEAKER_01One of them was really angry and talked about coffee all the time. And I did not want to make her mad. And so she had that scary vibe.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01So not my idol.
SPEAKER_00Memorable and maybe the wrong way.
SPEAKER_01The other one was my Spanish teacher, and she was really nice. And she asked me, you know, like, Are you doing okay today? in Spanish. So I had to think, yes, I'm doing okay in Spanish. So it made we we had a rule, you could only speak Spanish in there, which I think in middle school. That's in middle school.
SPEAKER_00That's a lot. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think that was a good thing. It is. But the connection was difficult as someone who was first learning the language. I actually think about my fourth grade teacher. She was the one who created a safe space for me. Sometimes I would eat lunch in there and would ask me if I was okay. And there were some bullying things going on. And I want to want to be more like her, you know. That's like, hey, are you okay? I noticed you're sad today. And I was like, you know what I am? And I remember those conversations. I don't remember any of those in middle school. Maybe I was too angry to remember. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Were you an angry middle schooler?
SPEAKER_00Well, to be honest, as a person, as a whole, middle school adult, whatever part, I have a hard time recognizing my own emotions sometimes. So I I would be hard pressed to remember what I was like when I was 13. I do recall my dad lost his job when I was in seventh grade. And it was like a big deal. Um because we were having a rough time. And I tried out for the basketball team, made like the B team, which honestly, that's even surprising. I made that, but the point being that you had to pay a fee to be in, and I didn't realize that. And so I just quit. And I remember the counselor coming to get me and wanting to talk about things. I had never spoken to the counselor once. Like this is my middle of my seventh grade year, and just like here, the counselors follow you, but we were just a big school, and so I'd never had reason to speak to them. So I so when they came to get me, I was like, why would I talk to you? I don't even know you. You know, I felt really weird about that. And likely parts was I wouldn't want to talk to anyone about my feelings because I wasn't really sure what was going on as a seventh grader. But I do remember that moment being like, okay, I am actually upset about this, but I didn't know it until someone said I should talk to someone about it. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01Totally.
SPEAKER_00My dad got another job and it was it was fine eventually, but it was like a rough couple months, you know. And so I just remember thinking about that. And to your point too, I I like to try to recognize kids that they're maybe they're not the ones that are raising their hand all the time. Or, you know, that doesn't mean that they're bad or good, just that they're they don't choose to engage necessarily in the way that a traditional, you know, quote unquote good student might. But they've got a lot going on inside and thinking about that, yeah. Thinking about myself in middle school, you know, helps me get there. I do have plenty of teachers I remember, but only because I just I've always liked people pleasing. So it was easy to to get along with most of them. The other thing I remember about middle school is really trying to fit in to the cool crowd.
SPEAKER_01Big time.
SPEAKER_00That was a major goal of mine. Like whether I was taking steps towards it or not, like I I knew that our our district only had one middle school. So when you got to sixth grade, all of the whole town's elementary school came to one place for the first time. And immediately every cool crowd joined together. It was like they saw each other and, like, oh yeah, you, you, you, you, we're all in. And the rest of us were like, hey, what the heck? You know. So I remember having a conversation in the car with my parents once about this. Is really gonna date me into a very specific time. Cross color clothing. I don't know if you're familiar. I have no idea what it was. It was a brand in the 90s that was very much based on African American culture, but it was very popular at the time. Reds, blacks, yellows, greens, very cool. And it was expensive. And I remember like crying in the car because my parents wouldn't buy it for me. Because I thought if I had this, obviously I would be like one of the coolest kids in school. And clearly, you know, looking back on that, like, oh my gosh, hey, that's so ridiculous. And of course, teenage hormones crying over really silly stuff. But the silly stuff when you're that age is the stuff. It's that's your whole that's your life, right? So I think it's okay to have those emotions and also okay to look back and be like, that was a lot of emotions for that particular thing.
SPEAKER_01For sure. Ours was the Kate Spade purse. And I wanted it so bad. And my mom was like, No, you we're not buying that. And I definitely felt like I didn't fit in. And it's funny because now as a mom, I have those conversations with my daughter. We don't need that to fit in. It's your heart. That's your heart and your brain, and that's what matters, and trying to push that. And so, you know, am I still mad at my mom I didn't get that Kate Spade purse? No. Right. Um, but I definitely can connect with that feeling of being othered.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I this is one reason I really like to recognize when kid our kids, students' hearts and brains like stand out. Like I can think of three off the top of my head, then like this kid is the same person to every person they walk walk into the room with teacher, student, principal, whoever. That's gonna go far in life. And it's good to help them know that that they're they're on the right path.
SPEAKER_01Now that you mention it, there is a lot of crying in middle school.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01I the eyeliner doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00No, it's the worst. You should have something like waterproof. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I just remember having to wipe it all the time.
SPEAKER_00Is there uh maybe there's part of why that's there so that like you can see like they've been crying? I don't know. Oh, definitely. Okay. Um let's not get into the psychology here. Um one last question then and then we can probably jump right off of what we just talked about. What piece of advice would you give to your middle school self, whether it's your version or your mom's version? What what piece of advice would you give to them?
SPEAKER_01You're seen and you're important.
SPEAKER_00Just to know that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. And you'll find your way.
SPEAKER_00I think I would steal what you just said, kind of about hard mind, like just be yourself. Find out who that is, be yourself as soon as you can. And that's going to help you way more than trying to be something else. That's so much harder to to live basically live a lie, right?
SPEAKER_01And maybe decide who you are for yourself. I was looking to all these other people to tell me that I was important and because I had decided that I wasn't. And I think I would tell her you are important no matter what anyone else says and you have something to offer this world and the people who love you are going to ask you for that. And they're going to support you on that journey.
SPEAKER_00That is a great place to leave off for now. We're going to take another break and we'll be right back. Welcome back we are still hanging with our guest Mrs. Heller. We've heard a lot about crying through our middle school eyeliner and Kate Spade purses and cross color. You can look it all up but I would like to talk a little bit about your reading. So I understand that each year you have some goals for how much you plan on reading. Tell us a little about that.
SPEAKER_01So it started in 2022. I decided I wanted to read 22 books for the year and I read 26. So I surpassed my goal. I was really proud of it. And but I found all these amazing books and I was like wow I think I love reading again. And I started to carve out time. And then you know Miss Diaz, our LLC director Sure, let's go with that. Is that the the title librarian? Yeah who knows my friend. Yes Mrs. Diaz she started recommending books to me that were outside of my comfort zone and I loved them. And so then I started to branch out into all these new worlds nonfiction, mystery and I started to get addicted to the stories, the the reading so I really love to read now.
SPEAKER_00So what's this year's number?
SPEAKER_01So so far this year I'm at 18. I think my goal is going to be 75 to 100 books this year.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Okay. That's impressive.
SPEAKER_01A lot of them are young adult because I like to read what my students are reading so that I can have conversations. Those seem to go quicker just because they have these like fascinating plots and you can't put them down because they're made to be read for students to not put down right but the nonfiction or the older fiction sometimes take me a little bit longer and I do try to do a nonfiction every five books or so.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Just as a palate cleanser and you gotta eat your broccoli after your ice cream?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Uh so let's pretend you just got your newest book you're super psyched to read it. You're going to hunger down for a couple hours. Where do you go? What's your favorite place to read?
SPEAKER_01Okay. Two answers for this question. My favorite place of all time to read is on the boat. I love to read on the boat. Between fishing spots I'll just park somewhere or if I'm with my family I'll read and just I love it. It's serene I can smell the pine in the air I'm in heaven that's my favorite place. But obviously it is not sunny and pine smelling where you can be on a boat all year. So my husband told me I have to tell you about Gray Island.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Where is Gray Island?
SPEAKER_01Gray Island is the gray armchair that we have in my living room. Okay. And it started after I had ankle surgery because no one could jump on me, the dog, the kids I have started sitting there there's a little light and we have a sectional and so movie night or whatever we all used to sit on the sectional while I started removing myself and going to Gray Island and the kids like you leave Gray Island. Come sit with us I'm like no I'm reading and they're like we're watching a movie I'm reading. And so they tease me about Grey Island.
SPEAKER_00Have you ever thought about like having someone just like spray a little on you like a sun lamp and then like some fish smell or something some pine salt you could really get the feel of the boat. I would be in Grey Island.
SPEAKER_01I would be in Grey Island is an okay substitute. It's when I'm you know over simulated like so much noise and I can go to Grey Island, sit down, it reclines it's the one piece of furniture my dog's allowed on so he climbs up.
SPEAKER_00It's funny you say that I got my wife a new Kindle our old one just busted beyond belief and AirPods for Christmas. And she was like first of all about the Kindle she was psyched about that but the AirPods she's like I always thought about it but I didn't want to be one of those people that always had them in and was blocking people out. And then she's like actually now I love blocking people out. We're watching something on TV that she's not interested in pop, AirPods, Kindle and she's there with us but also not and it's just kind of a perfect combination.
SPEAKER_01So I have a question for you. Yeah. Some of these books that I've read have been in audiobooks. Do you consider that a red book?
SPEAKER_00I consider it a red book because after you have listened to it you can have a conversation about the book. Whether it's reading is maybe a semantic argument about visually interpreting symbols into your brain, which I don't really care one way or the other, but if I were being playing devil's advocate I might argue that. But once you've heard the book you've read it for all intents and purposes.
SPEAKER_01Well I guess I need to put a disclaimer out there that all these books that I've been reading some have been audio books.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01And I do have soundproof headphones I got for Christmas this year. And sometimes I'll go to Gray Island just with my soundproof headphones and the dog will climb up and I'll just listen to my book and relax instead of reading I think that counts. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I think that's fine. For me personally, because my listening habits are more towards podcasts, my brain tunes in and out. Like I will throw on a podcast while I'm cooking or something but I don't expect to retain all of the information from the podcast. It's just comforting to have some voices. If I want to read I have to like remove myself from other things otherwise I will not be able to focus whether it's listening or actually reading a book you know visually.
SPEAKER_01Interesting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So that's just my brain I also used to sleep growing up with like talk radio on which I'm not allowed to do at my house. Instead I have like rain sounds and stuff that's allowed. But the for some reason the sounds of voices just have always been comforting me. So I but I can can completely like unfocus on them. Like they're not they don't have to say anything. They could be speaking a different language honestly and it wouldn't matter. It just is like something that kind of lulls me a little bit.
SPEAKER_01It's funny you mentioned that because some of my more technical books I actually had to stop the audio and read it because I was missing things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah that makes sense to me and I'm not sure I could listen to a nonfiction book and totally grasp what's happening. But I guess people's brains work differently for a reason right okay got a weird question for you that has to do with reading. So they say that what a person reads can kind of tell you a lot about someone. Uh oh and maybe how a person reads no I'm just kidding. So I'm going to propose this scenario here. It's kind of silly but you're going to bet a friendship on a book. Here's what I mean. You tell your friend hey read this book. It's a book that you love you've reread it maybe over and over you can quote it. You know parts of it by heart maybe if they don't see the beauty in this book that you love so much then you're not sure if you could even be friends with that person anymore. So what book are you going to choose that would like tell you yes this person got it we're going to be a bit I'm about to lose a lot of friends. Okay can't wait. Here we go. Goodbye friends.
SPEAKER_01Okay there's two.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01The first one is the Harry Potter series. I grew up with it the books were released while I was in middle and high school we would line up we would dress up as the characters Harry Potter for sure I very immersed in the wizarding world probably started my love for fantasy which leads me to my second book. I actually read this as an adult and I am sad that I did but The Hobbit.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And I we even started Lord of the Rings with the kids and they love it.
SPEAKER_00I think those are not too in you know controversial choices necessarily. I'm not sure you'll lose entirely friends from that scenario. But we'll find out I will maybe we'll circle back and I'll just give an update to the podcast audience. Miss Heller has no friends anymore based on this episode.
SPEAKER_01We'll find out did you like those books?
SPEAKER_00Yeah I read The Hobbit in elementary school and I remember really liking that. And also I was probably trying to like prove how cool and smart I was by reading a big book. That was like the thickest book in the elementary school library at the time I think if I recall but I did really actually like it. I did not move on to the Lord of the rings until I was probably like in college or something. I'm not even sure that I like knew the connection I just had the Hobbit. That was all I knew. I didn't really realize and of course none of the movies or any of that stuff had been around yet. Of course there were the cartoon movies which were pretty terrible I do not suggest going back to watch those but I I did later read those and I do like them and I do like the movies. I'm not like a purist and it comes to at least with that particular book or series of books. I know there probably people are that do not like that that interpretation but I think it's pretty good personally.
SPEAKER_01So we can stay friends.
SPEAKER_00Yeah we're friends. We're good. Okay cool. Otherwise we can't finish this podcast uh all right I want to ask you about non-reading you're you like to spend a lot of time outside which could be reading but in this case um I want to ask about your open water swimming. Now just to clarify for people that means she's not necessarily swimming in a pool but actually in bodies of water that are not man-made. So where do you swim? How do you get into that? What's the farthest you swam? Maybe just tell us a little about that.
SPEAKER_01So I started swimming at a younger age uh I actually went to an aquatic camp found water polo there. I was 11 and I started playing water polo when I was in seventh grade and I loved it. I we already talked about my anger. So it was my anger outlet and a very aggressive strategic game that involved swimming and I loved it. So I played the zone teams and then played in high school and I swam to stay in shape for water polo. And then I played in college and I love I mean I still love it but playing water polo as an adult is there's not as many opportunities. There's no pickup games at the local there is in the summer uh in Naperville but I am so busy I probably should prioritize that. That might be the goal for the thing.
SPEAKER_00Knock off five books from that 75 to make some time for water polo this summer. Yes. Make get it out there.
SPEAKER_01But the swimming is still the water and I joined a gym that had a pool and I started swimming. Actually when I was pregnant with my daughter I got back into it so 11 years ago and I love it. I just I go swim. I have headphones that are bone conducting and I can listen to music and I swim with a group of friends and then I started looking up races. Actually a friend of ours from up north told us about this race that goes from Bayfield, Wisconsin to Madeline Island in Lake Superior. I was like hey I can do that I how many miles is that 2.1 Okay. And I was like I swim 2.1 you know in practice sometimes. So I did it and it was amazing. Lake Superior is my favorite of the Great Lakes and I have a special connection just to the Northwoods and you could look out you can see the pine you can smell oh it was so wonderful. And I did way better than I thought like I had timed myself and I had to wear wetsuit and it was so cool. This summer I haven't purchased my admission yet but it will happen either this summer or in the near future but I want to swim the 8.2 mile Mackinac Island swim where you swim all the way around Mackinac Island. That would be the ultimate training goal.
SPEAKER_00Okay this is not a video podcast you could not see my face my eyebrows raise very high when you said the number 8.2 that seems I'm not going to say you can't do it. I know that I couldn't do it seems very physically taxing.
SPEAKER_01How many how many hours was that take you roughly so a mile is around a half hour.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01If I'm swimming in a pool it'll be less but open water is different because of the waves and other people it's hard to say straight. Right.
SPEAKER_00They actually make goggles for that they're really expensive. That like have AR AI in them to point you in the right direction.
SPEAKER_01Yes and they talk about your cadence and everything I I haven't that sounds awesome actually. I know I haven't bought them so I around a half an hour so 8.2 is around four so like a marathon's worth of swimming roughly yeah that sounds awful to me but I'm hoping that you get a chance to do that. It's supposed to be beautiful like most of it is shallow down most of it's shallow white sandwich that part's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00Okay yeah I could see that that sounds great. Okay I want to ask you about one more thing and we're taking one final break. You told me that you are on an invasive species committee. So do you guys like vote on which species get to invade or how does this work exactly?
SPEAKER_01So invasive species are plants or animals or anything living that is not native to the area and they can take over an ecosystem. So when you're talking about lakes the number one you might be thinking of well I don't know if you're thinking about it.
SPEAKER_00I'm never thinking about this so go ahead and surprise me.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Eurasian milfoil is a plant and it grows underwater and it is awesome. It's super great at photosynthesizing and growing the problem is it gets really dense and it takes over native species. So it can really harm a lake financially like the fisheries everything and it could be really damaging and very expensive to take control over. So our lake up north uh my parents live half the year well I wouldn't say half the year but they live spend a lot of time up north the the lake that they have a place on does not have it yet. So our committee plans for the event if we were to find it okay but also takes measures to prevent it from happening. And that's just for the Eurasian millfoil. So we do have some invasives and my love for science plays well in this committees for every possible no okay just total invasive species. I'm not going to talk your head off on here because I know you will cut it but northern pike are actually a fish that's invasive to our lake and the DNR is doing a huge study on our lake right now.
SPEAKER_00Tell everyone what DNR stands for.
SPEAKER_01Department of Natural Resources and they're doing a huge study right now on our lake because our lake is a natural muskie lake which is my fish of choice. I I actually think you didn't ask me about fishing because since you just did Dr. Epperley's with a small crappie, my muskie, you know I didn't want him to feel embarrassed. Exactly to be honest yeah I hope he listens to but muskie population uh has gone down and so the population of muskie have been affected by the introduction of the northern pike which are not native to that lake but are native in the area. And so they're doing this big study and we talk about it. I run a big Memorial Day thing where we spread the word that they're invasive, the bag limit, how many you can kill in a guys like put up wanted posters or what? We hang out by the boat launch, we collect the dead ones we feed them to a place that rehabs birds up in northern Wisconsin bald eagles of that fish so they go out there and get it they save over 200 bald eagles a year and so they need food and we we give them our northern pike to get them out of our lake. Look I have goosebumps this is bad. But I just get so excited about this and doing good for the lake that gave that gave me so much that you know it's where I fell in love with nature to help the lake and the ecosystem fulfills a deep need to you ever watch the show at Parks and Rec?
SPEAKER_00I have not okay because right now you're giving me real Leslie Nope vibes. If anyone out there has watched the show you probably feel what I'm feeling you're very passionate about this thing that the rest of us maybe we don't understand entirely but we understand your passion and we can appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01I'm going to take that as a compliment it is a compliment.
SPEAKER_00Anyone who's watched the show would would know it's a compliment. Okay Huskies we are going to take one more break and get to our final segment Throw the Dog a bone okay Huskies before we go it's time for Throw the Dog a Bone each episode we'd like to sign off by answering one completely random question. Mrs. Heller does not know the question I'm about to ask and I have no idea what she's going to say so let's see what happens. Okay this is a double sided question. Very simple what is your least favorite and most favorite chore to do at home and why and I'll I'll give you a second to think about it. I'll tell you my own and then you can pop in here. Most favorite easy vacuum that's what I I put in my headphones sing along in fact my family makes fun of me because I sing over the sound of the vacuum sometimes. In fact today recording day is the day that I typically vacuum the house so I'm going to go home straight from this I'm going to be vacuuming and no one can talk to me but no one can be mad at me either because I'm vacuuming. Least favorite anytime I have to clean a drain out of something so the sink backs up whether that is my children's disgusting hair or something that didn't quite go right in the disposal and now I need to clean that out or whatever. It's just I'm very smell sensitive. So that's just a tough time for me. Okay. What do you think, Mrs. Seller?
SPEAKER_01Before I answer you I just have to make a comment that your family is very lucky that you have a wonderful singing voice.
SPEAKER_00Well I don't know thank you though. I mean that goes with a career right well technically I mean I didn't have to sing for Dr.
SPEAKER_01Pilkington I was already here when he came in so he did not make you sing for a choir teaching job I had to teach a class.
SPEAKER_00I mean I'd already been student teaching when I got the the job here at home to be honest. So whatever they had heard they thought it was fine.
SPEAKER_01That's a win but that also that makes me laugh I don't know my least favorite chore is cleaning toilets I hate to clean toilets and I am the one who cleans the toilets how did that work out since you hate it?
SPEAKER_00I guess everyone hates it so maybe that's just sorry mom.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I I I don't know that's a great question.
SPEAKER_00Hmm something to discuss tonight. Looks like I won't be cleaning toilets for long okay do you have a favorite tour one that you actually like doing?
SPEAKER_01I mean I love vacuuming. It's gratifying it's way more gratifying now that we have Todd Right okay I want to ask you you spelled Todd with one D.
SPEAKER_00Is that intentional?
SPEAKER_01It's from Fox and the Hound. Oh okay I didn't realize Todd is the Fox okay I know that my husband's favorite Disney movie is Fox and the Hound.
SPEAKER_00You don't hear that often as someone's favorite Disney movie. Because there were many many many Disney movies after that one.
SPEAKER_01You're my best friend you're my best friend too Todd. Okay yeah and so we used to say that to each other all the time we still do when we're dating so now we have a real Todd who is a dog not a fox but we love him and he sheds like crazy because he's a lab. So vacuuming is now my favorite chore because I find dog hair piles I now have a cordless vacuum. I can listen to my books while I'm vacuuming. My family does not allow me to sing.
SPEAKER_00Are you sure this is your first podcast? Because you just called back to like three different things we talked about like an expert it this is my first podcast.
SPEAKER_01I was just gonna remind you of when you helped me record the song All the Known Names, the Beyonce cover. And you told me, singing is not in my future.
SPEAKER_00I don't'm sure I said it exactly that way, but this seems like a good place for us to wrap up the show. All right, Mrs. Heller, I want to say thank you for coming on the show and thank you to our audience for listening to Husky Hotseat. If you see Ms. Heller around the Hubble community, make sure you say hello. Ask her about Todd, ask her about Northern Pike invasions, ask her about AI swimming goggles, ask her to sing a little bit of her parody music for you. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at Husky Hotseat Podcast for updates about the show. If you liked what you heard, remember to subscribe. We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and pretty much anywhere you like to listen to your podcast. And if you really want to help the show grow, please leave a review on your podcast app of choice. Finally, spread the news about the show to people you know. The internet is great, but the goal of Husky Hot Seat is to build connection within our Hubble community. So the more staff, parents, and students that listen, the tighter we become. Remember, Huskies, none of us are lone wolves. We work best in a pack.